oment later out popped one mouse, quickly followed by
another.

"Hello, there's a mouse!"

"Hi, catch those fellows!" yelled Bob Nixon, who was on hand with a
trap, followed by Job Plunger with a box.

The school janitor was quite deaf, and so could hear nothing of what was
going on.

The escape of the two mice was a signal for the assembling students to
begin a chase after the rodents. Then another mouse came out into the
hallway, and various things were thrown at the scurrying animal.

"Here, here! Stop that noise out there!" commanded Captain Dale. "There
is no sense in making such a racket over a few little mice."

As he spoke the head of the school strode to the closet door and
unlocked it.

"Now come out here and give an account of yourself," he said, as he
threw the door open.

"Now you are going to catch it for playing such a trick on me," exulted
Codfish.

The figure in the closet, of course, did not move, and Captain Dale
reached forth to pull the offending cadet into the room. But then he
stopped short, and something of a smile crossed his face.

"What is the matter with you, Stowell--are you blind?" he demanded.

"Blind?" queried the sneak of the school, bewildered. "What do you
mean?"

"Can't you see that this is only a stuffed figure? And it hasn't any
head on, either; only a handkerchief tied around some underwear with a
cap stuck on top."

"Oh, Captain Dale, you don't mean it!" cried Codfish, and fell back
against the wall, too upset to say more.

"But I do mean it," went on the military man, and reached for the dummy,
which immediately toppled over on the floor, the head and cap rolling in
one direction and the legs and shoes in another. "It's nothing but an
old uniform stuffed out."

"Where's them mice?" cried Job Plunger in a shrill voice. "Where's them
mice, I say?"

"You'll have to find them, Plunger," answered Captain Dale.

"Behind 'em?" remarked the deaf janitor. "Behind where?"

"I did not say behind anything," shouted the captain. "I said you'd have
to find them."

"Oh. Well, I'll find 'em if they're in the room," said Plunger.

By this time the noise and excitement had increased so that nearly half
of the school was out in the corridor in front of Stowell's room. They
saw the remains of the stuffed figure on the floor, and many quickly
surmised that a joke had been played.

"What is Codfish doing with that dummy?"

"Has he been using it for an imitation Hun to sho