leaped from the roadway to some convenient bushes. It was after hours and they well knew that to be caught by Captain Putnam or any of his assistants would mean severe punishment. Jack might even be reduced to the ranks, something that would have hurt the major’s feelings exceedingly.
A whistle arose on the air, a peculiar whistle, thrice repeated. Pepper answered it at once, and he and Jack stepped back to the roadway. In a moment they were confronted by Andy Snow and Stuffer Singleton.
“Did you get it?” demanded Andy, eagerly.
“What kept you so long?” added Stuffer. “We made up our minds something had gone wrong and we were coming to find out.”
“Something did go wrong,” burst out Pepper. “Somebody locked us in the belfry.” And then he and his chum told their story.
“It must have been Ritter and his crowd,” declared Stuffer. “None of us did it. I was with Dale and the others all the time, and Andy was on his errand for Captain Putnam.”
“If I was certain it was Ritter I’d give him a piece of my mind!” declared Jack. “It was a mean piece of business on his part – after what I did for him a few weeks ago. He might have been expelled from this school if I had not asked the captain to give him another chance.”
“Oh, you can’t rely on Ritter,” came from the cadet who loved to eat. “Why, yesterday, I had an extra piece of pie hidden in a closet, to eat after lessons, and he came along and gobbled it down! He ought to have the daylights hammered out of him!”
“Well, we got the clapper anyway,” said Pepper, grimly. “And it’s up to you, Stuffer, to treat to that ice-cream, and for Dale to find that apple pie that was promised.”
“I’ll keep my promise the first time we go to town, never fear,” answered Stuffer. “But just now I think the best thing all of us can do is to sneak into the school and get to bed, before we are found out.”
“And before Ritter plays some more of his dirty tricks,” added Andy.
The four cadets walked in the direction of the school, but before arriving at the campus turned into a side road bordering the lake.
“No use of going in by the regular entrance,” said Jack. “We’d be sure to be spotted – especially if Ritter or his cronies have told one of the teachers that we are out.”
“I know where Snuggers keeps his key to the kitchen door,” said Andy. “Maybe I can get that.” He referred to Peleg Snuggers, a general utility man around Putnam Hall, who divided his time between the school building and the stables.
“Where is the key?” asked Pepper.
“On a nail in the washshed. I saw him put it there one evening.”
“Then we had better go in by the back way – if we can get the key,” said Stuffer.
With caution the boys skirted the edge of the lake. As they passed the boathouse they heard a murmur of voices. They were about to set off on a run, thinking some teachers were in the building, when Jack called a halt.
“It’s Reff Ritter talking!” he cried, in a low voice, and a few seconds later there issued from the boathouse the forms of the school bully and his two particular cronies, Gus Coulter and Nick Paxton. As soon as the three saw the other cadets they started to walk away rapidly.
“Stop, Ritter! I want to talk to you!” cried Jack, in a low but steady tone.
“What do you want?” snapped back Reff Ritter, coming to a halt and wheeling around. It was after hours, so he did not take the trouble to salute the young major.
“I want to talk to you, – and I want to talk to Coulter and Paxton, too.”
“What about?” and now the seven students came together close to the side of the boathouse. “Don’t give me any of your long-winded speeches, Ruddy, for I am sleepy and want to get to bed.”
“Ritter, you and your gang played a mean trick on me and Ditmore to-night.”
“Did we?” sneered the bully.
“You did.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Maybe you think you weren’t seen near the church?” put in Pepper, meaningly.
“Say, who – er – who saw us?” faltered Coulter.
“Ha, so you admit you were at the church!” cried Jack.
“Coulter, can’t you hold your jaw?” demanded Reff Ritter, angrily.
“Ritter, answer me straight,” said Jack, in a determined voice. “Were you at the church to-night or not.”
“Well, since you want to know so badly, I was,” answered the bully. “Now then, what of it?”
“You fastened the trap door of the belfry, did you?” put in Pepper.
“I did.”
CHAPTER IV
PUNISHING A BULLY
After the frank confession of the bully of Putnam Hall that he had fastened the trap door of the church belfry, there was a moment of intense silence. He faced Jack and Pepper with a sickly grin on his face.
“It was a joke on you all right enough,” he continued. “You were lucky to get away as quickly as you did. What did you do, – force the trap door open in spite of the bolt?”
“Ritter, I think you are about the worst boy that ever came to this school,” said Pepper.
“Oh, you needn’t preach to me, Ditmore.”
“I wouldn’t say so much if you had played that trick on me alone,” went on The Imp calmly. “But to play it on Jack – after all he did to save you from being expelled – well, it’s beyond me. I guess you don’t know what a conscience is.”
“If you are going to talk to me like that I’ll smash you one in the jaw!” fired back the bully. “I know what I am doing, and it’s not for you to teach me manners.”
“Do you know that Jack came close to losing his life at the church and all because you locked us in the belfry?” added Pepper.
“Humph! What are you trying to do, scare me? It didn’t hurt you to be locked in.”
“Ritter, you listen to me,” broke in the young major, and now his voice was so cold and uncompromising that all in the crowd held their breath. “You admit that you locked us in the belfry, don’t you? You know what it would have meant for me if I had been caught there, and you know what it would have meant for the school. It was mean, dirt mean. I thought you were going to turn over a new leaf – be like the rest of the fellows. Now – well, I think I’ll teach you a lesson.”
“Me, a lesson?” faltered Reff Ritter.
“Exactly. I made a mistake when I didn’t let Captain Putnam expel you. The whole school would have been better off for it. Take off your jacket and cap.”
“Why?”
“Because I am going to give you a sound thrashing – and do it before we go to bed.”
“Humph! Want to fight, eh?”
“No, I didn’t say anything about a fight, I said I was going to give you a sound thrashing.”
“If you fight we’ll all be caught!” cried Nick Paxton, in alarm. “Put it off till to-morrow.”
“Yes, let us get to bed!” added Coulter. “I won’t say a word about your being at the church.”
“You bet you won’t – not unless you want a big licking,” cried Pepper.
“Mum’s the word on this, remember that, everybody,” cried Andy.
“Remember it – or take the consequences,” came from Stuffer.
While