“What was you doing here, Paxton?” asked Andy.
“Why I – er – I came over to look for – er – for ferns,” stammered the youth who had played the trick.
“Ferns? Didn’t know you were interested in ferns,” observed Joe Nelson, who was something of a collector of plants himself.
“Oh, I do a little collecting now and then,” answered Paxton, and then walked off, to escape being questioned further.
Half an hour later the noonday rest came to an end and the target practice was again taken up. In the presence of his pupils Captain Putnam took several shots at the long distance target, making a bull’s-eye each time. Then he and the old army officer who had been hired showed the boys how to fire to the best advantage.
Reff Ritter was one of the first to shoot at the three hundred yard target, and much to his chagrin got only three fours – a total of 12. Coulter got but 9, and Paxton 7.
When Jack stepped to the front with the rifle and cartridge box he had been using Reff Ritter winked suggestively at Coulter and Paxton.
“Now we’ll see something rich!” whispered Coulter.
“Hush! you want to keep this to yourself,” warned the bully of the Hall.
“Now, Jack, a bull’s-eye!” said Pepper to his chum.
“Right in the middle of the eye, too,” added Andy.
“I’ll do what I can,” answered the young major, modestly.
With great care he took aim at the target and pulled the trigger. There was a crack and a flash and then a moment of breathless waiting.
“Missed!”
“He didn’t hit the target even!”
The announcement was true, and the young major turned a trifle pale in spite of his efforts to control himself.
“Don’t fire hastily, Major Ruddy,” said Captain Putnam kindly. “Draw a bead directly on the center of the target.”
“I – I – thought I did,” stammered Jack.
Again the rifle was raised. Jack was now a bit nervous, yet he managed to steady himself ere he took another shot. His aim was directly for the center of the target.
“Another miss!”
“Why, Jack, what’s got over you?” cried Pepper, real distress showing in his voice.
“I – I don’t know,“ faltered the youthful major.
“Don’t you feel well?” asked Stuffer. “Or is it your eyesight?”
“Yes, I feel well enough – and my eyesight is all right.”
“Maybe you had a blank cartridge,” cried Dale, suddenly.
This remark caused Jack to look at the remaining cartridges he possessed. Captain Putnam insisted upon examining them also, for he, too, was unwilling to believe that the young officer has made a total miss of the two shots.
“These are certainly ball cartridges,” he said, as he looked them over. “Nothing wrong there. You must have been careless in your aim, Major Ruddy.”
“Captain Putnam, I did the very best I could,” pleaded Jack.
“Well, you have one more shot,” answered the master of the school.
As pale as a sheet the young major of the battalion walked to the front once more and raised his rifle. For several seconds there was a deathlike silence. Then came another crack and flash and a moment of suspense.
“Hurrah! A bull’s-eye!”
“That’s the time you did it, Jack!”
“Why didn’t you do that before?”
With a long breath, Jack lowered his rifle and, turning faced the master of the school:
“Captain Putnam,” he said in a low but firm tone. “I made a bull’s-eye that time because there was a bullet in the cartridge. I am satisfied now that my other two shots were blanks.
CHAPTER IV
THE BLANK CARTRIDGES
For the moment after Jack spoke so positively there was a silence. Captain Putnam looked at the young officer thoughtfully.
“Huh! that’s all tommy-rot!” observed Reff Ritter. “He missed and that is all there is to it.”
“Of course he missed,” chimed in Coulter. “He isn’t a crack shot by any means.”
“What makes you so certain that the first two shots were blanks, Major Ruddy?” asked the master of the school, somewhat sternly.
“Well, sir, I think my record helps to prove it,” answered Jack. “At the hundred-yard target I made three bull’s-eyes; at the two-hundred-yard target I made two bull’s-eyes and a four; now I have made a bull’s-eye and two blanks. Doesn’t it stand to reason, sir, that if those cartridges had not been blanks I would at least have made a two or a one?”
“It is probable, yes,” answered the captain, thoughtfully. “But I did not know any blanks had been brought along, much less dealt out.”
“I brought a case along by mistake,” put in Bob Grenwood. “But as soon as I discovered my mistake I put the case to one side. There it is, sir, on yonder rock.”
“I see. You are sure you didn’t hand any blanks around? That particular box looks like the real thing.”
“Yes, sir – I was very careful.”
Captain Putnam strode over to the rock and shoved back the lid of the case.
“Why, the top layer of cartridges is gone!” he cried. “Was the box full when you opened it?”
“Why – er – yes, sir – I think so, sir,” stammered the quartermaster of the school battalion. “It looked full to me.”
“Young gentlemen,” went on Captain Putnam, raising his voice. “Please to look over the cartridges you have left.”
There was a hasty examination by over a score of cadets.
“Mine are O. K., sir.”
“So are mine.”
“Here, I’ve got a blank!” cried Andy Snow, rushing forward and holding it up. “It’s one of the kind we used to have – those that looked so much like the ball cartridges.”
“Hum! So it is – one of the kind made to represent ball cartridges,” mused Captain Putnam.
“I’ve got two of them!” exclaimed Pepper, and held them up. “My other one is all right,” he added.
“Two blanks and one good one,” said Jack. “That must have been just what I had!”
“Quartermaster Grenwood, can you explain this?” demanded Captain Putnam, sternly.
“N – no, sir. I – I am sure I didn’t deal out any of the blanks. I was very careful, sir.”
“Then how do you account for the blanks being in use?”
“I – I don’t account for it, sir. I am sure, though, I didn’t give them out.”
“You gave out all the ammunition, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you must have given out the blanks. It was very careless on your part.”
“No wonder I missed!” growled one of the cadets.
“I think we ought to shoot over again,” added another.
“It was a mean trick!” cried a third.
“Quartermaster Grenwood, you have been grossly careless,