CHAPTER XXV A CANNON AND A FLAGSTAFF DISAPPEAR
"Jack!"
"What is it, Andy? You look as excited as if you had met a lion face toface." And the young major sat up in bed in wonder.
"Hustle into your clothing and come downstairs. Something awful hashappened."
"What's up?" asked Pepper, who had overheard the talk.
"The cannon is gone, and so is the flagstaff!"
"What!" came in a chorus from several cadets. "The cannon and theflagstaff gone?"
"Exactly."
"Do you mean the new cannon?" queried the young major.
"To be sure I do. The old one is back in the barn."
"Where has it gone to?" asked Stuffer.
"Nobody knows. It disappeared during the night--and so did theflagstaff."
"Did somebody chop the flagstaff down?" asked Dale.
"Sure, an' anybody mane enough to do that ought to be hung, so theyought!" growled Emerald.
"No, they didn't chop it down--they dug it up."
"And carted it off?" asked Pepper.
"Yes. Come on down. You never saw Captain Putnam so excited in his life.Peleg Snuggers just called him up. I got up ahead of time because Icouldn't sleep any longer," concluded Andy.
The news spread like wildfire, and soon cadets were hurrying downstairsin droves, some but partly dressed. The alarm was as great as if theschool had been on fire.
The beautiful brass cannon, purchased by Captain Putnam but a few weeksbefore, was gone. So was the noble flagstaff which from sunrise tosunset floated a large American flag. On the grass of the campus werethe marks of the cannon wheels, leading to the roadway. From the holeleft by the flagstaff there was a long, straight mark over the grassleading to the lake front.
"It is easy to guess what was done," said Jack. "The cannon was cartedoff by the aid of boys, men, or horses. Men or boys dug up theflagstaff, hauled it down to the lake, and floated it away."
"Major Ruddy, assemble the battalion at once," cried Captain Putnam. Anda minute later came the well-known rattle of the drum. But this was notneeded, for all the cadets were already at hand, looking at the spotswhere the cannon and the flagstaff had stood, and asking a hundred andone questions.
"Young gentlemen," began Captain Putnam, when the two companies of thebattalion stood at attention, "a grave lot of mischief has been donehere. You all know what that mischief is. If any of you are guilty Iwant such guilty party or parties to stand forth."
There was a pause. The cadets looked at each other, but not a boybudged.
"I want no hanging-fire in this," went on the master of the Hall. "Funis fun, but this is going too far. Is anybody guilty or not? If guilty,take two steps forward."
Nobody moved.
"The quartermaster will call the roll. As each name is uttered the cadetwill answer 'Guilty' or 'Not guilty,' as the case may be. Quartermaster,are you guilty or not guilty?"
"Not guilty!" was the prompt reply of the cadet who held the position ofquartermaster of the battalion.
The roll was speedily called and every cadet present answered "Notguilty," in a loud, clear voice.
"This is strange," mused Captain Putnam. "Can this have been done bysome outsiders?"
"Captain Putnam, will you allow me to say something," said Fred Century.
"Certainly. Come here."
Fred marched to the front and close to the master of the Hall.
"If this is the work of outsiders I think you can blame some of thefellows of Pornell Academy," said Fred. "They are very bitter againstthe cadets here and would be willing to do something like what has beenaccomplished to make trouble."
"Humph!" murmured Captain Putnam, and his face became a study. "Have youany proofs against them?"
"No, sir--only I know they wanted to play some kind of a trick."
"This is a mighty poor trick."
"I think so myself."
The battalion was paraded and marched into the mess hall, and CaptainPutnam jumped into his buggy and drove over to Pornell Academy. Hereceived a very cold reception at Doctor Pornell's hands.
"My pupils are young gentlemen, never guilty of such rascality," saidthe doctor, haughtily. "I do not deem it necessary to question themconcerning it." And that was all the satisfaction the master of PutnamHall got.
The cadets had to go to their studies after breakfast, but directly theschool sessions were over for the day, many formed searching parties andwent forth hunting for the missing cannon and the flagstaff. Jack headeda party composed of Pepper, Andy and Dale, to look for the cannon, whileFred Century took out Bart Conners and Emerald in the _Ajax_, to lookfor the flagstaff.
For a short distance along the road Jack and his chums could see themarks of the cannon wheels quite plainly. But further on the road wasrocky and hard, and there the tracks could not be told from those madeby wagons and automobiles.
"This is a good deal like looking for a pin in a haystack," observedPepper, as they came to a halt at a cross roads. "The question is, Didthey keep straight on, or turn to the right or left?"
"I don't think they'd dare to take the cannon to Cedarville," said Andy."Somebody would be sure to see them and tell Captain Putnam."
"I believe Andy is right," put in Dale. "They must have gone to theright or the left with the piece."
"The road to the right runs down to the lake front, and it is soft andmuddy. They'd not be likely to go that way."
"Not unless they dumped the cannon into the lake," answered Jack.
"I don't believe they'd dare do that," said Dale. "They'd be afraid ofarrest if found out."
"Then they must have gone up into the woods," said Jack. "Let us hunt inthat direction first anyway."
The cadets were now joined by others, until a crowd of at least twentywere following the road leading through the woods to Benson Pond. For adistance the road was rocky and hard, then it grew soft, and they beheldthe tracks made by the cannon quite plainly.
"Hurrah! we are on the right road!" cried the young major.
So anxious was the crowd to locate the cannon that nearly all started ona run. They had to pass directly under some heavy, overhanging trees,and then came to where there was a stony cliff and something of a shaleroad.
"I don't see the tracks of the cannon any more!" cried one cadet, andsoon the others said the same.
"Wait till we reach some spot where the road is soft," suggested Dale,and trudged along hopefully for quarter of a mile. Here they came to theedge of Benson Pond and the roadway was muddy; but the cannon trackswere nowhere to be seen.
"We've missed it," said Jack, with something of a groan.
"Let us retrace our steps and look on both sides of the road," suggestedPepper. "Maybe we'll find out just where they left the road. They mayhave hauled the cannon right into the middle of the woods."
They walked back slowly, scattering to both sides of the highway. Butnot a sign of the cannon tracks was brought to light.
"This is certainly a mystery," sighed Dale. "The tracks seem to fadeinto thin air. Now they couldn't make the piece disappear like that."
"Not unless they blew it up," said Jack.
"Oh, Jack, do you think they did that?" cried Andy.
"No, I don't. I've got an idea and I am going back to where we saw thosetracks last." And the young major stalked off, followed by the majorityof the others.
Reaching the place mentioned, Jack began a close inspection of theground. Then he moved on slowly, looking first at the ground and then atthe trees overhead. Thus he covered several hundred feet, stopping at aspot where the roadbed was a solid mass of rock.
"I've found the cannon!" he cried suddenly.
"Found it?" came from a dozen others, and they rushed to his side.
"Yes."
"Where is it, Jack?"
"Up in yonder tree. They hauled it to this spot, tied it to two bigropes, and pulled it up into the tree. There it is now, shining outbetween the le
aves!" And the young major pointed in triumph to thediscovery he had made.
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