Edward Stratemeyer

“ At last they came in sight of the hollow and Andy pointed out the rude shelter and the remains of a campfire. Not a soul was to be seen.
“Perhaps they have deserted the spot,” said Jack. “If they have it’s too bad.”
“Ha! don’t tell me you have brought me here on a fool’s errand!” puffed the deputy sheriff.
“If you are fooled, Mr. Nugg, so are we,” answered Rossmore Ford.
“I think I see somebody sleeping under that shelter,” said the butcher. “Yes, I do! It’s a man—and a tramp, by the looks of his ragged clothing!”
“Then some of them must be on hand,” answered Pepper. ”

“ Just the cheese!” cried Dale. “Blueing is better than starching any day!” And he laughed gleefully.
The boys laid their plans with care, and retired to their dormitory at an early hour. They had a little studying to do and got through with their lessons as speedily as possible.
“Now I am going out and play enemy,” said Pepper, when it was time to retire. “Remember, when I whistle it means get busy!” And he stole forth out of the dormitory and down the semi-dark hallway with the silence of a shadow. ”

“ In the meantime Ritter and his crowd had entered the room Jack and the others occupied. They were about to pour the cans of starch and mucilage over the beds, where they supposed the cadets were reposing, when something unexpected happened. From out of two closets leaped Jack, Andy and the others, each with a wet and knotted towel in his hand.
“At them, fellows!” cried the young major. And whack! came his wet towel on Reff Ritter’s head, sending the water flying into his face.
“Hi! stop!” roared the bully, taken completely off his guard. ”

“ It makes animals of them, yes, sir, animals!” Pluxton Cuddle was beginning to mount his hobby. “I have told Captain Putnam about it already. If the boys had only half of what they get now they would be brighter, quicker to learn, and much more easy to manage. As it is, they get large quantities of meat and it makes perfect bulls of them—and the pastry clogs their brains, and they can’t learn their lessons even if they try. Put them on half rations, and in less than a week you will behold a wonderful change in them.” ”

“ PRISONERS IN THE DORMITORIES
“Well, one thing is certain,” observed Pepper, as he and half a dozen others left the mess hall. “We are getting into this thing deeper and deeper. I wonder how it is going to end?”
“I doubt if it ends before Captain Putnam gets back,” answered Jack. “Crabtree is just headstrong enough to attempt something even worse than getting men with whips. Maybe he’ll have all of us locked up.”
“Will you stand for being arrested, Jack?” asked Andy.
“No.”
“Old Crabtree is a fool!” burst out Henry Lee. ”

“ Crabtree, I think you’ll find it best to let us out and give us our breakfast,” continued the young major. “You certainly can’t intend to starve us.”
“We do intend to starve you, until you come to your senses,” said another voice in the hallway. It was Pluxton Cuddle who had come up. “As I have said many times, you eat too much and it has made you saucy, impudent and unreasonable. An empty stomach may bring you to your senses.”
“It may make us desperate,” murmured Stuffer. “I am not going to let anybody starve me!” ”

“ Crabtree,” answered Jack.
“Exactly—but you must be hungry.”
“We are,” and this was true, for nobody had as yet started to eat.
“There is no use of your being stubborn,” continued Josiah Crabtree.
“We are not stubborn.”
“Yes, you are!”
“You are the one who is stubborn,” put in Dale. “You and Mr. Cuddle think you are right—but we are about thirty or thirty-five to two.”
“Bah! you are only boys and do not realize what you are doing.”
“We are going to leave this matter to Captain Putnam.”
“Then you don’t want any dinner, eh?” Josiah Crabtree felt certain that the cadets must be very hungry. ”

“ As they were absolutely helpless with the strong bags tied down to their knees, Ritter Coulter and Paxton had to do as commanded, and they were marched out of a back door of the ice house and to a grove of trees some distance away.
“Hurry up, boys!” whispered Pepper, to his chums. “Somebody is coming down the road. It must be the Pornell Academy crowd!”
In a twinkling the prisoners were tied with ropes to several trees. Then Jack led the way back to the ice house. Here Pepper went to the front, while the major resumed his uniform. ”

“ You can’t expect everything to work like a charm at the very start. We are all tired out, and what we need is a good night’s sleep. Don’t grumble so much.”
“I’ll grumble if I please!” flared up the bully of the school. “You may be major of the battalion but you can’t boss me here.”
“You didn’t have to come with us if you didn’t want to,” put in Dale. “Jack is our leader, and everybody in this camp has got to obey his orders.”
“That’s the talk!” cried Pepper.
“Humph! Then I reckon the best we can do is to get out,” answered Ritter, with a meaning look at his cronies. ”

“ In the mess hall Pluxton Cuddle made himself even more disliked than in the classrooms. Hardly had the cadets at his table begun to eat when he commenced to find fault.
“The food is really cooked too much,” he said. “It is not healthy for the human stomach to eat food so well-done. And, boys, do not overload your stomachs. An overloaded stomach befogs the brain. To grow up clear-brained one must eat little and only that which is rare-done.”
“Gracious! does he want to starve us?” cried Pepper.
“He shan’t starve me!” returned Stuffer. ”

“ THE PUTNAM HALL CADETS Or, Good Times in School and Out
The cadets are lively, flesh-and-blood fellows, bound to make friends from the start. There are some keen rivalries, in school and out, and something is told of a remarkable midnight feast and a hazing that had an unlooked-for ending. ”

“ Crabtree, I am not a rascal,” interrupted Jack. “I am the major of the Putnam Hall battalion and the spokesman of our class—so chosen by a vote of the cadets. We decided that we wanted dinner—and we are here to get it.”
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“This is mutiny—rebellion!” gasped Pluxton Cuddle.
“You can call it what you please, Mr. Cuddle. We are entitled to our dinner and we mean to have it.”
“Good for you, Major Ruddy!” came from a pupil from another classroom.
“Crabtree and Cuddle have no right to do you out of your dinners,” added another. ”

“ Strong.”
“Not much, Jack! Mr. Strong is one teacher out of a hundred, heaven bless him!”
“If all teachers were like Mr. Strong, going to boarding school would be a cinch,” added Andy, slangily. “He’s the dearest man who ever tried to teach a fellow the value of x and y, and don’t you forget it!”
“And I firmly believe we learn twice as much under a man like Mr. Strong as we do under old Josiah Crabtree,—although Crabtree may be the greater scholar,” came from Stuffer.
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The cadets spent a pleasant time in the woods, and at the roll of the drum hastened back to the pasture. ”

“ Just as they came in sight of the Hall they saw a buggy drive away from the entrance and turn in the direction of Cedarville, the nearest village.
“There goes the head teacher, a fellow named Crabtree,” said Bock. “The fellow driving him is Peleg Snuggers, the general helper. Boys, outside of some help that doesn’t count, the coast is clear!”
“I’ve got a scheme,” said Grimes. “Let us hide the auto in the woods, and then disguise ourselves as tramps by rubbing dust on our faces and putting on the old auto dusters. ”

“ Coulter was a little bit afraid.
“They may follow us up,” were the first words Jack and Pepper caught, coming from Gus Coulter.
“Oh, they may try it, but I don’t think they can do it,” answered Ritter. “We took good care to keep to the rocks when we left their camp. They can’t follow the wagon tracks. Oh, say, but it’s a rich joke on them, isn’t it?” And the bully of the Hall chuckled loudly.
“It sure is, Reff. But if they found us out——” Coulter shook his head. “I suppose Jack Ruddy would be mad enough to chew us up.” ”

“ The cadets were to march to Rawling’s pasture directly after breakfast, and each youth was to carry his lunch with him, as well as his rifle and some rounds of ammunition.
“Now, young gentlemen,” said Captain Putnam, when the quartermaster of the battalion had distributed the cartridges. “Kindly remember that your cartridges have bullets in them. I want no loading or firing without permission. A rifle, thoughtlessly discharged, may do great harm, and there will be no need of loading your guns until you are called upon to fire at one of the targets.” ”

“ It was a mistake for you cadets to become disorderly in the classrooms and in the mess hall—and it was a mistake on the part of the teachers to attempt to starve you into submission. For trying to starve you I find Mr. Cuddle responsible, and he has this day severed his connection with Putnam Hall.”
“Good!” whispered Andy. “Good-bye to Cuddle, and may we never see his like again!”
“Mr. Crabtree is willing to let bygones be bygones,” went on Captain Putnam. “He realizes his mistakes and regrets them. ”

“ He was faultlessly dressed in his best, and so were his cronies, for nearly all of the Pornell students were rich and spent a good deal upon their attire.
They walked into the ice house just as Ritter and the others had done. It was Dale who called them to the rear, and then the others came up behind with another set of long bags and ropes.
“Let up!” roared Roy Bock, and began to fight with such vigor that he almost broke away. But Jack held fast and both went down into the wet sawdust, much to Bock’s disgust. ”

“ Cuddle!” said Pepper.
“That is all I ate, too,” added Jack.
“Only Stuffer—I mean Singleton—ate more than one piece,” said Bart Conners.
“Strange! strange! I thought the plate was full of cake,” murmured Pluxton Cuddle. He glared again at the cadets. “If I find out that any of you have deceived me I shall punish you severely. Now finish your suppers!” And he began to munch away vigorously on the dry toast he was eating. His theory was that a person should eat very little but masticate that little well, and he sometimes chewed a mouthful of food thirty or forty times. ”

“ The boy who loved to eat did not finish for several began to laugh.
“We’ll make Stuffer head cook,” cried Pepper. “Stuffer, how does that suit you?”
“All right—if only you won’t ask me to wash dishes,” was the reply.
“Everybody will have to do his share of work,” said Jack, and looked knowingly at Pepper. Then he leaned over and whispered in Andy’s ear. “I am afraid we are going to have trouble with Reff Ritter and his crowd. Reff wants to have everything his own way, and he thinks the fellows ought to make him leader.” ”