BONFIRE NIGHT
It was the custom at Colby Hall for the officers of the battalion to take
dinner with Colonel Colby on the day of an election. This was quite a
formal affair and the cadets to participate made it a point to look their
best.
"Say, Jack, you're going to make a stunning looking major," remarked
Fred, as he watched his cousin dressing.
"How about yourself as captain?" was the reply.
"Just wait till Ruth Stevenson sees Jack in his new uniform!" cried
Randy.
"Say, Jack, why not have a life-sized photo taken and give it to her to
hang over her dressing table?" put in Andy, with a grin.
"You beware, Andy," admonished his cousin, waving a finger severely at
him. "Remember, as the commandant of the battalion, I can throw you into
a dungeon cell if I feel so inclined," and Jack strutted around grandly
in the privacy of the Rovers' sitting room.
"I'll be good, oh, Most Noble One," answered the fun-loving Rover, bowing
down until his head almost touched his feet.
Jack and Fred had already sent word to Martha and Mary, and they, of
course, had told Ruth and the others. It is needless to say that the
Rover girls and their chums were almost as much pleased over the results
of the election as the boys had been.
"I'm just dying to see them on parade with Jack at the head," confided
Martha to the others.
"Yes, and Fred in command of Company C," added Mary. "Just to think of
it! And he so much younger than the others!"
"I hope I'm on hand to see their first parade," said Ruth, her eyes
beaming with pleasure.
"I thought you were going to write Jack a letter about that party," said
Martha in a low tone.
"I am. To-night. And I'll let him know that I've wanted to do it ever
since the party was talked of," went on Ruth.
The officers' dinner was a great success. Every one present made a little
speech and Colonel Colby and Captain Dale made addresses to which the
cadets listened with keen attention.
"It is my desire to make this military academy one of the best in the
country," declared the colonel earnestly. "And I cannot do that without
the sincere cooperation of every cadet attending the institution. As many
of you know"--and here he glanced at Jack and Fred--"when I was about
your age I attended Putnam Hall Military Academy. I am sure the training
I received there did me much good, and I am also sure that I made many
friends who will stand by me as long as I live.
"I want this institution to be one of good-fellowship all around, and I
am relying upon all of you to do your best. At Putnam Hall in many
respects we followed the honor system which I have put into operation
here. That honor system did not fail there, and I do not look for it to
fail here. I want you all to have a good time; but there is a limit, and
every one of you knows what that limit is just as well as I do. In the
late war the training which some of our soldiers had received at Putnam
Hall stood them in good stead. And I want the training received here to
be of equal benefit if any of my cadets should ever be called upon to
fight for our country."
"Three cheers for Colonel Colby!" came from Jack a minute later, and the
boys assembled nearly split their throats trying to do justice to their
feelings.
While this dinner was going on the other cadets had their repast in the
mess hall and then flew off in all directions to prepare for the real
festivities of the evening. They had gotten together several piles of
barrels and boxes, as well as brushwood from the forest behind the
school, and these were soon heaped up along the river bank into great
bonfires, the light of which could be seen a long distance.
"It's going to be some night, believe me!" sang out Andy merrily. "We'll
tear the woodpile down, as the old saying is."
"We want to be a little bit careful or else we'll have Snopper Duke or
some other professor calling us down."
"Snopper Duke is going away. I heard him tell one of the other teachers
that he had had a sudden call to go somewhere out of town," answered
Randy.
"Going away again, eh?" questioned Gif, in surprise. "He certainly is
getting to be a regular Man of Mystery."
The greater part of the cadets were wildly excited over the prospects of
a good time that night. A few of them, however, including Lieutenant
Harkness, Paul Halliday, and Brassy Bangs, looked far from pleased.
"They make me tired," was Brassy's comment. "You'd think that being major
of the school battalion was next to being president."
"If I can't be anything better than a lieutenant I think I'll resign
altogether," returned Harkness. "I'd rather go in for athletics."
"You'll have a pretty good chance if you do," announced Paul Halliday. "I
understand they're going to try to divorce the officers from
participating in baseball and football as much as possible. A fellow can
hold a commission and be on a team at the same time only when it seems
absolutely necessary."
"Then Jack Rover and Fred Rover will have to give up playing baseball,"
put in Brassy quickly.
"More than likely. Although, of course, they'll hate to lose such good
players as they are," put in another cadet who was present.
When the officers' dinner was at an end Jack and Fred lost no time in
hurrying to their rooms, where they donned their old uniforms. It was
what was termed a "holiday night" at the Hall, which meant that for the
time being the cadets were all on an even footing and must treat each
other as if such a thing as an officer was unknown.
By the time Jack and Fred joined the crowd along the river bank the fun
was at its height. Many of the cadets were running around indulging in
all sorts of horseplay while others were dancing around the bonfires
singing the songs they had learned in the school and while at the
encampments. Several of the boys, including Andy, were in clowns' costume
with big slapsticks which they used vigorously on everybody who came
within their reach.
"Hurrah, boys, let her flicker!" cried Fred, as he rushed forward.
"Everybody join in!" he added, and then boomed out with this well-known
Hall refrain:
"Who are we?
Can't you see?
Colby Hall!
Dum! Dum! Dum, dum, dum!
Here we come with fife and drum!
Colby! Colby! Colby Hall!"
"That's the stuff!" cried Jack. "Let's have it again!" And then the
refrain boomed out louder than ever.
"Come on! Let's march around the school," came from Gif, and he caught up
a firebrand as he spoke.
A number of others were quick to follow his example, and in a minute more
a torchlight procession was in progress, winding along over the campus,
around the school, and through the edge of the woods beyond. Then the
boys came back by way of the barns and sheds in the rear.
"Look out that you don't set something on fire," warned Jack.
"Something is on fire already!" burst out Andy suddenly.
"You don't say!" queried Spouter.
"Where is the fire?" demanded half a dozen others, looking around
anxiously.
"Right down there," declared the fun-loving Rover, and pointed to the
bonfires along the river.
"Wow! Let's duck him for that!" cried Phil Franklin.
He made a dive for Andy and so did several others, but the agile Rover
was too quick for them and danced out of their reach, having no desire to
take an involuntary bath in the river, which at that time of the year was
very cold.
In the past the cadets had had considerable fun with Job Plunger, the
school janitor, who was quite deaf and who was often called Shout because
everybody had to shout at him to make him hear. But this time Plunger was
wise and kept out of sight, as did also Pud Hicks, his assistant, and Bob
Nixon, the chauffeur. The only person the boys could get hold of was Si
Crews, the gymnastic instructor.
"Give us a song, won't you?" asked several of the boys at once, for Si
Crews was known to be quite a singer.
"I will if Lowe will play the mandolin or the banjo," answered Crews.
"That's the stuff, Ned!" called Fred. "Go on and get your mandolin."
Ned Lowe, who was also a good singer, was willing, and at once ran off
into the school to get the musical instrument mentioned. When he came out
he tuned up hastily and then played while Si Crews sang one or two
old-time songs. Then Ned gave the crowd one or two funny songs and a
dozen or more of the cadets joined in the chorus.
"Here's a chance to get square with Codfish!" cried Fred, as the sneak of
the school showed himself in the crowd.
"Oh, we might as well let Codfish drop," answered Jack.
But before this could be done Andy and Randy caught hold of Stowell and
pushed him forward through the circle of merry cadets around one of the
fires.
"We're going to initiate you in the Ancient Order of Cornmeal," declared
Andy.
"I don't want to be initiated," answered Codfish. "You let me alone!"
[Illustration: THERE DESCENDED UPON CODFISH SEVERAL POUNDS OF
FINELY-GROUND CORNMEAL.
Rover Boys at Big Horn Ranch (Page 131)]
"Oh, but this is a first-class Order, Codfish," returned Randy. "If your
reputation is bad it will render you almost spotless."
"You let me go!" burst out Codfish in sudden fear, as Andy and Randy and
several others came close to him. "I don't want any horseplay to-night.
I'm tired out."
"To be initiated in this Order you've got to lie down," continued Andy,
and, motioning to his brother and some of the others, they suddenly
caught poor Codfish and stretched him out on the grass in front of the
fire.
"Are you ready to be initiated?" questioned Randy solemnly, as he stood
over Codfish with a small paper bag in one hand.
"You let me----" began Codfish.
"He says 'let me!'" burst out Randy quickly. "So go to it, Most Potent
Sower of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Cornmeal! Go to it, I say!"
And thereupon without further ado Randy overturned the paper bag he held
in his hand and there descended upon Codfish several pounds of
finely-ground meal which the lads had purchased in town a day or two
before.
"Hi! Hi! What's this? You let me go!" cried Codfish, and then began to
splutter as the dry cornmeal got into his mouth and nose.
"My, Codfish, you'd make a regular muffin now," declared Andy, as the
whitened youth struggled to his feet.
"Give us a song, Codfish."
"Make it a regular corncake hoedown," put in Randy.
"You let me go!" shrieked Codfish, and then in commingled rage and fear
he suddenly caught up a long firebrand from the bonfire and whirled it
around rapidly before him.
"Get out of my way--all of you!" he screamed, and the next minute made a
movement as if to dash the firebrand directly into Randy's face.