The Putnam Hall Champions

“Willingly!” cried Jack.

“I still think the Ajax a better boat than the Alice.”

“She certainly isn’t a bad boat,” put in Pepper. “A real race to a finish will have to decide which is the better of the two.”

“Oh, we’ll beat you out of your boots,” said Bat Sedley. Will Carey said nothing. He was still thinking about the loss of his blue, tin box.

As it was getting late, the Putnam Hall cadets lost no time in steering as straight a course as possible for the school dock. But the breeze was against them, so they were not able to reach the dock until nearly half-past six.

“It’s fortunate old Crabtree is away on business,” was Pepper’s comment. “He’d be sure to haul us over the coals for being late, even if we did meet with an accident.”

“Late again, eh?” cried a voice from the boathouse, and Peleg Snuggers, the general utility man around the Hall, stepped into view. “The captain don’t allow sech doin’s, and you young gents know it.”

“Couldn’t be helped, Peleg,” answered Pepper. “Blew so hard the wind turned our sails inside out.”

“You don’t tell me?” The hired man looked perplexed for a moment. “Inside out? How could that be? I reckon you’re joking. Oh, Major Jack, you’re all wet!”

“He wanted a swim and was too lazy to take off his clothes,” put in Dale.

“The uniform will be ruined. Better take it off now.”

“Oh, Jack wants to go to bed in it,” said Pepper, lightly. He loved to tease Peleg.

“Ha! ha! you must have your joke. I reckon he won’t go to bed in no wet clothes, ’less he wants to git rheumatism an’ lumbago, an’ a few other things,” answered Peleg Snuggers, and walked away.

Without loss of time Jack slipped up to his dormitory and changed his wet uniform for a dry suit. Then the wet clothing was sent to the laundry to be dried and pressed. In the meantime the other lads hastened to the mess-room for supper. There they told Captain Putnam of what had occurred.

“You must be more careful in the future,” said the master of the school. “A squall is a nasty thing to be out in – I know that from personal experience. I must see Major Ruddy and have a talk with him,” and he hastened off to Jack’s room. He could not help but praise the young major for his heroism.

It soon became noised about the Hall that the new sloop from Pornell Academy had met Jack’s craft, and more of the cadets were interested in the outcome of the race than they were in the rescue that had taken place.

“Of course it was a great thing to pull those chaps out of the water,” was Andy Snow’s comment. “But I do wish you had beaten them by about a mile, Pep.”

“Well, when the squall came we simply had to call it off – with the other sloop capsized.”

“Oh, I know that.”

“By the way, Andy,” went on Pepper. “I understand that you have a little contest of your own coming off at the gym.”

“So I have,” answered the acrobatic youth of Putnam Hall.

“Who are you going to meet this time?”

“Gus Coulter.”

“What, that bully! I thought you were done with Coulter, Ritter, and that crowd.”

“I thought I was,” said Andy. “But Coulter said I was afraid to meet him in a hand-walking and chinning-the-bar contest, and bragged to all the others what he could do, so I had to take him up.”

“Is he so good at lifting his own weight?”

“I don’t know. Henry Lee told me he saw him chinning the bar nine times.”

“Well, I hope you can do better than that.”

“Perhaps I can. But we are to do some walking on our hands first,” went on Andy. “I’d rather do some stunts on the bars and rings – it is more in my line,” he added. “I wish he would challenge me to do the giant’s swing against him – then I’d feel sure I could beat him.”

CHAPTER IV

SHORTCAKE AND LEMONADE

It was a jolly crowd that gathered that evening in the dormitory occupied by Jack, Pepper, and their chums. Besides Dale and Stuffer there were Andy, big Bart Conners, the captain of Company B, Joe Nelson, Henry Lee, and Joseph Hogan, an Irish youth who was the soul of good humor and wit.

Of course Jack and the others had to tell every detail of the adventure on the lake and tell all they could about the Pornell Academy sloop.

“Did those chaps say anything about Roy Bock?” asked Andy. He referred to a student of Pornell who had on several occasions caused our friends considerable trouble.

“Not a word,” answered Pepper.

“Maybe they are not friends of Bock and his crowd?” put in Dale.

“Carey and Sedley are that,” answered Hogan. “Didn’t I see them all at Cedarville a couple of Sunday nights ago.”

“On Sunday?” queried Jack. “I didn’t know they were allowed out on Sunday.”

“And how did you come to be out, Emerald?” questioned Pepper.

“I went to see me uncle, who was sthoppin’ at the hotel till Monday marnin’. Coming home I passed that new tavern on the shore road. I met Roy Bock comin’ out, and he had Sedley, Carey, and four or five others wid him. They was all smokin’ and cuttin’ up in a lively fashion.”

“I don’t believe Doctor Pornell approves of that,” came from Joe Nelson. He himself rarely did anything against the rules and was a good deal of a model for the other boys.

“I don’t believe that new tavern is a very good place, either,” said Jack. “Last week they arrested three men there, for getting into a quarrel over a game of cards. They said the men were drinking heavily and gambling. That kind of a resort is no place for any students to visit.”

“Roy Bock is sore on us,” was Andy’s comment. “Every time I meet him he glares at me as if he’d like to chew me up.”

“I know he is down on us,” answered Pepper.

“That’s because Pepper is sweet on those Ford girls,” said Bart Conners. “Say, Imp, which are you going to choose when you grow up?”

“Pep has got to stand aside for Jack and Andy,” put in Dale. “Ever since – ”

“Oh, change the subject!” cried Andy, growing red in the face.

“That’s what I say,” added Pepper. “By the way,” he continued. “Somebody said there was to be a surprise to-night.”

“Exactly – at ten-thirty,” answered Henry Lee.

“What is it?” questioned several.