The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island Part 21

"Now I'm going to ask you boys another question," he went on, after a pause, and there was a faint smile on his face when he spoke. "Don't you think you ought to be punished for what you have done?"

For a moment there was another silence. Then Jack spoke up.

"In one way, yes, sir; but in another, no," he replied. "Professor Lemm treated us very unjustly in the cla.s.sroom in making us stay in and making us do extra lessons, and we didn't know of any other way to get square with him."

"Looks to me as if we got our punishment before we played the joke,"

said Andy, and this reply made some of the cadets grin.

Colonel Colby looked out of the window, which faced the snow-covered campus. Although the boys did not know it, he hardly knew what to say or do. He realized that he could not pa.s.s over the occurrence without punis.h.i.+ng the lads, and yet he could see their point of view--that Asa Lemm had been the first at fault in not treating them fairly during cla.s.ses.

"Order has got to be maintained in this school," he said finally, as he faced them. "If we did not have order, the whole inst.i.tution would go to pieces. That is my first point. My second is that two Wrongs have never yet made a Right, and instead of taking matters into your own hands, as you did, after having trouble with Professor Lemm, you should have come to me and told me what was wrong.

"I shall take this matter up later, after I have had an opportunity to make further inquiries concerning your conduct. In the meantime, you may go to breakfast, and then to your cla.s.ses;" and thus he dismissed them.

Of course, as soon as the boys were by themselves, they began to discuss the situation from every possible angle. Several wanted to know how it was that the master of the Hall had learned that Jack and Walt were guilty.

"Somebody sent Colonel Colby a note about us. I saw it on his desk,"

answered Jack.

"Yes, and Asa Lemm had another note just like it," added Walt. "Some sneak in this school must have watched us, and then sent the notes."

Much to the cadets' relief, they did not see Asa Lemm in the messroom.

Nor did the language teacher show himself during the morning session.

"Perhaps he's having another talk with Colonel Colby," suggested Fred.

The youngest Rover was right. The unreasonable teacher was closeted with the master of the Hall for over an hour, and during that time much of what had been told by the cadets was threshed over. Asa Lemm was as unreasonable as ever, and finally Colonel Colby lost all patience with him.

"I am afraid, Professor Lemm, that you are not suited to be a teacher in this inst.i.tution," he said. "Your actions here show that you are very irritable and unreasonable. After you left this office, I questioned all of those cadets closely, and all had practically the same story to tell; namely, that you had required more than was fair of them in your cla.s.ses, and that, on the slightest pretext, you had punished them by making them stay in and do extra lessons. I went into many of the details, and I am convinced that in a good proportion of the cases the students were right and you were wrong. Now, I regret this very much, because I realize that----"

"Sir, I don't want to be talked to in this fas.h.i.+on!" cried Asa Lemm, bridling up. "I was not in the wrong at all. Those boys are regular imps! They don't know how to treat a teacher decently! I won't stand for their nonsense! I want them severely punished, or else----"

"Wait a moment, Professor Lemm," interrupted the colonel, rising and facing him sternly. "I said I was sorry, and I am; but I feel that you are not the man to teach in this inst.i.tution, and consequently I must ask you for your resignation. I will pay you your salary up to the first of next month, and you can leave this school just as soon as you desire."

"Wha--what? This! to me?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the professor in consternation.

"Yes, sir. You can draw your pay, and, if you wish, you can leave this morning."

"But--but--this is outrageous! I won't stand it! I was hired for the school year!"

"You were--on condition that your services were entirely satisfactory to me. They are not satisfactory, and consequently I am giving you this opportunity to resign."

"If I have to leave, I'll have those boys arrested!" stormed Asa Lemm.

"I don't think I'd be so foolish, if I were in your place, Professor.

What they did was nothing but a foolish schoolboy joke, and they did that simply to get square with you for your unreasonable conduct toward them. I think the best you can do is to drop the matter. If you insist on dragging this affair before the public, perhaps the boys, and I, myself, will have something to say that you will not care to hear."

"We'll see--we'll see!" cried Asa Lemm, shaking his head and with his eyes blazing wrathfully. "We'll see about this!" and thus speaking, he stamped away.

CHAPTER XIV

OVERHEARING A PLOT

"Professor Lemm has left Colby Hall!"

"What do you mean, Jack? Left the Hall for good?"

"Yes, Randy."

"Who told you that?" questioned Fred eagerly.

"I just got it from Professor Brice. He said that old Lemon resigned, took his pay, and left yesterday afternoon while we were in cla.s.ses."

"Hurrah! that's the best news I've heard in a year of Sundays!" cried Andy. "Gone for good! Just think of it!" and, in high spirits, he began to do a jig, and ended with a handspring across the room, landing with a violent thump on the bed.

"Hi, you, Andy!" remonstrated Jack. "Just because you are happy is no reason you should bust up my sleeping place."

"Wow! I feel fine enough to do almost anything," returned the fun-loving Rover. "Just to think of it! We won't be worried by Asa Lemm any more!"

"Don't you be too sure of that," went on his cousin. "Asa Lemm is gone, it is true; but we may hear from him, nevertheless. When he went away he was an angry as ever, so Professor Brice said."

As was usual, the Rovers had congregated in their rooms, along with several of their chums. Outside it was snowing once again, the soft particles whirling in all directions and clinging fast to the window panes. It was the off hour of the afternoon, but none of the lads had cared to go outside, or even visit the school library.

The news that Asa Lemm had left the Hall was true. Following his heated interview with Colonel Colby, he had written out his resignation, accepted his pay for the month, packed his baggage, and left the school, never to return. Only several of the teachers and the man who had driven him away had seen him go; and this was as Colonel Colby wished it, for he was afraid that if the cadets were present at the disliked teacher's departure, they would make some sort of demonstration against him.

Strange as it may seem, Colonel Colby had said nothing further about punis.h.i.+ng the cadets. Evidently he had taken their word for it that they would not have played the trick on any other teacher in the school, and possibly he remembered what Andy had said to the effect that the boys had been punished beforehand for what had been done. A few of the lads were afraid that the matter might be taken up later, but the majority had reached the conclusion that they would hear no more concerning it.

"It's too bad it's snowing," said Jack, after he and the others had tired of speaking about the departed teacher. "I had an idea we would be able to get in some fine skating before we left for the Christmas holidays."

The Rover boys had not forgotten the fact that both Asa Lemm and Colonel Colby had received notes concerning the joke that had been played. They remembered well how Slugger Brown, as related in a previous volume, had sent an anonymous communication to Elias Lacy, accusing them of having shot the old farmer's cows.

"If Slugger was mean enough to send that letter, he'd be mean enough to send these notes," was the way Jack put it.

"I wish we could see one or both of the letters," remarked Randy. "We could very quickly tell if they were in Slugger's handwriting, or Nappy's either."

"Oh, you can bet they'd disguise their handwriting as much as possible,"

said Fred.

The snow continued the next day, and it was so windy and unpleasant outdoors that the battalion had to dispense with its outdoor parade and spend that time in a drill in the gymnasium. After this was over the Rovers and some of their chums amused themselves on the bars, swinging rings, and with the exercising machines the gymnasium afforded.

The boys were doing all sorts of stunts, when suddenly Fred called Randy to one side.

"Come on with me," he said in a low voice. "I think I've discovered something."

His manner showed that he had something unusual on his mind, and Randy lost no time in doing as was bidden. The two cousins hurried to a corner of the gymnasium, and then Fred led the way up a narrow stairway, which opened up on the second floor of the building, a place which was heated, but seldom used by the majority of the cadets. It was used more as a storeroom, and contained a lot of disused gymnasium paraphernalia and boxes and barrels.