The Putnam Hall Encampment: or, The Secret of the Old Mill

INTRODUCTION

My Dear Boys:

This story is complete in itself but forms the fifth volume in a line issued under the general title of “Putnam Hall Series.”

As I have mentioned several times, this series was started at the solicitation of those who had read some of my “Rover Boys” books and who wanted to know something about what took place at Putnam Hall military academy before the Rovers went there.

In my first volume, called, “The Putnam Hall Cadets,” I told how Captain Putnam happened to organize that famous school, and how Jack Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore came to be among his first pupils. The boys made a host of friends and also some enemies, and proved their worth on more than one occasion.

In the second volume, “The Putnam Hall Rivals,” I related the outcome of several contests on the field of sports, and also gave the particulars of a thrilling balloon ride and of a strange discovery in the woods. Then came “The Putnam Hall Champions,” with more contests, in one of which Jack Ruddy’s enemies played him a foul trick.

Ever since the opening of the school there had been trouble with an overbearing teacher named Crabtree. When Crabtree and another teacher were left in sole charge of the school during the master’s absence, this trouble reached its climax, as related in “The Putnam Hall Rebellion.” The boys ran away and would not go back to school until Captain Putnam appeared to smooth matters out.

In the present volume are related the things that occurred during a long encampment, when the cadets marched from the academy to a beautiful spot on the shore of a lake. Not far away was an old mill, and at this place some of the lads fell in with a most unusual mystery. What that mystery was, and what it led to, I leave the pages which follow to explain.

Again I thank my former readers, young and old, for the nice things they have said about my stories. I trust the present volume affords you equal pleasure in the reading.

CHAPTER I

IN THE BELFRY

“I say, Jack!”

“What’s the matter now, Pepper?” demanded Major Jack Ruddy, for the cry was a startling one.

“We are locked in!” answered Pepper Ditmore.

“Locked in?” repeated the young major of the Putnam Hall battalion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that the trap door is fastened. I can’t budge it.”

“Oh, it must be stuck,” said Jack, as he started to climb down a ladder upon which he stood. “Why, there is nobody in the belfry but ourselves.”

“Don’t be so sure of that, Jack. Some of the other fellows may have followed us,” answered Pepper. He was down on his knees on the floor, pulling at an iron ring with all his strength. “Maybe you want to try this,” he added, as he gave an additional tug.

The young major of the school cadets leaped from the bottom of the ladder and took hold of the iron ring, which was set in the edge of a heavy trap door. He pulled with might and main, but the trap door refused to budge.

“Regular tug-of-war!” he panted. “Say, if we can’t get this door open what are we to do?”

“Don’t ask me.”

“It’s the only way out of the belfry, Pep.”

“I know that – unless we climb out of one of the windows.”

“Ugh! I don’t care to risk my neck in that manner.” And Jack Ruddy gave a slight shiver as he spoke.

“Well, we’ve got to get out somehow,” continued Pepper, making a wry face. “We don’t want to stay here all night.”

“If some of the other fellows played this trick on us – ”

“They ought to be hammered for it.”

“Right you are. Maybe it was Reff Ritter.”

“Say, that’s so! Don’t you remember, we saw him and his cronies on their way to the Hall when we came here? Maybe they followed us, came up the stairs on the sly, and bolted the trap from the under side. I shut the door myself – so that we wouldn’t fall through the hole in the dark.”

“Well, if Reff Ritter & Company did this thing we’ll have an account to settle with them – when we get free.”

“Right you are. But before we talk about getting square let us get this trap door open and get out of here.”

The scene was the tall tower of a village church. The time was about nine o’clock of a fine moon-light night, and on all sides everything was quiet and serene.

An hour before, the two boys already introduced had left the school which they attended on a “dare” from some of their chums. The dare involved visiting the Cedarville Union Church. The boys were to steal into the edifice by way of a side window, usually left open to admit fresh air. They were to make their way into the gallery and thence to the tower where hung a big bell. They were to remove the clapper of the bell and bring it back to the school with them. If they accomplished the feat the other students were to get up a feast in their honor.

To those who have read the previous volumes of this “Putnam Hall Series” the two lads will need no special introduction. But for the benefit of others let me state that Jack Ruddy and Pepper Ditmore were chums living, when at home, in the western part of New York state. Jack was a little the older of the two, and was of a more or less serious turn of mind. Pepper was full of fun, and was frequently called The Imp, a nickname that fitted him well.

As related in the first volume of this series, called “The Putnam Hall Cadets,” the boys had been sent to a new institution of learning, located on Cayuga Lake. This military academy was presided over by Captain Victor Putnam, a retired army officer, who ran the place somewhat on the lines of our National school at West Point. The place was a large one, consisting of the school building proper, the gymnasium, the boathouse, and several other buildings. The captain was a strict disciplinarian, but he had a kindly manner about him, and the majority of the students liked him very much.

When Jack and Pepper came to the Hall everything was, of course, new to them. But it did not take them long to make some good friends, including Andy Snow, who was of an acrobatic turn, Stuffer Singleton, who preferred eating to studying, Dale Blackmore, who was a great football player, Joseph Hogan, who, because of his Irish accent, was usually called Emerald, and Joe Nelson, a lad who was the best scholar in the academy. They also made some enemies, including Reff Ritter, already mentioned by them, and his cronies, Gus Coulter and Nick Paxton.

At first the cadets were given their regular school studies and taught how to drill and march, but when they could do creditable duty as cadets Captain Putnam allowed them to ballot for their officers. This election resulted in Jack becoming major of the Putnam Hall Battalion, with Henry Lee captain of Company A and Bart Conners captain of Company B. Jack wanted Pepper to try for an officer’s position, but The Imp declined.

“I’ll continue to be a high private in the rear rank,” said Pepper, with a wink. “I can have more fun that way – especially if I have a major over me who knows when to keep his eyes shut.”

“Humph! I expect to have fun myself, even if I am a major,” had been Jack’s answer.

There had been a keen contest over the election of officers. An overbearing youth named Dan Baxter had wanted to be major, and he had bribed Gus Coulter and some others to vote for him, but without success. Baxter was now away on a vacation, and Jack and Pepper hoped he would remain away for good.

Following the election of officers, the chums had had several adventures, not the least of which was their aiding in the rescue of George Strong, one of the teachers, who had been made a prisoner in a hut in the woods by some insane relatives.

The teacher’s ancestry dated back to the Revolution, and he told the boys of a treasure buried by his relatives during war times. How the lads unearthed the treasure has been related in detail in the second volume of this series entitled, “The Putnam Hall Rivals.”

With the coming of summer, the cadets turned their attention to sports in the field and on the lake. Jack’s uncle had presented him with a fine sloop, and in this the youthful major sailed several races, as told about in “The Putnam Hall Champions.” The boys also had a bicycle race and a hill-climbing contest, and likewise went bowling against a rival institution of learning called Pornell Academy. At Pornell at the time was a youth named Fred Century, but this lad became so disgusted at the actions of some of the boys, and at Doctor Pornell, that he left the school and came to Putnam Hall.

As time went on Reff Ritter showed up as the worst boy at Putnam Hall. He did all in his power to get Jack and Pepper and their chums into trouble, and even dosed the young major with some French powders that made Jack violently sick. But this trick was eventually exposed and Ritter came close to being expelled. It was Jack who asked Captain Putnam to give the wayward youth another chance to reform, but Ritter did not appreciate his rival’s generosity.

For a short while matters ran along smoothly at Putnam Hall, but then came a happening far out of the ordinary, as related in full in “The Putnam Hall Rebellion.” During the absence of the head of the institution, and of George Strong, the Hall was left in charge of Josiah Crabtree, a teacher hated by nearly all the cadets, and a new assistant named Cuddle. Cuddle was a peculiar man who did not believe in hearty food for boys, and he almost starved the cadets, so that they had to rebel. For this they were locked in their dormitories. But they escaped at night, and went off to camp in the woods. Here the crowd split in two, Reff Ritter heading the insurgents. Ritter did all he could to annoy the crowd under Jack, and there might have been a pitched battle had not Captain Putnam put in an appearance. He made the cadets march back to the Hall, and there held some interesting interviews with all connected with the rebellion. As a consequence the students were allowed to return to their studies and Cuddle was pre-emptorially dismissed from the institution, while Josiah Crabtree escaped with a lecture.

The Ritter crowd did not come back to the Hall until after a severe storm had drenched all to the skin. They were in far from a good humor and many of them blamed Reff for the discomforts they had suffered, and gave their former crony the cold shoulder.

“It’s all that Jack Ruddy’s fault,” growled Ritter. “He and Pep Ditmore want to run everything. If I had had my say from the start we would have had a fine time.” But only Coulter, Paxton and a few others believed this. The others said very frankly they thought Ritter had made a mess of it when he got them to run away from the main body of the rebelling cadets.

With the return of Captain Putnam and George Strong, the students settled down once more to their studies. The dictatorial Josiah Crabtree was, for the time being, much subdued, yet the cadets knew that sooner or later he would become as harsh as ever. The one point in his favor was that he was a learned man and could teach well when he put his mind to it.

It was Andy Snow who had proposed the trip to the belfry of the Cedarville church, located about a mile and a half from the Hall. He had dared Jack and Pepper to make the trip with him, and the talk had been taken up by Stuffer Singleton, Fred Century, Dale Blackmore, and half a dozen others.

“They won’t dare to do it,” said Dale. “I’ll bet an apple pie on it.”

“And I’ll wager ice-cream for the crowd,” added Stuffer.

“With most of the ice-cream for Stuffer himself,” put in Pepper.

“I’m willing to try it,” declared Jack.

“So am I,” added Pepper. “We owe the sexton of that church one anyway, for chasing us from Mr. Dalter’s orchard when he had no right to do it.”

“Let us get the clapper and hide it in old Crabtree’s bed,” said Andy. But just then he was called away by one of the monitors. Then he sent a note back stating Captain Putnam wished him to do an errand, so he could not make the trip.

“I suppose that ends it,” said Dale Blackmore.

“Nobody dares to go,” said another cadet.

“Yes, I’ll go,” said Pepper promptly.

“So will I,” came from Jack. “But mum’s the word, remember. We don’t want any of the teachers to learn what is going on.”

“We’ll be as silent as oysters in a stew,” said Stuffer.

“Sure an’ ’twill be a great sphort to put the clapper in ould Crabtree’s bed,” said Emerald Hogan.

“Who is going to do that?” asked another.

“I’ll do it – if Pep and Jack get the clapper,” answered the Irish cadet promptly.

A little later Jack and Pepper set off on their quest, stealing away from Putnam Hall campus unobserved. They got half way to the church and then passed Reff Ritter and his cronies, who went by without speaking.

“This is dead easy,” remarked Jack, as they climbed in the church window. They had a lantern with them, and lighting this, mounted the stairs to the gallery, and then ascended the long ladder leading to the belfry floor. Here they opened the trap door and then closed it again, as already stated.

The bell was close at hand and it was a comparatively easy matter to detach the iron clapper. Pepper came down the ladder with it and then made the startling discovery with which our story opens. The trap door had been bolted from the under side and the two cadets were prisoners in the belfry, at a distance of seventy-five feet from the ground.

CHAPTER II

JACK IN PERIL

“We are in for it, Jack.”

“So it would seem, Pep. Do you really think Reff Ritter and his crowd came back here and fastened the trap door?”

“I think Reff came back. I don’t know about the others. You’ll remember Reff is just aching to do something to get us into trouble.”

“Wonder if we can’t pry the door up in some way.”

“We can try. But what is there to work with?”

Cautiously the two cadets allowed the light from the lantern to flash around the interior of the belfry. They had to be careful, for fear somebody below would see the light and wonder what it meant, for the belfry was never illuminated. An investigation by the sexton or some officers of the church might lead to arrest. Once some students from Pornell Academy had painted the porch of the church red and this had caused a great commotion in the community, and arrests might have been made had not one of the pupils’ fathers come forward, paid for repainting the porch, and made the church a handsome donation in the bargain. But even with this, some folks were still “sore,” and ready to pounce down on any boys who might do the property an injury.

Jack and Pepper knew well enough that they had no right to touch the bell clapper, and I am not upholding them in their actions. But they were wide-awake boys, always ready for fun, and saw no great harm in what they proposed to do. Sooner or later the clapper would be returned to its proper place – in fact it looked now as if it would be returned much quicker than originally intended.

The two boys allowed the rays from the lantern to sweep the floor and walls of the belfry, but without bringing to view anything with which to pry up the trap door. Then they set the lantern down and both got hold of the iron ring in the door.

“Pull with all your might!” exclaimed the young major.

“All right, here goes!” cried Pepper.

Both gave “a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether.” At first there was no result, then of a sudden the iron ring broke from the door. The cadets were not prepared for this, and over both went backwards. Pepper landed on the lantern, knocking it over and breaking the glass and bending the top. Fortunately the light went out, so there was no danger of fire.

“Wow!” spluttered the mischievous youth, as he rolled over. “Oh, what luck!”

“Are you hurt?” questioned the young major quickly. “Did the glass cut you?”

“I guess not, but I’ve got some of it in my jacket, Jack. I didn’t think the ring would break away like that; did you?”

“No.”

The broken glass had scattered all over the floor and the belfry was now dark excepting for the light from the moon that shone in the window.

“Got a match?” asked Jack, after a brief pause, during which he searched his pockets in vain for what he wanted.

His chum felt in first one pocket and then another.

“Nary a one,” he answered. “But what’s the use anyway? The lantern is busted, we can’t use it.”

“We might get a little light.”

“Well, I haven’t even a piece of a match. I meant to bring a pocketful, but I forgot it.”

With caution, the two cadets moved around the now semi-dark belfry. At every step the glass crunched under their feet.

“With the ring gone we can’t get any hold on the trap door,” sighed Pepper. “Jack, it looks as if we were booked to stay here for some time.”

“That’s so. But don’t you think the others will come to our aid, if we don’t get back to the Hall soon?”

“Maybe – but they may wait longer than we want them to.”

“Wonder if we can’t climb down from the outside? We could use the bell rope.”

The boys approached the window into which the moonlight was streaming and peered out. All they could see was the church roof and the roadway some distance from the building, for the edge of the roof cut off a sight of the ground directly below.

“I think I’ll try the rope,” said Jack.

“If we only had Andy along he’d go down the rope like a monkey,” returned Pepper, remembering Andy Snow’s acrobatic cleverness.

The bell rope ran from the bell down through a hole in the floor to the lower vestibule of the church. The boys pulled on it and it came up a length of probably sixty feet. Then it stuck fast.

“Must be a knot in it, too big to slip through the hole,” was Pepper’s comment, after both had pulled with all their might.

“I reckon there is enough of it anyway,” answered the young major. “We’ll cut it off and try it.”

“If we do that we may have to pay for a new rope.”

“Oh, the rope can be spliced. Maybe it’s spliced already.”

Jack got out his knife and the rope was soon cut in two. They heard the lower end drop down to a flooring below.

Making certain that the top end of the rope was well secured to the bell, so that it could not break away, and testing the strands to see if they would sustain his weight, Jack, aided by Pepper, lowered the rope out of the front window, first, however, putting several knots in it. It slid down over the edge of the roof and both boys kept lowering it until there was no more to pay out.

“Now for the great climb!” exclaimed the young major of the Putnam Hall cadets. “If I get down safely, Pepper, I’ll be up in a jiffy and open that trap door for you.”

“Be careful, Jack. I rather hate to see you trust yourself on that rope.”

“Oh, I guess it is safe enough – and I’ve gone down on a rope in the gym many a time, as you know.”

With caution Jack climbed out of the belfry window and took hold of the rope. Then down he went, hand under hand, with his legs twisted around the rope at the same time. Pepper watched him with keen interest and almost held his breath as he saw his chum disappear over the edge of the broad-guttered roof.

“He’ll have a pretty big drop I’m thinking, if that rope doesn’t reach,” mused The Imp, as he waited in the belfry. “We ought to have measured the rope – to see how long it was. Maybe it won’t come to within twenty feet of the ground.”

Several minutes passed – they seemed hours to Pepper – and he waited anxiously for some call from his chum.

“Jack! Are you down?” he cried finally.

“No!” was the surprising answer. “I’m stuck!”

“Stuck!”

“Yes. A knot on the lower end of the rope has caught on some kind of a brace, and I’m stuck.”

“Where?”

“Down here, on the front of the church!”

“Can’t you climb back?”

“N – no, I – ain’t go – got th – the – strength!”

The words came in jerks and showed that the young major was all but exhausted. He had done what he could to loosen the lower end of the rope but without success. Climbing back to the tower had proved equally difficult. Now he was sitting astride of the rope, clutching it with both hands and leaning against the building for support.

Pepper was frantic, but could do nothing to aid his chum. Had the lower end of the rope been loose he might have raised Jack to the belfry. He climbed out of the window as far as he dared and looked over the edge of the roof.

“Jack, can I do anything?” he asked, frantically.

“I – I do – don’t know,” was the gasped-out reply.

“Can’t you get that end of the rope loose somehow?”

“No, it won’t budge.”

It made Pepper a little dizzy to look directly downward over the edge of the gutter and for a moment he allowed his gaze to stray to the roadway beyond the church. In the moonlight he saw the figure of a man or boy approaching.

“Here comes somebody!” he cried. “I’m going to call for help.”

“We’ll be caught,” faltered Jack.

“I don’t care. I am not going to keep quiet and see you run the risk of breaking your neck.”

Pepper set up a loud call. At first the person in the road paid no attention, but presently he stopped short and looked upward in wonder.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, as he came closer.

“We are in trouble and we want you to help us,” answered Pepper. “Hurry up, before my friend tumbles down and kills himself.”

“Why, you are on a rope, aren’t you?” asked the person below, and now Pepper and Jack saw that he was a boy, very tall and thin.

“Yes, and I am caught fast,” answered Jack.

“How did you get there, this time of night? What do you want me to do?” fired back the tall boy.

“Come into the church, run up to the belfry, and unfasten the trap door!” called Pepper. “I am a prisoner, otherwise I’d go to my friend’s aid.”

“How can I get in?” asked the strange boy, noting that the church doors were closed.

“Climb through the side window which is open.”

The newcomer started for the side of the building, but suddenly halted.

“See here, this is a mighty queer proceedings,” he said slowly. “I don’t know but what you are thieves. Maybe I had better go for outside help.”

“We are not thieves – we are military school cadets, out on a lark,” answered Jack. “Can’t you see my uniform? Help me to get down and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Yes, I can see your buttons,” answered the tall boy, and without another word he ran for the window and disappeared inside the church. He knocked around in the darkness but soon found the way upstairs and to the belfry ladder. Then Pepper heard him fumbling at the fastening of the trap door. Soon the door came up with a bang.

“There you are!” cried the stranger. “Now, if you want to help your friend you had better be quick about it.”

“Thank you for opening the trap door!” answered Pepper. He started down the ladder after the other lad. “Will you help me? We’ll pay you well.”

“I don’t want any pay for helping to save a fellow’s life,” was the quick response.

It did not take either of the boys long to reach the yard beside the church. In the rear was a long shed, where horses were tied up during services. Pepper knew that the sexton kept a ladder in this shed and he mentioned the fact to the stranger. The ladder was found, and both boys ran with it to the side of the church and started to raise it up at the spot where Jack was still astride of the rope.

It was no mean task to raise the long and heavy ladder. But both Pepper and the stranger realized that Jack’s life hung in the balance and they worked with a strength born of despair. With a bang the top of the ladder struck the side of the church, directly under the young major’s legs.

“Can you reach it, Jack?” questioned Pepper anxiously.

“I – guess – so!” panted Jack, and let himself down at arms’ length on the rope. His feet struck the top rung of the ladder, and in a few seconds more he came down to the ground. He staggered as he struck the grass, and then, lurching into Pepper’s arms, he fainted dead away.

CHAPTER III

REFF RITTER’S CONFESSION

“He got down just in time,” said the strange boy, as he assisted Pepper in making Jack comfortable on the grass. “Is there a well handy? If there is I’ll get some water.”