"Then the captain is making a sad mistake, and I feel it my duty
to rectify it. Take a saucedish and put half of the food on it, and
then eat what is left on your plate and no more."
After that there was
silence, but many of the cadets looked at each other meaningly. Here was a
brand-new experience. When they got out on the campus they gathered to talk
it over.
"Cut me off on food!" snorted Stuffer. "Say, if this thing keeps
up I'll go home. Why, I ain't had half enough to eat!"
"Poor Stuffer!"
cried Pepper. "Now see what you get for pampering your stomach!"
"I
wanted some more rice pudding but I didn't dare to ask for it,"
said Dale.
"I wanted some more meat," came from Bart Conners. "But he
wouldn't let the waiter bring me any. I think this is the
limit!"
"What made me mad was the way Reff Ritter grinned at me from the
next table," continued Stuffer. "He had all he wanted to eat, for they
had Mr. Strong there."
"Too bad Mr. Strong is going away," was Jack's
comment. "I hope he doesn't stay long."
"When does he go?" inquired
another pupil.
"To-morrow."
"The only thing this Cuddle knows is
lessons," said Dale. "There is no denying he is learned--more so even than
old Crabtree. But I must say I like him even less than Crabtree--and that is
saying a whole lot."
"I don't see how Captain Putnam came to pick him
out," said Henry Lee. "There are plenty of good teachers to be
had."
"He came well recommended," answered Jack. "I heard Mr. Strong say
so."
"Humph! Wish he had stayed home," growled Pepper. "If this sort of
thing keeps on, I'll rebel."
"So will I!" cried Andy.
And
several others said the same. Little did they dream then, however, of the
rebellion so close at hand, and of the adventures which were
to follow.
CHAPTER
VII AN ENCOUNTER ON THE LAKE
"I am going
out for a sail," said Jack, on Saturday afternoon. "Will you go along,
Pep?"
"Certainly," was the ready response. "Anybody else
going?"
"Yes, Dale and Stuffer. Fred Century is going out in his boat
too, and take several others of our crowd."
"Going to race
again?"
"I don't think so," answered the young major. "He hasn't said
anything. Of course I'll race him if he wants to."
As my old readers
know, there had been in the past two races between the _Alice_, the sloop
owned by Jack, and the _Ajax_, the craft belonging to Fred Century. These had
taken place while Fred was a student at Pornell Academy. In the first race a
sudden gust of wind capsized the _Ajax_ and Jack and his chums had to go to
the rescue of Fred and his friends. In the second race, which included
another sloop belonging to a young man who lived near the two schools, the
_Alice_ came in ahead, with the _Ajax_ second. On this race Roy Bock and his
cronies lost considerable money by betting, and they circulated a story that
Fred had "sold out" to the Putnam Hall boys. This caused a great rumpus, and
a fight in which Bock and several other Pornell students got a good drubbing.
Then Fred had a bitter interview with Doctor Pornell, and left the
Academy and came to Putnam Hall.
The two sloops, looking very much
alike, now that both flew the colors of the Hall, were soon standing up the
lake in a breeze which was just sufficient to fill the sails. Each carried a
party of four, and all the boys were in the best of spirits in spite of
another "run in" with Pluxton Cuddle over the matter of eating.
"Jack,
if you don't mind, I'll race you for a couple of miles!" sang out Fred, who
was handling the tiller of the _Ajax_.
"Want to get beat again?" asked
the young major, with a grin.
"No, I want to prove to you that the _Ajax_
is just as good a sloop as the _Alice_."
"All right, I'll race if you
want to. What's the course?"
"From here to Borden's Cove, if you don't
mind."
"Want to capsize again?" questioned Pepper.
"No, I know
enough to take in sail now," answered Fred.
"All right!" sang out the
owner of the _Alice_. "What's the prize for winning?"
"A quart of
baked ice-cream," answered Fred merrily.
"Add a dozen stuffed pancakes
fried in ice and I'll go you!" called the young major. "Are you
ready?"
"Yes."
"Then go! And catch me if you can!"
"Catch
me, you mean!" yelled Fred, and then both skippers settled down to handle
their respective craft as best they knew how. Each had his topsail broken
out, and each made his passengers sit so as to make his sloop ride on as even
a keel as possible.
It was a beautiful day for a race, warm and clear,
with scarcely a cloud in the sky.
"I know what I'd like," said Pepper,
as they bowled along over the course. "I'd like to take a swim. I know the
water must be dandy."
"I'll be with you--after this race is over,"
answered Dale.
Side by side the two sloops kept on the course until Cat
Point was rounded. Then the _Ajax_ began slowly to crawl
ahead.
"There! What did I tell you!" cried Fred Century. "See how we are
going ahead!"
"This race isn't over yet," answered Jack.
They
had passed the spot where the mishap had occurred to the _Ajax_ and were now
heading directly for Borden's Cove. Soon the _Alice_ began to crawl up and
presently passed the _Ajax_. Those on Jack's craft gave a cheer.
"You
can't beat the _Alice_, Fred!"
"If you want a tow we'll throw you a
rope!"
"Wait, this race isn't over yet!" called Fred, and swung his
tiller over a little. At once his sloop began to move faster, and soon the
two craft were side by side again. And this position they kept until the Cove
was gained and the race had come to an end.
"We'll have to call it a
tie!" declared the young major.
"A tie it is," answered the owner of the
_Ajax_. "But some day I'll beat you yet," he added, with a determined shake
of his head.
"Well, I'd rather be beat by you than anybody else on this
lake, Fred," said Jack.
"Thank you, that's a nice thing to
say."
"I mean it."
"I believe you, Jack, and I'd rather come in
behind the _Alice_ than behind any other sloop," added Fred. "My opinion is
that our boats are both crackerjacks."
"Right you are," came from
Pepper.
"If you want to give them away, I'll take either," said Andy,
with an innocent look, and this remark caused a general laugh.
The
boys found a secluded spot, and tying up the two sloops, went ashore and
began to get ready for a swim. Soon Pepper plunged into the clear water and
Andy and the others followed. It felt a trifle cold at first, but they soon
got used to it, and they dove, splashed, and swam around to their hearts'
content.
"Come on and race!" sang out Pepper, presently.
"Done!"
called Dale, and side by side they struck out for a distant rock. The others
joined in, and in a few minutes all were some distance away from where they
had left the sloops and their clothing.
In the meantime a large gasolene
motor boat had come up the shore of the lake. It contained a pleasure party
from Pornell Academy, including Roy Bock, Grimes, Gussic, Sedley, and several
others. The motor boat was an easy-running affair and under reduced speed
made little noise, so the swimmers did not notice its
approach.
"Hello, I see two sloops in the Cove," remarked Roy
Bock.
"One of 'em is Fred Century's boat," said Grimes.
"Yes, and
the other is the boat belonging to Jack Ruddy," added Gussic. "Nobody on
board," he went on, after a close look.
"They must have gone ashore,"
remarked Sedley.
"There they are, over by that rock, swimming," said Will
Carey, who was present.
The motor boat had come to a stop and now the
wind blew it inshore behind a clump of overhanging bushes. From this point
those on board watched the antics of the swimmers for several
moments.
"I've got an idea!" cried Roy Bock suddenly.
"So have I!"
added Grimes.
"We'll tow their sloops out into the lake and cast them
adrift."
"I was going to take their clothes and hide them."
"Say,
let's do both!" put in Will Carey.
"We want to be careful," added another
student who was present. "If we get caught----"
"We weren't caught the
other day, when we turned Putnam Hall inside out."
"That's so,--but
the cadets are close by now."
"I have it. We can tie something over our
faces, and over the name of the motor boat," said Gussic.
This advice
was acted on, and then two of the boys stole ashore and gathered up the heaps
of wearing apparel Jack and his chums had left there. In the meantime Roy
Bock got out some ropes, with which to tow away the _Ajax_ and the
_Alice_.
"If this won't put them in a pickle nothing will," said the
bully of Pornell Academy. "Miles from their school and nothing to
wear!"
"It's the best joke we ever played on them," answered
Gussic.
"Hurry up, you fellows!" called Roy Bock to those who were
gathering up the clothing. "Be quick!"
"Stop! stop!" yelled a voice
suddenly, and from some bushes rushed Joe Nelson, a trowel in one hand and
some wild plants in another. "What are you doing with that clothing? Who does
it belong to?"
"Confound it, who is this chap?" muttered one of the
Pornell students who had come ashore.
"I don't know," answered the
other.
"Help!" yelled Joe. "Some fellows running off with this clothing!
Cadets ahoy!" For he saw that the bundles contained Putnam Hall
uniforms.
"What's up?" called back Jack. He swam to a rock. "Well, I
never!" he gasped, looking into the Cove.
"What do you see?"
questioned Pepper, anxiously.
"Some fellows at our clothing! And look,
there's a motor boat!"
"Yes, and tying fast to our sloops!" gasped Fred
Century. "Stop, you thieves!" he bawled.
"Let that clothing alone!"
commanded Joe, and ran forward with his trowel uplifted as if it was a
dagger. "Drop them, I say, or somebody will get hurt!"
His attitude
was so fierce that the students from Pornell Academy let the bundles fall and
ran back to the motor boat with all speed. Bock was also alarmed, both at the
shouts from shore and from the swimmers at a distance, and had shoved off, so
the pair had to wade in up to their knees to get on board.
"Going to
leave us behind, Roy?" demanded one, angrily.
"No, but we haven't any
time to waste," said the bully. "Here they come, like a band of wild
Indians!"
And Jack and his chums certainly did look like wild men as they
rushed along the shore, catching up rocks as they did so.
"Stop, or
I'll hit you with a stone!" called out Pepper, and then let fly a missile
that whizzed so close to Roy Bock's head that the bully dodged. More stones
followed, thrown by Jack and the other swimmers and by Joe Nelson, and
several students on the motor boat were hit.
"Don't! don't!" screamed
Will Carey. "You may kill somebody!"
"Then leave those sloops alone!"
called Jack.
"We know you, Roy Bock," added Fred. "And you too, Gussic
and Carey. You clear out mighty quick, or you'll get into
trouble."
"We have a right to come here if we want to," growled Bock,
seeing that the chance to play the Putnam Hall lads a trick had
passed.
"Perhaps. But you have no right to touch our boats," answered
Jack.
"Nor our clothing," added Andy. "Joe, how is it that you are here?"
he went on.
"I was digging plants in the woods when I heard some
talking," answered Joe Nelson. "I came to the shore just in time to see two
of that crowd gathering up your clothing."
"I see. Well, it was lucky
you arrived."
"We found the boats deserted," said Sedley. "We were going
to tow them down to your dock."
"Tell that to your grandmother,
Sedley," retorted Dale. "You were going to run away with the sloops--and run
away with our clothing too."
"It's on a level with the joke you played at
Putnam Hall the other day," added Stuffer.
"What joke?" demanded
Grimes.
"You know well enough."
"I don't know anything," retorted
the Pornell student uneasily.
"Perhaps you don't know how we found you
out," added Jack, pinching Pepper's arm.
"And perhaps you don't know
that Captain Putnam is going to swear out a warrant for your arrest," added
The Imp, as he returned Jack's pinch.
"Our arrest!" cried Roy Bock, in
consternation.
"That's what I said."
"He won't dare to do it. If
he does--well, we haven't forgotten how you came to our school one night and
stole all our trophies."
"You just wait and see what he does," said Jack,
calmly. And then he started to dress and his chums did the same. Roy Bock
wanted to talk some more, but the young major cautioned his chums to keep
silent, and at last the motor boat and its occupants moved away across the
lake.
"Well, we've found them out," declared Pepper. "They are
responsible for that rough-housing right enough!"
"Yes, and we have
them guessing as to what Captain Putnam is going to do about it," answered
Jack with a grin. "Maybe they won't sleep much to-night, thinking it
over!"
"We must get square on them, for that and for their attempt to
take our boats and our clothing," declared Dale.
"You bet we will!"
declared Andy; and all of the others agreed with
him.
CHAPTER
VIII STARCHING AND BLUEING
"To get square
with those Pornell fellows means two things," remarked Jack, as the boys
proceeded to push off and out of the Cove. "One is to do something worth
while, and the other is to keep Captain Putnam in the dark about the
rough-house affair. If we raise a row about that----"
"The Pornell
students will raise a row if we do anything and are found out," finished
Andy.
"Right you are."
"Well, I guess we can keep still, since the
captain has admitted he thinks Bob Grenwood innocent of the affair," remarked
Dale.
On the arrival at the Hall the two sloops were tied up at the dock,
and the boys drifted down to the gymnasium, where Andy did some
wonderful "stunts" on the rings and bars. Jack drew some of his chums aside
and in a corner it was discussed how accounts might be "squared up" with
the Pornellites.
"I know what I'd like to do," grumbled Stuffer. "I'd
like to present them with Pluxton Cuddle. They could have him and
welcome."
"What, have you had more trouble?" questioned
Pepper.
"Indeed I have! What do you think! I was eating some candy I
bought in town last week and he told me to throw it away--that it would ruin
my digestion!"
"That's fierce," said Hogan. "Sure, and where is this
tyranny to stop, I don't know! Next thing ye know he won't let us eat at all,
at all!"
"I move we give Cuddle a lesson--after we get through with
Pornell," said Bart Conners, and this suggestion was hailed with satisfaction
by all present.
One of the boys had learned that a number of Pornell
students were going to a party on the following Wednesday afternoon. The
affair was to be given by a number of girls at a place called Lakelawn, a
mile from the Academy. Among the invited guests were Bock and several of his
cronies.
"And what do you think!" said the cadet who gave this news.
"Reff Ritter, Coulter and Paxton are also invited and I believe they are to
go too."
"We ought to do something to spoil that fun," said
Andy.
"Let us think it over," answered Jack.
On Monday afternoon
Pepper learned through Mumps that Ritter, Coulter and Paxton had accepted the
invitation to Lakelawn and expected to have a "large time," to use Ritter's
own words.
At the time the school sneak gave this information to Pepper
the latter was eating candy from a bag he had purchased. Mumps wanted some of
that candy and he lingered around even after Pepper had given him
several chocolates.
"Say," he said finally. "Give me some more
chocolates and I'll tell you something very important."
"What about,
Mumps?"
"About Ritter and his crowd."
"But you have just told me
about them."
"This is something different."
"Well, let me have
it."
"Will you give me the chocolates?"
"Yes,--if the news is of
importance."
"How many?"
"All there are left in the bag." The Imp
twisted the top of the candy bag shut as he spoke.
"All right." The
school sneak looked around the hall, to make certain nobody was listening.
"Ritter and his crowd are going to do you up brown to-night," he said
coarsely.
"Do us up brown? What do you mean?" And now Pepper was all
attention.
"I don't know any particulars. But I heard Reff say that, when
he was talking to Coulter, Paxton and Sabine. I think they are going to
visit your dormitory after you are asleep."
"What else did they
say?"
"I didn't catch much, for Reff saw me and ordered me away. I heard
them mention starch. He told some kind of a joke about putting the starch
in you instead of taking it out."
"Hum!" mused Pepper. "Is that
all?"
"Yes. But don't say I told you, please!" pleaded Mumps.
"I
won't. And here is the candy."
The Imp held out the bag and the sneak
snatched it eagerly, and looked inside.
"Huh!" he said, indignantly.
"There is only one chocolate in the bag!"
"I gave you all I had
left--just as I promised," answered Pepper with a grin, and walked away,
leaving the sneak much crestfallen.
Pepper lost no time in hunting up
Jack and some of the others and relating all he had heard.
"We must be
on our guard to-night," said the young major.
"What do you make of this
talk about starch?" asked Andy.
"I know that to-day is wash day and the
wash-women in the laundry are using a lot of starch," answered Jack. "Maybe
Ritter and his gang think to steal some and use it."
"Gracious! if
they do that I know what I'll do!" cried Pepper, struck by a sudden
idea.
"What?"
"If they try to starch us why can't we blue them? We
can get some of the blueing balls from the laundry, and----"
"Good?
Just the cheese!" cried Dale. "Blueing is better than starching any day!" And
he laughed gleefully.
The boys laid their plans with care, and retired to
their dormitory at an early hour. They had a little studying to do and got
through with their lessons as speedily as possible.
"Now I am going
out and play enemy," said Pepper, when it was time to retire. "Remember, when
I whistle it means get busy!" And he stole forth out of the dormitory and
down the semi-dark hallway with the silence of a shadow.
When he
reached the doorway of the room Ritter and his cronies occupied he paused and
listened intently. A low murmur of voices reached his ears.
"Are you
fellows all ready?" he heard Ritter ask, presently.
"Yes," was the
general answer.
"Everybody got his can of starch?"
"I couldn't get
any more starch so I got mucilage," answered Paxton. "I reckon it will be
just as sticky."
The others said they had starch, and then Reff Ritter
came to the door and opened it softly. Pepper was too quick for him, however,
and hid out of sight around an angle of the hall.
The conspirators had
scarcely left the dormitory when Pepper entered it and spent several minutes
inside. Then he came out on the run, a handkerchief tied over his
face.
In the meantime Ritter and his crowd had entered the room Jack and
the others occupied. They were about to pour the cans of starch and
mucilage over the beds, where they supposed the cadets were reposing,
when something unexpected happened. From out of two closets leaped Jack,
Andy and the others, each with a wet and knotted towel in his
hand.
"At them, fellows!" cried the young major. And whack! came his wet
towel on Reff Ritter's head, sending the water flying into his
face.
"Hi! stop!" roared the bully, taken completely off his
guard.
Whack! whack! whack! went the wet and knotted towels, and every
one of the intruders received several cracks on the head and in the face.
The cloths were so saturated with moisture that the water flew in
all directions, wetting them completely. Ritter and his crowd were
so bewildered they knew not what to do and forget all about using the
cans of starch. Coulter let his can drop and then slipped on the
contents, pulling another boy down on top of him.
"Hi, Ritter, get
back to your room! Old Crabtree is coming!" called out Pepper in a disguised
voice from the hallway, and then, more scared than ever, the bully turned and
darted from the dormitory and his cohorts followed. In the darkness Pepper
tripped the bully up, sending him headlong on his nose. Then Pepper darted
into the dormitory, and the door was shut and locked.
"That's the time
we caught them on the fly," cried Jack, joyously. "My, but didn't we give it
to 'em good!"
"I hope you wet them all," said Pepper.
"We did,"
answered Andy.
"Then they'll have a fine time drying themselves--if they
get hold of the towels I fixed up," grinned The Imp.
They waited and
heard Ritter and his cronies enter the dormitory at the end of the hallway.
Then they stole forth, Pepper leading the way.
"Who said Crabtree was
coming?" they heard Ritter ask.
"Must have been some friend from another
dormitory," answered Billy Sabine. "Ugh! I'm soaked through!" And he
shivered.
"Don't say a word, I got a crack right in the nose and it's
bleeding," growled Coulter.
"What, the crack or the nose?" queried
Paxton grimly.
"Huh, this ain't no time to joke! Where is there a
towel?"
Towels were handy--Pepper had seen to that--and one after another
of those in the dormitory caught up a cloth and began to wipe the
water from his face and neck. They were doing this vigorously by a dim
light when of a sudden Coulter let out a yell.
"What's the matter with
your face, Paxton?" he asked.
"My face? Nothing, only it's mighty
wet."
"It's as blue as indigo!"
"Eh?"
"It's as blue as
indigo and all streaked!"
Nick Paxton ran to a glass and gave a look. But
before he could say a word Reff Ritter gave a cry.
"My hands are all
blue--and so is my nose!"
"I'm blue too!" ejaculated Billy Sabine. "Oh,
what has happened to us?"
"Maybe they had blue paint in those towels,"
suggested Coulter. "Gosh, if this ain't fierce! We look like a lot of painted
Indians!"
"So we do!" cried another student. "Wonder if it will wash
off?"
Reff Ritter turned up the light and examined a towel
closely.
"I see what it is!" he cried. "Somebody has put blueing powder
all over the towels. The water has made a regular dye of it!"
"Oh!"
came in a groaning chorus.
"Will the--the blueing wash off?" asked
Paxton, in a faint voice.
"I don't think all of it will--it's too
strong," answered Ritter. "I'll bet this is some of the Ruddy crowd's work,"
he added bitterly.
Just then a sheet of paper was thrust under the door.
Coulter picked it up. A patter of footsteps could be heard in the
distance.
"A note," said Coulter. "I'll wager it is from those
fellows."
He brought the sheet of paper to the light and read it, the
others gazing over his shoulders. On the sheet was written:
"Thank
you very much for the starching. We return the compliment by doing the
blueing."
"I told you so!" growled Reff Ritter. "Blueing indeed? If we
can't get this stuff off we won't want to show ourselves in the
classrooms to-morrow!"
"And what about the party at Lakelawn?" groaned
Gus Coulter. "Don't forget that, Reff!"
"If we can't clean up we'll
have to stay at home. I don't want to go looking like a bluejay, do
you?"
"We'll have to get square with the Ruddy crowd for this," said
Paxton. "Oh, what a mess!" And he did his best to get the blueing from his
face.
"Just wait, that's all!" answered Reff Ritter, savagely. "I'll
get square if it takes a thousand
years!"
CHAPTER
IX WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ICE HOUSE
The next
morning Reff Ritter had to excuse himself, and he did not come downstairs all
day. Some of the blueing had gotten on his nose and refused to come off.
Paxton and Coulter appeared, and they looked "blue" in more ways than
one.
"We are going to square up some day!" growled Coulter, when he
met Pepper. "Just wait, that's all!"
"Look out that you don't burn
your fingers doing it," answered The Imp. "Remember, we can give you as good
as you send, every time!"
Coulter and Paxton still had some of the
blueing on them and some of the cadets not in the secret wanted to know what
was the trouble.
"Oh, we had some blue ink and it got spilled," answered
Paxton, and that was all he and Coulter would say. When Captain Putnam went
upstairs to call on Ritter and make sure he was not seriously sick the bully
told the same story.
"Well, be careful the next time," said the master
of the Hall, and he left Ritter in deep thought. He felt almost certain some
kind of a joke had been played, but he did not wish to investigate, having
his hands full with other things. George Strong had departed, having received
a special message of importance, and the captain himself had to leave
the school the following Monday, to go to Chicago.
In a roundabout way
Jack and his chums learned that Reff Ritter, Coulter and Paxton were going to
attend the lawn party in spite of the blueing that still showed on their
hands and faces, and they at once set to work to see what could be done
toward having more fun.
"This is going to be rather a delicate
proceeding," said the young major. "Remember, we have two crowds to deal
with--Ritter's and Roy Bock's."
"Perhaps we had better divide our
forces?" suggested Dale.
"I've got a plan, but I don't know if it can be
carried out," said Pepper. "To my mind, Ritter and Bock are quite
friendly."
"Yes, it's a case of one bully loving another," chimed in
Stuffer. "They are thick, and so are Coulter and Gussic and
Grimes."
"Then perhaps I can get this plan to work after all," went on
The Imp, and then he told the others of his scheme. This was nothing more
than to send a letter to Bock asking him and his cronies to meet Ritter at
a certain ice-house on the lake front, at two o'clock--just an hour
before the party was to come off. Another letter was to be sent to
Ritter asking him to meet Bock and his crowd at the same place, but a
little earlier.
The letters were written without delay and a farm boy
of that vicinity was hired to deliver them both at noon on the day the party
was to come off. Each letter spoke of "a way to fix Ruddy and his crowd," and
was unsigned.
As Pepper anticipated, Bock and Ritter and their cohorts
fell into the trap readily. Each bully was more than anxious to learn of
something whereby he might do the young major and his chums
injury.
"Ritter is a fine fellow," said Roy Bock, to his cronies. "He
hates Ruddy and those other chaps like poison, too. He must have
something great up his sleeve." And the others agreed this must be so; and
all voted to stop at the ice-house on the way to the lawn party.
On
the other hand, Ritter was equally enthusiastic, and so were Coulter and
Paxton.
"We'll work with the Pornell fellows in this," said the Hall
bully. "I always liked Bock, and if he will show us how to turn a trick on
Ruddy I'll like him better than ever."
It was no easy matter for Jack,
Pepper and the others to get away early on the day the lawn party was to be
held. Yet they managed it by various excuses, and then met back of the
gymnasium, and hurried at top speed to the ice house.
The structure
was empty, the last of the former winter's ice having been removed the week
before. It was a large and gloomy place, and scattered around were many tons
of wet sawdust.
"Now boys, follow my directions and be quick about it!"
cried Pepper. "Andy, you keep an eye open and let us know as soon as you see
anybody. Jack, here's your make-up," and as he finished speaking he handed
over a suit of plain clothes and a hat, such as Bock was in the habit
of wearing. These the young major donned with all speed, and pulled
down his hair over his forehead, in the style Bock affected. This done, at
a distance he resembled the bully of Pornell Academy.
The cadets set
to work doing various things in the ice house that Pepper suggested. Hardly
had they completed their labors when Andy gave a low whistle.
"Ritter
and his crowd are coming!" he called, as he came into the building.
It
was now that Jack acted. He ran to the doorway, and seeing Ritter at a
distance waved his hand wildly.
"Hurry up! You're late!" he called out,
imitating Bock's voice as much as possible.
Not dreaming that anything
was wrong, Reff Ritter and his cronies quickened their pace and soon came up
to the ice house.
"Where are you?" called out Coulter.
"Here,
inside," was the muffled answer. "Come in, the place is empty."
Ritter
entered, followed by Coulter and Paxton. They saw somebody move at the rear
end of the building and started in that direction. Each had hardly taken a
dozen steps when he found himself attacked from behind. A long bag was thrown
over his head and pulled to his knees and tied fast there.
"Hi, you!
What does this mean?" roared Ritter, trying in vain to clear himself of the
bag. Then he commenced to cough, for the bag was full
of dust.
"Silence--unless you want to be buried deep in the sawdust,"
commanded Jack, in a heavy, unnatural voice.
"Do--don't!" spluttered
Paxton. "If yo--you bury us in that we--we'll smother to
death!"
"Wh--who are you fel--fellows?" gasped Coulter.
"We are
the Pornell Academy boys, and we mean to keep you from that party," answered
Andy, in a voice that sounded much like that of Grimes.
"Confound the
luck!" growled Reff Ritter. "Say, Bock, this isn't fair. You said in the
letter you would help us to get Jack Ruddy into trouble."
"Ha! ha! you
were nicely fooled!" laughed Jack, still disguising
his voice.
"March!" ordered Pepper.
"I won't budge!" cried
Paxton.
Scarcely had he spoken when he felt a whip lash across his
legs.
"Ouch! Oh, let up! I'll march!" he whined. "Don't lash me
again, please!"
As they were absolutely helpless with the strong bags
tied down to their knees, Ritter Coulter and Paxton had to do as commanded,
and they were marched out of a back door of the ice house and to a grove of
trees some distance away.
"Hurry up, boys!" whispered Pepper, to his
chums. "Somebody is coming down the road. It must be the Pornell Academy
crowd!"
In a twinkling the prisoners were tied with ropes to several
trees. Then Jack led the way back to the ice house. Here Pepper went to the
front, while the major resumed his uniform.
"Say, you fellows!" cried
Pepper, as soon as he was sure of the party approaching. "Don't be all day!
Hurry up!" |
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