The Putnam Hall Rivals

After supper the boys had an hour off. Some spent the time in the library reading, while others drifted into the gymnasium.

Jack had some studies to attend to, and went to an open classroom. Pepper walked to the gymnasium, accompanied by Andy Snow.

Both boys were soon exercising on the rings, and Andy showed what he could do on a turning bar, – doing the “giant swing” and other difficult feats.

While they were exercising, Mumps, the toady to Dan Baxter, came in, followed by a new student named Reff Ritter.

Reff Ritter was a youth who had a very high opinion of himself. His parents were fairly well off and the boy had traveled a good deal in foreign countries. Reff had an idea that he could do almost anything, and he loved to boast of his ability and also to boast of where he had been and what he had seen. A few of the boys, including Mumps, toadied to him, but the majority voted the newcomer “a pill.” He had tried to become friendly with Jack and Pepper, but both had tired of his everlasting boastings.

“Are you a gymnast?” asked Mumps, as he and Reff Ritter came to a halt close to where Andy and Pepper were practicing.

“Oh, yes, certainly!” exclaimed Ritter, in a loud voice. “I took some lessons in New York and I finished up while I was in London and Berlin. A German instructor – one of the Turn-verein men – taught me a lot of tricks.”

“What do you think of that?” went on Mumps, as Andy made a swing on the rings.

“Fair, only fair,” drawled Reff Ritter. “Not at all graceful. Now when I was stopping at Madrid, there was a Spaniard there who showed me how to do a turn like that, and it was perfection, I can assure you.”

Andy heard the remark, and it made his ears tingle. He gave a swing and landed on the floor in front of Ritter and Mumps.

“I’d like to see that Spanish swing you just mentioned,” he said, coldly.

“Humph! I didn’t – er – calculate to do anything in the way of gymnastics this evening,” stammered Reff Ritter.

“Maybe you are afraid to try,” went on Andy, pointedly.

“Not at all! not at all!” exclaimed the new student. “I’ll show you how to do it if you want me to.”

He took off his coat and vest and also his collar and tie. Then he leaped up on the rings and began to swing.

“Here goes!” he called out, and made the turn, while a small crowd began to gather.

“Good! That’s fine!” called out Mumps. “Now, Andy Snow, how do you like it?”

The turn had been a fairly good one. Andy smiled quietly.

“Can you make the double turn?” he called up to Reff Ritter.

“Certainly – I learned that in Berlin also,” was the answer, and the turn was made, after a good deal of an effort. Then, warming up, Reff Ritter began to show off, doing about everything he had ever learned. He did not stop until he was practically out of breath.

Taken as a whole, it was a fair exhibition of gymnastic work, and some of the boys standing around applauded.

“Have you finished?” asked Pepper.

“I have,” answered Reff Ritter. He caught his breath. “There’s a pattern for your friend to go by.”

“Thank you, but I don’t need any pattern,” answered Andy. “Here goes for another try at it!”

He went up lightly and began to perform. First he did several things which were comparatively easy. But each turn was clean-cut in itself and decidedly graceful.

“Andy certainly knows how to go at it,” remarked Joe Nelson, who was present.

“Huh! He hasn’t done anything as difficult as I did,” put in Reff Ritter.

Then Andy began to do other things, making swings and leaps that were really wonderful in one who was only an amateur. The boys applauded more and more. Then he made a leap and a twist seldom seen outside of a regular circus performance.

“Look at that!” cried Pepper, enthusiastically. “Nobody can do better!”

“Sure, an’ Andy’s the bist acrobat in the school, so he is,” said Emerald.

And the majority of those standing around agreed with the Irish cadet.

CHAPTER IV

A DOSE OF SNOW AND ICICLES

As soon as it became apparent that Andy was doing much better than he had been able to do, Reff Ritter lost interest in the exhibition going on.

“I reckon I’ve seen enough,” he drawled. “It’s cold in here anyway. I’m going back to the school,” and he shuffled off, followed by Mumps.

“Andy, you are ten times better than he is on the bar and rings,” cried Pepper.

“Sure, an’ that Ritter is a big blow, so he is!” was Hogan’s comment. “I am glad that Andy took him down.”

“I don’t think he’ll like it much,” observed Andy.

The acrobatic youth was right. Reff Ritter was very bitter at heart.

“Where are Baxter and Coulter?” he asked of Mumps, as they hurried outside.

“Went down to the old boathouse,” and Mumps winked.

“For a smoke?”

“Yes,” was the whispered answer. For, as my readers may imagine, smoking among the cadets was strictly prohibited.

“Think I’ll have a cigarette myself,” said Ritter. “Will you come along?”

Now, Mumps did not like to smoke, as it made him sick. But he did not wish to offend his new friend, and so he agreed to go along. They soon made their way to where Baxter and Coulter had taken themselves, and the toady gave a peculiar whistle.

It was answered a moment later, and Coulter appeared.

“Oh, it’s you,” he said. “All right, come in.”

They entered a section of the old boathouse that was but little used. It would have been cold, only the cadets had found a charcoal stove, and this was burning. Around it were Dan Baxter, Paxton, and Coulter, all smoking cigarettes.

“Hullo, glad to see you,” said Dan Baxter to Reff Ritter. “Sit down with us and enjoy yourself.”

Ritter sat down and drew from his pocket a package of imported cigarettes. He offered one to Mumps, and the toady lit it. Then Ritter lit one himself, inhaling the smoke and blowing it forth through his nose.

“Say, this is something like,” he observed. “Quite a cozy bunk you have.”

“It’s good enough for a smoking place in the winter time,” answered the bully of Putnam Hall. “In the summer time we can go anywhere.”

“Captain Putnam must be down on smoking.”

“He is.”

“I don’t see why,” said Paxton. “I’ve smoked ever since I was eight years old.” And his pinched face showed it.

“I love these imported Egyptian cigarettes,” went on Reff Ritter. “I get the genuine, you know.”

“I’ve got a treat for all hands,” said Dan Baxter, after a pause. He brought forth a big bottle from his overcoat.

“What is that?” asked Mumps.

“Wine – I bought it down at Cedarville.”

“Just the stuff!” exclaimed Ritter. “I’m with you on wine. I got used to drinking it when I was over in Europe. You know they serve it regularly for dinner at all the hotels.”

The bottle of wine was passed around, and all of the boys assembled drank a portion. Mumps wanted to decline, but did not dare.

“Don’t be afraid of it, Mumpsy, old boy,” said Baxter to his toady. “Drink it, it will make a man of you.”

The boys continued to smoke and drink for the best part of half an hour. Then they heard a peculiar noise outside.

“Hi, somebody is coming!” cried Paxton, in alarm. “Put out the light!”

The lantern that hung on a nail was extinguished and the boys listened. They heard somebody moving around in the dark. Then all became silent.

“I – I don’t like this,” said Mumps, in a trembling voice. “I think somebody was spying on us!”

“We had better get back to the school,” said Baxter, and this advice was followed without delay. They saw somebody running across the campus, but could not make out who the person was.

During the time the Baxter crowd had been smoking and drinking they had talked over many matters, and particularly their troubles with Pepper, Jack, and Andy Snow. The bully of the Hall wanted to get even with Pepper for the trouble on the ice, and Reff Ritter was willing to do almost anything to “put a spoke in Andy Snow’s wheel,” as he expressed it.

The upshot of the talk was that the crowd determined to play some tricks on our friends, and do it that very night.

“I know something brand-new,” said Coulter, and told his cronies of it.

“That’s the talk – if we can work it,” said Baxter. “And we’ll do something else, too,” he added.

Gus Coulter’s idea was to get some snow and stuff it into the pillows of the other boys. The heat of the boys’ heads would gradually melt the snow and leave the lads in beds that were soaking wet.

As luck would have it, Dan Baxter and his party found the dormitory occupied by Jack and the others empty when they went upstairs. They quickly got out the bed pillows, and from the roof of an addition to the academy procured the necessary snow, which they stuffed into the pillow-cases, next to the feathers. Then they got a number of icicles and put several at the foot of each bed, under the blankets, and in such manner that the boys’ feet would come up against them.

“And now for a finishing touch,” said Ritter, and placed a big chunk of snow on the upper edge of the dormitory door, leaving the door slightly open. Then the boys hid away to watch proceedings.

It was not long after this that Jack and his friends came upstairs to go to bed. They did not, however, go straight to their dormitory, but stopped to talk to some other cadets at the end of the hall.

“I wish they would go in their room,” whispered Paxton, from a corner. “I am getting tired of waiting.”

“Say, here comes old Crabtree,” put in Mumps.

“Yes, and he’s going toward their room!” cried Gus Coulter, in surprise.

He spoke the truth, and an instant later Josiah Crabtree pushed upon the dormitory door. Down came the big chunk of snow on the teacher, sending him flat to the floor.

“Hi! hi! What’s this?” spluttered Josiah Crabtree. “Who is – er – who covered me with snow?”

He turned over and got to his feet. His shoulders were full of snow and some snow had gone down inside his collar, causing him to shiver with cold.

The noise attracted the attention of all the cadets in the vicinity, and soon they gathered around the teacher.

“What’s the matter?”

“Old Crabtree is taking a snow bath for his health.”

“Where did all that snow come from?”

“Major Ruddy, can you explain this?” demanded the assistant teacher, turning angrily to Jack.

“No, sir, I cannot,” was the answer.

“I was going to enter this dormitory when down came this snow, almost burying me alive!”

“I am sorry, Mr. Crabtree.”

“It is outrageous – villainous! Somebody is responsible!”

“I am not. I know nothing about the snow.”

“I guess it was put there for our benefit,” put in Pepper. “We were about to enter the room when you came along.”

“Humph! A silly trick.”

“How did you happen to catch it, Mr. Crabtree?” asked Andy, curiously.

“I was going into the room to see if the windows were closed. There is a great draught through this hallway, as you can feel. Then you do not know who did this?” went on the instructor, gazing sharply at the assembled pupils.

All looked blankly at each other. Dan Baxter and his cronies took good care to keep in the background.

“Gather up the snow and throw it out of a window,” ordered Josiah Crabtree, and this was done, but not before several snowballs had been thrown, one catching Mumps in the neck and another landing on Reff Ritter’s left ear. Then the throwing was stopped, order was restored, and all of the cadets were told to retire.

“Somebody put up a job on us right enough,” observed Pepper, when he and his chums were in the dormitory and the door had been closed. “If old Crabtree hadn’t come along one of us would have gotten that dose.”

“I’ll wager that I know who is guilty,” came from Dale.

“Dan Baxter and his crowd?”

“Exactly. Didn’t you see how they hung back and how they grinned at us?”

“I saw it,” came from Andy. “That’s why I soaked Mumps with a snowball.”

“And I let Ritter have it in the ear,” said Pepper. “But I say, fellows, we want to be on our guard.”

“Do you think they played more jokes on us?” questioned Hogan. “Sure an’ it would be just like ’em to do it, so it would!” he added.

“It certainly won’t do any harm to look around,” suggested Jack. “It won’t take but a few minutes to do it.”

Pepper held up his hand.

“Wait!” he whispered, and sliding to the door, threw it open suddenly. Outside he found Ritter, Baxter, and Coulter. The trio were amazed at being thus suddenly confronted.

“I thought so!” cried Pepper, triumphantly.

“Oh, go to grass!” muttered the bully of the school, and walked away.

“We’ll fix you another time,” muttered Ritter.

“And do it well too,” added Coulter.

Pepper waited until he had seen the others enter their dormitory and then closed his own door again.

“I’ve found something!” cried Andy, and dove into his pillow-case. “Filled with snow!”

“Snow for Snow!” said Jack.

“That’s a cold pun,” observed Dale. “Just the same, here is snow in my pillow too. Say, we just got this in time. It would have melted before long and then our pillows would have been wringing wet.”

“Don’t say a word about snow,” said Emerald. “Just be after lookin’ at this now!” And he held up three icicles he had dislodged from his bed. “Ain’t they iligant foot-warmers though!”

Without delay the other boys looked into their beds, and soon all the icicles were disposed of, and the snow was likewise cleaned away. They then made another hunt around the dormitory, to make certain that nothing else was wrong.

“I guess we are safe now,” said Jack, at last. “But what a mess this would have made if we had not found it out in time!”

“I know what I am going to do,” said Pepper, decidedly.

“What, Imp?” came from several of the others.

“I’m going to pay the Baxter crowd back, and with interest.”

And the others instantly agreed to help him.

CHAPTER V

THE DOCTORED CAKE

Two days later Pepper and Andy were out on the lake skating, when Andy broke his skate and pitched flat on the ice.

“Hullo, what are you doing?” cried Pepper.

“Looking to see how thick the ice is,” was the merry retort.

“I thought you were looking for stars,” went on the Imp.

“No, thanks, I didn’t go down on the back of my head. Just the same, my left skate is broken.”

“That’s too bad.”

Both of the boys looked the broken skate over, and then retired to the old boathouse to see if they could not fix it. By chance they entered the place which Dan Baxter’s crowd had been using from time to time as a rendezvous.

“Hullo, look here!” cried Pepper, gazing around. “I didn’t know that anybody came here.”

“Neither did I.”

“Here are lots of cigarette butts.”

“Yes, Pep, and – look in the corner.”

Pepper looked in the direction pointed out. From under a pile of old leaves, which the wind had blown into the boathouse when the door was open, shone the neck of a bottle.

“A wine bottle, I declare, Andy. Can it be that some of the fellows have been drinking down here?”

“I don’t know. It looks a little like it.”

“But that is against the rules.”

“So is smoking, and those butts look to be pretty fresh.”

The boys were mystified, but could not answer the question which arose in their minds. They looked around for what they were after, but could not mend the broken skate.

“I’ll have to take it down to Cedarville and have it mended,” said the acrobatic youth. “Maybe I can get off to-morrow.”

“If you can’t, I’ll lend you a pair, Andy. I have two.”

“Thank you, Pep. But I like this pair. They just fit my feet.”

It was not until the following Tuesday that Pepper, Andy, and Jack got permission to visit Cedarville, the nearest steamboat town on the lake to Putnam Hall. In the meantime, on Monday, Dale and Hogan came to them in some little excitement.

“We have got news,” said Dale.

“Dan Baxter is going to celebrate,” added the Irish cadet. “Sure an’ he’s going to have an iligant spread, so he is!”

“What is he going to celebrate?” asked Pepper, with interest.

“He got a big allowance from home – smuggled it past Captain Putnam, too,” explained Dale. “As a consequence, he is going to give the fellows of his dormitory a feast, or something like that.”

“How did you learn all this?” asked Jack.

“By accident. Baxter passed a note to Paxton, who dropped it. I thought it was some plot against us, and read the note. Then I heard Paxton telling Billy Sabine. Baxter is going to make it the biggest spread ever given in this school.”

“That is our chance to get even with him!” cried Pepper, his eyes dancing. “We ought to doctor up that feast for them.”

“How can we do it?” asked Jack.

“Oh, I’ll think up something before the time comes,” answered the Imp. “When does it come off?”

“Wednesday night.”

This was all Dale and Emerald could tell, and a minute later Jack, Pepper, and Andy entered the classroom for the afternoon session.

It was not until after school on Tuesday that the three boys started for Cedarville. It was rather a long distance, but they did not mind it. They skated part of the way on the lake and then took to the wagon-road.

Cedarville was not a large place, but it boasted of some rather good stores, and also a blacksmith shop and several churches. The cadets went to the churches from time to time and were fairly well known to all of the storekeepers.

Having left the broken skate where it could be mended, Andy and his chums walked around the town and made several small purchases. Coming out of one of the stores they met a farmer whom they knew, he having delivered potatoes and other vegetables at the Hall.

“How are you, Mr. Shepard?” said Jack.

“How do you do, boys?” answered the farmer. “Visitin’ town, eh?”

“No, we’re out hunting elephants,” answered Pepper, with a grin.

At this the farmer, who was a good-natured man, laughed.

“Got to have your joke, I see,” he observed. “How be you gettin’ on at school?”

“Bang-up,” answered Andy.

“Captain Putnam is a powerful good man.”

“Yes, we all like the captain,” answered Jack. “How are matters at your farm this winter?”

“Kind o’ slow. Had some of the boys over yesterday.”

“Who?”

“A feller named Baxter and two friends. They come fer some apples an’ cider an’ some other things. Got my wife to cook a turkey fer ’em too.”

“Oh, yes, we know something about that spread,” said Jack, carelessly. “He is going to give some of the boys something great.”

“Have you delivered the stuff yet?” asked Pepper.

“Goin’ to at supper time to-morrow night.”

“Not at the academy?” said Andy.

“No, he said it was to be a surprise on everybody.”

“On some of the fellows,” corrected Pepper.

“You are going to leave the stuff somewhere for him, I suppose,” said Andy.

“Yes – outside the grounds – at seven sharp,” answered Amos Shepard, and then as a farmhand came along, he walked away with the man.

“This is certainly news,” was Pepper’s comment. “Boys, we must get hold of that stuff if we can do it.”

“Right you are,” answered Jack. “But how is it to be done? We don’t know where Mr. Shepard will leave it, and it won’t do to ask him.”

“No, that would make him suspicious,” said Andy. “But I know what we can do.”

“What?”

“Sneak out on the road that runs from his farm over to the Hall. When he comes along we can watch and see where he goes.”

“Good for you!” cried Pepper. “Just the very thing!”

The walking had made the boys hungry, and before starting on the return to the Hall they entered the main bakery of Cedarville, to get some cakes and a small pie.

“Hullo, there’s a big cake for you!” cried Pepper, pointing to one that had just been placed on a back shelf. “I shouldn’t mind a slice of that!”

“Maybe you’ll get a slice of it,” said the baker, rubbing his hands together and smiling in a meaning manner.

“How so?” asked Andy, quickly.

“Oh, you wait and see,” said the baker.

“Can that be a cake Dan Baxter ordered?” whispered Jack to his chums.

“Maybe,” said Pepper. He followed the baker to the back of the shop. “I guess that’s Baxter’s cake, eh?” he whispered into the man’s ear.

The baker winked suggestively.

“Is he coming for it, or are you going to send it to him?”

“He told me not to say anything about it to anybody,” replied the baker.

“Oh! Well, I won’t ask questions then. Don’t say anything about our being here,” went on Pepper. “It might hurt his feelings, if he knew we had seen the cake before he showed it.”

“I shan’t say a word,” answered the baker.

The boys paid for their purchases and quitted the bakery, and looking through the window they saw the baker leave the shop to go to work at his oven, which was in the cellar.

“Oh, if only we could doctor that cake!” murmured Pepper. “I’d give a dollar to be able to do it!”

“The icing on the top was soft,” said Andy.

“It’s a raisin cake,” said Jack. “A few stones in place of some raisins wouldn’t go bad.”

“And a little pepper would give it an extra flavor,” said Pepper, with a wink. “Come on!”

He ran to the nearest grocery store and there procured some strong red pepper. In the meantime Andy found a cleared spot in a sunny corner of the village and got a handful of sand.

The three boys walked back to the vicinity of the bakery. The baker was not in sight. But there was a bell on his door, which rang out sharply every time the door was opened.

“We can’t go in by the door,” said Jack. “He will come at once, as soon as the bell rings.”

“There is a side window – let us try that,” said Pepper.

“Supposing he comes?” asked Andy.

“We can buy some more cakes.”

The window opened out on a lane and was located close to the shelf upon which rested the cake. They found the lower sash unfastened and raised it cautiously. Then all three hopped into the bakery and stepped over to where the cake rested.

It took but a few minutes to fill the cake with pepper and fine sand. This done, they smoothed down the half-soft icing with the blade of a pocketknife. Just as they were finishing the work they heard footsteps on the stairs in the rear.

“Quick – out you go!” cried Pepper, and cleared the window, followed by his chums. Then they put down the sash and ran off, without the baker catching sight of them or having any idea of what had been done.

“That cake will taste fine,” said Andy, with a laugh, when they were on their way back to the Hall. “Won’t Dan Baxter and his crowd enjoy it!”

“They’ll want to hang us if they find us out,” said Jack.

“We must take good care that they don’t find us out,” came from Pepper.

“Now, if we can only locate the things Mr. Shepard is going to bring over,” went on Jack.

“I’d like to lay hold of the turkey,” said Andy. “Yum! yum! I wouldn’t do a thing to that bird!”

“Ditto here!” cried Pepper. “Oh, we must locate the turkey by all means – and some bread and butter. Think of nice turkey sandwiches!”

“And a few apples!”

And thus talking of what more they intended to do, the three cadets hurried back to Putnam Hall with all possible speed.

CHAPTER VI

THE BASKET IN THE TREE

Supper was served at Putnam Hall in the winter time at six o’clock, and as a general thing the meal was over inside of half an hour, when the cadets had an hour or more to themselves.

On the following day, after supper, Jack and the others watched Dan Baxter and his cronies closely.

“Emerald, you and Dale stop them about seven o’clock,” said Pepper, and to this the two cadets agreed.

The Irish lad and Dale kept a close eye on Dan Baxter, who was with Coulter and Reff Ritter. At a few minutes to seven the bully and his cronies started away from the Hall in the direction of a side road – that leading past the Shepard farm.

“Here is where we hold ’em up a bit,” said Dale, and ran forward calling loudly.

“What do you want?” asked the bully, stopping short, with a scowl.

“Wait a minute,” said Dale, and walked up slowly, while Hogan did the same.

“Don’t be all night about it,” put in Reff Ritter.

“What’s this report I heard to-day?” said Dale, facing the bully.

“What report?” asked Baxter, suspiciously.

“You know, Baxter.”

“I must say I do not.”