The Mystery at Putnam Hall | Page 3

added Dale.
"I'd like to borrow about fifty for a new bicycle," came from Fred Century.
"Don't be modest about lending us the cash," went on Pepper. "Just hand it out as if you had always had it."
"I ain't had no fortune left to me!" burst out the general utility man, desperately. "Who said I had?"
"Why, everybody knows it, Peleg," responded Pepper. "Come, don't be modest about it. Was it really three-quarters of a million?"
"Maybe it was more," suggested Jack.
"If I were you, Peleg, I'd not carry so much around in my pockets," said Dale.
"I ain't had a cent left to me!" shouted the driver of the carryall. "This is some of your jokes, an' I want you to stop it! Oh, dear, now the school's opened ag'in I suppose there won't be no rest fer nobuddy!" And he heaved a mountainous sigh.
"Oh, Peleg! Don't be angry with me!" murmured Pepper, with a trace of tears in his voice. "If you get angry I'll die!"
"You behave yourself, Pepper Ditmore, or I won't drive you to the Hall."
"Peleg, don't you want me to drive?" asked Andy, who was on the front seat. "I'm a cracker-jack at driving."
"Not much! Don't you tech them hosses!" shouted the general utility man in alarm. "That off hoss is a new one an' he's mighty skittish, I can tell you. This mornin' when I was hookin' him up he nigh kicked the leg off o' me!"
"Say, how are we going to get to the Hall?" came in ugly tones from Reff Ritter. He, with six other boys, was standing beside the carryall.
"Captain Putnam said he'd send down some carriages," answered Peleg Snuggers. "There they come now," and he pointed to the turnouts.
"Pshaw! I wanted to go in the carryall," grumbled Ritter.
"So did I," added Gus Coulter.
"Well, this is full, so you'll have to take the carriages," answered Peleg Snuggers. "Everybody hold fast!" he shouted, as he took up the reins.
"We are off!" shouted Pepper, gaily. "Farewell to Cedarville and ho! for Putnam Hall!"
"Wish I had room, I'd turn a handspring for you," came from Andy, who was quite an acrobat.
"Now don't you cut up any monkey-shines," pleaded the driver of the carryall. "That new hoss won't stand for 'em."
"All right, Peleg, I'll keep as quiet as a lamb without a tail."
"Why is a lamb without a tail quiet?" asked Fred Century, quickly.
"Give it up, Fred. Why?"
"Because he has no tale to tell."
"Wow!"
"What a joke!"
"Throw him out!"
"Give him some cotton to eat!"
"Say, do keep quiet!" pleaded Peleg Snuggers, as the boys in the carryall commenced to push Fred from one seat to another. "Want these hosses to ran away with you?"
"Better draw it mild," suggested Major Jack. "We don't want any accident on the way to the Hall." He looked back at the crowd left on the dock. "Has anybody seen Bert Field?" he asked.
"Yes, I saw him last week," answered a student named Paul Singleton. "He'll be here to-morrow."
"How about Emerald?" asked Pepper.
"Coming to-night," answered Andy. "He went to Ireland this summer, and his brogue is worse than ever."
"Never mind, Emerald is a good fellow," said Major Jack. "His heart is as big as a barrel."
"Say, but wasn't Reff Ritter mad!" came from Dale.
"Oh, he makes me tired," answered Pepper. "After all that happened last term wouldn't you think he'd behave himself better?"
"It isn't in him to behave himself," answered Fred Century. "He is a bully and always will be."
"Well, he has got to keep his distance this term," said Major Jack, with a firm look on his face. "I am not going to stand for what I have in the past."
"Nor I," added Pepper. "If he doesn't keep his distance he'll suffer for it."
The carryall was now leaving the little village of Cedarville. Soon it came out on a country road that ran in the direction of Putnam Hall.
It was an ideal day in early September, and the cadets returning to the school were in high spirits. One started to sing and the others joined in.
"Hello, there goes the Pornell Academy stage!" cried Pepper, presently.
"And there are some fellows we know!" returned Jack, as the turnout belonging to a rival school came closer. "Roy Bock and Bat Sedley."
"I'll bet they are sore over what happened last June," cried Pepper.
"It was their own fault that they suffered," came from Andy.
"Look out!" sang out Dale, and dodged down in the carryall.
Spat! A half-decayed apple struck the side of the turnout. Spat! came one through the open window. Then the skin of a banana followed, landing in Jack's lap.
"Stop that, Bock!"
"Don't throw things in here, Sedley!"
"Something to remember us by!" shouted Roy Bock, the bully of Pornell Academy, and he threw another soft apple into the carryall. It landed on Pepper's arm, leaving quite a mess there.
"All right, if that's