While Sam remained on the bench he heard footsteps in the hallway and a howling protest from Tubbs. Then he heard the rich youth thrown into the stone cell next to the storeroom and left to his fate.
It was nipping cold, and, even with the window tightly closed and nailed over with slats, Sam could not endure it to remain on the bench long. Leaping up he began to stamp his feet and slap his arms across his chest to get them warm. Soon he heard Tubbs doing the same thing.
“I guess he’s worse off than I am,” thought the youngest Rover. “That stone cell hasn’t any bench in it any more, and it must be twice as cold and damp as this room. It’s a shame to put anyone there in this freezing weather. I don’t believe Captain Putnam would stand for it if he was here.”
He tried to speak to Tubbs, but the wall between was too thick, and he soon gave up the idea. Then he continued to stamp his feet and slap his arms, and even went through an imaginary prize fight, in order to warm up. It was now growing dark, and with the darkness the atmosphere of the storeroom became colder and colder.
CHAPTER III
TOM ON A TOUR OF DISCOVERY
Poor Sam was removed from the gymnasium so quickly that neither Dick nor Tom had time to protest, and when they reached the main door of the school building they found it shut and locked in their faces.
“Say, this is an outrage,” burst out Tom. “Sam wasn’t to blame for that fight. He didn’t trip Tubby up.”
“I know he didn’t,” put in Fred Garrison, who had come up also. “It was Larry Mason. But I shan’t give Larry away.”
“Neither will I.”
“Mr. Grinder always carries matters with a high hand when the captain is away,” put in Dick. “And he gets red-hot at the least little thing.”
“He doesn’t deserve to be a teacher here,” came from George Granbury, who had followed the others. “To my way of thinking, he’s worse than old Crabtree was, even though he is perhaps better educated.”
“I’d like to know what he is going to do with Sam,” said Dick, with a serious look on his face. “Sam has made such a good record this term I hate to see it broken.”
“He’ll do something to punish ‘em both,” came from Fred. “It will be too bad, though, if he puts ‘em in the stone cell. They’ll freeze to death such a night as this is going to be.”
“I won’t allow it,” ejaculated Dick. “Why, that would be inhuman!”
“I’m going in by the back way and find out what’s going on,” said Tom, and promptly disappeared around the corner of the Hall. He was soon inside the building, but to his chagrin found every door leading to Captain Putnam’s private apartments and to the stone cell and the storeroom locked. Having gone through the mess-rooms and through several of the classrooms, he rejoined the others, who had gathered around the fire in what was called the students’ general living room,—an apartment set aside during cold weather solely for the boys’ comfort, where they might read, study, play quiet games, or do similar things in order to make themselves feel at home.
“How did you make out?” was the question immediately put.
“Made out, and that’s all,” said Tom gloomily.
“What do you mean?” came from Dick.
“Every blessed door is locked, and so are the windows. I can’t get within two rooms of the office.”
“Did you hear anything?” asked George.
“Yes; I heard a noise like somebody stamping.”
“Where did it come from?”
“I think it came from the stone cell. But it sounded like somebody stamping on wood.”
“Perhaps it came from the empty storeroom,” cried Dick. “More than likely Mr. Grinder has placed Sam and Tubby there. I wish he’d come here. I’d question him.”
“Your wish is gratified,” whispered George. “Here he comes now!”
The door at the far end of the room had opened, and now Jasper Grinder came forth in a hurry. He was about to pass to another room at the rear of the school when Dick stopped him.
“Mr. Grinder, may I ask what you have done with Sam?” he asked.
“I have placed him in confinement until Captain Putnam returns,” was the snappy answer.
“Did you put him in the stone cell?”
“It is not for you to question me, Rover.”
“In this cold weather it isn’t fit for anybody to be in that stone cell. Sam may catch his death of cold.”
“I am the best judge of my own actions, Rover, and need no advice from you. Your brother has broken the rules of this school, and must suffer for so doing.”
“It’s inhuman to make a fellow freeze,” burst out Tom. “I don’t believe Captain Putnam would do that.”
“Not another word from either of you,” came sharply from the teacher. “Your brother will not freeze to death, but the cold may teach him a useful lesson.”
“If he gets sick, I’ll get my father to hold you legally responsible,” went on Tom.
At these words the teacher turned slightly pale, a vision of a lawsuit with damages to pay floating across his miserly mind.
“To ease your mind Rover, let me say I’ll see to it that he doesn’t get sick,” he said, and before Tom or Dick could question him further he passed out of the room.
“If he isn’t the worst yet!” burst out Fred, who had listened with interest to what was said.
“I shan’t stand it,” returned Tom. “Will you, Dick?”
Dick, older and more thoughtful, mused for a moment.
“I’d certainly like to help Sam,” he said. “But we must be careful and not get into trouble with Captain Putnam.”
“I’m going to find my way to the door of the cell somehow,” went on Tom.
“Old Grinder left that door unlocked when he came out,” said George, who had joined them.
“Good! I’m going through before he comes back.”
As good as his word, Tom slipped past the various tables at which the students were sitting, until he reached the door which connected with Captain Putnam’s private apartments.
Usually this portion of the Hall was forbidden ground to the scholars. But Tom had been inside the rooms a number of times, so knew the way well. Passing through a private sitting room and a small library, he came to a narrow hall connecting with the main hall, at the end of which were the stone cell and the empty storeroom.
He was just about to step into the main hall when he heard somebody coming down from the floor above. The party was Mrs. Green, the housekeeper, a good-natured lady upon whom Tom had played many a joke in the past.
“Gosh! I mustn’t be discovered!” he muttered, and looked around for some place to hide. Under the staircase was a recess containing a number of hooks with cloaks and overcoats, and into this he crowded, drawing one of the overcoats so as to completely cover the upper portion of his body.
Hardly had he gained the hiding place when Mrs. Green reached the lower hallway. Tom heard her pause at the foot of the stairs, strike a match, and light the big swinging lamp hanging from overhead.
“I might as well mend that overcoat now, while the captain is away,” Tom heard her murmur to herself. “It’s only a buttonhole that’s torn out, and a tailor would charge him four times what it’s worth—and he always so good at Christmas-time!”
“She’s looking out for her present,” thought Tom, with a grin. “But that’s none of my affair. If only she isn’t after this overcoat!”
He heard the housekeeper approach the recess and pause for a moment in front of it. He hardly dared to breathe, fearing that he would surely be discovered.
“Well, I declare, if he hasn’t gone and worn the very overcoat itself!” he heard Mrs. Green cry. “Just like him, and two good coats a-hanging here. Well, I suppose it’s the warmest he’s got, and he’ll have a cold ride back, especially if he returns to-night.�
� And so speaking Mrs. Green hurried away.
“A narrow shave, and no mistake,” murmured Tom to himself, and listened until he heard a distant door close. Then all was quiet, save the distant murmur of the student’s voices, coming from the sitting room.
Without losing more time, Tom left the recess and hurried to the door of the stone cell.
“Sam!” he called out softly. “Are you in there?”
“No; I’m in here,” came in the voice of Tubbs. “And—I’m almost frozen to—to—death.” The last words with a chattering of teeth that told only too plainly how the rich youth was suffering.
“Sorry for you, Tubby, really I am. But where is Sam?”
“In the—the storeroom. Oh, Rover, won’t you please ask Mr. Grinder to let me out? I’ll freeze to death here, I know I will!”
“I’ll do what I can. But he won’t let you out. He isn’t that kind of a fellow.”
“You might buy him off, Rover. I’ve heard he’s a regular miser, and I’ll give you five dollars of my Christmas money if he’ll let me go.”
“I’ll see what I can do after I’ve talked to Sam.” And so speaking Tom hurried to the door of the storeroom.
“Tom, is it really you?” cried the youngest Rover joyfully.
“Yes. How are you making out?”
“Horribly. I believe my feet and ears are already frozen!”
“Grinder is a beast to put you in here, Sam.”
“I know that well enough. He won’t give me any supper, I’m afraid.”
“Then I’ll try to get some supper to you.”
“Is the key of this door on a hook outside?”
“No. If it was I’d have the door open long ago.”
Sam gave a deep sigh, and then began to dance around once more to keep warm.
“Perhaps I can find a key to fit this lock,” went on Tom. “I know there are keys in some of the other doors.”
He ran off and soon returned with four keys, which he tried, one after another. The third was a fair fit, and with an effort the bolt of the lock was forced back.
“Hurrah! the door’s open!” exclaimed Tom. “Now you can go where you please.”
“Then you wouldn’t stay here?” questioned Sam anxiously.
“Not much! I’d hide in one of the dormitories, and I wouldn’t show myself until Captain Putnam gets back. I’ll see to it that you get something to eat, and when the captain returns you can tell him that if you had remained in this place all night you would have been frozen to death.”
Sam was willing enough to take Tom’s advice, and was soon in the hallway. Then the door was locked again.
“It’s heartless to leave poor Tubby in that cell,” said Tom. “Let’s get him out too.”
“All right—if you can find a key to fit the lock.”
Losing no time, the brothers tried one key after another in the lock to the door of the stone cell.
“Who’s that?” came in a chatter from Tubbs.
“Tom Rover,” was the answer. “I’ve just released Sam, and now we are going to release you, if we can.”
“Good for you Rover.”
“There she goes!” cried Tom a few seconds later, and in a moment more the door was opened and Tubbs stood in the hallway with the Rover boys.
Tubbs was about to say something, when Sam suddenly caught him by the arm.
“Hush!” he whispered. “Somebody is coming! I hope it isn’t old Grinder!”
CHAPTER IV
DORMITORY NUMBER TWO
For the moment none of the three students knew what to do. They felt that if the approaching personage should be Jasper Grinder there would certainly be “a warm time of it,” to say the least.
Yet the approaching man was not the teacher, but Peleg Snuggers, the man of all work around the Hall, a good-natured individual, well liked by nearly all the students. Snuggers was in the habit of taking many a joke from the scholars, yet he rarely retaliated, contenting himself with the saying that “boys will be boys.”
“It’s Snuggers!” whispered Sam, after a painful pause. “What shall we do?”
“Perhaps we can get him to keep quiet,” returned Tom, also in a low voice. “He’s a pretty good sort.”
“Do—don’t trust him,” put in Tubbs, in a trembling voice. “If I’m put back in that cell I’ll die; I know I will!”
“I have it,” said Tom, struck by a sudden idea. “Into the storeroom with you, quick!
“But he may be coming after me!” said Sam.
“Never mind—I’ll fix it. Be quick, or the game will be up!”
On tiptoe the three students hurried into the storeroom and Tom shut the door noiselessly. Then he slipped the key he still held into the lock and turned it.
“Now groan, Sam,” he whispered. “Pretend to be nearly dead, and ask Peleg to bring Grinder here.”
Catching the idea, Sam began to moan and groan most dismally, in the midst of which Peleg Snuggers came up.
“Poor boy, I reckon as how he’s nearly stiff from the cold,” murmured Snuggers. “And this bread and water won’t warm him up nohow. I’ve most a mind to bring him some hot tea on the sly, and a sandwich, too.”
The general utility man tried to insert a key in the lock, but failed on account of the key on the inside.
“Oh! oh!” moaned Sam. “Help! help!”
“What’s the row?” questioned Snuggers.
“Is that you, Snuggers?”
“Yes, Master Rover.”
“I’m most frozen to death! My feet and ears are frozen stiff already!”
“It’s a shame!”
“Tell Mr. Grinder to come here.”
“He won’t come, I’m afraid. He just sent me with some bread and water for you and for Master Tubbs.”
“Water? Do you want me to turn into ice? Oh, Snuggers, please send him. I know I can’t stand this half an hour longer. I’ll be a corpse!”
“All right, I’ll fetch him,” answered Snuggers. And setting down the pitcher of water and loaf of bread he had been carrying he hurried off.
“Now is our time!” whispered Tom, as soon as he was certain the man of all work was gone.
“But which way shall we go?” questioned Sam
“Follow me, and I’ll show you.”
Leaving the storeroom, Tom led the way through the semi-dark hallway and up the stairs. At the rear of the upper hall was a bedroom reserved for the captain’s private guests.
“Come in here for the present,” said Tom. “And when I tap on the window unlock the sash and be prepared to climb from the window to the next, which connects with Dormitory No. 2.”
“Good for you!” said Sam. “But how are you going to get to the dormitory?”
“Leave that to me.”
Leaving Sam and Tubbs to take care of themselves, Tom left the bedroom and walked out in the upper hall once more.
He was just in time to hear Peleg Snuggers returning with Jasper Grinder.
“It’s all nonsense,” he heard, in the teacher’s harsh voice. “The cold will do both of the boys good.”
“He said he was half frozen,” insisted Snuggers. “If anything serious-like happened to them, I dunno what the captain would say.”
“I know nothing serious will happen,” growled Jasper Grinder. “He was merely trying to work upon your sympathies. Both could stay there till morning easily enough.”
“The wretch!” murmured Tom to himself. “I’m mighty glad I let them out!”
A few seconds later he heard a cry of dismay.
“Rover is gone!”
“Gone?” came from Snuggers.
“Yes, gone. Snuggers did you leave the door unlocked?”
“No, sir, I couldn’t get the key in the lock. Here it is.” And the general utility man
produced it.
“Ah! here is a key on the inside. What can this mean?”
“I don’t know, sir. I left him a-groanin’ only a few minutes ago.”
“It is very strange.” Jasper Grinder gazed around the empty storeroom. “Did you hear anything from Master Tubbs?”
“No, sir.”
The teacher stepped out of the storeroom and made his way to the stone cell.
“He is gone too!” he ejaculated.
“Really, sir, did you say ‘gone’?” cried Peleg Snuggers, in dismay.
“Yes. This is—ah—outrageous, Snuggers. Where can they be?”
“I’m sure I don’t know, sir. Master Rover got out mighty quick.”
“Look for them among the students, and if you find them bring them to me at once.”
“I will, sir.”
As soon as Peleg Snuggers had departed Jasper Grinder looked around the storeroom and the stone cell to learn if he could find any trace of the boys.
This gave Tom the chance to slip through the captain’s private rooms and into the students’ quarters.
“Well, how did you make out?” was Dick’s impatient question. “You’ve been gone an age.”
“Come with me and I’ll tell you,” said Tom, and taking his brother and several chums aside he related what had occurred.
“Keep them there all night, and on bread and water!” cried Dick. “It is awful. I’m sure the captain won’t stand for it.”
“To be sure he won’t,” came from Fred Garrison. “But what are you going to do next?”
“Let them in the dormitory window.”
Tom led the way upstairs and into Dormitory No. 2. There were four windows in a row, and six beds, three occupied by the Rovers and the others by Fred, Larry, and George Granbury.
Going to the corner window Tom threw it wide open. It was growing dark outside, for it was now half-past six. As he stuck his head out of the window there was the rattle of a drum down in the mess hall.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 77