"What's going on up here?" questioned Randy, when his cousin placed a hand over his mouth.

"I just saw Slugger and Nappy come up here with Codfish," whispered Fred. "And those three wouldn't come to such an out-of-the-way place if there wasn't something in the wind."

"You're right there, Fred," was the equally low reply. "When those three get together on the sly there is generally something brewing."

Before emerging on the second floor of the gymnasium, they looked around cautiously. At the far end, near a steam radiator, they saw Slugger and Nappy seated on a couple of boxes, while Codfish rested on the top of an old nail keg. The two older boys were puffing away at cigarettes, something that was against the school rules.

"Might as well have a cigarette, Henry," Slugger was saying good-naturedly, and, at the same time, holding out a box.

"I--I don't think I will," answered Codfish.

"Oh, go ahead. It will make a man of you," put in Nappy; and, somewhat against his will, the small cadet took a cigarette and lit it.

While this was going on, Fred and Randy had managed to step from the top of the stairs to where a number of boxes were piled up. They moved along cautiously, and soon got to within a few feet of where the other three cadets were seated, without being noticed.

"Now, then, let's come to business!" remarked Slugger, after puffing away at a cigarette for a moment. He blew a cloud of smoke to the ceiling. "I think now is a dandy time to get square with those Rovers."

"But you want to be careful--they are awful sly," said Codfish.

"I think you are mistaken, Henry. They didn't find out about those notes," and the bully chuckled.

"Just the same, Slug, I think we ought to take Cod's advice and be careful," broke in Nappy, lighting a fresh cigarette. "I have a hunch that the Rovers are watching us like a cat watches mice."

"Maybe they are. But I guess we know how to fool them," went on the bully swaggeringly. "And now is just our chance to get them into a hole."

"Explain, please."

"It's just like this, Nappy. Of course, they haven't admitted it, but you know just as well as I do that Colonel Colby must have punished them pretty severely for the trick they played on Lemm. What he did to them, we don't know, but probably he has given 'em some extra lessons to do, and maybe he's punished 'em in other ways."

"Oh, sure! he must have punished them somehow."

"I haven't seen any of them going down to town since it happened," put in Codfish. "Maybe Colonel Colby made them promise to stay within bounds."

"Perhaps. Well, as I was saying, being punished, they, of course, are pretty sore on the colonel. Now then, if we can only play some dirty trick on Colonel Colby and make it appear as if the Rovers and their crowd did it, they'll sure get into hot water over it."

"I'm willing to do anything to square up with those fellows," grumbled Nappy. He paused for a moment to puff away at his cigarette. "What do you propose doing?"

"That, of course, is something we'll have to figure out. We'll want to be careful, so as not to get our own fingers burnt."

"I'll tell you what you might do!" broke in Codfish eagerly. "You might drop ashes all over Colonel Colby's office and his bedroom, and then leave some of the ashes in a box in the Rovers' rooms, and somebody might say something about having seen Jack Rover getting the ashes from the boiler-room."

"That's good as far as it goes, Henry, but it isn't quite strong enough," returned Slugger. "We ought to do something that will make Colonel Colby hopping mad."

"I'll tell you what let's do!" broke out Nappy. "We'll use the ashes, and we'll use some other things too. I was down past the kitchen a while ago, and I heard one of the cooks complaining about some of the canned tomatoes which were all spoiled and he was going to throw out. Now, suppose we use some of those spoiled tomatoes with the ashes, and maybe a quart or two of ink. How about it?"

"Great!" exclaimed Slugger. "Ashes, ink and decayed tomatoes will make one fine combination, believe me!"

"Oh, you want to be very careful," remarked Codfish, his voice shaking a little. "The ink will be sure to spoil some things, not to mention the bad tomatoes."

"Well, we want to spoil something," returned Slugger. "We want to get Colonel Colby real mad. Maybe then he'll send the Rovers home."

"How soon do you suppose we can play this joke?" questioned Nappy, while Slugger lit a fresh cigarette.

"Perhaps we can play it very soon. We'll have to watch our chance," was the answer. Slugger held out his box of cigarettes to Codfish. "Here, Henry, have another."

"N-n-no, th-thank you," stammered the sneak. "I--I do--don't care to smoke any more. It--it makes my head dizzy."

"Oh, you'll soon get over that. Come on, be a real man and smoke up!"

urged Slugger; and much against his will poor Codfish lit a second cigarette, he having dropped the other behind the nail keg.

This talk was followed by an animated discussion between Slugger and Nappy as to just how the proposed trick might be played. Codfish said but little. He was growing pale, and at the first chance threw away the second cigarette.

Of course Fred and Randy had listened to every word that was said.

Ordinarily, the Rovers did not favor playing the part of eavesdroppers, but just now they thought they were amply justified in listening to everything that their enemies might have to say.

"They are a fine bunch if ever there was one!" whispered Randy.

"Come on away; I guess we've heard enough," answered his cousin. "The best thing we can do is to report to Jack and Andy, and then make up our minds what we are going to do next."

CHAPTER XV

AN ALARM OF FIRE

With great care, so as not to make any noise, the two Rover boys tiptoed their way back behind the boxes and barrels until they reached the narrow stairway.

"Come on! But don't make a bit of noise," said Randy quickly, and went down the stairs as rapidly as possible, with Fred at his heels. Reaching the lower floor of the gymnasium, they shut the door, and then lost no time in mixing with the other Rovers and their chums at the far end of the building.

"Where have you fellows been?" questioned Jack, who had suddenly noticed their absence.

"I'll tell you later," said Fred.

"Now, don't say a word more about our being away--especially if Slugger and Nappy and Codfish come this way. Act just as if we had been here right along."

"I get you, Randy," said Jack; and a minute later, as the others who had been mentioned came into sight, he continued in a loud voice: "Go ahead, Randy, it's your turn. Have you been asleep?"

"No; I'm not asleep," answered Randy, and caught a ball which was being pitched around.

Fred began to practise on an exercising machine, and acted as if he had been at it for some time.

Soon Slugger, Nappy and Codfish came down and pa.s.sed the crowd, eyeing all of them closely. Then Slugger winked to the others, and the three made their way slowly from the gymnasium building.

"Now then, I'll tell you fellows something," announced Fred; and thereupon he and his cousin related to the others what they had overheard in the upper room of the building.

"So that's their game, is it?" cried Jack wrathfully. "That's the way they are going to pay us back for agreeing to give them another chance at this school!"