ling" as it
is called. Lew Flapp spent much money in secret, treating boys when at
the village and elsewhere. By this means he gathered quite a band of
followers around him.

"He is going to win, by hook or by crook," observed Songbird Powell.
"He acts just like some of those politicians who don't care what they
do so long as they win."

"I am not going to spend a cent on the boys," declared Dick. "I don't
believe in buying votes."

There was a strict rule at Putnam Hall that no cadet should touch
liquor of any kind excepting when ordered by the doctor. This rule had
been broken in the past by Dan Baxter and a few others, but the
majority of the cadets respected the rule and kept it.

But Lew Flapp had always been allowed to drink when at home and now he
frequently drank on the sly when down to Cedarville. On these
excursions he was generally joined by a weak-minded boy named Hurdy,
who was usually willing to do whatever Flapp desired done.

One day, just before the election for officers was to come off, Lew
Flapp called Ben Hurdy to him.

"I am going down to Cedarville this evening," he said. "I want you to
go along and invite Jackson and Pender and Rockley."

"Going to have a good time?" asked Ben Hurdy.

"Yes and you can tell the others so, and tell them if they know some
others who want a good time, and can keep their mouths shut about it,
to bring them along. But mind, Hurdy, we want no blabbers."

"All right, Flapp, I'll get the right fellows," answered Ben Hurdy, and
ran away to fulfill his questionable errand.

CHAPTER X

AN ADVENTURE IN CEDARVILLE

On the same evening that Lew Flapp and his particular cronies went down
to Cedarville to have a good time in a very questionable way, Dick
Rover and Songbird Powell also visited the village, one to buy some
handkerchiefs, and the other to invest in a book he had ordered from
the local bookseller and newsdealer.

"I heard that Lew Flapp was going to Cedarville," said Powell, while on
the way. "Do you know, Dick, I don't like that fellow at all."

"Neither do I, Songbird."

"It will make me sick if he is elected major of the battalion."

"Nevertheless, the cadets have a right to elect whom they please."

"I know that as well as you do. But I can't stand Flapp's domineering
ways. And he is bound to grow worse if he is put in authority."

"As to that, I shall not stand being bullied," came from Dick, with
flashing eyes. "I'll let him go ju