“Now stay there until you are willing to behave yourself,” said Jasper Grinder, and shoved Sam into the apartment.  “For your impudence to me you shall go without your supper to-night.”

“That remains to be seen,” replied Sam, but in such a low voice that the teacher did not hear.  Then the door was closed and locked, and Jasper Grinder hurried away with the key in his pocket, to make poor Tubbs a prisoner in the stone cell.

“Here’s a pretty mess, and no mistake,” thought Sam, as he sank on a bench, the only article of furniture the room contained.  “I’m being treated worse than Tom was treated by old Crabtree when first we came to the Hall.  And all because I called Tubby by his nickname!  If this keeps on a fellow won’t dare to breathe out loud when Grinder is around.  What a passionate fellow he is at times!  He glares at a fellow as if he was going to eat you up!”

While Sam remained on the bench he heard footsteps in the hallway and a howling protest from Tubbs.  Then he heard the rich youth thrown into the stone cell next to the storeroom and left to his fate.

It was nipping cold, and, even with the window tightly closed and nailed over with slats, Sam could not endure it to remain on the bench long.  Leaping up he began to stamp his feet and slap his arms across his chest to get them warm.  Soon he heard Tubbs doing the same thing.

“I guess he’s worse off than I am,” thought the youngest Rover.  “That stone cell hasn’t any bench in it any more, and it must be twice as cold and damp as this room.  It’s a shame to put anyone there in this freezing weather.  I don’t believe Captain Putnam would stand for it if he was here.”

He tried to speak to Tubbs, but the wall between was too thick, and he soon gave up the idea.  Then he continued to stamp his feet and slap his arms, and even went through ah imaginary prize fight, in order to warm up.  It was now growing dark, and with the darkness the atmosphere of the storeroom became colder and colder.

CHAPTER III.

Tom on A tour of discovery.

Poor Sam was removed from the gymnasium so quickly that neither Dick nor Tom had time to protest, and when they reached the main door of the school building they found it shut and locked in their faces.

“Say, this is an outrage,” burst out Tom.  “Sam wasn’t to blame for that fight.  He didn’t trip Tubby up.”

“I know he didn’t,” put in Fred Garrison, who had come up also.  “It was Larry Mason.  But I shan’t give Larry away.”

“Neither will I.”

“Mr. Grinder always carries matters with a high hand when the captain is away,” put in Dick.  “And he gets red-hot at the least little thing.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be a teacher here,” came from George Granbury, who had followed the others.  “To my way of thinking, he’s worse than old Crabtree was, even though he is perhaps better educated.”