The Putnam Hall Champions

“And what did they say?” questioned Andy.

“First they talked about you” – Sabine nodded to the young major. “Ritter has a plan to spoil your things – sword and all that – so they won’t show up good at the inspection. He is going to get something down to the Cedarville drug store to-night and sprinkle or rub it on everything. After Ritter unfolded his plan he and the others agreed to fix up your whole crowd in the same way – so the inspection would be ruined, so far as you were concerned. They want to put you in disgrace with Captain Putnam.”

After that Billy Sabine told the particulars as far as he knew them. Jack and his chums listened with keen interest.

“We ought to report this to the captain!” cried Andy. “It’s the most outrageous thing I ever heard of!”

“This will bring disgrace to Captain Putnam as well as ourselves,” said Pepper. “But I don’t believe in carrying tales.”

“Remember, you promised not to get me into trouble,” came hastily and anxiously from Sabine.

“We promised nothing of the sort,” returned Jack. “But I think we can attend to this trick ourselves, without alarming Captain Putnam.”

“Shall we go to Ritter and his gang and punch their heads for them?” demanded Andy. “I guess I can do something, even with this sore wrist of mine.”

“Say, I’ve got an idea!” cried Pepper, suddenly. “Just the thing – if we can work it.” He turned to Sabine. “Are you sure Ritter is going to get those chemicals at Cedarville?”

“So he said.”

“And to-night?”

“Yes.”

“All right – I’ll see what I can do to put a spoke in his wheel when he least suspects it.”

At that moment Reff Ritter appeared not far away, and at once Billy Sabine walked off.

“Please don’t say a word about me,” he pleaded, as he departed.

“Now, what is your plan?” asked Jack of Pepper, some time later, when they and Andy were left alone.

“Why, it is simply this, to go to Cedarville and head off Ritter’s little game.”

“You mean to stop him from going to the drug store?” queried Andy.

“Not at all. The druggist has a new clerk, a fellow named Charley Fowler. I know him quite well. If I can see Fowler before Ritter gets there I think I can get him to play into our hands. Now do you catch the idea?”

“That’s all right – if you can get away.”

“I ought to have as good a chance as Ritter,” answered Pepper; and then the bell rang for the parade previous to supper.

It was no easy matter for Pepper to get off that evening, but when he told Mr. Strong that he wanted to see a friend in Cedarville on important business he was allowed leave of absence until nine o’clock, and as the cadets frequently went in pairs, he was allowed to take Andy with him.

“I’ll keep my eyes on the Ritter crowd,” said Jack, “and make sure they don’t play some trick of another kind during your absence.”

In a roundabout way Pepper and Andy learned that Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter were going to Cedarville on their bicycles. As soon as they heard this the two chums got out their own wheels, pumped up the tires, and were off.

“We’ve got to do a little spurting,” said Pepper. “Ritter and Coulter are both fast riders and we want to get to town quite awhile ahead of them.”

It was still fairly light, so that they did not need lamps. They pedaled along with vigor, up hill and down, until the lights of the town shone in the distance. Without slacking speed they took to the main street and slacked up only when the drug store came into view.

“Now if only the clerk is in charge,” said Pepper. “I don’t know the proprietor very well.”

“Come, let us take our wheels to the rear,” suggested Andy. “Then if we want to get out in a hurry we can do it without Ritter and Coulter seeing us.”

They placed their bicycles in a shed at the back of the drug store and then hurried around again to the front. As they went in they met the proprietor coming out. This caused the cadets to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, boys, what can I do for you?” asked the clerk, as he came forward and nodded pleasantly to Pepper.

“You can do a whole lot for us, Charley,” answered Pepper, and continued: “Anybody here?”

“No, the boss just went out. I am in sole charge.”

“Will you be in charge for the next hour or so?”

“I’ll be in charge until I shut up. The boss is not coming back.”

“Good. Now I want to explain something,” went on the Imp, and as speedily as possible related what Billy Sabine had told about the trick Ritter proposed to play. The drug-store clerk was intensely interested, and as he had taken quite a fancy to Pepper he readily consented to do what the other proposed.

“I can fix this Ritter up with a little colored water and alcohol,” he said. “That mixture won’t harm your outfits in the least.”

“That’s the ticket!” exclaimed Andy, with a grin.

The boys then purchased some root beer to drink, and treated the clerk to a cigar – for he was fond of smoking. A minute later, looking out of the doorway, Andy saw Ritter and Coulter coming.

“Here is where we make our escape,” he said, and he and Pepper ran for a back door. They got out into the yard just as Ritter came into the drug store by the front door. Out in the yard it was dark, so the boys felt little fear of detection.

They listened at an open window and heard Ritter ask for several chemicals in liquid form. The clerk came to the rear, behind the prescription partition, and filled several bottles as he had promised.

“Some of these are poison,” he said to his customer. “You want to be careful how you use them.”

“We know all about that,” answered Reff Ritter.

“By law I can’t sell you these without a written doctor’s prescription,” went on the clerk.

“Oh, that will be all right,” put in Coulter.

“I won’t dare to put our labels on the bottles,” added the clerk.

“Put on any old thing,” answered Ritter. “We are not buying labels – we are buying chemicals.” And then the clerk pasted plain bits of paper on the bottles and scribbled on them with a lead pencil.

“We’ll take some packages of cigarettes, too,” said Ritter, after the bottles were delivered to him.

“Time for us to get out,” whispered Pepper to his chum. “They’ll be on the way to the Hall in a few minutes more.”

“Oh, they’ll likely stop for a smoke,” answered Andy. “But we might as well get back – we have accomplished what we came for. Won’t they be mad when they learn how they have been fooled!”

CHAPTER VIII

A SCARE ON THE ROAD

Carrying their wheels to the back of the yard behind the drug store, the two cadets lifted them over a board fence and jumped after them. Then they crossed a vacant lot and came out on a back street. Here they lit their bicycle lamps and then leaped into the saddles and were off.

“It’s a fine night for a ride,” observed Andy. “Wish we didn’t have to go right back to the Hall. I’d like to take a spin of ten or twelve miles.”

“We might go around by the upper road,” answered Pepper. “It won’t take but half an hour longer at the most. I don’t think Ritter and Coulter will hurry themselves. They like to smoke too well.”

“Yes, and play pool, Pep. It’s a wonder the captain doesn’t find out what they are up to.”

“Well, I am not going to turn tell-tale.”

Reaching the main road leading to Putnam Hall, the two cadets followed this for a quarter of a mile and then branched off to the left, on what was familiarly known as the upper road – since it ran on higher ground than that which followed the lake shore. This made a long turn between the hills to the west of the school and would give them a ride of four or five miles extra.

Two miles of the upper road were covered when Pepper noticed that his lamp was growing dimmer. He stopped and dismounted and shook the lamp. No sound from within followed.

“Empty,” he declared. “Too bad. I should have filled it before I started.”

“Never mind, I’ll lead and you can follow,” answered Andy. “I don’t believe there is anything the matter with the road, anyway.”

Andy dashed ahead and Pepper followed him at a distance of fifty feet. Thus another half-mile was reeled off. Then Andy slowed up, calling upon his chum to do the same.

“My front tire is flattened out,” declared the acrobatic cadet. “I hope I haven’t got a bad puncture.”

“If it was bad I reckon you would have heard the air hiss,” answered Pepper.

The lamp was loosened from the wheel and turned on the flat tire, and both boys got close to find the puncture. Presently Pepper detected a small, sharp thorn sticking in the rubber. It had made a hole like that of a pin.

“I’ll wind a piece of tape around it,” said Andy. “That will hold till we get to the Hall, I guess,” and he brought out the bicycle tape from his repair bag.

Both boys were hard at work, bending over the wheel in the dim light of the lamp, when they were startled by hearing voices close to them. On both sides of the road were trees and bushes and the spot was certainly a lonely one.

“Somebody is coming – ” began Pepper, when two figures stepped into the road and confronted the cadets.

The boys were amazed and alarmed, and with good reason. The figures were those of big boys or men, and each wore a green hood and a green mask which entirely concealed his face and head. More than this, each wore gloves with the finger-tips missing. Both carried heavy clubs in their hands.

For the moment the boys were so astonished they neither spoke nor moved. Then both leaped up and confronted the newcomers.

“We have them!” said one of the masked figures. “We have them at last.”

“Yes, we have them,” answered the other.

“Do you surrender?” demanded the first speaker of Andy and Pepper.

“Surrender? What for?” Pepper managed to ask.

“You shall know in due time. If you surrender, hand over your pocketbook.”

“I haven’t any pocketbook.”

“Yes, you have, and it has exactly two hundred dollars in it,” said the second masked fellow.

“We want both of your pocketbooks,” went on the first one who had spoken.

“I haven’t any pocketbook, either,” said Andy. “You’ve made a mistake in tackling us.”

“Let us take them to the cave for ransom!” cried the second fellow, and began to march around, waving his club over his head.

“Pep, this is a trick!” whispered the acrobatic youth. “Some of the fellows have followed us. Maybe they are going to initiate us in some new secret society.”

“By jinks, that’s so! Say, it would be great if we could get away from them!”

“Will you give up your pocketbooks?” demanded the first of the masked figures.

“Yes, and your red dancing-slippers,” added the second masked figure.

“Some of the cadets, beyond a doubt,” whispered Pepper. “Well, we’ve got no time for any initiations to-night.”

“Let’s pretend to submit,” answered Andy, in an equally low voice. “If I can only get this wheel pumped up it will be all right.” For the tire tape was now in place over the puncture.

“What say you?” demanded both figures, coming to a halt by the roadside, with clubs upraised.

“Let us mend this wheel first and we’ll do whatever you want,” answered Andy.

“It is well, proceed,” answered the leading masked person.

Andy already had his pocket-pump out, and he proceeded with all haste to pump up the tire. Then he put the pump back into his pocket.

“Take up your wheel,” he whispered. “Ride like mad when you get the chance. I am going to try to scare them.”

“The money!” roared one of the masked persons.

“Look! look!” screamed Andy, suddenly, and pointed into the woods. “The trees are on fire!”

The two masked figures wheeled around in fright. As they did this Andy and Pepper gave their wheels a push and leaped into the saddles. They pedalled with vigor and were soon fifty feet away.

“Come back! Come back!” yelled the two masked persons, in consternation.

“Not to-night!” called back Andy.

“You’ll have to find somebody else to initiate,” added Pepper.

“Confound the luck!” muttered one of the masked figures.

“And I thought we had them prisoners,” added the second masked person.

Laughing merrily over their escape, Andy and Pepper continued on their way to Putnam Hall. The darkness of the night speedily hid the two masked figures from their view.

“Did you discover who they were?” questioned the acrobatic youth, as they came in sight of the school.

“No. First I thought one of the fellows was Bart Conners, but he didn’t talk much like Bart.”

“Their voices had a familiar tone to them.”

“Yes, I know that. Well, whoever they were, they got left this time.”

“Maybe a whole crowd of them were back in the woods.”

“Perhaps. If so, we can find out who they are when they steal back into the Hall.”

“That’s an idea. Let us watch for them.”

The two cadets found Jack and the others anxiously awaiting their return.

“Ritter and Coulter just came in,” said the young major. “Ritter carried something in his pocket.”

“It’s all right – the drug clerk said it wouldn’t hurt our things a bit,” answered Pepper, and then he and Andy told of what had taken place at Cedarville and on the road.

“I didn’t hear of any new secret societies,” said Dale, who was present.

“Nor I,” added Jack. “But some of the fellows may be getting them up. It’s a mistake, though, to have initiations to-night. If the boys stay up late they’ll be as sleepy as owls at the inspection to-morrow.”

“I want to find out who those chaps are – if I possibly can,” said Pepper. “I am going to stay up, at least for awhile, and see if I can spot them.”

“And I’ll do the same,” added Andy.

Satisfied that no harm would now come to their outfits, Jack and the others retired. Andy and Pepper waited until all were asleep and then one stationed himself at a window on the east side of the Hall and the other at a window on the west.

For a good hour nobody appeared. Then Andy saw some figures moving down near the boat-house.

“The same pair, and they still have on the masks and hoods,” he said, after calling Pepper.

“Here they come,” said Pepper, a minute later, as the two masked figures approached the Hall. Then the two persons below passed out of sight behind the school.

“What do you suppose we had best do now?” questioned Pepper.

“Wait till they come upstairs.”

They waited, and thus ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed.

“I guess they are not coming up,” began Andy, when he heard a door close. Then came a murmuring of voices, and he and the Imp saw the dim forms of two cadets coming up a side stairs. The newcomers tiptoed their way along a corridor and one slipped into one dormitory and the other hurried into the room next to it.

“Joe Nelson and Harry Blossom!” whispered Pepper. “Who would have thought it!”

“I didn’t know they belonged to anything new.”

“Nor I. Well, we fooled them nicely.”

“Let us quiz them about it when we get the chance.”

“Sure.”

Andy and Pepper were tired enough to go to bed, and it did not take them long to get to sleep. When they awoke the Hall bell was clanging loudly. They were a little late, and so were some of the others, and there was a great rush to get dressed and downstairs on time.

The morning session was a brief one. During that period Reff Ritter got excused from his class for ten minutes, and Gus Coulter also got a leave of absence.

“I would like to go out a few minutes, Mr. Strong,” said Jack to the assistant teacher.

“Very well, Major Ruddy,” was the answer, and Jack hurried away and after Ritter and Coulter. He saw the conspirators go to a closet and get out two bottles of light-colored liquid. Then they visited the dormitory occupied by Jack and his friends, and also the rack where the cadets kept their swords and guns.

“What shall we do with the empty bottles?” Jack heard Coulter ask, as he and Ritter passed a door behind which the young major was in hiding.

“Put them in Sabine’s closet,” answered Ritter. “Then, if the worst comes to the worst, I can say that little sneak was in it.”

“All right,” answered Coulter, and the proposal was immediately carried out. Then the two conspirators went back to their class-room. But Jack got in ahead of them, and was deep in a history lesson when they entered.

The morning session at an end, it was announced that dinner would be served in the mess-room in a quarter of an hour. Losing no time, Jack and his chums ran to inspect their outfits. They found some parts of their uniforms damp, where the liquid from the bottles had been poured over them. The guns and Jack’s sword were also moist, but these were readily dried.

“I only hope the drug clerk didn’t make any mistake,” said the young major.

“We’ll know for certain after dinner,” answered Andy.

The visitors had already arrived, and Captain Putnam had had a salute from the new cannon on the campus fired in their honor, and was now entertaining them in his private dining-room. The cadets marched into the mess-room for dinner, and half an hour later dispersed, to prepare for the inspection.

CHAPTER IX

THE INSPECTION

“Battalion, attention! Shoulder arms! Forward march!”

The drums beat, the fifes struck up a lively air, and off marched the two companies of Putnam Hall cadets, across the campus and back, down the road a pace, and then formed in a long line fronting the school building. Every sword shone like silver, every gun was bright, and every uniform was brushed to its best. At the head of the command was Major Jack Ruddy, as stiff as a ramrod, looking the equal of any West Point cadet.

“Battalion, attention! Carry arms! Support arms! Shoulder arms! Right face! Left face! About face. Load! Aim! Fire!”

One order after another was delivered by Jack, and the cadets of the two companies obeyed like one big machine. Only two boys were a little slow, Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter. Paxton wanted to drag, too, but did not dare.

“Very good! Very good indeed!” cried General Wallack, enthusiastically. “Captain Putnam, you are to be congratulated on having such a body of students under you.”

“I did not dream they could drill so well,” added Major Darrowburg. “Why, you are almost, if not quite, up to our West Point standard.”

“I trust you will do me the honor to inspect them more closely, General Wallack,” said Captain Putnam.

“With pleasure,” answered the regular army officer. “Major, will you come?”

“To be sure,” answered Major Darrowburg.

The two United States army officers came down from the piazza of the school followed by Captain Putnam. They approached Major Ruddy, who immediately saluted.

“This is Major John Ruddy,” said the master of Putnam Hall. “Ruddy, this is General Wallack and this is Major Darrowburg.”

“Glad to meet you, young man,” said the army general, and shook hands. “Some day I presume you’ll be in the regular army,” and he smiled pleasantly.

“Perhaps,” answered Jack. Then he shook hands with Major Darrowburg, and after that answered a number of questions put to him. The visitors praised the drill that had taken place and this made the young major blush not a little. But he was very happy, and doubly so to think that he had outwitted Reff Ritter and his cronies. His uniform did not show a spot and his sword and scabbard were as bright as the polish used could make them.

An inspection lasting fully half an hour followed, Captain Putnam showing his visitors along the line of cadets. Nearly everybody was smiling and happy. Only a few boys looked glum, and those lads were Reff Ritter and his cohorts.

“A really remarkable showing,” was General Wallack’s comment, after the inspection was over.

“If we could always do as well as this at the Point we’d have nothing to worry about,” added Major Darrowburg. “Captain Putnam, you certainly ought to feel proud of your school.”

“I am proud,” was the reply.

After the inspection the cadets marched around the campus once more. They were about to be dismissed when Pepper signed to Jack, who in turn beckoned to Captain Putnam and whispered something into his ear.

“I see no harm in it,” said the master of the Hall.

“Battalion, attention!” called out Jack. “I move we give three cheers for General Wallack and Major Darrowburg!”

“Hurrah!” cried the cadets, and the cheers were given with a will. Then the two army officers bowed and made little speeches, and more cheers followed; and that was the end of the inspection. Soon the visitors were driven away by Captain Putnam in the Hall carriage, and George Strong announced that for the rest of the day the cadets might do as they pleased, so long as they did not leave the Hall grounds.

“It was a perfect success,” said George Strong to the young major.

“I am very glad of it, Mr. Strong.”

“I know Captain Putnam is greatly pleased. I am sure he will have something to say to the boys when he gets back.” And Mr. Strong was right, the master of the Hall complimented all on their appearance and deportment, and said he was sure the visitors had been unusually impressed.

“I knew you would all do well,” said the captain. “But it has surpassed my expectations.”

The only fellows who were not happy were Reff Ritter and his cronies. They could not understand how it was that Jack and his chums had come forth looking so spotless and bright.

“That druggist must have humbugged you, Reff,” said Gus Coulter. “I guess he gave you water instead of those chemicals.”

“I don’t understand it at all,” answered Ritter. “But if the druggist did really humbug me I’ll fix him some time, see if I don’t!”

“Let us look at the stuff left in the bottles,” suggested Coulter. “Must be a few drops at least.”

The two passed into the school. On the stairs they met Pepper and Dale.

“It was beastly stuff,” said Pepper, in a loud tone. “I’d like to know who used it. If we hadn’t had that patent preparation to take out the stains we would have been in a pickle, I can tell you, Jack especially,” and then the Imp and Dale passed on.

“I see it all,” groaned Ritter, when he and Coulter were alone. “No need to look for those bottles now. The stuff worked too quickly, and those chaps got some other preparation and cleaned up with it.”

“Yes, that must be it,” said Coulter. “Well, better luck next time.”

Of course, Pepper had uttered his words merely to throw Ritter and his crony off the track, and the Imp’s trick had worked to a charm. Ritter never learned how he had been fooled.

When Pepper went down into the library that evening, to get a book to read, he was met by Andy and Joe Nelson. Andy was quite excited.

“Pepper, we made a mistake last night,” cried the acrobatic youth.

“A mistake? What do you mean?” and he looked at Joe Nelson.

“Andy tells me that you took me and Harry Blossom for the fellows with the green masks and the green hoods,” said Joe. “You made a mistake.”

“Joe and Harry saw those fellows, too,” continued Andy.

“You did? Where?”

“At the back of the Hall – just as we came in. We had been down to the boat-house looking for a gold stickpin Harry lost. We found the pin in a crack of the floor and then came up to the school. The men came around a corner. When they saw us, they ran off, across the corn-patch back of the barns.”

“Then they weren’t some of the students?”

“I don’t think so. But, of course, I am not sure,” answered Joe Nelson. “You can question Harry about it.”

Harry Blossom was in the music-room, playing on the piano and singing for the benefit of several of his friends. Later on, however, he came away and told what he had seen.

“I thought they were strangers, but now you mention it, I think they may have been some cadets out on a lark.”

“Certainly no men out to rob anybody would act as they did,” said Pepper, thoughtfully. “Why, they acted, for all the world, as if it was a huge joke!”

“Well, this is a mystery, true enough,” said Andy, and the others agreed with him. They concluded to say nothing more about the affair, but to keep their eyes “peeled,” as Pepper expressed it, for the next appearance of the two persons in green.

It galled Reff Ritter to see Jack Ruddy triumphant in the matter of the inspection, and the bully wondered to himself how he could make the young major “eat humble pie,” as he termed it.

“Don’t you meet Ruddy on the flying-rings tomorrow?” asked Paxton.