The Putnam Hall Champions

“Done!” answered Fred Century, promptly.

“We’ll beat you by half a mile!” sang out one of the boys aboard the Pornell boat, a lad named Will Carey.

“Better do your blowing after the race is over,” answered Pepper.

“Oh, we’ll beat you all right enough,” said the owner of the Pornell boat. “This sloop of mine is going to be the queen of this lake, and don’t you forget it.”

A few words more were spoken – as to how the boats should round Cat Point – and then the race was started. There was a favorable breeze, and each craft let out its mainsail to the fullest and likewise the topsail and the jib.

“We are carrying four passengers while they are only carrying three,” said Dale, when the race was on in earnest. “We should have made them take some extra ballast aboard.”

The course mapped out was about two miles in one direction and two miles in another. At the start of the race the Alice had a little the better of it, but before half a mile had been covered the Ajax came crawling up and then passed the Putnam Hall boat.

“Here is where we leave you behind!” sang out Fred Century.

“We’ll show you a clean pair of heels over the whole course,” added Will Carey.

“As soon as you are ready to give up the race, blow your fog-horn,” said Bat Sedley, the third member of the party aboard the Ajax.

“You’ll hear no fog-horn to-day,” answered Paul.

“Good-bye!” shouted Fred Century, and then his sloop took an extra spurt and went ahead a distance of a hundred yards or more.

“Oh, Jack, we’ve got to beat them!” murmured Pepper. “If we don’t – ”

“They’ll never get done crowing,” finished Paul.

“We’ll do our best,” answered the youthful owner of the Alice. “This race has only started.” And then he moved the tiller a trifle, to bring his boat on a more direct course for Cat Point.

To those who have read the previous volumes in this “Putnam Hall Series” the boys aboard the Alice need no special introduction. For the benefit of those who now meet them for the first time I would state that they were all pupils at Putnam Hall military academy, a fine institution of learning, located on the shore of Cayuga Lake, in New York State. Of the lads Jack Ruddy was a little the oldest. He was a well-built and handsome boy, and had been chosen as major of the school battalion.

Jack’s bosom companion was Pepper Ditmore, often called Imp, because he loved to play pranks. Pepper was such a wideawake, jolly youth you could not help but love him, and he had a host of friends.

Putnam Hall had been built by Captain Victor Putnam, a retired officer of the United States Army, who had seen strenuous service for Uncle Sam in the far West. The captain had had considerable money left to him, and with this he had purchased ten acres of land on the shore of the lake and erected his school, a handsome structure of brick and stone, containing many class-rooms, a large number of dormitories, and likewise a library, mess-room, or dining hall, an office, and other necessary apartments. There was a beautiful campus in front of the building and a parade ground to one side. Towards the rear were a gymnasium and several barns, and also a boathouse, fronting the lake. Beyond, around a curve of the shore, were fields cultivated for the benefit of the Hall, and further away were several patches of woods.

As was but natural in the case of an old army officer, Captain Putnam had organized his school upon military lines, and his students made up a battalion of two companies, as related in details in the first volume of this series, called “The Putnam Hall Cadets.” The students had voted for their own officers, and after a contest that was more or less spirited, Jack Ruddy was elected major of the battalion, and a youth named Henry Lee became captain of Company A, and Bart Conners captain of Company B. Some of the boys wanted Pepper to try for an officer’s position, but he declined, stating he would just as lief remain “a high private in the rear rank.”

At the school there was a big youth named Dan Baxter, who was a good deal of a bully. He had wanted to be an officer, and it made him very sore to see himself defeated. Together with a crony named Nick Paxton and a boy called Mumps he plotted to break up a picnic of Jack and his friends. This plot proved a boomerang, and after that Baxter and his cohorts did all they could to get Jack and his chums into trouble.

The first assistant teacher at the Hall was Josiah Crabtree, a man of good education, but one who was decidedly sour in his make-up and who never knew how to take fun. With him the cadets were continually in “hot water,” and more than once the boys wished Crabtree would leave Putnam Hall never to return.

The second assistant teacher was George Strong, and he was as much beloved as the first assistant was despised. George Strong had not forgotten the time when he was a boy himself, and he often came out on the lake or the athletic field, or in the gymnasium, to take part in their sports and pastimes. Pepper voted him “the prince of good teachers,” and Jack and the others endorsed this sentiment.

During the first session of Putnam Hall, George Strong had mysteriously disappeared. Two strange men had been seen around the school, and it was learned that the strangers had something to do with the missing instructor. A hunt was instituted by Captain Putnam, and in this he was joined by Jack, Pepper, Dale, and an acrobatic pupil named Andy Snow. George Strong was found to be a prisoner in a hut in the woods, and it was learned that his captors were the two strange men. These men were related distantly to the teacher and both were insane – their minds having been affected by the loss of their fortunes.

After the insane men were cared for George Strong told the cadets about a pot of gold which his ancestors had buried during the Revolutionary War. One day some of the cadets took a balloon ride, as related in detail in the second volume of this series, entitled “The Putnam Hall Rivals,” and this ride brought them to a strange part of the woods near the lake. Here they came on some landmarks which had been mentioned to them, and to their joy unearthed the pot of gold coins. For this find the cadets were rewarded by George Strong, and the teacher became a closer friend to the boys than ever.

Dan Baxter had been called away from Putnam Hall by his father. He had had a fierce fight with Pepper and gotten the worst of it, and he was, consequently, glad enough to disappear for the time being. But he left behind him many of his cronies, and three of these, Reff Ritter, Gus Coulter, and Nick Paxton, vowed they would “square accounts” with the Imp and also with his chums.

“I’ve got a plan to make Pep Ditmore eat humble pie,” said Reff Ritter, one day. And then he related some of the details to Coulter and Paxton.

“Just the thing!” cried Coulter. “But don’t leave out Jack Ruddy. I’d rather get square with Ruddy than anybody. He has been down on me ever since I came to the Hall. I hate him like poison.” And Gus Coulter’s face took on a dark look.

“Yes, we’ll include Ruddy,” answered Reff Ritter. “I hate him, too. I’d give most anything if we could drive ’em both from the school.”

“Maybe we can – if we watch our chances,” answered Gus Coulter.

CHAPTER II

WHAT THE WIND DID

Pornell Academy was a rival institution of learning, located several miles from Putnam Hall. It was presided over by Doctor Pornell, who had not fancied Captain Putnam’s coming to that locality. The students of Pornell were for the most part sons of wealthy parents, and a large number of them thought themselves superior to the Putnam Hall cadets.

On one occasion the lads of the two institutions had had quite a lively row, but this had been patched up, and several contests on the lake and on the athletic field had come off. Sometimes the Putnam Hall cadets were defeated, but more times they were victorious, which pleased them not a little.

Fred Century had come to Pornell Academy several months before this story opens. He was from Portland, Maine, and belonged to a boat club that usually sailed its craft on Casco Bay. Immediately on his arrival at Cayuga Lake he took up boating and then had his father purchase for him the Ajax, certainly a craft of which any young man might well be proud. Then he heard that Jack had a new boat, the Alice, and he watched for his opportunity to race. That opportunity had now presented itself; and the race was on.

It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining brightly and the breeze strong enough to make the sails of the sloops fill well. The Putnam Hall cadets had left the school with no idea of a contest of any sort, but now that the race was in progress they were keenly interested.

“I’ve heard about this Fred Century,” remarked Dale, as the Alice sped on her course. “They tell me his father is next door to being a millionaire.”

“One thing is certain – he has a good opinion of his boat,” added Pepper.

“Well, I’ve got a good opinion of my boat, too,” answered the young major. “I want her to win.”

“Oh, she must win!” cried Stuffer. “Why, don’t you know that those Pornell fellows are just aching for a chance to crow over us?”

The race had now been noted by a number of people out in pleasure boats. Many knew that the two sloops were new boats and they were curious to learn which might prove to be the better. Some waved their hands and handkerchiefs, and others shouted words of encouragement to one group of lads or the other.

“It looks to me as if the Pornell boat was going to win,” said one gentleman, who was out in his pleasure yacht.

“Oh, papa, how can you say that?” cried his daughter, who was an admirer of the Putnam Hall cadets.

“Because their boat is ahead,” was the answer.

It was not long before Cat Point was reached. The Ajax rounded the rocks in fine style, for Fred Century was really a skillful skipper and knew how to handle his craft to perfection.

“Good-bye to you!” he called out, as his craft stood for a moment close to the Alice.

“We’ll tell everybody you’re coming sooner or later,” added Bat Sedley. “Don’t be too long – folks may get tired of waiting.”

“I rather think they’ll get tired of your blowing,” retorted Paul.

“Don’t get uppish!” cried the Pornell Academy boy, angrily, and then the two sloops passed out of speaking distance of each other.

“I wish the wind would freshen,” said Jack, with something like a sigh.

“What good will that do?” demanded Dale.