CHAPTER XXVII
CAUGHT IN THE ACT
Reff Ritter and his crowd were exceedingly angry over the outcome of the launch affair. They had rowed around in the darkness and the rain until they were tired, and now they were fairly aching to pay Jack and his chums back for sending them on the wild goose chase.
“I think I can fix Ruddy and Ditmore,” said the bully to Coulter, during the time when the young major and his chums were having their meeting in the woods with Bert Field. “I’ve got a plan for getting them into no end of trouble.”
“All right, let me hear what it is,” answered Coulter, quickly.
“Will you promise to keep it a secret, Gus? This is no ordinary affair, and we can’t afford to be found out.”
“You can depend on me.”
“We might take in Paxton, but I won’t trust Sabine. He is too weak-kneed.”
“Right you are. Take in Nick and that’s all.”
A little later Paxton was called into the tent where Ritter and Coulter sat and then the leader of the ne’er-do-wells unfolded his plan to get Jack and Pepper into trouble.
“We might involve the others,” said Ritter. “But Ruddy and Ditmore are the leaders. I’m hoping we can have them both dismissed from the school.”