Chapter XIII: Fun with Peleg Snuggers

“What’s this?”

“Crows, I declare!”

“They are dropping cards!”

“Say, this is the limit, isn’t it?”

“Hurrah, Pornell has got to eat crow to-day!” cried one Putnam Hall cadet.

“That’s right,” added another. “Hope they enjoy it.”

The trick Pepper had played made all the cadets laugh loudly. As for the Pornell students they looked dark and sour.

“This is an outrage!” stormed Roy Bock. “Eat crow indeed! I say we didn’t lose the match. They didn’t play fair.”

“We did play fair—and that’s the end of it,” answered Dale, and walked towards the carryall. Others followed, and soon all the Putnam cadets were ready to depart. Some bitter things were said on both sides, and several of the rivals came close to getting into a pitched battle.

“I will have no fighting,” said George Strong. “Come, we will depart at once.”

“But we won fairly, Mr. Strong,” pleaded Dale.

“I feel sure you did, Blackmore, and I give Doctor Pornell no credit for allowing his scholars to treat you in this style. But I want you to act as young gentlemen.”

At last the carryall, the carriages, and the cadets on bicycles were on their way. The bowling team was in the carryall and with them were Jack, Pepper and a number of others. Mr. Strong was in one of the carriages ahead.

“I declare, I think they were too mean for anything!” cried Andy. “I wish I had punched that Roy Bock’s head for him!”

“Yes, and Grimes ought to be thrashed, too,” added Pepper.

“I noticed that Fred Century kept rather quiet,” said Jack. “I don’t believe he liked the way Bock acted. When Bock claimed a foul he looked bored.”

“I guess he’s as nice a fellow as there is at that Academy,” was Stuffer’s comment. “Say, anybody bring any fruit along?” he added. “I’m half starved.”

“Was there ever a time when you weren’t half starved?” asked Jack, grinning. “Here’s something I brought for your especial benefit,” and he handed out an orange.

“Good! You have saved my life!” And Stuffer began to eat the fruit with great gusto.

“I had a sneaking idea they might provide a little lunch,” said Jack. “I think Captain Putnam would have done so.”

“Sure an’ Docther Pornell is too mean to do that same,” answered Hogan. “I’ve been tould he’s only liberal whin there’s money to be made by it.”

“That’s the way of some would-be high-toned folks,” said Dale.

“I want to know about those crows,” came from Harry Blossom. “Where did they come from?”

“Pepper set them loose—I saw him do it—he and Jack,” answered Bart.

“I’ll have to own up that I’m responsible,” said the Imp, with a broad smile. “I took the crows along because I felt almost sure Bock’s crowd would do something dirty—I know Bock so well.”

“But where did you get the crows?”

“I was talking with a young farmer one day and he told me how he had been trapping crows in his cornfield. As soon as this match was arranged I got the farmer to catch the crows and boxed ’em up. Then I wrote out the cards and fastened them on the crows’ wings.”

That evening the Putnam Hall cadets had a little celebration on the campus in honor of the victory. In this Ritter, Coulter and Paxton took no part, but all the other students did and they had a jolly time. Pepper and some others captured Peleg Snuggers and told him he had to make a speech.

“I don’t know nuthing about no speech,” said the general utility man. “You better let me go—I’ve got some work to do down to the barn.”

“We want you to tell us about your experience as a soldier,” said Pepper.

“I never was a soldier—I was a fireman.”

“That’s the talk!” cried Andy. “Tell us how you became a fireman, and rescued four live kittens from a ten-story burning building, Peleg.”

“Didn’t rescue no kittens. But once I rescued——”

“A three-legged bedstead,” finished Stuffer.

“No, it was a——”

“Broken-backed clothes horse,” suggested Dale. “Did the horse get over it, Peleg?”

“Now see here, I didn’t say nuthing about a hoss. When I was a member o’ the Cowtown Volunteer Fire Company, Mr. Glasby’s house burnt down, and I saved——”

“Two pair of overalls and a box of gumdrops,” finished Pepper. “Very brave, Peleg, very brave! It’s a wonder they didn’t give you a tin medal.”

“It wasn’t no overalls nor no gumdrops nuther,” cried the general utility man. “I saved——”

“A lady and her sixteen small children!” exclaimed Jack. “Hurrah for Peleg Snuggers, the fireman-hero of Cowtown! Peleg, they ought to erect a monument in the public square in your honor for such heroic endeavors!”

“Say, look a-here,” gasped Snuggers. “If you want to hear what I saved——”

“We do! We do!” was the cry. “Tell us!”

“I am really dying to know!” simpered Stuffer.

“It’s meself that can’t wait a minit longer, Peleg, me brave b’y!” sighed Emerald.

“I saved a sick dog,” yelled the general utility man, in desperation.

“A dog!”

“Well, I never!”

“Peleg, that’s one on us right enough!”

“He was a valuable dog—wuth two hundred dollars,” explained the general utility man. “He was up on the second floor. I brung him down on the ladder. We tumbled half the way, but it didn’t hurt the dog none, ’though it did skin my nose. Mr. Glasby give me five dollars fer a-doin’ of it,” added Peleg, proudly.

“What, for skinning your nose?” questioned Jack, innocently.

“No, fer savin’ the dog from the fiery elements—thet’s wot Mr. Glasby called ’em—’though I didn’t see no elements—it was jest a big, red-hot fire,” added the general utility man, and then, watching his chance, he slipped away and kept out of sight for the rest of the evening.

During the past Summer and that Spring the bicycling craze, as it was called, had struck Putnam Hall hard, and now fully twenty of the cadets had wheels. As a consequence a number of the lads organized the Putnam Hall Bicycle Club. Every lad who had a wheel was eligible to membership, and our friends were not long in joining. Ritter was a member and Coulter and Paxton also joined. Bart Conners was the leader of the club.

“I move we get up a long distance race,” said Bart, one day. “We have had several small contests, but a race of fifteen or twenty miles would show just what the fellows can do.”

His proposal interested some of the cadets at once. Of course there were many who did not feel they could ride in a race that was so long, but Pepper, Jack and Andy went in and so did Ritter, Coulter and Paxton. Bart, of course, entered, and six others followed.

It took a little study to lay out the course, but at last this was accomplished, and the time of the race was set for a Wednesday afternoon a week later, Captain Putnam agreeing to close the school an hour earlier than usual, if the weather was right for the contest.

Reff Ritter was a good bicyclist, and as soon as the race was assured he went around trying to make wagers on the outcome of the contest. The majority of the cadets would not bet—it being against their principles, nevertheless the bully found some willing to put up their money, and he staked all he had—thirty dollars—on his chance of winning.

“If you are so sure of winning there isn’t much use of our going in the contest,” said Paxton to Ritter, as he and the bully and Coulter met.

“Well, I am bound to win,” answered Ritter. “I think you can help me to do it, too. You’d like to see me beat Ruddy and Ditmore and Snow, wouldn’t you?”

“Very much!” answered Coulter, with emphasis.

“Well, here is the chance. And another thing—what’s the matter with your betting that Ruddy, Ditmore and Snow will lose? Then, if they do lose, you’ll stand to win something.”

“But they may win,” said Paxton, who was rather cautious when it came to putting up his money.

“Yes, and I’ll tell you I haven’t a dollar to spare,” added Coulter, who was the poorest of the three. On more than one occasion he had borrowed spending money from Ritter and Dan Baxter.

“I’ve got a plan,” answered Ritter. “Come on out on the lake in a rowboat. Then we’ll be sure that nobody will overhear us,” and he led the way to where the rowboats were tied up. Ever since the scare over the use of the French headache powder Ritter had been more or less nervous and afraid of exposure.

All unconscious of any plot being hatched out to make them lose the bicycle contest, Jack, Pepper and Andy spent their spare time in exercising on their wheels. A prize of a fine story book had been put up by the club for the winner, and all three were determined to do what they could to come in ahead.

“One of us must win,” said Jack. “I don’t care who it is. But I do want to see Ritter and his cronies defeated.”

“Just what I say!” declared Pepper.

“Same here!” added Andy. “The way Ritter goes around blowing makes me sick!”

“Well, Brag is a good horse, but Win-out is it,” declared Jack.

Fortunately the roads in the vicinity of Putnam Hall had been rolled in the Spring and were, consequently, in good condition. The route laid out took in two small hamlets and also passed Point View Lodge, the Summer residence of a rich gentleman named Rossmore Ford. The boys were fairly well acquainted with Mr. Ford and his family, and they had on two occasions done the Ford girls, Laura and Flossie, great service.

“What do you say if we stop at the Lodge and pay our respects?” said Jack one afternoon, as he and his chums reached that neighborhood on their bicycles.

“I’m willing,” answered Pepper. “I saw Laura Ford in Cedarville not long ago and she wanted to know why we hadn’t been up.”

“And he never said a word about it!” cried Andy. “Say, Pepper, did you want to call alone? I knew you were sweet on those girls, but——”

“Oh, quit it, Andy. I was going to mention it, but it slipped my mind, really it did.”

“Maybe he was afraid we’d meet another tiger up here if we came,” suggested Jack. “Say, we had a lively time nailing that beast, eh?”

“That’s what,” answered Pepper. “No more runaway circus tigers for me,” he added, with a grave shake of his head.

The boys were less than half a mile from Point View Lodge and it did not take them long to wheel that distance. Then, leaning their bicycles against some trees, they walked up the piazza and rang the bell. A servant answered the summons, and led them into the wide and cool hallway.

“Mrs. Rossmore has gone out,” she announced a minute later. “But the young ladies will be here shortly.”

“Oh, how do you do!” came a cry an instant later, and Laura Ford rushed down the broad stairs, followed by her sister. A warm handshaking followed, and then the girls asked the cadets all about how they had been, and invited them to come out on the lawn and have a game of croquet.