“Oh, it takes our Fred to do it!” cried Andy, dancing around. And then he had to turn a couple of handsprings to relieve his feelings.
“Huh! you just wait till Gabe shoots,” said Bill Glutts.
“He’s the one to win that gold medal!” piped in Codfish.
“Well, there is one thing sure—you’ll never walk off with any medal, Codfish,” returned Randy; and at this there was a laugh, for the sneak of the school had made a poor showing on all of the targets—in fact, he was so timid that he was almost afraid to discharge his rifle.
Gabe Werner strode forward with a superior air and inspected the rifle that was handed to him critically.
“I want a gun that shoots straight,” he said.
He took a long time to shoot, sighting his rifle several times before each discharge. His first shots were fairly good, but then his nervousness asserted itself, and he all but missed the target. His total was eight points, bringing his grand total up to thirty-nine points.
“Hello, Werner’s dropped down!”
“He is one point behind Barrow and three points behind Fred Rover.”
“Say, Gabe, what happened to you? Did you get a dose of the shakes?”asked one of his followers.
“Maybe somebody moved the target on him,” suggested Andy slyly.
“Perhaps the rifle had a twist in the barrel,” announced Randy.
“Oh, say, this is none of your affair!” growled Gabe Werner, as he threw down the rifle in disgust and faced the two fun-loving Rovers.“You mind your own business!”
“Gracious, but you’re peppery!” said Andy.
“I’ll pepper you some day!” howled Werner, and then turned on his heel and strode off, looking anything but pleasant.
“Gee! but he takes it hard,” remarked Walt.
“How foolish,” returned Gif. “Even if I was disappointed, I wouldn’t show it.”
It was now Jack’s turn to shoot, and he did so without delay. His first two shots were not particularly good, but then he found the bull’s-eye twice in succession, much to the amazement of all the onlookers.
“Say, there’s shooting for you!”
“Fred, you’d better look to your laurels or Jack will beat you,” cried Spouter.
“I want him to beat me—if he can,” answered Fred generously.
And beat his cousin Jack did by just one point. He scored a total of forty-three, while Fred had forty-two.
Barrow came in for third place with forty points, and Werner fourth with thirty-nine points. Frank Newberry was fifth, and a cadet named Henkerson sixth.
“Well, you beat me fairly and squarely, Jack!” cried Fred, shaking hands.
“Not such an awful lot at that, Fred. Only one point,” returned the young captain good-naturedly.
“But it gives you the gold medal, while I’ll have to content myself with the silver medal. Just the same, I’m glad I did as well as that,”added Fred.
CHAPTER XXIII
GIRL VISITORS
After the target practice the cadets of Colby Hall settled down to the usual routine of the camp. The Rovers and their chums were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the girls from Clearwater Hall, and they made arrangements with Captain Dale so that the visitors might be appropriately entertained.
The girls came in two large touring cars, which had been hired at the Haven Point garage. The Rovers and their chums were on the lookout for them, and set up a cheer as soon as they appeared.
“Oh, what a lovely spot for a camp!” exclaimed Ruth Stevenson, as she leaped to the ground and shook hands with Jack.
The visitors were escorted by Captain Jack to Captain Dale’s quarters. He knew some of the young ladies already, and soon made all of the crowd feel perfectly at home.
“Your friends will show you around our camp, and if you care to do so you may have regular mess with our cadets,” said the old West Pointer, smiling.
“Oh, let’s have a regular mess dinner by all means!” cried Mary. “I’ve always wanted to know how it tasted.”
“Grandest soup you ever struck, Mary,” said Gif.
“Especially if a pinching bug or a worm chances to drop into it,” came from Andy.
“You horrid boy!” cried Martha. “Jack, you ought to box his ears for that.”
The girls were shown over the camp, and even taken down to the rifle ranges, in the meantime being told about the very excellent scores Jack and Fred had made.
It had been arranged that the girls were to be away from Clearwater Hall for two days. They were to spend one day with the boys at Camp Barlight and the following day near Camp Huxwell, where Alice Strobell had an aunt living who had promised to take them all in for the night.
“We’ll come over here early in the morning for you boys,” said Martha,“and then all of us can visit Camp Huxwell together. I’ve already sent word to dad, and Mary has sent word to Uncle Sam, so they will be on the lookout for us.”
“That will be fine!” cried Jack. “I’ve been wanting to see that camp ever since we got here, but, somehow, I couldn’t get away to do it.”
“And I want to see my dad, too,” added Fred enthusiastically.
The twins were likewise eager to see the government camp and their uncles, but they were somewhat depressed, and could not help but show it.
“I know what’s the matter,” whispered Martha to her brother. “They are thinking about their father. Poor Uncle Tom! What a shame it is that he couldn’t join father and Uncle Sam.”
“Well, you know how they arranged it,” answered the young captain.“Somebody had to stay at home to manage the business.”
While the Rovers and their chums were showing the girls around the camp, Gabe Werner and Bill Glutts eyed them enviously.
“I don’t see why they are permitted to have girls come here and visit them,” growled the ex-lieutenant.
“Girls are all out of place in a camp like this,” added the wholesale butcher’s son. “You can’t have the same amount of freedom with those skirts around.”
“I just heard something,” put in Codfish, who had come up a moment before. “The Rovers and those other fellows are going to take the girls out into the woods for a picnic.”
“Where did you get that news?” asked Glutts quickly.
“I heard the cook telling one of his helpers. They are fixing up a great big bunch of grub for them.”
“Huh! some folks have nerve,” grumbled Werner. “I suppose he’ll let’em have all the best things there are in camp and we can take what’s left.”
“Chopped-up onions, for instance,” and Glutts grinned.
“I’ll onion them, you see if I don’t!” cried Gabe Werner. And then he suddenly caught his crony by the arm. “Say, I’ve got an idea! If we can get away and follow those fellows maybe we can spoil their old picnic for ’em.”
“I get you!” cried Glutts quickly.
“What are you going to do?” questioned Codfish.
“Will you keep your mouth shut if we take you in on this?” demanded the ex-lieutenant.
“Of course I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“All right then, you can come in, Henry. But remember, if you open your trap on us we’ll come down on you like a ton of bricks,” added Gabe.
The matter was talked over for several minutes by Werner and Glutts, and then Codfish was dispatched to the cook’s quarters on an errand.
The girls enjoyed eating the regular mess lunch immensely. Each was provided by the boys with a new mess kit and instructed into the art of using the same. They sat at the main table in the mess hall, a table presided over by Captain Dale himself.
“This is quite an honor, ladies,” said the old West Pointer politely.“It’s the first time we have had so many of the opposite sex in any of our camps.”
“It is very lo
vely of you, Captain Dale, to permit us to come,” said Ruth. “I am sure we all thank you very much for all the courtesies you have shown us.”
“Indeed we do!” came from the others.
“I’m afraid this meal will put a little damper on our picnic,”remarked Fred. “We should have eaten our lunch out in the woods.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” retorted Andy. “We’ll be ready for another meal after we’ve tramped about over the rocks and among the trees for several hours.”
The food to be taken along had been placed in three old knapsacks with which the camp was provided, and these the twins and Spouter placed on their back when they set off for the woods. All were in high spirits, and Andy and Randy whistled gaily as they trudged along.
“Let us go up on top of one of the cliffs,” suggested Jack, after they had been tramping for the best part of an hour. “We ought to be able to get a splendid view of the bay from there.”
The others were willing, and about the middle of the afternoon they reached a high, rocky point, overlooking Barlight Bay and the rolling Atlantic. It was a clear, sunshiny day, and consequently they could see for miles in several directions.
“I see a big steamer coming up the coast!” cried Gif presently. “See the trail of smoke she is leaving behind her?”
“I wonder if those big coastwise steamers are in any danger of the German submarines?” remarked Martha.
“Oh, I don’t believe there are any submarines around here,” said Randy.
“Don’t be too sure about that,” put in Jack. “Don’t forget that the Huns sent over several of their U-boats before we even got into the war.”
“There may be more German submarines lurking in these waters than we have any idea of,” remarked Spouter. “It is a well-known fact that the Central Powers have an enormous number of submarines, and that they have been sent to all the important lanes of travel in the AtlanticOcean, as well as the Mediterranean Sea and the North Sea. They have got the science of building U-boats down exceedingly fine, and they evidently know exactly how to handle such craft. And not only that, but they have invented some exceedingly destructive torpedoes, and likewise some devices——”
“Say, Spouter, have you started to deliver a lecture on German submarines?” demanded Randy.
“Please remember that we came to camp for the sole purpose of escaping lectures,” added his twin.
“I’m not delivering a lecture,” returned Spouter coldly. “I was only trying to pound into your somewhat bonelike heads a few important facts. But, of course, the task is rather a useless one, because you wouldn’t be able to assimilate such knowledge even if——”
Spouter’s oratory was cut short by a wad of wet leaves which Randy picked up and hurled at him. Then Andy poked him with a long tree branch he had picked up, and for a few minutes there was quite a good-natured pitched battle, the girls looking on with much interest.
“Avast and heave to!” roared Andy, melodramatically. “Over the top and at ’em! Chew ’em up alive! Don’t let ’em cry ‘Kamerad’! Make ’em yell, ’Have you used Brickbat’s Soap!’” And at this there was a shriek of laughter from the girls.
When the horseplay had finally come to an end, the young folks walked out on the rocks where they might get a better view of the bay and the ocean beyond. As was quite natural, the boys and the girls paired off together, and Jack saw to it that Ruth obtained a seat that was comfortable. Fred did the same for May, while Spouter and Gif walked on a short distance further with the two Rover girls.
The knapsacks containing the food had been left on some flat rocks a short distance to the rear. So that they might not get too warm, the boys had placed some brushwood over them, along with some wraps which the girls had brought along.
Although the Rovers and their chums did not know it, they had been followed into the woods by Werner, Glutts and Stowell, who had obtained a brief leave of absence from the officer of the day. The trio had watched the girls and their cadet friends closely, and viewed the disposal of the knapsacks and the wraps with satisfaction.
“Here is where we get square with them,” muttered Gabe. “We’ll fix ’em for putting chopped-up onions in our mess kits!”
“What are you going to do with those onions I got for you?” questioned Codfish.
“We’ll doctor up every bit of their food with ’em,” answered Glutts.“They can have onion sandwiches and onion cake and onion pie galore. My, but that lunch will be one sweet mess when we get through with it!” he added gleefully.
“Yes, and I’ll tell you another thing we can do,” pursued Gabe Werner maliciously. “We can put some of the chopped-up onions into the pockets of those girls’ coats. That will make ’em all smell fine!”
“Oh, say! do you think you ought to touch the girls’ things?”questioned Codfish timidly.
“Sure! That will give those fellows a job cleaning the mess up,”answered Gabe heartlessly.
“But we don’t want to get caught.” Now that the time had arrived to play the joke on the Rovers and their friends, the sneak of the school was beginning to tremble.
“Oh, we won’t get caught,” said Werner. “Come on. They are all out of sight, and it will be dead easy to turn the trick.”
CHAPTER XXIV
TOM ROVER’S ANNOUNCEMENT
Fred and May had gone up to the topmost point of the cliff overlooking Barlight Bay. Here they could get a view not only of the water front, but likewise of the Colby Hall camp stretched out in the clearing to the northeast of the woods. The wind was blowing rather freely, and presently the youngest Rover noticed that the girl beside him shivered.
“Why, you are cold, May! You should have brought your coat along,”Fred declared.
“I wish I had,” May answered.
“Let me run back and get it.”
“Oh, don’t bother, Fred. We won’t stay up here so very long.”
“It’s no bother at all. It will take me only a few minutes to get it,”answered the young lieutenant gallantly, and began to climb down the rocks.
It did not take Fred long to reach a point where the cliff was more level, and then he hurried off in the direction where the knapsacks and the wraps had been left.
“Hello! what’s this?” he asked himself, coming up beside the flat rocks. “I’m sure we left them here.” But neither the knapsacks with food nor the wraps were anywhere in sight. Fred scratched his head, wondering if he were dreaming.
“Hi, fellows!” he called out. “Something wrong here!”
“What’s the matter?” yelled Gif, who was the nearest of the others.
“The knapsacks and wraps! They are gone!”
“Gone! Do you mean somebody has taken them?” exclaimed Gif.
“Yes, I do! Call the others, quick.”
As Fred uttered the last words he darted away from the flat rocks. He had seen a movement behind some trees and bushes not a great distance away. As he drew closer to the spot he heard Codfish give a cry of alarm.
“We’re discovered! Fred Rover is coming!”
“Hi, Codfish! what are you doing here?” demanded Fred. But instead of answering, the sneak of the school set off on a run through the woods as fast as his legs could carry him.
By this time Gif was coming up, followed by Andy and Randy, while Jack and several others of the party were trying to get down from the rocks at the front of the cliff.
“Who was it? Who took the things?” questioned Gif hurriedly.
“I saw Codfish,” answered Fred. “And there are Glutts and Werner!” he added suddenly, as the pair came into view between the trees. They were running swiftly, carrying the three knapsacks between them. Codfish had been carrying the girls’ wraps, but had dropped them in his fright.
“The mean rascals, they were going to make off with our eats!” roared Spouter. “Come ahead
! Let’s catch ’em!”
There was no need for him to utter these words, for already Gif and Fred were making after Werner, Glutts and Codfish at top speed. Behind them came all of the other cadets, each now aware of what had occurred.
“Hang the luck! I didn’t think they would spot us like this,” panted Gabe, as he lumbered along. He had a knapsack in each hand, while Glutts carried the third. Codfish, free-handed, was just ahead of them.
The three had a fair start, and might have gotten away by hiding behind the trees and brushwood of the forest had not the unlucky Codfish met with an accident. His foot caught in an exposed tree root, and down went the sneak of the school flat on his breast. Then, before they could stop themselves, Werner and Glutts fell over him, banging him on the head with the heavy knapsacks as they did so.
“Oh! Oh!” moaned Codfish. “Don’t hit me like that! Get off! You are smashing my ribs!”
Werner and Glutts rolled over, letting go of the knapsacks as they did so, and scrambled to their feet. But these movements took time, and in the meanwhile Fred and Gif rushed up, catching each by the arm.
“You let go of me, Fred Rover!” cried the wholesale butcher’s son; and when the youngest Rover did not do as commanded, Glutts made a savage pass with his fist.
Had the blow landed as intended, Fred would have been struck full in the nose, but he knew something about boxing, and dodged cleverly, and then he came back at Glutts with a blow in the ear which sent that youth sprawling once more.
In the meantime Werner attempted to get away from Gif. But that athletic youth put out a foot behind the ex-lieutenant, and down went Gabe once more on the panting and bewildered Codfish. Both rolled over among the tree roots, and it was several seconds before they could untangle themselves and get to their feet.
By this time Andy and Randy had come up, and a short while later Jack and the others appeared.
“What’s this all about?” demanded Jack, who, as a captain of the cadets, felt that he was in charge.
“They were sneaking off with the grub and with the girls’ wraps,”answered Fred. “I spotted them just in the nick of time. Another half minute, and they would have been out of sight.”
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