Chapter X: In the Hands of the Enemy

"What are we up against now?"

"Are these fellows tramps?"

"Are they going to rob us?"

Such were a few of the questions which Jack, Andy, and Pepper asked when they found themselves confronted by the eight masked figures on the lonely forest road. Each of the masked persons was armed with a stout stick.

"Stop, do you hear?" came from one of the crowd, and stepping forward, he caught the horse by the head.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Jack.

"It means that you must consider yourself prisoners," was the cold reply.

"Prisoners!"

"Yes."

"Who are you?" queried Pepper.

"That remains for you to find out. Step down out of that carriage and be quick about it."

"Perhaps we won't step out," said Andy.

"If you don't, you'll get hurt."

"I know them!" shouted Jack. "They must be Pornell students. Roy Bock, I know your voice."

"I am not Roy Bock," was the answer, in a disguised voice.

"You are. What are you going to do with us?"

"We are going to give you a lesson," growled Roy Bock, for it was really he who had spoken. "Come down out of that buggy!"

As Bock spoke one of the boys leaped forward and secured the whip and two others pulled away the reins. There was no help for it, and Jack, Pepper, and Andy had to leap out. They were at once surrounded.

"This is a pretty high-handed proceeding," said Jack, in a steady voice. "Don't you know we can put you in the hands of the law for it?"

"Bah!" growled one of the masked students. "You don't know us."

"Perhaps we do."

"We know Bock, and Grimes, and Gussie," put in Pepper.

"None of them here," said one of the Pornell boys. "You are on to the wrong crowd entirely."

"Maybe this is a Baxter trick!" whispered Andy to his chums.

"No, it's a Roy Bock trick, I am sure of it," returned Jack. "He is mad because we cut him out with the Ford girls."

Our friends were led to a small grove not far from the roadside. Here a camp-fire was burning, and they were forced to kneel while the enemy stood around with their sticks upraised.

"We want you to make a solemn promise," said one of the masked students.

"What promise?" demanded Jack.

"You have no right to visit Point View Lodge."

"Ho! I thought so!"

"All of you must promise not to go there again."

"I'll not promise," cried Jack.

"Nor I," added Pepper.

"Count me out too," came from Andy. "Why should we stay away?"

"You won't promise?" asked several.

"No!" came in unison from our three friends.

"Then you'd rather suffer, eh?"

"We don't intend to suffer!"

"Quit talking and take them to the lake, fellows!" growled one of the masked students. "They'll sing another tune after they have been ducked three or four times."

"So you are going to duck us?" said Jack.

"Such is our intention."

"It's a mean trick."

"You can save yourself by promising to steer clear of Point View Lodge in the future."

"Supposing we are invited there?"

"You can plead a previous engagement."

"I'll not do it," said Andy.

"Nor I," came from Jack and Pepper.

"To the lake with them!"

In spite of their resistance, our three friends were hurried through the woods, to a point where there was a small cove of the lake. Here a bent tree overhung the water and here were several ropes.

"We'll tie them by the hands and feet and then duck them good," said Roy Bock.

"We must escape!" whispered Jack to his friends. "When I give the word cut for it, and cut lively."

"All right," they answered.

"I'd rather be ducked than make any promises," said Jack, loudly. "But I want to tell you fellows something. We have friends, and some day we'll get square. The people--Gracious sakes alive! What is that, fellows? Look, it's coming this way! It must be a mad bull!"

As Jack broke off short and pointed with his hand, all of the masked students looked in that direction. Then Jack gave Pepper and Andy the signal, and side by side they dove into the woods and ran towards the road.

"They are gone!"

"It was a trick, to get us to look away!" roared Roy Bock. "Come on after them!"

"If you come after us now we'll shoot somebody!" cried Andy. They had no firearms, but he thought he might scare their enemies.

"Do you think they will shoot?" questioned one of the masked boys, a lad who was timid by nature.

"No, I don't," answered Grimes. "Come on!"

"We don't want to get hurt----"

"Come on, it's all right!" And then the crowd went after Jack, Pepper, and Andy pell-mell.

But our friends had gained a good start and they made the best possible use of their time. They leaped over the rocks and small brush-wood, and presently caught sight of the lantern, still hanging over the dashboard of the buggy.

"Hullo, what's this?" cried Pepper, as he stumbled over something. "Bicycles, I declare, four singles and two tandems!"

"They must have come to this spot on their wheels," answered Andy.

"I've got an idea--we'll take a couple of the wheels along! Then somebody will have to walk home!"

This was agreed to, and in a trice they had hoisted two of the bicycles into the buggy. Then they got in and urged the horse forward.

"Stop!" came from behind. "Stop!"

"They have two of our wheels!" came in alarm, a moment later. "They are driving away with them!"

"Give us back our bicycles!"

"Not to-night!" shouted Jack. "If you want them, come to Putnam Hall to-morrow and get them!"

"This is the worst yet!" growled Roy Bock, whose wheel had been taken. "We must catch them if we can."

"Yes, let's do our best," returned Grimes, whose wheel was likewise missing.

The rest of the boys mounted their wheels and tried to follow the buggy. But the road to Putnam Hall was much rougher than that to Pornell Academy, and soon they had to abandon the pursuit.

"We made a mess of it," said Gussic. "They have the laugh on us."

"I don't feel like going to Putnam Hall for my wheel," said Grimes, with a downcast look on his face.

"No more do I," answered Bock. "But what are you going to do about it?"

"They'll be sure to tell the Ford girls of this, and they'll have the laugh on us."

"If they do that, I'll punch somebody's head," grumbled Roy Bock.

As soon as they were sure the Pornell students had given up the pursuit, those in the buggy slackened their pace, and re-arranged the bicycles they were carrying.

"We surely turned the tables on them that time," laughed Jack. "I don't think they'll stop us again in a hurry."

When they reached Putnam Hall they placed the bicycles in care of Peleg Snuggers.

"An' where did you get them machines?" demanded the general utility man.

"They belong to a couple of Pornell boys. We picked 'em up on the road," answered Jack.

"I'll wager a tomato you got into a scrap," said Peleg, with a grin.

"If we did, we didn't get the worst of it, Peleg," said Pepper.

"I don't reckon you did. Most on the boys at Putnam Hall knows how to take care o' themselves."

Our friends were curious to know what the Pornell students would do about their wheels. Two days passed, and then a hired man from the Academy appeared with a wagon, and a note for Jack. The note was unsigned and read as follows:

"Please return the two bicycles per bearer, and we will call the whole
thing off."

"That's short enough," said Pepper, after Jack had read the note aloud. "What are you going to do?"

"Let them have their wheels. It wouldn't be honest to keep them."

"Let us send a note in return," suggested Andy.

"I have it!" cried Pepper, and without delay he wrote out the following:

"In the future beware and keep off the grass.

"Committee of Three."

"That's short and to the point," said Jack. The note was sent with the bicycles; and that was the last seen or heard of the Pornell boys for some time to come.