The Mystery at Putnam Hall: The School Chums' Strange Discovery Page 4

  CHAPTER II

  THE CADETS OF PUTNAM HALL

  It was true, the team was running away. One of the horses was a spiritedanimal and he now had the bit in his teeth. The boys in the rear of theturnout looked back, to see Peleg Snuggers still lying in the highway.The stage belonging to Pornell Academy had turned down a side road.

  "Can't you stop them, Andy?" asked Jack Ruddy.

  "I don't see how," was the answer from the youth on the front seat. "Ican't get hold of the lines."

  "We must stop 'em somehow!" cried Fred Century. "Otherwise we'll have asmash-up, sure!"

  "Whoa! whoa!" yelled half a dozen, but these cries only served to scarethe team more, and away they shot along the country road, sending thecarryall swaying from side to side.

  "Look! look!" yelled Andy, suddenly. "The regular road is shut off! Theyare repairing it!"

  The boys gazed ahead and saw that some wooden horses and planking hadbeen placed across the highway. This side of the barrier some bars hadbeen taken from a fence, so that those using the road might drivearound, through an orchard belonging to a farmer named Darrison.

  "We are going to strike those planks!" cried Dale Blackmore.

  "Maybe the team will try to jump them!" came from Fred.

  "If they do, they'll smash the carryall sure!" answered Pepper. "Perhapswe had better drop out at the rear."

  "Look out!" sang out somebody, and just then the carryall left thehighway and turned into the orchard. Then came a scraping, as the top ofthe turnout hit the low-hanging branches of some apple trees.

  "Whoa! stop that wagon!" yelled a man's voice, and Amos Darrisonappeared from among the trees. He made a leap for the team, but theyswerved to one side. Then came a crash, as one of the wheels caught in astump. Over went the carryall, with the boys in it. Andy, quick to act,used his acrobatic abilities by leaping into the branches of a nearbytree. Then the farmer caught the team and stopped them.

  "Anybody hurt?" was Pepper's question, as he crawled out of the wreck.

  "I'm all right," answered Fred.

  "I got a twisted ankle, that's all," came from Dale, as he limped out.

  "Look at Jack!" cried several. "He's hurt!"

  All looked and saw the young major of the school battalion lying flat onhis back in the front of the carryall. He had a nasty cut on the templeand his eyes were closed.

  "He is dead!" murmured Pepper, hoarsely.

  "Oh, don't say that!" said Andy, in sudden terror. He had just droppedto the ground.

  "If he ain't dead he's putty badly hurted," said the farmer who ownedthe orchard.

  Pepper caught his chum in his arms and brought him out and laid him onthe grass.

  "He is still breathing!" he cried. "Get some water and we'll bathe hisface. Maybe that will bring him around."

  "I'll get the water!" exclaimed Dale, and ran towards a well located atthe side of the orchard.

  To those who have read the other volumes in this "Putnam Hall Series,"the lads already mentioned will need no special introduction. For thebenefit of others, let me state that Jack Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore wereclose chums, living, when at home, in the western part of New YorkState. Jack was slightly the older of the two and was of rather aserious turn of mind. Pepper was full of fun, and on that account wasfrequently called "The Imp."

  As related in my first volume, entitled "The Putnam Hall Cadets," thelads left home to become cadets at a new institution of learning locatedon Cayuga Lake. This new school was presided over by Captain VictorPutnam, a retired army officer, who had modeled his institution somewhatafter the famous military academy at West Point. It was a large school,ideally located on the shore of the lake, and had attached to it agymnasium, a boathouse, and several other buildings. On the lower floorof the main building were the classrooms, the mess-hall, and theoffices, and upstairs were the dormitories.

  Arriving at the school, Jack and Pepper soon made a host of friends,including the acrobatic Andy Snow; Dale Blackmore, who was a greatfootball player; Paul Singleton, who was usually called "Stuffer"because of his constant desire to eat; Joseph Hogan, commonly addressedas "Emerald" because of his Irish blood, and Joe Nelson, who was one ofthe best scholars the school ever had. They also made some enemies, thegreatest of them being Reff Ritter, the big bully, and Gus Coulter andNick Paxton, his cronies.

  Not long after the students learned how to drill and to march they wereallowed to ballot for officers. A bitter contest was waged, whichresulted in Jack being chosen major of the Hall battalion. A bully namedDan Baxter had wanted to be major, and he bribed Gus Coulter and someothers to vote for him, but without avail. It may be added here thatBaxter was now away on a vacation, but had written that he was going toreturn to the school before long.

  During their first term at Putnam Hall the chums had several adventures,not the least of which was one in the woods, where they rescued GeorgeStrong, one of the teachers, from two of his relatives who were insane.

  Mr. Strong's ancestry dated back to the Revolution, and he told thecadets about a family treasure buried in the vicinity of the lake. Howthe boys went in search of the treasure, and how they had numerous otheradventures, was related in the second volume of this series, called "ThePutnam Hall Rivals."

  With the coming of the next summer, the thoughts of the students turnedto various sports, and in the third volume, "The Putnam Hall Champions,"I told how the chums entered several contests, both on land and on thelake, and won out. At that time Fred Century was a pupil at PornellAcademy, but Fred became so disgusted at the actions of Roy Bock, BatSedley, and some others, that he quit the rival institution of learningand came to Putnam Hall, where he was given a warm welcome.

  The encounters that Jack and his chums had with Reff Ritter and hiscronies were numerous, and more than once Ritter did his best to get theyoung major into serious trouble. Once he drugged Jack with some Frenchheadache powders, and when he was exposed Captain Putnam would haveexpelled him had not Jack very generously asked that he be given anotherchance. For this any ordinary youth would have been grateful, butgratitude did not appear to be a part of Reff Ritter's make-up, and hesoon showed himself to be as mean as ever.

  For some time matters ran along smoothly at Putnam Hall, but then cametrouble of an entirely new kind. Once, during the absence of CaptainPutnam and George Strong, the school was left in charge of two otherteachers--Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle. Crabtree was dictatorialto a degree and Cuddle was a man of queer ideas, one being that boys ateentirely too much.

  As told in the volume called "The Putnam Rebellion," the two teacherssought to subdue the boys by starving them and locking them in theirdormitories. They rebelled, left the school by stealth, and marchedaway, to camp in the woods. There the rebels split up, one party underMajor Jack and the other under Ritter. At last Captain Putnam put in anappearance, and Major Jack explained matters. As a consequence, thecadets went back to the Hall, and then Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton werecalled on to explain. Crabtree was retained, after a stern lecture fromthe master of the school, but Cuddle was discharged.

  It was Captain Putnam's custom to take his students out once or twice ayear to what was called an encampment--the lads marching to some spotwhere they could pitch their tents and go in for a touch of real armylife, with target shooting, sham battles, and the like. In the nextvolume of the series, called "The Putnam Hall Encampment," I told howthe cadets left the Hall and marched to a distant lake. Their campingoutfit was sent ahead by wagons, but the wagons got lost, and werefinally found in the possession of Roy Bock and some other students ofPornell, they having made off with them while the drivers were in aroadhouse obtaining refreshments. For this trick, Pepper and some of theothers got after the Pornellites and made them prisoners in a cave, fromwhich they could escape only by going out a back way, through somewater and mud, and thorny bushes.

  While they were playing a certain trick in Cedarville, Jack and Pepperfell in with a youth named Bert Field. He was a queer lad, but did thechums a
good turn, and in return they promised to help him. He wastrying to locate a certain old man who was defrauding him out of someproperty. The old man was discovered during a visit to a mysterious millsaid to be haunted, and by the chums' aid Bert Field got what was comingto him. It was thought best to send Bert to school, and he said hewanted to go to Putnam Hall.

  "We'll be glad to have him with us," said Jack, and so it was settled.

  Following the encampment had come the regular summer vacation, and thecadets had scattered far and wide, Jack and Pepper going for a cruisearound the Great Lakes, and Andy and Dale going to Asbury Park andAtlantic City. Reff Ritter had started for a summer in the Adirondacks,but unexpected word from home, of which more will be said later, hadcaused him to give up the outing.