As was to be expected, there was a certain amount of horseplay in camp that evening to which those in charge turned something of a blind eye.
“We’ll have to leave the boys let off steam a little,” said Captain Dale to the professors who had come with him. “I think they’ll soon settle down to regular routine.”
But the excitement of getting ready for the encampment, and the long tramp over the dusty roads, had tired all of the cadets, and it was not long before the great majority of them were ready to retire. Only a few, like Andy and Randy, wanted to continue the fun, but Jack and Fred quickly subdued the twins.
“You’ll have plenty of time for your jokes when we get into the regular camp,” said the young captain. “Now you had better get a good night’s rest, for we have a long hike before us for to-morrow—over the Lookout Hills.”
As members of Company C, Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts would have been under the direct command of Jack and Fred. This was a thorn in the side of the ex-lieutenant, and as soon as he had received word from home that he must remain at the school for the period of the annual encampment, he went to Captain Dale and asked to be transferred to another company, and requested that Glutts be transferred also.
“I think I can understand your feeling, Werner,” said Captain Dale kindly. “I am very sorry that you refused to run for a lieutenancy after your defeat. Which company would you like to go in—A or B?”
“If it’s all the same to you, Glutts and I would like to go into Company B.”
“Very well. I’ll have the necessary shifts made, and you can report to the captain of that company before we start away.” And so it was arranged.
“The Rovers ain’t going to get me under their thumb!” growled Werner to Glutts. “I know they would like nothing better than to find all sorts of fault and to get me into trouble.”
This, of course, was not true, because both Jack and Fred had decided to treat the defeated candidate with every consideration.
“But I’m glad they’ve been transferred,” said Fred, when he heard the news.
“You’re not half as glad as I am, Fred,” answered the young captain.
Jack and his two lieutenants occupied a tent together, while Andy and Randy were under canvas with Gif and Spouter. The night was a pleasant one, neither too hot nor too cold, and it was not long after the young cadets had turned in before most of them were sound asleep. But not so Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts.
During the halt at noon for lunch, the cronies had held an animated conversation, and this talk had been continued after the battalion had gone into camp for the night. The subject of their discussion had been the question of getting square with Jack and Fred because of what had occurred during the election. Werner attributed his downfall entirely to the Rovers.
“I’ll show ’em a thing or two before I get through with ’em!” he asserted to his crony. “They can’t walk all over me and get away with it!”
“Well, Gabe, you know I’ll be on deck to help you in anything you try to put over on ’em,” responded the wholesale butcher’s son.
“Of course we’ll have to be careful what we do,” went on Werner. “We don’t want to run afoul of Captain Dale or any of the professors. If we did they might set us some awful mean tasks to do while we were in camp.”
“Yes, we’ll have to be on our guard and work on the sly.”
Neither Werner nor Glutts were particularly brilliant in evolving their scheme, but finally the ex-lieutenant hit upon something which he thought would answer. Then he told his crony of what had occurred to him.
“That’s the talk!” cried Bill Glutts, his eyes gleaming wickedly.“Let’s go and do it this very night, just as soon as they are sound asleep. My, won’t there be some rumpus in the morning when they wake up and find out what has happened!”
CHAPTER XVIII
ONE SURPRISE AND ANOTHER
Fred Rover was so tired that he closed his eyes in slumber almost as soon as he touched his cot.
But not so the young captain. Jack was fatigued, but he was also worried over some of the problems connected with his company, and these he tried to solve as he lay there in the darkness.
As the cadets were to remain in this camp for but one night only, nothing had been done toward putting any flooring in the tents. The cots of the captain and the two lieutenants rested on the short grass of the pasture. More than this, as the night was rather warm, one of the tent flaps was left open for ventilation, and for the same purpose a corner of the canvas in the rear was turned up.
As all of the cadets had tramped the distance from Colby Hall, no one was called on that night to remain on guard. In place of this a professor who had ridden over in an automobile agreed to sit up to see that nothing was stolen by any outsiders who might have an idea of doing such a thing.
But no outsiders appeared in view, all of the curiosity seekers having left the pasture lot before it came time for the cadets to turn in. As a consequence, the professor had nothing to watch, and soon grew exceedingly sleepy. Sitting in the tonneau of an open automobile, he presently began to nod, and then his head fell forward on his breast.
Jack had thought that he would soon drop to sleep, but the problems in his mind worried him so that presently he found himself wide-awake in spite of his fatigue.
“Confound it! why can’t I go to sleep?” he murmured to himself. Then, punching his pillow to freshen it up, he turned over and tried his best to drop off.
He was just on the edge of dreamland when a sound from outside the tent attracted his attention. At first he thought some night bird or a bat might be flying around. But then came a low murmur of voices.
“Somebody is up,” he thought. “Perhaps it is Professor Grawson taking a walk around. He said he was going to keep an eye on things until morning.”
Jack lay perfectly still, and presently saw a ray of light shoot into the tent from the rear. It was the gleam of a small pocket flashlight. A thin silk handkerchief was over the end, so that the light was quite dim.
“Sure this is the right tent, are you?” he heard, in a low tone.
“Yes, this is the place,” was the reply, in the faintest of whispers.“Keep quiet now, and if there is any alarm, run for your life.”
On hearing these words, the young captain was puzzled for the time being. But then he realized that the voices had a familiar sound, and he smiled grimly to himself.
Slowly and cautiously Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts wormed their way into the tent by way of the opening in the rear. Gabe had the flashlight, and this he cast from one side to another, taking care, however, that the rays did not fall into the face of any of the officers.
Jack kept his eyes closed when the marauders looked at him. But as they turned around he eyed them sharply. A line had been strung from the front to the rear pole of the tent, and on this were a number of hangers containing the three officers’ uniforms and some of their other belongings. Stepping up to the uniforms, the two from outside looked them over quickly. Then Werner pointed to one uniform and to another, to signify that these belonged to Jack and Fred.
Not a word was spoken by those who had come in to play their mean trick on the Rovers. Silently each drew out his pocketknife and opened one of the blades.
Werner’s scheme, to which Glutts had agreed, was to cut all the buttons from both uniforms and then slit the garments so that they would be next to useless. Then they were going to take the other belongings of the young captain and the lieutenant and throw them into a muddy brook located in one corner of the pasture.
Watching the marauders as a cat might watch a mouse, Jack saw the pocketknives opened and saw the two rascally cadets take hold of his coat and that belonging to his cousin.
“No, you don’t, you rascals!” he cried loudly, as he bounced off the cot. “Leave those uniforms alone!”
The interruption came
so unexpectedly that both Werner and Glutts were dumbfounded. As Jack pounced on Gabe from the rear, Glutts, muttering a cry of terror, plunged through the opening of the tent by which he had come and fled down past the other nearby shelters at top speed.
“Let go of me!” hissed Gabe Werner, as he turned swiftly to find himself in Jack’s embrace.
The flashlight had dropped to the ground and rolled under one of the cots. The young captain and the ex-lieutenant began to wrestle, and in doing this fell over on the cot occupied by Lieutenant Blake just as this lieutenant and Fred were awakening.
“Hi! what does this mean?” spluttered Tom Blake, as both Jack and Werner came down on top of him.
The combined weight of the three brought the cot down with a crash. In the meantime Fred had jumped up.
“Say, what’s all this row mean?” he demanded quickly.
“Here is a fellow who was going to play a dirty trick on us!” shouted Jack. “Grab him! Don’t let him get away!”
He said this because in the tumble his hold on Gabe had been somewhat lessened, and in the mix-up Werner was now endeavoring to slip out of his grasp. All had fallen to the ground, and the ex-lieutenant kicked out vigorously with his heavy shoes, landing one blow in Blake’s stomach, and the other on Jack’s knee.
It was so dark in the tent that but little could be seen, and as Fred made a leap forward he fell over somebody’s legs and went down. Then in the mix-up Blake got in the way, and both Jack and Fred grabbed him, each by an arm, thinking he was the intruder.
“Give in!” cried Jack sternly. “If you don’t, it will be the worse for you.”
“You’ve got the wrong man, Captain!” cried Blake. And then, as he was released, he added: “Wait until I make a light so that we can see what we are doing.”
A lantern was hanging at the front of the tent, and, striking a match, Blake lit this. In the meantime, however, Fred saw a form disappearing through the hole in the back of the tent.
“There he goes!” he yelled to Jack.
“Stop him!”
This suggestion was unnecessary, for Fred was already crawling through the opening. But, being aroused from a sound sleep so suddenly, he was still somewhat dazed, and by the time he had got on the outside of the tent and was on his feet, Gabe Werner was a good distance away and running like a deer.
“Come back here!” shouted Fred, looking after the flying figure.
In a few seconds Fred was joined by Jack. By this time the hubbub around the officers’ tent had been heard by others, and even Professor Grawson was awakened from his nap.
“What’s the trouble here?” demanded the professor, leaping from the tonneau of the automobile and hurrying in that direction.
“Two outsiders came into our tent,” said the young captain.
“What did they want?”
“I guess they were going to play some trick. But I woke up and scared them off.”
“Do you wish to make any complaint, Captain Rover?” went on the professor, as Blake came around with the lantern and some other cadets began to gather.
“I don’t think so—at least not to-night, Professor,” answered Jack, after a few seconds of rapid thinking.
“I hope they didn’t do any damage,” went on Professor Grawson.
“They didn’t have time. Although in the struggle, when I tried to catch one of them, we fell over one of the cots and broke it down.”
“I see.” The professor mused for a moment. “Well, perhaps you might better let the matter rest,” he continued. He was afraid someone would ask him about himself, and then he would have to acknowledge that he had been asleep instead of remaining on guard.
The excitement soon died away, the report being that some of the cadets had been starting in for a little more horseplay, but that the scheme had been nipped in the bud. Andy and Randy were on hand, and asked Jack for some of the particulars.
“I’ll tell you about it to-morrow,” whispered the young captain. “But mum is the word just now.”
Returning to their tent after the excitement was over, the Rovers assisted Lieutenant Blake to put up his cot, so that he could sleep upon it. In doing this, Jack picked up the flashlight and the silk handkerchief with which the end had been covered. In the struggle the light had been turned off. Without saying anything about his find, the young captain slipped the articles into his pocket.
Running as fast as his somewhat clumsy steps would permit, Bill Glutts reached the tent which he and Werner occupied along with two of their cronies, cadets who had asked them to join Company B just previous to their leaving Company C. Glutts had run so fast that he could hardly breathe, and he sank down on his cot gasping.
“You look to be in a hurry, Bill,” remarked one of the other cadets, who was awakened by the sudden entrance.
“Shut up—don’t make a sound!” whispered Glutts, half savagely. “If you do you’ll get the whole bunch into trouble.”
While trying to regain his breath and to undress, Glutts kept his ears wide open, and presently heard Gabe Werner approaching. Then the ex-lieutenant dove into the tent, quickly tying the flaps behind him. Without saying a word, he began to pitch off his clothing.
“Gee, I’m glad they didn’t catch you, Gabe,” muttered Glutts, in a hoarse whisper.
“They did! But I gave ’em a couple of kicks they won’t forget! And then I ran for it.”
“Do you suppose they recognized you?”
“I don’t think so. The minute we went down the light went out.”
“We sure did make a botch of that job,” grumbled the wholesale butcher’s son.
“How was I to guess that they’d be awake watchin’ us?” retorted the ex-lieutenant. “When I looked into the tent I thought the whole bunch was fast asleep. But shut up now—they may be coming this way, and we want to do the innocent act.”
“It’s me for that,” chuckled Glutts, and, having finished undressing, he turned over on his cot and commenced to snore. And in this Gabe Werner soon followed his example.
Both waited impatiently for five minutes or more. Then, as nothing came to disturb them, both breathed more freely.
“I guess they missed us,” whispered Glutts.
“It looks like it, Bill. But, say! I just thought of something,” went on Werner, and the tone of his voice showed his dismay.
“What’s wrong now?”
“In the struggle I dropped that flashlight and the silk handkerchief I had tied over it.”
“Gee, that’s too bad! Did either of the things have your name or initials on it?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s good. You haven’t got to admit that you own ’em.”
“That’s all right, Bill, but that flashlight and the handkerchief cost money,” grumbled Gabe Werner.
After that there was silence, but it was a long while before either of the rascally cadets could get to sleep. Both were bitterly disappointed over the failure of their scheme to do Jack and Fred an injury, and both wondered whether they would be found out.
CHAPTER XIX
AT CAMP BARLIGHT
There was so much to do in the morning, getting breakfast, taking down the tents and packing them in the motor trucks, and doing other necessary things, that the Rovers got no opportunity to talk over the stirring events of the night before. As officers Jack and Fred had many duties to perform.
Jack and Fred noticed that Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts were in their usual places in the company ahead of them. Once or twice they caught the ex-lieutenant and his crony gazing at them furtively, but to this they paid scant attention. Both were satisfied that these two unworthies were the guilty parties.
“I’m sure they are the ones,” said Jack to Fred and the twins, when they had come to a halt at the roadside for the noon-day meal and the cadets had some time to themselves. The
story had been told to Andy and Randy, who had listened with much interest.
“What did you do with the flashlight and the handkerchief?” questioned Andy.
“I’ve got them both in my pocket.”
“Are you going to return them?” asked Randy.
“I don’t see what else to do. I don’t care to carry them about, and I don’t care to give them up to Captain Dale or any of the professors. I wouldn’t want Werner and his crowd to think we are squealers.”
The matter was talked over among the Rovers and Spouter and Gif, who were let into the secret. Spouter looked the flashlight over, and was certain that it belonged to Gabe.
“I was down in Haven Point when he bought it,” he said. “I was thinking of getting one of them myself, so I looked them over pretty carefully.”
“I’ve got an idea!” cried Andy. “Just let me have those things, and I’ll see to it that Werner and Glutts get them back—and with a vengeance.”
“What’s the scheme?” questioned his twin eagerly, while the others listened, being equally curious.
“I’ll put each of them in a real, nice, comfortable, little package,”answered Andy, with a grin. “And then to-night, if I can get the chance, I’ll put one in Werner’s cot and the other in Glutts’s.”
“What do you mean by a ’real, nice, comfortable, little package?’”questioned Fred.
“Oh, a package that he’ll feel when he lies down on it. Something that he won’t be apt to overlook,” returned Andy innocently.
“Wow! that’s the stuff,” cried Randy eagerly. “Let’s have those things, Jack. We’ll fix ’em up O. K.”
“Well, you take care that you don’t get caught at it,” answered the young captain, and then passed the flashlight and the silk handkerchief over to the twins.
The cadets were now among the Lookout Hills, and after the lunch hour they had a long hike over two more of the hills. On the top of the last of these, they paused to rest and to look around them. A grand panorama burst upon their view, stretching many miles in all directions. Directly ahead, through a somewhat dense forest, they could see Barlight Bay, the waters of which sparkled brightly in the sunshine. Off to the northeast were some cleared fields, and this spot was pointed out to them as that where the camp was to be located. To the southeast, beyond the timber and a series of jagged rocks, was another cleared space stretching for several miles, and this was dotted by numerous low buildings and tents.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 377