The Putnam Hall Encampment: or, The Secret of the Old Mill

“Say, this is something like!” cried Andy, after a first plunge into the limpid waters. “I am going to have a dip every day I am here!”

“So am I, unless something happens to prevent it,” returned Fred. He missed the use of his sloop very much.

The cadets had found a cove where the water was deep and here they had erected a springboard, and took turns in diving from this. It was great sport and for some time George Strong watched the lads.

“Come on in, Mr. Strong!” cried Andy. “The water is fine!”

“Not to-day,” answered the teacher, with a smile. “But I may come in some other day. I like swimming as well as you do.” And then he walked off, to attend to some camp duties.

“What a difference between him and old Crabtree!” sighed Dale. “If all teachers were like Mr. Strong we’d never have a bit of trouble.”

“Right you are,” answered Pepper. “But old Crabtree is the kind that sets your teeth on edge the minute you rub up against him.”

The boys spent quite some time diving and sporting around, and then Fred proposed a race.

“To the rock over yonder and back!” he cried, pointing with his hand.

“I’ll go you!” said Andy. “What’s the prize?”

“A brass-bound copy of last year’s almanac,” answered Jack, and this caused a general laugh.

Six cadets entered the race, and at a word from a lad on the shore all struck out sturdily for the rock that was to be the turning spot of the contest.

At first Pepper was ahead, with Fred second, but presently Emerald drew to the front, followed by Dale.

“Hi, this won’t do!” cried Jack, good naturedly. “Throw out your anchor!”

“Sure, an’ I can’t sthop, so I can’t!” answered Hogan.

As the six swimmers made the turn at the rock one after the other, a rowboat shot into view. It was that containing Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter.

“Racing, eh?” murmured the bully, crossly. He had not slept well the night before and was all out of sorts.

“I’d like to spoil their fun for ’em,” returned Coulter.

“Maybe we can do it,” went on the bully, craftily. “They have no right to get in the way of our boat.”

“Say, you wouldn’t run ’em down, would you?” asked his crony, anxiously.

“Not very hard, Gus – only enough to break up their race.”

“Stop! stop!” cried Andy, in alarm, as he saw the rowboat being sent in close to the swimmers.

“Get out of the way!” roared Reff Ritter, ungraciously.

“Don’t run us down!” called out Fred. “Turn out, Ritter!”

But Ritter would not turn out. Instead he sent the boat closer to shore. All in the water tried to avoid the craft, some swimming to one side and others ducking beneath the boat. The race was completely broken up.

Hogan heard the cries, but he was too anxious to win the race to pay much attention. Suddenly the rowboat shot beside him and struck him a sharp blow in the shoulder. With a gasp the Irish cadet threw up an arm and then disappeared from view.

“Emerald is struck!” cried Andy.

“Oh, I hope he isn’t hurt,” added Jack

“It was his own fault,” said Ritter. “Why didn’t he get out of the way?” Now that the damage was done he was somewhat scared himself.

“It was your fault, Ritter,” answered Dale.

The rowboat drifted over the spot where Emerald had gone down, and all of the other cadets looked in that direction. The Irish lad was nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe he’s killed!” gasped Andy. “He got struck pretty hard.”

“Oh, don’t say that!” gasped Coulter, and he went white with fear.

All of the boys in the water swam to the spot, and presently Jack and Dale caught sight of Hogan, near the bottom of the lake. They dove down and brought him up. He was unconscious and had swallowed considerable water. He could not aid himself and the others took him ashore.

“This is the worst trick yet,” said Jack, after Emerald had given a gasp and opened his eyes. “How do you feel, old man?”

It was several seconds before the Irish cadet could reply. In the meantime, very much disturbed, Ritter and Coulter had beached their boat and joined the group surrounding the sufferer.

“I – er – I lost control of the boat at the last minute,” said the bully lamely. “I didn’t mean to hit anybody. I was only going to scare you.”

“It was done on purpose! I saw it,” answered Andy firmly.

“See here, Andy Snow, you say that again and I’ll knock you down!” cried Ritter fiercely.

“You have got to spell Able first,” was the acrobatic youth’s reply, as he doubled up his fists.

“Whe – where is that spalpeen, Ritter?” came unsteadily from Hogan. “Where is he, I say?” And he staggered to his feet. There was a slight cut on his neck, from which the blood was flowing.

“Here he is,” answered Pepper. “But, Emerald, you had better keep quiet for awhile. We’ll attend to Ritter later.”

“I’ll attend to Ritter and right now!” roared the Irish cadet, and having recovered himself somewhat he made a sudden leap at the bully. “I’ll be afther givin’ ye a dose o’ your own medicine, so I will!” he added.

He caught Ritter and in his fury shook the bully as a dog shakes a rat. Then he commenced to back Ritter to the lake front.

“Hi, let up!” roared the other. “It was only done in fun, I tell you, Hogan!”

“Thin lit this be fun too,” was the Irish cadet’s answer, and of a sudden he gave Ritter a shove in the breast that sent the bully over backwards with a splash into the lake.

“Serves Ritter right,” murmured Dale.

“An’ now fer you, me little goslin!” went on Hogan and leaped for Coulter.

“Le-let me alone – I didn’t mean to touch you!” whined Coulter.

“You backed up Ritter – an’ ye can cool off wid him, too,” answered Hogan, and catching Coulter by the neck and the seat of his trousers, he ran him down to the lake after Ritter and pitched him in. Coulter landed on top of his crony, and both went out of sight with a great splash. Then Hogan shoved from the shore the rowboat Ritter and Coulter had been using.

“You git into that, an’ be off wid yez!” roared the Irish cadet, when Ritter and Coulter reappeared in the water. “Don’t yez dare to land here!”

Much alarmed at Hogan’s sudden fury, the bully and his crony kept away from the shore. They swam to the rowboat and clambered on board. Then, dripping from head to feet, they picked up their floating caps, and took up the oars.

“You think you’re smart, but I’ll show you!” cried Reff Ritter.

“’Tis your own fault,” answered Emerald. “Supposin’ I had been drowned, what thin, eh? Bad cess to you, Ritter! You’re a bad egg, if iver there was wan!”

To this the bully did not dare make answer, and he and his crony rowed off. They went to a secluded but sunny spot up the lake, and there dried themselves as best they could.

“I told you not to do it,” whined Coulter.

“Oh, dry up, you make me tired,” answered Ritter, and for the remainder of the day he and Coulter had little to do with each other.

“What makes you so wet?” asked Paxton, when the pair went back to the camp.

“Oh, we got into a mix-up with some of the cadets and fell overboard,” answered Ritter, in an off-handed manner. “Where have you been?” he added, quickly, to avoid giving further particulars.

“Went up to the head of the lake,” answered Paxton. “And say, I and Mumps made a discovery,” he added. Mumps was, as my old readers know, a small cadet whose real name was John Fenwick. He was a good deal of a sneak and continually toadying to those bigger than himself.

“What did you discover?”

“We found a good big hornets’ nest.”

“Humph! that’s of no account,” was Coulter’s comment

“Isn’t it though! That’s all you know about it,” cried Paxton. “I once found a hornets’ nest and put a big flour bag over it and took it down and brought it to school and had dead loads of fun with it.”

“Say, can you handle ’em that way?” queried Ritter, with interest.

“Certainly, but you have to be awfully careful.”

“Then, it would be a scheme to secure the nest and introduce some of our enemies to the hornets.”

“Just what I was thinking,” said Nick Paxton.

“When can you get the nest?”

“The best time is at night, when the hornets are all inside.”

“You’ll want a good, heavy bag, otherwise the hornets will get out and sting you.”

“I can make a bag, of paper and paste,” said Paxton.

“Well, keep it quiet and we’ll see what we can do with the nest – after we have it,” answered Reff Ritter. “I think I know of a scheme,” he chuckled.

“What?” asked the cadet who had made the find.

“Sooner or later the Ruddy crowd will have some kind of a feast. When they get together we can watch our chance and throw the hornets’ nest in their midst. I reckon that will wake ’em up!”

“It sure will,” said Paxton with a chuckle, and even Coulter had to smile over the prospect of doing such a thing to the enemy.

In the meantime, while this talk was going on, Jack and Andy were walking in the woods back of the encampment. Presently they fell in with Mumps.

“Hello, Mumps!” cried the young major pleasantly. “Walking out for your health?”

“Oh, I’ve been up the lake with Paxton,” answered the little sneak. He liked to be noticed by such a superior as the major of the battalion.

“Well, did you see anything worth seeing?”

“Oh, lots of things. Saw a hornets’ nest.”

“Fall into it?” asked Pepper. “If you did I guess you got out in a hurry.”

“No, I didn’t fall into it. Paxton and I found it.”

“I’ll wager you threw stones at it,” said Jack.

“No, we didn’t touch it. I wanted to throw a stone but Paxton wouldn’t let me. He said – But never mind that now,” added the sneak hastily.

“What did he say, Mumps?” demanded Pepper.

“Oh, well, if you want to know, he said he might come and get the hornets’ nest some time and play a joke on some of the cadets with it. I guess he wants to get square with some of the fellows.”

“Hum, I see,” mused Jack, and he and Pepper looked knowingly at each other. “Where was the hornets’ nest?”

“Oh, Paxton said I wasn’t to tell anybody.”

“You tell me, Mumps, and I’ll give you my old baseball,” said Pepper. He chanced to know that the sneak wanted a ball.

“Well, I’ll tell you, but you musn’t tell Paxton I did so.”

“We won’t say a word,” said The Imp. And thereupon the sneak took him and the young major to where the hornets’ nest was located.

“I’ll give you the ball to-morrow,” said Pepper, on the way back to the camp. “Now, mum’s the word all around remember.”

“I won’t tell anybody I told you,” answered Mumps.

CHAPTER XV

HAZING A BULLY

Pepper and Andy slept close together in one of the tents. That night, about twelve o’clock, each was rudely awakened by having the cot upon which he rested tipped up on one side. Both rolled to the floor and bumped into one another.

“Hi, what’s this?” cried the acrobatic youth.

“Hazing!” returned Pepper. “Will you kindly take your head out of my stomach,” he added.

“Who did it?” asked Andy, as he struggled to get up, a blanket having become twisted about his feet.

“I don’t know – excepting it may be the Reff Ritter crowd,” returned Pepper, rubbing his nose, which had been bumped on the floor.

Cries came from the tent adjoining, and the two boys soon discovered that the cots of a dozen cadets had been turned over. One sufferer’s nose was bleeding, and all of the crowd were more or less angry.

“It was Ritter!” cried one cadet. “I saw him just as he dodged around a corner of the tent.”

“How is it you were awake?” asked another suspiciously.

“I just came in from guard duty. I was on Post 5.”

“Well, if it was the Ritter crowd we ought to get after ’em,” came from Dale.

“How could it be the Ritter crowd?” came from another cadet. “I heard they were going to have a feast to-night.”

“That comes off to-morrow night,” answered Joe Nelson.

As quietly as possible, so as not to disturb Captain Putnam and George Strong, the cadets looked around the various tents of their enemies. They found Ritter in his tent, lying on his cot and snoring loudly.

“He is shamming,” whispered Pepper. “Just wait till I prove it.”

“How will you do it?” asked Dale.

“I’ve got some red ink in a bottle here. I’ll daub his face with that. It’s indelible and it won’t come off for a month. He’ll look like an Indian on the warpath.”

The Imp spoke in a whisper and on tiptoes he approached Reff Ritter. As he bent over the bully the latter sat up very suddenly.

“You let me alone!” he blustered. “Don’t you dare to daub me with your red ink!”

“Ha! so you are wideawake, just as I suspected,” cried Pepper.

“Don’t you touch me with that red ink, Pepper Ditmore!”

“Red ink?” questioned The Imp, innocently. “Who mentioned red ink?”

“You did – but you’re not going to put any on me! I’ll report you if you do!”

“You must be dreaming, Ritter. I haven’t any red ink. I just came in to see if you were awake. Do you usually snore so loudly when you aren’t asleep?”

“Humph! think you’re smart, don’t you?”

“He was shamming true enough!” cried Andy. “Boys,” he went on, addressing his friends. “I move we initiate Ritter into the mysteries of a trip on an airship.”

“Airship?” said the bully. “Who has an airship?”

“That’s the talk!” cried several who understood Andy’s allusion to an “airship.” “Let’s give him his first lesson now.”

In a twinkling Reff Ritter was surrounded and bundled up in his own blanket. Then he was lifted bodily from the cot and taken out of the tent through the back. Six cadets carried him across the field.

Some cadets were still on guard and how to get out of camp was a problem. But Dale solved that question with ease. He gave a low whistle and one of the guards answered it almost instantly.

“Go past Post No. 7,” said Dale. “The guard there will be looking at the stars.”

The others followed his advice. On Post No. 7 Fred Century was stationed. They saw him looking intently up at a bright star, evidently oblivious to his surroundings and, of course, he did not see or notice them.

“Good for Fred!” cried Pepper. “He knows his little book all right!”

Reaching the end of the encampment field, the cadets entered the edge of the woods. Here was a swing which some of the boys had put up the afternoon before.

The rope of the swing was speedily secured, and several cadet belts were placed around Ritter’s waist and under his arms. Then the rope was run under these belts and the other end was thrown over the limb of a big tree.

“Now up with him!” ordered Andy. “Ritter, you’ll soon know how it feels to fly through the air!”

The cadets pulled on the rope with a will and up into the air went Ritter, sprawling out like a frog and turning around and around.

“Hurrah!” shouted one of the cadets. “Reff, how do you enjoy flying?”

“My, but he cuts a pretty figure!” added another.

“Just move your arms and you’ll think you are flying sure,” came from a third.

“Say, you let me down!” growled the bully. “It’s no fun to have these belts cutting you. I’m getting dizzy, too.”

“I guess you can stay there until sunrise!” answered Pepper.

“Sunrise! Not much! You let me down!” howled Ritter.

“We’ll let you down if you’ll apologize for dumping us out of bed and if you’ll promise not to do it again,” said Andy. Nobody had any intention of leaving Ritter suspended in mid-air for any great length of time.

“I’ll apologize to nobody!” cried the bully.

“Then let him hang,” said Dale. “Come on back, fellows.”

He made a move as if to leave the spot and his chums did the same.

“Hi, come back! Don’t leave me!” yelled Ritter, in sudden horror. “I can’t stand it! Let me down!”

“Will you apologize?” demanded several.

“I suppose I’ll have to. But this ain’t fair.”

“Do you apologize?”

“Yes,” was the low answer.

“And do you promise not to do such a thing again?”

“Oh, yes, anything you want, – only let me down,” growled Ritter.

The bully was lowered and the rope and belts were loosened. He was a little dizzy, and sank down on the ground.

“Gi – give me air!” he gasped.

The other cadets fell back, so that he might have all the air he desired. This was the chance the bully wanted and with a bound he arose and commenced to run for camp with all the speed he could command.

“Corporal of the guard!” he yelled, as he dodged past one of the cadets on guard. “Thieves! Robbers! Help!” he went on, and then he dodged into his tent and threw himself on his cot, pretending to be asleep as before.

The loud alarm woke the entire camp, just as the bully had desired, and Captain Putnam came rushing from his tent, followed by George Strong. Then Major Jack appeared and so did Captain Bart Conners and Captain Henry Lee.

“What is the trouble?” demanded Captain Putnam.

“I don’t know, sir,” answered Major Jack, but he suspected that some of the cadets were out for a lark.

“I’ll go the rounds of the guards and find out,” went on the master of the school shortly. He was determined to break up the horseplay if it could possibly be accomplished.

In the meantime Andy, Pepper and the others had not yet gotten into camp. They had to put the swing rope away and distribute the belts, and the sudden alarm given by Ritter had taken them all unawares.

“Say, fellows, we are going to have a tight squeeze of it getting in,” said Pepper, as the alarm increased.

“I didn’t think Ritter would be mean enough to raise such a hullabaloo,” said Dale. “He can’t take a joke.”

“He is sour on our crowd and will do all in his power to get us into trouble,” said Joe.

“We can’t get past Fred again, for there is Captain Putnam making straight for that post!” said another.

“Come on down to the lake front,” said Andy. “But be quick. They may call the roll!”

The cadets skirted the woods on the double-quick and came down to the water’s edge. Here, to their relief, they found Hogan on guard. Hale gave a low whistle, to which the Irish cadet responded. Then up into the air went Emerald’s face and he commenced to study the stars, utterly oblivious to his surroundings.

“This is our chance!” cried Pepper, and past the guard they sped, Hogan paying not the slightest attention to them. After they had passed Dale whistled once more, and the Irish cadet withdrew his gaze from the stars and resumed his march to the end of his post

Scarcely had the boys gotten into camp when the drum rolled out sharply. Wondering what was wrong, those who had been sleeping soundly got up and hurried to the parade ground. Lanterns and torches were lit, and the two companies lined up.

“Have the roll called, Major Ruddy,” said Captain Putnam. “Note carefully the names of all those who do not answer.”

“I will sir,” answered the young officer, and he wondered how many of his chums would prove to be missing.

Pepper dropped into line yawning broadly, as if just aroused from a heavy sleep, and Andy and the others followed suit, Dale stretching himself as if he could not get awake.

“Why don’t they let a fellow sleep?” grumbled The Imp, and this almost set some of the others to laughing.

“Shut up!” said Andy in a low voice. “I want to keep a straight face.”

“Did we all get here?” asked another anxiously.

“I guess so.”

The calling of the roll commenced, and one after another the cadets answered their names. The roll was called by the quartermaster, but George Strong had another roll on which he did the checking, so that Bob might make no mistake or check off some friend who did not answer.

“Eleven cadets missing,” announced George Strong after the roll call had come to an end.

“Eight of those are on guard duty,” answered Major Jack, and had the corporal of the guard give the names. He was wondering who the three other cadets could be.

“That leaves three to account for,” said Captain Putnam. “Who are they?”

George Strong consulted his roll.

“Nicholas Paxton, William Sabine and Frank Barringer.”

“Barringer had permission to go away – his folks are at the Lake Hotel,” answered the master of the school. He raised his voice: “Does anybody know anything about Paxton and Sabine?”

To this question there was no answer.

“We will take a look around the camp and see if we can find them,” said Captain Putnam.

This was done but the two cadets could not be found.

“Paxton said after supper he didn’t feel very well,” said Coulter, lamely. “Maybe he left the camp to look for a doctor.”

“Possibly, but I doubt it,” answered Captain Putnam, dryly.

The cadets were dismissed and told to keep absolutely quiet for the remainder of the night. As they returned to their tents speculation was rife concerning the two missing cadets.

“If they slipped off to one of the lake hotels they will be punished for it,” said Andy.

“Paxton is getting quite sporty,” answered another cadet. “And poor Billy Sabine is just foolish enough to follow his example.”

“I am sorry for Billy,” said Dale. “He is a pretty decent sort sometimes.”

The cadets retired and for about an hour matters in camp were quiet. Then, from the woods, came several screams of terror. A rifle shot rang out, and once more the camp was in an uproar.

CHAPTER XVI

A GAME OF BASEBALL

“What’s the trouble now?”

“Did somebody get shot?”

“Say, this night is the worst yet! Why can’t they let a fellow sleep?”

“If it’s going to keep on like this we better go back to the Hall!”

So the talk ran on, as the cadets rushed out on the parade ground to learn the cause of the new disturbance.

Those to make first appearance beheld Nick Paxton and Billy Sabine running as if some demon was after them. Both were out of breath and shaking with terror.

“Save me!” screamed Billy Sabine, and ran to Captain Putnam and clutched him by the arm frantically.

“What is the trouble, Sabine?” asked the master of the school anxiously.

“It’s a ghost – a madman, a monster!” gasped Sabine. “Oh, don’t let him touch me, please!”

“A ghost?” queried Captain Putnam.

“Yes, sir.”

“It was worse than a ghost,” came from Paxton, when he was able to speak. “Oh, I hope it doesn’t come this way!” And he glanced over his shoulder apprehensively.

“This is nonsense, boys! There are no ghosts.”

“Who fired that shot?” asked George Strong, while a crowd of cadets gathered around to learn what the new alarm meant.

“I did,” said a guard named Leeks. “I called on those fellows to halt, but they didn’t, so I fired to arouse the corporal of the guard.”

“Which was quite right, Leeks,” returned the master of the school. He turned again to Paxton and Sabine. “Now, give me your stories. Where have you been? You had no permission to leave the grounds. We missed you an hour or more ago.”

At these words Paxton and Sabine hung their heads. Sabine looked thoroughly miserable. As my old readers know, he was not naturally bad but was a lad easily led into wrongdoing.

“Cannot you answer me?” demanded the master of the school, after a painful pause.

“Paxton got me to go to a hotel down the lake shore, sir,” said Sabine in a low tone. “I am very sorry I went, sir, and I hope you’ll forgive me, sir. I won’t do it again.” And he gazed pleadingly at Captain Putnam.

“How about this, Paxton?”

“I – er – I went to the hotel because I thought some of my friends were stopping there,” was the lame reply. “As soon as I – er – found my friends weren’t there I came back.”

“Do you usually make calls after midnight?” demanded the master of the school, with fine sarcasm.

“I – er – I didn’t know it was so late, sir. But we would have been back long ago if it wasn’t for that – er – ghost, or worse!” continued Paxton.

“What did you see? Now no fooling, Paxton, or it will go hard with you,” and Captain Putnam’s voice grew extra stern.

“We saw a ghost, or demon, or something, sir. It was horrible!”

“The most frightful thing one could possibly imagine,” broke in Sabine, and his voice commenced to tremble again. “Oh, Captain Putnam, you may not believe it, but it was awful, sir, awful!”

“But what was it?” persisted the master of the school, seeing how much in earnest both cadets were.

“It was like a half-man and a half-beast,” answered Paxton. “It was very large and had a terrible voice. It chased us with a stick that was full of flashes of fire, and both of us thought we were going to be killed.”