Chapter X: A Mix-Up on the Road

As luck would have it, Reff Ritter’s party and the crowd from Pornell Academy had become free at the same time, each working out of the ropes and bags in a manner known only to themselves. Each had brushed up as much as possible and started hurriedly for the place where the lawn party was in progress. The two crowds had come together on the road not over two hundred yards from the ice house. Each accused the other of being guilty of the trick, and in less than five minutes blows were being freely exchanged.

“I’ll show you what it means to treat me like a pig!” cried Roy Bock, and he struck Ritter a blow in the nose that drew blood.

“Oh, you can’t bluff me!” retorted the Putnam Hall bully, and hit the lad from Pornell in the left eye. Then the pair clinched and rolled over and over in the dirt of the road.

In the meantime Grimes struck Coulter and Paxton hit Gussic. Then everybody struck out, and inside of a minute the three Putnam Hall boys were down and the enemy were on top of them. Clothing was torn, collars and ties pulled off, and the general melée was something awful to behold.

It was in the midst of this excitement that Jack and his chums arrived.

“Whow!” cried Andy. “Say, but they are going at each other for keeps, aren’t they?”

“Sure, an’ it’s fightin’ like cats an’ dogs they are,” was Hogan’s comment. “’Tis a bit av Donnybrook Fair,” he added. “Oh, for a shillalah!”

“The Pornell crowd isn’t fighting fair,” said Jack. “They outnumber our fellows.”

“What of it?” demanded Dale. “I reckon Ritter, Coulter and Paxton are getting all they deserve.”

“Ge—get off of m—me!” came in a groan from Paxton. “Yo—you are crushing in my ribs!”

“Don’t hit me with that stone!” they heard Coulter scream.

“They are certainly going too far,” said Pepper. “Enough is enough. Let us scare the Pornell fellows off.”

This was agreed to, and picking up sticks and stones Jack’s crowd set up a sudden wild yelling that made the Pornellites stop fighting and glance around in fear.

“Come on!” cried Pepper. “Putnam Hall to the rescue! Down with Pornell Academy!” And he looked over his shoulder, as if urging others behind him. Then Jack and the others took up the cue, and they made it appear as if a big party was approaching. Andy even ran behind some bushes and called out in as many different tones of voice as he could master.

The ruse worked to perfection, and Roy Bock and his cohorts lost no time in leaping to their feet and retreating a few paces.

“I guess the whole school is coming!” said the bully of Pornell Academy.

“Charge them! Charge them!” yelled Jack, and ran forward brandishing a big stick. Pepper was at his side, and flung a big stone over Bock’s head. This was too much for the Pornell students, and turning, they ran along the road for a short distance and then took to the woods. They did not stop running until they had covered a good quarter of a mile and were sure the pursuit had come to an end.

“It was a put-up job!” growled Roy Bock, as he leaned against a tree to rest and catch his breath. “That was Ruddy came to help Ritter and the others. It was a put-up job and nothing else!”

“Yes, and we walked into the trap like a lot of mice after cheese,” grunted Gussic, with his hand on his windpipe, where he had been hit.

“Just look at these duds!” came from another lad. “About fit for the ragbag!” And he mournfully surveyed a torn sleeve and a hole in his trouser leg.

“My collar is gone, and so is that new dollar tie I bought for the party,” said Bock. “I ought to make somebody buy me another tie.”

“Speaking of the party,” said another. “Are you going?”

“Going?” stormed the bully. “Are you crazy? If we went the girls would take us for scarecrows!”

“It’s funny that other crowd didn’t go to the party,” remarked Grimes.

“Oh, I guess they’d rather play a trick on us than go to any party,” was Gussic’s comment. “I am of the firm opinion that Ritter, Ruddy and the whole bunch was in the plot against us.”

“Sure thing,” answered Roy Bock. And then he and his cronies walked slowly in the direction of Pornell Academy, wondering what they should say when they got there, and what sort of excuse they should send to the girls who had been waiting for them.

In the meantime Reff Ritter and his cronies had gotten up and brushed themselves off. They were considerably astonished to find that Jack and his chums had come to their rescue.

“Huh! So it’s you!” growled Ritter, with a far from pleasant look on his face.

“Yes,” said the young major cheerily. “I guess we got here just in the nick of time, didn’t we?”

“Maybe you did.”

“What’s the row about?” questioned Pepper innocently, but with a side wink at Andy and Dale.

“About? They tied us up in bags, and——” began Paxton, when a cold look from Reff Ritter stopped him. “I mean—er—they——”

“Never mind what it was about,” growled Ritter.

“Tied you up in bags, did they?” said Andy. “That was hard luck sure. How did you escape?”

“I cut my way from the bag with my pocketknife,” said Coulter, ignoring Ritter’s look. “Those fellows——”

“Say, can’t you keep it to yourself?” demanded the bully of the Hall sourly. He was afraid Jack and his chums would laugh at him and those who had suffered with him.

“Ritter, you needn’t tell us anything,” said the young major, drawing himself up, stiffly. “We did what we could for you, but we don’t expect either your confidence or your thanks.” He turned to his chums. “Come, fellows, I fancy we are not wanted here,” and he turned and walked in the direction of Putnam Hall, with Pepper and the rest at his heels. Each boy wanted to laugh but each managed to keep a straight face until a safe distance was covered. Then Pepper had to roll on the ground and roar, and Andy did the same.

“Oh, Jack!” panted The Imp, when he felt able to speak. “That was the richest yet—what you said—‘We did what we could for you, but we don’t expect your thanks!’ Gracious, I thought I’d die when you said it!”

“We’ve got ’em guessing,” said Dale.

“Yes, and I reckon Bock and his gang and Ritter and his cronies will be enemies for life now,” said Andy.

“Boys, in honor of this occasion, I move we celebrate to-night,” said Pepper.

“Second the motion,” answered Andy, promptly. “But how is it to be done?”

“Might each do an extra example in geometry, in honor of the event,” suggested Jack, with a smile.

“Geometry!” snorted Stuffer. “Not much! Let’s have something to eat!”

“Stuffer’s one idea of celebrating is something to eat,” cried Andy.

“Well, a feast isn’t so bad,” said another cadet.

“Where are we going to get anything?” asked Pepper. “We can’t go to Cedarville—it’s too late.”

“I have it!” cried Andy. “Let us have an ice-cream festival.”

“That’s easy enough to say, Andy, but where are you going to get the cream?” asked the young major.

“If some of you will make excuses for me after supper I’ll get the cream,” answered the acrobatic youth. “I can go to Cedarville and back in no time on my wheel. But I want some money,” he added, suddenly. “Poser, the ice-cream man, doesn’t tick anybody.”

“An ice-cream party it is,” said Emerald. “Sure, an’ I could eat some now, so I could!” And he smacked his lips.

When the cadets got back to Putnam Hall they washed up hastily and then some of the others turned over to Andy a portion of their spending money. Andy got a hasty supper, and then, watching his chance, stole from the mess hall on the sly. His bicycle was in the wagon house, and mounting this he spun along the highway leading to the town at record-breaking speed.

“Where did Snow go?” demanded Pluxton Cuddle, when he noticed the vacant chair.

“Perhaps he wasn’t feeling well,” suggested Pepper. “I noticed he had his hand to his stomach.”

“He eats too much,” grumbled the new teacher. “All of you boys eat more than is good for you. After this I shall have to keep an eye on Snow.” He glared round the table. “Singleton, what is that you have in your hand?”

“A piece of cake, sir,” answered Stuffer.

“Didn’t you have a piece before, sir?”

“Yes, sir. But I’m hungry and——”

“One piece of cake is enough, Singleton. Put that down and leave the table.”

“Do you want me to go hungry?” demanded Stuffer, half angrily. The strenuous events of the afternoon had made him unusually hungry.

“I will not allow a cadet to stuff himself. I do not wonder that some of the boys have given you the nickname of Stuffer—although I abhor nicknames. Leave the room, sir!”

“All right, old cat!” grumbled Paul, under his breath, and he marched out, with Pluxton Cuddle’s eyes glaring after him. In the meantime Pepper calmly reached over, took half a dozen slices of cake and rolled them up in a napkin in his lap. Seeing this, Jack did the same. When Pluxton Cuddle chanced to look at the plate a minute later he stared in amazement.

“Who took that cake?” he thundered.

To this question all the cadets remained silent.

“Answer me, who took that cake?” he repeated, and looked at each boy in turn.

“I didn’t,” answered Dale.

“I ate but one piece, Mr. Cuddle!” said Pepper.

“That is all I ate, too,” added Jack.

“Only Stuffer—I mean Singleton—ate more than one piece,” said Bart Conners.

“Strange! strange! I thought the plate was full of cake,” murmured Pluxton Cuddle. He glared again at the cadets. “If I find out that any of you have deceived me I shall punish you severely. Now finish your suppers!” And he began to munch away vigorously on the dry toast he was eating. His theory was that a person should eat very little but masticate that little well, and he sometimes chewed a mouthful of food thirty or forty times.

When the meal was over, Pepper and Jack slipped the napkins full of cake under their jackets and left the mess hall. Then they took the cake upstairs and hid the dainty in a safe place. This done they strolled down the highway leading to Cedarville, looking for Andy.

“He ought to be coming soon,” remarked the young major, after a half hour had passed.

They walked a short distance from the Hall and then sat down on a rock to rest. Here presently Dale and Stuffer joined them.

“Where is Andy?” called out Stuffer. “I am hungry enough to eat that ice-cream right now.”

“I think something is wrong,” said Jack. “He ought to be back by this time.”

“What could be wrong, Jack?” asked Pepper.

“I don’t know, but——” The young major paused. “Somehow, I feel that something serious has happened to Andy!”