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THE PUTNAM HALL RIVALS
_Or, Fun and Sport Afloat and Ashore_
BY
ARTHUR M. WINFIELD
AUTHOR OF “THE PUTNAM HALL CADETS,” “THE ROVER BOYS SERIES,” “BOB, THE
PHOTOGRAPHER,” ETC.
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1906
by
THE MERSHON COMPANY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Out on the Ice 1
II. A Game of Snap-the-Whip 8
III. The Bully of the School 17
IV. A Dose of Snow and Icicles 27
V. The Doctored Cake 37
VI. The Basket in the Tree 46
VII. In the Classroom 56
VIII. The Boathouse Fire 65
IX. Under Suspicion 74
X. From Cellar to Attic 82
XI. Josiah Crabtree’s Troubles 92
XII. Facing the Music 102
XIII. A Challenge Accepted 110
XIV. The Boat Races 117
XV. Target Practice 123
XVI. About a Mad Dog 130
XVII. In the Cave 138
XVIII. Seen through a Spyglass 145
XIX. Another Challenge 152
XX. On the Ball-Field 160
XXI. Marching to Camp 168
XXII. A Night of Fun 176
XXIII. The General Alarm 187
XXIV. An Attack and a Fight 195
XXV. Jack Makes a Discovery 202
XXVI. The Men in the Woods 209
XXVII. Up in a Balloon 218
XXVIII. Three Boys and Three Dogs 225
XXIX. The Oil Well 232
XXX. Something of a Find—Conclusion 239
INTRODUCTION
My Dear Boys:
This tale of “The Putnam Hall Rivals” is a companion story to “The
Putnam Hall Cadets” brought out about a year ago. It relates the further
adventures of Jack Ruddy, Pepper Ditmore, and their chums, at and near
Putnam Hall, an ideal boarding school for boys, located upon a beautiful
lake in the upper portion of the State of New York. As at all boarding
academies there are many keen rivalries,—in the classrooms, at the
gymnasium, on the athletic field, and also on the lake. The majority of
the boys are upright and open-hearted, but among the cadets there are to
be found a few who are mean and even base, and these do a number of
things which cause our heroes not a little trouble.
The “Putnam Hall Series” was started at the earnest solicitation of a
number of my young friends who had read my “Rover Boys Series” and
wanted to know more about what had happened at Putnam Hall previous to
the coming of the three Rover brothers on the scene. When the Rovers
arrived they found at the academy a set of wide-awake lads, full of fun
and “go,” and it is about these that the present tale concerns itself.
Once again I thank the thousands of boys, and girls too, who have shown
their appreciation of my efforts to amuse and instruct them. May you
enjoy this volume from the first page to the last, is the earnest wish
of the author.
Affectionately and sincerely yours,
Arthur M. Winfield.
_June 5, 1906._
THE PUTNAM HALL RIVALS
CHAPTER I
OUT ON THE ICE
“Line up, fellows, line up!”
“Wait a minute, Jack, my skate strap is loose.”
“Well, don’t take all the afternoon to fix it, Pep. Remember, we have
only three-quarters of an hour off to-day.”
“Oh, I’ll remember it right enough,” grumbled Pepper Ditmore, as he
fixed the skate strap. “And such good skating, too! Isn’t it a shame! I
wish we had a whole holiday to-morrow.”
“Make it a week,” put in a cadet named Dale Blackmore. “I declare, I
almost love skating as well as I do baseball and football.”
“Are you all ready?” came from Jack Ruddy, a moment later. “I am not
going to wait any longer.”
“All ready!” was the answering cry, and six boys lined up on the smooth
ice of the lake.
“Then go!” shouted Jack, and away went the half-dozen, with Jack at
their side, down the lake, which the keen wind of the day before had
swept almost entirely clear of snow.
They were a merry, light-hearted set of boys, all bent upon having the
best possible time on the present occasion. Coming out on the ice but a
few minutes before, a race had been quickly arranged, the winner to be
treated to some pie whenever the others should visit the town and be
able to get it for him.
Of the seven boys making such rapid progress over the frozen surface of
the lake, Jack Ruddy was the leader in more ways than one. He was a
well-built fellow, with bright, earnest eyes, and only a few months
before had been chosen major of the school battalion.
In another volume of this “Putnam Hall Series,” entitled “The Putnam
Hall Cadets,” I related the particulars of how the military academy was
organized by Captain Victor Putnam, who had received his own military
training at West Point, that grand government institution of ours, and
who had also seen strenuous service under Uncle Sam in the far west. A
fall from a horse had put him in a sick bed, and after his recovery he
had decided to retire from the army and go to teaching.
The captain had had considerable money left to him, and with this he
purchased a beautiful plot of ground on Cayuga Lake, in New York State,
and there he built Putnam Hall, a handsome structure of brick and stone,
shaped like the letter E, and containing many fine classrooms,
dormitories, a library, messroom, office, and numerous other apartments.
The academy stood in the middle of a ten-acre plot. In front was a
smooth, grassy parade ground and also a well-kept wagon road, running
off in the direction of Cedarville, the nearest village on the lake. To
the rear of the school the grounds ran down to the lake, and here were
the barns and a storehouse on one side, and a gymnasium on the other,
backed up by thick woods, and on the lake shore a boathouse and a line
of bathing-houses.
The school was organized upon military lines, and each cadet was attired
in military uniform and was given instruction in military matters daily.
The regular studies were similar to those at any first-class preparatory
school. Captain Putnam was at the head of the school, and his first
assistant was Josiah Crabtree, and his second assistant George Strong.
The majority of the boys liked the captain and George Strong very much,
but Crabtree was a sour and morose individual they all but despised,
even though they had to admit that he was well educated and could teach
when he set his mind to it.
Jack Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore were chums, hailing from the western part
of New York State. Jack was a trifle older than Pepper, but both were of
the same size. Jack was a whole-souled fellow and it was small wonder
that, at the first election for officers, the cadets chose him as the
major of the school battalion. Pepper was full of fun, and this had
gained him the nickname of Imp. He was content to remain “a high private
in the rear rank,” as he expressed it, but nobody loved him any the less
on that account.
At the academy, Jack and Pepper had speedily become acquainted with a
number who had since become their warm friends. There was Dale
Blackmore, just introduced, who was a great football player, and also
Henry Lee, who was captain of Company A, Bart Conners, who was captain
of Company B, Paul Singleton, generally called Stuffer because of his
fondness for eating, Andy Snow, an acrobatic youth who was the best
gymnast at the Hall, Joseph Hogan, usually spoken of as Emerald on
account of his Irish brogue, and a score of others whom we shall meet as
our story progresses.
These were Jack and Pepper’s friends. The chums had also made some
enemies, of whom the worst was Dan Baxter, the bully of the school. The
bully at this time had two cronies almost as bad as himself named Gus
Coulter and Nick Paxton, and also a toady, John Fenwick, called by all
the students Mumps.
Rivalries had been keen almost from the start, and it had galled Dan
Baxter exceedingly to see Jack made major of the battalion, he himself
having plotted and schemed to obtain that honor, but without avail. From
that hour on the bully did all he could to get Jack and his chum into
trouble. This at last led to a fight between the bully and Jack, and the
youthful major came out practically a victor, although the fight was
broken off before it was finished. But Dan Baxter boasted that he would
yet whip Jack and whip Pepper, too.
During the early part of the winter George Strong, the second assistant
teacher, had mysteriously disappeared. Two strange men had been seen
around the Hall several times by Jack and Pepper, and it was at last
learned that the strange men had something to do with the disappearance
of the assistant teacher. A hunt was instituted by Captain Putnam, in
which he was joined by Jack, Pepper, Andy Snow, and Dale Blackmore. The
missing instructor was found a prisoner in a cabin in the woods, his
captors being the two mysterious men, who proved to be relatives of
George Strong. They had lost their fortunes and this had turned their
brain, so that they were not responsible for their doings. As soon as
the teacher was rescued, he sent the demented men to the west, a
relative from that part of the country coming on to take them away.
George Strong had been very grateful to the boys for what they had done
for him, and he did what he could to help them along in their studies.
The insane relatives had imagined that the teacher had hidden away a
fortune belonging to the family. The teacher told the boys that it was
true that, during the Revolutionary War, his ancestors had buried a pot
of gold, to keep it out of the hands of the British.
“But it was not worth anything like a million, as my unfortunate
relatives believed,” had been George Strong’s statement to Jack and
Pepper. “At the most it would be worth eight or ten thousand dollars.”
“That’s a tidy sum,” Jack had answered.
“You are right.”
“I’d like to pick up eight or ten thousand dollars,” Pepper had put in.
“Mr. Strong, have you any idea where this fortune you speak of is
located?”
“A very faint idea.”
“If you’ll tell us,—and the place is close by,—we might look for it for
you.”
“A letter was left by my great-grandfather in which the pot of gold was
mentioned as resting at the foot of the tree with the stone in its
roots, twenty paces north of the old well. I have never been able to
locate either the well or the tree.”
“But was it around here?” Jack had questioned with interest.
“Somewhere in this vicinity, for the farm belonging to my
great-grandfather was located not many miles from here.”
“I thought the Indians were here at that time.”
“So they were, but my great-grandfather had some Indian blood in his
veins and was a frontiersman, and the red men did not molest him very
much.”
“Haven’t you ever hunted for the pot of gold?”
“A great many times—years ago. But I at last gave it up as useless. More
than likely the old well mentioned has fallen in and the tree rotted
away, so the landmarks are all gone and nothing is left by which to
locate the treasure.”
And there the talk had come to an end, but the boys had not forgotten
about the pot of gold.