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

The machine was standing almost in the middle of the road. Somewhat to the right was a puddle of water, and had the cadets marched around the machine, they would have had to go directly through the wet spot.

“Do you expect us to march through that puddle?” demanded the young major, after a pause.

“You can break ranks and go around the other way,” answered the man. He evidently wanted to make as much trouble for the young soldiers as he could.

“We are not breaking ranks for that purpose.” Jack’s face was growing white. “I’ll give you just two minutes in which to get out of the road. Now be quick, and move on!”

“Ho! do you intend to dictate to me?” growled the man, but looked just a bit anxious.

For reply the young major got out his watch. At the same time he turned to the two companies behind him.

“Support arms!” was the command. “Fix bayonets!” And at the last word the cadets drew their shining bayonets from their scabbards and fastened them to their guns.

“Oh, Carl, do move to one side!” cried the lady, in terror. “They are going to charge on us!”

“Hi! hi! don’t you charge!” yelled the man. He knew only too well what bayonets could do to the rubber tires of his automobile.

“Time is up,” called out Major Jack. “Are you going to get to your side of the road or not?”

“Wait – I’ll try it,” grumbled the man, and turning on the power, he moved to one side, and passed the two companies with ease. Several made imitation charges on his rubber tires as he passed, much to his alarm.

“What a brute!” was Andy’s comment, as the cadets moved on once more. “I suppose he wanted the whole road to himself.”

“A good many folks who own autos forget that other folks have rights on the road which they are bound to respect,” answered Joe Nelson. “If they had their way, they’d ride over everything and everybody that came along.”

A short distance further on, the battalion came to another village, and here the young soldiers stopped for dinner. Without loss of time Jack reported to Captain Putnam.

“I am sorry you had trouble,” said the owner of the Hall. “You did right to demand half the road. If you have more trouble, let me know.”

Dinner was had under some large spreading chestnut trees. It was plain but wholesome, and the long morning march had given everybody a good appetite.

“Are you enjoying your hard-tack, Stuffer?” asked Pepper, with a wink at the always-hungry cadet.

“Humph! I knew you fellows were only fooling,” was the answer.

At two o’clock the march was resumed, and kept up until half-past five. They had now reached a spot known as Squire’s Grove, and here tents were pitched in true military style. Big fires were started, and the cadets had their first taste of camp life.

“Say, but I’d like about a month of this,” was Andy’s comment, after each cadet had been assigned to his quarters.

“Perhaps we couldn’t have some fun!” put in Pepper. “As it is, I’m going to try for some fun to-night.”

“Right you are, Pep.”

The air was so cool in the evening that the cadets were glad enough to gather around the big camp-fires. They told stories, and sang songs, and all too quickly came the hour to turn in.

As Captain Putnam wanted the students to learn what real military life was like, each cadet was assigned to two hours of guard duty during the night. As soon as he heard of this, Pepper learned where Mumps would be stationed, and then called Andy to one side.

“Did you hear that ghost story Dale was telling?” he questioned.

“To be sure I did. It fairly made some of the younger lads tremble.”

“Did you notice how scared Mumps was?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Mumps is going to see a ghost to-night, Andy.”

“How do you know?”

“Because we are going to fix one up for him,” and then Pepper unfolded a plan that had just entered his head. It met with instant approval, and soon the two boys started to carry it out.

Taking a tree branch they wrapped it up in a white sheet, and on the top placed a white duck cap, making the whole look like the ghost of a cadet while at a distance. Then they took this out of camp, and placed it at the end of a strong cord, running up over the limb of a tree. The figure was pulled up among the branches, out of sight, and this done they sought out Mumps.

“Say, Mumps, was it you told the fellows that a cadet was once murdered around here?” questioned Pepper, innocently.

“Murdered?” returned the sneak of the school. “No, I never heard of it.”

“They say a cadet was murdered at this place about four years ago, and that if you watch for it, you can see his ghost among the trees.”

“Ah, you can’t scare me,” returned Mumps.

“I’m not trying to scare you. I thought you told the story yourself,” was the answer, and then Andy and Pepper strolled on.

“He’ll remember that, I’ll wager,” whispered Pepper.

“We’ll know better when he goes on guard,” answered Andy, and then they waited impatiently for the time to come when they could work off their little joke on the sneak.

CHAPTER XVII

MUMPS SEES A GHOST

As luck would have it, Pepper and Andy went on guard from ten o’clock to midnight, while Mumps had his time set from midnight to two in the morning.

As soon as they came in from guard duty, Pepper and Andy told a few of their chums of what was in the air, and they all stole from their tents to a spot overlooking the ground that Mumps would have to cover during the next two hours.

The sneak was already on duty, pacing up and down slowly, with his gun on his shoulder. He had to march from one tree in the grove to another, a distance of two hundred feet.

As the sneak passed the tree where the white figure was concealed, Pepper, who was close at hand, uttered a low and unearthly groan.

At once Mumps came to a halt.

“Wh – what’s that?” he faltered.

For reply Pepper uttered another groan, and Andy followed with a sound like that of a dying calf.

“I say, what’s that?” repeated the sneak. All was so dark and strange around him that he felt anything but comfortable.

“Murdered!” moaned Pepper. “Murdered!”