FUN WITH CODFISH
The idea of having a little fun with Codfish had occurred to Andy and
Randy on the day previous, when they had been out collecting some
boxes and barrels for the bonfires which they hoped to have--provided,
of course, that Hixley High was beaten in the baseball contest. They
had talked the matter over for some time, and had then set to work,
laying their plans to give the sneak of the school the surprise of his
life.
"What's doing, Jack?" questioned Walt Baxter, in some surprise.
"Going to put one over on Codfish?" questioned Gif.
"Just you wait and see," announced Jack. And then, turning to Spouter,
he continued: "In about five minutes I wish you would go over to
Codfish and tell him somebody wants to see him up in his room without
delay. Put it to him good and strong so that he goes up at once."
"Trust me for that," answered Spouter, with a grin. "I'll tell him
his grandfather has just died and the lawyer is up there waiting to
hand him an inheritance of a million dollars."
"Don't pile it on as thick as that!" cried Fred. "If you do, he'll
take it for another joke, and won't go at all."
All of the crowd kept their eyes on Codfish, and when the time was up
Spouter approached Stowell as if in a great hurry.
"I say, Henry," he said in an earnest voice, "there's a man wants to
see you. They just sent him up to your room."
"To see me! What for?" questioned Codfish in surprise.
"I don't know. He seemed to be a very nice man, though. He was in a
great hurry. You had better not keep him waiting. He said it was very
important," and without waiting to be questioned further, Spouter
hurried away.
Codfish looked after the other cadet rather doubtfully, and stood
still for a moment. Then, however, his curiosity got the better of
him, and he hurried off in the direction of the Hall.
"Come on, fellows!" cried Jack in a low voice. "But don't let him
suspect that you are following him, or it may spoil the fun."
Stowell entered the school by a side door and ran up the nearest
stairway to the main corridor above. The others hastened around to
the front entrance and came up by another staircase. They were just in
time to see the sneak hurrying into the room he occupied.
"Hist!" came in a low voice from the other end of the corridor, after
the door had closed upon Codfish, and then from a shadowy recess Andy
and Randy appeared.
"Did you get everything fixed up?" questioned Jack hurriedly.
"All fixed," answered Andy laconically. "Come on in here," and he
motioned to a room next to that occupied by Stowell. This belonged to
a student who, for the time being, was away from the school.
Once inside of this room, Randy and Andy took the others to where
there was a door connecting that apartment with the one occupied by
the sneak. This was partly open, so that they could look into
Stowell's room with ease.
"Hello there!" they heard the sneak exclaim. And then followed the
switching on of an electric light. "It's only one of their rotten
jokes! I knew it all along!" murmured the cadet.
He looked around the room, and then a cry of astonishment burst from
his lips. In the center of the floor were piled at least ten boxes of
various sizes and shapes. Some of the boxes had had straw in them and
others excelsior, and part of this was strewn on the floor.
"Huh! Some of those fellows are mighty smart, putting these boxes in
my room!" growled Codfish to himself. "I'd just like to know who did
it! If it was that Spouter Powell, I think I'll go and tell on him!"
"Here is where I got in fine!" murmured Spouter.
Codfish glanced further, and his eyes fell on the interior of the
closet of the room, the door to which stood wide open. Then he gave a
gasp.
"My gracious! if they haven't taken all my clothing, and my hats, and
even my shoes!" he groaned. "This is the worst yet!" He rushed to the
closet, and another look convinced him that the place was entirely
empty. Then he ran to a corner where stood a clothes tree, which had
contained some of his athletic outfit. This was likewise empty. Then
he rushed to his chiffonier.
"Gone! Everything gone! Not a thing left!" he groaned. "Oh, if this
isn't the worst yet! If I don't tell on somebody for this!"
Coming back to the middle of the room, he surveyed the pile of boxes
suspiciously. Then a sheet of paper resting on the top box claimed his
attention.
"'For anything that is missing look in the boxes,'" he read from the
slip of paper. "Oh, dear! I suppose those fellows were just mean
enough to stuff all my things in those packing cases. I wonder what
they did that for? Maybe they thought they were going to cart them
down to the bonfire and burn them up, and burn all my stuff, too. Just
wait and see if I don't fix somebody for this!"
There was rather a small box on top of the others, and this Codfish
started to open first. One end of the lid was nailed down, but the
other was loose, and he pulled up on this with vigor.
And then the sneak got the first of a series of surprises. The lid of
the box held down a large rubber frog, and this bounced out of the
box, hitting him full in the face. He staggered back and fell over on
his bed.
"Hurrah! First round!" whispered Andy delightedly.
"Just wait for the second," said Randy.
There was nothing else in the box but excelsior, and having rummaged
about in this, Codfish threw the box aside and started to investigate
the next receptacle.
The lid to this was screwed on, and he had quite a job opening it. The
other cadets watched with interest, doing their best to keep from
laughing. When the box was opened, Codfish found that it contained a
layer of excelsior. Under this, however, were a number of bundles
wrapped in newspapers, each containing a small portion of the stuff
taken from his chiffonier.
"Huh! thought they were smart, didn't they?" he muttered, as he put
the things where they belonged. "Just wait! I'll fix 'em for this."
The next box contained some of his clothing, which he hung in the
closet. Then he tackled a rather large box which was bound up with an
old clothesline. He had to tug at the line quite a little to get it
loose, not thinking in his excitement that it would be easier to cut
the line. The top of the box was filled with all sorts of rubbish.
Beneath this were some more of his things, and then at the very bottom
a rather small wooden box with a sliding cover.
Any ordinary school boy would have suspected some trick in connection
with this box. But not so Codfish. He looked at it carefully, and
then, bringing it close under the light, proceeded to pull the sliding
cover back.
And then he was treated to another surprise, this time far more
disagreeable than the other. The box contained a large codfish, one
which, as Andy afterwards explained, had seen better days.
"Phew, what a smell!" cried the sneak, as he allowed the decayed
codfish to fall out on the floor.
The odor when released from the air-tight box was so overpowering that
he had to go over and throw open the window.
"Codfish for the Codfish!" sang out Andy gaily, unable to keep quiet
any longer.
The sneak of the school whirled around suddenly, and there beheld in
the doorway of the next room the Rover boys and their chums in a
group, all grinning at him.
"How'd you like the fish, Codfish?" questioned Fred.
"Thought you said you didn't have any boxes in your room," came from
Jack.
"I didn't know you were raising frogs for a living," remarked Randy.
"Why don't you take those boxes down and put them on the bonfire?"
questioned Gif.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself--littering up your room with all
that straw and excelsior," was Walt's comment. "If you aren't careful,
you'll get some mighty bad marks for doing that."
"What did you do with the man who wanted to see you?" questioned
Spouter. "Did you tell him that you were too busy to talk?"
"You're a fine bunch of fellows!" howled Codfish, not knowing what to
say. "You had no business to play a trick like this on me!"
"Play a trick on you?" questioned Andy innocently. "Who has been
playing a trick? Why, we don't know what it is to do anything like
that!"
"I think somebody said you wanted to see us, but I don't know what
for," added Randy.
"If anybody should ask me, I would say you had a queer way of cleaning
house, Codfish," remarked Fred calmly.
"And to think he stole one of the codfish from the pantry!" said Jack.
"By the way it smells, he must have taken it the day he enrolled
here."
"Maybe he likes codfish good and strong," suggested Gif.
"I'll 'codfish' you fellows if you don't leave me alone!" howled the
sneak. He was so vexed he almost felt like crying. "You just wait till
Colonel Colby or Captain Dale hears about this!"
"Yes, I wonder what the colonel will say when he finds out you stole
one of the codfish belonging to the school," said Andy. "You oughtn't
to have done it, Henry, my boy. If you wanted anything to eat, why
didn't you ask one of the teachers for it?"
"Maybe he chews on codfish in the middle of the night when he can't
sleep, or when he is trying to solve a problem in algebra," suggested
Randy.
"I don't do any such thing, and I didn't take that codfish from the
pantry, and you know it!" howled Codfish, in anger. "It's a put-up
job, and you are the fellows who did it! All of you ought to be sent
away from this school."
"If he took a codfish, maybe he took some other things, too," said
Jack. "I think this ought to be investigated."
"And how did you happen to get all these boxes?" demanded Fred. "I
know them. They were collected for the bonfire some days ago."
"You certainly have no right to have them in your room, Codfish," said
Gif. "Better hustle 'em down and put 'em on the fire before the rest
of the fellows hear of this."
"And if you've got things belonging to the school victuals besides
that codfish, you'd better fork 'em over," admonished Jack.
"You clear out, every one of you! I don't want to hear another word!"
screamed Codfish, in a rage. "You just wait until I report you! I
think you're all too mean for anything! Go on away!" And he tried to
close the door to the other room in their faces. But they held it back
so he could do nothing.
"Come on, fellows, let's put those boxes where they belong!" cried
Jack. And, marching into the room, he picked up one of the packing
cases, and the others quickly followed suit. Then they marched out
into the hallway, leaving Codfish staring after them in bewilderment.
"I know you've got some other things belonging to the school besides
that fish!" cried Andy. "You've got the pockets of your overcoat just
stuffed with good things!"
"Haven't any such thing!" declared the sneak. And then, struck by a
sudden idea, he ran to the clothing closet and brought forth his
overcoat, which had been in one of the boxes. He rammed his hand into
one of the pockets, and then suddenly withdrew it with a yell of
fright and pain.
And his fright and pain were not without good reason, for clinging to
the thumb of the hand he had inserted into the pocket of the overcoat
was a small, but exceedingly active, snapping turtle!