“Mr. Cuddle, I protest against such rough treatment,” he said. “I shall hold you responsible for what you have done. If Captain Putnam will not take up the matter, I shall get my father to do so. I thought this was a young gentlemen’s school, not a penitentiary.”
“Don’t talk to me, sir, don’t talk to me!” spluttered Pluxton Cuddle. “I know what I am doing!” And then the door was banged into Frank’s face.
“Number Four!” cried Jack. “We are gradually filling the ranks. Before long we’ll have enough recruits for an awkward squad!” And he smiled faintly.
“Mart Ballock next,” said Bob Grenwood, and he was right, the cadet mentioned was thrown into the guardroom a few minutes later. Then came two more cadets, the head lads in two other dormitories.
“Boys, I’ve got a scheme,” said Jack. “There are now seven of us here. Why not try to break away when they come with the next cadet? I’d rather be out of the school than in such a gloomy hole as this.”
“I am with you!” answered Bob Grenwood.
“It may mean some fighting,” mused Frank Barringer.
“What of it?” blustered Reff Ritter. “I’ll fight if the rest will. Let us give it to ’em good when they come!”
“But if we get away, where are we to go to?” questioned Mart Ballock. “I haven’t a cent of money with me.”
“We can camp out, if we can’t do anything else,” said Jack. “We could get a tent or two, some provisions, and go up the lake shore——”