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

“It is gone now,” said Pepper. “Must have been something else!” And he winked broadly at his friends, so that none of them might be alarmed.

“Are you – you sure, Ditmore?”

“Yes, sir.”

“This is awful!” murmured Josiah Crabtree, wiping the cold perspiration from his forehead.

“Oh, we can study anyway,” murmured Pepper.

“Eh?”

“It won’t hurt our studying, Mr. Crabtree. You can watch for the tiger while we do our sums.”

“Silence!” roared the crabbed teacher, but after that he said little about the poor lessons.

By noon Captain Putnam came back, and the cadets at once surrounded him to learn what he might have to tell.

“I saw nothing of the tiger,” said the master of the Hall. “A number of parties went out after him yesterday, and one crowd discovered the beast near the lake. They fired on him and he started to swim away. They think he must have been drowned, although they have not yet located the body.”

“Hope he was drowned,” said Pepper.

The matter was talked over for the balance of that day, and also the next. Then came in news that the circus people were also certain the tiger had gone to the bottom of Cayuga Lake, and everybody breathed easier. The circus moved southward, and soon the excitement died down completely.

Our young friends had not forgotten the Fords, and having received another invitation to call at the mansion at Point View Lodge, they set off one afternoon as soon as they could get away.

“I hope we don’t have another encounter with those Pornell Academy fellows,” said Jack, as they drove along in the buggy the captain had let them have. “One such mix-up was enough.”

“I guess they haven’t forgotten how they fared on that occasion,” returned Andy. “They promised to call it off, if you’ll remember.”

“So they did, but I shouldn’t take their word for it,” put in Pepper.

They arrived at the Ford mansion without mishap, having met absolutely nobody on the road. Laura and Flossie were there, and also Mrs. Ford and a niece from Rochester, and all did what they could to make the time pass pleasantly for the boys. They played croquet and lawn tennis, and went out for a short row.

“You boys can certainly handle the oars,” said Laura, with a sunny smile. “I wish I could row half as well.”

“It’s practice that does it,” answered Jack. “Now, all of you girls can play croquet better than we can.”

The party of girls and cadets was just returning to the house when they heard a loud scream coming from the direction of the road running to Point View Lodge.

“Hullo, what does that mean?” cried Jack, stopping short.

“Somebody is in trouble!” came from Andy.

“Help! save me!” was the cry. “Save me! I’ll be eaten up alive!”

“Something is wrong, fellows. Come on!” ejaculated Jack, and ran forward, catching up an oar as he spoke. The others followed, one with another oar, and Andy with a boathook. They were just in time to see a colored woman, who was the cook at the mansion, flying into a side door.

“I see what’s up!” exclaimed Jack, pointing down the road. “It’s the tiger!”

“The tiger!” echoed Pepper, and all of the girls set up a scream.

“Yes, there he is – crouching by the side of yonder tree.”

“I see him!”

“So do I,” put in Andy. “Quick, girls, get into the house before he comes this way!”

“Come in! Come in!” roared the colored cook. “He’ll eat you all up!”

As fast as they could the girls ran for the mansion, entering by a back door. The cadets followed. Looking back they saw the tiger moving slowly from the vicinity of the tree to a clump of bushes on the lawn.

“He is certainly coming this way,” called out Jack.

“He is moving for the house, too!” put in Pepper. “There he goes around to the kitchen door!”

Pepper spoke the truth. The tiger had reached the back door. Now he bounded up the small stoop, and a second later entered the kitchen of the mansion.

CHAPTER XV

PRISONERS OF A WILD BEAST

As soon as they could do so the three cadets ran into the side door of the mansion. They found the girls on an upper landing, gazing down anxiously.

“Is the tiger coming?” called down Laura.

“Yes, he’s in the kitchen,” answered Jack.

“The kitchen!” gasped Mrs. Ford, who had come out of the library.

“Oh, save me, somebody!” came from the rear of the mansion, and the butler appeared, with his hair almost on end. “A wild beast, mum – roaming the pantry, mum,” he spluttered.

“Better go upstairs, all of you,” said Jack, as he heard the tiger leap upon a table.

“Dat’s where I’m a-goin’,” said the cook, and ran to the top of the house, followed by the butler, where both locked themselves in their rooms.

The girls and Mrs. Ford were soon on the second floor of the mansion, and the three cadets followed.

“Shut all of the doors tight, Mrs. Ford,” said Jack. “For all we know, he may take it into his head to come upstairs.”

Following Jack’s directions, the doors were closed, and the family gathered in a large room in the front of the mansion.

“Whatever are we to do?” questioned Laura, helplessly.

“Well, we can stay here,” answered her sister. “That is what I am going to do for the present.”

“Where is Joseph?” asked Mrs. Ford. The man she mentioned was the gardener.

“He has gone to town to have the lawn mower repaired,” answered Laura. She turned to Jack. “Oh, isn’t this dreadful!”