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

“Perhaps they turned off on a side road,” said the young major.

“It is possible.”

There was nothing to do but to return to Putnam Hall. This they did; and for the time being the subject was dropped.

At the end of the week, Jack, Pepper, Andy, and Dale got permission to visit Cedarville, one to buy a pair of skates, and the others to get various things. They set out on foot, thinking nothing of the rather long walk before them.

Just before reaching Cedarville they came to a side road, leading to a spot called Brierroot Grove. A short distance up the road was a two-story cottage, located behind a hedge of boxwood.

“Look!” cried Andy, pointing to the cottage, “Am I mistaken, or is that place on fire?”

“It’s the chimney smoking,” answered Pepper.

“No, it’s a fire coming up through the roof around the chimney!” burst out Jack.

“Let us go to the fire!” sang out Dale, and suiting the action to the word, he turned down the side road, and the others followed at his heels.

By the time they reached the cottage the place was burning fiercely throughout the second story and around the roof.

“I don’t see anybody,” said Pepper. “Perhaps the place isn’t occupied.”

“Maybe tramps set it on fire,” suggested Dale.

“I see two men!” cried Jack. “Well, I never!”

“What is it, Jack?”

“The men from the sloop! Here is where they must have been putting up!”

The cadets ran into the yard of the house and to the front door. They had seen the two men pass in and out, carrying some furniture.

“How did this start?” called out Pepper to one of the men.

At this cry both men turned around to gaze at the youths. Then one spoke to the other in a low tone, and off they ran to the rear of the cottage, leaped a rail fence, and disappeared from view in the woods.

“Stop!” yelled Jack, but the men paid no attention.

“They are the queerest chaps I ever met!” declared Pepper. “I believe they must be crazy.”

“Help! help!” came in a weak cry from the cottage.

“Somebody is in there!” said Dale.

“It’s a woman,” returned Jack. “Come on!” And he ran into the cottage.

The others followed. The smoke was growing thick, and at first they could see nothing. Then they saw an old woman with a crutch, trying to hobble down a pair of stairs.

“Don’t let me burn up!” she screamed. “Don’t let me burn up!”

Running to the old woman, Jack caught her in his arms. It was an easy matter to carry her to the open air. Here he sat her down on an old horse-block which was clear of snow. She was trembling so she could not speak.

It was easily to be seen that the cottage was doomed. The village of Cedarville boasted of nothing better than an old hand engine and a bucket brigade, and to get the engine through the snow was next to impossible.

“Let us take out what furniture we can,” said Jack, and this they did, and also carried out some clothing, a lamp and a few pictures. While the building was burning a crowd of thirty or forty folks collected.

“It don’t belong to the old woman,” said one of the farmers to Jack. “It belongs to Mr. Eggers, a rich man of Ithaca. He let her live in it rent-free, because it wasn’t worth much.”

“Then the old woman didn’t lose much,” replied the young major. “Who is she?”

“Her name is Mrs. Cowen. Nobody knows much about her, except that she has a brother who lives near the head of the lake.”

The old woman was taken to the nearest cottage, and there, after the fire was at an end, Jack went to interview her.

“I’m goin’ to live with my brother now – I ain’t goin’ to live alone no more,” she murmured.

“We got out most of your furniture.”

“Twasn’t mine – it belonged to the house. The old hair trunk was mine. Did ye save that?”

“Yes.”

“Then I don’t care much – brother Jim wants me anyway.”

“I want to know about those two men who were stopping at the cottage,” went on Jack. “Who are they?”

“Ain’t they around?”

“No, they ran away.”

“Humph! It’s just like ’em. They were the strangest! Allers doin’ somethin’ queer-like.”

“Did they board with you?”

“Kind of – when they were to home. They went out a good deal. They each paid three dollars a week. Sometimes they got their own meals, too – when I wasn’t feelin’ well.”

“Do you know their names?”

“No, ’ceptin’ one was Bart an’ tudder Paul. They had some scheme for getting a million dollars.”

“A million dollars?”

“Yes. They were after a fellow they called George. They said he had the secret.”

“I guess they were crazy,” answered Jack. “Have you any idea where they could have gone to?”

“No.”

The old woman could tell no more, and a little later Jack left her, and told his chums of what he had learned.