They heard the cadets march to the mess-hall for breakfast. A little later a carriage came along the road towards the Hall.
“There is the captain now!” cried Jack, who was on the watch.
“Let us go down and present ourselves as soon as possible—before Crabtree can tell his story,” said Pepper.
Disposing of the basket and what was left of the eating, they stole downstairs and then to the front of the Hall. They were just in time to see Captain Putnam walk towards his office. Beside him was Josiah Crabtree.
“Ran away!” the master of the academy was saying. “You are sure of this?”
“I am, sir,” answered the assistant teacher. “We hunted everywhere for them.”
“You did not mistreat them in any way, Mr. Crabtree?”
“No! no! On the contrary, I think I used them too good.”
“Oh, listen to that!” whispered Pepper. “What an old fraud he is!”
“Well, I will listen to the story in detail after the school has been opened,” said Captain Putnam, after a pause, and then he entered his office, while Josiah Crabtree passed on to one of the classrooms.
“Now come on, Pep,” said Jack. “Let us put on a bold front and face the music.”
They marched down the stairs and knocked on the door of the office. There was a rustling of papers, and then the voice of Captain Putnam bade them enter.
The master of the Hall was looking over a mass of legal documents. He stared at the boys in considerable astonishment.
“Why, I understood you two students had run away!” he exclaimed.
“No, sir, we did not run away, Captain Putnam,” answered Jack. “We have not been outside of this building.”
“In one of the vacant rooms at the top, sir,” answered Pepper.
“What made you hide away there?” And the voice of the master of the Hall grew stern.
“We got away and hid because we did not like the way Mr. Crabtree treated us,” said Jack. “At first we were put in a room where we were nearly frozen, and then he put us down in the cellar, close to the big furnace, and nearly baked us.”
“We didn’t come here to be put in the cellar,” put in Pepper. “Especially when we have done no wrong.”
“So you were put in the cellar? I did not know that,” and now the captain’s face softened a little.
“Captain Putnam, I think we are not being treated fairly,” said Jack, earnestly. “We have done no wrong, and is it right to condemn us without a hearing?”