THE RESULTS OF A FIRE
That morning Dan Baxter did not appear and it was reported that he was
sick.
"He acts to me as if he were going to die," announced Mumps, when
appealed to. "I don't know exactly what is the matter with him."
"Can this be true?" asked Pepper of Jack. "I'd hate to think that Baxter
got sick through what we did to him."
"More than likely he is shamming," said the young major, and he was
right. But to make sure Captain Putnam sent for Doctor Framley, a
physician of Cedarville, who made a careful examination.
"He is nervous, as if he had been frightened, that is all," announced the
medical man. "Let him keep quiet for a day or two."
Baxter had hoped to scare his tormentors into thinking that they were
responsible for a serious spell of sickness. When this plan failed he
quickly got around as before. He tried his best to find out who had hazed
him, but the cadets kept their secret well.
On the day following the hazing Jack chanced to go down to the lake
front. He was just entering the boathouse when, to his astonishment, two
men stepped forth. They were the individuals he had seen several times on
the mysterious sloop.
"Say, what do you want here?" he demanded, but instead of replying the
men hurried away, up the lake, and then in the direction of Cedarville.
"Well, of all the mysteries I ever struck," exclaimed the young major.
"Now, what can those chaps be up to? This is at least the third or fourth
time they have come here, and nobody seems to know anything about them."
When Jack returned to the Hall he lost no time in visiting Captain
Putnam's office.
"Perhaps you'll laugh at me, sir," he said. "But I want to report those
two men again."
"Again!" cried the master of Putnam Hall. "Where did you see them?"
"At the boathouse. I went down there for a skate strap. They were just
coming out."
"Did you speak to them?"
"Yes, I asked them what they wanted. They didn't answer, and hurried away
on the Cedarville road."
"Did they take anything out of the boathouse?"
"I don't know."
"I must assuredly investigate this, Major Ruddy. Let us go to the
boathouse together."
This was done and they took a careful look around. Nothing was missing.
"Why can't we follow them up once?" questioned Jack. "We ought to be able
to overtake them in a cutter."
"A good idea. I'll have Snuggers get a cutter ready at once. Get your
overcoat and your gloves."
In a few minutes they were on the way, the captain driving and Jack
sitting by his side. They drove all the way to the village, but saw
nothing of the men.
"Perhaps they turned off on a side road," said the young major.
"It is possible."
There was nothing to do but to return to Putnam Hall. This they did; and
for the time being the subject was dropped.
At the end of the week, Jack, Pepper, Andy, and Dale got permission to
visit Cedarville, one to buy a pair of skates, and the others to get
various things. They set out on foot, thinking nothing of the rather long
walk before them.
Just before reaching Cedarville they came to a side road, leading to a
spot called Brierroot Grove. A short distance up the road was a two-story
cottage, located behind a hedge of boxwood.
"Look!" cried Andy, pointing to the cottage, "Am I mistaken, or is that
place on fire?"
"It's the chimney smoking," answered Pepper.
"No, it's a fire coming up through the roof around the chimney!" burst
out Jack.
"Let us go to the fire!" sang out Dale, and suiting the action to the
word, he turned down the side road, and the others followed at his heels.
By the time they reached the cottage the place was burning fiercely
throughout the second story and around the roof.
"I don't see anybody," said Pepper. "Perhaps the place isn't occupied."
"Maybe tramps set it on fire," suggested Dale.
"I see two men!" cried Jack. "Well, I never!"
"What is it, Jack?"
"The men from the sloop! Here is where they must have been putting up!"
The cadets ran into the yard of the house and to the front door. They had
seen the two men pass in and out, carrying some furniture.
"How did this start?" called out Pepper to one of the men.
At this cry both men turned around to gaze at the youths. Then one spoke
to the other in a low tone, and off they ran to the rear of the cottage,
leaped a rail fence, and disappeared from view in the woods.
"Stop!" yelled Jack, but the men paid no attention.
"They are the queerest chaps I ever met!" declared Pepper. "I believe
they must be crazy."
"Help! help!" came in a weak cry from the cottage.
"Somebody is in there!" said Dale.
"It's a woman," returned Jack. "Come on!" And he ran into the cottage.
The others followed. The smoke was growing thick, and at first they could
see nothing. Then they saw an old woman with a crutch, trying to hobble
down a pair of stairs.
"Don't let me burn up!" she screamed. "Don't let me burn up!"
Running to the old woman, Jack caught her in his arms. It was an easy
matter to carry her to the open air. Here he sat her down on an old
horse-block which was clear of snow. She was trembling so she could not
speak.
It was easily to be seen that the cottage was doomed. The village of
Cedarville boasted of nothing better than an old hand engine and a bucket
brigade, and to get the engine through the snow was next to impossible.
"Let us take out what furniture we can," said Jack, and this they did,
and also carried out some clothing, a lamp and a few pictures. While the
building was burning a crowd of thirty or forty folks collected.
"It don't belong to the old woman," said one of the farmers to Jack. "It
belongs to Mr. Eggers, a rich man of Ithaca. He let her live in it
rent-free, because it wasn't worth much."
"Then the old woman didn't lose much," replied the young major. "Who is
she?"
"Her name is Mrs. Cowen. Nobody knows much about her, except that she has
a brother who lives near the head of the lake."
The old woman was taken to the nearest cottage, and there, after the fire
was at an end, Jack went to interview her.
"I'm goin' to live with my brother now--I ain't goin' to live alone no
more," she murmured.
"We got out most of your furniture."
"Twasn't mine--it belonged to the house. The old hair trunk was mine. Did
ye save that?"
"Yes."
"Then I don't care much--brother Jim wants me anyway."
"I want to know about those two men who were stopping at the cottage,"
went on Jack. "Who are they?"
"Ain't they around?"
"No, they ran away."
"Humph! It's just like 'em. They were the strangest! Allers doin'
somethin' queer-like."
"Did they board with you?"
"Kind of--when they were to home. They went out a good deal. They each
paid three dollars a week. Sometimes they got their own meals, too--when
I wasn't feelin' well."
"Do you know their names?"
"No, 'ceptin' one was Bart an' tudder Paul. They had some scheme for
getting a million dollars."
"A million dollars?"
"Yes. They were after a fellow they called George. They said he had the
secret."
"I guess they were crazy," answered Jack. "Have you any idea where they
could have gone to?"
"No."
The old woman could tell no more, and a little later Jack left her, and
told his chums of what he had learned.
"Maybe the fellows will leave the neighborhood, now the house has burned
down," said Pepper.
"We must watch out for them," put in Andy. "They ought to be captured and
interviewed."