"Oh, papa, it was lovely!" cried Laura.

"I was so pleased to see Putnam Hall win!" added Flossie.

"Were you?" said Mr. Ford, and laughed good-naturedly. "Now, I imagined you came to encourage the Dauntless boys."

"Papa, you know better!" cried both girls.

"How would you young gentlemen like to drive home with us and dine at the Lodge?" asked the gentleman.

"Oh, yes, come!" cried Flossie.

"Do!" urged Laura.

"Well, I don't know," answered Jack, slowly. "The eleven is going to celebrate to-night, and they want us. Otherwise, I'd like it very much."

"Then come some other time," answered Rossmore Ford.

"Thank you, we will," answered Andy; and after a few words more the Fords drove off and the cadets walked away to join their fellows.

It was a jolly crowd that returned to Putnam Hall late that afternoon, and Captain Putnam was willing that they should have all the sport the rules of the inst.i.tution permitted.

"Bonfires to-night!" cried Andy.

"Biggest ever!" returned Pepper. "I've got a surprise."

"What is it, Pep?" asked several in a chorus.

"If I tell you, will you keep it to yourselves?"

"Sure!" was the ready answer.

"Well, you saw those tar-roofers at work on the new top of the dock at Cedarville?"

"Yes."

"I bought three empty tar-barrels from the foreman. He is going to leave them in the woods yonder for me at seven o'clock. They'll make the finest bonfires you ever saw."

"That's the cheese!" cried Dale, slangily. "Do you know what we can do?

Place one barrel on top of another and touch them off. They'll make the greatest blaze you ever heard of."

"But mum's the word until the right time comes," warned Pepper. And then the crowd dispersed for the evening drill.

Two boys had been listening to the talk from behind a nearby clump of bushes. They were Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter.

Neither of the cronies had gone to the football game, having preferred to walk to a cabin in the woods, where they could smoke and play cards.

The victory of Jack and his friends had put them in a particularly bad humor.

"I suppose they expect a great celebration with those tar-barrels,"

muttered Coulter. "Say, I tell you what let's do!" he cried. "Let us sneak to the woods before they arrive and roll the barrels down to the lake!"

"I'll do it," answered Reff Ritter. "Anything to put a damper on that celebration."

"Well, water will dampen the tar-barrels," added Coulter, grimly.

CHAPTER X

PUTTING OUT A LIVELY BLAZE

Pepper was so full of high spirits that at the supper table he could not resist the temptation to play a joke. He saw Joe Nelson using his handkerchief and, on the sly, took up the pepper-shaker and dosed the cloth liberally with pepper.

Poor Joe caught the full benefit of the pepper, and in the midst of the meal commenced to sneeze loudly.

"Why, Nelson, what is the matter?" asked Mr. Strong, who was at the table that evening.

"I don't--ker-choo!--know!" stammered Joe. "I believe--ker-choo!

ker-choo!"

"Exactly," whispered Pepper. "Very simple explanation, very."

"I--ker-choo!--I guess I had better--ker-choo!" went on Joe.

"He's 'ker-chooing' all he needs to," was Jack's comment, and this caused a general t.i.tter.

"I guess I'll ask to--ker-choo!--to be excused--ker-choo!" went on Joe, and jumping up he left the table and the room. He ran out on the campus and there sneezed himself free of the pepper, much to his relief.

Joe was about to return to the mess-hall when he chanced to see two figures sneaking along in the semi-darkness, in the direction of the woods. He was just able to make out that the pair were Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter when they disappeared behind the trees.

"Now, what are those fellows up to?" mused Joe, as he walked slowly to the mess-hall. "No good, I'll venture."

He sat down and commenced to eat. Then, of a sudden, he uttered an exclamation.

"I've got it! That's it!"

"What is it, Nelson?" asked George Strong.

"Oh--er--nothing," stammered the cadet. But when the teacher was not looking, he leaned over towards Jack.

"What is it, Joe?" whispered the young major.

"Tell Pepper I just saw Ritter and Coulter sneaking into the woods."

"You did!" Jack closed one eye. "And you think----"

"They may have learned about the barrels."