CHAPTER VI THE NEW TEACHER
The first person the ex-quartermaster encountered upstairs was Jack.
“Hello, Bob,” cried the young major. “Just the person I want to see.”
“I—I—some other time, Ruddy,” stammered the youth, whose eyes were fullof tears.
“See here, Bob, what’s your hurry? Anything special on?” And now Jackcaught the other boy affectionately by the shoulder.
“I—I am going to leave this school!” was the bitter response. “CaptainPutnam hasn’t treated me fairly. I didn’t distribute those blanks, I amcertain of it—and I didn’t have anything to do with rough-housing theHall, either!”
“Who said you played rough-house here?”
“He did—or he said as much.”
“Where have you been?”
“To Cedarville. I walked there directly from the target grounds.”
“Meet anybody on the road?”
“Why—er—yes, a farmer named Laning. He was driving a team of oxen andwanted to know what the shooting meant.”
“Where did you go when first you got to Cedarville?”
“What do you want to know that for?”
“Never mind, just tell me?”
“I went to the steamboat dock. There I met the agent, and helped him towa boat up to Chase Point. When we got back I went and got supper atBerry’s and then came to the school.”
“Did you tell the captain all that?”
“No—he didn’t give me the chance.”
“Well, you should have told him. It seems to me it would be easy for youto prove an _alibi_, so far as being here this afternoon is concerned.”
“I am not going to bother with it—I’m going to quit and go home,”answered Bob Grenwood recklessly.
“I wouldn’t do it. Stay, Bob, and face the music. If you go away it willmake it look as if you were guilty.”
“But Captain Putnam——”
“Is all upset on account of this awful mix-up. He’ll calm down byto-morrow—and so will you. And let me say another thing, Bob. None of usfellows thinks you distributed the blanks,—or, if you did, we are sureit was a pure and simple mistake.”
At this moment came a cry from one of the dormitories, followed a secondlater by a yell from another room.
“This is the worst yet!”
“Every bed sheet is gone!”
“So are all the night clothes!”
“Here is some of the stuff, in the closet, and, yes, it’s tied up inhard knots!”
“Talk about ‘chawin’ on the beef!’ It will take some ‘chawin’’ to getthese knots out!”
“Oh, if I only had the fellow who did this, wouldn’t I give him a pieceof my mind!”
“I’d give him a piece av me fist!” roared Emerald. “Just be afterlooking at them beautiful pajamas of mine, toied in about twinty knots!”And he held up the articles of wearing apparel dolefully.
Jack ran into his dormitory, to find Pepper with a bundle in his hand.The bundle consisted of their night clothes and some bed sheets, allknotted together in a hopeless tangle. Several similar bundles were inthe possession of other cadets.
The uproar was so great that soon all the teachers and the servants wereon the scene. For once Captain Putnam was as furious as Josiah Crabtreehad ever been.
“This is the vilest kind of an outrage!” cried the master of the Hall.“If I find out who is guilty I’ll have that person locked up!”
“I fancy more than one person did this,” said George Strong.
“You are right—it would take several at least. What a mess!” The captainglanced from room to room in perplexity. “I hardly know what to do.”
“Please, Captain Putnam, my nightgown is split from top to bottom,”wailed Mumps.
“One of the legs of my pajamas is torn off,” growled Reff Ritter.
“An arm of mine is gone,” added Coulter.
“Boys, you will have to straighten out things as best you can for thenight,” said Captain Putnam at last. “To-morrow I’ll have a thoroughinvestigation.”
The cadets went to work “chawin’ good and proper,” as Andy expressed it,and inside of half an hour the sheets and night clothing werestraightened out, and then the lads went to bed, tired but highlyexcited. All voted that this was the most strenuous day that had evercome to them.
“Captain Putnam can think as he pleases,” said Pepper. “I am certain inmy mind that the Pornell fellows did this, although how they managed itwithout being seen is a wonder to me.”
“It wasn’t so difficult, with all the cadets and all the teachers away,”answered Stuffer. “They must have gotten in on the sly and then posted aguard.”
“If we find out it was really the Pornell fellows we ought to pay ’emback,” spoke up Dale.
“We will,” answered Pepper promptly.
On the following morning both the cadets and the teachers had calmeddown, and Captain Putnam acted like quite another person. A rigidinvestigation was held, but nothing came of it, although the missingschool books were found in a hall closet. Acting on Jack’s advice BobGrenwood went to the master of the school and told his story in detail,adding that he could prove by Mr. Laning, the farmer, and by the peoplein Cedarville how he had put in his time.
“Well, Grenwood, if you are innocent of this rough-house work I am gladto know it,” answered Captain Putnam finally. And so that matter wasdropped. But he still believed poor Grenwood guilty of havingdistributed the blank cartridges and refused to reinstate theex-quartermaster.
Two days later the new teacher arrived and was introduced to the cadetsby Captain Putnam. Mr. Pluxton Cuddle proved to be a large man, fullysix feet two inches in height and weighing at least two hundred pounds.He had a shock of heavy black hair, a heavy black moustache, and heavyblack eyebrows. When he spoke his voice was almost a rumble, and he hada manner of shifting his eyes constantly and of rubbing his handstogether as if soaping them well.
“I am sure we shall get along well together, young gentlemen,” he saidin a voice that could be heard out on the campus. “Education is a greatthing, a grand thing, and while you are at this institution you mustmake the most of your opportunities. My heart goes out to all boys whodesire to elevate themselves mentally, and you who love to study willfind me your best friend. In a few days I shall feel more at home here,and then we will see how much of precious study we can crowd into theall but too short hours of school life.” And having said this he bowedprofoundly and sat down.
“Phew! but he’s a corker!” whispered Pepper to Jack. “I rather thinkhe’ll make us sit up and take notice, eh?”
“Right you are, Pep,” answered the young major. “If I am any judge he’llbe even stricter than old Crabtree.”
“Looks like a chap who would carry out his ideas, once he had made uphis mind,” came from Andy.
“Silence in the classroom!” called out Captain Putnam, and then, after afew words more, he left the new teacher and the students alone. Mr.Pluxton Cuddle got to work at once, and that day the boys studied moremathematics, astronomy and physics than ever before. They found that Mr.Cuddle was a regular “slave driver,” as Dale called him. Even JoeNelson, studious as he was, shook his head.
“He’d want to keep a fellow at it every minute,” he observed. “I don’tmind boning away, but I want a breathing spell now and then.”
In the mess hall Pluxton Cuddle made himself even more disliked than inthe classrooms. Hardly had the cadets at his table begun to eat when hecommenced to find fault.
“The food is really cooked too much,” he said. “It is not healthy forthe human stomach to eat food so well-done. And, boys, do not overloadyour stomachs. An overloaded stomach befogs the brain. To grow upclear-brained one must eat little and only that which is rare-done.”
“Gracious! does he want to starve us?” cried Pepper.
“He shan’t starve me!” returned Stuffer. He looked up to see the eyes
ofthe new teacher fastened on him and his plateful of victuals.
“I say, you!” cried Pluxton Cuddle, pointing a long finger at poorStuffer. “Do you mean to eat all that food?”
“Ye—yes, sir,” stammered Singleton.
“It is entirely too much, young man, entirely too much. Why, sir, do youknow the capacity of the human stomach?”
“I know what mine can hold,” answered Stuffer, and at this answer atitter arose.
“Half of that food is sufficient for any boy,” went on Pluxton Cuddle,and glared around so sharply that the tittering stopped at once. “Youcannot have a clear brain if you stuff yourself.”
“Captain Putnam lets me eat what I please,” grumbled Stuffer.
“Then the captain is making a sad mistake, and I feel it my duty torectify it. Take a saucedish and put half of the food on it, and theneat what is left on your plate and no more.”
After that there was silence, but many of the cadets looked at eachother meaningly. Here was a brand-new experience. When they got out onthe campus they gathered to talk it over.
“Cut me off on food!” snorted Stuffer. “Say, if this thing keeps up I’llgo home. Why, I ain’t had half enough to eat!”
“Poor Stuffer!” cried Pepper. “Now see what you get for pampering yourstomach!”
“I wanted some more rice pudding but I didn’t dare to ask for it,” saidDale.
“I wanted some more meat,” came from Bart Conners. “But he wouldn’t letthe waiter bring me any. I think this is the limit!”
“What made me mad was the way Reff Ritter grinned at me from the nexttable,” continued Stuffer. “He had all he wanted to eat, for they hadMr. Strong there.”
“Too bad Mr. Strong is going away,” was Jack’s comment. “I hope hedoesn’t stay long.”
“When does he go?” inquired another pupil.
“To-morrow.”
“The only thing this Cuddle knows is lessons,” said Dale. “There is nodenying he is learned—more so even than old Crabtree. But I must say Ilike him even less than Crabtree—and that is saying a whole lot.”
“I don’t see how Captain Putnam came to pick him out,” said Henry Lee.“There are plenty of good teachers to be had.”
“He came well recommended,” answered Jack. “I heard Mr. Strong say so.”
“Humph! Wish he had stayed home,” growled Pepper. “If this sort of thingkeeps on, I’ll rebel.”
“So will I!” cried Andy.
And several others said the same. Little did they dream then, however,of the rebellion so close at hand, and of the adventures which were tofollow.