CHAPTER X A MIX-UP ON THE ROAD
As luck would have it, Reff Ritter’s party and the crowd from PornellAcademy had become free at the same time, each working out of the ropesand bags in a manner known only to themselves. Each had brushed up asmuch as possible and started hurriedly for the place where the lawnparty was in progress. The two crowds had come together on the road notover two hundred yards from the ice house. Each accused the other ofbeing guilty of the trick, and in less than five minutes blows werebeing freely exchanged.
“I’ll show you what it means to treat me like a pig!” cried Roy Bock,and he struck Ritter a blow in the nose that drew blood.
“Oh, you can’t bluff me!” retorted the Putnam Hall bully, and hit thelad from Pornell in the left eye. Then the pair clinched and rolled overand over in the dirt of the road.
In the meantime Grimes struck Coulter and Paxton hit Gussic. Theneverybody struck out, and inside of a minute the three Putnam Hall boyswere down and the enemy were on top of them. Clothing was torn, collarsand ties pulled off, and the general melée was something awful tobehold.
It was in the midst of this excitement that Jack and his chums arrived.
“Whow!” cried Andy. “Say, but they are going at each other for keeps,aren’t they?”
“Sure, an’ it’s fightin’ like cats an’ dogs they are,” was Hogan’scomment. “’Tis a bit av Donnybrook Fair,” he added. “Oh, for ashillalah!”
“The Pornell crowd isn’t fighting fair,” said Jack. “They outnumber ourfellows.”
“What of it?” demanded Dale. “I reckon Ritter, Coulter and Paxton aregetting all they deserve.”
“Ge—get off of m—me!” came in a groan from Paxton. “Yo—you are crushingin my ribs!”
“Don’t hit me with that stone!” they heard Coulter scream.
“They are certainly going too far,” said Pepper. “Enough is enough. Letus scare the Pornell fellows off.”
This was agreed to, and picking up sticks and stones Jack’s crowd set upa sudden wild yelling that made the Pornellites stop fighting and glancearound in fear.
“Come on!” cried Pepper. “Putnam Hall to the rescue! Down with PornellAcademy!” And he looked over his shoulder, as if urging others behindhim. Then Jack and the others took up the cue, and they made it appearas if a big party was approaching. Andy even ran behind some bushes andcalled out in as many different tones of voice as he could master.
The ruse worked to perfection, and Roy Bock and his cohorts lost no timein leaping to their feet and retreating a few paces.
“I guess the whole school is coming!” said the bully of Pornell Academy.
“Charge them! Charge them!” yelled Jack, and ran forward brandishing abig stick. Pepper was at his side, and flung a big stone over Bock’shead. This was too much for the Pornell students, and turning, they ranalong the road for a short distance and then took to the woods. They didnot stop running until they had covered a good quarter of a mile andwere sure the pursuit had come to an end.
“It was a put-up job!” growled Roy Bock, as he leaned against a tree torest and catch his breath. “That was Ruddy came to help Ritter and theothers. It was a put-up job and nothing else!”
“Yes, and we walked into the trap like a lot of mice after cheese,”grunted Gussic, with his hand on his windpipe, where he had been hit.
“Just look at these duds!” came from another lad. “About fit for theragbag!” And he mournfully surveyed a torn sleeve and a hole in histrouser leg.
“My collar is gone, and so is that new dollar tie I bought for theparty,” said Bock. “I ought to make somebody buy me another tie.”
“Speaking of the party,” said another. “Are you going?”
“Going?” stormed the bully. “Are you crazy? If we went the girls wouldtake us for scarecrows!”
“It’s funny that other crowd didn’t go to the party,” remarked Grimes.
“Oh, I guess they’d rather play a trick on us than go to any party,” wasGussic’s comment. “I am of the firm opinion that Ritter, Ruddy and thewhole bunch was in the plot against us.”
“Sure thing,” answered Roy Bock. And then he and his cronies walkedslowly in the direction of Pornell Academy, wondering what they shouldsay when they got there, and what sort of excuse they should send to thegirls who had been waiting for them.
In the meantime Reff Ritter and his cronies had gotten up and brushedthemselves off. They were considerably astonished to find that Jack andhis chums had come to their rescue.
“Huh! So it’s you!” growled Ritter, with a far from pleasant look on hisface.
“Yes,” said the young major cheerily. “I guess we got here just in thenick of time, didn’t we?”
“Maybe you did.”
“What’s the row about?” questioned Pepper innocently, but with a sidewink at Andy and Dale.
“About? They tied us up in bags, and——” began Paxton, when a cold lookfrom Reff Ritter stopped him. “I mean—er—they——”
“Never mind what it was about,” growled Ritter.
“Tied you up in bags, did they?” said Andy. “That was hard luck sure.How did you escape?”
“I cut my way from the bag with my pocketknife,” said Coulter, ignoringRitter’s look. “Those fellows——”
“Say, can’t you keep it to yourself?” demanded the bully of the Hallsourly. He was afraid Jack and his chums would laugh at him and thosewho had suffered with him.
“Ritter, you needn’t tell us anything,” said the young major, drawinghimself up, stiffly. “We did what we could for you, but we don’t expecteither your confidence or your thanks.” He turned to his chums. “Come,fellows, I fancy we are not wanted here,” and he turned and walked inthe direction of Putnam Hall, with Pepper and the rest at his heels.Each boy wanted to laugh but each managed to keep a straight face untila safe distance was covered. Then Pepper had to roll on the ground androar, and Andy did the same.
“Oh, Jack!” panted The Imp, when he felt able to speak. “That was therichest yet—what you said—‘We did what we could for you, but we don’texpect your thanks!’ Gracious, I thought I’d die when you said it!”
“We’ve got ’em guessing,” said Dale.
“Yes, and I reckon Bock and his gang and Ritter and his cronies will beenemies for life now,” said Andy.
“Boys, in honor of this occasion, I move we celebrate to-night,” saidPepper.
“Second the motion,” answered Andy, promptly. “But how is it to bedone?”
“Might each do an extra example in geometry, in honor of the event,”suggested Jack, with a smile.
“Geometry!” snorted Stuffer. “Not much! Let’s have something to eat!”
“Stuffer’s one idea of celebrating is something to eat,” cried Andy.
“Well, a feast isn’t so bad,” said another cadet.
“Where are we going to get anything?” asked Pepper. “We can’t go toCedarville—it’s too late.”
“I have it!” cried Andy. “Let us have an ice-cream festival.”
“That’s easy enough to say, Andy, but where are you going to get thecream?” asked the young major.
“If some of you will make excuses for me after supper I’ll get thecream,” answered the acrobatic youth. “I can go to Cedarville and backin no time on my wheel. But I want some money,” he added, suddenly.“Poser, the ice-cream man, doesn’t tick anybody.”
“An ice-cream party it is,” said Emerald. “Sure, an’ I could eat somenow, so I could!” And he smacked his lips.
When the cadets got back to Putnam Hall they washed up hastily and thensome of the others turned over to Andy a portion of their spendingmoney. Andy got a hasty supper, and then, watching his chance, stolefrom the mess hall on the sly. His bicycle was in the wagon house, andmounting this he spun along the highway leading to the town atrecord-breaking speed.
“Where did Snow go?” demanded Pluxton Cuddle, when he n
oticed the vacantchair.
“Perhaps he wasn’t feeling well,” suggested Pepper. “I noticed he hadhis hand to his stomach.”
“He eats too much,” grumbled the new teacher. “All of you boys eat morethan is good for you. After this I shall have to keep an eye on Snow.”He glared round the table. “Singleton, what is that you have in yourhand?”
“A piece of cake, sir,” answered Stuffer.
“Didn’t you have a piece before, sir?”
“Yes, sir. But I’m hungry and——”
“One piece of cake is enough, Singleton. Put that down and leave thetable.”
“Do you want me to go hungry?” demanded Stuffer, half angrily. Thestrenuous events of the afternoon had made him unusually hungry.
“I will not allow a cadet to stuff himself. I do not wonder that some ofthe boys have given you the nickname of Stuffer—although I abhornicknames. Leave the room, sir!”
“All right, old cat!” grumbled Paul, under his breath, and he marchedout, with Pluxton Cuddle’s eyes glaring after him. In the meantimePepper calmly reached over, took half a dozen slices of cake and rolledthem up in a napkin in his lap. Seeing this, Jack did the same. WhenPluxton Cuddle chanced to look at the plate a minute later he stared inamazement.
“Who took that cake?” he thundered.
To this question all the cadets remained silent.
“Answer me, who took that cake?” he repeated, and looked at each boy inturn.
“I didn’t,” answered Dale.
“I ate but one piece, Mr. Cuddle!” said Pepper.
“That is all I ate, too,” added Jack.
“Only Stuffer—I mean Singleton—ate more than one piece,” said BartConners.
“Strange! strange! I thought the plate was full of cake,” murmuredPluxton Cuddle. He glared again at the cadets. “If I find out that anyof you have deceived me I shall punish you severely. Now finish yoursuppers!” And he began to munch away vigorously on the dry toast he waseating. His theory was that a person should eat very little butmasticate that little well, and he sometimes chewed a mouthful of foodthirty or forty times.
When the meal was over, Pepper and Jack slipped the napkins full of cakeunder their jackets and left the mess hall. Then they took the cakeupstairs and hid the dainty in a safe place. This done they strolleddown the highway leading to Cedarville, looking for Andy.
“He ought to be coming soon,” remarked the young major, after a halfhour had passed.
They walked a short distance from the Hall and then sat down on a rockto rest. Here presently Dale and Stuffer joined them.
“Where is Andy?” called out Stuffer. “I am hungry enough to eat thatice-cream right now.”
“I think something is wrong,” said Jack. “He ought to be back by thistime.”
“What could be wrong, Jack?” asked Pepper.
“I don’t know, but——” The young major paused. “Somehow, I feel thatsomething serious has happened to Andy!”