Chapter XII: The Cave in the Woods

Leaving the Pornell students prisoners in the old cottage, Andy and Jack hurried to the barn. There were all of the horses, tied up in the stalls and in the portion devoted in years gone by to threshing. They had suffered no injury and had been fed from bags of oats taken along by the drivers.

“We’ll take them over to the wagons and hitch them up,” said the young major. “There is no use of reporting to Captain Putnam. We can bring the wagons right in with us.”

His chum was willing, and in a few minutes they had the animals out of the barn. They were ordinary work horses, so there was small danger of their running away.

“I think we can manage them,” said the young major. “I’ll lead the bunch and you can follow them.”

Thus the start was made through the woods, and before long they came in sight of the four wagons, with Pepper and Stuffer on guard. The latter was munching on some cake he had managed to locate in a box on one of the wagons.

“Hello, if they haven’t found the horses!” cried Pepper joyfully. “This is famous!”

“Where did you locate them?” questioned Stuffer, hiding the cake from the young major.

The story was soon told, the boys meanwhile hitching the horses to the wagons.

“I hope those Pornell fellows have to remain at the old cottage all night,” said Pepper. “It will serve ’em right.”

“We ought to get a crowd and go there and wipe up the floor with ’em!” said the lad who loved to eat.

“We’ll see what can be done after we get back to Hayville,” answered Jack. “I can drive one wagon. Can you chaps drive the others?”

“Sure!” came in a chorus from his chums.

“Then let us be off. Captain Putnam will be much worried until he learns that the outfit is safe.”

Not without some difficulty the wagons were turned around and taken to the main road. Then the horses were urged on, and it was not long before they came in sight of Hayville. Almost the first persons they met were Captain Putnam, George Strong and one of the wagon drivers.

“Safe, eh?” cried the master of the Hall. “I am glad to hear it.” And his face showed his relief.

He insisted upon knowing the details and Jack told us as much as he deemed necessary.

“It was only a schoolboy trick, sir,” he added. “I guess they meant no harm.”

“Nevertheless, I shall make a complaint to Doctor Pornell,” answered Captain Putnam. “He ought to know how his students are conducting themselves. It was largely, however, the fault of the drivers. One of the older academy seniors got them to leave their wagons and go into the roadhouse with him. There he treated them and got them to take their eyes off my property—and then the other students ran off with the outfit.”

“Well, they didn’t make the trick turn out as intended,” said Pepper. “We’ve got the outfit back,—and it is only a little after supper time. We can get supper, and get up our tents, too, before it is very late.”

“I am very thankful for what you cadets did,” went on the master of the Hall. “I shall not forget it. It was lucky that you struck the right trail.”

The drummers were called in and they rolled their drums,—a signal that the outfit had been found. This brought in the cadets from all over, and soon, while some were helping the regular cooks get supper, others were at work erecting the tents.

The only cadets who were not glad that the outfit had been found were Reff Ritter and his crowd. They were jealous of what Jack and his chums had accomplished, and could not help but show it.

“The Ruddy crowd will now be more stuck up than ever,” grumbled Ritter.

“Oh, pshaw! it wasn’t so much to do,” added Coulter.

“It was more than you ever did for the school, Coulter,” answered Fred, who chanced to overhear the remarks.

“Was it?” sneered Coulter.

“Yes, it was, and you know it.”

“If Ruddy and his crowd hadn’t found the wagons we might have stopped at the hotel over night,” said Paxton. “I’d rather stay there anyway than out here.”

“I think the Hayville Hotel would have hard work to accommodate so many cadets,” said Fred, with a smile. “It has about six rooms for guests.” And then he walked away, leaving the Ritter crowd to continue their fault-finding.

The cadets were not used to marching over the rough roads, and a good many of them were tired out and glad enough to turn in and go to bed. But some of them had to stand guard, and among these were Andy and Stuffer.

“Say, let us go back into the woods and see what became of those Pornell fellows,” said Pepper to Jack.

“I can’t get away, otherwise I would,” answered the young officer.

“Supposing I get up a crowd and go, Jack? You’ll have the guards keep their eyes closed, won’t you?”

“Sure. But don’t let Ritter and his gang spot you.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Pepper made a careful canvass and managed to enlist the services of nine cadets, including Fred, Dale, Emerald and Bob Grenwood.

“I’ve got a plan to scare them—if they are still in the woods,” said the quartermaster of the battalion. “I was going to try the trick on some of our own fellows, up at Lake Caboy—but I’d rather work it on the Pornell crowd,” and then he told what his plan was.

“Just the thing!” cried Pepper. “We’ll scare ’em out of their senses!”

With caution the party stole away from the temporary camp. Several of them carried bundles, and Bob Grenwood had a big megaphone.

“We’ve got to hurry, otherwise they may be gone,” said Pepper. “Bock and Sedley were waiting for Carey.”

It was not yet ten o’clock and the sky was bright with stars. The cadets hurried as fast they could, The Imp leading the way.

“We may as well put on the disguises now,” said he, as soon as they reached the spot where the wagons had been found. “For all we know they may be coming this way.”

The party halted and undid their bundles. Out rolled some white bedsheets and tall hats made of white cardboard. The cadets put on the hats and wound the sheets around them, making them look like so many ghosts.

“Now for the phosphorus,” said Bob Grenwood and brought forth a little box. He rubbed some on his hands, his forehead and his cheeks and the others did likewise. The phosphorus gave forth a sickly yellow glow that was ghastly in the extreme.

“Look!” cried Pepper, just as the boys had finished their ghostly preparations. “Here they come now!”

All looked and saw that he was right. From the direction of the dilapidated cottage four young fellows were approaching rapidly. They were Bock and Sedley, their particular chum, Carey, and Plunkett, the senior who had invited the wagon drivers into the roadhouse.

“We’ll surround them,” whispered Pepper. “And be sure and don’t let any of them escape.”

So it was arranged, and the ghostlike figures ranged themselves in a semi-circle in the woods.

“Halt!” cried Bob Grenwood, through the megaphone. “As you value your lives, halt!”

He spoke in a low tone, and in amazement the four Pornell students stopped short. Then Sedley caught sight of the figures with the glow upon their faces and he set up a yell.

“It’s ghosts!”

“Ghosts?” repeated Carey.

“Ye—yes—don’t—yo—you see ’em?” And Sedley’s teeth commenced to chatter. “Oh, I wish I wa—was ba—back to Pornell!” he wailed.

“They aren’t ghosts,” growled Plunkett. “This is a trick!”

“They look like ghosts!” gasped Carey, who was as much of a coward as Sedley.

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” said Roy Bock. “It must be some of the Putnam Hall cadets—or else some of our own crowd.”

“Halt!” cried Bob again, and his companions repeated the command. Then, as the Bock crowd stopped, the cadets surrounded them, so that none of them might slip away.

“What do you want?” demanded Bock, who was evidently the leader, though Plunkett was older.

“We want you to have a good time,” said Bob, in a pleasant voice. “We came to treat you—in return for giving the Putnam Hall boys so much trouble.”

“Who are you?” demanded Plunkett. It was too dark under the trees to distinguish faces, especially when distorted from the glowing of the phosphorus.

“Friends,” said another cadet, for the quartermaster’s plan had been explained to all.

“What do you want of us?”

“We want you to come along. We have a plan to play another trick on the Putnam Hall fellows.”

“But who are you?” demanded Sedley, who had recovered from his fright.

“That’s telling, Bat. But you’ll soon know—when we get at the feast Oliver has prepared for us.”

Now Oliver was a caterer who had often supplied the Pornell Academy students with good things to eat. The mention of his name took the Bock crowd off their guard.

“Have you got a spread for us?” demanded Bock, who was tremendously hungry.

“We sure have, Roy.”

“But this rig——”

“We were going to scare the cadets—if we missed you,” answered Pepper, in a disguised voice.

Some more questions were asked, and then Bock and his crowd agreed to follow the ghostlike figures through the woods. The cadets kept in the dark as much as possible and worked hard to keep their identity a secret. Bock at last concluded the boys belonged to a new batch of Pornell students, who had come to that institution only a short while before. One of these lads had spoken about giving a feast, in honor of his birthday, and Bock thought the feast was now on the way.

Bob Grenwood was something of a hunter, and during his spare hours he had tramped for many miles through the woods, looking for game. On one of these expeditions he had run across a cave in a hillside, bordering a stream that flowed into one of the lakes of that vicinity. He had visited the cave several times and had fixed it up for use, with a rough bench and table, and a rude fireplace.

To this cave the young quartermaster now led the way and all of the others followed. When almost there Bob called a halt.

“I will go ahead and see if all is in readiness,” he said in a deep voice.

Then he ran into the cave and found a candle that was there. He cut the candle into six pieces and lit them all, making quite a light as they were ranged on the table. He covered the center of the table with a cloth, resting on several sticks of wood, so that the cloth would look as if it had things to eat under it.

“Now advance, and prepare for the grand feast!” he called out, and seeing the lights streaming from the cave the Bock crowd ran forward.

“A cave!” cried Sedley.

“And a spread!” added Carey. “See the table!”

“This is a surprise,” murmured Plunkett.

“We’ll see what they’ve got to eat,” came from Bock, and then the four students marched into the cave and surrounded the table with its burning candles.

“Now then, work quick!” cried Bob in a low voice, and leaped towards some sticks beside the cave entrance. The others understood, and soon had the sticks piled up against the opening. Against the sticks they heaped up some rocks that were handy.

“What does this mean?” roared Roy Bock, wheeling around and trying to get out of the cave.

“It means you are prisoners of the Putnam Hall cadets!” cried Pepper, throwing off his disguise.