“I’m with you.”
They marched down the stairs and knocked on the door of the office. There was a rustling of papers, and then the voice of Captain Putnam bade them enter.
The master of the Hall was looking over a mass of legal documents. He stared at the boys in considerable astonishment.
“Why, I understood you two students had run away!” he exclaimed.
“No, sir, we did not run away, Captain Putnam,” answered Jack. “We have not been outside of this building.”
“Then where have you been?”
“In one of the vacant rooms at the top, sir,” answered Pepper.
“What made you hide away there?” And the voice of the master of the Hall grew stern.
“We got away and hid because we did not like the way Mr. Crabtree treated us,” said Jack. “At first we were put in a room where we were nearly frozen, and then he put us down in the cellar, close to the big furnace, and nearly baked us.”
“We didn’t come here to be put in the cellar,” put in Pepper. “Especially when we have done no wrong.”