“Oh! oh!” howled the sneak. “Oh! you have put out my eye! Oh!” And he began to dance around wildly.
“Didn’t mean to hit you, Mumps,” said Baxter. “I say,” he called out; “who put that soap in the coffee?”
“Here’s a riddle,” came from Andy. “A lima bean to the one who solves it last.”
“Coffee in the soap is good for warts,” said Dale, with a grin, for Baxter’s hands were covered with warts.
“Just wait—I’ll get square!” growled the bully; and there the talk had to come to an end.
Breakfast over, there was a long drill, and then the cadets were allowed to do as they pleased for several hours. Some wandered through the woods, while others went to a nearby brook to fish. Half a dozen of Baxter’s crowd went off through the woods by themselves.
“Where are they going?” asked Pepper.
“I don’t know—and don’t much care,” answered Jack.
Baxter’s crowd walked through the woods to where there was a farmhouse, and there stopped to get some apples and some milk. While stopping at the place they got into conversation with the farmer’s daughter, a pleasant-looking damsel of eighteen.
“She’s a beauty,” said Coulter.