“Somebody’s shot!” cried Fred.
“They must have been hit by some pieces of the cannon!” gasped out Randy. “I felt something whizz by my ear when it went off.”
“Yes, something whistled close to me, too,” answered his twin. “Gee! I hope no one is seriously hurt.”
“You wouldn’t think so at such a distance,” said Fred. For the nearest group of cadets in the celebration was more than a hundred yards away, for the captured cannon had been placed on the boundary line of the campus.
Already a number of cadets and teachers were hurrying in the direction where the cannon had been located. The piece itself had blown in various directions, only a portion of the base remaining.
“Halt! What is the meaning of this?” came in ringing tones from Captain Dale, as the military instructor ran swiftly in the direction of the explosion.
“Oh, Captain Dale, we didn’t mean to smash the cannon!” cried Randy quickly. For a brief instant he, as well as the others, had contemplated running away, then had tacitly decided to face the consequences of their ill-advised attempt at fun.
“Did you discharge that cannon?”
“Yes, sir. But we had no idea that it was going to explode,” answered Andy. “We didn’t put anything into it but a small blank charge—not enough to bust up a one-pounder.”
“Was any one seriously hurt?” questioned Fred anxiously.
“I don’t know. Colonel Colby and Professor Grawson are investigating. The colonel sent me up here to question those responsible for the affair. You admit that you did it, do you, Captain Rover?” he added sternly.
“It wasn’t Fred’s fault!” burst out Andy quickly. “I—and my brother—put the charge in the piece and set it off. But really and truly, Captain Dale, we didn’t expect it to do more than make a very small report. All we placed in the cannon was one of those blank charges from the powder house—one of those old ones marked ‘BB 27.’”
“What did you put on top of the blank charge?” demanded the military instructor. “Rammed the cannon full of stones, I suppose?”
“No, sir. We didn’t put in anything but a couple of loose newspapers. We thought the papers would scatter over the campus and make some fun.”
“Are you sure you didn’t put in any stones?” and the military instructor turned to Randy.
“Nothing but the newspapers, Captain. I am positive of it.”
“In that case how do you account for the cannon exploding? It undoubtedly needed cleaning, but it was too heavy a piece to blow up with nothing more in it than a blank BB 27 charge. Well, the three of you go to the office and report to Colonel Colby when he comes in,” ordered Captain Dale. “We’ll have a thorough investigation of this as soon as the excitement is over and we have found out how badly those cadets are injured.”
“Can’t we go and see if Jack is all right first?” questioned Andy.
“Yes, you may do that. But don’t waste any time. I ought to place you under arrest, but if what you say is true about using only a small blank charge, evidently you meant it only in fun to help along the celebration. Of course, you had no right to take anything out of the powder house. But that point can be settled later.”
In the meanwhile the excitement among the cadets was gradually calming down. It was found that Ned Lowe had been struck in the shoulder and a cadet named Grimshaw had been hit in the back, while several others had received minor injuries. Both Lowe and Grimshaw were severely bruised and were sent to the school, there to be placed under the matron’s care until a doctor could be summoned.
“Jack! are you all right?” questioned Fred, as he ran up to his cousin, followed by the twins.
“All right, except that a stone or something flew right past my face,” was the reply. “Who shot off that cannon?”
“We did,” answered Andy, indicating himself and his brother. “But we didn’t know the confounded thing was going to bust,” and thereupon the twins made a complete confession, Jack, Gif, Spouter, and a number of others listening with interest. Then the three Rover boys went to the office as ordered.
Flashlights and lanterns were brought into play, and it was soon ascertained that none of the broken parts of the cannon had come near where the cadets had been celebrating. Pieces of cannon had struck behind the gymnasium and along the lake front, and other pieces had probably gone into the water.
“It’s stones that did the damage—stones, and nothing else!” exclaimed Gif. “Look here!” and he pointed at a box standing near one of the bonfires. The box had been peppered with both large and small stones, some of the smaller ones being still embedded in the wood.
“But Andy and Randy said they placed nothing on top of the blank charge but a couple of loose newspapers,” said Jack.
“It was undoubtedly stones that did the damage here,” came from Professor Grawson.
“The boys who did this should be dismissed from the school,” thundered Professor Snopper Duke, a dictatorial teacher whom many of the cadets detested.
“Well, it was probably done in fun with no intention of harm,” returned Professor Grawson, who generally took the side of the boys.
While Fred and the twins were passing an uncomfortable time outside Colonel Colby’s office waiting for the commandant’s appearance, Dan Soppinger and Fatty Hendry came up.
“Say, what did you want to load that cannon with rocks for?” demanded Hendry. “Did you want to shoot somebody’s head off?”
“Didn’t put any rocks in,” retorted Andy.
“Yes, you did. Pieces of stone are sticking in all sorts of places; the cannon must have been loaded to the muzzle.”
“It was certainly filled with stones, Andy,” said Dan. “The fellows who were hurt were hit by stones and not by pieces of the cannon.”
“Then somebody fixed that cannon after we placed the charge in it!” exclaimed Randy. “Now, who could have done that?”
“Jimminy beeswax, I’ve got it!” ejaculated his twin. “Codfish! That’s what he was sneaking around for!”
“I believe you’re right!” put in Fred. “He’s just the sneak to play a mean trick like that. He knew you were going to fire the cannon and he filled it with stones just to make trouble for you.”
“Come on, let’s go after him before Colonel Colby comes!” cried Randy. “I’ll get the truth out of that sneak if I have to hammer the daylights out of him.”
It was no easy matter to locate Henry Stowell. He was not on the campus nor in the gymnasium. Nor was he to be found in the room he and another cadet occupied.
“That proves he’s guilty,” was Andy’s comment. “He wouldn’t hide like this if he didn’t have something to be afraid of.”
In one of the corridors they met several of the cadets, and one of these stated that he had seen Stowell walking toward the Hall garage. At once the twins and Fred started in that direction.
“I’ll bet Codfish is going to keep out of sight until it’s time to turn in,” said Fred.
“He isn’t going to keep out of sight—not if I can help it,” returned Andy.
“Let’s separate and each make a hunt on his own account,” suggested Randy. “If any one locates him whistle three times.” So it was arranged, and the three Rovers began a systematic search, first of the garage and then of the large barns attached to the Hall.
At first their hunt was unsuccessful. Nobody was in or near the garage and the horses seemed to have the barn to themselves. But then Fred came upon a toolhouse and, throwing open the door, saw a dim form inside.
“Who’s there?” he called out. “Come out of that!”
For a moment there was no reply, and then a pretended sleepy voice asked:
“What do you want? Why can’t you let a fellow sleep? I’m all tired out.”
“Come out of that, Codfish!” ordered the young captain of Company C, and thereupon he whistled three times as loudly as he could.
“I haven’t done anything! You let me alone!” whined the sneak of the school.
“Come out!” ordered Fred again, and as Codfish emerged from the toolhouse he caught the cadet by the arm.
“You let me alone, Fred Rover! Let me alone, I tell you, or I’ll report you to Colonel Colby.”
“If there is any reporting to do, I’ll do it,” answered the young captain. “Now come along, and don’t try to run away.”
“Where are you going to take me? I wasn’t doing any harm. I got sleepy and thought I’d take a nap, that’s all.”
“Codfish, if I wasn’t mad at you, I’d have to laugh,” answered Fred. “Of course you’d rather sleep on a wooden box in the toolhouse than on your own soft bed upstairs, wouldn’t you?” he added sarcastically.
By this time Andy came running up, presently followed by his twin. As the three Rover boys surrounded him, Henry Stowell became more disturbed than ever.
“You let me alone!” he howled. “Don’t you dare touch me! I haven’t done anything!”
“Stowell, you stuffed that cannon with stones. You know you did!” cried Randy, catching the sneak by the collar.
“I didn’t! I didn’t do anything!” howled Codfish.
“Yes, you did! And you’ve got to admit it!” stormed Andy, shaking his fist under the sneak’s nose. “You tell the truth now or you’ll get the worst licking you ever had in your life.”
“Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” bellowed Codfish, now shaking from head to foot. “Let me alone! Help! Help!” he added feebly.
“Shut up!” And now Randy clapped his hand over the sneak’s mouth. “You yell again and you’ll get something you won’t want. Now then, out with it! Why did you put the stones in the cannon?”
“Now—now—I—er—didn’t mean any harm,” spluttered Codfish. “I—er—only did it in fun. I didn’t know the cannon would explode.”
“You come along to Colonel Colby’s office and tell your story there,” said Fred.
“Oh, please, please, Captain Rover, don’t make me go to Colonel Colby’s office!” whined the sneak. “If he hears of this maybe he’ll send me home and then my father will knock the daylights out of me!”
“Well, you’re going to the office just the same,” declared Fred. “My cousins here aren’t going to have this happening placed to their discredit. They’re in bad enough as it is—we all are,” he added.
Much against his will and still protesting loudly, Stowell was marched back to the Hall and to the office, where Colonel Colby had just arrived, followed by Captain Dale and Professor Grawson. Captain Dale had already reported to the master of the Hall, and Colonel Colby looked at the three Rovers in a troubled way.
“This is rather a serious piece of fun, Captain Rover,” he said, addressing Fred. “I am sorry to see you and your cousins mixed up in it.”
“He had nothing to do with it, Colonel Colby,” put in Randy. “I and my brother are guilty so far as placing a blank charge in the cannon and setting it off. But we didn’t place in it the stones that did all the damage,” he added.
“Who did that?” demanded Colonel Colby.
To this none of the Rover boys replied, but all looked suggestively at Codfish.
“Oh, Colonel Colby, please, please forgive me!” sobbed the sneak, breaking down and hiding his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean to do any harm—really I didn’t! I thought it would be nothing but a joke!”