Then he ran into the cave and found a candle that was there. He cut the candle into six pieces and lit them all, making quite a light as they were ranged on the table. He covered the center of the table with a cloth, resting on several sticks of wood, so that the cloth would look as if it had things to eat under it. “Now advance, and prepare for the grand feast!” he called out, and seeing the lights streaming from the cave the Bock crowd ran forward. “A cave!” cried Sedley. “And a spread!” added Carey. “See the table!” “This is a surprise,” murmured Plunkett. “We’ll see what they’ve got to eat,” came from Bock, and then the four students marched into the cave and surrounded the table with its burning candles. “Now then, work quick!” cried Bob in a low voice, and leaped towards some sticks beside the cave entrance. The others understood, and soon had the sticks piled up against the opening. Against the sticks they heaped up some rocks that were handy. “What does this mean?” roared Roy Bock, wheeling around and trying to get out of the cave. “It means you are prisoners of the Putnam Hall cadets!” cried Pepper, throwing off his disguise. CHAPTER XIII THE ENCAMPMENT AT LAKE CABOY “Sold!” “I thought all along they might be fellows from Putnam Hall!” “What fools we were to trust them!” Such were some of the remarks made by the students of Pornell Academy when they found themselves prisoners in the cave. In vain they rushed to the entrance, trying to get out. Bob had some heavy sticks handy and these were quickly wedged in between the rocks so that they could not be budged excepting from the outside. Then more rocks were piled up to keep the prisoners from breaking the sticks. “See here,” demanded Roy Bock. “Ain’t you going to let us out?” “We’ve got to get back to the Academy before morning,” added Bat Sedley. “Otherwise we’ll get into hot water with Doctor Pornell.” “Don’t you care!” cried Pepper. “You’ve got a roof over your head—and that is more than we might have had if we hadn’t located those wagons.” “Oh, let up about the wagons, will you?” growled Bock. He felt heartily sick over the outcome of that trick. “There is one way you can get out of this cave,” announced Bob. “That is by the back way.” “The back way?” queried Plunkett, looking behind him. “Yes. See that opening in the rocks? Well, if you squeeze through that you’ll come out in a deep cut, and if you’ll follow the cut you’ll reach the woods, not far from the road to your school. I advise you to take those candles with you though, for it is pretty dark in the cut, and there are some bad holes.” “We may break our necks!” growled Carey. “Not if you are careful. But you may get in the mud,” answered the young quartermaster. “Oh, let us out the front way!” pleaded Bock. “No, it’s back way or nothing,” said Pepper. “You deserve to suffer for the way you treated us. Good night!”