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!"