The Mystery at Putnam Hall Part 38

Pepper was watching matters closely and he at once guessed that somebody had told Josiah Crabtree where the teeth were.

"It must have been the fellow who spotted me last night," reasoned The Imp. "Wonder if he told my name? If he did----" Pepper ended the question with a big sigh.

With great eagerness Josiah Crabtree received the set of teeth and examined them to see if they were all right. Then, having placed them where they belonged, he strode forth from his room in quest of the cadet who had played the trick.

Pepper was just sitting down at the breakfast table when there was a sudden step behind him and the next moment he found himself jerked out of his place.

"You come with me, young man!" stormed Josiah Crabtree. "I have an account to settle with you!"

"What do you want, Mr. Crabtree?" asked The Imp, as meekly as he could.

"You know well enough!" cried the teacher. "Come!" And he led Pepper out of the mess-hall. His grip on the youth's arm was so firm that it hurt not a little.

"Mr. Crabtree, you are hurting my arm."

"I don't care if I am!" snapped the teacher. "You come along!" And he fairly dragged Pepper along the hall.

"Where to?"

"You'll soon see."

"What is wrong?"

"You know well enough, Ditmore. You took my--er--my set of teeth! You have made me the laughing-stock of the whole school! You shall suffer for it!"

"Who says I took the teeth?"

"John Fenwick saw you place them on the chandelier! Oh, you need not deny it."

"Mumps! Well, he always was a sneak!" answered Pepper.

"He is a nice, manly youth."

With a firm grip still on Pepper's arm, the irate teacher led the way to a room looking out on the rear. It was an apartment less than ten feet square, and plainly furnished with two chairs and a couch. In one corner was a stand with a washbowl and pitcher of water. The single window was stoutly barred.

"Going to make a prisoner of me?" asked Pepper, as the door was opened and he was thrust into the room.

"You shall stay here for the present," snapped Josiah Crabtree. "When I let you out I think you'll be a sadder and perhaps a wiser boy."

"Am I to have my breakfast?"

"No," answered the teacher.

Then he banged the door shut, locked it, and walked swiftly away.

CHAPTER XXI

A GRAVE ACCUSATION

"Well, I suppose I ought not to complain," mused Pepper, as he sat down on one of the chairs. "A fellow can't have his fun without paying for it. But just wait till I catch Mumps! I'll give him a piece of my mind, and maybe more!"

He got up presently and looked out of the window. He could see but little excepting a stretch of snow. The cell-like room was almost without heat, and he had to clap his hands together, and stamp his feet, to keep warm.

"I think I'd give a dollar for some breakfast," he muttered. "Wonder if I could attract the attention of one of the servants and bribe him to get me something?"

As he walked around the little room his eyes caught some writing on the wall. There were several bits of doggerel, one running as follows:

"I am a prisoner of old Josiah, I'd feel much better if I had a fire!"

"I can sympathize with that fellow," murmured Pepper, as he slapped his hands across his chest, trying to get up more circulation. Then he walked around the room, reading another doggerel or two. Finally he drew out a lead pencil.

"Guess I'll play Shakespeare myself," he murmured, and after some thought, scribbled down the following:

"And I am jugged Alone in solitude, and by myself Alone. I sit and think, and think, And think again. Old Crabtree, Base villain that he is, hath put me here!

And why? Ah, thereby hangs a tale, Horatio!

His teeth, the teeth that chew the best of steak Set on our table--those I found and hid; And Mumps, the sneak, hath told on me! Alas!

When will my martyrdom end?"

Having finished his attempt at blank verse, Pepper continued to walk around the room. He was hungry and cold, and inside of an hour grew somewhat desperate.

"Crabtree has no right to starve me and allow me to catch cold," he told himself. "I don't believe Captain Putnam will stand for it. I'm going to attract some attention."

He took up one of the chairs and with it commenced to pound on the door.

He had been pounding for several minutes when he heard some one on the outside.

"Pepper!" came in a low voice.

"Oh, Jack, is that you?"

"Yes. Stop that noise, or I'll get caught."

"I want to get out. I haven't had any breakfast, and it is as cold as Greenland in here."

"If I had a key I'd let you out, but it isn't in the lock," went on the young major.

"Try some of the other keys, Jack."

"I will," was the reply, and the young major hurried off, to return with several keys from other doors. But not one of them fitted the lock before him.

"Too bad!" he murmured.

"Major Ruddy!" came in the harsh voice of Josiah Crabtree behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to Ditmore," answered Jack, boldly.