The Putnam Hall Encampment: or, The Secret of the Old Mill

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.

CHAPTER VIII
A REMARKABLE ADVENTURE

“It looks like rain!”

The remark came from Andy, who was in the bow of the boat. He was gazing anxiously at the sky.

“Don’t say rain!” cried Stuffer, who was eating a banana, one of a hand purchased at the Cedarville dock. “I don’t like to be out in the rain.”

“We’ll not get it right away,” answered Jack. “But it looks as if it would come sooner or later,” he added, as he surveyed the clouds over to the westward.

Two hours had been spent in cruising around the lake. A brief stop had been made at Cedarville, where the cadets had purchased some fruit and candy. The Ajax was almost out of sight in the distance.

“If you are going near Parberry Point I’d like to do an errand,” said Pepper. “I want to visit that old basket maker and ask him to make a fancy basket for my Aunt Bess. She has a birthday soon, and I know she would like a new hanging basket, with ferns and flowers in it.”

“All right, we can pass there,” answered Jack. “We’ll drop you and then pick you up later.”

“All right,” answered Pepper. “Anybody want to go to the basket maker’s with me?” he went on, looking around at his chums.

“I’ll go,” answered Andy. “I’ve been eating so much fruit and candy I think it will do me good to walk a little.”

“The errand won’t take more than half an hour,” said Pepper. “We’ll hurry as fast as we can.”

Parberry Point was soon reached and Andy and Pepper leaped ashore.

“I’ll be back here in just half an hour,” cried Jack, consulting his watch. “Don’t keep us waiting, for maybe that rain will come quicker than I thought it would.”

“I’ll hurry all I can,” answered The Imp. “Come on, Andy.” And the pair disappeared up the road from the lake, while the sloop sheered off for the other shore.

Pepper and Andy were both good walkers and they lost no time in getting to the spot where the basket maker had lived. To their dismay the cottage was closed and deserted.

“Must have moved,” said the acrobatic youth. “Too bad! What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know, Andy. Wait, here comes a man in a wagon. Maybe he can tell us where the fellow moved to.”

The farmer was consulted and said the basket maker had moved up a side road leading to Lake Caboy.

“It’s only about a quarter of a mile from here,” he explained.

Pepper decided to walk the distance and he and Andy set off. Just as both cadets made a turn in the road they heard a distant rumble of thunder.

“That storm is coming faster than I thought,” said Pepper.

“Right you are, and we’ll have to hurry, unless we want to get wet.”

“Humph! It won’t do any good to get to the sloop. We’ll get wet on her as well as out here, Andy.”

“I suppose that’s so.”

The boys went on, around another bend of the road, and soon came in sight of a second cottage. But to their astonishment, this too was deserted.

“We’ve come on a fool’s errand,” said Pepper. “The basket maker was here but has moved.”

They could see the evidences of basket making in the dooryard, but the cottage was locked up and minus furniture.

“Might as well get back to the Point,” said Andy. “Jack will be waiting for us.”

“I think this side road is shorter than the other,” said Pepper. “It makes a turn toward the lake just above here. We’ll keep on instead of turning back.”

“All right, if you say so, Pep. But it doesn’t look right to me,” answered Andy.

The pair hurried on, for the sky was now growing dark. The rumbling of thunder increased, and presently some large drops of rain came down through the trees bordering the road.

“Might as well run for it!” cried Pepper, and set off on a dog trot. In a few minutes they made a turn and came out on a broad highway. Just beyond was a large white mansion set in a perfect wilderness of trees.

“Why, this isn’t the road I was looking for!” cried Pepper in dismay. “I don’t know where we are now.”

He had hardly spoken when there came a rush of wind through the trees. This was followed by flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder, and then the rain came down in a torrent.

“We can’t stay out here – we’ll be drenched to the skin!” cried the acrobatic youth. “Come on to the house!”

“But we don’t know the folks, Andy.”

“That doesn’t matter. Any port in a storm, as the sailors say.”

Andy started through the trees for the mansion and Pepper followed at his heels. Both ran across a small and badly-kept lawn and up on a broad piazza. Just as they reached the piazza there came a blinding flash of lightning and a peal of thunder that made both jump in fright. Then followed a crash of another kind.

“It struck a tree – out yonder!” exclaimed Pepper, pointing towards the road. “I am glad we weren’t under it!”

“Let us get in the house, where the rain can’t reach us,” answered his chum, and lost no time in ringing the door bell.

There was no answer to the summons, and Andy rang the bell again. Then, of a sudden, the wind increased, and the door of the mansion was blown wide open.

Thinking somebody had unfastened the door and been unable to hold it against the wind, the acrobatic youth entered the hallway beyond, and was followed by Pepper.

“Excuse us, but we came in to get out of the storm,” said Andy, trying to see around him, for with the darkness outside the hallway was pitch black.

To his astonishment nobody answered. A gust of wind came into the hallway and lifting a picture from its nail hurled it to the floor with a crash. Then Pepper caught the door and shut and bolted it.

“Anybody here?” he called out.

Nobody answered, and each of the cadets caught the other by the arm.

“I – I guess the door just blew open,” stammered Andy. The situation was so unusual he knew not what to say. Here they were in a strange house with nobody to speak to them.

The boys could not see a thing, saving when the lightning outside lit up the scene. They felt their way through the hallway to a door and entered what appeared to be a parlor. The apartment had a musty smell, as if it had not been opened for a long time. The blinds were closed but the slats were open and through these faint light showed.

“Looks to me as if this house was deserted, too,” remarked Pepper. “Gracious, the whole neighborhood must be moving out!”

“Somebody lives here, I am sure of that,” answered his chum. “Out in the hall I smelt the odor of fried onions.”

“Let us walk back to the kitchen and find out,” said Pepper.

A flash of lightning made the boys pause for a moment. Then they walked to the end of the hallway and entered a dining room. Here a window was open and through this the rain was sweeping wildly.

“The owner of this place must be away,” said Andy. “Gosh! how it rains!” he added, as he shut the window.

“Look at the quaint silver set!” said Pepper, his eyes catching sight of the service on a sideboard. “That must be pretty old.”

He picked up a silver dish and Andy picked up another. As they were looking at the silver pieces they heard a door open and felt a sudden gust of air.

“Somebody is here – ” commended Pepper, when he fell back in sudden alarm. For from out of a dark corner an old man had appeared. He wore a long, white beard and his straggling hair was of the same color. In his hands he carried a short shotgun and this he had leveled straight ahead of him.

“Burglars! thieves! robbers!” he screamed. “Drop my silver plate or I will shoot you!”

His manner was so stern and wild that the two cadets lost no time in setting down the silver pieces they had picked up. The old man continued to point his shotgun, first at Andy and then at Pepper.

“I heard there were burglars in this vicinity,” he said, in a croaking voice. “But I did not think you would dare to come here.”

“We are not burglars!” answered Pepper.

“Ha! I know better! You cannot deceive me!”

“We are schoolboys and we came in here to get out of the storm,” explained Andy.

“I do not believe it! You are burglars! Those uniforms are merely a disguise. You were after my precious silver plate! The world-renowned Robertson silver plate! But you shan’t have it! Jabez Trask knows how to protect his own!”

At the mention of the old man’s name the cadets started. This then, was the man for whom Bert Field was seeking. Certainly as strange an individual as the tall, thin youth himself.

“Mr. Trask, you are making a mistake,” said Pepper, as calmly as he could. “We did not come here to steal, we – ”

“I will not listen! I shall hand you over to the authorities for entering my house! I saw you sneaking around this morning – one of you at least.”

“No, you didn’t,” answered Andy.

“I know better – I saw you quite plainly.”

To this the boys did not answer. Pepper, however, wondered if the person seen sneaking around had been the mysterious Bert Field.

“I want you fellows to back into the corner,” went on Jabez Trask, after a painful pause.

“But, sir – ” commenced Andy.

“Not another word – until I call an officer of the law!”

“We are not criminals,” cried Pepper stubbornly. “We belong to Putnam Hall military academy.”

“I do not believe it! You came here with the intention of robbing me of my precious plate and other things. But you did not think I’d get after you with my shotgun!” added the old man cunningly. “You thought you would have me at your mercy! But I have outwitted you! Ha! ha! it was well done, not so? Back into the corner, I say, and open the door!”

The command was such a pre-emptory one that the cadets obeyed. Andy opened the door. Beyond was a small storeroom, having a narrow window which was barred from the outside.

“In you go, you young villains!” cried Jabez Trask, and held the muzzle of the shotgun on a line with their breasts. Fearing that in his excitement he would pull the trigger, the two cadets stepped back into the room.

“Now kick the door shut with your foot, and be quick about it,” went on the old man, to Pepper, and aimed the weapon straight at The Imp.

The door was closed as the man desired, and in a twinkling Jabez Trask stepped up close and turned the key in the lock. It was a heavy door, with an equally effective lock, and the cadets knew that they were prisoners.

“Ha! ha! very well done, I do declare!” chuckled the old man, after the door was fastened. “A neat trick, if I do say it myself, a clever trick! It takes a smart man to get the best of Jabez Trask. You thought I’d shoot you, didn’t you? Well, let me tell you that the shotgun isn’t loaded and hasn’t been for a month! But now I am going to load it, and load it well. If you try to break out – well, your blood will be on your head!”

Andy and Pepper did not reply. In the dim light of the little storeroom they looked at each other questioningly. They were in a serious predicament. What would be the outcome of this remarkable adventure?