CHAPTER V A “ROUGH HOUSE” AT PUTNAM HALL
“What is the matter, Mr. Crabtree?” demanded the master of the school,as he dismounted from his horse and strode forward.
“The schoolrooms, sir—and the sitting room and library! All turnedtopsy-turvy!”
“What!”
“Yes, sir! I just came in from the village—I went on a little business,as you know. When I got back I went to the library for a book—‘TheHistory of Turkey’—and when I got there!” Josiah Crabtree held up hishands mutely. “It is a shame, an outrage, sir! And the classrooms areabout as bad!”
“I’ll see about this,” said Captain Putnam, and strode into the school.
“Something is wrong,” said Pepper, after the cadets had broken ranks.“Let’s see what it is!” And he ran off to place his weapon in the gunrack.
Something was indeed wrong, as a hasty glance around the lower floor ofthe school building revealed. Every book in the library had been thrownon the floor, and to the general heap were added several pictures andmaps taken from the walls. Two inkstands from a writing desk had beenoverturned, one on a table and over a beautiful statue of Justicestanding on a pedestal in a corner. The floor rug had been folded up andthrown over a chandelier.
“Who did this?” demanded the master of the school sternly. “Who didthis, I say?”
Nobody answered for the reason that nobody knew.
“And the schoolrooms are as bad,” cried Josiah Crabtree. “Never have _I_seen the equal, sir!”
Without loss of time Captain Putnam walked from one classroom to anotherand the cadets and teachers followed him, and so did some of thefrightened servants. In every room books and papers were scattered inall directions. On a big school globe rested an old silk hat, and an oldlinen duster that Josiah Crabtree occasionally used in warm weather.
“Look at that! The rascals!” spluttered the irate teacher. “My coat,sir! It makes the globe look like a—a—scarecrow, sir!”
“It certainly does,” answered Captain Putnam, and for an instant he feltinclined to laugh. At the same time Pepper burst into a roar and Andyand some others did the same.
“This is a rough house and no mistake,” murmured Jack. “Who did it, Iwonder?”
“Somebody has been here during our absence,” said Dale.
“Boys, stop your laughing!” exclaimed Josiah Crabtree, turning suddenlyupon Pepper and his chums. “If you do not stop this minute, I’ll punishyou severely! This is no laughing matter!”
“I won’t laugh any more,” answered Pepper, and, behind the fussyteacher’s back drew such a doleful face that Andy and Dale were almostconvulsed.
“Here’s a go!” cried one of the cadets presently. “My Latin grammar isgone!”
“So is my history!” came from another.
“So is mine!”
“And mine!”
A hasty hunt was made and soon it was discovered that every history andevery Latin grammar was missing. All the other books were there,although mixed up and mussed.
“Well, I don’t mind the loss of the grammar and history so much,”observed Pepper. “I’d like to get rid of them forever!”
“So say we all of us!” sang out Andy softly.
“Boys!” cried Captain Putnam loudly, and at the call everybody becamesilent. “If any one of you know anything about this, I want that pupilto step forward and say so.”
There was a pause. Nobody budged.
“Was anybody left behind when we went for the target practice?”
Again there was a pause. Nobody spoke.
“This is, as Mr. Crabtree says, an outrage, and I intend to get at thebottom of it.”
“I know somebody who came back before we did,” said Mumps, stepping tothe front.
“Who was that, Fenwick?”
“Bob Grenwood.”
“Oh, what a little sneak!” murmured Pepper.
“He ought to have his neck wrung!” added Andy.
“Humph! So he did,” said Captain Putnam. “Does anybody know whereGrenwood is now?”
He looked from one to another of the assembled scholars, but all shooktheir heads.
“Mr. Crabtree, have Peleg Snuggers hunt Grenwood up, and at once.”
“I will, sir,” answered the teacher and hurried off to find the generalutility man of the Hall. Then both went in search of Bob Grenwood, butfailed to find the ex-quartermaster.
“Perhaps he didn’t come back after he left us,” said Jack. “Maybe hefelt too down-hearted to return. I must say, I feel mighty sorry forBob.”
There was nothing to do but to straighten out the library, sitting roomand classrooms, and then the cadets went to supper. After that some ofthe boys went out on the campus, some to the lake shore, and others tothe gymnasium.
“Well, one thing is certain, some of our school-books are gone,” saidJoe Nelson. “Too bad! I had an essay in my history. If it is not foundI’ll have to write another paper I suppose.”
“I’d not do it!” cried Stuffer. “It’s not your fault that the paper isgone.”
Jack and his chums were entering the gymnasium when a student who hadgone ahead uttered a cry.
“They have been here, too!”
“What did they do?”
“Do? Did everything they could to spoil this place,” was the answer.
When lit up the gymnasium certainly presented “a sight for to see,” asAndy expressed it. The wooden horses had been stacked in a corner, therings and turning bars had been cut down, and the Indian clubs, pullingmachines, and the floor covered with oil and grease. Jack did not noticethe grease on the floor until he slipped and fell, and Pepper, who wasat his side, came down on top of him.
“This is the worst yet!”
“Why, fellows, this place is almost ruined!”
“The fellows who did this ought to be tarred and feathered!” cried Jack,as he got up and rubbed a bruised elbow.
“I don’t believe any of our cadets would do such a trick as this,”observed Andy.
“Reff Ritter and his cronies are mean enough to do anything,” answeredPepper.
“But they were with us,” answered Bart Conners.
“Boys, I think I know who is guilty!” almost shouted Jack, as a suddenidea popped into his head.
“Who?”
“Roy Bock and his crowd—the fellows we met this morning in the bigtouring car—the chaps who called us tin soldiers.”
“My gracious, Jack, do you think that is true?” demanded Pepper.
“If it is we ought to march over to Pornell Academy and wipe them offthe face of the earth,” said Fred Century. “This looks just like RoyBock’s underhanded meanness,” he added.
Captain Putnam was notified of the new discovery made and came down toinspect the damage done. His face grew very stern.
“This is positive vandalism,” was his comment. “If any boy in thisschool is guilty I shall expel him.”
“If you will permit me, Captain Putnam, I’d like to say a word,” saidJack.
“What is it, Major Ruddy.”
“I do not think this was done by anybody in our school. If you willremember, we were all away to-day to target practice.”
“That is true, but one boy, Robert Grenwood, came back early.”
“I know that, sir, but——”
“And I rather think he was in an ugly frame of mind upon his return,”pursued the master of the school grimly.
“That might be, too, sir. All the same, I don’t think he’d do this. Bobisn’t that kind of a fellow.”
“Well, what were you going to say?”
“I was thinking of that crowd of Pornell Academy students we met on theroad this morning.”
“The ones in an automobile?”
“Yes, sir,—the fellows who jeered at us and called us tin soldiers.”
“Ahem! What of them?”
“I don’t want to say too much, sir. But you know they are down on
us,—and you know how our flagstaff and our cannon disappeared,” went onthe young major, referring to an incident which had been related indetail in “The Putnam Hall Champions.”
“Yes, yes. And I also know how Doctor Pornell complained of thedisappearance of some choice trophies belonging to his students,” saidCaptain Putnam grimly.
“Well, they got those trophies back,” said a student in the rear of thecrowd, and a snicker passed among the cadets at the remembrance of theincident.
“Those fellows are the worst boys at Pornell,” went on the young major.“I don’t think they’d stop at anything to do this school an injury.”
“Can you prove any of them guilty?”
“No, sir—at least, not yet.”
“Then I can do nothing, for Doctor Pornell and myself are no longer onspeaking terms.”
“I think it is clear enough,” said Pepper. “Outsiders wouldn’t have anyreason to come here and do this—unless they had a grudge against you.”
“Maybe that butcher, Pangborn, did it,” suggested Dale, mentioning ameat dealer who had had trouble with the captain over his meat bill, andwho no longer supplied the school.
“It might be.” The master of the school drew a long breath. “Well, Ishall watch out, and I want you young gentlemen to do the same. If youlearn of anything, let me know.”
A little later Bob Grenwood came in. From the target grounds he hadwalked to Cedarville and had purchased his supper at the village. Hetried to slip upstairs unobserved, but was caught by Josiah Crabtree.
“Ha! so we have you, you young villain!” cried the teacher, taking himby the collar.
“What’s the matter?” asked Bob, somewhat startled.
“You know well enough,” stormed Josiah Crabtree, and without further adomarched the ex-quartermaster to Captain Putnam’s private office. HereGrenwood was put through a great number of questions. When he learnedthe drift of things he was highly indignant.
“Captain Putnam, I am not guilty, and you ought to know it!” he cried.“It was bad enough to make me resign my position, this is even worse. Ishall write to my folks and ask them to take me away from this school!”
“You may do as you please, Grenwood,” was the captain’s cold reply.
“Some day, perhaps, you’ll find out your mistake,” said the cadet, andthen, with tears of anguish and indignation standing in his eyes he leftthe office and ran up the stairs to the dormitory occupied by himselfand several others.
Left to himself, Captain Putnam leaned his elbow on his desk and restedhis head in his hand.
“These boys! These boys!” he murmured to himself. “I hardly know whetherto believe them or not—they are up to so many tricks! Grenwood lookshonest enough, and yet—you never can tell!” And he heaved a deep sigh.He was beginning to learn that after all, running a boarding school wasnot such an easy thing as he had at first supposed. He wanted to do whatwas just,—but he hated to be imposed upon.