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      The Putnam Hall Champions / or, Bound to Win Out

      INTRODUCTION

      My Dear Boys:

      This tale is complete in itself, but forms volume three in a line issued under the general title of “Putnam Hall Series.”

      This series was started at the request of many boys and girls who had read some volumes of the “Rover Boys’ Series,” and who wanted to know what had taken place at Putnam Hall previous to the arrival there of the three Rover brothers. When the Rovers came on the scene Putnam Hall had been flourishing for some time and was filled with bright, go-ahead cadets, who had been mixed up in innumerable scrapes, and who had gone through quite a few adventures. My young friends wanted to hear all about these wideawake lads, and for their benefit I started this series.

      In the first volume, called “The Putnam Hall Cadets,” I told just how the school came to be founded, and related many of the adventures of Jack Ruddy, Pepper Ditmore, and their chums. In the second volume, entitled “The Putnam Hall Rivals,” the doings of these cadets were again followed, and I also told the particulars of a queer balloon ride and of a remarkable discovery in the woods.

      In the present story I have endeavored to show something of what the Putnam Hall boys could do when it came to contests on the lake, in the gymnasium, and elsewhere. A large portion of the cadets’ “off time” was devoted to sports, and the rivalry, both in the academy and against other schools, was of the keenest. Mixed in with the rivalry was a generous share of fun, and what some of this hilarity led to I leave the pages which follow to tell.

      Once again I thank my young friends for the interest they have shown in my stories. I trust the reading of this volume will please you all.

      Affectionately and sincerely yours,

Arthur M. Winfield.

      CHAPTER I

      A RACE ON THE LAKE

      “Talk about a life on the ocean wave, Pep; isn’t this good enough for anybody?”

      “It certainly is, Jack,” answered Pepper Ditmore. “And I think the Alice is going to prove a dandy.”

      “The Alice a dandy?” came from a third youth aboard the sloop. “How can you make that out? Girls aren’t dandies.”

      “But this girl is a boat,” put in a fourth youth. “Say, has anybody got an apple he doesn’t want?” he went on, looking from one to another of his companions.

      “What, Stuffer, aren’t you filled up yet?” demanded Jack Ruddy, who had hold of the tiller of the craft that was speeding up the lake. “To my certain knowledge you have eaten ten apples already.”

      “Ten?” snorted Paul Singleton, who was often called Stuffer because of his love of eating. “Not a bit of it! I’ve only had four – and two were very small.”

      “Here’s another – my last,” cried Pepper, and threw the apple to his chum.

      “By the way, Jack, I want to ask a question,” said Dale Blackmore. “Why did you call the new sloop the Alice?”

      “Name of his best girl,” answered Pepper, promptly. “Why do you ask foolish questions?”

      “I haven’t any best girl and you know it,” retorted Jack Ruddy. “I named the sloop after my cousin, Alice Smith. Her father, my uncle, gave me the boat. He – ”

      “Hullo, here comes another sloop!” cried Paul Singleton, looking across the lake. “Wonder what boat that is?”

      “I see a big P on the mainsail,” answered Dale Blackmore. “Must belong to some of the Pornell Academy fellows.”

      “I know that boat – heard about her when I was in town yesterday,” said Pepper Ditmore. “She belongs to a fellow of Pornell named Fred Century.”

      “Gracious, Imp, is he a hundred years old?” queried Dale, with a grimace.

      “Hardly. He’s only a little older than I am. The sloop is named the Ajax, and Century claims she is the swiftest thing that was ever launched here.”

      “She certainly looks as if she could make time,” was Dale Blackmore’s critical comment, as he gazed at the approaching craft, with her snowy spread of sails. “I don’t think she is quite as wide as the Alice.”

      “She is every bit as long,” came from Paul Singleton. “And her sails are every bit as big.”

      “Sloop ahoy!” came a hail from the approaching craft.

      “Ahoy, the Ajax!” answered Jack Ruddy.

      “Is that the new boat from Putnam Hall?”

      “Yes.”

      “We thought it might be,” went on Fred Century, as he came closer. “This is the new boat from Pornell Academy.”

      “Yes, we know that,” answered Jack. “Fine-looking sloop, too,” he added.

      “Do you want to race?” asked another youth aboard the Ajax.

      “Well, we didn’t come out to race,” answered the young owner of the Alice. “We just came out for a quiet sail. We’ve got to be back to the Hall by six o’clock.”

      “Oh, they are afraid to race you, Fred,” said another boy aboard the Ajax. “They know you can beat them out of their boots.”

      “Let us race them, Jack,” whispered Pepper.

      “No use of racing if the Alice isn’t in proper condition,” interrupted Dale.

      “Oh, she’s all right – but I like to go over everything before a race,” said Jack, a bit doubtfully. “Some of the blocks work rather stiffly, and I haven’t quite got the swing of this tiller yet.”

      “Want to race or not?” cried a third boy aboard the Ajax.

      “Of course, if you are afraid of being beaten – ” began Fred Century.

      “Did you come out just for the purpose of racing?” demanded Jack.

      “Why, hardly,” said the owner of the Ajax. “We just saw you, and thought you’d like a little brush, that’s all.”

      “How far do you want to race?”

      “As far as you please.”

      “Very well, what do you say to Cat Point and from there to Borden’s Cove? The first sloop to reach the white rock at the cove is to be the winner.”

      “Done!” answered Fred Century, promptly.

      “We’ll beat you by half a mile!” sang out one of the boys aboard the Pornell boat, a lad named Will Carey.

      “Better do your blowing after the race is over,” answered Pepper.

      “Oh, we’ll beat you all right enough,” said the owner of the Pornell boat. “This sloop of mine is going to be the queen of this lake, and don’t you forget it.”

      A few words more were spoken – as to how the boats should round Cat Point – and then the race was started. There was a favorable breeze, and each craft let out its mainsail to the fullest and likewise the topsail and the jib.

      “We are carrying four passengers while they are only carrying three,” said Dale, when the race was on in earnest. “We should have made them take some extra ballast aboard.”

      The course mapped out was about two miles in one direction and two miles in another. At the start of the race the Alice had a little the better of it, but before half a mile had been covered the Ajax came crawling up and then passed the Putnam Hall boat.

      “Here is where we leave you behind!” sang out Fred Century.

      “We’ll show you a clean pair of heels over the whole course,” added Will Carey.

      “As soon as you are ready to give up the race, blow your fog-horn,” said Bat Sedley, the third member of the party aboard the Ajax.

      “You’ll hear no fog-horn to-day,” answered Paul.

      “Good-bye!” shouted Fred Century, and then his sloop took an extra spurt and went ahead a distance of

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