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

He made the statement merely to scare the Pornell students, and his words had their full effect on Sedley if not on Bock.

“Oh, please don’t have us locked up!” cried Sedley. “It was only done in fun, really it was! We didn’t touch anything in the wagons, and the horses are safe in the barn.”

“Are you alone?” asked Bock.

“Alone? All of the cadets are out looking for the wagons,” answered Jack. “Andy, keep them covered, and shoot if I tell you to.”

“I will, Major!” answered the private, with true military precision.

“Hi, what are you going to do?” demanded Bock, as Jack slipped his sword into its scabbard and advanced with the straps.

“You’ll soon find out,” was the cool reply. “Now, no monkey work – unless you want to get shot!”

Sedley was badly scared, and it was an easy matter to bind his hands behind him and tie him fast to a door handle at one side of the room. Bock looked as if he wanted to fight or run away, but having the muzzle of the rifle pointed directly at his head made him waver.

“Have your way,” he muttered. “But we’ll get square sometime, don’t forget that!”

“You are only getting what is coming to you, Bock,” answered Jack, as he tied the Pornell student fast to another door. “Now I reckon you won’t get away until your friends come for you,” he added, and then motioned to Andy to withdraw.

“One thing more,” said Andy. “Where did you leave those drivers?”

“At Maddock’s roadhouse,” said Sedley. “But I reckon they are not there now. Most likely they are out looking for the teams and wagons.”

CHAPTER XII

THE CAVE IN THE WOODS

Leaving the Pornell students prisoners in the old cottage, Andy and Jack hurried to the barn. There were all of the horses, tied up in the stalls and in the portion devoted in years gone by to threshing. They had suffered no injury and had been fed from bags of oats taken along by the drivers.

“We’ll take them over to the wagons and hitch them up,” said the young major. “There is no use of reporting to Captain Putnam. We can bring the wagons right in with us.”

His chum was willing, and in a few minutes they had the animals out of the barn. They were ordinary work horses, so there was small danger of their running away.

“I think we can manage them,” said the young major. “I’ll lead the bunch and you can follow them.”

Thus the start was made through the woods, and before long they came in sight of the four wagons, with Pepper and Stuffer on guard. The latter was munching on some cake he had managed to locate in a box on one of the wagons.

“Hello, if they haven’t found the horses!” cried Pepper joyfully. “This is famous!”

“Where did you locate them?” questioned Stuffer, hiding the cake from the young major.

The story was soon told, the boys meanwhile hitching the horses to the wagons.

“I hope those Pornell fellows have to remain at the old cottage all night,” said Pepper. “It will serve ’em right.”

“We ought to get a crowd and go there and wipe up the floor with ’em!” said the lad who loved to eat.

“We’ll see what can be done after we get back to Hayville,” answered Jack. “I can drive one wagon. Can you chaps drive the others?”

“Sure!” came in a chorus from his chums.

“Then let us be off. Captain Putnam will be much worried until he learns that the outfit is safe.”

Not without some difficulty the wagons were turned around and taken to the main road. Then the horses were urged on, and it was not long before they came in sight of Hayville. Almost the first persons they met were Captain Putnam, George Strong and one of the wagon drivers.

“Safe, eh?” cried the master of the Hall. “I am glad to hear it.” And his face showed his relief.

He insisted upon knowing the details and Jack told us as much as he deemed necessary.

“It was only a schoolboy trick, sir,” he added. “I guess they meant no harm.”

“Nevertheless, I shall make a complaint to Doctor Pornell,” answered Captain Putnam. “He ought to know how his students are conducting themselves. It was largely, however, the fault of the drivers. One of the older academy seniors got them to leave their wagons and go into the roadhouse with him. There he treated them and got them to take their eyes off my property – and then the other students ran off with the outfit.”

“Well, they didn’t make the trick turn out as intended,” said Pepper. “We’ve got the outfit back, – and it is only a little after supper time. We can get supper, and get up our tents, too, before it is very late.”

“I am very thankful for what you cadets did,” went on the master of the Hall. “I shall not forget it. It was lucky that you struck the right trail.”

The drummers were called in and they rolled their drums, – a signal that the outfit had been found. This brought in the cadets from all over, and soon, while some were helping the regular cooks get supper, others were at work erecting the tents.

The only cadets who were not glad that the outfit had been found were Reff Ritter and his crowd. They were jealous of what Jack and his chums had accomplished, and could not help but show it.

“The Ruddy crowd will now be more stuck up than ever,” grumbled Ritter.

“Oh, pshaw! it wasn’t so much to do,” added Coulter.

“It was more than you ever did for the school, Coulter,” answered Fred, who chanced to overhear the remarks.

“Was it?” sneered Coulter.

“Yes, it was, and you know it.”

“If Ruddy and his crowd hadn’t found the wagons we might have stopped at the hotel over night,” said Paxton. “I’d rather stay there anyway than out here.”

“I think the Hayville Hotel would have hard work to accommodate so many cadets,” said Fred, with a smile. “It has about six rooms for guests.” And then he walked away, leaving the Ritter crowd to continue their fault-finding.

The cadets were not used to marching over the rough roads, and a good many of them were tired out and glad enough to turn in and go to bed. But some of them had to stand guard, and among these were Andy and Stuffer.

“Say, let us go back into the woods and see what became of those Pornell fellows,” said Pepper to Jack.

“I can’t get away, otherwise I would,” answered the young officer.

“Supposing I get up a crowd and go, Jack? You’ll have the guards keep their eyes closed, won’t you?”

“Sure. But don’t let Ritter and his gang spot you.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Pepper made a careful canvass and managed to enlist the services of nine cadets, including Fred, Dale, Emerald and Bob Grenwood.

“I’ve got a plan to scare them – if they are still in the woods,” said the quartermaster of the battalion. “I was going to try the trick on some of our own fellows, up at Lake Caboy – but I’d rather work it on the Pornell crowd,” and then he told what his plan was.

“Just the thing!” cried Pepper. “We’ll scare ’em out of their senses!”

With caution the party stole away from the temporary camp. Several of them carried bundles, and Bob Grenwood had a big megaphone.

“We’ve got to hurry, otherwise they may be gone,” said Pepper. “Bock and Sedley were waiting for Carey.”

It was not yet ten o’clock and the sky was bright with stars. The cadets hurried as fast they could, The Imp leading the way.

“We may as well put on the disguises now,” said he, as soon as they reached the spot where the wagons had been found. “For all we know they may be coming this way.”

The party halted and undid their bundles. Out rolled some white bedsheets and tall hats made of white cardboard. The cadets put on the hats and wound the sheets around them, making them look like so many ghosts.

“Now for the phosphorus,” said Bob Grenwood and brought forth a little box. He rubbed some on his hands, his forehead and his cheeks and the others did likewise. The phosphorus gave forth a sickly yellow glow that was ghastly in the extreme.

“Look!” cried Pepper, just as the boys had finished their ghostly preparations. “Here they come now!”

All looked and saw that he was right. From the direction of the dilapidated cottage four young fellows were approaching rapidly. They were Bock and Sedley, their particular chum, Carey, and Plunkett, the senior who had invited the wagon drivers into the roadhouse.

“We’ll surround them,” whispered Pepper. “And be sure and don’t let any of them escape.”

So it was arranged, and the ghostlike figures ranged themselves in a semi-circle in the woods.

“Halt!” cried Bob Grenwood, through the megaphone. “As you value your lives, halt!”

He spoke in a low tone, and in amazement the four Pornell students stopped short. Then Sedley caught sight of the figures with the glow upon their faces and he set up a yell.

“It’s ghosts!”

“Ghosts?” repeated Carey.

“Ye – yes – don’t – yo – you see ’em?” And Sedley’s teeth commenced to chatter. “Oh, I wish I wa – was ba – back to Pornell!” he wailed.

“They aren’t ghosts,” growled Plunkett. “This is a trick!”

“They look like ghosts!” gasped Carey, who was as much of a coward as Sedley.

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” said Roy Bock. “It must be some of the Putnam Hall cadets – or else some of our own crowd.”

“Halt!” cried Bob again, and his companions repeated the command. Then, as the Bock crowd stopped, the cadets surrounded them, so that none of them might slip away.

“What do you want?” demanded Bock, who was evidently the leader, though Plunkett was older.

“We want you to have a good time,” said Bob, in a pleasant voice. “We came to treat you – in return for giving the Putnam Hall boys so much trouble.”

“Who are you?” demanded Plunkett. It was too dark under the trees to distinguish faces, especially when distorted from the glowing of the phosphorus.

“Friends,” said another cadet, for the quartermaster’s plan had been explained to all.

“What do you want of us?”

“We want you to come along. We have a plan to play another trick on the Putnam Hall fellows.”

“But who are you?” demanded Sedley, who had recovered from his fright.

“That’s telling, Bat. But you’ll soon know – when we get at the feast Oliver has prepared for us.”

Now Oliver was a caterer who had often supplied the Pornell Academy students with good things to eat. The mention of his name took the Bock crowd off their guard.

“Have you got a spread for us?” demanded Bock, who was tremendously hungry.

“We sure have, Roy.”

“But this rig – ”

“We were going to scare the cadets – if we missed you,” answered Pepper, in a disguised voice.

Some more questions were asked, and then Bock and his crowd agreed to follow the ghostlike figures through the woods. The cadets kept in the dark as much as possible and worked hard to keep their identity a secret. Bock at last concluded the boys belonged to a new batch of Pornell students, who had come to that institution only a short while before. One of these lads had spoken about giving a feast, in honor of his birthday, and Bock thought the feast was now on the way.

Bob Grenwood was something of a hunter, and during his spare hours he had tramped for many miles through the woods, looking for game. On one of these expeditions he had run across a cave in a hillside, bordering a stream that flowed into one of the lakes of that vicinity. He had visited the cave several times and had fixed it up for use, with a rough bench and table, and a rude fireplace.

To this cave the young quartermaster now led the way and all of the others followed. When almost there Bob called a halt.

“I will go ahead and see if all is in readiness,” he said in a deep voice.

Then he ran into the cave and found a candle that was there. He cut the candle into six pieces and lit them all, making quite a light as they were ranged on the table. He covered the center of the table with a cloth, resting on several sticks of wood, so that the cloth would look as if it had things to eat under it.

“Now advance, and prepare for the grand feast!” he called out, and seeing the lights streaming from the cave the Bock crowd ran forward.

“A cave!” cried Sedley.

“And a spread!” added Carey. “See the table!”

“This is a surprise,” murmured Plunkett.

“We’ll see what they’ve got to eat,” came from Bock, and then the four students marched into the cave and surrounded the table with its burning candles.

“Now then, work quick!” cried Bob in a low voice, and leaped towards some sticks beside the cave entrance. The others understood, and soon had the sticks piled up against the opening. Against the sticks they heaped up some rocks that were handy.

“What does this mean?” roared Roy Bock, wheeling around and trying to get out of the cave.

“It means you are prisoners of the Putnam Hall cadets!” cried Pepper, throwing off his disguise.

CHAPTER XIII

THE ENCAMPMENT AT LAKE CABOY

“Sold!”

“I thought all along they might be fellows from Putnam Hall!”

“What fools we were to trust them!”

Such were some of the remarks made by the students of Pornell Academy when they found themselves prisoners in the cave.

In vain they rushed to the entrance, trying to get out. Bob had some heavy sticks handy and these were quickly wedged in between the rocks so that they could not be budged excepting from the outside. Then more rocks were piled up to keep the prisoners from breaking the sticks.

“See here,” demanded Roy Bock. “Ain’t you going to let us out?”

“We’ve got to get back to the Academy before morning,” added Bat Sedley. “Otherwise we’ll get into hot water with Doctor Pornell.”

“Don’t you care!” cried Pepper. “You’ve got a roof over your head – and that is more than we might have had if we hadn’t located those wagons.”

“Oh, let up about the wagons, will you?” growled Bock. He felt heartily sick over the outcome of that trick.

“There is one way you can get out of this cave,” announced Bob. “That is by the back way.”

“The back way?” queried Plunkett, looking behind him.

“Yes. See that opening in the rocks? Well, if you squeeze through that you’ll come out in a deep cut, and if you’ll follow the cut you’ll reach the woods, not far from the road to your school. I advise you to take those candles with you though, for it is pretty dark in the cut, and there are some bad holes.”

“We may break our necks!” growled Carey.

“Not if you are careful. But you may get in the mud,” answered the young quartermaster.

“Oh, let us out the front way!” pleaded Bock.

“No, it’s back way or nothing,” said Pepper. “You deserve to suffer for the way you treated us. Good night!”

“Going to leave us here alone?” cried Sedley.

“We are,” said Emerald. “Pleasant drames to ye!”

“Just wait – we’ll square up!” growled Roy Bock. Then the Putnam Hall cadets took their departure. The phosphorus no longer showed on their hands and faces, and they put away the white sheets and hats for possible future use.

“Can they really get out the back way?” asked Fred, as the party hurried for the night’s encampment.

“Yes,” answered Bob. “But they’ll have to wade through water and mud up to their knees, and fight their way through a lot of wild blackberry bushes! They’ll be sights to see when they get back to Pornell!”

The young quartermaster was right in his statement. The Bock crowd left the cave by the back way shortly after the departure of the Putnam Hall cadets. In the cut they had to walk in muddy water up to their knees, and once Sedley got stuck in the muck and his cronies had to pull him out. Bock fell down, and the mud entered his mouth and nose. Then all of the students got caught in the wild blackberry bushes and scratched themselves and tore their clothing. They did not get back to Pornell Academy until half-past seven o’clock in the morning, and were caught by a teacher just as they were trying to enter by a side door.

“What in the world is the matter with you young gentlemen!” cried the teacher, as he beheld the mud and blood. “Have you been in a smash-up on the road?”

“We – er – we were in the woods and got lost and – er – tumbled in a gully,” stammered Roy Bock.

“That is too bad, Bock! Do you want a doctor?”

“I – er – I guess not,” was the reply. Then the crowd hurried off to their rooms, while the teacher reported the matter to Doctor Pornell.

Bock and his cronies thought they would escape punishment, but this was not to be. Later in the day Doctor Pornell received a stiff letter from Captain Putnam informing him of what had been done with the wagons, and stating he might possibly take the matter to court unless the guilty students were properly punished. This worried the head of the academy, and he had Bock and the others brought before him. Under sharp questioning they broke down, and Sedley and Carey confessed all.

“I’ll look into this affair further,” said Doctor Pornell, and the next day he announced that those who were guilty were to have their holidays for that term cut off and were to do a number of extra lessons. He also made the crowd write a letter to Captain Putnam, apologizing for what they had done.

Pepper and his friends returned to the encampment and got past the guards without trouble. The cadets were worn out by the day’s doings and once at rest slept “like tops,” as Fred expressed it. There was a little “horseplay” during the night, but none of the lads who had been out in the woods took part in it. In the morning it was whispered about how the Bock crowd had been treated, and many of the cadets said it served the Pornell students right.

By nine o’clock the wagons were re-loaded and the march for Lake Caboy was resumed. To make sure that no further harm should befall the wagons and their drivers, the turnouts were made to keep close to the battalion.

By noon the end of the lake was gained and they had their dinner at a summer hotel located there. Not far away was the hotel where the Fords were stopping, and Jack, Pepper and Andy obtained permission to run over and see Laura and Flossie.

“Papa has hired a gasolene launch,” said Laura. “So you can expect to see us on the water more or less. Maybe we’ll be able to take you out – that is, if you care to go.”

“Just try us and see – if we can get permission to leave camp,” answered Pepper.

“Jack ought to be able to get permission – being a major,” answered Flossie.

“Well, you must remember we are all under Captain Putnam’s orders,” replied the young officer. “I am in command only during drill and parade, and like that.”

“Well, we’ll come up anyway, sooner or later,” said Laura; and a few minutes later the cadets had to hurry back to where they had left the others, for the drum was already rolling to call the boys together.

As Jack, Andy and Pepper passed a corner of the summer hotel where the cadets had had dinner they caught sight of a tall youth just leaving the building.

“Hello, there is that Bert Field!” cried Pepper. “I’ve a good mind to speak to him.”

“You haven’t much time,” answered Jack.

Pepper ran up to the tall, thin boy and caught him by the arm.

“Hello! How are you?” he said, pleasantly.

“Why – er – how do you do?” stammered Bert Field.

“I want to tell you that I know where you can find the man you were looking for, Jabez Trask,” went on Pepper.

“I – er – I have found him,” answered the strange boy, in some confusion. “That is – I – er – I know where he lives now.”

“Yes, I thought I saw you around his mansion.”

At this announcement Bert Field looked around nervously. Evidently he was a boy who was not strong physically, and one who had been “kept down” by others. He did not seem to have much of a will of his own.

“I – I – How did you happen to see me?” he stammered. He was evidently ill at ease.

“I can’t tell you now – I haven’t time. I’ve got to be on the march, with the rest of the cadets. We are going into camp up the lake this afternoon. And by the way, it is not far from an old deserted mill.”

“What!” Bert Field was now all attention.

“Yes, the Robertson mill. You are looking for that place, too, aren’t you?”

“Yes. But who told you?”

“Some young lady friends of mine. But I’ve got to hurry. If you come up the lake, won’t you call at our camp and see me?”

“Maybe I will,” answered Bert Field. He looked keenly at Pepper then of a sudden caught his arm. “Say, you are a boy like myself and you look honest,” he went on in a low voice. “Would you – would you help me to – to – do something?”

“If it was fair and square I would,” answered Pepper, readily.

“This is fair enough. But it is – is dangerous – at least it may become dangerous.”

“Well, you call on me at our encampment and we’ll talk it over,” answered Pepper, and ran off. Then of a sudden he turned back. “Is it money you need?” he questioned.

“No, that is, I don’t need any just now. I may need some later on though.”

“Well, I’ll do what I can for you. I like your looks.”

“And I like yours,” answered Bert Field, heartily. “I’ll come up to your encampment sooner or later. I can’t come right away,” and he hurried off in the opposite direction.

Pepper had barely time to get into the ranks before the advance up the lake was resumed. As he marched along The Imp could not help but think over what Bert Field had said.

“He is certainly a queer stick,” he reasoned. “And there is some mystery about him. I’ll be glad enough to aid him just to find out what the mystery is. Evidently it is connected in some way with Jabez Trask and the old Robertson mill.”

The route along the lake shore was a rough one, but presently they gained a fairly good highway, and late in the afternoon reached a broad field, bordered by the lake on one side and by dense woods on the others.

It was an ideal location for an encampment and nearly all of the cadets were greatly pleased and said so. The only ones who did not particularly like it were Ritter and a few others who were inclined to be “sporty.” For them the spot was too far away from a town or city.

“We’ve got to stay here or go to one of the summer hotels for fun,” said Reff Ritter. “I wanted to camp somewhere where we could get into town now and then on the sly, and play pool and billiards, and get something to drink.”

The field had been staked off into two long streets, one for Company A and the other for Company B. Between the two streets was an opening, and here were erected tents for Captain Putnam, George Strong, and likewise a shelter for Major Jack and another officer. At the end of the streets were the cooking quarters and also a big tent where mess could be served in wet weather. In dry weather the cadets got their food and ate it where they pleased.

The tents in the streets were erected with regularity. The ground sloped toward the lake, and ditches were dug around the canvases, to carry off the water when it rained, so that the tent floorings might remain dry. Each cadet had a cot upon which to sleep, and extra clothing was hung upon the tent-poles or kept in the suit-cases. In the very center of the encampment a tall pole had been erected and from this the Stars and Stripes were already floating.

“We ought to have the time of our lives here,” declared Andy. “No lessons to learn, and plenty of chances to go fishing and swimming.”

“If only the food is good,” came from Stuffer.

“Hard tack and black coffee after to-night,” answered Dale, with a wink at the others.

“Not much!” burst out the lad who loved to eat. “I want something better than that.”

“Well, maybe you’ll get horsefly soup some days – when the flies are thick,” said Pepper, consolingly.

“Huh! horsefly soup! Do you want to make me sick?”

“And ant cake,” added The Imp. “I know you love cake full of ants.”

“Say, Pepper, do you want to disgust the lot of us?” cried Fred. “I can see the ants already, crawling up my legs.”

“I went camping once, up in the Adirondacks,” came from Dale. “The ants got so thick they covered everything we had, and we had to move in a hurry.”

“We’ll not be bothered here with ants, or horseflies either – I had them all cremated,” said Jack, and this sally brought forth much laughter.

It was late by the time supper was had and the boys had arranged their sleeping quarters to suit them.

“Any hazing to-night?” asked several.

“Not to-night,” was the answer from the most of the others. “But watch out to-morrow night!”

CHAPTER XIV