The escape of the two mice was a signal for the assembling students to begin a chase after the rodents. Then another mouse came out into the hallway, and various things were thrown at the scurrying animal. "Here, here! Stop that noise out there!" commanded Captain Dale. "There is no sense in making such a racket over a few little mice." As he spoke the head of the school strode to the closet door and unlocked it. "Now come out here and give an account of yourself," he said, as he threw the door open. "Now you are going to catch it for playing such a trick on me," exulted Codfish. The figure in the closet, of course, did not move, and Captain Dale reached forth to pull the offending cadet into the room. But then he stopped short, and something of a smile crossed his face. "What is the matter with you, Stowell--are you blind?" he demanded. "Blind?" queried the sneak of the school, bewildered. "What do you mean?" "Can't you see that this is only a stuffed figure? And it hasn't any head on, either; only a handkerchief tied around some underwear with a cap stuck on top." "Oh, Captain Dale, you don't mean it!" cried Codfish, and fell back against the wall, too upset to say more. "But I do mean it," went on the military man, and reached for the dummy, which immediately toppled over on the floor, the head and cap rolling in one direction and the legs and shoes in another. "It's nothing but an old uniform stuffed out." "Where's them mice?" cried Job Plunger in a shrill voice. "Where's them mice, I say?" "You'll have to find them, Plunger," answered Captain Dale. "Behind 'em?" remarked the deaf janitor. "Behind where?" "I did not say behind anything," shouted the captain. "I said you'd have to find them." "Oh. Well, I'll find 'em if they're in the room," said Plunger. By this time the noise and excitement had increased so that nearly half of the school was out in the corridor in front of Stowell's room. They saw the remains of the stuffed figure on the floor, and many quickly surmised that a joke had been played. "What is Codfish doing with that dummy?" "Has he been using it for an imitation Hun to shoot at?" "Maybe he's going to join the football team next Fall and wants to practice up." "Has he been taming mice on the sly?" "Gee! I don't want to stay in a place where a fellow keeps mice in his room." In the midst of this talk the janitor and the chauffeur did what they could to round up the escaped mice. They managed to capture two of the rodents and kill two others, and that was all that could be found. "If there were any more, the rest must have gotten away," remarked Bob Nixon. "This is simply a practical joke," announced Captain Dale, after a few more words with Stowell. "Have you any idea who played it?" "I don't know exactly, sir, but I think maybe I can find out," answered the sneak. He felt much subdued, especially as he saw the eyes of many of the other cadets on him.