"Where's them mice?" cried Job Plunger in a shrill voice. "Where's them mice, I say?"

"You'll have to find them, Plunger," answered Captain Dale.

"Behind 'em?" remarked the deaf janitor. "Behind where?"

"I did not say behind anything," shouted the captain. "I said you'd have to find them."

"Oh. Well, I'll find 'em if they're in the room," said Plunger.

By this time the noise and excitement had increased so that nearly half of the school was out in the corridor in front of Stowell's room. They saw the remains of the stuffed figure on the floor, and many quickly surmised that a joke had been played.

"What is Codfish doing with that dummy?"

"Has he been using it for an imitation Hun to shoot at?"

"Maybe he's going to join the football team next Fall and wants to practice up."

"Has he been taming mice on the sly?"

"Gee! I don't want to stay in a place where a fellow keeps mice in his room."

In the midst of this talk the janitor and the chauffeur did what they could to round up the escaped mice. They managed to capture two of the rodents and kill two others, and that was all that could be found.

"If there were any more, the rest must have gotten away," remarked Bob Nixon.

"This is simply a practical joke," announced Captain Dale, after a few more words with Stowell. "Have you any idea who played it?"

"I don't know exactly, sir, but I think maybe I can find out," answered the sneak. He felt much subdued, especially as he saw the eyes of many of the other cadets on him.

"Well, you go to bed now, and I'll take this matter up to-morrow morning," said Captain Dale. "Boys, I want you all to retire, and at once," he went on with a wave of his hand to those outside. And then the cadets dispersed to their rooms.

CHAPTER IX

THE GAME WITH LONGLEY

"I guess that will hold Codfish for a while," remarked Randy, when the Rovers were once more by themselves in their rooms and the excitement had died away.

"I'll have to make it a point to see Pud Hicks the first thing in the morning," returned his twin. "Pud might tell somebody that he showed those mice to me."

"Yes, you'd better do that, by all means," put in Jack.

"And another thing you ought to do, is to let Codfish know why this trick was played on him," came from Fred. "Otherwise it will be a good effort thrown away," and he grinned.

"I'll leave a note under his door," said Randy, and a little later scribbled out the following on a card:

"This is what you get, Codfish, for giving information to our baseball rivals. Be careful in the future to keep your mouth shut.

"THE AVENGERS."

"I reckon that will hold him for a while," said Randy, and before going to bed he slipped out into the corridor and placed the card under Stowell's door.

Early in the morning Andy saw the a.s.sistant janitor and easily arranged for Pud Hicks to say nothing about the mice.

"Why, over a dozen of the cadets saw those mice," said Hicks; "so they can't blame any of this on you." And it may be mentioned here that the investigation which followed came to nought.

Two days later Andy burst in on the others like a whirlwind, his face glowing with excitement.

"Come on downstairs, everybody!" he called out. "Colonel Colby has just arrived! Come on, and ask him what he can tell us about our fathers."

At this announcement there was a general stampede. All of the others dropped the textbooks they had been studying and made a simultaneous rush for the corridor and the stairs. Down, pell-mell, went the whole crowd, to join a group of cadets in the lower hall, everyone of whom was doing his best to shake Colonel Colby's hand first.

The owner of the school was dressed in his uniform as a United States officer, and looked taller and more bronzed than ever. His face wore a broad smile and he gave each of his pupils a hearty handshake.

"Oh, Colonel, we are so glad to see you back!" cried Jack, with genuine pleasure as he wrung the officer's hand. "And I hope you have good news of my father and my uncles?"

"I am as glad to see you as you are to see me, Captain Rover," returned Colonel Colby. "And it is a genuine pleasure to get back to this school after having endured such arduous days in France."

"And what about our folks?" added Fred, as he too came in for a handshake.

"When our troopship left France your folks were expecting to follow in about ten days or two weeks. Most likely they are already on the way."

"And they were well?" asked Randy anxiously.

"Quite well. Of course, you know that your father and your Uncle Sam were wounded by some flying sh.e.l.ls, and that your Uncle d.i.c.k suffered from a gas attack. But they are all recovering rapidly, and I don't doubt but what they will soon be as well as ever."

"Somebody said that dad had won a medal of honor," said Jack, his eyes lighting up with expectancy.

"It is true. He did win such a medal. And he deserved it. Probably he will give you all the particulars when he arrives."

That was all Colonel Colby could say at the time, because many others wanted to shake his hand, from Captain Dale down through all the teachers and the cadets to the school janitor, and even the women working in the kitchen and the men in the stables. He had been on good terms with all his hired help, and now they showed a real affection for him which touched his heart deeply.

"Just think of it! Our fathers may be back in ten days!" exclaimed Andy.

"Isn't it the best ever!" And he commenced to dance a jig just to let off steam.

The boys lost no time in telephoning to the girls, and it may be imagined that Martha and Mary were indeed glad to hear the news.

The next day, just as the session was closing, the Rovers were informed that a man and a boy were out on the campus waiting to see them. They hurried out and found themselves confronted by John Franklin and his son Phil.

"I've been promising myself right along that I'd come and see you fellows," said John Franklin. "But somehow I couldn't get around to it.

But now that my son and I are going back to Texas I felt I'd have at least to say good-bye and thank you once again for what you fellows did for us."

"And as my father wasn't able to reward you, I thought maybe you wouldn't mind if I made each of you something out of wood with my jackknife," put in Phil Franklin, somewhat awkwardly. "You know, handling a jackknife is one of my specialties," he added, with a grin.

"So please accept these with our compliments. You can divide them up to suit yourselves."

He handed over a package done up in a newspaper, and, unfolding this, the Rovers found four articles carved out of hard wood. One was an inkstand, another a miniature canoe, a third an elaborate napkin ring, and the fourth a tray for holding pins and collar b.u.t.tons.