The lights were lit and several of the boys began to eat the stuff that had been swept out of sight. They all gazed curiously at the pasteboard box.
"Here's a card on the top," said Dick, and commenced to read it. The inscription was as follows:
_To the Rover Boys From Their Friends, Dora, Grace and Nellie._
_Keep it a secret among you and your chums at the feast._
"How in the world did they know we were going to have a feast?"
questioned Sam.
"And how did they manage to smuggle the box into the Hall?" asked Larry.
"Open it and see what's inside, Dick," came from Tom. "I'll wager they have sent us something good."
"Maybe it's a loaf cake," said Fred.
"Oder a pudding," broke in Hans. "I lof chocolate puddings, yah!"
"You can't pack a pudding in a box very well," commented Songbird.
Holding the box in one hand, Dick undid the string and threw off the cover.
The next instant he let out a yell of horror and Tom, who was near by, did likewise and fell over a chair in his fright.
For out of the box glided a real, live snake, fully three feet long, and with beady and dangerous looking eyes!
[Illustration: FROM OUT OF THE BOX GLIDED A REAL, LIVE SNAKE.]
CHAPTER XVI
THE HUNT FOR A SNAKE
"It's a snake!"
"And it's alive!"
"Look out, or he'll bite you!"
"There he goes on the floor!"
These and a number of other cries rang through the dormitory as the cadets saw the contents of the box. Several tried to back away, and Hans pitched over Tom and both went in a heap.
"Ton't you let dot snake bite me!" roared the German youth.
"Maybe he's poisonous!" came from Larry. He had sought safety by leaping on a bed.
Slowly the snake had lifted itself from the box, to glare at several of the boys. Then its cold, beady eyes were fixed on Dick and it uttered a vicious hiss. This was more than the eldest Rover could stand and he let box and snake drop in a hurry. The snake glided out of sight under a bed.
"This is a joke right enough," murmured Sam. "Wonder who played it?"
"Do you think the girls would send a snake?" queried Larry.
"Of course not," answered Tom, who had scrambled up. "This is the work of some enemy."
"Look out! The snake is getting busy!" screamed Sam, and he was right; the reptile had left the shelter of the bed and was darting across the room, in the direction of Songbird.
The would-be poet did not stop to argue with his snakeship, but letting out a wild yell leaped to the top of a small stand which stood in a corner. The stand was frail and down it went with a crash, the wreckage catching the snake on the tail. It whipped around and made a lunge at Songbird's foot, but the youth was too nimble and leaped on the bed.
"We've got to kill that snake," observed Dick, after the reptile had disappeared for a moment under a washstand. "If we don't----"
Crash! It was a plate which Sam shied at the snake, as its head showed for a moment. Then down went a shower of shoes, brushes, plates, and a cake of soap. But the snake was not seriously hurt. It hissed viciously and darted from one side of the dormitory to the other, and made all the boys climb up on the furniture.
"This racket will wake up everybody in the school," said Dick, and he was right. The boys had hardly time to get the most of the evidence of the feast out of the way when they heard a knock on the door.
"Look out there!" yelled Tom. "Don't open that door if you value your life!"
"What's the matter?" came in George Strong's voice.
"A snake!" answered Dick, and then went on in a whisper: "Quick, boys, get the rest of the stuff out of the way!"
His chums understood, and the remains of the feast were swept under bed covers in a jiffy.
"Did you say there was a snake in there?" demanded the teacher.
"Yes, sir," said Sam. "He's right close to the door now." And what he said was true.
Thinking the youngest Rover might be fooling, the first assistant teacher opened the door cautiously and peered into the dormitory. Then he, too, let out a cry of alarm, for the snake darted forward and made as if to bite him in the foot. Not to be caught he fell back, leaving the door open about a foot. Through this opening the snake glided and disappeared in the semi-dark hallway.
By this time Putnam Hall was in an uproar, and boys were pouring into the hallways demanding to know if there was a fire or a robbery. Soon Captain Putnam appeared, wrapped in a dressing robe and wearing slippers.
"Beware, all of you!" cried George Strong. "It's a snake and it is loose in this hallway somewhere."
"A snake!" ejaculated the master of Putnam Hall. "Where did it come from?"
"It was in the dormitory over there. I heard a noise and went to see what was the matter and the snake came out of the room and made off in that direction," and George Strong pointed with his hand.
"Humph!" muttered Captain Putnam. "This must be looked into. What kind of a snake was it?"
"I don't know, sir, but it was fully three feet long, and it hissed loudly as it went past me."
"Some more of the boys' tricks, I suppose. But this is going too far, especially if the reptile is poisonous."
Lights were lit and turned up as high as possible, and a search of all the hallways followed. When the cadets learned that a snake was really at large in the school many of the timid ones were badly frightened.