Chapter XVI: At the Chetwood Cottage

The cottage mentioned by Andy was located about a hundred and fifty feet from the road. It was set among some small trees, and a roadway led to the front door. Along this roadway dashed Jack and the acrobatic youth.

The boy who had uttered the cry for help was a tall, thin lad, with a shock of black hair and deep, black eyes. He was a cripple, walking with a crutch, one leg being bent at the knee. He had come out of the cottage hopping on his good limb and flourishing his crutch menacingly at the two individuals in the green masks and hoods.

“Give up the wrench!” cried one of the strange individuals, shaking a barrel stave in the boy’s face.

“We must have it!” shouted the second masked person. “We need it for opening the treasure chest!”

“Go away!” cried the boy. “Go away, I tell you!”

As he spoke he swung the crutch around and hit one of the masked men on the shoulder. At this the fellow leaped back and uttered a wild laugh.

“Stop that!” cried Jack, as he leaped from his wheel. “Let that boy alone!”

“Ha! ha! The police have arrived!” cried the second masked man, who was armed with a small section of a garden hose.

“We must vanish!” cried the other masked fellow. “They want to put us in jail for a thousand years!” and he began to retreat towards the woods behind the cottage.

“Here, hold up!” called out Andy, a sudden thought flashing into his mind. “I think I know those chaps,” he added to Jack.

“They have robbed our home!” called out the cripple. “Please stop them!”

By this time the two masked men were running for the woods with all the speed at their command. Jack and Andy rushed after them, leaving their bicycles at the cottage door.

“What do you mean by saying you think you know those chaps?” asked Jack.

“Don’t you remember Mr. Strong’s two crazy relatives—Bart Callax and Paul Shaff? I believe the masked fellows are the same.”

“By jinks, I think you’re right, Andy! But I thought Mr. Strong had those relatives of his cared for.”

“They must have broken away again—crazy people have a way of running off, you know.”

“Well, those rascals acted as if they were half loony,” was the young major’s comment.

All this while the cadets were racing after the two strange individuals, who were now crashing along between the trees and bushes of the woods. The men were fleet of foot, and slowly but surely they drew out of sight of their pursuers.

“It’s no use,” panted Andy at last. “After such a ride as we’ve had on our wheels I’ve no wind left for a foot race,” and he came to a halt and leaned heavily against a tree for support.

“I wish I knew for certain that the two rascals were really those crazy men,” was Jack’s comment, as he, too, halted. “That would clear up the mystery of the hold-up you and Pepper experienced the time the tire was punctured.

“Well, we can tell Mr. Strong about this, when we get back to Putnam Hall. He can telegraph to the folks who had the men in charge and learn if they have escaped.”

Having rested, the chums retraced their steps to the cottage. They had run into the woods the best part of half a mile, and just before they came in sight of the cottage they met the crippled boy, who had walked after them as well as his condition would permit.

“Did you catch them?” he asked, anxiously.

“No, they ran too fast for us,” answered Jack.

“We might have caught them had it not been that we were tired out from bicycle riding,” explained Andy. “We were in a race. But I guess that’s all over now, eh, Jack?”

“It certainly is so far as we are concerned,” was the acrobatic youth’s answer.

“I saw some boys on wheels ride past, just after you came up,” said the crippled youth. He heaved a deep sigh. “Wish you had caught those two men.”

“Don’t you think they were crazy?” asked Jack.

“To be sure they were—crazy as loons. But I didn’t know that at first. You see I was alone—father and mother went to Ithaca yesterday and they won’t be home till Saturday. Those men came along just as I was locking up to go fishing down to the lake. They came up quietly and didn’t speak until they were right behind me. I can tell you they scared me pretty well with those green masks!”

“What did they do?” asked Andy.

“At first they demanded that I get them some dinner. I said I had very little in the house. Then one of them said he’d take some oysters on toast and some baked liver. I thought he was fooling, and that the two of ’em might be some of my friends who had come to our house thinking they could scare me while my folks were away. Then they went inside and began to rummage around and I told them to quit—that a joke was a joke, but they were carrying it too far. Then they took a vest from my father’s trunk and I got scared and pulled one of ’em back. Then both of ’em knocked me down and one pulled out a big butcher knife. Then I got scared and ran outside. I saw you coming on your wheels and I yelled like an Indian. I am very thankful you came to help me,” concluded the crippled youth.

After that he told them his name was Nat Chetwood and that his father owned a vineyard and a small shop where baskets were made. He said his parent had gone to Ithaca on business and that his mother was off to pay a relative a visit.

“Did they steal anything of value?” questioned the young major.

“That I can’t say,” answered Nat Chetwood. “You see, I don’t know exactly what my father had in his trunk. All they took out of the house was a small looking-glass, an empty inkwell, and a big, tin wash-basin. But they threw the wash-basin away when you came. I know they took one of my father’s vests, for the big man of the two stuffed it under his coat. While they were at the trunk one of ’em asked me to whistle Yankee Doodle and said he’d take me to the circus next week. Oh, they were certainly crazy,—and dangerous.”

“I am sorry we didn’t catch them,” said Andy. “We’ll have to report this, and without delay,” and he looked at Jack, suggestively.

“That’s right,” returned the young major. “And maybe we’ll come back soon.”

“I wish I had somebody to stay with me until my folks get back,” said the cripple, wistfully. “I hate to stay alone, for fear those fellows will come back.”

“Can’t you get some neighbor?” asked Andy.

“We haven’t any very-near neighbors. But maybe I can get Jake Dengert. He works for my father,” added Nat Chetwood.

It was not long after this that Andy and Jack left the cottage. They mounted their wheels and rode slowly in the direction of Putnam Hall. They had covered only a short distance when they heard a well-known whistle behind them and looking back beheld Pepper.

“Hullo!” cried the Imp. “I thought you had won the race!” And his face showed his disappointment. “My handle bars got loose, that’s what’s bringing me in so late,” he explained.

“We’ve had a bit of an adventure,” answered Jack, and he and Andy related what had occurred. Of course Pepper was intensely interested.

“It surely is no joke,” said he, when the others had finished. “We can be thankful we got off so easily that time we had the breakdown and those fellows tackled us.”

“Just what I think of it,” answered Andy. “One thing is sure, though, those men have got to be rounded up and captured. Nobody will be safe so long as they are at large.”

“Who won the race, I wonder,” said Pepper, as they drew close to the school grounds.

“There is one of the boys—I’ll ask him,” replied the young major, and wheeled toward the cadet.

“The race was won by Joe Nelson,” said the youth. “He came in about quarter of a minute ahead of Reff Ritter.”

“Hurrah for Joe!” cried Andy. “I really didn’t think he could do it.”

“I am glad to know he beat Reff Ritter,” said Jack. “Had Reff won we should never have heard the end of it.”

The chums were soon in the midst of the riders and their friends. Many wanted to know how it was that Jack and Andy had dropped behind so unexpectedly, but the latter gave evasive answers, for they did not want the truth to become known just yet. First of all they wanted to talk matters over with George Strong and learn what he might have to say.

“Paxton and Coulter came in quite broke up,” said Dale.

“Serves them right,” answered Andy promptly.

“They say you three fellows knocked them down on purpose and they are going to make a formal complaint against you,” added the other cadet.