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

“Say, let us cave it in on ’em,” whispered Coulter.

“All right,” answered Baxter, eagerly. “How shall we do it?”

“Let’s all run up to the top. Come on!”

Andy had gone into the house, to aid Pepper and Harry, and nobody was near. Looking around, to make sure they were not observed, Baxter, Paxton, and Coulter ran up on the snow house and began to jump up and down. There came a crack, several others, and then with scarcely a sound the top of the snow house went down, burying the boys above up to their knees.

“Get out of this!” exclaimed Baxter, and pulled himself free, followed by his cronies. Soon they were clear of the snow and running across the campus.

It was at that moment that Jack re-appeared, followed by Dale.

“Hullo, the house has caved in!” ejaculated the young major.

“Somebody is under the snow,” came from Dale. “Don’t you see the end of that shovel moving?”

“Whoever is in there will be smothered to death, if we don’t get him out,” went on Jack. “Come, get the snow out of the way as fast as you can.”

The pair set to work, and in a moment more several other cadets were helping them. Then somebody ran off and called George Strong, who came to the spot on the double-quick.

“Yes, yes, we must get them out at once,” said the assistant teacher. “It doesn’t take much to smother a person under the snow. Work lively, boys!”

They did work lively, throwing the snow on all sides. The teacher worked with them.

“Look out that you don’t hurt somebody with your shovels,” said Jack, cautiously.

Soon he caught sight of a foot and then a leg. He began to pull, and George Strong aided him, and up came Harry Blossom, almost black in the face.

“Oh!” gasped the cadet.

“Who is under there?” demanded George Strong.

“Andy Snow and Pepper Ditmore,” answered Harry. “Oh, get them out if you can! If you don’t, they’ll surely be smothered to death!”

“Yes, we must get them out,” came from Jack. “Come on – work harder than ever!”

CHAPTER XXIV

A CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

It was soon noised around the Hall that two of the cadets had been buried alive in the snow, and the whole school gathered around the collapsed snow house, and as many went to work to dig out Pepper and Andy as could get close enough.

On the outside of the crowd stood Baxter, Paxton, and Coulter, and the face of each was pale and full of fear.

“I – I didn’t think it was going to end this way,” muttered Coulter, hoarsely.

“Hush!” returned the bully, fiercely. “Do you want to be found out?”

“That’s it – mum’s the word,” put in Paxton. “If we are found out, it may mean our dismissal from the school.”

“But if one or the other is dead – ” Coulter could not finish the sentence. Baxter clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Shut up, I say!” he cried. “Not a word more.”

The workers had now gotten almost to the bottom of the snow house. Presently they uncovered the form of Pepper. Close beside him lay Andy. Both were partly unconscious.

“Give them air!” ordered George Strong. “Get back, boys!” And then the two sufferers were laid out on the snow and several went to work to revive them.

“Oh, I hope they get over it!” murmured Jack. He could not bear to think of anything serious happening to his chums.

For several minutes all were in doubt. Then Pepper began to move, and Andy gave a faint gasp.

“They are reviving!”

“Thank Heaven for that!” murmured Jack.

A little later the two sufferers sat up and stared around them.

“How do you feel, Pepper?” asked Dale.

“I – I don’t know. The – the house came down on our heads, didn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“I remember now,” came from Andy. “It came down awful sudden like, too.”

“Do you feel anyway ill, boys?” questioned George Strong, kindly.

“I – I’m weak in the knees,” answered Pepper, and Andy said the same.

“We’ll carry them into the Hall,” said Jack, and soon the two sufferers were made comfortable indoors. Andy soon declared he felt as well as ever.

“How did the snow house come to cave in?” questioned Jack, after the excitement had somewhat subsided.

“I give it up,” answered Andy. “The roof came down on us without warning.”

“Some fellows climbed up on the snow house,” put in Bart Conners.

“Climbed up on it?” queried Jack.

“Yes, three fellows. I saw it go down with them. Then the three fellows ran away as fast as they could go.”

“Who were those three fellows?” questioned Andy.

“I can’t tell you. I had been down to the lake looking to see if there was any clear ice for skating. I was too far off to recognize them.”

“Humph! that explains it,” murmured the young major. “The snow house was caved in on purpose.”

“I’d like to know who would be so mean!” exclaimed Andy. “Those chaps must have known that we were inside.”