The Putnam Hall Encampment; or, The Secret of the Old MillStratemeyer, Edward
Philosophy
The Putnam Hall Encampment; or, The Secret of the Old Mill
Stratemeyer, Edward
Camping -- Juvenile fiction; Military education -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery and detective stories; Schools -- Juvenile fiction
“Airship?” said the bully. “Who has an airship?”
“That’s the talk!” cried several who understood Andy’s allusion to an
“airship.” “Let’s give him his first lesson now.”
In a twinkling Reff Ritter was surrounded and bundled up in his own
blanket. Then he was lifted bodily from the cot and taken out of the
tent through the back. Six cadets carried him across the field.
Some cadets were still on guard and how to get out of camp was a
problem. But Dale solved that question with ease. He gave a low whistle
and one of the guards answered it almost instantly.
“Go past Post No. 7,” said Dale. “The guard there will be looking at the
stars.”
The others followed his advice. On Post No. 7 Fred Century was
stationed. They saw him looking intently up at a bright star, evidently
oblivious to his surroundings and, of course, he did not see or notice
them.
“Good for Fred!” cried Pepper. “He knows his little book all right!”
Reaching the end of the encampment field, the cadets entered the edge of
the woods. Here was a swing which some of the boys had put up the
afternoon before.
The rope of the swing was speedily secured, and several cadet belts were
placed around Ritter’s waist and under his arms. Then the rope was run
under these belts and the other end was thrown over the limb of a big
tree.
“Now up with him!” ordered Andy. “Ritter, you’ll soon know how it feels
to fly through the air!”
The cadets pulled on the rope with a will and up into the air went
Ritter, sprawling out like a frog and turning around and around.
“Hurrah!” shouted one of the cadets. “Reff, how do you enjoy flying?”
“My, but he cuts a pretty figure!” added another.
“Just move your arms and you’ll think you are flying sure,” came from a
third.
“Say, you let me down!” growled the bully. “It’s no fun to have these
belts cutting you. I’m getting dizzy, too.”
“I guess you can stay there until sunrise!” answered Pepper.
“Sunrise! Not much! You let me down!” howled Ritter.
“We’ll let you down if you’ll apologize for dumping us out of bed and if
you’ll promise not to do it again,” said Andy. Nobody had any intention
of leaving Ritter suspended in mid-air for any great length of time.
“I’ll apologize to nobody!” cried the bully.
“Then let him hang,” said Dale. “Come on back, fellows.”
He made a move as if to leave the spot and his chums did the same.
“Hi, come back! Don’t leave me!” yelled Ritter, in sudden horror. “I
can’t stand it! Let me down!”
“Will you apologize?” demanded several.
“I suppose I’ll have to. But this ain’t fair.”
“Do you apologize?”
“Yes,” was the low answer.
“And do you promise not to do such a thing again?”
“Oh, yes, anything you want,—only let me down,” growled Ritter.
The bully was lowered and the rope and belts were loosened. He was a
little dizzy, and sank down on the ground.
“Gi—give me air!” he gasped.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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