“Here is some of the stuff, in the closet, and, yes, it’s tied up in hard knots!”
“Talk about ‘chawin’ on the beef!’ It will take some ‘chawin’’ to get these knots out!”
“Oh, if I only had the fellow who did this, wouldn’t I give him a piece of my mind!”
“I’d give him a piece av me fist!” roared Emerald. “Just be after looking at them beautiful pajamas of mine, toied in about twinty knots!” And he held up the articles of wearing apparel dolefully.
Jack ran into his dormitory, to find Pepper with a bundle in his hand. The bundle consisted of their night clothes and some bed sheets, all knotted together in a hopeless tangle. Several similar bundles were in the possession of other cadets.
The uproar was so great that soon all the teachers and the servants were on the scene. For once Captain Putnam was as furious as Josiah Crabtree had ever been.
“This is the vilest kind of an outrage!” cried the master of the Hall. “If I find out who is guilty I’ll have that person locked up!”
“I fancy more than one person did this,” said George Strong.
“You are right—it would take several at least. What a mess!” The captain glanced from room to room in perplexity. “I hardly know what to do.”
“Please, Captain Putnam, my nightgown is split from top to bottom,” wailed Mumps.