THE LAST NIGHT AT COLBY HALL
“Well, it’s no more than we had a right to expect,” said Andy, after a
pause. “I was thinking of playing a few tricks myself.”
“One thing is sure: We’ve got to have some bedclothing before we go to
bed,” muttered Fred.
“Oh, we could sleep without if we had to――it’s a warm night,” answered
Jack. He had strode over to a closet door and now pulled it open. “Wow!
What do you know about this!” he ejaculated.
His cousins came rushing forward and each gave a brief glance into the
clothing closet. The place was practically bare.
“All the clothing gone!”
“Even the pajamas are missing!”
“And the shoes and hats!”
Fred ran to another closet while Randy and his twin darted into the
other rooms of the suite. A moment later each of the lads set up a howl
of dismay.
“We have been cleaned out!”
“Everything is gone――even that old play suit I was going to give away!”
“Perhaps we’ve been robbed,” suggested Fred.
“I doubt if any robbers would take the bedclothing,” answered Jack.
“It’s a trick――that’s what it is!”
“I wonder if any of the other fellows have suffered like this,” came
from Andy.
The words had scarcely been spoken when there came a knock on the
hallway door and Gif entered, followed by Spouter.
“It’s the same story!” exclaimed Gif, glancing at the empty beds.
“You’ve been cleaned out just the same as we were.”
“Were your closets ransacked too?” questioned the young major quickly.
“Yes, everything taken,” answered Spouter. “Confound the luck, anyway!
I was going to do my packing to-night so that I’d have a little time to
myself in the morning.”
“I was going to get up early to pack,” answered Fred.
“Has anybody else been cleaned out?” questioned Randy.
“I don’t know,” returned Gif. “We stopped at Ned Lowe’s room, and also
asked Dan Soppinger, and they said nothing had been touched in their
rooms.”
Andy had walked to the corridor door and opened it. As he glanced down
the semi-dark hallway he saw Fatty Hendry approaching.
“Say, Fatty,” he called out, “come here a minute! A lot of our stuff
has been taken from our rooms. Do you know anything about it?”
“Not a thing,” returned the stout cadet. “What’s the matter――somebody
play a trick on you fellows?” And then, after Andy had explained
briefly, Fatty continued: “Maybe I can give you a clew. A while ago I
came upstairs to get a book I had promised to Phil Franklin. As I came
past here I saw Dock Wesley at your door. He looked rather scared and
slid down the corridor as fast as he could. He had something under his
arm.”
“Dock Wesley!” repeated Jack. “Why, he’s the new kid who is chumming
with Codfish!”
“I wouldn’t put it past Codfish to try something like this to get
square for being exposed the way he was,” remarked Fred, who had
followed Andy to the doorway.
“You didn’t see anybody else, Fatty?” asked Randy, who had joined the
others.
“Not a soul. But wait a minute! Come to think of it, I did meet Wesley
and Codfish a little later, along with some of the other fellows, and
the bunch were having a good laugh over something.”
“Then I guess we have struck a clew,” declared Fred. “Come on, and
we’ll soon get to the bottom of this.”
The Rover boys, followed by Gif, Spouter and Fatty, hurried down the
corridor and around a corner where was located the room occupied by
Codfish and Dock Wesley. They knocked on the door, but to this there
was no response. Then they knocked again, and at last a somewhat
faltering voice asked who was there.
“It’s Major Rover,” called out Jack. “Stowell, I want to talk to you.”
“I’ve gone to bed,” answered Codfish weakly. “I’m all tired out. Can’t
you do your talking to-morrow morning?”
“No, I can’t. I want to do it now.”
“I’m not going to open the door,” declared Codfish. “You want to play
some kind of a trick on me.”
“That’s right! Don’t open up,” came in Dock Wesley’s voice.
“Don’t forget that I am major of the battalion,” went on Jack sternly.
“I want both of you to obey orders and open this door.”
“You’re not major any longer, Jack Rover!” cried Wesley. “Your
commission went out of date to-day. You’re nothing but a student like
ourselves.”
“You sha’n’t bulldoze me any longer,” put in Codfish, gaining a little
courage by his chum’s manner. “I won’t stand for it. You go away and
let us go to sleep.”
“Open that door or we’ll break it down!” cried Fred.
“You break that door down and you’ll get a baseball bat over your
head!” stormed Wesley. “I’ve got a bat here, and so has Stowell, and
we’ll both use ’em, too, if you try any funny business.”
“Wait a minute! I’ve got a plan,” whispered Andy. “Come here,” and he
drew several feet away from the door.
“What do you propose?” questioned Gif.
“Jack, Fred, Spouter and Fatty can stay at the door and argue with
Codfish and Wesley just as hard as possible so as to keep ’em
interested. In the meanwhile, Randy and Gif and I can go around and
get on the fire escape that runs under their window. Most likely their
window is open and we’ll be able to sneak into the room. If we can do
that Randy and I can hold both of them back while Gif unlocks the door
and lets you fellows in.”
“Gee, that’s the stuff!” answered Randy, in a whisper, his eyes
glistening. “Come on! Let’s get busy!”
The others were willing, and while Jack, Fred, Spouter and Hendry
returned to the locked door, the others, led by Andy, disappeared
around the corridor corner in the direction where a door led out to a
long fire escape.
“We’ve got to be careful and make no noise,” whispered Andy. “Otherwise
they may get on to the trick and lock the window and barricade it with
a chiffonier or something. Then we’ll be out of it altogether.”
It was easy to get out on the fire escape, and, once there, the three
cadets crawled cautiously along past several windows, coming finally to
the window belonging to the room occupied by Codfish and Wesley.
“The window is open,” whispered Andy, after taking a cautious look.
“All we’ve got to do is to raise the screen and leap inside.”
“Wait now!” returned his twin. “Let’s have everything understood. Take
a look inside if you can without being seen.”
The light was lit in the room and by this, peering cautiously over the
window sill, the cadets outside saw Codfish and Wesley standing close
to the locked door, each with a baseball bat in his hands. Both were
arguing loudly with those in the corridor.
“I don’t think they’ll notice us,” whispered Andy. “Everybody is
talking too loud. Come on now. Grab the bats first of all. And you,
Gif, try to get to the door and unlock it.”
“Is the key in it? Maybe they have taken it out.”
“No, the key is there,” said Andy. “Now then! Be quick!”
Cautiously he raised the window screen and as soon as it was high
enough Gif stepped into the room, followed immediately by the two
Rovers. Their entrance was not noticed, for Jack was laying down
the law in the hall outside and Codfish and Wesley were listening
attentively.
“Now!” cried Randy, and hurled himself at Codfish while Andy leaped
upon Wesley. Gif went between, reaching the door with scarcely an
effort. For a few seconds there was a terrible mêlée in the rather
small room. Andy managed to get the bat away from his opponent and then
the two grappled and fell to the floor. In the meantime his twin also
became engaged in a fierce scuffle. In the midst of this Gif flung
open the door and into the room poured all of the others, and then the
impromptu battle came to a sudden termination.
“Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me!” screamed Codfish, in terror as Randy
stood over him, baseball bat in hand.
“What’s the meaning of all this?” demanded Dock Wesley, sitting down
on the edge of a bed and scowling at those in front of him. “Going to
start a rough house?”
“No, we’re going to bring you fellows to book,” answered Jack.
“I guess we had better bind and gag ’em and throw ’em into the lake,”
suggested Gif, with a wink at his chums.
“No, no! Don’t do anything like that!” cried Codfish, more frightened
than ever. “Let me alone! Please!”
“Look here, Codfish, what did you and your bunch do with our things?”
demanded Randy.
“Don’t tell ’em anything,” snarled Wesley. “Keep your mouth shut.”
“Oh, so that’s what you intend to do, is it?” came from Spouter. “How
do you like that?” and he suddenly caught Wesley by the collar and
laid him out flat on the bed. “Let’s strip ’em, boys, and give ’em the
licking they deserve!”
“Don’t you touch me! Don’t you dare! I’ll have you arrested!” howled
Wesley, and now he seemed to be as much frightened as Codfish. He
was a coward at heart, and that was one reason he had sought the
companionship of such a sneak as Stowell.
“I’ve got it!” declared Jack. “We’ll bind and gag ’em and take ’em down
to the gymnasium. There we’ll give ’em a good lashing with a horsewhip
and then throw ’em both into the lake. That will give ’em something
to remember us by,” and he winked suggestively at his cousins and his
chums.
“That’s the talk!” said Randy, taking up the cue. “We’ll give ’em the
licking of their lives.”
“Sure thing!” declared Fred. “And we’ll tie ’em in potato sacks before
we heave ’em overboard.”
“They both wanted to sleep――we’ll let them sleep with the fishes for a
while,” declared Spouter.
It is possible that Codfish and his crony did not believe all that
their tormentors said. Yet they felt that they were in for a rough time
of it and that matters might be carried further than intended.
“Wha-what did you come he-here for?” faltered Codfish.
“You know well enough what we came for,” declared Fred.
“It was only a――a joke, Fred Rover! Indeed it was!” pleaded the sneak
of the school.
“Shut up! Why can’t you shut up?” stormed Wesley. “That’s no way to
spill the beans. If you’d only―――― Oh!” And his talk came to a sudden
end as he found himself flat on the floor, sent there by Gif and
Spouter. Then, before he could get up, Randy emptied a pitcher of
ice-water over him.
“Don’t! Let me up!” spluttered Wesley. “Ouch! that’s ice-water, don’t
you know it? Let up!” and he tried to rise, but one of the boys sat on
his chest and another on his legs and kept him down.
In the meantime the others got Codfish into a corner and Jack took the
sneak by the ear. He looked at Codfish so menacingly that the sneak of
the school was almost paralyzed.
“Don’t hit me, Major Rover! Please don’t!” he half sobbed. “I’ll tell
you everything! We didn’t mean any harm! It was only done in fun. I’ll
tell you where we took your clothing and the bed things!”