“That is what I said. The battalion must have a quartermaster who can be relied upon at all times. Supposing we were going to have a sham battle and you dealt out ball cartridges instead of blanks, what would happen? Why some of the cadets might be killed! Do you resign or not?”
“Captain Putnam, I – I – ”
“If you refuse to resign I shall have to take the office away from you.”
“All right, I’ll resign,” cried Bob Grenwood, bitterly. “All the same, I say you are treating me unjustly.” And with a red face and bowed head he stepped back into the crowd.
“I don’t believe Bob did it,” whispered Stuffer to Hogan.
“Sure, and I thought he was more careful meself,” answered the Irish-American cadet. “It’s a bad mess, so it is!” added.
Captain Putnam now held a consultation with several of the others and then announced that for every shot fired which had not hit a target the cadet should have another try. In the meantime the blanks were collected and ball cartridges dealt out instead.
“Now, Jack, show ’em what you can do!” cried Pepper, as his chum walked to the front once more.
“Confound it, I guess our plan is busted,” whispered Paxton to Ritter.
“Hush! Not a word of it!” whispered the bully, warningly. “If Captain Putnam ever finds it out, – well, he’ll make it mighty warm for us, that’s all!”
With great care Jack took aim once more. Everybody watched him with interest, and a wild shout went up when the result was announced.
“A bull’s-eye!”
“There, what did I tell you?” cried Pepper. “I knew he could do it!”
“Now another, Jack!” said Andy, enthusiastically.
And the youthful major did make another bull’s-eye, amid the applause of his many friends.
“That’s the highest score yet!”
“Major Ruddy, I must congratulate you,” said Captain Putnam, holding out his hand. “I am now as convinced as you are that those other shots were blanks.”
“Jack, that’s the highest score yet,” said Dale. “I rather think you take the prize.”
“Didn’t know there was a prize, Dale.”
“Well, metaphorically speaking.”
“You’ve bested Reff Ritter and that’s a good deal,” said Andy.
When Pepper came to shoot he made one bull’s-eye and two fours. This gave him quite a high score and made him content. Andy and Dale also did well, while Bart Conners tied Ritter. Mumps and Paxton each made two misses on the long distance target.
“More blanks, I suppose,” grumbled Paxton, although he knew better.
“No,” said Captain Putnam. “That was only your carelessness did that. You shot too quickly.”
“I – I’m not feeling well to-day,” said the school sneak lamely. “I ought to have stayed at the Hall.”
After the target practice was at an end the cadets were allowed an hour to themselves.
“Let us take a walk through the woods,” said Pepper. And he and Jack and half a dozen went off in one direction while Reff Ritter and his cronies went off in another. Bob Grenwood felt so bad that he strolled off by himself.
“I must say, I feel sorry for Bob,” said Jack. “Even if he did deal out the blanks, I don’t think he meant to do it.”
“He feels all cut up to lose the quartermastership,” said Dale. “After the captain made him resign I saw the tears standing in his eyes.”
“What do you say if we go to Captain Putnam and ask him to reinstate Grenwood?” questioned Pepper, who was always ready to help anybody in distress.
“I’ll do that willingly,” came from several of the others.
“I don’t think we ought to go right away,” said Bart Conners. “Wait a few days – until his temper has a chance to cool. Finding the blanks riled him all up.”
“By the way, fellows, have you heard the news?” asked Joe Nelson.
“What news?”
“A new teacher is coming.”
“Who told you that?” asked Pepper.
“Nobody. I heard Captain Putnam and Mr. Strong talking about it. It seems Mr. Strong has got to go away on business, and the new man is coming during his absence.”
“Who is he, did you hear, Joe?” asked several, for they were always anxious concerning their instructors.
“Hope he isn’t like old Crabtree,” was Pepper’s comment. “If he is I’ll feel like jumping into the lake!”
“I don’t know anything about him, excepting that his name is Pluxton Cuddle.”
“Pluxton Cuddle!” cried The Imp. “Wonder if he’ll try to cuddle up to us?”
“I did hear that he was quite a scientist,” went on Joe Nelson. “One of the kind who does everything by rule.”
“Oh, dear! I can see my finish!” sighed Pepper. “It will be ten minutes for this, ten minutes for that, and so on, all day long. And find out the whyforness of the thus of everything in the bargain!”
“Oh, don’t worry beforehand,” answered Jack. “He may be another Mr. Strong.”
“Not much, Jack! Mr. Strong is one teacher out of a hundred, heaven bless him!”
“If all teachers were like Mr. Strong, going to boarding school would be a cinch,” added Andy, slangily. “He’s the dearest man who ever tried to teach a fellow the value of x and y, and don’t you forget it!”
“And I firmly believe we learn twice as much under a man like Mr. Strong as we do under old Josiah Crabtree, – although Crabtree may be the greater scholar,” came from Stuffer.
The cadets spent a pleasant time in the woods, and at the roll of the drum hastened back to the pasture. When the two companies were formed it was found Bob Grenwood was missing.
“He got disgusted and said he was going to walk back to the Hall alone,” said one of the students. “I can’t say that I blame him much. It was a terrible thing to be made to resign.”
In a few minutes more the line of march back to Putnam Hall was taken up. To give the cadets a variety of scene, Captain Putnam took to another road than that pursued in the morning. This was nearly a mile longer, and, consequently, it was after the supper hour when the cadets came in sight of the school buildings.
As the cadets marched up to the campus a man came rushing out of the school holding up his hands in horror. It was Josiah Crabtree.
“Captain Putnam! Captain Putnam!” he gasped. “Come quickly! Something dreadful has happened!”
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 turned topsy-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 – ‘The History of Turkey’ – and when I got there!” Josiah Crabtree held up his hands mutely. “It is a shame, an outrage, sir! And the classrooms are about as bad!”
“I’ll see about this,” said Captain Putnam, and strode into the school.
“Something is wrong,”