“It’s going to be some night, believe me!” sang out Andy merrily. “We’ll tear the woodpile down, as the old saying is.”
“We want to be a little bit careful or else we’ll have Snopper Duke or some other professor calling us down.”
“Snopper Duke is going away. I heard him tell one of the other teachers that he had had a sudden call to go somewhere out of town,” answered Randy.
“Going away again, eh?” questioned Gif, in surprise. “He certainly is getting to be a regular Man of Mystery.”
The greater part of the cadets were wildly excited over the prospects of a good time that night. A few of them, however, including Lieutenant Harkness, Paul Halliday, and Brassy Bangs, looked far from pleased.
“They make me tired,” was Brassy’s comment. “You’d think that being major of the school battalion was next to being president.”
“If I can’t be anything better than a lieutenant I think I’ll resign altogether,” returned Harkness.“I’d rather go in for athletics.”
“You’ll have a pretty good chance if you do,”announced Paul Halliday. “I understand they’re going to try to divorce the officers from participating in baseball and football as much as possible. A fellow can hold a commission and be on a team at the same time only when it seems absolutely necessary.”
“Then Jack Rover and Fred Rover will have to give up playing baseball,” put in Brassy quickly.
“More than likely. Although, of course, they’ll hate to lose such good players as they are,” put in another cadet who was present.
When the officers’ dinner was at an end Jack and Fred lost no time in hurrying to their rooms, where they donned their old uniforms. It was what was termed a “holiday night” at the Hall, which meant that for the time being the cadets were all on an even footing and must treat each other as if such a thing as an officer was unknown.
By the time Jack and Fred joined the crowd along the river bank the fun was at its height. Many of the cadets were running around indulging in all sorts of horseplay while others were dancing around the bonfires singing the songs they had learned in the school and while at the encampments. Several of the boys, including Andy, were in clowns’ costume with big slapsticks which they used vigorously on everybody who came within their reach.
“Hurrah, boys, let her flicker!” cried Fred, as he rushed forward. “Everybody join in!” he added, and then boomed out with this well-known Hall refrain:
“Who are we?
Can’t you see?
Colby Hall!
Dum! Dum! Dum, dum, dum!
Here we come with fife and drum!
Colby! Colby! Colby Hall!”
“That’s the stuff!” cried Jack. “Let’s have it again!” And then the refrain boomed out louder than ever.
“Come on! Let’s march around the school,”came from Gif, and he caught up a firebrand as he spoke.
A number of others were quick to follow his example, and in a minute more a torchlight procession was in progress, winding along over the campus, around the school, and through the edge of the woods beyond. Then the boys came back by way of the barns and sheds in the rear.
“Look out that you don’t set something on fire,” warned Jack.
“Something is on fire already!” burst out Andy suddenly.
“You don’t say!” queried Spouter.
“Where is the fire?” demanded half a dozen others, looking around anxiously.
“Right down there,” declared the fun-loving Rover, and pointed to the bonfires along the river.
“Wow! Let’s duck him for that!” cried Phil Franklin.
He made a dive for Andy and so did several others, but the agile Rover was too quick for them and danced out of their reach, having no desire to take an involuntary bath in the river, which at that time of the year was very cold.
In the past the cadets had had considerable fun with Job Plunger, the school janitor, who was quite deaf and who was often called Shout because everybody had to shout at him to make him hear. But this time Plunger was wise and kept out of sight, as did also Pud Hicks, his assistant, and Bob Nixon, the chauffeur. The only person the boys could get hold of was Si Crews, the gymnastic instructor.
“Give us a song, won’t you?” asked several of the boys at once, for Si Crews was known to be quite a singer.
“I will if Lowe will play the mandolin or the banjo,” answered Crews.
“That’s the stuff, Ned!” called Fred. “Go on and get your mandolin.”
Ned Lowe, who was also a good singer, was willing, and at once ran off into the school to get the musical instrument mentioned. When he came out he tuned up hastily and then played while Si Crews sang one or two old-time songs. Then Ned gave the crowd one or two funny songs and a dozen or more of the cadets joined in the chorus.
“Here’s a chance to get square with Codfish!”cried Fred, as the sneak of the school showed himself in the crowd.
“Oh, we might as well let Codfish drop,” answered Jack.
But before this could be done Andy and Randy caught hold of Stowell and pushed him forward through the circle of merry cadets around one of the fires.
“We’re going to initiate you in the Ancient Order of Cornmeal,” declared Andy.
“I don’t want to be initiated,” answered Codfish.“You let me alone!”
“Oh, but this is a first-class Order, Codfish,”returned Randy. “If your reputation is bad it will render you almost spotless.”
“You let me go!” burst out Codfish in sudden fear, as Andy and Randy and several others came close to him. “I don’t want any horseplay to-night. I’m tired out.”
“To be initiated in this Order you’ve got to lie down,” continued Andy, and, motioning to his brother and some of the others, they suddenly caught poor Codfish and stretched him out on the grass in front of the fire.
“Are you ready to be initiated?” questioned Randy solemnly, as he stood over Codfish with a small paper bag in one hand.
“You let me——” began Codfish.
“He says ‘let me!’” burst out Randy quickly.“So go to it, Most Potent Sower of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Cornmeal! Go to it, I say!”
And thereupon without further ado Randy overturned the paper bag he held in his hand and there descended upon Codfish several pounds of finely-ground meal which the lads had purchased in town a day or two before.
“Hi! Hi! What’s this? You let me go!”cried Codfish, and then began to splutter as the dry cornmeal got into his mouth and nose.
“My, Codfish, you’d make a regular muffin now,” declared Andy, as the whitened youth struggled to his feet.
“Give us a song, Codfish.”
“Make it a regular corncake hoedown,” put in Randy.
“You let me go!” shrieked Codfish, and then in commingled rage and fear he suddenly caught up a long firebrand from the bonfire and whirled it around rapidly before him.
“Get out of my way—all of you!” he screamed, and the next minute made a movement as if to dash the firebrand directly into Randy’s face.
CHAPTER XIII
A STARTLING DISCOVERY
“Drop that, Codfish!” exclaimed Randy, and backed away so suddenly that he tripped over some brushwood and came down flat on his back.
“I’m not going to be tormented any more,”stormed Codfish, and swung the firebrand around again, this time so the flames brushed Andy’s shoulder and also Fred’s arm.
“Drop that, you imp!” exclaimed Ned Lowe.“Do you want to put out somebody’s eyes?”
“I don’t care! You’ve got to let me alone!”screamed Codfish.
“We won’t let you alone until you learn how to behave yourself and act like the other fellows do,” answered Andy. “You’re the worst sneak
this school ever had, and you know it!”
“Yes, and see how you acted after all we did for you when we were at Cedar Lodge,” added Randy, who had scrambled to his feet.
“I—I didn’t mean to say anything about those snowballs,” whined Stowell. “They made me do it!” And thereupon, pitching the firebrand back on the bonfire, he pushed his way through the crowd of cadets and disappeared in the darkness in the direction of the school.
“Gee, he certainly is a pill!” was Dan Soppinger’s comment. “I think none of us would weep if Codfish left the school for good. How about it?”
“Never mind—don’t let it spoil the festivities,”cried Andy gayly. “Come on! Everybody join in! A fine of one suspender button for the fellows who don’t sing!” And thereupon he began a ditty he had composed during the war.
“Johnny get your musket!
You must get your musket!
Johnny get your musket!
You must get it now!”
And this ditty the lads sang over and over again as they leaped and swung in a circle around the bonfires.
But all gala occasions must come to an end, and by eleven o’clock the bonfires were nothing but heaps of smouldering ashes, and then one by one the cadets returned to the Hall and retired.
“Well, Jack, it will seem kind of funny, won’t it, to be at the head of the school battalion to-morrow morning?” questioned Gif, as he and the newly-elected major turned into the corridor leading to their rooms.
“Yes, Gif. But it won’t be so very strange either, because you know I had to command the battalion two or three times when the other officers were away.”
Their activities during the whole of the day had made the cadets sleepy, and nearly all turned in without much ado. Here and there there was an exception, and these included Fatty Hendry and Dan Soppinger.
“I’ve got to get out some sort of a composition on City Improvements,” declared Fatty. “I don’t know much about ’em, but if I don’t get the paper in by nine o’clock to-morrow morning there’s going to be trouble.”
“And I still have some examples in algebra to work out,” answered Dan. “So I think I’ll go at them before I retire.”
All of the Rovers slept soundly and did not awaken until they heard an unexpected knock on their door some time before the rising bell.
“Let me in,” came in the voice of Dan Soppinger.“I’ve got news.”
Jack opened the door and Dan came in, followed by Fatty.
“Say, what do you know about this!” exclaimed Dan. “Colby Hall has been robbed!”
“Robbed!” ejaculated Jack. “What do you mean? What did they take?”
“What did they take!” burst out Fatty. “I guess they took about everything they could get their hands on that was easy to carry off. I lost my stickpin and my watch.”
“And I lost two old stickpins and two rings that I haven’t been wearing,” put in Dan.
“When did you find this out?” questioned the newly-elected major.
“I made the discovery just when I was going to bed after doing some examples in algebra,” answered Dan. “It was about half-past twelve, so I didn’t want to wake anybody up—that is, none of the other fellows, although I did call on Fatty because I knew he was writing a composition. He looked around his room then and found he had been robbed, too. Then, as Professor Duke was away, we called on Professor Watson. He made an investigation and then said he would report to Colonel Colby the first thing this morning.”
The talk in Jack’s room had brought Fred to the scene, and a few minutes later Randy and Andy came in, rubbing their eyes sleepily.
“What was your stuff worth, Dan?” questioned Fred.
“I think the rings were worth about fifteen dollars each, and the stickpins almost as much.”
“My stickpin was worth thirty-five dollars,”groaned Fatty. “And the watch was a gold one given to me by my grandfather, and I wouldn’t lose that for a good deal.”
“Hark! What’s that commotion?” put in Jack suddenly.
There was a murmur of excited voices in the corridor, and, throwing open the door, the Rovers and their friends came out to see what was up.
“My room has been robbed!”
“My watch is gone and a whole lot of other jewelry!”
“I lost three dollars!”
“Huh, that isn’t anything! I lost fourteen dollars and a half!”
So the talk ran on as an excited group of cadets, some fully attired and some still wearing their pajamas, crowded forward.
“Say, what do you know about this!” exclaimed Fred.
“Is anything belonging to us gone?” questioned Jack suddenly.
“I’m going back to find out,” came from Randy. “I was so sleepy last night that I just tumbled into bed and let it go at that.”
Without further ado the four Rovers ran back into the rooms they occupied and began a search of their chiffoniers and the other places where they kept their things of value.
“My stickpin is gone and also one of my rings,”groaned Randy.
“I had a brand new five-dollar bill tucked away in one of my drawers,” said his brother. “I can’t find it anywhere. And, yes, my wrist-watch is missing!”
“My watch and chain and stickpin are gone, and likewise all my badges!” cried Fred. “Oh, this is the worst ever!”
“Well, I’m out a ring and three stickpins,” announced Jack, “including that brand new pin I got last year.”
As quickly as possible the four Rovers dressed and then joined the other cadets in the corridor. From all sides were heard excited exclamations as one pupil after another came forward to announce that either his jewelry or his money—and sometimes both—were gone.
Colonel Colby and several of the professors had already been notified, and they quickly appeared on the scene and tried to interview the cadets. This, however, was a hard thing to undertake because nearly all the boys wanted to talk at once. There was so much excitement that for the time being the morning parade and breakfast were completely forgotten.
“This is certainly a terrible state of affairs,”remarked the colonel to Captain Dale. “Have you any idea who can be guilty?”
“No, Colonel. I have always thought that every one connected with this school was honest.”
“It may be the work of some of the hired help,”mused Colonel Colby. “But I hate to think that. Every one who is here came highly recommended.”
“We might make inquiry and see if any strangers were in the school last night during the celebration,” suggested Captain Dale. “There was so much excitement that some one might have slipped in and out without our noticing.”
Finally Colonel Colby told all the cadets to go below for breakfast, dispensing with the early morning drill.
“As soon as you have finished eating I wish each cadet to make a thorough search of his room and make out a written list of everything that is missing and sign the paper. Take careful note of everything when you are making your search, and if you find any clues to the perpetrator of this outrageous affair, let me know. The lists can be left at the office as soon as they are made out.”And then, after a moment of thought, he added:“There will be no session of the school this morning.”
“Shall we notify the Haven Point authorities?”questioned Professor Brice.
“Not at present. I wish to make my own investigation first,” answered the head of the school.
It did not take Jack and his cousins long to swallow their breakfast, and this finished, they hurried back to their rooms and began the search Colonel Colby had advised.
“Well, I’m shy that gold fountain pen Aunt Martha gave me,” announced Jack presently. “I’d forgotten about that because I didn’t usually use it. I use the one mother gave me.”
Outside of this the Rovers could find not
hing more missing nor did they locate anything in the way of a clue that might lead to the robber. They sat down and made out their brief lists, signed them, and then walked together down to the office.
Here a crowd of cadets were coming and going. It was learned that twenty-two cadets in all had suffered losses which ranged from seventy-five cents to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. In all it was figured that the loss would amount to at least twelve hundred dollars.
“This is about the worst thing that ever struck Colby Hall,” announced Jack.
“Who do you suppose did it?” questioned Randy.
“Don’t ask me, Randy. I’d hate to suspect any of the fellows.”
“Oh, I don’t think any of the fellows did it!”burst out Fred.
“Well, what about the hired help?” questioned Andy.
“I don’t know any of them that I’d suspect,”said Jack promptly. “Every one looks like a pretty good sort.”
Only two cadets came forward with objects that might possibly be a clue to the robbery. One boy had picked up a handkerchief in his room that he said did not belong to him, and another boy had found the marks of muddy footprints over his window sill and on a fire-escape outside.
“Say, that looks as if somebody had come up the fire-escape and got into the rooms that way,”said Jack, when he heard of this.
“They say the handkerchief that was picked up is not marked in any way,” said Gif.
“Well, every handkerchief used by the cadets is marked,” returned Spouter. “They’ve got to be that way or they’d get all mixed up in the laundry.”
“How about the help?”
“Their stuff is all marked, too. One of the teachers told me so,” put in Dan Soppinger.
“Say, Ned! you came upstairs for your mandolin,” cried Jack suddenly. “Did you see anybody up here?”
“I don’t remember that I did,” answered Ned Lowe. “I was in such a hurry to get the instrument that I didn’t pay much attention. And, besides that, it seemed pretty dark in here after coming away from that big bonfire.”
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