The Putnam Hall Rivals

Andy leaped into one of the boats and picked up a cigarette butt and then another.

“I guess I know the crowd who did this,” said the acrobatic youth.

“Perhaps I do too,” said Bart, pointedly. “The same crowd that set the old boathouse on fire, eh?”

“Exactly.”

The cadets and the farmer took the boats back to the island. George Strong came down to inspect the craft and pay the farmer off.

“Humph!” said the teacher, as he saw the remains of the cigarettes. He said no more, but later on talked the matter over with Captain Putnam.

Saturday night found the cadets back at Putnam Hall, safe and sound. The march back to the school had been without special incident. The walk told on some of the students, and on Sunday many of them were content to do little but rest and eat their meals. By the majority the outing was voted a complete success. Baxter and his cronies did not appreciate it so much and wanted to “get square” with somebody for the tricks that had been played.

Once more the boys settled down to the regular routine. Many of them wanted to make a good showing when it came to the examinations and so applied themselves diligently to their studies. But some, including Reff Ritter and Dan Baxter, cared very little if they came out near the head or not.

“I expect to take a trip with my father before long,” said Dan Baxter. “I hope he takes me out of the school before the examinations come off.”

“Wish I was going away,” grumbled Ritter. “It’s mighty dull these days.”

For some reason Dan Baxter got it into his head that Pepper was responsible for all the troubles he had had, and one afternoon, when in a particularly ugly mood, he followed the Imp to the end of the campus.

“Say, Ditmore, you are getting pretty fresh, ain’t you?” he blustered.

“Thanks, Baxter, but I certainly shouldn’t wish to grow stale,” answered Pepper, coolly.

“I don’t like the way you are talking about me.”

“I don’t know as I have talked about you – at least, not lately.”

“Oh, you needn’t try to crawl out of it,” went on the bully in a loud tone, while a crowd began to collect.

“I am not crawling out of anything.”

“Maybe you’d like me to give you a good licking, eh?” went on Baxter, working himself up into a rage.

“I have no desire to fight. But if you – ”

“Bah! Take that!” cried the bully, and without warning hit Pepper a stinging blow on the chin. The Imp was not prepared for the attack and went flat on his back on the grass.

“For shame, Baxter!” cried Harry Blossom, who had just come up. “That wasn’t fair at all!”

“You keep your oar out!” snarled the bully. “I know what I am doing.”

Slowly Pepper rose to his feet, a good deal dazed.

“Have you had enough?” demanded the bully, striding up with clenched fists.

“Do you call that fighting fair?” asked Pepper, slowly.

“Oh, I don’t want any gas!”

“Baxter you are a bully and a brute!”

The big cadet glared at the speaker in amazement. Then he made another lunge forward, but his fist met only the empty air, for Pepper ducked just in time.

“I’ll fix you!” roared Baxter, as he staggered forward and then recovered himself.

“I didn’t want to fight, but since you force me to defend myself, why – take that!”

As Pepper finished he let out with his right fist and took the bully fairly and squarely in the ear. Then the Imp swung around his left fist and it came in contact with Baxter’s nose and made the blood spurt. The bully staggered, but before he went down there came another blow that loosened one of his teeth.

“Now have you had enough?” asked Pepper, standing over the fallen form of the bully.

“No!” snarled Baxter, and as quickly as he could he got on his feet. But the instant he was up again, Pepper knocked him down.

“I am going to give you a dose of your own medicine, Baxter,” said the Imp. “If you try to get up again, down you go once more.”

“Boys! boys! what does this mean?” came in a stern voice, and looking up they saw Captain Putnam approaching.

CHAPTER XXV

JACK MAKES A DISCOVERY

Dan Baxter was evidently much chagrined. Pepper stood his ground and looked the master of Putnam Hall squarely in the face.

“Don’t you know that fighting is against the rules of this institution?” said Captain Putnam.

“Captain Putnam, I have not been fighting,” answered Pepper, as coolly as he could.

“Not fighting? Do you deny that you just knocked Baxter down?”

“No, sir, I do not deny it. I knocked him down twice.”

“And yet you do not call that fighting?”

“I do not, sir.”

“Well, what is it then?”

“I was walking out here when Baxter came up. He began to pick a quarrel, and without warning, as some of these boys can testify, he struck me in the chin and knocked me flat on my back. That made me angry and when I got up he struck at me again. Then I sailed in and knocked him down twice.”

“It ain’t so,” muttered Dan Baxter. “He started the quarrel.”

“No! no!” came from several.

“It started just as Pepper says,” put in Harry. “It was a mean thing for Baxter to attack Pepper without warning.”

“That’s what it was,” said another student standing by.