The cadets had much to talk about that day—­the sudden liberation of Pepper, and the losses Bart Conners and Dan Baxter had suffered.  At noon Captain Putnam came back, and he had the captain of Company B and Dan Baxter in his office for the best part of an hour.  But nothing came of the conference, excepting that the owner of the Hall said he would pay all losses and gave Baxter his eleven dollars on the spot.  Then he had a long conference with the new man of all work, who was really a detective in disguise.  But that individual was as much in the dark as anybody.  He had seen nobody prowling around during the night.

“We must get at the bottom of this affair,” said Captain Putnam to George Strong.  “If we do not, the school will surely be ruined.”  He was told about the affair of the teeth, but paid little attention, knowing that Josiah Crabtree could be left to manage his own differences with the students.

Pepper had dropped the matter so far as it concerned Josiah Crabtree, but he did not drop it so far as it concerned Mumps.  He watched the sneak that day and the next, and managed at last to catch Mumps at the boathouse.

“Now, I am going to give you the thrashing you deserve!” cried The Imp, and caught the sneak by the collar.

“Lemme go!” shrieked Mumps.  “Lemme go, or I’ll tell Captain Putnam on you!”

“No, you won’t!” answered Pepper.  “If you do, I’ll promise you another licking at the first chance I get!”

And then and there he boxed the sneak’s ears and then threw him down in the snow, washing his face and shoving a lot of the snow down inside the lad’s shirt.  Mumps yelled like a wild Indian, but Pepper did not let up until he felt that he had given the sneak all he deserved.

“You say a word and I’ll give you a double dose the next time!” warned Pepper.  And this so scared Mumps he never once opened his mouth about the affair.

CHAPTER XXIII

AN ELECTION OF OFFICERS

“Election of officers to-morrow!”

“As if every cadet at the school didn’t know it, Pepper.”

“Well, Andy, have you made up your mind how you are going to vote?”

“Sure I have,” replied the acrobatic youth.  “I am going to vote for Bart Conners for major, since Jack don’t want to run again.”

“That’s the way I am going to vote, too.”

“How about the two captains?” asked Joe Nelson.

“Well, I think I’ll vote for Dave Kearney for one,” answered Pepper.  “I am not so sure about the other.”

“What’s the matter with Harry Blossom?” asked Bert Field.  “He seems to be a nice sort.”

“He is.”

“I understand Reff Ritter wants to be a captain,” put in Stuffer.

“Sure, an’ he’d be afther wantin’ to be major, only he ain’t popular enough,” came from Emerald.

“Coulter is out for a captaincy, too,” said Jack, who had come up during the talk.