“Oh, if we could only get hold of that cake and the soft drinks!” cried Pepper.
“Maybe we can,” said Dale. “A boatman named Lemoss is going to bring them.”
“We must interview Lemoss,” said Pepper, and straightway he and Andy and Dale concocted a scheme for intercepting the boatman with the supplies.
This was an easy matter, for Lemoss was an innocent fellow and did not dream that he was being humbugged. He had been paid for the stuff and turned it over to Pepper and Dale, when they came out in a rowboat to meet him. The boys quickly “doctored” the soda water and root beer by adding to it a large dose of pepper and salt, and they also peppered the cake. Then they rowed to the shore and put the things out on a fallen tree.
Scarcely had they rowed away than they saw Ritter, Coulter and Paxton come out and look up and down the lake. The chums were behind some bushes and they heard Ritter utter an exclamation.
“Well, if the old fool hasn’t put the things out here on a log!” came from the bully. “How careless!”
“Too lazy to row in and tell us,” grumbled Coulter.
“Never mind, the stuff is here, and that’s the main thing,” said Paxton. “I’d just like to have some of the root beer now.”
“No, you’ve got to wait till to-night,” said Ritter. “There is just enough to go around.” And then the things were smuggled up to the camp and out of sight.
That evening when the cadets had an hour to themselves, Pepper and Andy were accosted by Mumps.