Chapter VII: What the Girls Had to Tell

“What do you say, Jack, to a spin on our wheels?”

“That suits me, Pepper. Shall we go alone, or ask some of the others?”

“I have already asked Andy and Dale.”

“Good enough.”

It was after school hours and still light. As the cadets had good bicycles they often took rides up and down the lake road, or out in the country back of Cedarville.

All of the cadets were soon ready for the spin, and off they went, Jack and Pepper abreast, with Andy and Dale close behind.

“Want a race?” asked Andy. “I feel as if I could ride like the wind.”

“Well, I’ll go you!” cried Pepper.

“I’m not stripped for racing, but I’ll join in for the fun of it,” said Dale.

“So will I,” added the young major.

Coming to a smooth portion of the road the four bicycle riders drew up abreast.

“How far is this race to be?” questioned Dale.

“Oh, to Boston and back,” cried Pepper, with a grin.

“Make it Hong Kong while you are at it,” added Jack gaily.

“We’ll race to the old white post,” said Andy. “That’s a mile and a half from here.”

“Done!” cried the others.

“All ready?”

“Yes.”

“Then go!”

Off shot the four cadets, keeping abreast for a distant of several rods. Then Andy pedalled to the front.

“Here is where I bid you good-bye!” sang out the acrobatic youth.

“Not much you don’t!” answered Pepper, and commenced to push on his pedals harder than ever. He soon ranged alongside of Andy, and away they went, side by side, with Dale and Jack dropping further and further behind.

“I can’t make time in this uniform,” said the young major. “Let them race it out.”

“Just what I say,” answered Dale. “I hate to get in a perspiration right before supper anyway.”

On and on went Andy and Pepper. The road was in excellent condition and so were the cadets. Each lad rode well and it remained a question as to who would come in ahead.

Half the distance to the post had been covered when the racers reached a turn. Around this they sped, and as they did so an unexpected scream reached their ears. It came from two girls in a buggy.

“Don’t run us down!” came the cry. And then the cadets saw that the girls had been in the act of turning their buggy around and that the turnout completely filled the road.

There was but one thing to do and that was to turn aside. Andy went to the right and Pepper to the left, and each brought up rather suddenly in a clump of bushes. Andy flew over his handle bars, and it was only his acrobatic agility that saved him from being seriously hurt.

Both of the girls screamed again, this time louder than ever.

“They are killed!” moaned one.

“Oh, how dreadful!” came from the other.

“It’s our fault, Flossie!”

“I know it, Laura!”

Their horse, greatly startled by the sudden appearance of the bicyclists, had begun to rear and plunge and for the moment the girls had to give all their attention to the animal in an effort to quiet it.

“Why, it’s Pepper Ditmore!” cried the older girl, as The Imp arose to his feet from the bushes.

“And Andy Snow,” added the other girl.

Still somewhat dazed the cadets looked again at the girls and now recognized two old acquaintances, Laura and Flossie Ford. They were the daughters of Rossmore Ford, a rich gentleman who had a fine summer home on a point of the lake shore. As related in “The Putnam Hall Cadets,” Andy, Jack and Pepper had once saved Laura and Flossie from drowning, and for this brave act the Fords were extremely grateful.

“How do you do, girls!” cried Pepper, with a grim smile.

“Oh, Pepper are you hurt?” queried Laura anxiously.

“Not much, scratched a little, that’s all.”

“And what of you, Andy?” questioned Flossie.

“Got a few bush leaves down my neck, that’s all,” answered Andy. His wrist was a good deal scratched but he kept it out of sight, not wishing to alarm the girls still more.

“Can we do anything for you?” questioned Laura.

“Might bake us a few pies,—as you did when we ran away from school,” answered Andy.

“How absurd!” cried Flossie, and gave a laugh. “Oh, I am so glad you didn’t hurt yourselves seriously.”

By this time Jack and Dale were coming up, and the situation was quickly explained. The young major shook hands with the girls and turned the horse around for them. The Ford girls were glad to meet the cadets but sorry that they had interrupted the race so disastrously.

“Oh, it was a tie anyway,” said Andy. “I don’t care, if Pep doesn’t.”

“It wasn’t much of a race anyway,” answered Pepper. “How have you been since we saw you last?” he added.

“Very well,” answered Laura. “How are matters at the school? We heard somebody had taken the clapper of the Union Church.”

“So we heard, too,” said Dale dryly. “But that’s a thing of the past now. We are getting ready to go into camp again—this time in the regular fashion, under Captain Putnam and the teachers, you know.”

“How delightful!” murmured Flossie. “And where are you going?”

“Up to Lake Caboy, near the river and the falls.”

“Well, of all things!”

“What makes you so surprised?” asked Dale.

“Why, we are going up to Lake Caboy ourselves—up to the new summer hotel there. Papa and mamma thought it would be a change for us.”

“Then we may see something of each other,” said Jack. “That will be fine.”

“We’ll come down to your camp—if you’ll allow visitors,” said Flossie.

“I guess Captain Putnam will have to allow them. Every time we go into camp the country folks come to see us. They like to see the tents and the uniforms, and like to see us drill.”

“Then we’ll be sure to come.”

“We’ll try to arrange for a regular visitors’ day,” said the young major. “Then we can have drills and athletic contests, and a lunch, and all that.”

“Oh, that will be grand!” cried both girls enthusiastically.

“Have you been to Lake Caboy before?” questioned Pepper.

“Yes, we were up there two years ago, for a week,” answered Laura. “We stayed at the old hotel that was burnt down—a place near the old Robertson mill. You’ve heard of that place, haven’t you?”

“No.”

“It is said to be haunted.”

“Haunted!” cried all of the cadets in chorus.

“Yes. We never went very near it, for we were afraid.”

“We’ll have to investigate that mill,” said Dale. “I don’t believe in ghosts.”

“We had almost forgotten about the old mill until yesterday,” went on Flossie. “Then the strangest kind of a boy asked us about it—a tall, thin boy.”

“A tall, thin boy!” cried Pepper. “Did he tell you his name?”

“Yes, Bert Field.”

“Why, we met that boy once,” said Pepper. “But he wasn’t looking for the Robertson mill then. He was looking for——” And then Pepper stopped short, for he remembered what the strange lad had said—that he wished to find Jabez Trask without that individual being aware he was being sought out.

“What was he looking for?” asked Laura.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter.”

“He did ask us about something else,” said Flossie. “Oh, yes, I remember now. He wanted to know where a man named Trask lived—Jabez Trask.”

“Well, he asked us, too,” said Pepper. “Did you tell him? We never heard of such a person.”

“Yes, we told him. Trask lives between here and Lake Caboy, on the Ritchfield road. We know because papa once had some business dealings with him. He is an old man, and papa says he is a regular miser.”

“Was the boy a relative?”

“I don’t know. But he was certainly a strange fellow. He asked us a great number of questions and seemed to be grateful for the information we gave him. But this morning papa took me across the lake in his boat and when I was in the town over there I met him again, face to face, and he didn’t even recognize me.”

“That is queer,” said Jack thoughtfully. “Maybe he was afraid you’d say something in public he didn’t want you to. He told us he didn’t want this Jabez Trask to know he was asking for him.”

“I told papa about it, and he told me something that makes the matter queerer than ever. He says that the Trask family once had something to do with the old Robertson mill.”

“Humph!” mused Jack. “I’d like to meet that boy again and talk to him. Maybe he knows something about why the old mill is haunted.”

“He is certainly a strange boy!” declared Laura.

The girls wished to know something of the details of the proposed encampment and the cadets told as much as they knew.

“We’ll come over if we can,” promised Laura. “And if you get the chance you must call on us at the new hotel.” And this the cadets readily promised to do. Then the girls turned homeward, and the boys continued their ride.

“They are fine girls,” said Dale. “It was a great feather in your cap to save them from drowning.”

“Oh, let us forget that!” cried Andy, who did not care at any time to pose as a hero.

“There is one thing I regret about this encampment at Lake Caboy,” said Jack, as the four cadets turned in the direction of Putnam Hall. “There is no way of getting our sailboats up to that lake. Some of the rowboats will be taken over on the wagons, but I’ll have to leave the _Alice_ behind, and Fred Century will have to leave the _Ajax_, too.”

“Well, we’ll have to take our fun on the water out in rowing and swimming and fishing,” said Dale.

“What’s the matter with having a nice sail before we go away?” came from Pepper.

“To be sure, we can do that,” said Jack; and so, later on, it was arranged.

The _Alice_ was a truly beautiful sloop, with graceful lines. Her hull was finely painted and her sails were of snowy whiteness. The _Ajax_, too, was a good boat, and the youthful owners were justly proud of the two craft.

On the Saturday afternoon previous to the time for the encampment Jack and Fred made up their parties for a sail. The young major carried Pepper, Andy and four others, and the _Ajax_ took on an even greater load. It was decided to go up the lake, and the cadets received permission to remain out from two o’clock to six.

There was a favorable wind blowing, and a cheer went up when the two sloops spread their canvases and stood up the lake shore. Jack and Fred were at the tillers and each handled his craft with care and skill.

“Going to race?” asked one of the cadets, of Fred.

“No, we are just out for the pleasure of it,” said Fred. He knew his boat was a good one, but the young major had beaten him before and he did not, just then, wish to risk another defeat.

Soon the sloops were well on their way up the lake. Pepper and Andy were in particularly good humor, and neither of them dreamed of the remarkable adventure in store for them.