Putnam can think as he pleases,” said Pepper. “I am certain in my mind that the Pornell fellows did this, although how they managed it without being seen is a wonder to me.”
“It wasn’t so difficult, with all the cadets and all the teachers away,” answered Stuffer. “They must have gotten in on the sly and then posted a guard.”
“If we find out it was really the Pornell fellows we ought to pay ’em back,” spoke up Dale.
“We will,” answered Pepper promptly.
On the following morning both the cadets and the teachers had calmed down, and Captain Putnam acted like quite another person. A rigid investigation was held, but nothing came of it, although the missing school books were found in a hall closet. Acting on Jack’s advice Bob Grenwood went to the master of the school and told his story in detail, adding that he could prove by Mr. Laning, the farmer, and by the people in Cedarville how he had put in his time.
“Well, Grenwood, if you are innocent of this rough-house work I am glad to know it,” answered Captain Putnam finally. And so that matter was dropped. But he still believed poor Grenwood guilty of having distributed the blank cartridges and refused to reinstate the ex-quartermaster.
Two days later the new teacher arrived and was introduced to the cadets by Captain Putnam. Mr. Pluxton Cuddle proved to be a large man, fully six feet two inches in height and weighing at least two hundred pounds. He had a shock of heavy black hair, a heavy black moustache, and heavy black eyebrows. When he spoke his voice was almost a rumble, and he had a manner of shifting his eyes constantly and of rubbing his hands together as if soaping them well.
“I am sure we shall get along well together, young gentlemen,” he said in a voice that could be heard out on the campus. “Education is a great thing, a grand thing, and while you are at this institution you must make the most of your opportunities. My heart goes out to all boys who desire to elevate themselves mentally, and you who love to study will find me your best friend. In a few days I shall feel more at home here, and then we will see how much of precious study we can crowd into the all but too short hours of school life.” And having said this he bowed profoundly and sat down.
“Phew! but he’s a corker!” whispered Pepper to Jack. “I rather think he’ll make us sit up and take notice, eh?”
“Right you are, Pep,” answered the young major. “If I am any judge he’ll be even stricter than old Crabtree.”
“Looks like a chap who would carry out his ideas, once he had made up his mind,” came from Andy.
“Silence in the classroom!” called out Captain Putnam, and then, after a few words more, he left the new teacher and the students alone. Mr. Pluxton Cuddle got to work at once, and that day the boys studied more mathematics, astronomy and physics than ever before. They found that Mr. Cuddle was a regular “slave driver,” as Dale called him. Even Joe Nelson, studious as he was, shook his head.
“He’d want to keep a fellow at it every minute,” he observed. “I don’t mind boning away, but I want a breathing spell now and then.”
In the mess hall Pluxton Cuddle made himself even more disliked than in the classrooms. Hardly had the cadets at his table begun to eat when he commenced to find fault.
“The food is really cooked too much,” he said. “It is not healthy for the human stomach to eat food so well-done. And, boys, do not overload your stomachs. An overloaded stomach befogs the brain. To grow up clear-brained one must eat little and only that which is rare-done.”
“Gracious! does he want to starve us?” cried Pepper.
“He shan’t starve me!” returned Stuffer. He looked up to see the eyes of the new teacher fastened on him and his plateful of victuals.
“I say, you!” cried Pluxton Cuddle, pointing a long finger at poor Stuffer. “Do you mean to eat all that food?”
“Ye – yes, sir,” stammered Singleton.
“It is entirely too much, young man, entirely too much. Why, sir, do you know the capacity of the human stomach?”
“I know what mine can hold,” answered Stuffer, and at this answer a titter arose.
“Half of that food is sufficient for any boy,” went on Pluxton Cuddle, and glared around so sharply that the tittering stopped at once. “You cannot have a clear brain if you stuff yourself.”
“Captain Putnam lets me eat what I please,” grumbled Stuffer.
“Then the captain is making a sad mistake, and I feel it my duty to rectify it. Take a saucedish and put half of the food on it, and then eat what is left on your plate and no more.”
After that there was silence, but many of the cadets looked at each other meaningly. Here was a brand-new experience. When they got out on the campus they gathered to talk it over.
“Cut me off on food!” snorted Stuffer. “Say, if this thing keeps up I’ll go home. Why, I ain’t had half enough to eat!”
“Poor Stuffer!” cried Pepper. “Now see what you get for pampering your stomach!”
“I wanted some more rice pudding but I didn’t dare to ask for it,” said Dale.
“I wanted some more meat,” came from Bart Conners. “But he wouldn’t let the waiter bring me any. I think this is the limit!”
“What made me mad was the way Reff Ritter grinned at me from the next table,” continued Stuffer. “He had all he wanted to eat, for they had Mr. Strong there.”
“Too bad Mr. Strong is going away,” was Jack’s comment. “I hope he doesn’t stay long.”
“When does he go?” inquired another pupil.
“To-morrow.”
“The only thing this Cuddle knows is lessons,” said Dale. “There is no denying he is learned – more so even than old Crabtree. But I must say I like him even less than Crabtree – and that is saying a whole lot.”
“I don’t see how Captain Putnam came to pick him out,” said Henry Lee. “There are plenty of good teachers to be had.”
“He came well recommended,” answered Jack. “I heard Mr. Strong say so.”
“Humph! Wish he had stayed home,” growled Pepper. “If this sort of thing keeps on, I’ll rebel.”
“So will I!” cried Andy.
And several others said the same. Little did they dream then, however, of the rebellion so close at hand, and of the adventures which were to follow.
CHAPTER VII
AN ENCOUNTER ON THE LAKE
“I am going out for a sail,” said Jack, on Saturday afternoon. “Will you go along, Pep?”
“Certainly,” was the ready response. “Anybody else going?”
“Yes, Dale and Stuffer. Fred Century is going out in his boat too, and take several others of our crowd.”
“Going to race again?”
“I
