The Putnam Hall Rivals

“You fellows shut up!” roared Dan Baxter. “If you don’t I’ll – ” He stopped short in confusion.

“Why did you attack him, Baxter?” asked the master of the school.

“Oh, he’s getting too airish,” said the bully, not stopping to think twice.

“Then you admit that you did attack him first?”

At this the bully grew red in the face.

“Well – er – I had good cause.”

“Both of you come to my office,” said the captain, and he also asked half a dozen of the others to come along. At the office the matter was carefully investigated.

“Ditmore, you may go,” said the master of Putnam Hall. “It was not just right for you to do as you did, yet I do not blame you for defending yourself. Baxter, you can remain.” And then all left the office but the bully. After the others had gone Captain Putnam read the bully a stern lecture. The captain had found out about the smoking and drinking at the old boathouse, and told the bully in very plain words that such practices would not be permitted around the academy.

“I presume the boathouse caught fire by accident,” said Captain Putnam.

“I – I guess it did,” said Baxter, meekly.

“It was a mean piece of business all the way through – and doubly mean to try to throw suspicion on some other cadets.”

“They did mean things to me, too,” grumbled the bully, and then he was glad to make his escape from the office.

It made Dan Baxter feel sick to face the school after his encounter with Pepper. Everybody was talking of how the Imp had polished off the bully. Baxter was glad enough when he received a telegram from his father asking him to leave Putnam Hall.

“I’m going on a trip and I shan’t be back for some time,” said Baxter to his cronies.

“You’re in luck,” answered Reff Ritter. “Wish I was going.”

“If you can, square up with Pepper Ditmore and his crowd,” went on the bully.

“We’ll do that,” put in Gus Coulter.

On the very day that Dan Baxter left Putnam Hall to go on a trip with his father, Pepper, Jack, and Andy received an invitation from the Fords to visit their summer home at Point View Lodge, not many miles away. The day was bright, and the roads seeming fine they went over on their bicycles.

“Here is where the Bock crowd once held us up,” said Jack, as they were riding through the woods. “Do you remember?”

“We are not likely to forget it,” said Andy. “Nor to forget how we shot the tiger that had escaped from the circus.”

“Which puts me in mind of something,” said Pepper. “Do you remember about that balloon that came down on us?”

“Of course.”

“Well, the balloonist, Professor Aireo, is going to give an exhibition next Saturday at Datport, in connection with some sort of soldiers’ reunion. I’d like to ride over and see him.”

“Let us do it – if we can get off,” returned Andy; and so it was agreed.

When the boys arrived at the Ford mansion they found all of the family there to greet them. Refreshments were served, and then the young people went out in the garden to play croquet and lawn tennis. The girls wanted to know about their life in camp, and smiled when told of the tricks that had been played.

“You certainly do have good times,” said Laura.

“Do you ever see any more of Roy Bock and his crowd?” asked Pepper.

“No, and we don’t wish to see them,” answered Flossie, with a toss of her curly head.

After the games there was music on the piano and singing, and then some more refreshments, and all too quickly it was time for the boys to return to the Hall. All said they had had a splendid time.

“I am glad to hear it,” said Mrs. Ford. “And do not forget to come again.”

It was still light when the boys leaped on their bicycles and started along the forest road for Putnam Hall. All were in high spirits, and Andy, in front, set a pace which the others followed with difficulty.

“Be careful,” sang out Jack. “This road is none of the best.”

“Oh, it’s all right,” answered the acrobatic youth. “Come on!” And he pushed ahead as hard as ever.

“I think this road is better than it used to be,” said Pepper, after a mile and a half had been covered. “They must have – ”

A crash ahead caused him to cut his speech short. They saw Andy fly over the handle-bars of his machine and land in some thick bushes. The bicycle spun around in the roadway and then fell, with the front wheel completely wrecked.

“Are you hurt, Andy?” asked Jack, slackening his pace just in time.

“I – I don’t think I am,” was the slow reply, as the acrobatic youth climbed out of the brushwood. “Gosh! but that was a header, wasn’t it?”

“How did it happen?” asked Pepper, who had gone ahead and now came back.

“I got in a rut and that threw me against yonder rock. I suppose I can be thankful that I didn’t break my neck.”

“The front wheel is done for,” said Jack, examining the bicycle. “The spokes and the rim are both smashed.”

“Then I reckon I’ll have to walk home,” said Andy, ruefully. “I reckon the old saying is true, ‘The more haste the less speed.’”

“We can take turns at carrying you,” said Jack. “One can carry you and the other the broken wheel.”

“Can you do it – on such a road as this?”

“We can try it, anyway.”

Andy got on the rear of Pepper’s bicycle and went on ahead, and Jack placed the broken wheel on his shoulder and followed on his own machine. Progress was slow, and long before the Hall was reached it was dark.

“Let us rest awhile,” said Pepper. “This is hard work.”

“I’ll work one of the wheels for awhile,” said Andy – “that is, when we start again.”

The boys sat down by the side of the forest road to rest. Near by a tiny brook of cold water was trickling.

“There must be a spring near by,” said Jack. “If there is, I’m going to have a drink.”

“Ditto myself,” said Pepper.