“What about the grub they wanted?” asked another guard, who had come up during the talk.
“A little hunger would do them good. They would have gotten their fill to-morrow, and——”
“No! no! that’s a mistake!” burst out Pluxton Cuddle. “Too much eating——”
“Mr. Cuddle, I no longer agree with you on that point,” said Josiah Crabtree coldly. “If they return they shall have the same quantity of food as they got when Captain Putnam was here.”
“Humph! Then you have not the boys’ welfare at heart,” snorted the new teacher.
“I want you men to stay here, at least for the present,” continued Josiah Crabtree. “Let me see, I believe I promised you two dollars a day, didn’t I?”
“You did,” said one of the guards.
“Your work has not been pleasant and therefore I’ll make the pay three dollars a day. I did not mean to call you blockheads—I—er—was excited. Let us get down to—er—business now—and see if we cannot find those runaway cadets and persuade them to return to the Hall. If we can do that and—er—hush up this whole unpleasant matter I will—er—reward you handsomely.”
This talk was “pouring oil on the troubled waters,” and in the end the guards promised to stick by Josiah Crabtree and do what they could to bring the cadets back to school. They also promised, in view of a liberal reward, to tell Captain Putnam that the students and not the teachers were to blame for the outbreak.