The Mystery at Putnam Hall | Page 5

of learning located on Cayuga Lake. This new school was presided over by Captain Victor Putnam, a retired army officer, who had modeled his institution somewhat after the famous military academy at West Point. It was a large school, ideally located on the shore of the lake, and had attached to it a gymnasium, a boathouse, and several other buildings. On the lower floor of the main building were the classrooms, the mess-hall, and the offices, and upstairs were the dormitories.
Arriving at the school, Jack and Pepper soon made a host of friends, including the acrobatic Andy Snow; Dale Blackmore, who was a great football player; Paul Singleton, who was usually called "Stuffer" because of his constant desire to eat; Joseph Hogan, commonly addressed as "Emerald" because of his Irish blood, and Joe Nelson, who was one of the best scholars the school ever had. They also made some enemies, the greatest of them being Reff Ritter, the big bully, and Gus Coulter and Nick Paxton, his cronies.
Not long after the students learned how to drill and to march they were allowed to ballot for officers. A bitter contest was waged, which resulted in Jack being chosen major of the Hall battalion. A bully named Dan Baxter had wanted to be major, and he bribed Gus Coulter and some others to vote for him, but without avail. It may be added here that Baxter was now away on a vacation, but had written that he was going to return to the school before long.
During their first term at Putnam Hall the chums had several adventures, not the least of which was one in the woods, where they rescued George Strong, one of the teachers, from two of his relatives who were insane.
Mr. Strong's ancestry dated back to the Revolution, and he told the cadets about a family treasure buried in the vicinity of the lake. How the boys went in search of the treasure, and how they had numerous other adventures, was related in the second volume of this series, called "The Putnam Hall Rivals."
With the coming of the next summer, the thoughts of the students turned to various sports, and in the third volume, "The Putnam Hall Champions," I told how the chums entered several contests, both on land and on the lake, and won out. At that time Fred Century was a pupil at Pornell Academy, but Fred became so disgusted at the actions of Roy Bock, Bat Sedley, and some others, that he quit the rival institution of learning and came to Putnam Hall, where he was given a warm welcome.
The encounters that Jack and his chums had with Reff Ritter and his cronies were numerous, and more than once Ritter did his best to get the young major into serious trouble. Once he drugged Jack with some French headache powders, and when he was exposed Captain Putnam would have expelled him had not Jack very generously asked that he be given another chance. For this any ordinary youth would have been grateful, but gratitude did not appear to be a part of Reff Ritter's make-up, and he soon showed himself to be as mean as ever.
For some time matters ran along smoothly at Putnam Hall, but then came trouble of an entirely new kind. Once, during the absence of Captain Putnam and George Strong, the school was left in charge of two other teachers--Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton Cuddle. Crabtree was dictatorial to a degree and Cuddle was a man of queer ideas, one being that boys ate entirely too much.
As told in the volume called "The Putnam Rebellion," the two teachers sought to subdue the boys by starving them and locking them in their dormitories. They rebelled, left the school by stealth, and marched away, to camp in the woods. There the rebels split up, one party under Major Jack and the other under Ritter. At last Captain Putnam put in an appearance, and Major Jack explained matters. As a consequence, the cadets went back to the Hall, and then Josiah Crabtree and Pluxton were called on to explain. Crabtree was retained, after a stern lecture from the master of the school, but Cuddle was discharged.
It was Captain Putnam's custom to take his students out once or twice a year to what was called an encampment--the lads marching to some spot where they could pitch their tents and go in for a touch of real army life, with target shooting, sham battles, and the like. In the next volume of the series, called "The Putnam Hall Encampment," I told how the cadets left the Hall and marched to a distant lake. Their camping outfit was sent ahead by wagons, but the wagons got lost, and were finally found in the possession of Roy Bock and some