THE BLANK CARTRIDGES
For the moment after Jack spoke so positively there was a silence.
Captain Putnam looked at the young officer thoughtfully.
“Huh! that’s all tommy-rot!” observed Reff Ritter. “He missed and that
is all there is to it.”
“Of course he missed,” chimed in Coulter. “He isn’t a crack shot by any
means.”
“What makes you so certain that the first two shots were blanks, Major
Ruddy?” asked the master of the school, somewhat sternly.
“Well, sir, I think my record helps to prove it,” answered Jack. “At the
hundred-yard target I made three bull’s-eyes; at the two-hundred-yard
target I made two bull’s-eyes and a four; now I have made a bull’s-eye
and two blanks. Doesn’t it stand to reason, sir, that if those
cartridges had not been blanks I would at least have made a two or a
one?”
“It is probable, yes,” answered the captain, thoughtfully. “But I did
not know any blanks had been brought along, much less dealt out.”
“I brought a case along by mistake,” put in Bob Grenwood. “But as soon
as I discovered my mistake I put the case to one side. There it is, sir,
on yonder rock.”
“I see. You are sure you didn’t hand any blanks around? That particular
box looks like the real thing.”
“Yes, sir—I was very careful.”
Captain Putnam strode over to the rock and shoved back the lid of the
case.
“Why, the top layer of cartridges is gone!” he cried. “Was the box full
when you opened it?”
“Why—er—yes, sir—I think so, sir,” stammered the quartermaster of the
school battalion. “It looked full to me.”
“Young gentlemen,” went on Captain Putnam, raising his voice. “Please to
look over the cartridges you have left.”
There was a hasty examination by over a score of cadets.
“Mine are O. K., sir.”
“So are mine.”
“Here, I’ve got a blank!” cried Andy Snow, rushing forward and holding
it up. “It’s one of the kind we used to have—those that looked so much
like the ball cartridges.”
“Hum! So it is—one of the kind made to represent ball cartridges,” mused
Captain Putnam.
“I’ve got two of them!” exclaimed Pepper, and held them up. “My other
one is all right,” he added.
“Two blanks and one good one,” said Jack. “That must have been just what
I had!”
“Quartermaster Grenwood, can you explain this?” demanded Captain Putnam,
sternly.
“N—no, sir. I—I am sure I didn’t deal out any of the blanks. I was very
careful, sir.”
“Then how do you account for the blanks being in use?”
“I—I don’t account for it, sir. I am sure, though, I didn’t give them
out.”
“You gave out all the ammunition, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you must have given out the blanks. It was very careless on your
part.”
“No wonder I missed!” growled one of the cadets.
“I think we ought to shoot over again,” added another.
“It was a mean trick!” cried a third.
“Quartermaster Grenwood, you have been grossly careless, and your
carelessness has caused a great deal of trouble,” said Captain Putnam,
sternly.
“I wasn’t careless, I tell you, I——”
“Silence. I say you were careless, and I now ask you to resign your
position as quartermaster of the school battalion.”
“Resign!” gasped Bob Grenwood.
“That is what I said. The battalion must have a quartermaster who can be
relied upon at all times. Supposing we were going to have a sham battle
and you dealt out ball cartridges instead of blanks, what would happen?
Why some of the cadets might be killed! Do you resign or not?”
“Captain Putnam, I—I——”
“If you refuse to resign I shall have to take the office away from you.”
“All right, I’ll resign,” cried Bob Grenwood, bitterly. “All the same, I
say you are treating me unjustly.” And with a red face and bowed head he
stepped back into the crowd.
“I don’t believe Bob did it,” whispered Stuffer to Hogan.
“Sure, and I thought he was more careful meself,” answered the
Irish-American cadet. “It’s a bad mess, so it is!” added.
Captain Putnam now held a consultation with several of the others and
then announced that for every shot fired which had not hit a target the
cadet should have another try. In the meantime the blanks were collected
and ball cartridges dealt out instead.
“Now, Jack, show ’em what you can do!” cried Pepper, as his chum walked
to the front once more.
“Confound it, I guess our plan is busted,” whispered Paxton to Ritter.
“Hush! Not a word of it!” whispered the bully, warningly. “If Captain
Putnam ever finds it out,—well, he’ll make it mighty warm for us, that’s
all!”
With great care Jack took aim once more. Everybody watched him with
interest, and a wild shout went up when the result was announced.
“A bull’s-eye!”
“There, what did I tell you?” cried Pepper. “I knew he could do it!”
“Now another, Jack!” said Andy, enthusiastically.
And the youthful major did make another bull’s-eye, amid the applause of
his many friends.
“That’s the highest score yet!”
“Major Ruddy, I must congratulate you,” said Captain Putnam, holding out
his hand. “I am now as convinced as you are that those other shots were
blanks.”
“Jack, that’s the highest score yet,” said Dale. “I rather think you
take the prize.”
“Didn’t know there was a prize, Dale.”
“Well, metaphorically speaking.”
“You’ve bested Reff Ritter and that’s a good deal,” said Andy.
When Pepper came to shoot he made one bull’s-eye and two fours. This
gave him quite a high score and made him content. Andy and Dale also did
well, while Bart Conners tied Ritter. Mumps and Paxton each made two
misses on the long distance target.
“More blanks, I suppose,” grumbled Paxton, although he knew better.
“No,” said Captain Putnam. “That was only your carelessness did that.
You shot too quickly.”
“I—I’m not feeling well to-day,” said the school sneak lamely. “I ought
to have stayed at the Hall.”
After the target practice was at an end the cadets were allowed an hour
to themselves.
“Let us take a walk through the woods,” said Pepper. And he and Jack and
half a dozen went off in one direction while Reff Ritter and his cronies
went off in another. Bob Grenwood felt so bad that he strolled off by
himself.
“I must say, I feel sorry for Bob,” said Jack. “Even if he did deal out
the blanks, I don’t think he meant to do it.”
“He feels all cut up to lose the quartermastership,” said Dale. “After
the captain made him resign I saw the tears standing in his eyes.”
“What do you say if we go to Captain Putnam and ask him to reinstate
Grenwood?” questioned Pepper, who was always ready to help anybody in
distress.
“I’ll do that willingly,” came from several of the others.
“I don’t think we ought to go right away,” said Bart Conners. “Wait a
few days—until his temper has a chance to cool. Finding the blanks riled
him all up.”
“By the way, fellows, have you heard the news?” asked Joe Nelson.
“What news?”
“A new teacher is coming.”
“Who told you that?” asked Pepper.
“Nobody. I heard Captain Putnam and Mr. Strong talking about it. It
seems Mr. Strong has got to go away on business, and the new man is
coming during his absence.”
“Who is he, did you hear, Joe?” asked several, for they were always
anxious concerning their instructors.
“Hope he isn’t like old Crabtree,” was Pepper’s comment. “If he is I’ll
feel like jumping into the lake!”
“I don’t know anything about him, excepting that his name is Pluxton
Cuddle.”
“Pluxton Cuddle!” cried The Imp. “Wonder if he’ll try to cuddle up to
us?”
“I did hear that he was quite a scientist,” went on Joe Nelson. “One of
the kind who does everything by rule.”
“Oh, dear! I can see my finish!” sighed Pepper. “It will be ten minutes
for this, ten minutes for that, and so on, all day long. And find out
the whyforness of the thus of everything in the bargain!”
“Oh, don’t worry beforehand,” answered Jack. “He may be another Mr.
Strong.”
“Not much, Jack! Mr. Strong is one teacher out of a hundred, heaven
bless him!”
“If all teachers were like Mr. Strong, going to boarding school would be
a cinch,” added Andy, slangily. “He’s the dearest man who ever tried to
teach a fellow the value of _x_ and _y_, and don’t you forget it!”
“And I firmly believe we learn twice as much under a man like Mr. Strong
as we do under old Josiah Crabtree,—although Crabtree may be the greater
scholar,” came from Stuffer.
The cadets spent a pleasant time in the woods, and at the roll of the
drum hastened back to the pasture. When the two companies were formed it
was found Bob Grenwood was missing.
“He got disgusted and said he was going to walk back to the Hall alone,”
said one of the students. “I can’t say that I blame him much. It was a
terrible thing to be made to resign.”
In a few minutes more the line of march back to Putnam Hall was taken
up. To give the cadets a variety of scene, Captain Putnam took to
another road than that pursued in the morning. This was nearly a mile
longer, and, consequently, it was after the supper hour when the cadets
came in sight of the school buildings.
As the cadets marched up to the campus a man came rushing out of the
school holding up his hands in horror. It was Josiah Crabtree.
“Captain Putnam! Captain Putnam!” he gasped. “Come quickly! Something
dreadful has happened!”