“They are going to leave us,” groaned Mumps, as the baskets were stowed away and several entered the craft. “We’ll have to stay here all night, and I know it is going to rain! And there may be bears around! Peleg Snuggers told me about a bear he saw once, on the road to Malville.”
“Oh, don’t be a calf, Mumps,” interrupted the bully. “They’ll all laugh at you.”
“I don’t care, I don’t want to stay, so there!” whimpered the sneak. “Tell them you won’t say anything.”
“Well, good-bye!” shouted Jack, turning toward the rowboat.
He walked several steps, but then Baxter hailed him.
“Stop!” cried the bully. “Let us go. For Mumps’ sake I won’t say anything.”
“Very well. Remember, Baxter, that’s a bargain. Are you agreed, Paxton?”
“Yes.”
“And you, Mumps?”
“I shan’t say a word – I promise, Ruddy.”
Without another word Jack released the three prisoners. Then he ran for the rowboat, leaped in and shoved off, and soon the craft was on its way out into the lake.
CHAPTER VII
HOW THE BOAT RACES WERE WON
“Do you think they’ll keep silent?” asked Stuffer, after the rowboat was some distance from the shore.
“That’s a problem,” answered Jack. “Maybe they will – for their own benefit.”
“If they talk about it, the laugh will be on them,” came from Andy.
“That was a fine dive of yours, Andy,” came from Pepper. “You took them by surprise.”
“We would have been in a mess if they had gotten away with the baskets and our clothes,” said Stuffer.
“Sure, an do yez think they’d stale our duds?” questioned Hogan.
“They’d take everything – if they got the chance,” answered Jack. “It was lucky for us that Mumps fell and gave the alarm.”
“What a calf he is!”
“Sneaks are generally of that sort,” said Andy. “How I’d hate to have the reputation he is gaining.”
They looked back and saw Baxter, Paxton, and Mumps standing on the shore. The bully shook his fist at them.
“He feels real friendly,” said Andy. “I think he’d like to embrace us all.”
Soon the rowboat passed out of sight of that portion of the shore. Then the craft was turned up the lake, and those who were to go into the boat races during the following week took turns at the oars.
“Pepper pulls a fine stroke,” said Stuffer. “He ought to win something.”
“I believe Jackson and Perry will win the main races,” said another cadet. “They are bang-up oarsmen. They live on the Ohio River and have had lots of practice.”
“Well, I am going to do my best,” answered Pepper.
“And so am I,” added Jack.
The sun was just going down when the boys returned to Putnam Hall, tired out but thoroughly happy. They cleaned out the boat and put it away, and then went to their dormitories to wash up for parade.
“Hullo, look here!” cried Jack, as he got out his uniform. “Somebody has been putting on my rank of office.” And this was true, and the uniforms of the other elected officers had been treated likewise. When the young officers went below each received a shining sword, with a scabbard and belt to match.
“We’ll have to have our pictures taken,” said Henry Lee, with pride, and later on, this was done, and each officer sent one or more of the photographs home, much to the parents’ delight.
It must be confessed that Jack felt quite proud when he stepped out in front of the battalion, sword in hand, and in his newly decorated uniform. He saw his friends in the ranks and also saw his enemies. Baxter looked as dark as a thundercloud, but did not dare to express his feelings.
“That was very well accomplished, Major Ruddy,” said Captain Putnam after the drill was at an end. “I trust you keep the battalion up to such a standard for the balance of the term.”
“I shall do my best, sir,” answered the youthful major.
“Ruddy seems to take hold with vigor,” was George Strong’s comment. “I like to see a boy do that.”
“His father was once in the army, and he has military blood in his veins,” answered the master of the Hall.
The boat races which have been mentioned were to come off on the following Wednesday afternoon, starting at two o’clock. There were to be four races, three among the students of Putnam Hall and the fourth race with the students of Pornell Academy, situated a few miles from Putnam Hall. Pornell Academy was an old institution of learning presided over by a Dr. Pornell, who did not much fancy the coming of Captain Putnam to that neighborhood.
“I hope we wax those Pornell fellows good,” said Pepper. “They are a proud lot, and they think we are nothing but the dust of the earth.”
“The races between ourselves will show what we can do,” answered Singleton.
“Are you going to row, Stuffer?”
“To be sure I am.”
“Well, I hope you win something.”
The day was a cool, bracing one, an ideal day for boat racing, and immediately after the midday meal the oarsmen turned out in force and the lake front was alive with craft of various sorts. The races had been talked of for two weeks and several sloops and a steam launch came up from Cedarville bringing parties to view the contests. Some boats also came from across the lake, and flags flapped gayly in the moderate breeze.
The first race was a four-oared affair between the smaller boys, and much to the surprise of everybody it was won by Mumps and a lad named Cathby.
“Hullo, I didn’t know Mumps could row so well,” cried Pepper.
“He comes from a town on the Hudson River, and was brought up around boats,” answered a cadet standing near. “His folks own several sailboats, so I’ve been told.”
“Well, he deserves credit for winning, even if he is a sneak,” declared Jack.
The next race was an eight-oared affair, between crews made of Stuffer, Hogan, Blackmore, and a number of others already mentioned in these pages. This was lost by the crew led by Stuffer.
“Stuffer had been eating too much,” said Pepper. And the always-hungry lad afterwards admitted that this was true.
The third race was a four-oared affair between Jack, Pepper, Andy, and Joe Nelson on one side, and Paxton and several chums on the other. Baxter had been expected to row in this, but fell out at the last moment, stating he was not well. Privately, he was afraid of losing, for he knew Jack and his friends were good oarsmen.
The race was for a mile, and at the discharge of a pistol both crews started in fine shape.
“Go it, Paxton!” was the cry. “You can win if you try!”
“Pull, Pepper, pull!”
“Make every stroke tell, Jack!”
On and on swept the two boats, and for the first half of the course kept side by side.
“It’s going to be a tie race!”
“Pull, Paxton! Pull, Leeds!”
“See, Paxton’s boat is going ahead!”
It was true – slowly but surely the craft went forward, until it was a full length in advance. Jack, Pepper, and the others were doing their best but the other boat continued