Chapter XIX: What Happened to Jack Ruddy

“Boys, get the eating out of sight—somebody may want to come in!” cried Jack, in a low voice. And in a few seconds the food was placed in a closet and covered with papers and books.

“I want to talk to you!” called the voice of Josiah Crabtree.

“What do you want, Mr. Crabtree?” demanded the young major.

“It is now twelve o’clock,” went on the teacher. “Dinner will be served in a few minutes. Are you ready to do as I wish?”

“You mean for us to apologize?” asked Pepper.

“Yes, and to promise to do as ordered in the future.”

“We won’t apologize,” answered several, in unison.

“Don’t you want your dinner?” demanded the teacher, in a somewhat crestfallen tone of voice.

“This is not a question of dinner—it is a question of principle, Mr. Crabtree,” answered Jack.

“Exactly—but you must be hungry.”

“We are,” and this was true, for nobody had as yet started to eat.

“There is no use of your being stubborn,” continued Josiah Crabtree.

“We are not stubborn.”

“Yes, you are!”

“You are the one who is stubborn,” put in Dale. “You and Mr. Cuddle think you are right—but we are about thirty or thirty-five to two.”

“Bah! you are only boys and do not realize what you are doing.”

“We are going to leave this matter to Captain Putnam.”

“Then you don’t want any dinner, eh?” Josiah Crabtree felt certain that the cadets must be very hungry.

“Not on your terms,” answered Jack.

“Do you all say that?” called out the teacher.

“Yes!” came in a chorus.

“Very well, you can go hungry a while longer!” cried Crabtree in a rage, and stalked off to interview the boys in some of the other rooms. One and all refused to “surrender,” as they expressed it. Then Josiah Crabtree went below to the office, where he met Pluxton Cuddle.

“They are as yet not hungry enough,” said Cuddle, after listening to the other teacher’s story. “Wait until the middle of the afternoon, or supper time. I’ll warrant they will then be glad enough to do anything we wish.”

“Let us hope so,” answered Josiah Crabtree, and then he and Cuddle talked the matter over from beginning to end, and fixed up the story they should tell Captain Putnam when he returned. According to their idea the cadets were to blame for everything and had assaulted them most outrageously. Crabtree had already interviewed one of the men hired by him at Cedarville and this fellow was ready to corroborate any tale the instructors might put forth.

The teachers had just about finished their talk when they heard a hurried knock on the door of the office and one of the waiters appeared.

“The cook and the head waiter would like you to come to the kitchen at once, please!” cried the colored man.

“What for?” demanded Josiah Crabtree.

“A lot of the eating has been stolen, sah!”

“Stolen!” screamed Pluxton Cuddle.

“Yes, sah. They jess found it out, sah, and they sent me to tell you, sah.”

“This is—er—extraordinary!”

“It’s those confounded boys!” roared Josiah Crabtree. “They must have gotten to the kitchen somehow and taken the things.”

“But the guards—you forget the guards,” returned Pluxton Cuddle.

“Perhaps one of them was bribed—and perhaps a waiter was bribed too,” said Crabtree with something like a groan. “Oh, I know no longer whom to trust here!”

Both of the teachers followed the waiter to the kitchen. Here they found the cook and several others talking excitedly. Nobody could tell exactly what had been taken, but the cook was certain it was considerable.

“They have outwitted us!” moaned Pluxton Cuddle. “Now they will stuff themselves and be more ugly than ever!”

“I am going to find out if they are in league with anybody outside,” said Josiah Crabtree, and started without delay to interview all the hired help around the Hall and also the men from Cedarville. Each and every person, of course, declared he or she knew absolutely nothing of the missing food and had had no communication whatever with the cadets.

“We are following your ordars, sah,” declared the head waiter. “Right or wrong, we are following ’em.”

“Don’t you think I am in the right?” demanded Josiah Crabtree, sourly.

At this the colored man shrugged his shoulders.

“That is fo’ Cap’n Putnam to say, sah.”

“Ha! then you side with the boys, eh?”

“I ain’t sidin’ at all, sah. I obeys orders, that’s all, sah.”

“Humph!” growled the teacher and walked off, followed by Pluxton Cuddle. Then the teachers held another conference.

In the meantime the imprisoned cadets ate what they had for dinner with keen satisfaction, and then put away the rest of the food for future use.

They had hardly finished when they heard footsteps in the hallway and heard somebody talk to the guard.

“There is Peleg Snuggers,” said Pepper. “Wonder what he wants?”

“I say, in there!” called out the man of all work, pounding on the door with his fist.

“Hello, Peleg! What’s this, a bombardment?” asked Jack, pleasantly.

“No, it ain’t no bombardment,” answered the man. “I want to talk to Major Ruddy.”

“You’re talking to him now, Peleg, my son.”

“You are to come down to the office to onct,” went on the general utility man.

“Who wants me?” asked the young major, in considerable astonishment.

“Mr. Crabtree. He wants to talk to you.”

“Does he want anybody else?” asked Pepper.

“No, only Ruddy.”

“Jack, look out,” whispered Dale. “This may be some trick.”

“I don’t think I’d go,” came from Bart. “There is no telling what those teachers may be up to.”

“I am not afraid of them,” answered the young major bravely. “Perhaps they want to compromise.”

“Are ye comin’ or not?” demanded Peleg Snuggers, impatiently.

“I can’t come unless the door is unlocked.”

“I’ll unlock it. But, remember, nobody but Ruddy is to come out,” went on the man of all work.

With great caution the door was unfastened by Peleg Snuggers and the guard, and Jack was allowed to pass into the hallway. Then the door was fastened as before.

“I say, Jack!” called out Pepper. “If everything is O. K. we’ll look for you back inside of an hour.”

“Very well,” answered the young major.

He was accompanied downstairs by Peleg Snuggers. Several times the general utility man seemed to be on the point of speaking, but he did not say a word until the door of the office was gained.

“Take care o’ yourself!” he whispered hoarsely. “Sorry I can’t do nuthin’ for ye!” And then he opened the door and allowed Jack to enter.

The young major found Josiah Crabtree seated at Captain Putnam’s desk. The teacher had a slip of paper in his hand.

“Major Ruddy, I wish you would read that,” he said, shortly.

Wondering what the paper would contain, Jack took it and started to read. As he did so he was attacked from behind and a rope was quickly passed from one wrist to another. In the meantime a folded towel was held over his mouth, so that he might not cry out. Although he struggled he was no match for Pluxton Cuddle and the guards, and in a very few minutes he was a helpless prisoner. A loose gag was placed in his mouth, so that to call out was impossible.

“I am very sorry to have to treat you in this fashion,” said Josiah Crabtree, with a wicked gleam of triumph in his eyes. “But your conduct, and the conduct of your associates, has rendered it necessary. I trust by to-morrow you will be in a proper frame of mind to come to terms. Mr. Cuddle, you may have him taken away.”

Then Jack was led from the office to the rear of the Hall, where there was a sort of guardroom. This was an apartment not over ten feet square and having a single window, high up from the floor. Outside, a tall iron fence ran around the window in the form of a semi-circle. In the guardroom were two chairs and a washstand. The place was damp and gloomy.

“You’ll stay here for the present,” said Pluxton Cuddle, as he thrust Jack inside. Then the gag was removed, and his hands were unfastened.

“I shall report this outrage to Captain Putnam,” answered the young major. And then the door was closed and locked on him, and he was left alone.