Chapter VII: At the Drug Store

Andy wanted his gun cleaned and oiled, and as his wrist was in no condition for use, Pepper volunteered to do the work. In the meantime Jack went around to several students whom he knew were usually careless in their appearance and told them they must brush up.

“I want every cadet to appear in first-class form,” said the young major. “Captain Putnam is depending upon me to have everything perfect.”

“I’m going to make everything shine like a looking-glass,” said Dale, “even if I have to work all night to do it.”

“Sure, and I want to look foine meself,” put in Hogan. “Mebbe, some day, I’ll be afther joining the regular army, I dunno.”

“West Point would just suit me,” added Henry Lee.

Having made a tour of the school and set many cadets to work cleaning up, the young major looked over his own things. A button on his coat wanted fastening and that was all. His sword and scabbard were as bright as a new silver dollar, and it must be confessed that he looked at them with satisfaction.

“Perhaps Captain Putnam will introduce me to those regular army officers,” he thought, “and if he does I want to look my very best.”

Some time later, having placed his outfit in the closet where it belonged, Jack joined Pepper and Andy. The former had finished cleaning the acrobatic cadet’s gun and was now at work on his own.

The three boys were talking among themselves when they noticed a cadet named Billy Sabine lounging near watching them curiously. It may be mentioned here that Sabine was an odd sort of youth—sometimes very good and sometimes very bad. He had been a toady to Dan Baxter and to Coulter. But when Reff Ritter came on the scene Billy had not been treated with the consideration he thought was due him, and, as a consequence, he was rather down on Ritter and his cronies.

“Sabine acts as if he wanted something,” remarked Pepper. “Wonder what he’s got on his mind?”

“I’ll call him over and find out,” said Jack, and beckoned to the distant boy. Sabine came up slowly, as though revolving something of importance in his mind.

“Well, Billy, how goes it?” began the young major, sociably.

“Pretty well,” was Sabine’s short reply. “Going to have a great drill to-morrow, I suppose.”

“We hope to have. And I trust you’ll polish up for it.”

“Oh, I’m always polished.”

“I know you are, and I am glad of it. I wish I could say as much for every cadet in the battalion.”

There was a pause, and Billy Sabine rubbed his chin with his hand, a habit he had when turning something over in his mind. He was rather a slow thinker at the best.

“Say, are you polished up?” he asked.

“Why, yes, of course.”

“You want to put on your best front, don’t you?”

“To be sure.”

“Then you had better watch out that somebody doesn’t play a trick on you,” and with this remark Billy Sabine started to walk away.

“Play a trick?” repeated the young major. “What do you mean?”

“Oh—you watch out, that’s all.”

“Billy must know of something,” cried Pepper, his suspicions aroused.

“Call him back,” added Andy, and this was done. The other boy returned rather unwillingly.

“Who is going to play a trick on me?” demanded Jack.

“Why—er—I didn’t say he was going to play a trick—I only said for you to watch out.”

“You act as if you knew of something,” said Pepper. “If you do you had better say so.”

“I—er—I thought I’d warn you, that’s all.”

“But what do you know—come, out with it,” and now Jack caught the cadet by the arm, so that he could not run away. Billy Sabine looked around suspiciously.

“If I tell you, you won’t give me away, will you?” he asked, in a low voice.

“That depends,” answered Jack.

“I shan’t say a word unless you promise. I’m not going to get myself in a hole on your account.”

“Then you do know something!” cried Pepper. “Well, if you don’t tell us what it is, and anything happens, we’ll blame you, so there!”

“I’m not going to do anything!” exclaimed Sabine, in fresh alarm.

“What do you know?” said Jack, and now his voice was stern.

“I—er—I was down back of the boat-house awhile ago and I heard Reff Ritter, Gus Coulter, and Nick Paxton talking. They are all down on your crowd.”

“We know that,” answered Pepper, briefly.

“They didn’t see me, and I heard most of what they said, although not all.”

“And what did they say?” questioned Andy.

“First they talked about you”—Sabine nodded to the young major. “Ritter has a plan to spoil your things—sword and all that—so they won’t show up good at the inspection. He is going to get something down to the Cedarville drug store to-night and sprinkle or rub it on everything. After Ritter unfolded his plan he and the others agreed to fix up your whole crowd in the same way—so the inspection would be ruined, so far as you were concerned. They want to put you in disgrace with Captain Putnam.”

After that Billy Sabine told the particulars as far as he knew them. Jack and his chums listened with keen interest.

“We ought to report this to the captain!” cried Andy. “It’s the most outrageous thing I ever heard of!”

“This will bring disgrace to Captain Putnam as well as ourselves,” said Pepper. “But I don’t believe in carrying tales.”

“Remember, you promised not to get me into trouble,” came hastily and anxiously from Sabine.

“We promised nothing of the sort,” returned Jack. “But I think we can attend to this trick ourselves, without alarming Captain Putnam.”

“Shall we go to Ritter and his gang and punch their heads for them?” demanded Andy. “I guess I can do something, even with this sore wrist of mine.”

“Say, I’ve got an idea!” cried Pepper, suddenly. “Just the thing—if we can work it.” He turned to Sabine. “Are you sure Ritter is going to get those chemicals at Cedarville?”

“So he said.”

“And to-night?”

“Yes.”

“All right—I’ll see what I can do to put a spoke in his wheel when he least suspects it.”

At that moment Reff Ritter appeared not far away, and at once Billy Sabine walked off.

“Please don’t say a word about me,” he pleaded, as he departed.

“Now, what is your plan?” asked Jack of Pepper, some time later, when they and Andy were left alone.

“Why, it is simply this, to go to Cedarville and head off Ritter’s little game.”

“You mean to stop him from going to the drug store?” queried Andy.

“Not at all. The druggist has a new clerk, a fellow named Charley Fowler. I know him quite well. If I can see Fowler before Ritter gets there I think I can get him to play into our hands. Now do you catch the idea?”

“That’s all right—if you can get away.”

“I ought to have as good a chance as Ritter,” answered Pepper; and then the bell rang for the parade previous to supper.

It was no easy matter for Pepper to get off that evening, but when he told Mr. Strong that he wanted to see a friend in Cedarville on important business he was allowed leave of absence until nine o’clock, and as the cadets frequently went in pairs, he was allowed to take Andy with him.

“I’ll keep my eyes on the Ritter crowd,” said Jack, “and make sure they don’t play some trick of another kind during your absence.”

In a roundabout way Pepper and Andy learned that Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter were going to Cedarville on their bicycles. As soon as they heard this the two chums got out their own wheels, pumped up the tires, and were off.

“We’ve got to do a little spurting,” said Pepper. “Ritter and Coulter are both fast riders and we want to get to town quite awhile ahead of them.”

It was still fairly light, so that they did not need lamps. They pedaled along with vigor, up hill and down, until the lights of the town shone in the distance. Without slacking speed they took to the main street and slacked up only when the drug store came into view.

“Now if only the clerk is in charge,” said Pepper. “I don’t know the proprietor very well.”

“Come, let us take our wheels to the rear,” suggested Andy. “Then if we want to get out in a hurry we can do it without Ritter and Coulter seeing us.”

They placed their bicycles in a shed at the back of the drug store and then hurried around again to the front. As they went in they met the proprietor coming out. This caused the cadets to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, boys, what can I do for you?” asked the clerk, as he came forward and nodded pleasantly to Pepper.

“You can do a whole lot for us, Charley,” answered Pepper, and continued: “Anybody here?”

“No, the boss just went out. I am in sole charge.”

“Will you be in charge for the next hour or so?”

“I’ll be in charge until I shut up. The boss is not coming back.”

“Good. Now I want to explain something,” went on the Imp, and as speedily as possible related what Billy Sabine had told about the trick Ritter proposed to play. The drug-store clerk was intensely interested, and as he had taken quite a fancy to Pepper he readily consented to do what the other proposed.

“I can fix this Ritter up with a little colored water and alcohol,” he said. “That mixture won’t harm your outfits in the least.”

“That’s the ticket!” exclaimed Andy, with a grin.

The boys then purchased some root beer to drink, and treated the clerk to a cigar—for he was fond of smoking. A minute later, looking out of the doorway, Andy saw Ritter and Coulter coming.

“Here is where we make our escape,” he said, and he and Pepper ran for a back door. They got out into the yard just as Ritter came into the drug store by the front door. Out in the yard it was dark, so the boys felt little fear of detection.

They listened at an open window and heard Ritter ask for several chemicals in liquid form. The clerk came to the rear, behind the prescription partition, and filled several bottles as he had promised.

“Some of these are poison,” he said to his customer. “You want to be careful how you use them.”

“We know all about that,” answered Reff Ritter.

“By law I can’t sell you these without a written doctor’s prescription,” went on the clerk.

“Oh, that will be all right,” put in Coulter.

“I won’t dare to put our labels on the bottles,” added the clerk.

“Put on any old thing,” answered Ritter. “We are not buying labels—we are buying chemicals.” And then the clerk pasted plain bits of paper on the bottles and scribbled on them with a lead pencil.

“We’ll take some packages of cigarettes, too,” said Ritter, after the bottles were delivered to him.

“Time for us to get out,” whispered Pepper to his chum. “They’ll be on the way to the Hall in a few minutes more.”

“Oh, they’ll likely stop for a smoke,” answered Andy. “But we might as well get back—we have accomplished what we came for. Won’t they be mad when they learn how they have been fooled!”