“I don’t know, sir, but it was fully three feet long, and it hissed loudly as it went past me.”
“Some more of the boys’ tricks, I suppose. But this is going too far, especially if the reptile is poisonous.”
Lights were lit and turned up as high as possible, and a search of all the hallways followed. When the cadets learned that a snake was really at large in the school many of the timid ones were badly frightened.
“He might poison a fellow and kill him,” said one lad.
“Oh, I can’t bear snakes,” said another. “If he came for me I’d have a fit sure.”
The search for the snake was kept up the best part of an hour, but without success. Peleg Snuggers was forced to join in the hunt and nearly collapsed when he saw something under a stand in a far corner.
“The snake! The snake!” he yelled and started to run away. But what he had seen proved to be nothing but a piece of old window cord, and the general utility man was laughed at so heartily he was glad to sneak out of sight.
“He must have gone downstairs,” said Dick, and then a hunt was made below. Here some windows had been left open for ventilation, and Captain Putnam said it was possible the reptile had made its escape in that manner. He did not quite believe this, but he thought the snake must be harmless, and he wanted to say something to quiet those pupils who were timid.
“How did the snake get in your room?” he asked later on of the Rovers and their dormitory fellows.
“It came in this box,” answered Dick, and brought forth the pasteboard box in question. “Somebody knocked on the door and when we opened it the box was on the floor.”
Captain Putnam looked at the box and the inscription.
“Your lady friends must have peculiar tastes,” he said, smiling.
“Of course that was a trick—just to get us to take the box and open it,” answered Tom.
“Do you suspect anybody, Thomas?”
“Well—not exactly,” said the fun-loving Rover, slowly.
“What have you to say, Samuel?”
“I’m sure I can’t imagine who could send that box.”
“Richard, what can you tell of this?”
Dick paused and took a long breath.
“I can’t tell you anything, just now, Captain Putnam,” he answered slowly. “But I’ve got something of an idea of how that box got here. But I’d hate to accuse anybody unless I was sure of it.”
“Mr. Strong said the snake was at least three feet long.”
“It was certainly all of that.”
“Was it a poisonous snake, do you think?”
“It was not a rattlesnake, nor was it any kind of a snake such as are usually found in this part of our country, of that I am sure.”
“You got a good look at it then?”
“Yes.”
“I certainly had no idea snakes of such size could be found close to the school.”
“I am pretty sure that snake was never found around here. During my travels I have studied snakes a little, and that variety was a stranger to me.”
“I see.” The master of Putnam Hall mused for a moment. “Well, it is very queer. But, as the snake has disappeared, I think we may as well retire once more. I do not imagine we have anything to fear.”
It was a good hour before the school was quiet. Many of the boys were afraid to go to bed, and the teachers could not blame them. The Rovers and their chums got together to discuss the situation in whispers and at the same time remove all traces of the feast which had been so curiously interrupted.
“Dick, what do you make of this?” asked Tom.
“I think Tad Sobber is guilty, Tom—but I didn’t want to tell Captain Putnam so.”
“You think he got the snake out of that museum?”
“I do.”
“I think that myself,” put in Sam. “Don’t you remember how he was talking to that barker, just as if they were friends? It was surely Sobber who played that trick.”
“If it was Sobber we ought to pay him back,” came from Songbird, grimly. “A snake! Ugh, it makes me creep to think of it.”
“Don’t you want to compose an ode in its honor?” questioned Tom, dryly. “Might go like this:
“A hissing, gliding snake
Kept all the school awake;
Each boy in awful fright
Was looking for a bite!”
“You can make fun if you want to, but I think it is no laughing matter,” observed Fred. “Supposing a fellow goes to sleep and wakes up to find that snake crawling over him! Phew! talk about nightmares!”
“It certainly would make a fellow feel queer,” answered Sam. “But I say, Dick, if you are sure Sobber did it, why can’t we pay him back in his own coin?”
“I’m willing, but how can it be done?”
“Wait until tomorrow night and I’ll show you,” answered the youngest Rover. “That is, unless the snake is caught in the meantime.”
“Have you a plan to get square?” asked Larry.
“Yes.”
“Den go ahead sure,” came from Hans. “Of dot Sobber fellow peen guilty he ought to be hung up on der pottom of der sea alretty quick!”
“Just wait, and we’ll fix Mr. Tad Sobber,” answered Dick. “He’ll wish he never saw a snake.” He had an inkling of what was in his brother Sam’s mind to do.
CHAPTER XVII
A STIRRING SCENE IN THE SCHOOLROOM
The hunt for the snake was continued all of the next day, but without success. By that time the excitement had died down and a good many of the cadets forgot all about the incident. A few said it must be a joke and they laughed behind George Strong’s back.
“It’s one of Tom Rover’s tricks,” said one pupil. “I’ll wager he is laughing in his sleeves at Mr. Strong and Captain Putnam.”
“Do you think it was a live snake?” asked another.
“No, it was probably a toy affair on a string.”
In the secrecy of their room Tad Sobber and Nick Pell laughed heartily over the excitement created—that is, Pell laughed and the bully laughed with him. But Sobber, behind it all, was worried.
The truth of the matter was, he had hoped that the snake would be killed. The man who had sold him the reptile had said it was from Central America and poisonous, but had added that the snake was sick and not liable to do any harm. Sobber would not have cared had Dick or his brothers been bitten by the snake, but that the reptile was at large was another story.
“Do you think he’d be poisonous enough to kill anybody?” asked Pell, suddenly, and he sobered down as he spoke.
“Oh, no, of course not,” answered the bully, but he turned his face away as he spoke. He had given five dollars for the snake and now he was willing to give a like sum to make certain of its death.
In the afternoon Sam led the way to a little case of reptiles which hung on the wall of the school laboratory. In this was a stuffed snake almost the size of that which had disappeared.
“I guess we can frighten Sobber and Pell with that,” he said to his brothers.
“Anyway, we can try,” answered Tom, falling in with the plan at once.
“We want to be careful of what we do,” added Dick. “Otherwise, the pair will smell a mouse.”
They talked the matter over, and managed to get the snake upstairs without anybody seeing them. Then they paid a visit to the dormitory occupied by the bully and his cronies and passed some strong black threads across the floor and elsewhere. After that they told Songbird and their other chums of what had been done.
That night Sobber, Pell and their friends went to bed as usual. But hardly had they turned out the lights when they heard a curious rustling sound on the floor near the door.
“What is that?” asked Pell, who was inclined to be nervous.
“I don’
t know, I’m sure,” answered Sobber.
The rustling continued, and something seemed to move across the floor. Wondering what it could be, the bully got up and lit a light. Then he gave a yell and leaped back.
“The snake!”
“Where is it?” screamed Pell, sitting bolt upright and his hair raising on ends.
“There it is, over in the corner.”
“The snake! The snake!” called out the other boys in the room, and some were so scared that they dove under the bed clothing.
The light was not strong enough to see clearly, and nobody had the courage to make more of an illumination. Sobber stood in the center of the room and as he did this the snake suddenly seemed to fly through the air right at him.
“Oh!” he screamed. “Go away!” and he flopped on his bed and threw a blanket over him. He felt the reptile cross the bed and lay there quaking in mortal terror. Then he heard something moving across the floor.
“That snake is bound to bite me!” he muttered to himself. “Oh, why did I bring it to the school!”
“Call Captain Putnam, somebody!” came from Nick Pell. He was so frightened he could scarcely speak.
There was an emergency bell near the door, to be used in case of fire, and this one of the boys touched. At once the alarm sounded out, and in a few minutes the hallways were filled with pupils as on the previous night, while some of the teachers and Peleg Snuggers appeared with chemical fire extinguishers in their hands.
“Where is the fire?”
“Shall I telephone for the Cedarville fire department?”
“Has anybody been burnt?”
“What room is it in?”
Such were some of the questions asked. Then Captain Putnam rushed on the scene.
“It’s the snake again!” wailed one of the cadets, who now stood bolt upright on his bed, his eyes bulging from his head.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, the snake is in here,” answered Tad Sobber. “Why, it fairly jumped over my bed!”
“He tried to bite me in the face!” came from Nick Pell, who was so excited he scarcely knew what he was saying.
More lights were lit, and Captain Putnam went off to get a shotgun.
“If I catch sight of it, I’ll blow it to pieces,” he said to George Strong.
A long search followed, and then came a sudden cry from a corner of the dormitory.
“There he is!”
“Shoot him, Captain Putnam!”
The master of the Hall took aim and came up slowly. Then he suddenly dropped the barrel of his shotgun, stepped forward, and took hold of the snake by the tail.
“It’s a stuffed snake,” he said. “It belongs in the case in the laboratory.”
“A stuffed snake?” queried Tad Sobber, and when he realized the truth he was the maddest boy in that school.
“See here,” said the master of the Hall, turning to Dick. “Was this what you saw last night?”
“No, sir,” was the prompt reply. “What we saw was a real, live snake.”
“Indeed it was,” said George Strong.
“Are you sure this one is from the case in the laboratory, Captain Putnam?” questioned Andrew Garmore, one of the teachers.
“Yes, I know it well. Besides, here is the label on it.”
“Well, I looked at the case early this morning and it was filled as it has always been.”
“It’s a trick on me!” roared Tad Sobber, angrily. “Just wait, I’ll get square with somebody for this!” And he looked sharply at the Rovers.
“Sobber must like snakes—I saw him at the museum in Cedarville one day,” answered Dick, and eyed the bully boldly. At this Sobber grew red in the face and slunk out of sight.
“Get to bed, all of you,” said Captain Putnam sharply. “I’ll investigate this in the morning.”
As on the night before, it took the school a long time to quiet down. The Rover boys and their chums had a hearty laugh over the success of the trick.
“My! but Sobber is mad,” said Fred. “You want to watch out, he’ll do almost anything to get square.”
The promised investigation the next day did not materialize, for the reason that Captain Putnam was called away on important business. Thus two days passed, and the snake incident was again practically forgotten by the majority of the students.
On the following day the master of the Hall came back and said he would start his investigation that afternoon after the school session.
“And let me tell you one thing,” he announced. “Whoever brought that real snake into this academy will have to suffer for it.”
That afternoon in one of the classrooms some of the pupils were reciting history when of a sudden a wild shriek rang through the air and Nick Pell was seen to bounce up out of his seat and run away from his desk as if a demon was after him.
“What is it, Pell?” demanded the teacher.
“The—the snake!” groaned Nick. “Oh, I’m a dead boy!”
“Where is it?” asked a score of voices.
“In my desk! It just bit me in the hand! Oh, I’m a dead boy, I know I am!” And Nick Pell shook from head to foot in his terror.
The announcement that the snake was in Nick’s desk was received in various ways by the boys present. Some thought it must be the real snake and others thought it might be only a trick. With caution the teacher approached the desk, armed with a ruler. Then came a hissing sound and the snake stuck out its head.
“It’s alive!” yelled a dozen cadets.
“Kill it! Kill it!”
“You go and kill it!”
“I haven’t anything.”
“Neither have I.”
“Throw a book at it,” suggested Tom, and let fly his Cæsar. His aim was good and the snake was hit in the neck and tumbled to the floor. Then the boys threw books, rulers and inkwells at the reptile, and it was driven into a corner. Dick took up a big geography, let it fall on top of the snake, and stood on it. The reptile squirmed, but could not get away, and in a few seconds more it was killed.
“That’s the end of that snake,” said Sam, breathing a sigh of relief. “And I am mighty glad of it.”
“I am poisoned! I am poisoned!” screamed Nick Pell. “See, my hand is swelling up already!”
“Do you think he was really bitten?” whispered Tom.
“It looks like it,” answered Dick. “Too bad—if the snake really was poisonous.”
By this time Captain Putnam had come in. He glanced at the dead snake and gave a start.
“Did that thing bite you, Pell?” he questioned.
“Yes, sir, right here—in—the—the palm of the hand,” cried the youth addressed. “See how it is swelling.”
“I’ll telephone for a doctor at once. Come to my office and I will see what I can do for you.”
Nick had certainly been bitten and now the hand was twice its ordinary size, while the pain was acute. The boy shook like a leaf.
“I’m poisoned, I know I am!” he wailed. “It’s all Tad Sobber’s fault, too! Oh, if I should die!” And then of a sudden he fell to the floor in convulsions.
CHAPTER XVIII
IN WHICH TAD SOBBER DISAPPEARS
All standing near Nick Pell were amazed to see the boy fall to the floor. Captain Putnam and Dick Rover raised him up. His eyes were rolling frightfully and his jaws opened and shut with a snap that was sickening.
“Something is certainly wrong with him,” whispered Sam to Tom.
“Yes, he wouldn’t act that way if he was simply frightened,” was the reply. “And see his hand!”
“We will carry him up to one of the spare bedrooms,” said Captain Putnam. “And, Mr. Strong, see to it that we get a doctor here as soon as possible. Tell him it is a case of snake poisoning, and ask him over the telephone what we ha
d best do.”
Nick Pell was carried upstairs. By this time he had ceased to move and lay like a log in the hands of those who supported him.
Many had heard him mention Tad Sobber and all looked at the bully inquiringly. Sobber was deadly pale, but managed to keep up a bold front.
“I am not to blame,” he said, in answer to a question from one of the teachers. “I didn’t put the snake in Pell’s desk.”
“Did you bring the snake into the school?”
“Certainly not,” answered the bully shamelessly. He made up his mind to keep out of “hot water” even if it was necessary to lie to do it.
A hurry call was sent to Doctor Fremley of Cedarville and he came as quickly as his mare could bring him. Only the teachers and the physician were allowed in the bedroom with Pell, so the cadets did not know what took place.
“It’s as plain as day,” said Dick to his brother and his chums. “Sobber got the snake and put it in the box. That is why Pell said he was to blame.”
“But Sobber told a teacher he did not bring the snake into the Hall,” answered Songbird.
“I do not believe him,” came from Tom.
“Nor do I,” added Sam. “He’s a bad egg, if ever there was one.”
The poisoning of Nick Pell cast a damper over the whole school, and neither the teachers nor the pupils could settle down to lessons. The doctor remained with the sufferer for two hours, and when he went away he looked very grave.
“He is by no means out of danger,” announced the physician. “But let us hope for the best. I think his parents ought to be notified.”
This was done, and Mr. and Mrs. Pell came on the very next day to see their son. They found him in something of a fever and out of his mind, crying continually for Sobber to take the snake away.
“Richard, I want to see you,” said Captain Putnam that evening, and led Dick to his private office. There he demanded to know what the eldest Rover knew of the snake incident.
“Captain Putnam, I will tell you everything from beginning to end,” answered Dick. “If I am to suffer I’ll take my punishment, and Tom and Sam say they stand ready to do the same.” And thereupon Dick related the particulars of the trouble with the bully and Pell, and of how he and his brothers and Songbird and Hans had seen Sobber and Pell at the museum where the snakes had been. Then he told of the feast, and how the snake had been discovered in the box.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 177