Chapter IX: A Send-Off for Josiah Crabtree

Andy and Pepper heard the old man leave the dining room and then, excepting for the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance, all became quiet around them. The sudden shower was passing away to the eastward, and soon the rain ceased.

“Well, if this isn’t the worst yet!” exclaimed the acrobatic youth, after looking at the narrow window with its iron bars. “Pep, this is as bad as the lock-up at the school!”

“Right you are, Andy. We are certainly prisoners.”

“And accused of attempted burglary!”

“I don’t believe anybody in Cedarville will believe that charge, after we tell our story.”

“No, but they may think we were up to some trick—especially after that affair of the bell clapper.”

“Wonder if he’ll come back?”

“He’ll come soon enough if we try to break out of here.”

Each of the boys tried to open the door. But the key was still on the other side and they could not turn it.

“Not a thing to smash it down with either,” said Pepper, gazing around the storeroom. The apartment contained nothing but some odds and ends of books and bric-a-brac and an old ice-box which was empty.

Pepper knocked on the door, but for several minutes there was no reply to this summons. Then came the nervous tones of Jabez Trask.

“You keep quiet, or I’ll shoot right through the door!” shrilled the old man. “I’ve got ye! You can’t get away!”

“We want to talk this matter over,” said The Imp.

“Not now. You can do your talking after I have put you in the hands of the law!” And then the old man seemed to walk to another part of the mansion.

“We have got to get out somehow!” said Andy in a low voice.

“I’ve got an idea!” answered Pepper. “Let us examine the floor. Maybe some of the boards are loose.”

Both boys got down and lit matches and examined the floor with care. Pepper moved the old ice-box in doing this, and a long ice-pick fell from it.

“Hurrah, I can use this as a pry!” said the cadet. “Wait till I find a board that looks a little loose.”

Presently he found a board that looked inviting and he managed to get the ice-pick in the crack beside it. By working with care he loosened one end of the board and it came up several inches.

“A coal cellar below,” he said, as he caught sight of some shiny pieces of coal.

“Well, if we can get into that cellar I guess we can get out of the house,” answered his chum.

Making as little noise as possible, the two cadets raised up the board and then took up that next to it. This left an opening just wide enough for them to squeeze through. They looked down and saw that the coal was but a few feet beneath them.

“Here goes!” said Pepper and let himself down with care. As his feet touched the coal some of it slid away, making considerable noise.

“Keep quiet!” whispered Andy. “The old man may be listening.”

“I didn’t mean to make that noise,” was the reply. “Come on, quick!”

Andy dropped down on the coal and both boys left the bin and came out into the cellar proper. It was quite dark and they stumbled over some ironware and crocks. The ironware made a crash that could be heard all through the mansion.

“Hi! hi! Who is that?” they heard the old man yell, and then he came running across the floor overhead.

“Quick, or we’ll be caught again!” exclaimed Pepper. “I see a way out!”

He had espied a back entrance to the cellar. To this he ran, with Andy close behind him. They pushed open a door and ran up a flight of stone steps. Above was the back yard, close to the kitchen of the house.

The cadets did not wait to look around them, but made a straight dash across the yard toward a barn. They skirted this building and as they did so Pepper gave a cry of wonder.

“See, Andy!” he exclaimed.

“What is it?”

“That boy—running through the trees!”

“Who is it?”

“The boy Jack and I met at the church, Bert Field! He must have been spying around here!”

“Perhaps he’s the one the old man said he saw this morning.”

“More than likely.”

They looked and saw the tall, thin youth disappear in a grove of trees lining the main road. Then, a few minutes later, they saw him walking down the road as fast as possible.

“There is certainly something queer about that boy,” was Pepper’s comment.

“And there is something queer about the old man, too,” was the reply. “But, come on, unless you want Jabez Trask to fill you full of shot.”

The old man was now at the door of the mansion and he held his shotgun in his hands. The cadets darted out of sight and took good care to keep out of range of the weapon.

“That’s an adventure for you,” said Pepper, after they had covered quite a distance. “I rather think I’ll keep away from strange houses after this.”

“I wonder if the old man will come to Putnam Hall to make trouble?”

“I hope not.”

The rain had ceased and the sky was brightening. The cadets went on to a fork of the road and then reached a path they knew ran down to the lake front.

“More than likely the _Alice_ had returned to the Hall,” said Andy. “I’d not blame Jack for doing it, in such a rain.”

“Nor I, Andy. But let us look around a little and see. Maybe he tied up at some boathouse during the storm.”

The two boys walked to the edge of the lake and looked up and down the shore.

“There she is!” exclaimed Pepper, and pointed up the lake.

“Sure that’s the _Alice_?” queried his chum.

“Yes, I’d know her as far as I could see her.” Pepper raised his voice: “Sloop ahoy! On board the _Alice_!”

At first his cry was not heard. Then Jack caught sight of the pair standing on a rock, and waved his hand in return. The mainsail of the sloop was thrown over, and the _Alice_ came slowly up to the rock and Andy and Pepper leaped on board. Then a straight course was laid for Putnam Hall.

“We tied up at Paul’s boathouse when it started to rain,” said the young major. “It was certainly a heavy shower, eh?”

“Yes, indeed,” returned Pepper.

“I see you managed to keep dry,” came from Stuffer. “Have some peanuts,” he added, diving into a pocket and bringing up a handful.

“Yes, we managed to keep dry,” answered Andy. “But we had a remarkable time doing it.” And then he and Pepper told of their adventure at old Jabez Trask’s mansion. The others listened in wonder to what they had to tell.

“That old man must be a tartar,” was Dale’s comment.

“Sure, an’ mebbe he’ll come to the school to make trouble fer ye,” said Hogan. “But if he does sure yez can have him arristed fer false imprisonment!”

“Somehow, I don’t think he’ll come to the school,” answered Pepper. “I imagine he is the kind of a man to keep by himself—one who hates publicity.” And he was right, Jabez Trask did not come to the school, nor did he report the affair to the Cedarville authorities. There was a reason for this, as we shall learn later.

“Then you didn’t get your basket, Pepper?” said Jack, just as the school dock was reached.

“No, but I’ll get something of the sort in Cedarville, and send it to my aunt,” was the answer, and the lad was as good as his word. He found the basket maker had removed to town, and there procured a basket that pleased his relative very much.

“I know one thing I’d like,” said Pepper to Jack, the next morning. “I’d like to meet that Bert Field and have a talk with him. There is something odd about his wanting to meet such a queer stick as Jabez Trask, and about his wanting to know the location of that haunted mill.”

“Maybe you’ll meet him while we are in camp, Pep.”

“Perhaps.”

Sunday passed quietly in and around Putnam Hall, and on Monday morning the cadets commenced their preparations for going into camp. Each student was allowed to take along a dress-suit case full of clothing, the suit-cases being transported to the camp by wagon, along with the tents, the cooking outfits, and blankets.

“Hurrah! I’ve got good news!” cried Dale, bursting into the dormitory where Jack and some others were sorting out their things.

“Then tell it quick,” returned the young major.

“Old Crabtree isn’t going to camp with us. He has a call to come to Albany on some family business. Only Captain Putnam and Mr. Strong are going.”

“Thanks be to Crabtree for staying away,” said Andy solemnly. “What a blessing it would be if he would stay away forever.”

“No such luck,” put in Fred, who, though a comparatively new pupil at the Hall, detested the first assistant teacher as cordially as did the others.

“Say, if Crabtree is going away we ought to give him something to remember us by,” came from Pepper.

“Sure, let us present him with a gold watch and chain,” answered Dale sarcastically. “We might have it inscribed as follows: ‘To our much beloved friend, The Honorable Josiah Crabtree, A. M., P. M., X. X. M., and all the rest, as a slight token of our love, esteem, friendship, well-wishes, and undying affection.’”

“He’d fall dead if he got it,” put in Andy.

“I move we present him with an alarm clock,” said Pepper. “A good loud one. I saw a special sale of ’em in Cedarville for seventy-five cents each.”

“That’s the talk!” cried Dale. “If you’ll get one, I’ll get another.”

“The box is now open for contributions to the Crabtree Alarm Clock Collection!” announced The Imp, grinning broadly. “Who wants to chip in to get our beloved teacher a few clocks with good alarms attached?”

The idea took like wildfire and in a short time the cadets collected several dollars. Pepper and Dale were chosen to get the clocks, and they bought five, each with an “alarm” that was loud and long.

“We must be careful to set them just right,” said The Imp.

“I think about five minutes apart will do,” said Andy, and so it was arranged. The boys watched their chances, and after winding up the clocks managed to place them in two dress-suit cases which Josiah Crabtree had packed to take with him. They knew that the teacher was going to take the boat from Cedarville at five o’clock and timed the clock alarms accordingly.

“We must get down to Cedarville to see the fun,” said Pepper. This was an easy matter, for, because of going away in the morning, the cadets were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased, Captain Putnam and George Strong being too busy getting ready for the encampment to pay much attention to them.

A crowd of the cadets went to Cedarville on their bicycles and some walked. Josiah Crabtree went in the school carryall, driven by Peleg Snuggers.

The teacher was bachelor yet he had quite an eye for the ladies, and when he saw a pretty widow he knew walking down to the steamboat dock he bowed and tipped his hat and asked her to ride with him. She accepted and entered the carryall, and then both walked out on the dock to await the arrival of the boat.

“Five minutes yet!” announced Pepper. “And then for some fun!”

Josiah Crabtree found a seat for the widow, and both chatted pleasantly. In the meantime a crowd commenced to collect on the dock.

“Yes, I dearly love music,” the widow was saying.

“Music is grand,” answered Josiah Crabtree. “I often think——”

What the teacher thought was not expressed, for just then from one of the dress-suit cases came the shrill rattle of one of the alarm clocks.