Down the stairs he ran, and quickly gathered up every crawfish he could find, while others followed his example.

Then, leaving the boys to take care of the cats and separate the fighting professors, he bounded up the stairs and hurried to the room occupied by Barney and Hans, where he removed every crawfish he could find in the beds or upon the floor.

He worked with great swiftness, and accomplished all this in a very few seconds.
In the meantime, some of the boys who had been in the joke from the start, took hold and aided Frank to clear out all signs of the crawfish, while others hastened to Professor Gunn's assistance, and pulled off the cats, removing the string from their tails.
Barney and Hans were beginning to call for the doctor again, declaring they had been bitten by "centibedes," or "cintipades," and Professor Gunn was glaring over a handkerchief held to his bleeding face, while High Jinks and Hot Scotch stood apart and glowered at each other, ready to resume hostilities at the slightest provocation.
Lieutenant Gordan was on hand, looking very stern, and asking a few very pointed questions.

He fully understood a practical joke had been perpetrated, and woe to the perpetrator if the lieutenant found proof against him.

Gordan was stern and as unwavering as the hills in the discharge of his duty.
But the lieutenant found five very excited and incoherent persons in the group that had assembled at the foot of the stairs.