ABOUT A SET OF TEETH
"I am afraid we are in for it!" whispered the young major, as he saw the
rush of the Pornell students, each armed with all the snowballs he could
carry.
"Shall we run away?" asked Andy. "I guess we can run as fast as they
can."
"Never!" replied Pepper. "I am going to the Hall and on this road."
"So am I!" added Jack.
"Then let us rush 'em?" suggested Andy. "We can't stand and fight nine
of 'em--we'll be snowed under."
"Rush it is," returned the young major. "Wait till I give the signal."
On came the enemy, and soon the snowballs were flying at a lively rate.
It was growing dark, but the aim of the Pornell students was good and
the chums were hit several times. They threw snowballs in return,
hitting Bock in the breast and Grimes in the chin.
"Come on, throw 'em over!" roared Bock. "Roll 'em in the snow!"
"And stuff some snow down their backs!" added Grimes.
"Now then, all together!" cried Jack. "Keep as close as possible! One,
two, three!"
Side by side the three chums bounded forward, straight for the line of
Pornellites. They came on swiftly and took the enemy by surprise. Jack
bumped into Bock, hurling him flat, and Pepper bowled over Grimes. Andy
bent low and caught another student by the legs, sending him over into a
fourth, and both went flat. Then the three cadets caught a fifth and ran
him along the road and into a hollow, where he went into snow up to his
waist.
"Stop 'em! Stop 'em!" was the cry, but the Putnam Hall boys could not be
stopped. Turning, they delivered a parting shower of snowballs, and then
ran on, in the direction of the school.
"I guess the Pornell fellows will remember that for awhile," panted
Pepper, when they felt safe.
"And just think of it--three to nine!" chuckled Andy.
"They thought they had us dead to rights," came from Jack. "Well, I
guess we showed them a trick or two they won't forget right away."
"Are they following us?" asked the acrobatic youth, looking back.
"I reckon not," replied Pepper, "Must have had enough," and he smiled
broadly.
The three cadets were tired out from their long walk and the contest on
the road, and when the school was reached all were glad enough to sit
down and rest previous to having supper. Andy looked around for Reff
Ritter, but that cadet kept himself out of sight.
"I'll see him after supper," said the acrobatic youth.
It was not until nearly bedtime that he got a chance to question the
bully. He followed Ritter up to his dormitory, which chanced just then
to be unoccupied.
"Reff, I want to talk to you," he said, when the bully was on the point
of closing the door in his face.
"What do you want, Andy Snow? I'm not feeling well to-night, and I am
tired out from a walk I took to Cedarville."
"I won't keep you long, Reff. I want to ask you about the man you met in
Cedarville? What's his name?"
Reff Ritter stopped short and showed that the question took him by
surprise.
"Man I met?" he stammered.
"Yes, the man you met at the new buildings in Cedarville."
"Who said I met any one?"
"We saw you, I and Major Ruddy and Pep Ditmore."
"Huh! Been spying on me, eh?" And Reff Ritter's face took on its old
look of sourness.
"It was an accident. But I want to know who that man was."
"What for?"
"I have my reasons."
"I don't see that I am called on to answer your questions, Andy Snow. If
I want to meet anybody I'll do it."
"Then you refuse to tell me who the man was?"
"Tell me why you want to know and maybe I'll tell you who he is,"
answered the bully, after studying the acrobatic youth's face for a
moment.
"Very well. Do you remember the time the horse ran away with me and left
me unconscious on the road?"
"I heard about it."
"Well, just before I was knocked unconscious I saw a man on the road
ahead of me."
"Well?"
"I think it was the man you met this afternoon."
"That man?" cried the bully, and now he showed a sudden interest.
"Yes, and that is why I want to know his name, and where he comes from."
"You must be mistaken, Snow. That man doesn't belong around here."
"Where is he from?"
"I think he comes from Boston, but I am not sure."
"And his name?"
"Why do you ask these questions? Do you think he had something to do
with your being thrown from the horse?"
"No, not with being thrown from the horse, Reff. But, if you'll
remember, when I came to my senses my watch was gone, also my stickpin
and eight dollars in bills."
"And you think that man took them?" questioned Reff Ritter, in a voice
that sounded strained.
"I won't say that until I know more about the man. If you say he is a
good, honest man, why then I'll be bound to believe I am mistaken."
"I don't know much about him, but I don't think he is a thief," answered
the bully, slowly. "His name is Smith, Cameron Smith, and he is a
commercial traveler. I only met him twice, once about two weeks ago and
to-day. He knows my--er--my uncle, and is doing some business for him,
and he wanted to see me about it, that's all. But I am sure you are
mistaken about his robbing you."
"I didn't say he robbed me,--in fact, I am not positive he was the man I
saw on the road."
"I don't think he was near Cedarville at the time. He spends most of his
time around Boston. Is that all you want to know? If it is, I'm going to
lie down and try to get some sleep," went on Reff Ritter, passing his
hand over his forehead.
"Yes, that's all," answered Andy, shortly. "Much obliged." And he left
the dormitory.
He was not at all satisfied with the way Reff Ritter had acted.
Evidently the bully was much put out over the fact that his meeting with
Cameron Smith was known.
"He didn't say much about what business he had with the man," mused
Andy. "It all sounds rather fishy to me. Wish I had some way of finding
out more about this Cameron Smith. Guess I'll write to some of my
friends in Boston and see if they can find out anything about him." And
Andy sent a letter the very next morning.
On this same day Pepper had a sharp wrangle with Josiah Crabtree. The
dictatorial teacher accused Pepper of copying an example in algebra from
another cadet, and a bitter altercation followed.
"I didn't do it, and I don't want you to say so!" flared up Pepper, his
cheeks aflame.
"Ditmore, be silent!" roared Josiah Crabtree. "Not another word, or I'll
send you to Captain Putnam!"
"I don't care--I didn't copy!" muttered Pepper. "It's a shame to say I
did!"
"You'll stay in after school," commanded Crabtree, majestically.
The accusation, and the fact that he had to stay in when the others were
allowed to go out and have their fun, did not suit The Imp at all. While
he sat in the classroom all alone, he thought again of something that
had come into his mind before.
"I'll do it!" he said firmly. "I'll do it to-night! I'll show him that
he can't accuse me for nothing."
Since the fall term at Putnam Hall had opened Josiah Crabtree had been
making frequent trips to Ithaca, to a well-known dentist located in that
city. Although many of the cadets did not know it, a few, and among them
Pepper, were aware that the teacher was having a new set of false teeth
made. Now the teeth were finished, and Josiah Crabtree was wearing them
with great satisfaction and not a little pride. He fancied that the new
teeth added not a little to his personal appearance.
It was Pepper's plan to get hold of these teeth and hide them. How the
trick was to be accomplished he did not yet know, but he resolved to
watch his chances.
That evening, as luck would have it, Josiah Crabtree retired early. As
was his custom, he placed his false teeth in a glass of water on a stand
in his room. Watching through a keyhole, Pepper saw him do this, and
then calmly waited for the teacher to go bed and fall asleep.
The door was locked, but The Imp was equal to the emergency. The room
next to that occupied by Crabtree was vacant, and he entered this and
threw open the window. The window of the teacher's apartment was less
than three feet away, and the sash was pulled down a few inches to let
in fresh air.
Pepper was not such an acrobat as Andy, but he quickly raised the next
window and moved into the teacher's apartment. In a trice he had secured
the new set of teeth, and then he retired as quickly as he had come,
leaving both windows as he had found them.
"Now what shall I do with the teeth?" the cadet asked himself. He was
strongly tempted to tell Jack and Andy of the trick, but decided to keep
the matter to himself.
At last another idea came into The Imp's head and after everybody had
apparently gone to bed he stole downstairs and entered the assembly room
of the school. He had previously tied the set of teeth to a bit of
fishing line having a sinker at the other end. He now took aim at the
central chandelier and by good luck sent the sinker and line whirling
around one of the pendants, leaving the set of teeth dangling below a
foot or more.
"Won't there be a surprise when they see 'em up there!" he muttered.
"And won't Crabtree have a job getting them down!"
"Oh, my, what a thing to do!" came a voice from out of the darkness.
Pepper whirled around quickly, but the speaker had vanished, banging a
door after him.
"Who was that?" was the question Pepper asked himself. He could not
place the voice, and was much disturbed. Would the intruder, who had
seen his actions, expose him?
"I'll have to chance it," he told himself rather dubiously. "I can't get
the teeth down anyway. Too bad! I thought I was alone!" And then he
hurried off to bed in anything but a comfortable frame of mind.
[Illustration: THIS WAS A SIGNAL FOR THE DISCHARGE OF ALL SORTS OF
THINGS AT THE DANGLING OBJECT.
_The Mystery of Putnam Hall._ (Page 192)]