The Putnam Hall Champions

“Don’t hit me! I – I lost the bracelet!” screamed Will Carey. “Oh, don’t hurt me, please don’t! I couldn’t help it. I – I had the bracelet in a blue tin box in my pocket and I went for a ride on a sloop, and the wind knocked the sloop over and the box dropped out of my pocket. That’s the honest truth, I give you my word on it. I’d give anything to get the bracelet back.”

“You dropped it out of your pocket while on the lake,” said Jack, with deep interest. “Was that the day the Ajax raced with the Alice?”

“Yes.”

“Have you hunted for the tin box since?”

“Half a dozen times. Why, I came out to-day to look for it. The water is rather shallow where the sloop went over, and I made a net and dragged the bottom, but I couldn’t find the box or the bracelet. The net is in my boat now.”

The chums were now convinced that Will Carey was telling the truth, for Jack and Pepper well remembered how concerned Carey had been over the loss of the blue tin box and how he had not told what it contained. The presence of the drag-net also added color to his tale.

“Why didn’t you give Miss Ford her bracelet long ago?” demanded Pepper.

“I – I wanted to – to tease her a little, that’s all,” answered the Pornell Academy student. “I wish I had given it to her now.”

“If you can’t find the bracelet, you’ll have to pay for it,” said Andy.

“I – I know that, but – but – ”

“But what?” demanded Jack.

“I – I can’t pay for it right away. My father has cut me down – he says I am spending too much foolishly, – and I lost a lot on a bowling match we had with some Putnam Hall fellows.”

“Yes, we heard something about that bowling match,” said Jack, not to let the prisoner get a clue to his identity.

“Hullo! hullo!” came a shout from a distance. “Where are you, Jack? Where are you, Pepper? Hullo, Andy! Come this way, we have got on the trail of those two crazy men!”

A moment later Stuffer burst into view and came walking toward them.

“Keep back!” shouted Jack, quickly. “Keep back and don’t say anything. We’ll soon be with you.” And then he whispered something to his two chums.

“All right,” answered both.

“We’ll see you again soon, Carey,” said the young major, to the prisoner. “In the meantime, remember you must either find that bracelet or pay for it,” and so speaking he cut the line that bound Carey’s hands and rushed off in the direction of Stuffer, followed by Andy and Pepper.

CHAPTER XX

THE END OF THE SEARCH

“What have you been doing?” demanded Stuffer, as the party of four cadets turned in the direction of the hut in the woods.

“Oh, we’ve been playing a joke on a Pornell Academy student,” answered Jack, quickly. He thought it best to keep the affair of the bracelet a secret. All had taken the handkerchiefs from their faces.

“Wasn’t that Will Carey?”

“Yes,” said Andy.

“Where are the crazy men?” asked Pepper, to change the subject.

“Why, we walked out on a certain foot path we discovered after you were gone and we found a spot where they had been camping. One of them had written a bit of doggerel on a sheet of paper and tacked it to a tree. Mr. Strong says it is in Callax’s handwriting. In the doggerel he bids farewell to this neighborhood.”

“Does Mr. Strong think they have left?” asked Andy.

“He doesn’t know what to think. He wants to follow the foot path.”

It did not take the cadets long to reach the spot where Stuffer had left George Strong. Then the whole party hurried along the foot path, which ran directly through the dense woods. Here the ground was soft and they could see the fresh footprints with ease.

“I believe this leads to the lake,” said the teacher, and he was right. They soon came out on the lake shore, at a point where there was a tiny cove. Close at hand was a boat stake, and they could plainly see where a boat had been tied up and how it had been shoved off with an oar.

“They have gone,” said George Strong, and the tone of his voice showed his disappointment.

“And there is no telling where they have gone to,” added the young major.

They walked up and down the lake shore for a good distance, but saw no craft containing two men. Not far away was a small boat and this contained Will Carey, who was rowing slowly in the direction of the Pornell Academy dock.

“I suppose we’ll have to give this hunt up,” said the teacher, when it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. “Too bad! I thought sure we’d capture them.”

“Are you going back to the Chetwood cottage?” asked Pepper.

“We may as well – it is not far out of our way.”

When they arrived at the cottage they found that Mr. Chetwood and his wife had returned. The man was looking anxiously for them to appear.

“Git ’em?” he cried, when he caught sight of them.

“No,” answered Jack.

“I am sorry – dreffully sorry,” and Mr. Chetwood heaved a deep sigh.

“I believe they stole a vest belonging to you,” said George Strong. “Anything in it of value?”

“Yes and no,” was the reply. “You see, I had a roll of old Confederate money and I kept it in the vest – why, I don’t know. Well, the roll is gone.”

“What sort of bills did it contain?” questioned Pepper.

“Ten and twenty dollar bills – about two hundred dollars in all. But as they was Confederate I reckon they ain’t wuth ten or twenty cents now. You see I was a Confederate soldier in the war – that’s how I got the bills,” explained Mr. Chetwood.

“Those men are crazy,” said George Strong. “I may as well tell you they are distant relatives of mine – although I am in no wise responsible for their safe keeping. They have been in charge of another relative, who put them in a sanitarium. I suppose if they try to pass some of those Confederate bills they’ll get into more trouble.”

“It may lead to their capture – and that will be something,” was Jack’s comment.

“They sure was crazy – to steal the looking-glass and the inkwell,” said Mr. Chetwood. “I am glad they didn’t harm Nat. Being a cripple, he can’t defend himself very well.”

“I shall do all I can to capture them,” said Mr. Strong.

“You’ll have to capture them,” said Mrs. Chetwood. “Why everybody will be afraid to stir out – with two crazy men roaming the woods.”

The secret could not be kept longer, and by Sunday persons living for miles around knew that the crazy men who had once before been in that vicinity were again at large. A large number of men and boys went out to hunt for the pair, but without avail. George Strong offered a reward of one hundred dollars for their capture, but even this did not bring them to light.

As soon as the young major got his sloop back from the boat builders he tried the craft and found her in prime condition. The new mainsail and the improved tiller worked wonders, to his mind, and he took a keen delight in running the Alice up and down the lake in front of Putnam Hall.

“She’s a good deal better than she was,” said he to Pepper. “I am not afraid to match her against anything on this lake.”

“Well, that is saying a good deal, Jack,” returned his chum.

“I know what I am talking about,” was the young major’s confident answer.

During the week Jack met Fred Century, and from the latter learned that the owner of a sloop up the lake was also anxious for a race.

“His name is Bob Anderson,” said Century. “He owns a sloop named the Neptune.”

“I have seen the boat,” answered Jack. “Rather a rakish-looking craft.”

“So she is. Well, Anderson is very anxious for a race, and I was wondering if we couldn’t make ours a three-handed affair.”

“I am willing if you are,” said Jack, promptly. “I am not afraid of anything on the lake.”

“Then supposing we see Anderson and have a talk with him?”

A meeting was held, and the upshot of the conference was that a race between the three sloops was arranged for the following Saturday, weather permitting. Some gentlemen from the New York Yacht Club, who were stopping at Ithaca, volunteered to judge the race and were accepted by all interested.

“Well, now you’ll have two sloops to beat,” said Dale to Jack after the race had been decided upon. “They tell me the Neptune is a splendid craft.”

“Dale, do you think they can beat the Alice?” demanded the young major.

“I hope not. But you don’t want to be too sure of this race, Jack.”

“I am sure of the Alice.”

As Bob Anderson was well known in local society, his coming into the race created quite a stir. As a consequence the race became a social affair, and hundreds of people said they would attend. Many boathouses along the lake were to be decorated.

“We are going out – in papa’s yacht,” said Laura Ford to Andy when they chanced to meet near the Hall one afternoon.

“I am glad to hear it,” said Andy. “But you must be careful and not go overboard again – as you did when we had the rowing races.”

“Oh, we’ll be very careful,” answered the girl. And then she gave Andy a warm look, for she had not forgotten what a great service he and his chums had done her and her sister on that occasion.

“I only hope we have a spanking breeze,” said Jack to Pepper, as they and Andy took a short sail in the Alice on Friday afternoon. “If there is one thing I despise in a race it is a drifting match.”

“Maybe you’ll get too much wind,” said Pepper.

“Can’t get too much for me – I know how to handle my boat. She’ll not go over with me, as the Ajax did with Fred Century.”

“Does Century think he can beat the Neptune?” asked Andy.

“In a breeze, yes. But he told me the Neptune was such a rakish sloop she could drift well when the wind died down. So if we don’t get much wind Anderson’s craft may win.”

“Sure the boat is in the best possible condition,” went on Pepper, with a sharp look around.

“Doesn’t she look it?”

“She certainly does.”

“If I were you, I’d keep a close eye on my boat until that race is sailed,” said Andy, after a few minutes of silence.

“What do you mean, Andy?”

“Well, you know we’ve got our enemies in this school. Ritter and his crowd would rather see you lose than win.”

“Paxton and Coulter certainly wanted us to lose that bicycle race,” said Pepper.

“Do you think they’d try to injure the boat?” asked the young major.

“Possibly – I don’t know.”

“If I thought that I’d – I’d stay on board to-night,” said Jack.

“No, you want a good night’s sleep,” said Pepper. “One of us can stay on board as well as you can.”

“Let us both stay,” came from Andy. “We’ll be company for each other.”

“Maybe you can’t get permission to stay?” said the owner of the Alice.

“We won’t ask for permission,” answered Pepper. “We’ll just come down here after lights are out and bunk till morning. Then we’ll watch our chance and slip back into the Hall some time before breakfast.”

And so it was arranged.

CHAPTER XXI

SURPRISES OF A NIGHT

Ritter, Paxton and Coulter had arranged their plans with care, and they were practically certain that the Alice would lose the boat race. As a consequence the three unworthies did not hesitate to go around and lay wagers that either the Ajax or the Neptune would win. As they did not wish to bet openly against their own school, so to speak, they made the most of their wagers through a man in Cedarville named Crosby – a fellow who kept a variety store, including sporting goods and fishing tackle.

“We’ll make Jack Ruddy and his chums feel sick, and rake in some good shekels in the bargain,” said Reff Ritter.

“We must be careful in our work,” cautioned Paxton. “If we get caught there’s no telling what they’ll do to us.”

“Oh, don’t croak before you’re hurt, Nick.”

“Do you want to get caught?”

“Certainly not – and we won’t be. This work is to be done in the dark and while we are disguised. At the first alarm we can skip. But I don’t look for any alarm,” concluded Ritter.

It was well that Andy and Pepper pretended to go to bed with the others, for Ritter and his cohorts were on the watch.

“I told you the coast would be clear,” said Ritter. “All the same, I guess we had better lay low until about midnight.”

It was nearly eleven when Andy and Pepper arose, donned their clothing, and taking their shoes in their hands, stole from the dormitory and crept downstairs to a side door of the Hall. Nobody saw them, and in a moment more they were walking rapidly over the school grounds in the direction of the lake.

“This may be a fool’s errand after all,” said Pepper. “But it is better than running the risk of having somebody injure the sloop.”

“We should have come armed,” returned his chum. “Anybody who would injure a boat just before a race ought to be shot.”

“We’ll arm ourselves when we get down to the boathouse.”

Reaching the building, they went inside and procured some old hockey sticks that chanced to be handy. Then they entered a rowboat at the dock and poled over to the Alice. Clambering aboard, they tied the rowboat to the stern. As chance would have it, the gentle breeze that was blowing sent the small craft around to the lake side of the sloop, so the rowboat was not visible from the shore.

The two cadets had put in rather a strenuous day and were consequently sleepy. They wanted to get what rest they could for the morrow and so decided to watch by turns, two hours at a stretch. It was a clear night, with countless stars overhead, and the day for the great race promised to be all that could be desired.

The Alice had a little cuddy, just large enough to accommodate two, and into this the boys crawled, to get out of the night air, which was damp. Andy was the first to rest, while Pepper sat up, his eyes trained on the dimly-lit shore.

An hour passed and the Imp was growing decidedly sleepy. He scanned his watch closely by the light of the stars and saw it was not yet time to awaken his companion. Then he trained his eyes on shore once more.

What was that, a dog or a person, crawling steadily forward from behind the trees which lined that side of the campus? He sat up and peered forth eagerly. Then another figure appeared and soon a third. They were coming straight for the boathouse.

“Something doing,” he mused. “Wonder if I had better call Andy?”

He decided to wait. The three figures came closer and soon stood beside the boathouse. He now saw that they were three persons wearing black gowns and black hoods.

“Andy!” he whispered, and pinched his chum’s arm. At once the acrobatic youth awoke and started to speak. But Pepper put his hand over his chum’s mouth.

“Three persons are coming – let us lay low and see what they want to do,” whispered Pepper. “Don’t make any noise.”

Andy understood. “Who are they?” he asked, after a few seconds of silence, during which he peered over the guard rail of the sloop at the three figures.

“I don’t know – but I guess we’ll soon find out.”

After that the two cadets on the Alice kept quiet. In the meantime Ritter and his cronies walked up and down the boat dock, inspecting the sloop from that point.

“Anybody on board?” asked Paxton, in a voice which trembled slightly.

“Don’t see anybody,” answered Ritter.

“Thought we weren’t to do any talking,” came from Coulter.

“We’ll shut up – if anybody appears,” said the leader of the unworthies.

With great caution they got out a rowboat and entered it. Then they poled silently to the side of the Alice and peered over the guard rail. Andy and Pepper were out of sight, under some sailcloth. But their eyes and ears were on the alert in the semi-darkness.

“I guess the coast is clear,” they heard Ritter say. “Come on aboard. We can doctor up those ropes and the rudder in no time if we get right at them.”

“Did you bring your file?” asked Paxton.

“Yes. I hope you didn’t forget yours.”

“I’ve got it.”

“And I’ve got mine,” put in Coulter. “And here is the pot of stuff for the rudder.”

“I’ll put that drag on the keel the last thing,” said Ritter. “I’ll have to strip to do it, I suppose.”

“Will it hold?” questioned Paxton.

“Trust me for that,” answered Reff Ritter.

Not without difficulty he crawled aboard the sloop and his cronies followed. They gave a brief look into the cuddy, but did not discover those in hiding.

“Now, let us go at the ropes first,” said Ritter. “Mind, don’t file them too thin. We don’t want them to break until the race is on.”

“I’d like to put a hole in the sloop’s bottom and sink her,” growled Gus Coulter.

“If you did that, the race would be off,” said Ritter. “No, we want her to go in and lose.”

The three plotters moved to various parts of the Alice and with large files began to saw on several of the ropes used for hoisting the mainsail and jib.

“I guess we have heard enough,” whispered Pepper. “You recognize them, don’t you?”

“Ritter, Coulter and Paxton,” said Andy, promptly.

“Correct.”

“Shall we dash at them with our sticks?”

“Let us scare them first – make out we are officers of the law.”

“All right.”

Throwing the sailcloth aside Pepper and Andy leaped to their feet, brandishing the hockey sticks over their heads.

“Surrender, in the name of the law!” shouted the Imp, in the most manly tone he could command.

“Throw up your hands, or we’ll fire on you!” yelled Andy, and pointed the handle of a bailing dipper at Ritter.

“We’re discovered!” screamed Paxton, and dropped the file he was using. “Oh, what shall we do?”

“It’s the police!” faltered Gus Coulter. “We have been trapped!”

“Don’t fire!” gasped Ritter, falling back at the sight of the dipper handle, which gleamed slightly in the starlight. “We don’t mean any harm. This is – er – only a joke.”

“You’ll find it a joke, when you are in the Ithaca jail,” said Andy, in a bass voice.

“Oh, they are going to lock us up!” screamed Paxton. Then he gave a closer look at who was before him. “Why, it’s Andy Snow!” he gasped.

“Andy Snow and, yes, Pepper Ditmore!” said Reff Ritter, and his voice showed how disgusted he felt over being deceived.

“That’s only a dipper!” came from Coulter. “Think you are great to scare us, don’t you?” he sneered.

“You get off of this sloop, and in a hurry, too!” cried Pepper. “If you don’t we’ll give you the thrashing of your lives.”

“Thrashing, eh?” demanded Reff Ritter, throwing back his black hood. “Perhaps two can play at that game.”

“That’s right – and the two will be Pepper and myself,” put in Andy. “Leave this sloop at once, or take the consequences.”

“How many of you on board?” asked Coulter, trying to look into the cuddy.

“None of your business.”

“I believe they are alone,” said Ritter. “And if so we are three to two. What’s the matter with capturing ’em?” he added, struck by a sudden idea.

“Capturing ’em?” repeated his cronies.

“Exactly. Then we’ll fix it so they won’t squeal on us.”

“That’s the talk!” cried Coulter. “Let us capture ’em by all means!”

And then the three unworthies advanced on Andy and Pepper to make them prisoners.

CHAPTER XXII

PRISONERS ON THE SLOOP

A short, sharp fight followed, and Ritter and Coulter were struck over the head with the hockey sticks. But then Andy slipped and fell and Ritter pounced upon him. Then Coulter attacked Pepper from the front and Paxton came up in the rear. Suddenly Paxton pulled the Imp’s legs from under him, and as he went down his head struck on the guard rail and he was momentarily stunned. He was thrown into the cuddy and Andy was thrown after him, and then the tiny door was shut and bolted. To make the temporary prison more secure the Ritter crowd ran a heavy rope around the cuddy, just as one would put a rope around a big box.

“Hi, let us out!” shouted Andy and began to pound on the door loudly. “If you don’t we’ll make it hot for you!”

“You’ve got to stay in there for awhile,” answered Ritter, coolly.

Paxton and Coulter were much excited over the turn affairs had taken and wanted to know what was to be done next.

“Let us talk it over,” said Ritter. “I didn’t expect this any more than you did.” And he rubbed the lump one of the hockey sticks had raised over his left ear. “I’ll pay Ditmore back for that crack, see if I don’t,” he added, bitterly.

“I got one, too, from Snow,” growled Coulter.

“We had better move the sloop from shore,” went on Ritter. “If we don’t some others may come down and make it warm for us.”

The anchor was hoisted and the line attached to the dock cast off. Then they raised the mainsail and stood out into the darkness of the lake. Soon Putnam Hall and the boathouse were lost in the gloom.

“Now lower the sail and let her drift while we talk,” said Ritter.

“She may go on the rocks,” warned Coulter.

“If she does she won’t hit hard enough to hurt. The breeze has about died out.”

In the cuddy Pepper had regained his senses. With the door shut the place was suffocating, and all the two cadets could think of was to get out. They pounded and kicked on the door, but this brought no response.

“We can’t stay in here!” gasped Pepper.

“We’ll have to stay – unless we can break out,” returned his chum. “And I’d hate to damage the sloop to that extent – right before the race, too.”

“But they’ll damage her more yet, Andy!”

“If they dare!”

“I believe Ritter would do anything. He is bound to make the Alice lose that race.”

Several minutes went by, and the two prisoners heard those outside walking from end to end of the sloop. Then came a sudden jar, followed by another.

“Hi! Paxton is overboard!” they heard Coulter yell.

“I didn’t think we’d hit those rocks so hard,” answered Reff Ritter.

“Now is our time to get out – if we can!” cried Pepper. “If we break the door we can have it mended.”

Both boys braced themselves against the walls of the cuddy and put their shoulders to the door. It could not stand this strain and in a few seconds began to crack. Then it flew outward, over the rope with which it had been held in, and the cadets followed. They saw Coulter and Ritter at the bow, bending over to assist Paxton, who was wading in water up to his neck.

“They are loose!” yelled Coulter, but ere he could say more Andy grabbed him and pushed him overboard. Pepper caught Ritter and got that young rascal partly over the rail, but there he clung.

“Help me, Andy!” cried Pepper, and Andy did so by putting his foot on Ritter’s hand. The bully gave a yell, and a moment later went over backward with a loud splash.

The Alice had struck several half-submerged rocks, but had not gone upon them. The craft was now drifting further up the lake, leaving Ritter, Paxton and Coulter behind.

“Ho there!” roared Paxton, “don’t leave us!”

“Come back!” added Ritter and Coulter.

“Not to-night!” answered Pepper, grimly. “Maybe we’ll see you in the morning.”

“If you don’t come back, I’ll get square, remember that!” yelled Ritter, in a rage.

“See you to-morrow,” sang out Andy.

The rocks upon which the sloop had struck were several in number and were backed up by a small island situated a hundred feet or more from the shore. Peering into the gloom those on the craft saw the others wade out of the water to the island.

“They are safe,” said Pepper. “But they are a good mile and a half from Putnam Hall.”

“And they can’t get ashore without swimming,” added Andy. “But as their clothing is already wet, that won’t hurt them much.”

“What scoundrels they are – to want to injure this boat!”

“That’s true. We really ought to report them to Captain Putnam and have them expelled.”

“We might do that if it wasn’t for one thing. Remember, we have no right to be away from the school to-night. We should have obtained permission to watch the sloop.”

“I know it – and that will keep us from reporting Ritter and his cronies. Just the same, we ought to let the others know of this – I don’t mean Jack alone, but every one in our crowd.”

“We will let them know it. See, here is one of the files they brought along.”

“And here is the pot of stuff they were going to put on the rudder, and the drag for the keel. This drag alone would have been enough to make the boat lose – in a close race.”