Chapter XIII: The Encampment at Lake Caboy

“Sold!”

“I thought all along they might be fellows from Putnam Hall!”

“What fools we were to trust them!”

Such were some of the remarks made by the students of Pornell Academy when they found themselves prisoners in the cave.

In vain they rushed to the entrance, trying to get out. Bob had some heavy sticks handy and these were quickly wedged in between the rocks so that they could not be budged excepting from the outside. Then more rocks were piled up to keep the prisoners from breaking the sticks.

“See here,” demanded Roy Bock. “Ain’t you going to let us out?”

“We’ve got to get back to the Academy before morning,” added Bat Sedley. “Otherwise we’ll get into hot water with Doctor Pornell.”

“Don’t you care!” cried Pepper. “You’ve got a roof over your head—and that is more than we might have had if we hadn’t located those wagons.”

“Oh, let up about the wagons, will you?” growled Bock. He felt heartily sick over the outcome of that trick.

“There is one way you can get out of this cave,” announced Bob. “That is by the back way.”

“The back way?” queried Plunkett, looking behind him.

“Yes. See that opening in the rocks? Well, if you squeeze through that you’ll come out in a deep cut, and if you’ll follow the cut you’ll reach the woods, not far from the road to your school. I advise you to take those candles with you though, for it is pretty dark in the cut, and there are some bad holes.”

“We may break our necks!” growled Carey.

“Not if you are careful. But you may get in the mud,” answered the young quartermaster.

“Oh, let us out the front way!” pleaded Bock.

“No, it’s back way or nothing,” said Pepper. “You deserve to suffer for the way you treated us. Good night!”

“Going to leave us here alone?” cried Sedley.

“We are,” said Emerald. “Pleasant drames to ye!”

“Just wait—we’ll square up!” growled Roy Bock. Then the Putnam Hall cadets took their departure. The phosphorus no longer showed on their hands and faces, and they put away the white sheets and hats for possible future use.

“Can they really get out the back way?” asked Fred, as the party hurried for the night’s encampment.

“Yes,” answered Bob. “But they’ll have to wade through water and mud up to their knees, and fight their way through a lot of wild blackberry bushes! They’ll be sights to see when they get back to Pornell!”

The young quartermaster was right in his statement. The Bock crowd left the cave by the back way shortly after the departure of the Putnam Hall cadets. In the cut they had to walk in muddy water up to their knees, and once Sedley got stuck in the muck and his cronies had to pull him out. Bock fell down, and the mud entered his mouth and nose. Then all of the students got caught in the wild blackberry bushes and scratched themselves and tore their clothing. They did not get back to Pornell Academy until half-past seven o’clock in the morning, and were caught by a teacher just as they were trying to enter by a side door.

“What in the world is the matter with you young gentlemen!” cried the teacher, as he beheld the mud and blood. “Have you been in a smash-up on the road?”

“We—er—we were in the woods and got lost and—er—tumbled in a gully,” stammered Roy Bock.

“That is too bad, Bock! Do you want a doctor?”

“I—er—I guess not,” was the reply. Then the crowd hurried off to their rooms, while the teacher reported the matter to Doctor Pornell.

Bock and his cronies thought they would escape punishment, but this was not to be. Later in the day Doctor Pornell received a stiff letter from Captain Putnam informing him of what had been done with the wagons, and stating he might possibly take the matter to court unless the guilty students were properly punished. This worried the head of the academy, and he had Bock and the others brought before him. Under sharp questioning they broke down, and Sedley and Carey confessed all.

“I’ll look into this affair further,” said Doctor Pornell, and the next day he announced that those who were guilty were to have their holidays for that term cut off and were to do a number of extra lessons. He also made the crowd write a letter to Captain Putnam, apologizing for what they had done.

Pepper and his friends returned to the encampment and got past the guards without trouble. The cadets were worn out by the day’s doings and once at rest slept “like tops,” as Fred expressed it. There was a little “horseplay” during the night, but none of the lads who had been out in the woods took part in it. In the morning it was whispered about how the Bock crowd had been treated, and many of the cadets said it served the Pornell students right.

By nine o’clock the wagons were re-loaded and the march for Lake Caboy was resumed. To make sure that no further harm should befall the wagons and their drivers, the turnouts were made to keep close to the battalion.

By noon the end of the lake was gained and they had their dinner at a summer hotel located there. Not far away was the hotel where the Fords were stopping, and Jack, Pepper and Andy obtained permission to run over and see Laura and Flossie.

“Papa has hired a gasolene launch,” said Laura. “So you can expect to see us on the water more or less. Maybe we’ll be able to take you out—that is, if you care to go.”

“Just try us and see—if we can get permission to leave camp,” answered Pepper.

“Jack ought to be able to get permission—being a major,” answered Flossie.

“Well, you must remember we are all under Captain Putnam’s orders,” replied the young officer. “I am in command only during drill and parade, and like that.”

“Well, we’ll come up anyway, sooner or later,” said Laura; and a few minutes later the cadets had to hurry back to where they had left the others, for the drum was already rolling to call the boys together.

As Jack, Andy and Pepper passed a corner of the summer hotel where the cadets had had dinner they caught sight of a tall youth just leaving the building.

“Hello, there is that Bert Field!” cried Pepper. “I’ve a good mind to speak to him.”

“You haven’t much time,” answered Jack.

Pepper ran up to the tall, thin boy and caught him by the arm.

“Hello! How are you?” he said, pleasantly.

“Why—er—how do you do?” stammered Bert Field.

“I want to tell you that I know where you can find the man you were looking for, Jabez Trask,” went on Pepper.

“I—er—I have found him,” answered the strange boy, in some confusion. “That is—I—er—I know where he lives now.”

“Yes, I thought I saw you around his mansion.”

At this announcement Bert Field looked around nervously. Evidently he was a boy who was not strong physically, and one who had been “kept down” by others. He did not seem to have much of a will of his own.

“I—I—How did you happen to see me?” he stammered. He was evidently ill at ease.

“I can’t tell you now—I haven’t time. I’ve got to be on the march, with the rest of the cadets. We are going into camp up the lake this afternoon. And by the way, it is not far from an old deserted mill.”

“What!” Bert Field was now all attention.

“Yes, the Robertson mill. You are looking for that place, too, aren’t you?”

“Yes. But who told you?”

“Some young lady friends of mine. But I’ve got to hurry. If you come up the lake, won’t you call at our camp and see me?”

“Maybe I will,” answered Bert Field. He looked keenly at Pepper then of a sudden caught his arm. “Say, you are a boy like myself and you look honest,” he went on in a low voice. “Would you—would you help me to—to—do something?”

“If it was fair and square I would,” answered Pepper, readily.

“This is fair enough. But it is—is dangerous—at least it may become dangerous.”

“Well, you call on me at our encampment and we’ll talk it over,” answered Pepper, and ran off. Then of a sudden he turned back. “Is it money you need?” he questioned.

“No, that is, I don’t need any just now. I may need some later on though.”

“Well, I’ll do what I can for you. I like your looks.”

“And I like yours,” answered Bert Field, heartily. “I’ll come up to your encampment sooner or later. I can’t come right away,” and he hurried off in the opposite direction.

Pepper had barely time to get into the ranks before the advance up the lake was resumed. As he marched along The Imp could not help but think over what Bert Field had said.

“He is certainly a queer stick,” he reasoned. “And there is some mystery about him. I’ll be glad enough to aid him just to find out what the mystery is. Evidently it is connected in some way with Jabez Trask and the old Robertson mill.”

The route along the lake shore was a rough one, but presently they gained a fairly good highway, and late in the afternoon reached a broad field, bordered by the lake on one side and by dense woods on the others.

It was an ideal location for an encampment and nearly all of the cadets were greatly pleased and said so. The only ones who did not particularly like it were Ritter and a few others who were inclined to be “sporty.” For them the spot was too far away from a town or city.

“We’ve got to stay here or go to one of the summer hotels for fun,” said Reff Ritter. “I wanted to camp somewhere where we could get into town now and then on the sly, and play pool and billiards, and get something to drink.”

The field had been staked off into two long streets, one for Company A and the other for Company B. Between the two streets was an opening, and here were erected tents for Captain Putnam, George Strong, and likewise a shelter for Major Jack and another officer. At the end of the streets were the cooking quarters and also a big tent where mess could be served in wet weather. In dry weather the cadets got their food and ate it where they pleased.

The tents in the streets were erected with regularity. The ground sloped toward the lake, and ditches were dug around the canvases, to carry off the water when it rained, so that the tent floorings might remain dry. Each cadet had a cot upon which to sleep, and extra clothing was hung upon the tent-poles or kept in the suit-cases. In the very center of the encampment a tall pole had been erected and from this the Stars and Stripes were already floating.

“We ought to have the time of our lives here,” declared Andy. “No lessons to learn, and plenty of chances to go fishing and swimming.”

“If only the food is good,” came from Stuffer.

“Hard tack and black coffee after to-night,” answered Dale, with a wink at the others.

“Not much!” burst out the lad who loved to eat. “I want something better than that.”

“Well, maybe you’ll get horsefly soup some days—when the flies are thick,” said Pepper, consolingly.

“Huh! horsefly soup! Do you want to make me sick?”

“And ant cake,” added The Imp. “I know you love cake full of ants.”

“Say, Pepper, do you want to disgust the lot of us?” cried Fred. “I can see the ants already, crawling up my legs.”

“I went camping once, up in the Adirondacks,” came from Dale. “The ants got so thick they covered everything we had, and we had to move in a hurry.”

“We’ll not be bothered here with ants, or horseflies either—I had them all cremated,” said Jack, and this sally brought forth much laughter.

It was late by the time supper was had and the boys had arranged their sleeping quarters to suit them.

“Any hazing to-night?” asked several.

“Not to-night,” was the answer from the most of the others. “But watch out to-morrow night!”