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

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.