“Hullo, are you following us?” demanded Reff Ritter, striding forward.
“I guess you are following us,” said Pepper, quickly.
At this Ritter and Baxter muttered something the others could not understand. Then the bully of the Hall and his cronies walked away to another part of the island.
“They are up to something,” said Pepper to his friends, and told what he had heard.
“It will pay to watch out to-night,” said Dale.
That afternoon the boys had a swimming match, in which over twenty cadets participated. The match was won by Harry Blossom, with Andy second, Bart third, Hogan fourth, and Gus Coulter fifth. Reff Ritter was in the match, but dropped out when he saw he could not win.
“I got a cramp in my big toe,” he said, but nobody believed him.
In the evening a happy time was had around the campfires and at ten o’clock the cadets turned in. Hogan and Stuffer were on guard, along with a number of others. Each guard had to walk up and down on his post, and that was all.
Pepper was dozing away when Andy pulled him by the arm.
“Something is doing,” whispered the acrobatic youth.
The Imp was wide-awake on the instant, and so were Dale and Harry, who were sleeping close by. Jack, as major, was in another tent.
Some shadows were moving around, and presently Andy and Pepper saw three cadets steal into the tent and lift up some uniforms and equipments. Instantly they leaped up, and caught two of the intruders.
“No, you don’t!” cried Andy. “Drop those uniforms!”
“Let me go!” muttered the other fellow, and Andy recognized Dan Baxter’s voice. Pepper had Reff Ritter, while Dale got hold of Nick Paxton. The latter slipped flat on his back and Dale came down upon him heavily.
“Oh! Get off of me!” grunted Paxton. “You are smashing in my ribs!”
“What does this mean?” demanded Dale, and caught his prisoner by the arm.
“We—we were going to hide your uniforms, that’s all!”
“Oh, that’s it!” said Pepper. “Well, it didn’t work, and out you go!” And he gave Reff Ritter a shove that sent him headlong on the ground outside of the tent. Dan Baxter was also pushed out, and Paxton was flung on top of the bully. All three picked themselves up as quickly as they could and sneaked off.
“Coulter wasn’t with them,” whispered Pepper. “He and Mumps and Sabine must be trying the trick elsewhere. Let us go out and investigate.”