Читать книгу The Putnam Hall Encampment: or, The Secret of the Old Mill - Stratemeyer Edward - Страница 3

“We are in for it, Jack.”

“So it would seem, Pep. Do you really think Reff Ritter and his crowd came back here and fastened the trap door?”

“I think Reff came back. I don’t know about the others. You’ll remember Reff is just aching to do something to get us into trouble.”

“Wonder if we can’t pry the door up in some way.”

“We can try. But what is there to work with?”

Cautiously the two cadets allowed the light from the lantern to flash around the interior of the belfry. They had to be careful, for fear somebody below would see the light and wonder what it meant, for the belfry was never illuminated. An investigation by the sexton or some officers of the church might lead to arrest. Once some students from Pornell Academy had painted the porch of the church red and this had caused a great commotion in the community, and arrests might have been made had not one of the pupils’ fathers come forward, paid for repainting the porch, and made the church a handsome donation in the bargain. But even with this, some folks were still “sore,” and ready to pounce down on any boys who might do the property an injury.

Jack and Pepper knew well enough that they had no right to touch the bell clapper, and I am not upholding them in their actions. But they were wide-awake boys, always ready for fun, and saw no great harm in what they proposed to do. Sooner or later the clapper would be returned to its proper place – in fact it looked now as if it would be returned much quicker than originally intended.

The two boys allowed the rays from the lantern to sweep the floor and walls of the belfry, but without bringing to view anything with which to pry up the trap door. Then they set the lantern down and both got hold of the iron ring in the door.

“Pull with all your might!” exclaimed the young major.

“All right, here goes!” cried Pepper.

Both gave “a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether.” At first there was no result, then of a sudden the iron ring broke from the door. The cadets were not prepared for this, and over both went backwards. Pepper landed on the lantern, knocking it over and breaking the glass and bending the top. Fortunately the light went out, so there was no danger of fire.

“Wow!” spluttered the mischievous youth, as he rolled over. “Oh, what luck!”

“Are you hurt?” questioned the young major quickly. “Did the glass cut you?”

“I guess not, but I’ve got some of it in my jacket, Jack. I didn’t think the ring would break away like that; did you?”

“No.”

The broken glass had scattered all over the floor and the belfry was now dark excepting for the light from the moon that shone in the window.

“Got a match?” asked Jack, after a brief pause, during which he searched his pockets in vain for what he wanted.

His chum felt in first one pocket and then another.

“Nary a one,” he answered. “But what’s the use anyway? The lantern is busted, we can’t use it.”

“We might get a little light.”

“Well, I haven’t even a piece of a match. I meant to bring a pocketful, but I forgot it.”

With caution, the two cadets moved around the now semi-dark belfry. At every step the glass crunched under their feet.

“With the ring gone we can’t get any hold on the trap door,” sighed Pepper. “Jack, it looks as if we were booked to stay here for some time.”

“That’s so. But don’t you think the others will come to our aid, if we don’t get back to the Hall soon?”

“Maybe – but they may wait longer than we want them to.”

“Wonder if we can’t climb down from the outside? We could use the bell rope.”

The boys approached the window into which the moonlight was streaming and peered out. All they could see was the church roof and the roadway some distance from the building, for the edge of the roof cut off a sight of the ground directly below.

“I think I’ll try the rope,” said Jack.

“If we only had Andy along he’d go down the rope like a monkey,” returned Pepper, remembering Andy Snow’s acrobatic cleverness.

The bell rope ran from the bell down through a hole in the floor to the lower vestibule of the church. The boys pulled on it and it came up a length of probably sixty feet. Then it stuck fast.

“Must be a knot in it, too big to slip through the hole,” was Pepper’s comment, after both had pulled with all their might.

“I reckon there is enough of it anyway,” answered the young major. “We’ll cut it off and try it.”

“If we do that we may have to pay for a new rope.”

“Oh, the rope can be spliced. Maybe it’s spliced already.”

Jack got out his knife and the rope was soon cut in two. They heard the lower end drop down to a flooring below.

Making certain that the top end of the rope was well secured to the bell, so that it could not break away, and testing the strands to see if they would sustain his weight, Jack, aided by Pepper, lowered the rope out of the front window, first, however, putting several knots in it. It slid down over the edge of the roof and both boys kept lowering it until there was no more to pay out.

“Now for the great climb!” exclaimed the young major of the Putnam Hall cadets. “If I get down safely, Pepper, I’ll be up in a jiffy and open that trap door for you.”

“Be careful, Jack. I rather hate to see you trust yourself on that rope.”

“Oh, I guess it is safe enough – and I’ve gone down on a rope in the gym many a time, as you know.”

With caution Jack climbed out of the belfry window and took hold of the rope. Then down he went, hand under hand, with his legs twisted around the rope at the same time. Pepper watched him with keen interest and almost held his breath as he saw his chum disappear over the edge of the broad-guttered roof.

“He’ll have a pretty big drop I’m thinking, if that rope doesn’t reach,” mused The Imp, as he waited in the belfry. “We ought to have measured the rope – to see how long it was. Maybe it won’t come to within twenty feet of the ground.”

Several minutes passed – they seemed hours to Pepper – and he waited anxiously for some call from his chum.

“Jack! Are you down?” he cried finally.

“No!” was the surprising answer. “I’m stuck!”

“Stuck!”

“Yes. A knot on the lower end of the rope has caught on some kind of a brace, and I’m stuck.”

“Where?”

“Down here, on the front of the church!”

“Can’t you climb back?”

“N – no, I – ain’t go – got th – the – strength!”

The words came in jerks and showed that the young major was all but exhausted. He had done what he could to loosen the lower end of the rope but without success. Climbing back to the tower had proved equally difficult. Now he was sitting astride of the rope, clutching it with both hands and leaning against the building for support.

Pepper was frantic, but could do nothing to aid his chum. Had the lower end of the rope been loose he might have raised Jack to the belfry. He climbed out of the window as far as he dared and looked over the edge of the roof.

“Jack, can I do anything?” he asked, frantically.

“I – I do – don’t know,” was the gasped-out reply.

“Can’t you get that end of the rope loose somehow?”

“No, it won’t budge.”

It made Pepper a little dizzy to look directly downward over the edge of the gutter and for a moment he allowed his gaze to stray to the roadway beyond the church. In the moonlight he saw the figure of a man or boy approaching.

“Here comes somebody!” he cried. “I’m going to call for help.”

“We’ll be caught,” faltered Jack.

“I don’t care. I am not going to keep quiet and see you run the risk of breaking your neck.”

Pepper set up a loud call. At first the person in the road paid no attention, but presently he stopped short and looked upward in wonder.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, as he came closer.

“We are in trouble and we want you to help us,” answered Pepper. “Hurry up, before my friend tumbles down and kills himself.”

“Why, you are on a rope, aren’t you?” asked the person below, and now Pepper and Jack saw that he was a boy, very tall and thin.

“Yes, and I am caught fast,” answered Jack.

“How did you get there, this time of night? What do you want me to do?” fired back the tall boy.

“Come into the church, run up to the belfry, and unfasten the trap door!” called Pepper. “I am a prisoner, otherwise I’d go to my friend’s aid.”

“How can I get in?” asked the strange boy, noting that the church doors were closed.

“Climb through the side window which is open.”

The newcomer started for the side of the building, but suddenly halted.

“See here, this is a mighty queer proceedings,” he said slowly. “I don’t know but what you are thieves. Maybe I had better go for outside help.”

“We are not thieves – we are military school cadets, out on a lark,” answered Jack. “Can’t you see my uniform? Help me to get down and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Yes, I can see your buttons,” answered the tall boy, and without another word he ran for the window and disappeared inside the church. He knocked around in the darkness but soon found the way upstairs and to the belfry ladder. Then Pepper heard him fumbling at the fastening of the trap door. Soon the door came up with a bang.

“There you are!” cried the stranger. “Now, if you want to help your friend you had better be quick about it.”

“Thank you for opening the trap door!” answered Pepper. He started down the ladder after the other lad. “Will you help me? We’ll pay you well.”

“I don’t want any pay for helping to save a fellow’s life,” was the quick response.

It did not take either of the boys long to reach the yard beside the church. In the rear was a long shed, where horses were tied up during services. Pepper knew that the sexton kept a ladder in this shed and he mentioned the fact to the stranger. The ladder was found, and both boys ran with it to the side of the church and started to raise it up at the spot where Jack was still astride of the rope.

It was no mean task to raise the long and heavy ladder. But both Pepper and the stranger realized that Jack’s life hung in the balance and they worked with a strength born of despair. With a bang the top of the ladder struck the side of the church, directly under the young major’s legs.

“Can you reach it, Jack?” questioned Pepper anxiously.

“I – guess – so!” panted Jack, and let himself down at arms’ length on the rope. His feet struck the top rung of the ladder, and in a few seconds more he came down to the ground. He staggered as he struck the grass, and then, lurching into Pepper’s arms, he fainted dead away.