FRANK MERRIWELL'S REWARD

BY

BURT L. STANDISH

Author of "Frank Merriwell's School Days, " "Frank Merriwell's Chums, ""Frank Merriwell's Foes, " etc. 

PHILADELPHIADAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER604-8 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE

Copyright, 1900By STREET & SMITH

FRANK MERRIWELL'S REWARD. 

CHAPTER I. 

A RUNAWAY AUTOMOBILE. 

"Li, there! Hook out!" shouted Harry Rattleton. 

"Hi, there! Look out!" echoed Bart Hodge, getting the words straightwhich Harry had twisted. 

"Get out of the way, fellows!" warned Jack Diamond. 

"The juice that it's loaded with must be bug juice!" squealed DannyGriswold. "It's crazy drunk!"

"Tut-tut-tut-turn the cuc-crank the other way!" bellowed Joe Gamp. 

"This crank, " said Bink Stubbs, giving Gamp a twist that spun him roundlike a top. 

"I've always believed that more than half of these new-fangledinventions are devices of Satan, and now I know it!" grumbled DismalJones. 

"You'll be more certain of it than ever if you let it run over you!"Frank Merriwell warned, stepping to the sidewalk, and drawing Dismal'slank body quickly back from the street. 

"Huah! It's worse than a cranky horse!"

Bruce Browning reached down, took Danny Griswold by the collar, andplaced the little fellow behind him. 

"Unselfishly trying to save your bacon at the expense of my own!"Browning suavely explained, as Danny began to fume. "Do you want thatthing to step on you?"

An electric hansom, which had sailed up the street in an eminentlyrespectable manner, had suddenly and without apparent reason begun toact in an altogether disreputable way. It had veered round, rushed overthe crossing, and made a bee-line for the sidewalk, almost running downa party of Frank Merriwell's friends, who were out for an afternoonstroll on the street in the pleasant spring sunshine. 

The motorman, who occupied a grand-stand seat in the rear, seemed tohave lost control of the automobile. He was excitedly fumbling with hislevers, but without being able to bring the carriage to a stop. 

The street was crowded with people at the time, and when the electriccarriage began to cut its eccentric capers there was a rush for placesof safety, while the air was filled with excited cries and exclamations. 

Merriwell could see the head of a passenger, a man, through the windowof the automobile. 

"She's cuc-coming this way again!" shouted Gamp. "Look out, fellows!"

The front tires struck the curbing with such force that the motorman waspitched from his high seat, landing heavily on his head in the gutter. 

Bruce Browning was one of the first to reach him. 

"Give him air!" Bruce commanded, lifting the man in his arms andstepping toward a drug-store on the corner. 

Some of the crowd streamed after Browning, but by far the greater numberremained to watch the antics of the automobile. 

The man inside was fumbling at the door and trying to get out. Themisguided auto climbed the curbing and tried to butt down the wall of astore building. 

"Give it some climbin'-irons!" yelled a newsboy. 

The automobile, with its front wheels pressed against the wall, began torear up like a great black bug, determined apparently to scale theperpendicular side of the building and enter through one of the openwindows above. As soon as he saw the motorman pitched into the gutter, Merriwell moved toward the carriage. 

"Time to take a hand in this!" was his thought. "There will be morehurt, if I don't!"

He leaped to the step, but before he could mount to the high seat theauto was butting blindly against the wall. 

"He's goin' ter shut off the juice!" squeaked the newsboy. 

What the trouble had been with the levers Merry did not know. When hetook hold of them, the hansom became manageable and obedient. He shutoff the electricity, and the front wheels dropped down from the wall. The next moment he swung to the ground and opened the door. 

To his surprise, the man who emerged from the carriage was Dunstan Kirk, the leader of the Yale ball-team. 

"Glad to see you!" gasped Kirk. "I couldn't get out, and I was expectingthe thing to turn over! I believe I'm not hurt. "

"The motorman is, though! He has been carried into the drug-store. "

Frank looked toward the drug-store, and saw an ambulance dash up toconvey the injured man to the hospital. 

"Glad you're all right!" turning again to the baseball-captain. "Thesethings are cranky at times. I've had some experience with one. "

A policeman pushed forward to take possession of the automobile untilthe company could send another motorman. 

The ambulance dashed away, and Browning, Diamond, and Rattleton cameacross the street hurriedly from the apothecary's. Bink and Danny, Gampand Dismal--other friends of his--were already crowding round Merriwell. Back of them was a pushing, excited throng. 

"Which way did that carriage go?" Kirk demanded. 

"Which carriage?"

"The one that was just ahead of us. I was chasing it in the automobile?"

"With a driver in a green livery and a bay horse?" asked the newsboy, who had pushed into the inner circle. 

"Yes. Which way did it go?"

"Turned de first corner. "

"Let's get a cab!" said Kirk. "Come, I want you to go with me!"

He caught Merriwell by the arm. A cab had drawn up near the curbing, andtoward this they moved, Merriwell reserving his questions until later. 

Dunstan hurriedly gave instructions to the driver, and climbed in afterMerriwell. 

"Now, what does this mean?" Frank demanded, as the cab started with alurch. "What sort of a wild-goose chase are you on?"

"What made that auto-carriage do that way?"

"There was something the matter with it, I suppose. "

"It struck me that the motorman may have been in the pay of the fellow Iwas chasing. "

He lowered his voice, even though the rattling of hoofs and wheels andthe noises of the street rendered it wholly improbable that the driveror any one else could hear what was spoken inside. 

"Frankly, Merriwell, the chap I was chasing looked like Morton Agnew! Iwas in Mason & Fettig's, five or six blocks above, when some one cameinto the other room and passed a counterfeit ten-dollar bill on theproprietor. He discovered it while the fellow was going through thedoor, and gave a call. I ran to the door and saw the rascal--not well, you know, but a side glance--not much more than a flash--and I thoughthe was Agnew. Of course, I couldn't swear to it. I may have beenmistaken. But to satisfy myself, I jumped into that automobile and gavechase. He saw I was pursuing him and he sprang into a cab. I wasdetermined to overhaul the scamp and satisfy myself on that one point. Perhaps I ought not to mention the name, as I am so uncertain, and Ishall not mention it to any one else. "

Dunstan Kirk, the athletic and capable captain of the baseball-team, hadcome to admire and trust Frank Merriwell. He had seen enough to knowthat Frank could be trusted in any way and in any place. 

"What do you think of it?" he asked. 

"That there is no chance now of discovering whether your suspicions weretrue or false. Unless"--hesitatingly--"you should cause Agnew's arrest, and have him taken before the man who was cheated. Or you might tell theman your suspicions, and let him act in the matter. "

"I am not certain enough!" said Kirk. "It's too bad he got away! Themotorman couldn't have been in his pay?"

"If so, he has received his pay!" said Merry meaningly. "He went out ofthat seat on his head and struck hard. I think the motorman simply foundthe hansom unmanageable, for some reason. Those carriages take freaks attimes. "

"And your opinion about Agnew?"

"He isn't too good to do such a thing, and I have had reason to believelately that he is hard up. He used to hold himself up by his winnings atcards, but he has cheated so outrageously and boldly that the studentsfight pretty shy of him. "

"We're just wasting our time, I'm afraid!" Kirk grumbled, as the cabrattled on down the street. 

"Hold on!" said Merriwell, looking through the window. "There is yourgreen-liveried driver and your bay horse!"

Though the cab in question was standing by a curbing, Frank saw at aglance that the horse was sweaty and showed other signs of recent fastdriving. 

"Empty, and the bird has flown!" he observed, as the cab they were instopped and they got out. "Whoever he was--Agnew, or another man--he hashad time to escape!"

The green-liveried driver was questioned, but no information of valuewas obtained, and when it was seen that there was no chance of settlingthe question which had moved Dunstan Kirk to the pursuit, Kirk settledwith the driver of the cab that had brought them thus far, and he andMerriwell went into the nearest restaurant. 

"I understand you don't smoke, or I might be tempted to order cigars, "he said, as a waiter came forward for their orders, after they had takenseats at a table in one of the small side rooms. "I wanted to have atalk with you about certain matters. Not about Agnew, but concerningBuck Badger!"

When the waiter had gone he continued:

"I am interested in Badger's pitching. The fellow has good pitchingability. But he is erratic. Sometimes he pitches wonderfully. Then thevery next time he will fall away down. I am convinced that what he needsas much as anything else is the right kind of encouragement. "

"I consider him one of the very best of the new men who have come upwith pitching ambitions, " said Merriwell. "I have noticed the things yousay. "

"You were kind enough some time ago to recommend him to my notice, " Kirkwent on, as if feeling his way. "You would be glad to help him, perhaps. "

"I shall be very glad to help him, if I can, and to serve you in anyway, Kirk. But you know he doesn't like me very well. There must be awillingness on both sides, you see--just as it takes two to make aquarrel!"

"I haven't sounded him, but I fancy he would be willing. He isn't doingany good lately. You may have noticed that, too?"

"Yes. "

The waiter brought the things ordered, and went away again. 

"That _Crested Foam_ affair is the cause, I fancy, " Dunstan Kirk wenton, breaking a cracker and helping himself to some cheese. 

Frank Merriwell had thought the same, but he did not wish to say so. 

"He hasn't acted right since then. And by right, I mean natural, youunderstand! I suppose it grinds him to know that such a fellow as BarneyLynn could drug and rob him in that way. "

Merriwell flashed Dunstan Kirk a quick look. It was evident that thecaptain of the Yale baseball-team did not know that Buck Badger wasintoxicated when he was lured aboard the excursion steamer, _CrestedFoam_. 

A similar imperfect knowledge of the true condition of affairs at thattime had been noticed by Merriwell in the conversation of others. Thenewspapers in the notices of the burning of the steamer had givenattention chiefly to Lynn, merely stating briefly that Badger had beendrugged and robbed by the ex-boat-keeper. 

"I shouldn't think it would be a pleasant reflection, " Frank answered. 

"Very humiliating to a man of Badger's character. And it has just takenthe heart out of him. Until that time he was one of the most promisingof the new pitchers at Yale. I was expecting good things from him. Nowhe seems to be nothing but a blighted 'has-been!'"

Merriwell smiled. 

 "And of all the sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"

"Just so, " assented Kirk. "It's too bad to see a capable fellow go tothe bone pile! I don't like it. I talked with him and tried to encouragehim, but it had no permanent effect. He braced up for a little while, and then slumped again. "

"At heart, Badger is very proud!" Frank explained. "He wouldn't admitit, perhaps, even to himself. He craves popularity, too, though heaffects not to care at all for the opinions of others. It has been hismisfortune not to be popular. His disposition is against it. This hasmade him very sore at times, though he has tried to conceal the fact. Now you can see that to a man of his disposition the things thathappened on the _Crested Foam_ would be tremendously depressing. "

The captain of the ball-team would have seen even more clearly howdepressing they were if he had known all that Merriwell knew. 

"Somehow, he seems to me like a man who is under the impression that hehas lost all of his friends, " said Kirk. "He needs to be assured thatsuch is not the case--that his friends and acquaintances have no desireto cut him. I think if that could be done he would come out of theslough of despond and be worth something. We may need him this summer;or a man who has his pitching ability ought to develop into somethingworth while. "

Frank saw that Dunstan Kirk was edging toward some kind of a request. 

"If there is anything I can do!" he invited. 

"Well, as your picked nine is to play Abernathy's nine, of Hartford, onthe ball-grounds here next Saturday, I wondered if you would be willingto let Badger pitch. It is an unheard-of sort of request to make, Iknow, and it leaves me under the suspicion of wanting to see you beatenby the Hartford fellows. But I hope you know me well enough tounderstand that such cannot be the case. "

"Sure! I'd never thought of it, if you hadn't!"

"I've thought of asking this of you for a day or two. You see, if you, who are not particularly Badger's friend, show such a disposition torecognize and honor his pitching abilities, it ought to brace him up!"

Merriwell drummed thoughtfully on the table. 

"Perhaps it can be done! If it will brace him up any and put him on hisfeet, I shall be glad to show Badger all the consideration I can. "

"I was almost afraid to mention it, " explained Kirk, "for I know that hehas not felt just right toward you. But if you will?"

"I intended to pitch that game myself, for Abernathy's men are not theeasiest things on the planet. Of course, if Badger falls down, I shouldbe compelled to go into the box and do my best to save the day. And witha fellow like Badger, that might not work well. It would be just likehim to think that I did it to humiliate him and show myself the betterpitcher! You see the possibility?"

"Yes, I see it!"

There were other considerations, which Frank did not desire at themoment to mention. 

"I'll have a talk with Badger, and see what I can do!" Kirk went on. "When he was so wildly ambitious, a little while back, a word from memight have settled it; but I suppose I shall have to show him byargument that he ought to accept your friendly offer. You authorize meto make that as an offer?"

"Yes. I'm willing to try to help Badger. He has good stuff in him, and, as you say, it would be too bad for him to get into the dumps andneglect to develop it. I can arrange it, I think, and, if he will pitchfor us Saturday, he may. With the clear understanding that I am atliberty without question to take the pitcher's box at any time I seefit!"

"Of course!"

The captain's face had brightened. He was not a partisan of Buck Badger, nor of any man. He cared only for the recognition and development of thebest Yale players and the triumph of the Yale nine. And because herecognized in Frank Merriwell these same unselfish qualities he had cometo him with this request. 

"I doubt much if Badger will accept the offer, " said Frank. 

"I shall take the offer to him, anyway. I believe it will brighten himto receive it, even if he refuses it. That desire for popularity whichyou mentioned will, I think, make him accept. He may tell himself andall his friends that he doesn't care for your opinion, but he does, justthe same! He can't help caring for the opinion of any man who is agentleman. I shall approach him carefully!"

CHAPTER II. 

HOW THE NEWS WAS RECEIVED. 

"Huah!" grunted Browning, opening his eyes a trifle in surprise, "don'tthat jar you?"

"What will Bart say?" gasped Rattleton. 

"Merriwell doesn't have to take his orders from Hodge!" snapped Diamond. "But, just the same, I think it's a fool sort of agreement!"

Merriwell was in his room talking to some of his friends of the requestof the baseball-captain. 

"Hodge will be cot under the holler!" sputtered Rattleton. 

"My dear Rattles, don't worry about Hodge!" Diamond begged. 

"If you had only said to that captain, 'Get thee behind me, Satan!'"grumbled Dismal Jones. "But, of course, you could not resist such atemptation! When evil makes itself seem to us good, we're sure to giveway. 'Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall!'"

Merriwell smiled. He liked to get the opinions of his friends, thoughusually he acted on his own. 

"So you think it was a temptation instead of an opportunity?"

"What is a temptation?" chirped Bink Stubbs. 

"Why, every time you grin at me that way I want to hit you in themouth, " explained Danny. "It's a temptation I can hardly resist!"

"Crush it!" yelled Bink, feinting with his fists. "If you don't, I'llhave to!"

"Somebody throw those idiots out of the window!" growled Bruce, seekingsolace in his pipe. 

"Somebody give me a light for this cigarette first, " begged Danny. "If Imust fall I want help to alight!"

"Shouldn't think you'd need it!" Browning declared. "You have a lighthead. It would hold you up like a balloon!"

"Of course, if the captain wanted you to take on Badger and you'vepromised to do it, you'll have to go ahead. I'll band sty you--I meanI'll stand by you! I'll do my best to hold down third, no matter who ispitching. "

Frank gave Rattleton a grateful look. 

"You're always loyal, Harry!"

"Oh, I suppose that all of us will have to accept it, and do the best wecan, " Diamond admitted, "but I don't like it, and that's flat. None ofus has fallen in love with Buck Badger!"

"We'll be bub-bub-bub-beat worse than any old drum!" grunted Gamp. 

"Everlastingly thumped!" wailed Danny. 

"I don't know that I can get up enough interest to do much good onfirst, " grumbled Bruce, who was as little pleased as any one. 

"What's the use of going to the trouble of playing when you know at thestart that you're to be defeated?"

"Look here, Bruce!" said Merriwell firmly. "I don't want to hear youtalk that way! We are not going to be beaten. We will wallop Abernathy'smen, and don't you worry. We can do it all right!"

"Isn't that the crack team of Hartford?" demanded Diamond. 

"Yes. Nothing better over there, I think. "

"Then there will be no dead-easy business about it. They're not going tolie down and let us walk over them, just for the purpose of stiffeningthe spine of that Kansan!"

Jack Diamond was disgusted with the outlook. 

"Have I said that they are easy?" Merriwell asked. "I only said I feltsure we could defeat them. And we can. Badger is a good pitcher. Youknow that. And if he loses his nerve, I shall very promptly take hisplace. There will be no monkeying. You are the fellows that seem to bein the notion of lying down. "

"Oh, well play!" grunted Bruce. "We're just airing our little opinions. I expected to see you in the box Saturday, and I'm disappointed. Isuppose that's all!"

He gave a tug at his pipe and rolled over lazily on the lounge, as ifthat settled it. 

"Of course we'll play, " agreed Diamond. "But I don't like to go into thegame with Badger in the box. I don't like him. The fellow has madehimself an insufferable nuisance. I don't agree with you that he is sucha wonder. He's a very ordinary fellow, with a rich father and a swelledhead. Out West, where he came from, everybody got down on their knees tohim, and here at Yale that sort of business don't go. Nobody careswhether his father is a cattleman or a cow-puncher. He wants to beworshiped, and Yale isn't in the worshiping business. Consequently, he'ssore all the time!"

Jack forgot that, when he arrived at Yale a few years ago, he expectedhomage on account of his family and pedigree. 

"And I don't forget that he went aboard the _Crested Foam_ blind drunk, and made an ass of himself generally!" said Bruce, rousing again. 

"That's one reason Merry wants to give him a show!" said Rattleton. "Badger has an idea that everybody who knows about it feels just as youdo, and Frank wants to show him that they don't. See?"

"Oh, we'll play, of course!" Bruce grumbled, rolling back again. 

"Sus-sure!" declared Gamp. "Whatever Mum-Merry says, gug-gug-gug-gug----"

"Are you trying to say goshfry?" Danny mildly asked, wetting the end ofan unlighted cigarette. 

"Gug-goes!" sputtered Gamp, giving Danny a kick that fairly lifted himfrom the floor. "You mum-mum-mum-measly runt, I'll kuk-kill you!"

"Because he's a joker, Danny thinks he is the only card in the pack!"said Dismal. 

"If Merry says we can go into that game next Saturday with Badger in thebox and earth the wipe--I mean wipe the earth with those fellows fromHartford, we can do it!" Rattleton declared emphatically. "You know hewouldn't say such a thing if he wasn't sure of it. "

"There are only two absolutely sure things, death and taxes, " saidMerriwell soberly. "If I put too much emphasis on my belief, I'll haveto withdraw it. I mean to say that I believe we can. "

"And that's about the same as saying that we can!" Rattleton asserted. 

"I'm only doubtful about Bart, " said Dismal, like a prophet of evil. 

"He will never catch for Badger!" Diamond declared. 

"I think he will!" sputtered Rattleton. "He will see it just as we do, after Merry talks with him. Of course, we don't any of us love Badger, but what's the difference?"

"Let 'er go!" cried Bink, holding up his hands as if they gripped a bat. "Of course, we'll play ball!"

"Of course!" said Dismal. "We'll pitch Bart out of the camp if he makesa kick. The fellow that balks on that, when he understands it, is 'fitfor treason, stratagem, and spoil!'"

Shortly after, Merriwell met Hodge on the campus, coming from the fence. He saw at once that Bart was "steaming. "

"Look here, Merriwell, " said Hodge, bristling with indignation. "Itsurely can't be true that you're going to put Badger into the pitcher'sbox next Saturday?"

Frank took him by the arm and turned with him away from the crowd. 

"Yes, " he answered, "I have promised to do that. "

Hodge's face grew black with wrath. 

"You've made a fool of yourself!" he roughly declared. "I wouldn'tbelieve it. I said it was a lie, and I threatened to thump the face offof Donald Pike because he told it. Say, Merry, you don't really meanit?"

Frank had dropped Bart's arm, but they still walked on together. It waseasy to see that he did not like Hodge's tone and manner. 

"I must say you are outspoken and far from complimentary, " he observed. 

"I know I don't talk like this to you often. "

"That's right. If you did, I'm afraid we might not be such goodfriends. "

"But I must talk straight now, Merry!"

"I'm willing that you shall drive ahead, but I want you to hold in yourtemper. Don't let it run away with you. "

"Great Scott! how can I hold in my temper under such provocation?"

"Simply by holding it in. "

"But you know how I hate Badger? You know that we're bitter enemies! Youknow what I think of him!"

"I think I've heard you express some sentiments along that line. "

"You know that he was drunk when he went aboard that excursion steamer!And he can't pitch!"

"You are wrong there!" Frank declared positively. "He can pitch. "

"Why, Merry, those Hartford fellows will just put it all over us. I tellyou it won't do! You must give it up!"

"I suppose you know why I promised to let him pitch?"

"Well, I haven't heard, but I can guess. After you'd saved him fromdrowning himself, and he came to realize what everything meant, he camelicking round you, professing gratitude and friendship, and all thatsort of stuff. And you----"

"See here, Hodge!" said Frank, with uncommon sternness. "I won't standtalk like that, and you ought to know it. I'm your friend, as I'veproved many times, but I can't remain your friend if you treat me thatway. I'm ready to hear your opinions, but I won't stand abuse from youor any other man!"

"I told you a good while ago that whenever you and Badger ceased to beenemies you would become friends!" Bart declared, somewhat softened. "And now it has come true. You are wanting to befriend and help him now, just as I knew you would. And after all the dirt he has done you! Why, he's put dirt all over you a dozen times!"

The memory of it caused Bart to lose his head again. 

"Badger is my enemy! A man who is his friend is no friend of mine! Thatis flat! I don't think I can make it plainer. "

"You can't; it's plain enough. Badger is not my friend, but I am not hisenemy. "

"Don't tell me, Merriwell! You are his friend. You wouldn't ask such athing, if you weren't. You must know that every one of the fellows willkick. What did you make such a fool promise for?"

Merriwell's face was flushed. 

"You are making reckless talk, just because you are badly excited, oldman! I am sure you will be sorry as soon as you cool off. If I didn'tthink so, I'd say some things that would be hot enough to take the skinoff your face! Now, listen here! I have promised Dunstan Kirk to letBadger pitch next Saturday in that game against Hartford. Kirk thinks itwill brace Badger up a little, and perhaps it will. I am willing to helpBadger. He can pitch. We need good pitchers. Besides, I have given Kirkmy promise. I mean to keep it. "

Up to that moment, angry and unreasonable as he was, Bart hadhalf-believed that Merriwell might yet back out of his position, andrefuse to let Buck go into the box. He saw now how mistaken he had been. 

"And you expect me to catch for that scoundrel?" he demanded, shakingwith rage. "I tell you, Merriwell, I won't do it! I'll do any reasonablething you want me to do, but I won't do that! I draw the line there, short and sharp! I won't play in a nine with Buck Badger!"

"Very well, then, we'll have to get along without you!"

"Do you mean it, Merry?" Hodge gasped. "Do you mean that you will choosehim before me?"

"Nothing of the kind, and you ought to know it. You would know it, ifyou were not just blind with anger and prejudice. I am not choosingBadger in preference to any of my friends!"

"Why aren't you?"

"Because I am not. There is no choosing of friends in this. I have saidBadger shall pitch in that game. That does not make him my friend, andit ought not to drive any of my friends away. I am manager of the pickednine, and I supposed that my friends who had known me so long would bewilling that I should have some privileges. "

"But when I declare I won't catch?"

"You have no right to make any such declaration. "

"Why haven't I?"

"Simply because, as my friend, you ought to be willing to aid me in thismatter. I shall not put it on any other ground. "

"I'll do anything for you, Merry, but that. I can't do that!"

"You mean you will not do it!"

"I won't do it!"

"Then I shall get another catcher!"

"Do you mean it?"

"I mean it!"

Hodge seemed stunned for a moment. Then his rage boiled over. 

"All right, Merry!" he flashed. "If you want to favor a scoundrel likeBadger instead of me, you can do it. But I will not catch in that game. I refuse to play on any nine with Badger! I----"

"I remember to have heard you say those things before!" said Frank, turning short about. "We will not discuss it any further, Bart. You area free man. You may do as you please. I shall not argue the matter withyou. Badger is going to pitch for me Saturday forenoon. Good day!"

Hodge stopped and looked after him, all white and shaky, as Merriwellwalked away. 

Then the hot blood rushed in a tide into his dark face, and he, too, turned and walked off, filled with smothered exclamations and raginglike a volcano. 

CHAPTER III. 

PIKE'S LITTLE PLAN. 

Donald Pike was in a nagging mood. He walked up and down the room a fewtimes, finally stopping in front of his chum, Buck Badger. They had beentalking about the Saturday ball-game, and both were in bad humor. 

"I don't know what's the matter with you, Badger! I'm disgusted withyou!"

The Westerner shifted his feet nervously, but said nothing. 

"Perhaps you consider it an honor to receive that invitation fromMerriwell? I don't! I am surprised that he sent it. "

Badger shifted his feet again, and shrugged his thick shoulders. Hisface was flushed and his eyes looked troubled. 

"I am, too!"

"He had a motive, of course!"

Badger tossed a leg over the arm of his chair, and looked out of thewindow. 

"It has been his boast all along that he would have you in his flock byand by! You have always sworn by all that's good and bad that you wouldnever become a friend of his!"

"I'm not a friend of his!"

Pike laughed sneeringly. 

"What do you call it? If I say a word against Frank Merriwell you wantto eat me up. It's come to that! You were ready to fight him any minute, at first; now you're ready to lick the polish off his shoes, just likethe rest of those fellows. "

"Nothing of the kind!" Badger hotly declared. 

"Well, you're going to pitch for his picked team Saturday!"

"Kirk asked me to. "

"And Merriwell sent him?"

"Yes!"

"And they have become such friends that they're almost chums. Thefellows are beginning to say that Dunstan Kirk manages the Yaleball-team, and Frank Merriwell manages Dunstan Kirk. They are aboutright, I guess!"

"I allow that I'm no nearer being Merriwell's chum than I ever was. Wecould never be chums. But I'm not going to forget what he did for me onthe _Crested Foam_. He saved my life, then, Pike!"

"And proposes to wind you round his fingers and drag you at his heels tomake you pay for it!"

"So, when he sent me that invitation, and I talked it over with Kirk, Ithought I ought to accept it. "

"Don't you know that Hodge will refuse to catch?"

"Don't talk about him!" Badger hissed. 

"He has already said that he will not catch for such a scoundrel asyou!"

"Did he say that?"

"He says you will lose them the game; that it's an outrage to put youinto the box, and he won't be a party to it. He says you can't pitch. "

"Can't I? He says that, does he?"

"He says that if Frank Merriwell takes up with you, he will never speakto him again. Anyhow, what good will it do you to pitch for Merriwell?You'll be no nearer getting a show on the regular nine. "

Badger shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and showed his broadwhite teeth unpleasantly. Pike was again walking up and down the room. 

"I'd almost be willing to become a member of Merriwell's flock just tospite Bart Hodge. My hands just naturally go up, and I want to fightwhenever I see him. That's whatever!"

"Oh, you two will be as chummy as the Siamese twins in less than amonth. "

"Never! I hate him too badly. "

"That's the way you were talking of Merriwell a month ago. You will comeround to it!"

"Not on your life! Hodge is a different sort of fellow from Merriwell, Iallow. "

"And you are going to accept that invitation?"

"I told you, Pike, that I have already accepted it. I'm not Merriwell'sfriend, and I despise Bart Hodge; but I'm not ungrateful. Whatever otherthings we learn out West, we learn to pay back favor for favor. I'd be adirty coyote if I refused to accept that invitation after what Merriwelldid for me. That's the way I look at it. I know that I can pitch ball. You know it, too. I can twirl a ball just as good as Frank Merriwell, orany other fellow in Yale, and you know that, too. I reckon I'm able toride my bronco alone, without Merriwell's help. I am not askingfavors--none whatever! I'm simply returning a favor already given! Youcan see through that, can't you? If you can't, you're as chuckle-headedas a prairie-dog!"

"I can see that you are becoming Frank Merriwell's friend just as fastas you can!"

"You're riding away off the line, Pike! I shall never be Merry's friendin the sense you think. But you know that he is the clean white article. He is straight goods. I've found that out. I used to think different, just as you do, but I've found out I was mistaken. He is a square man. And when he sent that invitation I knew there was no underhand businessabout it whatever. That's the reason I accepted it; that and because itwould have made me feel meaner than a Digger Indian if I had refused it. I'm going to pitch for him Saturday forenoon, and I'll win that game forhim, too. Don't you let that fact escape your memory! I hope Bart Hodgewill refuse to catch. I'm afraid I couldn't resist the temptation tothrow the ball square at his head every time, if he was behind the bat. I want him to stay out!"

"Well, you're a fool!" Pike snapped, striding toward the door. "I neverthought you'd do a thing like that. You are no more like the old Badgerthan a calf is like a mountain-lion. You had some fire in you once, butyou have become as soft as a ninny. The whole thing simply makes mesick. "

Badger's face was red and his neck veins were swelling. 

"I'm not used to any such talk whatever, Pike!" he exclaimed, as Pikehurled these sentences back at him from the doorway. "If you sayanything like that again I'll kick you down-stairs! I've taken more offof you to-night than I ever thought I could take from any one, and Iwon't stand it any longer!"

"Cool off, old man!" Pike sneered. "You're making a chuckle-headedprairie-dog out of yourself, I think. If you should kick me you wouldkick the best friend you ever had. Good-by. See you later!"

The Westerner did not even grunt a reply, but sat still in his chairwith his hands in his pockets, his eyes glittering, his broad teethshowing, his neck veins protuberant and his face as red as a boiledlobster, while Pike walked away. 

When Pike came back to the room Badger was gone. Pike entered with hisown key. He knew that the Westerner would likely be away a number ofhours, calling on Winnie Lee. He glanced round the room, then went tothe closet in which Badger's clothing hung. 

Pike was crafty in his hate. He did not intend to lose his grip of theKansan. He realized that he had gone almost too far. Badger would bear agood deal from him because of what they had been to each other, but tothis there were limits. He felt that he had nearly reached the limit. 

"He shall not pitch ball Saturday, if I can help it!" he hissed, as helooked over the things in the closet. "If I can work it, it will makeHodge so hot against him that there will be a fight. And perhaps it willturn Merriwell and his precious flock against him, too. It's risky, butit is worth all the risk. "

He took out a suit of Badger's clothes, and laid it in a chair. Then hewent to a desk and selected from it some "make-up" preparations whichhad been there ever since the production of the sophomore play, "AMountain Vendetta. " Then, after locking the door, he arrayed himself inBadger's suit, and, standing before the mirror, applied the preparationsto his face, forehead, and eyebrows. 

Pike had a good deal of artistic skill in such matters, and in a shorttime he had darkened his face, blackened his brows and drawn certainlines and colors, that, together with the change produced by theclothing, made him resemble Badger in a remarkable manner. When he puton Badger's hat the alteration seemed complete. 

"Of course, that wouldn't stand close inspection, " he muttered. "Butthere will be no close inspection. I shall look out for that. Now forthe voice!"

He bunched up his shoulders to give them a thick look, cleared histhroat, and looking straight at himself in the glass, began to imitateBadger's tones and characteristics of speech, speaking so low, however, that there was no danger of being heard by any one who might chance topass. 

"I allow that I'm a Kansan from away beyond the Kaw, and I reckon I'm adiamond pure without the slightest flaw! Sure! A genuine prairie-dogfrom the short-grass country couldn't chatter more like a Westerner thanthat. That would fool Badger himself. That's whatever! Yes, I reckon. Mydaddy is a rancher, and I allow that I am great; for my home is on theboundless plains of the wonderful Sunflower State! If I should practise, I reckon I could become a poet!"

Satisfied with his make-up and his abilities to imitate Badger's toneand language, Donald Pike returned the unused articles to the drawer, put away the clothing he had removed, and then sneaked down into thecampus, carrying under his coat a long, stout cord. Keeping away fromthe electric lamps and other lights he slipped stealthily on until hereached the entrance which led to the rooms occupied by Merriwell andHodge. 

Diamond and Browning came down, talking in low tones of Merry and Bart, and from this talk, Pike, who had withdrawn into the shadows, learnedthat both Hodge and Frank were out in town somewhere. This suited Pike'splans, and when Diamond and Bruce disappeared, he crawled into theshadow of a column and watched the path along which Hodge and Merriwellwould come on their return. 

"They'll not come back together, sure, unless all the stories I've heardare lies; for they're not on speaking terms!" he reflected. "The onlything I fear is that Hodge may not care to come to his rooms at all. "

The thought made him uneasy, and caused the vigil which followed toappear torturingly long. 

"Ah! there he is!" he whispered, at last. 

Slipping across the path, he tied an end of the cord he had brought to apost, then retreated into the shadow and tied the other end about thecolumn. The youth he had seen came on at a brisk walk. Pike was sure itwas Hodge. He almost ceased to breathe as the unsuspecting young fellowapproached the cord. He put himself in position for a hasty spring. 

Crash!

The youth tripped over the string, and went down headlong, fallingheavily. 

"I reckon I've got you now!" Pike hissed in a low tone, imitatingBadger's voice, and at the same time leaping toward the prostrate form. Deceived by the darkness, Donald Pike had tripped Frank Merriwell, buthe did not yet know it. With that imitation of the Westerner's speech, he knocked Merriwell down, as the latter tried to get up. 

Again he struck, as Frank attempted to rise, but Merriwell dodged theblow, and, catching Pike by the legs, threw him. Before Pike couldrealize what had happened, Merriwell was on top, with his fingers atPike's throat. 

"You scoundrel!" Frank hissed. "I am tempted to give you what youdeserve for that!"

But Pike was not ready to surrender, though he knew now that he hadcommitted a woful blunder. In fact, the knowledge that he was dealingwith Frank Merriwell aroused him to a fierce resistance. He felt that itwould simply be ruinous to be held and recognized by Merriwell, and hebegan to fight like a demon to get away. 

He freed his hands, and struck Frank heavily in the face, at the sametime kicking with all his might. He tried to thrust his thumbs intoFrank's eyes. 

"I'll kill you, if you don't let me go!" he snarled. 

Frank had felt from the first that his assailant could not be BuckBadger; now he recognized the voice of Donald Pike, for Pike, in hisfright and desperation, forgot to keep up the disguise. 

Seeing that the only way to deal with Pike was to choke him intosemi-insensibility, he caught and crushed down the flailing fists andarms and tightened his grip on Pike's throat. Pike writhed and flounced, kicking and struggling, but all without avail. That viselike grip grewtighter and tighter. The pain seemed unbearable. He gurgled and choked, and his lungs seemed to be bursting. He could not breathe, and his brainbegan to reel. 

"Give in?" Frank asked. 

"Don't k-k-k-ill me!" Pike gasped, as the grip on his throat relaxed. 

"You deserve it, you scoundrel!"

Frank took his knee from Pike's breast, removed the choking hand, andflung Pike from him. 

"Now get up!" he commanded. "Get up before I am tempted to kick youacross the campus!"

Pike shuffled and evaded, as his breath came back. 

"I thought you were Badger, and I was just playing a little joke onyou!" he whined. 

"Get up!" Frank exclaimed. 

Pike struggled up, and Merriwell jerked him toward the nearest light. Hesaw the "make-up, " and recognized the clothes as some he had seen on theKansan. 

"What were you up to?" he demanded, with threatening emphasis. He sawforms moving in the campus, and he did not want to tarry with Pike. 

"Just a little sport!" Pike whined. He was completely crushed. 

"You lie, Donald Pike! You had some object. I can almost guess what itwas. You imitated Badger's voice and way of speaking, when you jumped onme. You are wearing Badger's clothing. That make-up is intended to leadany one who sees you into thinking you were Buck Badger. You wanted tomake me believe that Badger had assaulted me. "

"Just a joke!" Pike pleaded. "Merriwell, I didn't mean anything, only tohave a bit of sport. That is honest. I didn't know it was you. "

"Ah! That last sounds as if you meant it. I hardly think you did knowwho you were tackling. I think I shall take you over to Badger's room, and let him see you just as you are. Come along!"

Pike was not anxious to be seen by the men who were crossing the campus, so he moved along, with Frank at his side. 

Frank was thinking rapidly, in an effort to understand Pike's motives. 

"I want to know why you leaped on me in that cowardly way, and struck mewhen I was down. You wouldn't have served Badger that way! And if youwanted to have a little fun with Badger, you would not have disguisedyourself and imitated his way of speaking. That story don't go with me, Pike!"

Pike was watching for a chance to escape, intending to make a dash forliberty at the first opportunity. 

"You are disguised as Badger. Badger would not assault me that way, forBadger is a man! But you wanted to make some one think he had beenassaulted by Badger. That one must be Bart Hodge!"

Pike started to run, but Frank caught him by the collar, and jerked himback. 

"Don't be in a hurry, Pike! I've seen you through and through for sometime, and understand your little game of this evening. "

Donald Pike walked on for a time peaceably enough, but he was onlywatching for an opportunity to break away. Again he fancied theopportunity had come. But no sooner did he start than Frank tripped him, and he fell sprawling. Before he could get up, Frank's hand was on hiscollar. 

He made another fierce struggle as soon as he was on his feet, only todiscover that he was as helpless as a child in the hands of FrankMerriwell. He had never dreamed that Merriwell was possessed of suchstrength and skill. 

The shadows were heavier at this point, and Merriwell kept a grip onPike's collar. 

"See here, Pike!" he exclaimed. "If you try anything of that kind againI shall simply knock you down. You are going with me, if I have to tieand drag you. So you might as well come along quietly and save trouble. "

"I shall have you arrested for this!" Pike blustered, now that whiningand begging and fighting had failed. 

"Do! I think your friends would enjoy hearing the story of yourremarkable masquerade told in court. Go ahead with the proceedings, Donald. Just now you are going with me, regardless of the afterconsequences. "

Pike caught at a post, but Merriwell jerked him away from it, and thenhurried him rapidly on in the direction of Badger's room. Pike was sureBadger was not in, and began to think that he might save himself bruisesand rough treatment by apparent acquiescence. 

"I will go with you, " he finally panted, "but under protest. And I shallmake you sorry for this outrage. You have no right to treat me thus. "

Merriwell did not answer, but kept a hand on Pike's collar while heconducted him up the stairs. To Pike's consternation, Buck Badger was inthe room and the door was open. 

Before Pike could quite make up his mind to try again to escape, Merriwell had bundled him through the doorway. 

Badger scrambled up. 

"There is your friend!" said Merriwell, pointing a finger accusingly atPike, who was too confused and humiliated to speak. "He disguisedhimself that way, and attacked me awhile ago near my room, thinking Iwas Bart Hodge. He has found out his mistake. He wanted to make Hodgethink that you had done the dirty work, so that you and Hodge would lockhorns the first time you met, and there would be trouble again allaround the camp. He is a contemptible and cowardly puppy, and I feelthat I have soiled my hands by touching him. But I wanted you to see himin that rig, and know him as he is. "

A fierce denial was on the lips of Donald Pike, but he had not thecourage to utter it. He saw that something more than denials would benecessary to explain matters. The Westerner was as speechless as Pike, and Merriwell turned away. 

"I reckon we'll have a little explanation of this, Pike!" were the wordsMerry heard as he reached the head of the stairs. They were spoken in anawesome tone of voice, and came from Badger's lips. 

Then the door closed with a bang, and he knew that the Kansan had barredthe way of Pike's escape from the room. The next morning Frank receivedthis note:

 "MR. FRANK MERRIWELL: Pike and I had a settlement last night. He tried to lie out of the thing, but I made him confess to the whole truth. Then I kicked him down-stairs. We are not rooming together any more whatever. BUCK BADGER. "

CHAPTER IV. 

AT THE HOME OF WINNIE LEE. 

Frank Merriwell seemed the personification of spring as he approachedthe residence of Fairfax Lee, the next afternoon. Spring is the timewhen the wine of life flows warm through the veins of Nature. Its faceholds the bloom of youth and the smile of hope. Its heart is all aglowwith the joy of living. The golden summer is before it; and it has nodead past, for the winter seems to belong to the year that has gone. 

A handsomer specimen of young manhood could not have been found. Theflowering spray in his buttonhole seemed part of the jaunty new suitwhich so became him. He was clean-looking and energetically wholesome. From the crown of his head to the soles of his feet he was nattily neat, yet he was as far from being dudish in appearance as it is possible forone to be. He looked to be what he was--strong, and lithe-limbed, almostphysically perfect, with a handsome, intelligent face, hopeful, courageous heart, and active brain. 

Yet many things had come to trouble him in the past twenty-four hours, even though his bright face showed not a trace of their annoying effect. Chief of these things, of course, was the defection of Bart Hodge. Hodgehad gone away stubbornly angry, and Merriwell had not seen him since themoment of parting. 

Every member of the "flock" was hot against Hodge, and had not hesitatedto speak plainly. Hodge's rebellious spirit had rallied them roundMerriwell as one man. Browning and Diamond had even argued that he oughtnot to be longer recognized as a member of Merriwell's set. The only onewho had ventured to stand up for him, aside from Merriwell himself, wasHarry Rattleton. Frank had defended him to the last, insisting thatallowances should be made for the peculiarities of Bart's disposition, and asserting that he would be found all right in the end. 

Frank was thinking of all this as he drew near the home of Winnie Lee. His intention was to call on Inza and have a talk with her about the'Varsity boat-races at New London in June, for Inza was the "mascot" ofthe Yale crew that was to meet Harvard at New London. In addition, heexpected to inform her and her friends of the arrangements made for theball-game with Hartford on Saturday. 

He looked about him after he had tripped lightly up the steps and rangthe bell. The Lee home was in a fashionable and exclusive part of NewHaven, and the spacious grounds were beginning to take on beauty andcolor under the reviving influences of spring. A fountain, shot throughwith rainbow hues, was spraying a marble sprite, while a rheumaticgardener troweled round the rim of a loamy flower-bed. 

Winnie, who had observed Merriwell's approach, came to the door herselfto admit him. 

"Oh, you didn't come to see me?" she asked, when he inquired for Inza. 

"That would be pleasant enough, but it wouldn't do to make Buckjealous!"

He laughed in his cheery way. 

"I don't think it would be easy to make him jealous of you now, " sheanswered. "And I'm so glad he is to pitch for you Saturday! I want tothank you for that, myself. It was just like you to send such aninvitation. "

Merriwell's eyes dropped under her earnest look. He dared not tell herjust then that the invitation had been procured by Dunstan Kirk. 

"Who told you he is to pitch Saturday?"

"Why, he told me so this morning himself. "

"And, of course, you have told Elsie and Inza?"

"Yes. "

"Well, I want to see Inza, and have a talk with her, about the NewLondon races. So I think I will take a car for Mrs. Moran's. "

Winnie had informed him that both Inza and Elsie had gone on an errandof mercy to the home of the grandmother of Barney Lynn. 

"And you won't come in, even a little while? You prefer their society tomine, I see! I am ashamed of you, Frank Merriwell! You are not asgallant as you used to be. "

Her voice was merry and her heart light. 

"Some other afternoon or evening I shall be glad to come in and talk youto death. Just now I am pressed for time. "

"I ought to have gone down there with them, " she confessed. "But itseemed that I couldn't get away. Frank, you don't know what angels ofmercy those girls have been! Elsie found out that Mrs. Moran wasstarving and dying by inches for lack of proper food and medicines, andsince then she and Inza have been down there every day, and often two orthree times a day. "

"I trust they don't venture after nightfall!"

Frank was thinking of a fight Jack Ready had while rescuing Elsie fromthe drunken ruffian, Jim Haskins. 

Then he thanked Winnie for her invitation, said good-by, and hurriedaway to catch the first car going in the direction which he wished totake. 

"I hope Badger is entirely worthy of her, " he thought, his mind onWinnie Lee. "She is a fine girl, and if he gets her he will get a prize. Now, if they don't pass me, coming back in another car! Winnie hasn'tthe least idea that Buck was intoxicated when he went aboard the_Crested Foam_, and she shall never know it from me!"

Neither of the girls heard Merriwell's gentle rap on Mrs. Moran's door, and he pushed into the house without further ceremony, feeling sure thatthey were busy in caring for the old lady or that her condition was suchthat they could not leave her. Then, looking through the doorway at theright of the corridor, his gaze fell on a pleasant sight. 

The girls were seated by the bed, Elsie holding one of Mrs. Moran'swasted hands in her own warm palms, while Inza was reading to the oldwoman from a little copy of the New Testament. 

Merriwell stopped for a moment, for his entrance had been unnoticed. Somehow, the pathos of the scene inexpressibly touched him. 

"They are angels of mercy, just as Winnie said!" was his thought. 

Inza had an excellent reading voice, as pure and liquid as fallingwater. It was a pleasure to listen to it. Frank had often heard herread, but it seemed to him never with such expression as at that moment. The sunlight, falling through the small west window, illuminated herface, making it almost radiant, and touched with brighter tints Elsie'scrown of golden hair. 

"I wish I were a painter!" he thought. "I should like to preserve thatscene. If I could have that to hang in my room, it would be like a flashof sunshine to look at. But no painter could do it justice. There arecertain things that can't be painted, and this is one of them. "

He noisily shifted his feet to call attention to his presence, and Inzalooked up. The color flooded her cheeks, and her dark eyes showedsurprise. 

"Why, Frank!" she gasped. "How did you come to be here?"

Elsie also started up. 

"How did you get in?" she asked. 

"Opened the door and walked in. You were so busy you didn't hear myknock, so I just took the liberty. "

Mrs. Moran stirred, and turning feebly, looked at him, her eyes showingrecognition. 

"I am very glad to see you!" she whispered, as he advanced toward thebed, and she stretched out one of the feeble hands. "Sometimes I thinkthat I am not long for this world. I should have died here, I feel sure, if it had not been for these girls. And your other friend, Miss Winnie, has been very good, too! I hope you are quite well, Mr. Merriwell!"

"Quite well! Don't let me disturb you. Inza was reading to you. Let hergo on. I will sit here in this chair. "

So Inza read again, until the old woman was tired; after which the trioleft the house, and walked down to the car line, where they took a carfor the residence of the Honorable Fairfax Lee. 

"I went to Lee's to see you, " Frank explained, "for I wanted to talkover some details of the trip to New London and the June races. Themascot of the crew hasn't been down to the boat-house this week. And Iwanted to invite both of you, and Winnie, to the ball-game Saturdayforenoon. "

"I am sorry about Bart!" Inza exclaimed. "But he will come round allright, don't you think?"

"He may not play in this game, but he will see how foolish he is, and beheartily ashamed of it by and by. "

"Who is to catch for you, then?"

"Jack Ready!"

"What?"

"Perhaps you haven't seen Ready catch? He is a good one!"

"You need a strong battery, Frank!" Elsie asserted. 

"Yes, like you and Hodge, " nodded Inza. "I'm afraid Badger and Readywill not be able to work well together. They haven't played togetherbefore, I believe?"

Inza was full of bright, snappy conversation, as they sped homeward inthe car with Merriwell. But Elsie was unusually silent. 

"She can't get Mrs. Moran out of her mind, " Frank thought. 

He left them at the door, for the hour had grown so late that he felt hecould not just then spare the time to go into the house, much as hewanted to do so. Inza and Elsie went up-stairs together. Winnie was outor in another part of the house. 

Inza shrugged her shapely shoulders. 

"What is the matter, Elsie, dear?"

Elsie's lips were quivering as she faced round and confronted herfriend. 

"You ought to know what is the matter, Inza Burrage!" she declared. 

"I'm not the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, " said Inza, a bitdefiantly. "How should I know?"

"You do know!"

"I should say that you are showing a bit of jealousy, if pressed for ananswer. "

"And haven't I a right to be jealous, Inza?" Elsie demanded. 

"Haven't I a right to talk to Frank Merriwell and be nice to him, if Iwant to?"

"Of course, Inza, but--well--you know----"

"It seems to me, Elsie, that you came between Frank and me once! Isn'tit so? Frank cared for me before he ever did for you. You came betweenus. I haven't come between you and Frank yet, but if I should do sowould it be any worse than what you did?"

"Oh, I thought that was past!" cried Elsie, flushing and trembling. "Younever understood me, Inza!"

"And do you fancy for a moment that you understand me?"

"Perhaps not; but I can see--I'm not blind!"

"Oh, yes, jealous people can see things that no one else can, " laughedInza, with a provoking toss of her proud head. 

"Do you want to make me hate you forever, Inza Burrage?" Elsie cried. "You hurt me! You are heartless!"

A sudden look of deep pain shone in Inza's face, changing her manner ina twinkling, and she turned away as if trying to conceal it. 

"Of course, nothing ever hurts me!" she said bitterly. "I am steel andiron, and all that! Your heart is tender, and such things hurt you!"

Elsie did not know what to say. She had tried to feel for a time thatInza had ceased to care for Frank, and then had told herself that Inzahad no longer any right to care for him. She was beginning to realizethat questions of right and wrong cut very little figure in affairs ofthe heart--that, in fact, love obeys no such laws. 

When Inza turned back, her face had lost its trace of pain. 

"Elsie, " she said, "we will not quarrel about Frank, for Frank's sake. It would distress him if he knew it. He must never know it. Promise methat you will not say a word to him about it. "

"Of course I won't say anything about it, " Elsie agreed. "I should fearto, and I shouldn't want to. "

"Then we'll keep it to ourselves. You have discovered that I haven'tceased to care for Frank Merriwell. Perhaps I never shall. But that isneither here nor there. "

The old wave of jealousy swept across the tortured soul of ElsieBellwood. 

"Do you mean that you intend to win him if you can, after you have toldme that you surrender all claim on him?"

"I haven't said anything of the kind. But I claim the right andprivilege of talking to him and with him as much as I please. You and heare not engaged, even if he has seemed to prefer you. He may change hismind, just as he did before, but remember that I'm not trying to get himto!"

"Then you do intend to try to win him?"

"My dear, you must recognize the fact that Frank is the one to do thewinning. I shall never run after any man. "

Elsie's blue eyes flashed. 

"Do you mean to insinuate that I would?"

"I thought we weren't going to quarrel!"

The look of pain came back into the dark, handsome face, and this timeElsie saw it. A feeling of remorse began to tug at her heart. 

"I am not worthy of Frank Merriwell, " she said softly. "I know that. ButI thought----"

"You thought nothing could hurt me!"

"No, not that. I thought he was to be mine, and recently that hope hasbeen slipping through my fingers. I can't tell you, Inza, how I havefelt. "

"I can understand!" said the dark-haired girl. "I have good cause tounderstand!"

"I know that really you are more worthy of him, Inza, than I am. I havealways thought that, when I wasn't crazy with the fear that you mightwin him away from me. But I just can't surrender my claim, slender asyou think it!"

"For Frank's sake, " repeated Inza, "we will not quarrel about him! Asfor these other questions----"

Winnie's light step was heard in the hall, and the sentence diedunfinished. 

CHAPTER V. 

HODGE'S REPENTANCE. 

Bart Hodge absented himself from class and lecture, but later thatnight, after all the members of the "flock" had departed fromMerriwell's room, Bart came in. His face was flushed and feverish. 

"I don't care what the other fellows think, Merry!" he said, droppinginto a chair as if he felt that he had no right there. "But I do carewhat you think! I went away in a huff, saying to myself that I'd nevercome back until you sent for me, when I knew that you wouldn't send forme, and that I would come back. And here I am. "

"How could I have sent for you, Bart?" Merry questioned. "I knew youwould feel differently when you had time to think it all over, and Itold the fellows so. "

"I don't care for their opinions!" Bart snarled. "I'd never come backfor any of them!"

"They are my friends!"

"I've been miserable ever since. I have felt like a cur as I've sneakedround town. You needn't try to stop me! You are the truest friend I everhad, and I've treated you like a dog. I know it, and I'm sorry for it. "

"I am your friend, Bart, because I understand you, and appreciate you. The others would think as much of you as I do, if they understood you aswell. We'll not talk any more about this matter, if you're willing, butjust turn in for the night and say nothing about it. "

"How can you overlook a thing like that?" Hodge asked. 

"Because I knew all the time that your better nature condemned what youdid, and that you would by and by yield to your better nature. The manwho meets a powerful temptation and finally masters it is strongerreally than one who never is tempted. I forgave you long ago, Bart, andwould have told you so if you had come back. I was angry at the time, but I didn't remain angry. "

"I've come back to tell you that I'll catch for you to-morrow--Saturday. I swore I'd never catch for Buck Badger, but I will. I'll catch for theOld Boy himself, if you want me to. I'm not ready to agree that he oughtto be permitted to pitch, for I hate the very sight of him; but I haveput that by, and will catch for you. It will be catching for you, yousee, Merry, and not for him. I ought to have looked at it that waybefore, but I could not. "

"I have got Jack Ready for catcher!"

Bart gasped, while his dark face seemed to get redder and hotter. 

"Why, he can't catch!"

"Much better than you think. He is a pretty fair catcher. "

"And if he falls down?"

"I'll put some one else in. I have two or three in mind, and have spokento two of them. "

Hodge seemed stunned. 

"I'm willing to catch!" he said. 

"You may, Bart, if I see that Ready can't do the work. If the game seemsabout to be lost I'll go into the pitcher's box and you behind the bat, and we'll pull the nine out of the hole! Eh?"

Hodge's eyes brightened strangely. 

"We can do it, Merry! I'll be as steady as a clock. Only I'm sorrythings went the way they did and that I showed how mean I can be. I onlyproved what my enemies say of me. It's too late now, but I'm ready to dowhat I can to make it right. "

Merriwell came over and put a hand on Bart's shoulder. 

"I understand you, Bart, and few do. I know that your friendship for meis true blue, and that your heart is where it should be, even if yourhead runs away with you. Now we'll get to bed. To-morrow we play ball, and I want to be in condition. "

But Bart Hodge was not in condition to play ball, nor in condition foranything the next day. When morning came he had a high fever, and thedoctor whom Merriwell summoned looked grave. 

"He has lost sleep and been exposing himself and caught cold, " he said. "It looks like a case of pneumonia. Better send him to the hospital. "

"Will he be better off at the hospital than here, if there is some onehere to take care of him?"

"No, I don't know that he will. And I was going to say that it is reallytoo bad to move him in his condition. "

"Then he will stay right here. I'll get the best nurse to be had, andlook after him all I can myself!"

And Hodge, under the best of care, remained in his room, whileMerriwell's nine, with Jack Ready as catcher and Badger as pitcher, wentout to meet the team from Hartford that forenoon. 

A big crowd of rooters had come over from Hartford to whoop things upfor Abernathy's men. They were enthusiastic fellows, and they made agreat deal of noise. Some of them were betting men, and they flourishedtheir money with as much confidence as if the game were already won andthey were certain of raking in their winnings. 

But Yale had turned out a big crowd, too, for Merriwell was immenselypopular, and, of course, the Yale and New Haven crowd would naturally bethe larger on the home grounds. 

"We'll have a warm time this forenoon!" Frank observed to Jack Ready. 

"Torrid as the equator!" Ready answered. 

"How is your nerve, old man?"

Ready dropped a finger to his pulse and seemed to be counting. 

"Steady as a clock, Merry!"

"Keep it that way. There is Badger coming over for a talk with you. We'll begin as soon as we get a little warming up. "

He looked at his watch and began to talk with Browning, while Ready andBadger drew aside to confer. Merriwell could see that Badger was a bitnervous when the game was called. There was a flush in his face and aglitter in his eyes that told of excitement, but this seemed todisappear as he took the clean new Spalding ball in his hands andentered the box. 

In the grand stand Frank saw Inza, Elsie, and Winnie, and he lifted hishat to them again, though he had enjoyed a long talk with them not manyminutes before. Winnie was smilingly happy. She waved her handkerchiefto Badger, and the Kansan's white teeth showed in a grim smile ofdetermination. 

"If only you and Bodge were the hattery--I mean if only you and Hodgewere the battery!" Rattleton groaned in Frank's ear. 

"Don't worry, Rattles! Just do your duty on third!" Merry answered. "Weare all right!"

Thus encouraged, Harry went away happy and confident. Browning was onfirst, with Diamond on second. Danny Griswold was short-stop; whileDismal had the right field, Bink Stubbs center, and Joe Gamp the left. The game opened with Merriwell's men in the field. 

The Westerner surveyed the ground and his surroundings carefully. Thenplanted his toe on the rubber plate and shot in a "twister. " It curvedinward as it neared the batter, and cut the heart of the plate. Thebatter had been fooled and did not swing at it. 

"One strike!" called the umpire. 

The batter, who was looking out for an out curve next, swung at it, andfanned the air. The Yale men, and especially the sophomores, began toshout. 

Badger thought it time to change to an out curve, and sent one in hot asa Mauser bullet. But the batter was looking for out curves. He reachedfor it. Crack!--away it sailed into the right field. 

"Go, long legs!" was screamed at Dismal Jones, who sprinted for it withall his might. 

The next man of the Hartfords at the bat was the pitcher, Pink Wilson, afellow almost as tall and lank as Dismal Jones, with a hatchet face anda corkscrew nose. His admirers said he got that twisted nose fromwatching his own curves in delivering. He came up confident, thinking heunderstood the tricks of the Kansan pretty well, and that he would beeasy. But almost before he knew it the umpire called "one strike. "

"That ball must have passed this side of the plate, " he declared. "Itwas an in, and I had to jump to get out of the way. "

"Don't jump at shadows!" shouted a Yale sophomore. "That ball was allright. "

The umpire promptly informed Wilson that he was talking too much withhis mouth. 

"I'll get him the next time!" thought the lank pitcher of the Hartfords. "He fooled me that time, but he can't do it again!"

But Badger did it again. Again the sophomores began to yell. Jack Readytossed the ball back. 

Badger began to look and to feel confident, a thing that Merriwell, whowas closely watching him, did not like. This time the Westerner, afteralmost bending himself double, gave his arm an eccentric movement andshot in another curve. Wilson struck at it desperately, and fanned out. 

"He can't keep it up!" yelled a Hartford man, who had been wildlyhunting for bets a short time before, and who felt the need of whistlingto keep his courage up. 

Barrows, the center-fielder, came to the bat next. He went after thevery first one, and got it Crack! and away the ball flew again into theright field, while the Hartford lads opened up with great vigor. 

It was a hit, for everybody saw that Dismal, even though he was doinghis best, could not possibly get it. Barrows raced to first, whileTillinghast, the base-runner, took second, without trouble, but stumbledand fell, so that it was impossible for him to make another bag on thehit. 

Badger next tried his highest speed, and the batter fanned, but Readydropped and fumbled the ball, being unable to hold it, and came verynear letting both runners advance, although he did get the sphere downto third in time to drive them back. 

Watching closely, Frank had discovered that something about Badger'sdelivery bothered Ready. Badger himself saw this, and he tried a changeof pace, but the batter caught it on the handle of his "wagon-tongue, "and drove out a "scratch hit" that filled the bases. 

Oleson, a Swede, almost as large as Browning, came up to the plate. 

"And there were giants in those days, " droned Jones, from his positionin the field. 

"How's that for the giant?" cried Oleson, as he slashed yet another downinto Dismal's territory, bringing in the first score and causing theHartford rooters to "open up. "

Jones made a beautiful throw home, which sent Barrows scrambling back tothird, which he reached barely in time to save himself, for Ready hadlined it down to that bag in short order. 

Frank was beginning to wonder if all the Hartford men were right-fieldhitters, or was there something in Badger's pitching that caused them toput the balls into that field? Unable to keep still, he walked downtoward first, and Browning found an opportunity to say:

"We ought to have Hodge behind the bat. Badger can't use his speed, forReady can't hold him. Are you going to let those fellows lose this gamein the first inning, Merriwell? If you do, I'll kick myself for a weekfor being chump enough to get out here and swear for nothing. "

"It's a handicap not to have Hodge, " admitted Frank. 

Browning felt like saying it was a handicap not to have Frank in thebox, but, fancying he had said enough in that line, he kept still. Badger's face took on a hard look. He motioned for Ready to come downand advanced to meet him. A few words passed between them, while theHartford "fans" guyed them. 

This little talk seemed to bear good fruit, for the Westerner fooled thenext batter with two drops, getting two strikes called. Then he tried"coaxers" till three balls were called on him, and again, with everyrunner taking all the "lead" he dared, the excitement was at a highpitch. 

Frank feared for the result. 

"Oh, for Hodge!" he thought. "I see now that our handicap means disasterunless the wind changes. " Ready was crouching under the bat, nervous, but determined. Badger took his time, but put terrible speed into thenext ball, which he sent over the inner corner of the plate. The batterstruck at it, but missed clean. 

Plunk! the ball struck in Ready's hand. Thud! it dropped to the ground. But the bases were filled, and the batter was out, for all that Jack hadnot held the ball. He recovered it so that there was no possibility forthe man on third to get home. 

Now two men were out, but the bags were filled, and a long, safe hitmeant more scores for the visitors. Fleetwood, the Hartfordthird-baseman, took his turn at the stick. He was a good waiter, and hefound just what he wanted, sending it safe over the short-stop, so thattwo more scores came in. 

Badger was pale round the mouth when the next hitter stepped up to theplate. He did not spare Ready. Jack missed the first two balls, beingunable to hold them, although he did not let them get past him. Bothwere strikes, and again Badger tried to "work" the batter, though he didnot slacken his speed. Frank was anxious, for he expected to see thefreshman catcher let one of those hot ones pass him. Nothing of the kindhappened, and, after trying two balls, Buck used a sharp rise and struckthe man out. 

The college men on the bleachers rose up and howled, but Frank Merriwellwas gloomy at heart, though his lips smiled. 

"Badger is doing well, " he told himself; "but Ready cannot hold him. I'mafraid the handicap is too great. Oh, for Bart Hodge just now!"

The first half of the first inning was over, but Hartford had made threeruns. 

CHAPTER VI. 

READY STEADY. 

Merriwell saw that Ready could not catch for Buck Badger. There was suchan utter absence of anything like team-work that there seemed to belittle hope that the game could be won by Merriwell's nine if thebattery was not changed. Badger could pitch like a wonder at times, buthe rattled Ready, who, as a rule, and in regard to other matters, was assteady as a clock. Ready simply could not do himself justice with Badgerin the box. He felt it as well as Merriwell, but he doggedly continued, determined at all events to do his best. Ready was a fellow of infinitepluck, and usually a fellow of infinite confidence. He would have hadconfidence now, but there was not a thing to build his confidence on. 

Merriwell's nine scored four times before it was forced again into thefield. Frank sent Badger into the box again, after talking with himawhile. 

"You rattle Ready, some way!" Frank told him. "Throw those in curvesmore, and work in your dropped balls when you can. They get your outcurves. "

Then, before playing again, he had a few words with Ready. 

The first man at the bat got a hit, while the next man took first onballs. The next man at the bat knocked a fly into the hands of DannyGriswold, who was playing short-stop, and the base-runners came back totheir places. 

Then the men on bases tried to make a double steal, which was partiallysuccessful. The fellow on second reached third, but the runner behindhim was cut off at second by a throw from Ready. Jack should have thrownto third, but he did not. He threw low to second, and Diamond got it onthe bound, touching the runner as that individual was making a desperateslide. 

Two men were out, and Frank hoped that Badger would keep the visitorsfrom scoring. Buck might have done so, but somehow he "crossed signals"with Jack, the result being a passed ball that let in a score. 

"I'm hot stuff, " chirped Ready, as he found Frank back at the bench ofthe home team. "When I don't fail, I succeed. "

"I see you do, " answered Frank dryly. "You succeeded in letting in thatrun. "

"Our wires got crossed. Badge gave me an in when I was looking for anout. If you'll put in a pitcher who can throw a curve, I'll surpriseyou. "

"Does Badger rattle you?"

"Refuse me! I think I rattle him. "

There was no time for further talk, and the game went on. Buck wasnervous, and Frank pitied him, for he could see that the Westerner mightdo well with a good catcher behind the bat. Just then Merry did not knowof a man to put in Ready's place, for he could see that the Westerner'sgreat speed and queer delivery might be too much for any green catcherwho was not used to him. 

"Yes, " muttered Frank, "the loss of Hodge is the handicap that willcause us to lose the game--if we lose it. "

The next man got first on balls, and then the following batter lifted ahigh foul. Ready got under it, and the Hartfords were retired at last. 

"We're done up, Merry, " said Rattleton, as the men came in. 

"Not yet, old man, " declared Frank cheerfully. "I think I'll go behindthe bat myself next inning. "

"Don't do it!" exclaimed Harry. "I know you can play any old position, Merry, but your place is in the box. With you there, every man on theteam will play like a streak. Won't you go in?"

"Badger----"

"Can see that he is bound to lose the game if this keeps on. He's gotsense. He won't want to make such a bad record for himself. "

"Ready will not be able to judge the double-shoot. I can't use that. "

"You won't have to. You can win this game without it. "

"I don't know. "

"I do! Try it. "

Frank was in doubt, and he permitted Badger to pitch one more inning. The Westerner worked hard, but it was plain he had lost confidence, andhe was not at his best. Great beads of perspiration stood out on hisface. Two men scored, despite him, and the visitors had the lead again. 

"I believe I'll try it in the box, " Frank mentally decided. "Perhaps Imay hold Ready steady. It looks like the only show to win out. "

When Merriwell finally went into the box, seeing that it must be done, Badger retired with as good grace as he could, though his dark face wasflushed. 

"There would be no trouble if it wasn't for Jack Ready!" he asserted. "Ican pitch all right, but the pitcher isn't the whole battery!"

"Your delivery bothers him, " Merriwell explained. "I believe that youtwo together are capable of good work, but it will take a lot morepractise, and just now we haven't time for practise. You can pitch, Badger, and your best is excellent; but you are irregular. But you'llcome round all right. I was talking with Dunstan Kirk about you awhileago, and he agrees with me. He has been closely watching you all throughthe game. "

"I know it, " Badger growled. "I've known it only too well! It has helpedto make my pitching wild at times. If he had stayed away, I think Icould have done all right all the time. But you'll find that Ready willworry you. He'd worry anybody. The fellow simply can't catch. "

"But he can!" Merriwell insisted. "We'll win this game yet!"

The change that came over Jack Ready's work shortly after Merriwell wentinto the pitcher's box was little short of marvelous. Frank seemed toknow how to favor Ready's weak points. And this kept Ready's head steadyfor other work, so that he made not another wild throw to bases. 

Merriwell's nine began to feel their courage rise. It put life into themjust to see Frank in the box. Stolen bases on the part of the Hartfordsstopped. The swiftness with which Merriwell struck out three battersmade the spectators gasp. 

From that on Ready was steady, and he and Frank worked together like abattery team of long experience. Frank Merriwell won, in spite of hishandicap! And so the Yale rooters, and especially Merriwell's friendsand admirers, who were a host in themselves, were roaring wild as theyreturned from the ball-ground. Merriwell joined Inza and Elsie, whileBadger took a car with Winnie. 

"I knew that everything was all right, as soon as you went into thebox!" Inza declared. "But up to that minute I was nervous. I was wantingto shake you all the time for not taking Badger's place sooner. "

"I felt sorry for Badger, " said Elsie. "And I felt sorry for Winnie. Shegot as red as a beet when Badger left the box, but I know she didn'tblame you, Frank. She saw just how it was, and she knew you ought tohave gone in sooner, but of course she felt it. "

"I was afraid Ready might begin to doubt his own abilities--thoughprobably there is not any danger that he will ever do that! He was justwhat I expected of him, though, when I pitched. And if Badger and Bartwere friends and could, or would, work together, they would make a goodbattery. "

"You will have to coach Badger some, " Inza suggested. 

"Yes. The captain of the ball-team wants me to. He thinks there is goodstuff in both of them, if it can only be properly developed. "

The three got out at a transfer station, and waited for another car. 

"Dere she comes!" yelled an excited youngster. 

The "she" he referred to was not the expected car, but the head of acircus procession, which was parading the principal streets as anadvertisement of the performances to be given in the big tents in thesuburbs that afternoon and night. 

Merriwell and the girls looked in the direction indicated. The crowd atthe corner seemed to become thicker. People began to swarm out of thedoorways and stream out into the middle of the street. 

"And this is scholarly New Haven!" exclaimed Inza. "Wild over a circusparade!"

"We're not in the scholarly part of New Haven!" laughed Frank. "Iconfess that I like to see a circus parade myself!"

Inza showed evidences that she liked the same thing, for she craned herhandsome neck and stood on tiptoe to catch the first glimpse. Thenodding plumes on the heads of the horses drawing the gilded band-wagoncame into view, and at the same moment the band began to crash forth itsresonant music. Children danced and capered, heads were popped out ofsecond-story windows, and the pushing crowd grew denser. 

The band-wagon came slowly down the street in the bright springsunshine, followed by the performers, mounted on well-groomed horses, some of which were beautifully mottled. There were other horses, many ofthem--a few drawing chariots, driven by Amazons. Then came the funnyclown, in his little cart, with his jokes and grimaces for the children. 

There was another band-wagon, as gorgeous as the first, at the head ofthe procession of wild-beast cages. Its music was more deafening thanthat of the other. The street-cars seemed to have stopped running, owingto the packed crowds, and Frank and his girl friends remained on thecorner curiously watching the scene. 

Suddenly a fractious horse jerked away from the man who had beenstanding at its head holding it, and whirling short about, half-overturned the wagon to which it was hitched and raced wildly downthe street. People scattered in every direction, several being knockeddown in the stampeding rush. 

The horse climbed to the sidewalk, with wheels bumping the curbing, trying to get out of the way of some men who were seeking to stop it. Almost before they were aware of it, horse and wagon seemed fairly ontop of Merriwell and the girls. Elsie gave a startled cry, and dashedacross the street, where the people were falling back out of the way, with women pulling nervously and excitedly at their children. 

A child fell headlong, and the horse seemed about to stamp it, whenFrank, with a quick leap, picked it up from under the very feet of therunaway, and dropped it safely at its mother's side. Then a tremendousroar ascended. Turning, Frank saw that Inza and Elsie had disappeared. He did not at first know the cause of the roar. 

The horse, veering again and wheeling sharply, had hurled the wagonagainst a cage in which was confined a full-grown tiger. This was anopen cage--that is, the screening, wooden, outer shell had been removed, showing the big beast of the jungle, with its keeper in circus costume, seated in the center of the cage on a low stool. 

Against the door of this cage the bounding wagon had struck heavily--soheavily that the lock was torn away or broken, and the cage door pulledopen. The roar that went up was a roar of alarm and fright. And itincreased in intensity when the striped beast, with nervously flickingtail, leaped past its keeper and into the street, where it crouched, notknowing what to do with its newly found freedom. 

The street was in the wildest tumult. The horses drawing the cage hadbeen brought to a stop by the driver. But another horse, frightened bythe din and the runaway, broke loose just at that time, and came tearingalong, with flaming eyes and distended nostrils, like a Malay runningamuck. 

Frank sprang toward the head of this horse, for the peril to thestampeding people seemed great. But the animal veered and passed by, dragging Merry a few yards by the shafts and hurling him to the ground. 

The sight he beheld as he scrambled up was enough to stop the beating ofhis heart. Inza and Elsie had tried to again cross the street. Inza hadbeen knocked down by the horse, and lay unconscious, while Elsie hadbeen swept on in the crowd. More than that, the keeper of the tiger, whohad courageously leaped after the terrible beast with his spearlike irongoad, hoping to be able to prod and cow it into subjection, had beenknocked flat also by the horse, his iron goad flying out of his hand andinto the street. 

Though Frank was some distance away, he started toward the tiger, whichhad crouched and seemed about to spring on Inza. But before he couldtake a step, he saw Elsie run from the crowd toward Inza and the tiger. Her face was very white, but it was filled with the look of high couragewhich inspired her. She realized the peril of any attempt she could maketo save Inza, and she boldly took the risk. 

A hundred voices were screaming at the big brute, which crouched withundulating tail and open jaws; but not another person seemed to bemoving toward Elsie to render her assistance, with the exception ofFrank Merriwell. 

He saw the girl pick up the iron goad. Then Elsie Bellwood leapedbetween the tiger and Inza. As she did so she lifted the goad. The tigerturned its attention from Inza to Elsie, and the latter struck at it, asif the goad were a spear. 

Frank Merriwell heard the click of a revolver at his side. He saw a manshakily lifting it. 

"Permit me!" he gasped, and plucked it from the man's hand. 

The revolver went up, flashing for a moment in the sunshine. A quick, sharp report rang out. The bullet, sent with true and steady aim, by thehand of Frank Merriwell, ploughed through the tiger's brain, and thebeast flattened out convulsively, and began to kick and writhe in itsdeath agonies. 

Hearing the report and seeing the animal fall, Elsie's uplifted handfell, she swayed like a wind-blown vine, and dropped heavily down acrossthe form of Inza Burrage. 

CHAPTER VII. 

FRIENDS. 

The crack of the revolver and the fall of the tiger seemed to break thespell that had held and made cowards of the throng. A dozen men leapedtoward the girls. But Merriwell reached them first. He lifted Elsie, whohad merely fallen in a faint, as he saw; and, passing her to a studentwhom he recognized, he bent anxiously over Inza. 

There was a bruise and a fleck of blood on the upper part of her face. 

"Inza!" he said, lifting her tenderly and seeking to arouse her. "Areyou much hurt, Inza?"

The words and tone seemed to call her back from the land of death. Shemoaned feebly, and tried to put up a hand. Half-lifting her in his arms, he looked around. 

"Is there a surgeon here!" he called. 

Elsie came back to consciousness with a shiver, and heard him call. Herface had been very white, but it became pale as death. The sight ofInza's bruised face and limp form upheld by Merriwell seemed to blur herbrain again. She caught at the arm of the student who was holding her, and by a great effort kept her senses. 

"Is she dead, Frank?" she whispered. 

"No!" he answered. "I don't know how much she may be hurt, though. "

The tiger had ceased to struggle, the crowds were writhing, a babel ofsound that was confused and confusing filled the air. The circusprocession had come to a halt, with the exception of the forward band, which was blaring away far down the street. 

A doctor came out of the crowd. Other doctors proffered their services, for Inza was not the only one who had been knocked over by the rush ofthe horses. The injured tiger-keeper was picked up and bundled into anambulance. 

"Right across here!" said the doctor who had answered Merriwell's call. Then he led the way into an apothecary's. 

"Nothing serious!" he announced, a minute later, when he had made hisexamination. "The young lady will be all right in a day or two. "

He spoke of Inza, and both Merry and Elsie sent up fervent sighs ofrelief. 

 * * * * *

Coming softly into the room which Elsie Bellwood occupied, Inza Burragesaw Elsie in tears. 

"What is it, dear?" Inza asked, going up and putting her arms aboutElsie's neck. 

Except for a telltale bit of courtplaster, Inza showed no sign of thedangerous and exciting experiences through which she had that daypassed. 

"Don't! don't!" Elsie pleaded, with a little shiver. "If you knew whatwas in my heart you wouldn't speak to me, Inza Burrage!"

"Why, dear? Why wouldn't I speak to you--you who have proved yourselfthe most heroic and courageous girl in all New Haven?"

"It wasn't courage half so much as it was fright. And if you knew thethoughts I had!"

Inza kissed her. 

"What?"

Elsie turned on her a horrified face. 

"Inza, when I saw you knocked down by that horse, the awful wish cameinto my heart that you might be killed. And even when I saw the tigerabout to leap on you, I couldn't drive that thought away. I have beenhating you in a way that I never thought I could hate anybody! You see, I began to fear that you were trying to come between me and Frank; andif you had been--killed--there--would--have--been--an--end--of--that!"

"But you rushed between me and the tiger. And you fought the beast withthat goad. You, a girl, standing between me and such a terror as that!Frank has told me all about it--about how brave you were! It wasbeautiful!"

"When I felt how wicked my thoughts was, there came an awful revulsionof feeling; and then I rushed into the street, not caring if I waskilled, if I could only save you. I felt that the sacrifice of my life, even, if it were necessary, was demanded to pay for those dreadfulthoughts. I knew the danger, Inza, but that hideous thought made mebrave. "

"You are naturally brave, Elsie! I feel that I owe my life to you. "

"And I wished you dead!" said Elsie self-reproachfully. "I can neverforget it. Wished you dead when you were knocked down and when the tigerthreatened you. Inza, it was something awful!"

"It was because you love Frank!"

"And you love Frank! You have confessed as much. "

"Perhaps I do. I hardly know myself. But you have shown to-day that youare much more worthy of him than I am. Don't worry about any of thosetroubles any more. "

She straightened up, with the look of a renouncing queen, while her darkeyes shone like stars. 

"Elsie, I will go away from here if it is necessary. I will not disturbyou and Frank. "

"I take back all I said the other day!" Elsie quivered. "I retract everyword. They were selfish, jealous, hateful words. They led me tomurderous thoughts--for those thoughts about you to-day were reallymurderous. You shall not go away! Not unless I go away, too!"

"Then we can be friends, dear!" said Inza, laying a hand softly on thegolden head. "That is what we will try to be, if you will, in spite ofeverything. "

"Yes, " Elsie assented, "though I am not worthy to be your friend. "

"Then we will be friends, dear!"

"We are friends!" Elsie exclaimed impulsively, drawing the hand down andkissing it. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE GUN CLUB. 

"Baw Jawve, it would be sport if a fellah could draw on a grouse on aScotch moor, don't you 'now! It would be something great to knock such abird into the heather. There really isn't any shooting in this countryto be compared to that, don't you 'now!"

Willis Paulding drawled this in his affected style, and then swung thehandsome English Greener hammerless to his shoulder and squinted downthe barrels as if he fancied he heard the whirring of a moor cock'swings and felt the thrill of the sportsman tingling through his veins. 

"What's the matter with partridge and woodcock shooting in New England?Or quail shooting in the West and South? Or duck shooting on theSouthwest coast? Or prairie-chicken and grouse shooting in the far Westand Rocky Mountains?" demanded Merriwell, who had arrived on the groundsof the gun club with Bart Hodge and was taking his gun out of its case. 

Paulding flushed. 

"If you had ever shot grouse across the big pond, you 'now, you wouldn'task such a question, Merriwell!"

"I have shot grouse on the other side of the big pond, and it is finesport, true enough. But there is just as fine shooting to be had inAmerica. You make me tired. You want to act like an Englishman, Paulding, but it is an insult to the English, for your imitation isreally disgraceful. A true Englishman is very much a man!"

"And Paulding is a mere thing!" snapped Hodge. 

"He isn't worth noticing, don't you 'now!" sneered Paulding, moving awaywith the members of the Chickering set. "He is always slinging insultingthings at me. It's mere jealousy, don't you 'now, that makes him act so. Baw Jawve, if I was as jealous as Merriwell, I'd go drown myself!"

"He is always slinging insults at us in the same way!" Ollie Lordbreathlessly declared, looking as fierce as he could and lifting himselfon his tiptoes to increase his fighting height. 

"I wouldn't let the thing worry me, " purred Rupert Chickering. "Merriwell is so spoiled by flattery that he is hardly responsible forwhat he says. I never like to hold harsh feeling against any one. "

"I'd like to pull the wetch'eth nothe!" lisped Lew Veazie, looking quiteas fierce as Ollie Lord. "It would therve him wight if I thould walk upto him thome day and thimply pull hith nothe!"

"But he might pull yours!" Julian Ives warned. "That wouldn't bepleasant, you know. "

Julian Ives, in the perfumed sanctity of Chickering's rooms, oftenlooked lovingly at himself and his wonderful bang in the long mirror anddreamed the heroic things he would like to do and the revenges he wouldlike to carry out, but his actual courage had been at a very low ebbever since his humiliating experience as a member of the Eskemo dog-teamdriven by the cowboy, Bill Higgins. He was likely to remember that along while. 

"They're not worth talking about--none of Merriwell's crowd!" snarledGene Skelding, as if anxious to change the drift of the unpleasantconversation, for he had been given cause to fear and hate Merriwell andhis friends quite as much as any other individual who claimed thecompanionship and friendship of the immaculate Rupert. "Let me see yourgun, Willis!"

He took the Greener, snapped it open to see if it was loaded, thenwinked at Chickering. 

The members of the Yale Gun Club were rapidly coming on the ground, together with a number of noted New Haven shots and others interested intrap shooting. Browning and Rattleton appeared, and Diamond, Dismal, andseveral others of Merry's set were seen approaching. 

"I thought Bart Hodge was sick?" said Tilton Hull. "But I see he is outagain. "

"When I heard he wath thick I hoped he would never get well. He ith ahowwid cwecher! Whenever I go near him he thnapth at me like a bulldog. "

"As if you were a bulldog?" queried Skelding, who at times seemed todelight in teasing certain members of this delectable set. 

"The idea!" exclaimed Ollie Lord indignantly, putting a hand caressinglyon Veazie's shoulder. "A bulldog! If Veazie is anything, he is like thecunning little dog I had once. It was the darlingest little poodle! andI simply loved it!"

"Just fawncy!" sniffed Willis Paulding. 

But Lew Veazie seemed pleased. He put up a hand to touch the caressingarm. 

"You're another, Ollie!" he beamed. "I always did like poodles!"

"A pair of poodles!" said Skelding, and again winked meaningly atRupert, who snatched the cap from the head of Julian Ives and flung itinto the air. Skelding took a snap-shot at it as it fell. 

"If that cap is damaged, " said Ives, smoothing his precious bang whichthe brisk breeze began to flirt about, "I'll make you fellows pay forit. That's flat!"

But Julian's alarm was premature. Not a shot had touched it. 

The members of the Chickering set continued the delightful sport ofsnatching hats and caps from each other's heads and shooting at themwith Paulding's fine English gun; but the only damage done was by thefalls the articles received, for not a shot touched any of them. 

"Of course, fellahs, a moor cock doesn't fly that way, " Willisdrawlingly explained, in extenuation of the poor shooting. "He doesn'tgo right up and down, you 'now. He has wings, don't you 'now, and fliesstraight away, like a shot. I could hit a grouse without any trouble, but this kind of shooting! The best shot in England would be botheredwith it. "

"We'll have a try at the clay pigeons and blackbirds soon, " Chickeringcomfortingly promised. 

"But, gwathious, I've twied them, and they're harder to hit than thetheare! I could do better if I could only keep my eyeth open, but theminute I begin to pull the twigger my eyeth go shut, and I can't helpit. "

They had turned round and were retracing their way toward Merriwell andhis friends without noticing it. Suddenly Lew Veazie jumped straight upinto the air, clapped a hand smartly against one of his legs, and beganto dance a hornpipe. At almost the same moment a shot was fired by someone. 

"Thay, fellowth, I'm thyot!" he gasped, turning deathly pale. "Honeth, thith ithn't a joke! I'm thyot! Ow! It burnth like fire!"

"Where?" Ollie anxiously asked, staring at the dancing youth, andlooking quickly about to make sure that no loaded gun was pointed in hisdirection. The others looked about, too. 

"This reckless shooting ought to be forbidden!" declared Skelding, regardless of the fact that the shooting he and his friends had beendoing was of the most reckless character. Veazie dropped down on theground, and began to pull up one leg of his trousers. 

"It stwuck me wight here!" he gasped. "I think it must have gone thwoughmy leg. I can feel the blood twickling down. "

Ollie went down on his knees and began to help him, and together theysoon had the injured spot revealed to their anxious eyes. They beheld areddish place, with a center like a pin jab, but not a drop of blood. 

"It was a spent shot!" said Rupert wisely. "It came from a distance. Butit was a very reckless thing to do to fire at all in this direction. "

"Let me take a look at it!" said Julian Ives, crowding forward andstooping to inspect it. As he did so, he straightened up with a littlescreech, and clapped a hand to his hips. 

"Wow!" he howled, dancing round as Veazie had done. "I'm shot, too!Fellows, this is awful! I believe I'm killed! Who is doing this?"

"Thuch weckleth thyoothing I never thaw!" groaned Veazie, though he wasmuch relieved to discover that he had not received a deadly hurt. "Thomebody mutht be awwested for thith. I thouldn't be thurpwithed if itith one of Merriwell's fwiendth!"

"Wow!" howled Julian, falling to the ground, and writhing about in hisagony. "I'm dead! I never had anything hurt me so! Wow-ow-ow!"

Ollie Lord clapped a hand to his head and executed a quickstep. Hepulled off his cap and rubbed furiously, expecting to feel the bloodcome away on his fingers, for he also fancied he had been shot. 

"Goodness!" he gasped. "Whoever is shooting this way ought to be jailed. We will all be killed in five minutes. That tore a hole in my scalp, sure!"

Rupert Chickering, who was beginning to look grave and anxious, nextjumped up into the air, forgetting his dignity; while Willis Pauldingsat down with a suddenness that jarred the ground, and began to declaimin a quick, nervous way and without the slightest imitation of anEnglish accent. 

Then Lew Veazie, who had been rubbing his injured leg and lookingsurprisedly and dubiously about, leaped to his feet with another howland went dancing off from his friends. 

"Felloth, it ith hornets!" he shrieked, beginning to fight and slap withhis cap and his hands. "Ow! wow! They're thtinging me to death! Help me, thomebody!"

"Hornets!" shrieked Ollie Lord, leaping up and following his chum. "Fellows, the air is full of them!"

Tilton Hull began to dig fiercely at his high collar. 

"There is one down my neck!" he screeched. 

He recklessly tore the collar away and began to dig with his nails in awild search for the thing that had stung him, and which he fancied hefelt boring its way still farther down his back. Julian Ives took hishand from his hip and slapped it against his breast, where a red-hotlance seemed to have been driven with torturing suddenness. Then hebegan to tear away his beautiful necktie and to recklessly rumple hisgorgeous shirt front. 

"This is awful!" he exclaimed. "Where are the things coming from? Theair is full of them! Wow! Another struck me in the arm!"

Lew Veazie was rolling over and over. Their outcries attracted theattention of Merriwell and his friends, and also the attention of anumber of others who had come upon the grounds. 

"What are those idiots up to?" grumbled Hodge, who had no patience withthe antics of the Chickering set. "They've been making fools ofthemselves ever since they came out here. Awhile ago, they wererecklessly burning powder and hurling shot all round. Now they act as ifthey were crazy. "

"Must be playing some sort of game of circus!" guessed Browning. "They're tumbling about like acrobats--or fools!"

"And howling like wild Indians!" said Danny. "I think they are playing aWild West. "

"They ought to have Bill Higgins here, then, to make the show complete, "Merriwell remarked, with a smile. "But seriously, I don't believethey're playing anything. Those yells sound real. "

"Help!" howled Willis Paulding, forgetting his drawl, "We're being stungto death!"

Willis was down on the ground, soiling his beautiful trousers anddigging furiously at his head. 

"Hornets!" shrieked Ollie Lord, kicking about not far from Paulding. 

"Wow!" screeched Lew Veazie, bobbing up and down like a cork in waterwhen a fish is nibbling at the bait. 

"Take 'em off!" begged Julian Ives, neglecting his lovely bang andscratching with great energy at the places where he had been stung. 

"We're in a nest of hornets, or bees, or something!" exclaimed RupertChickering, becoming decidedly belligerent in his efforts to rid himselfof the stinging creatures. 

"Are you going to stand there and see us killed?" Skelding demanded. "Itell you, we are being stung!"

"Glad to know it!" declared Bart. "You need it. It's hopeless, though, to expect that the hornets will sting any sense into your crowd. "

Merriwell started toward the screeching, dancing, jigging, fightingyouths, quickening his steps into a run, and his friends followed at hisheels. As he did so he heard the loud and discordant jangle of a cowbellfuriously shaken. 

A man, a woman, and a boy had come in sight, appearing from behind theseats allotted to spectators. Evidently they had emerged but a minutebefore from a strip of timber that cut off the view of a farmhouse thatwas on the right of the gun club grounds and some distance away. Theywere running as fast as they could, and were shouting something as theycame on. The boy, a lanky chap of fourteen or fifteen, was vigorouslyshaking the bell. The man carried a large pail, and the woman swung aroll of dirty cloth. 

"Hold on! hold on!" the man howled. "Jest handle 'em gently, can't ye?"

The Chickering set, as well as Merriwell's friends, heard him. 

"Oh, yes! we'll handle 'em gently!" snarled Skelding, slapping at one ofthe stinging things and crushing it with his hand. He saw then that itwas a bee. He jerked his hand away and stuck his fingers into his mouth. Then jumped up and began again to hop around. 

"It run its stinger into my finger an inch!" he growled. 

"Hold on! hold on!" the old man was howling. 

"I'm holding on!' cried Rupert, smashing away at a handful of bees whichseemed to be settling down on him all at once. 

"You're killing 'em!" screeched the old woman. 

"Yes, we're killing 'em!" Skelding answered, flailing away as if he hadgone crazy. "I'd like to kill a million in a minute! I can't kill themfast enough! I'd like to welt 'em with a club and smash a regiment at ablow!"

Lew Veazie threw himself on the ground, drew his hat down over his head, and began to kick and shriek. 

"You're jest a tantalizin' 'em!" panted the farmer. Merriwell stoppedand laughed. The whole thing was too ridiculously funny for him to dootherwise. 

"They're swarmin'!" shouted the boy, rattling away with the bell as ifhis life depended on it. 

"Yes, I see they are!" howled Julian Ives. "They're swarming all overme!"

"Don't hurt 'em!" the farmer begged. He was only a few feet away, andpanting on, almost breathless. 

"Don't kill 'em!" whined the old woman. "They're my bees!"

Her words reached Lew Veazie. For a moment the kicking legs werestilled, though the hat was not withdrawn. 

"Take 'em away then, pleathe!" he begged, from under the hat. "I don'twant to hurt your beethe, but they're hurting me! Take 'em away, pleathe!"

The boy stopped his jangling bell. 

"They are honey bees!" he said. Then added, as if he feared this mightnot be clear to the intellects of city-bred youths: "They make honey!"

"I'll tantalize them!" Skelding fiercely exclaimed, striking at the beesthat were hovering round his head. "I'll treat 'em gently! Oh, yes! I'llpick them off very tenderly and put them in your lap, old lady! I don'tthink! Keep your old bees at home!"

"But they're swarming!" the old farmer exclaimed. "They're going out tohunt a new hive. We've been follerin' 'em. "

Then Lew Veazie began to bellow again, more frantically than ever. Alarge crowd was gathering, men hurrying from all directions, Merriwelland his friends had arrived on the scene. 

"Ow-wow!" Veazie shrieked. "They're worthe than ever!"

For a few seconds he had not been troubled except by the stingspreviously given, which pained intensely. Merriwell looked down and sawa big bunch of bees gathering along the top of Veazie's collar at theback. 

"They're killing me!" Veazie screeched, rubbing a hand into this massand leaping to his feet. 

But the pile grew. The bees seemed to drop by scores right out of theair upon him. He started to run. The old woman began to shriek, and theboy commenced again to jangle the bell. 

"You've got the queen!" howled the old man. "Jest keep still a minute!You have got the queen!"

"Is this a card-game?" drawled Browning. 

"Lew Veazie is the little joker this time!" droned Dismal. 

"That's because he is so sweet!" declared Bink. "Don't you know the boysaid these are honey bees? They're going to carry Veazie away and turnhim into honey and the honey comb. "

"If you talk that way I'll have to swear off on honey!" exclaimedBrowning, with a wry face. 

"Hold on! Jest hold on!" the farmer was begging. 

Veazie started to run, and the farmer reached out a hand for the purposeof detaining him. 

"They ain't stingin' you!" he insisted. "Jest keep your hands down andkeep still an' they won't do a thing to you!"

"Oh, they won't do a thing to him!" howled Danny. 

Veazie dropped flat to the ground. 

"Jest hold on!" begged the farmer. "Jest hold on! They're lightin' roundthe queen!"

Then he dipped his big hand into the pail and began to ladle out thewater and drench the bees with it, while the old woman flailed with theroll of cloth to keep them away from her, and the farmer's boy, dancingup and down in his excitement, jangled the bell like an alarm clock. 

"Jest hold on!" the farmer urged, as Veazie showed signs of rollingover. "I'll git my fingers on that there queen in a minute, and thenI'll have 'em. I wouldn't lost this swarm fer five dollars. Jest hold ona minute!"

"Veazie's queen!" some one sang out from the heart of the surging, talking, sensation-loving throng. "I always knew you were attractive, Veazie, but I didn't know females rushed at you in that warm way. Yes, jest hold on a little, Veazie. We don't have a circus like this everyday, and we want to get the worth of our money. "

Ollie Lord, Chickering, Hull, Skelding, and the others seemed to havebeen almost deserted by the bees, that were now swarming down upon thehapless lisper, drawn there by the fact that the queen had foundlodgment somewhere on Veazie's neck. 

Under the influence of the farmer's commands, Veazie ceased to kick andstrike, and lay like a gasping fish while the man deluged him withwater. 

"Thay, I'm dwoning!" he gasped at last. "Thith ith worthe than beingthtung!"

But, in truth, the deluge of cold water took away something of the fierypain of the stings. 

"Just hold on!" cried the farmer again. 

Then he thrust a thumb and finger down into the writhing wet mass ofbees, drew out the queen, which by its size and shape he readilydistinguished from the others, and began to rake the bees into the new, empty pail. 

When he had the most of them in, the old woman threw the cloth overthem. The farmer was now down on his knees, and the bees that were stillon Veazie he began to pick off and pop into the pail as if they weregrains of gold. 

"I've got 'em!" he triumphantly declared. "This is my fu'st swarm thisspring. I thought the blamed things was goin' to git away, but I've got'em. Giner'ly they light on a tree when they're swarmin', or onsomethin' green!"

"That's why they struck Veazie!" some one shouted from the crowd. 

"Can I get up?" Veazie gasped. "I'm wetter than the thea!"

"Yes, young man, an' I'm 'bliged to ye. The rest of 'em will find theirway to the queen, I guess. When these bees makes honey, if you'll comeover I'll give you a hunk. "

CHAPTER IX. 

SHOOTING. 

Lew Veazie was a sorry sight when he got up from the ground. The waterhad converted the soil into mud, which plastered him now from head tofoot. And here and there on his face and hands were red spots made bythe bee stings. 

Gene Skelding was flailing at some bees that did not seem to havediscovered that the queen was captured and their rightful domicile wasthe farmer's pail. There were other bees also at liberty, and one ofthem, angered no doubt by the turn of events, popped a stinger into thecuticle of Bink Stubbs. 

"Scatt!" shrieked Bink. "Get away from here, or I'll murder you!"

Browning moved back, for a bee seemed to be making a desperate effort tosingle him out as a victim. Then he stuck his pipe into his mouth, quickly fished out some tobacco, and crammed the bowl full, and lightedit. 

"Smoke 'em off!" he said. "That's a good way to fight bees. "

"And tobacco smoke keeps away other female critters!" laughed Danny, trying rather vainly to imitate the peculiar quality in the farmer'sspeech. "That's the reason you have never been popular with the fair. Now there is Veazie----"

"What about cigarettes?" drawled Browning, making a fog round his head. "Don't let the kettle call the pot Blackie! The most disgusting thingever created is a smoker of cigarettes!"

"Yah!" growled Danny, taking out a cigarette. "Lend me a match, oldman. "

And Browning lent him a match. Bink was rubbing earnestly at the stungspot. 

"I'll never see honey again without thinking of this. "

"Which honey do you mean?" asked Danny. "I heard you calling achambermaid Honey the other evening. You must have thought her sweet!"

"And I heard one of them calling you a fool the other evening. She musthave thought you an idiot. "

"Thomebody get me a cab!" begged Veazie, rubbing his stings and ruefullyregarding himself. "Thay, fellowth, thith ith awful! I'm a thight! Get acab, thomebody, and take me home. I'm thick!"

"No cab here, " said Skelding, who was also anxious to get away from thejoking and guying crowd. "But I see a carriage over there. Yes, two ofthem. "

"Get a cawiage--anything!" moaned Veazie. "Take me to the hothpital, take me to a laundwy, take me to a bath--anywhere, quick!"

The exodus of Veazie and his friends was followed by the return ofMerriwell and his comrades to the traps. Hodge had not been long out ofa sick-bed, and looked thin and weak. He walked with Merriwell. Theother members of the flock had forgiven him for the rancorous and sulkyspirit which had made him refuse to catch in the ball-game againstHartford, in which Buck Badger had pitched, but they had not forgottenit. They were courteous, but they were not cordial, and Hodge felt it. 

Buck Badger came upon the ground, but without a gun. He was alone, too, and he kept away from Merriwell's crowd. He had not learned to likeMerriwell's friends, any of them, and he detested Hodge. 

Having taken his gun from its case, Merriwell put it together, andopened a box of loaded shells, which he placed on the ground. The gunwas a beautiful twelve-gage hammerless, of late design and Americanmanufacture, bored for trap shooting. Hodge's gun was so nearly like itthat they could scarcely be told apart. 

Morton Agnew and Donald Pike came on the grounds before the shootingbegan. Merriwell observed that Badger affected not to notice them, butthe Westerner was plainly annoyed. 

"Perhaps you would like to shoot!" said Merriwell, going over to Badgerwith his gun. "I can let you have the use of my gun. Hodge has one justlike it, and all our other fellows have good guns. So, if you'd like toshoot! It's all right, and as good as they make them. "

The Kansan was plainly pleased. 

"And I can let you have shells. "

"I'll take the gun, Merriwell, " he said, balancing it in his hands andlooking it over. "But I can't let you furnish shells, when I can buy allI want right here on the grounds. And there is no reason why you can'tshoot with it, too. "

"None at all, old man, only I thought likely you wouldn't want to mix inwith our crowd. I can shoot Bart's gun. "

Badger flushed and his face darkened. He was on the point of sayingsomething bitter against Hodge. 

"I didn't intend to shoot when I came out, " he said, choking down theangry utterance, "or I should have brought a gun. In fact, I didn'tstart for this place at all. But I'm here now, and I reckon my fingerswould never get done itching if I couldn't get to pull a trigger. I usedto shoot some on the ranch, you know, and I hope I haven't lost anythingwhatever of the knack. If I should beat your score now?"

"You're welcome to. "

"Of course I'm more used to a revolver and rifle than to a shotgun, butI allow I know a kink or two about trap shooting, just the same. "

The rattle and click of guns being put together, the snapping of locks, and the chatter, made pleasant music for gun lovers, as Frank returnedto his friends. 

"You didn't let him have your gun?" growled Hodge. 

"Yes; I will shoot with yours. "

"You're welcome to, of course; but I shouldn't have done it. "

"Here goes to kill the first bird!" cried Danny, ambling out with arepeating shotgun in his hands. 

"If you don't hit it first time, you can just sheep on kooting--I meankeep on shooting!" jollied Rattleton. 

"I wish there was a bee round here to sting him!" sighed Bink, as Dannyfaced the trap. "I'm so sore from laughing that I know I can't hitanything. "

"You couldn't hit anything, anyway!" said Bruce, putting some shellsinto his gun. 

"I can hit you!" Bink growled, lunging at him. 

"I meant anything small!" said Bruce, brushing aside Bink's blow as ifit had been a fly. "Shoo! Don't bother me, or I may get one of theseshells stuck. "

A trap was sprung, and Danny blazed away. 

"Missed!" said Dismal. 

"And Danny is our crack shot!" moaned Bink. "The papers will sayto-night that our shooting was like a lot of schoolgirls. "

"How?" asked Merriwell. 

"All misses! Yah! Watch me smash one of those blackbirds into dust. "

Bink went forward with much seeming confidence--and missed, too. 

"Of course I didn't want to take away all the courage of you fellows byhitting the first bird, " he blandly explained. "But I could have doneit. "

The conditions for shooting were fair, for the wind was not so strong asit had been earlier in the day. Several shots were made, together with anumber of hits. Then Buck Badger's name was called, and he went up tothe line with Merriwell's gun. One of the boys who was manipulating thetraps sprung the middle one, and the bird shot swiftly off to the right. It was a rather difficult target, but Badger knocked the clay bird intodust. 

"A good shot!" some one called from the crowd. 

"It was a good shot!" Merriwell commented. 

Dismal Jones followed Badger, and knocked down the straightaway birdwhich was sprung from the right-hand trap. 

"Now the earth will fall!" squeaked Bink, for Browning's name wascalled, and Bruce got up lazily from the ground and walked slowly intoposition. Bruce disliked a light gun, and carried a heavy ten-gage, notwithstanding the fact that trap-shooting rules required the users ofsuch guns to shoot from a longer distance. He believed that the heavierweight and heavier load more than offset this. 

Danny stuck his fingers into his ears as Bruce stood ready to fire the"cannon. " Then there was a thunderous report, as the clay bird flewthrough the air, and was knocked to pieces by the impact of the shot. 

"Was it an earthquake?" asked Bink, falling back on the ground. "He'llbe wanting to shoot a Krupp gun next!"

"Watch me this time!" said Danny, as he stepped into position. "It'seasier for me to do difficult things. If those traps would only throwout a dozen birds at once, I'd show you some nice work!"

"Yes, you might get one out of the whole flock, " said Diamond. "If itwas a very dense flock, you might get two. "

Ten rounds had been fired, and two birds were to be thrown now at thesame time at unknown angles. 

"Ready?" asked the boy. 

"Pull!" commanded Danny, throwing up his gun. 

The birds flew, but Danny did not shoot. 

"I thought one was going to jump out of the right-hand trap, " hegrinned, "and it didn't. "

"Give him another chance, " said Dismal. "He oughtn't to be forgiven foranything, but we'll forgive him. "

"Spit on your hands!" some one yelled. 

Danny put down his gun, very deliberately spat on his hands, then tookup his gun again. 

"Pull!" he commanded. 

Two birds flew--one from the right-hand trap and one from the middletrap. Bang! bang! Danny fired at both, but the birds sailed on anddescended in the grass. 

"These shells aren't any good!" he asserted, looking wonderingly intothe powder-stained barrels of the gun. "Or else this gun isn't chokedright for trap shooting. I held on both of those birds. "

"You mean you aren't choked right for trap shooting, " said Bink, asDanny came back. 

"I'll choke you!" Danny cried, hurling himself on Stubbs and grippinghim by the throat. 

"Stop it!" commanded Bruce, as they struggled on the grass. "If youdon't, we'll fire you out of the crowd. "

Jack Diamond did the best shooting this time, cleanly killing bothbirds. Merriwell and others struck both birds, but Diamond made thecleanest kill. Danny ambled out again with his repeater, and this timebrought down a bird. 

"Talk about easy things!" he spouted, thrusting out his chest as hepranced back. 

"That's right!" howled Bink. "You're the easiest thing on the planet. That bird was broken and all ready to fall to pieces when it left thetrap. I paid the boy to fix it for you. "

"You're another!" Danny declared. "I hit that bird fair and square. Seeif you can do better. "

"I'm going to hit both!" Bink declared, and for a wonder he did. 

"Take me home to mommer!" squealed Danny. 

"Talk about shooting!" exclaimed Bink, sticking his hat on the back ofhis head. "What's the matter with that, eh?"

"Oh, you're a wonder!" exclaimed Danny. "Accidents are bound to happensometimes, you know. "

Browning made clean misses, and Diamond got only one bird. The shootingof most of the others was not of the best. 

"I suppose there isn't any way to clip the wings of those things?"grumbled Dismal, who had missed. "They get up and get away so fast thatI can't pull on them half the time. I could hit my bird if I could findit. But when I point my gun at it and pull the trigger, it isn't there. "

"Pull ahead of it, " Merriwell advised. 

"Yes, you must use ahead work, " said Bink. "If you have a head, that iswhat it's for. That's the way I did, and you saw the result. I can get'em every time now. "

As the shooting continued, it was seen that Badger was doing good work, though nothing at all phenomenal. He stepped into position with an airof confidence, fired quickly, and then stepped back. But he kept awayfrom Merriwell's crowd, mingling with others from Yale whom he knew. 

Hodge's score and the Westerner's were nearly alike. Hodge saw it andsquirmed. Then Merriwell, who had made only one miss, scored two "gooseeggs, " and Badger climbed up to him. 

"I don't like that, " Bart grumbled. "You're not doing your best, Merry. Badger may beat you. "

Merriwell was cleaning out and cooling his gun--Bart's gun--which bothwere using, and which had grown hot and foul from rapid firing. Thefirst round of twenty shots was nearing its close. Only four more shotswere to be fired in it, at two pairs of birds. Badger had to his creditthirteen hits and three misses, and Merriwell the same. 

"If you should miss one of the four and Badger should hit them all youwould be beaten!" Bart urged uneasily. "And I don't want you to bebeaten by him. I'm afraid you are going to tie. I want you to beat him. I can't stand it to have him crowing round. "

Merriwell smiled placidly. 

"Don't steam so, Hodge. It just heats you up, and makes you unhappy. IfBuck Badger should beat me, I don't see that it would make a greatdifference. I haven't been shooting for a record this afternoon. "

"All right, " said Hodge. "However good your intentions may be, thatfellow will never give you honest credit for them. "

The shooting had recommenced, and Hodge walked back to the crowd, plainly disgruntled. 

Merriwell clutched a handful of shells and went over to Badger. 

"Try these, Buck!" he said. "They're a good deal better than thoseyou've been using. I had them loaded very carefully under my ownsupervision for this kind of work, and you'll find them very fine. They're just suited to that gun, too. You have really been shooting at adisadvantage to-day. "

A smile came to the dark face of the Westerner--a stern, determined sortof smile. 

"Better not give them to me, perhaps, Merry. I'm going to beat you if Ican. We're tied now. If you miss, I shall get you. Better not give meany advantages. "

"You can't beat me!" said Frank, looking straight into the eyes of theKansan. 

"Do you mean that you haven't been trying to shoot? I've been watchingyou, and I allow you have been doing your level best. "

"You haven't watched closely, then. I threw away two shots awhile ago. Icould hardly miss them when I tried. But I'm not anxious to beat any oneto-day. I didn't come out here to make a record. "

Badger flushed. 

"All right. Throw away another shot and I'll beat you. "

"I'll not throw away another, and you can't beat me, though you may tieme. "

He was smiling and good-humored, and the Kansan tried to be. 

Badger took the next two straight, and Merriwell did the same. 

"I'm afraid he is going to tie you!" grumbled Hodge. 

"What's the score?" asked Rattleton, roused to the fact that Badger andMerriwell were now really shooting against each other. 

"Toodness, a guy--I mean, goodness, a tie! Don't let him beat you, anyway, Merry!"

"That comes from being too good-natured, " growled Hodge. "He wouldn't beanywhere near you, if you'd tried. "

Twice again both brought down their birds. Only a pair was left now toeach. Every member of the gun club present, together with those who, like Badger, were being permitted to shoot through the favor of members, and all the spectators, as well, knew now that Badger and Merriwell hadfinally pitted themselves against each other in a friendly shootingcontest, with the chances in favor of a tie. 

Hodge was hardly able to breathe, and Harry Rattleton was fidgetinguneasily. The spectators craned their necks as Badger, whose trial camefirst, walked into position with an air of easy confidence, that dark, determined smile disfiguring his face. 

"I'm afraid your chances are gone, Merriwell!" droned Dismal Jones. "'Wenever miss the water till the well runs dry. '"

"Keep still, " grunted Browning, "or you'll make me nervous!"

"I wish somebody would make Badger nervous!" wailed Bink. 

"Sing out that a queen bee is coming for him!" urged Danny, in anundertone. 

"Keep still!" said Merriwell. 

Badger balanced his gun, called "Pull!" and threw it into position asthe birds sprang from the trap. 

A deafening explosion followed. The gun was torn to pieces and Badgerwas hurled backward to the ground. 

CHAPTER X. 

BADGER'S CHALLENGE. 

Merriwell and others sprang toward him to offer their aid. Frank couldhardly believe what he had seen and heard. He feared Badger wasseriously or fatally injured, but was relieved before he reached theKansan to see the latter rise unsteadily to his feet. 

Badger looked dazedly about, then down at his numbed left hand and arm. They felt dead, and he could hardly lift them. But he saw they were notmangled. 

"I hope you are not hurt!" Frank exclaimed. 

The blood rushed in a great wave into the Westerner's dark face, and hegave Frank a strange look. 

"Your gun has gone to pieces!" he said gruffly. 

"But I hope you are not hurt. There are other guns. I don't understandhow it happened. "

There was a suspicious light in Badger's eyes. 

"I'll not be able to beat you, " he said. "I don't know that I can shootagain, and it's a wonder, I reckon, that my arm wasn't torn off. "

He turned toward the exploded gun. The stock was uninjured and the lockmechanism, but the muzzle end of the right barrel was split open and asection blown out of it. 

"You didn't get mud or anything of that kind in the muzzle?" Merriwellquestioned, anxiously examining the ruined weapon. "That will sometimesmake a gun explode. "

"None whatever!" Badger grumbled, nursing his numbed hand and arm, whilea crowd gathered round him and Merriwell, asking excited and eagerquestions. "Do you think I'm fool enough to do a thing like that?"

Frank plucked at Rattleton's arm. 

"Take charge of that box of shells, " he said, in an undertone. "Don'tlet any one touch them. The box from which I took the shells for Badger!I'm afraid the shells in it have been tampered with. "

"Agnew!" Rattleton gasped. "He's somewhere on the grounds, you know, andhe was right up here awhile ago!"

"I don't know. It may be. We can tell better later. Just now, takecharge of that box. No more shells must be used out of it, nor out ofany others of mine. "

"All right!" Rattleton promised, and moved quickly away. 

"How is your hand and arm?" Merriwell asked, again addressing Badger. 

"Well, I allow it's good enough to do some more shooting!" Badgersnarled, giving Hodge a suspicious glance. "You didn't beat me! I missedthat bird; but the gun blew up was the reason. I'll shoot you those two, yet; but I'd rather try you ten birds straight--ten double rises, justthe kind we were shooting at. I reckon we'd better settle this thingsquare!"

There was something very unpleasant in his tone and manner. Hodge sawthe glance, heard the words, and could hardly resist the temptation towalk up and knock him down. 

"The scoundrel!" he hissed to Browning. "What is he driving at? Does hemean that Merry hasn't given him a fair deal, or that he had the gunexplode in some way to keep from being tied by him, or beaten? Perhapshe is hinting crooked work against me! If he does, I'll punch his head, sure. Frank is a fool to stand such stuff. "

Merriwell showed a slight trace of annoyance. He took Badger by the armand they walked aside together. A dozen men were examining the gun, anda score more were craning their necks to get a look at it, while allsorts of excited conjectures and comments filled the air. 

"See here, Badger, " said Merriwell, somewhat sternly. "You think Hodgemay be responsible for that accident. He isn't--no more than I am! Youeither had mud in the gun----"

"Or something was the matter with the shells!"

"Exactly. That is what I was going to say, if you had let me finish thesentence. No more shells will be used out of that box. They may havebeen tampered with, but not by Hodge. I know Hodge! He wouldn't do sucha thing. "

"I reckon that he is none too good for that, if he had a chance!"

"Hodge is my friend. "

"I don't care if he is your friend a dozen times over. That might havekilled me, or crippled me for life!"

"If those shells were tampered with, it was done for my benefit, Badger, and not for yours. Hodge wouldn't put in shells that would endanger me. I gave you those shells out of my own box. "

"And Hodge was talking to you, and knew what you meant to do. He couldhave juggled a fixed-up shell on you. "

"We won't talk about it!" said Merriwell, turning away. 

"I've a right to think what I please, " Badger grumbled, following him. "He thinks you can beat me shooting. He was afraid I would. I can beatyou, and I'd like to do it, to spite Bart Hodge. "

"I don't think you are in any condition to do more shooting. "

"Oh, I'm all right!" Badger rather snappishly declared, his heart hotagainst Hodge. "Don't let anything of that kind worry you, Merriwell. Iwant to shoot at ten double rises against you--ten double rises atunknown angles. You've declared that you haven't tried to shoot. I dareyou to give me this trial. The numbness is going out of my arm, and itwill soon be all right. And I warn you not to throw away any shots!"

They were near the excited crowd. 

"All right, Buckrum!" Merriwell answered. "I'll try you, if you're soanxious!"

"We'll buy shells here. And that gun----"

"Perhaps you think there was something the matter with the gun?"

"Oh, I'll buy you another gun!" growled Badger. 

Frank flushed. 

"The impudence of the fellow!" grunted Browning, who overheard theremark. Hodge, who was standing near Browning, heard it, too. 

"I wish you'd hit him, Merry!" he panted. 

"No doubt you'd like to do that, " said Badger. "But I'd advise you notto try. "

"Mr. Badger and I are going to shoot at ten double birds, " said Frank, pretending not to notice these things. "I will use your gun, Bart. "

"And Badger may use mine, " said a sophomore, who was one of Badger'sfriends, and had been one of Merriwell's enemies. "But for goodnesssake, don't use any more dynamite shells!"

Merriwell saw that Morton Agnew had come up and was looking earnestly atBadger and at the ruined gun. 

"I wonder that Badger doesn't remember that you slipped a 'fixed'cartridge into a gun for him once, " was Frank's thought. "You are at thebottom of this, and your villainy has gone far enough. When I come tostrike you I shall strike hard!"

The shattered gun still furnished attraction for many, and Agnew pushedforward to get a close look at it, and to ask questions. Rattleton cameup to Merriwell with the box of loaded shells. 

"They are not all just alike, Merry!" he declared. "I have been lookingthem over. See!"

He took up three of the shells and exhibited them to Frank. A casualglance would show no difference between them and the other shells in thebox. But a close inspection showed that the brass did not go up quite sohigh on the paper. 

"I am sure that all the shells in the box were just alike, " said Merry. "Those were slipped in there. Keep them safe. "

"But what if they blow me up?" Rattleton gasped. "I'm afraid of thethings. Some of the fellows are saying there was dynamite in the shellthat tore up the gun!"

"There is no danger, I think. Take care of them, and see that the otherboxes are not tampered with. Watch Morton Agnew. "

"Let your bife I'll watch him! And he has been watching me! I caught himat it awhile ago!"

"I think Agnew fixed up some shells to kill or maim me, " said Frank. "Nodoubt he would give a great deal to get the unused ones away. Look outfor him. "

Then Merriwell went back to the crowd, where Badger was exhibiting hisbenumbed arm and hand, and explaining how it felt to have a gun burst inone's fingers. 

"Are you ready?" he asked. "I am. "

"Yes, " Frank answered. 

It was strange how the fellows on the shooting-grounds ranged themselvesinto two companies--the supporters of Merriwell in one knot and thesupporters of the Kansan in the other. It was as if an invisible handhad gone through the crowd and separated Merriwell's friends from hisfoes. About Badger gathered Walter Gordan, Bertrand Defarge, MortonAgnew, Gil Cowles, Mat Mullen, Lib Benson, Newt Billings, Chan Webb, andmore of the same sort, a number of them now Merriwell's pretendedfriends, but all at heart his enemies. While about Merriwell swarmed hisfriends tried and true, with Hodge, Browning, Diamond, Rattleton, Gamp, Bink, and Dismal close to his person. 

"Don't monkey with him, " urged Bart, as Merriwell sent Danny and Binkaway for some shells and began to wipe out Bart's gun in readiness forthe shooting-contest. "Don't throw away any shots. Show those cads whatyou can do. A lot of them are beginning to think that Badger is really abetter man than you are. If he defeats you----"

"He'll never defeat Merriwell!" asserted Rattleton. "Come off the dump!"

"Of course he can't!" added Diamond. 

"There are no dead-sure things, " droned Dismal. "I've been enticed intosquandering good dollars on several dead-sure things. I've got moresense and less dollars. "

"Wait and see!" sputtered Rattleton. 

"Who is to shoot first?" Badger asked, walking toward Merriwell's crowd. 

Badger had noticed the character of the fellows who had gathered roundhim, and he was nettled. On the outskirts he even saw the face of DonaldPike--once his friend, now hated by him as a foe. 

"Suit yourself, " Merriwell answered. 

"We'll flip a coin, " said Badger. 

One of the sophomores drew out a half-dollar and twirled it in the air. 

"I'll take heads!" said Merry. 

But the head of the coin fell downward, and Badger, taking the gun givenhim, walked out to the line and faced the traps. 

"We will have no signaling, " he said, turning round and facingMerriwell's crowd. "As we step up here, let the traps be sprung, andwe'll shoot at the birds, whether ready or not. "

He was supremely confident in his own abilities. 

"All right. Any way to suit you. Go ahead!"

Before Badger could turn back, he heard the sound made by the trapsspringing. Two birds shot out, one toward the right and the otherstraight away. 

Bang! bang! Badger wheeled and fired quickly, and made a clean kill ofboth birds. There was a skirmish fire of clapping hands in the circle ofhis admirers. 

"Fine work!" Merriwell admitted, as he stepped into place with Bart'sgun. 

He stood with his gun down until the birds were hurled from the traps, then, with a couple of quick snapshots, smashed them to pieces. 

"Whoop-e-ee-ee!" squealed Danny Griswold, turning a handspring. "Thissoft snap can shoot a little!"

Again the Westerner made a clean kill of two birds. Frank followed himand did the same. 

Five times more the Kansan did this, and Merriwell duplicated theperformance. The antagonistic crowds ceased to whoop and shout theirexclamations of pleasure. The thing was becoming interesting. It beganto seem that Badger and Merriwell would again tie. Then Badger, becomingoverconfident, missed a bird. He stepped back, with a look of chagrin onhis face. 

Frank stepped forward, pitched up his gun as the birds were thrown--andmissed one! Merriwell missed with the left barrel of his gun, and Badgerhad missed with the left barrel. 

"Now you're monkeying!" Hodge grumbled, as Merriwell retired into thecircle of his friends. "Don't do it, Merry! What did you do that for?You could have made the whole string straight, without a singlegoose-egg!"

Badger's dark, heavy face was flushed as he advanced again intoposition. He felt, like Hodge, that Merriwell had purposely missed thatsecond bird, and it annoyed and angered him. This was the worst possiblething that could have happened to him, for when he fired he again misseda bird. 

"Don't imitate him again!" Hodge implored. 

And Merriwell did not. He made a clean kill of both birds. 

"Only two more birds apiece, and Merry one ahead!" squealed Bink, vainlytiptoeing to see as well as those who were taller. 

"You want to see Merry do him up?" said Bruce. "You little runt, I'lltake pity on you!"

"Me, too!" squeaked Danny. 

With little apparent exertion of strength, Browning hoisted the littlefellows to his shoulders, thus elevating them above the heads of others, where they sat in great glee, squealing and laughing, Danny on the younggiant's right shoulder and Bink on his left, as Badger walked out toshoot at his last two birds. 

Again the Westerner killed his birds. 

"Now, if Merry misses one, it will be another tie!" grunted Bart. 

"Stop hawking through your tat--I mean----Oh, I don't know what I mean!But just keep still!" Rattleton almost breathlessly begged. "Merry isall right!"

And Rattleton's confidence was justified. Merry fired, with the sameresult. 

"Pulverized 'em!" howled Bink. 

"Smashed 'em into bug-dust!" squealed Danny. 

"Bub-bub-beat Badger again!" sputtered Gamp. 

A cheer of gratification went up from the circle of Frank's friends. Merriwell motioned to Rattleton to bring him some shells. 

"Bring me Danny's gun, too!" he called; and Harry ran out to him with abox of shells that he knew were reliable and with Griswold's repeatingshotgun. 

"All three traps at once!" said Merriwell to the trap manipulators. 

Three birds flew at the same moment of time. 

Bang! bang! bang!

Badger in his best shooting at two birds had never made cleaner kills. The clay birds seemed to vanish in puffs of dust at the crack of thegun. Merriwell put down Danny's repeater, and took up Bart's gun. 

"Three birds again!" he commanded, as he dropped in the two shells andclosed the breech with a click. 

Almost before the words were out of his mouth, the birds were thrown. 

Bang! bang! bang!

He killed the left and center birds with the two loads in the gun; thenreloaded and killed the third bird before it could touch the ground!

Badger's face grew redder. There was a wild clapping of hands, joined inby many who were in Badger's crowd. 

"Whoop-ee-e-ee!" squealed Danny, wildly waving his cap. "Who says wecan't shoot?"

They had been shooting at a rise of twenty-five yards. Merriwell steppedback five yards, thus increasing the distance to thirty. He loaded hisgun and held an extra shell in his left hand. Then he turned his back onthe traps. 

"Pull when you want to?" he called. 

The manipulators of the traps seemed to desire to test him. There was anexasperating delay and some questions; then the traps were sprung withstartling suddenness. 

Merriwell's quick ear was alert. He wheeled as if on a pivot, killed theleft bird and the right one. Then dropped in another shell with aslowness that set Bart Hodge wild, and killed the third bird, which hadgone off at a difficult tangent, at a distance of at least sixty yards!

"Come on!" grated Defarge, almost beside himself with anger anddisappointment. "The devil can't beat him! Let's get out of here!"

"Right!" said Pike, also turning wrathfully away. Badger seemed turnedto a statue. 

Then again the unexpected happened. A sophomore, who was known to be anintimate friend of Morton Agnew, by seeming accident fired off a gunwith which he had been monkeying. Agnew, who had, unnoticed, wormed hisway into Merriwell's crowd during the excitement of theshooting-contest, fell to the ground with a cry, as if shot, knockingHarry Rattleton over as he did so. 

The shells which Harry had been so carefully guarding were scattered onthe ground, and seemed likely to be stepped on and lost in theexcitement that followed. 

Agnew flounced and threshed about, crying out that he was shot. He wasanxiously lifted up, and on his face was seen a drop of blood, which hadcome from a cut recently made. 

"One shot went in right there!" he cried. "I think there are others! Getme into a carriage quick!"

A half-dozen young fellows ran for the nearest carriage, toward whichAgnew was conducted as rapidly as possible. Harry Rattleton seemeddazed, and began to look about on the ground as the crowd thinned outthere, Merriwell hurried to him. 

"What's the matter?" he anxiously asked. 

"The shells were knocked out of my hands!" gasped Rattleton. "And nothalf of them seem to be here!"

Merriwell's look became anxious. He stooped down with Harry and began togather up the shells. 

"A shrewd trick, but it didn't work!" he exclaimed, holding up acartridge. "Here is one of those that were fixed for me, anyway. And nowI know that Agnew did it, and that he intended to kill me!"

The other shells which Agnew had prepared were gone, having beengathered up in the midst of the tumult and excitement and cleverlyslipped by Agnew into his pockets. 

"Who fired that shot?" Merriwell asked. 

"I don't know!"

Others were gathering round. 

"He tried to kill me, Harry, and I shall strike back. And when I strikeI shall strike in a way to make the stroke felt!"

CHAPTER XI. 

FRANK PREVENTS TROUBLE. 

Badger's belief that Hodge had juggled the shell which exploded in thegun was not very strong when he left the grounds of the gun club, buthis hatred of Hodge was not in any degree lessened thereby. Only by asupreme exercise of will-power had he been able to keep himself fromrushing upon Bart when the latter made his bitter comments to Merry. 

"Merriwell is all right, but Hodge isn't even a piece of a man!" hegrowled, as he made his way home, his thoughts in a chaotic state. "Ishall have to punch his head for him. Merry wouldn't have beat meshooting if I had taken my own gun along! I reckon I was a fool forgoing into the thing. Hodge isn't any too good to slip that shell in onMerry! And if he didn't do it, who did? And I'd like to know what was init? That's whatever!"

Bart's feelings against the Westerner were quite as bitter. He almosthated the ground on which Badger's shadow fell. It seemed unlikely thatFrank could ever reconcile these two antagonistic characters. 

Bart was sore also about the way Frank's friends were treating him. Norwas the feeling lessened by his own inner conviction that he had dealtrather shabbily with one who had been as true a friend to him as Merryhad been, and that the other members of the "flock" had good grounds forlooking on him with disfavor. 

"I shall never crawl on my knees for the friendship and good-will of anyof them!" was his thought, as he turned a corner on his way to thelighted campus, on the evening of the second day after the shooting. "And as for Badger----"

He ran violently against a man and was hurled backward. The man wasBadger. 

"What do you mean by that?" the Westerner demanded, for he, also, hadbeen almost knocked from his feet, and he, too, had been feeding his hotanger with inflammatory thoughts against Bart. "You did that onpurpose!"

Hodge lunged at the Kansan's face. But the blow did not fall. The fistwas knocked down, and a strong grasp on his shoulder turned himhalf-round. 

"Stop this!" came sternly from Frank Merriwell, who was also on his wayto the campus. 

"Let me get at him!" Bart panted, trying to wrench away. "He ran into meand tried to knock me down just now. I can't stand it! I won't standit!"

"Oh, let him come on!" the Westerner grated. "I've been aching for acrack at him for a month! I'll polish him off in short order, if youwill just let him come on! He thinks because he knocked me out once thathe can do it again!"

"If you fellows are determined to fight, I'll arrange for you to get ateach other some time, but you are not going to fight here, and that isflat!"

"Oh, well, let it go!" said Bart, with intense bitterness and disgust. "I'll not trouble him here. But if we ever do come up against eachother, I'll hammer the life out of him!"

"I don't doubt you'd kill me if you could!" the Kansan sneered. "Irather think you tried it the other day. "

"What do you mean?" Bart demanded, again bristling. "Do you mean theshell that blew up the gun?"

"It's strange you can guess so easy!" Badger insinuated. 

"See here, Badger, " said Frank, who had stepped between thebelligerents. "You insult me when you intimate that Bart knew anythingabout that shell. That shell was slipped into my box by Morton Agnew. Ihave discovered enough already to convince me of that. I saw him dosomething to-day, too, which puts a big club into my hand!"

Badger's face changed, but he would not admit that he might be wrong inlaying the dastardly deed at the door of Bart Hodge. 

"When you've got the proof, I'll look at it, " he doubtingly remarked, turning about. 

"Oh, don't talk to him!" Hodge growled. "I wouldn't waste words on him. "

"I'll hammer your face for this some day!" Badger panted, turning back. 

"It's right here, ready for the hammering whenever you get ready to tryit!" Hodge snapped, and then moved away with Merriwell. Seeing that theywere heading toward the campus, the Westerner went now in a differentdirection. 

"I don't know why I should let Merriwell come in and interfere in thatway, " he grumbled. "I allow that it really was none of his affair. But Ipermitted him to order me to stand back, and I stood back. Of course, I'm under obligations to him, and all that, and he said good words toWinnie for me when I seemed to need them--but, hang it all! he isn't myboss! Who made him my master? It's all right for him to lead Hodgearound by the nose that way, but----"

"Hello!" came in an inquiring voice, and Badger, looking up, saw MortonAgnew. The Westerner's face took on an unpleasant look, and he did notanswer the hail. 

"Don't be surly!" said Agnew, coming boldly on. 

"What do you want?" snapped the Kansan. 

Then the thought came to him that it would be a good idea to treat Agnewwith some consideration, for thereby it might be possible to get theinside facts about the shell that ripped the gun open and came so nearmangling his arm. 

"What do you want?" he asked again, toning down his gruffness. 

"I know we're not friends, " said Agnew, with the suavity of a confidenceman, "but that is no reason why we should always remain foes. I saw youhere, and you looked lonesome. I'm a rather lonesome bird myselfto-night, so I whistled to you. "

"I allow you've the most gall of any man I ever saw!" was Badger'sthought. 

Aloud, he said:

"We'll go down this way, then. Did I look lonesome? Well, I wasn'tfeeling any lonesome, I can tell you--none whatever!"

"Perhaps you object to my company?" drawing back. 

Badger knew that this was a piece of acting, and he wanted to crackAgnew on the jaw for it. But he held himself in check. Really Badgerseemed to be gaining some self-control--a thing that was entirelyforeign to him when he first knew Merriwell. He was enabled to holdhimself in by the intense desire he felt to discover if Agnew slippedthe "fixed" shell into the box. That was an important point just then. 

"Come along!" the Westerner grunted. "You said that you were lonesome, if I am not. I'm not so hoggish as to want to run away from a man whothinks he can get good out of my company. "

"I like to hear you talk that way, " said Agnew, linking his arm in theKansan's. 

The touch made Badger's flesh creep, but he held this feeling in check, too. 

"Here's a saloon!" said Agnew, after they had walked a considerabledistance without saying anything of moment. "Let's go in. We can talk inthere. I never like to chatter much on the street. "

Looking up, Badger saw that they were in front of a well-known resort, which he had entered more than once, but of which he had recently foughtshy. Winnie's face rose reproachfully before him as he stopped andlooked at the entrance. It almost drove him back. 

"We can talk better inside, " Agnew urged. 

The Westerner glanced hesitatingly up and down the street. 

"All right, " he agreed, again feeling a fierce desire to get at whateverknowledge Agnew possessed about the exploding shell. 

The proprietor nodded familiarly toward him as he walked in. 

"Glad to see you. Nice evening!"

Badger, who was not good at acting what he did not feel, mumbled areply. 

"Have something?" suggested Morton, moving up to the bar. 

Badger pushed Agnew's arm away and turned toward a side room. 

"No! I don't need a drink to talk. "

"It greases a fellow's tongue, " said Morton, with one of his persuasivesmiles. "You won't have anything?" as a waiter appeared. 

"Not to-night. "

"Some whisky, " said Agnew, and the waiter went away, returning shortlywith a bottle and some glasses. 

"Some cards!" said Agnew, and the waiter brought two unopened packs. 

The Westerner's brow grew black. He fancied he saw through Agnew'slittle game. He believed that Agnew, who was a card-sharp, hoped to gethim to talking, then to drinking, and finally into a game, and fleecehim out of what money he had. Agnew's funds were low, and he wasprobably ready for any expedient. 

"We can talk better over a game, " Agnew urged, deftly opening a pack. 

The Kansan pushed back. His blood was boiling. He could hold in nolonger. 

"I allow you're a big fool, Agnew, if you think you can do me up in thatway!" he hotly declared. "I've been told that you tried to kill me theother day. Do you want to rob me, because you failed in that?"

Agnew grew white. 

"What are you talking about?" he gasped. "Tried to kill you? Whatnonsense is that? I don't know what you mean. "

However, there was a certain tell-tale shrinking in his manner whichBadger could not fail to notice. It convinced the Westerner thatMerriwell was on the right track, and his anger burned into deep rage. 

"I can see from your manner that you did. Agnew, you've got the heart ofa wolf! That's whatever!"

Agnew was truly playing a game, but it was not a card-game. He hadlearned to hate Badger. To strike the Westerner pleased him now almostas well as a stroke against Merriwell. He dropped the cards and pushedback, as if he feared the Kansan would leap at his throat. 

"Wh-what do you mean?" he demanded. 

"On the gun-club grounds!" said Badger, rising from the table. "Youslipped some dynamite shells into Merriwell's box, and I got one ofthem. It came near tearing my hand and arm to pieces, and it might havekilled me. No thanks to you that it didn't. Your intentions were goodenough. "

Agnew began to bluster, but in a low tone. 

"I'm not used to being accused of such things. How do you know there wasanything the matter with the shell? Are you hunting for trouble?"

"That was the trick of an Apache, Agnew!"

"Don't let the proprietor hear you, " Agnew begged, and his voice wasagain as smooth as silk. "What is the use of rowing? I say that I didnothing of the kind, and you're a fool for thinking so. Whoever hintedthat to you lied. "

"I allow you might as well say that I lied!"

Agnew pushed toward the wall and put his hands into his pockets. Badger, thinking he meant to draw a weapon, gave him no further time, but leapedon him across the table with the rush of a cyclone. Agnew went downunder that rush, but he clutched the Westerner, and began to struggle, at the same time sending up a sharp call for help. In a moment theproprietor and the bartender were on the scene. 

"None of this!" cried the proprietor, grabbing Badger by the shoulders, and, with the bartender's assistance, bodily dragging him off thethreshing, writhing form of Agnew. Morton did not seem in any hurry tobe released or rescued, however, and hung to Badger's coat and vest withthe tenacity of the under dog that fails to appreciate the fact that itis overmatched. 

"No fighting in here!" panted the proprietor. "This ain't noboxing-club! See! I'm glad to have gents come in and make themselves tohome, but I can't allow any fighting!"

Agnew slid toward the door, seeming anxious to escape. The next momenthe was out in the barroom, and then he vanished into the street. 

"I'll pay for the damages, " said Badger, choking down his wrath. "Hewent to draw a gun on me, and I jumped on him, that's all. A man is afool to let another get the drop on him, and I allow I don't intend to. You bet I don't. I'll see him again, and when I do I reckon we'll have asettlement. "

CHAPTER XII. 

AGNEW'S TRICK. 

When the Westerner saw Agnew again they were in one of the collegelecture-rooms and an examination was in progress. Of course, they didnot speak to each other. Badger believed that Agnew had kept away fromhim since their warlike encounter of the night before. The fact thatAgnew was also a sophomore had long been a disturbing thought to theWesterner. Badger had class pride. He sometimes declared that he was asophomore of the sophomores, but there were a number of sophomores withwhom he could not and would not mix. 

His seat was now close to the one occupied by Agnew, though somewhat infront of it, and he had the unpleasant feeling that a hole was beingbored through the back of his head by Agnew's eyes. When the conductorof the examination looked down that way Badger could not tell whetherthe professor's gaze was fixed on him or on Agnew. Professor Barton hadfiercely penetrating eyes, anyway, and the peculiar manner in which helooked at students in the classroom had always been especiallyirritating to the Kansan. 

Printed questions were used, and Badger found some of them pretty hard. 

"I wish Barton wouldn't look me through and through!" he muttered, noticing again and again that the professor's eyes were fixed on him. "It makes me feel like a cat under the paw of a mouse, or a calf watchedby a coyote. I allow there are things pleasanter than Barton's eyes. "

But Barton continued to look down that way. 

"Is he watching me, or is he watching Agnew?" Badger grumbled, as he dugaway at the work cut out for him. "Hanged if I can tell. Perhaps it'sjust a way he has. Maybe every poor devil in the room is feeling just asI do. Whoever got up these questions must have lain awake of nightstrying to see how hard he could make them. I reckon the chances areabout two to one that I'll flunk. "

In an interval when Barton's attention was turned in another direction, Morton Agnew crumpled a piece of paper, and, with a deft toss, which hemade sure was not seen by any one, he threw it beneath Badger's desk. Badger did not know it was there, but the keen eyes of Barton saw it assoon as they were again turned in that direction. 

Now, Barton was really not watching Buck Badger, but he was watchingMorton Agnew. Slips of the printed questions had been stolen by somemember of the sophomore class the day previous, and Agnew was suspectedof the theft. That was why the keen eyes of the professor were soconstantly turned toward that part of the room. He hoped to discoversome evidence of Agnew's guilt, if, indeed, Agnew was guilty, as wasbelieved. 

When his eyes fell on the piece of paper which Morton had tossed socleverly beneath Badger's desk, he knew in an instant that it had notbeen there a moment before. The natural conclusion was, therefore, thatthe Kansan had dropped it. 

Its discovery was very suggestive. He began to watch Badger as well asAgnew. In a little while Badger saw the paper also, and stooped to pickit up. 

"I will take that piece of paper!" came in the calm, even voice of theprofessor, as the Westerner's fingers closed on the crumpled slip. 

Badger, who had intended to open it, wondering what it contained, andvaguely thinking it might be a note which some member of the class hadtried to get to him, flushed in a manner to arouse the professor'ssuspicions. He was almost tempted to tear it open and possess himself ofits contents, but Barton was moving toward him, with his eyes glued onthe paper. 

"I will take that piece of paper, " the professor repeated, and Badgerreluctantly gave it to him. 

Agnew looked down at his work to veil the look of triumph that had comeinto his face. Badger anxiously watched Barton as he opened the slip andglanced it over. 

"That is your handwriting, I believe?" in an ominous voice. 

He held it for Badger to read, and, to the Kansan's intenseastonishment, he saw that the paper was scribbled over with answers tothe questions used in the examination, and that the handwriting seemedto be his own. He was so bewildered he could not say a word. Answerswere there to only a part of the questions, however. 

There was a strange look on Barton's bearded face. He had seen Badgerfishing in his right vest pocket for a stub of a pencil awhile before. He thought, as he remembered this, that it was the left pocket of thevest. 

"What is in that left pocket of your vest?" he asked, in a voice thatfairly made Badger jump. 

Barton believed the slip he held in his fingers had come from that leftpocket, and he thought it possible more like it might be concealedthere. 

"Not a thing!" said the Westerner, the angry flush in his face extendingto the roots of his dark hair, for he was not accustomed to being spokento in that suspicious tone, and it enraged him. 

"Will you see if there is not?" Barton asked, striving to maintain hiscalm, though his suspicions were growing. Badger confidently thrust inhis fingers and--drew out a slip of paper like the others, which wasalso scribbled over with answers to questions!

He could not have regarded it with more surprise and bewilderment if ithad been a snake. Barton took it from his shaking fingers, and saw thatthe handwriting seemed to be the same. 

This exciting dialogue was beginning to attract attention, and many eyeswere turned in that direction, which made the Kansan get even redder inthe face. Badger thrust a hand into one of the upper pockets of his vestand drew out another paper of the same kind. 

"What does this mean?" he growled. 

He dived frantically into other pockets. He knew that his position wasone hard to explain away, but, with a sort of recklessness, he wasdetermined to know if there were more papers of that kind anywhere abouthim. He could not imagine how they came there, and the rather wild ideaoccurred to him that he might have scribbled them over that way in hissleep, for the coming examination had disturbed him and made his nightsa bit restless. 

There were no other incriminating slips. 

"I should like to know what it means myself, " said Barton. 

He looked sternly at Agnew, but the latter had now obtained control ofhis countenance, and met the professor's suspicious look with an air ofinnocent confidence. Agnew felt safe. The paper he had crumpled andthrown under Badger's desk was the only one he had secreted about him. So he knew that even if a search was forced, nothing of an incriminatingcharacter could be discovered on him. 

"I think I have put you in a mighty tight box, Mr. Buck Badger!" was hisgloating thought. 

And again that look of triumph returned with such force that he couldhide it only by lowering his eyes, and did not raise them throughout therest of the hour. 

That evening, while Morton Agnew was amusing himself with a game ofsolitaire, and chuckling with glee over the clever manner in which hehad put Buck Badger in a "box, " a rap sounded on the door of his roomthat made him jump. 

"Come in!" he said. 

And Frank Merriwell walked in!

Agnew half-rose out of his chair. 

"Sit down!" Merriwell urged, closing the door behind him. 

Then he turned the key in the lock and dropped the key into his pocket. 

"What do you mean by that?" starting to his feet in an agitated way. 

"Sit down!" Frank again commanded, in a smooth, quiet tone, which, however, sounded very ominous. Agnew looked toward the closed window, and then dropped limply into the chair. 

"It's two stories down, and a hard pavement below that window. I'dadvise you, Agnew, not to pitch yourself out of that on your head. Itwould probably give the undertaker a job. "

Agnew pushed the cards about, without knowing what he did, and stared atMerriwell, his face white and his eyes anxious. He was afraid ofMerriwell. Of all the men at Yale, Merriwell was the one he most feared. And his heart told him that there was something serious back of thisunexpected call. 

"I'm glad to find you in, " said Frank, "for I want to have a talk withyou. I will take this chair, with your leave. You won't mind if I cometo the point at once?"

"I don't know what you're driving at, and I think you must be drunk orluny to come into a fellow's room and lock him in! If you have an ideathat there is anything funny about this, I'm pleased to tell you thatthere isn't. "

"I was afraid you might be so uncivil as to desert me. I shall not tryto take anything away with me but a bit of your writing. You're a goodpenman, Agnew, and I shall want a sample, after we've had a friendlychat. "

The cold sweat came out on Agnew's brow. 

"I don't intend to beat about the bush at all. It is not needed. Youknow what I think of you, for I've given you abundant opportunity. Twicewithin my knowledge you have tried to murder me--once when you slipped aball cartridge into Badger's musket in 'A Mountain Vendetta, ' hoping andbelieving that I would be killed, and again on the grounds of the gunclub, when you slipped some prepared shells into my box, thinking Iwould get hold of one of them, and that I would be killed by theexplosion of my gun!"

Agnew's face grew as white as writing-paper. He opened his lips toreply, but Frank went on:

"Of course, you are ready to deny these things. But I have some proofs. You thought you could get all the 'fixed' shells when you knockedRattleton over in the crowd, pretending you were shot. But one of themyou failed to get. I have had its contents analyzed by one of theprofessors of chemistry, and he says that in place of powder, the shellcontained a sort of gun-cotton, and that he does not see why the gun wasnot torn into splinters. "

"This----"

"Just keep still, Agnew, until I am through! I have found the dealer ofwhom you purchased those shells, and I have found the dealer of whom youprocured that gun-cotton!"

Again Agnew opened his mouth to protest. He had stopped pushing thecards about. 

"Once you tried to ruin my right arm by injecting into it a preparationthat would produce atrophy of the muscles. I can produce evidence ofthat, too!"

"It's a lie!" Agnew finally gasped. "There is not a word of truth inthese accusations!"

"I have been accumulating evidence against you for some time. You havestruck at me and at my friends time and again. It is my time to strikenow, and I shall strike hard. "

The dangerous smile which friends and enemies alike had come to know sowell rested on Merriwell's face. Agnew had seen it there before, and thesight of it made him shiver. 

"Badger used that shell--or one of the shells, and only chance saved himfrom being killed or maimed for life. Not satisfied with that, youstruck at him to-day again. "

"You're crazy, Merriwell! There is not a word of truth in any of thesethings. You have fancied them all, and, because you do not like me, youare determined to ruin me. "

"You have ruined yourself, Agnew. I have given you chance after chanceto reform and change about. You get worse. You are a disgrace tohumanity, to say nothing of Yale College. You struck at Badger to-day, as I said. 

"I know all about it. Professor Barton fancies that he caught Badgercribbing in to-day's examination. The matter has already gone to thefaculty. Badger will go out of Yale as sure as the sun rises if thingsare permitted to go on. I propose to see that they do not go on. Noscoundrel like you, Agnew, shall treat a friend of mine in that way. "

"So he has become your friend, has he?"

"No man shall treat one of my foes in that way, if I can help it!"

Agnew attempted a skeptical sneer, but it was a failure. He was shakinglike a chilled and nervous dog. 

"I have had a talk with Badger. He couldn't understand how the papersgot into his pockets. But I knew as soon as he told me of your encounterin that saloon last night, for I had seen the slips purporting to be inhis handwriting, and I knew they were forged, and I was sure you werethe forger!"

"Quite a Sherlock Holmes!" said Agnew. "This is a very interestinglittle romance. The only trouble is that, like most romances, thereisn't a word of truth in it. "

"You are the man who stole the printed question slips. You wanted themfor your own use, so that you might not fail in this examination. Whenyou knew what they were, and had prepared answers, you planned to usethem to throw Badger down, hoping that if the theft of the slips werediscovered the blow would fall on Badger. "

"You're away off, Merriwell!"

But Frank went remorselessly on:

"Last night, in the saloon, during that fight, which was of your ownseeking, you contrived to put those forged answers, in imitation ofBadger's handwriting, into his pockets, where Professor Barton foundthem to-day. You are a forger, Agnew, and you have lately been passingcounterfeit money!"

"Not a word of truth in any of this!" Agnew shakily declared. 

"Some of these things I might find difficulty in proving, though I am assure of them as that you are sitting there. But of other things I havethe proof. Now, I am going to give you your choice: Write at mydictation a confession that will clear Badger of the charge of stealingthe question slips and using those answers, or I shall take steps atonce which will land you in the penitentiary!"

Agnew grew sick and blind. 

"I can't do what you say!" he begged. "My God, Merriwell, even if thethings were true--which I deny--I couldn't do it! It would disgrace meforever!"

"The faculty and professors are not anxious to bring odium on the goodname of Yale. Your confession, I am sure, will not be made public. Youought to have thought of the disgrace when you were doing thosedastardly, cowardly things! It is too late now. "

"But I can't!" Agnew wailed. He had ceased to deny his guilt. 

"All right!" said Frank, his lips tightening firmly. "I shall clearBadger without this. I wanted to give you a last chance. I, too, amanxious that the good name of Yale shall not be smirched by publishingto the world the downfall and disgrace of a Yale student. But I shallnot withhold my hand longer. "

He pushed back his chair, and the look on his face was so terrible thatit robbed the trembling wretch of his fictitious courage. 

"Wait!" begged Agnew. "If I do what you say, you'll give me time to getout of town?"

"I shall not move against you at all. I shall simply turn the confessionover to the faculty, and so clear Badger. "

Again Agnew hesitated. 

"Here are paper and ink on your table!"

The sweat was standing in drops on the brow of the card-sharp. 

"I'll do it simply because I must!" he doggedly declared. "It is anoutrage. I do not admit any of these other charges, but I did put thosethings in Badger's pockets, and I took the questions to help me out inthe examination. Those are the only things I am willing to confess. "

"They are all I ask you to confess. "

With trembling fingers, Agnew drew pen and paper toward him. And then, at Merriwell's dictation, he wrote a complete confession of the wrong hehad done Badger. 

"That is all right!" Merry admitted, when he had looked it over. 

He arose from the chair, folded the paper, and put it in a pocket. 

"Get out of New Haven as quick as you can. I shall give this to thefaculty in the morning. Good-by!"

He unlocked the door, with his face turned toward Agnew, let himselfinto the hall, and was gone. 

Forbearance and mercy had ceased to be a virtue, and Frank Merriwell'shand was lifted to strike and crush a dastardly foe. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

COWARDICE OF THE CHICKERING SET. 

Merriwell encountered Hodge in the campus, informed him of what he haddone, and together they started down-town. By and by they took astreet-car, and, getting out at a familiar corner, found themselves infront of a group of Merriwell's friends. 

"Excuse me if I walk on!" said Bart. 

"No, you are going with me!"

"My room is preferred to my company with those fellows!"

They had not yet been seen by Merry's friends, who were grouped on thesidewalk about Jack Ready, who was talking and gesticulating in hisinimitable way. 

"Now don't get sulky, Bart!" Frank commanded. "Those fellows are myfriends. "

"They don't like me. I've seen it, Merry. When I think of some thingsthey have said, it makes me hot even against you. "

"Do you want to turn me against you, Bart? That is a good way to do it. "

"I don't care! I shall never snivel round those fellows!" Bart snarled. "I'm your friend, Merry! That's enough, isn't it?"

"You take a poor way to show your friendship, Hodge! You vex mesometimes. Now, look here! The 'flock' can be together but a littlewhile longer. The last of June is approaching fast, and that bringscommencement. Diamond, Rattleton, Browning, Gamp, Dismal, Danny, Bink, and a lot more will leave Yale forever in June. "

The reflection touched Bart's fiery heart. 

"All right, " he said. "Go ahead!" and walked after Merriwell. 

Willis Paulding, the Anglomaniac, passed them, going in the direction ofthe large hotel across the way. 

"Mud on the bloon--I mean blood on the moon!" exclaimed Rattleton, asBart and Merry came up. 

"What's up?" Frank asked. 

"Paulding and the Chickering set are up--there!" said Danny, pointing tosome upper windows of the hotel. "They are having a big feed to-night. "

"Drinking tea and smoking cigarettes, " explained Bruce. 

"I've invited every fellow here to attend that banquet with me, " Readyjovially declared. "But not a soul will accept the invitation. Theyfancy their heads aren't hard enough for that kind of drinking!"

"Bub-bub-better get an invitation yourself fuf-first!" Gamp stuttered. 

"Oh, I circulate everywhere, like first-class currency. Want to go upand take a peep with me, Merriwell? I'd give a V any time to hear one ofthose fellows respond to a toast! Come along. What d'ye say? I'll be thepilot. "

But Merriwell was no more in the mood for such an escapade than theother members of the "flock. " Thereupon, Ready skipped across the streethimself and disappeared within the hotel. 

Merriwell and his friends walked down the street, and in the course ofhalf an hour returned to that corner. Then they saw Ready at one of theupper windows, looking down at them. He had a big piece of cake in onehand and a glass of wine or tea in the other. 

"Come up to the feast!" he bellowed. "Great fun!"

But Merriwell had his eyes fixed elsewhere. Suddenly he exclaimed:

"That hotel is on fire!" He had observed a tongue of flame leaping froma window. 

He started across the street, but before he had taken a dozen steps thefire-alarm bell sounded. A few of the people in the hotel seemed to beawaking to the fact that the building was on fire. Merry's friendsjoined him, and they stood near the center of the street, looking up atthe fire and discussing the matter. Then Ready was seen again at thewindow, staring about in a bewildered way, as if he contemplated leapingto the street below. 

"Do you suppose the fire could cut him off so soon?" Merry anxiouslyqueried. 

"It doesn't seem likely, " Diamond answered. "But, of course, no one cantell. The Chickering set are up there yet!"

A crowd was collecting, and Merry's friends were thinking of going onacross the street, when the arrival of a clanging fire-engine drove themback to the corner from which they had started. 

It could now be seen that even in that brief space of time the fire wasrapidly spreading. The blaze first seen had increased in size, andflames were now issuing from other windows on that floor. The fireseemed to be in the third story. Luckily, the hotel stood on a corner, away from other buildings. 

People were now pouring in a stream from the exits. Merriwell lookedagain toward the window where Ready had been seen. 

"Ready will come right across here as soon as he gets down, " he said. "Isuppose he is all right, but the fire is on that floor!"

But Ready did not appear. Other fire-engines arrived and began theirwork. Firemen swarmed everywhere. But the fire increased in intensity inspite of this fight against it. The hotel appeared to have emptieditself of its occupants. 

And still Jack Ready did not come. Willis Paulding stumbled across thestreet, white and shaky. His hair and eyebrows were singed, hisLunnon-made clothes were wet and limp, and he was terribly frightened. 

"Merriwell, " he gasped, "Jack Ready is up there!"

Merry started. A fear that such might be the case had been growing onhim. 

"How do you know?" he asked. 

Paulding forgot his English drawl in his fright and excitement. 

"I saw him!" he admitted. "He was trying to get Lew Veazie down thestairs when he fell. Veazie had been drinking a little, and couldn'thelp himself. "

"And where is Veazie?"

"He is down on the street somewhere. "

"And you ran away and left Ready, after he had injured himself whiletrying to aid you!"

Paulding dropped his head. 

"The fire was right on us, and we----"

"Where did he fall?"

"On the center stairway leading from the third story, " said Paulding, shivering under Merry's rebuke. 

"Fellows, I am going up there after Jack Ready, " said Frank calmly. 

"You'll go at the risk of your life!" shouted Browning. 

But Frank was already half-way across the street. The fire had spreadwith astonishing rapidity. Some combustible material in the second storyhad exploded with great force, and this had seemed to scatter the fire. The entire second story was on fire now, as well as the one above it. 

Frank vanished in the crowd, which was retreating through fear that thewalls were about to fall. Other fire-engines had come up. The people whofell back from the dangerous vicinity crowded on the Yale men who hadlooked so anxiously after Merriwell as he hastened to the aid of theimperiled freshman. Willis Paulding, feeling Merriwell's rebuke, andstung by a feeling of his own cowardice, had slipped away. 

"I don't like that, " Hodge grumbled, looking at the spot where Frank hadvanished. 

"I've seen things myself that I like better!" grunted Browning. 

"You can bet your life that Merry will go wherever a friend is indanger!" said Rattleton. 

"Or a foe, either!" added Diamond. 

"Fuf-fellows, I'm worried abub bub-bout this!" stuttered Joe Gamp. 

"I'd feel easier a good deal if we had all stayed home to-night!" dronedDismal. 

For once, neither Danny nor Bink had any comment to offer, funny orotherwise. A feeling that something awful was about to happen stilledtheir chatter. 

Then all started, leaping as if they had been shot at, and pushed backinto the retreating and startled crowd. A furnace or something of thekind had given way in the basement with a thunderous report. A great gapshowed in one of the walls, and the wall itself seemed on the point oftoppling down. 

"Sounded like a siege-gun!" chirped a well-known voice. "Fellows, I'mglad I wasn't in there then! Had the greatest time you ever saw--narrowescape and all that; but here I am again, with my stomach filled withcake and my head intoxicated with tea. All right side up, you see!"

The speaker was Jack Ready!

"Where is Merriwell?" Bart asked. 

"Merriwell?" and Ready looked round. "Refuse me, but I supposed he wasthe center of this intellectual group! Yes, where is Merriwell?"

"He went up there after you--to get you out of the fire!" exclaimedBink, in great excitement. 

"You haven't sus-sus-seen him?" demanded Gamp. 

Some firemen planted a ladder against the swaying wall, as if to braceit, and a group came round the corner dragging a huge muddy hose, whichthey intended to train on another part of the hotel. But, so far, thefire had baffled all their efforts. 

"Did he go up there?" Ready gasped. 

"Sure!" said Danny. "He is up there now. "

Ready's round, red-apple cheeks grew white. 

"If he is up there now, he'll never come out!"

Bart stared at the shaking wall and the flaming windows--at the smokeclouds rolling from the doorways. The hotel had become a furnace. Thenhe stepped out, with a determined look on his dark face. Readyunderstood the meaning of that look. 

"You'll go to your death if you try it!" he declared. "It is hotter thanten ovens, and some timbers fell from the second floor as I came out. IfI hadn't rolled under the stairway when I fell, and thus had protection, I should have been cooked alive. "

But if Hodge heard the warning, he did not heed it. He pushed asideReady's detaining hand and ran quickly across the street. They saw himreach the first smoke-filled doorway, and then he was swallowed up inthe smoke. The other members of Merriwell's flock stood still, withshaking limbs and anxiously beating hearts. 

"They will both be killed!" gasped Rattleton. 

"Sure!" groaned Dismal. 

"I don't believe we shall ever see Hodge again!" Ready declared, and hischeeks grew even whiter. 

Bruce moved as if he, too, thought of rushing into the flames. Diamond'shand was laid on his shoulder. 

"Wait a minute. No use risking any more lives! Bart can do that, if anyone can!"

Browning felt that this was true, and fell back with a groan, while abit of suspicious moisture shone in his eyes. The walls were in such astate that the firemen now began to disconnect the hose and to get theengines away. They warned back the crowd, and policemen began to shoutorders and to enforce them with batons. 

In the meantime, what was Bart Hodge doing, and what had befallen FrankMerriwell? Hodge was sure that Frank had made his way to the stairwaywhere Willis Paulding had said Jack Ready had fallen. It was the centerstairway leading from the third story. 

Hodge had not much difficulty in passing through the hotel office, for, after the dash through the doorway, he found the smoke not so dense. Itseemed to be sucked into the doorway, and the clerk's desk and vicinitywere comparatively free of it. The room was deserted, and there wereeverywhere evidences of a hasty leave-taking. 

Bart ran first to the elevator, thinking he might be able to use that, but the door appeared to be warped, and he could not get it open easily. He did not know whether the elevator was in running condition, and muchdoubted it, because of the explosion in the basement. Therefore, notwishing to lose any time, he jumped for the nearest stairway, as soon ashe felt that no help could be had from the elevator, and climbed as fastas he could toward the second story. 

This stairway was filled with smoke, and he felt the heat increase as heascended, but he still had no trouble, except from the smoke. But whenhe reached the second floor his heart almost failed. The stairway onwhich Jack Ready had fallen, and the only stairway Bart could see, waswrapped in flames, which writhed and twined like serpents. The heat, too, was intense. 

Bending close to the floor, to escape the smoke and heat as much aspossible, Bart groped about, looking everywhere for Merriwell, thinkinghe might have fallen there. He saw him nowhere, and called loudly. Butno sound came back except the roar of the fire. It even drowned all thenoises of the street. But not for a moment did he think of turning back, though he knew how awful the danger would be if he tried to go up thatburning stairway. He cast about for some sort of protection. A flimsycurtain of cotton material was stretched across a doorway. This Hodgepulled down and wrapped round his head, protecting his hands with italso as well as he could. Then he measured the stairway and itsdirection with a quick glance, and made a wild dash for the fire. 

He went up the stairway at a run, with his clothes scorching and theprotecting cotton cloth bursting into flame. It was a desperate spurt, but Hodge went through the fire, and with a bound threw himself beyondit, and felt, rather than knew, that he was in some kind of hall, wherethe fire was not so bad. He pulled aside the flaming cloth, pitched itfrom him, put up his scorching hands to shield his eyes, and lookedabout. 

"Merriwell!"

The cry was one of joy. 

"Merriwell!"

This time the exclamation held the tone of fear and dread. FrankMerriwell was lying in this space, which Bart saw now to be a widecorridor. Frank seemed unconscious. He was lying close against the wall, with his arms doubled over his head. Near him was a piece of timberwhich had fallen from the floor above. Other pieces of timbers seemedabout to fall from the same place. This one, as Bart saw at a glance, had struck Merriwell down. 

Bart's heart almost stopped beating when the thought came to him thatperhaps Frank was dead. He leaped toward him, with a bound, utteringthat cry of "Merriwell!" as he did so. 

"Frank! Frank!" he cried. "Frank, are you much hurt?"

The roaring of the fire in the stairway sounded louder, than ever. Itsnoise was like that of a raging furnace. Bart's hands were scorched, buthe did not feel the pain of the burns. Another piece of timber droppedfrom the floor above within a foot of where he stood. Others seemedabout to fall. There was fire all round him, and the whole corridorseemed on the point of leaping into flame. 

Hodge lifted Merry's unconscious form and faced the fire. A groan camefrom Merriwell's lips. Bart looked into the white face and saw a bloodylump on the side of Merry's head. That face appealed to him as if forprotection from the fire. 

In spite of his many faults, Bart Hodge held for Frank Merriwell thelove of a strong and manly heart. Frank was the one true and faithfulfriend who had always stood by him--the one friend who always understoodhim--the one friend who was every ready to defend him. And Hodge wouldhave laid down his life for Merriwell!

He saw that if he dashed through the fire with Merriwell, that face, sostrong and manly and true, would be horribly disfigured. He did notthink of his own so much as of Merriwell's. Yet he felt that if he gotout of the building with his burden he would have to make haste. Therewere doors along the corridor, and he knew that they opened into rooms. He put Merriwell down, and finding the first door locked, kicked it inwith his foot. 

The room was full of smoke, but the fire had not yet entered it. Hodgehastily tore from the bed a big double blanket, and retreated with itinto the corridor. This blanket he wound round Merriwell's face andshoulders and hands; then lifted Frank again, protecting himself withthe folds of the blanket as well as he could as he did so. Thus draggingMerriwell, he stumbled toward the hell of fire that roared in thestairway. 

There was a jarring sound, and for a moment it seemed that the wholebuilding was tumbling down round his ears. A section of the rear wallhad fallen outward, and the part of the hotel containing the kitchen wasa burning wreck. Bart hardly heard the sound, so absorbed was he in thetask before him. He did not feel Merriwell's weight--in fact, hisstrength seemed to be as great as Browning's. 

"Frank!" he cried, in his heart--"Frank, my dearest friend, if I can'tcarry you out, we'll die together!"

The fire in the stairway had greatly increased. But Hodge did nothesitate. Wrapping the blanket closer about Merriwell and himself, herushed, with seeming recklessness, but with a boldness that was reallythe highest form of courage, into that raging cauldron of fire, anddescended with the steady celerity of one who sees every foot of the wayand has no thrill of fear. 

The blanket crisped and cracked and smoked into flame as the fiery wavesbeat against it. Bart seemed to be breathing liquid flame. But the thickbulk of the blanket shielding Merriwell's face and hands kept them fromthe searing fire. 

Half-fainting, but victorious, Bart Hodge reeled out of the hotel, bearing Merriwell in his arms. A great cheer went up from the excitedcrowd, for, somehow, the information had spread that a daring attempt torescue a friend was being made by one of the college students. 

Merriwell's flock dived through the thick smoke and carried both Hodgeand Merriwell to a place of security. And even as they did so thetottering side wall, that had so long been swaying, fell, and the shellof the burning hotel collapsed like a house of cards. 

 * * * * *

The next morning Danny Griswold bounced into Merriwell's room. Hodge wasthere. He and Frank were talking about the fire and congratulatingthemselves that neither had received bad burns and that Merry's injurywas not serious. 

"News!" exclaimed Danny. "Morton Agnew left New Haven last night. "

"I knew he would, " said Frank. "He knows I am going to give hisconfession to the faculty this morning, and he would not want to stayhere a minute after that. Yale will never see him again. "

"Good thing for Yale!" Hodge grunted. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A WILD NIGHT. 

A wild lot of sophomores and freshmen were celebrating the beginning of"secret-society week, " by marching round the campus at night inlock-step style, singing rousing college songs. They danced in and outof the dormitories, wildly cheered every building they passed, while theclasses bellowed forth their "Omega Lambda Chi. "

Down by the fence by Durfee's, on the campus, in the gymnasium, atTraeger's and Morey's and Jackson's, and wherever Yale men congregated, almost the sole topic of conversation was of who would go to "Bones, ""Keys, " and "Wolf's Head. "

The air of mystery surrounding membership in these senior societies, thehonor which their membership confers, and the fact that but a few men, comparatively, out of any junior class can be elected to them, create anabsorbing interest. 

Skull and Bones, or "Bones, " as it is popularly called, is thewealthiest and most respected. Then follows Scrolls and Keys, or "Keys, "with Wolf's Head third in order of distinction. The names are taken fromthe society pins. Each of these societies has a handsome and costlyclub-house, whose secrets are no more to be arrived at than are those ofthe sphinx and the pyramids. 

Conjectures as to what society would get the most prominent members ofthe junior class had engrossed a good deal of thought for several weeks. Each society takes in fifteen members, or forty-five in all, out of thetwo hundred and fifty or more men that usually compose the junior class. As every junior is anxious to become a member, the feverish interestwith which the subject is regarded by the juniors may be imagined. Thisinterest had gradually spread throughout the college. Now the subjectsuddenly leaped to such importance that it overshadowed the ball-gamewhich Yale was to play against Princeton, and the coming boat-race atNew London, in which the phenomenally popular Inza Burrage was to be themascot of the Yale crew. 

Class spirit, that wildly jovial night, seemed to melt the sophomoresinto a fraternizing, loving brotherhood, where discord was unknown, eventhough the class contained such opposite elements as Buck Badger, JimHooker, Donald Pike, Pink Pooler, the Chickering set, Porter, Cowles, Mullen, Benson, Billings, Webb, and others. Though these might join inclass dances and marches, and howl themselves hoarse in honor of thesophomores and of Yale, some of them could no more unite in any truesense than oil and water. 

The campus was brilliantly illuminated. Powerful calcium and electriclights bored holes through the darkness, turning night into day. All thewindows of all the dormitories which face the campus were crowded withstudents and with women. 

Three of these windows held Frank Merriwell's friends. Frank was there, with Inza, Elsie, and Winnie, together with Mrs. Hodge and Inza'sinvalid father, Bernard Burrage. 

"As in life, the good and the evil mingle, " sighed Dismal Jones, as hiseyes fell on Jim Hooker and other honorable sophomores who were marchingin close proximity to the Chickering set. "The wheat grows up with thetares, and the result is an everlasting bobbery. "

"There will be tears in your wardrobe if you don't quit walking on me!"squeaked Bink Stubbs. 

"Climb up on a chair, " advised Danny, who had already taken his ownadvice, and was thus able to look down into the campus withoutstretching his neck until he was in danger of converting himself into adromedary. "It's just great!"

"Can't be anything great for me that holds that Chickering crowd!"Browning grumbled. 

"Isn't the campus beautiful!" was Inza's enthusiastic exclamation. 

It was, indeed, beautiful, for the fresh, tender green of the elms wasbrought out with marvelous distinctness by the brilliant lights. 

"They're kuk-kuk-kicking up an awful dud-dud-dud-dust!" stuttered Gamp, pushing forward for a better view. 

"Dust assume to crowd in front of me, base varlet?" questioned Bruce. "I'll forgive you if you'll just take off your tall head and hold itunder your arm!"

"I s'pose naow you think that's a joke!" said Gamp. 

"It's more than a dust, fellows, " said Merriwell. "There is a fight on!"

Certain of the sophomores had bunched together under one of the elms, and seemed to be struggling, as if in a contest. 

"It looks as though they might be playing football, " suggested Elsie. 

Winnie Lee leaned anxiously out of the window, for in the center of thatknot she had seen Buck Badger. She had eagerly searched for him in theprocession, and had but found him when that indication of a wrangle cameto disturb her. 

The procession seemed to be breaking up and concentrating beneath andaround the elm where that struggle was taking place. Far in front anumber of students were bellowing their "Omega Lambda Chi, " but theothers had ceased to sing. 

"See how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" said Dismal. 

And Dismal was right. The beginning of that scramble was trivial enough. But the trouble which it kindled was destined to outlive the moment andseriously affect the life and fortunes of at least one of theparticipants. Jones was merely grumbling one of his proverbs, withoutdreaming how appropriate the words really were. 

Donald Pike had been nagging and tormenting the Chickering set. He hadbumped his toes against Ollie Lord's high-heeled shoes. In the lock-stepwalk he had put his hands crushingly on Tilton Hull's high chokercollar. He had pitched against and torn Gene Skelding's flaring necktie. And he had even dared to knock off Julitan Ives' hat and disarrange hislovely bang. 

At last, in his exuberance, he seized a handful of clammy soil that wasalmost the consistency of mud, and playfully tossed it at Lew Veazie. Itmissed Veazie, and, by an infortuitous fate, took Buck Badger smack inthe eye. Badger, who had seen Pike's antics, clapped a hand to his eyewith a grunt of pain and astonishment. 

"You scoundrel!" he bellowed. Then he lunged at Pike, with a startlingsuddenness that took Donald quite off his guard and threw him headlong. 

Badger believed that Pike had thrown the mud into his eye purposely. There had been bad feeling between them, and even worse, for some time, and the gap separating them seemed to be growing wider all the while. Each had said exasperating and belittling things of the other, and awall of hate had been built up where once there had been a bond ofstrong friendship. The pain in Badger's eye was excruciating, and itrendered him for a little while absolutely reckless. Fortunately, italso rendered him incapable of inflicting on his former friend thepunishment which his rage dictated. 

For a short time affairs were exciting enough. Sophomores and freshmendeserted the procession and leaped for the elm where the crowd wasquickly gathering. Badger threw himself on Pike, after the latter wasdown, and would have proceeded to pound his face, without doubt, butthat his arms were caught and held. 

It was all over within less than two minutes. Some of the Westerner'sfriends held him back and began to talk some sense into him, whilePike's friends drew him out and away. 

"I reckon this isn't the end of it!" snarled Badger, flinging the wordsat Pike. "There will be a beautiful settlement of this, remember. "

Then he hobbled blindly out of the crowd with some acquaintances, tohave his smarting eye attended to, while the procession reformed, andthe rollicking students began again to shout their "Omega Lambda Chi. "

The "beautiful settlement" came at a late hour that night. Badgerencountered Pike while the latter was on his way to his room. TheKansan's eye still pained him, and his rage was hot. As soon as he sawPike he stepped across the walk and took him by the nose. 

"That's the way I treat such skunks as you!" he hissed, flinging Pikefrom him after offering him that deadly insult. "I want to warn you tokeep out of my way after this. If you don't, I'll treat you just as Iwould a rattler!"

"You mean you will kill me!" snarled Pike, rushing at the Kansan in afit of blind rage. 

But he was no match for Badger, who flung him off with surprising ease, and then held him at bay and at arm's length by a clutch on his throat. 

"I've a notion to choke the breath out of you!" said Badger. "Don'ttempt me too far, or I might forget myself and do it. You know that I'vegot a red-hot, cantankerous temper when I get started. Now go! Git! Ifyou don't, I'll lift you with my shoe. And keep out of my way, unlessyou want trouble!"

He pushed Pike from him with stinging scorn. 

"I'll go!" said Pike. "But I'll pay you for to-night's work! See if Idon't! You'll find out that there are more ways of fighting than withfists. You may wish that you had killed me, before you get through withit!"

"What does the scoundrel mean by that?" the Westerner questioned, staring at Pike as the latter hurried away. "I reckon he is mean enoughto do anything. Well, he had better have a care!"

He was soon destined to feel the effects of Pike's threat in a mannermore crushing than any knock-down, physical blow which Pike could havedelivered. 

CHAPTER XV. 

PIKE AND BADGER. 

The next evening, which was Tuesday evening, while the societies werehilariously enjoying their annual calcium-light procession, Donald Piketook a car and hastened to the home of the Honorable Fairfax Lee. He hadtarried in the campus long enough to be sure that Winnie Lee was againenjoying the processional festivities from one of the dormitory windows. 

"Nobody will know whether I am in that procession or not, " he muttered, as he started toward Lee's. "And if they do know, what is thedifference? I'm under no obligation to be there, and I can say that Ihad a headache, or anything else I want to, if I choose to take thetrouble to account for my absence. "

To Pike's great satisfaction, he found Fairfax Lee at home; and when hetold the servant that he had an important communication to make, he wasinvited into the waiting-room, and finally was ushered into the presenceof Mr. Lee. 

The facing of Mr. Lee in this manner, even though he could claimdisinterested motives, rather phased even the blunted spirit of DonaldPike. If he had dared to, he would have committed his story to writing, and so brought it to Lee's attention. But things that are written oftenhave an unpleasant way of reappearing, to the discomfiture and undoingof the writer, and Pike's caution warned him against such risks. Wordsmerely spoken, he assured himself, can be denied, if that becomesafterward necessary. Written words, undestroyed, cannot be so easilyescaped. 

"Anything I can do for you?" Mr. Lee queried, when Pike hesitated. "Youhave a communication, I believe?"

Donald pulled himself together, and the opening sentences of what heintended to say came back to him. He had thought these out with care, and they seemed very fine and even humanitarian. 

"I want you to know at the outset, Mr. Lee, that in coming to you withthe information I bear I am wholly disinterested. But the truth is dueyou. No one else seems to have had the courage to tell you, and Ishall. "

Fairfax Lee began to look interested. 

"You are very kind, " he said, "and I thank you in advance for yourfavor. "

This was so auspicious a beginning that Pike's courage rose. 

"I want to have a frank talk with you about a certain young Yaleman--Mr. Buck Badger. You must have noticed that he is very devoted inhis attentions to your daughter?"

There was no reply to this, though Pike halted, in the expectation thatthere would be one. 

"I am well acquainted with Badger. In fact, until very recently, he wasmy roommate, and we were good friends. Perhaps when I tell you that heis not a fit man to associate with your daughter, you may think I am ledby the fact that Badger and I are not now the friends we were once. Butit is not so. We are not friends simply because his baseness became soapparent to me that I could no longer associate with him. 

"I have thought this thing over for a good while, Mr. Lee, and as anhonorable man, I did not think I ought to remain silent and see thingsgo on as they are. You love your daughter, Mr. Lee?"

This last was rather an effective shot, for Fairfax Lee loved Winniedevotedly. 

"All this is very unpleasant, Mr. Pike, but I am ready to hear what youhave to say. I am free to confess that you rather surprise me. "

"Your daughter is an admirable young lady, Mr. Lee. And though I cannotsay that she and I are more than the merest acquaintances, I thought ita shame that matters should go on as they are without a word from me toyou, to let you see what your daughter is walking into. Or what shewould walk into, if she should ever be so unfortunate as to marry BuckBadger!"

Donald Pike had at last contrived to get into his tones and manner asympathetic element that, while it was veriest hypocricy, was veryeffective. 

"My daughter is not married to Mr. Badger yet!" said Lee, somewhatbluntly, a frown on his usually pleasant face, for his position was farfrom agreeable. 

"And I hope she may never be. "

"You fail to specify, " Lee reminded. "You make only vague charges. "

"There are many things, " said Pike, coming to the point now with greatboldness, "but I shall name only one. Buck Badger is a drunkard. "

Fairfax Lee seemed astonished, and the frown on his face deepened. 

"He is the worst type of drunkard. Not a man who drinks steadily, butone of those who indulge now and then in crazy, drunken debauches. Forweeks, even months, he may not touch a drop of liquor. Then he will goon a spree. You can verify this, I am sure, by inquiries carefully madeamong the students. More than once he has been known to be on a drunk. He was drunk when he went aboard the excursion steamer, _Crested Foam_, when she was burned in the bay. "

"What?"

"It is true, Mr. Lee, every word of it. Your daughter and a good manyothers think he was drugged by the boat-keeper, Barney Lynn, and luredon the steamer for the purpose of robbery. But when he met Lynn he wasalready raving blind drunk, and Lynn merely took advantage of hishelpless condition. You can know that this is true if you will call orsend a man to the saloon of Joe Connelly. He went to Connelly's thatnight--or rather, the evening before--filled himself up on the vilestdecoctions, and went out from there as drunk as a fool. He has beenthere before many times. Connelly knows him well. "

All this was so circumstantial that Fairfax Lee was alarmed and moved. He knew that Connelly's was one of the worst dens of the city, and hefelt sure that unless there was something in the story Pike would notgive names in this way. He resolved to learn the whole truth about thematter. 

"If what you say is true, Buck Badger is not fit to associate with anygirl, " he asserted. 

"Especially not with a girl as innocent and unsuspecting as yourdaughter, Mr. Lee. I have seen that for a good while, and it has been afight with my conscience to keep from coming here with this story. Icouldn't delay it longer. I trust you see that I can have no hope ofgain, and nothing but right motives in bringing you this story--whichyou will find fully substantiated by a course of inquiry. "

Fairfax Lee was flushed and silent. 

"All of Badger's friends, or most of them, I am sure, know that he wasdrunk, and not drugged, when he went aboard the _Crested Foam_. Some ofthem might admit this knowledge. "

"You are a sophomore?"

"Yes. "

"And Mr. Badger is?"

"Yes, sir. "

"And you were recently his friend and roommate?"

"Yes. "

"I have your card, which I will put by for reference. I presume, if Icall on you, you will be willing to repeat anywhere what you have saidto me here?"

This was unexpected, and Pike hesitated. 

"I don't care to get myself into trouble with Badger. He is of thebulldog, pugilistic type, and the first thing he would do would be toassault me like the bully he is. I have given you the warning. You canget all the proof you want. Probably you would never have heard of thisuntil too late, if I had not voluntarily brought you the story. "

"You are right, " Lee admitted. "Perhaps that would be asking too much. "

"I have struck the blow, Badger, " Donald Pike muttered, as he left thehandsome home of the Lees. "You will find it more of a knock-down, Ifancy, than if I had hit you between the eyes with my fist. Nobody everwalks roughshod over Don Pike and gets off without suffering for it. Youwill hear something drop pretty soon. "

And so, chuckling, he took his way to the street-car line, and returnedto the campus and the Yale jollification. 

The Kansan had accompanied Winnie Lee home that evening, as usual. Thehour was late, and he did not enter the house, but kissed her good-nightat the gate. 

"Good-night and pleasant dreams, sweetheart!" he said as he turned togo. 

His heart was light, for he and Winnie had enjoyed a long and lovingtalk on the way home, and throughout the evening there had been nountoward incident to mar his pleasure. He had noticed Donald Pike'sabsence, and had been glad of it, but he merely supposed Pike kept awaybecause of the row of the previous evening. If there are such things aspremonitions of coming trouble, certainly they did not distress Badgerthat night. Winnie was also in a happy frame of mind as she trippedlightly up the steps and entered the house. 

Inza and Elsie had returned some time before. As she had expected, theyhad retired to their rooms. She was surprised, however, to find herfather waiting for her in the sitting-room, which was brightly lighted. As she came into the room, she saw something ominous in his face. Shethought she was to be lectured for remaining out so late. 

"Sit down, Winnie, " he said. "I want to have a talk with you. "

His voice was even more ominous than his face. She came and sat down byhis side, when she had removed her hat. He put his hand on her head anddrew her toward him. 

"Did Mr. Badger come home with you, Winnie?" he asked, and his voice wasslightly tremulous. 

"Yes, father. I know I stayed a little late, but it was so hard to getaway while so much was going on. I don't know when I have had sopleasant an evening. And besides, it was hard for Buck to get away, andwe had arranged for him to come home with me. The festivities had notended when we left. "

"Buck Badger must never come home with you again!" he said, with afirmness and suddenness that took all the color out of her cheeks, andseemed to take all the breath out of her body. She sat still, as iffrozen by the statement, while a scared look filled her eyes. Then shepartly roused herself. 

"What--why do you say that?"

"I have learned that he is not fit to associate with you--is not fit toassociate with any girl!"

"What have you heard, father?" she demanded, in a trembling voice. "Iknow that whatever it is, it isn't true, for Buck is fit to associatewith any girl!"

She half-expected him to refer to the fracas of the evening before inthe campus. 

"If there is one thing on which I am determined, it is that my daughtershall never marry a drunkard!"

"Buck isn't a drunkard!"

"He was drunk when he was taken aboard the _Crested Foam_ by thatboatman, Barney Lynn. "

"No, father!"

"You think not, of course. You think he was drugged. "

"He was drugged. Lynn drugged him. He was not drunk, and he had not beendrinking. Who has been telling you such things? I am sure it cannot beany one who has any honor. "

"It was some one who felt it to be his duty to warn me of the fact thatmy daughter is in danger of marrying a drunkard. I thank him for it. "

"But, father, you would not take the unsupported word of any one, wouldyou? I know that Buck has touched liquor at times, just as nearly allthe college men do, but he is not a drunkard, and he is not even adrinking man. And he is now strictly temperate. He told me so himself, that he has taken a pledge with himself never to touch anything of thekind again. And Mr. Merriwell--you know that Mr. Merriwell wouldn'tbefriend and favor him as he is doing now if Buck were a drunkard. "

"But I know, Winnie, dear!" Lee firmly, yet kindly, insisted. 

"And I know, father! Barney Lynn confessed to me that he drugged Buck;but he said nothing about Buck being intoxicated, which he would havedone, wouldn't he, if Buck had really been intoxicated when he metLynn?"

The girl was quick and alert. She understood that some desperate attemptto separate her from the man she loved had been made, and she did notintend that it should succeed without an effort against it on her part. 

"Who told you this--lie, father?"

"I wish it was a lie!" Lee groaned. 

"It is!"

"I have just come from Connelly's saloon, down in one of the worst partsof the city. I was told to go there and I would find the evidence Iwanted. I went; and I have just returned. Badger was at Connelly's thenight before the _Crested Foam_ excursion. It is an all-nightresort--though it professes, I believe, to close at midnight. Badgerleft there at about two or three o'clock, blindly intoxicated. He wassimply reeling drunk. He must have gone from there to the wharf, andthere he fell into the hands of Barney Lynn, who drugged him for hismoney. This is true, Winnie. There isn't the slightest doubt about it. Iwish it were all a terrible mistake, but it isn't. And that was not thefirst time that Badges had reeled out of Connelly's far into the night, drunk. He is given to just such drunken debauches. "

Winnie Lee's heart seemed to have turned to lead in her bosom. She wascold from head to feet, except that in her cheeks bright spots burned. Her father looked at her with anguished eyes. He noted the pallor andthe hectic spots. 

"Winnie, I can't let you throw yourself away on such a fellow as BuckBadger! You must put him out of your thoughts. He is unworthy of you. Ithought he was an honorable young man, and now I find I was mistaken. Ishall make further inquiries, but those I have made to-night are enoughto condemn him. You must not see him again, and you must have nothingfurther to do with him. I want you to tell him just what I have said--orI shall tell him myself, and give him a piece of my mind in thebargain. "

Winnie knew that she was trembling as with an ague, but she tried tohold her emotions in check that she might fight for herself and forBuck. Everything was at stake now, she felt, for she loved Badger withan absorbing love. 

"You have simply been deceived, father, " she insisted. "I know it. Likemany Yale men, Buck has been a little wild at times. He knows it andacknowledges it But as for that night and that excursion, that isn'ttrue, I don't care who told you. Buck has a good many enemies, and someof them have come to you with this story. Tell me who told you, in thefirst place. "

"It wouldn't be right just now for me to give his name. And it is notneeded. Connelly admitted that Badger had been there often, and had gonefrom there drunk the night before the steamer excursion. He rememberedit, because the story of the fire and of Lynn's death, and the druggingof Badger, was in the papers, and he could not forget the time. I wishit wasn't true, Winnie; but it is true. It will be hard, perhaps, foryou to give him up, but better that than for him to make you unhappy, ashe is sure to do. "

"Hard!" she mentally cried. "It will kill me!"

He looked at her pathetically, yet with decision and firmness. 

"Make up your mind that he is unworthy. I will bring you more proofs, ifnecessary. But I, first of all, lay on you my commands. You must not seehim again, except to tell him that he cannot call again, and that youcannot be anything to each other hereafter but the merestacquaintances. "

Man of affairs and of the world as he was, Fairfax Lee had not yetlearned that love cannot be made to come and go at will. If the littlegod is blind, he is also stubborn, and has a way of his own. 

"I can't, father!" Winnie begged. "You must not ask it of me. "

"What? You would not continue to go with him, knowing what I have toldyou? You would not permit a drunkard to pay you attentions, or a man whois in the habit of going on wild debauches?"

"No. But Buck is not that kind of a man. You have simply been deceived. "

"I have given my orders, " said Lee, with a sternness he seldom used inspeaking to Winnie. "I expect that they will be obeyed. It is useless toargue the matter. Buck Badger must not come into this house. I willwrite him a note to that effect, myself. You shall not see him again! Ishall tell him in plain words just what I have learned, and that thishouse and your company are forbidden to him. "

"But, father----"

"We will not talk any more about it. You are stubborn to-night. You willthink better of it in the morning. No one--no one, Winnie, loves you asI do! I have given you every advantage. You shall not throw yourselfaway on any one. "

He got up, as if to end the interview. 

The room and its belongings seemed swinging wildly round in a crazydance before the eyes of Winnie Lee. She grasped at her chair forsupport. She seemed unable to lift herself. In her heart there was onlyone cry--one wild cry: "Buck! Buck! Buck!"

By a great effort, she at last arose from her chair. Her father saw themarblelike pallor of her face, and, touched by this sign of distress, hecame over, put his arms about her and kissed her. Her cheek, againstwhich he pressed his lips, seemed cold as ice. 

"Don't be foolish, dear!" he pleaded. "You shouldn't grieve over a manwho is so manifestly unworthy of you. You know that I love you, and thatI haven't said these things to give you pain, but because it is my dutyas your father. Now, good night, dear. "

"Good night!" she said, as if in a dream, and blindly walked toward thedoor. 

In her room, she threw herself across her bed. 

"Oh, what shall I do?" she moaned. "Buck! Buck! Buck! Who has told suchterrible lies on you, dear?"

And so she lay there, moaning out a grief that was too great for tears. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE BLOW FALLS. 

The next afternoon the Westerner received this note, which was deliveredat his room by a boy, who went away before Badger had a chance toquestion him:

 "MR. BUCK BADGER: Certain facts have come to my knowledge which show that you are not the man I supposed you to be. I find that you are not only a drinking man, but that you often become grossly intoxicated, and that you were so when lured aboard the _Crested Foam_ by Barney Lynn. Under these circumstances, you cannot expect that I will longer permit your attentions to my daughter. I ask you, therefore, not to try to see her again, and not again to call at my house, where you are most unwelcome. If there is any spark of manhood or gentlemanliness left in you, you will respect my wishes and commands in this matter. Yours, "FAIRFAX LEE. "

The Kansan stared at the paper as if he could not believe his eyes, while a flush of hot displeasure crept into his dark face. 

"Who has been telling him that?" he growled, jamming the note down onhis table, and then picking it up to read again. "I'll break the neck ofthe man that did that. 'Not try to see her again?' Well, I don't think!I allow I shall see her every chance I get, and whenever I choose, andI'd like to tell Lee so. Why, what----"

He got up from the table and began to walk back and forth like a cagedtiger. He was sure that some enemy had struck at him in this way. Suddenly he halted, and the pupils of his eyes contracted. 

"Ah!" he snarled. "I reckon that was the work of Don Pike. He said he'dstrike me in a way that would be worse than if he hit me with his fist, and this is what he meant! Well, I'll settle with you, Pike, for that, and don't you ever forget it! You won't forget, either, I allow, whenI'm through with you. That's whatever!"

He crumpled up the note, hastily stuck it into a pocket, jammed his haton his head, and left his room hurriedly, locking the door. He did notstop in the campus. It was filled with Yale fellows, and the fence infront of Durfee Hall was crowded. He saw here and there men whom he knewwell, and who nodded to him. He hardly took time to return thegreetings. 

"What's the matter with Badger now?" rumbled Browning. "He is chargingalong like a blind bull at a fence. "

"Why do you ever notice what the fellow does at all?" Bart Hodgegrumbled. 

"Well, even cranks are interesting, " said Dismal Jones, also lookingcuriously after Badger. 

"Curiosities likewise, " remarked Danny Griswold, puffing at hiscigarette. "And since our dear Merry has just about adopted this wildbull from the plain, my interest in him as a curiosity has increased. "

"As a guess, I should say he is hunting somebody to fight, " saidDiamond. 

"Then he will be accommodated in mighty short order, " Browningprophesied. "I never yet saw a fellow go after trouble and returnwithout finding what he sought. Mr. Badger is not the only fellow whogoes pawing round with his hair standing and blood in his eye. "

"Speaking from experience, Browning?" mildly inquired Bink Stubbs, scratching a match to light a cigarette. "You have gone in search oftrouble a few times, to my knowledge. "

"And you're searching for it now!" grunted Browning, giving the littlefellow a warning look. 

All unaware of the fact that his rapid transit across the campus hadoccasioned unusual comment, Badger hurried on, and finally entered a carwhich took him to the office of Fairfax Lee. 

"Is Mr. Lee in?" he asked of the clerk in the outer room. 

"Yes. "

"Will you give him my card, please, and tell him I should like to seehim a few minutes?"

The clerk took the card and disappeared. He was back immediately. 

"Mr. Lee says that he cannot see you, sir!"

"Did he say that he is engaged?"

"No, sir. He does not care to see you!"

The Westerner's dark face burned, and he bit his lip to keep the hotwords from rushing out in a torrent. He stood for a moment, hesitating. But a door separated him, he believed, from Mr. Lee. He was almost readyto push open that door and confront Lee and demand an explanation of theletter forbidding him to see Winnie again. But he got the better ofhimself, and walked out of the office. 

"If he thinks he can bluff me out, or freeze me out, he don't know me!"he grated, as he turned away. "I shall see Winnie as often as I can. Hanged if I don't go up there right now!"

With the Kansan, to think was to act. And in a few minutes he was inanother car speeding toward the home of the Lees. 

"If I don't get to see her, perhaps I can find out something about thismess from Inza or Elsie. They may be able to clear away the mystery. Iallow I never was in so horrible a snarl in my life. But I'll punchPike's head for this, and don't you forget it! That's whatever!"

But the Westerner met quite as chilling a reception at Lee's home as atthe office. The servant who met him at the door had received herinstructions. 

"You are not to be admitted to the house, " she said sharply. 

"Is Miss Lee in?" he persisted. 

"No. "

"Is that true, or is it one of the society lies which declares that alady is out when she is in?" he bluntly demanded. 

To this there was no answer. The servant began to close the door. Badgerstopped this by taking hold of the knob. 

"What do you want?" asked the girl, who was somewhat frightened by theWesterner's violent manner. 

"I want to see Miss Winnie Lee. "

"She is not at home. "

"Then I want to see Miss Inza Burrage. "

"She is not in. "

"Then I should like to see Miss Elsie Bellwood. "

"She is not in. "

Badger suddenly changed his tactics. Bluster would not do, he saw. Heput his hand into a pocket and drew out a five-dollar note, which heheld up alluringly. 

"If you will take a note for me to Miss Lee, I will give you this fivedollars. "

The servant shook her head and again tried to close the door. 

"If you will take a note to either Miss Burrage or Miss Bellwood, I willgive you the five dollars. "

Once more the servant sought to close the door. 

"I have my orders, Mr. Badger. I cannot afford to lose my place for fivedollars or fifty dollars. And I wouldn't do what you ask, anyway. If youdo not let me close the door, I shall call for help. "

"All right!" said Badger gruffly, releasing the door. "But I will seethose young ladies, just the same. "

To accomplish this he remained in the vicinity of the house until longafter nightfall. But he was wholly unrewarded for his vigil, and atlast, distressed, humiliated, and angry, he took a car for the collegegrounds, raging like a lion against Donald Pike. Even an enemy of Badgermust have pitied him that night. 

The campus was filled with Yale men and their friends, and there wereexcitement and sport, fun and laughter, music and merriment galore. ButBadger could enjoy none of it. He had no thought for anything but WinnieLee and the treatment he had received from her father. He wondered ifshe were at home, and was half of the opinion that Lee had spirited herout of the city. His disappointment in not seeing either Elsie or Inzawas bitter, for somehow he felt that if he could see them they would bewilling to help him. 

With this feeling, he now began to look for Merriwell and his friends, but they were not to be found. He went to Merry's room, and then fromroom to room, even venturing finally to knock on Hodge's door. Later helearned that Hodge and Merry had called at the home of Fairfax Lee, after he had given over his vigil, and had been cordially admitted, andhad accompanied Inza and Elsie to a banquet, which was attended by thewhole Merriwell set. 

The Westerner was more successful in his search for Merriwell the nextday, though he did not get a chance to speak to Frank until theafternoon. 

Badger was looking haggard and distressed as he came up to Merry. Theywere in the campus, and Yale's famous "slapping" ceremony was soon tobegin. The campus was filling with men, and the members of the juniorclass were out in full force, for out of that junior class, by the"slapping" process, forty-five men were to be selected as members of"Bones, " "Keys, " and Wolf's Head. 

"I looked everywhere for you last night, " said Badger; and Frank toldhim of the banquet. 

"Let's go somewhere where we can talk, " the Westerner invited, notrelishing the throngs. "The air in here chokes me. "

Merry took him by the arm, and they pushed out of the crowd. 

"Now, what it is?" Frank asked. 

Badger could have made a long story of it, but he cut it down to narrowlimits, acquainting Merriwell, in as few words as possible, with thetrouble that had come upon him. Frank looked grave. 

"This is serious, Badger, " he said, not caring to conceal from theKansan his true feelings concerning it. "But I'm ready to help you inany way I can. "

"My fool jealousy was at the bottom of the whole thing!" Badgeradmitted. "Just because I was jealous of Hodge, I went on that drunk andlet Barney Lynn fool me into going aboard the boat and in drugging me. Jealousy and whisky. That's what did it. "

"I think you are right there. "

"But, of course, Don Pike is the fellow that peached. And I'll smash hisface for it! I allow that everything would have gone on as smooth assilk but for that. "

"Now, what are you going to do?"

"Hanged if I know, Merriwell! I'll be driven to something desperate, soon. Tell me what the girls said about it. "

"I don't think they knew anything about it. They reported that Winniehad been sick in her room, and the doctor had instructed that they werenot to see her or disturb her. "

"Is she in the house, then?"

"I can't tell. She may be, and she may not be. One thing is sure, Buck. Her father is not going to let you see her again. And that makes methink it possible he has spirited her out of the city. If she is in thehouse, the pretense that she is sick cannot be kept up long. "

"I don't know about that, " said the Kansan dubiously. "I allow thatlikely she is sick. The thing has almost sent me to bed, and the effecton her might be as bad. "

"Worse, probably. "

"If she is sick in that house, I'm going to see her, if I have to fightmy way in. "

"And be arrested. No, that's not the way, Badger. I'll see Elsie andInza this evening, and we'll find out something definite. "

"You have helped me before in this matter, Merry!" the Kansan gratefullyexclaimed. 

"And am ready to do so again. I feel more certain now than I did thenthat Winnie is not in danger of throwing herself away on you. Pardon mefor speaking so plainly. "

"Oh, it's all right!" the Westerner admitted, though his face colored. "I used to be a dog when I boozed round, and that's what Fairfax Lee hasagainst me now, of course. He thinks I am the same. But I've sworn offon the stuff, and you know it. "

"I'll have a talk with the girls, and well see then how the land lays, and what can be done. "

"It will be a favor--the biggest favor, I reckon, that any man everreceived. "

A number of voices were shooting Merriwell's name in the campus. 

"You'll have to go, I allow, " said the Westerner, gripping Merriwell'shand. "But the first news you get send it to me. Don't stop for expense, or anything else. Send it along--cab, telephone, telegraph, specialmessenger, or a dozen, if there's danger one may not reach me--anything, just so you whoop the news to me. I'll be walking barefooted on cactusspines every minute from now until you make some kind of a report. "

Merriwell returned to the campus, where Yale tradition was gathering themembers of the junior class back of the fence, near Durfee Hall. 

The ceremony of "slapping" is peculiar in many respects. No officialannouncement is made of the fact that this formal and queer manner ofannouncing elections to the senior societies is enacted. No announcementof the coming event is given to the public. The members of the juniorclass are not notified by any one that they are expected to appear onthat spot by the fence at a certain time to be ready to be "slapped, " ifthey have been lucky enough to be chosen for membership in the greatsenior societies. Nevertheless, the entire junior class, with half thecollege, and hundreds of spectators from the city, gather there on thethird Thursday afternoon in May, between the hours of four and sixo'clock, and witness or participate in the spectacle. 

"Slates" had been made up weeks before, and shrewd guesses given as towho would be chosen to this society and to that, though it was all mereguesswork. Nearly every one had agreed, however, that Merriwell would goto "Bones, " as the leading society is called, and that "Bones" would beglad to get him, and would be receiving an honor as well as conferringone. Buck Badger, restless as a wolf, stood back and gloomily watchedthis gathering, and heard the buzz of talk and conjecture without reallycomprehending a word. Often he was not aware that he saw the things thatwere transpiring directly under his eyes. 

But at length he aroused himself. Elsie and Inza had suddenly comewithin the range of his vision, and the sight of them stirred him out ofhis moody trance. He moved in their direction, but before he could comeup with them, to his great disappointment, the pushing crowd swallowedthem. Then he went in search of Merriwell, whom he found withouttrouble, for Merriwell was with the expectant juniors. 

"Which way did they go?" Frank asked. 

"Toward that building--I mean in that direction. But I lost them in thecrowd. "

"I thought they might come down this afternoon! Winnie wasn't withthem?"

"No. "

Frank was about to start away to find the girls, if he could, andquestion them in the interest of Badger and Winnie, but at that momenthe was approached by Jack Diamond, one of the seniors. 

Diamond walked up to Merriwell with all the dignity of the Great Mogulof Kuddyhuddy, and gave him a resounding slap on the back. Diamondbelonged to "Bones, " and the slap was a notification that the societyhad chosen Merriwell. 

"I can't go now, Badger, " said Frank, a bit regretfully. 

Then he left the campus for his room, as each man slapped is expected todo, followed by Diamond, where he was notified formally of his electionand told to appear for initiation at the society hall on Friday evening. 

Of what that initiation consists no one not a member ever knows, and nomember will ever tell. Its mysteries are more impenetrable than FreeMasonry. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

BUCK AND WINNIE. 

Shortly after nightfall, Badger started again for the residence ofFairfax Lee. He had no definite plans, but rather blindly hopedsomething might turn up to favor him. He confessed to himself that hewas "all gone to pieces, " but he had no desire to go into some liquorden and load up with bad whisky, as he was once accustomed to do whentrouble or disappointment struck him. 

"It was red-eye that got me into this, I reckon, and I'll let the stuffalone hereafter. I've promised to, and I will, no matter what comes. That's whatever!"

And when Buck Badger put his foot down he usually put it down hard. 

"I'd feel better if I could only meet Don Pike and swell up his eyes forhim, " he continued to growl. "But the coward has sloped. "

It did, indeed, seem that Pike was making an effort to keep out of theway of the Westerner. The very sight of the Lee home quickened Badger'sheart-beats. He felt that he would give anything to know if Winnie wasin the house, or had been spirited away. 

"Like enough, her father has locked her in her room! But there ain't anykeys whatever that are made strong enough to keep me from seeing her. I'll do it sooner or later. "

Fortune favored the Westerner--fortune and his sweetheart, Winnie Lee. Winnie was as wildly anxious to see Buck as he was to see her. She hadbeen locked in her room for stubbornness in refusing to promise never tosee Badger again, and the other girls had been told that she was ill andcould not be seen. They knew better now, for Winnie had finally bribedand coaxed one of the servants to tell them the truth. They had notknown it long, but long enough for Inza--indignant as she was brave, andbrave as she was indignant--to send to Winnie a note, signed by herselfand Elsie, assuring the unhappy girl of their sympathy and firmfriendship. And that note was wrapped round a door-key which fittedWinnie's door, which the servant was bribed to carry. 

So it came about that shortly after nightfall Winnie let herself out ofher room, and creeping down some familiar halls and stairways, emergedinto the grounds surrounding the house. Then she turned toward thestreet. She did not know what she meant to do, only she had a feelingthat Buck was somewhere in the vicinity trying to find an opportunity tospeak to her. She had felt sure that he would not abandon the attempt tocommunicate with her. She had on her jacket, with a scarf thrown overher head. She felt that she would not be easily recognized. 

She stopped as she drew near the corner which gave a view down thestreet. There was a stir beyond the wall. The next instant a form cameflying over the fence. 

"Winnie!"

"Buck!"

It was Badger!

"I have been crazy to see you!" he whispered, clasping her tightly inhis arms. "I knew it wasn't your fault that I did not get to see you. Have they had you locked up?"

"Yes, " she answered, fervently returning the kiss. "I just got out ofthe room. Somehow, I felt that you were down here, and I slipped down assoon as I could. "

"I knew you were true as steel, " he fervently declared. "Nothingwhatever could ever have made me believe otherwise. "

"Did father write to you?"

"Yes. He told me never to come here again, and that I must not try tosee you. I came to the house, and the servant said you were not in, andwould not admit me even when I asked for Elsie and Inza. I have had anawful time. "

"I have nearly died!" she confessed. "Oh, it has simply been terrible! Ithought once I was going crazy. Father does not understand how he hastortured me, or he would not do it, I know. He cannot realize what itmeans. He simply thinks I am still a child, and that I ought to submitto him in this matter, as I have always done in all other things. "

"You are old enough now to have a mind of your own, I allow!"

"And he has heard such awful stories about you, Buck. Just terriblethings. "

That deep rage against Donald Pike struggled again in the heart of theKansan. 

"I think I know who told him. What were the things, anyway?"

He said this with a great dread, for he already knew. 

"Oh, I knew you were not guilty, Buck! Never fancy for a moment that Ithought you guilty. I told him you were innocent. I knew that itcouldn't be true that you were"--she sobbed--"drunk when you went aboardthe _Crested Foam_. "

Badger winced as if stabbed. The dying boat-keeper, Barney Lynn, confessed to drugging Badger, but did not tell Winnie that Badger wasdrunk at the time. The Westerner knew this, and had been, as he hadadmitted to Merriwell, just coward enough to be glad that Lynn did nottell Winnie the whole truth. Now, as the sweat of a great inwardstruggle came out on his face, he wished he had been courageous enoughto inform her of the real facts, instead of sheltering himself behindthat palatial confession of the boat-keeper. It was a virtual falsehoodthat was coming home to him in a most unpleasant manner. 

"I have stood up for you, Buck, against everything that father couldsay, " Winnie artlessly and innocently continued. "When he insisted thatyou were drunk at the time, I told him I knew it was not so; and I havestood by it. He thinks he has discovered proofs from a saloon-keepernamed Connelly, who keeps a vile resort somewhere down in the worst partof New Haven. Connelly says you were intoxicated at his house thatnight. But I told father that the same fellow who gave him theinformation against you in the first place must have hired Connelly tosay that. A man who will sell liquor will lie, you know, Buck!"

Badger was violently trembling, but Winnie, in the ecstatic joy ofmeeting him, did not notice it. There was a tempest in the Kansan'ssoul. Winnie's sweet and trusting faith in him filled him with ananguishing shame. Could he tell her now that he was drunk thatnight--that all the things said against him by Connelly and that unknowninformant were true? Would she not turn against him if he did? Would shenot despise him? Would not her love be obliterated? Badger felt as ifthe ground were reeling under his feet. 

Once he was about to give away to the evil impulses that were fightingagainst him. But he did not. At last, as she chattered on, so stronglyasserting her faith in his innocence, he caught her convulsively to him. 

"Winnie!" he gasped, and his voice was so hoarse and unnatural that shewas startled. "My God! Winnie, don't say those things! I know that whenI confess the truth to you you will feel that I am the biggest scoundrelthat ever walked. But I must tell you. I was a coward and a fool, Ireckon, for not telling you before. But I just couldn't, Winnie! Butthose things are true! I was drunk that night--I was at Connelly's--Iwas----"

Her form seemed to grow rigid in his arms. 

"I must tell you the truth now, if it kills me!" he continued, almostgasping out the words. "And if you cast me off, I believe it will killme! But it seems to me that I'd rather die than to have you think meinnocent when I am guilty. I could never stand it in the world. I'm adog, I allow! I'm not fit to associate with you whatever--not in theleast! Your father is right about that. I see it now, though I didn'tbefore. But, Winnie, I love you, and I love you! That is all I can say. I allow I haven't a right to say that now, but I must say it. You won'tcast me off for this? You will give me another show? Before God, Ihaven't touched the stuff since that night! Not a drop! And I'll nevertouch it again!"

"Buck, " she whispered, at last, "I wish you had told me that at the veryfirst. "

"And you wouldn't have spoken to me again?"

"Yes, Buck, I should have spoken to you again. I should have been verysorry, Buck. I should have grieved over it, as I do now. But I shouldhave loved you just the same, Buck. "

"Then you do love me? You do not intend to tell me to go and never speakto you again?"

"Don't you understand a girl's heart any better than that, Buck? Shenever casts a man off for such things, if she truly loves him--though, perhaps, she ought to! Love isn't a thing of the head, but of the heart. I love you, Buck, and I am very sorry!"

He held her as if he meant never to let her go, and she submitted to hiscrushing caress. 

"You are true--true--true as steel!" he exultantly cried. 

"Be careful, or you will be heard, dear! We are right by the house, remember. "

"Is your father in?"

"No, but he may return at any time. It would be terrible if he shoulddiscover us here. "

"What are we to do?" he asked. 

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't had time to think. What you have confessedhas so upset me that I seem to know nothing else. I can't think ofanything else. You see, Buck, I can't tell father any more that you werenot--drunk that night!"

The hated word seemed to choke her. 

"No!"

"And what shall I say to him?"

"I reckon that is entirely too much for me. "

"But I will stand up for you all I can!"

"I allow that you are an angel!" he enthusiastically declared. 

"You have a low conception of angels. I can't imagine one meeting a manin this surreptitious fashion. Really, Buck, when you come to think ofit, it is almost as bad as--as--what you did at Connelly's, you know!"

"Not on your life, it isn't! It's the thing I knew you would do--andthere isn't any truer or better girl whatever on this earth!"

"I am glad you think so, Buck. "

The Westerner was trembling as much now with delight and pleasure as hehad before been trembling with apprehension. The fear that Winnie wouldcast him off when she knew the truth about the _Crested Foam_ affair, that had so distressed him, had given place to a deep satisfaction. 

"It would be dreadful if father should discover us here. I am reallygetting scared!" she continued. 

"I reckon that there isn't any other place whatever where we can go?" heanxiously asked. 

"No. But we can stand and talk here a little while. Then I shall have tohurry back into the house before my absence is noticed. One of theservants I can trust to help me, but, I am afraid, not the others. "

"And Elsie and Inza?"

"Yes, of course, all they can. They have just heard about the trouble Ihave been having. They thought I was sick. I don't know what they cando. "

"Carry notes, " Badger suggested. 

"Yes. Oh, they will do what they can! They sent me a key that fits thedoor of my room. And they are coming up to see me to-night andto-morrow, they said in their note, in spite of the prohibition. But, ofcourse, they will have to be careful. Father is very set when he makesup his mind to do anything, and he is very stern at times, though heloves me. He thinks he is doing the thing that he ought to do, and thathe is really keeping me from throwing myself away----"

"On a drunkard!" said the Westerner bitterly. 

"But you don't drink now, Buck! And you never were a drunkard!"

"Perhaps I oughtn't to blame him any whatever!" he grumbled. 

"His intentions are good, but it is going to make it hard for us, for, of course, I do not mean to give you up, if he keeps on ordering me todo so from now until the day of----"

"Our marriage!"

She laughed. 

"I was going to say the day of my death!"

"I allow that the day of our marriage sounds a good deal better. "

"I think it does myself, " she admitted, and the Kansan took this as anexcuse to kiss her again. 

"We'll pull out of this snarl in some way, " he hopefully declared. "Idon't know just how, but we'll plan something. "

"Oh, I'm afraid of father!" and she shivered. 

"I don't see just how we are to get round the old man's objectionsmyself at this moment, but something may come our way. If we cancontinue to meet, I reckon we can plan something. "

"We can meet to-morrow evening right here. "

"Good. That's all right. "

"And many more nights, if we are not discovered. I'll be as nice tofather as I can, and perhaps he will not dream I am such a disobedientthing, after all. But I do hate to deceive him! I never did before in mylife, and it strikes me as something awful. He doesn't dream that Iwould do such a thing. "

"I think he does, or he wouldn't have locked you in. If he had trustedyou, there would have been no need of that. "

"True, " she admitted. 

"And I shall be a living lie, just as you were, Buck, when you made methink I knew all about that _Crested Foam_ affair. So you see I am notmuch better than you were, if any. But you will never deceive me aboutanything again, will you, Buck?"

"Never!" the Kansan asserted. 

"And if you should find out who told father?"

"I'll punch his head. "

"And get into more trouble? You mustn't!"

"I know who it was. Don Pike did that, I'm certain, and if I don't payhim for it, I allow it will be because I don't get a chance. "

"Don't get into more trouble!" she begged. 

"There won't be any trouble--for me!"

Her fear of discovery was so great that she would not remain out long, but crept back into the house and up to her room. Badger, however, lingered, staring up at the house and vainly endeavoring to think ofsome plan which would enable them to overcome the violent objections ofMr. Lee. 

"I allow I am in a hole, " he grumbled. "But as long as Winnie has nonotion of throwing me over, I shall not let any coyote weakness get thebetter of me! Not on your life!"

He was about to leap the fence and make his way back to the campus, whenhe saw a man sneak into the yard and drop down behind some shrubbery notfar from the front door. He could not make out the man's face and formbecause of the darkness. 

"Mighty queer, that is!" thought the Westerner, staring at the spotwhere the man had disappeared. "He don't act as if he intended to try torustle the ranch. I reckon I'll wait a bit. "

Badger had not long to wait. Fairfax Lee came down the walk from thestreet scarcely a minute later. 

"If this wasn't New Haven, in the great and cultivated East, I shouldsay the fellow is laying for Lee with a gun, or a lariat!"

As Lee came down the path, the man appeared from behind the shrubbery, as if he had just returned from a visit to one of the side doors, andplaced himself in front of the politician. Lee stopped in a hesitatingway, and it was clear to Badger that he was afraid of this intruder. 

"What are you doing here?" Lee demanded. The man advanced a step, with athreatening whine. 

"You wouldn't see me at your office, and I have come here, Lee. When areyou going to get me that appointment?"

Lee was one of New Haven's prominent politicians. 

"I have told you that I can't do anything for you, Gaston!" he declared. 

"But you said before the election that you'd git me a job!"

"I said nothing of the kind!"

"That's a lie!" the man addressed as Gaston fiercely asserted. "Youwouldn't see me at the office, so I've come here, and I want justicedone. You have been turning me away every day. I was right so long as Icould hustle votes for you, and now I'm dirt!"

"You are simply a lunatic. "

"And you mean to put me in an asylum?" the man hissed. 

"That is the appointment I'll get for you, Gaston, if you trouble me. "

"I'll kill you!" Gaston snarled, drawing a knife. "That's what I havemade up my mind to do to you!"

"Stand aside, sir, and let me pass!" Lee commanded, though his voice wasshaky. "I shall have you arrested if you----"

For reply, the man leaped at Lee with a snarl like that of an enrageddog. 

"Loony as a locoed cowboy!" thought Badger. He was on the point ofrushing to Lee's assistance. But there was no need. Lee, who was lighton his feet, avoided the rush and ran for a side door, through which heescaped into the house, leaving Gaston to rave and mutter, and at lastretreat into the street and hurry away. 

Not until the man had disappeared did the Westerner leave the grounds. Then he leaped the fence, and hurried back to the campus. Here a largenumber of students were rollicking in the somewhat wild and recklessstudent fashion, to their own great delight and the amusement ofhundreds of spectators. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

FUN IN THE CAMPUS. 

Under an elm in front of Durfee some students were gathering "fruit. "They began by collecting it from members of the Chickering set. Of allthe men in the college, the Chickering set were the most unpopular withtheir fellow students. Their silliness and superciliousness were sounbounded as to be disgusting to all sensible men. From the immaculateRupert, with his patent-leather shoes and shining tile, down to thecowardly little lisper, Lew Veazie, they were alike detested. Hence itcame about that when Rupert Chickering appeared under the famous "fruit"tree wearing a more than ordinarily gorgeous shirt, the cry of "Fruit!"was immediately raised. 

Rupert uttered an exclamation of dismay and turned to run. He had heardthat cry before. But he only hastened what he sought to evade. A footoutstretched for the purpose tripped him, and brought him sprawling tothe ground. Before he could rise, one of the laughing students was uponhim. 

"See here!" he exclaimed, "I'll have you know that I will not submit toany such outrage! I know you, and I shall report you to the faculty!"

He tried to fight off the youth who held him, but a dozen other menrushed to this youth's assistance. Then a wild-eyed fellow produced ashining pocket-knife and slowly and exasperatingly opened its sharpestblade. 

"Help!" Rupert squawked. 

The knife was flourished in the air, and the tag on the lower end ofRupert's shirt-bosom was deftly amputated. 

"Fruit!" was again shouted, and a dash was made for Gene Skelding, who, as usual, wore a rainbow shirt that outshone Joseph's "coat of manycolors. "

"Help!" Skelding howled. 

But a score of hands outstretched to grasp him, and he, too, went down, screeching lustily. Another knife flashed and another shirt-tag wasneatly severed. 

Lew Veazie, who had been with Rupert and Gene, started to run, deemingdiscretion the better part of valor. But he took only a step when he, too, went down. And again an amputating knife did its work. As soon as ashirt-tag was cut off, the amputator, flourishing it on the blade of hisknife, like an Indian flaunting a scalp-lock, made a dash for the elm, where it was pinned up as a trophy. 

Then it was found that a "taste" for shirt-tags had been created by thisexciting bit of experience, and other men, who had been loudly laughingand cheering over the discomfiture of Chickering and his inane friends, found themselves suddenly on the ground, with wicked-looking knivesflashing before their eyes, and their shirts being mutilated by thepressure of keen knife-blades. 

In the midst of this "fun, " Buck Badger arrived on the campus from hisstolen interview with Winnie Lee. Though his face wore a perplexedexpression, it had lost its gloom. There might be trouble for him in thefuture, but Winnie's words had for the present driven the blackest ofthe shadows out of his heart. The desire uppermost in his mind just thenwas to meet and whip Donald Pike. He had sworn to himself that he woulddo that the first thing, and he meant to keep the oath. 

Nevertheless, reaching the elms of the campus at this exciting moment, he was willing to cease temporarily his search for Pike and view thefruit-gathering. It would be rare sport, provided, of course, that hisown shirt was not forced to yield "fruit. "

To prevent this, and that he might see better, he grasped a low-hanginglimb and swung up into one of the elms. 

"Fruit!" was being shouted everywhere, and the indications were thatscores of trophies would adorn the old elm the next morning, if somestop was not put to the thing by the college authorities, which was notlikely. "Society week" is expected to be noisy, and things are winked atwhich on ordinary occasions would bring reprimands. 

Another person had invaded the branches of the elm but a minute beforethe ascent of the Westerner. That other person was Donald Pike, wholooked down now on the man he felt instinctively to be his mortal foewith a little shiver of dread. More than once Pike had regretted makingthat revelation to Fairfax Lee, for the chances that discovery wouldcome and that Badger would fiercely summon him to answer, seemed verygreat, when he gave himself time to reflect. And he feared Badger. 

All might have gone well on this evening with Pike, however, if his fearof discovery had not made him try to climb farther up the tree. TheKansan heard the low scraping sound, in spite of the din in the campus, and glanced upward, and when he did so he saw and recognized the man hewas looking for. A calcium-light was sending its rays through the higherbranches, and Pike's white, scared face was as plainly revealed toBadger as if the two were facing each other in a lighted room. 

The hate which Badger had been nursing swelled to the point of bursting. He forgot the search for "fruit, " in which he had been interested, seeing only the enemy whom he had sworn to whip as soon as they met. 

As yet they had not met; but Badger, blinded by his intense anger, decided that the meeting should come without delay, even if the placewas a tree-top; and he began to climb up the trunk and boughs of thetree toward Donald. Pike looked about in a despairing way. The distanceto the ground seemed dishearteningly great. His first impulse, therefore, was to climb still higher, and this he began to do. 

But, recollecting the tenacity of Badger's purpose in whatever theKansan was engaged, he felt sure that he would be pursued into the verytop of the tree and shaken to the ground. Therefore, he hastily crawledout over a horizontal limb, whose drooping ends dipped toward the earth. If driven to the worst, he felt that he could drop from one of thosedrooping ends without serious injury. 

With a howl of rage, Badger climbed on after the frightened youth, andpursued him out on the horizontal limb. 

But there were to be other actors in this little overhead drama. Acouple of cats, chancing to be in the campus when the students invadedit, had run up this identical elm, and had crouched in wild-eyed fear onthat same bough, watching the wild orgies of the students. They hadprobably been there for a considerable period, not daring to descendwhile that howling, dancing mob held the grounds. Perhaps they evenfancied that those yells and ear-splitting squeals were directed againstthem. They must have thought so when Don Pike crawled out on the limbtoward them, followed by Buck Badger. 

The cats looked about, meowing anxiously. There was no other bough nearwhich they could gain by a leap. And as Pike, looking back and gaspingwith fright, crawled straight on toward them, the cat that was farthestout on the end of the limb launched itself through the air in adesperate leap for the ground. 

There was no cleared space in which it could alight, and it struck BinkStubbs on the top of the head, jamming his hat down over his eyes andhurling him backward. 

"Dog my cuc-cuc-cuc-cats!" stuttered Joe Gamp, looking up inopen-mouthed wonder. 

"The sky is raining cats!" whooped Danny. 

"Somebody amputate its tail!" yelled a student. 

"Cut off its shirt-tab!" shouted another. 

Bink and Danny, Gamp and all the others of Merriwell's friends whochanced to be grouped there, had already suffered the amputation oftheir shirt-tabs, and having no further fear on that point, werehilariously anxious that not a shirt-tab should be worn by a Yale manthat night. The "fruit" on the tree at Durfee was increasing in quantityand variety at a prodigious rate. 

"A dollar apiece for its ears!" some one else screeched. 

But the cat was too agile for the hands that were reached out to stopits flight. It whisked under the legs of the students and was out andaway like a shot. 

"Been up there watching the performance!" some one sung out. 

"Gug-gug-goshfry! There's a man up there!" Joe Gamp howled, as his eyesfell on Donald Pike. "It will be raining mum-mum-men, as well ascuc-cuc-cuc-cats, next thing! Ahaw! ahaw! ahaw!"

As his lips flew open to their widest extent to emit this roar, theother cat sailed downward out of the tree and struck him squarely in themouth. He tumbled backward with a roar, which, however, was not at allhilarious, and began to dig sputteringly at his tongue and lips, whichwere liberally coated with cat hair. 

"More cats!" said Dismal. "I'd as soon have the frogs of Egypt, as tohave the trees showering down cats. "

"How do you like cat diet, Gamp?" screeched Bink, who did not relish theway he had been laughed at. 

"I'll die-it, if one of 'em hits me!" Dismal solemnly asserted. 

"Look out!" a student warningly yelled. "The man is coming, too!"

Everybody beneath the limb fell back out of the way, pushing againstthose behind, many being hurled down and trodden on. Then Donald Pike, sprawled out like one of the cats, came sailing down out of the tree. His teeth were fairly chattering. He believed that Badger was right athis heels, with hands reached out to seize him. Fortunately, he was notinjured by the desperate leap. 

"Fruit!" was yelled by a dozen voices, and the throng pressed togetheragain to lay hold on him. 

But Don Pike's terror gave him the strength of a giant. He hurled asidethose who sought to detain him, and leaped through the crowd and away. The next instant the Kansan dropped out of the tree, swinging for amoment by one of the drooping branches, to break the force of the fall, and alighting on the ground with ease and lightness. 

"Fruit!"

The Westerner could not escape, for the students had closed in again, and he was literally ringed in. 

"Fruit! fruit!" was yelled on all sides. 

Twenty men threw themselves on the Kansan. He tried to hurl them off, and did succeed in flinging some of them aside. This enabled him to gainhis feet. 

"Let go!" he snarled. 

"Fruit! fruit!" was being chorused. 

Again the hands and arms closed on him. 

"Let me go, I say! I want to overtake that fellow!"

Only a few near him understood his words. The majority thought he wasmerely showing a vigorous protest against the threatened loss of hisshirt-tab, and they had no sympathy with anything of that kind, for theyhad suffered the same humiliation, and were naturally determined toinflict the same thing on every student they could lay their hands on. 

"Let go!" Badger shrieked, white with wrath, lunging with his hard rightfist. 

It struck a student in the face and hurled him crashingly backward. Butthe next moment the fist and arm were caught and held. 

Then began a fierce struggle for the mastery. Time and again theWesterner, whose strength was great, hurled off the men who sought tohold him down. Twice he got on his feet, merely to be tripped and thrownagain. Not until he was almost beaten and choked into insensibility werehis assailants able to rip open his vest. 

Ordinarily, Badger wore a soft silk shirt which had no tab, but on thisnight he had on a white shirt, whose tab was amputated by a dexterousthrust as soon as the vest was pulled open. Then he was permitted torise to his feet, reeling, sick, blind with rage and humiliation and asense of baffled hate. 

But his chief thought still was of Donald Pike. 

"Which way did he go?" he panted, as soon as he could get his breath. 

"Well, your High-Muchness, the cats scattered and the man made himselfscarce!" was the scoffing answer, given by the student who had felt theterrible force of Badger's fist. "Perhaps there is another man up in theelm who can tell you!"

Badger did not wait for further nagging, and, as no hands were nowextended to oppose him, he made as hasty an exit as he could from themidst of the shouting, laughing, howling throng. 

"Heavens!" he thought. "I hope that neither Inza, nor Elsie, nor any ofmy friends, saw that from the dormitory windows!"

Even in the midst of his rage against Pike, Badger was cut to the quickby this thought, for he was filled with a foolish pride. 

"I'll thump Pike a few extra for that!" he snarled, as he got out of thecrowd. His pulse was at fever-heat, and his face as hot as flame. He didnot feel the bruises and blows which had been showered on him. 

"I reckon I'll not get close to him again for a week!" he grumbled. "Whycouldn't those ruffians attend to their own affairs and let me attend tomine? I allow that it was none of their business whatever! This is mytrail, and I wasn't interfering none with their range. Confound theluck! But when I do meet him I'll make him pay for it!"

But the Westerner was mistaken in one portion of his surmise. He metPike, or rather ran against him, at the first building he turned. 

Donald had ventured back to see what had happened to his pursuer, andwas looking at the shouting tumult in the campus, and did not observeBadger, who came along the walk close to the wall. The Kansan recognizedPike first, and leaped at him with a snarl like that of an enragedpanther, and as he leaped he struck a blinding blow. 

It knocked Donald backward, but it did not fall fairly enough to inflictserious injury. The next moment Badger was on him, and had him by thethroat. 

"By heavens! I've a notion to kill you right here!" he hissed, hisfingers closing on Pike's throat. 

"Don't!" Pike pleaded, gasping out the appeal. 

"You told Fairfax Lee that I was drunk when I went on the _CrestedFoam_. You scoundrel! You ruffian! You sneaking coyote!"

His fingers tightened with every exclamation. 

"Don't kill me!" Pike begged wheezingly. "I'll go to him and take it allback!"

"Then you did tell him? I allow I ought to kick you clean out of yourhide, you onery varmint!"

There was no answer, and Donald Pike, apparently ceasing to breathe, fell back as limp as a rag. 

A bit of reason began to glimmer into the brain of the Westerner. Thoughhe had asserted that he would almost kill Pike, he did not really intendto do anything of the kind. He merely meant to inflict a punishmentwhich should be in a measure commensurate with the wrong which Pike hadcommitted against him. But the Kansan's great rage, combined with hishumiliating experience in the campus, which had still further inflamedhim, had driven him to more than ordinary recklessness. He had beenfairly insane. The fire began to go out of Badger's eyes when Pike didnot stir and seemed not to breathe. 

"I reckon I squeezed a bit too hard!" Badger muttered, regarding theunconscious youth with some degree of anxiety. "Well, I was wild enoughto choke his heart out!"

He stooped over Pike and saw the livid finger-marks on the throat. StillPike did not stir, and the Westerner's anxiety correspondingly grew. Heput a hand on Pike's left breast, and failed to locate the heart-beats. At last, after an alarming interval, Pike gasped, to Badger's intenserelief. 

"I allow I'd better let it go at this, " he reflected. "I don't want tokill the skunk, though if any man whatever deserved to be murdered, hedoes. But I don't want anything of that kind against me. As Merry hastold me, I've got an awful temper when it gets started. I shall have towatch myself against that, same as against red-eye!"

Pike gasped again, and then his breathing came at increasingly frequentintervals. The students were wildly howling in and around the campus, but Badger scarcely heard them. He was thinking only of Pike. 

"This may keep him in his room a few days, " he muttered. 

"If it does no more than that, I don't care. He deserved that much. Buthe's got to keep clear of me, or I can't be responsible for theconsequences. I'll tell him so as soon as he comes to himself and knowswhat has happened. "

CHAPTER XIX. 

A CRUSHING BLOW. 

Buck Badger stared at a letter in a familiar handwriting which had cometo his room in the afternoon mail. He had delivered to Donald Pike thatthreatening talk the night before, when Pike came back to the land ofsentient things after that awful choking. 

The infliction of this punishment on Pike, and the feeling that Winniewould stand by him in spite of everything, had so satisfied theWesterner that he had been in an uncommonly comfortable frame of mind, in spite of the fact that the powerful opposition of Fairfax Lee was yetto be overcome. With Winnie true, and time and youth in their favor, there seemed no good reason why he should be in the dumps. 

But the letter at which he now gazed with starting eyes and anguishedface! It was from Winnie herself, and what it said was enough to makethe Kansan's brain reel:

 "MR. BUCK BADGER: Father knows that we met last night, and he is much displeased, as he has a right to be. I am very sorry I said to you the things I did, for we can never be anything more to each other. I have had time to think more clearly since I saw you, and this is my decision. It will do no good to talk it over, for this is final. Therefore, if you are a gentleman, you will not try to see me again. I return to you by express your ring and the things you have given me. 

 "WINNIE LEE. "

"I can't understand it!" he gasped, as he recalled her words of theevening before. "Yet she wrote it. There isn't any doubt whatever ofthat. I wish there were, but I know that handwriting too well. "

He read it over again and again, as if searching out some other meaning. It seemed so impossible. Yet there it was. He got up and began to paceround the room, stopping almost every time he passed the table to takeanother look at the letter. 

"Thrown over!" he groaned. "And after all we've been to each other! Iallow she couldn't stand up against her father. How in thunder did hefind out that we met last night? Some onery, spying Piute of a servant, I reckon. Well, I seem to be rounded up now, and Winnie's given me thebranding-iron with her own white hand. "

He mopped the sweat from his face. 

"I won't accept it! That's whatever! She says that if I'm a gentleman, I'll not try to see her again. Glad I ain't a gentleman! Glad I'm aman--and I allow a man is a good deal bigger than a gentleman! I s'posea gentleman would sit down and twiddle his fingers, and do nothing. Well, I ain't built that way! Not on your life! I'm going to see heragain, whether she wants to see me or not. I'll see her, if I have tofight my way into that house! That's whatever!"

He gave his breast a thump, as if he fancied he was striking at anenemy. His face was red and his neck veins stood out like cords. Hisheavy shoulders were thrown back, and his broad white teeth gleamed in adetermined fashion. 

"I'll find out just why she changed her mind so suddenly. Of course, itwas her father's work. He has kept her under his thumb so long that shehas come to the conclusion that she has to mind him in this, too! Hethinks I'm not good enough for her, I allow! Well, I ain't--no man onearth is good enough for her--but I'm just as good as Fairfax Lee, anyday in the week! Hanged if I don't tell him so, too!

"Yes, I'll walk into his office, if I have to knock over that clerk todo it, and I'll tell him what I think of him, if I'm arrested for itnext minute. In this beastly East, instead of meeting a man and fightinghim, the first thing a fellow thinks of, if he has a word with another, is to call in the police. But I'm not afraid of the New Haven police!"

Badger's heart seethed like a volcano. 

"See her! Well, I reckon! I'll see her if I die for it! I'll see her, even if she refuses to speak to me! I'm going to find out what's at thebottom of this!"

While the Westerner was thus storming, an expressman came with thelittle package containing the ring and the trinkets which Badger hadgiven to Winnie. It contained no note, but the address was in Winnie'shandwriting. 

Badger tore the package open almost before the expressman was out of theroom. A lump came into his throat as he looked at the ring. Heremembered so distinctly the time he gave it to her and all the wordsthen said. It seemed impossible that she had returned it now in thiscurt manner. 

"I'll ask her to take it back!" he muttered. He dropped the ring into apocket of the suit he was wearing, that he might be sure to have it withhim when he met her--for that he would meet her in some way or other hewas firmly resolved. 

"Her father has driven her into this. It's not her wish, I know. But sheis so good and dutiful that she may stick by this decision, to pleasehim. I allow that there is where the trouble is going to come. But Iwon't give her up! Not unless she tells me positively with her own lipsthat everything is ended. "

Badger now did something which he would never have dreamed of doing ashort time before. Even the thought of it would have been greeted withscorn. He carefully put the letter in an inner pocket, put away thetrinkets which Winnie had returned, and set out to find Frank Merriwell. The act did not even strike him as incongruous. 

"Inza and Elsie will do anything for Merriwell! He can go in and out ofLee's house as he wants to. I allow he will be glad to help me in thisthing, if he can. The trail looks to be so confoundedly tangled that abit of help in ciphering it out will be mighty welcome just now!"

He scowled as he crossed the campus and remembered the unpleasantexperience of the previous night. The tree in front of Durfee still borea large quantity of "fruit. " The tab of Badger's shirt was there. 

"Come over here and pick out your property!" shouted a student who wasstanding in a group near the tree. 

Badger strode on without a word, for he was in no humor forpleasantries. 

"Fruit!" squealed Danny Griswold. 

"Where are you going, my pretty maid?" Bink Stubbs sang from his perchon the fence. 

"Going to hunt up those cats, " said the Westerner, with sarcastic scorn. "I hear their kittens squawling for them!"

Danny fell over against Bink. 

"A joke from Badger!" he murmured. "Somebody fan me!"

"I'll fan you!" grunted Bink, who was not pleased with the Kansan'sretort, pushing Danny roughly from him. 

"Do!" begged Danny. "That took my breath. What will happen next?"

Badger swung on at a swift, nervous pace, and mounted to Frank's room. 

"Come in!" Frank sung out, as the Kansan's knuckles hammered on thedoor. 

He was rather surprised to see Badger at that hour. But he put away thebook he had been studying, and pushed out a chair. 

"Take a seat!" he invited. 

"I reckon you'll think it's mighty funny that I should come to you foradvice and help?"

"Why, no! It's a way my friends have. And they know that I am alwaysready to do whatever I can for them. "

"Well, it's about Winnie!" said Badger bluntly. Whereupon, in a fewwords, he told his story. 

"That rather stumps me, Badger, " Frank admitted. "I think, though, thatthe straight way is the best. If you're willing, I will see Lee in yourbehalf. I shall have to admit to him that you were intoxicated at thattime, but I'll try to make him see that you are pretty straight goods, for all of that. Perhaps a few words from one who knows you will behelpful. "

"If you will, Merry, I can't ever thank you enough. It will be about asbig a favor, I allow, as one man ever did for another, and I sha'n'tforget it. "

Merriwell looked at his watch. 

"I can't go to his office this afternoon, but I'll see him at his houseto-night. I may be late getting there, but I'll try to time it to bethere when he gets home from his club. "

Badger went away as if walking on air. He could hardly think of anythingelse throughout the remainder of the day, and night found him in thevicinity of the Lee home, even though he had a feeling that Merriwellwould prefer he should keep away from there until the result of thepromised interview was known. 

"I wish Merry would hurry, " he thought, as he finally advanced to thefence, drawn there by his intense desire to be near to Winnie. "I'llspeak to him before he goes in, and ask him to come right out as soon aspossible with the news. "

As he stood thus by the fence, a light step sounded, and, looking over, he recognized in the dim light the form of Winnie Lee. He was by herside at a bound. 

"You must not stand by that note!" he pleadingly began. "I allow thatyou will see, when you think of it, that it isn't right by me!"

He did not attempt to touch her or stoop toward her. She had, in writingthat letter, forbidden familiarities. Their relations toward each otherwere unchanged. He remembered the ring in his pocket. 

"Buck! you silly fellow! Don't you know that I didn't mean to cast youoff?"

"But the note?" he gasped. "It was in your handwriting? And the ring?You sent back the ring!"

"Yes, I wrote the letter because father commanded me to write it, and Isent back the ring for the same reason. You ought to have known that!"

The change in his feelings was so great and sudden that he could hardlyrepress a shout. 

"I reckon I'm the biggest idiot unhung!" he confessed, as he took her inhis arms. "But when I saw that the writing was yours, I fancied yourfather had by threats, or in some way, induced you to change your mind, and that you really thought, in duty to him, you ought not to see me anymore. Say, I'm too happy to think! I'm----"

"You are just a silly fellow!"

"You never shot straighter! I'm a roaring idiot!"

He kissed her and held her face toward the light in a rather vain effortto see its outline. 

"I've been crazier since I got that note than any locoed cowboy thatever tore up the ranges. I've simply been wild!"

"I am very sorry, Buck. Yet I think I must have suffered as much. Lastnight father obtained from me a confession that I had met you in thegrounds here. He asked me if I had met you, and my confused looks mademy denials useless. Then he ordered me to write that note and to sendback the ring. He mailed them himself. And he made me promise that Iwouldn't meet you again. But when I made it, I realized that I couldn'tkeep it. "

"You're an angel!"

"I never heard that angels were disobedient. "

"Some of them. "

"And they were punished for it. Oh, Buck, I hope we will never regretthis--that there will be no punishment for this!"

"There won't be!" he grimly declared. 

"Father is gone, " she said. "Out of the city!"

"And I wanted Merry to see him here this evening, " in a tone of regret, "Merry is to have a talk with him and try to get him to see that I amnot such a soaking Piute as I've been painted!"

"I'm sorry, too, Buck--though I was glad. "

"Glad?"

"I intended to ask you into the house. Is it very wrong?"

"I don't think so!" he whispered, joy and triumph in his voice. "Whereyou lead I will follow. By and by I hope we will walk abreast. "

CHAPTER XX. 

INTO A TRAP. 

When Buck and Winnie walked into the house, they walked into a trap, though the laying of a trap for them was not contemplated by Mr. Lee. 

Encountering none of the servants, Winnie conducted Badger into theparlor. 

"Merriwell will be here soon, I allow. "

"We're not afraid of Merriwell!"

"Only thinking that you and I want to have this meeting all toourselves. Then the servant that shows Merriwell up, if one does, maysee us, and I calculate that I ain't hankering to meet up with any ofyour servants on this trip. None whatever!"

But Winnie was not disturbed. 

"Father is going over to Hartford to-night on business, " she laughed, laying aside the scarf and jacket. "I heard him say to the cook that hewouldn't return before to-morrow. "

There was a certain exultant defiance in Badger's bearing that made him, in spite of his bulky, heavy shoulders and modern clothing, somewhatresemble some ancient knight ready to do battle for his "ladye fair. "Winnie Lee observed it, and was pleased. The Westerner's devotion was sotrue that she felt rather proud of it And, indeed, Badger, in spite ofhis many faults, failings, and weaknesses, had some admirable traits ofcharacter. 

All at once Winnie heard footsteps approaching the door of the parlor. She thought the steps were those of a servant, and blamed herself fornot closing the door. Then a familiar form appeared in the doorway, andher cheeks grew white. Buck Badger looked up at the same moment, and hisdark face flushed. 

Fairfax Lee had changed his mind about going to Hartford! He hadreturned home, let himself into the house, and walked up-stairs. Seeingthe light in the parlor, he had approached the door. 

He was as much astonished as the lovers. For a moment not a word wasspoken. Winnie seemed about to swoon, and Badger put a hand on hershoulder, as if to support her. Then Mr. Lee broke the silence, andstepped into the room. 

"What is the meaning of this disobedience?" he sternly demanded, speaking to Winnie. 

She staggered to her feet, trembling before him. Badger sprang up, erectand defiant. 

"I thought you promised me that you would never meet him again?"

She did not answer. 

He turned with flashing eyes on the Westerner. 

"And I forbade you the house, sir!"

Badger wanted to take him by the throat. 

"See here, Mr. Lee!" he said, in a voice that demanded a hearing. "Iknow you told me that I wasn't welcome in this house, and I reckon Iknow full well that I am not welcome. But that's no sign that I am goingto stay out of it, as long as it shelters your daughter!"

"Winnie, you will go to your room!"

He advanced toward her, and she drew away from Badger. But she did notgo toward the door. Her father stepped to her side. 

"There is the door!" Lee commanded, addressing the Kansan. 

"I see it, " said Badger. "You don't need to show it to me!"

"Will you go out of it? Will you leave this house?" Fairfax Lee waspanting with rage. "Get out of this room!" he cried. 

Badger straightened his thick shoulders, and his broad, white teethgleamed unpleasantly. 

"Mr. Lee, you are Winnie's father, and because of that I shall pay noattention to your insults; but I tell you now, that you may understandit, that I love your daughter and intend to marry her!"

"By heavens, you never shall!"

"It may be a long trail, Mr. Lee, but there will be a home-coming at theend of it. I shall see her as often as I can, and I shall write to herwhen I can, and I shall marry her! I have promised to, and I'll do it!"

"Never speak to my daughter again!" Mr. Lee thundered, pointing Badgerto the door. 

"Good night, Winnie, " said the Kansan, as he passed out. "There will bebetter days by and by. "

Then he fairly reeled down the stairway, sick and giddy and almostgasping, yet shaking with rage against Fairfax Lee. 

Badger waited in the vicinity of the house in a fever of impatienceuntil Merriwell appeared. Though a more inauspicious time, seemingly, could not have been found, he had strong confidence in Frank's abilityto aid him. It was a feeling which was invariably produced in the heartsof all. 

He met Merriwell at some distance from the Lee residence, and drew himaway for a talk, in which he acquainted him with what had taken place. Then Frank went on into the house, and the Westerner recommenced hisvigil. 

The interview which shortly followed between Frank and Mr. Lee was of aninteresting and important character. Fortunately, Fairfax Lee had a veryhigh opinion of Frank Merriwell. Otherwise he would not have heard himat all in behalf of Badger. Even as it was, he at first listened withnervous impatience, unwilling to believe that anything could bepresented in the Westerner's behalf. 

Merriwell went over the whole ground with great candor and frankness. Headmitted that Badger was intoxicated when lured aboard the _CrestedFoam_. But he asserted his belief that the Kansan was all right atheart. He laid stress also on the fact, which was now clearly understoodby Fairfax Lee, that Winnie loved the Kansan; and he insisted that thelatter had no real taste for liquor, but was driven into his debauch bya fit of jealousy. 

"I will think over this, " Lee promised. "As you say, I have no desire tobe unjust; still less do I wish to be harsh beyond what is necessary. Ionce thought well of Badger. I can't say more now. His actions haveseemed to me very low and very dishonorable. "

The long interview ended with this. But Merriwell, not realizing thatBadger was still waiting for him in wild anxiety, made a call on Inzaand Elsie, which was so pleasant that it was much more protracted thanhe had intended it should be, and the hour grew late. 

In the meantime, other things were hurrying events to a climax. FairfaxLee had hastened home that night in fear of his life. Bill Gaston, oncea useful political worker, who had been driven insane by his failure tosecure an appointment he craved, and who the day before had been lockedup for threatening Lee's life, had escaped and was at large. That theman was crazy there could be no doubt, and that he would shoot Lee onsight seemed just as certain. 

Buck Badger, wandering like a restless spirit in the vicinity of thehouse, saw a man leap the fence and sneak toward a rear entrance. Theman's general appearance and crouching attitude were like those of thecrazed office-seeker whom Buck had once seen threatening Lee in thatvery place. 

"After Lee again!" was Badger's conclusion. "I reckon I'd better camp onhis trail. He said he would kill Lee, and that must be what he is upto!"

Thereupon, Badger also leaped the fence and slipped through the shadowsin the direction taken by the man he supposed to be Gaston. 

"Eh! what does that mean?"

Badger stopped stock-still. He saw several men beneath a window, whichthey had forced open. One man was being helped through. 

"Can't be a band of assassins, I allow? More likely a lot of burglarstrying to crack the crib. "

The Westerner was right in his guess. These were not friends of BillGaston bent on assassination, but housebreakers, whose cupidity had beenaroused by the fact, which had chanced to come to their knowledge, thata diamond brooch worth ten thousand dollars had recently been taken fromthe Lee residence. A crib which held such valuables seemed to them agood one to rip open, and they had obtained information that Fairfax Leewas expected to be away from home that night. They had found that mostof the servants were out, too, and because of this it appeared safer tomake the raid at an early hour, before the servants returned. 

Badger stood in indecision in the shadows, wondering what course heought to pursue. Before he could make up his mind, the first burglar haddisappeared, and a second was being helped through the window. Two ofthe burglars--there were four or five of them, as Badger could see--wereto wait outside, while their pals on the inside made their search forvaluables. 

Suddenly there came a cry for help from within the house, followed bythe sounds of a struggle. Fairfax Lee, unable to sleep and wandering asrestlessly about within the house as the Westerner had upon the outside, had come unexpectedly upon the first burglar at the upper landing of therear stairway. The burglar looked so marvelously like the crazyoffice-hunter, Bill Gaston, that Lee believed him to be Gaston, and thatGaston had invaded the house for purposes of assassination. 

Though Lee had dreaded a meeting with Gaston, and would have gone farout of his way to avoid anything of the kind, he was by no means acoward. He expected a shot from Gaston's pistol, and to prevent this, hehurled himself on the burglar with a suddenness and boldness that tookthe latter by surprise. 

The cry for help did not come from the lips of Fairfax Lee, but fromthose of the burglar. Badger, however, fancied that the call had comefrom Lee. Without waiting to consider the danger, or to ask himself howhe was to account for his presence in the grounds and in the house, BuckBadger ran toward the open window. 

As he did so, he saw two of the other burglars leap through. They weregoing to the assistance of their pal. Then a shot sounded. 

Badger crossed the intervening distance at a sprinting pace, and foundhimself suddenly confronted by the burglar who was still on guard at thewindow. A pistol gleamed in the dim light. Badger knocked it aside, struck the man a blow that would have felled an ox, and went through thewindow with a flying leap that took him to the foot of the stairway. 

He saw the two burglars on the stairs near the top. One held adark-lantern and the other a heavy jimmy. Above, the sounds of the fightcontinued, and the burglar attacked by Lee was still bawling for help. 

Fairfax Lee felt that he was fighting for his life, and he stillbelieved that he was fighting Bill Gaston. He did not hear the burglarson the stairs. He was trying to get the supposed Bill Gaston by thethroat and choke him into subjection. The burglar's shot, fired almostpointblank at Lee, had done him no injury, and now the weapon was on thefloor. 

"Help!" bellowed the burglar. 

He got his throat free, but he could not throw off those clutchinghands. Visions of striped clothing and prison officials loomed beforehim, for he had once done time. His anxious ears heard what Lee didnot--the calls of the ruffians who were hurrying to his assistance--andhe fought like a tiger. 

Buck Badger went up the stairway in quick leaps. If the burglars heardhim, they must have fancied he was the guard left at the window, forthey did not look round. But before the Kansan could reach the upperlanding, the three scoundrels were on Lee. 

"Clip him on der head!" one of them growled. "Don't use yer barker--toomuch noise! Hit him wid der jimmy. All der cops in New Haven will be indis crib in a minute!"

Fairfax Lee was still putting up a stiff fight, and the jimmy flashed inthe air. Before it could descend, Buck Badger flung himself into themidst of them, with the impetuous leap of a mountain-lion. The man withthe uplifted jimmy went down before a blow from the Kansan's fist, andthe other was hurled aside. The burglar that Lee had been fighting torehimself loose and turned toward Badger and the stairway. Then theWesterner heard the ominous click of a revolver. These burglars, likeall of their craft, were ready to do murder if it seemed necessary. 

Lee tripped the burglar with the revolver, and the shot went into thefloor. The other burglar was coming up the stairway with tremendousleaps. The house seemed to be arousing. Badger heard a woman scream. 

"Kill him!" was panted by one of the villains. 

Then the jimmy descended, and though the Westerner tried to knock theblow aside, his arm was beaten down, and the jimmy fell on his head withcrushing force. Badger's head seemed to split open under that blow, anda blur of blood and mistiness followed. He felt himself reeling andsinking, with his feet slipping on the stairway, toward which he hadfallen. Then he dropped like an ox in the shambles. 

But before complete unconsciousness came, he heard the shout of awell-known voice--the voice of Frank Merriwell!

Merriwell came upon the scene from a corridor, having been drawn by thecalls and the pistol-shots, and with marvelous quickness and certaintygrasped the whole intent of what he beheld. 

Fairfax Lee struck aside the revolver that was pointed at Frank, andagain began to call for help. The next instant Merriwell was in thethick of the fight. Though no man could have understood his peril moreperfectly, there was at that moment in Merriwell's heart a wild thrillof joy. He laughed as he struck at the nearest ruffian--a laugh thatsounded strangely out of place. 

The blow fell with crushing force, and the ruffian tumbled backwardagainst the wall. Before Merriwell could turn, two of the other threeruffians were on his back. One had drawn a knife and the other had thejimmy. The remaining burglar was on the stairs, and was lifting arevolver. Merriwell lunged toward him, and the man, instead of firing, lost his footing, and went tumbling down the steps. 

Inasmuch as he had a revolver, he seemed the most dangerous, and Frankleaped after him, dragging with him the scoundrels who were trying tostrike him from behind. But the terrible fall knocked the breath out ofthe burglar, and he slid helplessly on down the stairway, letting therevolver go bumping and clattering to the floor below. Merriwell wheeledwith lightning quickness to meet the man with the threatening jimmy. 

Badger seemed to be slipping down the stairway, also. Then Frank saw himlift himself and try to stagger to his feet. Without taking further noteof this, Merriwell promptly closed with the other burglar on the stairs. 

"Shoot him, Bill!" the fellow cried, to his pal above. 

But that worthy, believing that "he who fights and runs away may live tofight another day, " was making tracks for the nearest window, intendingto leap to the ground. 

The burglar who had closed with Frank, endeavored to trip him, with theresult that he was himself shot over Frank's head, and went to thebottom of the stairs at a flying leap, bowling over his pals, who weretrying to get on their feet and pull themselves together. Merriwellcaught the stairway rail, down which he slid almost as quickly. His handclosed on the revolver which had fallen to the floor; and, with itcocked and leveled, he wheeled, facing the men, who, swearing horribly, were again trying to gain their feet. 

"Surrender!" he sharply called. 

The answer was an oath. 

"Surrender, or by the gods of war I'll drop you one and all right whereyou are! Up with your paws!"

They knew he meant it, and there was no escape. The next moment thethree burglars at the foot of the stairs put up their hands in token ofsubmission. 

 * * * * *

Badger sat in his room. His bandaged head ached painfully, but in hisheart there was a glow of pleasure. The surgeon had told him that hewould be all right in a day or two, and he had just received a note fromWinnie Lee. 

"Dear Buck, " it read, "I have had a long talk with father. He says thatboth you and Merriwell fought like heroes, and that your promptappearance on the scene no doubt saved his life. In spite of this, though, he is not willing that I shall receive calls from you. But I cansee that his opposition is not nearly so strong as it was, and I havehopes that it will soon disappear altogether. Father says that theburglars which Merriwell captured will no doubt be sent to State'sprison. Thank Frank for me for his great favor in speaking to father foryou, as he did--for I can see that father's change toward you is duemore to Frank's talk than to your fight, brave as that was. I will meetyou as often as I can, Buck, and I will send you a note every day. Andwe will be true to each other always, in spite of father's opposition. Your sweetheart, WINNIE. "

"There never was any girl truer!" muttered the Kansan, as he read andreread the note. "That's whatever! She is true as steel! But, " hecontinued, "how can I thank Merriwell for his part in the affair? Hepulled me through, all right, and there's no mistaking that fact. "

Hardly had he uttered these words, than a knock came at the door. "Comein, " said Buck--and in walked Frank himself!

"Well, I'm glad to see you, " said Buck, "and that's whatever! I want toknow how I can thank you for what you've done for me in this affair, ingoing to Winnie's father in the way you did. "

A gleam came into Frank's eyes as he sat there, and a smile played onhis lips. 

"My dear fellow, " he said finally, "I don't want any reward from you orany one else for what I do, by way of helping them out. I do the best Ican in that respect--the same as you or anyone else would do--and that'sreward enough for me--a clear conscience! Thanks, all the same, Buck. "

CHAPTER XXI. 

BAD NEWS. 

So sunshine follows storm!

It was a jolly party aboard the _Merry Seas_, as she bowled along on herway from New Haven to New York. It was composed of Frank Merriwell and anumber of his intimate friends; and wherever Frank and his friends were, Dull Care usually hid his agued face and gave place to smiling Pleasure. 

"That grumbling old boatman at the New Haven wharf was a liar!" groanedDismal Jones, as if it were a grief that he had not found the boatman'sunpleasant prognostications true. 

"What did he say?" asked Danny Griswold, who had been prancing the decklike a diminutive admiral, stopping now and blowing a cloud of cigarettesmoke from his nostrils. 

"He said that a smoker of cigarettes is always a measly runt!" gruntedBruce Browning, from the big chair in which he had ensconced himselfalmost as soon as he came aboard, and which he had hardly left since. 

"You're another!" said Danny. "He didn't say anything of the kind. "

"He was a poet, " said Dismal, "and he threw his comment into rime. I wastaken in by him, I suppose, because he seemed to be half-way quotingScripture:

 "'The Pharisees were hypocrites, And the _Merry Seas_ is a ship o' fits!'"

"A ship o' fits? Nothing eccentric about this steamer, so far as I cansee!"

"Except Danny Griswold!" exclaimed Bink Stubbs. "He is enough to giveanything fits. "

"Something your tailor is never able to give you!" Danny retorted. 

"Sit down!" growled Browning. "You are shutting out the view!"

"What view?" Danny demanded. 

"The view of the steamer's funnel. I'd rather look at that. It can smokeand keep still--and you can't. "

Inza and Elsie came along, accompanied by Merriwell and Bart Hodge. Winnie Lee, who was at present under her father's displeasure for herpersistence in continuing to encourage Buck Badger, was not aboard, butAmy May was a member of the party. At the moment, she was conversinggaily with Bernard Burrage, Inza's semi-invalid father, on theforward-deck. 

"We're going to have a fog!" said Merriwell, speaking to Bruce and thosenear. "I have been hoping it would hold off until we reach New York, butit isn't going to. "

"I'd rather be in a ship that has fits now and then, than to be stuck ina fog-bank!" Bink declared. "I guess that New Haven boatman was aprophet, after all. "

The _Merry Seas_ was a steamer running on a somewhat irregular scheduleto New Haven and New London, and back to the great metropolis by the searoute along the ocean side of Long Island, touching at one or two LongIsland points. 

Merriwell's friends had decided on a steamer voyage to New York and backas a change from the usual work and athletics at Yale. Not that theywere tired of either. But nothing of signal importance was on theprogram to detain them in New Haven, and they were away, therefore, forthis short trip by boat. 

The ordinary Sound route between New Haven and New York was familiarground to every member of the party, and something new was desired. Hence they had taken the _Merry Seas_, which had steamed to New London, and out to sea between Block Island and Montauk Point, and had then laidher course down the Long Island coast for New York harbor. 

Inza laughed at Bink's lugubrious declaration. Gamp was laughing, too. 

"If we get stuck in a fog, we can have Joe Gamp yell a few times for us. That will do for a fog-horn. "

"Then the _Merry Seas_ will have fits, sure enough!" said Bink. 

Gamp looked serious. 

"Well, honest, now, that dud-dud-don't sus-sound so funny to mum-me asit dud-does to you. Owned a cuc-cuc-carf once, that was pup-prancingraound in the med-der pup-pup-pasture, and I gug-got so tickled that Ijust sus-set daown and hollered. Goshfry! you wouldn't believe it, bub-bub-but that cuc-carf fell over dead's a stun wall!"

"Gave it heart-disease, of course!" Bink gravely observed. "Not to bewondered at. "

"I'm just tut-tut-telling this story as a warning tut-to you!" Joesolemnly observed. "The hoss dud-dud-doctor said that the pup-poorthing's head was weak. Sus-so when we get into a fuf-fog and I begug-ginto holler, bub-bub-better pup-put cotton into your ears, Binky!"

Stubbs fell back into Danny's arms. 

"Ar-r-r-r!" he gurgled. "I've got 'em now. Fits!"

"I'll give you fits, if you don't stop tumbling over against me!" Dannyhowled, giving Bink a push that landed him in Browning's lap. Everybodylaughed, and Merriwell and his companions walked on round the steamer'srail. 

"It hurts me to think that I must separate soon from all those jollyfellows!" Merry observed, in a saddened voice. "But commencement isrushing this way at railroad speed, and most of them will go out of Yalethen forever. "

"We'll not get blue about it until we have to, " said Elsie, though thethought had saddened her more than once. 

"Just see how the fog is coming down!" Inza observed. 

"Hello!" cried Hodge, "another vessel!"

A steamer hove into view through the thickening mist. The boats began tosound their whistles. 

"A sort of Flying Dutchman!" remarked Merriwell, and, indeed, thepassing steamer did seem more a phantasm of the fog than a real vesselcarrying living, breathing people. The _Merry Seas_ sounded her whistleat frequent intervals as she pushed on into the fog, and for some timeafter the steamer had vanished her hoarse whistle could also be heard. 

"Hello!" cried Browning, who had been lazily looking over some late NewYork papers. 

The tone and the change in his manner told that he had come on astartling piece of news. 

"What is it?" Diamond asked. 

"Maybe only the same name!" said Browning, and then read this paragraphfrom the telegraphic columns:

 "A young Irishman named Barney Mulloy was attacked and killed by hoboes near Sea Cove, on the coast not far from Sandy Hook, yesterday morning. The object of the tramps was doubtless robbery, as Mulloy is known to have had a considerable sum of money on his person. "

Browning looked up questioningly. 

"Likely another fellow, though!" he said. 

"By Jove! I'm afraid not!" exclaimed Frank, who had hastily taken thepaper from Bruce, and was staring in consternation at the fateful item. 

"There may be a hundred Barney Mulloys!" said Rattleton. 

Frank shook his head. 

"I had a letter from him a few days ago, and he was then stopping at SeaCove. He was making money, too!"

Merriwell felt stunned. Barney Mulloy had been one of his dearestfriends, faithful and honest, kind-hearted and true, jolly and hopeful. Through all of his hilarious experiences at Fardale, Frank had not astancher adherent. And now Barney was dead, slain by a lot of miserabletramps! Tears of honest grief and indignation came into Frank's eyes. 

"Barney Mulloy dead?" exclaimed Inza, coming up at that moment andhearing the news. 

"What?" cried Elsie. 

"Report in the _Herald_, " Frank answered. "Killed yesterday by hoboes, somewhere below Sandy Hook. "

Bad news spreads as if by magic. In a little while the other members ofthe party, having read the story for themselves or heard of it fromothers, gathered round Merriwell. 

"Well, he was an honest boy, " said Hodge, a noticeable tremor in hisvoice. 

"A better-hearted lad never lived!" Merriwell asserted. 

Frank's mind went back to Fardale, and, grieved as he was, he couldagain hear the yells of Barney Mulloy and Hans Dunnerwust, when theycrawled into bed with the lobsters, which they thought were centipedes. It had been one of the funniest incidents of the Fardale days, for boththought they were poisoned by the bites of the creatures, and that theywould surely die. The whole thing had been a practical joke, in whichFrank had played a prominent part. And now Barney, the mischievous, theloyal, the reckless, was dead!

"I can hardly believe it!" Merry declared. "It doesn't seem possible. But there is one thing! I shall spend some money in having those hoboeshunted down and punished for their crime. "

"I wish I could have happened along there about the time they jumped onhim!" growled Hodge, and the light in his dark face showed that he wouldhave done his best to make it hot for the hoboes if he could have puthis hands on them. "Barney had the right kind of stuff in him. "

This depressing bit of news took all the merriment and life out of thelittle party. And, as the steamer wallowed on through the increasingfog, the world seemed suddenly to have become wrapped in gloom. 

"Wish we'd stayed in New Haven!" grunted Browning. "I'll have to smokefaster to keep warm, or go below. "

"And I wish we were in New York, " said Bink. "There is something thereto warm up the blood. "

Danny looked at him. 

"Drinks? Likely the captain has a private bottle tucked away somewherethat he will give you a nip out of. "

"Life, I mean. Pulsing streets, swarms of people, theaters, hand-organs----"

"Oh, yes, a monkey is usually lost away from a hand-organ!"

"I suppose that is why you always seem so lonesome! When Merry is sad, we all are--grumpy! New York would help to lift us out of the dumps. "

CHAPTER XXII. 

ADRIFT IN THE ATLANTIC. 

"So thick you might cut it with a knife!"

Captain Darien, who had walked forward and joined the group ofMerriwell's friends, looked off into the wall of gloom as he said this. The _Merry Seas_ was mournfully blowing her whistle, and others werecontinually heard. The steamer was nearing New York harbor. 

"Will you try to run in, captain?" Frank asked. 

"Oh I think we can make it. I don't like to anchor out here all night. Ihave a pretty good idea of just where we are. "

"The fog may lift before night. "

The captain looked at his watch, and saw that it indicated nearly threeo'clock. 

"I'm afraid not. And likely it will be no better in the morning. I shalltry to go in. "

A fog-siren somewhere on the invisible shore was sending out itsunearthly blasts. Then a whistle seemed to cut the gloom right ahead, and a big black shape loomed through the murk. The _Merry Seas_ soundedher warning, and the helm was jammed hard a-starboard. Another shriekcame from the phantom that had seemed to rise right out of the sea. Withthat shriek, she also swung off. 

"I thought we were in for a collision!" said Frank, breathing morefreely. "It will be a squeak as it is. "

Elsie had nervously clutched him by the arm. All were moving back fromthe dangerous vicinity toward the other rail. 

"A tug!" said Bart, who was standing near Merriwell. 

The tug, which was a large one, seemed now fairly on top of them. Insize, it was as large or larger than the _Merry Seas_. A collision ofthe two vessels would be a serious thing. 

"We're going to strike, or scrape!" Frank warned, taking Inza and Elsieeach by an arm. "Brace for it!"

Orders were being given, and the whistles were hoarsely blowing. Bothvessels were still falling off. Some one on the tug bellowed franticallythrough a big trumpet. 

"What was that?" Inza asked. 

"Tows!" said Frank. "Something about tows!"

The tug and the steamer did not strike, though they grazed each other soclosely that a collision seemed unavoidable. Then there was morebellowing through trumpets and more whistling, and Frank felt the _MerrySeas_ tremble under him as her engines were reversed. He knew not whatto expect. 

Crash!

The big tug, _Gladiator_, had a string of heavily laden barges in tow. Into one of these barges, in spite of every effort to prevent it, thebow of the _Merry Seas_ crashed with terrible force. It was as if ahorse should rush headlong against a stone wall. 

The shock was terrific. Merriwell heard a sound of smashing timbers andsnapping iron. He was pitched violently from his feet as the bow of the_Merry Seas_ was forced downward by the collision. He felt himselfflying through the air. Then he struck the water, and went down, down, down!

But Frank did not lose consciousness. And as he came to the surface, hesupported himself by a gentle motion of his hands and feet, and tried tolook about. He knew how great was his peril. But his thoughts were notwholly of himself. He thought of Inza and Elsie, of Hodge and his otherfriends. What had befallen them? Had they, too, been hurled into the seaby that awful shock? If so, there could be little doubt that some ofthem, if not all, would be drowned. 

He shouted for assistance, and heard a hoarse whistle not far away. Hecould see nothing, for the fog was as impenetrable as a blanket He beganto swim toward the sound. He could not tell whether the whistle was thatof the tug or the _Merry Seas_ or of some other vessel. Again he sent upa call for help. The water was cold and his clothing heavy. He wasthinking of trying to get out of his shoes and outer coat, when he hearda human cry not far away. 

"Help! help!" some one called. 

"Help! help!" Frank shouted. 

But instead of swimming on, he turned in the direction of the cry. Itindicated a human being in distress and peril, and he felt that he mightbe able to save a life. 

"Help!" came the cry again. 

The voice was so choked and thick, and there was such a rush of water inhis ears that Merry could not tell much about it, yet it seemedfamiliar. It was near at hand, too; and, sending back an answering call, Frank swam straight toward it. 

"Help!" was shouted, right at hand now, for the voice seemed to bedrifting toward him. 

"Where are you?"

For answer, Merriwell received a heavy blow on the head and breast froma piece of timber. He went under with a cry, his head ringing and hissenses reeling. 

The next thing he knew, he was stretched out on some sort of raft, andsome one was holding him there by sheer force. His feet and legs weretrailing through the water. The whistle of the steamer or tug soundedagain, but farther away. 

"Is that you, Merry? How are you feeling?"

It was a familiar voice, though thick and husky--the voice of BartHodge. 

It steadied Merriwell's reeling brain. He took hold of the boards andsought to draw himself still higher on them. 

"That you, Hodge?"

"Yes. I thought that was you, Merry. How are you?"

"Soaked. But I guess I am all right. Something hit me on the head andshoulders, and I went under. I was swimming this way. Heard somebodycall. "

"I called, and you were struck by this drift. I heard you, and felt theshock when you struck. I reached out and got hold of you--and here youare?"

"Yes, here--and where is that?"

"In the Atlantic, somewhere off New York. I doubt if the captain knew. "

"What became of the rest of the crowd?"

"Don't know. That collision threw me clean over the rail. I fell nearthese boards. I don't know but they came from the barge. When I came up, I bumped against them, and then hung on and began to call for help. "

There was a moment of silence. Both were listening. Whistles could beheard here and there. Off to the left somewhere they fancied they hearda voice calling, but whether it came from the deck of a vessel or fromsome unfortunate in the water they could not determine. Near and far thewhistles of steamers and tugs were hoarsely bellowing. 

"With so many vessels around, we ought to be picked up soon, " saidHodge. 

"We would be, if any one could see anything. But a boat would have torun right over us to find us. Hark! wasn't that rowlocks?"

Again they listened. The sound of oars was certainly heard. 

Clug-clank, clug-clank, clug-clank. 

"Let us call together, " said Merry. "Now! As loud as you can. "

Both shouted with all their might. For an instant they fancied the boatwas coming toward them, and they shouted again. But it was almostimpossible to determine the direction of sound. They could notthemselves be sure of the direction of the boat. The "clug-clank" grewfainter and fainter. 

"We're bound to be picked up soon, " Merriwell cheerily declared. "Wemust be right in the track of vessels. We'd be picked up right away ifit wasn't for this beastly fog. "

Hodge was silent. 

"What do you suppose has become of the others? They were right with us, you know, when we went over!"

"I'm afraid to think about it, " said Frank, with a shudder, which wasnot caused by the chill of the water. 

"I can't help thinking about it!"

"Nor I. But I'm hoping we were the only ones that went overboard. Wemust try to believe that, Bart, until we cannot believe it any longer. "

Hodge was silent. 

"And as for ourselves!"

"Oh, I wasn't thinking of ourselves, " said Bart. "We can hang on here agood while, I think. I suppose we're being carried out to sea, though!"

"Not much doubt of that, I guess. But we've pulled through worse scrapestogether, Bart!"

"That's right, Merry! And we'll pull through this. Are you up highenough on the boards? Let me help you! You can't be feeling very strongafter that blow. "

Merriwell drew himself higher out of the water, and found that the heavyboard supported his weight. 

"If only the fog would clear now! I hear a whistle away off there. "

"Do you suppose the _Merry Seas_ was sunk?" Hodge asked. 

"I sha'n't think so until I have to. I think the barge got much theworst of it. The steamer seemed to cut it right in two. "

"Perhaps we can get up higher on these boards. "

"I've been thinking of that myself, " Hodge answered. 

The two friends had locked hands across the narrow space that separatedthem. Now, by Merriwell first helping Bart and then Bart returning thefavor, they managed to get up higher out of the water, and weregratified to find that the boards were sufficiently buoyant to sustainthem. 

For fifteen or twenty minutes they had thus drifted on, talking andconjecturing, listening at intervals, and now and then sending up a loudcall. The fog-siren on the shore was still screeching, and the whistlesof vessels were now and then heard. But about them was that impenetrablegray wall of fog. 

Having secured an easier position, Frank fumbled with his chilledfingers for his watch, which he finally drew out. It was wet, of course, but, to his surprise, was still merrily ticking away. By holding it nearhis eyes the time could be told. 

"About half an hour, I judge, since the collision. "

"No more than that? Seems to me it has been a half a day. "

Again there was silence. 

"I should think a vessel would anchor, instead of trying to go on insuch a fog as this!" Bart snarled. 

The memory of the disaster was beginning to make him bitter against thecaptain. 

"They do, usually. The captain thought he could make his way in, that isall!"

"And I'm afraid some of our friends have gone to the bottom as a resultof it. We seem in a good way to investigate Davy Jones' lockerourselves!"

"I'm going to believe that our friends are all right. It can't bepossible that both the tug and the steamer sank. The tug wasn't reallyin the collision, you know. She would be able to take off every one fromthe steamer, no doubt, even if the steamer was so injured that she couldnot float. The thing I most fear is that some of them may have beenhurled overboard, just as we were, and were not lucky enough to findanything to sustain them. But I shall not believe anything of the kindas long as I can hope that it isn't so. "

But for Merriwell, Hodge would have been very despondent, especially asthe long hours of the afternoon began to wear on and no boat came nearthem, and their frequent cries seemed to remain unheard; but Frank'shopefulness and cheerful optimism were not without good effect on themind of his friend, and they were even able at times to talk with somedegree of mental comfort. 

Frank was sure that they were steadily drifting out to sea. He believed, from the change in the apparent direction of the fog-siren, that theywere moving down the coast toward Sandy Hook. But they were evidentlyfloating farther out to sea, for the sounds of the siren were fainterand farther away. 

"I believe the fog is going to lighten. "

Merriwell lifted himself and strained his eyes through the gloom. Asuggestion of a breeze had fanned him. 

"If the wind gets up, the fog may be driven away, " he said. 

"And the wind will kick up a sea!" suggested Bart. 

"But if the fog lifts, we will probably be seen by some vessel!"

There could be no doubt that a gentle breeze was beginning to blow. 

"Sure enough, the fog is thinning!" Bart cried joyfully. "But I don'thear any more whistles. "

"Hark! there one sounded. "

"Miles away!"

"Wait till the fog rises. Perhaps there are others. "

Anxiously they watched the gray wall. The wind died away, and once ortwice it seemed that the fog was growing denser, instead of lightening. But by and by the sunlight seemed to permeate it. It appeared to becomethinner. Then, like a great curtain uplifted, it for a little whileswung upward from the face of the heaving sea. All around were the greenrollers, rising and falling with an oily swell. 

Hodge uttered an exclamation of gratification. 

"Look!"

Merriwell looked in the direction indicated. Not a fourth of a mile awaya dingy fishing-sloop was bobbing along, with her dirty mainsail and jibset, yet seeming to catch no breeze. Both Merry and Hodge forgot theirdiscomfort, forgot their chilled and benumbed condition, and, liftingthemselves as high as they could, shouted for assistance. 

There must have been some breeze in the dingy sails, for the vessel wasmoving athwart the line of their progress, and they were being carriedalong by the tide. 

"Shout again!" said Merriwell, and again they lifted their voicestogether. 

In another direction a steamer could be seen, but those on the steamerevidently did not see the sufferers on the raft. 

"I don't believe there is a soul on the sloop!" Bart declared, in adespairing way. 

"Well, if she keeps on her course, we'll get so near that perhaps we canswim to her and climb on board. "

But Bart was wrong. Hardly had he made the declaration, when a manappeared on deck, accompanied by a shaggy dog. 

Merriwell and Hodge renewed their cries to attract his attention. Butthe man gave them absolutely no heed. Once they fancied that the dogturned his nose in their direction. 

"He don't want to see us, " Bart growled. "We are near enough for him tohear! I----"

His sentence was interrupted by a young lady who rushed suddenly on deckfrom the "cuddy" or cabin. A scream issued from her lips as sheappeared, and immediately a second man came into view, from whom sheseemed to be fleeing. 

"My God! Inza Burrage!"

Merriwell fairly shouted the words. 

Inza did not see the raft and her friends. She appeared to see only theshaggy-bearded fellow, who now stood grimly looking at her. 

"She's going to jump overboard!" cried Hodge, so excited that he almostfell off the raft. 

Merriwell shouted with all his might. Inza turned and saw the raft. Sheuttered another piercing cry, stretched out her hands, and seemed againabout to leap into the sea. 

Instead of heeding the cry sent up by Merriwell, Inza's pursuer leapedat her to prevent her from jumping over the rail; and, then, bearing herin his strong arms, deliberately carried her back into the cuddy. 

Merriwell and Hodge shouted, yelled, screamed. The one man on the deckpaid not the slightest attention to their cries. 

"He refuses to hear us!" said Hodge. 

The other man appeared, and they called again. One of the men went tothe tiller, and the course of the sloop was changed. 

"They are going to pretend that they did not see us, " Frank exclaimed. 

"Hold to the raft, Hodge! Stay by it!"

"What are you going to do?" Hodge demanded. 

"I'm going to swim to that sloop!"

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE MYSTERY OF THE FISHING-SLOOP. 

"Stay with the raft, " Merriwell again commanded. 

"But I want to go with you! You will need help!"

"Perhaps I may have to return to the raft. I can't find it if you leaveit. "

"We can get on that vessel. And perhaps, if you go alone, you will bekilled. "

Merriwell was as anxious and almost as much excited, but he kept hishead. 

"Don't you see that the sloop is moving on the new tack. She may begoing faster than I can swim. Stay on the raft!"

As he gave this last command, he slipped out of his heavy, soaked outercoat, quickly removed his shoes, and, pushing these articles to Hodge, let himself into the sea, and began to swim toward the dingyfishing-sloop. Hodge did not again shout, for he saw that Merriwell'splan was to swim to the sloop, climb aboard of it, and by a suddenattack overwhelm the men. 

"He's crazy!" Hodge grated. "They will see him, and they will simplyknock him back into the sea. They act as if they were lunatics--ordrunk! Why don't they look this way?"

It was indeed singular, but neither of the men seemed to have noticedthe raft or heard the cries that came from it. Merriwell was a splendidswimmer, and in spite of his chilled condition and his hamperingclothing, he moved through the water almost like a fish. 

"Of course I couldn't have kept up with him!" Bart grumbled. "But Icould have done my best. He can't overpower both of those men alone. "

He held tightly to the shoes and the coat, and looked longingly afterthe swimmer, turning his eyes often to the sloop, that now, under theinfluence of a light breeze, was going along in a surprising fashion. 

"And how did Inza come to be aboard of that sloop?"

Bart had not time to think of this before, but now the answer camequickly enough. Inza's clothing had clung to her, as she rushed on thedeck, showing that her skirts were weighted with water. No doubt, she, too, had been hurled into the sea by the collision of the steamer withthe barge, and this fishing-boat had in some manner picked her up. 

"It's very queer, though, the way that fellow acted! She was afraid ofhim. But she is below, and he is now on deck. Likely enough he has hershut up in the cabin. "

He beheld Merriwell lift himself slightly out of the water and send outa ringing call. But the men on deck did not stir. And the sloop sailedon. 

"The scoundrels!" Bart hissed, through his white teeth. "I should liketo knock their heads together. They refuse to hear him. They arecarrying Inza away, and they do not intend that any one shall comeaboard. And this within the very shadows of New York City!"

The sloop heeled over under the breeze and increased her speed. Merriwell was palpably losing ground. Bart heard him call again andagain, with the same result, and then Bart also lifted his voice. 

The result was the same. The sloop moved straight on. At last he sawMerriwell turn about and swim again toward the raft, when it becameevident that he could not overtake the sloop. 

"That is enough to kill Merry!" he thought sympathizingly. "And Inza sawus, too! I wonder what she thinks?"

Slowly and with seeming weariness Merriwell came back toward the raft. Bart lifted himself as high as he could to mark the spot where the raftlay tossing. When lifted on the crest of a wave, Merriwell came plainlyin sight; but when either Frank or the raft slipped down the glassysurface of those big, green rollers, he seemed to sink into the sea. 

"I'm afraid he is going to have a hard pull! He must be tired out. "

He shook his fist at the sloop. It was growing smaller and smaller. Ahaze was again creeping over the sea. 

"My God! What if the fog should settle down again and keep Merry fromfinding the raft?"

Bart shuddered at the thought. But Merriwell was so strong a swimmerthat Bart's hopes rose again almost immediately. There were indicationsthat the fog was once more descending, but Merriwell was now swimmingstraight toward the raft with a bold, firm stroke, and with considerablespeed. 

"Right here, old man!" Bart encouragingly called. 

"I'm coming!" Merriwell shouted, and his tones did not show exhaustingfatigue. 

Then he swam up to the raft, and Bart helped him to climb upon it. 

"What was the matter with those scoundrels?"

"Deaf!"

"What?"

"Deaf as posts, both of them!" Merriwell explained, resting on theboards and panting from his exertions. "They didn't look this way simplybecause they didn't hear us. I'm sure of that, from the way they acted. I began to think so when I told you to hang to the raft. I believed thatif I could overtake the sloop, and could climb aboard and make myselfknown, or knock them down, as my intention was, I could then releaseInza and sail the sloop over here and get you. But I couldn't swim fastenough. "

"You went through the water like a fish!"

"But the sloop went faster. If that breeze hadn't sprung up, I think Icould have made it. "

"And what are they doing with Inza?"

"I don't know. But I'm glad of one thing. She isn't dead. "

"Deaf!" muttered Bart. "Deaf as posts! Well, that does make the thing abit clearer. "

The reaction from the tremendous exertions which Merriwell had put forthmade itself felt now. The excitement having passed, he felt almostexhausted. He climbed up as high as he could on the boards, and Bart, who was terribly benumbed and chilled from long exposure to the coldwater, held him thus while he rested. 

"It was too much for you, old man!" he said consolingly. 

"I had to try it!" was Merriwell's answer. 

"The fog is shutting down again, " said Bart. 

"But it won't stay down. The sea looked red out toward the west. I thinkit will clear away to-night. "

He was in no mood to say more. And the raft drifted on, while the grayfog settled round them, and its chill and gloominess seemed to go totheir very hearts. 

But as Merriwell had predicted, the fog lifted again, and at the end ofanother hour of an experience as terrible as either had ever been calledto undergo, the gray bank again swung up toward the sky. The sun wassinking redly into the sea, and night was at hand--and what night mightmean in their weakened and chilled condition, adrift on the great oceantoward which they seemed to be so resistlessly borne, they dared notthink. 

"The sloop!" Bart cried, rousing himself. 

Merriwell lifted himself and looked. It was the sloop, sure enough. Alittle to the southward of east, with its dingy sails furled and theirbulging shapes turned to great lumps of gold, with the mast standing outin dark tracery against the red skyline, lay the fishing-sloop. 

"It's the same!" Merry exclaimed. 

"Sure! There can't be any doubt about it. "

"And she has cast anchor. "

"What does that mean?"

"She is a fishing-sloop, and I've an idea we must be on thefishing-grounds off the Jersey or New York coast. There is no otherexplanation. She is out here on a fishing-trip. "

"And Inza?"

"We'll have to wait for her to clear that mystery away. "

"What will we do? If those fellows are deaf, there is no use inshouting. "

"We are drifting toward her, you see. We'll be alongside before dark, ifthis continues. "

"Then we'll get on board of her!"

"And we'll find out a few things, if we have to knock those fellows onthe head. "

The thought was so exhilarating that the warm blood was again driventhrough their veins, and the numbness seemed in a measure to go out oftheir chilled bodies. Nothing is so reviving as hope. And hope wastheirs again. The raft drifted so slowly and Bart was so eager that hewanted to leap into the sea and swim to the vessel. 

"Let us save our strength, " was Merriwell's advice. "We are goingstraight there. We will probably need all the strength we have. "

"I see only one man. He is pottering about near the cabin. "

"The other is aboard somewhere. And you noticed that dog? If he puts upa fight, too, I've an idea that he will be worse than either of themen. "

The progress of the little raft was tantalizingly slow, but it movedsteadily, and after the sun had set and while the darkness was gatheringon that great expanse of water, it swung close in under the stern of thesloop. Not a sound was heard aboard of her as she lazily lifted androlled on the heaving swell. 

Frank took his shoes in one hand, but thought it not well to burdenhimself with the extra coat. 

"Now!" he whispered. "Let the raft go. We can cut that boat loose if wehave to trust to the sea again. Follow me!"

Then he slipped silently into the sea, Hodge imitating his example. Softly swimming round to the bow, Frank got hold of a chain that randown from the bowsprit. 

"Here, " he softly whispered. "Lay hold of this, and come right up afterme. "

"I'll be there!" Hodge whispered back. 

Then, hampered by the shoes, Merry climbed slowly aboard, and Bart swungup after him. Together they dropped to the deck, and crouched low, withthe water running in rivulets from their clothing. 

Frank felt softly about, and his hands fell on a club-like maul whichfishermen use for stunning the large fish they catch. There was nothingelse near in the shape of a weapon. He passed the maul to Bart, andclutched one of the shoes as a club in his right hand. 

"Good luck!" he softly whispered. "How are you?"

Hodge was chilled to the bone, and his teeth were fairly chattering. 

"I'm all right. A bit chilly, but I guess things will be warm enough forme in a few minutes. I'm ready. Go on!"

A dark form was standing beside the cuddy. But for his certainty thatthe men were deaf, or nearly so, Merriwell would not have indulged ineven this whispered conversation. He crept now toward this man, withHodge crawling at his heels, and when near enough, leaped on the manwith a sudden and disconcerting pounce. 

Though the surprise must have been great, the man, who was large andstrong, wheeled round to resist the attack, and the large dog, which hadbefore been seen, sprang up from the deck and flew at Merriwell'sthroat. The ready club in the hands of Bart Hodge tumbled the dog overwith a howl, and Merry and the big fisherman began to struggle in thegrowing darkness for the mastery. 

To and fro on the deck they reeled. The dog leaped up again and tried tocome to the assistance of its master, but turned upon Hodge when hestruck at it again with the maul. Its eyes seemed balls of green fire inthe gloom, and the hoarse growl that came from deep down in its throatwas anything but pleasant to hear. 

But Bart Hodge met its onset with a stout heart, raining his blows withsuch swiftness and precision that it dropped to the deck. Then hehurried to the assistance of Merriwell. But Frank was already thevictor. Though the man had the strength of an ox, he had not Merriwell'sscience and skill in fighting, and Frank had not only knocked the breathout of him, but had hurled him to the deck. 

"That rope, Bart! It is right here. I tripped over it. Tie him!"

A cry followed this--a cry from Inza. She rushed out of the cuddy door, and after her sprang a man with a lighted lantern. 

Hodge faced toward this man, intending to fell him with the club. 

"Frank! Frank!" Inza cried. "I knew you would come, Frank!"

Then she noticed the uplifted club. 

"Don't strike him, Bart!"

She threw herself between Hodge and the man with the lantern. Merriwellwas still holding down the man he had conquered. 

"What is it?" he questioned, looking up and trying to read Inza'smeaning by the light of the lantern. 

"The men are deaf!" said Inza. "They rescued me from a piece of boat, towhich I clung after the collision!"

The man with the lantern seemed about to spring upon Frank in spite ofHodge's threatening club. Inza touched him on the arm. 

"Friends!" she screamed, in an endeavor to make him hear. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

INZA'S STORY. 

The man did not hear Inza, but he felt the touch, and, turning quicklyabout, caught something of her meaning in her manner. The deaf arewonderfully quick in such things. He made a horrible grimace and pointedat Merriwell. Again she laid a hand restrainingly on his shoulder. 

"Let the man up, Frank, " she urged. "The fellows are harmless enough, but they are as deaf as adders!"

"Look out for the dog!" Frank warned. 

The dog, which had crawled away in a seemingly dying condition, hadstruggled again to its feet and appeared to be meditating another attackon Hodge. 

"I've got an eye on him, " Hodge called back. "Look out for your man!"

Merriwell released the fellow he had overthrown, and the man climbeddazedly and sullenly to his feet. Inza hurried toward him, shrieking andmaking motions with her hands. The man did not understand her. It beganto seem that both of them contemplated an attack on Bart and Merry. 

"Wait a minute!" she cried. "Don't strike them, Frank, Bart, if you canhelp it!"

"I think I'm awake, " growled Hodge, as if he wanted to pinch himself tomake sure of it. 

The scene was certainly a strange one--as strange as if taken from acomic opera. The fishing-sloop rocking on the long swell, the dog cowedand uncertain, one deaf man doubtingly flashing the lantern in the faceof Bart Hodge, and the other swaying unsteadily on his feet, as if hecontemplated making a blind rush at Merriwell. In less than a minuteInza reappeared from the cuddy. She held in her hand a piece of paper onwhich she had hastily written some explanatory sentences. This shethrust beneath the nose of the man who held the lantern. 

The effect was magical. The lantern came down, something that soundedlike an attempt at words gurgled in his throat, and he made a signal tothe other fisherman, whose attitude also changed instantly. 

"It's all right now!" Inza laughed, though the laugh sounded a bithysterical. 

"Well, I'm glad that it is!" said Merriwell. "But an explanation wouldbe comfortable. "

"These men rescued me from the piece of broken boat to which I wasclinging, " Inza hastily explained. "I was knocked overboard by thecollision. They are fishermen, and are now anchored on theirfishing-grounds. "

"So I see. But what about one of them chasing you, when you ran out ofthe cuddy this afternoon? You tried to jump overboard!"

"The men both thought me deranged by what I had passed through, and Isuppose I may have acted strange. I saw you and Bart on the raft, and Itried to make the men see you. But they thought I was going to jumpoverboard, and I was carried bodily into the cuddy and locked in. Ididn't know at the time that they could read writing, or I should havetried that; though I was kept locked in the cuddy so long that it wouldhave done no good!"

Then she began to motion to the men; and one of the fellows came towardBart in a sheepish way and held out a hand. Bart hesitated about takingit, fearing a trick; but the man's intentions were honest. Having madethis advance, the way to an understanding was so fully paved that withinless than ten minutes thereafter both Frank and Hodge, having wrung outtheir clothing in a contracted place below deck, were warming themselvesand trying to get dry by the cuddy stove, while Inza was rattling onwith the story of her adventures. 

"I really don't know yet whether I am awake or dreaming!" said Bart. "This about knocks everything I have ever seen!"

"Just fishermen, " said Inza. "They would have picked you up, no doubt, if they had seen you--they couldn't hear you; or if I had been able tomake them see you. It must have been an hour or more after that when Ifound that they had writing-material in the little desk over there, andI wrote them a note. But the fog was so thick then that it was no usefor them to make a search. "

"Why didn't they run back to New York with you?"

"Simply because they thought they had done their duty by me, and that itwould pay them better to come out to the fishing-grounds and take me inon their return. I promised them money, but----"

She laughingly held up a little purse. 

"I had just ten cents in that, and you see I couldn't convince them ofthe fabulous wealth of my father and my friends by exhibiting that. Theysaid they would take me when they went in, and I could not get anythingelse out of them. "

"Perhaps a little money--as much or more than they can make out of thisfishing-trip--will induce them to take us right in. That is, as soon asthe wind rises. We're not only anchored, but we're becalmed now. "

Frank was thinking of Elsie and of the others who had been on the _MerrySeas_. His heart was aching with anxiety. Bart and Inza were scarcelyless distressed. 

The cabin or "cuddy, " which had been surrendered to them by thefishermen who were now outside, was a diminutive place, smellingunpleasantly of fish and burnt grease. On two sides were bunks. Near thecenter was the rusty stove about which the three friends were gathered. Its heat caused their wet clothing to emit a cloud of steam. At one sidewas the writing-desk, fashioned by clumsy hands, and scattered about wasa miscellaneous assortment of odds and ends, consisting of sea-boots andoilskin coats, nets, and fishing-tackle. 

"Not a ladies' parlor, " Inza admitted, glancing about "But I tell you Iwas glad to get into it. "

"And you don't know anything about the people on the _Merry Seas_?"Frank asked. 

A look of pain swept across the dark, handsome face. 

"Not a thing! I am worried to death about all of them, especiallyfather. But I hope for the best. If any others went overboard, the tugwas right there to pick them up, and we can believe, until we knowotherwise, that it did. We have been so very fortunate ourselves!"

"More than fortunate!" Merry observed, with a thankful heart. "Now, ifwe can only get to the city without delay! Call in the fishermen andperhaps an offer of money can do something. If not, we can capture thesloop and take it in ourselves!"

"But there is no breeze, " Bart reminded. 

"That is so. But call in the fishermen. We may get some opinions out ofthem. "

Jabez and Peleg Slocum, the deaf-mute owners of the fishing-sloop _SarahJane_, of Sea Cove, New Jersey, were what one might call "queer ducks";a thing not so much to be wondered at when the fact that they had beendeaf and dumb from infancy is taken into consideration, with the furtherfact that the greater part of their fifty odd years had been spent inthe lonely and precarious calling of Atlantic fishermen. They were roughand gnarled and cross-grained, like the sloop whose deck they trod; yet, in spite of all, like that same sloop, they had some good qualities. 

To them fishing was the end and aim of existence. Hence, as soon asMerriwell, with the aid of pencil and paper, began to talk of beingtaken straight to New York, the fishermen shook their heads. They hadwork to do out there on the fishing-banks. It was probable they reasonedthat it was not their fault that these young people had fallen in theirway. They had dutifully rescued them from watery graves--or, in the caseof Hodge and Merriwell--had permitted them to rescue themselves. Andthus, whatever obligation they may have been under as fellow humanbeings had been fully discharged. They did not want Merriwell'smoney--and they certainly did not desire to run to New York. It was nottheir habit to visit New York. Sea Cove was their home, and, wheneverthey pulled up their rusty anchor for a run from the banks, theyreturned to Sea Cove invariably, unless blown out of their latitude by astorm, as sometimes happened. 

Finally one of them wrote:

"See in morning. "

"And now we'll have something to eat!" Inza declared. "Both of you arefamished. You are getting thawed out and dry, and if your stomachs arestrong enough to stand the odor of things, I'll go ahead and get somesupper for you. I know where everything is in the--what do you callit?--locker? Peleg, that's the taller one, showed me. "

"Peleg must be sweet on you, " remarked Frank, laughing. 

She picked up a "spider" and shook it at him. 

"Don't trouble the cook, Mr. Merriwell, if you expect to get anything toeat!"

"I was just going to remark that I admired his taste. He is a man ofmost excellent judgment!"

"How is your taste, Mr. Hodge?" Inza calmly queried. "Do you think youcan eat fish?"

"I could eat a whale. I'll gobble up this fish-basket pretty soon if youdon't hurry and serve something. "

"Very well. Fish-baskets on toast. There are fish in a box back there. And there are crackers in this box. And over there I found some prettynice canned goods. "

Merriwell smiled. Inza's manner was like a break of sunshine. 

"Your talk makes me simply ravenous. "

That they were ravenous they showed when they fell to on the supperwhich Inza prepared as best she could from the materials available. There were many things that might have been improved. They might havegone out on the deck, for one thing, but the wet fog had come downagain, with a chill that went to the bones--a chill that was simplyhorrible to Frank and Bart in the damp condition in which their clothingstill remained. 

The fishermen did not seem to mind the fog, however, but walked the deckand smoked, garbed in oilskins and sou'westers. They talked, too, bysignaling to each other with their hands. Merry, Hodge, and Inza sat upuntil a late hour, going over and over again all the points of the day'sexperience, with the many conjectures and unanswerable questions whichgrew out of it. 

The fact that the sloop belonged in Sea Cove, the village near which, according to the newspaper report, Barney Mulloy was killed, was amatter of intense interest, even though the fishermen could in no wiseenlighten them on the subject of Barney's murder. Frank continued tohope that a breeze would spring up, and that he could induce theSlocums, by a liberal money offer, to set him and his friends ashore atthe nearest point without delay. In the event of a refusal, thetemptation to take the vessel in himself would have been strong, but heknew that such a course would hardly do in these modern days. It smackedtoo much of piracy. Money was the lever he hoped to use, and when thebreeze came he intended to make the lever sufficiently strong to moveeven these placid souls. 

But the breeze did not come. The fog seemed to grow thicker and damper. At length weariness overcame the whole party. Then Inza was left in fullpossession of the cuddy, while Hodge and Frank crept into a narrowsleeping-place forward which Jabez Slocum pointed out to them. As forthe fishermen themselves, they seemed content to stretch out under atarpaulin on deck; and the _Sarah Jane_, with lights set to show herposition, though they could not have been seen a dozen feet distant, rocked sleepily in the fog at the end of her cable. 

When morning dawned, the fog rolled away under the influence of abrilliant sun, showing an attractive sight. Other fishing-boats, big andlittle, were rising and falling on the swell. To the northward asteamer, outward bound, trailed from her triple funnels banners of blacksmoke. From the southward a "fruiter, " as the vessels bringing fruitfrom the West Indies are called, came bravely up the coast. There wereother vessels--schooners, barks, sloops, and the coast itself wasvisible as a blue line. Finally, one of the Slocum brothers came toMerriwell and held out a scrap of paper. Frank glanced at it, and read, in an almost illegible scrawl: "Sea Cove. "

"They will take us to Sea Cove!" Inza explained. 

"New York City, " Merry wrote. 

The deaf-mate shook his head and again pointed to the name "Sea Cove. "

"What's the odds?" said Bart. "There is a railway there, and no doubtboats running to New York. And then it will give us an opportunity toinvestigate the murder of poor Barney a little. By to-night we can be inNew York, if all goes well!"

"Put us aboard the fruiter or some steamer, " Frank again wrote. 

But the man shook his head. 

"It is Sea Cove or nothing, " said Inza. "And he would be glad, I think, to have it nothing. "

"Sea Cove it is, then, " Frank agreed. 

But the promise was productive of no immediate good. There was nobreeze, and, as the _Sarah Jane_ was on the shallow banks, far out ofthe route of the steamers, there was nothing to do but to cultivatepatience and wait. At Frank's urging, Peleg set a signal from themasthead, but it drew no vessel near them. 

The Slocums seemed glad that they were not to be called on to sail atonce for land, and they proceeded to get out long hand-lines and fishover the sides of the sloop. Wherever they went they were followed bytheir dog, that limped from the blows Bart had given it. The dog wouldnot make friends with the newcomers, but showed its teeth in athreatening way whenever Bart or Frank came near. Finally Merriwell andhis friends also engaged in the fishing to kill time, and withconsiderable success. Thus the day wore wearily along until well intothe afternoon. 

"A breeze!" Frank gleefully exclaimed at last, holding up a hand. "Thewind is coming! I feel that if this old boat doesn't get a move on soon, I shall have to jump overboard and swim ashore. "

"Well, I should hope you would take me on your back!" Inza observed, hervoice thrilled with the thought that the long-expected breeze wasactually coming. "I'm as frantic as any one can be to put foot on landand learn what has happened to our friends and to father!"

The Slocums were ready to go home now, and as the breeze rapidlyincreased in strength and gave evidence of having come to stay, theyspeedily got the _Sarah Jane_ under way, with the help of Frank andBart, and stood off for the Jersey shore. Frank was now perfectlywilling that they should run to Sea Cove direct, for a little thoughtand some questions put to the Slocums had shown him that he could reachNew York from there by wire, and by rail from a point near-by, and hecould take a little time to investigate the Barney Mulloy affair. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE GHOST OF BARNEY MULLOY. 

"Another calm!" Bart growled, in disgust. Night was approaching, and the_Sarah Jane_ lay becalmed a mile from shore and nearly ten miles fromSea Cove. The shore, high and sandy, was plainly visible, with prettycottages among some trees a short distance back from the edge of thewater. The Slocums had a good glass, which brought all this out withmuch distinctness. 

"If we could just draw the land near enough with that glass to jumpashore!" Inza sighed. 

"I've a plan almost as good, " said Frank. 

This plan was to have the Slocums set them ashore in the dory. By alittle questioning in writing, they learned from the fishermen that thegroup of cottages was Glen Springs, and that there was atelegraph-office there and a daily visit by a small steamer from NewYork, but no railway. This increased their anxiety to be set ashore atGlen Springs, for by putting themselves in telegraphic communicationwith New York they could ascertain without delay of the fate of the_Merry Seas_ and of her passengers. 

For a small financial consideration the Slocums were willing to putMerriwell and his friends ashore in the dory; which was done by Peleg, who pulled a good, strong stroke, and sent the clumsy boat through thewater at a surprising rate of speed. 

"Attack the telegraph-office first, " Inza suggested. A telegram to NewYork brought this answer:

 "_Merry Seas_ towed in considerably injured. Missing are Frank Merriwell, Bart Hodge, Inza Burrage. Other passengers landed safely. Bernard Burrage at Hotel Imperial. "

Bart threw up his cap. Merriwell was writing another message, directedto Bernard Burrage, assuring him of the safety of Inza and asking thatthis fact and the fact that he and Bart were also safe be communicatedat once to their friends at the hotel and elsewhere. 

"That will fix things up all right, " he remarked, as the operator beganto click off the message. "Of course, we can't know all the particularsuntil later; but it is enough to know that none of our friends are lost, and to be able to let them know that we are all right. "

"You bet!" Bart cried. "This is great! I was mighty anxious, I tellyou. "

"And I was simply crazy!" Inza exclaimed. 

The relief to their feelings was so great that the hardships of theirrecent experience seemed to be at once forgotten, and they became almosthappy. They could not be quite happy, for the news of the murder ofBarney Mulloy still cast its shadow. 

"When does the next boat leave for New York?" Frank asked of theoperator. 

"To-morrow noon. "

"We can drive through to Sea Cove?"

"Yes. "

"And when does a train leave Sea Cove?"

"To-morrow at six-forty-five and ten-thirty. "

As they were very tired, it was decided, therefore, that they wouldremain in Glen Springs until early the next morning, when they woulddrive to Sea Cove, make inquiries there about Barney, and take theten-thirty train. The hotel at Glen Springs was small, but it lookedclean and inviting. 

"What do you know about the murder of a young Irishman named BarneyMulloy, by tramps near Sea Cove, day before yesterday?" Merry inquired. 

"Only what the papers said, " was the operator's answer. 

"And no one else in the village can tell us?"

"I think not. "

The hotel was in the suburbs, having a view of the sea, and was really asummer hotel more than anything else. It had very few guests as yet. From it a number of messages were sent to New York and received fromthere by our friends that evening--messages from Elsie and Mr. Burrage, and from other members of the party that had been on the _Merry Seas_. 

Though fairly tired out by his exhausting experiences, from which thelong hours on the fishing-sloop had not enabled him to recuperate, FrankMerriwell was not able to sleep until a late hour. His thoughts were ofBarney Mulloy. In memory he traveled the round of the Fardale days. Thedeath of Mulloy in that terrible manner had upset him more than he hadrealized. He had not felt it so much during his exciting experiences andwhile weighted down with anxiety concerning the fate of the _MerrySeas_. 

"I just can't sleep!" he muttered, seating himself at last by a windowand looking out toward the sea, along a greensward on which themoonlight fell lovingly. "Poor Barney! Perhaps I ought to have gone onto Sea Cove and begun my investigations at once. But Inza was so tired. She has held up bravely, dear girl, through it all, but this evening shelooked ready to drop. I felt that we ought not to go on until she wasrested. She will sleep well now, since she knows that her father issafe. "

Something dark moved among the shadows, and a familiar form approached. Merriwell started up with a low cry:

"Barney Mulloy!"

He saw the young Irishman as plainly as he had ever seen him. The face, though, was white and bloodless. The ghostly figure moved with a heavystep, coming straight up the walk toward the building. Frank sat rootedto his chair. In the shadow of the piazza the figure seemed to turn, andwas then lost to view. Merriwell threw up the window. 

"Barney!" he softly called. "Barney--Barney Mulloy!"

The only answer that came back was a slow and heavy tread, that seemedto come from a corridor opening out upon the walk along which Barney hadcome. 

Tramp, tramp, tramp!

The footsteps sounded with great distinctness. Merriwell threw open thedoor of his room leading out into this corridor. The light of the lampflooded the corridor, and he was able to view it from end to end. Hecould have sworn that the footsteps were just beyond his door. But thecorridor was absolutely empty. And the footsteps had ceased. 

Frank whistled softly to himself. He was not superstitious, but this wasrather shaking to the nerves. He hurried back to the window and lookedout upon the walk and down the moon-lighted sward. No sound came, savethe dashing of the surf. He leaped through the open window and proceededto inspect the grounds in that vicinity. The ghostly form had vanished. 

"Hodge!" he called. "Hodge! Come out here. "

Hodge, who occupied an adjacent room, and who had been asleep, threw upa window and looked out. 

"Yes, " he said. "As soon as I can slip into my clothes. What is it, Merry?"

"I don't know, " Frank confessed. "I wish I did know. "

"Of course, there are no such things as ghosts, " he declared, when Bartjoined him. "But if ever a man saw one, I did just now--the ghost ofBarney Mulloy!"

Hodge stared at his friend as if wondering if Frank's mind was notaffected. 

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I have said to you. I saw an apparition that resembled BarneyMulloy. And I not only saw it, but I heard it. It came right along here, and turned in there, and then I heard it in the corridor. I threw openthe corridor door before any one could have got out of there, and thecorridor was empty!"

"You must have been dreaming!"

"Not a bit of it, Bart. I hadn't gone to bed. I haven't been even a bitsleepy. I was sitting at my window, and I saw it as plainly as I seeyou. "

"You certainly must have been dreaming, Merry!" Bart insisted. "Have youlooked all about?"

"Everywhere. "

Bart walked over to the door which opened from the corridor on the lawn. It was not locked. 

"It couldn't have been Barney, of course; but whoever it was wentthrough here into the corridor. "

"And how did he get out of the corridor?"

"Walked on through into the office. "

"The office is closed. The landlord and all the servants retired longago. "

"Well, it couldn't have been a ghost!"

"I am wondering if it could have been Barney himself?"

"He was--attacked near Sea Cove, not here!"

"I am going to rout out the landlord, " Merriwell declared. "Perhaps hecan throw some light on the subject. "

"He told you, when you inquired, that he had heard nothing except whatwas in the papers. "

"But he may be able to help us to clear away this mystery. "

When summoned, the landlord came down into the little office lookingvery sleepy, very stupid, and somewhat angry. Merriwell told what he hadseen and heard, and repeated the newspaper story about the murder ofBarney. 

"Well, that was at Sea Cove, " was the answer. "Ghosts always come backto the place where the person was killed. Why should it come here? Idon't like this. If you tell it, it will give my house a bad name. Noone wants to board in a haunted house, and it will ruin my summer'sbusiness. "

"But I thought you might help us to an explanation, " Frank insisted. 

The sleepy and stupid look had passed away. The landlord had once been aseafaring man, and he was a bit superstitious. Still, he was not willingto acknowledge that Frank had beheld something supernatural. He wouldnot deny its possibility, but repeated over and over his belief thatghosts always return to the place of the murder and to no other place, and that the repetition of the story would drive away his summerboarders. 

"I tell him he was just dreaming, " said Bart. 

"Sure!" with a look of relief. "Of course, he was dreaming. There's beennobody in Glen Springs looking like the chap you describe, and I'm surethat nobody has been walking in that corridor, 'less it was burglars. "

So Frank went back to his room, accompanied by Bart. He knew that he hadnot been asleep, though, and he felt sure that he had really seen andheard something, and was not the victim of a hallucination. Merriwellsat down again by the open window, and Bart dropped into a chair by hisside. 

"If the thing comes again, we'll capture it!" said Hodge. "Somebody maybe playing ghost, just to scare us. I have heard----"

He did not complete the sentence, for he really heard something at themoment that stilled the words on his lips and drove the blood out of hisface. 

Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp!

The sounds came unmistakably from the corridor. 

"There it is again!" Frank exclaimed. 

Bart leaped toward the door and quickly threw it open. The lamplightagain streamed out into the corridor. But the sounds had ceased, and thecorridor was empty. Hodge stared down the corridor in stupidbewilderment. 

"Of all the strange things!" he gasped. 

"That is the strangest!" Merriwell added. "You heard it for yourselfthen!"

Bart walked out into the corridor, peered out of doors through the glassset in the side door, and opened the door leading into the desertedoffice. There was nothing to be seen. When he came back, his face wasbeaded with moisture. 

"Merry, I wish you'd tell me the meaning of that!"

"I wish you would tell me, Bart! You thought I was dreaming, or fanciedthat I saw and heard something. You see now that you were mistaken. "

"Unless I am dreaming myself!"

"You are perfectly wide-awake, Hodge, and so am I! There is a mysteryhere. "

"Never knew anything like it, " mopping his face. "Whew! It brings thecold sweat out on me!"

He dropped down into the chair by the window, leaving the corridor dooropen. Nothing further was heard. 

"Ghosts don't like a bright light!" Merry reminded, smiling grimly. Bartgot up, closed the door, and sat down again. 

Then his hair seemed to stand upright on his head. Out of the shadow ofthe building, near one of the angles, walked the ghostly form whichMerriwell had beheld. Hodge was unable to speak at first. Merry noticedhis manner and the look in his staring eyes, and sprang to the window. As he did so, the ghostly form vanished into the shadow, and again thosesteps were heard in the corridor. 

"If Barney is dead, that was his spirit, sure enough!" Hodge whispered, in an awed way. 

Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp!

The steps echoed in the corridor. Even Merriwell's stout heart wasassailed by a feeling that was like superstitious dread. 

"It looked just like him!"

"The very picture of him, only white-faced, as if he had just come outof the grave!"

Tramp, tramp, tramp! sounded the steps in the corridor. 

"Open the door, Merry, for God's sake!" Hodge gasped, as if the wordschoked him. "See if there isn't something in the corridor! There mustbe!"

Merriwell stepped to the door and flung it open. Instantly the soundsceased. 

"Somebody is playing a joke on us, I believe!" Bart declared, and angercame to drive out the superstitious feeling that had shaken him. "I'mgoing to take a look round the house myself, and if I find anybody----"

"I'll go with you!" Merry exclaimed, and both leaped through the openwindow. 

They circled round the house, looked down the paths and out over thesward on which the moonlight fell, but not a form could they see. 

"Give it up!" Hodge admitted. "I don't know what to think. "

They came back to the window, and again they heard the footsteps in thecorridor. Hodge went through the window at a flying leap and hurled openthe corridor door, only to again find silence and blankness. 

"The place is haunted!" he exclaimed. 

"But there are no such things as ghosts!"

"I know it. Of course, there can't be--that's what I have alwaysbelieved. I have always fancied that stories of ghosts were lies andfoolishness, and I'm not ready to back water on that belief. But I can'tunderstand this business. "

"Nor I. "

"Shall we call the landlord again?"

"What good will it do?"

"Shall we wake Inza?"

"And rob her of her rest and fill her with anxiety? No, let her sleep. She needs it. "

"Well, I shall not be able to sleep any more to-night. "

"And it looked just like Barney!" Frank declared. 

"His very image!"

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE PHANTOM AGAIN. 

Both Merriwell and Hodge were so sure they had seen something that theyagain let themselves out through the window and made a search of thegrounds. The result was the same. Not a moving form was to be seen. Butas they returned toward the room, they once more heard those mysteriousfootsteps. 

"Stop!"

Frank laid a hand on Bart's arm, and both stood still and listened. 

"Where does that seem to be?"

"Merry, that's coming from your room! The thing is in your room!"

Hodge's voice shook, in spite of himself. 

Frank dashed toward the open window. But before he could reach it, thesounds ceased. When he looked in, the room was empty. The light wasshining, and the door leading to the corridor was closed. 

"No one could have got out of that room without our knowing it!"Merriwell whispered. Hodge had reached his side, and both were staringinto the room. 

"Of course not. The thing is impossible. "

"And yet those footsteps sounded right here. "

"Let's go in and take another look into the corridor. "

For answer Merry drew Bart back into the shadows by the window. 

"Keep still right here a little while. Perhaps the--the thing willreturn. If some one is playing us a trick, we may capture him. "

"I should like to lay my hands on the villain!" Bart hissed. Though theystood there in utter silence for five minutes, the sounds did not comeagain. 

"Of course, there is some rational explanation of this, " Merriwelldeclared, as they again approached the window. "There must be! It is thewildest nonsense to think otherwise. "

"Well, I wish that rational explanation would hurry this way. I'm readyfor it, old man! This thing is shaking my nerves all to pieces. "

"I didn't know you were troubled with nerves! Nerves are for hystericalgirls and old women!"

"Well, I've got 'em now! as the drunken man said when he began to seesnakes. I haven't any doubt about it. "

Hodge so seldom indulged in a joke, that Merry looked surprised. Theyhad reentered the room, and he glanced at his friend in wonder. 

"Likely that--thing will begin to walk again pretty soon, " said Frank, after they had remained another minute or so in a listening attitude. "You sit here and watch by this window, while I slip into the corridor. "

Hodge obediently dropped into the chair, and Merriwell let himself intothe corridor. He closed the door after him, so that if any oneapproached or entered the corridor that person could not see him, andbegan his vigil. 

The silence was so great that he could hear his watch ticking away inhis pocket. It seemed strange that it should run after its salt-waterducking, but he reasoned that probably the works were not touched by thesalt water. His clothing had dried long ago, but he felt the need of achange. However, he had taken a bath since reaching the hotel, and sowas in a measure comfortable. 

There was a great deal to think of as he stood there in the gloom, butthe minutes dragged along like weeks. This sort of vigil was rathernerve-trying. He was sure, now that he had time to think about it, thatsome very little thing might account for the mystery. He began to thinkthat the footsteps had probably been made by some servant or by asomnambulist. Sounds are very deceptive as to direction, as he more thanonce had discovered. The footsteps might have been at some distance fromthe corridor. 

"But that doesn't explain what I saw and what Bart saw!" he muttered. "Imight have thought my eyes deceived me, but Bart saw it, too. That waseither Barney Mulloy, or some one who looks marvelously like him. If itwas really Barney, then the poor fellow is not dead! I sincerely hope weshall find out that he was not killed. Perhaps the entire newspaperreport was based on a mistake. The papers are full of errors. "

The sounds did not come again, and when it seemed almost useless to waitlonger for them, he returned to the room, where he found Bart watchingsilently by the window. 

"Seen anything?" he asked. 

"No. Heard anything?"

"Not a thing. "

"I didn't suppose you had, or I should have heard it, too. "

"It will probably not reappear to-night. "

"Well, I'm not in love with ghosts, but I have been wild to have thething pass along that walk again. It wouldn't get away from me thistime! I've planned just what to do. "

"What?"

"I can reach that walk in three jumps from this window, and it wouldtake a lively ghost to get away from me. I was going right out there thefirst glimpse I got of it. "

"Then you're not afraid of ghosts?" laughed Frank, for there wassomething amusing in his companion's manner. 

"I might be, Merry, if there were any. But I've been thinking as I sathere. I know I saw something, and that something was a man. He didn'tlook so strong but that I could tumble him over easy enough. That was myplan, and then we could see who it is. It couldn't have been Barney, forall it looked so much like him. "

As he spoke, he saw the ghostly figure again, but much farther away. Itsface was turned toward the window, and the moonlight revealed itplainly. Beyond all question, it was the face of Barney Mulloy!

Bart went through the open window at a bound. 

"Barney!" he called. "Barney Mulloy!"

The mysterious figure drew quickly back into the shrubbery anddisappeared. Merriwell sprang through the open window after Hodge, andtogether they raced to the point where the figure had been seen. Whenthey got there they could discover nothing. 

"That was Barney Mulloy!" Merriwell asserted. 

"Sure!"

"And he isn't dead!"

"Barney or his spirit!"

"It was Barney. "

"Why didn't he stop when I called to him?"

"I don't know. There is a mystery here. "

"Biggest one I ever struck, Merry! It knocks me silly. "

CHAPTER XXVII. 

MERRIWELL'S FRIENDS. 

The time was well on toward morning before Merriwell and Hodge turned into try to get some sleep. No more mysterious sounds or ghostlyappearances had been heard or seen. The sun was scarcely up when theywere aroused by a trampling of feet and the sounds of well-known voicesin the corridor. A rap fell on Merry's door. 

"Arise, ye sleepers, and wake--I mean, awake, ye sleepers, and rise!"shouted Harry Rattleton. 

"Come out here and let me pull you out of bed!" grunted Bruce Browning. 

"He is sleeping like the sleeper in the sleeper which runs over thesleeper and does not awaken the sleeper in the sleeper which----"

"You give us that sleepy feeling yourself, Danny!" Bink Stubbs grumbled. 

Merry tumbled out of bed, unlocked the door, and thrust his head intothe corridor. Before him were Bruce and Diamond, Rattleton and DismalJones, Bink and Danny, and through the half-open door leading into theoffice he also caught a glimpse of Elsie Bellwood and Bernard Burrage. 

"Glad to see you!" he cried. "Where did you tumble from?"

Bart had his door open now, and began to ask questions. 

"I'll be out in a minute, " Frank promised, and began to dress with thespeed of a lightning-change artist. A little later Merriwell's entireparty gathered in the hotel office, for Inza had been awakened andjoined them. 

Mutual explanations flew thick and fast. Merriwell's friends, afterbeing taken to New York, had shortly fallen in with a party of Yalestudents, mostly seniors, who had come down from New Haven on thesteamer _Richard Peck_, and were on their way to view the new governmentfortifications at Sandy Hook, by special permission of General Merritt, commander of the Department of the East. This permission had beenobtained by Lieutenant Andrew Bell, of the First United StatesArtillery, who had recently been detailed by the secretary of war asprofessor of military science in Yale College. 

Merriwell's friends had been invited to join this company of students, that they might the more quickly reach their friends, and had beenbrought to Sandy Hook by the government steamer _General Meigs_. FromSandy Hook the steamer's large steam-launch had hurried them on to GlenSprings. 

"And now you are going right back with us to Sandy Hook!" Elsieenthusiastically exclaimed. 

Suddenly a silence fell on the jolly party, occasioned by the shadowthat came over the face of Frank Merriwell. 

"I can't go until we have settled the mystery of Barney Mulloy, " hedeclared; and then gave a hurried account of what he and Bart had seenand heard. 

"I hoped you wouldn't say nothin' about that!" grumbled the landlord, who had been until then an interested listener. 

Up to that moment he had seemed pleased, though nervous, for itgratified him to have guests who were of sufficient importance to bebrought to Glen Springs by the launch of a government steamer. 

"This must be all nonsense, you know!" he declared. "And I can't haveany such reports go out about my house. If it gits the reputation ofbeing ha'nted, then good-by business. I won't have a guest set foot inthe doorway all summer. I know these people who claim not to besuperstitious. They ain't superstitious so long as other people seesthings, but they git confoundedly so soon's they begin to see thingsthemselves. "

"You have seen things at sea that puzzled you?" Merry asked, knowingthat he was making a center shot. 

"Who said that I'd ever been to sea? And s'pose I have? I ain't worriedpeople to death about it and broke up another man's business. Thereain't a thing in this. This ain't out at sea, ye know!"

The landlord seemed to have the peculiar feeling that only ghosts thatsailed or walked the briny deep were worthy of consideration. 

"Explain it, then!" Merriwell demanded. "You can make us feel thatnothing strange happened last night if you will explain the thing. "

"You was just dopey!" the captain argued. "Your nerves was shook up frombein' in the water so long, and the skeer of the collision. "

Though there seemed no use to make an investigation, Merriwell began oneimmediately. He felt sure that Barney Mulloy was somewhere in GlenSprings. 

"I know that I saw him!" was his persistent declaration. 

"And heard him walk!" added Hodge. "I can swear to it. "

"Yes. And though the thing is so strange, it makes me feel better, for Iam sure now that Barney is not dead. "

"But he looked like a ghost!" Bart admitted. "I'm with you, though, tothe end in this thing. We'll go to the bottom of it. "

Questioning the people of the village yielded no better results. Everybody agreed that no person answering to the description of BarneyMulloy had been in Glen Springs. Some of them were even more nervous andindignant than the landlord, for almost the sole remunerative businessof these people was the keeping of summer boarders, and they feared thatgruesome reports about the place would drive guests away. 

"Mr. Hodge and I are coming back here to-night, " Merriwell said to thelandlord. "Perhaps we shall bring some of these friends with us. Itseems useless to continue the investigation now, and I want, besides, toask some questions at Sea Cove. The launch is all ready to return toSandy Hook, and the officer in command says that his orders require himto return there without further delay. But we will come back to-night. "

The landlord's face did not give the proposition an eager welcome, though one of his business tenets was never to turn a guest away. 

So the launch steamed away to Sandy Hook, leaving Glen Springs and itsstrange and unsolved puzzle behind. 

Frank only partly enjoyed the trip. 

But for that seemingly impenetrable mystery, the trip to Sandy Hook, with the visit of inspection which followed, would have been jolly. However, there was so much to be happy and thankful for, anyway, thatthe spirits of the party partook largely of the brightness of the day. 

The run of the speedy launch up the coast was pleasant, and at SandyHook they found their fellow students awaiting them, and were given aright royal welcome by Captain Isaac Heath, the officer in charge of theproving-grounds. 

"Say, fellows, this is great!" Danny warbled, as Captain Heath escortedthem to where the big guns were. "I always did like big guns!"

"You're such a big gun yourself!" sneered Bink, under his breath. 

"Binky, if my brain caliber required no more than a number five hat, asyours does, I'd sing low about big guns!"

"Number five hat? Why----"

"This ten-inch breech-loading rifle takes a charge of one hundred andten pounds of Dupont smokeless powder and a projectile weighing fivehundred and seventy-five pounds, " Captain Heath was explaining, as theystopped in front of the big seacoast defender. 

"Say, they're going to fire it!" Bink gasped. 

"Of course, you idiot! Did you think it was going to fire them?"

"Better stand on your tiptoes and stick cotton into your ears, " Browningwarned, as the big gun was quickly made ready for hurling its terribleprojectile. 

"Wh-what if the dinged old thing should bub-bub-burst?" Gamp anxiouslyasked. 

"We should have to

 "'Ask of the winds, that far around! With fragments strewed the sea!'"

was Danny's comforting answer. 

Dismal and Rattleton retreated a step or two, as did Elsie Bellwood. ButInza stood her ground as bravely as Merriwell himself. 

Then, before more could be said, the big cannon boomed forth its volumeof deafening sound, making the very walls shake. Danny tumbled backward, then picked himself up and felt over his person very carefully. 

"Am I all here?" he anxiously queried. 

All watched the direction in which the huge shot had been fired, but itfell miles away. Merriwell and a few others, provided with strongglasses, saw it drop into the sea. The captain was talking again. 

"The instruments record an initial velocity of one thousand feet persecond, with a pressure of twenty-four thousand pounds. "

"I've been under greater pressure than that, " Danny chirped. 

"When you were shot?" Bink asked. "All guns, big and little, are underpressure when they are shot. "

"I'll put your throat under pressure when we get away from here!" Binkthreatened. 

"This is a twelve-inch rifle, loaded with one hundred and thirty poundsof powder and a projectile of the same weight as the first. "

The party had moved to a new point, and Captain Heath was again talking. Other guns were fired, after the discharge of this one; the last shotbeing sent from a twelve-inch rifle with a charge of four hundred andseventy-five pounds of Dupont brown prismatic powder and a projectileweighing one thousand pounds. 

The roar, the jar, and the vibration were like that of a miniatureearthquake. Captain Heath's calm voice was heard again, after a shortsilence. 

"The velocity was two thousand and eighty-eight feet per second, and thepressure four thousand pounds. This pressure is ten thousand pounds toohigh. The powder is too quick, and will be condemned. "

After this there was an examination of the guns and carriages, with alecture by Lieutenant Bell; an examination of the gun-lift battery andthe hydraulic lifts, and the wonderful Buffington-Crozierdisappearing-carriages, and a look over the site of the new artillerypost to be known as Fort Hancock. Then luncheon was served. 

In spite of the many interesting things which he had seen and to whichhe had listened, Merriwell could not get his thoughts away from BarneyMulloy. He had already obtained consent for the party to be taken on thelaunch to Sea Cove and Glen Springs at once, after luncheon. Thinking ofthese things and with his head full of the plans for discovering thesecret of the happenings at Glen Springs, he walked round the worksagain, viewing the emplacements and the big guns, but with his thoughtsfar enough away from the things on which his eyes rested. 

Suddenly he was attracted by a cry. It seemed to come from the air, andit made him think of the apparition and the ghostly footsteps. But whenhe glanced up he saw Danny Griswold's head protruding from the muzzle ofa large coast-defense cannon. Merriwell was astonished, though such apiece of recklessness was just like Danny. It was not that Frank fearedany peril to Danny from the gun, but the officers and gunners would beindignant, no doubt, if they caught the little joker playinghide-and-seek in that way with one of their pets. 

"I'll give him a scare, " he thought. "He is getting altogether toofresh. "

"Danny Griswold, that gun is loaded, and they are going to fire it!"Merry cried, with well-simulated fear. 

Danny's red head came farther out, like the head of a tortoise issuingfrom its shell. 

"Then I suppose I shall be able to get out of here!" Danny chirped. "Ican't do it, unless I am shot out. I slipped in here easy enough, butI've grown, I guess, for I can't slip back. "

"How did you get in there, anyway?"

"Climbed in. "

"I'm afraid you will have to climb out. "

A gunner came hurrying upon the scene. 

"Wh-what?" he sputtered. 

"Our little friend is in need of assistance. If he gets out of there hewill never play cannon-ball again. "

"If you will just fire me!" Danny begged, not a bit abashed. 

The gunner was not at all willing that Danny's plight should bediscovered by an officer, so he quickly went to Danny's assistance, and"fired" him by bodily pulling him out of the cannon. 

"Thanks!" chirped the little joker, as he dropped to the ground. "Binksays that I'm a small-caliber projectile, but I was quite big enough forthat cannon. Say, do you fire men every day?"

The gunner could not suppress a grin. 

"Men? Well, you're likely to get fired, young feller, if you monkeyround these guns!" he declared. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE MYSTERY CLEARED AWAY. 

What news was obtainable at Sea Cove about Barney Mulloy was important, though somewhat unsatisfactory. Barney had been attacked by tramps andbadly hurt, but not killed, though at first the report of his death hadgone out. One of the tramps had been nearly killed in the fight, andMulloy had disappeared. 

"What became of him? Where did he go?" were Merriwell's questions. 

"We didn't pay much attention to it, " was the answer given byMerriwell's Sea Cove informant. "Likely he walked off, or went away onthe boat or train. Easy enough to get out of this place. "

With this meager information, Frank and his friends hurried back on thelaunch to Glen Springs. 

"He isn't dead!" was Merry's cheerful declaration. "That must have beenBarney that Bart and I saw. "

"But the walking?" Hodge dubiously questioned. 

"And why should he be in hiding?" Diamond demanded. 

"Some men love darkness, because their deeds are evil, " Dismal droned. 

"Well, you may be sure that Barney's deeds were not evil, " said Frank, "Barney is straight, and true blue. "

Night was at hand when the launch cast anchor in the shallow harbor infront of Glen Springs and sent a boat ashore with Merry and the friendshe had chosen for the vigil of the coming hours of darkness. Thelandlord of the little hotel was not pleased that they had returned forthe purpose of capturing the "ghost, " though he was beginning, as heconfessed, to feel "creepy" about it himself. 

"I was intendin' to set up and watch for it, if you hadn't come, " hefinally admitted. 

No one answering to Barney's description had been seen in Glen Springsthrough the day. In fact, no stranger whatever had been seen in theplace from the time the launch went away until it returned. 

"It's mighty curious, " Bart grimly observed. 

"I have a feeling that we will learn to-night just what it is, " saidMerriwell. 

Frank occupied his old room, and sat at the window with Hodge, whileDiamond, Rattleton, and Bruce remained in the office. The doors leadingto the corridor were at first closed. Merry looked at his watch afterthe lights were put out in the part of the building occupied by thelandlord and his family. 

"It ought to be coming around again pretty soon, " Bart remarked, findingit impossible to escape a queer, uneasy feeling, anxious as he was tosee the specter, and determined as he was to effect its capture if itagain appeared. 

As he said it, the sounds of those mysterious steps were again heard inthe corridor, and they heard the occupants of the office fling open thedoor. 

"You weren't walking in here?" Diamond demanded. 

"Not on your life!" Bart answered. 

"But we heard some one!"

"Of course you did, and so did we. And we heard it last night!"

Rattleton and Bruce came on through into Merriwell's room. 

"Scrate Gott, this is enough to turn a man's hair white!" Rattletonsputtered. 

"Did you think we were just jollying you about this?" Bart sharplyasked. 

"No, but----"

"You're likely to see the thing, as well as hear it, " Hodge asserted. 

The landlord, who had not retired, though making a pretense of so doing, tumbled down in much excitement, in response to Rattleton's summons. 

"Did you see it, boys?" he gasped. 

His face was white, and he was trembling. All the assumed bravery hadgone out of him. 

"Only heard it walking there in the hall, " Frank answered. 

The landlord gave a jump. He had forgotten that he was standing by thecorridor door. 

"Oh, you can't see anything!" Frank reminded. "That's the trouble. Wecan hear the thing walking, but we can't see anything. Close the door, and we may be able to hear it again. "

"Don't! don't!" the landlord pleaded. 

"But I want you to hear it. Perhaps you can tell us what it is. "

"There is never anything in the corridor, " the landlord declared. "Ican't set here if you shut that door. "

"There he is again!" said Hodge, in the voice of one who expects tobehold the supernatural and inexplicable and has steeled himself againstunpleasant sensations. "There he comes! Barney, as sure as guns!"

The landlord dropped limply into a chair, and stared out through theopen window in the direction indicated by Hodge's pointing finger. Theothers grouped round Merriwell and Bart. 

"You see it?" Frank whispered. 

"Let me out of this!" the landlord gurgled, though no hand wasrestraining him. "Booh-h-h! Let me out of this. Ah-h-h-h-h! It's aghost, sure enough! Don't you see that white cloth on its head--a bloodywhite cloth?"

He seemed about to tumble over in a fit. 

"He's coming this way!" Merry whispered. "Just keep still now, all ofyou!"

Rattleton seemed about to bolt from the place, though the others werebravely standing their ground. 

"No ghost there!" said Browning. "That's a live man. "

"It's Barney, " Merry declared. "He is not dead. His head is tied up. "

"But what makes the--him sneak along in that way?" Rattleton gasped. "Whee-giz, it makes my blood run cold! Ugh!"

"Just keep still, and we shall soon find out!" Frank sharply commanded, in a whisper. 

The ghostly figure came slowly up the walk. Nearer and nearer it drew, walking as if it did not fear discovery at that late hour. 

"There is another!" Rattleton whispered. 

The figure of a woman came into view, hurrying rapidly along the pathafter Mulloy, and seeming to be in pursuit of him, though he appearednot to know it. 

"Now!" Merry whispered. "Ready, Hodge--now!"

He leaped through the window, with Bart at his side. The ghostly figurewas but a few yards away. Before it could turn in the direction of thesound they were half-way across the intervening space. 

"Barney! Mulloy!" Frank called. 

The figure uttered a cry, and started to run. But Frank's pace was tooswift. Almost in the next instant his hand fell on the shoulder of thespecter. 

"Don't you know me, Barney? I'm Merriwell!"

The figure ceased its struggles. 

"Hurroo! Is it yez for thrue, Merriwell? I t'ought it wor an officerthryin' to arrist me. "

"Break loose and run, ye fool!" was squealed in a high, feminine voice. "Run, Barney, dear--run!"

"Niver!" Barney declared. "Niver will I run from a fri'nd loikeMerriwell!"

"But you'll be put in jail! You'll be hung!" the woman shrieked, in avain effort to stampede the Irish lad. "Them fellers is officers. "

Bart had pushed up, so that Mulloy could recognize him. 

"Save me frum her, Frankie!" Barney pleaded. "Woo-oo! Begorra! She'scrazier than wildcats!"

Then he whispered:

"The ould sinner wants to marry me. Think av thot! She's been hoidin' mefrum the officers fer matrimoonial poorpuses. Take me away from her, Frankie, darlint! Oi've kilt a thramp, and I'm in peril av bein' hoongfor it; but I'd rather be hoong than to marry such a cat as thot! Badcess to her!"

"Gentlemen, the poor fellow is out of his head!" the woman purred, modulating that shrieking voice. "His head has been hurt, and he don'tknow nothin' that he's talkin' 'bout. "

Barney clung to Merriwell and Hodge as if he feared the woman would draghim bodily away from these friends. 

"Oi suppose thot she may be able to foorce me into marryin' her, " hemoaned. "Oi kilt a thramp, and Oi wor hidin' frum the officers--may thedivil floy away wid thim--and Oi sneaked intil her house, d'ye moind, and hid me loike a fool under her bed. The crayther had been lookin'under thot bed for forty years to foind a man! And whin she let her ouldoyes loight on me, she pulled me out av there; an' she's been kapin' meand scarin' me intil fits and hoidin' me from the officers iversince--and, bad cess to her, nixt wake she wor goin' to marry me. "

"Why did you sneak round the hotel and along the paths in that queerway?" Frank asked, after the vinegary-visaged and matrimonially inclinedfemale had departed in despair and disgust, and he had Barney alone. "That still puzzles me. We heard that you had been killed by thosetramps, and you looked and acted enough like a ghost to be one!"

"A ghost, is it?" said Barney, glancing about as if he did not like eventhe thought. "Thot ould witch wor kapin' me hid away from the officersin thot wee bit av a house roight behind the three over there, and allthe ixercoise Oi could git wor whin Oi could shlip out av noights andwalk round and swally a brith av fresh air. Oi t'ought Oi had kilt thethramp and thot the officers wor watchin' for me! Thot ould divil hilpedme to believe thot hersilf! So whin Oi heard yez call, av coorse Oiworn't goin' to sthop and be arristed. A ghost, is it? Oi'm thinkin'thot yez'd be crapin' round, too, if yez t'ought thot a rope wor riddyto toighten about the neck av yez!"

 * * * * *

"Haw! haw! haw!"

The roars did not proceed from Joe Gamp, but from the landlord of thehotel. Now that Barney was found to be real flesh and blood, and not aspirit, the landlord had entered more heartily into the search for themysterious source of the strange footsteps. He had been willing that thedoors opening into the corridors should be closed--for only when thecorridor was darkened could the ghostly sounds be heard. 

As soon as the "footsteps" came again he threw open the door andchucklingly led the way out through a side room into a shedlikestructure that came up against the corridor wall. 

"There is your ha'nt!" he roared, pointing down into a pen in the shed. "There is your ha'nt! A gol-derned old sea-turtle! Haw! haw! haw! Ho!ho! ho! He! he! he!"

The turtle was a monster in size. 

"But--I don't see!" said Merriwell. "This doesn't explain. "

The landlord hopped into the pen and flipped the huge turtle over on itsback against the wall. Thereupon it began to kick out with its greatflippers, striking them against the corridor wall and making the soundswhich had seemed to be footsteps. Merriwell looked round. 

"I see!" he admitted. "The light from the lighted corridor came throughthat transom. "

"Jest so!" said the landlord. "Whenever your light shined in here itscart the turtle, and it quit kickin'. It's always trying to climb outof the pen and falling over on its back; and when it tips over near thewall and strikes with them flippers, it makes that sound. If it ain'tnear the wall, of course it don't strike nothin' to make the sound. And, of course, soon's it can turn itself back--which it can't sometimes forhours--it quits kickin' out. "

"And yez tuk me for thot thing and thot thing for me, and aitch av usknew nothing about it, and it wasn't ayther av us!" chuckled Barney. 

"Just so!" said Merriwell. "And right glad I am to understand it, and toknow that you are living!"

"And Oi niver wor gladder to see anybody in my loife! The soight av yezmakes me well. And Bart, me jewel! Yez are as foine a laddie as iverlived! Give me the touch av yer hand ag'in!"

And so the mystery was solved, and Barney escaped, be it said, heartwhole and body free--while Frank and his friends returned to thecity. 

THE END. 

"BEST OF ALL BOYS' BOOKS"

THE FAMOUS Frank Merriwell Stories

By BURT L. STANDISH

No modern series of tales for boys and youths has met with anything likethe cordial reception and popularity accorded to the Frank MerriwellStories. 

There must be a reason for this and there is. Frank Merriwell, asportrayed by the author, is a jolly, whole-souled, honest, courageousAmerican lad, who appeals to the hearts of the boys. He has no badhabits, and his manliness inculcates the idea that it is not necessaryfor a boy to indulge in petty vices to be a hero. Frank Merriwell'sexample is a shining light for every ambitious lad to follow. 

_Twenty-four volumes ready_

Frank Merriwell's School Days Frank Merriwell's SkillFrank Merriwell's Chums Frank Merriwell's ChampionsFrank Merriwell's Foes Frank Merriwell's Return to YaleFrank Merriwell's Trip West Frank Merriwell's SecretFrank Merriwell Down South Frank Merriwell's LoyaltyFrank Merriwell's Bravery Frank Merriwell's RewardFrank Merriwell's Races Frank Merriwell's FaithFrank Merriwell's Hunting Tour Frank Merriwell's VictoriesFrank Merriwell's Sports Afield Frank Merriwell's PowerFrank Merriwell at Yale Frank Merriwell's Set-BackFrank Merriwell's Courage Frank Merriwell's False FriendFrank Merriwell's Daring Frank Merriwell's Brother

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