Stratemeyer Edward
The Putnam Hall Champions
CHAPTER XXX
A CAPTURE – CONCLUSION
It had begun to rain and from a distance came the rolling of thunder. But Jack, Andy and Pepper paid no attention to this – their one thought was to reach the top of Devery Hill first.
They had spread out along the hillside, each seeking the easiest way up the steep rocks. Pepper was slightly ahead, with Jack and Andy an equal distance behind him. The other contestants were considerably to the rear.
“We are in for a big thunderstorm!” cried Andy.
“Who cares?” flung back Pepper. “I am going to win this race no matter what happens.”
“Not if I know it!” came from the young major.
“The fellow to win will be the one to get there first,” said Andy. And then no more was said just then, for the hill was becoming steeper and they wanted to save their breath.
At last, just as it began to rain in torrents, the three cadets saw, fifty feet above them, the top of the hill. To reach it each had to climb some rocks that were now wet and slippery.
“Don’t break your neck, whatever you do!” cried Jack. “The race isn’t worth it.”
“I am safe enough!” panted Pepper, as he pulled himself up with vigor. “Hurrah, I’m up!” he added, a moment later. “Where’s the rock?”
“There it is!” shouted Andy, coming to the top and racing off. Jack was beside him, and away the three started for the flat rock less than twenty yards away. They came up abreast, and all three flung themselves on the rock simultaneously.
“Here!” gasped Andy.
“Here!” panted Pepper.
“A tie!” said Jack, when he could speak. “Creation, but wasn’t that last climb a corker!”
“So it was,” answered Pepper.
“Talk about rain,” came from Andy. “Say, we’ve got to get under shelter or we’ll be soaked.”
“There is something of a cliff,” said Jack, pointing with his hand. “That ought to afford some protection. Phew!”
The last exclamation followed a vivid flash of lightning and a crack of thunder that made all the cadets jump. They leaped in the direction of the cliff and crouched under it. Then came another flash and a crack, and the rain came down in a deluge.
“Here is an opening, under the cliff,” said Pepper, looking around among the brushwood growing at the base of the rocks. “Let us get in that. It will be some protection against the lightning as well as the rain.”
None of the youths liked the vivid flashes of lightning and all were glad to turn into the opening, which was a cavern between the rocks. As they looked around them Jack’s eye saw something on the flooring which immediately attracted his attention. It was some loose excelsior and he pointed it out to his chums.
“Oh, Jack, can it be possible those crazy men came here?” exclaimed Andy.
“I don’t know, but I think it will pay us to investigate, as soon as the storm clears away.”
“Let us investigate now,” said Pepper, impulsively. “I don’t believe I could get much wetter than I am if I tried.”
The trail of the loose excelsior led around the base of the cliff and to a much larger opening than the first they had discovered. Jack was in advance, and of a sudden he put up his hand as a warning.
“What is it?” asked his chums, in a whisper.
“The two crazy men – in a cave. I think they are sleeping.”
With extreme caution the cadets moved forward, so all could look into the cave beyond. The young major was right, there on the ground, near a small campfire which was almost burnt out, lay Bart Callax and Paul Shaff. Both were sound asleep in spite of the fierce thunderstorm that was raging.
“They must prowl around so much in the night that they have to sleep in the daytime,” said Pepper, and guessed the truth.
The boys looked behind the sleepers and saw a number of bags piled in a corner of the cave. On a rock lay the green masks and hoods and also a butcher knife, a hatchet, and several other things.
“Can we capture them?” questioned Andy.
“We must do it,” answered the young major.
“But they may show fight – and they say crazy folks are very strong.”
“Let us take some ropes and tie them up while they are asleep,” suggested Pepper. “We can take the ropes on the bags.”
This was agreed to, and in nervous haste the three cadets procured the ropes and advanced on the two men who were, fortunately, sleeping heavily. One had his hands up over his head and it was an easy matter to tie his wrists together. Then they secured his feet. After that they secured the feet of the second man and turned his arms so they could tie his wrists. At this he awoke, but before he could collect himself and offer any resistance he was a close prisoner.
“What does this mean?” asked Callax, and then of a sudden he began to weep. Shaff began to talk wildly and offered them the Presidency of the United States if they would set him free.
“We mean to do you no harm,” said Jack, gently. “We want to take you to your relative, Mr. George Strong. He wants very much to see you.”
“Will he let me play the organ?” demanded Paul Shaff, sharply.
“Certainly,” said Pepper.
“Then I’ll see him.”
“I am the king of this mountain, and he must come to me,” said Bart Callax, stubbornly.
By talking kindly the cadets managed to soothe the two prisoners, and then, as the thunderstorm was passing, Andy ran out and part of the way down the hill after some of the others who had taken part in the race. In the meantime Jack watched the insane men and Pepper examined the stuff in the cave.
“All of the trophies seem to be here,” announced Pepper. “And here are the Confederate bills and the vest taken from Mr. Chetwood.”
“See anything of Flossie Ford’s bracelet?” asked the young major.
“No.”
“I have a bracelet in my pocket,” announced Bart Callax. “It belongs to the Empress of China.”
“Where is it?” asked Jack, and when told, brought the bracelet forth. By its appearance he knew it was the one belonging to Flossie.
“That clears up that mystery,” said Pepper. “Won’t she be glad to get it back, though!”
“Yes, and Will Carey will be glad it is found,” added the young major.
Later they discovered Carey’s ruby ring on Shaff’s finger.
It was some time before Andy returned, – with five cadets who were in the secret concerning the Pornell Academy trophies. Those boys took the sacks containing the things and marched off with them in the slight rain that was falling. Then Jack and his chums started off with Shaff and Callax, taking the other things along.
Two hours later the two insane men were placed in the keeping of George Strong. The teacher was delighted to learn that they had been found and promised to see to it personally that the men be placed in an asylum from which escape would be practically impossible.
“I will take them to the asylum myself,” he said, and left Putnam Hall the next day for that purpose.
The reader can imagine how delighted Flossie Ford was to get back her precious bracelet. She was amazed when she learned the true story concerning it.
“After this I shall take care that it never gets away from me again,” said she.
“Oh, you’d lend it to me, wouldn’t you?” asked Pepper, with a twinkle in his eye.
“Maybe; but I’d not lend it to anybody else,” answered Flossie.
Will Carey was also delighted and glad to get back his ring, and when the boys asked him to assist in getting the trophies back to Pornell Academy he readily consented. As a consequence the trophies were taken back one night and placed in a row on the main dining room table of the school, much to Doctor Pornell’s amazement.
“Somebody shall suffer for this!” he thundered. “Wait till I get at the bottom of this trick!” But he never got at the bottom of it, for Will Carey kept his secret, being afraid that if he did not the cadets would tell all about the bracelet.
“Well, we’ve had some warm times this season,” remarked Jack, one day, when talking matters over. “But things seem to be quiet now.”
“And I hope they stay so,” said Andy, but his wish was not realized. Very strenuous times were close at hand, and what they were will be told in the next volume of this series, to be entitled “The Putnam Hall Rebellion; or, The Rival Runaways.” In that volume we shall learn what the absence of Captain Putnam from his school led to, and how Reff Ritter once again tried to do Jack and his chums serious injury, and how his rascally use of the French headache powder was exposed.
“Some day we’ll have to run that tie race off,” said Pepper. “As it is, we don’t know who is the best runner and climber.”
“Why not leave it as it is?” suggested Andy.
“Just what I say,” came from the young major. “By the way, Paxton got hurt quite badly by the stone Ritter rolled down on him.”
“Yes, but he thinks we are to blame,” said Pepper. “He will try to get square some day, I suppose,” and in this surmise the Imp was right.
The next day came a surprise that pleased the boys very much. The Fords were to give a lawn party and they invited about a dozen of the cadets over. The chums went and had “the time of their lives,” as Andy declared.
“Tell you what, they are all right folks,” said Pepper.
“I agree with you,” answered Jack.
And here we will leave the young cadets, wishing them well.
