CHAPTER XIII
THE CIRCUS, AND A MONKEY
The chariot race soon came to an end, and the cadets passed into the menagerie tent once more. Here there was considerable excitement. By accident the monkeys had opened the door to their big wagon cage, and fully a dozen of the little creatures were missing. One monkey had climbed into a cage containing two lions, and the kings of the forest had made a meal of the wanderer in double-quick order.
“Here’s fun truly,” said Pepper. “Wish I could catch one of the little beggars!”
“You’d have your hands full, if Mr. Monk was of the biting kind,” returned Dale.
They watched the circus employees trying to catch two of the monkeys, and then passed outside. One of the monkeys had climbed clear to the top of the flagpole on the circus tent and a crowd of children were watching him with keen delight.
“He’s the king-pin acrobat of the show!” cried Jack. “I don’t believe anybody will dare go after him,” and so it proved. But the monkey soon came down when shown some peanuts, and was then placed back in his cage.
“He didn’t know what to do with his liberty after he got it,” was Andy’s comment. “It’s a wonder he didn’t take to the woods.”
“More than likely he was born in captivity and didn’t know what liberty meant,” came from Joe Nelson. “I knew some folks who had a tame canary. For an experiment they took the bird to the woods and opened the cage wide. Close by the cage was a brook, and by the side of this they put the canary’s bath tub full of water. Would you believe it, the canary always came back to his cage to roost, and instead of dipping himself in the brook, took his bath in his old tub!”
“Which showed what habit would do,” said another pupil. “He didn’t know anything different.”
The boys were soon in the stage, and Pepper took his seat on the rear step, the stage itself being crowded.
“Don’t fall off, Master Ditmore,” said George Strong.
“No fear, you can’t lose me so easily,” replied the fun-loving youth, and said this so merrily that everybody had to laugh.
The stage was going along at a good gait when Pepper happened to look under the turnout and saw a sight that made him open his mouth wide in astonishment. There, on the bar running from the front to the back axle, sat a little monkey, gazing around in wonder, with his face screwed up into a curious pucker.
“Well, I declare!” murmured Pepper to himself. “Have you been hiding there ever since we left the circus grounds?”
As soon as the monkey saw that he was discovered, he gave a little squeak, and hopped a few inches away. Then he looked at Pepper in added curiosity, as much as to say: “What do you want to do with me?”
“You’re a cute little chap,” thought the cadet. And then of a sudden he broke into a grin. What fun might be had if he could capture that monkey!
“I’ll do it,” he told himself, and feeling into his pocket, he brought out a few peanuts. As soon as the monkey saw these he came closer, snatched one of the nuts, and proceeded to crack it open.
“Don’t you want to come into the stage, Pep?” called out Andy. “We’ll make room for you.”
“Oh, I can stay here,” was the answer. “It’s like a private seat, you know.” And then, when he got the chance, he whispered: “I’ve got a reason for remaining here, but keep mum!”
“What’s doing?”
“I’ll tell you afterwards.”
On and on rattled the stage, the boys singing and tooting their horns to pass the time. The monkey did not appear to mind the noise, and evidently enjoyed the ride. Luckily a slight shower the night before had laid the dust, otherwise both Pepper and the monkey might have been smothered.
At last they came in sight of the Putnam Hall grounds, and then Pepper realized that something must be done. He held out some more peanuts, and when the monkey reached for them, he caught the animal and held him fast, pushing him inside his jacket. Then Pepper knocked off his own cap into the road.
“Hi! there goes my cap!” he called out, and leaped to the ground. “Don’t wait for me,” he added. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“Pep has lost his cap!” cried several.
“Never mind, it’s only a step to walk,” came from some others.
“I’m going to walk in with him,” said Andy, and leaped to the ground, followed by Jack. As the three were known to be chums, nothing was thought of this, and in a moment the stage disappeared around a bend.
At first Pepper had his hands full holding the monkey, and he was afraid he was going to be bitten. But as Jack and Andy came up the creature quieted down.
“Well, I declare!” ejaculated the young major. “Where did you get the monk?”
“He was on the stage,” explained Pepper. “Say, help me make him a prisoner, will you?”
“Sure,” came from the others, and soon the monkey had a cord tied around his waist. As this was nothing new to him, he submitted without much trouble, and when given half a dozen more peanuts and a bit of candy Andy carried, seemed quite content.
“What are you going to do with him?” questioned Jack.
“Introduce him to old Crabtree,” was Pepper’s answer.
“Just the thing!” ejaculated Andy. “Let’s put him in Crabtree’s room to-night!”
“That’s what I was thinking, Andy.”
“There will be some fun when the monk begins to roam around.”
After some talk, the boys decided to enter the school by the back way. Jack went ahead to see that the coast was clear, and soon they had the animal safe in dormitory No. 4, over which the youthful major presided. Then Andy found an empty bird cage in the storeroom of the Hall, and his monkeyship was transferred to this.
The evening was a long one to the boys, but it finally came to an end, and they retired. Then, when all the lights were out, Pepper and Andy stole through the darkened hallways to the door of Josiah Crabtree’s room. Listening intently, they heard the first assistant teacher snoring peacefully on his bed.
“Is the door unlocked?” questioned Andy.
“Yes.”
No more was said, and Pepper hurried back for the bird cage containing the monkey, and also for an old school-book he had brought up from below.
Opening the door with caution, they took the monkey from the cage and placed him at the foot of Josiah Crabtree’s bed. Then they hurried to the doorway once more, and went outside.
“Wait!” whispered Pepper, and taking aim, he sent the book flying at Josiah Crabtree. Then the chums scampered for their dormitory with might and main.
The book landed on Josiah Crabtree’s somewhat bald head, and he awoke with a start and sat up.
“What in the world was that?” he muttered. “Is the ceiling falling down?”
He stared around him. The moon was coming up, and it cast considerable light into the apartment. He saw a dark object moving around.
“Hi! What’s that?” he called out. “Scat!”
Thinking it might be a cat, he made a wild pass at the monkey. At once the frisky animal caught him by the finger and gave him a nip.
“Oh, oh!” roared the teacher. “He has bitten me! Take him off! Help! Robbers! Help!” And he flung the bedclothes aside and began to dance around.
At the excitement of the man the monkey also became excited, and leaped upon the top of a bookcase in a corner, which contained some volumes belonging to the teacher. Down came a bust on the bookcase with a crash. Then the monkey took up a book and flung it at the man.
“Stop! stop!” roared Josiah Crabtree. “Don’t! Help! There is a wild beast in the room!” And he ran around, with the monkey following. Presently the animal leaped on his shoulder, and then Josiah Crabtree let out a yell as if a dozen wild Zulus were on his track.
The noise aroused the whole school. Doors were flung open, and teachers, hired help, and cadets came forth into the hallways.
“What’s the trouble?”
“Is there a fire?”
“I heard somebody say robbers!”
“It’s Mr. Crabtree!” shouted Pepper. “Somebody must be trying to rob him. Come on, let us catch the thief!” And on the instant the cadets stormed forward, towards the teacher’s apartment, and George Strong and Captain Putnam followed.
“Oh, dear! Scat, I tell you! Let me alone. Don’t pull my hair! Oh, will somebody take him away!” came from the room. “This is simply awful! Who put this beast here?” and so the cries ran on.
“Something is surely wrong,” cried Captain Putnam. “Stand back, young gentlemen, or you may get hurt.”
He flung open the doorway, and as he did so, Josiah Crabtree, robed in his nightdress, leaped out, with the monkey on his shoulder.
“Have you gone crazy?” asked Captain Putnam. And then he added: “Where did that monkey come from?”
“How should I know?” roared Josiah Crabtree. “Take him off! He’ll have my hair out by the roots!”
“What a pretty monkey!” cried Pepper. “Is he your pet, Mr. Crabtree?”
“My pet? Never! Take him away!” And the teacher continued to dance around.
Several darted in to secure the monkey, but like a flash the animal leaped to a fixture suspended from the ceiling, and then swung himself to a hall window and slipped outside.
“He has gone!”
“Let us catch him!”
“Whose monkey is it?”
“He must have come over from the circus,” said Jack. “They said a lot of them had gotten away.”
“I’ll sue the circus proprietor for this!” howled Josiah Crabtree. “It’s an outrage on the public. Oh, my poor head!” And he ran back into his room, banging the door behind him.
“Has the monkey gone?” asked Captain Putnam.
“Went through the window,” answered Joe Nelson.
They looked out of the window, but could see nothing of the animal. Then some went below, but the monkey had disappeared. He was captured in the morning and returned to the circus by Snuggers.
“Young gentlemen, you may retire,” said Captain Putnam, and one after another the cadets did so. Safe in Dormitory No. 4, Pepper told his whole story, and the boys had a laugh that lasted for a long time.
“Old Crabtree won’t get over that right away,” said Andy. “What a sight he did cut, with Mr. Monk on his shoulder pulling his hair!”
“Mum’s the word about this,” came from Pepper. “If he found me out he’d be mad enough to chew my head off.”
“Well, we are not telling on you,” came from one of the others. “We are glad you fixed old Crabtree. He deserves it.”
CHAPTER XIV
ALL ABOUT A TIGER
“Oh, it’s awful, gents, really it is! As soon as I heard the news, it made my knees shake like they was made o’ jelly! Whatever are we goin’ to do, with sech a wild animal as thet roamin’ the roads, I’d like to know?”
It was Peleg Snuggers who was speaking. He had just returned from an early morning trip to Cedarville with the monkey, and was addressing a little knot of cadets standing just outside of the parade ground.
“Better git in the school,” he went on. “It won’t be safe to go outdoor no more. Ain’t it awful, though?” And he shook his head solemnly.
“What is the trouble, Snuggers?” questioned Captain Putnam, who chanced to come up and saw how disturbed his hired man was.
“It’s about thet tagger as was at the circus, sir,” said Snuggers. “Somehow or other, he broke loose last night – knocked some o’ the bars out o’ his cage. An’ they ain’t found him yet.”
“A tiger broke loose?” queried the captain, and now he was intensely interested. “Who told you of this?”
“Mr. Chase, sir – an’ some circus folks. Cedarville is wild with excitement, an’ none o’ the folks dare to go outdoors. They say he’s a powerful tagger an’ mighty ugly.”
“He certainly was a big tiger,” said Jack, who was in the crowd. “I shouldn’t want to fall in with him.”
“Maybe he is coming this way,” suggested one of the smaller students, looking around nervously.
“Excuse me from meeting a tiger,” said Mumps, and without another word he walked into the Hall and to his classroom.
The news spread with the rapidity of lightning, and to be on the safe side, Captain Putnam ordered all of the boys into the school and had all the lower windows and doors closed.
“This is certainly exciting enough,” said Joe Nelson. “Supposing the tiger takes it into his head to camp out around here? None of us will want to go out any more.”
“Oh, they are bound to either catch him or shoot him, sooner or later,” answered Jack. “But just the same, I don’t want to run afoul of that beast. He looked strong enough to kill half a dozen of us.”
The excitement was intense, and nobody dared to venture far from the Hall. The cadets kept a constant watch; but nothing came of it.
“They must have news of the beast by this time,” said Captain Putnam on the following morning. “I’ll drive down to Cedarville and find out.”
“Oh, dear captain don’t do that!” shrieked Mrs. Green, the housekeeper. “If you meet him he’ll eat you up!”
“I’ll risk that,” returned the master of the Hall, grimly. “I’ll take my rifle with me, and also my seven-shooter. If I see the tiger I’ll try to give him a warm reception.”
“You – you – er – don’t want me to drive you, do you?” asked Peleg Snuggers, in a trembling voice. “I – er – I ain’t well this morning. I had a – er – a dreadful backache all night, an’ a headache, an’ – ”
“You won’t have to drive, Snuggers. I’ll take the buggy and drive myself.”
“It’s flyin’ in the face of Providence,” came from Mrs. Green. “Better wait a day or two longer.”
“No, I’m going now. Hitch up Black Bess, Snuggers. She is a steady mare, and won’t run away even if the tiger does show himself.”
The mare was hooked to the buggy, and Captain Putnam looked carefully to his rifle and his old army revolver. The excitement of the occasion was just to his liking. It put him in mind of his days in the wild west, and he half wished the escaped tiger would show itself so that he might get a shot.
“The captain certainly has grit,” remarked Jack, as the master of the Hall drove away.
“I shouldn’t mind going with him,” came from Dale. “I like hunting.”
“Well, this isn’t ordinary hunting,” put in Andy. “It’s the wildest kind of game to bring down.”
As soon as the captain was out of sight all began to wait anxiously for his return. The cadets could scarcely settle themselves to their studies, and more than one failed utterly in his lessons.
“This is wretched!” cried Josiah Crabtree, wrathfully. “I shall keep all of you in after regular hours!” He had not gotten over his adventure with the monkey, and was feeling more sour than ever.
“We can’t forget the tiger,” said Andy.
“The tiger is not here,” snapped the crabbed teacher. “Attend to your lessons.”
“Oh, what a teacher!” murmured Jack.
“I’ll fix him,” whispered Pepper. “Wait till he passes that open window again.”
A moment later Josiah Crabtree walked by the window in question. His back was toward it, and on the instant Pepper arose and pointed at the opening.
“Hi! Is that the tiger?” he cried, shrilly.
At the words Josiah Crabtree sprang a foot into the air and dodged into a corner. All of the cadets leaped to their feet.
“Did – did you – see the tiger?” questioned the teacher, faintly.
“Where’s the tiger?” roared several boys.
“Must be trying to come into the window,” shouted Andy, catching the spirit of the joke.
“Ke – ke – keep him ou – ou – out!” spluttered Josiah Crabtree. “Do – don’t let him get in here!”
“It is gone now,” said Pepper. “Must have been something else!” And he winked broadly at his friends, so that none of them might be alarmed.
“Are you – you sure, Ditmore?”
“Yes, sir.”
“This is awful!” murmured Josiah Crabtree, wiping the cold perspiration from his forehead.
“Oh, we can study anyway,” murmured Pepper.
“Eh?”
“It won’t hurt our studying, Mr. Crabtree. You can watch for the tiger while we do our sums.”
“Silence!” roared the crabbed teacher, but after that he said little about the poor lessons.
By noon Captain Putnam came back, and the cadets at once surrounded him to learn what he might have to tell.
“I saw nothing of the tiger,” said the master of the Hall. “A number of parties went out after him yesterday, and one crowd discovered the beast near the lake. They fired on him and he started to swim away. They think he must have been drowned, although they have not yet located the body.”
“Hope he was drowned,” said Pepper.
The matter was talked over for the balance of that day, and also the next. Then came in news that the circus people were also certain the tiger had gone to the bottom of Cayuga Lake, and everybody breathed easier. The circus moved southward, and soon the excitement died down completely.
Our young friends had not forgotten the Fords, and having received another invitation to call at the mansion at Point View Lodge, they set off one afternoon as soon as they could get away.
“I hope we don’t have another encounter with those Pornell Academy fellows,” said Jack, as they drove along in the buggy the captain had let them have. “One such mix-up was enough.”
“I guess they haven’t forgotten how they fared on that occasion,” returned Andy. “They promised to call it off, if you’ll remember.”
“So they did, but I shouldn’t take their word for it,” put in Pepper.
They arrived at the Ford mansion without mishap, having met absolutely nobody on the road. Laura and Flossie were there, and also Mrs. Ford and a niece from Rochester, and all did what they could to make the time pass pleasantly for the boys. They played croquet and lawn tennis, and went out for a short row.
“You boys can certainly handle the oars,” said Laura, with a sunny smile. “I wish I could row half as well.”
“It’s practice that does it,” answered Jack. “Now, all of you girls can play croquet better than we can.”
The party of girls and cadets was just returning to the house when they heard a loud scream coming from the direction of the road running to Point View Lodge.
“Hullo, what does that mean?” cried Jack, stopping short.
“Somebody is in trouble!” came from Andy.
“Help! save me!” was the cry. “Save me! I’ll be eaten up alive!”
“Something is wrong, fellows. Come on!” ejaculated Jack, and ran forward, catching up an oar as he spoke. The others followed, one with another oar, and Andy with a boathook. They were just in time to see a colored woman, who was the cook at the mansion, flying into a side door.
“I see what’s up!” exclaimed Jack, pointing down the road. “It’s the tiger!”
“The tiger!” echoed Pepper, and all of the girls set up a scream.
“Yes, there he is – crouching by the side of yonder tree.”
“I see him!”
“So do I,” put in Andy. “Quick, girls, get into the house before he comes this way!”
“Come in! Come in!” roared the colored cook. “He’ll eat you all up!”
As fast as they could the girls ran for the mansion, entering by a back door. The cadets followed. Looking back they saw the tiger moving slowly from the vicinity of the tree to a clump of bushes on the lawn.
“He is certainly coming this way,” called out Jack.
“He is moving for the house, too!” put in Pepper. “There he goes around to the kitchen door!”
Pepper spoke the truth. The tiger had reached the back door. Now he bounded up the small stoop, and a second later entered the kitchen of the mansion.
CHAPTER XV
PRISONERS OF A WILD BEAST
As soon as they could do so the three cadets ran into the side door of the mansion. They found the girls on an upper landing, gazing down anxiously.
“Is the tiger coming?” called down Laura.
“Yes, he’s in the kitchen,” answered Jack.
“The kitchen!” gasped Mrs. Ford, who had come out of the library.
“Oh, save me, somebody!” came from the rear of the mansion, and the butler appeared, with his hair almost on end. “A wild beast, mum – roaming the pantry, mum,” he spluttered.
“Better go upstairs, all of you,” said Jack, as he heard the tiger leap upon a table.
“Dat’s where I’m a-goin’,” said the cook, and ran to the top of the house, followed by the butler, where both locked themselves in their rooms.
The girls and Mrs. Ford were soon on the second floor of the mansion, and the three cadets followed.
“Shut all of the doors tight, Mrs. Ford,” said Jack. “For all we know, he may take it into his head to come upstairs.”
Following Jack’s directions, the doors were closed, and the family gathered in a large room in the front of the mansion.
“Whatever are we to do?” questioned Laura, helplessly.
“Well, we can stay here,” answered her sister. “That is what I am going to do for the present.”
“Where is Joseph?” asked Mrs. Ford. The man she mentioned was the gardener.
“He has gone to town to have the lawn mower repaired,” answered Laura. She turned to Jack. “Oh, isn’t this dreadful!”
“Have you got anything in the way of a gun or a pistol, Mrs. Ford?” questioned the young major.
“My husband keeps a pistol in his bedroom. I can get it for you.”
“Please do so.”
“Are you going to risk going after the tiger?” asked Andy.
“A pistol won’t fetch him,” put in Pepper. “He looks as tough as a boarding-house steak.”
“I want to investigate, and I’ll feel safer with the pistol,” answered Jack.
The weapon was soon brought and the young major saw that it was ready for use. It looked as if it might do considerable damage.
“Keep all the doors but this one shut,” said Jack, and then tiptoed his way into the hall once more. He looked down the stairs and along the lower hallway, but could see nothing of the tiger.
“How are you making out?” questioned Pepper, coming out behind him with a bed slat.
“Don’t see anything yet.”
Andy came out into the hallway also, and the three listened intently. All was quiet outside and not a sound came from the lower floor of the mansion.
“Perhaps he went outside again,” whispered Andy. “It wouldn’t be natural for him to stay indoors. Tigers love to roam the forest, and lay in wait for – ”
“I hear him!” interrupted Pepper. “Hark!”
All listened again, and now they could hear the creature moving from the kitchen into the library, and then to the parlor. A discord on the piano followed.
“Hullo, he is trying the piano!” cried Pepper, and grinned. “Maybe he’ll play us a waltz!”
From the parlor the tiger roamed into the library, and then showed his head in the hallway for an instant. But before Jack could take aim the beast had disappeared.
“He is making himself at home,” muttered the young major. “Wish I could get a chance at him.”
“Here he comes again!” cried Pepper, and at that moment the tiger came out into the hall and turned partly around.
Jack had his pistol ready, and taking a quick aim, he pulled the trigger. There was a flash and a report, in the semi-dark hallway, and the tiger gave a snarl of pain. Then he glanced up the stairs, glared at the cadets, and came up four steps at a time.
“Into the room, quick!” yelled Jack, and blazed away twice in rapid succession. The tiger was struck in the fore leg, and came to a pause close to the top of the stairs. Jack fired one more shot, then followed his chums into the room, and the door was closed and locked.
“Did you hit him?” queried several, in concert.
“I certainly did, but I don’t know how badly he is wounded. Mrs. Ford, have you any cartridges for this pistol?”
“Yes,” answered the lady of the mansion, and brought forth a box half full. Without loss of time, Jack filled up the empty chambers of the pistol.
“He is snarling outside of the door!” cried Laura. “Oh, do you think he’ll try to break down the door?”
Before anybody could answer there came a wild snarl, and then a thump on the barrier that almost took the door from its hinges.
“Better get into the next room,” called out Pepper. “He’ll break in here if he can.”
“Let us move the bed against the door,” suggested Andy.
The bed was a large affair, of solid mahogany, and would prove an excellent barrier, but before it could be rolled into position there came a crash, and the tiger’s head appeared through a portion of one of the door panels.
Crack! crack! went the pistol in Jack’s hand, and as quickly as he had appeared the tiger disappeared, with a wound in the jaw and another along the left ear.
“Guess that will teach him to keep his distance,” said the young major.
“He is going to the front of the house,” cried Andy.
“The upper veranda! He is going out on the upper veranda!” cried Mrs. Ford.
“He’ll come through the windows!” burst from Flossie’s lips. “Let us go to another room, mamma!” And the girls and their mother did so. Andy and Pepper looked inquiringly at Jack.
“A few more shots ought to make him tired of living,” said the young major.
“Let me try the pistol on him,” came from Pepper, and having secured the weapon, he peeped out into the hallway. The tiger stood at the front end, gazing at the upper veranda and beyond.
Pepper was not an extra shot, but the bullet took the tiger in the left hind knee, and made him utter a fierce snarl. He leaped out on the veranda, and then made another leap into the branches of a nearby tree.
“He has taken to the tree!”
“Let me give him a shot too,” pleaded Andy, and having received the pistol, he awaited his opportunity, and blazed away, hitting the beast in the side. There was a snarl, and the tiger fell to the grass, rolling over and over in evident pain.
“Good!” cried Jack. “That’s one of the shots that told! Give him another, Andy!” and the cadet did so.
“What’s all this shooting about?” came from the roadway, and Mr. Ford appeared, in company with his gardener. “Gracious! Where did that tiger come from?” he added.
“It’s the one that got away from the circus the other day!” called down Jack. “Look out, there may be some fight left in him yet, although we have peppered him pretty well.”
“Throw down the pistol and I’ll finish him,” said the gentleman.
“Let us finish him, won’t you?” pleaded Pepper.
“All right, you can do so.”
All three of the cadets went down the front stairs with a rush, while the girls and Mrs. Ford came out on the upper balcony. Pepper fired one shot, Jack a second, and Andy a third. The last was too much for his tigership, and with a final quiver he rolled over, stretched out, and lay dead.
“Is he – he dead?” asked the gardener cautiously.
“I think so,” answered Mr. Ford. “But don’t go near him yet – he may be shamming.”
They waited a few minutes, and then Jack went up carefully and made an examination.
“Dead as a barn door!” he called out. “My, what a big fellow he is!”
“Are you certain he is dead?” faltered Laura.
“Yes,” answered her father.
“Are there any more of them?”
“He is the only one that got loose,” answered Pepper.
Thus assured, the girls and Mrs. Ford came downstairs, followed later by the butler and the cook. The latter was still trembling.
“Thought we was goin’ to be eat up suah!” said the cook.
“It was a great happening, sir,” said the butler. “I can’t abide wild beasts, sir, not me!”
“You ought to have the skin of this tiger,” said Jack to Mrs. Ford. “It would make a fine rug.”
“Yes, mamma, let us have the skin by all means,” pleaded Laura. “We can have it fixed up with the head on, and it will look beautiful!”
“I’ll have to see the circus people about it,” came from Mr. Ford. “Tell me how he happened to come here.” And then all told their stories, to which the gentleman listened closely.
“I’m so glad these young men were here,” said Mrs. Ford. “Had we been alone, I do not know what might have happened.”
The tiger was dragged to a carriage shed by the gardener and the boys, and then the cook was sent off to get dinner ready. It was found that outside of eating up some steaks, drinking a pan of milk, and breaking a few dishes, the tiger had done no damage. Every bullet aimed at him had taken effect, and there were also two old wounds on him, in the leg and side.
“He must have gotten these old wounds when he leaped into the lake,” said Mrs. Ford. “But it was a mistake to report him drowned.”
“I don’t know as I ever want to meet another tiger at large,” said Andy. “They are too dangerous!”
“Yes, Snow,” answered Mr. Ford. “You can all be thankful that he did not get at you. If he had, he might have made mince-meat of one or another in no time.”