The Rover Boys In the Mountains | Page 4

whom have already been mentioned in these pages, and they likewise
made several enemies. Chief among the enemies were Josiah Crabtree,
a dictatorial teacher, and Dan Baxter, a bully who had done his best to
make them "knuckle under" to him.
Since those first days at school many changes had taken place; so many,
in fact, that but a few can be noted here. Crabtree had been discharged,
and was now in prison for trying to hypnotize a lady into marrying him.
This lady was Mrs. Stanhope, the mother of Dora Stanhope, who lived
in the vicinity of Putnam Hall, and a girl of Whom Dick Rover thought
a good deal.

It had not taken the Rover boys long to discover that not only the
dictatorial old teacher, but also the bully, Dan Baxter, were rascals, and,
what was more, that Arnold Baxter, the father of Dan, was an old
enemy to their father. Following this had come a journey to Africa and
into the jungle in search of Mr. Rover, and this mission accomplished,
the Rover boys had gone West to establish a mining claim in which
their father was interested. This claim was disputed by the Baxters, and
when the Rovers won out and went for a pleasure trip on the Great
Lakes, the Baxters did their best to bring Dick, Tom, and Sam to grief.
But instead of accomplishing their purpose they failed once more, and
Arnold Baxter was returned to the prison from which he had escaped
some months before. What had become of Dan Baxter nobody knew,
but the Rover boys were soon to learn, as we will see in the chapters
which follow.
After their stirring adventures on the Great Lakes, and especially on
Needle Point Island in Lake Huron, the Rover boys were glad enough
to get back to dear old Putnam Hall and to their studies, even though
the latter were something of a "grind," as Tom declared. They all loved
Captain Victor Putnam, the owner of the institution, and it may be
added here that the captain thought as much of the Rovers as he did of
any of the scholars under him, and that was a good deal.
The coming of Jasper Grinder as a new under-teacher was a shock to
many of the boys at the school. The principal teacher under Captain
Putnam was Professor George Strong, who was stern but fair, and
almost as well liked as the captain himself, and there were now several
others, all of whom were on a good footing with the scholars. What had
induced the captain to take in such a dictatorial and harsh master as
Jasper Grinder was a mystery which nobody could explain.
As a matter of fact, Grinder had come into the Hall under a
misrepresentation. He was from the Northwest, and claimed to have
been a professor at a well-known California college. It was true he had
once taught at this college, but his record was far from being as
satisfactory as Captain Putnam had been led to believe. It was true he
was a learned man,--quite the opposite of Josiah Crabtree, who had

been wise only in looks,--but it was also true that he was a high-strung,
passionate man, given to strange fits of anger, and that he was a miser,
never spending a cent that was not absolutely required of him.
"I say, let me go!" cried Sam, as Jasper Grinder almost dragged him
across the parade ground between the gymnasium and the school
building. "I am not to blame for this row."
"Silence! I won't listen to a word until we are in the office,"
commanded the irate teacher.
"He started the whole thing," came from Tubbs. "He called me Tubby,
and got the crowd to singing a song about me."
"I had nothing to do with the song, and all the boys have called you
Tubby since you came here," went on Sam.
"Be quiet, I tell you!" cried Jasper Grinder, and clutched the arm of
each so tightly that Tubbs set up a yell of pain. "I am master here, and I
will show you how to mind."
At these words Sam's heart gave a sudden drop. It was Friday afternoon,
and the next day would be, as usual, a holiday. Taking advantage of
this fact Professor Strong had gone to Buffalo to visit a sick relative
residing there, and only an hour before Captain Putnam had been
driven away behind his team to visit an old army friend living at
Fordview, twelve miles away. Professor Strong would not return until
Monday morning, and it was more than likely the captain would remain
away over night. During this interval Jasper Grinder would be in
absolute charge of the academy and the pupils.
In a few