“Crabtree is awful mad,” went on the man of all work. “He an’ that new teacher have got it in for all of ye! Better watch out!”
“We will,” said Pepper; and then he and his chums walked away.
It was now time for the afternoon dress parade, and the cadets had to hurry to get ready. Soon the drum sounded out and the cadets gathered on the campus. Jack got his sword and took command, and put the boys through a drill that would have done any army officer good to behold. Only a few boys, like Ritter, Coulter and Paxton took advantage of the fact that Captain Putnam was absent, and to these the young major and the other officers paid scant attention. Ritter hoped he would be “called down,” so that he might have a chance to answer back, and it made him sour when this opportunity was denied to him.
It was whispered around what the three Cedarville men had been brought for, and loud were the denunciations of Josiah Crabtree in consequence.
“He wants to give Putnam Hall a black eye,” said Stuffer. “If he was a gentleman he would let us settle this matter among ourselves.”
“If those men try to do anything I fancy there will be a pitched battle,” said another.
As was the custom, Jack marched the battalion around the grounds and then into the mess hall, and here all sat down to the tables for supper. They saw the three strange men sitting at a side table, in company with the gymnastic instructor, and near at hand were half a dozen heavy carriage whips.
“Jack, did you notice the men and the whips?” questioned Pepper, in a low, excited voice.
“I did—and I think Crabtree and Cuddle are crazy,” was the equally low response.
“Young gentlemen!” called out Josiah Crabtree, from his place at the head of a table. “This noon we had a most outrageous scene enacted here. Such a scene must not be repeated. We must have order—no matter what the cost.” And he allowed his eyes to wander toward the three strange men and the gymnastic instructor and then to the whips.