"Why can't you talk to them to-morrow, after they leave school?"
"That won't do. I want them to do something for me before they leave the academy."
"It's a strange request to make, Lew."
"Oh, it's perfectly square, I assure you. You see, it's this way: I want them to get some proofs for me,—to prove that I am not as black as the follows reported to Captain Putnam."
Now, it is possible that some other cadet would not have been hoodwinked in this fashion by the bully, but Link Smith swallowed the explanation without a second thought.
"Oh, if that's what you want, go ahead," said he. "But don't tell anybody I let you in."
"I shan't say a word if you don't," answered Lew Flapp. "By the way," he went on, with assumed indifference, "they tell me the Rover boys have cleared out and gone home."
"No, they haven't," was Link Smith's prompt answer.—They are right here."
"Are you sure, Link?"
"Of course I am. They are bunking together in the last tent in Street B, over yonder," and the feeble-minded cadet pointed with his hand as he spoke.