Chapter XII: Happenings After the Game

"What a splendid game!"

"Say, but didn't the Putnam Hall boys pull themselves together in that second half!"

"They surely did! I never saw such running in my life!"

"And such dodging, too! They deserve their victory!"

So the talk ran on. Both Captain Putnam and George Strong came up to congratulate the team members.

Dan Baxter and his cronies were utterly downcast. Between them they had lost sixteen dollars and a half, and now some of them would have to do without spending money for a long time to come.

"I guess those Rigsby chaps didn't want to win," growled the bully. "They went all to pieces in the second half."

Jack was talking to Andy and Pepper when Laura and Flossie Ford came up with smiling faces.

"Oh, it was just splendid!" cried Laura.

"I just had to scream for you!" added Flossie. "I was terribly anxious at first! Those Pornell boys were sure you'd be beaten."

"Well, we have disappointed them," said Jack. "I guess we could beat them, too."

"Why, of course. See how they were beaten by Rigsby," said Flossie.

"Have you been bothered by Roy Bock lately?"

"Only once. Then he came and talked against you, and pa told them--Roy and those others--they had better stay away."

"Good!" said Pepper, and told of the meeting in the woods. The girls laughed heartily when they heard how the bicycles had been taken.

"We are coming to see the drill next week," said Laura. And they did come, and were entertained to the best of our friends' ability. They thought the drill and parade fine, and complimented Jack on the way he handled the cadets.

As a substitute player, Pepper had gotten into the second half of the football game, so he came in for a portion of the glory, even though he had made no brilliant plays. That night the boys celebrated by a bonfire and by singing and "larking" on the campus until eleven o'clock.

"Captain Putnam, let them have their sport," said George Strong. "They certainly deserve it." And the captain took the advice of his assistant. Josiah Crabtree took no part in the proceedings, but locked himself up in his room and read. To his mind, all sports were just so much time wasted.

On the following day one of the students brought in news that interested all of the cadets. A circus was to stop at Cedarville, and the boy had brought one of the handbills along.

"This looks as if it might be a pretty good show," said Pepper, after reading the handbill. "Andy, let's go if we can."

"Don't think the captain will let us off," answered Andy.

"We can sound him anyway," put in Jack.

The master of Putnam Hall was appealed to, and finally said the big boys could go to the circus if they wished, but all must promise to behave themselves.

"To be sure we'll behave ourselves," said Jack.

"But we must have a little fun," came from Pepper, with a wink at his chums.

"Better keep out of mischief," put in Andy. "If you don't, the captain will put the screws on us, and we won't get anywhere after this."

The circus soon became the chief topic of conversation, and it was ascertained that twenty-one of the older cadets were going. Dan Baxter "stuck up his nose" at the affair.

"Don't catch me going to such a one-horse affair," he said, with a sneer. "When I go to a circus it's only to the best."

"We can get along very well without his company," was Jack's comment, when he heard what the bully had said.

On the following day Jack and Pepper walked down to the lake shore and then up to a spot where a large tree overhung the water. It was sunny and fairly warm, and the two cadets took a seat in the tree to chat and rest.

They had been sitting there less than five minutes when the young major uttered a cry of surprise.

"What is it, Jack?"

"Unless I am mistaken, there is that mysterious sloop again!"

"Where?"

"Up the lake! She is coming this way, too."

"Let us keep out of sight and see if we can discover anything."

This was agreed to, and from behind the boughs of the tree the two boys watched the strange craft as it approached the shore where Putnam Hall was located.

"The same two men are on board!" whispered Pepper.

"Yes, and they are acting as they did before, too," added Jack. "Pep, I'd give a good deal to know what their game is."

"So would I. Let us lay low. We may learn something."

Slowly the mysterious sloop approached the shore and sailed past the Putnam Hall grounds. The men on board looked eagerly toward the academy buildings, and then went up the lake a short distance. A few minutes later they came back, and lowering the mainsail, drew close to shore, a short distance from where Jack and Pepper were in hiding.

"Perhaps our trip will be in vain again," said one of the men to his companion.

"They cannot all be in vain," was the answer. "Some day we shall be successful."

"Are you going to land?"

"Yes. But stand ready to sail when I come back."

So speaking, one of the men leaped ashore and stole behind a fringe of bushes. From that point he made his way up to a spot back of the gymnasium, and then walked completely around Putnam Hall, taking care to keep out of sight of the cadets who chanced to be roaming about.

"He acts as if he was a robber!" whispered Pepper.

"I don't think a robber would come here in broad daylight."

It was quite a while before the man came back. As he boarded the sloop again, his face showed his disappointment.

"Well?" questioned his companion.

"Another disappointment," was the answer. "Let us go. We may have better luck another time." And without another word the two men hoisted the mainsail of the sloop and sailed away across Cayuga Lake.

"Well, of all the odd things I ever heard of!" murmured Pepper. "If I wasn't sure I was wide awake I'd say I was dreaming."

"They are after something," answered Jack. "The question is, what? I'm rather sorry we didn't call Peleg Snuggers and capture that fellow who came ashore. Perhaps Captain Putnam could get something out of him."

"Shall we go to the captain again?"

"I don't know. Perhaps he'll think we are only fooling him."

They talked the matter over, and decided to say nothing more for the present. They watched the sloop until it disappeared from view, and returned to the school building.

The day for the circus dawned bright and clear, and directly after the midday meal the long stage belonging to the Hall was brought out and the boys who were going to the show piled in. They were in charge of George Strong, and many carried small flags and horns.

"Hurrah for Wildman's Great International Circus!" cried Pepper. "Largest Aggregation of Wild Beasts on the Globe! See the wild man from Samoa, and the elephant-faced monkey from Greenland! All for the one price of admission, twenty-five cents--quarter of a dollar! Walk up, crawl up, tumble up, anyway to get up, ladies and gentlemen! Children half price, babies no price at all. If you don't get your money's worth, ask the manager to refund your hard-earned savings! The show will be started at exactly seventeen minutes past fourteen o'clock. The audience must come dressed in uniforms befitting the occa----"

"Stop! stop!" cried Jack. "Pepper, you'll have us wound up before we're started."

"All clocks are wound up before they are started," retorted the Imp. "Don't you go on a strike though, if you do----"

"He'll be so shamed that, like the clock, he'll hide his face behind his hands," finished Andy. "Call it off, as the young lady said of the caterpillar."

"You'll have to be just a little less enthusiastic, young gentlemen," put in George Strong. "We don't want this stage-load to be taken for the cage of monkeys, you know." And then the crowd settled down, Peleg Snuggers whipped up the four horses, and off they rattled for the circus grounds, located on the outskirts of Cedarville.

When they arrived they found the tents in position, and a goodly crowd assembled. There were the usual side shows and the usual stands with peanuts, popcorn, and pink lemonade. There was also a man with a little gambling game, surrounded by a score of countrymen who thought they could win, when they were certain to lose.

"Looks as if it might be a pretty good show," remarked Andy, after the chums had entered the tent devoted to the menagerie, and he was right. The animals were not many in number, but they had been selected with care, and George Strong explained just what each was to those under his guidance.

"There is a particularly fine tiger," said he, pointing the beast out as it paced up and down its narrow cage. "He looks as if he'd enjoy his liberty."

"And he looks as if he'd like to chew some of us up," put in one of the students, and this created a laugh.

It was soon time for the circus proper, and all obtained good seats. One act after another passed and was applauded, for all were very good. Then came a chariot race, to wind up the performance. This was in progress when there came a shout from the menagerie tent.

"Stop the monkeys! They have broken loose!"

"Hullo, what's that?" cried Pepper. "Somebody said the monkeys were loose!"

"If they are there will be fun!" murmured Jack, and he was right. But how much fun he was still to see.