FUN AT PUTNAM HALL
"Back to Putnam Hall at last!"
"Yes, boys, back at last! Hurrah for the dear old school, and
all the boys in it!"
Peleg Snuggers, the general utility man of the Hall, had just
brought the boys up from Cedarville, to which place they had
journeyed from Ithaca on the regular afternoon boat running up
Cayuga Lake. With the Rovers had come Fred Garrison, Larry
Colby, and several others of their old school chums.
(For the doings of the Putnam Hall students previous to the
arrival at that institution of the Rover boys, see The Putnam
Hall Series, the first volume of which is entitled, "The Putnam
Hall Cadets."--PUBLISHERS)
"Glad to welcome you back, boys!" exclaimed Captain Victor
Putnam, a pleasant smile on his face. He shook hands all around.
"Did you have a nice trip?"
"Splendid, sir," said Tom. "Oh, how do you do, Mr. Strong?" and
he ran to meet the head teacher. He could not help but think of
how different things were now to when he had first arrived at
Putnam Hall the year previous, and Josiah Crabtree had locked him
up in the guardroom for exploding a big firecracker in honor of
the occasion.
"Well, Thomas, I hope you have left all your pranks behind,"
observed George Strong. "How about it?" And his eyes twinkled.
"Oh, I'm going in for study this session," answered Tom demurely.
And then he winked at Larry on the sly. But his words did not
deceive George Strong, who understood only too well Tom's
propensity for mischief.
It was the first day of the term, but as the cadets kept on
arriving with every train and boat, no lessons were given out,
and the boys were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased.
They visited every nook and corner, including the classrooms, the
dormitories, the stables, and the gymnasium and boathouse, and
nearly bothered the life out of Peleg Snuggers, Mrs. Green, the
housekeeper, and Alexander Pop, the colored waiter of the mess
hall.
"Hullo, Aleck!" cried Tom rushing up and grabbing the colored man
by the hand. "How are you--pretty well? I'm first-rate,
never was better in my life!" And he gave the hand a hard
squeeze.
"Stop, wot yo' up to, Massah Rober!" roared the waiter, leaping
off his feet. "Wot yo' got in yo' hand?"
"Why, nothing, Aleck, my boy. Yes, I'm feeling fine. I've
gained fifteen pounds, and--"
"Yo' lemme go, sah-yo' is stickin' pins in my hand!" howled Pop.
"Oh, deah, now de term's dun begun we'll all be dead wid dat
boy's tricks!" he moaned, as Tom ran off, throwing away several
tiny tacks as he did so.
"So you've come back, have you?" observed Mrs. Green, as Tom
stopped at the kitchen door. "Well, just you mind your P's and
Q's, or there will be trouble, I can tell you that, Tom Rover."
"Why, we never had any trouble, Mrs. Green," he said soberly.
"Did we?"
"Oh, of course not! But who stole that can of peaches right
after the Christmas holidays, and who locked one of the cows in
the back hall and nearly scared the washwoman to death? Oh,
dear, you never did anything, never!" And Mrs. Green shook her
head warningly.
"Do you mean to say I would take a can of peaches, Mrs. Green?" asked
Tom, and then his face fell. "Oh, dear, you always did put me down as
the worst boy in the school, when--I--I--do--my--very best," and,
almost sobbing, Tom put his face up against his coat sleeve. Mrs.
Green was very tender-hearted in spite of her somewhat free tongue,
and she was all sympathy immediately.
"There, there, Tom, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," she
said soothingly. "I--I was only fooling. Will you have a
piece of hot mince pie? It's just out of the oven."
"I--I don't know!" sobbed Tom. "You treat me so awful meanly!"
"I didn't mean it--really I didn't. Come, sit down and have
the pie, that's a good boy. I'm glad you are back, and you are
better than lots of the other cadets, so there!" And Tom slid
into a seat and devoured the generous slice of pie dealt out to
him with keen relish.
"It's really like home," he murmured presently.
"Mrs. Green, when you die, they ought to erect an awfully big
monument over your grave."
"But I'm not dying just yet, Tom--pray don't speak of it."
"By the way, my aunt was dyeing when I left home," went on the
boy, as he moved toward the door.
"Indeed. Didn't you hate to leave her?"
"Not at all. She didn't seem to mind it."
"What was her trouble, Tom--consumption?"
"No, she had an old brown dress that had faded out green and she
was dyeing it black," was the soft answer, and then Tom ran for
his life. Mrs. Green did not speak to him for almost a week
after that. And yet with it all she couldn't help but like the
boy.
Of course Peleg Snuggers came in for his full share of attention,
and the utility man had all sorts of jokes played on him until he
was almost in despair.
"Don't, young gents, don't!" he would plead. "Oh, my! An' to
think the term's just begun!" And he mopped his brow with his
red bandanna handkerchief.
"Peleg, you are getting handsomer every day," remarked Sam.
"It's a wonder you don't go into the beauty show in New York."
"Wot kind of a joke is that, Master Rover?"
"Oh, it's no joke. You are handsome. Won't you let me take your
photograph?"
"Have you got a camera?"
"To be sure. Here it is." Sam drew a tiny box from his pocket.
"Now stand still and I'll take a snap shot."
Snuggers had wanted to have his picture taken for some time, to
send to a certain girl in Cedarville in whom he was much
interested. To have a photograph taken for nothing tickled him
greatly.
"Wait till I brush up a bit," he said, and got out a pocket comb,
with which he adjusted his hair and his stubby mustache.
"Now stand straight and look happy!" cried Sam as a crowd collected
around. "Raise you right hand to your breast, just as all statesmen
do. Up with your chin--don't drop your left eye--close your mouth.
Now then, don't budge on your life!"
Peleg Snuggers stood like a statue, his chin well up in the air
and his eyes set into a steady stare. Sam elevated the tiny box
and kept the man standing for fully half a minute, while the boys
behind Snuggers could scarcely keep from roaring.
"There you are," said Sam at last. "Now wait a minute and the
picture will be finished."
"Don't you have to print 'em in the sun?" asked Snuggers.
"No, this is a new patented process." Sam drew a square of tin
from the box. "There you are, Peleg, and all for nothing."
"I don't see any picture," growled Snuggers, looking at the
square blankly.
"You must breathe on it, Peleg; then the picture will come out
beautifully. It's a little fresh yet."
Peleg Snuggers breathed on the square of tin as directed, and
then there slowly came to view the picture of a donkey's head!
The boys gathered around set up a shout.
"Hurrah, Peleg, what a fine picture!"
"You've changed a little in your looks, Peleg, since you had the
last taken, eh?"
"Your girl will fall in love with that picture, Peleg, I'm
certain of it."
"Sam Rover, I'll git square, see if I don't!" roared the utility
man, as he dashed the square of tin to the ground. "I knowed you
was goin' to play a joke on me." And he started to walk off.
"Why, what's the matter?" demanded Sam innocently. "Isn't it a
good picture?'
"I'll picture you!"
"I thought I was doing my best."
"Show me off for a donkey! If it wasn't against the rules I'd--I'd
wollop you!"
"A donkey! Oh, Peleg, I did nothing of the kind! Here is your
picture, on my word of honor."
"It's a donkey's head, I say."
"And I say it's your picture. I'll leave it to anybody in the
crowd."
"I guess I know a donkey's head when I see it, Master Rover. I
didn't expect no such joke from you, though your brother Tom
might have played it."
"Boys, isn't this a good picture?" demanded Sam, showing up the
other side of the tin square.
"Why, splendid!" came from the crowd.
"Peleg, there is some mistake here."
"Oh, you can't joke me no more!" returned the utility man.
"But just look!" pleaded Sam. "Isn't that a good picture of you?
If you don't say so yourself I'll give you five dollars."
He handed the tin over again, this time with the opposite side
toward Snuggers. He had just breathed on it heavily.
"Now blow on it," he continued, and Snuggers did as directed.
The moisture cleared away, revealing the face of the utility man
in a bit of looking-glass!
"Oh, you're tremendously smart, you are!" muttered Snuggers, and
walked off. But he was not half as angry as he had been a few
minutes before.