Of course the captain could not make his report until he knew where the professor was, so he and his men went into the waiting-room, accompanied by the tramp, and sat down there—all except Don Gordon, who was ordered to hold himself in readiness to capture the deserter when he came back with the next load of wood.
CHAPTER VI.
ABOUT VARIOUS THINGS.
Don’s first care was to ascertain which way Huggins would come from when he returned from the mill with his wood, and his second to keep behind the depot out of sight. He paced up and down the platform in front of the door of the waiting-room, so that he could be at hand to lend assistance in case the tramp showed a disposition to make trouble for Mack and Egan, but that worthy had no more fight in him. He was a coward and afraid of Don, and he wisely concluded that the best thing he could do was to keep quiet.
At the end of twenty minutes the station-agent came in. He had heard from the professor and the rest of the squad, who had left the train at Munson. At Captain Mack’s request he sent off the following despatch:
“Have captured the tramp who robbed Huggins, and expect to have Huggins himself inside of an hour.”
In due time the answer came back:
“Remain at the station until I come.”
“And when he comes, which will be about four o’clock this afternoon, we shall have to go back to our books and duties,” said the young officer, stretching his arms and yawning. “I haven’t seen a bit of fun during this scout, have you, Egan? I hope the next fellow who makes up his mind to desert the academy, will lead us a good long chase and give us some work to do.”