The Putnam Hall Cadets: or, Good Times in School and Out

CHAPTER X
IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY

“What are we up against now?”

“Are these fellows tramps?”

“Are they going to rob us?”

Such were a few of the questions which Jack, Andy, and Pepper asked when they found themselves confronted by the eight masked figures on the lonely forest road. Each of the masked persons was armed with a stout stick.

“Stop, do you hear?” came from one of the crowd, and stepping forward, he caught the horse by the head.

“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Jack.

“It means that you must consider yourself prisoners,” was the cold reply.

“Prisoners!”

“Yes.”

“Who are you?” queried Pepper.

“That remains for you to find out. Step down out of that carriage and be quick about it.”

“Perhaps we won’t step out,” said Andy.

“If you don’t, you’ll get hurt.”

“I know them!” shouted Jack. “They must be Pornell students. Roy Bock, I know your voice.”

“I am not Roy Bock,” was the answer, in a disguised voice.

“You are. What are you going to do with us?”

“We are going to give you a lesson,” growled Roy Bock, for it was really he who had spoken. “Come down out of that buggy!”

As Bock spoke one of the boys leaped forward and secured the whip and two others pulled away the reins. There was no help for it, and Jack, Pepper, and Andy had to leap out. They were at once surrounded.

“This is a pretty high-handed proceeding,” said Jack, in a steady voice. “Don’t you know we can put you in the hands of the law for it?”

“Bah!” growled one of the masked students. “You don’t know us.”

“Perhaps we do.”

“We know Bock, and Grimes, and Gussie,” put in Pepper.

“None of them here,” said one of the Pornell boys. “You are on to the wrong crowd entirely.”

“Maybe this is a Baxter trick!” whispered Andy to his chums.

“No, it’s a Roy Bock trick, I am sure of it,” returned Jack. “He is mad because we cut him out with the Ford girls.”

Our friends were led to a small grove not far from the roadside. Here a camp-fire was burning, and they were forced to kneel while the enemy stood around with their sticks upraised.

“We want you to make a solemn promise,” said one of the masked students.

“What promise?” demanded Jack.

“You have no right to visit Point View Lodge.”

“Ho! I thought so!”

“All of you must promise not to go there again.”

“I’ll not promise,” cried Jack.

“Nor I,” added Pepper.

“Count me out too,” came from Andy. “Why should we stay away?”

“You won’t promise?” asked several.

“No!” came in unison from our three friends.

“Then you’d rather suffer, eh?”

“We don’t intend to suffer!”

“Quit talking and take them to the lake, fellows!” growled one of the masked students. “They’ll sing another tune after they have been ducked three or four times.”

“So you are going to duck us?” said Jack.

“Such is our intention.”

“It’s a mean trick.”

“You can save yourself by promising to steer clear of Point View Lodge in the future.”

“Supposing we are invited there?”

“You can plead a previous engagement.”

“I’ll not do it,” said Andy.

“Nor I,” came from Jack and Pepper.

“To the lake with them!”

In spite of their resistance, our three friends were hurried through the woods, to a point where there was a small cove of the lake. Here a bent tree overhung the water and here were several ropes.

“We’ll tie them by the hands and feet and then duck them good,” said Roy Bock.

“We must escape!” whispered Jack to his friends. “When I give the word cut for it, and cut lively.”

“All right,” they answered.

“I’d rather be ducked than make any promises,” said Jack, loudly. “But I want to tell you fellows something. We have friends, and some day we’ll get square. The people – Gracious sakes alive! What is that, fellows? Look, it’s coming this way! It must be a mad bull!”

As Jack broke off short and pointed with his hand, all of the masked students looked in that direction. Then Jack gave Pepper and Andy the signal, and side by side they dove into the woods and ran towards the road.

“They are gone!”

“It was a trick, to get us to look away!” roared Roy Bock. “Come on after them!”

“If you come after us now we’ll shoot somebody!” cried Andy. They had no firearms, but he thought he might scare their enemies.

“Do you think they will shoot?” questioned one of the masked boys, a lad who was timid by nature.

“No, I don’t,” answered Grimes. “Come on!”

“We don’t want to get hurt – ”

“Come on, it’s all right!” And then the crowd went after Jack, Pepper, and Andy pell-mell.

But our friends had gained a good start and they made the best possible use of their time. They leaped over the rocks and small brush-wood, and presently caught sight of the lantern, still hanging over the dashboard of the buggy.

“Hullo, what’s this?” cried Pepper, as he stumbled over something. “Bicycles, I declare, four singles and two tandems!”

“They must have come to this spot on their wheels,” answered Andy.

“I’ve got an idea – we’ll take a couple of the wheels along! Then somebody will have to walk home!”

This was agreed to, and in a trice they had hoisted two of the bicycles into the buggy. Then they got in and urged the horse forward.

“Stop!” came from behind. “Stop!”

“They have two of our wheels!” came in alarm, a moment later. “They are driving away with them!”

“Give us back our bicycles!”

“Not to-night!” shouted Jack. “If you want them, come to Putnam Hall to-morrow and get them!”

“This is the worst yet!” growled Roy Bock, whose wheel had been taken. “We must catch them if we can.”

“Yes, let’s do our best,” returned Grimes, whose wheel was likewise missing.

The rest of the boys mounted their wheels and tried to follow the buggy. But the road to Putnam Hall was much rougher than that to Pornell Academy, and soon they had to abandon the pursuit.

“We made a mess of it,” said Gussic. “They have the laugh on us.”

“I don’t feel like going to Putnam Hall for my wheel,” said Grimes, with a downcast look on his face.

“No more do I,” answered Bock. “But what are you going to do about it?”

“They’ll be sure to tell the Ford girls of this, and they’ll have the laugh on us.”

“If they do that, I’ll punch somebody’s head,” grumbled Roy Bock.

As soon as they were sure the Pornell students had given up the pursuit, those in the buggy slackened their pace, and re-arranged the bicycles they were carrying.

“We surely turned the tables on them that time,” laughed Jack. “I don’t think they’ll stop us again in a hurry.”

When they reached Putnam Hall they placed the bicycles in care of Peleg Snuggers.

“An’ where did you get them machines?” demanded the general utility man.

“They belong to a couple of Pornell boys. We picked ’em up on the road,” answered Jack.

“I’ll wager a tomato you got into a scrap,” said Peleg, with a grin.

“If we did, we didn’t get the worst of it, Peleg,” said Pepper.

“I don’t reckon you did. Most on the boys at Putnam Hall knows how to take care o’ themselves.”

Our friends were curious to know what the Pornell students would do about their wheels. Two days passed, and then a hired man from the Academy appeared with a wagon, and a note for Jack. The note was unsigned and read as follows:

“Please return the two bicycles per bearer, and we will call the whole thing off.”

“That’s short enough,” said Pepper, after Jack had read the note aloud. “What are you going to do?”

“Let them have their wheels. It wouldn’t be honest to keep them.”

“Let us send a note in return,” suggested Andy.

“I have it!” cried Pepper, and without delay he wrote out the following:

“In the future beware and keep off the grass.

“Committee of Three.”

“That’s short and to the point,” said Jack. The note was sent with the bicycles; and that was the last seen or heard of the Pornell boys for some time to come.

CHAPTER XI
A GREAT GAME OF FOOTBALL

Once more the days glided by peacefully. Autumn was now well under way, and the leaves of the trees were turning to crimson and gold. Boating became almost a thing of the past, and talks about football filled the air.

With the coming of the football season Dale Blackmore was in his element. Not only was Dale a good athlete, but it was speedily learned that he had been captain of a good amateur football team in the town he hailed from, and that the team had in one season won nine games out of twelve.

“Dale is the man for our team,” said Jack, and by a popular vote the lad was made captain. There was a slight opposition by Dan Baxter but this quickly subsided.

As soon as he was made captain, Dale set to work to organize as a good a team as Putnam Hall could produce. He tried fully thirty cadets and then selected fifteen – eleven for the regular team and the balance as substitutes. On the regular team were Jack, Andy, Hogan, Bart Conners, Henry Lee, and others already mentioned in these pages. Pepper was a substitute, and he was willing enough to take a “back seat” as he called it.

“Now we have got to get into practice,” said Dale, “and it’s to be no baby play either.” And every day the team went out on the playground to practice. Dale made a good coach, and soon had the boys doing finely. He was assisted by George Strong, who had himself played football on his college team.

It had been expected that Pornell Academy would play Putnam Hall. But the Pornell students were sore over their boat-race defeat and they insisted that a false start had been made. The discussion grew warm on both sides, and so the scheme for a football match for that year fell through, although matches between the two schools were played later, as I have already mentioned in certain volumes of the “Rover Boys Series.”

“Those Pornell fellows are a sore lot,” said Jack. “I suppose they felt sure they’d win that boat race.”

“They are going to play the Rigsby Football Club next Saturday,” said Andy. “Dale just told me.”

“I thought we were to play Rigsby,” put in Joe Nelson.

“We are, some time later.”

The Rigsby Football Club was controlled by a rich gentleman named Rigsby who had an elegant place outside of a nearby city which I shall call Mornville. The team was composed largely of college boys and played exceedingly well.

The game between the Pornell Academy and the Rigsby Club attracted a large crowd to Mornville, and half a dozen students from Putnam Hall journeyed to the town, to see what sort of a game was being put up.

“We must catch all the pointers we can,” said Dale. “It may help us in our playing.”

The Pornell Academy made a fine showing during practice, but when the game started it was quickly found that the Rigsby team was too heavy and too clever for them. In each half of the game the Rigsby Club made a touchdown and a goal, and when the contest came to a close the score stood, Rigsby 12, Pornell Academy 0.

“That’s as bad as the boat-race defeat,” said Pepper. “They must feel sick.”

“Those Rigsby chaps are heavy and full of ginger,” said Dale, seriously. “We’ll have no picnic playing against them.”

When our friends were coming from the football grounds they fell in with half a dozen Pornell students.

“Fine day, Bock!” called out Pepper, cheerily. “Good day for playing football, eh?”

“Oh, you needn’t crow!” growled Roy Bock. “Just wait till Rigsby waxes you – you won’t feel so happy.”

“Maybe they won’t wax us.”

“Won’t they!” put in Grimes, who was along. “The score will be about 50 to nothing in Rigsby’s favor.”

“Wait and see,” said Jack, quietly; and then the students of the two schools separated.

After this game the team of the Hall practiced harder than ever, and George Strong taught them several useful plays. So the days went by until the eventful day for the match arrived. The game was to come off on the Rigsby grounds, and the students from Putnam Hall went over in the stage, the carryall, and in carriages and on bicycles.

At first Dan Baxter said he was not going, but when he heard how the Rigsby Club had defeated Pornell Academy he changed his mind.

“The Rigsby Club is sure to beat Dale Blackmore’s crowd,” said he to Paxton and Coulter. “Let us go over there and see the drubbing administered.”

“All right, I’m willing,” said Coulter. “Maybe we can pick up a little money in bets.” And when they arrived on the football grounds all of Baxter’s cronies as well as the bully himself put up money that Putnam Hall would be beaten.

“I just heard Baxter is betting against our club,” said Andy, coming in with the news.

“How mean!” cried Jack. “To bet against his own school! I don’t believe in betting, but if I did want to lay a wager, I’d do it on my own school.”

“That’s just how I feel about it,” put in Pepper. “Well, I hope now, more than ever, that we win.”

It was a fine ground, with a beautiful stand and nice dressing rooms for both clubs. Mr. Rigsby himself was at hand and shook each of the visitors by the hand.

“Play for all you are worth, boys!” he said, cheerfully. “I want the best club to win!”

“We are going to do our best, sir,” said Dale, modestly.

The halves were divided into thirty-five minutes each, and soon the first half was on. It was Rigsby’s ball and they sent it twenty yards into Putnam Hall territory. The Rigsby fellows were exceedingly active, and inside of ten minutes they scored a touchdown and immediately afterwards kicked a goal.

“Hurrah for Rigsby! That’s the way to do it!” was the cry.

“Putnam Hall will be defeated worse than Pornell Academy was!”

When the touchdown and goal were made Dan Baxter grinned at Paxton and his other cronies.

“What did I tell you?” he whispered. “This is a dead easy thing for Rigsby.”

“You’re right,” answered Paxton. “Wish I had another fiver up on them.”

“Let us do a little more betting,” said Mumps, who had just a dollar of his spending money left.

They walked into the crowd, and after some trouble managed to place what money they had left on the Rigsby team. Then they hurried back to their seats. The first half of the game was drawing to a close.

“Another touchdown for Rigsby!”

“Hurrah! Now for a goal!”

“There she goes! A goal, sure enough! How do you like that, Putnam Hall?”

With the score 12 to 0 the two teams went at it again. But hardly had the leather been put into play when the whistle blew and the first half came to an end.

“We are up against it sure, this trip,” sighed Andy. “They can play like – like tigers!”

“They are too heavy for us, that is certain,” said Dale. “We must depend upon our lightness and our quickness if we want to win anything at all.”

The brief intermission was soon at an end, and once more the two teams faced each other. The Rigsby followers cheered wildly while the students from Putnam Hall gazed expectantly.

It was soon seen that Dale’s team was not playing as before. There was little mass work, and the ball flew from player to player with great rapidity. This did not suit the Rigsby team, and they made several errors and lost some ground thereby.

Hardly had the second half been opened than Joe Nelson got the ball. He passed it to Hogan, who sent it to Andy. With a wild leap over a Rigsby player, the acrobatic youth went flying down the gridiron with the leather clutched in his arms.

“See Andy Snow running with the ball!”

“Stop him, Brown! Stop him, Callahan!”

“Cut him off, Sturmen!”

So the calls rang out and several started in pursuit of Andy. But just as they thought they had him he let the ball drop, gave it a swift kick, and over the bar sailed the leather.

“Hurrah! What a beautiful kick!”

“And on a dead run, too!”

“Putnam Hall is waking up!”

The cadets cheered wildly and unfurled the flags they had brought along, while some tooted their horns.

As soon as possible the ball was put into play once more. This time it went far up into Putnam Hall territory, and it looked as if Rigsby would score once more, when Hogan got the ball.

“Not just yit, me laddybuck!” muttered the Irish cadet, and started in the opposite direction. He made twenty yards before he was downed and the ball went to Joe Nelson, who carried it another ten yards. Then Dale landed on it through a fumble by Rigsby, and took it over the line for a touchdown. A moment later there was a trial for a goal, but it failed.

“Never mind, it’s a touchdown, anyway!” shouted the Putnam Hall supporters.

With the score 12 to 9 against them, Putnam Hall went again at the battle. They had exactly seven minutes in which to do or die, and the excitement all over the field was now intense. Among the anxious ones were Baxter and his cronies.

“They can’t win anything in seven minutes,” argued Paxton, somewhat gloomily.

“There it goes!” cried Mumps. “See, Rigsby has the ball!”

“They are going to score again!”

It certainly looked like it, but at the last moment Dale got the ball and sent it back. Then it went from player to player so rapidly that the Rigsby players could not follow it. At last Jack had it and he ran with might and main for a touchdown – and got it!

“Whoop! Hurrah! Putnam Hall wins!” was the cry.

The goal was kicked, and the ball went again into play. But before it could be moved ten yards time was called; and the match came to an end. Putnam Hall had indeed won.

CHAPTER XII
HAPPENINGS AFTER THE GAME

“What a splendid game!”

“Say, but didn’t the Putnam Hall boys pull themselves together in that second half!”

“They surely did! I never saw such running in my life!”

“And such dodging, too! They deserve their victory!”

So the talk ran on. Both Captain Putnam and George Strong came up to congratulate the team members.

Dan Baxter and his cronies were utterly downcast. Between them they had lost sixteen dollars and a half, and now some of them would have to do without spending money for a long time to come.

“I guess those Rigsby chaps didn’t want to win,” growled the bully. “They went all to pieces in the second half.”

Jack was talking to Andy and Pepper when Laura and Flossie Ford came up with smiling faces.

“Oh, it was just splendid!” cried Laura.

“I just had to scream for you!” added Flossie. “I was terribly anxious at first! Those Pornell boys were sure you’d be beaten.”

“Well, we have disappointed them,” said Jack. “I guess we could beat them, too.”

“Why, of course. See how they were beaten by Rigsby,” said Flossie.

“Have you been bothered by Roy Bock lately?”

“Only once. Then he came and talked against you, and pa told them – Roy and those others – they had better stay away.”

“Good!” said Pepper, and told of the meeting in the woods. The girls laughed heartily when they heard how the bicycles had been taken.

“We are coming to see the drill next week,” said Laura. And they did come, and were entertained to the best of our friends’ ability. They thought the drill and parade fine, and complimented Jack on the way he handled the cadets.

As a substitute player, Pepper had gotten into the second half of the football game, so he came in for a portion of the glory, even though he had made no brilliant plays. That night the boys celebrated by a bonfire and by singing and “larking” on the campus until eleven o’clock.

“Captain Putnam, let them have their sport,” said George Strong. “They certainly deserve it.” And the captain took the advice of his assistant. Josiah Crabtree took no part in the proceedings, but locked himself up in his room and read. To his mind, all sports were just so much time wasted.

On the following day one of the students brought in news that interested all of the cadets. A circus was to stop at Cedarville, and the boy had brought one of the handbills along.

“This looks as if it might be a pretty good show,” said Pepper, after reading the handbill. “Andy, let’s go if we can.”

“Don’t think the captain will let us off,” answered Andy.

“We can sound him anyway,” put in Jack.

The master of Putnam Hall was appealed to, and finally said the big boys could go to the circus if they wished, but all must promise to behave themselves.

“To be sure we’ll behave ourselves,” said Jack.

“But we must have a little fun,” came from Pepper, with a wink at his chums.

“Better keep out of mischief,” put in Andy. “If you don’t, the captain will put the screws on us, and we won’t get anywhere after this.”

The circus soon became the chief topic of conversation, and it was ascertained that twenty-one of the older cadets were going. Dan Baxter “stuck up his nose” at the affair.

“Don’t catch me going to such a one-horse affair,” he said, with a sneer. “When I go to a circus it’s only to the best.”

“We can get along very well without his company,” was Jack’s comment, when he heard what the bully had said.

On the following day Jack and Pepper walked down to the lake shore and then up to a spot where a large tree overhung the water. It was sunny and fairly warm, and the two cadets took a seat in the tree to chat and rest.

They had been sitting there less than five minutes when the young major uttered a cry of surprise.

“What is it, Jack?”

“Unless I am mistaken, there is that mysterious sloop again!”

“Where?”

“Up the lake! She is coming this way, too.”

“Let us keep out of sight and see if we can discover anything.”

This was agreed to, and from behind the boughs of the tree the two boys watched the strange craft as it approached the shore where Putnam Hall was located.

“The same two men are on board!” whispered Pepper.

“Yes, and they are acting as they did before, too,” added Jack. “Pep, I’d give a good deal to know what their game is.”

“So would I. Let us lay low. We may learn something.”

Slowly the mysterious sloop approached the shore and sailed past the Putnam Hall grounds. The men on board looked eagerly toward the academy buildings, and then went up the lake a short distance. A few minutes later they came back, and lowering the mainsail, drew close to shore, a short distance from where Jack and Pepper were in hiding.

“Perhaps our trip will be in vain again,” said one of the men to his companion.

“They cannot all be in vain,” was the answer. “Some day we shall be successful.”

“Are you going to land?”

“Yes. But stand ready to sail when I come back.”

So speaking, one of the men leaped ashore and stole behind a fringe of bushes. From that point he made his way up to a spot back of the gymnasium, and then walked completely around Putnam Hall, taking care to keep out of sight of the cadets who chanced to be roaming about.

“He acts as if he was a robber!” whispered Pepper.

“I don’t think a robber would come here in broad daylight.”

It was quite a while before the man came back. As he boarded the sloop again, his face showed his disappointment.

“Well?” questioned his companion.

“Another disappointment,” was the answer. “Let us go. We may have better luck another time.” And without another word the two men hoisted the mainsail of the sloop and sailed away across Cayuga Lake.

“Well, of all the odd things I ever heard of!” murmured Pepper. “If I wasn’t sure I was wide awake I’d say I was dreaming.”

“They are after something,” answered Jack. “The question is, what? I’m rather sorry we didn’t call Peleg Snuggers and capture that fellow who came ashore. Perhaps Captain Putnam could get something out of him.”

“Shall we go to the captain again?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps he’ll think we are only fooling him.”

They talked the matter over, and decided to say nothing more for the present. They watched the sloop until it disappeared from view, and returned to the school building.

The day for the circus dawned bright and clear, and directly after the midday meal the long stage belonging to the Hall was brought out and the boys who were going to the show piled in. They were in charge of George Strong, and many carried small flags and horns.

“Hurrah for Wildman’s Great International Circus!” cried Pepper. “Largest Aggregation of Wild Beasts on the Globe! See the wild man from Samoa, and the elephant-faced monkey from Greenland! All for the one price of admission, twenty-five cents – quarter of a dollar! Walk up, crawl up, tumble up, anyway to get up, ladies and gentlemen! Children half price, babies no price at all. If you don’t get your money’s worth, ask the manager to refund your hard-earned savings! The show will be started at exactly seventeen minutes past fourteen o’clock. The audience must come dressed in uniforms befitting the occa – ”

“Stop! stop!” cried Jack. “Pepper, you’ll have us wound up before we’re started.”

“All clocks are wound up before they are started,” retorted the Imp. “Don’t you go on a strike though, if you do – ”

“He’ll be so shamed that, like the clock, he’ll hide his face behind his hands,” finished Andy. “Call it off, as the young lady said of the caterpillar.”

“You’ll have to be just a little less enthusiastic, young gentlemen,” put in George Strong. “We don’t want this stage-load to be taken for the cage of monkeys, you know.” And then the crowd settled down, Peleg Snuggers whipped up the four horses, and off they rattled for the circus grounds, located on the outskirts of Cedarville.

When they arrived they found the tents in position, and a goodly crowd assembled. There were the usual side shows and the usual stands with peanuts, popcorn, and pink lemonade. There was also a man with a little gambling game, surrounded by a score of countrymen who thought they could win, when they were certain to lose.

“Looks as if it might be a pretty good show,” remarked Andy, after the chums had entered the tent devoted to the menagerie, and he was right. The animals were not many in number, but they had been selected with care, and George Strong explained just what each was to those under his guidance.

“There is a particularly fine tiger,” said he, pointing the beast out as it paced up and down its narrow cage. “He looks as if he’d enjoy his liberty.”

“And he looks as if he’d like to chew some of us up,” put in one of the students, and this created a laugh.

It was soon time for the circus proper, and all obtained good seats. One act after another passed and was applauded, for all were very good. Then came a chariot race, to wind up the performance. This was in progress when there came a shout from the menagerie tent.

“Stop the monkeys! They have broken loose!”

“Hullo, what’s that?” cried Pepper. “Somebody said the monkeys were loose!”

“If they are there will be fun!” murmured Jack, and he was right. But how much fun he was still to see.