Stratemeyer Edward
The Putnam Hall Champions

CHAPTER VII
AT THE DRUG STORE

Andy wanted his gun cleaned and oiled, and as his wrist was in no condition for use, Pepper volunteered to do the work. In the meantime Jack went around to several students whom he knew were usually careless in their appearance and told them they must brush up.

“I want every cadet to appear in first-class form,” said the young major. “Captain Putnam is depending upon me to have everything perfect.”

“I’m going to make everything shine like a looking-glass,” said Dale, “even if I have to work all night to do it.”

“Sure, and I want to look foine meself,” put in Hogan. “Mebbe, some day, I’ll be afther joining the regular army, I dunno.”

“West Point would just suit me,” added Henry Lee.

Having made a tour of the school and set many cadets to work cleaning up, the young major looked over his own things. A button on his coat wanted fastening and that was all. His sword and scabbard were as bright as a new silver dollar, and it must be confessed that he looked at them with satisfaction.

“Perhaps Captain Putnam will introduce me to those regular army officers,” he thought, “and if he does I want to look my very best.”

Some time later, having placed his outfit in the closet where it belonged, Jack joined Pepper and Andy. The former had finished cleaning the acrobatic cadet’s gun and was now at work on his own.

The three boys were talking among themselves when they noticed a cadet named Billy Sabine lounging near watching them curiously. It may be mentioned here that Sabine was an odd sort of youth – sometimes very good and sometimes very bad. He had been a toady to Dan Baxter and to Coulter. But when Reff Ritter came on the scene Billy had not been treated with the consideration he thought was due him, and, as a consequence, he was rather down on Ritter and his cronies.

“Sabine acts as if he wanted something,” remarked Pepper. “Wonder what he’s got on his mind?”

“I’ll call him over and find out,” said Jack, and beckoned to the distant boy. Sabine came up slowly, as though revolving something of importance in his mind.

“Well, Billy, how goes it?” began the young major, sociably.

“Pretty well,” was Sabine’s short reply. “Going to have a great drill to-morrow, I suppose.”

“We hope to have. And I trust you’ll polish up for it.”

“Oh, I’m always polished.”

“I know you are, and I am glad of it. I wish I could say as much for every cadet in the battalion.”

There was a pause, and Billy Sabine rubbed his chin with his hand, a habit he had when turning something over in his mind. He was rather a slow thinker at the best.

“Say, are you polished up?” he asked.

“Why, yes, of course.”

“You want to put on your best front, don’t you?”

“To be sure.”

“Then you had better watch out that somebody doesn’t play a trick on you,” and with this remark Billy Sabine started to walk away.

“Play a trick?” repeated the young major. “What do you mean?”

“Oh – you watch out, that’s all.”

“Billy must know of something,” cried Pepper, his suspicions aroused.

“Call him back,” added Andy, and this was done. The other boy returned rather unwillingly.

“Who is going to play a trick on me?” demanded Jack.

“Why – er – I didn’t say he was going to play a trick – I only said for you to watch out.”

“You act as if you knew of something,” said Pepper. “If you do you had better say so.”

“I – er – I thought I’d warn you, that’s all.”

“But what do you know – come, out with it,” and now Jack caught the cadet by the arm, so that he could not run away. Billy Sabine looked around suspiciously.

“If I tell you, you won’t give me away, will you?” he asked, in a low voice.

“That depends,” answered Jack.

“I shan’t say a word unless you promise. I’m not going to get myself in a hole on your account.”

“Then you do know something!” cried Pepper. “Well, if you don’t tell us what it is, and anything happens, we’ll blame you, so there!”

“I’m not going to do anything!” exclaimed Sabine, in fresh alarm.

“What do you know?” said Jack, and now his voice was stern.

“I – er – I was down back of the boat-house awhile ago and I heard Reff Ritter, Gus Coulter, and Nick Paxton talking. They are all down on your crowd.”

“We know that,” answered Pepper, briefly.

“They didn’t see me, and I heard most of what they said, although not all.”

“And what did they say?” questioned Andy.

“First they talked about you” – Sabine nodded to the young major. “Ritter has a plan to spoil your things – sword and all that – so they won’t show up good at the inspection. He is going to get something down to the Cedarville drug store to-night and sprinkle or rub it on everything. After Ritter unfolded his plan he and the others agreed to fix up your whole crowd in the same way – so the inspection would be ruined, so far as you were concerned. They want to put you in disgrace with Captain Putnam.”

After that Billy Sabine told the particulars as far as he knew them. Jack and his chums listened with keen interest.

“We ought to report this to the captain!” cried Andy. “It’s the most outrageous thing I ever heard of!”

“This will bring disgrace to Captain Putnam as well as ourselves,” said Pepper. “But I don’t believe in carrying tales.”

“Remember, you promised not to get me into trouble,” came hastily and anxiously from Sabine.

“We promised nothing of the sort,” returned Jack. “But I think we can attend to this trick ourselves, without alarming Captain Putnam.”

“Shall we go to Ritter and his gang and punch their heads for them?” demanded Andy. “I guess I can do something, even with this sore wrist of mine.”

“Say, I’ve got an idea!” cried Pepper, suddenly. “Just the thing – if we can work it.” He turned to Sabine. “Are you sure Ritter is going to get those chemicals at Cedarville?”

“So he said.”

“And to-night?”

“Yes.”

“All right – I’ll see what I can do to put a spoke in his wheel when he least suspects it.”

At that moment Reff Ritter appeared not far away, and at once Billy Sabine walked off.

“Please don’t say a word about me,” he pleaded, as he departed.

“Now, what is your plan?” asked Jack of Pepper, some time later, when they and Andy were left alone.

“Why, it is simply this, to go to Cedarville and head off Ritter’s little game.”

“You mean to stop him from going to the drug store?” queried Andy.

“Not at all. The druggist has a new clerk, a fellow named Charley Fowler. I know him quite well. If I can see Fowler before Ritter gets there I think I can get him to play into our hands. Now do you catch the idea?”

“That’s all right – if you can get away.”

“I ought to have as good a chance as Ritter,” answered Pepper; and then the bell rang for the parade previous to supper.

It was no easy matter for Pepper to get off that evening, but when he told Mr. Strong that he wanted to see a friend in Cedarville on important business he was allowed leave of absence until nine o’clock, and as the cadets frequently went in pairs, he was allowed to take Andy with him.

“I’ll keep my eyes on the Ritter crowd,” said Jack, “and make sure they don’t play some trick of another kind during your absence.”

In a roundabout way Pepper and Andy learned that Reff Ritter and Gus Coulter were going to Cedarville on their bicycles. As soon as they heard this the two chums got out their own wheels, pumped up the tires, and were off.

“We’ve got to do a little spurting,” said Pepper. “Ritter and Coulter are both fast riders and we want to get to town quite awhile ahead of them.”

It was still fairly light, so that they did not need lamps. They pedaled along with vigor, up hill and down, until the lights of the town shone in the distance. Without slacking speed they took to the main street and slacked up only when the drug store came into view.

“Now if only the clerk is in charge,” said Pepper. “I don’t know the proprietor very well.”

“Come, let us take our wheels to the rear,” suggested Andy. “Then if we want to get out in a hurry we can do it without Ritter and Coulter seeing us.”

They placed their bicycles in a shed at the back of the drug store and then hurried around again to the front. As they went in they met the proprietor coming out. This caused the cadets to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, boys, what can I do for you?” asked the clerk, as he came forward and nodded pleasantly to Pepper.

“You can do a whole lot for us, Charley,” answered Pepper, and continued: “Anybody here?”

“No, the boss just went out. I am in sole charge.”

“Will you be in charge for the next hour or so?”

“I’ll be in charge until I shut up. The boss is not coming back.”

“Good. Now I want to explain something,” went on the Imp, and as speedily as possible related what Billy Sabine had told about the trick Ritter proposed to play. The drug-store clerk was intensely interested, and as he had taken quite a fancy to Pepper he readily consented to do what the other proposed.

“I can fix this Ritter up with a little colored water and alcohol,” he said. “That mixture won’t harm your outfits in the least.”

“That’s the ticket!” exclaimed Andy, with a grin.

The boys then purchased some root beer to drink, and treated the clerk to a cigar – for he was fond of smoking. A minute later, looking out of the doorway, Andy saw Ritter and Coulter coming.

“Here is where we make our escape,” he said, and he and Pepper ran for a back door. They got out into the yard just as Ritter came into the drug store by the front door. Out in the yard it was dark, so the boys felt little fear of detection.

They listened at an open window and heard Ritter ask for several chemicals in liquid form. The clerk came to the rear, behind the prescription partition, and filled several bottles as he had promised.

“Some of these are poison,” he said to his customer. “You want to be careful how you use them.”

“We know all about that,” answered Reff Ritter.

“By law I can’t sell you these without a written doctor’s prescription,” went on the clerk.

“Oh, that will be all right,” put in Coulter.

“I won’t dare to put our labels on the bottles,” added the clerk.

“Put on any old thing,” answered Ritter. “We are not buying labels – we are buying chemicals.” And then the clerk pasted plain bits of paper on the bottles and scribbled on them with a lead pencil.

“We’ll take some packages of cigarettes, too,” said Ritter, after the bottles were delivered to him.

“Time for us to get out,” whispered Pepper to his chum. “They’ll be on the way to the Hall in a few minutes more.”

“Oh, they’ll likely stop for a smoke,” answered Andy. “But we might as well get back – we have accomplished what we came for. Won’t they be mad when they learn how they have been fooled!”

CHAPTER VIII
A SCARE ON THE ROAD

Carrying their wheels to the back of the yard behind the drug store, the two cadets lifted them over a board fence and jumped after them. Then they crossed a vacant lot and came out on a back street. Here they lit their bicycle lamps and then leaped into the saddles and were off.

“It’s a fine night for a ride,” observed Andy. “Wish we didn’t have to go right back to the Hall. I’d like to take a spin of ten or twelve miles.”

“We might go around by the upper road,” answered Pepper. “It won’t take but half an hour longer at the most. I don’t think Ritter and Coulter will hurry themselves. They like to smoke too well.”

“Yes, and play pool, Pep. It’s a wonder the captain doesn’t find out what they are up to.”

“Well, I am not going to turn tell-tale.”

Reaching the main road leading to Putnam Hall, the two cadets followed this for a quarter of a mile and then branched off to the left, on what was familiarly known as the upper road – since it ran on higher ground than that which followed the lake shore. This made a long turn between the hills to the west of the school and would give them a ride of four or five miles extra.

Two miles of the upper road were covered when Pepper noticed that his lamp was growing dimmer. He stopped and dismounted and shook the lamp. No sound from within followed.

“Empty,” he declared. “Too bad. I should have filled it before I started.”

“Never mind, I’ll lead and you can follow,” answered Andy. “I don’t believe there is anything the matter with the road, anyway.”

Andy dashed ahead and Pepper followed him at a distance of fifty feet. Thus another half-mile was reeled off. Then Andy slowed up, calling upon his chum to do the same.

“My front tire is flattened out,” declared the acrobatic cadet. “I hope I haven’t got a bad puncture.”

“If it was bad I reckon you would have heard the air hiss,” answered Pepper.

The lamp was loosened from the wheel and turned on the flat tire, and both boys got close to find the puncture. Presently Pepper detected a small, sharp thorn sticking in the rubber. It had made a hole like that of a pin.

“I’ll wind a piece of tape around it,” said Andy. “That will hold till we get to the Hall, I guess,” and he brought out the bicycle tape from his repair bag.

Both boys were hard at work, bending over the wheel in the dim light of the lamp, when they were startled by hearing voices close to them. On both sides of the road were trees and bushes and the spot was certainly a lonely one.

“Somebody is coming – ” began Pepper, when two figures stepped into the road and confronted the cadets.

The boys were amazed and alarmed, and with good reason. The figures were those of big boys or men, and each wore a green hood and a green mask which entirely concealed his face and head. More than this, each wore gloves with the finger-tips missing. Both carried heavy clubs in their hands.

For the moment the boys were so astonished they neither spoke nor moved. Then both leaped up and confronted the newcomers.

“We have them!” said one of the masked figures. “We have them at last.”

“Yes, we have them,” answered the other.

“Do you surrender?” demanded the first speaker of Andy and Pepper.

“Surrender? What for?” Pepper managed to ask.

“You shall know in due time. If you surrender, hand over your pocketbook.”

“I haven’t any pocketbook.”

“Yes, you have, and it has exactly two hundred dollars in it,” said the second masked fellow.

“We want both of your pocketbooks,” went on the first one who had spoken.

“I haven’t any pocketbook, either,” said Andy. “You’ve made a mistake in tackling us.”

“Let us take them to the cave for ransom!” cried the second fellow, and began to march around, waving his club over his head.

“Pep, this is a trick!” whispered the acrobatic youth. “Some of the fellows have followed us. Maybe they are going to initiate us in some new secret society.”

“By jinks, that’s so! Say, it would be great if we could get away from them!”

“Will you give up your pocketbooks?” demanded the first of the masked figures.

“Yes, and your red dancing-slippers,” added the second masked figure.

“Some of the cadets, beyond a doubt,” whispered Pepper. “Well, we’ve got no time for any initiations to-night.”

“Let’s pretend to submit,” answered Andy, in an equally low voice. “If I can only get this wheel pumped up it will be all right.” For the tire tape was now in place over the puncture.

“What say you?” demanded both figures, coming to a halt by the roadside, with clubs upraised.

“Let us mend this wheel first and we’ll do whatever you want,” answered Andy.

“It is well, proceed,” answered the leading masked person.

Andy already had his pocket-pump out, and he proceeded with all haste to pump up the tire. Then he put the pump back into his pocket.

“Take up your wheel,” he whispered. “Ride like mad when you get the chance. I am going to try to scare them.”

“The money!” roared one of the masked persons.

“Look! look!” screamed Andy, suddenly, and pointed into the woods. “The trees are on fire!”

The two masked figures wheeled around in fright. As they did this Andy and Pepper gave their wheels a push and leaped into the saddles. They pedalled with vigor and were soon fifty feet away.

“Come back! Come back!” yelled the two masked persons, in consternation.

“Not to-night!” called back Andy.

“You’ll have to find somebody else to initiate,” added Pepper.

“Confound the luck!” muttered one of the masked figures.

“And I thought we had them prisoners,” added the second masked person.

Laughing merrily over their escape, Andy and Pepper continued on their way to Putnam Hall. The darkness of the night speedily hid the two masked figures from their view.

“Did you discover who they were?” questioned the acrobatic youth, as they came in sight of the school.

“No. First I thought one of the fellows was Bart Conners, but he didn’t talk much like Bart.”

“Their voices had a familiar tone to them.”

“Yes, I know that. Well, whoever they were, they got left this time.”

“Maybe a whole crowd of them were back in the woods.”

“Perhaps. If so, we can find out who they are when they steal back into the Hall.”

“That’s an idea. Let us watch for them.”

The two cadets found Jack and the others anxiously awaiting their return.

“Ritter and Coulter just came in,” said the young major. “Ritter carried something in his pocket.”

“It’s all right – the drug clerk said it wouldn’t hurt our things a bit,” answered Pepper, and then he and Andy told of what had taken place at Cedarville and on the road.

“I didn’t hear of any new secret societies,” said Dale, who was present.

“Nor I,” added Jack. “But some of the fellows may be getting them up. It’s a mistake, though, to have initiations to-night. If the boys stay up late they’ll be as sleepy as owls at the inspection to-morrow.”

“I want to find out who those chaps are – if I possibly can,” said Pepper. “I am going to stay up, at least for awhile, and see if I can spot them.”

“And I’ll do the same,” added Andy.

Satisfied that no harm would now come to their outfits, Jack and the others retired. Andy and Pepper waited until all were asleep and then one stationed himself at a window on the east side of the Hall and the other at a window on the west.

For a good hour nobody appeared. Then Andy saw some figures moving down near the boat-house.

“The same pair, and they still have on the masks and hoods,” he said, after calling Pepper.

“Here they come,” said Pepper, a minute later, as the two masked figures approached the Hall. Then the two persons below passed out of sight behind the school.

“What do you suppose we had best do now?” questioned Pepper.

“Wait till they come upstairs.”

They waited, and thus ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed.

“I guess they are not coming up,” began Andy, when he heard a door close. Then came a murmuring of voices, and he and the Imp saw the dim forms of two cadets coming up a side stairs. The newcomers tiptoed their way along a corridor and one slipped into one dormitory and the other hurried into the room next to it.

“Joe Nelson and Harry Blossom!” whispered Pepper. “Who would have thought it!”

“I didn’t know they belonged to anything new.”

“Nor I. Well, we fooled them nicely.”

“Let us quiz them about it when we get the chance.”

“Sure.”

Andy and Pepper were tired enough to go to bed, and it did not take them long to get to sleep. When they awoke the Hall bell was clanging loudly. They were a little late, and so were some of the others, and there was a great rush to get dressed and downstairs on time.

The morning session was a brief one. During that period Reff Ritter got excused from his class for ten minutes, and Gus Coulter also got a leave of absence.

“I would like to go out a few minutes, Mr. Strong,” said Jack to the assistant teacher.

“Very well, Major Ruddy,” was the answer, and Jack hurried away and after Ritter and Coulter. He saw the conspirators go to a closet and get out two bottles of light-colored liquid. Then they visited the dormitory occupied by Jack and his friends, and also the rack where the cadets kept their swords and guns.

“What shall we do with the empty bottles?” Jack heard Coulter ask, as he and Ritter passed a door behind which the young major was in hiding.

“Put them in Sabine’s closet,” answered Ritter. “Then, if the worst comes to the worst, I can say that little sneak was in it.”

“All right,” answered Coulter, and the proposal was immediately carried out. Then the two conspirators went back to their class-room. But Jack got in ahead of them, and was deep in a history lesson when they entered.

The morning session at an end, it was announced that dinner would be served in the mess-room in a quarter of an hour. Losing no time, Jack and his chums ran to inspect their outfits. They found some parts of their uniforms damp, where the liquid from the bottles had been poured over them. The guns and Jack’s sword were also moist, but these were readily dried.

“I only hope the drug clerk didn’t make any mistake,” said the young major.

“We’ll know for certain after dinner,” answered Andy.

The visitors had already arrived, and Captain Putnam had had a salute from the new cannon on the campus fired in their honor, and was now entertaining them in his private dining-room. The cadets marched into the mess-room for dinner, and half an hour later dispersed, to prepare for the inspection.