"Very well, Rover; come with me," was the reply, and Captain
Putnam led the way to his private office.
"I suppose I should have spoken of this before," said Sam, when
the two were seated. "But I didn't want to get the others into
trouble. As it is, Captain Putnam, I want to take the entire blame
on my own shoulders."
"The blame of what, Samuel?"
"Of what I am going to tell you about. We voted to tell you, but
I don't want to be a tattle-tale and get the others into trouble
along with me."
"I will hear what you have to say," returned the master of the Hall
briefly.
"Well, sir, you know it was Dick's birthday yesterday, and we boys
thought we would celebrate a bit. So we had a little blow-out in
our room."
"Was that the noise I heard last night?"
"The noise you heard was from our room, yes. But that isn't what
I was getting at," stammered Sam. "We set a guard out in the
hallway to keep watch."
"Well?"
"I was out in the hall part of the time, and I saw a dark figure
in the rear hallway prowling around in a most suspicious manner.
It went into Dormitory No. 3 and then came out and disappeared
toward the back stairs."
"This is interesting. Who was the party?"
"I couldn't make out."
"Was it a man or a woman?
"A man, sir, or else a big boy. He had something like a shawl
over his shoulders and was dressed in black or dark-brown."
"You saw him go in and come out of one of the sleeping rooms?"
"Yes, sir.
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