Chapter XXVIII: Captain Putnam Has His Say

The young major was surprised, and for one instant he did not know what to do. But then he recovered his wits and dashed out after Ritter. He caught the bully making his way back of the tent, and putting out his foot sent the fellow sprawling. Then, before Ritter could arise, Jack sat on him.

“You—you le—let m-me up!” gasped Ritter, who all but had the breath knocked out of him. “Le—let me up, do yo—you he—hear?”

“I’ll let you up when you explain, not before!” cried Jack. “You were doing something in my tent. I want to know what it was.”

Before Ritter could frame a reply—and it is doubtful if he had one ready—a cry came from the tent occupied by Pepper, Andy and Dale.

“We’ve got you!” came in the voice of The Imp. “Stand where you are, Coulter!”

“Let me go! Please let me go!” pleaded the voice of Nick Paxton. “Oh, let me go this time and I’ll never do wrong again!”

“Hello, so the rest of your crowd are in this,” said Jack to Ritter. “I might have known it. Come with me, and don’t you try to run away, or I’ll give you the worst licking you ever had.”

The young major allowed the bully to get up and caught him tightly by the arm. The two walked over to the other tent, and there beheld Coulter and Paxton surrounded by Andy, Dale and Pepper. Paxton was trembling as if with the ague, and Coulter was also much disturbed.

“We caught them in our tent at our things,” said Pepper. “At least, they were at my things.”

“And Ritter was in my tent, putting something in my bed,” answered Jack.

“Coulter dropped something. Make a light and see what it was,” suggested Andy.

“Oh, don’t make a noise! You’ll have the guard down on us! And Captain Putnam and Mr. Strong!” cried Paxton, hoarsely. “We don’t want to get caught!”

“You are making as much noise as anybody,” answered Ritter. He was much disturbed, but tried not to show it. “We were only playing a little joke,” he continued. “Just to square up for that launch affair.”

Andy had struck a match and lit a lantern that was handy. He cast the rays on the flooring of the tent.

“Here is what Coulter dropped,” said Dale, and picked the object up. “A twenty-five cent bill, I declare! Where did that old-time money come from?”

“Here is another bill—a ten-cent one,” added Pepper, taking it from his suit-case, which Coulter had not had time to close. “Where did they get this stuff?”

“Let me see those bills,” cried Jack. “Keep your eyes on Ritter as well as Coulter and Paxton,” he added, to his chums.

The young major took the paper money and examined it with care. He gave a start and then turned sternly to Ritter.

“Where did that money come from, Ritter?” he demanded.

“Don’t ask me,” returned the bully as coolly as he could.

“You took it from Mr. Strong’s collection.”

“How do you know?”

“I feel sure of it. Shall I call Mr. Strong and find out?”

“No! no!” cried Paxton. “Don’t call him! Don’t call anybody, please!” And he fell on his knees before the young major.

“Paxton, tell me the whole truth of this,” said Jack.

“Don’t you say a word, Nick!” cried Ritter. “Remember your promise.”

“But—but if they call Captain Putnam—” stammered the frightened cadet.

“Our word is as good as theirs,” answered the bully.

“Then you are willing to tell falsehoods to get out of this affair, eh?” said Jack, in disgust.

To this Ritter did not reply. Coulter looked at Paxton and then at the other cadets. Evidently he was trying to think out a way to escape punishment.

“See here,” he said, in a low, nervous voice. “If we tell the truth about this, and fix everything as it was before, will you let us go?”

“That depends,” answered Jack. “You tell us what you were up to first. I know this paper money belongs to the collection Mr. Strong brought from Ithaca. I saw it this afternoon.”

“All we were doing was to play a trick on you, and Mr. Strong,” went on Coulter. “We took the old paper money and hid it in your tent.”

“And then you were going to put the blame of taking it on us,” broke in Pepper quickly. “A fine trick, I must say! Why, Mr. Strong might have had us locked up for stealing!”

“It was only a trick!” cried Paxton. “We would have explained it afterwards.”

“Perhaps,—but most likely not,” said Andy. “It was a dirty trick, to say the least. You had no business to touch the money.”

“Oh, you needn’t preach to us, Andy Snow!” cried Ritter.

“I—I wish I hadn’t touched the money!” whined Paxton. “I didn’t want to do it in the first place!”

“Oh, you make me sick!” roared Ritter.

“Well, we’re in a mess, and now we have to get out of it,” muttered Coulter. “We can’t stay here all night.”

“Better collect all that money first,” suggested Jack.

“Yes, that would be the best plan,” said a voice from the doorway of the tent, and looking around all of the cadets saw George Strong confronting them. The teacher had donned his long mackintosh and a pair of shoes.

“Oh, Mr. Strong!” cried Pepper.

“I presume none of you expected to see me,” went on the teacher.

“Well, hardly,” stammered Jack.

“I happened to wake up, and hearing you talking thought I would get up and see what was the matter. I listened to your conversation and found out that the collection of paper money I brought with me to-day has been—what shall I say?—appropriated or borrowed? That collection is very valuable and is not mine, and I am under a promise to return it intact. I wish you would return the money to me, every bill, and each in good condition.”

“Mr. Strong, I wish to state that neither Ditmore, Snow, Blackmore nor myself had anything to do with the taking of that money,” said the young major.

“So I judged, by the talk I overheard,” answered the teacher, and his words gave Jack and his chums great relief.

More lanterns were lit, and Coulter, Paxton and Ritter were forced to hunt up all the bills, both in the young major’s tent and in that occupied by his friends. The corporal of the guard came along, to find out what was going on, but when he saw the teacher in charge he retired.

It took some time to collect all the paper money, and while this was going on Mr. Strong was grimly silent. He looked over the collection with care.

“Every bill seems to be here,” he said, at last. “Now all of you young gentlemen can go to bed. In the morning I will investigate further, and report to Captain Putnam.”

Much worried, Ritter, Coulter and Paxton withdrew to their quarters. They had been caught in their own trap, and wondered what punishment would be meted out to them.

“Well, we’ve got to answer a few questions, too,” said Jack. “Don’t forget that we were found fully dressed when we should have been in bed and asleep.”

“That is true,” answered Pepper. “But, nevertheless, I am mighty glad Mr. Strong came in as he did. If he hadn’t Ritter and his gang might have gotten us into no end of trouble.”

“Ritter is a bad egg—I wish we were rid of him,” was Andy’s comment.

None of the boys slept well that night. In the morning roll call and parade were held as usual, and then word was sent out for all the boys who knew about the affair of the night before to report to Captain Putnam.

Jack and his chums were first called on to tell their story, and they frankly admitted that they had left the camp to talk to an outsider.

“The boy is a stranger here and he wanted aid, and we said we would help him if we could,” said the young major. “We did not go on any lark or play any tricks. We simply sat and talked, and then came back to camp.” And this testimony was corroborated by Jack’s chums. Then all told how they had discovered Ritter, Coulter and Paxton hiding the paper money.

After that Mr. Strong told his story, and then the bully and his cronies had their say. Ritter tried to evade the truth, but Coulter and Paxton broke down and confessed all, and pleaded for mercy.

After the hearing Captain Putnam read the cadets a stern lecture and forbid their going out of camp without permission. Then he proceeded to lecture Ritter and his followers separately.

“What you have done was despicable,” said the head of the school. “I did not imagine any of the cadets could be so mean. I will think the matter over, and this noon I will let you know what your punishment is to be.”