The Rover Boys In the Mountains | Page 5

minutes the teacher had led the way into Captain Putnam's
office, and with a final pinch of their arms, which made Tubbs cry out
once more with pain, he flung the pair away from him.
"Don't you know it is disgraceful to fight?" he thundered.
"We weren't fighting--that is, not exactly," said Tubbs meekly.

"Silence! I saw the whole affair. Why, your nose is still bleeding."
"I don't care. It was Rover's fault, Mr. Grinder. He started the boys, and
they all began to make fun of me. He wouldn't stop----"
"And then you fought like a pair of young tigers. Disgraceful! I will
have to make an example of both of you."
"I'd like to see Captain Putnam about the matter," said Sam boldly.
At these words Jasper Grinder fairly trembled with suppressed anger.
"The captain is not here, and I shall deal with you as you deserve," he
said.
Tubbs sank down on a chair and began to attend to his nose with his
handkerchief. Sam remained standing, but his whole manner showed
that he did not consider he was being treated fairly.
"What both of you boys deserve is a good thrashing," said the teacher,
after a pause.
At this Sam looked his surprise. Thrashing was not permitted at the
Hall. The worst that could happen to a student was to place him in
solitary confinement over night, after a supper of bread and water.
"As I am not permitted by the rules to thrash you, I shall put you in the
stone cell over night," went on Jasper Grinder.
"Together?" questioned Tubbs, from behind his blood-stained
handkerchief.
"No. You shall go to the cell; and Rover shall be placed in the empty
storeroom next to it."
"The cell is ice cold, and so is the storeroom," protested Sam.
"It is not my fault that you must be placed there, and you will have to
put up with the cold," was the curt answer.

"I shan't stay in a cold room!" cried Sam. "It's not fair."
"You shall, and I'll put you there myself!" ejaculated Jasper Grinder.
"Tubbs, don't dare to stir until I return."
So speaking, the unreasonable teacher caught hold of Sam once more,
and despite the youngest Rover's struggles hustled him out of the office
and through a long hallway, at the end of which was located the
storeroom he had mentioned. The key to the room was in the lock.
"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