CHAPTER I INTRODUCING SOME CADETS
"Hurrah, Jack, I've got news! To-morrow we are going to ballot forofficers!"
"I'm glad to hear that," answered Jack Ruddy, as he threw down thealgebra he had been studying. "I was almost afraid we weren't going tohave officers this term."
"I suppose Captain Putnam wanted to find out if there was any militarymaterial here before he let us fellows take charge," went on PepperDitmore, as he swung himself up on a corner of the dormitory table. "Tellyou what, Jack, it's a great thing to organize a school like this, andget everything in working order, all in six weeks."
"Do you think you are organized, Pep?" queried Jack Ruddy, with a twinklein 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 alamb, can you?"
"No, you're more like a jumping-jack. The fellows don't call you the Impfor nothing."
"It's a base slander," returned Pepper Ditmore, with an injured air. "I'mas meek, sometimes----"
"When you are asleep."
"As a--a----"
"Circus clown. By the way, have they found out yet who mixed the salt andsugar last Saturday?"
"Can't say as they have."
"And who put that little bulldog in Josiah Crabtree's bedroom in thedark?"
"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 smiledbroadly.
"Let's change the subject, Jack. Don't you want to be an officer of thePutnam Hall Cadet Corps? I should think that would just suit you. Yourfather 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 anofficer, 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'llremain a high private in the rear rank--and take my sport in some otherway."
"And you expect me to be an officer over you, Pep? How in the world willI manage you?"
"By not trying, Jack. But come, are you going to be an officer or not? Asa battalion, we are to have a major, two captains, two first lieutenants,two second lieutenants, and a lot of sergeants and corporals. I want tosee you a captain at least."
"That's kind."
"I'd rather see you an officer than that Dan Baxter. Do you know, Jack, Idon't like that chap at all."
"No more do I. He is very overbearing. I heard him bossing some of thelittle 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, ashe arose from his chair and stretched himself. "Those chaps usually makethe 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 dormitorywindow, struck Jack Ruddy on the shirt bosom. It was a lump of mud, andit left quite a mark behind.
"Hi, there, who threw that?" he cried, angrily, as he rushed for thewindow. He was just in time to see a lank youth diving out of sightbehind 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 ofthe dormitory, and down the broad stairway three steps at a time. He wasjust near the bottom when he passed a tall and rather sour-lookingteacher, who was coming up.
"Master Ruddy, not so fast----" began the teacher, when of a suddenPepper Ditmore struck the man on the shoulder, hurling him flat on hisback at the foot of the stairs.
"Oh, excuse me, Mr. Crabtree!" burst out the cadet. "I--er--I didn't meanto run into you!"
"Yo--you imp!" spluttered Josiah Crabtree. "What do you mean by tearingdownstairs like a--a cyclone?"
"We're after a fellow who threw some mud up into our room," explainedJack Ruddy.
"I didn't see you coming," added Pepper. "Very sorry--it shan't occuragain."
"This jumping downstairs has got to be stopped!" fumed Josiah Crabtree."I shall make an example of you, Ditmore. Go back to your classroom andwrite 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, Ididn'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 towardshis classroom. Josiah Crabtree saw him enter, and saw Jack Ruddy leavethe building, and then continued on his way upstairs.
Jack Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore were chums. Both hailed from the westernpart of New York State, and they had arrived at Putnam Hall about a monthbefore this tale opens. Jack was a few months older than Pepper, but theyouths were of the same size and weight. Jack was of a serious turn andstudious, while Pepper was rightly called the Imp, on account of hisfun-loving disposition.
At the time of which I write, Putnam Hall was a new institution oflearning. It was located on Cayuga Lake, in New York State, not manymiles from the village of Cedarville. It was a handsome structure ofbrick and stone, standing in the middle of a parade ground of about tenacres. In front was a well-kept wagon road, and beyond this the groundssloped down to the lake, where were located the academy boathouse andbathing houses. To the rear of the school were the barns and astorehouse, and on one side a well-fitted-up gymnasium, all backed up bya stretch of thick woods.
On the ground floor of the Hall, which was built in the shape of theletter E, were located the classrooms and also a drillroom and amessroom, all reached by three entrances, each of imposing appearance.Above the ground floor were the sleeping apartments, those for thestudents divided into dormitories holding four, six, or eight cadets.
The master of the school was Captain Victor Putnam, a bachelor, and aWest Point graduate. The captain had seen strenuous service in the West,where he had fought under the gallant General Custer during severalIndian 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 goback 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 uponmilitary lines, and each cadet was given instructions in military dutiesdaily. All were clothed in neat but serviceable uniforms, and there was ageneral parade each day, just before supper.
To get the school into proper shape, Captain Putnam had hired threeretired officers of the army to drill the boys daily. Under their tuitionall of the scholars had learned rapidly, and now the master of the Hallwas about to let the cadets choose their own officers and do their owndrilling, under his sole management.
Captain Putnam was a well-educated man, and taught several classes in theschool, besides looking after the general management. His head assistantwas Josiah Crabtree, just introduced, and his second assistant was GeorgeStrong, whom we shall meet later.
Josiah Crabtree was a morose individual, with a very exalted opinion ofhimself. He had come to the Hall with high recommendations, but it cannotbe said that Captain Putnam liked the man, and as for the cadets, theynearly all hated him.
Leaving the building, Jack Ruddy hurried to the spot where his chum hadseen 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 AndySnow, 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'tdo 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 baseballbat. "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 ofJack and tried to draw him back.
"Baxter, let go of me," said Jack, quietly, but with determination. "Ifyou don't----"
"What?" came from the big youth with a sneer.
"That!" retorted Jack, and turning from Mumps, he gave a quick push thatsent Dan Baxter flat on the turf.