The Putnam Hall Champions; or, Bound to Win Out, Page 2

  CHAPTER I A RACE ON THE LAKE

  "Talk about a life on the ocean wave, Pep; isn't this good enough foranybody?"

  "It certainly is, Jack," answered Pepper Ditmore. "And I think the_Alice_ is going to prove a dandy."

  "The _Alice_ a dandy?" came from a third youth aboard the sloop. "Howcan you make that out? Girls aren't dandies."

  "But this girl is a boat," put in a fourth youth. "Say, has anybody gotan apple he doesn't want?" he went on, looking from one to another ofhis companions.

  "What, Stuffer, aren't you filled up yet?" demanded Jack Ruddy, who hadhold of the tiller of the craft that was speeding up the lake. "To mycertain knowledge you have eaten ten apples already."

  "Ten?" snorted Paul Singleton, who was often called Stuffer because ofhis love of eating. "Not a bit of it! I've only had four--and two werevery small."

  "Here's another--my last," cried Pepper, and threw the apple to his chum.

  "By the way, Jack, I want to ask a question," said Dale Blackmore. "Whydid you call the new sloop the _Alice_?"

  "Name of his best girl," answered Pepper, promptly. "Why do you askfoolish questions?"

  "I haven't any best girl and you know it," retorted Jack Ruddy. "I namedthe sloop after my cousin, Alice Smith. Her father, my uncle, gave methe boat. He----"

  "Hullo, here comes another sloop!" cried Paul Singleton, looking acrossthe lake. "Wonder what boat that is?"

  "I see a big P on the mainsail," answered Dale Blackmore. "Must belongto some of the Pornell Academy fellows."

  "I know that boat--heard about her when I was in town yesterday," saidPepper Ditmore. "She belongs to a fellow of Pornell named Fred Century."

  "Gracious, Imp, is he a hundred years old?" queried Dale, with agrimace.

  "Hardly. He's only a little older than I am. The sloop is named the_Ajax_, and Century claims she is the swiftest thing that was everlaunched here."

  "She certainly looks as if she could make time," was Dale Blackmore'scritical comment, as he gazed at the approaching craft, with her snowyspread of sails. "I don't think she is quite as wide as the _Alice_."

  "She is every bit as long," came from Paul Singleton. "And her sails areevery bit as big."

  "Sloop ahoy!" came a hail from the approaching craft.

  "Ahoy, the _Ajax_!" answered Jack Ruddy.

  "Is that the new boat from Putnam Hall?"

  "Yes."

  "We thought it might be," went on Fred Century, as he came closer. "Thisis the new boat from Pornell Academy."

  "Yes, we know that," answered Jack. "Fine-looking sloop, too," he added.

  "Do you want to race?" asked another youth aboard the _Ajax_.

  "Well, we didn't come out to race," answered the young owner of the_Alice_. "We just came out for a quiet sail. We've got to be back to theHall by six o'clock."

  "Oh, they are afraid to race you, Fred," said another boy aboard the_Ajax_. "They know you can beat them out of their boots."

  "Let us race them, Jack," whispered Pepper.

  "No use of racing if the _Alice_ isn't in proper condition," interruptedDale.

  "Oh, she's all right--but I like to go over everything before a race,"said Jack, a bit doubtfully. "Some of the blocks work rather stiffly,and I haven't quite got the swing of this tiller yet."

  "Want to race or not?" cried a third boy aboard the _Ajax_.

  "Of course, if you are afraid of being beaten----" began Fred Century.

  "Did you come out just for the purpose of racing?" demanded Jack.

  "Why, hardly," said the owner of the _Ajax_. "We just saw you, andthought you'd like a little brush, that's all."

  "How far do you want to race?"

  "As far as you please."

  "Very well, what do you say to Cat Point and from there to Borden'sCove? The first sloop to reach the white rock at the cove is to be thewinner."

  "Done!" answered Fred Century, promptly.

  "We'll beat you by half a mile!" sang out one of the boys aboard thePornell boat, a lad named Will Carey.

  "Better do your blowing after the race is over," answered Pepper.

  "Oh, we'll beat you all right enough," said the owner of the Pornellboat. "This sloop of mine is going to be the queen of this lake, anddon't you forget it."

  A few words more were spoken--as to how the boats should round CatPoint--and then the race was started. There was a favorable breeze, andeach craft let out its mainsail to the fullest and likewise the topsailand the jib.

  "We are carrying four passengers while they are only carrying three,"said Dale, when the race was on in earnest. "We should have made themtake some extra ballast aboard."

  The course mapped out was about two miles in one direction and two milesin another. At the start of the race the _Alice_ had a little the betterof it, but before half a mile had been covered the _Ajax_ came crawlingup and then passed the Putnam Hall boat.

  "Here is where we leave you behind!" sang out Fred Century.

  "We'll show you a clean pair of heels over the whole course," added WillCarey.

  "As soon as you are ready to give up the race, blow your fog-horn," saidBat Sedley, the third member of the party aboard the _Ajax_.

  "You'll hear no fog-horn to-day," answered Paul.

  "Good-bye!" shouted Fred Century, and then his sloop took an extra spurtand went ahead a distance of a hundred yards or more.

  "Oh, Jack, we've got to beat them!" murmured Pepper. "If we don't----"

  "They'll never get done crowing," finished Paul.

  "We'll do our best," answered the youthful owner of the _Alice_. "Thisrace has only started." And then he moved the tiller a trifle, to bringhis boat on a more direct course for Cat Point.

  To those who have read the previous volumes in this "Putnam Hall Series"the boys aboard the _Alice_ need no special introduction. For thebenefit of those who now meet them for the first time I would state thatthey were all pupils at Putnam Hall military academy, a fine institutionof learning, located on the shore of Cayuga Lake, in New York State. Ofthe lads Jack Ruddy was a little the oldest. He was a well-built andhandsome boy, and had been chosen as major of the school battalion.

  Jack's bosom companion was Pepper Ditmore, often called Imp, because heloved to play pranks. Pepper was such a wideawake, jolly youth you couldnot help but love him, and he had a host of friends.

  Putnam Hall had been built by Captain Victor Putnam, a retired officerof the United States Army, who had seen strenuous service for Uncle Samin the far West. The captain had had considerable money left to him, andwith this he had purchased ten acres of land on the shore of the lakeand erected his school, a handsome structure of brick and stone,containing many class-rooms, a large number of dormitories, and likewisea library, mess-room, or dining hall, an office, and other necessaryapartments. There was a beautiful campus in front of the building and aparade ground to one side. Towards the rear were a gymnasium and severalbarns, and also a boathouse, fronting the lake. Beyond, around a curveof the shore, were fields cultivated for the benefit of the Hall, andfurther away were several patches of woods.

  As was but natural in the case of an old army officer, Captain Putnamhad organized his school upon military lines, and his students made up abattalion of two companies, as related in details in the first volume ofthis series, called "The Putnam Hall Cadets." The students had voted fortheir own officers, and after a contest that was more or less spirited,Jack Ruddy was elected major of the battalion, and a youth named HenryLee became captain of Company A, and Bart Conners captain of Company B.Some of the boys wanted Pepper to try for an officer's position, but hedeclined, stating he would just as lief remain "a high private in therear rank."

  At the school there was a big youth named Dan Baxter, who was a gooddeal of a bully. He had wanted to be an officer, and it made him verysore to see himself defeated. Together with a crony named Nick Paxtonand a boy called Mumps he plotted to break up a picnic of Jack and hisfriends. This
plot proved a boomerang, and after that Baxter and hiscohorts did all they could to get Jack and his chums into trouble.

  The first assistant teacher at the Hall was Josiah Crabtree, a man ofgood education, but one who was decidedly sour in his make-up and whonever knew how to take fun. With him the cadets were continually in "hotwater," and more than once the boys wished Crabtree would leave PutnamHall never to return.

  The second assistant teacher was George Strong, and he was as muchbeloved as the first assistant was despised. George Strong had notforgotten the time when he was a boy himself, and he often came out onthe lake or the athletic field, or in the gymnasium, to take part intheir sports and pastimes. Pepper voted him "the prince of goodteachers," and Jack and the others endorsed this sentiment.

  During the first session of Putnam Hall, George Strong had mysteriouslydisappeared. Two strange men had been seen around the school, and it waslearned that the strangers had something to do with the missinginstructor. A hunt was instituted by Captain Putnam, and in this he wasjoined by Jack, Pepper, Dale, and an acrobatic pupil named Andy Snow.George Strong was found to be a prisoner in a hut in the woods, and itwas learned that his captors were the two strange men. These men wererelated distantly to the teacher and both were insane--their minds havingbeen affected by the loss of their fortunes.

  After the insane men were cared for George Strong told the cadets abouta pot of gold which his ancestors had buried during the RevolutionaryWar. One day some of the cadets took a balloon ride, as related indetail in the second volume of this series, entitled "The Putnam HallRivals," and this ride brought them to a strange part of the woods nearthe lake. Here they came on some landmarks which had been mentioned tothem, and to their joy unearthed the pot of gold coins. For this findthe cadets were rewarded by George Strong, and the teacher became acloser friend to the boys than ever.

  Dan Baxter had been called away from Putnam Hall by his father. He hadhad a fierce fight with Pepper and gotten the worst of it, and he was,consequently, glad enough to disappear for the time being. But he leftbehind him many of his cronies, and three of these, Reff Ritter, GusCoulter, and Nick Paxton, vowed they would "square accounts" with theImp and also with his chums.

  "I've got a plan to make Pep Ditmore eat humble pie," said Reff Ritter,one day. And then he related some of the details to Coulter and Paxton.

  "Just the thing!" cried Coulter. "But don't leave out Jack Ruddy. I'drather get square with Ruddy than anybody. He has been down on me eversince I came to the Hall. I hate him like poison." And Gus Coulter'sface took on a dark look.

  "Yes, we'll include Ruddy," answered Reff Ritter. "I hate him, too. I'dgive most anything if we could drive 'em both from the school."

  "Maybe we can--if we watch our chances," answered Gus Coulter.