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

“It’s a nasty business,” said the blacksmith. “If those odd-lookin’ men killed your teacher they ought to be hung fer it!”

The tracks of the horse and cutter led into the forest, and then along a cliff overlooking a stream now thickly covered with ice and snow.

“I see a little shanty!” cried Andy.

“Where?”

“Over yonder at the edge of that next cliff.”

“Smoke is coming from the chimney,” said Dale, an instant later. “That shows somebody must be in the place.”

“Let us approach with caution,” came from Captain Putnam. “There is no telling how those strange men will act if they are there.”

“Better cut a few sticks,” suggested Jack, and got out his jackknife. They soon had sticks, and the blacksmith cut a good-sized club.

“If they be des’prit characters they’d better give me a wide berth,” said he.

Slowly they drew closer to the shanty. Just to the rear of the building was an open shed, and here they saw the cutter, with the horse tied in a corner and blanketed.

“What a shame to leave a horse out in such weather as this!” cried Pepper.

“Those men must be in the shanty,” said Captain Putnam. “I sincerely trust that we find Mr. Strong unharmed.”

“Let us slip up behind the trees,” said Andy. “We ought to try to capture them, or something, on the sly.”

With caution they crept up behind the trees, and then walked slowly toward the shanty. Some bushes helped to screen them, and soon they stood at the very door to the place.

“Somebody is talking!” whispered Jack. “Listen!”

At first they heard only a murmur, but presently they made out what was being said.

“Yes, sir, George, it’s a million and nothing less!” one of the strange men was saying. “A million, eh, Bart?”

“A million!” came from the other man. “A million, and all in cash, too! We want no bonds or stocks.”

“Stocks?” one of the mysterious men laughed harshly. “Stocks? Do you want me to become poor again? Cash! It’s cash we want, George!”

“What an easy time we can have on a million!” returned the other queer individual.

“If you would only listen to reason!” came from George Strong. “I do not know what has put this into your head. I haven’t a million dollars, or anything like it.”

“You have!” came from both.

“You are acting very foolishly, Bart. And so are you, Paul. That failure has turned your heads. If I – ”

“I want that money, and I am going to have it!” roared the man called Bart. “Hand over the million or I will shoot you!”

And drawing a pistol, he pointed it straight at George Strong’s head.

CHAPTER XXX

A LUCKY ESCAPE – CONCLUSION

“Those men must be crazy!” cried Jack.

“I believe both of them are as mad as March hares,” returned Captain Putnam.

He tried the door, to find it locked. Putting his shoulder to the barrier he burst it open, and the whole party stormed into the shanty.

“Oh, Captain Putnam!” cried George Strong, joyfully. “I am very glad that you have come.”

“Put down that pistol!” ordered the master of the Hall, sternly, and looking the man named Bart straight in the eyes. “Put it down, I say!”

The man hesitated an instant, and then allowed the weapon to drop at his side.

“I wasn’t going to shoot anybody,” he said, humbly.

“You had better give me the weapon,” went on Captain Putnam, and wrenched it from the man’s grasp.

“Ha! they are attacking us!” shouted the other man. “Bart, we must fight for it!” And with a wild spring he leaped upon Jack, and caught the young major by the throat.

“Le – let up!” gasped Jack, and then he could say no more, for his wind was completely cut off. Then the other man began to fight, so that the captain and the blacksmith had their hands full trying to subdue him.

Seeing Jack’s predicament, Pepper, Andy, and Dale rushed at the fellow called Paul and dragged him backward. But he would not let go his hold upon the young major, and Pepper hit him over the wrist with the stick. Then the man’s hand dropped, and Jack staggered back.

“We must make him a prisoner!” cried Andy, and they caught the man and held him, while Jack got a rope from the sleigh. Soon the other man was also bound. George Strong had had his hands tied behind him, and he was quickly released.

“You do not know how thankful I am that you came,” said the assistant, warmly. “I – I imagine things were getting black for me.”

“Let me go!” thundered the man called Bart. “I want my million dollars!” And he glared wildly at George Strong and at the others.

“Do you know these men at all?” questioned Captain Putnam.

“I do, sir. I am sorry to say they are distant relatives of mine – third cousins. Both of them used to be rich, but they went into an oil speculation, and it failed, and they lost almost all of their money. That seemed to turn their heads, and somehow they got a notion that I was holding back a family treasure from them, a treasure they said was worth one or two million dollars.”

“Is there such a treasure?” asked Jack, curiously.

“I don’t think so, although the story is told in our family that one of my ancestors, during the Revolution, buried a pot of gold to keep the English soldiers from getting it. But the amount could not have been anything like a million.”

“Those men were around the Hall a number of times,” said Jack. “They were the mysterious fellows I mentioned a long time ago.”

“Yes, they came to see me on the sly if they could. I believe, had they gotten the chance, they would have carried me off in their sloop.”

“They ought to be put in an asylum,” said Captain Putnam. “It is not safe to allow them their liberty.”

“With your permission. I’ll turn them over to some of my relatives in the West,” answered George Strong. “I know they can manage them.”

“As you please – but keep them away from the Hall in the future.”