And hardly had Sam pulled the clothes over him before one of the sentries with a dark-lantern came in.
Sam gave an audible snore, and Tom followed his example.
CHAPTER XII
TOM’S REFUSAL
“Mighty good sleepers in here!” muttered the sentry as he flashed his lantern in the faces of Tom and Sam. “Mighty good!”
He was an experienced man, and, doubtless had played the same trick himself many a time. He stooped and looked under the cots where the shoes of the “plebes” should have been. Tom knew what was going on and he felt sure that Sam must have left his soil-begrimed shoes in plain sight.
But Tom had not given his tent-mate credit for some common sense. Sam had guessed that shoes would be looked at, since there was some mud about the camp that day. So Sam had put his shoes in his locker, and had taken out a clean pair which he put at the foot of his cot.
The sentry grunted as he detected no signs of mud on the leather, and again flashed his light in the faces of the two lads, having, by a quick look, ascertained that the tent was in proper order.
“Um!” grunted the sentry, as he was about to leave, baffled.
“Eh? What’s that? Who’s here? What’s the trouble?” asked Sam, pretending to awaken suddenly and blinking his eyes at the light. “I say, Tom!” he went on, with an air of innocence that became him well. “Something’s going on all right!”
“There’ll be more before there’s less,” growled the sentry. “Mighty innocent, you two!”