Cyril Burleigh

“ This thing was done to throw discredit on me and to stop the life of the Gazette.”
“That’s just what it would mean if the thing had gone through.”
“It was done by some one who knows the Academy and the fellows,” declared Harry. “It was aimed at Jack, principally. We know who does not like him here and it should not be a hard matter to find who is responsible.”
“It may be one for all that,” replied Jack. “This is a serious business and the perpetrators will cover their tracks. One thing is certain. You must watch every boy that reads the Gazette to-morrow. ”

“ The majority agreed that Jack would make a better editor but there were some who opposed this choice, not openly but in a sneering, underhand way that was harder to combat than if they had put on an attitude of bold defiance.
“You don’t want a mere clerk for an editor,” said Peter Herring to a number of his cronies. “If we did we could hire a six-dollar-a-week typewriter girl to do the work. Any one can work a machine with a little practice but it takes brains to run a high-class magazine like ours.” ”

“ Dick said. “I fancied I could run a car anywhere but you can beat me all to bits. Herring can say what he likes but a fellow that can run a car as steadily and coolly as you can is good enough to associate with the president himself.”
“I am glad you like it,” said Jack, smiling, “but [70] long use has made me well accustomed to our Hudson valley hills and I really do not mind them nor think them so bad as a stranger would.” ”

“ After school was over that day Percival came to Jack and said:
“We are going off into the woods, some of us, to explore things generally. Won’t you come along, Jack?”
“Of course he will,” put in Billy Manners, who came along at that moment with Harry and Arthur. “He will want to make some more discoveries to add to those he has already made. The place is new to us where we are going and, consequently, will be new to him.” ”

“ It was foolish for Herring to use the phone and try to disguise his voice. Why didn’t he get some one I did not know at all? He was the foolish one. And then I thought I might give him a dose of his own medicine.”
“Huh! did you give him as bad as you gave me?”
“Well, it was different,” and Jack laughed.
[51] “I don’t treat all alike, you see. Have a little more of the mud cure?”
Then, without waiting for an answer, Jack plastered the bully’s face and neck with the sticky mud and left him.
“This is hazing the hazers,” he said. “They may not like it, but, then, that is merely the point of view. ”

“ They say that little children notice everything, certainly a good deal more than their parents like, sometimes. Perhaps I have not gotten over my childish habits.”
“Oh, I don’t believe you were one of those young nuisances that call attention to everything, the grandmother’s wig, the maiden aunt’s false teeth and the like,” chuckled Percival. “Yes, I think you are particularly observant and—hello! what’s that?” as a dull sound broke upon their ears.
“It might be thunder,” said Jack. “It sounds somewhere behind us. That’s all right. This place begins to look interesting, Dick. ”

“ Jack and Percival now quickly joined their companions, who were eager to learn of their experiences in the cave.
The boys were greatly interested in hearing of what Jack and Dick had discovered in the cave, and speculated about the presence of the burglars’ tools, some of them wondering if the bank robbers made the cave their headquarters, and why the tools had not been taken away before.
“Well, if the place is closed I shall have a picture of it at any rate,” declared Billy.
“Which cannot amount to much,” laughed Harry, “seeing that your camera has neither shutter nor lens.” ”

“ Herring sputtered and gasped, and Jack gave him another ducking, and without the slightest compunction.
“I don’t believe in taking a mean advantage of a fellow, as a rule,” he laughed, “but that is the only thing that a fellow like you will understand. This is the two-four-six degree, Herring.”
Then he gave the bully another ducking and finally left him to look for Merritt, who also deserved something more than he had received.
“I am going to give you a reward of Merritt, Ernest,” he laughed, as he finally came upon the sneak sitting on a stone at the edge of the woods, looking very miserable. ”

“ The boys kept hard at work removing the debris that had fallen into the entrance of the cave, but some of this consisted of great rocks, which were impossible to get rid of with the means at their disposal, and Harry presently growled, as he wiped his perspiring forehead with one hand while he leaned against the ledge with the other:
“We’ll have to blow this stuff up. If it were only earth and gravel we could do something, but there are rocks as big as a house in the hole, and we can never get rid of them.” ”

“ Rescuing those in danger is more commendable than conducting an imitation newspaper.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Jack, saluting and going back to his friends.
“What has Bull got against the Gazette?” he asked Arthur and Harry.
“Oh, it poked a little quiet fun at him once and he has never recovered from it,” laughed Harry. “The Colonel is a bit of a martinet and imagines that the army lost one of its brightest officers when he was retired.” ”

“ The stench was something dreadful, and two of the hazers got full doses of the stuff directly in their faces.
Jack was on the windward side of it or he could not have endured the horrible smell.
The victims simply fell on the ground and began to vomit in spite of themselves.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! I’m poisoned!” wailed Holt, who was one of the fellows dosed. “Oh! get me some water. Oh, dear! I shall die, I know I shall!”
“You need a good cleaning out,” laughed Jack, who had no sympathy whatever for the sneak. “You are dirty enough inside and out to make it necessary. Turn yourself inside out. ”

“ Billy had faith in his pinhole camera, because it was his. Jack was certain that he would get a picture, because he knew about such things, and Dick was interested because Jack was, and therefore the three watched the process of developing with considerable interest.
Jack had running water and all the facilities for doing good work, and it was also apparent that he had done a good deal of it.
“By Jove! you are a wonder, Jack,” laughed Percival. “I am all the time finding out new things that you can do. If we were not with you so much we would not know how much you can do. ”

“ The other bully was sneaking away when Jack found him and he let him go, having really had enough fun with the bullies to last him some time, and considering that he had punished them enough for one while.
“Four to one was pretty good odds,” he laughed, “but I had the advantage of knowing what they were about. That was stupid of Herring to get on the wire himself. Why didn’t he get some one else? Fellows like these always make some stupid mistake which betrays them.” ”

“ This place may be known, although the people in the woods hereabout don’t take much stock in such things, as they say and think tourists and summer boarders who want to explore them just a lot of crazy fools.”
“It’s an easy thing to call a man a fool because he can understand or like things that you don’t,” laughed Dick.
The boys at length got so far into the hole in the rocks that they had to make use of Jack’s pocket electric torch, and they proceeded, still on a down grade, and finding the way a bit rough in spots, but at last finding it better traveling and more level. ”

“ If he is poor he is not a miser and if he has to work for his schooling that is his business. If Dick Percival, the acknowledged head of the school in studies [35] as well as in athletics, can associate with him and be proud of his company, the rest of us have nothing to say and I, for my part, certainly have not.”
“Neither has any decent fellow among the Hilltops,” added Harry, enthusiastically, and the majority echoed his sentiment, the few that remained silent and indulged in black looks being unobserved amid the general acceptance of the new scholar. ”

“ Two of the boys were sitting on the edge of their beds taking tacks out of their feet while another was looking for a dry night shirt in his locker.
The others looked rather sheepish and no attempt was made to rush in upon Jack who said with the least suspicion of a laugh:
“Better go to bed, boys. Some one might have heard the noise and be coming up to investigate.” ”

“ He had prepared himself for a hazing on his first night at Hilltop, and he now suspected that another was under way and was prepared for that as well.
Jack Sheldon had been to school before and knew the ways of boys, being one himself, although not of the sort that think it funny to play foolish tricks on others. ”

“ There was no answer and Jack suddenly became aware that he was alone.
He had not been bound and now he arose, felt in his pockets and presently produced matches, not having carried his pocket flashlight with him.
He struck a match and looked around him, finding that he was in a roughly finished room like a shop or a workman’s shack, with two barred windows on one side and a closed door opposite, there being a straight ladder reaching to some place above, probably the sleeping quarters of the men who worked here. ”

“ When the boys went up to bed, Jack, still occupying the same dormitory as at first, Billy was ready to see the result of his little joke, but said nothing to any of the boys about it.
“Will you change beds with me to-night, Billy?” presently asked Jack, taking off his coat and hanging it on a hook. “Mine is a little too warm, but you don’t mind that.”
[57] “Now I wonder if he has got onto it?” thought Billy. “He could not have been up here since.”
“It will only be for to-night,” Jack added.
“What’s the use of changing?” asked Billy. “I don’t like too warm a bed myself.” ”

“ Jack was already high in his classes and it looked as if he might be still higher before the end of the term for he was working with a purpose and meant to finish as near the top as possible.
“If you don’t see Jack Sheldon at the head of his class by the end of the term I shall miss my guess,” said Harry to Percival and one or two others one afternoon as some of the boys were taking a stroll through the woods near the bottom of the hill.
“I would not mind seeing him there even if he [134] passes me,” said Dick. “Jack is a good fellow and if he can win a scholarship it will mean much to him. ”

“ I think it was one of them, just as I think it was one of them who pushed Jack off the bank.”
“They may have hired a third party to do the work,” remarked Percival. “They would know [119] that they would be suspected on account of their opposition to Jack and so wish to hide their tracks.”
“That’s all right on the supposition that they are clever fellows,” laughed Harry, “but your rascals are always weak somewhere and trip themselves up. They say it takes a smart man to be a rogue and neither Herring nor Merritt has any medals for brilliancy of intellect.” ”

“ My father is as good as yours. I’ll give it to Sheldon for talking back to me.”
“You started it,” growled Merritt. “You’re always picking on the new fellows.”
“So are you,” snapped Herring. “You’re a regular bully. Never mind, though. There is something crooked about Sheldon or his family and I’m going to find it. I don’t associate with tramp berry pickers and the rest of the boys won’t when I find out things.”
“Dick Percival goes with him,” muttered Merritt, pointing to where the rich man’s son and Jack Sheldon were walking together arm in arm. ”

“ Jack is a modest fellow and you could not get him to say anything about himself.”
“Very well put,” said the editor. “What do you think about the political situation? I want a leader on it but hardly feel equal to it.”
“Write him an editorial, Jack,” laughed Dick. “How much do you pay for good articles, Mr. Brooke?”
“H’m! the News is not equipped for paying very much for anything,” replied the other, pecking at the machine, “but if I could get a really good article on the situation at present or anything, the farming outlook, for instance, I would be willing to pay something for it.” ”

“ As a matter of fact, Herring was afraid of Percival, who was his equal in size and strength as well as in athletic qualities and a good boxer to boot, and therefore did not wish to have the latter about when they set out to haze Jack.
“There are other ways of doing the thing besides getting up a row in the dormitories,” he said.
“Sure!” added Merritt. “We don’t want the profs. coming in on us to spoil the fun.”
“Nor to have to lick Percival and a lot of other fools that have taken up with the new chap,” observed Holt.
“H’m! you’d lick Dick Percival, I don’t think!” ”

“ There was no reply, and, indeed, Jack and Dick did not hear them, being at some distance from the mouth of the cave at this moment.
The boys presently shouted again, but still there was no response, and Harry said in great disgust:
“We are only wasting our breath. They can’t [157] hear through all this rubbish, and they may be a good way off. I should not wonder if the cave was a big one. There are some such in the mountains along the Hudson valley, especially in these counties. Nobody bothers with them very much, but they’re here all the same.” ”

“ You have a pocket compass?”
“No, I have not.”
“Well, I have one or had, and anyhow, I don’t think we need it. It is daylight, and we know the direction we want to go. We should not have any trouble in finding our way back.”
“How are you going to do it when there is no road that we know of?” asked Percival, as Jack began making his way toward the top of the unnatural bowl in which they found themselves.
“I’ll show you, Dick,” Jack replied, pushing on, now using the stick to assist him and now getting along without it. ”

“ Herring avoided Jack after the stirring scene in the barn but neglected no opportunity to speak [170] ill or slightingly of the boy to his cronies and to Jack’s friends when he dared.
There were not many of these occasions, however, for the first time that he spoke slurringly of Jack to Billy Manners, that fun-loving young gentleman said hotly:
“Look here, Herring, I’ll pickle you if I hear you talk that way of Jack Sheldon again. A word to the wise is sufficient.” ”

“ He was able to give one yelp and then Jack suddenly sprang off his back, gave him a contemptuous shove with his foot and said:
“Get out of here and go about your business!”
With his tail between his legs and a yelp of fright the dog suddenly turned and went down the road as fast as he had come up.
“Well! that was some way of dealing with a mad dog!” said Billy, with a laugh. “You knocked all the fight out of him in a jiffy.”
“Has he gone for sure?” asked one of the small boys of Jack.
[130] “Yes, and you need not be afraid. Whose dog was it and what brought him up here?” ”

“ There’s room for all of us and I want to talk with Dick.”
“That’s all right, Buck,” said Dick Percival, one of the newcomers, a handsome boy of sixteen, strong, well built and sturdy, slyly passing something to the coachman. “Come up on the box, Harry. I have a lot to tell you. Come on, there’s lots of room.”
The two boys sat on the box alongside the coachman who set off up the hill for the Academy and Dick at once began to tell of an adventure which had happened to him during the vacation. ”

“ In fact, I will search it myself.”
“That is not necessary, Sheldon,” replied the doctor quickly, but Jack was already hunting through his desk, taking out everything at hand in a rapid fashion.
[137] “Of course it is not!” sputtered Harry. “No one accuses him of——”
“Here is a translation, sir,” said Jack, suddenly, when he came to the bottom of his desk, “but I need not tell you that it does not belong to me. It is a Cæsar.”
“Sheldon has been out of Cæsar all this term,” exclaimed Percival. “It is absurd to think that the pony——”
“Might it have belonged to you at some time, Sheldon?” ”

“ He found Holt sitting on the ground looking very wretched and said, wiping his muddy hand on the fellow’s face:
“There’s a plaster for you, Holt. You don’t look very pretty, but it may do you good.”
“Ouch! it stinks!” yelled Holt.
“So does your reputation,” laughed Jack. “One will act as a counter irritant to the other. And like curses like, you know. That’s the new [50] school of medicine. Who got up this little scheme to waylay me?”
“Pete Herring,” muttered Holt. ”

“ There were Percival, Jack, Harry, Arthur, Billy Manners, Blaisdell and Jasper Sawyer, the boy whose initials were the same as Jack’s, seven in all, and each of the party well liked by all the rest.
They set off without delay, and passing through the woods back of the Academy, and avoiding the ravine down which Jack had fallen, kept on down the hill on the side away from the station at the foot, and then up another and through a very rough, extremely wild section, where travel at times was most difficult. ”

“ Then he gave a generous plaster of the stuff to the bully’s face, and chuckled as he went away:
“They say that mud is a sure cure for a lot of things, Merritt, and maybe it will cure you of trying to haze a fellow unawares. Think it over. Thinking won’t hurt you, anyhow. You don’t do enough to injure you.”
Herring had taken himself off by the time Jack went back to the spring, evidently fearing that he would get another dose, which in his weak state he had no desire for and the boy did not find him. ”

“ I was only joking about it.”
“I don’t see anything funny in any such jokes,” returned Billy, “and I would advise you to take them to a market where they are better appreciated than they are here.”
“Ah, you think Sheldon is a lot,” sneered Herring, “but he isn’t any better than any one else.”
“Maybe not. It depends who the any one else is,” laughed Billy.
From the words that the bully dropped to his associates, however, it was clear that he meant mischief to Jack and would pay off his supposed debts as soon as opportunity offered and there was the least chance of detection. ”