CHAPTER XXVI
SAM SHOWS WHAT HE CAN DO
"It was another trick. He knocked me down on purpose."
Thus spoke Sam, as soon as he could get a hearing.
"Well, if that isn't beastly!" cried Franell, in apparent surprise. "I knocked him over! Why the little clown plumped right into me!"
"Were you running on your side of the path?" questioned George Strong.
"I was, sir. Flapp and Pigley can prove it."
"That's right, Mr. Strong," said Lew Flapp.
"It was entirely Rover's fault," added Pigley. "He didn't keep to the right as he should."
The other runners were questioned, but could give no testimony, as they had not been close enough at the time of the collision.
"It is too bad it happened," said Captain Putnam.
"I would have won if it hadn't been for the fall," said Sam bitterly. "I was in the lead."
"Yes, but you were about winded," said Flapp. "I saw you getting groggy. That's what made you fall into Franell, I guess."
This remark made the youngest Rover more angry than ever.
"Mr. Strong," he said, turning to the head teacher suddenly, "will you do me a favor?"
"What do you wish, Rover?"
"Will you time me if I run that race over again?"
"You mean to run it over alone?"
"Yes, sir—unless Flapp will run against me."
"I've won the race and that's all there is to it," grumbled the tall boy doggedly.
"Certainly I'll time you, if you wish it," said Mr. Strong, who saw how disappointed Sam was. "But it won't be a race, you know."
"I don't care I want to show them what I can do."
"Very well."
Sam drew up to the mark and declared himself ready.
"Shall I run with you?" asked Tom. "Just to urge you on, you know?"
"All right, Tom, come on."
"Go!" cried George Strong, watch in hand and his eye on the second hand.
Away went the brothers side by side, while a cheer went up from those who had wished to see Sam win.
Tom kept close to his brother until the rounding rock was gained and here Sam compelled him to drop behind.
"Go on!" yelled Tom good-naturedly. "Go! I'm after you!" and he put on an extra spurt. Sam also spurted and kept the lead by about two yards.
"Humph! that ain't running!" muttered Lew Flapp to Rockley, but nevertheless, he was greatly disturbed.
Down the line swept the two runners with the speed of the wind, Sam keeping his two yards' lead in spite of Tom's efforts to overtake him.
"Won!" was the shout. "And Tom Rover is close behind."
And then the crowd gathered around George Strong to learn the time.
"Eight seconds better than Lew Flapp!" was the cry. "And Tom Rover came in four seconds better!"
"That shows what Sam Rover would have done had Franell kept out of his way."
"The race should have gone to Sam Rover!"
So the cries kept up until Captain Putnam compelled the cadets to quiet down.
Lew Flapp and his cronies were much disgusted and left the field almost immediately.
"He's afraid to stay," declared Dick. "He doesn't want Sam to challenge him," and this was the truth.
The foot races were followed by some prize shooting, a race on the lake, and then by a tub race, and a race in sacks, which called forth much laughter, not only from the cadets, but also from the visitors.
"It was just splendid!" declared Alice Staton to Dick, when it was all over. "I never had such a lovely time in my life."
"Nor I," added her twin sister. "But your brother should have had that running race. It was a shame to knock him down."
"Never mind," said Tom, who had come up. "All the boys know he can run faster than the winner anyway."
A luncheon was served to the visitors by Captain Putnam's order and after that the cadets and their newly-made friends were allowed to go walking, boating, or driving, as they saw fit. Swings had been erected in the grove close to the encampment and these were constantly patronized.
"It must be lots of fun to be a cadet," said Alice Staton, when ready to depart. "If I was a boy I should want to go to a military academy."
"Oh, it's not all play," said Tom. "We have to work pretty hard over our studies and some times a fellow doesn't feel like drilling, but has to do it all the same."
It can truly be said that the Flapp crowd were much disappointed over the results of the day's contests. Only two events had been won—a boat race of small importance and the race in which Lew Flapp had come off victor, and the latter victory was dimmed by the knowledge that Sam Rover had cut down Flapp's time over the course by eight seconds.
"We may as well sell out and go home," said Pender, in deep disgust.
"But we can't go home," returned Rockley. "We've got to stay right here and take all the taunts that come along."
"Nobody shall taunt me," cried Jackson. "If they try it I'll punch somebody's nose."
"And to think we lost our money, too," said Ben Hurdy, after a pause. "That's what makes me sick."
"Reckon you didn't lose much," said Lew Flapp, with a sickly grin.
"I lost all I had, and that's enough."
"Who won it?"
"Hans Mueller. That crazy Dutch boy was yelling for Tom Rover and I took him up."
The Flapp crowd did not feel like mingling with the visitors, and at the first opportunity Lew Flapp and his intimate cronies slipped away from the camp and hurried to the hermit's den they had discovered.
"We'll have a little jollification of our own," said Rockley, and his plan was speedily carried into effect, in a fashion which would not have been approved by Captain Putnam or any of the teachers under him.
"We must get after Dick Rover," said Flapp, while smoking a black-looking cigar. "As a captain he stands pretty high. If we can pull him down we'll be striking a blow at the whole Rover family and also at their intimate friends."
"Right you are. But the question is, How are we to get hold of him, and what are we to do?" put in Jackson.
"I've got a plan, but I don't know exactly how it will work."
"Let us have it, Lew," came from Gus Pender.
"Some dark night we'll go to Rover's tent and haul him from his cot. We'll wear masks and he'll think he's in for a bit of hazing and won't squeal very loud. Then we can blindfold him and bring him here."
"So far, so good," put in Rockley. "And after that?"
"You know how he hates liquor?"
"Does he, or is it all put on?" questioned Ben Hurdy.
"I can't say as to that, but anyway he pretends to hate it, so it amounts to the same thing. Well, after we have him here we can get him to drink something by hook or by crook, and when he falls asleep we can put an empty bottle in his hand and then somebody can bring Captain Putnam to the spot. That will wipe out Dick Rover's record as a model pupil all in a minute."
"Good!" almost shouted Rockley. "We can dose him easily. You just leave that for me."
"Wish we could get his brothers into it, too," came from Pender.
"Oh, we can serve them out some other way," answered Lew Flapp. "At the start, we don't want to bite off more than we can chew," he added slangily.
The matter was discussed for fully an hour, and when the meeting broke up each member understood fully what was to be accomplished.
Two days after the athletic contests the cadets had a prize drill. The cadets had been preparing for this for some time and each company did its best to win.
"I am greatly pleased with the showing made by all three companies," said Captain Putnam after the drilling and marching were at an end. "Companies B and C have done very well indeed. But for general excellence the average of Company A is a little above the others, so the prize must go to Captain Rover's command."
"Hurrah for Dick Rover!" was the cry, and this was followed by a cheer for First Lieutenant Powell and for Second Lieutenant Tom Rover.
"Humph! Forever cheering those Rovers!" muttered Flapp, who was in Company C. "My, but it makes me sick!"
"Never mind," whispered Rockley. "Just wait till we get the chance to work our little game."
At once Lew Flapp's face took on a cunning look.
"I've got an idea," he whispered in return. "Why not try it on to-night? Then Captain Putnam would say Rover had been celebrating because his company won the prize."
"You are right there, Lew, I didn't think of that. Wait till I sound the other fellows."
It did not take Rockley long to talk to his cronies, and presently he came back with a knowing look on his face.
"It's settled," he said. "By to-morrow morning Dick Rover will be in disgrace and will lose his position as captain of Company A."