"Yes, I got the algebra, and, just as I did the gun went off. I saw some of the fellows running, and of course I was running too, but, just as I was coming in, Stiver, who is doing guard duty, saw me." "What did he say?" "Called to me halt, but I didn't." "He'll report you, and you may be blamed for--" An instant later the tramp of feet was heard in the corridor. "It's inspection!" gasped Paul. "Undress quick, and get into bed!" CHAPTER X DICK HAS A FIGHT But it was too late. The door of Dick's room was pushed open, and, in the light of the incandescent that burned in the hall, the two cadets could see Captain Hayden and several of the instructors looking in. "Hamilton--Drew--are you here?" asked Captain Hayden sharply. "Yes, sir," replied Dick, but an instant later the light revealed him fully dressed, whereas he should have been in bed at taps. "Ha!" exclaimed the head master. "This will bear investigation. Why aren't you in bed, Hamilton?" "I went down to get my algebra, which I left under the elms." "Did you have anything to do with firing the saluting gun?" "No, sir." "I will have to investigate. Report in my room in ten minutes." Captain Hayden marched on, and the two cadets could hear distant sounds that indicated a general inspection of quarters. "I guess you're in for it, Dick," said Paul. "I can prove what I went out for." "Maybe. But I wonder who fired that gun?" "I don't know. Some of the older cadets likely. Well, I s'pose I've got to go to Captain Hayden's room." Dick found several other students gathered in the reception apartment of the head master. They were lads who had been found still up when their rooms were hurriedly entered after the blowing of taps, and the firing of the gun. "Who was captain of the guard?" asked Captain Hayden, when he came in and faced a rather frightened lot of cadets. "I was, sir," replied John Stiver. "What did you see?" "I was on duty, sir, near the main entrance of the south barracks, and the first I knew I saw the flash of the gun, and heard it go off." "What else did you see?" "I saw a cadet run from the campus into the barracks. He would not halt when I called to him." "Who was it?" "I don't like to say, sir." "Very likely not, but you must." "It was--it was Hamilton, sir." "Ha!" exclaimed the head master. "I went to the three elms to get my algebra which I had forgotten," said Dick. "After taps?" "Yes, sir." "Then you broke one of the rules." "Yes, sir, but I thought that if it rained, and my book got wet, I'd get a demerit for that, so I decided I would take a chance on going after taps. I started before the bugle sounded." "Ha! I will look into that afterward. You are sure you were not near the gun?" "Yes, sir." "I might add," went on Stiver, "that, after I called to Hamilton to halt, and he would not, I saw his dog running after him, and the animal seemed to have something tied to its tail." "To it's tail?" "Yes, sir." "What was it?"