“Sure it was!” cried Stuffer.  “If those chaps really used stones they ought to be punished for it.”

The news quickly went the rounds, as was to be expected.  When Henry Lee heard it he quickly sought out Captain Bart.

“I hope you don’t think I allowed any such underhand work,” he said anxiously.

“Not for a minute, Henry!” cried the captain of Company B.  “If Ritter and Coulter did it, they did it on their own responsibility.  I think them just mean enough, too, for they are down on Major Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore.”

“If they are guilty, I’d like to have them court-martialed!” muttered the commander of Company A.  “Such underhand work is a disgrace to Putnam Hall!”

“Wait and see if it can be proven,” answered Bart Conners.  “Then, if it is proven, we’ll read Ritter and Coulter a lecture they won’t forget in a hurry!” he added significantly.

CHAPTER XVI

IN WHICH MORE VALUABLES VANISH

That night it snowed again, and in the morning the storm raged furiously around Putnam Hall, so that the landscape on all sides was completely blotted out.  The cadets had to remain indoors, and it was hard work to keep a path clear to the gymnasium and the stables.

“We’ll be snowbound and no mistake,” observed Andy.  “Well, I don’t care much; it will give me a chance to catch up in my lessons.”

“Very far behind, Andy?” asked Jack.

“More than I like to think about, Jack.  I want to graduate with honor, you know.”

“Oh, we all want to do that.”

“How’s the head?”

“Still sore.  But I guess I’ll be all right again in a few days.”

“How about you, Pepper?”

“I’ll be all right, too, Andy.  But it was a fierce crack!” added Pepper, as his hand went up gingerly to his plastered-up cut.

“Going to lodge a complaint against Ritter and Coulter?”

“What good would it do?  We can’t actually prove that they used stones?”

“Let it pass.  If we make a complaint it will only stir up more bad blood,” said the young major.  “But in the future I am going to watch Ritter and Coulter pretty closely.”

The boys were kept at the Hall for all of that week, getting no further than the gymnasium for recreation.  The wind blew furiously at times, so that the snow was piled up into numerous drifts, one reaching almost to the top of the carriage-shed, and another completely hiding the posts of the gate entrance.

“This must be tough on some of the farmers,” observed Dale.  “Think of trying to get the milk to the station in such weather.”

“Well, a farmer usually has enough to eat,” answered Stuffer.  “That counts for a good deal.  Now if a fellow was snowbound and didn’t have any grub——­” He did not finish but shook his head dolefully.  To Stuffer such a fate was beyond words.

As was to be expected, Ritter and Coulter kept out of the way of Jack and Pepper.  Once the young major met the pair on the stairs, but they simply glared at him and passed on before he could say a word.