Kitobni o'qish: «The Putnam Hall Cadets: or, Good Times in School and Out»
INTRODUCTION
My Dear Boys: In bringing out this story, “The Putnam Hall Cadets,” the initial volume in the “Putnam Hall Series,” I feel it necessary to make an explanation why it is that this tale is brought out when I have already written so much concerning the doings of the students at Putnam Hall.
Ever since I presented to the boys the first volume in the “Rover Boys Series,” I have been urged by the boys – and girls, too, for the matter of that – to write something concerning the doings of the students at the Hall previous to the coming of the Rover boys on the scene. When the Rovers arrived they found a wide-awake, jolly crowd of cadets already there, some of whom had been at the academy several years. My young friends wished to know more about these, and it is for their benefit that I have instituted this new series, which will tell of many things that happened at the famous seat of learning from the time it was first opened to the present day.
Putnam Hall is an ideal boarding school for boys, located on the shore of a beautiful lake in upper New York State. The students there are bright, manly fellows, full of vigor and fun, and bound to get the best there is out of school life. There are some keen rivalries, and in the story are related the particulars of a mystery which had an unlooked-for ending.
In offering this first book of the new series I wish to thank the thousands everywhere who have written to me regarding the “Rover Boys Series.” It does my heart good to know that the tales have been so well liked. I trust sincerely that the present story meets with equal approbation.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
Arthur M. Winfield.
July 25, 1905.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCING SOME CADETS
“Hurrah, Jack, I’ve got news! To-morrow we are going to ballot for officers!”
“I’m glad to hear that,” answered Jack Ruddy, as he threw down the algebra he had been studying. “I was almost afraid we weren’t going to have officers this term.”
“I suppose Captain Putnam wanted to find out if there was any military material here before he let us fellows take charge,” went on Pepper Ditmore, as he swung himself up on a corner of the dormitory table. “Tell you what, Jack, it’s a great thing to organize a school like this, and get everything in working order, all in six weeks.”
“Do you think you are organized, Pep?” queried Jack Ruddy, with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I’m organized about as much as I’ll ever be,” returned Pepper Ditmore. “You can’t expect a fellow like me to settle down and be as quiet as a lamb, can you?”
“No, you’re more like a jumping-jack. The fellows don’t call you the Imp for nothing.”
“It’s a base slander,” returned Pepper Ditmore, with an injured air. “I’m as meek, sometimes – ”
“When you are asleep.”
“As a – a – ”
“Circus clown. By the way, have they found out yet who mixed the salt and sugar last Saturday?”
“Can’t say as they have.”
“And who put that little bulldog in Josiah Crabtree’s bedroom in the dark?”
“They haven’t asked me about it,” and now Pepper Ditmore began to grin.
“Then let me congratulate you on your escape,” and Jack Ruddy smiled broadly.
“Let’s change the subject, Jack. Don’t you want to be an officer of the Putnam Hall Cadet Corps? I should think that would just suit you. Your father was an army officer.”
“It would suit me first-rate. But the fellows don’t know much about me. Most of them are strangers to me.”
“Well, they are mostly strangers to each other. If you want to become an officer, say the word and I’ll do the electioneering for you.”
“Don’t you want to be an officer yourself?”
At this question Pepper Ditmore gave a merry laugh.
“I’d make a fine-looking officer, wouldn’t I?” he returned. “No, I’ll remain a high private in the rear rank – and take my sport in some other way.”
“And you expect me to be an officer over you, Pep? How in the world will I manage you?”
“By not trying, Jack. But come, are you going to be an officer or not? As a battalion, we are to have a major, two captains, two first lieutenants, two second lieutenants, and a lot of sergeants and corporals. I want to see you a captain at least.”
“That’s kind.”
“I’d rather see you an officer than that Dan Baxter. Do you know, Jack, I don’t like that chap at all.”
“No more do I. He is very overbearing. I heard him bossing some of the little fellows around in regular slave-driver style.”
“Well, he shan’t boss me around.”
“Oh, it’s not likely he’ll bother the big boys,” came from Jack Ruddy, as he arose from his chair and stretched himself. “Those chaps usually make the little fellows toady to them. What time is it?”
“Just five o’clock.”
“Then come on down to the lake and have a row before supper.”
At that moment something soft, thrown up through the open dormitory window, struck Jack Ruddy on the shirt bosom. It was a lump of mud, and it left quite a mark behind.
“Hi, there, who threw that?” he cried, angrily, as he rushed for the window. He was just in time to see a lank youth diving out of sight behind some bushes.
“I know that lad,” came from Pepper Ditmore. “His name is John Fenwick, but they call him Mumps.”
“I’ll Mumps him!” retorted Jack Ruddy. “Come on!” And he rushed out of the dormitory, and down the broad stairway three steps at a time. He was just near the bottom when he passed a tall and rather sour-looking teacher, who was coming up.
“Master Ruddy, not so fast – ” began the teacher, when of a sudden Pepper Ditmore struck the man on the shoulder, hurling him flat on his back at the foot of the stairs.
“Oh, excuse me, Mr. Crabtree!” burst out the cadet. “I – er – I didn’t mean to run into you!”
“Yo – you imp!” spluttered Josiah Crabtree. “What do you mean by tearing downstairs like a – a cyclone?”
“We’re after a fellow who threw some mud up into our room,” explained Jack Ruddy.
“I didn’t see you coming,” added Pepper. “Very sorry – it shan’t occur again.”
“This jumping downstairs has got to be stopped!” fumed Josiah Crabtree. “I shall make an example of you, Ditmore. Go back to your classroom and write this sentence one hundred times: ‘It is best to walk with care.’”
“Have I got to go back now?” cried Pepper.
“At once.”
“It isn’t fair, Mr. Crabtree. I didn’t mean to run into you; really, I didn’t.”
“Stop! I want no back talk. To the classroom instantly.”
“Mr. Crabtree,” put in Jack Ruddy, “please – ”
“Silence, Master Ruddy, or I shall send you, too.”
“Catch that boy if you can, Jack,” said Pepper, and walked slowly towards his classroom. Josiah Crabtree saw him enter, and saw Jack Ruddy leave the building, and then continued on his way upstairs.
Jack Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore were chums. Both hailed from the western part of New York State, and they had arrived at Putnam Hall about a month before this tale opens. Jack was a few months older than Pepper, but the youths were of the same size and weight. Jack was of a serious turn and studious, while Pepper was rightly called the Imp, on account of his fun-loving disposition.
At the time of which I write, Putnam Hall was a new institution of learning. It was located on Cayuga Lake, in New York State, not many miles from the village of Cedarville. It was a handsome structure of brick and stone, standing in the middle of a parade ground of about ten acres. In front was a well-kept wagon road, and beyond this the grounds sloped down to the lake, where were located the academy boathouse and bathing houses. To the rear of the school were the barns and a storehouse, and on one side a well-fitted-up gymnasium, all backed up by a stretch of thick woods.
On the ground floor of the Hall, which was built in the shape of the letter E, were located the classrooms and also a drillroom and a messroom, all reached by three entrances, each of imposing appearance. Above the ground floor were the sleeping apartments, those for the students divided into dormitories holding four, six, or eight cadets.
The master of the school was Captain Victor Putnam, a bachelor, and a West Point graduate. The captain had seen strenuous service in the West, where he had fought under the gallant General Custer during several Indian uprisings. But a fall from a horse had placed him on a sick bed, and when he regained his health he decided to give up army life, and go back to his former profession of teaching. Money had been left to him, and with this he purchased the grounds and built the academy.
As was to be expected from a military man, the school was organized upon military lines, and each cadet was given instructions in military duties daily. All were clothed in neat but serviceable uniforms, and there was a general parade each day, just before supper.
To get the school into proper shape, Captain Putnam had hired three retired officers of the army to drill the boys daily. Under their tuition all of the scholars had learned rapidly, and now the master of the Hall was about to let the cadets choose their own officers and do their own drilling, under his sole management.
Captain Putnam was a well-educated man, and taught several classes in the school, besides looking after the general management. His head assistant was Josiah Crabtree, just introduced, and his second assistant was George Strong, whom we shall meet later.
Josiah Crabtree was a morose individual, with a very exalted opinion of himself. He had come to the Hall with high recommendations, but it cannot be said that Captain Putnam liked the man, and as for the cadets, they nearly all hated him.
Leaving the building, Jack Ruddy hurried to the spot where his chum had seen the boy called Mumps. He found the boy talking earnestly to a big, burly youth, who carried a baseball bat in his hand.
“It was lots of fun,” Mumps was saying, as Jack strode up. “I struck Andy Snow, and Hen Lee, and some fellows in dormitory No. 4, and – ”
“And you struck me, you sneak!” cried Jack, catching the boy by the arm. “I suppose you thought it fine fun to cover me with mud.”
“Hi! let me go!” cried Mumps, in sudden alarm. “Let me go. I – I – didn’t do anything.”
“You threw a lump of mud up into our room and struck me.”
“I – I – didn’t – ”
“You can’t get out of it. I’ve a good mind to box your ears, Mumps.”
“Say, you let that kid alone,” came from the big boy with the baseball bat. “Leave him alone, I say!”
“See here, Dan Baxter, this is none of your quarrel,” retorted Jack.
“Let him alone.”
“I’ll let him alone when I feel like it.”
“You’ll let him alone now.”
“Will I?” Jack caught Mumps by the collar and shook him thoroughly. “Now, after this, you behave yourself, or I’ll thrash you good,” he went on.
“Oh! oh!” screamed the boy. “Le – let up! Don’t – don’t shake my head off!”
“Stop it!” roared Dan Baxter. “Stop it!” And rushing in he took hold of Jack and tried to draw him back.
“Baxter, let go of me,” said Jack, quietly, but with determination. “If you don’t – ”
“What?” came from the big youth with a sneer.
“That!” retorted Jack, and turning from Mumps, he gave a quick push that sent Dan Baxter flat on the turf.
CHAPTER II
THE MYSTERIOUS SLOOP
The attack had come so unexpectedly that for the moment Dan Baxter did not know what to do. In a dazed fashion he sat up, and finally scrambled to his feet. Mumps, the toady and sneak, gazed at Jack Ruddy in wonder.
“You’ll catch it for that!” he cried. “Dan Baxter’ll most kill you!”
“He has got to spell able first,” murmured Jack.
“See here, what did you do that for?” spluttered Dan Baxter, when he could collect himself sufficiently to speak.
“I told you this was none of your affair!” answered Jack. “After this you attend to your own business, and I’ll attend to mine.”
“I told you to let up on Mumps.”
“Well, you are not my master, Baxter.”
“Mumps is under my protection.”
“What you mean is, that he is one of your toadies.”
“I ain’t anybody’s toady,” came from John Fenwick, but his face grew as red as a beet.
“Yes, you are, and you’re a sneak in the bargain,” said Jack.
“I’ve a good mind to give you a crack with this,” burst out Dan Baxter, as he swung his baseball bat aloft.
“Here, don’t you hit Jack Ruddy with that!” came a voice from the rear, and on the instant another cadet caught hold of the bat.
“Thanks, Andy,” came from Jack. “But I don’t think he’d dare.”
“So you’re going to take part in this too, eh?” said Dan Baxter, turning to the newcomer.
“Oh, I only want to see fair play,” answered Andy Snow, a tall, slender boy, who was a good deal of an acrobat, and at the head of the gymnasium class.
“Andy, were you up in your dormitory a while ago?” questioned Jack.
“Yes.”
“Did you get hit with a lump of mud?”
“Yes. I’d like to spot the rascal that threw it.”
“I was hit myself. That’s why I came down after Mumps.”
“So you’re the guilty party, eh?” cried Andy Snow, stepping up to John Fenwick.
“Don’t!” screamed the lank boy, and turning, he ran off at top speed. “Come on, Dan!” he called out, when at a safe distance. “Don’t have anything more to do with ’em!”
By this time a crowd of a dozen was beginning to collect. Dan Baxter gazed around uneasily.
“We’ll settle this some other time,” he muttered, and edged away.
“Better settle it now,” retorted Jack.
“I – I’ve got something else to do,” faltered Dan Baxter, and then he turned and followed his toady.
“Baxter is afraid of you, Jack,” came from Andy Snow. “He’s a bully if ever there was one.”
“He certainly is a bully.”
“A thrashing would do him good.”
“Well, he’ll get it unless he minds what he is doing.”
“It was a mean trick of Mumps to throw mud in at the windows,” went on Andy Snow, as they walked away. “I had just put on a clean shirt when it hit me in the shoulder.”
“Mumps is as much of a mean sneak as Baxter is a bully, Andy. They make a fine team.”
“Where are you bound?”
“Pepper Ditmore and I were going for a row on the lake, but Pep got into trouble with Mr. Crabtree and had to go to the classroom.”
“I’ll go for a row if you wish.”
“All right. We haven’t much time, but we can take a short row anyway. It’s a pity Pep isn’t along.”
“You and he are great chums, aren’t you?”
“Yes. You see, it is this way: His father and mine were old college chums, and we take after them. Besides that, his father and mine are associated in several business affairs.”
The boathouse was soon gained, and the two cadets brought forth a rowboat of fair size, and two pairs of oars.
“Hullo, you fellers!” came from back of the boathouse. “Is it yerselves that’s afther wantin’ company, I don’t know? If yez do, it’s meself will be afther comin’ along.”
“Hullo, Emerald!” returned Jack. “Yes, come on if you wish – there is room enough.”
“It’s meself that would loike to learn how to row,” said Joseph Hogan, as he stepped into the craft. He was a pleasant-faced Irish lad, who had come to Putnam Hall on the day the institution opened.
“All right, Emerald, we’ll give you lessons,” came from Andy Snow. “Wait till we get out on the lake.”
The craft was shoved off, and Jack and Andy seated themselves at the oars. Soon they were gliding over the surface of Cayuga Lake in fine style.
“Sure, an’ it looks aisy enough,” said Hogan.
“It is easy – after you know how,” answered Andy. “By the way,” he went on to Jack, “are you going in for that boat race next week?”
“Yes, and so is Pepper.”
“Good enough. I hope you both win.”
As soon as they were well out on the lake both boys stopped rowing, and allowed Joseph Hogan to take a pair of the oars.
“Now, take hold this way,” said Andy Snow, “and pull like this.”
The Irish lad tried. At first his blades slipped quite frequently, and once he splashed some water into the craft.
“Look out!” cried Jack. “Emerald, we’ve had all the bath we want.”
“Sure, an’ I didn’t mane to wet yez,” was the answer. “The oars schlipped before I knew it!”
In a few minutes the Irish boy was doing better, and they turned down the lake. As they did this they noticed a small sailing boat approaching.
“There’s that craft again!” cried Jack.
“What craft is that, Jack?”
“Oh, I forgot, Andy. It’s a sloop Pepper and I saw day before yesterday. We thought the fellows on board acted queerly.”
“In what way?”
“They sailed up and down the shore at least ten times, as if they were on the lookout for something or somebody.”
“Who was on board?”
“Two men. I tried to catch a good look at their faces, but they wouldn’t give me a chance.”
“It’s certainly queer they should sail up and down here,” was Andy’s comment. “Did they come from Cedarville?”
“I don’t know.”
By this time the strange sloop was close at hand. The same two men were in command, but both kept their faces turned away as the rowboat glided by.
“Did you notice how they kept their faces hidden?” queried Jack.
“Sure, I did that,” answered Hogan. “B’ys, they are up to some thrick.”
“It certainly is strange,” said Andy, thoughtfully. “See, they are turning back once more.”
“Perhaps they know some of the cadets, and would like to meet them.”
“More than likely they want to steal some of our boats.”
The sloop turned again on her course, and it was not long before both craft were only a short distance apart.
“I’m going to hail them, and learn what they have to say for themselves,” whispered Jack.
“Do it,” answered Andy.
“Sloop ahoy!”
At first there was no reply to this shout. Jack repeated the call, and Andy brought the rowboat still closer.
“What do you want?” growled one of the men on the sloop, finally.
“Fine day,” said Jack, brightly.
To this there was no answer.
“Looking for anybody around here?” came from Andy.
“No.”
“Saw you cruising around here day before yesterday, didn’t I?” continued Jack.
“Maybe you did. We’ve been out on the lake quite some the past week,” answered the second man.
“Thought, if you were looking for somebody, I might help you.”
“No, you can’t help us,” growled the one who had first spoken.
“Do you belong at Putnam Hall?” questioned the other occupant of the sloop.
“Sure, we do that,” answered Hogan.
“Got many pupils there now?”
“Forty or fifty so far,” said Jack.
“Humph! How many teachers?”
“Two regular teachers, besides Captain Putnam. Then we have others for French, and German, and music.”
“Who are the regular teachers?”
“Mr. Crabtree and Mr. Strong.”
“Do they stay there all the time?”
“Yes.”
“It must grow rather monotonous for them.”
“Oh, we try to make it lively enough.”
“Don’t they ever go to town, or go boating?”
“Of course. Mr. Strong is quite an oarsman,” came from Andy, who had been out with the second assistant on more than one occasion.
At this announcement both of the men exchanged glances.
“You can come ashore and look at the school if you wish,” said Jack.
“No, thank you, we don’t care to do so,” was the hasty answer; and a moment later the sloop veered off, and was soon out of speaking distance.
“Well, they are a queer pair and no mistake,” murmured Jack. “Did you notice how one kept his hand over his forehead?”
“And how the other had his cap pulled far down over his eyes,” added Andy.
“Sure, an nayther of ’em looked roight sharp to me,” put in Hogan. “I’d not like to be spendin’ much toime in their company.”
“I believe they are up to something,” said Jack. “I’d like to know what it is.”
“Perhaps we’ll find out later,” answered Andy. And they did find out, in a manner that was as thrilling as it was astonishing.
CHAPTER III
A CASE OF BRIBERY
When the boys got back to the boathouse they found Pepper Ditmore awaiting them.
“Dashed off that bit of writing as soon as I could,” said he. “My, but wasn’t it mean of old Crabtree to make me do it! But wait, I’ll get square on him!”
“Pep, we met that strange sloop again,” said Jack, and told of what had been said.
“There’s a mystery there, that’s certain,” answered Pepper. “Perhaps we had better report to Captain Putnam.”
“It won’t do any harm.”
“Then come on now. We’ve got ten minutes before parade.”
Captain Putnam’s office was a finely furnished apartment, just off the main classroom. They found the master of the school engaged in writing a letter.
“Well, young gentlemen, what can I do for you?” he said cheerily as they entered.
“We’ve got something to tell you, sir,” they answered, and then Jack quietly related their story.
The master of Putnam Hall listened with close attention, and questioned each one of the party.
“This is certainly odd,” said he, meditatively. “Still, there may be nothing of importance in it. If you see the sloop hovering around again, let me know.”
“We will, sir,” answered Jack, and then he and his companions hurried off.
The drum was already rolling, and all of the cadets lost no time in getting out on the parade ground. It was a beautiful day in early October, with just enough of coolness to make it bracing.
“The battalion will fall into line!” was the command, from one of the old army officers present, and then the cadets of Company A and Company B took the places assigned to them.
“Company, attention!” was the command from the officer in charge of Company A, to which Jack, Pepper, and Andy belonged. And then followed a similar command to Company B.
While the battalion was at attention, Captain Putnam came forth and mounted a small stand that was handy.
“Young gentlemen,” said he, gazing, at the assembled cadets, “I have an announcement of importance to make to you. In the past you have been under the command of Captain Wilson and Lieutenants Plummer and Montgomery, who have drilled you thoroughly in the arts and duties of the soldier. These instructors will leave the Hall early next week, and then I intend to place the battalion in charge of such officers as you may select for yourselves.”
“Hurrah!” came the shout. “Three cheers for Captain Putnam!”
“Three cheers for Captain Wilson and his assistants!” was the added cry, and the cheers were given with a will.
“As you well know, ever since this school was organized I have been keeping a close watch on every cadet, to find out who was fit to take command. I have prepared a list of sixteen names, which you will find hung up in the general library and in the gymnasium. Of these names the first eight are eligible for the rank of major of the battalion, and all are eligible for the rank of captain, or first or second lieutenant. The position of sergeant or corporal may be filled by any cadet in the school. Voting for the various officers will take place to-morrow, directly after the regular school session.”
“Hurrah!” came another shout, as the captain stepped down.
“Battalion, attention!” came the command, a moment later. “Carry arms! Present arms! Support arms! Shoulder arms! Forward, march!”
“Tap! tap! tap-tap-tap!” went the drums, and off moved the young soldiers. They marched around the parade ground twice, and then into the mess-hall, where each cadet took his place at one or another of the long dining tables. It was a spirited scene, and one calculated to make the heart of each boy bound with enthusiasm.
“Your name is on that list, Jack,” whispered a cadet sitting near. “I saw Peleg Snuggers tacking it up in the gym as I came away.” Peleg Snuggers was the general utility man around Putnam Hall.
“I hope you are on it, too, Joe,” answered Jack.
“I am,” returned Joe Nelson, who was a quiet and studious cadet, hailing from Philadelphia. “And Andy Snow and Henry Lee are on it, too,” he went on. “I think – ”
“Silence at the table!” broke in the rough voice of Josiah Crabtree. “If I hear any more of that, I’ll send you away without your supper!”
“Oh,” murmured Joe Nelson. It was rarely that he had any trouble with any of the teachers.
“Say, but old Crabtree is crusty enough to make pie of,” was Pepper’s whispered comment.
“Silence, I say!” thundered the first assistant. “I will have silence!” And he looked around the board so fiercely that hardly anybody dared to say another word.
At the next table sat Dan Baxter and Mumps, the sneak. The former scowled darkly at Jack and Andy, while the sneak put his tongue into his cheek at them.
“I’m going to fix Mumps,” whispered Pepper, who had been told of the occurrence in the school yard, and watching his chance, he leaned back in his chair and dropped a bit of sharp fish-bone down inside the sneak’s collar.
At first the sneak did not notice what had been done, but then he made a side turn and of a sudden uttered a yell of pain.
“Hi! who’s sticking me with a pin?” he roared. “Drop it!”
He glanced around, but the boys on both sides of him were busy with their eating.
“What is it, Master Fenwick?” questioned George Strong, the second assistant.
“Somebody stuck me with a – Oh, I’m stuck again! Oh! oh! Something is down my back!” And the sneak began to wiggle from side to side. “Oh, dear me!”
“You had better leave the room and find out what is the matter,” said the teacher, and still twisting and squirming, Mumps left the mess-hall in a hurry.
“Baxter, do you know anything of this?”
“No, sir.”
“It is strange; what could be the matter?”
There were a few minutes of silence, and then the sneak came back and dropped into his chair.
“It was a fish-bone – awfully sharp, too,” he said. “Somebody must have dropped it down my back, sir.”
There was a titter, in which our friends joined. Pepper winked at Jack, Andy, and Joe Nelson, and they understood.
As soon as the meal was over, the cadets rushed off to the library of Putnam Hall and to the gymnasium, to scan the list of names the master had mentioned.
“Bart Conners is at the head,” said Andy. “Harry Blossom comes next, Jack is third, Henry Lee fourth, myself fifth, Dave Kearney sixth, Stuffer Singleton next, and Dan Baxter next.”
“And those are the ones who may be made major,” came from a cadet named Dale Blackmore, one of the leading athletes of the academy.
“You are up next, Dale,” returned Jack. “That means you may become a captain.”
“I’d rather be captain of the football team,” answered Dale, with a smile.
As soon as the list was scanned, an animated discussion took place regarding the merits of the different candidates. As among men, and especially politicians, there was a good bit of “log-rolling” and electioneering.
“I think Henry Lee ought to be major,” said Jack. “He is one of our best soldiers.”
“He is no better soldier than you are, Jack,” returned Andy.
“Just what I say,” came from Pepper. “Jack ought to be major, and Henry one of the captains.”
“Dan Baxter is working hard to become major,” came from a cadet who had just strolled in. “Somebody told me he was actually trying to buy votes!”
“Buy them? Do you mean with money?” queried Jack.
“So somebody told me.”
“Oh, that can’t be true, Jerry. Why, who in this school would be mean enough to sell his vote?”
“Well, Baxter has got a wad of rocks all right enough. I saw the money myself.”
“I’m going to watch him,” came from Pepper, and he motioned for Andy Snow to go along.
“What will you do, if you learn he is really offering money for votes?” questioned Andy, as they hurried away.
“I don’t know yet, Andy. But it would be a mean piece of business. Why, in politics that is bribery, and they can arrest a man for it.”
“I know that – but it’s seldom a briber is caught.”
It was not difficult to trace Dan Baxter. From a small cadet they learned he was down by the lake, back of the row of bathing-houses.
By going down to the boathouse first, and then stealing along a fringe of bushes skirting the lake shore, they reached the bath-houses without being seen. As it was past the bathing season, the houses were supposed to be “out of commission,” and locked up, but one of them – the largest – stood wide open.
“Well, that is the chance of your life, if you only know it,” reached their ears, in the voice of Dan Baxter. “Besides, you know well enough that I would make as good a major as anybody in the school.”
“That’s a fine way to blow one’s own horn,” murmured Pepper.
“And what will you give me, Baxter, if I work for you?” came from a big boy named Gus Coulter. He, too, was a bully, and, coming from humble parentage, had very little spending money.
“I’ll give you five dollars, Gus.”
“Will you give it to me now?”
“Yes, if you’ll promise to do all you can to elect me major.”
“All right, then, hand over the money,” answered Gus Coulter. “I’d just as soon work for you as anybody.”
“Why can’t I have a fiver, too?” put in Mumps, who was present. “I’ll work as hard as Gus.”
“I’ll give you two dollars, Mumps,” said the bully. “I can’t afford any more.”
“Where do I come in on this?” came from a lad named Paxton.
“I’ll give you two dollars, too, Nick, if you’ll vote for me and try to get others to do so, too.”
“Humph! Aren’t my services worth as much as Gus Coulter’s?” demanded Nick Paxton.
“Well, if I’m elected I’ll give you two dollars more.”
“Very well, hand over the dough, Dan. As Gus says, I’d just as soon work for you as for anybody.”
“What a barefaced thing to do!” whispered Andy Snow. “Baxter can’t have a bit of honor about him!”
“The others are just as bad – to take his money,” whispered Pepper in return. “If they – who’s this?”
“Hullo, what are you doing here?” demanded a rough voice behind them, and a cadet named Sabine appeared on the scene.
“Who is there?” cried Dan Baxter, and rushed from the bath-house. “Humph! Pepper Ditmore and Andy Snow! So you’ve been spying on us, eh? That’s a nice business to be into, I must say!”
