“What kept you so long?” added Stuffer. “We made up our minds something had gone wrong and we were coming to find out.” “Something did go wrong,” burst out Pepper. “Somebody locked us in the belfry.” And then he and his chum told their story. “It must have been Ritter and his crowd,” declared Stuffer. “None of us did it. I was with Dale and the others all the time, and Andy was on his errand for Captain Putnam.” “If I was certain it was Ritter I’d give him a piece of my mind!” declared Jack. “It was a mean piece of business on his part—after what I did for him a few weeks ago. He might have been expelled from this school if I had not asked the captain to give him another chance.” “Oh, you can’t rely on Ritter,” came from the cadet who loved to eat. “Why, yesterday, I had an extra piece of pie hidden in a closet, to eat after lessons, and he came along and gobbled it down! He ought to have the daylights hammered out of him!” “Well, we got the clapper anyway,” said Pepper, grimly. “And it’s up to you, Stuffer, to treat to that ice-cream, and for Dale to find that apple pie that was promised.” “I’ll keep my promise the first time we go to town, never fear,” answered Stuffer. “But just now I think the best thing all of us can do is to sneak into the school and get to bed, before we are found out.” “And before Ritter plays some more of his dirty tricks,” added Andy. The four cadets walked in the direction of the school, but before arriving at the campus turned into a side road bordering the lake. “No use of going in by the regular entrance,” said Jack. “We’d be sure to be spotted—especially if Ritter or his cronies have told one of the teachers that we are out.” “I know where Snuggers keeps his key to the kitchen door,” said Andy. “Maybe I can get that.” He referred to Peleg Snuggers, a general utility man around Putnam Hall, who divided his time between the school building and the stables. “Where is the key?” asked Pepper. “On a nail in the washshed. I saw him put it there one evening.” “Then we had better go in by the back way—if we can get the key,” said Stuffer. With caution the boys skirted the edge of the lake. As they passed the boathouse they heard a murmur of voices. They were about to set off on a run, thinking some teachers were in the building, when Jack called a halt. “It’s Reff Ritter talking!” he cried, in a low voice, and a few seconds later there issued from the boathouse the forms of the school bully and his two particular cronies, Gus Coulter and Nick Paxton. As soon as the three saw the other cadets they started to walk away rapidly. “Stop, Ritter! I want to talk to you!” cried Jack, in a low but steady tone. “What do you want?” snapped back Reff Ritter, coming to a halt and wheeling around. It was after hours, so he did not take the trouble to salute the young major. “I want to talk to you,—and I want to talk to Coulter and Paxton, too.”