Kitabı oku: «The Putnam Hall Cadets: or, Good Times in School and Out», sayfa 10
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE RESULTS OF A FIRE
That morning Dan Baxter did not appear and it was reported that he was sick.
“He acts to me as if he were going to die,” announced Mumps, when appealed to. “I don’t know exactly what is the matter with him.”
“Can this be true?” asked Pepper of Jack. “I’d hate to think that Baxter got sick through what we did to him.”
“More than likely he is shamming,” said the young major, and he was right. But to make sure Captain Putnam sent for Doctor Framley, a physician of Cedarville, who made a careful examination.
“He is nervous, as if he had been frightened, that is all,” announced the medical man. “Let him keep quiet for a day or two.”
Baxter had hoped to scare his tormentors into thinking that they were responsible for a serious spell of sickness. When this plan failed he quickly got around as before. He tried his best to find out who had hazed him, but the cadets kept their secret well.
On the day following the hazing Jack chanced to go down to the lake front. He was just entering the boathouse when, to his astonishment, two men stepped forth. They were the individuals he had seen several times on the mysterious sloop.
“Say, what do you want here?” he demanded, but instead of replying the men hurried away, up the lake, and then in the direction of Cedarville.
“Well, of all the mysteries I ever struck,” exclaimed the young major. “Now, what can those chaps be up to? This is at least the third or fourth time they have come here, and nobody seems to know anything about them.”
When Jack returned to the Hall he lost no time in visiting Captain Putnam’s office.
“Perhaps you’ll laugh at me, sir,” he said. “But I want to report those two men again.”
“Again!” cried the master of Putnam Hall. “Where did you see them?”
“At the boathouse. I went down there for a skate strap. They were just coming out.”
“Did you speak to them?”
“Yes, I asked them what they wanted. They didn’t answer, and hurried away on the Cedarville road.”
“Did they take anything out of the boathouse?”
“I don’t know.”
“I must assuredly investigate this, Major Ruddy. Let us go to the boathouse together.”
This was done and they took a careful look around. Nothing was missing.
“Why can’t we follow them up once?” questioned Jack. “We ought to be able to overtake them in a cutter.”
“A good idea. I’ll have Snuggers get a cutter ready at once. Get your overcoat and your gloves.”
In a few minutes they were on the way, the captain driving and Jack sitting by his side. They drove all the way to the village, but saw nothing of the men.
“Perhaps they turned off on a side road,” said the young major.
“It is possible.”
There was nothing to do but to return to Putnam Hall. This they did; and for the time being the subject was dropped.
At the end of the week, Jack, Pepper, Andy, and Dale got permission to visit Cedarville, one to buy a pair of skates, and the others to get various things. They set out on foot, thinking nothing of the rather long walk before them.
Just before reaching Cedarville they came to a side road, leading to a spot called Brierroot Grove. A short distance up the road was a two-story cottage, located behind a hedge of boxwood.
“Look!” cried Andy, pointing to the cottage, “Am I mistaken, or is that place on fire?”
“It’s the chimney smoking,” answered Pepper.
“No, it’s a fire coming up through the roof around the chimney!” burst out Jack.
“Let us go to the fire!” sang out Dale, and suiting the action to the word, he turned down the side road, and the others followed at his heels.
By the time they reached the cottage the place was burning fiercely throughout the second story and around the roof.
“I don’t see anybody,” said Pepper. “Perhaps the place isn’t occupied.”
“Maybe tramps set it on fire,” suggested Dale.
“I see two men!” cried Jack. “Well, I never!”
“What is it, Jack?”
“The men from the sloop! Here is where they must have been putting up!”
The cadets ran into the yard of the house and to the front door. They had seen the two men pass in and out, carrying some furniture.
“How did this start?” called out Pepper to one of the men.
At this cry both men turned around to gaze at the youths. Then one spoke to the other in a low tone, and off they ran to the rear of the cottage, leaped a rail fence, and disappeared from view in the woods.
“Stop!” yelled Jack, but the men paid no attention.
“They are the queerest chaps I ever met!” declared Pepper. “I believe they must be crazy.”
“Help! help!” came in a weak cry from the cottage.
“Somebody is in there!” said Dale.
“It’s a woman,” returned Jack. “Come on!” And he ran into the cottage.
The others followed. The smoke was growing thick, and at first they could see nothing. Then they saw an old woman with a crutch, trying to hobble down a pair of stairs.
“Don’t let me burn up!” she screamed. “Don’t let me burn up!”
Running to the old woman, Jack caught her in his arms. It was an easy matter to carry her to the open air. Here he sat her down on an old horse-block which was clear of snow. She was trembling so she could not speak.
It was easily to be seen that the cottage was doomed. The village of Cedarville boasted of nothing better than an old hand engine and a bucket brigade, and to get the engine through the snow was next to impossible.
“Let us take out what furniture we can,” said Jack, and this they did, and also carried out some clothing, a lamp and a few pictures. While the building was burning a crowd of thirty or forty folks collected.
“It don’t belong to the old woman,” said one of the farmers to Jack. “It belongs to Mr. Eggers, a rich man of Ithaca. He let her live in it rent-free, because it wasn’t worth much.”
“Then the old woman didn’t lose much,” replied the young major. “Who is she?”
“Her name is Mrs. Cowen. Nobody knows much about her, except that she has a brother who lives near the head of the lake.”
The old woman was taken to the nearest cottage, and there, after the fire was at an end, Jack went to interview her.
“I’m goin’ to live with my brother now – I ain’t goin’ to live alone no more,” she murmured.
“We got out most of your furniture.”
“Twasn’t mine – it belonged to the house. The old hair trunk was mine. Did ye save that?”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t care much – brother Jim wants me anyway.”
“I want to know about those two men who were stopping at the cottage,” went on Jack. “Who are they?”
“Ain’t they around?”
“No, they ran away.”
“Humph! It’s just like ’em. They were the strangest! Allers doin’ somethin’ queer-like.”
“Did they board with you?”
“Kind of – when they were to home. They went out a good deal. They each paid three dollars a week. Sometimes they got their own meals, too – when I wasn’t feelin’ well.”
“Do you know their names?”
“No, ’ceptin’ one was Bart an’ tudder Paul. They had some scheme for getting a million dollars.”
“A million dollars?”
“Yes. They were after a fellow they called George. They said he had the secret.”
“I guess they were crazy,” answered Jack. “Have you any idea where they could have gone to?”
“No.”
The old woman could tell no more, and a little later Jack left her, and told his chums of what he had learned.
“Maybe the fellows will leave the neighborhood, now the house has burned down,” said Pepper.
“We must watch out for them,” put in Andy. “They ought to be captured and interviewed.”
CHAPTER XXIX
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF GEORGE STRONG
Two days after the fire came another snow-storm, which lasted the best part of a day and a night. After that the weather cleared rapidly, and it became quite warm.
“I’m going to Malville,” said George Strong, on Monday afternoon. “I shall be back early in the morning.”
“Very well, Mr. Strong,” answered Captain Putnam.
Malville was a small settlement back of Top Rock Hill, and George Strong said he had a distant relative there, whom he wished to see. He set off in a cutter, and Jack and Pepper chanced to see him depart.
“Have a good time, Mr. Strong!” shouted Pepper, pleasantly.
“Thank you, Ditmore, I am going on business, not pleasure.”
The following morning passed, and the assistant teacher did not appear. Captain Putnam took his place in the classroom, and also taught during the afternoon.
“This is strange,” he said to Josiah Crabtree. “I expected him back by ten o’clock, or noon at the latest.”
The next day passed, and still George Strong did not show himself, nor did he send any message to explain his absence.
Captain Putnam was much worried, and the absence of the assistant upset matters in the school. All of the cadets began to talk of the affair.
“Maybe his horse ran away and threw him out on the rocks,” said Stuffer.
“If I was the captain I’d investigate,” came from Harry Blossom.
“He said he was going on business,” said Pepper. “Perhaps the business took longer than he expected.”
Another day passed, and both the master of the hall and his cadets grew worried. Josiah Crabtree was very sour, for he had to perform some of the duties assigned to the missing teacher.
“He should have sense enough to come back,” said he severely.
“Something is wrong, that is certain,” answered Captain Putnam. “I am going to investigate to-day.”
When the boys heard that the captain was going to drive to Malville Jack, Pepper, and Andy begged to be taken along.
“Perhaps we can be of assistance,” suggested the young major. “That is, if anything has happened to him on the road.”
“Very well, I’ll take the big sleigh and a team, and you can accompany me,” answered the captain.
In the end the party to go out numbered five, for Dale went along also. The team was powerful, and in spite of the hills and the snow Malville was reached in three hours. They found the cottage of George Strong’s relative, and were surprised to find it locked up.
“Nobody has been at home for a month,” said a neighbor.
“Did you see anything of a man with a cutter around here yesterday, or a day or two before?”
“No, sir.”
“You would have seen him, had he stopped?”
“I think so. Our family generally see everything that is going on around here.”
The neighbor could tell no more, and Captain Putnam and the cadets were nonplused.
“He must have gone somewhere!” declared Pepper. “The question is, where?”
“Let us ask the folks around town if they have seen him?” suggested Dale.
This was done, and at last they met a blacksmith who had seen George Strong on the road a mile outside of Malville.
“He was stopping by the roadside, and two odd-looking men were talking to him,” said the blacksmith. “They seemed to be arguing about something.”
“Wait!” burst out Jack. “Tell us how those men looked, if you can.”
The blacksmith did so, and they listened with interest.
“The mysterious men, I’ll wager a biscuit!” burst out Pepper.
“Exactly what I think,” came from Jack.
“Don’t you remember what the old woman told you?” came from Andy. “She said those chaps were talking about a man named George!”
“That’s it! Those men must have been hanging around Putnam Hall because Mr. Strong was there.”
The cadets looked at Captain Putnam, whose face was a study.
“You may be right, my lads,” said the master of the Hall, slowly. “But that doesn’t explain what the men wanted of Mr. Strong, or where Mr. Strong has gone to.”
“I’m satisfied of one thing,” said Jack. “Those men were up to nothing good.”
“Perhaps they robbed Mr. Strong of something, and threw his body into the snow,” suggested Dale.
They listened to all the blacksmith had to say, and then took him along, so that he might point out the exact spot where the interview had taken place. It was near a turn in the road, where the snow had drifted but little.
“Here are many footprints,” said Pepper, pointing with his hand.
“It looks to me as if there might have been a struggle,” came from Andy. “See how the snow is dug and scattered about.”
“It does look as if something had been going on,” answered the captain. “See, the footprints lead along this path and into the forest.”
“Here are the tracks of the horse and cutter!” shouted Dale, who had wandered down the road. “They go into the woods, too. Do you know what I think? I think those men either killed Mr. Strong, or made him a prisoner, and then they carried him off!”
“Let us follow the tracks of the cutter,” said Jack, and this was done; the blacksmith accompanying them.
“It’s a nasty business,” said the blacksmith. “If those odd-lookin’ men killed your teacher they ought to be hung fer it!”
The tracks of the horse and cutter led into the forest, and then along a cliff overlooking a stream now thickly covered with ice and snow.
“I see a little shanty!” cried Andy.
“Where?”
“Over yonder at the edge of that next cliff.”
“Smoke is coming from the chimney,” said Dale, an instant later. “That shows somebody must be in the place.”
“Let us approach with caution,” came from Captain Putnam. “There is no telling how those strange men will act if they are there.”
“Better cut a few sticks,” suggested Jack, and got out his jackknife. They soon had sticks, and the blacksmith cut a good-sized club.
“If they be des’prit characters they’d better give me a wide berth,” said he.
Slowly they drew closer to the shanty. Just to the rear of the building was an open shed, and here they saw the cutter, with the horse tied in a corner and blanketed.
“What a shame to leave a horse out in such weather as this!” cried Pepper.
“Those men must be in the shanty,” said Captain Putnam. “I sincerely trust that we find Mr. Strong unharmed.”
“Let us slip up behind the trees,” said Andy. “We ought to try to capture them, or something, on the sly.”
With caution they crept up behind the trees, and then walked slowly toward the shanty. Some bushes helped to screen them, and soon they stood at the very door to the place.
“Somebody is talking!” whispered Jack. “Listen!”
At first they heard only a murmur, but presently they made out what was being said.
“Yes, sir, George, it’s a million and nothing less!” one of the strange men was saying. “A million, eh, Bart?”
“A million!” came from the other man. “A million, and all in cash, too! We want no bonds or stocks.”
“Stocks?” one of the mysterious men laughed harshly. “Stocks? Do you want me to become poor again? Cash! It’s cash we want, George!”
“What an easy time we can have on a million!” returned the other queer individual.
“If you would only listen to reason!” came from George Strong. “I do not know what has put this into your head. I haven’t a million dollars, or anything like it.”
“You have!” came from both.
“You are acting very foolishly, Bart. And so are you, Paul. That failure has turned your heads. If I – ”
“I want that money, and I am going to have it!” roared the man called Bart. “Hand over the million or I will shoot you!”
And drawing a pistol, he pointed it straight at George Strong’s head.
CHAPTER XXX
A LUCKY ESCAPE – CONCLUSION
“Those men must be crazy!” cried Jack.
“I believe both of them are as mad as March hares,” returned Captain Putnam.
He tried the door, to find it locked. Putting his shoulder to the barrier he burst it open, and the whole party stormed into the shanty.
“Oh, Captain Putnam!” cried George Strong, joyfully. “I am very glad that you have come.”
“Put down that pistol!” ordered the master of the Hall, sternly, and looking the man named Bart straight in the eyes. “Put it down, I say!”
The man hesitated an instant, and then allowed the weapon to drop at his side.
“I wasn’t going to shoot anybody,” he said, humbly.
“You had better give me the weapon,” went on Captain Putnam, and wrenched it from the man’s grasp.
“Ha! they are attacking us!” shouted the other man. “Bart, we must fight for it!” And with a wild spring he leaped upon Jack, and caught the young major by the throat.
“Le – let up!” gasped Jack, and then he could say no more, for his wind was completely cut off. Then the other man began to fight, so that the captain and the blacksmith had their hands full trying to subdue him.
Seeing Jack’s predicament, Pepper, Andy, and Dale rushed at the fellow called Paul and dragged him backward. But he would not let go his hold upon the young major, and Pepper hit him over the wrist with the stick. Then the man’s hand dropped, and Jack staggered back.
“We must make him a prisoner!” cried Andy, and they caught the man and held him, while Jack got a rope from the sleigh. Soon the other man was also bound. George Strong had had his hands tied behind him, and he was quickly released.
“You do not know how thankful I am that you came,” said the assistant, warmly. “I – I imagine things were getting black for me.”
“Let me go!” thundered the man called Bart. “I want my million dollars!” And he glared wildly at George Strong and at the others.
“Do you know these men at all?” questioned Captain Putnam.
“I do, sir. I am sorry to say they are distant relatives of mine – third cousins. Both of them used to be rich, but they went into an oil speculation, and it failed, and they lost almost all of their money. That seemed to turn their heads, and somehow they got a notion that I was holding back a family treasure from them, a treasure they said was worth one or two million dollars.”
“Is there such a treasure?” asked Jack, curiously.
“I don’t think so, although the story is told in our family that one of my ancestors, during the Revolution, buried a pot of gold to keep the English soldiers from getting it. But the amount could not have been anything like a million.”
“Those men were around the Hall a number of times,” said Jack. “They were the mysterious fellows I mentioned a long time ago.”
“Yes, they came to see me on the sly if they could. I believe, had they gotten the chance, they would have carried me off in their sloop.”
“They ought to be put in an asylum,” said Captain Putnam. “It is not safe to allow them their liberty.”
“With your permission. I’ll turn them over to some of my relatives in the West,” answered George Strong. “I know they can manage them.”
“As you please – but keep them away from the Hall in the future.”
At first the two prisoners were furious, but when their fury subsided they became very humble, and both began to cry.
“We wanted only our rights,” whined one. “If I had a million dollars, I could take an air-ship to the North Pole or the moon, or anywhere.”
“He is certainly mad,” said Andy. “What a dreadful condition to be in.”
Late in the day the prisoners were taken to Cedarville, and George Strong telegraphed for a relative to come at once and take charge of them.
“They may be crazy, but they told me something which I think may be true,” said the assistant teacher to the boys. “They said they were watching around the school at the time you had the big snow house, and they saw three cadets run up on top and cave it in. I questioned them, and I am almost certain Coulter was one of the boys and Baxter another.”
“It would be just like that crowd,” exclaimed Pepper, bitterly. “If Baxter and Coulter were in it the other fellow must have been Paxton or Mumps, – I mean Fenwick, sir.”
“They said they were all big boys.”
“Then it must have been Paxton. That crowd always hangs together for mischief.”
As soon as they arrived at the Hall, Pepper tried to locate the bully and his chums. The only cadet he could find of the crowd was Coulter.
“So, Coulter, it was you who helped to cave in that snow house, eh?” he said, catching the cadet by the arm.
“Who – er – told you,” stammered Coulter.
“Oh, don’t deny it.”
“I’m not denying it,” was the bold reply. “What are you going to do about it?”
“That!” cried Pepper, and hit Coulter a stinging blow in the mouth, which loosened two front teeth. Then a regular fight ensued, and Coulter was badly whipped. Paxton also received a thrashing at the hands of Andy, while Baxter only escaped punishment by keeping out of sight excepting during school hours.
“Now, maybe, they’ll keep their distance for a while,” said Pepper. But he was mistaken, the bully of the Hall and his cronies were not subdued, and what they did in retaliation will be told in another volume, to be called “The Putnam Hall Rivals; or, Fun and Sport Afloat and Ashore.” In this book we will meet all of our friends once more, in games and adventures as exciting as any of the past.
George Strong felt much relieved when a relative from the West came to take the two crazy men away.
“I never want to see them again,” said the assistant teacher. But he did see them, and they did their best to cause him no end of trouble.
A week after the rescue of George Strong some of the cadets learned that Captain Putnam’s birthday was at hand. They asked the master of the Hall if they could celebrate, and he gave the desired permission. Money was raised among the cadets to present the captain with a fine set of encyclopedias, and of this gift Captain Putnam was justly proud.
“All things considered, you are doing very well,” said the master to his pupils. “I am proud of you, and happy to think that Putnam Hall is earning such a good reputation for itself.”
“I shouldn’t want to go to a better school,” said Jack. “It just suits me exactly.”
“So say I,” came from Pepper. “Of course we might do without Baxter and that crowd – ”
“Every school seems to have its bully,” put in Andy. “All we can do is to make him keep his place.”
“Don’t bother with Baxter!” broke in Dale. “Let us enjoy ourselves.”
Just then Stuffer burst into the dormitory, his face wreathed in smiles.
“Come to the mess-hall!” he called out. “Such a spread! I’m going to eat the meal of my life!”
“That settles it,” laughed Jack. “Hurry up, all of you. If Stuffer gets there first, there will be nothing left!”
And they rushed down the stairs pell-mell; and here let us leave them and say good-bye.
