“Right you are, Dick.  I’ll be as mum as a clam climbing a huckleberry bush.”

The boys were tired out over the march of the afternoon and over playing the joke on Tubbs, and it was not long before all of the Rovers were sound asleep.  The three brothers had begged for permission to tent together and this had been allowed by Captain Putnam, for the term was virtually over, ending with the dismissal of the cadets at the last encampment parade.

On guard duty at one end of the field was a cadet named Link Smith, a rather weak-minded fellow who was easily led by those who cared to exert an influence over him.  At one time Link Smith had trained with Lew Flapp and his evil associates, but fortunately for the feeble-minded cadet he had been called home during the time when Lew Flapp got into the trouble which ended by his dismissal from Putnam Hall.

Link Smith was pacing up and down sleepily when he heard a peculiar whistle close at hand.  He listened intently and soon heard the whistle repeated.

“The old call,” he murmured to himself.  At first he did not feel like answering, but presently did so.  Then from out of the gloom stalked a tall young fellow, dressed in the uniform of a cadet but with a face that was strangely painted and powdered.

“Who is it?” questioned Link Smith, uneasily.

“Don’t you know me, Link?”

“Lew Flapp!” cried the weak-minded cadet.

“Hush, not so loud, Link.  Somebody might hear you.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to visit the camp,” answered Lew Flapp.

CHAPTER IV

WHAT THE MORNING BROUGHT FORTH

Link Smith was much surprised by Lew Flapp’s assertion that he wanted to visit the camp during the middle of the night and when practically everybody was asleep.

“What do you want to come in for?” he asked, feeling fairly certain that Flapp’s mission could not be as upright and honest as desired.

“Oh, it’s all right, Link,” answered the big bully, smoothly.

“But what do you want?”

“Well, if you must know, I want to talk to a couple of my old friends.”

“Why can’t you talk to them to-morrow, after they leave school?”

“That won’t do.  I want them to do something for me before they leave the academy.”

“It’s a strange request to make, Lew.”

“Oh, it’s perfectly square, I assure you.  You see, it’s this way:  I want them to get some proofs for me,—­to prove that I am not as black as the follows reported to Captain Putnam.”

Now, it is possible that some other cadet would not have been hoodwinked in this fashion by the bully, but Link Smith swallowed the explanation without a second thought.

“Oh, if that’s what you want, go ahead,” said he.  “But don’t tell anybody I let you in.”

“I shan’t say a word if you don’t,” answered Lew Flapp.  “By the way,” he went on, with assumed indifference, “they tell me the Rover boys have cleared out and gone home.”