"Will you drink?" asked another. He was small in size and d.i.c.k put him down as being Ben Hurdy.

"I want you to untie my hands."

"Very well, let the prisoner hold the gla.s.s," said Flapp.

"Thank you, Flapp."

"Who said I was Flapp?" growled the tall boy, in dismay.

"I say so."

"My name is Brown."

"All right then, Brown let it be," said d.i.c.k, not wanting to anger the bully too much.

The prisoner's hands were untied and a gla.s.s containing a dark-colored mixture was handed to him. d.i.c.k had heard of the "gla.s.s of poison"

before, said gla.s.s containing nothing but mud and water well stirred up. But now he was suspicious. This gla.s.s looked as if it might contain something else.

"They'd as soon drug me as not," he thought. "For all I know this may be a dose strong enough to make an elephant sick. I don't think I'll drink it, no matter what they do."

"Prisoner, drink!" was the cry.

"Thanks, but I am not thirsty," answered d.i.c.k, as coolly as he could.

"Besides, I had my dose of mud and water a long time ago."

"He must drink!" roared Rockley.

"Get the switches!" ordered Lew Flapp, and from a corner a number of long, heavy switches were brought forth and pa.s.sed around.

Things began to look serious and it must be confessed that d.i.c.k's heart beat fast, for he had no desire to undergo a switching at the hands of such a cold-hearted crowd, who would be sure to lay on the strokes heavily.

"Don't you strike me," said d.i.c.k, thinking rapidly. "I'll drink fast enough. But I want to know one thing first."

"Well?"

"What are you going to do with me next?"

"Make you take the antidote for the poison," said Flapp.

"And what is that?"

"Another drink."

"They are going to drug me as sure as fate," reasoned d.i.c.k. "How can I outwit them?"

While he was deliberating there was a noise outside, as a night bird swept by the entrance to the hermit's den.

All of the masked cadets were startled and looked in that direction.

By inspiration d.i.c.k seized the moment to throw the contents of the gla.s.s over his shoulder into a dark corner. When the crowd turned back he had the gla.s.s turned up to his mouth and was going through the movement of swallowing.

"Ugh! what ugly stuff," he said, handing the gla.s.s to one of the crowd.

"Ha! he has swallowed the poison!" cried Lew Flapp, and nudged Rockley in the ribs. "That was easy, wasn't it?" he whispered.

"Give him the second gla.s.s," muttered Rockley. "That will make him as foolish as a fiddler."

Pender already had the gla.s.s handy. He pa.s.sed it to d.i.c.k, who suddenly glared at him in an uncertain manner. d.i.c.k had smelt the liquor in the first gla.s.s and now realized something of the plot to bring him to disgrace.

"Say, but that stuff makes me feel lightheaded," he said. "Wasn't so bad, after all."

"Drink this, quick," cried Flapp, more eagerly than ever.

"All right," said d.i.c.k, and spilt a little out of the gla.s.s onto the floor. "Wonder what makes my hand shake so?" he murmured.

"Take this and it will brace you up," put in Pender.

"Ha, look there!" yelled d.i.c.k, gazing fixedly at the rear of the den.

"See the three-headed owl!"

All looked in the direction and again he threw the contents of the gla.s.s behind him. Then he pretended to drink, while glaring at the cadets around him.

"Funny, I can't count you any more!" he muttered. "Six, seven, ten, 'leven, nine! Say, I'm all mixed up. Who put me on the merry-go-'round anyway?" He began to stagger. "Guess I'm on a toboggan slide, ain't I?"

and he acted as if he could no longer stand up-right.

"Cut him loose, fellows!" cried Flapp, and this was done, and d.i.c.k staggered to the table, clutched it, slid to the floor and acted as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Say, that was dead easy!" cried Pender gleefully. "Took the stuff like a lamb."

"What's to do next, Flapp?" asked Jackson.

"Say, Jackson, don't speak my name, please," cried the tall boy in alarm.

"Oh, what's the odds," put in Pender. "Rover is dead to the world.

Rockley knew just how to fix those doses."

"That's right, Gus," came from Rockley.

"We had better not lose time here," went on Flapp presently. "Let us tell Captain Putnam without delay. He'll have Rover brought back to camp just as he is, and that will disgrace him forever."

"Wait till I put the empty bottle near him," said Rockley, and this was done.

Then the crowd of masked cadets left the den, leaving the door wide open behind them.

CHAPTER XXVIII