“It is half-past nine now,” said Jack, consulting the time-piece he carried.
“I’d like one of you to go out with me, after the cakes,” said Henry. “Each may be in a separate box, you know.”
All volunteered at once, for all loved strawberry shortcake. At last it was decided that Pepper should go with Henry.
“What’s the matter with making some lemonade to go with the cake?” ventured Andy. “I know there is a basket of lemons in the storeroom downstairs, and there is plenty of sugar there, too – and water costs nothing.”
This plan met with instant approval, and Andy and Dale were appointed a committee of two to provide the lemonade. By this time the monitor was coming around, and they had to put out lights. The Hall became very quiet, for all the cadets were supposed to be in bed.
The four boys slipped downstairs by a back way, and while Andy and Dale tiptoed to the store-room, Pepper and Henry slipped out of a side-door. Once outside, the latter put on their shoes, which they had carried in their hands, and hurried across the broad campus in the direction of the apple-tree where the baker was to leave the cakes.
“Perhaps he hasn’t arrived yet,” said Pepper. “If not, I suppose all we can do is to wait.”
When they got to the tree no boxes were there, and they sat down on a small grassy bank to wait. Beside the bank grew a clump of bushes, which screened them from the Hall. It was a fairly clear night, with bright stars shining in the heavens overhead.
“That baker is certainly late,” mused Henry, after a good ten minutes had passed.
“Getting hungry?” asked Pepper, good-naturedly. “He may have been delayed on account of the party.”
“I hope he doesn’t forget about the cakes. Perhaps – what’s that?”
The two cadets became silent, as they heard a door close rather sharply. Looking through the clump of bushes, they saw two figures stealing from the school building towards them.
“Some of the other fellows are coming,” cried Pepper.
“Why should they bother, Pep?”
“I don’t know, I’m sure. But I think – Well, I never! It is Gus Coulter and Reff Ritter! What can they be doing out here to-night?”
“Let us get out of sight and find out,” answered Henry, and dragged his chum to a clump of bushes still farther back from the campus. He had hardly done this when Gus Coulter and Reff Ritter came up.
“Anybody here yet?” asked Coulter.
“I don’t see anybody,” answered Ritter.
“Good enough! I was afraid they’d get here before us. Where do you suppose the baker put the cakes?”
“Mumps heard Lee say under this apple-tree.”
“I don’t see them.”
After that the two cadets became silent as they moved around in the vicinity of the apple-tree. In the meantime Pepper pinched Henry’s arm.
“They are after your strawberry shortcakes,” he whispered. “What a nerve!”
“Yes, and Mumps, the sneak, told them,” murmured Henry.
“Did you tell Mumps you were to have the cakes?”
“Tell Mumps? Not much! I have no use for that sneak! I suppose he must have been listening at the door of your dormitory – it’s just like him. If I ever get the chance, I’ll – ”
“Hush! They are coming this way!” interrupted Pepper. “Crouch low, or they’ll see us!”
The two cadets got down in the deepest shadows they could find. Coulter and Ritter came quite close, but did not discover the pair. The two bullies looked up and down the road.
“That baker must have left the cakes and they must have got ’em,” said Coulter. “Mumps didn’t tell us soon enough. Too bad! I thought sure we’d be able to spoil their little feast!”
“Maybe we can spoil it yet,” answered Reff Ritter. “Let us go in again and see what can be done,” and then he and his crony moved once again toward Putnam Hall and were lost to sight in the darkness.
“That shows what sort of fellows Coulter and Ritter are,” said Pepper, when they were gone. “And it shows what a sneak Mumps is, too.” As my old readers know, he, of course, referred to John Fenwick, who had, on more than one occasion, proved himself to be a sneak of the first water. Fenwick was a great toady to Dan Baxter, but during that individual’s absence from the Hall had attached himself to Coulter and Ritter, and was willing to do almost anything to curry favor with them.
“I am certainly mighty glad they didn’t get the cakes,” was Henry’s comment. “Wouldn’t they have had the laugh on us!”
“They’ll have the laugh on us, anyway, if we don’t get the cakes. But I think I hear a wagon coming now.”
Pepper was right – a wagon was coming along the main road at a good rate of speed. It was the baker’s turnout, and soon he came to a halt near the apple-tree and leaped out with two flat pasteboard boxes in his hands.
“Sorry I am late, but that party delayed me,” he said. “There you are – and you’ll find them the best strawberry shortcakes you ever ate.” And having delivered the delicacies he hopped into his wagon again and drove off.
“Well, we’ve got the goods, anyway,” said Pepper, with a sigh of relief. “Now to get back into the Hall without being discovered.”
“Let us send the cakes up by way of the window,” suggested Henry. “It won’t do to be caught with them in our possession – if Coulter and Ritter have squealed.”
The boys ran across the campus, stooping at the roadway to pick up some pebbles. These they threw up to the window of one of the dormitories. It was a well-known signal, and the sash was immediately raised and Jack’s head appeared, followed by the head of Dale.
“What’s wrong?”
“Lower a line and haul up these two boxes,” answered Henry.
“Coulter and Ritter are onto our game,” said Pepper. “Mumps gave us away.”
No more was said just then. A strong fishing line was let down from above, and one pasteboard box after another was raised up. Then the two cadets on the campus ran around to the side door of the Hall.
“As I suspected, they locked it,” said Pepper, rather bitterly.
“Well, we’ve got to get in somehow. Wonder if they can’t let down a rope of some kind?”
“They might let down the rope in the bath-room,” answered Pepper. He referred to a rope which was tied to a ring in the bath-room floor. This had been placed there in case of fire, even though the school was provided with regular fire escapes.
Once more they summoned Jack and the others, and Jack ran to the bath-room and let the rope down. Then those below came up hand over hand, bracing their feet against the wall of the building as they did so.
As the boys came from the bath-room they heard light footsteps on the back stairs. Andy and Dale were coming up, each with a big pitcher of lemonade. Both were snickering.
“Where does the fun come in?” asked Jack, as all hurried to his dormitory.
“A joke on Coulter and Ritter,” cried Andy, merrily. “We caught them nosing around downstairs and I called them into the store-room in the dark. Then I slipped past them and locked them in. They can’t get out excepting by the window, and then they’ll have to get back into the Hall.”
“It serves ’em right,” answered Pepper, and then told of what had been heard by himself and Henry down by the apple-tree. “We ought to pay Mumps back for spying on us, too,” he added.
It was voted to dispose of the strawberry shortcake