The Putnam Hall Rebellion

“Then we’ll have to go for it.”

“You forget that we don’t know where the Ritter crowd is located.”

“Gracious, that’s so! Well, we will have to find out. If he’s got any of my mail, I want it.”

When the boys got back to camp the others listened with interest to what they had to tell.

“It will be fun to go after those tramps and clean them out,” said Dale. “And if the fellow is there who attacked Andy I hope we catch him and get back the stolen things.”

“Home-made pies!” murmured Stuffer, referring to what the boys said about the Ford girls. “Yum! yum! That’s the best ever!”

“I knew that would make a bull’s-eye hit with you!” said Pepper, with a merry laugh.

“I hope they bring enough to go around. Did you tell them how many there were of us?” asked the boy who loved to eat, anxiously.

“I told them there were over half a dozen of us,” answered Pepper, with a wink at the others.

“Oh, Pepper! Half a dozen! Then they’ll only bring two or three pies, and we won’t get more than a mouthful apiece!” And Stuffer’s face took on a mournful look.

“Well, you know, Master Singleton,” said The Imp, imitating Pluxton Cuddle’s tone of voice. “Too much eating is bad for a youth. It makes him stupid and incapable of studying properly. If one ate less – ”

“Oh, stop your tommy-rot about eating less!” roared Stuffer. “I guess you must really believe in it – or you wouldn’t let those Ford girls bring only two or three pies.” And he turned to walk away.

“Stop, Stuffer, Pep was only fooling,” cried Andy. “They’ll bring enough pies, don’t you worry.” And then the youth who loved to eat felt relieved.

A campfire was kept going during the evening, and around this the runaway cadets gathered, to tell stories, sing songs and speculate upon how the whole affair was to end. A few were nervous, but others felt certain that Captain Putnam would not blame them for what they had done.

“If he does, he is not the man I take him to be,” said Dale.

“If he sides with Crabtree and Cuddle I shall ask my father to send me to another school,” said another.

“If we stick together he is bound to side with us,” added Fred.

“Now, don’t make such a mistake as that,” said Jack, to the last speaker. “Captain Putnam will not be influenced by our sticking together, even if it breaks up his school. He will decide this case solely on its merits. But I hope he will see that we were in the right – at least, that we were not as much in the wrong as Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle.”

Among the boys to be placed on guard when the cadets retired was Fred Century. He was stationed at the east side of the camp, not far from where the wagon stood and the horse was tethered. In the wagon were a goodly part of the provisions, covered with a tarpaulin that had been brought along.

Fred had not slept well the night before and was consequently sleepy. He tramped around for a while and then sat down on a rock to rest.

He had been sitting still for several minutes, with his eyes partly closed, when he heard a slight noise behind him. Before he could move a cloth was clapped around his mouth and his hands were caught and held. Then a rope was brought into play, and he was made a close prisoner and carried away into the woods.

CHAPTER XXVI

AFTER THE STOLEN CAMP OUTFIT

“Hi, fellows, get up! Something has happened!”

It was Pepper who aroused the others, and he made such a noise that the cadets who were asleep sprang up without delay.

“What’s wrong?”

“Have the enemy discovered us?”

“Are we going back to the Hall?”

These and a number of other cries rang out, and nearly all the runaways surrounded The Imp. For answer Pepper pointed to where the horse and wagon had been.

“Gone!”

“Who took them?”

“Don’t ask me,” was the answer. “I missed them a minute ago and tried to find out what had become of them. But they are teetotally gone, and that is all there is to it.”

“Where are the guards?” demanded Jack. “Brightwood, did you see anything of the horse and wagon?”

“I did not,” answered one of the cadets who had been on guard duty. Then some of the others were questioned, but all shook their heads.

“Fred Century was on guard near the wagon,” said Andy, suddenly. “Where is he?”

All looked around, but in vain.

“Maybe he drove off with the horse and wagon,” suggested Hogan. “But I don’t know where he’d go, so I don’t.”

“Perhaps he got afraid and went back to the Hall,” suggested another.

“Fred Century wasn’t the sort to get afraid,” answered the young major. “But I must confess I don’t understand this.”

“Do you think Reff Ritter and his crowd would play this trick?” demanded Pepper.

“He might, Pep, but what of Fred?”

“Maybe Century joined the Ritter gang,” vouchsafed Brightwood.

“No, Fred didn’t like Ritter at all,” answered Andy.

“We’ll have to make a search for the horse and wagon,” said the young major. “And the sooner the better. We can’t afford to lose all those stores.”

“Oh, I say, can’t we get breakfast first?” asked Stuffer, reproachfully.

“No, we’ll hunt first and eat afterwards,” said Jack, decidedly.

The cadets scattered in all directions, and less than three minutes later Dale set up a call that brought the others running to him. He had found poor Fred, gagged, and bound to a tree. The captive was glad to be released and to have his power of speech restored. His story was a short one.

“There must have been four or five who attacked me from behind,” he said, “and they gave me no chance to cry out. I heard them talking about taking the horse and wagon and some other things, but I couldn’t do a thing to warn any of you. They must have gotten off very quietly, not to have attracted the attention of the other guards.”

“Were they the Ritter crowd?” asked Andy.

“I am not sure. I thought perhaps they might be those tramps Andy and Stuffer discovered in a hangout in this neighborhood.”