A few minutes later Pluxton Cuddle hurried out to another classroom, and then the routine for the day went on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The cadets even saw Josiah Crabtree smile to himself. It was a bad sign, and they knew it.
“He’s got it in for us,” whispered Dale. “Look out for a storm.”
“Yes, and a hurricane at that,” returned Stuffer.
The classes were usually dismissed in the morning at ten minutes to twelve, thus giving the cadets ten minutes for exercise before sitting down to dinner. But twelve o’clock came and Josiah Crabtree made no motion to dismiss the boys.
“Hello, this is a new move,” cried Pepper, in a low voice.
“Silence in the room,” called out the teacher sharply. “We will now take up the lesson in algebra. Conners, you may go to the blackboard.”
Somewhat perplexed, Bart Conners arose and walked to the board. He did not know the algebra lesson very well, for he had counted on going over it during the noon hour. He was given a decidedly difficult problem in equations.
“Say, is he going to keep us here all noon?” asked Hogan. “Sure, if he is, ’tis an outrage, so ’tis!”
“He isn’t going to starve me!” answered Stuffer, who, as usual, was very hungry. He raised his hand, and then, to get quicker recognition, snapped his finger and thumb.
“Singleton, what do you want?” asked Josiah Crabtree, tartly.