With caution the two cadets sneaked along through the bushes and up to the side of the dilapidated cottage. Looking through a broken-out window they beheld Roy Bock and Bat Sedley seated on benches, smoking cigarettes. “How soon do you suppose Carey will get back?” Bock was asking. “Oh, he won’t come for an hour or two,” answered Sedley. “It’s quite a walk.” “He ought to have taken one of the horses.” “He didn’t dare, for he had to pass the very roadhouse where we left those drivers.” “Say, those drivers must have been astonished when they found the wagons gone.” “Humph! That will teach ’em a lesson not to let strangers treat them. All of them were glad enough to be treated at Plunkett’s expense.” “Is Plunkett still with ’em?” “I suppose so. He said he’d stay, so they wouldn’t suspect him of having anything to do with running off with the wagons.” “Say, how mad those cadets and Captain Putnam must be!” “Serves ’em right. I haven’t forgotten how we got it in the neck, the last time we tried to play a joke on them.” So the talk ran on. In the meantime Jack and Andy had heard enough and convinced themselves that Bock and Sedley were alone and that they did not expect anybody else for some time to come. “It’s a cinch!” whispered the young major. “We’ll make them prisoners! Just wait till I get a strap or two from the harness on the horses.” He hurried to the barn, and presently came back with several straps. Then he gave his chum a few directions. A moment later Roy Bock and Bat Sedley were dumbfounded to find themselves confronted by the two cadets, one with a drawn sword and the other with a leveled rifle. “Hands up, or I’ll shoot!” ordered Andy, in the sternest voice he could command, and this order made Sedley, who was something of a coward, scream in fright. “Don’t shoot me! Please don’t shoot!” “Then up with your hands!” And in keen fright Sedley put his hands over his head and kept them there. “Humph! It’s Jack Ruddy and Andy Snow!” murmured Roy Bock. “How did you get here?” “Up with those hands, Bock, or I’ll order Snow to fire!” returned Jack. “I want you to understand this is no laughing matter.” “You won’t dare to shoot us,” said Bock, but his voice showed his uneasiness. “Don’t you believe it! You are nothing but highway robbers!” “No, we are not, we——” “Are you going to put up those hands or not?” demanded Andy. “This is a repeating rifle, and it is fully loaded.” He spoke the truth, for Captain Putnam had allowed the cadets to load up before starting on the search, not knowing what might turn up. The boys, however, had been cautioned to be very careful. Slowly Roy Bock elevated his hands. He was uneasy, for he did not know what to expect. “Can’t you take a joke,” he grumbled. “Maybe you won’t find this a joke when you get through with it,” said Jack. “Stealing horses and wagons is a State’s prison offence.”