The Putnam Hall Champions

“I am sorry we didn’t catch them,” said Andy. “We’ll have to report this, and without delay,” and he looked at Jack, suggestively.

“That’s right,” returned the young major. “And maybe we’ll come back soon.”

“I wish I had somebody to stay with me until my folks get back,” said the cripple, wistfully. “I hate to stay alone, for fear those fellows will come back.”

“Can’t you get some neighbor?” asked Andy.

“We haven’t any very-near neighbors. But maybe I can get Jake Dengert. He works for my father,” added Nat Chetwood.

It was not long after this that Andy and Jack left the cottage. They mounted their wheels and rode slowly in the direction of Putnam Hall. They had covered only a short distance when they heard a well-known whistle behind them and looking back beheld Pepper.

“Hullo!” cried the Imp. “I thought you had won the race!” And his face showed his disappointment. “My handle bars got loose, that’s what’s bringing me in so late,” he explained.

“We’ve had a bit of an adventure,” answered Jack, and he and Andy related what had occurred. Of course Pepper was intensely interested.

“It surely is no joke,” said he, when the others had finished. “We can be thankful we got off so easily that time we had the breakdown and those fellows tackled us.”

“Just what I think of it,” answered Andy. “One thing is sure, though, those men have got to be rounded up and captured. Nobody will be safe so long as they are at large.”

“Who won the race, I wonder,” said Pepper, as they drew close to the school grounds.

“There is one of the boys – I’ll ask him,” replied the young major, and wheeled toward the cadet.

“The race was won by Joe Nelson,” said the youth. “He came in about quarter of a minute ahead of Reff Ritter.”

“Hurrah for Joe!” cried Andy. “I really didn’t think he could do it.”

“I am glad to know he beat Reff Ritter,” said Jack. “Had Reff won we should never have heard the end of it.”

The chums were soon in the midst of the riders and their friends. Many wanted to know how it was that Jack and Andy had dropped behind so unexpectedly, but the latter gave evasive answers, for they did not want the truth to become known just yet. First of all they wanted to talk matters over with George Strong and learn what he might have to say.

“Paxton and Coulter came in quite broke up,” said Dale.

“Serves them right,” answered Andy promptly.

“They say you three fellows knocked them down on purpose and they are going to make a formal complaint against you,” added the other cadet.

CHAPTER XVII

AN INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE STRONG

“Knocked ’em down!” cried Andy.

“What a whopper!” added Pepper. “Coulter went down for some reason we don’t know, and Paxton ran into him.”

“And we were all ahead of them at the time,” put in Jack.

“Well, I don’t know anything more than what I heard,” said Dale.

“You had nothing at all to do with it?” questioned Harry Blossom.

“No. But I can tell you something worth knowing,” said Jack, and related how Ritter’s cronies had tried to keep them in a “pocket,” as it is termed, and how they had slipped out. “They are mad because of that I guess,” he continued.

“I know they lost money on this race,” said Bart Conners. “I just learned that they made bets that either they or Ritter would win.”

“To my mind, it is nothing but a put-up job,” said Andy flatly. “They really bet on Ritter and they plotted to hold us back, knowing we really stood a good chance to come in ahead.”

“But none of us reckoned on Joe,” said Jack, with a grin. “I don’t begrudge him the victory.”

“Not for a minute!” answered Andy.

None of the chums did, for Joe was a prince of good fellows, even though rather quiet and studious. All went up to shake him by the hand and congratulate him.

“I don’t know how I did it myself,” said Joe. “I didn’t think I could win at the start, but after I had gone a couple of miles I found that I was in prime condition, and then I just let myself out, that’s all.”

Ritter had retired, thoroughly disgusted with the outcome of the race. Without loss of time he sought out Paxton and Coulter.

“Well, I’ve lost, and I’ve got to hand over every dollar I can scrape up,” he said, uglily.

“You needn’t blame me,” answered Coulter. “We did our best to keep the others back.”

“You didn’t keep Joe Nelson back. He was at the front nearly all the way.”

“You told us to keep Ruddy, Ditmore and Snow back – you didn’t say a word about Nelson,” growled Paxton.

“Well, who imagined he’d come in first? I didn’t think he’d last more than six or seven miles.”

“If your money is gone, so is mine,” sighed Coulter. “And I’ll be about ten dollars in debt in the bargain.”

“I am in debt, too,” added Paxton. “And besides, look at both of us,” and he pointed to their numerous scratches, now covered with court-plaster.

“Somebody said you were going to make a complaint against Ruddy and his chums?”

“So we were – when we thought one or another of ’em would come in ahead,” answered Paxton. “But as none of them won, what’s the use? We don’t want to get into a row if we can’t gain anything by it. If one of ’em had won, we might have raised a kick and had the winner disqualified – and saved our cash.”

“Were they to blame at all?” asked Ritter, curiously.

“No – but you needn’t tell outsiders so,” answered Gus Coulter.

While this talk was going on Jack and Andy sought out Mr. Strong. They found the assistant teacher in one of the classrooms, marking some lesson papers.

“Mr. Strong, we would like to speak to you for a few minutes in private,” said the young major.

“I am at your service, Major Ruddy,” answered George Strong, with a smile.

“We want to ask you about those insane men,” continued Jack. “We hate to bring the matter up, but something has happened of which we think you should be informed.”

“You mean my relatives, Mr. Shaff and Mr. Callax?” questioned George Strong, quickly, and now he was all attention.

“Yes,” said Andy. “Are they in custody?”

“I think so. I left them in care of a relative in Malone, in the upper part of this state. They went to Malone, you know, after they left Ithaca. The relative, a party named Spelterly, caught them with ease, and he promised me to put them in a private sanitarium. But why do you ask about this? Have you seen or heard of them?”

“We think we have, although we are not sure,” answered Jack, and then he and Andy told of what had occurred at the Chetwood cottage and when the bicycle had broken down. At the recital George Strong shook his head slowly and sorrowfully.

“This looks very much as if they were at large again and up to their old tricks,” he said. “I’ll have to look into it without delay.”

“If you go out to hunt the men up, won’t you let us go with you?” asked Andy.

“Perhaps. But I want to make certain they are at large at first.”

“Well, those men ought to be rounded up, no matter who they are.”

“That is true. But if they are not Mr. Callax and Mr. Shaff then I think I’ll allow the regular authorities to do the work,” answered the teacher.

The great bicycle race was the talk of Putnam Hall for several days and Joe Nelson was warmly congratulated over his victory. Pepper, Jack and Andy waited for the proposed “kick” from Paxton and Coulter, but it did not materialize.

“They know better than to make such a complaint,” said Andy, at last. But Jack guessed the truth.

“They found out we didn’t win,” said he, “so a complaint wouldn’t help them, so far as the outcome of the contest is concerned.”

Jack had already turned his sloop over to the shipbuilders to have the necessary repairs and alterations made, and now received word that the Alice would be ready for him on the following Monday afternoon.

“Now you can get ready for that race with the Ajax,” said Pepper, when he heard of this. “I hope you beat the Pornell craft all hollow.”

“I hope so myself, but I heard yesterday that Fred Century had his boat in A1 condition and was doing wonders with her.”

“Well, you’ll do wonders with the Alice, and I know it,” said Pepper encouragingly.

On Friday night Jack and Andy were called into Mr. Strong’s private room. The assistant teacher looked much worried.

“I have just received word from my relative in Malone,” he said. “It appears that Bart Callax and Paul Shaff were confined in a private sanitarium in Syracuse. But they escaped some time ago, and though the keepers have hunted everywhere for them they have not been found.”

“Then the men in the green masks and hoods must have been them,” cried the young major.

“I am afraid you are right, Major Ruddy, and it worries me greatly. I really do not know what to do. I hate to make a public affair of this – especially in view of what has occurred in the past.”

“Why not start a private hunt for the two men?” suggested Andy. “We are willing to do all we can to aid you.”

“I know you are and I am thankful to you for it,” said the teacher warmly.

“To-morrow is Saturday,” said the young major. “Why not organize a party and search the woods back of the Chetwood home? We may be able to get on the trail of the pair.”

The matter was talked over for half an hour, and in the end George Strong said he would go out the next morning, and take Andy and Jack with him.

“Can’t you take Pepper Ditmore, too, and Stuffer – I mean Paul – Singleton?” asked Jack. “I know they won’t say a word to anybody, and you may need them – if we find the men and they show fight.”

“I want no violence, Major Ruddy. I think we made a mistake before by not treating Mr. Callax and Mr. Shaff very gently.”

“You can’t treat a man gently if he wants to club you,” answered Andy bluntly.

“That is true, and we’ll have to arm ourselves, I suppose, in case of emergency.” George Strong mused for a moment. “Yes, you may include Ditmore and Singleton in the party – but tell them to keep quiet about it. I do not wish this affair to become the talk of the whole school.”

It was arranged they should leave Putnam Hall directly after breakfast. They would first visit the Chetwood cottage and from that point endeavor to trace the flight of the insane men.

“They must be stopping somewhere,” said the teacher. “Maybe they have some sort of hut in the woods.”

“And they wanted that looking-glass to furnish it with,” added Andy and started to laugh, but quickly subsided, for he did not want to give George Strong pain.

“It is a terrible thing to be out of one’s head,” said the teacher. “I can remember when both of those men were as clear-minded as anybody. But after they lost their money they seemed to let their brains go with it.”

“It certainly is strange that they were both affected,” said Jack.

“Yes, that is something I can hardly understand myself,” answered the teacher. “Although they are closely related and have the same blood flowing in their veins.”

CHAPTER XVIII

SEARCHING THE WOODS

As the party did not know how long they would be away, they took a lunch with them. A number of the cadets were curious over their departure.

“Wonder where they are bound?” said Ritter to his cronies. He met them at the end of the campus, striding along at a rapid gait.

“Oh, it’s one of Strong’s object-lesson walks, I guess,” sneered Coulter. “He’ll show them how some plants grow, and get some specimens of rocks, and all that.”

“Humph! that’s too dead slow for me,” drawled Ritter. “I’d rather skin down to Dollon’s in town and play pool and have a smoke.”

“You’re right,” said Paxton. “Only, I haven’t any money with which to pay for such fun.”

“I heard something at breakfast,” went on Reff Ritter, as the three cronies walked down to the lake. “Jack Ruddy is going to get his sloop back soon, and he is going to arrange for a regular race with that new Pornell boat, the Ajax.”

“I hope he loses,” growled Coulter.

“Ditto here,” joined in Paxton.

“He will lose – if I have anything to do with it,” continued Ritter in a whisper, so as not to be overheard.

“What do you mean?” came from both of his followers.

“I mean just this, and I have no hesitation about telling you, for I expect you to stand by me. It will be a chance to get back some of the money we lost.”

“I think I see your plan,” said Coulter. “You want to fix it so Ruddy loses the race.”

“Exactly, and I think it will be dead easy, too.”

“How?”

“Will you stand in with me if I tell you?”

“Most likely we will,” said Paxton. “Of course we don’t want to do something and get found out.”

“Nobody will be found out. We can make Ruddy lose, and if we lay some good bets on the Pornell boat we can make all kinds of money – win back what we lost and make a pile besides.” And then the three cronies went out on the lake, to row and to talk over the plan that Reff Ritter had in mind to carry out.

“That bicycle race has made Ritter and his crowd as sour as lemons,” said Andy, as he and Stuffer walked on behind the others, on the way to the Chetwood cottage. “Every time they pass me they glare at me like wild animals. They don’t pretend to be the least bit civil.”

“You’ve got to be on your guard, Andy. If they have anything up their sleeve you want to be ready for them.”

“I think they are down on Jack more than on any of us.”

“That’s because he is major of the battalion, I guess. Ritter said once that he thought there ought to be a change of officers every month. I reckon he wanted to carry a sword for a change.”

“I don’t believe the cadets will ever elect him – he hasn’t friends enough.”

“Oh, he might be able to buy up some votes – among the fellows who love to be taken out for a good time. He has lots of spending money.”

“Not now. He lost about all he had, so I understand, on the bicycle race.”

It did not take the party headed by Mr. Strong long to reach the Chetwood cottage. They found the cripple there and also the working man, Jake Dengert.

“I expect my folks by noon,” said Nat Chetwood. “Then I’ll find out if the men took anything valuable from the trunk.”

“I believe you said they took a vest,” said George Strong.

“Yes, but that wasn’t of much account, although it did belong to a suit.”

The cripple had seen nothing further of the strange men and had no idea what had become of the pair. The hired man had tramped out into the woods for a short distance, but had been unable to get on their trail.

“Perhaps we’ll not find them either,” said George Strong, with a sigh. “But we can try it anyway.” He did not deem it necessary just yet to mention the fact that he thought the men might be his relatives.

With the cadets beside him, the teacher struck out into the woods, in the direction Jack and Andy pointed out. They passed a fine spring and stopped long enough for a drink. Then they took to a trail that led up a small hill away from the lake. On either side of the trail were trees and dense brushwood.

“I think they must have come along this trail – or else they lost themselves in the woods,” declared the young major.

“It is a wonder they have not hopelessly lost themselves before now,” said the teacher. “How far is it from here to the spot where you met them the day your bicycle broke down?”

“Must be all of three miles,” answered Andy, and Pepper nodded.

“They must keep more or less to the woods,” continued George Strong. “Otherwise more folks would see them and spread the alarm. I asked that man at the cottage and he said he had heard nobody mention them.”

“They must have some hiding spot in the woods, where they lay off their masks and hoods,” said Stuffer. “They must fancy themselves regular highwaymen.”

“If they are my relatives, and I capture them, I’ll take good care that they do not get away again,” said George Strong.

The boys tramped on with the teacher until all calculated they had covered fully a mile. Then they came out of the woods at a point where a babbling brook ran over some rocks. Here was a good-sized clearing and at the farther end a hut that had once been used by lumbermen or charcoal burners.

“They may be in that hut!” cried George Strong. “Let us spread out and surround the building. Use no violence if it can possibly be avoided.”

They scattered as he advised, and approached the lonely hut from all sides. The door stood wide open and with great caution George Strong looked inside. Much to his disappointment nobody was present.

“But they have been here!” cried Jack, as he and his chums entered the dilapidated structure. “See, there are the remains of a fire and of a roast chicken.”

“Must have been living on the contents of some farmers’ hen-houses,” murmured Pepper. “This looks as if they had been here last night if not this morning.”

“Here is the looking-glass that was stolen,” cried Andy, pointing to the object, hanging on the wall.

All searched the old hut with interest and came across a collection of curious objects such as only two crazy men would think of collecting. There were several pots with the bottoms knocked out, a tufted easy chair with the back gone, three shoes for the right foot and none for the left, a bundle of at least forty old neckties, several articles about airships cut from Sunday newspapers, a box of face powder, four hammers, three plumb lines, a dictionary with the words beginning with B and M cut out, and six broken ice skates. Around one skate was a watch chain that appeared to be of solid gold.

“That’s one thing of value,” said Jack. “If it is solid gold it ought to be worth forty or fifty dollars.”

“It is certainly a very fine chain,” answered George Strong. “And unless I am very much mistaken, it belongs to Mr. Callax. It runs in my mind that he used to wear just such a chain as this. They once tried to take it away from him for safe keeping, but he raised such a row they let him keep it.”

“Perhaps they’ll come back to this hut this afternoon or to-night,” suggested Stuffer.

“It is possible. I hope they do,” answered the teacher.

They searched the woods until the middle of the afternoon, stopping only long enough to eat their lunch, which they washed down with a drink from a spring. Then they went back to the hut. Here it was arranged that Pepper, Andy and Jack should go out to the other side of the woods, while the teacher and Stuffer remained at the hut, to await the possible coming of the crazy men.

The three chums soon reached a portion of the woods overlooking a fair-sized stream that flowed into the lake. They were seeking for some means of crossing the brook when Jack suddenly pulled Andy and Pepper back into the bushes.

“What is it?” whispered the Imp.

“I just saw somebody standing on the other side of the brook,” answered the young major.

“One of the crazy men?” queried Andy.

“No, I think it was somebody we wish very much to meet – and in just such a place as this.”

“Who?”

“Will Carey.”

CHAPTER XIX

THE BONE AND BLOOD CLUB

“If it is Carey, and he is alone, we are in luck,” said Pepper.

“Do we want him to recognize us?” asked Andy.

“I don’t know as it will make much difference,” returned the young major, thoughtfully. “Perhaps we can scare him better by disguising ourselves.”

“Let us make certain it is Carey first and that he is alone.”

They walked up the brook a short distance and reached a bank that was several feet higher than that opposite. From this point it was an easy matter to clear the watercourse at a bound. Then they hurried down in the direction of the lake.

“There he is!” whispered Jack, a few minutes later, and pointed through the trees to where a youth lay sprawled out on the seat of a small rowboat. Beside him were the oars and some fishing tackle and also a long pole which appeared to have a drag-net attached to it.

“He is certainly alone,” said Pepper. “But he may be waiting for somebody.”

“Then the quicker we act the better,” returned Jack.

They decided to cut holes in their handkerchiefs through which to see and then tie the articles over their faces. Then they turned their cadet coats inside out, and rubbed a little dust on their necks and hands.

“He won’t recognize us very easily,” said the young major, “especially if we disguise our voices.”

“I move Jack be made our general spokesman,” said Pepper. “He knows just what we want.”

“We want to get Flossie Ford’s bracelet for her, that’s all,” said Andy. “Incidentally if we can scare Carey half to death for annoying Flossie, so much the better.”

“We’ll scare him right enough,” answered Jack, grimly.

Will Carey was dozing away when of a sudden he felt himself in the grasp of three strong pairs of hands. In a twinkling he was turned over and his hands were bound behind him with a piece of his own fishing line.

“Stop!” he cried out. “Help!”

“Silence, if you don’t want to get hurt!” was the command, in a deep, rough voice, and now he saw that his assailants were three masked persons. They jerked him to his feet, made him step ashore, and in a jiffy compelled him to march a short distance into the thickest of the woods.

“Wha – what do yo – you want of me?” he faltered. He was far from being brave and his present predicament filled him with terror.

“We want you to behave yourself,” was the answer, delivered in the deep voice previously employed by Jack.

“I – I am behaving myself.”

“You are not, Will Carey. You have done an innocent person a great wrong – and the Bone and Blood Club of Cedarville is going to see to it that you right that wrong.”

“Are you the – the Bone and Bone Club?” faltered the Pornell Academy student.

“We are some of the members of that club – chosen to right this great wrong you have done.”

“I – I hav – haven’t done any wrong.”

“You have – do not dare to deny it – or the vengeance of the Bone and Blood Club shall descend upon your head like a fiery serpent and a stroke of lightning,” answered Jack, making his voice as deep and menacing as possible.

“Wha – what have I done?” asked Carey. He was now shaking so he could scarcely speak.

“You have turned thief – yes, and you have told lies. Is it not so, Brothers of the Worthy Bone and Blood Club?” asked Jack, turning to his chums.

“It is so!” exclaimed Andy and Pepper, nodding slowly and solemnly.

“What? Me?” gasped Will Carey.

“Yes.”

“Wha – what did I steal?”

“You took from one of the fairest maidens of Cedarville a golden bracelet, and you have persistently refused to return the same.”

“Oh!” gasped the prisoner, and the others saw him turn pale.

“You must return the bracelet,” went on Jack. “Otherwise it will be our painful duty to chastise you severely and then hand you over to the police.”

“No! no! Don’t do that!” shrieked the Pornell Academy student. “Let me go! Please let me go!”

“Will you return the bracelet?”

“I – I did return it.”

“That is not true.”

“I put it in a box of chocolates and – ”

“That story is absolutely false, prisoner. You have the bracelet still.”

“No, I have not,” and Will Carey began to tremble. “Oh, please let me go, please do!”

“You have the bracelet and must give it up,” continued Jack. He turned to his chums. “Is the fire burning well?”

“It is burning well, your Highness,” answered Andy and Pepper.

“Then take the prisoner and warm him up. He appears to be cold, for he is shivering.”

“No, no – you shan’t put me against any fire and blister me!” yelled Will Carey, trembling from head to foot. “Oh, please let me go, please do! I’ll – I’ll give you all I’m worth!”

“We want nothing but the bracelet you took,” answered Jack, firmly.

“And that we must and shall have!” came in a deep chorus from the others.

“I – I haven’t got the bracelet, I tell you,” said the prisoner, desperately.

“What did you do with it – sell it?”

“No, I – I gave it back.”

“You did not give it back, and if you say so again we’ll put you on the fire to roast.”

“Mercy! Mercy!” screamed the Pornell Academy student and fell on his knees. He thought he was in the hands of three rough persons who would be only too willing to carry out the dire threat made.

“What have you done with that bracelet?” demanded Jack, again. “Come, out with the truth at once.” And he raised a stick he had picked up, as if to strike Carey to the ground.