The Putnam Hall Rebellion

“Don’t stop any longer – get up to the trunk room before it is too late,” urged his chum, and together they sped on as if a ghost was at their heels. Having arrived there they shut the door and pulled a trunk in front of it, first, however, lighting the candle, that they might not break anything.

It took some time to transfer all the food to the dormitory below. The quantity made all the boys smile, and Stuffer’s eyes fairly glistened.

“This is the best yet,” said the youth who loved to eat. “Say, isn’t it most dinner time?”

“I wish Bob Grenwood was in this room,” said Jack. “I’d appoint him quartermaster once more – to divide the rations.”

“Make me quartermaster,” pleaded Stuffer.

“He’ll be sure to look out for No. 1!” said Fred, with a laugh.

“This food is to be divided among all the rooms we can reach,” said Jack. “And it is to be a fair division, too.”

The division then commenced, and for the best part of an hour the cadets were busy, passing stuff from one window to another. They had to do this with care, so that none of the guards on the campus might discover what was going on.

“And now for dinner!” cried Pepper, as he looked at his watch and saw that it was twelve o’clock. “Boys, I think we can all be truly thankful for the good things provided.”

“So we can,” answered Dale.

At that moment there sounded footsteps in the hallway and then came a knock on the door.

CHAPTER XIX

WHAT HAPPENED TO JACK RUDDY

“Boys, get the eating out of sight – somebody may want to come in!” cried Jack, in a low voice. And in a few seconds the food was placed in a closet and covered with papers and books.

“I want to talk to you!” called the voice of Josiah Crabtree.

“What do you want, Mr. Crabtree?” demanded the young major.

“It is now twelve o’clock,” went on the teacher. “Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Are you ready to do as I wish?”

“You mean for us to apologize?” asked Pepper.

“Yes, and to promise to do as ordered in the future.”

“We won’t apologize,” answered several, in unison.

“Don’t you want your dinner?” demanded the teacher, in a somewhat crestfallen tone of voice.

“This is not a question of dinner – it is a question of principle, Mr. Crabtree,” answered Jack.

“Exactly – but you must be hungry.”

“We are,” and this was true, for nobody had as yet started to eat.

“There is no use of your being stubborn,” continued Josiah Crabtree.

“We are not stubborn.”

“Yes, you are!”

“You are the one who is stubborn,” put in Dale. “You and Mr. Cuddle think you are right – but we are about thirty or thirty-five to two.”

“Bah! you are only boys and do not realize what you are doing.”

“We are going to leave this matter to Captain Putnam.”

“Then you don’t want any dinner, eh?” Josiah Crabtree felt certain that the cadets must be very hungry.

“Not on your terms,” answered Jack.

“Do you all say that?” called out the teacher.

“Yes!” came in a chorus.

“Very well, you can go hungry a while longer!” cried Crabtree in a rage, and stalked off to interview the boys in some of the other rooms. One and all refused to “surrender,” as they expressed it. Then Josiah Crabtree went below to the office, where he met Pluxton Cuddle.

“They are as yet not hungry enough,” said Cuddle, after listening to the other teacher’s story. “Wait until the middle of the afternoon, or supper time. I’ll warrant they will then be glad enough to do anything we wish.”

“Let us hope so,” answered Josiah Crabtree, and then he and Cuddle talked the matter over from beginning to end, and fixed up the story they should tell Captain Putnam when he returned. According to their idea the cadets were to blame for everything and had assaulted them most outrageously. Crabtree had already interviewed one of the men hired by him at Cedarville and this fellow was ready to corroborate any tale the instructors might put forth.

The teachers had just about finished their talk when they heard a hurried knock on the door of the office and one of the waiters appeared.

“The cook and the head waiter would like you to come to the kitchen at once, please!” cried the colored man.

“What for?” demanded Josiah Crabtree.

“A lot of the eating has been stolen, sah!”

“Stolen!” screamed Pluxton Cuddle.

“Yes, sah. They jess found it out, sah, and they sent me to tell you, sah.”

“This is – er – extraordinary!”

“It’s those confounded boys!” roared Josiah Crabtree. “They must have gotten to the kitchen somehow and taken the things.”

“But the guards – you forget the guards,” returned Pluxton Cuddle.

“Perhaps one of them was bribed – and perhaps a waiter was bribed too,” said Crabtree with something like a groan. “Oh, I know no longer whom to trust here!”

Both of the teachers followed the waiter to the kitchen. Here they found the cook and several others talking excitedly. Nobody could tell exactly what had been taken, but the cook was certain it was considerable.

“They have outwitted us!” moaned Pluxton Cuddle. “Now they will stuff themselves and be more ugly than ever!”

“I am going to find out if they are in league with anybody outside,” said Josiah Crabtree, and started without delay to interview all the hired help around the Hall and also the men from Cedarville. Each and every person, of course, declared he or she knew absolutely nothing of the missing food and had had no communication whatever with the cadets.