“Now I am going out and play enemy,” said Pepper, when it was time to retire. “Remember, when I whistle it means get busy!” And he stole forth out of the dormitory and down the semi-dark hallway with the silence of a shadow.
When he reached the doorway of the room Ritter and his cronies occupied he paused and listened intently. A low murmur of voices reached his ears.
“Are you fellows all ready?” he heard Ritter ask, presently.
“Yes,” was the general answer.
“Everybody got his can of starch?”
“I couldn’t get any more starch so I got mucilage,” answered Paxton. “I reckon it will be just as sticky.”
The others said they had starch, and then Reff Ritter came to the door and opened it softly. Pepper was too quick for him, however, and hid out of sight around an angle of the hall.
The conspirators had scarcely left the dormitory when Pepper entered it and spent several minutes inside. Then he came out on the run, a handkerchief tied over his face.
In the meantime Ritter and his crowd had entered the room Jack and the others occupied. They were about to pour the cans of starch and mucilage over the beds, where they supposed the cadets were reposing, when something unexpected happened. From out of two closets leaped Jack, Andy and the others, each with a wet and knotted towel in his hand.
“At them, fellows!” cried the young major. And whack! came his wet towel on Reff Ritter’s head, sending the water flying into his face.