The Mystery at Putnam Hall Part 22

"Don't forget to fill your lamps!" cried Andy, as he turned away.

"Mine is full," answered Jack.

"I'll see to mine," came from Pepper. "Glad you mentioned it. It will be quite dark on the road to-night, and I don't want to run in a hole and take a header."

"None of us want to do that. We'd look fine going into the Lodge with our faces and hands all dirt and our uniforms torn."

The cadets hurried away in various directions. They had been talking in the gymnasium, near one of the dressing-rooms, and they did not know that anybody else was near. But Mumps, the sneak, had overheard every word. As soon as they had gone, the younger cadet hurried off toward the boathouse. Here he found half a dozen students a.s.sembled, including Ritter and Coulter.

"Say, do you fellows know that Ruddy, Ditmore and Snow are going out to-night?" he said. He always loved to tell the news, and thought himself quite important in so doing.

"Where to?" asked one of the cadets.

"To Point View Lodge--the place where the Ford family live. They've got an invitation to dinner."

"Lucky dogs!" came from another cadet. As he spoke he looked at Reff Ritter, but that individual merely scowled, and took surrept.i.tious whiffs at a cigarette he was smoking.

"How are they going to Point View?" asked another who was present.

"Going on their bicycles," answered Mumps. "It's quite a ride, isn't it?"

"Oh, not for them. They can make it in half an hour if they try. But they'll find it pretty dark to-night, I'm thinking," added the cadet, with a glance out of the boathouse window at the leaden sky.

The talk continued and Ritter listened closely to every word. Then he arose and motioned to Coulter, and the two walked outside.

"Did you hear what Mumps said?" he asked of his crony.

"About those chaps going to the Fords' home?"

"Yes."

"What of it?"

"I was thinking we might spoil their fun."

"And get caught, as we did with the tar-barrels," grumbled Gus Coulter.

"We'll take good care that n.o.body sees us this time."

"What are you thinking of doing?" asked Coulter, curiously.

"Come with me and I'll tell you," answered Reff Ritter, and took his crony by the arm. Slowly they walked across the campus, and as they did so Ritter unfolded a plot that had just then come into his head.

"What do you think of it?" he asked, after he had finished.

"Very good; if it will work, and we are not caught."

"We'll not get caught if you'll do as I say. Listen, Gus, all you need to do is to stand on guard, to give me warning if anybody comes. I'll do the rest."

"When do you want to get to work?"

Reff Ritter looked around anxiously. It was cold on the campus and growing darker rapidly. Only a few cadets were in sight.

"Come on now," he answered. "We'll see if the coast is clear."

They walked to the end of the gymnasium building, where, in a long room, the bicycles of the students were kept. It was pitch dark inside and not a soul was in sight.

"Now, you remain outside," said Ritter. "If you see anybody coming begin to whistle 'Yankee Doodle,' as loud as you can. Don't wait for me, for I'll go out the back way."

"All right. But let me know when you are through," answered Coulter, somewhat nervously.

"Sure."

Coulter took his stand outside of the building and peered forth eagerly in the darkness. Only three cadets were in view and they presently entered the school building. Then ten minutes went by--a long wait for the youth who was aiding Ritter in his plot. Then Reff came quickly from the gymnasium.

"Anybody around?" he asked hurriedly.

"No."

"Good enough."

"Have you finished, Reff?"

"Yes."

"Did you get at all three of the wheels?"

"I sure did. Say, they will have their own troubles, see if they don't!"

chuckled the bully. "But come on before anybody sees us," he added, and stalked away in the darkness, with his crony beside him.

CHAPTER XIII

THE WORK OF THE ENEMY

It was not until a few minutes after five o'clock that Jack, Andy and Pepper hurried down to the gymnasium, to get their wheels. At the last moment Andy discovered that one of his b.u.t.tons was loose and had to be sewed on, and Jack had trouble with the new cap he was going to wear. It was a trifle too large and he had to place a strip of paper under the band to make it stay on his head properly.

"It certainly feels like snow," said Pepper, as the three got out their bicycles. "I am sure we'll get a snowstorm before long."

"I don't care, if only it holds off till we get back," returned Andy.

They lit the acetylene gas lamps, with which their wheels were provided, and then ran the bicycles down to the roadway.

"Have a good time," cried Stuffer, who had come out to see them off.

"Don't worry about that," replied Pepper, gaily.