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

CHAPTER IX

THE CHUMS MAKE A CALL

For a week after the races, matters at Putnam Hall ran along smoothly. Captain Putnam insisted upon it that the students attend to their studies and our friends pitched in with vigor, so that Jack stood first in his class, Pepper third, and Andy fourth, which was certainly fine.

During that time Dan Baxter had a sharp “run-in” with the master of the Hall, who gave the bully a stern lecture. As a consequence Baxter was quite humble for the time being and did not risk doing anything to bring him into further disgrace.

On a Tuesday morning Captain Putnam called Jack, Pepper, and Andy into his private office.

“Gracious, I hope we aren’t in for a lecture!” whispered Andy while on the way.

“Have you been doing anything wrong?” asked Pepper with a wink.

“No, have you?”

“Not much. I had some flour yesterday and when I was upstairs old Crabtree was in the lower hallway. Somehow the flour slipped out of my hand and went down on Crabtree’s head.”

“Slipped is good!” chuckled Jack. “Did he spot you?”

“Not much! I had business elsewhere, and I dusted,” answered his chum.

When they entered the office they found Captain Putnam awaiting them with a smile and knew at once that everything was all right.

“I’ve received an invitation for you three lads,” said the master of the Hall. “It is from Mr. Rossmore Ford. He and his wife and daughters are going to have a small gathering at their home this afternoon and evening, and they would like you to be present. If you desire to go you may do so. Mr. Ford is anxious to do something to show how much he appreciates what you did for his daughters.”

“Oh, I don’t know – ” faltered Andy, who was somewhat bashful.

“Let us go by all means!” cried Pepper. “I’m sure we’ll have a good time.”

“I shouldn’t mind going,” said Jack. “They seemed to be real nice people, and it would look strange to refuse.”

So it was settled that they should go, and Captain Putnam said they could take a horse and buggy from the Hall and make the journey to Point View Lodge and back in that.

“And remember to be back by eleven o’clock,” said the master of the Hall.

They were to start at two o’clock, and immediately after dinner they rushed up to their dormitory to get ready. It was a rule of the establishment that cadets must wear their uniforms when going out on such occasions and they brushed up as never before, and put on their best collars, cuffs, and shoes.

“Jack is sprucing up for the girls,” observed Pepper, with a wink at Andy.

“I’m sprucing up for the credit of the Hall,” retorted the young major. “And you must do the same.”

When they went down to the barn, Peleg Snuggers had the horse and buggy ready for them, and the utility man told them of the road to take to get to Point View Lodge.

“Mr. Ford is a swell gent,” said Peleg Snuggers. “Ain’t no more swell gent in these parts.”

“Any danger of his bursting?” queried Andy.

“Is he a land swell or a sea swell?” questioned Pepper.

“You young gents know wot I mean,” answered the utility man. “He’s rich – got millions.”

“Phew!” murmured Jack. “Boys, we’ll have to put on swell airs!”

“Peleg, won’t you lend me a diamond for my shirt front?” asked Andy.

“Ain’t got no diamond.”

“Maybe you’ll lend us a gold watch,” suggested Jack.

“Oh, you stop a-jokin’ me,” cried the utility man. “How am I to git diamonds an’ gold watches on twenty dollars a month, answer me that now?”

“Oh, we know you’re rich, Peleg,” said Pepper. “Some day you’ll buy out the Hall and give us free board, eh?” And then the boys drove off, leaving Peleg Snuggers standing grinning after them.

“Boys is boys, an’ allers will be!” murmured the man of all work. “Bless ’em all, say I.”

The road to Point View Lodge was somewhat rough and they had to drive along with care. In some spots the trees overhung the road completely, making the way rather dark.

“It will be no mean drive getting back,” said Andy.

“We’ve got a lantern, and we can drive slow,” answered Jack. “We ought to start for the Hall by half-past nine o’clock.”

At last they reached the Lodge, located on a point of the lake shore. There were elegant grounds, filled with shrubs and flowers, and a fine mansion with broad piazzas. Off to one side was a large summerhouse and to the other a barn and sheds.

“This is fine and no mistake,” murmured Jack. “See, there is quite a crowd here, too.”

A stable-hand took care of their turnout, and soon Rossmore Ford and his stately wife came to greet them. Then the girls came also, and there were warm handshakings all around.

“I am very, very thankful for what you did for Laura and Flossie,” said Mrs. Ford. “I want you to make yourselves at home here, and I trust you have a good time.”

“It’s a splendid place,” said Andy.

They were introduced to a number of the guests, including several young men from Pornell Academy, and then Laura and Flossie took them around the mansion and grounds, showing them various points of interest. The girls were bright and lively and soon succeeded in making them feel perfectly at home.

“I see you have several students from Pornell here,” said Jack to Laura, when they had drifted a short distance away from the others.

At this Laura frowned slightly.

“Yes. We did not expect them. They came to make a call.”

“Oh, I see.”

“One of them, Roy Bock, knows some of my mother’s people, and he comes on that account and brings those others with him.”

“He seems to be making himself at home.”

“Yes, he acts as if he owned the place. Flossie and I do not like them to come, but mamma doesn’t like to say anything, and pa is away most of the time.”

They took a ramble through the garden and into a conservatory, and Laura gave Jack a big rose for his buttonhole, while Flossie got roses for Andy and Pepper. These had just been pinned on when Roy Bock appeared, followed by three of his fellow students from Pornell Academy.

“So here you are!” cried Roy Bock, loudly. “We were wondering what had become of you. Spooning, I suppose?” he added, coarsely.

“We were showing our friends around the grounds,” said Laura, quietly.

“I just heard you were the chaps that pulled the girls out of the lake,” said a student named Grimes.

“Oh, anybody could have done that,” came from another, named Gussic.

“I suppose anybody could have rowed that race, too,” said Jack, sharply. The manner of the rival academy boys was very obnoxious.

“Oh, I heard how your school won that race!” cried Flossie, her eyes beaming.

“I guess our school didn’t have a fair show,” growled Roy Bock. “The Putnam Hall crew started before the pistol went off.”

“That is not true!” exclaimed Pepper. “The start was a very fair one.”

“Humph! Of course you’d say so,” grumbled the student named Gussic.

“I say so because it is true.”

“I reckon all you fellows have the swelled head now,” put in Grimes. “But just wait till the football match comes off – we’ll show you a trick or two.”

“Oh, please don’t quarrel here!” whispered Laura, in a frightened tone. “If you get Roy Bock mad, he’ll say all sorts of mean things.”

“We’ve got to go back now,” said Bock. “We’ll call again some day – when these fellows ain’t around. We don’t want anything to do with chaps who cheat at boat races.”

“Bock, some day I’ll make you take back those words,” said Jack, hotly. “But we are guests here, so I’ll say no more.”

“Bah! I’m not afraid of you,” growled Roy Bock, and then he strode off, followed by his fellow students. Soon they left the house, on the buckboard that had brought them to the Lodge.

“Oh, how thankful I am that they are gone,” said Flossie. “Do you know, I am getting afraid of Roy Bock!”

“He’s a – a – puppy,” said Andy. “Excuse the word, but I can’t describe him in any other way.”

“I think he is very mean,” came from Laura. “I wish he would keep away for good.”

“His companions are about as bad as he is,” said Pepper. “They seem to be all tarred with the same brush.”

“They are always together,” said Flossie. “They always come here in a bunch and stay and stay. It’s a wonder they didn’t invite themselves to dinner. And then, so I’ve been told, they tell their fellow students that we urge them to come, and that they can’t hardly get away from here!”

There were one or two other young folks present, and all had a good time until dinner was served. The repast was an elaborate one, and our friends did it full justice. Then came some music and a few games, and all too soon it was time for Jack, Pepper, and Andy to leave.

“We’ve had a boss time!” cried Pepper, enthusiastically. “Excuse the French!” he added, meaning the slang.

“Couldn’t have had a better!” added Jack.

“It was real nice of you to ask us to come,” put in Andy.

“We have enjoyed your company,” said Laura, and Flossie said the same. Then Mr. and Mrs. Ford asked them to call again.

“You must come down to our school,” said Jack. “On Saturdays we give a special drill.”

“And Jack, you know, is our major!” said Andy.

“Oh, pa, we must see the drill by all means!” cried the two girls.

“Well, we can drive over some day,” answered the fond parent.

It was quarter to ten when the boys left the grounds in the buggy. The lantern was lit and hung over the dashboard, yet it did not light the road very well, and they had to proceed with care.

“This isn’t so nice,” observed Andy, when they were in a black portion of the woods. “Supposing some tramps or highway robbers should pounce out on us?”

“Andy must have been reading some trashy five-cent library,” laughed Pepper. “I caught Link Smiley reading one the other day, and I had to laugh at all the hair-breadth escapes the so-called hero had.”

“Excuse me, but I’m not giving up my good nickels for such rot,” answered Andy. “Good books are too plentiful. But it is dark and no mistake.”

“I see a light ahead!” interrupted Pepper. “Perhaps a carriage is coming this way.”

They drove slowly, and presently came up to where the light was resting, on a limb of a tree. Just as they were opposite to the lantern, eight masked figures leaped out from behind the bushes.

“Stop!” was the command. “Don’t you dare to drive another step!”

CHAPTER X

IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY

“What are we up against now?”

“Are these fellows tramps?”

“Are they going to rob us?”

Such were a few of the questions which Jack, Andy, and Pepper asked when they found themselves confronted by the eight masked figures on the lonely forest road. Each of the masked persons was armed with a stout stick.

“Stop, do you hear?” came from one of the crowd, and stepping forward, he caught the horse by the head.

“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Jack.

“It means that you must consider yourself prisoners,” was the cold reply.

“Prisoners!”

“Yes.”

“Who are you?” queried Pepper.

“That remains for you to find out. Step down out of that carriage and be quick about it.”

“Perhaps we won’t step out,” said Andy.

“If you don’t, you’ll get hurt.”

“I know them!” shouted Jack. “They must be Pornell students. Roy Bock, I know your voice.”

“I am not Roy Bock,” was the answer, in a disguised voice.

“You are. What are you going to do with us?”

“We are going to give you a lesson,” growled Roy Bock, for it was really he who had spoken. “Come down out of that buggy!”

As Bock spoke one of the boys leaped forward and secured the whip and two others pulled away the reins. There was no help for it, and Jack, Pepper, and Andy had to leap out. They were at once surrounded.

“This is a pretty high-handed proceeding,” said Jack, in a steady voice. “Don’t you know we can put you in the hands of the law for it?”

“Bah!” growled one of the masked students. “You don’t know us.”

“Perhaps we do.”

“We know Bock, and Grimes, and Gussie,” put in Pepper.

“None of them here,” said one of the Pornell boys. “You are on to the wrong crowd entirely.”

“Maybe this is a Baxter trick!” whispered Andy to his chums.

“No, it’s a Roy Bock trick, I am sure of it,” returned Jack. “He is mad because we cut him out with the Ford girls.”

Our friends were led to a small grove not far from the roadside. Here a camp-fire was burning, and they were forced to kneel while the enemy stood around with their sticks upraised.

“We want you to make a solemn promise,” said one of the masked students.

“What promise?” demanded Jack.

“You have no right to visit Point View Lodge.”

“Ho! I thought so!”

“All of you must promise not to go there again.”

“I’ll not promise,” cried Jack.

“Nor I,” added Pepper.

“Count me out too,” came from Andy. “Why should we stay away?”

“You won’t promise?” asked several.

“No!” came in unison from our three friends.

“Then you’d rather suffer, eh?”

“We don’t intend to suffer!”

“Quit talking and take them to the lake, fellows!” growled one of the masked students. “They’ll sing another tune after they have been ducked three or four times.”

“So you are going to duck us?” said Jack.

“Such is our intention.”

“It’s a mean trick.”

“You can save yourself by promising to steer clear of Point View Lodge in the future.”

“Supposing we are invited there?”

“You can plead a previous engagement.”

“I’ll not do it,” said Andy.

“Nor I,” came from Jack and Pepper.

“To the lake with them!”

In spite of their resistance, our three friends were hurried through the woods, to a point where there was a small cove of the lake. Here a bent tree overhung the water and here were several ropes.

“We’ll tie them by the hands and feet and then duck them good,” said Roy Bock.

“We must escape!” whispered Jack to his friends. “When I give the word cut for it, and cut lively.”

“All right,” they answered.

“I’d rather be ducked than make any promises,” said Jack, loudly. “But I want to tell you fellows something. We have friends, and some day we’ll get square. The people – Gracious sakes alive! What is that, fellows? Look, it’s coming this way! It must be a mad bull!”

As Jack broke off short and pointed with his hand, all of the masked students looked in that direction. Then Jack gave Pepper and Andy the signal, and side by side they dove into the woods and ran towards the road.

“They are gone!”

“It was a trick, to get us to look away!” roared Roy Bock. “Come on after them!”

“If you come after us now we’ll shoot somebody!” cried Andy. They had no firearms, but he thought he might scare their enemies.

“Do you think they will shoot?” questioned one of the masked boys, a lad who was timid by nature.

“No, I don’t,” answered Grimes. “Come on!”

“We don’t want to get hurt – ”

“Come on, it’s all right!” And then the crowd went after Jack, Pepper, and Andy pell-mell.

But our friends had gained a good start and they made the best possible use of their time. They leaped over the rocks and small brush-wood, and presently caught sight of the lantern, still hanging over the dashboard of the buggy.

“Hullo, what’s this?” cried Pepper, as he stumbled over something. “Bicycles, I declare, four singles and two tandems!”

“They must have come to this spot on their wheels,” answered Andy.

“I’ve got an idea – we’ll take a couple of the wheels along! Then somebody will have to walk home!”

This was agreed to, and in a trice they had hoisted two of the bicycles into the buggy. Then they got in and urged the horse forward.

“Stop!” came from behind. “Stop!”

“They have two of our wheels!” came in alarm, a moment later. “They are driving away with them!”

“Give us back our bicycles!”

“Not to-night!” shouted Jack. “If you want them, come to Putnam Hall to-morrow and get them!”

“This is the worst yet!” growled Roy Bock, whose wheel had been taken. “We must catch them if we can.”

“Yes, let’s do our best,” returned Grimes, whose wheel was likewise missing.

The rest of the boys mounted their wheels and tried to follow the buggy. But the road to Putnam Hall was much rougher than that to Pornell Academy, and soon they had to abandon the pursuit.

“We made a mess of it,” said Gussic. “They have the laugh on us.”

“I don’t feel like going to Putnam Hall for my wheel,” said Grimes, with a downcast look on his face.

“No more do I,” answered Bock. “But what are you going to do about it?”

“They’ll be sure to tell the Ford girls of this, and they’ll have the laugh on us.”

“If they do that, I’ll punch somebody’s head,” grumbled Roy Bock.

As soon as they were sure the Pornell students had given up the pursuit, those in the buggy slackened their pace, and re-arranged the bicycles they were carrying.

“We surely turned the tables on them that time,” laughed Jack. “I don’t think they’ll stop us again in a hurry.”

When they reached Putnam Hall they placed the bicycles in care of Peleg Snuggers.

“An’ where did you get them machines?” demanded the general utility man.

“They belong to a couple of Pornell boys. We picked ’em up on the road,” answered Jack.

“I’ll wager a tomato you got into a scrap,” said Peleg, with a grin.

“If we did, we didn’t get the worst of it, Peleg,” said Pepper.

“I don’t reckon you did. Most on the boys at Putnam Hall knows how to take care o’ themselves.”

Our friends were curious to know what the Pornell students would do about their wheels. Two days passed, and then a hired man from the Academy appeared with a wagon, and a note for Jack. The note was unsigned and read as follows:

“Please return the two bicycles per bearer, and we will call the whole thing off.”

“That’s short enough,” said Pepper, after Jack had read the note aloud. “What are you going to do?”

“Let them have their wheels. It wouldn’t be honest to keep them.”

“Let us send a note in return,” suggested Andy.

“I have it!” cried Pepper, and without delay he wrote out the following:

“In the future beware and keep off the grass.

“That’s short and to the point,” said Jack. The note was sent with the bicycles; and that was the last seen or heard of the Pornell boys for some time to come.

CHAPTER XI

A GREAT GAME OF FOOTBALL

Once more the days glided by peacefully. Autumn was now well under way, and the leaves of the trees were turning to crimson and gold. Boating became almost a thing of the past, and talks about football filled the air.

With the coming of the football season Dale Blackmore was in his element. Not only was Dale a good athlete, but it was speedily learned that he had been captain of a good amateur football team in the town he hailed from, and that the team had in one season won nine games out of twelve.

“Dale is the man for our team,” said Jack, and by a popular vote the lad was made captain. There was a slight opposition by Dan Baxter but this quickly subsided.

As soon as he was made captain, Dale set to work to organize as a good a team as Putnam Hall could produce. He tried fully thirty cadets and then selected fifteen – eleven for the regular team and the balance as substitutes. On the regular team were Jack, Andy, Hogan, Bart Conners, Henry Lee, and others already mentioned in these pages. Pepper was a substitute, and he was willing enough to take a “back seat” as he called it.

“Now we have got to get into practice,” said Dale, “and it’s to be no baby play either.” And every day the team went out on the playground to practice. Dale made a good coach, and soon had the boys doing finely. He was assisted by George Strong, who had himself played football on his college team.

It had been expected that Pornell Academy would play Putnam Hall. But the Pornell students were sore over their boat-race defeat and they insisted that a false start had been made. The discussion grew warm on both sides, and so the scheme for a football match for that year fell through, although matches between the two schools were played later, as I have already mentioned in certain volumes of the “Rover Boys Series.”

“Those Pornell fellows are a sore lot,” said Jack. “I suppose they felt sure they’d win that boat race.”

“They are going to play the Rigsby Football Club next Saturday,” said Andy. “Dale just told me.”

“I thought we were to play Rigsby,” put in Joe Nelson.

“We are, some time later.”

The Rigsby Football Club was controlled by a rich gentleman named Rigsby who had an elegant place outside of a nearby city which I shall call Mornville. The team was composed largely of college boys and played exceedingly well.

The game between the Pornell Academy and the Rigsby Club attracted a large crowd to Mornville, and half a dozen students from Putnam Hall journeyed to the town, to see what sort of a game was being put up.

“We must catch all the pointers we can,” said Dale. “It may help us in our playing.”

The Pornell Academy made a fine showing during practice, but when the game started it was quickly found that the Rigsby team was too heavy and too clever for them. In each half of the game the Rigsby Club made a touchdown and a goal, and when the contest came to a close the score stood, Rigsby 12, Pornell Academy 0.