Chapter XXI: Surprises of a Night

Ritter, Paxton and Coulter had arranged their plans with care, and they were practically certain that the _Alice_ would lose the boat race. As a consequence the three unworthies did not hesitate to go around and lay wagers that either the _Ajax_ or the _Neptune_ would win. As they did not wish to bet openly against their own school, so to speak, they made the most of their wagers through a man in Cedarville named Crosby—a fellow who kept a variety store, including sporting goods and fishing tackle.

“We’ll make Jack Ruddy and his chums feel sick, and rake in some good shekels in the bargain,” said Reff Ritter.

“We must be careful in our work,” cautioned Paxton. “If we get caught there’s no telling what they’ll do to us.”

“Oh, don’t croak before you’re hurt, Nick.”

“Do you want to get caught?”

“Certainly not—and we won’t be. This work is to be done in the dark and while we are disguised. At the first alarm we can skip. But I don’t look for any alarm,” concluded Ritter.

It was well that Andy and Pepper pretended to go to bed with the others, for Ritter and his cohorts were on the watch.

“I told you the coast would be clear,” said Ritter. “All the same, I guess we had better lay low until about midnight.”

It was nearly eleven when Andy and Pepper arose, donned their clothing, and taking their shoes in their hands, stole from the dormitory and crept downstairs to a side door of the Hall. Nobody saw them, and in a moment more they were walking rapidly over the school grounds in the direction of the lake.

“This may be a fool’s errand after all,” said Pepper. “But it is better than running the risk of having somebody injure the sloop.”

“We should have come armed,” returned his chum. “Anybody who would injure a boat just before a race ought to be shot.”

“We’ll arm ourselves when we get down to the boathouse.”

Reaching the building, they went inside and procured some old hockey sticks that chanced to be handy. Then they entered a rowboat at the dock and poled over to the _Alice_. Clambering aboard, they tied the rowboat to the stern. As chance would have it, the gentle breeze that was blowing sent the small craft around to the lake side of the sloop, so the rowboat was not visible from the shore.

The two cadets had put in rather a strenuous day and were consequently sleepy. They wanted to get what rest they could for the morrow and so decided to watch by turns, two hours at a stretch. It was a clear night, with countless stars overhead, and the day for the great race promised to be all that could be desired.

The _Alice_ had a little cuddy, just large enough to accommodate two, and into this the boys crawled, to get out of the night air, which was damp. Andy was the first to rest, while Pepper sat up, his eyes trained on the dimly-lit shore.

An hour passed and the Imp was growing decidedly sleepy. He scanned his watch closely by the light of the stars and saw it was not yet time to awaken his companion. Then he trained his eyes on shore once more.

What was that, a dog or a person, crawling steadily forward from behind the trees which lined that side of the campus? He sat up and peered forth eagerly. Then another figure appeared and soon a third. They were coming straight for the boathouse.

“Something doing,” he mused. “Wonder if I had better call Andy?”

He decided to wait. The three figures came closer and soon stood beside the boathouse. He now saw that they were three persons wearing black gowns and black hoods.

“Andy!” he whispered, and pinched his chum’s arm. At once the acrobatic youth awoke and started to speak. But Pepper put his hand over his chum’s mouth.

“Three persons are coming—let us lay low and see what they want to do,” whispered Pepper. “Don’t make any noise.”

Andy understood. “Who are they?” he asked, after a few seconds of silence, during which he peered over the guard rail of the sloop at the three figures.

“I don’t know—but I guess we’ll soon find out.”

After that the two cadets on the _Alice_ kept quiet. In the meantime Ritter and his cronies walked up and down the boat dock, inspecting the sloop from that point.

“Anybody on board?” asked Paxton, in a voice which trembled slightly.

“Don’t see anybody,” answered Ritter.

“Thought we weren’t to do any talking,” came from Coulter.

“We’ll shut up—if anybody appears,” said the leader of the unworthies.

With great caution they got out a rowboat and entered it. Then they poled silently to the side of the _Alice_ and peered over the guard rail. Andy and Pepper were out of sight, under some sailcloth. But their eyes and ears were on the alert in the semi-darkness.

“I guess the coast is clear,” they heard Ritter say. “Come on aboard. We can doctor up those ropes and the rudder in no time if we get right at them.”

“Did you bring your file?” asked Paxton.

“Yes. I hope you didn’t forget yours.”

“I’ve got it.”

“And I’ve got mine,” put in Coulter. “And here is the pot of stuff for the rudder.”

“I’ll put that drag on the keel the last thing,” said Ritter. “I’ll have to strip to do it, I suppose.”

“Will it hold?” questioned Paxton.

“Trust me for that,” answered Reff Ritter.

Not without difficulty he crawled aboard the sloop and his cronies followed. They gave a brief look into the cuddy, but did not discover those in hiding.

“Now, let us go at the ropes first,” said Ritter. “Mind, don’t file them too thin. We don’t want them to break until the race is on.”

“I’d like to put a hole in the sloop’s bottom and sink her,” growled Gus Coulter.

“If you did that, the race would be off,” said Ritter. “No, we want her to go in and lose.”

The three plotters moved to various parts of the _Alice_ and with large files began to saw on several of the ropes used for hoisting the mainsail and jib.

“I guess we have heard enough,” whispered Pepper. “You recognize them, don’t you?”

“Ritter, Coulter and Paxton,” said Andy, promptly.

“Correct.”

“Shall we dash at them with our sticks?”

“Let us scare them first—make out we are officers of the law.”

“All right.”

Throwing the sailcloth aside Pepper and Andy leaped to their feet, brandishing the hockey sticks over their heads.

“Surrender, in the name of the law!” shouted the Imp, in the most manly tone he could command.

“Throw up your hands, or we’ll fire on you!” yelled Andy, and pointed the handle of a bailing dipper at Ritter.

“We’re discovered!” screamed Paxton, and dropped the file he was using. “Oh, what shall we do?”

“It’s the police!” faltered Gus Coulter. “We have been trapped!”

“Don’t fire!” gasped Ritter, falling back at the sight of the dipper handle, which gleamed slightly in the starlight. “We don’t mean any harm. This is—er—only a joke.”

“You’ll find it a joke, when you are in the Ithaca jail,” said Andy, in a bass voice.

“Oh, they are going to lock us up!” screamed Paxton. Then he gave a closer look at who was before him. “Why, it’s Andy Snow!” he gasped.

“Andy Snow and, yes, Pepper Ditmore!” said Reff Ritter, and his voice showed how disgusted he felt over being deceived.

“That’s only a dipper!” came from Coulter. “Think you are great to scare us, don’t you?” he sneered.

“You get off of this sloop, and in a hurry, too!” cried Pepper. “If you don’t we’ll give you the thrashing of your lives.”

“Thrashing, eh?” demanded Reff Ritter, throwing back his black hood. “Perhaps two can play at that game.”

“That’s right—and the two will be Pepper and myself,” put in Andy. “Leave this sloop at once, or take the consequences.”

“How many of you on board?” asked Coulter, trying to look into the cuddy.

“None of your business.”

“I believe they are alone,” said Ritter. “And if so we are three to two. What’s the matter with capturing ’em?” he added, struck by a sudden idea.

“Capturing ’em?” repeated his cronies.

“Exactly. Then we’ll fix it so they won’t squeal on us.”

“That’s the talk!” cried Coulter. “Let us capture ’em by all means!”

And then the three unworthies advanced on Andy and Pepper to make them prisoners.