“Not if you are careful. But you may get in the mud,” answered the young quartermaster.
“Oh, let us out the front way!” pleaded Bock.
“No, it’s back way or nothing,” said Pepper. “You deserve to suffer for the way you treated us. Good night!”
“Going to leave us here alone?” cried Sedley.
“We are,” said Emerald. “Pleasant drames to ye!”
“Just wait—we’ll square up!” growled Roy Bock. Then the Putnam Hall cadets took their departure. The phosphorus no longer showed on their hands and faces, and they put away the white sheets and hats for possible future use.
“Can they really get out the back way?” asked Fred, as the party hurried for the night’s encampment.
“Yes,” answered Bob. “But they’ll have to wade through water and mud up to their knees, and fight their way through a lot of wild blackberry bushes! They’ll be sights to see when they get back to Pornell!”
The young quartermaster was right in his statement. The Bock crowd left the cave by the back way shortly after the departure of the Putnam Hall cadets. In the cut they had to walk in muddy water up to their knees, and once Sedley got stuck in the muck and his cronies had to pull him out. Bock fell down, and the mud entered his mouth and nose. Then all of the students got caught in the wild blackberry bushes and scratched themselves and tore their clothing. They did not get back to Pornell Academy until half-past seven o’clock in the morning, and were caught by a teacher just as they were trying to enter by a side door.
“What in the world is the matter with you young gentlemen!” cried the teacher, as he beheld the mud and blood. “Have you been in a smash-up on the road?”