“What will you do?” questioned Pender. “Remember, I’m just as down on him as you are.”
“I don’t know yet, Gus. But I’ll do something.”
“All right; when you are ready to act, let me know, and I’ll help you all I can,” answered Gus Pender.
CHAPTER XIII
THE FIGHT AT THE BOATHOUSE
Inside of a week the newly-elected officers felt perfectly at home in their various positions. Captain Putnam’s idea of allowing only such cadets to be candidates as could fill the positions properly had borne good fruit, and the battalion was now in better condition than ever before.
Contrary to general expectations, Larry Colby, as major, proved a strict disciplinarian when on parade. In the playground he was as “chummy” as ever, but this was cast aside when he buckled on his sword and took command.
“This is as it should be,” was Captain Putnam’s comment. “And it is the same throughout life: play is play and business is business.”
As a captain Dick was equally successful and Tom also made a good second lieutenant. Company A was speedily voted superior to the others, when drilling and when on the march, and consequently became the flag bearer for the term.
“This is splendid!” said Dick, when the announcement was made. And then he went at Company A, to make the cadets drill and march better than ever.
But though the students gave considerable time to military matters, they were not permitted to neglect their regular studies, and to their honor be it said that the three Rover boys pitched in with a will.
“If I can’t be an officer I’m going to be a high grade student anyway,” said Sam, and kept his word. Books suited him better than did military glories, and soon he was at the top of his class in almost every branch of learning.
Many of the cadets were anxious to know where the annual encampment would be held, but for the time being Captain Putnam declined to discuss the subject.
“We will talk about that as soon as lessons are done for the term,” said he.
“I don’t believe we’ll go to Brierroot Grove again,” said Powell to Dick. “A farmer has built a house up there and is clearing off the land as fast as he can.”
“I wish we could go to some place at a distance,” returned Dick. “All of us know this territory pretty well. I like to visit new localities.”
“So do I.”
During those days the Rover boys received a letter from their father which proved unusually interesting. Anderson Rover wrote, in part, as follows:
“You will be surprised to learn, at this late day, that something had been heard about Arnold Baxter. A man who knows him fairly well met him a few nights ago in Owego. The news was telegraphed to me at once, and the local police were informed, but since that time nothing more has been seen or heard of the rascal. The man said he was well dressed and had been stopping at a leading hotel. Evidently he is using what was stolen.”
“In Owego!” cried Sam. “Why, that city isn’t over fifty miles from here.”
“This is his old stamping ground,” put in Tom. “For all we know he may now be hanging around Ithaca or Cedarville.”
“I don’t believe he’ll come here,” said Dick. “He is too well known.”
“Oh, if only we could lay hands on him, Dick!”
“Wish we could, Tom. But Arnold Baxter knows enough to keep out of our clutches.”
“Wonder if he knows what became of Dan?”
“Like as not our story was in all the newspapers, and they mentioned Dan too.”
“If that is so, it’s more than likely he thinks we are responsible for Dan being left behind on the island.”
“I’m not going to bother my head about Arnold Baxter,” put in Sam. “If he shows himself I’ll have him arrested, that’s all.”
One day after another slipped by and all of the boys continued to study with a will. Once they received long letters from Dora Stanhope and Nellie and Grace Laning, and sent long letters in return.
“Wish the girls were back here,” said Dick. But this could not be, as they had decided to remain in California for a while longer, and the boys had to content themselves by sending the girls keepsakes by which to be remembered.
On the Friday afternoon preceding the final week of the term Tom and Sam walked down to the lake, intending to go out in a boat for a short row.
As they drew close to the boathouse they heard loud talking and then a cry of pain.
“Please don’t,” came in the voice of a young cadet. “Please, please don’t, Flapp!”
“But I just will, you little imp!” came in Lew Flapp’s harsh voice. “I’ll teach you to play the sneak!”
“But I—I didn’t mean to do anything, really I didn’t,” answered the other. “But I felt so sick, and I—”
“Oh, I know you, Moss. For two pins I’d break your head for you!” And then came the sounds of several blows in quick succession.
“It’s Flapp!” cried Sam. “He is beating somebody most shamefully.”
“It’s little Harry Moss,” returned Tom, leaping to the front. “The big bully! Why can’t he take a fellow of his own size?”
He rushed around the corner of the boathouse and there beheld a scene that aroused his warmest indignation. Harry Moss was crowded into a corner and over him stood Lew Flapp, beating him with a heavy boat chain.
Flapp had just raised the chain for another blow when Tom ran in and caught his arm.
“Stop!” he cried. “You let Harry Moss alone!”
Startled at the interruption Lew Flapp turned. When he saw both Tom and Sam his face fell.
“What do you want here?” he asked sulkily.
“I want you to leave Harry Moss alone,” answered Tom.
“Oh, Rover, please make him stop,” pleaded Harry. “He’s trying to kill me!”
“No, I ain’t,” retorted Flapp. “I’m only giving him a whipping that he deserves.”
“It’s an outrage to strike anybody with that chain,” said Sam.
“You needn’t put your oar in, Sam Rover!”
“But he just will, and so will I,” said Tom. “Give me that chain,” and he tried to pull it from Lew Flapp’s hand.
“Let go!” screamed Lew Flapp, and began a struggle to keep the chain in his possession. He struck at Tom, hitting him in the shoulder. Then Tom got mad, doubled up his fist, and Lew Flapp received a blow in the left eye that made him see stars.
“Oh!” he howled and dropped the chain. “Tom Rover, I’ll get even for that, mind that!”
“What do you mean by attacking Harry Moss in such a disgraceful fashion?”
“Because he’s a sneak, and you know it.”
“I know nothing of the kind.”
“Didn’t he go and blab on me to Captain Putnam?”
“About what?”
Lew Flapp paused and eyed Tom and Sam curiously.
“I reckon you know well enough,” he remarked slowly.
“But I don’t know anything. Do you, Sam?”
“Not a thing. So far as I know Harry is all right.”
“Is he?” sneered Flapp. “Well, I don’t think so.”
“What was the trouble about, Harry?” asked Tom, turning to the small boy.
“Don’t you say a word!” shouted Lew Flapp, in alarm. “If Tom and Sam Rover don’t know already they needn’t know at all, so there.”
“Evidently you don’t want Harry to talk,” said Sam suggestively.
“He’s a sneak, I tell you.”
“And you are a big, long-legged bully,” retorted Tom. “For two pins I’d give you a good drubbing.”
“Humph! Do you think you can lick me?” blustered Flapp, who felt certain he could best Tom at fisticuffs.
“I don’t think so—I know it,” said Tom coolly.
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“Don’t you fight him, Tom,” said Sam, in alarm. “He only wants to get you into trouble. He’d like nothing better than to see you lose your position as lieutenant.”
“He’s afraid,” sneered Lew Flapp. “All of you Rover boys are mere bags of wind.”
“I don’t think you found Dick a bag of wind, Flapp.”
“Yes, I did. Now you clear out and let Moss and me settle this affair between us.”
But this was not to be, for Harry Moss was already at the doorway of the boathouse and now he retreated to a safe distance.
“If you hit Tom Rover, or Sam, I’ll call Mr. Strong?” cried the little cadet.
“Don’t you do it,” said Tom. “I am not afraid of Flapp.”
“But he’s so big, Tom.”
“I don’t care for that.”
Tom had scarcely spoken when Lew Flapp, watching his opportunity, leaped forward and planted a blow on his chin that sent him staggering back into Sam’s arms.
“Now come on, if you dare!” he cried.
“All right!” came from Tom, as he recovered. And like a flash he flew at Lew Flapp, before Sam could do a thing to stop him. Blow after blow was taken and given by each of the cadets, and Tom was hit in the chest, on the shoulder, and in the left cheek. In return Flapp got one in the right eye that almost closed up that optic and then came a blow on the nose that made the blood spurt in all directions.
“Good for you, Tom!” cried Sam, dancing around, forgetful of what he had just said about his brother getting into trouble. “That’s the time you did it. Now give him another!”
Again the two boys went at it and once more Tom was struck in the shoulder. Then Lew Flapp aimed for Tom’s face, but the latter ducked and, recovering, hit the big boy a heavy blow in the chin that made his teeth rattle and sent him staggering over the side of an upturned boat and flat on his back.
“Hurrah!” cried Sam. “That was almost a knockout, Tom. Now give him to understand—”
Sam broke off short, as a warning cry from Harry Moss reached his ears. All eyes turned toward the doorway of the boathouse and a second later George Strong, the head teacher, stepped into view.
CHAPTER XIV
GETTING READY FOR THE ENCAMPMENT
For fully ten seconds after the head teacher appeared nobody spoke. Lew Flapp arose slowly to his feet, and bringing out his handkerchief applied it to his bleeding nose.
“What does this mean?” demanded George Strong sternly.
“He—he pitched into me,” faltered Flapp.
“That is hardly true,” returned Tom hotly.
“Both of you are well aware that it is against the rules of this school to fight,” went on the teacher.
“I know that, Mr. Strong,” answered Tom. “But Flapp struck me first.”
“It isn’t so!” cried the big boy. “I wasn’t doing anything, when Rover came along and started to quarrel.”
“My brother Sam and Harry Moss can prove that Flapp struck me first.”
“That is true,” said Harry Moss, while Sam nodded.
“What was the quarrel about?”
“I caught him here, beating Harry with this boat chain. I told him to stop and then he pitched into me.”
“Is this true, Moss?”
“Ye—yes, sir, but—I—I—didn’t want to say anything about it, sir.”
“Do you mean to say that Flapp attacked you with that chain?”
Harry Moss was silent.
“Answer me.”
“He did. But, Mr. Strong, I don’t want to make any complaint. He and some of the others think I’m a—a sneak already,” and now Harry could hardly keep back his tears.
“I don’t know why he attacked Harry,” put in Tom. “But I couldn’t stand it, and I took the chain away from him and told him to stop. Then he struck me, and we pitched into each other—and I guess he got the worst of it,” added Tom, a bit triumphantly.
“Hum! Flapp, you may go and bathe your nose, which I see is bleeding, and then come to Captain Putnam’s office. The others can come to the office with me.”
George Strong led the way, and Tom, Sam, and Harry Moss followed. The teacher took along the boat chain and made Harry show where he had been struck.
Captain Putnam looked very grave when the affair was explained to him. He questioned Harry in private and learned that the attack was made by Flapp because of what the young cadet had told about drinking and smoking.
“Rover, it was wrong to fight,” said the captain to Tom. “But under the circumstances I am inclined to be lenient with you. You can retire, and this evening during off time I want you to write one hundred times, the proverb beginning, ‘Blessed are the peace-makers.’”
“Yes, sir,” said Tom humbly. He was glad to escape thus easily, for he knew that the captain was very strict concerning fighting.
A little later the others were sent off, leaving Lew Flapp alone with Captain Putnam.
“Flapp,” said the owner of the school, with a hardness that made the big boy’s heart sink into his shoes. “I hardly know what to say to you. Your former conduct was mean enough, and this appears to be on a level with it. With such a heavy boat chain you might have injured Moss very seriously. Do you want me to give you another chance or not?”
“Wh—what do you mean, sir?” asked Flapp, much frightened.
“Do you want to remain at Putnam Hall, or shall I send you home in disgrace?”
“I—I don’t want to go home,” said the big boy. His father was a rough man and he knew that if his parent heard of this trouble he would make him pay dearly for it.
“I expect my pupils to be young gentlemen,” went on Captain Putnam. “This is an academy for the better class of boys only. Bad boys do not come here, but are sent to the reformatory. If I give you another chance will you promise to do better in the future?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well then, I will give you one more chance. I believe you are somewhat behind in your arithmetic. During the next four days you will remain in during all off time and apply yourself to such examples as your teacher gives you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now you can go, and remember, I want to hear of no further fighting, and no further molesting of Harry Moss.”
“I’ll remember, sir,” answered Lew Flapp meekly, and then left the office and ran up to his dormitory, to bathe his nose and put witch-hazel on his hurts. Although outwardly humble he was in reality burning with rage.
“I’ll have to be careful in the future,” he told himself, with clenched fists. “But I’ll get square—oh, I’ll get square!”
“Hullo, hurt yourself?” asked Pender, as he came in.
“Yes, I fell over a boat down at the boathouse,” answered the big boy.
“Is that so? I heard something of a fight, and came up to see about it.”
“Oh, I had a row with Harry Moss and Tom Rover, but it didn’t amount to much, Gus. But, say, I just wish I could square up with Dick Rover, and Tom, too!”
“You said something like that before.”
“I’m going to watch my chances.”
“Perhaps something will turn up during the encampment.”
“Yes, I was thinking of that. A fellow has more of a chance in camp than he does in school.”
“It would be a fine thing to get Dick Rover into trouble and make him lose his position as captain,” went on Gus Pender.
“Yes, and make Tom Rover lose his position as lieutenant, too,” added Flapp.
The term at Putnam Hall was now drawing to a close and it was not long before the semi-annual examinations began. All of the Rovers worked hard over their papers, and with more or less success. Sam came out at the top of his class, while Tom stood third in his grade, and Dick third in a still higher class. The boys lost no time
in sending the news home, and received word back that not only their father, but also Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha, were much pleased with the result.
“Now we’ll feel as if we deserve an outing,” said Tom, and Sam and Dick agreed with him.
It was on the following morning that Captain Putnam made an announcement that filled all of the cadets with interest.
“You are all anxious, I know, to learn where the annual encampment is to be held,” said he, during general assembly. “I am pleased to be able to announce that I have arranged to hold it at Pine Island, a fine bit of ground, located close to the south shore of Bass Lake. The lake is situated about thirty-five miles from here, and we will make a two-days’ march to the spot, stopping on the road over night, in true soldier style, weather permitting.”
“Hurrah!” burst out half a dozen cadets.
“Three cheers for Captain Putnam!” called out Tom, and they were given with a will.
“I am told that the lake is an excellent one for fishing and for bathing, and I have already engaged six boats which the cadets will be allowed to use from time to time.”
Again there was a cheer and with it a loud clapping of hands.
“While in camp you may play such games as you please, during off time, and we will see if we cannot arrange for contests at swimming, rowing, and running, and to the winners suitable prizes shall be given.”
“Hurrah for Captain Putnam!” came the cry once more, and again a cheer arose.
“When will we start, captain?”
“Wish we were going right now!”
“We shall start Monday morning,” was the answer. “To-morrow we will get out our tents and camping outfits and see that all are in first-class order. It is perhaps needless to add that during this encampment the officers will be in authority during all but off hours, when myself and my assistants will take charge.”
This ended the talk, and the students immediately broke up into little groups to discuss the good news.
“We ought to have just a boss good time while in camp,” cried Sam. “Think of living in tents, and having nothing to do but fish, and swim, and make yourself comfortable.”
“Sam must be getting lazy,” returned Dick. “But I grant you I think it will be first-class myself.”
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