The Mystery at Putnam Hall: The School Chums' Strange Discovery

  CHAPTER XV

  THE SNOWBALL BATTLE

  "Now then, fellows, for the greatest snowball battle of the age!"

  "Here is where Company A smothers Company B!"

  "Rats! You mean that Company B will bury Company A out of sight!"

  "Hi, Major Ruddy! What side are you going on?" queried Bart Conners, whostill commanded Company B.

  "He is coming on our side!" answered Henry Lee, the captain of the othercompany.

  "Well, I can't fight on both sides," answered the young major with alaugh.

  "Go with the company that wins!" suggested Pepper, with a grin.

  "Toss up a cent for it," suggested Andy.

  "All right, I'll toss up," answered Jack, and did so, and it was decidedthat he should fight with Company B.

  "Good enough!" cried Pepper, who was in that command. "Now Company A islicked, sure!"

  "Not much!" was the answer from Stuffer Singleton. "We'll win, sure!"

  "We will, unless you stop to eat a doughnut!" put in Joe Nelson, and atthis remark a general laugh went up, for Stuffer had once lost along-distance running race because he stopped on the way to devour somecookies he had in his pocket.

  It was after school hours, and the cadets had gathered on the fieldwhere, during the summer, corn had been raised. It was to be a battlebetween the two companies of the school battalion, with the companycaptain as leader on each side.

  The preliminary rules were speedily arranged. Lines were drawn at eitherend of the field, about five hundred feet apart. In the center, about ahundred feet apart, two other lines were drawn. Along the latter linesthe cadets arranged themselves.

  "Now then, fighting will begin when the school-bell rings out four!"cried the cadet who had been made referee. "The company that chases theother company over its back line wins the contest. No fighting withanything but snow allowed. Anybody using his fists, or a stone, or alump of ice, will be ruled out of the contest."

  With all possible speed the young soldiers started to supply themselveswith snowballs, and soon each had ten to twenty in his hands and pocketsand under his arms or at his feet.

  "Get ready!" shouted Bart, as he glanced hastily at his watch.

  "Give it to 'em hot when the bell rings!" came from Henry Lee.

  Half a minute more and the Hall bell commenced to toll out the hour. Thebell had not yet ceased to ring when there came a grand shower ofsnowballs from each company. The shower was so thick that a few of thesnowballs hit each other.

  "Forward!" shouted Captain Bart.

  "Forward!" echoed Captain Henry.

  And then the two long lines of cadets rushed forward over thesnow-covered field until they were within thirty or forty feet of eachother. Then came another shower of snowballs.

  "Wow!" yelled one cadet. "Oh, my nose!"

  "Caesar's helmet! That hit me in the eye!" came from another.

  "Say, don't try to knock out all my teeth!" added a third.

  "Charge!" yelled the captain of Company A. "Charge! Get 'em on the runright now!"

  "Stand firm!" came from the commander of Company B. "Now then, fire!"

  The rush of Company A was met with an extra heavy volley of snowballs.The cadets staggered under the onslaught and then came to a halt.

  "Now then, up and at 'em!" yelled Captain Bart. And yelling like wildIndians, his command charged on Company A. The snowballs flew thick andfast, and slowly but surely Company A was forced to give ground until itstood on the line from which it had started. But by that time Company Bwas out of ammunition and had to pause to manufacture more snowballs.

  In the ranks of Company A were Ritter, Coulter and Paxton. Paxton had oflate somewhat dropped the others, but Reff and Gus were as thick asever. They were now standing side by side.

  "Say, I'd like to give it to Ruddy and those others," muttered Coulter.

  "So would I," whispered Ritter in return. "Confound 'em, I'd like toknow if they really know the truth about the bicycles."

  "I don't see how they found out; nobody was around when you fixed 'emup."

  "Maybe somebody was spying; that sneak of a Mumps, for instance."

  "If he was, and told on us, I'll fix him for it."

  Both cadets were making snowballs near a hollow. As Ritter scraped thesnow up he uncovered several jagged stones.

  "Say, look here!" he whispered, and pointed at the stones. "Let's fixup some special snowballs for Ruddy & Company!" he added with a knowinglook at his crony.

  "All right; but be careful you are not caught," answered Gus Coulter.

  Both cadets got down close to the jagged stones and adroitly slippedseveral of them into the snowballs they were making.

  "Wait till we are pretty close," directed Ritter. "Then let drive forall you are worth."

  "Who will you aim at?"

  "Ruddy and Ditmore."

  "All right, I'll aim at Snow; and I'll let Ruddy have one, too."

  Again came a ringing war-cry, and in a moment more the battle wascontinued. Back and forth swayed the lines of cadets, first towards oneend of the field and then towards the other. It was plainly to be seenthat the commands were about evenly matched.

  "How long is this battle to last?" questioned Joe Nelson.

  "Half an hour," answered Fred Century, who was beside him.

  "Time is almost up, then," came from Bert Field, who had been fightingso hard he was almost out of breath.

  "Five minutes more!" came from the referee. "Now then, if either sideis going to do something, pitch in!"

  "Forward!" came simultaneously from both captains, and forward plungedCompany A and Company B, and the snowballs commenced to fly as thicklyas before. Neither side would give ground, and at last the two lineswere within fifteen to twenty feet of each other, right in the center ofthe field.

  The time was almost up, and each command was getting rid of the last ofthe snowballs, when Jack saw a snowball leave Coulter's hand and sailswiftly towards Pepper. The Imp did not see it until it was quite closeto him and failed in his attempt to dodge. The snowball hit him full inthe temple and over he went as if struck with a club.

  "Pepper!" cried the young major in horror, and started to rush to hischum's assistance, when another snowball came flying through the air. Itstruck Jack over the ear, and he, too, went down, all but knockedunconscious.

  A bugle blew, and the great snowballing contest came to an end.

  "A tie! A tie!" was the cry. "Neither side wins!"

  "Let the two captains shake hands and call it off!" said one cadet.

  "I'm willing!" cried Bart, readily.

  "So am I," added Henry, and then the pair shook hands, while a greatcheer rolled up from both sides. But the cheer came to an abrupt endwhen Fred Century cried out:

  "Pepper Ditmore is hurt!"

  "And so is Major Ruddy!" came from Emerald Hogan.

  A crowd quickly gathered around each wounded cadet. Pepper had a nastycut over the left eye and Jack had a lump behind his right ear.

  "They must have been hit with soakers," was Dale's comment, as he bentover Pepper.

  "Looks as if Pepper was hit with a stone," came from Andy.

  "A stone!" cried Bart Field.

  "Yes, a stone! That cut was never made by a snowball, or a piece of ice,either!"

  "Shall I get a doctor?" asked Stuffer, anxiously.

  "Oh, are they as bad as that?" asked Bob Grenwood.

  "I don't know," answered Bert, soberly. "Wait a minute and we'll see ifthey come around."

  "Oh, what a crack!" murmured Jack, and then he sat up and stared aroundhim. Pepper was also stirring and he slowly put one hand to the cut onhis temple.

  "Let us carry 'em to the Hall," suggested Bert. "It's getting too coldout here and besides, they are all in a sweat from the snowballing."

  When Pepper was picked up, Andy saw something lying beneath him in thesnow. He picked it up.

  "Hello! look here!" he called out, and held the object up.

  "A stone!"

>   "Where did it come from, Andy?"

  "It was under Pepper's body. I believe it was in the snowball that hithim!"

  "Who would be so mean?"

  "I rather guess I know," answered Pepper, and looked around for Ritterand Coulter, but the bully and his crony had disappeared.

  Pepper and Jack were carried tenderly into the Hall and placed in easychairs in the reception room. Presently both had recovered consciousnessfully, and each had his head bound up in bandages.

  "Phew, but that was a crack I got!" sighed The Imp. "I thought a rockhad hit me!"

  "It was Coulter who threw that snowball," said the young major. "I sawhim do it, and I was running to help you up when I got struck myself,and went down."

  "And I am pretty sure Ritter hit you, Jack," came from Andy. "Anyway, Isaw him aiming for you just before you staggered and fell."

  "Andy, those fellows must have hit us with stones!" muttered The Imp.

  "I feel sure they did. Ritter struck me with a snowball, on the hand,and it left a deep scratch. Now, no ordinary snowball would do that.Besides that, I picked up a sharp stone from where Pepper was lying."

  "It was against the rules of the contest to use stones," put in Dale,who was near.

  "Sure it was!" cried Stuffer. "If those chaps really used stones theyought to be punished for it."

  The news quickly went the rounds, as was to be expected. When Henry Leeheard it he quickly sought out Captain Bart.

  "I hope you don't think I allowed any such underhand work," he saidanxiously.

  "Not for a minute, Henry!" cried the captain of Company B. "If Ritterand Coulter did it, they did it on their own responsibility. I thinkthem just mean enough, too, for they are down on Major Ruddy and PepperDitmore."

  "If they are guilty, I'd like to have them court-martialed!" mutteredthe commander of Company A. "Such underhand work is a disgrace to PutnamHall!"

  "Wait and see if it can be proven," answered Bart Conners. "Then, if itis proven, we'll read Ritter and Coulter a lecture they won't forget ina hurry!" he added significantly.