STACK 
 
 FRANK 
 MERRWELL'S 
 VICTORIES 
 
 BURT- L 
 STANDISH
 
 S. EDWIN CORLE, JR. 
 
 HIS BOOK
 
 The Yale men broke out 
 
 cond and tore likt 
 (See page 306)
 
 FRANK MERRIWELL'S 
 VICTORIES 
 
 BURT L. STANDISH 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "Frank Merriwell's School Days," "Frank Merriwell's Chums," 
 " Frank Merriwell's Foes," etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 DAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER 
 
 604-8 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE
 
 Copyright, 1900 
 By STREET & SMITH 
 
 Frank Merriwell'. Victoria* 
 
 AH rtgnts reserved, '-eluding that of translation into foreign ianguan, 
 including the Scandinavian
 
 FRANK MERRIWEiL'S VICTORIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BINK OPENS THE BALL. 
 
 Bink Stubbs opened the ball at Niagara. He did 
 not use a latch-key nor a jimmy he opened it with 
 his little cigarette. 
 
 Merriwell's Athletic Team had come on from the 
 Adirondacks to Niagara shortly after defeating the 
 "University," or Wabeek Nine, in the finest game of 
 baseball ever seen in the Great North Woods, and 
 were quartered at a well-known hotel in the Falls city. 
 
 They were there to see the wonders of Niagara and 
 to meet the Niagara Rapids, a local athletic organiza- 
 tion of great renown, in a field-sports battle which 
 promised to be an extremely interesting affair; but 
 Bink Stubbs and his cigarette started the excitement 
 long before the time set for the big contest. "Behold 
 how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" The fire 
 on the end of Sink's cigarette was but a glowing 
 speck of red, yet it was mighty in its capacity for sen- 
 sational destructiveness. The touch of that glowing 
 speck of red raised Ned at that hotel. 
 
 2035356
 
 6 Bink Opens the Pall. 
 
 This is the way Bink opened the oall : 
 
 He was strolling and quarreling with Danny along 
 a wide piazza in the cool of the evening, where a lot 
 of pyrotechnic material had been collected for a. big 
 fireworks display that night, and as he stopped to 
 shake his fist threateningly under Danny's nose, he 
 took the lighted cigarette from his mouth, that the 
 words might flow with greater fluency. As he talked, 
 he thrust his left hand holding the cigarette behind 
 him and unconsciously touched off a fiery pinwheel. 
 
 There was a sputtering hiss as the pinwheel flicked 
 its fiery tail around, sending out a shower of flame and 
 sparks. 
 
 "Gee-whiskers !" Danny screeched, leading back and 
 almost falling over the railing. Bink Stubbs flirted 
 round as quickly as the pinwheel. Another pinwheel 
 was hissing and hopping and revolving. 
 
 "Gee ! they are whiskers !" he gasped. 
 
 "Better whisk 'em out of there !" Danny exclaimed, 
 as if he contemplated a flying leap over the railing 
 to the ground below. "You did that! That was all 
 your fault. You must have touched it off with your 
 cigarette!" 
 
 "Shut up!" Bink squawked, as he made a dive for 
 the pinwheels. "You are to blame. Your hot words 
 would set anything on fire." 
 
 But Bink's efforts to corral the fire-spitting pin- 
 wheels were not a glowing success. His hand closed
 
 Bink Opens the Ball. 7 
 
 on one, but he dropped it with a nowl as it sent a 
 spout of flame up his sleeve. 
 
 ''Get a pair of tongs !" shrieked Danny, climbing up 
 on the railing. 
 
 'Til hammer you like a pair of tongs !" Bink howled 
 back 1 , trying to get hold of the other wheel. "Whyj 
 don't you help me, you lunatic ?" 
 
 Thereupon Danny dropped off the railing and 
 rushed to Bink's assistance. 
 
 The pinwheels were spreading the fire everywhere, 
 and other ominous hissings began to be heard. Ai 
 bunch of firecrackers began to pop and crackle like 
 mimic musketry. 
 
 "If you can't hold them with your hands, use your? 
 teeth!" squealed Danny, who thought he foresaw a 
 lot of fun in this premature pyrotechnic display. "See 
 me!" 
 
 Whizz-z-z smack f 
 
 A Roman candle shot its burning ball almost into 
 Danny's mouth, and he tumbled backward with a yell. 
 
 "Yes, I see you!" Bink snarled, dancing about as 
 the pinwheels burned his fingers. "Hold 'em in your 
 teeth !" 
 
 Then, in his desperation, Bink gave the fireworks 
 a kick that sent sparks and combustibles flying in 
 every direction. 
 
 "Help me clear these things out of here, or the 
 hotel will be burned up!"
 
 8 Bink Opens the Ball. 
 
 Danny scratched at his mouth, then rolled over on 
 his back to stare lugubriously at the display. Other 
 Roman candles began to hurl red and green balls. A 
 rocket hissed like a meteor out into the street, shower- 
 ing Danny with a smother of sparks. 
 
 "Turn in the fire-alarm !" he screeched. "Ow ! 
 That burnt my eyes out!" 
 
 Bang! 
 
 A cannon-cracker exploded under Bink's nose with 
 a report louder than a musket. Another rocket tried 
 to bore a hole through the piazza railing, and finding 
 it could not do this, jumped back and began to tear 
 round the piazza like a crazy snake. Danny leaped 
 pcreechingly to his feet. 
 
 "Help get 'em out of here!" Bink roared. 
 
 He clasped an armful of rockets to his bosom, with 
 the intention of hurling them over the railing, but 
 dropped them when one hissed upward to the piazza. 
 roof and came down with an eccentric curve. 
 
 Suddenly the din became deafening. Rockets, 
 Roman candles, pinwheels, firecrackers, big and little, 
 began to fizz and hiss and whiz and explode. A 
 candle-ball bored Bink in the ear. Another plugged 
 Danny's hat like a ball from the rifle of a sharpshooter, 
 while the rockets that could not get into the street 
 raced and raved and tore round the piazza, in a way; 
 that was simply maddening.
 
 Bink Opens the Ball. 9 
 
 Bink, who had been doing his best to stop the 
 trouble which he had begun with his cigarette, reeled 
 backward. 
 
 "If I had a hose, I'd turn it on you !" he shouted. 
 
 :< Better turn it on the fireworks." 
 
 Bink raced along the piazza yelling "Fire!" at the 
 top of his voice. 
 
 Herbert Hammerswell came bounding round the 
 corner, and a rocket shot past his ear with a fiendish 
 shriek that brought him up with a jerk. 
 
 Delancy Livingston also appeared, but a fire of 
 candle-balls seemed to mow him down. Then the 
 proprietor, after turning on the fire-alarm, came upon 
 the scene with a bound. 
 
 He became wildly excited when his eyes fell on the 
 whizzing, whirring, snapping display. He thought 
 the hotel was doomed, and opened his mouth to shout 
 some order, when a cannon-cracker exploded with 
 startling report under his heels, and he jumped into 
 the air as if he had been fired from a gun. 
 
 A policeman, hearing the calls and hearing what 
 he thought was shooting, climbed to the piazza, and 
 rushed toward the proprietor, swinging his club and 
 nervously fingering his revolver. But he halted in 
 uncertainty when he discovered the cause of the 
 trouble. 
 
 In another minute the piazza was full of people, 
 who shouted indistinguishable orders, and who raced
 
 io Bink Opens the Ball. 
 
 and tore round like the inmates of a madhouse. Bink 
 crawled out from under their feet, as they ducked and 
 ran toward the nearest doorway. Danny scrambled 
 up and followed him. The policeman got a shot from 
 a rocket in the belt that took away his courage, and 
 he followed Danny. 
 
 "Can't do anything !" they heard him pant. "Where 
 is the fire department?" 
 
 The fire department soon came upon the scene with 
 galloping horses. Delancy and Hammerswell were 
 shinning down the piazza posts as the hose began to 
 work. 
 
 "Wow!" Hammerswell screeched, as the water 
 spouted and pailfuls seemed to fall on his back. 
 
 "Gracious!" exploded Delancy, forgetting his 
 drawl. "This is an outrage!" as the stream struck 
 him and fairly knocked him from the railing to the 
 ground, where he lay dazedly in the muddy pool that 
 began to collect. "Aw! gracious! I'm going to sue 
 somebody for this !" 
 
 Merriwell, who had hurried forward to be of as- 
 sistance if he could, but who had also been forced to 
 retreat and leap over the railing to the ground, heard 
 him, and heartily laughed. Delancy got up, crest- 
 fallen, with the water streaming from his fire-black- 
 ened face. 
 
 "Aw !" he said, as he heard that laugh. "You're a 
 scoundrel, don't you know a precious scoundrel!"
 
 Bink Opens the Ball. u 
 
 "And you're a chump !" said Frank. "Do you think 
 I turned that water on you? Or set those things on 
 fire ? Perhaps you did that last ?" 
 
 Delancy tried to recover his dignity, and hunted for 
 his eye-glass, but it was misplaced. But he gave 
 Frank a stony look that was intensely amusing. 
 
 "You're a jewel, Delancy! I wonder that your 
 sister don't cut your acquaintance. What are you 
 doing here, anyway?" 
 
 "Aw ! I have a right to be in any hotel where I pay 
 my money, don't you know ! What are you doing 
 here? You're the intruder, don't you know! We 
 were here first !" 
 
 The piazza, was a Babel of noises, for the fireworks 
 were still exploding and hissing, and the guests, hav- 
 ing retreated to places of safety, were wildly talking, 
 gesticulating, and advising. No one knew how the 
 fire had started. 
 
 "Do you think the hotel will burn up?" Bink 
 gasped. 
 
 "It seems to be doing that now, for most of the 
 rockets are trying to go upward. But it may burn 
 down ! We'll wait and see !" 
 
 "Danny, you're a fool !" 
 
 "Thanks, awfully. I know I'm a fool for talking 
 to you. But I didn't expect you to be able to see it." 
 
 "I'll have to pay for this," Bink groaned. 
 
 "I think you'd better have another cigarette!" Dan-
 
 12 Bink Opens the Ball. 
 
 ny urged. "Or were you able to linish the one that 
 started the fire ?" 
 
 "I'll finish you !" Bink howled, lunging at Danny. 
 
 As he lunged, a rocket "lifted" him with a sidelong 
 stroke that tore his clothing and tumbled him down. 
 
 "Oh, I'll finish you!" he gasped, getting up and 
 shaking his fist at Danny. "Wait till I catch you, and 
 I'll finish you!" 
 
 But the fire was soon out. It had confined itself 
 to the fireworks, which were soon too soaked to do 
 any further damage. 
 
 "A premature display !" groaned the proprietor. "I 
 wanted to have that a little later. But I'm glad the 
 hotel didn't catch from them. I wonder how the 
 thing happened." 
 
 Bink sought out the proprietor shortly afterward 
 and stumblingly told how "the thing happened," and 
 offered pay. 
 
 "You're one of Merriwell's crowd?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, the pay is nothing, for one of Merriwell's 
 friends. But I want to advise you a bit, young fel- 
 low. Cigarettes are not good for fireworks or boys !" 
 
 "He called me a boy!" Bink moaned to Danny, 
 stretching himself to his full height. 
 
 "You little runt, what else are you? I'm the only 
 man in Merriwell's crowd, and the proprietor saw it. 
 He hasn't said a word to me!"
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE "ONE-LEGGED BLONDIN." 
 
 Delancy, soaked in sweet oil and camphor-ice, lay 
 back on the bed in his room, while Hammerswell, 
 similarly soaked, and moaning, sat cramped up on a 
 chair and talked. 
 
 "If one of the confounded rockets had only shot a 
 hole through Merriwell!" Hammerswell grumbled. 
 "That villain always seems to get off without any 
 trouble." 
 
 "How does it come that his crowd is in the same 
 hotel with us?" Delancy petulantly queried. "Aw! 
 that's going to make it decidedly uncomfortable for 
 us, don't you know !" 
 
 Hammerswell bent forward. 
 
 "I didn't say anything to you about it, for I thought 
 you might make a kick, but I overheard Merriwell 
 saying his crowd was coming to this hotel, before we 
 left the Adirondacks. I wanted to be near them. So 
 we came on first, and stopped here !" 
 
 "I don't want to be near them, don't you know!" 
 Delancy grumbled. "I'd like to put the seas between 
 us. They are a horrid crowd !" 
 
 "I shall be glad to put the seas between as by and 
 by, but not until I have been revenged on Frank Mer- 
 riwell."
 
 14 The "One-legged Blondin." 
 
 "What can you do ? You'll get yourself into a lot 
 of trouble. You came close to it before. I don't want 
 to stay here !" 
 
 "But no harm can come to us!" 
 
 "Harm already!" sighed Delancy, pointing to his 
 burned face. "And what can you do to Merriwell?" 
 
 Hammerswell leaned farther forward and lowered 
 his voice. 
 
 "I've found a man to do the work." 
 
 "What work?" fishing out his eye-glass and staring 
 at his friend. 
 
 "To do up Merriwell!" in a whisper. 
 
 "Aw!" 
 
 "Yes. That's straight goods, I fell in with him 
 since coming here. As you say, it's risky trying to 
 do these things ourselves; and why should we, when 
 we have plenty of money to hire other men to do 
 it? Money will do anything." 
 
 "Aw! you're right. I wish it would take this pain 
 out of my face !" 
 
 He rolled uneasily, and groaned. 
 
 "I came across the fellow in a saloon. He had 
 been drinking, and I overheard him mumbling some- 
 thing to himself that assured me he was just the man 
 I wanted. I called him into a room and had a talk 
 with him. He was eager for money would do any- 
 thing for money \ I told him about Merriwell, and 
 he has agreed to do it !"
 
 The "One-legged Blondin." 15 
 
 Delancy sat up on the bed, momentarily forgetful 
 of his burns. He put up his eye-glass again, and 
 stared at the speaker. 
 
 "Why don't you ask me what he is to do?" 
 
 "Aw! I was coming to that." 
 
 "I told him that I didn't care what he did, if he 
 only did something to forever ruin Frank Merriwell's 
 pitching-arm." 
 
 "What did he say?" 
 
 "He said he'd throw him into the whirlpool for me." 
 
 Delancy gasped. 
 
 "You you didn't hire him to do that?" 
 
 "I'm not a fool !" snapped Herbert. 
 
 "Aw! I didn't know, you know!" 
 
 "I told him that wasn't what I wanted that I 
 didn't care to go as far as that; though you know 
 there have been times when I have been desperate 
 enough to do even that ! 
 
 "He seemed bent on throwing Merry into the whirl- 
 pool, even when I told him that wasn't what I wanted. 
 And even after I had arranged with him to do up 
 Merriwell's arm, he came back to the other propo- 
 sition." 
 
 "What's his plan ?" drawled Delancy, dropping back 
 on the bed. 
 
 "lie says he has some sort of a bomb that's what 
 I understood him to say which will do the work. I 
 don't know how he is going to do it. But if he does
 
 1 6 The ' 'One-legged Blondin." 
 
 not perform his part of the contract, he isn't to get 
 any boodle. He clearly understands that, even if he 
 was half-drunk at the time." 
 
 "You didn't put that contract into writing?" 
 
 "I'm not a fool !" 
 
 "Aw ! I didn't know, you know !" 
 
 "Of course I didn't put it into writing." 
 
 A man came shouting along the street beneath the 
 hotel window. 
 
 "The One-kgged Blondin on the high rope ! Come 
 out, everybody ! Most wonderful feat ever witnessed !" 
 
 Delancy Livingston sat up again. 
 
 "I'm a horrid sight, don't you know! But I'd like 
 ^to see that fellow. I heard them talking about him 
 in the hotel this afternoon. They say it's a perform- 
 ance worth witnessing." 
 
 "And I'd like to get out of this room." 
 
 "When is your fellow your drunken man to do 
 fhis?" 
 
 "He is to try it before the field-sports- come off!" 
 
 "Aw ! what is his name ?" 
 
 "Rodney Skaggs." 
 
 "Aw! queer name!" getting up and beginning to 
 wipe away the oily preparation from his smarting face. 
 
 When they got out of the hotel they found a crowd 
 pressing down toward the river. The thunder of the 
 falls filled their ears, sounding at some distance away
 
 The "One-legged Blondin." 17 
 
 like the lashing of heavy surf. A tight rope had been 
 stretched across the street between some tall buildings. 
 
 "Thought it was to be over the falls!" a man 
 grumbled. "The original Blondin walked across Ni- 
 agara on a tight rope. This fellow is a faker." 
 
 "But they say he has only one leg," was the an- 
 swer. "How in time can a one-legged man walk a 
 tight rope? Shouldn't think he could do that, if the 
 rope was laid on the ground !" 
 
 The answer soon came in the appearance of the 
 "One-legged Blondin" himself. He was a heavy-faced, 
 brutal-looking man, wearing circus-tights. Yet one 
 'leg was off at the knee, and the place of the lost 
 member was taken by a wooden leg, with which he 
 stumped along as the crowd opened for him. 
 
 Herbert Hammerswell fell back with a gasp of sur- 
 prise as his eyes fell on this man. 
 
 "Awf what's the matter?" questioned Delancy, turn- 
 ing upon his friend. 
 
 "It's him!" 
 
 "Aw!" 
 
 "You don't understand ? It's the man I was telling* 
 you about. He was one-legged. I didn't think to 
 mention that. But it's the same fellow." 
 
 "No! but how " 
 
 The "One-legged Blondin" was beginning to climb 
 up a rope, hand over hand, in a skilful manner, dang- 
 ling and swinging his wooden leg.
 
 i8 The "One-legged Blondin." 
 
 Herbert turned about. 
 
 "Say," he whispered, in an anxious voice, "I want 
 to go back and think over this. That fellow isn't the 
 sort of a chap I thought!" 
 
 "Looks like he might do anything !" Delancy whis- 
 pered, after a study of the rope-walker's brutal face. 
 "He'd sell himself for a drink. But I thought a man 
 couldn't do that kind of work and drink. Aw! this 
 puzzles me, don't you know !" 
 
 He put up his eye-glass for a stare, while Ham- 
 merswell, though he had said he was going, did not 
 stir from his tracks, but watched the man in blank 
 wonder. 
 
 "Skaggs !" another man was whispering to himself 
 at the same time, and that other man was Gregory 
 Carker, whose eyes were glued on the tight-rope 
 walker as if held there by a strange fascination. 
 "What is the meaning of this? I never knew that 
 the fellow was a rope-walker! I can't understand it. 
 But that's Skaggs, sure enough !" 
 
 Carker, though the thing was not noticed by his 
 friends, all of whom were looking up at the "One- 
 legged Blondin," seemed almost as much disturbed 
 and agitated as Herbert Hammerswell. 
 
 "I shall look into this," was his thought. 
 
 "I wonder whtre the fellow is stopping? I'll fol- 
 low him when the show is over, and find out."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOMEWHAT MYSTERIOUS. 
 
 The performance given by the "One-legged Blon- 
 din" was really very creditable, and would not have 
 disgraced a tight-rope walker who possessed two good 
 legs and was a stranger to drink. He walked back 
 and forth from building to building several times, 
 turned somersaults, landing cleverly on the rope on 
 his one foot, and did other feats usually performed 
 by rope-walkers. 
 
 "How du-dud-dud-does he do it !" Joe Gamp gasped 
 
 "There's a hollow groove in the bottom of the 
 wooden leg," said Merriwell. "If you'll look close, 
 you'll see it when he lifts the peg leg. He sets that 
 squarely on the rope each time!" 
 
 "Gug-gug-goshf ry ! So he dud-does I Enough to 
 mum-make my head swim to look at him. Cuc-couldn't 
 handle that wooden leg on the lul-level ground." 
 
 "Your head swims because it's light!" chirped 
 iBink. 
 
 "Yours will fuf-feel a gug-gug-good deal lighter if 
 IE thump you one!" 
 
 "Why is he like high prices?" asked Danny, ready 
 with his inevitable conundrum. 
 
 "Because he is away above the heads of the poofl
 
 20 Somewhat Mysterious. 
 
 men!" said Carker. "Don't fling disagreeable co- 
 nundrums at us, Danny!" 
 
 "Because he's bound to come down!" 
 
 "High prices don't always come down!" Carker 
 corrected. 
 
 "Well, he's coming down," Bink asserted. 
 
 The rope-walker had swung down from his rope, 
 and now caught hold of the rope that led to it from 
 below, and slid deftly to the ground. The perform- 
 ance finished, he passed the hat, and after a little speech 
 in which he thanked everybody and stated that he 
 would repeat his performance the following evening, 
 he disappeared, and some men took down the rope. 
 
 "Where is Carker?" Frank asked, looking around. 
 
 "Why, he was right here just this minute!" Bruce 
 answered. "Got mixed in with the crowd, I suppose." 
 
 Carker was trying to trail Skaggs home. He fol- 
 lowed him for a short distance, saw him beckon to 
 Hammerswell, and saw the two move away together 
 toward a doorway. 
 
 "Now, what does that mean? My friend Skaggs 
 is growing more mysterious every minute. How does 
 he happen to be acquainted with that scoundrel, Ham- 
 merswell ?" 
 
 In a little while Skaggs and Hammerswell reap- 
 peared, Skaggs in an ordinary suit, in which he 
 stumped along, smoking a pipe and jingling in his 
 pocket the coin he had collected ; while Hammerswell,
 
 Somewhat Mysterious. 21 
 
 who walked at his side, seemed the personification of 
 uneasiness, casting anxious glances round and noting 
 the appearance of every man who came near. 
 
 With his wonder constantly increasing, Carker kept 
 well to the rear, out of sight, and patiently pursued 
 this oddly-assorted couple. 
 
 Again Skaggs went into a doorway with Ham- 
 merswell. Carker stood in the street and waited, but 
 they did not reappear. Growing impatient, Carker 
 went up to the doorway. It opened into a corridor, 
 which opened again into a yard, beyond which was a 
 fence. 
 
 "Fooled!" he said. "Why should Skaggs want to 
 keep out of my way in that manner? It's plain he 
 saw me following, and has done this to throw me off 
 the trail." 
 
 Skaggs, still accompanied by Hammerswell, was 
 rapidly stumping away in the darkness beyond the 
 fence. 
 
 "I don't like this !" Herbert was grumbling. 
 
 "You like it as well as I do. That feller was foller- 
 ing us !" 
 
 "I mean I don't like to be walking along this way 
 with you. Somebody is sure to notice it." 
 
 "Ain't I good company ?" Skaggs fiercely demanded,. 
 "What's the matter with you?" 
 
 "I may be arrested." 
 
 "Well, if I do your dirty work, I'm likely to be!**
 
 22 Somewhat Mysterious. 
 
 "And if I'm seen with you, when you're pulled, the 
 officers will come for me!" 
 Skaggs laughed hoarsely. 
 "Don't calculate to git pulled I Not for doing your 
 
 The tone was peculiar. 
 
 "What do you mean by that ?" 
 
 "Here's a shanty. Come in, and I'll tell you f" 
 
 There was a threat in the words which made Her- 
 bert shiver. He began to wish he had never held any 
 communication with this mysterious stranger, whom 
 he had taken for a drunken loafer and dyed-in-the- 
 wool villain. The memory of Skaggs on the tight 
 rope troubled him. Skaggs pushed open a door, which 
 "' the darkness Hammerswell had failed to see, 
 
 "Come in !" he gruffly invited. 
 
 Herbert hung back. 
 
 "I I - " he faltered. 
 
 "That's two eyes !" again laughing hoarsely. "With 
 two eyes you ought to be able to follow me, even if 
 the place is as dark as a well. Come on !" 
 
 The imperative command could not be disobeyed. 
 Hammerswell felt drawn forward, though he tried to 
 hang back. When they had gone a few feet, they 
 stopped, and the rope-walker scratched a match. The 
 door had been closed behind them, and Hammerswell 
 looked about as Skaggs lighted a candle. It was a
 
 Somewhat Mysterious. 23 
 
 queer place, littered with wicker work and unfinished 
 moccasins. 
 
 "The Injun stays here!" said Skaggs, with a grunt, 
 as he dropped to a log of wood that served for a stool 
 and motioned Hammerswell to another. 
 
 "Who? Swiftwing?" 
 
 "Don't know anything about Swiftwing, whoever 
 he is. Strong Arm, the Oneida. Hain't seen him? 
 He's around the city all the time, sellin' beads and 
 moccasins. Partner of mine." 
 
 Then his heavy, brutal face grew dark, and he be- 
 gan to take off the wooden leg, while Hammerswell 
 stupidly stared at him, now and then giving the in- 
 terior of the strange, shantylike place a questioning 
 look. He seemed to have dropped out of the Falls 
 city and to have brought up with a jerk in some smoky 
 Indian lodge. And now, as Skaggs began to remove 
 that wooden leg, a sense of horror chased up and down 
 his spinal column. 
 
 "For Heaven's sake, what are you doing that for?" 
 
 "Don't think you cut any figure in those celestial 
 regions !" snapped Skaggs. "I've got something here 
 I want you to set your eyes on. I've been thinking, 
 since you and I had our little talk. I was pretty 
 drunk, but I remember it, and I remember you !" 
 
 Again Hammerswell looked round the room, stared 
 at the leg, and shuddered. He began to wonder if the 
 rope-walker had locked the door through which theji
 
 24 Somewhat Mysterious. 
 
 had entered. His mind was so bewildered he could 
 not remember. 
 
 The leg came off without much trouble, and Skaggs 
 turned the larger, cuplike end toward Hammerswell. 
 In this end was a hole, which seemed to be plugged 
 up with a piece of glass. 
 
 The rope-walker pulled out this glass. It seemed 
 to be filled with some dark substance, and was in shape 
 and size a little larger than an egg, with the upper 
 end flattened. 
 
 "Dynamite !" said the rope-walker, giving it a lov- 
 ; ng pat. 
 
 Hammerswell turned white with fear. 
 
 "D-don't!" he stammered. "The stuff may ex- 
 plode!" 
 
 "That's what I got it for to explode ! That's what 
 the stuff is made for !" 
 
 "I I " 
 
 "Two more eyes, and still you can't see anything!" 
 
 He seemed to take delight in Herbert's torture, 
 playing with him as a cat does with a mouse. And 
 there was such a queer, villainous look on the brutal 
 face, that Hammerswell had all he could do to keep 
 from springing up and rushing blindly to the door in 
 an endeavor to force his way out of the place. 
 
 "What do you keep the stuff for in your leg?" 
 
 Skaggs gave it another toss, which brought a gurgle 
 of fear from the shaking youth.
 
 Somewhat Mysterious. 25 
 
 "Well, you see, I'm liable to fail from that rope 
 at any time. You seen how high it was? If I should 
 come down from that rope onto the stones that are 
 always in a pavement, I'd be broken all to pieces. I 
 lost one leg that way once, and I know what it is. 
 Ought to have stopped the tight-rope business when 
 I fell that time, but I didn't. But I'll never git an- 
 other broken leg !" 
 
 He stopped and glared at Herbert 
 
 "Why don't you ask me why ?" 
 
 "Wh-wh-why?" 
 
 "Because when I come down, this dynamite will 
 Wow me into ribbons !" 
 
 "B-b-but the people?" 
 
 Skaggs gave the glass another toss, and swore 
 roundly. 
 
 "What do I care for the people? They're no better 
 than I am! Now, I've got a word for you, young 
 feller!" 
 
 "Y-yes! What is it?" 
 
 "I was drunk when you came to me. To-night I'm 
 sober. Likely to-morrow I'll be drunk again, and if 
 you should come to me I might promise you the same 
 thing. But to-night I'm sober!" 
 
 He began to replace the wooden leg, having first 
 pushed the glass down into place. 
 
 "Y-y-y-yes!"
 
 26 Somewhat Mysterious. 
 
 Hammerswell stammered, his face growing whiter 
 and every nerve a-tremble. 
 
 "If you ever come near me again, whether I'm 
 drunk or sober " 
 
 "Y-y-y-yes!" 
 
 He arose and stumped toward the shaking youth. 
 
 "I'll kill you! Now, git! Git!" he repeated, as 
 Hammerswell leaped up with a cry of fear. "Git!" 
 
 The terrified young rascal fled to the door and tore 
 it open, with Skaggs stumping after him; and as he 
 tumbled out into the darkness, the wooden leg was 
 lifted, and sent him sprawling. 
 
 "And there was dynamite in it I" he gasped, as he 
 sprang up and dashed away.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 RATTLETON GETS A FRIGHT. 
 
 "ScateGott!" 
 
 Harry Rattleton whispered the exclamation, as he 
 peered through a tiny, dingy window, into a tiny, 
 dingy room, and saw Greg Carker holding a little girl 
 on his knees and flashing before her eyes a bright five- 
 dollar gold piece. The child had been crying, and 
 Carker was trying to quiet her. 
 
 "If Skaggs lays his hands on you again, I'll make 
 him suffer for it! Take this five dollars and buy the 
 biggest and handsomest doll you can find. You can 
 have great times with it, can't you? No, I won't let 
 Skaggs hit you again !" 
 
 "Whee-giz !" Rattleton gasped. "This is the queer- 
 est thing I ever struck!" 
 
 He had come in sight of Carker while out walking- 
 with Frank Merriwell, and had hurried after him, 
 leaving Frank to come on more leisurely. Then he 
 had lost sight of Carker, and while looking about had 
 been drawn through an alley by the scream of a child. 
 Now he saw this. 
 
 A door opened into the dingy room, and Skaggs 
 entered. He was drinking again and a bottle bulged 
 one of his pockets. A scowl came to his brutal face 
 as he saw the child in Carker's lap
 
 28 Rattleton Gets a Fright 
 
 A sudden sense that this might be called spying, 
 and that he had no right to be there, even though 
 what he beheld was so inexplicable and mysterious, 
 caused Harry Rattleton to draw back from the win- 
 dow and turn to leave; but the scream of the child 
 and a warning cry from Carker drew him back. 
 
 "Greg may need help!" was his thought. "I'm not 
 a fighter I'd rather run than fight; but if he needs 
 help, I'll try to help him ! Dunder what he's wooing 
 in there I mean I wonder what he's doing in there? 
 That's the fellow who walked the tight rope! I'd 
 know that face anywhere." 
 
 Rodney Skaggs had caught up a stool and seemed 
 about to brain Greg with it. The child was behind 
 the youth, and he put back a hand and touched her, as 
 if to assure her he would protect her. 
 
 "Makes me feel like jumping through the window!" 
 Rattleton nervously chattered, his sympathies with 
 Greg and the child. 
 
 "Sit down!" Carker commanded. "Sit down, you 
 fool ! If you try any tricks on me, I'll have you ar- 
 rested, and if I hear of you striking this child again, 
 I'll have her taken away from you by the Society for 
 the Prevention of Cruelty to Children." 
 
 "I'll smash your head in !" Skaggs hissed ; but Car- 
 ker's words seemed to cow him, and instead of hurling 
 the stool at Carker's head he sat down on it. 
 
 Carker drew the child to him, and put an arm pro-
 
 Rattleton Gets a Fright. 29 
 
 tectingly round her. She was ragged and ill cared 
 for, but her face was bright and winning. If she was 
 Skaggs' child, she got her handsome face from the 
 mother, for Skaggs' visage was of a low type. 
 
 "How does it come that you're in this rope-walking 
 business ?" Carker asked. 
 
 "Was always in it!" 
 
 "Not when I knew you." 
 
 "Jist dropped out of it for a little while, 'cause I 
 could git bigger pay out o' you !" said the brutal fel- 
 low, with a sneer. "When I couldn't work you any 
 longer, I went to rope-walkin' ag'in. I lanowed you'd 
 sympathize with an honest workin' man, but not with 
 a rope-walker. See?" 
 
 "I see that I've been a big fool. I followed you 
 here to have a talk with you." 
 
 "Oh, I won't give ye away!" sneered Skaggs, with 
 a leer which showed that the liquo* was beginning to 
 take effect. 
 
 The bored look deepened on Carker's face. 
 
 "This is eavesdropping! I must get out of here!" 
 Rattleton was again thinking. "I thought Greg might 
 need help!" 
 
 "Oh, we were a fine couple of partners in the good 
 old days, an' don't ye forget it!" said Skaggs, begin- 
 ning to take off his wooden leg. "I done the work, 
 and you furnished the money! I'd like to hook onto 
 another partner like youl"
 
 30 Rattleton Gets a Fright. 
 
 "You're a miserable scoundrel!" said Carker, witH 
 the utmost composure. 
 
 The wooden leg came off, and Skaggs flourished it. 
 
 "Do you know what's in that?" he asked signifi- 
 cantly. "See that?" and he held up the egg-shaped 
 glass. "D'ye know what's in that?" 
 
 "It looks as if it might contain as much brains as 
 your head!" 
 
 "That's dynamite!" 
 
 Harry was drawing back from the window, but 
 those words froze him. The rope-walker glanced to- 
 ward the window, and saw the staring eyes and white 
 face. 
 
 He had seemed on the point of hurling the glass at 
 Carker, but now Harry saw him thrust it again into 
 the cavity in the leg, and, swinging the leg as if it 
 were a club, hop across the room. 
 
 Rattleton beat a quick retreat toward the street, but 
 as he turned the corner of the house he stumbled and 
 pitched downward in the darkness. He stilled the 
 cry that rose for utterance, as he felt himself falling 
 into a cellarlike opening. A door flew open, and the 
 rope-walker hopped into the circle of light that shot 
 out into the gloom. 
 
 "Where did that spy go?" he growled; and Harry 
 almost held his breath. 
 
 Carker did not come out of the house, and Rattleton
 
 Rattleton Gets a Fright. 31 
 
 could hear him talking to the child as if to reassure 
 and quiet her. 
 
 "I believe he's hid in this cellar," the rope-walker 
 muttered, as he swayed on one foot and swung the 
 wooden leg. "If he is, and I can lay hands on him, 
 I'll smash him!" 
 
 Rattleton began to tremble. Though himself in- 
 visible, he could look up and see the threatening form 
 and the terrible swinging leg. What if Skaggs should 
 see him and hurl that dynamite leg at him? 
 
 "He's drunk," he thought, "and he would strike 
 with that thing as quick as wink. I'd give a million 
 dollars if I was out of here! This is what a fellow 
 gets for prying into other people's business! Why 
 did I stay there?" 
 
 Skaggs hopped back into the house for a light. 
 Harry rose up to make a dash for safety, but the rope- 
 walker returned so quickly that he was not given time. 
 Skaggs was now swearing horribly, and, seeing that 
 he contemplated a search of the cellar, Rattleton softly 
 retreated and dropped down behind a box. 
 
 Skaggs hopped down into the cellar, and peered 
 about. He put the oil-lamp on a box and began a 
 search, still swinging the leg and swearing in a way to 
 turn Rattleton's blood cold. Finally he came to the 
 box, and poked behind it in the gloom with the point 
 of the leg. Though Rattleton tried to remain firm, his
 
 32 Rattleton Gets a Fright. 
 
 flesh crawled and shrank from the prodding as from 
 the fangs of a snake. 
 
 Suddenly the rope-walker leaned lurchingly over 
 the box and began a search with his hands. The cold 
 sweat started out on Rattleton, and he was almost on 
 the point of uttering a shriek and making a flying 
 leap for the door, even though in imagination he saw 
 the leg whizzing after him and felt the bomb rending 
 him to pieces. Skaggs took hold of his coat. He 
 gave it a jerk, and seemed about to hop over the box. 
 The scared youth felt that he could stand it no longer, 
 and he thought he heard the swish of the leg as it 
 hissed through the air to brain him, 
 
 "Jist an old rag !" Skaggs muttered. "Yes, I recol- 
 lect. Throwed in here yesterday. I thought 'twas the 
 feller's coat! He must have skipped down the alley. 
 .Wonder what he was peekin' through the winder f er ? 
 If he comes snooping round ag'in, I'll knife him !" 
 
 The hand was withdrawn, and Rattleton sank down 
 almost in a swoon. He was so weak from the reac- 
 tion that he felt he could not rise, and heard Skaggs 
 hopping toward the door without venturing to look 
 in that direction. Then Skaggs climbed out of the 
 cellar. 
 
 "Whee-giz! that was awful!" Harry weakly whis- 
 pered, as he crept from behind the box. "I believe 
 my hair has turned white. I guess I'd better dust out 
 of this!"
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MERRIWELI/S MYSTERIOUS INFLUENCE 
 
 As Harry Rattleton was creeping cautiously out of 
 the cellar, footsteps caused him to draw back, and a 
 young woman passed him with springy steps. The 
 door of the house was still open, and Harry saw her, 
 plainly in the light. She was a remarkably handsome 
 girl, and not badly dressed. Skaggs was swearing and 
 fuming, and seemed to be again threatening Carker. 
 
 Then a blow, was heard, and the child screamed in 
 pain. As that scream sounded, the young woman 
 sprang through the doorway. 
 
 "Strike Dot again, Rod Skaggs, and I'll have you 
 arrested, if you are my father !" Harry heard her say. 
 Then he heard Carker's voice, and more swearing 
 from Skaggs. 
 
 "There's going to be an awful row here!" he 
 thought. "I wish Merry were here. Wonder where 
 he went to? Perhaps I can help Greg, if he needs 
 help ! Or had I better hurry for Merry ?" 
 
 He sprang out of the cellar, reasonably certain he 
 would not be heard. Then there was another blow, 
 and another scream, and sounds indicating that Greg 
 Carker and the girl were fighting the drunken rope- 
 walker. 
 
 "Scrate Gott ! I must help in this 1"
 
 34 Merriwell's Mysterious Influence. 
 
 In spite of his fear of the contents of the wooden 
 leg, Rattleton turned toward the door, and would have 
 entered the room, for he was faithful to the last where 
 he fancied duty called. But as he turned he heard 
 footsteps, and, looking round, beheld Merriwell. 
 
 "Cad you've glum glad you've come!" he cried. 
 "Greg's in there, in an awful fight, I guess !" 
 
 Merriwell did not stop for explanations. The cries 
 of the child and the sounds of a struggle in which it 
 seemed that some one needed assistance drew him like 
 a magnet. He went through the doorway on the 
 bound ; and as he entered the light he saw Greg Carker 
 standing in front of the rope-walker with the child 
 behind him for protection, and Skaggs courageously; 
 faced by the girl 
 
 "Out of the way!" Skaggs yelled to the girl. 
 
 "I won't! And if you dare to lay a finger on Dot 
 again, I'll finish you!" 
 
 The rope-walker gave a howl of rage, and sprang" 
 toward the girl with a hop, like some great baboon. 
 His hands were outstretched to take the girl by the 
 throat, but Merriwell caught him by the shoulder and 
 hurled him violently against the wall. The drunken 
 ruffian gathered himself as if to hop toward Merriwell, 
 and picking up the wooden leg swung it round his 
 head. 
 
 "I'll dynamite the whole of ye!" he yelled. "I'll 
 blow ye into ribbons !"
 
 Merriwell's Mysterious Influence. 35 
 
 "Stand back, there!" Frank commanded. 
 
 The rope-walker's hand dropped, and he stared. 
 .Then he gathered himself again, and the hand holding 
 the leg went up. 
 
 "I'll smash ye !" he screamed. 
 
 "You will do nothing of the kind. Put down that 
 leg!" 
 
 Frank looked him squarely in the eyes. The ruffian 
 shivered. 
 
 "Who are you?" he demanded, as the hand again 
 came down. 
 
 "That doesn't matter. Now, take that chair!" 
 
 The tones were even and steady, for all that the 
 words were so imperative. 
 
 "I'll do nothing of the kind!" the villain howled, 
 struggling as if to break from some strange spell. 
 
 "Sit down on that chair!" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Because I say so." 
 
 Carker and the girl and the child, as well as Rattle- 
 ton, were staring as if they could not believe their 
 eyes. 
 
 "Sit down on that chair!" Merriwell again quietly 
 commanded. 
 
 "You say so you ! Who are you?" 
 
 "Sit down on that chair!" 
 
 "And if I don't?" 
 
 "But you will ! Sit down, I say !"
 
 36 Merriwell's Mysterious Influence. 
 
 The rope-walker dropped into the chair. 
 
 "Now give me that thing!" 
 
 Skaggs drew back his hand as if to put the leg 
 behind him. 
 
 "Give me that leg!" 
 
 Frank had never taken his eyes from the ruffian's 
 face. The rope-walker had a feeling that those eyes 
 were searching his very soul. Some mysterious power 
 impelled him to do what he was told. He fought 
 against the feeling. He tried to put the leg behind 
 him, and stoutly refuse to surrender it. He won- 
 dered vaguely why he did not strike this young man 
 over the head with it. 
 
 "Give me that wooden leg !" 
 
 The rope-walker reached it out to him. 
 
 "Now, sit there awhile!" 
 
 Skaggs stared at him, but sat in the chair as if he 
 were tied there, while Frank turned to Carker, who 
 began to move toward the door with the child. Rattle- 
 ton followed Carker toward the door, and the child 
 seemed hysterically anxious to get away. The girl 
 looked at Merriwell with an apparent fascination al- 
 most as great as that with which Skaggs seemed to 
 regard him. 
 
 "Let's get out of this, Merry!" Harry chattered. 
 "He was trying to kill the child, I guess!" 
 
 And Merriwell, giving the girl a questioning glance, 
 also went out of the house without even deigning to
 
 Merriwell's Mysterious Influence. 37 
 
 give the cowed rope-walker another glance. But the 
 ruffian did not stir. 
 
 "How did you do that?" Carker gasped. 
 
 "Some people might call it hypnotism," answered 
 Merry quietly. "What's the meaning of all this?" 
 
 Carker flushed. 
 
 "I can't explain just now. But I'm going to put 
 this child in some place where that villain can't beat 
 and abuse her. He would kill her in his rage, as soon 
 as he gets out from under that influence. I never saw 
 anything like it. He was trying to kill us all when 
 you came in, and he cowed under your words as if he 
 were a child."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SKAGGS TURNS TRAITOR. 
 
 Herbert Hammerswell had a visitor the next fore- 
 noon, and the visitor was Rodney Skaggs. Herbert 
 drew back in fright when he beheld the rope-walker 
 entering his room, and heard the thump of the wooden 
 leg on the carpeted floor. 
 
 "Wh-what do you want now?" he asked, almost 
 perceptibly trembling. 
 
 Skaggs tried to smile, but the effort degenerated 
 into an evil, sinister grin. He was duly sober, though 
 the effects of his recent potations and violent out- 
 burst of temper were visible. Hammerswell pushed 
 back his chair as if he would put as much space as 
 possible between himself and that leg, and again shiv- 
 ered. 
 
 "I came to talk that thing over!" said Skaggs, 
 dropping into a seat without invitation. "I'm ready 
 for the job." 
 
 "You're drunk again !" 
 
 "Sober as a judge. 'Pon honor !" 
 
 "I don't want to talk to you !" 
 
 "You're thinkin' of what I said last night?" 
 
 He got up, stumped to the door, and looked into 
 the hall, then closed the door, came back, and sat dowa 
 again.
 
 Skaggs Turns Traitor. 39 
 
 "I've come here for business. If you're willing to 
 put up the stuff, I'll do Merriwell for you." 
 
 This was said with such malignant hate that Ham- 
 merswell was almost convinced that the rope-walker 
 was in earnest. Still, he was afraid. 
 
 "What has changed you so?" he cautiously asked, 
 casting fearful glances at the leg. 
 
 "He has!" 
 
 "Merriwell?" 
 
 "Yes. He came to my place last night, took my 
 little girl away from me, just because I wanted to 
 correct her, as any lovin' parent does sometimes, and 
 now some society or other is holdin' her and threat- 
 enin' my arrest. I'm ready to go in with you to git 
 even." 
 
 "Why don't you go on yourself, then ?" 
 
 " 'Cause I want your help, and" with brutal frank- 
 ness " 'cause I want your money. Two heads are 
 better than one, and four legs are better than three 
 unless you count in the dynamite leg." 
 
 Hammerswell shuddered. 
 
 "Why don't you take that awful stuff out of it?" 
 
 "I may need it, that's why. If I git myself in a 
 hole in doin' up this friend of yours, for instance, I'd 
 blow up myself and the officers before I'd be taken. 
 Understand? The stuff in that leg is my best friend. 
 It can protect me when nothin' else can by takin* 
 me off the planet"
 
 40 Skaggs Turns Traitor. 
 
 "What do you fchink you can do?" 
 
 "I'd like to pitch the scoundrel into the Whirlpool. 11 
 
 Hammerswell had grown cautious. 
 
 "That's too risky," he said, "though I wouldn't care 
 what you did if there was no risk. But what I'm more 
 anxious for is to have something done that will for- 
 ever ruin Merriwell as an athlete and ball-player. I 
 don't care what it is. If you could tear his arm off 
 with that bomb, or maim him in some way by an ex- 
 plosion, and make the explosion seem an accident, that 
 would be just the stuff !" 
 
 His eyes shone with an evil light. He began to 
 feel that he could use this tool, after all, and the 
 thought made him forget the indignities of the pre- 
 vious evening. He was glad that Delancy was not 
 there to hear the words of the rope-walker, for Delancy 
 had begun to be squeamish in what Herbert thought 
 a "cowardly" way, and to protest that since Merri- 
 well had rescued his sister from the abductors in the 
 Adirondacks he really ought not to try to do him 
 harm. But Hammerswell was never troubled with 
 scruples. If Merriwell should chance to save his life, 
 he would strike at him the next minute, with no more 
 heart or conscience than a rattlesnake. And he would 
 be meaner in delivering his blow than a rattlesnake, 
 for the rattler always sounds its warning. 
 
 "You don't want me to throw him into the Whirl- 
 pool, then?" the rope-walker asked, in a dissatisfied
 
 Skaggs Turns Traitor. 41 
 
 tone. "He'll be down there to see it before he goes 
 away. They all go !" 
 
 "If you want to throw him in on your own responsi- 
 bility, I oughtn't care, I suppose. That wouldn't be 
 my affair, you know !" 
 
 Skaggs knowingly winked. 
 
 "And I could have my little wad, jist the same as if 
 I had gone according to instructions." 
 
 "If you stand by me, you'll never regret it !" Ham- 
 merswell significantly promised. "But, really, it seems 
 to me it would be a greater revenge to maim the scamp 
 in some way. It's the glory of his life to take part 
 in athletics and sports. It would kill him if anything 
 should happen to make that impossible. That would 
 be a revenge worth while !" 
 
 Skaggs looked admiringly at the young villain, 
 though he inwardly scorned him in a certain way be- 
 cause he did not personally seek to accomplish his own 
 revenges. 
 
 "All right," he promised, rising to go. "Same sum 
 mentioned before. I'll do your work for you. I've got 
 something to make me do it now, myself ; but I want 
 your money to help me out, if I should get into a 
 hole. I'll do your work, young feller. Don't you 
 never weep."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TALKING IT OVER. 
 
 That evening Bruce Browning came into Frank's 
 room at the hotel where a number of his friends were 
 gathered. He was dressed like Strong Arm, the big 
 Oneida spoken of by Skaggs, who sold bead work and 
 trinkets to visitors at the falls. 
 
 "Eh? What's up now?" Merriwell asked. 
 
 "The living, breathing image of an organ-grinder's 
 monkey!" chirped Stubbs, quoting from Kipling's 
 "Barrack Room Ballads," which he had been reading 
 that day. 
 
 "Masked ball on the Canadian side," said Bruce. 
 "I've an invitation, and I'm going !" 
 
 "Who gug-gave you the invi-invitation ?" asked 
 Gamp. "I'd lul-like one, mum-mum-myself !" 
 
 "So long!" said Bruce. "I can't stay with you. 
 Just dropped in to tell you, so that if you found me 
 missing you wouldn't go to searching the river for my 
 remains." 
 
 "The very picture of Strong Arm !" laughed Mer- 
 riwell. "Even to the hue of his face! I wonder 
 where he got that rig?" 
 
 "And that paint?" queried Bink. "I'd like some of 
 it." 
 
 "What for?"
 
 Talking it Over. 43 
 
 "To paint the town red after we do up the Ni- 
 agara Rapids!" 
 
 "I know what girl he is going to take," said Danny, 
 looking wise. "It's Nell Skaggs." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Well, you'd ought to have seen her this afternoon ! 
 She was simply stunning. Handsomest girl I've seen 
 in a month. It wasn't her dress, but simply her looks. 
 And Browning is stuck on her. I could see that when 
 we were at the house this morning." 
 
 Merriwell and others had gone that morning to the 
 home of Rodney Skaggs, though they did not find 
 him in. But they had found Nell Skaggs there. She 
 was uncommonly attractive in appearance, and talked 
 intelligently, and more than one had noticed that 
 Browning seemed "struck." 
 
 "Well, if Bruce has taken a fancy to her, it won't 
 last. He's a pretty sensible fellow." 
 
 "No fellow is sensible when it comes to a love- 
 affair !" Danny wisely chirped. 
 
 "Thinking of your experience with Stella Stanley?" 
 Bink queried. 
 
 "Her face and general appearance show thai Nell 
 Skaggs is a good girl," Merry commented. "She is 
 kind-hearted, too; but she is the daughter of a villain, 
 and such a girl is not for Browning. He knows it, 
 but I suppose he wants to have some fun." 
 
 Frank laughed and put up his hand to push back
 
 44 Talking it Over. 
 
 his hair, and the wrist was seen to be bandaged and 
 soaked in liniment. 
 
 That brought talk of the last ball-game in the 
 &\dirondacks, and of the contests with the Niagara 
 Rapids to be held the next day. Merriwell's wrist 
 was rapidly improving, but he was in no condition to 
 pitch baseball. However, the condition of his wrist 
 nvould not interfere with his running, nor with most 
 of the contests in the big field-sports battle. 
 
 "I wish you'd tell us about Carker!" grumbled 
 Hodge. "Do you know, that thing looks awfully 
 black and mysterious ? I don't like it." 
 
 There were others who felt the same, and that 
 Carker owed an explanation to these friends, which 
 he had refused to give. He was out in town now, 
 possibly again conferring with the rope-walker. 
 
 "I wish I knew," said Frank. 
 
 "Don't you know anything?" 
 
 "Not a thing!" 
 
 "Why don't you ask him?" 
 
 "I gave him an opportunity to explain, but he pre- 
 tended not to see it. I couldn't ask him. We must ad- 
 mit that he did the right thing 1 by the child. She is in 
 good hands for the present, and Skaggs can't beat her, 
 at least. Greg is to put her permanently into the 
 hands of some benevolent institution, I understand." 
 
 "And she is a sister of Nell ?" asked Rattleton. 
 
 '*This whole thing mixes me worse than the higher
 
 Talking it Over. 45 
 
 mathematics," said Ready. "When my intelligent in- 
 structors attempt to lead me gently along the flowery 
 fields of figures, the paths nearly always get tangled. 
 This problem is as bad as the elusive 'x,' and I've 
 thought it over until I can feel my head swelling." 
 
 "Your head is always in that condition," Danny; 
 amiably chirped. 
 
 "Well, we don't want anybody on this Athletic 
 Team who isn't willing to make an effort to explain 
 so strange a thing as that!" Bart positively declared. 
 "I was taking a liking to Carker, but this looks queer." 
 
 "Where is Swiftwing?" asked Danny. 
 
 "I saw him with Strong Arm awhile ago," said 
 Rattleton. 
 
 "And he's going to race that other Indian not 
 Strong Arm, but the smaller one, to-morrow?" asked 
 Bink. 
 
 "Yes," Frank answered, "I understand that the 
 Oneida has been added to the Niagara Rapids. He is 
 a wonderful runner, I've heard ; and they say that, as 
 we have ten men, they want ten." 
 
 "Just an excuse to put that fellow on !" said Hodge. 
 
 "I think so myself," Frank admitted. "But we 
 couldn't object." 
 
 "But Carker !" said Gamp, coming back to the mys- 
 terious subject. "If that fuf-fellow don't explain sus- 
 sus-some things pretty sus-soon, I'll go cuc-cuc-crazy !" 
 
 "There is one thing!" Bart declared, looking ear-
 
 46 Talking it Over. 
 
 nestly at Merriwell. "I saw Hammerswell talking 
 with Skaggs right on that piazza, to-day. Carker says 
 he saw them together last night. Both are villains, 
 and when two villains come together some dirt is sure 
 to be played. I never knew it to fail. I have a feel- 
 ing that something is being planned against you, 
 Frank !" 
 
 "I'd give a good deal to know what it is, then?" 
 said Rattleton. 
 
 "I'm sure it's something!" Hodge persisted. "And 
 I want Merry to look out. I shall try to keep my eyes 
 open every minute until after those contests." 
 
 "Eyes open all the time? If you don't sleep, you'll 
 not be able to run as fast as a tortoise to-morrow!" 
 declared Bink, feeling that he had said something 
 humorous. 
 
 "That's one thing I should have cautioned Bruce 
 about," said Frank. "He ought to be back early and 
 get his regular sleep, to do his best work. We must 
 all get to bed early. I have promised myself that we 
 will handsomely defeat the Rapids to-morrow." 
 
 "Of course we will !" Danny declared, thumping his 
 chest. 
 
 "We're all right, if nothing happens to Merry," 
 Hodge admitted, with a feeling of uneasiness. "Some- 
 how, I feel that something is going to happen." 
 
 "Of course," squeaked Bink. "Things always hap-
 
 Talking it Over. 47 
 
 pen. This would be a funny world if things should 
 stop happening!" 
 
 "Well, it won't be funny when it does happen !" Bart 
 grumbled. "I am sure of that." 
 
 "Brace up!" Frank commanded. "You'll not be 
 ready for your part to-morrow, if you let yourself get 
 blue. We are all right, and I'm sure I do not worry 
 about Hammerswell nor this mysterious rope-walker. 
 We must think only of doing up the Rapids. Now, 
 I'm going to bed, and you fellows must clear out !"
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 FRANK'S DEADLY PERIL. 
 
 "The camera fiends ought to be here!" said Frank, 
 the next day, as he stood with Browning and Hodge 
 and looked out on the plunging green waters of the 
 great Horseshoe Falls, from the Canada shore. They 
 were on the rocks close up to the falls, with a precipit- 
 ous descent below. The roar of the great falls was 
 thunderous, and the rising mist of spray curled a rib- 
 bon of rainbow over the rocks and waters near-by. 
 Browning stood with his arms folded placidly across 
 his broad chest. 
 
 "It's wonderful!" he admitted. "Yet, really, it is 
 not so sublime as I had expected. I suppose that's be- 
 cause I've read such highly-colored descriptions of it." 
 
 "Many feel that way when they first see the falls. 
 I did, myself, for I've been here before. But the sub- 
 limity and grandeur of it grows on you. Hour by 
 hour as you look at it you feel more and more that 
 there surely can be nothing like it in the world. There 
 is but one Niagara!" 
 
 "I wish it were all American!" said Hodge, also 
 touched by what he beheld. 
 
 "That's a very natural feeling. I presume the peo- 
 ple on this side wish it were all Canadian. It is all 
 American in the larger sense, though not all United
 
 Frank's Deadly Peril. 49 
 
 States. There is enough of it for us to share it with 
 our Canadian friends and neighbors." 
 
 "If a fellow should go over those falls or tumble off 
 these rocks, he'd never live to tell the tale!" said 
 Browning. 
 
 "Never!" 
 
 "And men have gone into it!" commented Hodge. 
 
 "And people have jumped into it with suicidal in- 
 tent!" added Merry. 
 
 "Ugh! It makes me shudder!" said Browning. 
 
 For half an hour they stood there talking, while the 
 waters plunged and roared and the little rainbow 
 shifted and changed with the shifting spray, now and 
 then fading out to return again as clouds passed from 
 the face of the sun. 
 
 Though the noise of the waters drowned smaller 
 sounds, Bruce at last turned suddenly, fancying he 
 heard a quick, heavy step. As he did so, a man, whom 
 he did not get to see clearly, pushed him violently 
 aside and sprang by him. 
 
 "Look out, Merry!" Bruce warningly called, for 
 the man seemed to be lunging at Merriwell. The man 
 tripped as he shot by Bruce, and, striking Frank heav- 
 ily, went over the rocks with a slide and a bounce, 
 shooting out and downward into the great chasm that 
 roared and seethed below. 
 
 A cry went up from the lips of Hodge, for Merri- 
 well appeared to be following the man. Merriwell
 
 50 Frank's Deadly Peril. 
 
 had been .hurled from his balance, and now, witK 
 hands clutching at the air, reeled backward to seem- 
 ing death. For a moment he swayed on the awful 
 verge, then toppled backward. 
 
 "My God! he's gone over!" Hodge shrieked in a 
 paroxysm, as he bounded toward the dangerous spot. 
 
 Browning leaped forward with a groan. Neither 
 the unknown nor Frank was to be seen. 
 
 "Merriwell !" Bart cried, while his heart seemed to 
 still its beating. 
 
 It was a cry of agony. Instantly there was an an- 
 swering cry that made Hodge bend eagerly forward. 
 
 Bruce's strong form was shaking, and his face was 
 as white as ashes. All the strength seemed to have 
 deserted his massive limbs, and he appeared to be 
 powerless to utter a word. But he started forward, 
 too, when he heard that cry. 
 
 "Didn't you hear that, Bruce?" 
 
 "Yes ; it was Frank !" 
 
 "Merriwell! Merriwell! Where are you?" 
 
 "Right here!" 
 
 Bart leaned farther over and saw Frank clinging to 
 a ledge, while beside him a piece of broken bush 
 showed how he had stopped his awful fall. He had 
 caught the bush, which was growing in a fissure of 
 the rock, and while its strength was not sufficient to 
 resist the wrench to which it was subjected, it had 
 checked his descent and hurled him against the rockSj
 
 Frank's Deadly Peril. 51 
 
 and upon this ledgy table. It was a narrow place, 
 however, where he clung, and it did not seem possible 
 that he could hold on long. The shock and surprise 
 must have weakened him, too. 
 
 All this passed through Hodge's mind, as his eyes 
 fell on the friend he had thought gone to death the 
 awful death in Niagara! 
 
 Browning was at Hodge's side, and dropping down 
 he crawled to the edge of the rocks and looked over 
 at Frank. Then he glanced about. No more than 
 two or three feet away were two out-thrust projections 
 of rock directly over Merriwell's head. 
 
 "If I only had a rope!" he exclaimed, glancing 
 farther. 
 
 "Probably one can be had in the village," said Bart, 
 nodding toward the houses not far away. 
 
 Bruce was still looking about, with a greedy glance 
 that took in everything. 
 
 "We haven't time to go for a rope! Something 
 must be done at once." 
 
 He drew his knife and leaped toward a bushy tree 
 that was not distant. With strokes that threatened 
 to snap the knife-blade, he cut and tore loose a slender 
 limb. It did not seem strong, but it was the only one 
 long enough, and he had no time to waste in looking 
 for another. With this limb he bounded back. 
 
 Bart was calling encouragingly to Frank; for,
 
 52 Frank's Deadly Peril. 
 
 though Frank was not distant, as distance is reckoned 
 downward, the roar of the falls made it necessary for 
 Bart to elevate his voice to be understood. Bruce 
 came back with great leaps, closing his knife as he 
 ran. 
 
 "Is he all right?" 
 
 "He's still there!" Bart panted. 
 
 Merriwell looked upward and saw the brave, strong 
 face of Bruce Browning above him. Bruce was on the 
 projecting point of rocks, one foot on each point, and 
 was lowering the slender limb down to him. 
 
 Merriwell's heart leaped. The blow that had been 
 given him, the suddenness of that backward reeling 
 fall, had shaken even his strong nerves; for when he 
 felt his feet leaving the rocks he believed that he was 
 shooting downward to his death, as had the man who 
 had struck or fallen against him. The clutching at 
 the bush was only an act of instinct. He had not even 
 closely noted that it was there, while viewing the falls. 
 He had clung to it, and it had hurled him to the shelf 
 to which he now clung. But he had felt his strength 
 failing him ; though, even then, once his fingers could 
 touch something solid, his was not a spirit to despair. 
 
 The weakness seemed to leave him when he beheld 
 Bruce with that swaying, slender branch. It appeared 
 to be a fragile thing, but the sight of it brought the 
 blood back to his heart and he actually smiled ! 
 
 But what of that other man? Even when he felt
 
 Frank's Deadly Peril. 53 
 
 himself falling, Frank had asked that question of him- 
 self. Who was the man who had plunged downward 
 to his death ? Was it a suicidal plunge ? Was it an 
 accident? Or did the man rush upon him with the 
 intention of throwing him from the rocks, and because 
 of a stumble had gone down himself ? And if any one 
 had rushed at him murderously, who could it have 
 been? These thoughts were still with him as he 
 looked at Bruce had been with him while he heard 
 Bart calling, and tried to answer the calls. 
 
 "Can you get hold of this ?" Bruce shouted, motion- 
 ing at the same time to Hodge, and thrusting the pole 
 downward. "Can you get hold of it and hang onto 
 it?" 
 
 Bart appeared near Browning, just at one side and 
 a little to the rear. He had taken hold of Browning, 
 to act as a brace as his friend leaned over to lower the 
 limb. Then Bruce got flat down on his face and 
 pushed the pole down until Merriwell was able to get 
 hold of it. 
 
 "Hang on!" he heard Bruce call. 
 
 Frank glanced quickly about. There was no other 
 way to escape from his position. If time had served, 
 something better than this limb might have been pro- 
 cured even a rope ladder might have been lowered. 
 But Bruce was right. Frank realized that he was 
 weak, as he took hold of the limb and clung to it. 
 
 He could not hang long on that narrow shelf, for he
 
 54 Frank's Deadly Peril 
 
 was not able to change his position nor stand upright, 
 because above him was only the sheer, outward-thrust 
 face of rock. 
 
 But would the branch support him? It was a ques- 
 tion he dared not answer. The branch looked to be 
 fearfully slender. 
 
 Then the weakness seemed to clear out of his nerves, 
 and the queer, numb feeling out of his brain. His na- 
 tive resolution and iron determination returned. He 
 was again Merriwell, steel-hearted in the face of 
 danger and undaunted by any obstacle. Could he get 
 out of there? Yes, he would get out of there! Would 
 the slender limb support him? He would so aid him- 
 self with feet and hands that it must support him. 
 Could Bruce, assisted by Hodge, draw him up? He 
 would so assist them by climbing and by digging with 
 his feet against the granite, that they w r ould find the 
 task within their strength. Yes, he would escape from 
 the death that threatened. He was again Merriwell? 
 
 With Bart Hodge acting as a brace to support him 
 and also to assist him with the pole, Bruce Browning 
 slowly rose to his feet, with Merriwell at the end of 
 the pole; and then, by bringing into play every ounce 
 of his enormous strength, he lifted Merriwell inch 
 by inch and foot by foot, while Frank aided himself 
 and his friends all he could. 
 
 Great as was the combined strength of Browning 
 and Hodge, they found their strength and skill tested
 
 Frank's Deadly Peril. 55 
 
 to the uttermost. Once the limb was heard to snap, 
 and they felt it slip and stretch under the strain. 
 
 Their faces whitened, and they stopped pulling and 
 
 shouted a warning to Frank. But he was aware of the 
 
 t peril. He had felt the limb stretch and give like a rope 
 
 whose strands are about to part. He had realized the 
 
 danger and he could do nothing! 
 
 "Heave away!" he called, and his tones showed 
 nothing of the knowledge he had of his deadly peril. 
 
 And Bruce and Bart hauled away, with all their 
 might, though as gently as they could. Again Merri- 
 well ascended. Inch by inch again, with many jerks 
 and slowings; at last to be seized by Browning and 
 drawn out upon the rocks. 
 
 "Safe! safe!" cried Bart, and there was a choking 
 sob in his voice. 
 
 "Yes, safe !" said Browning, and he put a trembling 
 hand across his moist eyes! 
 
 "Could that have been Skaggs who went into the 
 river?" Hodge asked a moment later. 
 
 "Impossible!" Bruce answered. 'The fellow had 
 two good legsT
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TRACK ATHLETICS. 
 
 The mystery concerning the man who had gone to 
 his death in the Niagara was still unsolved when the 
 hour approached for the contests between the Yale 
 Athletic Team and the Niagara Rapids. The authori- 
 ties had been notified of the occurrence, and Merriwell 
 and others had visited Skaggs' temporary home in the 
 Falls city. The visit had only deepened the mystery. 
 Skaggs was not there, neither was Nell, nor could they 
 be found. If Skaggs had gone into the river, what 
 had become of Nell? 
 
 Hodge was anxious, as the Yale team came upon 
 the field. He saw that Frank had not recovered from 
 the effects of that awful fall, and Browning was com- 
 plaining of a weak shoulder resulting from the wrench- 
 ing and strain of his herculean exertions. 
 
 "Can't the thing be put over until to-morrow, 
 Merry?" Bart asked. "Neither you nor Browning are 
 in condition. We're going to be beaten." 
 
 "I don't think we will be beaten, and I sha'n't ask' 
 for time. It would be taken as a confession of weak- 
 ness. We can beat the Rapids for all of their name 
 and boasting. We can beat them this afternoon, and! 
 (we're going to do it !" 
 
 An immense crowd had gathered on the field, drawn
 
 Track Athletics. 57 
 
 there to a considerable extent by the fame of Merri- 
 well and by the fact that the local team was immensely 
 popular and supposed to be almost invincible. Sev- 
 eral Yale men who chanced to be visiting the Falls 
 came out with Merriwell's crowd, and were wildly en- 
 thusiastic for the Yale champions. 
 
 "It wouldn't do to disappoint this crowd," said 
 'Frank. "Where are Carker and Rattleton ?" 
 
 "They didn't start with us from the hotel," said 
 Bink. 
 
 This seemed strange; but it seemed even stranger 
 when the hour for the beginning of the contests came 
 and the two were still away. 
 
 "Oh, we're just as good !" declared Bink, cocking 
 his cap on the back of his head and trying to look 
 fiercely significant. "Danny and I are their substi- 
 tutes, and we can fill their shoes, you bet !" 
 
 "It's no use to go into the thing, if Rattles and 
 Carker don't get here!" Hodge fumed. "I don't un- 
 derstand it." 
 
 "Neither do I," Frank admitted. "But we'll have 
 to go on without them." 
 
 The sprinting-races were to come first, beginning 
 with the hundred-yards dash. The contestants had 
 been running and leaping and working off some of 
 their surplus enthusiasm in warming up, and came 
 up to the mark in excellent condition for the dash.
 
 58 Track Athletics. 
 
 Danny and Bmk were in this, competing with the little 
 fellows of the Rapids team ; and they lost . 
 
 "Oh, we'll do better, when we're running for some- 
 body else," Danny chirped. "'We don't especially care 
 to cover ourselves with glory; but when it comes to 
 maintaining the honor of friends, you'll find us there." 
 
 "Shut up!" groaned Gamp. "You'll be there 
 away bub-bub-behind, as you was this tut-time!" 
 
 The small boys were not giving much attention to 
 the little jokers, to the annoyance of both Bink and 
 Danny. 
 
 "We'll have to start an athletic team of our own !" 
 said Bink, somewhat enviously. "We'll call it the 
 Stubbs-Griswold combination !" 
 
 "I guess not! Put your name at the head?" said 
 Danny. "Well, I don't think!" 
 
 "Shut up!" commanded Gamp. "If you dud-don't 
 both shut up, I'll throw you into the ruh-river!" 
 
 As the river was some distance away, this seemed 
 as much of a feat as some of the things that Danny and 
 Bink often boasted of doing. 
 
 "Why don't Carker and Rattles get here?" grum- 
 bled Hodge. 
 
 "Something must have happened to them," said 
 Merriwell. "I begin to think that. They wouldn't 
 remain away without good cause." 
 
 "Are you going to send some one to look them up?"
 
 Track Athletics. 59 
 
 "Not yet. Perhaps they'll come. And I really 
 don't know where to send. It's said they weren't at 
 the hotel when we left." 
 
 Danny and Bink were entered in the next race,, 
 which was a 22O-yards dash, as the substitutes of 
 Carker and Rattleton ; and, in spite of their boasting-, 
 they were defeated in this. 
 
 "We're in the soup!" squealed Bink. "If we 
 couldn't win, there isn't any use in any of the rest of 
 you trying!" 
 
 Jack Ready came up chirping, to race against Fred 
 Beverly in the 44O-yards dash. 
 
 "Send for the brass band !" said Ready. 
 
 "What f uf-f or ?" demanded Gamp. 
 
 "Why, when I pull away from our friend Beverly 
 and stretch my legs for home, I want to hear the de- 
 lightful strains of 'See the Conquering Hero Comes !' 
 What's the use of running if there are to be no bay 
 leaves and laurel and all that at the end of the track ? 
 Send for the band." 
 
 Ready was really a fine runner, and Merriwell was 
 putting a good deal of faith in his performance. The 
 starter stepped into position behind them with ready 
 pistol; the crowd yelled. This \vas followed by the 
 starter's pistol-shot ; and away they went. 
 
 Ready came down the cinder-path with legs flying, 
 but Beverly was the speedier runner, and he beat 
 Ready out by at least ten feet
 
 60 Track Athletics. 
 
 "Now if you had the bub-bub-band!" 
 
 "I'd have it play the 'Dead March' !" chirped Ready. 
 "I was defeated simply because I was beaten." 
 
 "By gum ! I guess that's right !" 
 
 Then the lank New Hampshire youth muttered 
 under his breath. 
 
 "And it lul-looks tarnation like we're going to bub- 
 be beat all out this afternoon !" 
 
 "Why don't Carker and Rattles come?" Hodge 
 groaned. "Carker is a good man at the hurdles. 
 We'll be defeated sure!" 
 
 But if Merriwell was uneasy he did not show it. 
 
 "I'd give something handsome myself to knowi 
 where they are," he replied to Hodge. "Go out there 
 and send that cabman to the hotel to see if they've got 
 in yet." 
 
 Bart darted away to obey the order. This was ma- 
 king an effort at least, and he was so anxious and un- 
 easy that it did him good to give the cabman hurry 
 orders. 
 
 "We aren't beaten yet!" Frank said to Hodge, as 
 the latter returned. "I'd like to know what has hap- 
 pened to Rattleton and Carker, but we're not defeated 
 yet. Don't get into a stew I"
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 STILL ABSENT. 
 
 The local team was feeling jubilant. Why, this 
 f^ale team was dead easy! They had won from the 
 Merriwells everything so far, and it looked as if they 
 would make a clean sweep. They began to talk loud, 
 while their friends were roaring for them, and the few: 
 Yale men and other adherents of the Yale boys were 
 feeling gloomy. But Frank retained his serenity, and 
 insisted to his friends that nothing alarming had yet 
 occurred. 
 
 "If Rattleton and Carker get here, we're all right !" 
 
 "And if they don't get here?" queried Bruce, whose 
 shoulder was weak and painful. 
 
 "We'll try to do the fellows up, anyway. I think 
 we can!" 
 
 Alas ! Rattleton was not there to whoop things up 
 and offer to bet unlimited sums, whether he had them 
 or not, that the Yale team would win simply because 
 Merriwell said so, and Merriwell always knew. Truly, 
 what had become of the faithful fellow and their new 
 and recently mysterious friend, Greg Carker? No 
 one could tell. 
 
 Swiftwing was saying nothing. Whether he was 
 uneasy or not could not be determined by his appear- 
 ance. He was again Sphinxlike in his demeanor. He
 
 62 Still Absent. 
 
 had returned to the team, with his good name clear, 
 and the other members who had suspected him had 
 tried to show that they appreciated the fact that he 
 iwas all right, and was to remain with them as an hon- 
 ored member ; all of which he had taken in a mysteri- 
 ously Indian way that made it difficult to say just what 
 his real feelings were. As for Lucy Livingston, he 
 had not mentioned her name since leaving the Adiron- 
 dacks. 
 
 Joe Gamp came up to compete with Allerton Stod- 
 idard, who was thought to be the fastest and best run- 
 ner in the Niagara Rapids, though, perhaps, not the 
 equal of Red Arrow, the Oneida, who had been added 
 to the team to offset Swiftwing and make ten men. 
 Red Arrow was said to be as fleet as the wind. 
 
 "You can play the 'Dead March' for Gamp when he 
 starts out, and 'See the Conquering Hero Comes !' as 
 he nears the line," said Hodge, who felt better when 
 Gamp's time came, for he knew that Gamp was a 
 runner. "It takes the fellow half the stretch to get 
 his long legs in good working order." 
 
 Gamp was "haw-hawing," while the crowd yelled 
 and guyed. 
 
 "Why, you never saw me run ?" he bellowed. "I'm 
 the dud-dud-dish-washer that ran away with the 
 spoon !" 
 
 "And you're the cow that jumped over the moon!'* 
 some one shouted back.
 
 Still Absent. 63 
 
 Gamp turned slowly round and stared in the direc- 
 tion of the speaker. 
 
 "Nun-nun-no! But I'm the little dog that'll lul- 
 laugh when I see you fuf-fellows dud-done up, as 
 you're goin' to be! Come on with your fuf -flyers. 
 I'm ruh-ruh-ready " 
 
 "No, that's my name!" Jack chirped as Gamp's 
 tongue stuck and buzzed over the word. 
 
 "I'm ruh-ready for 'em," said Gamp. "Bring 'em 
 on!" 
 
 Stoddard looked the born runner, every inch of him. 
 (He was spare, but not a weakling, for his muscle 
 movement showed that what there was of him was 
 muscle and not inert tissue, and his step was light and 
 elastic. 
 
 "Gamp won't have a show against Allerton," was 
 the word that went round. "The Merriwells are 
 bound to lose again!" 
 
 Hodge heard it, and set his teeth, while a darlc 
 look came to his face. Merriwell heard it, and seemed 
 not to hear. Gamp and Stoddard were in position for; 
 the 88oyard run. For an instant they strained like 
 hounds in the leash. Then the pistol cracked and they] 
 were away like a flash. 
 
 The sympathizers and friends of the local team be- 
 gan to howl, for it was seen that right at the start Al- 
 lerton was ahead. He kept ahead and seemed to gain.
 
 64 Still Absent. 
 
 He was indeed a fine runner, and he came along in 
 an easy, confident way. 
 
 Suddenly a shout came from the grim lips of Bart 
 Hodge. Gamp had spurted and was drawing up 
 alongside of his opponent. 
 
 "That's Gamp !" Hodge cried, while his face bright- 
 ened and his eyes flashed. "You are all right, old 
 man, and I knew you were !" 
 
 "See them long legs fly! The fellow is waking 
 up!" a bystander exclaimed, rousing to the fact that 
 the awkward racer was actually gaining on the fleet 
 Stoddard. 
 
 "Go it !" yelled Danny. 
 
 "Break your back, you snail!" howled Bink. 
 
 "He's passing him!" screeched Ready, for once for- 
 getting his bantering air. "Come along, you dear old 
 lout! Come along!" 
 
 And Gamp came along. His feet moved faster and 
 faster. He forged by Stoddard. Then he began to 
 leave him behind. And he crossed the line a hand- 
 some winner. 
 
 A great roar went up from the Yale men and their 
 friends, who had not before been given a chance to ex- 
 ert themselves in this line, and this roar was joined in 
 by the mob of boys who had gathered and were nearly 
 all Merriwell enthusiasts. 
 
 Frank looked round and saw the chagrined face of 
 Herbert Hammerswell.
 
 Still Absent. 6$ 
 
 "So yod're here, are you?" Frank muttered grimly. 
 "I was beginning to think that it might have been you 
 who went into Niagara in an attempt to push me in. 
 But it's said that the devil takes care of his own !" 
 
 The more he thought about it, the more Merriwell 
 was inclined to believe that a murderous attempt had 
 been made against his life. He might have thought 
 the man was Rodney Skaggs, but Bruce and Bart 
 agreed that the man who fell into the river had two 
 legs. 
 
 "Oh, the Merriwell crowd can't win!" Herbert be- 
 gan to declare to all who would listen to his talk. "I 
 know the fellers, and they are simply bluffers." 
 
 "But how about their victories up in the Adiron- 
 dacks?" a man inquired. 
 
 "And what about Merriwell ?" a boy howled. "Go 
 soak yer head ! You've got bugs !" 
 
 "Merriwell is nothing but a braggart! Just a bag 
 of wind !" 
 
 "If I was a little bigger I'd belt ye in ther jaw 
 fer that !" another boy threatened. "You're just a big 
 stiff. Go off somewhere and die!" 
 
 Hammerswell glowered at the boys in a threatening 
 manner, and Delancy Livingston put up his eye-glass 
 as if he desired to inspect some new kind of insect that 
 threatened to sting him. 
 
 ''Aw ! Just a lot of poor boys ! Children of work-
 
 66 Still Absent. 
 
 ing people, no doubt! I wouldn't pay any attention 
 to them, Hammy, dear, don't you know!" 
 
 "Hammy, dear, don-cher-know !" howled the boys. 
 "Git onto the curves of the dudes! Hammy, dear, 
 don-cher-know that you're a fool?" 
 
 "Do yer turn up yer trousers w'en it rains in Lun- 
 non?" another boy cuttingly asked. "Ther Prince o* 
 .Wales is inquirin' fer you be cable!" 
 
 "Wants to put 'im in the Zoo!" 
 
 Hammerswell and Delancy beat a retreat, but the 
 boys followed and continued to guy them until the an- 
 nouncement of the next race was made. 
 
 One thing was noticeable. Hammerswell did not 
 venture to utter his sneers in the presence of Bart 
 Hodge or any of Merriwell's men. Hodge would 
 fight at a word, and Hammerswell knew it and feared 
 him. Hodge was not giving any attention to Ham- 
 merswell and Delancy. He was thinking of Rattleton 
 and Carker, and groaning because they were away. 
 
 "What has become of Rattles and Carker?" he 
 asked for the hundredth time. 
 
 And no one could answer him. The cabman had 
 come back with the report that they had not returned 
 to the hotel
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 A STUNNING CHARGE. 
 
 "One-mile run. John Swiftwing against Red Ar- 
 row !" 
 
 This was the next announcement, and it was greeted 
 with cheers. Swiftwing was as splendid a specimen 
 of physical Indian development as was ever seen. He 
 was simply a red Apollo, with the eye and ear of a 
 deer, and the feet of a Mercury. Red Arrow, the 
 civilized Oneida who was to run against him, was 
 somewhat taller and more slender and gave every evi- 
 dence of wonderful ability as a runner. It was claimed 
 for him that he was the best mile-runner in the State 
 of New York. 
 
 He looked confident as he stepped into position for 
 the start. And the chances did seem in his favor ; for, 
 while Swiftwing was the more magnificently devel- 
 oped, an unbiased judge would have selected Red Ar- 
 row as the better runner. 
 
 "Gamp has turned the tide in our favor," said 
 Bruce. "I feel that Swiftwing will beat him." 
 
 "If I could recollect the name of the deity that used 
 to preside over the runners in the halcyon days of the 
 godlike Greeks," Ready was chirping, "I would send 
 him a prayer for Swiftwing's success. But my mem- 
 ory gets treacherous as I grow toward the age of the
 
 68 A Stunning Charge. 
 
 sere and yellow. Anyway, Swiftwing, we want you 
 to bring in the laurel !" 
 
 "Bub-bub-bub-beat him, John!" yelled Gamp. 
 
 "We're betting our little pile on you!" Danny and 
 Bink were squealing. 
 
 "Swiftwing will give a good account of himself!'* 
 said Merriwell. 
 
 Bang! 
 
 The pistol cracked, and the runners leaped away, 
 while the crowd began to cheer. 
 
 Both were running easily and apparently not very 
 rapidly. A hundred men were holding watches on 
 them, in addition to the official timekeepers. The 
 track was nearly circular and half a mile long. At 
 the quarter, Swiftwing sprang into the lead, which he 
 continued to hold until the half-mile had been passed, 
 going by the yelling crowd with an easy swing that 
 seemed to indicate no exertion, with Red Arrow com- 
 ing along behind him in the same way. But the 
 watches told a different story. That peculiar Indian 
 lope was wonderfully deceptive. The runners were 
 getting over the ground in fast time. 
 
 Red Arrow spurted in the beginning of the second 
 half, and passed Swiftwing. Then the crowd woke 
 up and began to howl. Swiftwing was seen strug- 
 gling to get into his old position, but Red Arrow, 
 having the inner side, held it. And thus they turned.
 
 A Stunning Charge. 6$ 
 
 the third quarter and came down on the homestretch. 
 Both were running faster than at first. 
 
 "Get a move on you!" Danny screeched. 
 
 Merriwell funneled his hands and called: 
 
 "Swiftwing!" 
 
 The word seemed to have an arousing effect. The 
 Pueblo's speed instantly increased. He pulled up inch 
 by inch. He passed the Oneida, who was going like 
 the wind, and continued to gain. The boys were now 
 whooping and howling. No one seemed to be silent 
 except the men who were studying the watches. 
 
 "Cuc-cuc-come home !" screamed Gamp, flapping his 
 arms up and down like the wings of a rooster. "Cuc- 
 cuc-come home! That's the stuff! He cuc-cuc-can't 
 bub-bub-bub-beat you. Cuc-cuc-cuc-come home!" 
 
 He danced up and down in his excitement ; then his 
 "haw-haw" rent the air. 
 
 For Swiftwing was "coming home," and he was 
 coming like the wind. He had not looked finer when 
 he stood on that high bluff in the Adirondacks nor 
 when he made his magnificent dive. With head 
 thrown back and chest pushed out ; with his arms 
 drawn up and his feet moving like piston-rods and 
 seemingly as tireless, he came down the homestretch 
 in such a magnificent burst of speed that the whole 
 crowd rose up and greeted him with cheers. 
 
 Three races had been lost and two won won hand- 
 somely.
 
 70 A Stunning Charge. 
 
 "Oh, we're all right!" Bink chattered. 
 
 "I'm feeling better, thank you !" said Bruce, taking 
 out his pipe for a smoke. 
 
 "But why doesn't Carker and Rattles come?" 
 queried Hodge. "Carker is in the hurdles a*iJ ha 
 ought to be here ! And so is Rattleton !" 
 
 "Refuse me, but I'm in the hurdles, too !" said 
 Ready complacently. 
 
 "And that makes the thing safe!" Bruce growled, 
 for his shoulder pained him, though he was not say- 
 ing much about it. 
 
 "Sure! I'm a bird!" 
 
 "You'd get along better if you were a deer or U 
 toad. That business requires some hopping, I tell 
 you!" said Danny. 
 
 As Merriwell was to take part in the Nijrdles the 
 hopes of the Athletic Team went up a number of 
 points. The enthusiasm of the spectators was wrought 
 to a high pitch by the low and high hurdle events, for 
 half the men of each team took part. In each there 
 were four trial heats and a final heat. In the final 
 heat of the high hurdles, in a run of 120 yards, in 
 which Merriwell did not take part, Gamp and Swift- 
 wing tripped by striking hurdles, and Red Arrow won 
 the event in sixteen and one-half seconds. 
 
 The final heat of the low hurdles distance 220 
 yards was closely contested toward the end of the 
 run by Merriwell and Red Arrow. Each of the pre-
 
 A Stunning Charge. 71 
 
 ceding trial heats had been won within seventeen sec- 
 onds, and Red Arrow had showed such gain in run- 
 ning and leaping ability that many believed he would 
 surely win this time. But Merriwell did not knock 
 down a hurdle, while Red Arrow bowled over two; 
 and Merriwell won out in twenty-six and one-fifth 
 seconds, amid a furore of wild cheering. 
 
 Then there were other events as interesting, if not 
 so exciting : Broad jumping and high jumping, pole 
 vaulting and other things. 
 
 "A tie ! a tie !" was yelled as these ended. 
 
 "A tie, and only three more events." 
 
 Then Frank put his team ahead by winning the 
 discus throw. 
 
 But Hodge looked troubled. The two events to 
 come were putting the shot and throwing the hammer, 
 in both of which Bruce Browning was to contest 
 against Horace Bridgman, the giant of the Niagara 
 Rapids. 
 
 "I shouldn't be afraid if Brace's shoulder were all 
 right! But I can see that it's been hurting him all 
 the afternoon, though he has kept pretty still about it. 
 
 "How is the shoulder, Bruce?" he asked, approach- 
 ing Browning, as the latter was getting in readiness 
 in the dressing-tent. 
 
 "Bad!" confessed the Yale giant. "I never had it 
 feel so weak. But I'll do my best!" 
 
 There could be no doubt of that. Bruce always
 
 73 A Stunning Charge. 
 
 did his best, when his best seemed necessary. Bink 
 and Danny looked fearful when Bridgman came out 
 of the dressing-tents for the shot-putting event. He 
 seemed so much bigger and stronger than when 
 dressed in ordinary clothing. He possessed immense 
 strength, and they did not wonder that the Rapids 
 were pinning their faith to him and declaring that 
 he could not be beaten in the two final contests, in 
 which he was to meet Bruce. 
 
 If Frank Merriwell was made uneasy by the ap- 
 pearance of the giant Bridgman and the cheers of his 
 friends, or by the knowledge that Bruce's shoulder 
 was out of condition, there was nothing in his face to 
 reveal it 
 
 "Now we'll see Bruce do him up!" cried Bink, 
 prancing round as if he were the hero of the occasion, 
 while he puffed furiously at a cigarette. 
 
 "He'll never beat Bridgman!" a Rapids man de- 
 clared. "You haven't a man that can beat Bridg- 
 man. We have got you fellows, now !" 
 
 "Not Merry?" squealed Bink. "Do you mean to 
 say that Merry can't beat him?" 
 
 The speaker gave Merriwell a scornful glance, 
 Frank did not look to be a great shot-putter and ham- 
 mer-thrower. 
 
 "Yes. Anybody you've got. Bridgman is simply 
 immense f ' 
 
 There was silence and almost breathless interest as
 
 A Stunning Charge. 73 
 
 Bridgman took the shot and prepared to throw. It 
 was hurled through the air with mighty force. 
 
 "Thirty-nine feet, five inches!" said the measurers. 
 
 "Wee-e-e!" Danny squealed. "We've got you!" 
 
 He began to feel safe, for Bruce's shot-putting rec- 
 ord was over forty-one feet, and his hammer-throwing 
 record was away up. Then Browning hurled the shot 
 through the air. Instantly it was seen that he had 
 lost. , 
 
 The announcement of the distance, "thirty-five feet, 
 six inches," was drowned in the cheers of the confident 
 Niagaras. And in the following trials he was easily: 
 defeated, to the dismay of his friends. 
 
 The hammer-throw was to come next and last, 
 Bruce went over to Merriwell. 
 
 "I can't do it, Merry!" he said. "If they will let 
 you, I want you to take my place." 
 
 But to this there was an instant protest. 
 
 "There was to be no substitutes in this!" shouted 
 the captain of the Niagaras. 
 
 "Then you will win by a forfeit," said Frank. 
 "Bruce's shoulder is wrenched and he can't throw !" 
 
 "Oh, I'll try!" Bruce grunted, as he listened to the 
 clamor of the opposition. 
 
 Then an officer, who had been standing on the 
 edge of the crowd, pushed forward, laid his hand on 
 Bruce's shoulder, and said : 
 
 "I arrest you for the murder of Rodney SkaggsT*
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FRANK MERRIWELI/S THROW. 
 
 This was followed by a whirlwind of excitement 
 Browning arrested for murder! What did it mean? 
 Skaggs was the wooden-legged rope-walker who 
 called himself the "One-legged Blondin!" How had 
 he been killed? What grudge had Browning against 
 him? 
 
 These and a hundred other questions, spoken and 
 unspoken, filled the minds and mouths of the seething, 
 curiosity-consumed crowd. 
 
 "This is some of Hammersweirs work!" cried 
 Hodge, looking furiously round. Hammerswell heard 
 him and hastily left the crowd with Delancy, making a 
 bee-line for his hotel and room. 
 
 "What's the meaning of that?" he asked Delancy, 
 as they hurried on. "Browning has killed Skaggs?" 
 
 "Aw ! that's too much for me, don't you know ! I 
 thought Skaggs was to do up Merriwell!" 
 
 "So he was! I don't understand it." 
 
 There were others who did not understand it Bruce 
 Browning did not understand it, for one; nor did 
 Frank Merriwell. 
 
 "This is a ridiculous charge!" Frank asserted to 
 the officer. 
 
 "Not so ridiculous as you think, young man!
 
 Frank Merriwell's Throw. 75 
 
 Skaggs' body has been found in the river, and Brown- 
 ing was seen quarreling with him last evening! Any 
 way, I've my orders and my warrant for the arrest. 
 If you don't want trouble, you'll let him come along 
 peaceably with me." 
 
 He had a feeling that Merriwell's crowd would try 
 to prevent Bruce's detention, and glared round threat- 
 eningly as he said this. 
 
 "There is some big mistake here!" Merriwell de- 
 clared. "But of course we do not intend to resist an 
 officer. He will go with you. But he was just get- 
 ting ready to throw the hammer. It is the next and 
 last event. If you will let him do that !" 
 
 "Not on your life!" cried the officer, gripping 
 Bruce's collar. "He goes with me, instanter. This 
 is a murder charge, young man! You know what 
 that means?" 
 
 Then what a howl of indignant protest went up 
 from the Niagara Rapids and their friends ! 
 
 "This is just a trick, Merriwell!" said the captain. 
 "You have foreseen all along that you would be de- 
 feated, and you have planned this to break into the 
 games, so that the contests could not be concluded, 
 and " 
 
 "Stop!" Frank commanded. "If you repeat that, I 
 shall have to tell you that you lie !" 
 
 The Niagara captain grew white., but he saw that 
 Merriwell meant it
 
 76 Frank Merriwell's Throw. 
 
 "What does it mean, then?" 
 
 "You know as much as I. Browning has been ar- 
 rested for the murder of the rope-walker. We know 
 nothing about it, and of course it's a foolish charge; 
 but I want you distinctly to understand that there is 
 no collusion in this matter." 
 
 "Well, what about the hammer-throw?" 
 
 "Just as you like! Call it off and take the game, 
 if you want to. I suppose you are entitled to do 
 that, if you press the point. There was no under- 
 standing that a substitute might be used ; thi v were 
 used in the other events without your protest. But 
 let it go!" 
 
 "Who will throw the hammer against Bridgman?" 
 
 "I will!" 
 
 "Are you really a hammer-thrower?" 
 
 "Not my particular line, but I've thrown the ham- 
 mer. We'll try it, if you're willing!" 
 
 "Oh, that's all right, Swengle!" the Rapids began 
 to call. "He can't touch Bridgman. It's the easiest 
 way to settle it. Let him try. He knows that neither 
 he nor Browning can come near Bridgman. It will 
 shut his mouth to let him try, that's all!" Hodge 
 could hardly restrain himself from leaping at the 
 throats of these men, while the other members of the 
 Athletic Team were equally indignant. 
 
 "Let Merriwell throw!" the Rapids were roaring. 
 "Let him try it Bridgman will just play with him.
 
 Frank Merri well's Throw. 77 
 
 Hurrah for Bridgman! Hurrah for the Niagara 
 Rapids!" 
 
 "All right," said Swengle, the captain, speaking to 
 Frank. "If you want to act as Browning's substi- 
 tute, you may, without further objections from us." 
 
 "And the winner of this throw wins for his team 
 in these contests?" 
 
 "Certainly! The teams are now tied." 
 
 Hodge gave a yell of triumph. The officer, seeing 
 that there was to be no fight, began to push through 
 the crowd with Browning. 
 
 Merriwell hurried to Bruce' s side. 
 
 "Hodge and Ready will go with you, and I'll be 
 along just as soon as I have made the throw. You're 
 all right, old man. It's a ridiculous charge." 
 
 "Just win that hammer-throw for me !" said Bruce, 
 with the utmost composure. "I'm willing to be ar- 
 rested if it gives you a chance to win that and shuts 
 the mouths of that howling mob." 
 
 "He's sure to win it !" cried Hodge. 
 
 "You bet!" squealed Bink. 
 
 Danny began singing: 
 
 "Of athletes all, who is the king? 
 
 Our Merriwell ! Our Merriwell ! 
 The Rapids think they are the thing! 
 
 Oh, hear them yell ! oh, hear them yell I 
 But Frank's the man to turn the tide, 
 
 Oh, he's the boy to tan their hide ! 
 Oh, he's the pin who'll prick their pride ! 
 
 Our Merriwell ! Our Merriwell !"
 
 78 Frank Merriwell's Throw. 
 
 The whole Merriwell crowd bellowed the refrain, 
 to the familiar tune of "Maryland, My Maryland" ! 
 
 "Win her out !" Bruce shouted back, as the refrain 
 died, and he walked on with the officer, accompanied 
 by Bart and Ready. "You're the boy to do it !" 
 
 But Bridgman came up confident and smiling. He 
 felt that he had easy work. Who was Merriwell, any- 
 way? He had no record as a hammer-thrower. He 
 had heard of Browning's work in that line, for he 
 tried to keep posted as to the work of the hammer- 
 throwers of the different colleges. But Merriwell ! 
 
 "That's right! Howl now!" cried the captain of 
 the Niagaras to the bellowing singers. "It's well to 
 howl in advance, for you won't have anything to howl 
 about soon." 
 
 He was so wrought up that he was tempted to shake 
 his fist in the faces of the crowd that was still bel- 
 lowing, led by Bink and Danny. It had been agreed 
 that but a single trial should be made by each con- 
 testant. Notwithstanding that he felt safe, Bridgman, 
 who was a cautious fellow, put every ounce of strength 
 into his throw, beating his previous performance. 
 
 "One hundred and forty-one feet, six inches!" was 
 the announcement. 
 
 It was a fine throw and brought cheers. Then Mer- 
 riwell stepped into the circle and took up the hammer. 
 The singing ceased and silence reigned. 
 
 Frank had donned his athletic suit, and those versed
 
 Frank Merriwell's Throw. 79 
 
 in such things were surprised by the muscular develop- 
 ment which he now displayed. Three times the heavy 
 hammer swung round Merriwell's head, then he let it 
 go over his shoulder. 
 
 A shout went up, for it was seen that he had not 
 only beaten Bridgman's performance, but that he 
 must have crowded the world's records, which are 167 
 feet, 8 inches, held by John Flanagan of the New 
 York Athletic Club, and the new inter-collegiate 
 record of 165 feet and a half-inch, made at Philadel- 
 phia, in May of this year, by A. Flaw of the Univer- 
 sity of California, in the field contests of that univer- 
 sity against the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 "One hundred and sixty-two feet, three inches!" 
 
 That was the record, and it was received with wild 
 howling, v/hlb Danny and Bink and the others began 
 to sing again, "Our Merriwell! Our Merriwell!" 
 ******* 
 
 If Bruce had not gone to that masked ball on the 
 Canadian side disguised to look like Strong Arm, he 
 would not have been arrested. He was not held, for 
 the charge against him was quickly shown to be a 
 flimsy thing. 
 
 And Rodney Skaggs ? Yes, he was the man, crazed 
 by drink, who had tried to hurl Merriwell into Ni- 
 agara and had gone in himself. When the body was 
 discovered it was clothed in garments which he had 
 never been known to wear, and on the stump of his
 
 8o Frank Merriwell's Throw. 
 
 leg was a cork leg, placed there to aid in concealing 
 his identity. It had fooled Bart and Bruce into be- 
 lieving that the man who went over the rocks into 
 the river had two good legs. The wooden leg was 
 found in the house which Skaggs had occupied. The 
 "dynamite" was a bluff, pure and simple. The inside 
 of the glass supposed to contain dynamite was coated 
 with a preparation of the color of dynamite, and 
 within the glass itself was a wad of counterfeit bills, 
 for Skaggs had been a "shover of the queer," along 
 with his occupation as a rope-walker. 
 
 Of course, the murder charge against Browning 
 was proven false. The person seen quarreling with 
 Skaggs was without doubt the real Indian, Strong 
 Arm. 
 
 Carker and Rattleton had been led away from the 
 contests by hearing that Dot, the child, had been taken 
 by Skaggs from the woman with whom she had been 
 left; and, thinking they were on the trail, they had 
 felt it to be their duty to push the pursuit while the 
 trail seemed fresh, rather than risk losing it, even if 
 the contests should be lost to the Athletic Team in 
 consequence, and Merriwell told them afterward that 
 in following this conviction they did right. 
 
 But the child had not been taken by Skaggs. She 
 had been stolen out by Nell, who believed it the only 
 way to save her from her father's fun'. 
 
 As for Carker's mysterious connection with the
 
 Frank Merriwell's Throw. 81 
 
 rope-walker, it dated back to a strike in the city of 
 New York. Carker's sympathies had led him to side 
 with the strikers, even going so far as to make a 
 doubtful use of money in their behalf. Skaggs, as a 
 professed workingman, had played upon Carker's 
 sympathies at that time, and had received from him 
 various sums, all of which he pocketed, of course, 
 for he cared nothing for honest labor which Greg 
 Carker did. Carker was often queer and odd, but 
 usually his heart was right, when its kindly instincts 
 were not smothered by parsimoniousness. 
 
 "I was simply ashamed to tell you before," said 
 Carker, when he explained this to Frank. "I was 
 a fool!" 
 
 Dot Skaggs was placed again in the home that had 
 been secured for her by Carker; and a position was 
 found for Nell through the efforts of friends. 
 
 But Skaggs, the rope-walker, had gone to his death 
 in Niagara, and nobody was sorry. The hotel pro- 
 prietor, who was a Merriwell enthusiast, laid in an- 
 other supply of fireworks and employed skilled help 
 to turn out something fine. For a centerpiece ap- 
 peared the head of Frank Merriwell, over an arch of 
 burning letters, which spelled out in fiery tracery; 
 these words: 
 
 FRANK MERRIWELL'S ATHLETIC TEAM VICTORIOUS !
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 IN THE CAVE OF THE WINDS* 
 
 "A circular rainbow 1" 
 
 "I never saw anything like it!" 
 
 Merriwell, Hodge, Rattleton, Browning, Carker, 
 Swiftwing, and some others had descended from the 
 dressing-rooms into the misty spray between Luna 
 and Goat Islands on their way to the Cave of the 
 Winds a few evenings later, and as they glanced about 
 and upward each seemed to be looking into the center 
 of a small, circular rainbow. 
 
 "This is Niagara 1" exclaimed Frank. "The great 
 and only Niagara!" 
 
 "Worth circling the world to see !" declared Carker, 
 the bored look going out of his face. 
 
 "And it belonged to the Indian before it did to the 
 white man!" said Swiftwing, softly, a strange light 
 in his dark, wet face. "It was the Indian's Niagara." 
 
 "And now it is the world's Niagara," said Brown- 
 ing, forgetting that he had ever been lazy and unin- 
 terested. "The only objectionable thing is that the 
 sight of it makes a man realize how little and weak 
 he is, after all!" 
 
 "I knew that the feeling 06 the greatness and stu- 
 pendousness of Niagara would grow on you," was 
 Merry's answer, as his chest heaved.
 
 In the Cave of the Winds. 83 
 
 *'I never heard of the circular rainbow," said Bart. 
 
 "I saw it when I was here before. It is not al- 
 ways to be seen, of course. Only when the sun shines 
 through the spray in this way. A great many people 
 come here and never see it at all, because the conditions 
 are not right. Very often the weather is cloudy, or 
 the sun not in the best position." 
 
 The beauty and novelty of the scene thrilled them. 
 The roar of the falls just at hand a section of the 
 American falls under which they were to walk in a 
 few moments, dinned their ears. 
 
 "This cakes the take I mean takes the cake !" Rat- 
 tleton at last broke out. "I never saw anything like 
 it." 
 
 The guide bunched the sightseers together and led 
 them across the wet, slippery rocks toward the falls 
 and the Cave of the Winds. 
 
 "See here!" cried Bart, clutching Merriwell's arm. 
 "Did you see that fellow? Wasn't that Hammers- 
 well?" 
 
 A young man in oilskins had appeared for a -mo- 
 ment close up to the cliff, standing, as it seemed, at 
 the very edge of the falls. For a moment he stood 
 there, and then drew back out of sight, seeming to 
 have been swallowed by the downward rushing wa- 
 ters. 
 
 "I didn't see him well. Perhaps it was Hammers- 
 well."
 
 84 In the Cave of the Winds. 
 
 "He has been under the falls and was coming 1 out 
 with those other people, or rather after them; and 
 when he saw us he stooped down and then went back 
 out of sight. I am sure it was Hammerswell." 
 
 "And if it was Hammerswell he'll be up to hurt 
 I mean he will be up to dirt!" Rattleton asserted. 
 
 "He'll get hurt," Bart growled. 
 
 "You're hot." 
 
 "The sight of him makes me wild, Merry. I believe 
 he hired that one-legged rope-walker to try to throw 
 you into Niagara. I can't prove it, I know, but I have 
 that feeling in my blood." 
 
 "Skaggs received his pay!" 
 
 "Yes, the rope-walker is dead enough, but that 
 skunk, Hammerswell, who probably hired him to try 
 the trick, is all right yet. But there will come a set- 
 tlement, if he continues to fool around us !" 
 
 Some of the women in the party had stopped to 
 talk and rave over the scene, but the guide, who had 
 been explaining things to them, moved on again, and 
 Merriwell's party followed. 
 
 Back behind the falls, in the space between the wall 
 of rock and the downward shooting water, an aerial 
 walk had been constructed. Into this spray-filled 
 space, where the falls roared thunderously and the 
 brilliant sunshine was dimmed by the swaying wall, 
 the guide led the sightseers. ^ 
 
 "Enough to try one's nerve!" said Rattleton,
 
 In the Cave of the Winds. 85 
 
 though his words were not heard. "'What if a fellow 
 should stumble? It's slippery enough in here." 
 
 Merriwell bent toward him. 
 
 "What is it, Rattles?" 
 
 "If a fellow should go off here," shouted Harry. 
 
 "Well, they could hunt for him where Skaggs' body 
 was found. It is said that a man fell off here a few, 
 years ago." 
 
 "Ugh!" 
 
 The exclamation was drawn from Rattleton by a 
 deluging, backward swing of the shifting green wall, 
 which poured tubfuls of water over him. 
 
 "We'll run into Hammerswell in here," Hodge was 
 thinking, as he clung to the railing. " I wonder how 
 far this walk goes? That surely was Hammerswell. 
 I couldn't have been mistaken. And why did he dive 
 back when he saw us ? Was he afraid that we would 
 give him a thumping? Or is he planning some- 
 thing ?" 
 
 "Seems to me it's getting worse as we go further 
 in," Bruce grunted. "A ton of water fell on me that 
 time. If it does get worse and Hammerswell is back 
 in here the rascal will be drowned. These women 
 have grit !" 
 
 Hammerswell was in there! 
 
 He had seen Merriwell's party; and, after hastily 
 picking up a jagged piece of granite, he had retreated
 
 86 In the Cave of the Winds. 
 
 behind a wall of water, filled with a sudden and des- 
 perate resolve. 
 
 He had been in a sullen rage ever since the failure 
 of Rodney Skaggs to injure Merriwell, and. though 
 his nerves had been shaken by the awful fate of the 
 rope-walker, he had not been deterred from contem- 
 plating further harm to Frank, but had nursed his 
 fancied grievances in his cowardly bitter way, only 
 biding his time to deliver some treacherous blow which 
 should permanently injure or kill his enemy without 
 risking his own worthless neck. As he retreated along 
 the seemingly insecure walk he looked craftily round, 
 while the water deluged him. 
 
 "The party will probably stop in this hollowed out 
 place," he muttered. "I'll wait just beyond. Merri- 
 well is daring and adventurous. Perhaps he will push 
 on without the guide. If he does, and I can land this 
 rock in his back or against his head, I can knock him 
 from this walk. And if he goes over he will be no 
 more able to tell about it than Skaggs was." 
 
 Then he began to wonder if he dared to try this. 
 In his calmer moments he would have shrunk from it. 
 Sometimes he wanted to kill Frank, so deep was his 
 hate, and at other times he desired only to work him 
 some lasting injury. Of late he had been drinking 
 heavily, and that made him more than usually reck- 
 less. 
 
 "If I should miss my aim and he should rush on
 
 In the Cave of the Winds. 87 
 
 me and throw me over in his rage!" he gasped; and 
 the thought almost caused him to drop the jagged 
 rock and abandon his sudden, desperate resolve. "I 
 might miss him ! The water pours and dashes here 
 so that no one can be sure of a safe throw !" 
 
 Nevertheless, he stood in the drenching, blinding 
 spray that came down on him, still hesitating and un- 
 decided, with this great temptation tugging at his 
 mean heart till it almost choked him. 
 
 "Ah! there they come!" 
 
 He drew still further back, as he beheld Merriwell's 
 party and the others, accompanied by the guide, come 
 into view through the spray. 
 
 That he might not be seen, he dropped flat on the 
 walk, where he clung with one hand, while the other 
 held the rock. An inward swirl of the water caused 
 him to gasp and cough, but the noise was drowned by 
 the water's roar. 
 
 Then he saw Merriwell in advance of the party, as 
 if coming on alone. 
 
 "Dare I do it?" he whispered, while his blood 
 seemed to chill and all his courage to be washed away 
 by the pounding flood. "Dare I do it?" 
 
 Frank turned to walk back. The temptation was 
 not to be resisted. 
 
 "The chance of a lifetime!" he gasped. "I may 
 never have another like it." 
 
 Then his arm went up and the jagged bit of granite
 
 88 In the Cave of the Winds. 
 
 was hurled, regardless of the fact that it might plunge 
 into the midst of the party beyond and strike some of 
 the women. 
 
 He cowered and put his hands to his eyes, while 
 another inward-flung deluge covered him. He heard 
 a sharp cry tear through the waters. Then, feeling 
 that indeed the rock had gone true to its aim, he 
 turned and fled hastily toward the end of the walk, 
 though the spray seemed heavier as he proceeded and 
 the waters appeared to reach out wet hands to catch 
 him and drag him over the railing. 
 
 When he stopped he felt his teeth chattering. The 
 waters seemed to have turned deathly cold, while his 
 veins burned as if filled with liquid fire. The sunshine 
 that came through the glassy wall looked blood red, 
 though it was much fainter than at the point where 
 he had hurled the stone. He clutched at the rail and 
 listened. 
 
 "They can't prove that I did it !" he chattered. "No 
 one saw me. Merriwell's back was turned, and the 
 others could not see me because of the spray." 
 
 Then his imagination pictured Merriwell in the aw- 
 ful churning vortex at his feet, his body driven round 
 and round and up and down like a log, sinking to the 
 deepest depths only to shoot upward again. Once he 
 fancied he saw it rising through the water. It came 
 up, up, with white face and staring, glassy eyes 
 dead eyes, that looked into his very soul.
 
 In the Cave of the Winds. 89 
 
 He shrieked and put up his hands to shut out the 
 awful sight. 
 
 "My God! I believe I'm going crazy!" he chat- 
 tered. "Of course the body couldn't rise that way. 
 The water would beat it down, down! It would be 
 driven to the very bottom of the river and come out 
 far below in the Whirlpool, to be found some time, 
 perhaps perhaps never. It couldn't rise!" 
 
 He almost feared to look again. The spray ap- 
 peared to become thicker, and the water continually 
 reached out wet hands to tear him from his footing, 
 and send him down into the horrible depths where he 
 fancied Frank's body was. 
 
 "They will arrest me when I come to go out; and, 
 of course, I must go out! Unless " 
 
 He uttered a shriek. The wet hands seemed to take 
 him by the hair, as the water poured over him. 
 
 "Unless I fall off. How the water pounds me I 
 It's terrible ! I can't stand it in here ! I must go 
 back!" 
 
 He started back, but the thought of what might 
 be awaiting him at the other end sent him again into a 
 retreat. 
 
 "I won't let them take me, if they come to this 
 place. They sha'n't ! I'll fight first ! I'll throw them 
 into the falls! They sha'n't take me! I'll never go 
 out rather than that ! Why did I do it ? Yes, I'm a 
 murderer a murderer!"
 
 9o In the Cave of the Winds. 
 
 The waters seemed saying over and over : "A mur- 
 derer! A murderer!" 
 
 The spray grew colder and his veins hotter, and the 
 sun-shot, green, liquid wall became redder and redder. 
 His legs became so weak that he dropped down on his 
 knees and clung there in a fit of desperation. 
 
 "I shall drown !" he moaned. "I'm drowning now !" 
 
 The spray seemed to stop up his nostrils and choke 
 his lungs. His brain was fairly reeling, while his 
 teeth chattered until he fancied he could hear them 
 even in the midst of the howling torrent. How long 
 he lay there he did not know. It seemed hours. He 
 felt that he was dying, and this aroused his cowardly 
 nature more than anything else could have done. 
 
 "I'm not fit to die!" he screamed. "I can't die!" 
 
 He crawled along the slippery walk, which now ap- 
 peared covered with a slime that rendered every move- 
 ment one of extreme peril. He fancied, time and 
 again, that he was going down into the falls. But he 
 crawled on, gasping, sick, weak and filled with terror. 
 That was a dreadful crawl. He dared not rise to his 
 feet. He feared almost to lift his head, but felt out 
 before him as he crawled, taking firm hold each time 
 before venturing an advance. 
 
 By and by the wall of water grew lighter. He rose 
 to a crouching position and crawled on. Finally he 
 made a hysterical dash, and shortly found himself in 
 the rainbow spray outside, with not a soul in sight.
 
 In the Cave of the Winds. 91 
 
 He staggered over the slippery rocks, scrambling and' 
 falling and rising again. An apparition met him in 
 the mist. It was the white-faced guide. 
 
 "How long have you been under there?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 "I I don't know," Hammerswell stammered, flee- 
 ing past him and up to the shelter of a dressing-room. 
 
 How he got into his clothing he hardly knew. 
 Wherever he looked he saw that white face and those 
 awful eyes rising through the water. His own face, 
 as he looked into the little mirror, changed until it was 
 the dead face of Frank Merriwell. 
 
 "I'm going crazy!" he whispered, as he crept to- 
 ward the door. "I must be ! Why did I ever do that ? 
 I'll be hanged for it!" 
 
 And again the roar of the falls brought him the 
 word, "Murderer !" 
 
 When he came out, and was stumbling away, he 
 stopped suddenly and drew back with a wild cry of 
 fright. Frank Merriwell appeared before him. 
 
 But Hammerswell could not believe that it was 
 Frank. He fancied that it must be only another tor- 
 turing fancy. When Frank continued to walk toward 
 him it was too much. He threw up his hands with a 
 shriek, and tumbled over as if dead.
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 
 OLD FRIENDS. 
 
 Some men who were near leaped to the assistance 
 of Herbert Hammerswell, and lifted him up. Bart 
 and Frank pushed forward. 
 
 "Do you know him?" was questioned. 
 
 "Yes," said Frank. "He belongs at the hotel up 
 there. What made him faint?" 
 
 "Hanged if I know. He looked at you, and then 
 he tumbled over. We'll take him into the house and 
 bring him around." 
 
 Frank assisted in carrying Hammerswell in, but 
 Bart stood back. There seemed no need that he should 
 offer his services, and he had no desire to touch the 
 young villain. 
 
 "He will be all right soon," Frank announced, as 
 he came out. "You know I told you I thought I heard 
 something whiz by my head while we were under the 
 falls. I believe now that Hammerswell threw some- 
 thing at me. He must have thought that he had 
 killed me, or knocked me into the water; and when 
 he saw me alive just now it was too much for him." 
 
 "I think you're right," Hodge assented. 
 
 "Perhaps he heard that woman scream, and that 
 helped to deceive him." 
 
 "I wish we had gone back to look for him under
 
 Old Friends. 93 
 
 there," Bart growled. "We could understand this 
 better. Hammerswell is equal to any villainy. I won- 
 der that you felt like helping him. The only way I 
 want to put my hands on him is to strike him in the 
 face with my fists." 
 
 One of the women, struck by a sheet of water, had 
 screamed and fallen, and Frank had carried her out 
 from under the falls, so that when he and Bart thought 
 of turning back to look for Hammerswell so much 
 time had elapsed and so many had come out that a 
 search seemed useless. So they had made no investi- 
 gation. As they neared the hotel Harry Rattletoii 
 came out to meet them, his eyes shining. 
 
 "Say, fellows, you can't guess who is in town?" 
 
 "The president?" 
 
 "Somebody you'll be glad to see." 
 
 "Tell us, Rattles ! We're not good at blind guess- 
 ing." 
 
 "Juliet and Dolph Reynolds!" 
 
 "You don't mean it?" 
 
 "Sure! They passed in a carriage a while ago, and 
 I had a talk with them. They're stopping at the In- 
 ternational Hotel. They're doing the States, and of 
 course they had to come to Niagara." 
 
 There was a flush of pleasure on Merriwell's cheek. 
 It seemed good, indeed, to be able to again meet these 
 young English people.
 
 94 Old Friends. 
 
 "In a carriage, you say? When will they be back? 
 I shall have to call on them." 
 
 Then he gave Harry an odd look. 
 
 "Is she as handsome as she used to be, Rattles ?" 
 
 Harry colored. He had not forgotten the time 
 when he fought a duel with Jack Diamond in Paris 
 over the English beauty. 
 
 "Grittiest pearl I ever saw I mean the prettiest 
 girl I ever saw !" 
 
 Then he smiled, though down deep in his honest 
 heart there was still a sore spot. 
 
 "I think I'd fight Diamond for her again, if it were 
 necessary." 
 
 "And Dolph?" 
 
 "The same Dolph. He had just heard of your 
 hammer-throw in defeating the Niagara Rapids, and 
 he wanted me to tell him all about it. Says he wishes 
 he had been here to bet on you. He's coming over to 
 see you when he gets back from his drive." 
 
 "Did you see Hammerswell ?" 
 
 "Say, what's the matter with Ham? They just 
 now brought him in all limp, and a doctor has been 
 telephoned for." 
 
 While Merriwell was answering this, they were 
 walking up the steps of the hotel, with Harry con- 
 tinually interjecting questions and bits of information 
 about the English brother and sister who had so un- 
 expectedly appeared on the scene. Bart Hodg:e was
 
 Old Friends. 95 
 
 not so interested, for he did not know the Reynolds, 
 but he listened, now and then studying the shining 
 face of Harry Rattleton. 
 
 "Hit hard," he muttered under his breath. "I'm 
 afraid poor Rattles has got the arrow right through 
 his gizzard. And from what Merry has said about 
 it, I don't think she ever cared a straw for him. This 
 is a queer world when it comes to women and love- 
 affairs." 
 
 Then his thoughts wandered away to pretty Lucy 
 Livingston, whom he had met in the Adirondacks, 
 and whose brother he intensely hated; and he won- 
 dered if Juliet Reynolds could possibly be as hand- 
 some as Lucy. Bart dropped into a chair to talk to 
 Jack Ready, who protested that he was as lonesome 
 as Crusoe on his island, and Harry and Frank strolled 
 around the piazza. 
 
 They had not gone far when they heard a shout and 
 turned back. Jack Diamond was coming up the hotel 
 steps, and Jack Ready was running to meet him. Rat- 
 tleton looked troubled. 
 
 "Did you know he was coming?" as they hurried 
 forward. 
 
 "No. This is a surprise." 
 
 "Then I'll bet a dollar he has had a letter from 
 Dolph or Juliet, and has come on here purposely." 
 
 "This is great, Diamond !" Frank warmly declared.
 
 96 Old Friends. 
 
 "Come right up and tell us how it happened. 1 
 thought you had to be in the South ?" 
 
 "I had to come to New York, and so I ran up here, 
 hearing that you fellows were astonishing the natives. 
 You won't object if I stand back and shout for you 
 while you do up the next crowd of athletes that comes 
 along?" 
 
 "And they're coming!" Ready chirped. "The To- 
 rontos will be here to-morrow." 
 
 Dolph Reynolds had not only become acquainted 
 with the members of Merriwell's Athletic Team, but 
 he had taken an especial fancy to Jack Ready, to 
 whom he was now talking. There was something in 
 Ready's airy boastfulness and the cheerful good hu- 
 mor of his round, red-apple cheeks that caught the 
 fancy of the English lad. He liked Ready, and he 
 did not hesitate to show it. Juliet also appeared to 
 like Ready, a thing that was not at all pleasing to 
 either Diamond or Rattleton. 
 
 "It would have been down in the old books as one 
 of the Seven Wonders of the World if those ancient 
 guys had known anything about it," laughed Ready, 
 pleased with the young Englishman's acknowledg- 
 ment. "What is it about the country that you don't 
 especially like? We'll have it made over for you!" 
 
 Dolph looked at him a moment, then laughed. 
 
 "That's one of your deuced American jokes. It 
 would be rawther a difficult thing to change it. Some
 
 Old Friends. 97 
 
 way I expected to see more forest land, don't y' 'now ! 
 Then everything seems so crude and new. The 
 houses look as if they had only been put up and 
 painted yesterday. You haven't any old mansions and 
 historical castles. It must be deuced unpleasant not 
 to have any history, y' 'now. Now, take Niagara.'* 
 "You can't take it; it's too big to lug away." 
 "Don't y' 'now, deah boy, you're a blooming queer 
 fellah ! How could anybody think of carrying away 
 a waterfall? But if there were some piles of old ruins 
 here, y' 'now, with ivy growing on them, and old 
 armor in the halls, and all that, don't y' 'now? I 
 never realized what it means to have a history. And 
 your democratic American railway carriages ! All the 
 people crowding in together, don't y' 'now? I'm dy- 
 ing to see some ivy not patches of it, but growing; 
 all over the walls, don't y' understand?" 
 
 "Then I'll take you down to New Haven. They 
 have an ivy manufactory down there, and the old 
 buildings at Yale are just covered with it. When 
 they put up a new building they give it a coat of paint 
 mixed with earth taken from an English castle to 
 make it look old ; and they telephone the ivy factory, 
 and they bring the ivy up in trainloads and stick it all 
 over the house. In two days the building looks like 
 a castle on the Rhine. They haven't caught on up 
 here yet, but they're learning. They're boring an- 
 other tunnel under the city here to get power for ai>
 
 98 Old Friends. 
 
 ivy factory that will supply the entire country. Bigi 
 demand, you know." 
 
 Dolph stared at Ready, and then laughed. 
 
 "And they've started a factory in New York to 
 turn out pedigrees and lineages and all that! You 
 go down there and tell them what you want, and pick 
 out your coat-of-arms, with the lions rampant or 
 couchant, or any old way to suit you, and hand over 
 the fee, and they do the rest. The next week you 
 appear on the boulevard in an English drag showing 
 the coat-of-arms, and the papers tell of the discovery 
 that you are descended from Lord Heirless of Lud- 
 dington, and your wife is adopted by the Sorosis 
 Club; and then you give a dinner and are strictly in 
 it. You fellows are slow over beyond the big pond. 
 You don't know how to hustle a little bit. Here, if 
 you want anything, you step up to the bargain coun- 
 ter, pay your price, and take it." 
 
 Dolph looked at Ready again, with increased ad- 
 miration. 
 
 "You're stringing me, don't y' 'now, as you bloom- 
 ing Americans say." 
 
 "As soon as the factory has supplied enough cus- 
 tomers to make a demand for the exclusive English 
 railway system, the American railways intend to put 
 in English railway coaches, so that you can shut your- 
 self up in your compartment with your grandmother 
 and feel how much better vou are than the herd. It
 
 Old Friends. 99 
 
 takes time, Reynolds; but even that is in our favor, 
 for we've got all the time there is." 
 
 They were walking toward the well-known Inter- 
 national Hotel, where on their arrival they found 
 Juliet Reynolds engaged in conversation with Jack 
 Diamond. Jack scowled when he saw Ready, for Ju- 
 liet had been singing the praises of the apple-cheeked 
 fellow, and Jack did not like it. Juliet motioned her 
 brother and his new friend to her side, and soon they 
 were all listening to Ready's queer comments, and all 
 laughing heartily, with the exception of Diamond. 
 
 "What does the fellow mean?" was his thought. 
 "He came over here purposely to get a chance to see 
 Juliet, and now he is simply spreading himself to 
 draw all the attention." 
 
 This sore and jealous feeling put Diamond at a 
 decided disadvantage, for it made him silent and ap- 
 parently insignificant in the presence of the airy chat- 
 terer, who talked on in a way that drew bursts of 
 laughter from Juliet and increased Dolph's admiration 
 for his "eccentric" American friend. 
 
 Juliet was more bewilderingly beautiful that eve- 
 ning than she had ever seemed to Diamond before. 
 She had not changed, except for the better, since he 
 saw her last in England. She looked like a young 
 <queen, with her liquid black eyes and raven hair, and 
 the beautiful hands, white as wax and such as a 
 sculptor might rave over. Diamond was desperately
 
 ioo Old Friends. 
 
 smitten as desperately as when he had first acknowl- 
 edged to Merriwell in England that he wildly loved 
 this handsome English girl. 
 
 "I have just found a blooming American joke, don't 
 y' 'now?" Dolph suddenly declared. 
 
 "Refuse me," chirped Ready, "but I must warn 
 you that American jokes are all copyrighted. You 
 won't dare to use it, unless it's one about the Ameri- 
 can tramp, or Jew, or colored chicken-thief, or your 
 mother-in-law. The copyright has run out on those, 
 and everybody uses them. Everything else barred." 
 
 "It's a card joke, don't y' 'now? You and Mr. 
 Diamond a pair of jacks!" 
 
 Juliet laughed at this and Dolph roared. 
 
 "Dolph, you are prepared to become a citizen of 
 this land of the free and home of the joke. I'll take 
 you down to get out your naturalization papers to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "I'll have to tell that to the dragon," said Dolph, 
 still laughing. "Aunt Hetty, y' 'now. She is with 
 us." 
 
 Diamond had forced a smile, but he did not laugh. 
 Under other circumstances he might have appreci- 
 ated the thing, but not now. He was in no mood to 
 appreciate anything that linked him with Jack Ready, 
 whom he had been mentally declaring an insane 
 jackass. 
 
 By and by, when he could endure his torture no
 
 Old Friends. 101 
 
 longer, he invented an excuse to get away, and walked 
 furiously out into the night toward Merriwell's hotel, 
 .where the first person he ran against was Harry Rat- 
 itleton. 
 
 "Is Dolph over at the International?" Rattleton 
 asked. 
 
 "You mean Juliet?" flared Diamond. 
 
 Harry flushed. 
 
 "I asked for Dolph. But suppose I do mean Juliet; 
 is it any of your business? You might answer my 
 question." 
 
 Diamond controlled his temper with a powerful 
 effort, and succeeded in preventing himself from strik- 
 ing Rattleton in the face ; but he could not keep from 
 flinging at him as he passed on : 
 
 "You're another jackass!" 
 
 "Glad you've discovered that you're the first one!" 
 Rattleton threw back. "You won't answer my civil 
 question, so I'm going over to the International to 
 find out." 
 
 Diamond turned half around, but checked himself, 
 and walked on again. A few minutes later he met 
 Merriwell. 
 
 "Going home in the morning, Merry," he declared, 
 unable to conceal his anger and bitterness. "I wanted 
 to say good-by, for I'll get out on the early train." 
 
 "See here," said Merriwell, "I want to have a talk 
 with you."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE CONFIDENT TORONTOS. 
 
 Later in the evening Dolph Reynolds hurried out 
 of the billiard-room of the International Hotel, which 
 Frank was passing, and hailed him. 
 
 "There are some of your friends in here, Merri- 
 well," he drawled, in his English way. "I want you 
 to see them, don't y* 'now! It strikes me that it's 
 deuced important." 
 
 Merriwell liked Reynolds, for Dolph was in many 
 respects a splendid fellow, though he had his faults, 
 and was in danger of being underrated and misun- 
 derstood by Americans because of his mannerisms 
 and English ways. 
 
 "What's up?" Frank asked. 
 
 "I rawther think there will be some big bets up/* 
 
 He took Frank's arm, and they entered the billiard- 
 room, to find there Dunstan Kirk, together with Cur- 
 ringer and Gait, the Princeton pitcher and catcher, 
 who had been the battery of the Wabeeks in the big 
 game in the Adirondacks. The billiard-room was well 
 filled, and at several of the tables men were playing. 
 
 "Glad to see you, Merriwell !" said Kirk. "In fact, 
 we fellows came up to Niagara on purpose to see you, 
 for we want you to go up against the Torontos. We'll 
 whoop things up for you if you will."
 
 The Confident Torontos. 103 
 
 "They're in town," said Curringer, also taking Mer- 
 fiwell's hand, as did also Gait. "They arrived ahead 
 of time, and will have a whole day here with nothing 
 to do before they go on South. Let me introduce you 
 to Kendall Beauchamp, of Toronto. He's a bit skept- 
 ical about the ability of your team, and thinks the 
 Toronto boys would simply make monkeys of you." 
 
 "Sure of it!" said Beauchamp, acknowledging the 
 introduction. 
 
 "Oh, we're ready to play, but we're not anxious 
 to," Frank declared. 
 
 "I've been hearing about you," Beauchamp con- 
 tinued, in an offensive way. "I suppose your wrist is 
 out of fix, as usual." 
 
 "What do you mean by that ?" Frank asked, color- 
 ing slightly. "My wrist was knocked out in the Adi- 
 rondacks, but I have taken good care of it since, and 
 it is now all right." 
 
 "Oh, I didn't know!" 
 
 "He seems to think that is a fake," snapped Rat- 
 tleton. 
 
 "Well, it's mighty convenient !" sneered Beau- 
 champ. "If you lose a game, that accounts for it; 
 and if you win, why there is added glory in the fact 
 that you did it under tremendous difficulties." 
 
 Frank's eyes glittered, but he held his temper. 
 
 "I don't like such talk, Beauchamp. I have just 
 told you that my wrist is all right. I want you to
 
 104 The Confident Torontos. 
 
 understand tnat I have never claimed that my wrist 
 was out of condition when it was "not." 
 
 "Oh," said Beauchamp, "I didn't mean any of- 
 fense." 
 
 "Then it would be becoming in you not to use of" 
 fensive words." 
 
 "He doesn't belong to the Torontos," Kirk ex- 
 plained, as Beauchamp moved away, "but I've met 
 members of the team, and have been telling them 
 about you, and they simply sneer, for they think they 
 can just eat you fellows. I'd like to see a game ar- 
 ranged between your team and the Torontos to-mor- 
 row. It would be great !" 
 
 "It made me hot to hear that fellow talk," said 
 Danny. 
 
 There were other members of the Merriwells who 
 had been made hot by the talk of the man from To- 
 ronto. Several of the Torontos came into the billiard- 
 room shortly. They had heard of MerriwelPs men, 
 for the town was filled with the story of the defeat of 
 the Niagara Rapids. They had also heard of the 
 baseball games in the Adirondacks. Kirk introduced 
 himself to the Toronto captain, and then introduced 
 the captain to Frank. 
 
 "Parr, captain of the Torontos; Merriwell, captain 
 Of the Athletic Team of Yale students." 
 
 "And American Indians," said Parr, smiling. 
 
 Merriwell found that Parr was not at all a bad fel-
 
 The Confident Torontos. 105 
 
 low, nor overdisposed to boasting, although he was 
 supremely confident in the abilities of his team. 
 
 "Why, we wouldn't want to meet your men, Mer- 
 riwell," he said laughingly, yet in earnest. "Your 
 team has no recognized standing, you know, if you 
 will pardon me for saying it. More a band of jolly 
 good fellows, from what I can learn of it. You're 
 traveling and sightseeing, not playing ball." 
 
 "They played some ball in the Adirondacks !" said 
 Kirk. "I happen to be in a position to know. And 
 they can beat the Torontos all right." 
 
 Parr smiled skeptically. 
 
 "You must excuse me if I am not able to accept 
 that statement. You wouldn't expect such a crowd 
 as Merriwell's to defeat one of the teams of the East- 
 ern League?" 
 
 This was the general tenor of the talk that evening, 
 for every member of the Torontos simply scoffed at 
 the idea of lowering their dignity by entering into a 
 game with the Merriwells. They were sure they could 
 defeat the "aggregation of freaks" which Frank had 
 gathered around him, but they were equally sure that 
 it would be no particular honor to do anything of the 
 kind. Frank's team, as they said, had no recognized 
 standing. 
 
 "Why, we might as well play any high-school nine 
 that comes along!" laughed Parr. "The thing is sim- 
 ply ridiculous. You fellows wouldn't get a hit, and
 
 106 The Confident Torontos. 
 
 we would simply bat Merriwell out of the box. You 
 fellows of the Wabeek Nine must have been doped 
 or lazy to let them down you in the Adirondacks." 
 
 "And that trick of the lame wrist is a silly dodge," 
 Beauchamp was heard to exclaim. 
 
 "And that story about the double-shoot is all rot, 
 you know," one of the Toronto members declared. 
 "Whoever saw anything of the kind?" 
 
 "I have seen it many times," declared Kirk. 
 
 "Then you must have been cross-eyed. It's non- 
 sense, you know!" 
 
 "Will you meet the Merriwells?" 
 
 "Why should we ? It's ridiculous !" 
 
 Kirk's face was flushed as, in company with Dolph 
 Reynolds, he hunted up Merriwell. 
 
 "Those fellows are insufferable, Merriwell ! I want 
 you to play them. I can get a game out of them, I 
 think, if you're willing." 
 
 "I don't care to play them." 
 
 "You're not afraid of them?" 
 
 "Of cawse he isn't afraid of them!" said Dolph. 
 "I was hoping, Merriwell, that you would go into the 
 thing, don't y' 'now !" 
 
 "I'll think about it," said Frank. 
 
 Then he went out of the billiard-room. Comforta- 
 bly seated above, enjoying the bright night, he found 
 Harry Rattleton and Juliet Reynolds, with the drag-
 
 The Confident Torontos, 107, 
 
 on in a chair near-by asleep. Rattleton jumped to 
 meet him. 
 
 "Making hay while the stars shine !" he whispered. 
 
 Diamond had concluded not to go home in the 
 morning after his talk with Frank, but he was not to 
 be seen. 
 
 "I've been talking to Miss Reynolds about you, 
 Merry," Rattleton chattered, as he again dropped into 
 a chair, while Frank took another. "She wants to see 
 you play the Torontos. I've told her we fellows can 
 beat them out of their boots/' 
 
 "What an odd expression, Mr. Rattleton!" 
 
 "Well, we can do it, can't we, Merry?" 
 
 "I should very much enjoy seeing such a game/' 
 she said. 
 
 "I've been thinking about it," Frank answered. 
 "I'll have a talk with the members of the team, and 
 be ready to give an answer in the morning." 
 
 "And you're sure your wrist is all right?" Harryf 
 anxiously asked. 
 
 "It was never in better condition. I've done noth- 
 ing but doctor it and favor it since that last game 
 with the Wabeeks, and it has come round all right/*
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PLUNGING. 
 
 The next morning Frank Merriwell sent a challenge 
 to the boastful Toronto nine, which, after some hesi- 
 tation and debate on their part, was accepted, the 
 game to be played that afternoon. The hesitation 
 was not due to any fear that the Merriwells might de- 
 feat them, but only to a reluctance to go up against 
 a "mob" of college men whom it would be small 
 honor to defeat. 
 
 Before the forenoon was half passed word came to 
 Merriwell that Dolph Reynolds was betting heavily on 
 the Athletic Team. Merriwell looked him up, not 
 pleased with this. 
 
 "See here, Dolph," he said; "of course I have no 
 right to say that you shall not bet on the game this 
 afternoon, though I much prefer that you wouldn't. 
 But I hope you won't get any of our fellows to bet- 
 ting." 
 
 Dolph gave him a wise look. 
 
 "It would be rawther a stretch of authority for me 
 to forbid any of your men from betting, don't y' 'now, 
 if they are inclined that way. And it will be a beastly 
 game if we cawn't bet anything. That's what gives 
 life to a thing of that kind, y' 'now !"
 
 Plunging. 109 
 
 Merriwell had discovered in England that DolpK 
 was a plunger. 
 
 "The thing I am most afraid of is that, if the mem- 
 bers of our team get to betting, it will break up th 
 vacation trip," Frank urged. 
 
 While Merriwell was thus talking with Dolph Rey- 
 nolds, Jack Ready and others were in the billiard- 
 room of the International getting together a good 
 round purse to wager on the Athletic Team that after- 
 noon. The scoffing air with which the Torontos re- 
 garded the coming ball-game had aroused the Merri- 
 wells. 
 
 "We'll not only let them know that we're the real 
 thing with signature blown in the bottle, but we'll 
 rake in their little wad at the same time!" Ready was 
 chirping when Dolph came in from his talk with 
 Frank. 
 
 Though he could not agree with Merriwell, Dolph 
 Reynolds had been inclined to take Merriwell's advice 
 simply to please him ; but the sight of that pile of 
 money swept him off his feet. All the plunging blood 
 in him was re-aroused. 
 
 "We must do some betting," was his thought'. "It 
 would be a blooming shame to let such a chawnce 
 pass, and I cawn't urge the fellows to do anything of 
 the kind." 
 
 'Merriwell will be down on this," said Rattleton. 
 
 "We needn't open our ruby lips to him about it,"
 
 no Plunging. 
 
 said Ready. "We can call this thing a little trust, 
 and we'll hold the secret so closely that even a cork- 
 screw couldn't twist it out of us." 
 
 "I'm down on trusts," remarked Carker, "but I'm 
 1 with you in this one. I should rather call it a co- 
 operative enterprise." 
 
 "Co-op it is, then. A dollar by any other name will 
 took as fair." 
 
 "Tell you what," suggested Rattleton, "we'll hand 
 this over to Dolph and let him put it up, and no one 
 need to know that it isn't his money. See?" 
 
 "I'll be glad to take it, y' understand," Dolph de- 
 clared. "I wish I had five thousand pounds to lay 
 on this thing, don't y' 'now! I knew Merriwell in 
 England. He's. sure to win this game." 
 
 "With the help of the rest of us !" squealed Bink. 
 
 So the money, more than one-half of which was 
 Ready's, went into the hands of Dolph Reynolds, to 
 be wagered on the success of the Merriwells that af- 
 ternoon. 
 
 "Fellows, we're up against poverty if anything 
 should slip," droned Browning. "But I really don't 
 think there is any danger. If there was, I'd keep out 
 of it, for you know what a coward I am." 
 
 "And we won't say anything to Merry about it/' 
 said Carker. 
 
 "Hush! Not a word!"
 
 Plunging. 1 1 1 
 
 Bink Stubbs lay back on a lounge in his room, 
 and winked one eye at the ceiling. 
 
 "I see pictures," he said. 
 
 "Pictures of what?" snapped Rattleton, who was 
 in no good humor, for he was jealous of both Dia- 
 mond and Ready. 
 
 Bink turned over and stared at Harry. 
 
 "I'd like to bet another wad of long green that 
 Ready cuts you out. You and Diamond aren't in it. 
 It doesn't take the seventh son of an Indian mahatma 
 to see that. That's one of the pictures I see. You 
 and Diamond laid out on the ice-cold cooling board, 
 while Jack Ready is wading into the affections of the 
 beautiful Miss Reynolds. Why, a blind man can see 
 that!" 
 
 "I'll neck his break for him I mean I'll break his 
 neck for him!" Rattleton exclaimed, with a sickly 
 grin. "But it's none of your business, just the same, 
 and I'll thank you to keep your head closed !" 
 
 Bink snapped his jaws together with his fingers. 
 
 "Close as a clam ! But I meant it only as a warn- 
 ing, Rattles." 
 
 "You've had a thundering lot of experience. What 
 do you know about such things?" 
 
 "'Well, when my girls get ready to throw me over, 
 they always act in just that way. Hello! Not go- 
 ing?" 
 
 ''Yes, I'm going! You make me sick!"
 
 112 Plunging. 
 
 "Say, come back and I'll give the kaleidoscope a 
 flirt and make the pictures look better. No offense, 
 I hope?" 
 
 But Rattleton was gone. 
 
 As he strode down the hall he came upon Diamond, 
 who was looking for Merriwell. Diamond passed 
 him with a cool nod, and turned into Merriwell's room 
 at the farther end of the corridor. Jack stopped on 
 the threshold, for Ready was in the room with Frank. 
 
 "Two of a kind!" chirped Ready, when he saw the 
 Virginian, his reference being to Dolph's little joke 
 about a "pair of Jacks." 
 
 "I didn't speak to you, I believe!" was Diamond's 
 lofty declaration. Then he turned to walk away. 
 
 "Better come in, Diamond," Merriwell urged. 
 
 "I don't care to talk to you, Merry, when that cad 
 5s in there !" 
 
 Ready's red-apple cheeks grew redder, but he 
 seemed otherwise quite undisturbed. 
 
 "Our fiery Southern friend must have his little 
 joke! I've heard that 'cad' is his synonym for 'very 
 dear friend.' Don't let it trouble you, Merry. I as- 
 sure you it doesn't me." 
 
 Diamond might have gone on but for that He 
 sprang back into the doorway. 
 
 "You are a cad !" he hissed. 
 
 "Well, you know Dolph said we were a pair!" 
 
 "You're a cad and you're a coward!"
 
 Plunging. 113 
 
 Ready's cheeks flamed, and he seemed about to rise 
 to meet Diamond as the latter took a step into the 
 room. 
 
 'That will do, Diamond!" declared Merriwell, ri- 
 sing and putting himself between the two Jacks. 
 "There will be no quarreling here." 
 
 "Somewhere else, then!" Diamond panted. "Let 
 him meet me somewhere else!" 
 
 Jack Ready's cheeks paled, and he dropped back 
 into his chair with a forced smile. 
 
 "If the creature finds that amusing, let him go on !" 
 he quivered. "I don't make any great pretensions to 
 blood and all that. I'm not a race-horse !" 
 
 "You're nothing!" cried Diamond. 
 
 "Have you both gone crazy ?" Merriwell demanded. 
 "You are Yale men, comrades and friends. What 
 has got into you?" 
 
 "Let it pass," chirped Ready, trying to regain his 
 usual composure. "I'll just consider the source, as the 
 man said when the jackass kicked him." 
 
 Diamond leaped at Ready, but Merriwell caught 
 him and flung him back against the wall. 
 
 "Let me at him!" he hissed. "I will teach him to 
 insult a gentleman !" 
 
 "That's all right. Let him come on. My name is 
 Ready, and I'm not afraid of him. Confound your 
 hot Southern blood, Diamond! You needn't think 
 you can walk over me just because you chanced to be
 
 1 14 Plunging. 
 
 born south of the line of Mason and Dixon. Let him 
 come on, Merriwell!" 
 
 He did not rise out of his chair as he said this, 
 though his round cheeks were flaming again. 
 
 "You're in the wrong here, Diamond!" Frank 
 sternly declared. "You were the first to give offense. 
 And I must tell you that there will be no quarreling 
 or fighting here." 
 
 "All right !" snapped the Southerner, and he darted 
 out of the room and down the corridor. 
 
 Merriwell appeared to be on the point of following 
 him, but stopped and turned back. 
 
 "It's all on account of that girl," said Ready, re- 
 gaining his composure. "Why, the idiot! Does he 
 suppose that no one else has any right to speak to 
 her? I'll stay by her side every minute that she'll let 
 me from now on." 
 
 "Then you'll have a fight on your hands from both 
 Diamond and Rattleton." 
 
 "Well, I'll have the fun, anyway!" 
 
 "And you don't care anything for Miss Reynolds? 
 Love is a field that all may contest in, and you have 
 as much right to try to win her as any one. I thought 
 you were serious in your attitude toward her." 
 
 "Well, I like her," said Ready. "As the bee loves 
 the flower and the moth loves the candle, and all those 
 other similes; but I'm not dying to win her for my 
 very own, so that we may tread the path of life to-
 
 Plunging. 115 
 
 gether toward the golden, dying sunset. That isn't 
 it. She's interesting and I like her, and I enjoy a bit 
 of fun." 
 
 "And you get it by making Diamond and Rattle- 
 ton jealous?" 
 
 "I think you are a New Englander, Merriwell, 
 you're so good a guesser." 
 
 "Well, I want to warn you that you're playing with 
 fire." 
 
 "I've known little boys to have a lot of fun playing 
 with fire before they got burnt. If I burn my fin- 
 gers, I'll soak 'em in my mouth and not howl about 
 it." 
 
 "It would be just like Diamond to challenge you 
 to fight him to a regular duel." 
 
 "Oh, would it ? Then I'll have to get ready, even if 
 my name is Ready! You don't know of any old ar- 
 mory around here where I could get hold of some 
 weapons? I'll ask Dolph to cable for a suit of mail." 
 
 Merriwell did not like this bantering tone when 
 there seemed need of seriousness, and he frankly said 
 so. 
 
 "He'll not challenge me!" Ready declared, when 
 (Frank had told him that such talk was ill-timed. "I'm 
 not a bit afraid of it."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 PLAY BALL! 
 
 Though the game between Merriwell's Athletic 
 Team and the nine from Toronto was to be played on 
 short notice, a great crowd turned out. The Cana- 
 dians were supremely confident, and in their warming- 
 up practise they handled themselves so cleverly that 
 they were greeted with frequent applause. There 
 could be no doubt that they were skilful ball-players. 
 
 "This will be the easiest thing we've struck this 
 season," declared Nuggledy, the Toronto pitcher, as 
 he sent the ball over the man on first. 
 
 "Easy enough, but not much honor in it," said 
 Parr, the captain, who was on first. "That's what 
 made me hesitate about accepting the challenge." 
 
 "But we didn't want them to crow over us and give 
 out the word that we were afraid of them," said Nug- 
 gledy. 
 
 "We'll have no end of fun with them!" exclaimed 
 Raub, who was to play third. "Why, those fellows 
 couldn't play ball if they tried. That's one thing that 
 makes Merriwell's wrist get out of fix so often. When 
 he sees he's beaten, he says his wrist is out of condi- 
 tion, and he can't pitch the double-shoot." 
 
 "The double-shoot !" was Nuggledy's sarcastic com-
 
 Play Ball! 117 
 
 ment. "That's the worst rot yet! Nobody ever saw 
 such a thing!" 
 
 The crowd continued to increase, and to the sur- 
 prise of the Torontos it was soon seen that MerriweH's 
 Athletic Team had many adherents. Nearly all the 
 boys were howling for Merriwell, and many of the 
 men were doing the same. 
 
 Juliet Reynolds was in the grand stand with the 
 dragon. Jack Diamond wanted to be at her side, but 
 he was not there, though if he had not been so fool- 
 ishly jealous of her he would have seen that she de- 
 sired his company quite as much as he did hers. Each 
 was successfully hiding from the other this fact, which 
 was patent to many others. 
 
 Rattleton felt a glow of happiness as he looked to- 
 ward the vision in the grand stand. She seemed smil- 
 ing down on him. Jack Ready saw that look darken 
 as Rattleton chanced to glance in his direction. 
 
 "I wonder if Hammerswell is going to make a die 
 of it?" Ready was asking himself at that very time. 
 "The fellow must have had the very life scared out 
 of him I Either that or he is afraid to again show his 
 face." 
 
 "Play ball!" said the umpire, after the practise and 
 the preliminaries ; and the game began with the Ath- 
 ietic Team at the bat. 
 
 The Torontos were as gay and frolicsome as a lot 
 of colts. They thought they had the game won be-
 
 n8 Play Ball! 
 
 fore Nuggledy sent in the first ball from the box. 
 Nuggledy thought so, too. A complacent and self- 
 satisfied grin was on his face. He was a medium- 
 sized, wiry fellow, and there was no doubt that he was 
 a good pitcher. He only made the common mistake of 
 underrating his adversaries a thing which has not 
 only lost ball-games but great battles. 
 
 Jack Ready, who was first on the batting list, came 
 up chirping in his usual airy manner, and Nuggledy 
 sent one in straight over the plate. Ready struck 
 slashingly at it, missed it, and was thrown down by 
 the force of the missed blow, stumbling and falling 
 awkwardly; whereupon the Canadians simply howled. 
 They fancied that the fun had already begun, and 
 they were sure this would be the funniest game they 
 had ever been in. 
 
 Swiftwing, who had been wandering around, now 
 took a seat in the players' -benches, and watched the 
 game with an impassive face that told nothing of his 
 real feelings. Jack Ready was smilingly puffing out 
 his red cheeks. 
 
 '"'That's just my way of getting ready for clever 
 work," he chirped. "I was an acrobat before I be- 
 came a ball-player." 
 
 He watched the pitcher closely, and let the next ball 
 pass. He saw that Nuggledy was not using a curve. 
 
 "One strike!" rang out the voice of the umpire.
 
 Play Ball! 1 19 
 
 The next ball was too close, and again Ready let it 
 pass. 
 
 "One ball!" said the umpire. 
 
 The next was plainly beyond the base. 
 
 "Strike two!" 
 
 Ready was closely studying Nuggledy's delivery* 
 
 "See if you can get this one!" Nuggledy called ouf^ 
 with a grin. 
 
 It was right over the plate, and Ready met it hand- 
 somely, and singled into right field. The Toronto 
 pitcher laughed. 
 
 "I thought I'd make you a present of that one!" 
 
 "Presents of value always accepted!" Ready cheer-' 
 fully chirped from first. "With your aid, noble duke,, 
 we may be able to win this game!" 
 
 The crowd laughed in a good-humored way, fot! 
 they liked Ready's easy manner. Some of them 
 laughed, too, when Gamp awkwardly took up the bat 
 and stepped into position; but their laughter quickly 
 turned to admiration, for Gamp drove the first pitched 
 ball hot to Climber, the Toronto short-stop. 
 
 Climber, thinking he had plenty of time to spare^ 
 made a "grand-stand play," picking up the ball with 
 a. flourish and juggling it before turning to throw. 
 Ready was sprinting for second, and Climber threw 
 lightly to second to cut him off, still feeling perfectly 
 safe; but to his intense surprise, Ready reached sec- 
 ond ahead of the ball.
 
 120 Play Ball! 
 
 Gamp was tearing down to first at deceiving speed. 
 Spruce, the second-baseman, saw this, and threw to 
 first as soon as the ball was in his hands, but Gamp's 
 long legs had carried him over the bag ahead of the 
 ball. 
 
 "If all you fellows will help just a little, we will 
 win this game yet !" Ready chirped, while Gamp "haw- 
 hawed" from first, and the crowd laughed and cheered. 
 
 Browning was next at the bat, and he loafed up, 
 apparently so lazy he could hardly breathe. Nug- 
 gledy kept that grin on his face, but he was nettled, 
 for he did not like the way those two men had taken 
 bases. 
 
 "I'll give that big lubber a swift one," he thought, 
 "and he is so slow that he'll be sure to strike at it 
 after it is past him." 
 
 Then he sent in the ball with great speed. Bruce 
 did not strike at it. 
 
 "One ball!" called the umpire. 
 
 The next ball was as hot as the first, but it was 
 straight over the plate, and Browning met it easily, 
 though without swinging hard. The ball dropped just 
 behind Climber, the short-stop, and while Climber was 
 chasing it Ready sprinted to third, while Gamp took 
 second, and Bruce went down to first. 
 
 "If you will just help us a little!" Ready again 
 chirped, whereupon Nuggledy felt tempted to hurl the 
 ball at his head. The spectators were laughing and
 
 Play Ball! 121 
 
 cheering again, and this did not tend to make the To- 
 ronto pitcher cheerful. Still, he was sure that these 
 things were merest accidents, and that Merriwell's 
 *'lobsters" could not play ball. 
 
 The bases were now full, and Hodge came to the 
 bat. Merriwell signaled Hodge to sacrifice, and when 
 the second pitched ball came in Bart tried to bunt it 
 toward first, but popped up a little fly instead, which, 
 after a sharp run, was gathered in by Raub, the third- 
 baseman, and Bart was out. 
 
 Nuggledy laughed gleefully, and shouted : 
 
 "You fellows on the bases have gone just as far 
 as you will!" 
 
 Frank Merriwell came next on the batting-list, and 
 as he walked up to the plate he received a tremendous 
 ovation from the crowd, most of whom recognized 
 him and knew of his ability as a ball-player. People 
 got up in the bleachers and grand stand, and, swinging 
 their hats and fluttering their handkerchiefs and para- 
 sols, simply howled, to the amazement of Nuggledy 
 and the Toronto men. 
 
 With a laugh Nuggledy chased away the frown that 
 was gathering on his face, and observed, in a voice 
 loud enough to be heard : 
 
 "That's all right! I'll show you what a soft mark 
 this college duffer isl"
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FINE WORK. 
 
 With the utmost confidence, Nuggledy now sent in 
 a wide out drop. Merriwell thought it would suit 
 him. He reached for it, hit it squarely on the trade- 
 mark, and drove it away out beyond the farthest 
 fielder. 
 
 Then, while the base-runners spurted and he ran 
 for first, the crowd again burst out in wild cheering, 
 while cries of "Merriwell! Merriwell!" broke through 
 the tumult of yells and shouts, and the enthusiastic 
 boys, who had grouped together, screamed and danced 
 like imps. 
 
 Hotfuss, the center-fielder, was chasing wildly after 
 the ball, while the runners were tearing round the 
 bases, and man after man came in. 
 
 Hotfuss got the ball and threw it to Spruce, the sec- 
 ond-baseman, as Merriwell passed third and tore along 
 for the home plate. The people in the grand stand 
 and in the bleachers were again standing up, wildly 
 screeching and bellowing, while the air was a-flutter 
 with hats and handkerchiefs. 
 
 "Come home, Merriwell!" Gamp began to bellow. 
 "Cuc-cuc-come home, old mum-man!" 
 
 Spruce promptly lined the ball to Simbe, the catcher. 
 
 "Slide!" yelled Ready, when he saw that Simbe
 
 Fine Work, 123 
 
 would get the ball. Merriwell threw himself forward 
 in a desperate slide. 
 
 Plunk ! went the ball in Simbe's hands. 
 
 "Safe !" shouted the umpire, himself excited by this 
 brilliant playing. 
 
 Then the crowd simply screamed. Danny turned 
 a handspring and began to sing, and was joined by a 
 score of others in the refrain : 
 
 "Oh, who's the man to bring them In? 
 
 Our Merriwell ! Our Merriwell ! 
 The bleachers answer with a din ! 
 
 Oh, hear them yell ! Oh, hear them yell 1 
 Oh, he will break Toronto's pride! 
 Oh, he's the boy to tan their hide ! 
 Oh, he's our pole-star and our guide! 
 
 Our Merriwell ! Our Merriwell !" 
 
 Delancy Livingston made his way out of the 
 screeching crowd and disgustedly walked off. 
 
 "Aw!" he grumbled. "That's enough to make a 
 sensible man sick, don't y' 'now! How people can 
 howl so over Merriwell is more than I know. If I 
 tell Hammerswell about this it will kill him." 
 
 A half-smile was on the dark face of John Swift- 
 wing as he heard the tremendous cheering. He was 
 not to take part in this game, unless Frank's wrist 
 failed, but the sense of a victory to be won thrilled 
 him, nevertheless. 
 
 Nuggledy had stopped laughing, and the grin had 
 disappeared from his face. He failed to find any mer-
 
 124 Fine Work. 
 
 riment in the fact that four scores had been made by 
 'Frank's "homer." 
 
 "Boys," said Merriwell, as Rattleton picked up a 
 bat, "if we play ball to-day, this game is won already I" 
 
 "You bet we'll bay plall!" shouted Harry. 
 
 "We'll play the game of our lives!" Bart declared, 
 while his dark face shone. 
 
 "We've struck the winning streak and we'll work 
 it to the end !" Ready enthusiastically chimed in. 
 
 "Well, I really think myself that the cards are com- 
 ing our way," Bruce droned. 
 
 "We can make it the game of our lives, fellows!" 
 Merriwell asserted encouragingly; and they all felt 
 in their heart of hearts that this could be done. 
 
 But Nuggledy had mentally resolved that this un- 
 called-for and unexpected way of winning scores must 
 stop then and there, and he proceeded to get down to 
 business to try to stop it. He was a good pitcher, and, 
 having been taught the severe lesson that it would not 
 do to fool with "Merriwell's lobsters," he began to 
 pitch ball so intelligently and with such skill that Rat- 
 tleton quickly fanned out ; and two were out. 
 
 Greg Carker came to the bat somewhat anxious, itt 
 spite of the encouragement given the team by Merri- 
 well's words. He had seen Harry strike out, and he 
 feared it might be his fate to do the same. 
 
 "Keep cool!" Frank warned, observing Carker's 
 perturbed face.
 
 Fine Work. 125" 
 
 In spite of this, Greg swung at two balls which he 
 should have let pass, for they would have been called 
 "balls." 
 
 Carker let the next pitched ball go by. 
 
 "If he had only kept cool he might have had three 
 balls," Hodge was mentally growling. 
 
 Carker belted the next ball, but he sent it straight 
 into the hands of Spruce, the second-baseman ; and the 
 side was out. Nuggledy was laughing again as the 
 Torontos came in from the field. 
 
 "Four scores ! Oh, that's nothing ! Just watch To- 
 ronto! We will get a hundred! Just watch us bat 
 Merriwell out of the box!" 
 
 He said this in a voice loud enough to be heard by 
 everybody near. Some of his admirers and the friends 
 of the Torontos were cheering. They felt that the 
 scores made by the Athletic Team were no indication 
 of the way the game would go. Luck on the part of 
 the Athletic Team and overconfidence on the part of 
 the Canadians were responsible for what had occurred. 
 
 "Didn't you ever hear of the double-shoot?" a 
 young man called out from the crowd. 
 
 "Rot!" shouted Nuggledy. "The double-shoot is 
 the biggest fake on earth!" 
 
 Harry Rattleton was now and then giving a glance 
 at the grand stand, where Juliet Reynolds sat with 
 the dragon. His heart gave a sudden unpleasant leap 
 as he observed that Jack Diamond had made his wajj
 
 r !26 Fine Work. 
 
 to her side. Ready saw them and lifted his hat to 
 Juliet, who appeared to recognize him. 
 
 "Our rival is making hay while the bat flies!" Ready; 
 chirped in Rattleton's ear. 
 
 Harry's face flushed, but he saw that Frank's eyes 
 \vere on his, and he simply grinned. All were walking 
 out to take their positions. 
 
 When Finch, the Toronto's right-fielder, came up, 
 for he was first on the batting-list of the Canadians, 
 Frank put the ball straight over. Finch struck at it 
 and put up a pop fly, which Frank took in. 
 
 Shannon, the center-fielder, came next. He confi- 
 dently struck at it and hit the first pitched ball, but it 
 was a high foul, which Hodge neatly smothered. 
 
 Two men were out 
 
 "Just watch me !" crowed Parr, who was the Cana- 
 dian captain and first-baseman, feeling that because 
 both of the balls sent in by Merriwell had been hit, the 
 pitcher of the Athletic Team was easy, and that only 
 dead luck had put his men out. 
 
 Parr also struck the first pitched ball, and sent a 
 grounder to Merriwell. Frank picked it up with great 
 apparent deliberation while Parr was racing for first, 
 then sent the ball whizzing down to Browning on first, 
 and Parr was out. Three men had been put out on 
 three pitched balls, and the thing had been done so 
 quickly that the crowd of spectators was struck dumb. 
 
 (Then, as the crowd seemed all at once to realize
 
 Fine Work. 127 
 
 what had taken place, a wild shout went to the sky. 
 The Torontos were amazedly walking into the field 
 again, hardly able to realize what had happened. 
 
 "Are you and Bart going to play the whole game?** 
 Bink howled, as the side came in. 
 
 "I should like to know how we're to play the game 
 of our lives if Hodge and Merry don't give us a 
 chance to do anything?" drawled Browning. 
 
 "Mum-might's well set daown out in the sus-center 
 fuf-field and play mum-mum-mumbly-peg !" said 
 Gamp. 
 
 "It's all right," chirped Ready. "This gives me a 
 chance to look all I want to at the handsomest girl in 
 the world up there in the grand stand ! Still, it would 
 be pleasant if some of the double-distilled glory of this 
 wonderful game could come my way. The battery, 
 gentlemen, are disposed to play the hawg!" 
 
 Rattleton was about to add his quota to this uni- 
 versal chorus, but Ready's reference to the hand- 
 somest girl in the world shut him up like an oyster. 
 He began to feel that he hated Jack Ready with an 
 undying hatred, and that it would do him good to 
 be able to give the airy chatterer a good whipping. 
 And Rattleton, in spite of his show of the white 
 feather when frightened by the supposed dynamite 
 bomb of Rodney Skaggs, was, when occasion required, 
 a fellow of a good deal of real and solid courage, 
 well able to take care of himself and to more than
 
 128 Fine Work. 
 
 hold his own against ordinary adversaries. He be- 
 gan to feel that a fight between him and Ready was 
 coming, and he was longing for it, for this rivalry 
 had completely upset his usual good nature. 
 
 Nuggledy was unmercifully guyed by the crowd as 
 he went into the pitcher's box. The grin had gone 
 from his face. 
 
 "There won't be any more of this business!" he 
 snarled. 
 
 Stubbs came first to the bat, laughing and chirping; 
 and Nuggledy, taking Bink's measure, struck him out 
 with three "corner-cutters." 
 
 "Use Pears' soap!" howled Danny. "Go fall on 
 yourself! If I couldn't do any better than that I'd 
 crawl off and die!" 
 
 "You'll be my meat next!" sung out Nuggledy, as 
 Danny took up the bat. 
 
 "I see pictures of it!" Danny squealed back, flour- 
 ishing the bat. "Send along your corner-cutters. I'm 
 ready for you!" 
 
 "Oh, you couldn't hit a balloon!" Bink hotly re- 
 torted. "You give me that heavy feeling of weari- 
 ness. If you don't quit working your tongue so much 
 you'll have mouth disease." 
 
 Nuggledy was beginning to grin again, and the grin 
 became more pronounced as he forthwith proceeded 
 to put Danny out in the same way that he put out
 
 Fine Work. 129 
 
 Bink. The crowd cheered the performance; but the 
 Merriwell contingent of enthusiasts represented by the 
 crowd of small boys was silent. The boys did not 
 like Nuggledy, and they were not pleased to see Mer- 
 riwell's men go down in that way. 
 
 Then Jack Ready came up, smiling and confident/ 
 as usual. He had got a hit in the first inning, and he 
 felt sure that he could now get another. But Nug- 
 gledy fooled him with a ball close to his knuckles, and 
 Ready fanned. The next was an out drop, but Jack 
 let it pass, and "one ball" was called. The next was 
 high, and Ready fanned again. 
 
 "Strike two !" called the umpire. 
 
 Then Nuggledy tried a wide "coaxer," but Jack let 
 it pass with a grin. 
 
 "Two balls !" the umpire sang out, while Nuggledy 
 was smiling. 
 
 The next ball from the hand of the Toronto pitcher 
 was another high one. Ready started to strike at it, 
 but stopped in time. 
 
 "Ball three!" 
 
 "Now you've got him in a hole, old man!" was 
 cried from the crowd. "He can't put the next one 
 over!" , , 
 
 Nuggledy grinned viciously, and sent in a speedy 
 in shoot, which barely took the outside corner of the 
 plate. Confident that it would be a "ball," Ready did
 
 130 Fine Work. 
 
 not swing at it, and was astonished to hear the um- 
 pire say: 
 
 "Three strikes; batter out!" 
 
 Three men were out all struck out by Nuggledy. 
 
 The friends of the Torontos found their time toi 
 howl now, and they used it for all it was worth. They 
 stood up in the benches and cheered and cheered ; and 
 Nuggledy came in from the box with a triumphant 
 grin. 
 
 "Talk about your pitching!" sneered one of the 
 Canadians. "I should like to see Merriwell do that 
 trick. He isn't in it with Nuggledy." 
 
 Frank heard this as he walked toward the box, but 
 he made no sign. 
 
 Climber, the heaviest batter on the Toronto team, 
 now came first to bat. Merriwell gave him a swift one 
 straight over, but Climber smilingly let it pass. The 
 next was an out curve, and the Canadian batter gave 
 it an awful crack, knocking it out into deep center, 
 and sprinted for first. 
 
 Apparently it was impossible for Gamp to get the 
 ball, though he had turned and was going over the 
 ground as fast as his long legs could carry him, look- 
 ing over his shoulder at the coming ball. 
 
 "It's a home run, Climber!" Simbe shouted, as 
 Climber tore along for first. "The fellow can never 
 get it." 
 
 Everybody seemed to think so. The Canadian
 
 Fine Work. 131 
 
 rooters were again cheering. But Gamp was fairly 
 flying down the field apparently going as fast as the 
 ball. It appeared that it would go above his head, out 
 of reach, but as it neared him he was seen to jump 
 straight up into the air. 
 
 Climber had passed first and was starting toward 
 second. 
 
 "He's got it!" some one screeched. 
 
 Gamp had the ball. It was a phenomenal jump 
 and a wonderful catch, but there could be no doubt 
 that the long-legged New Englander had caught and 
 held the ball ; and Climber was out. Then the friends 
 of the Merriwells sent back with interest the cheers 
 that had been uttered by the sympathizers of the Cana- 
 dians. 
 
 Though the spectators were astounded and wildly 
 excited, Merriwell was cool and smiling. And so was 
 every member of the Athletic Team. Gamp had made 
 wonderful catches before, and not even Danny and 
 Bink appeared to regard the performance as anything 
 very remarkable. Not a word was said by any of them 
 in praise of Gamp, though the bleachers and the grand 
 stand rang with cheers. Climber was "sore," for it 
 seemed to him that he had simply been robbed of a 
 two-bagger by a "farmer." 
 
 The next man at the bat was Simbe, the catcher 
 of the Torontos, who was known to his friends as a 
 great "waiter." Frank began on Simbe by trying
 
 132 Fine Work. 
 
 "coaxers," but the batter had "a good eye," and he let 
 three pass which were called "balls." 
 
 "That pitcher is fruit!" sneered Nuggledy. "Why 
 doesn't he use his wonderful double-shoot? We're 
 waiting to see itl" 
 
 Merriwell put the next ball over the plate and Simbe 
 drove it wide on a line to the right of Bink Stubbs, 
 the short-stop, who, shooting at it with a diving lunge, 
 stuck out one hand and caught it. It was a phe- 
 nomenal catch, and was greeted with a great uproar 
 from the spectators. Simbe was growling mad, for 
 another clean hit had been unexpectedly spoiled; but 
 not a member of the Athletic Team appeared to think 
 Sink's performance remarkable. Even Danny seemed 
 to silently accept it as a matter of course. 
 
 The spectators were talking excitedly and cheer- 
 ing, when Hotfuss, the left-fielder, came up, grimly 
 determined, yet anxious. He smashed at the first ball 
 and hit it to the ground and past Frank. It was a 
 scorcher and almost over second. Rattleton, who had 
 been playing his position well off second toward first, 
 jumped at the ball, moving toward it with quick 
 strides, and scooped it up on the run, while Hotfuss 
 was sprinting for first. Rattleton was running from 
 first so fast when he scooped up the ball that he knew 
 he had no time to turn and catch Hotfuss by a throw, 
 so he tossed it with that scooping motion straight into 
 the hands of Bink Stubbs, who instantly lined it over
 
 
 
 Fine Work. 13 j 
 
 to Browning on first. It was hot and speedy work, 
 but the ball reached first ahead of the runner, and Hot- 
 fuss was out. It was really one of the cleverest plays 
 ever seen on any diamond, and the vast crowd of 
 spectators roared its approval. 
 
 "Out, first !" rang out the voice of the umpire, while 
 that roar went up. 
 
 The crowd was still roaring and the boys were 
 screeching and cheering, as Merriwell's men coolly 
 walked in from the field without a show of exulta- 
 tion. Not a member of the Athletic Team uttered a 
 word of praise for the wonderful plays that had been 
 made, and the Torontos went into the field in a sort 
 of trance, beginning to realize that they were "up 
 against the real thing l n
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES. 
 
 "Fellows, let me tell you that you're playing 1 the 
 game of your lives," said Frank, quietly speaking to 
 his men as he sat on the bench. "I am more than 
 pleased with you." 
 
 It was praise indeed. 
 
 Juliet was smiling from the grand stand; Swift- 
 wing's black eyes shone with the feelings he could not 
 express; and Dolph Reynolds was feeling that the 
 money he had wagered for himself and others was 
 safe. Gamp came up looking more awkward, if pos- 
 sible, than ever. He let the first ball pass. The sec- 
 ond he hit to Raub, the third-baseman, who threw him 
 out. 
 
 Bruce loafed up, lazily dragging his bat. He seemed 
 in no hurry for anything, and waited until one ball 
 and two strikes had been called, then lifted a big fly 
 into the left field and started for first. But Hotfuss, 
 the left-fielder, gathered it in, and two men were out. 
 
 The friends of the Toronto men took courage and 
 began again to cheer wildly; and even the friends of 
 the Merriwells were not disposed to hide their appre- 
 ciation of this sort of work. The spectators began to 
 feel that they were certainly getting their money'3 
 worth, however the game might go, for such work a$
 
 The Game of Their Lives. 135 
 
 had lately been shown by both teams was not to be 
 seen every day. 
 
 Hodge was in a stew as he took the bat and faced 
 the pitcher. A while ago things had been going to suit 
 him, but they were not going to suit him at all now. 
 With his dark face clouded, he smashed savagely at 
 the first ball and lined it straight down to Parr on first. 
 Parr cuffed the ball down, picked it up, then jumped 
 on the bag ahead of Bart; and three men were out. 
 Everybody rose up and cheered. This was playing. 
 Indeed they were getting their money's worth! 
 
 In the second half of the third inning, Spruce, the 
 Canadian's second-baseman, came first to the bat 
 
 "We've got things coming our way now," said Nug- 
 gledy. "Let's pound Merriwell out of the box." 
 
 Spruce tried his best to do some of the "pounding," 
 but Frank quickly struck him out with three high balls, 
 and Nuggledy groaned his disgust. 
 
 "There wasn't any use of that!" he snapped, as 
 Raub took the bat. "Keep your eyes open, Raub! 
 Don't let him fool you with those high ones!" 
 
 Frank did not try to "fool" Raub with high ones, 
 but he "fooled" him with three sharp in shoots, and 
 Raub as quickly fanned out. The boys had shrilly 
 tuned up, and the crowd was again roaring. 
 
 "Wot's de matter with Merriwell ?" yelled an enthu- 
 siastic urchin. "W'y don't yer bat 'im out of the box? 
 iYer said yer would!"
 
 136 The Game of Their Lives. 
 
 "Shut up !" Nuggledy exploded. 
 
 Nuggledy came up with a grin, though he was 
 white-faced. 
 
 "I'm going to make a hit, fellows !" he boasted. "I 
 think I should like to see that wonderful double-shoot. 
 Its owner hasn't had it on exhibition to-day. Per- 
 haps, though, it has got out of its cage and strayed 
 away. Better put a sign up, Merriwell: 'Lost, 
 strayed, or stolen. The double-shoot. Exclusive 
 property of Frank Merriwell.' Merriwell, if the 
 double-shoot isn't lost and you've got it hid somewhere 
 in your jeans, I really think you ought to trot it out." 
 
 Frank did not answer this, but sent in the ball. It 
 looked to be an out curve, and Nuggledy let it pass, 
 thinking it would not go over the plate ; but it changed 
 to an in and cut the corner of the plate. 
 
 "Strike one !" shouted the umpire. 
 
 The crowd behind the catcher roared: 
 
 "There's the double-shoot!" 
 
 "That was an optical delusion!" growled Nug- 
 gledy. 
 
 The next ball from the hand of Merriwell was an 
 in. It appeared to shoot toward Nuggledy, and, think- 
 ing it might hit him, he jumped back. But it changed 
 to an out and went over the heart of the plate. 
 
 "Strike two!" sung out the umpire, and Nuggledy 
 could hardly believe his ears, while the crowd roared 
 again.
 
 The Game of Their Lives. 1 37 
 
 "That was another one. There's your double- 
 shoot !" 
 
 "That ball didn't go over the plate!" Nuggledy 
 howled at the umpire. "I had to jump back to keep 
 it from knocking me down?" 
 
 "Shut up!" commanded the umpire. "I can see, 
 and I know my business !" 
 
 "You want to keep your eyes open and see the 
 double-shoot!" was yelled at the angry batter by the 
 crowd. 
 
 "I'll smash the next one, no matter what it is!" 
 Nuggledy growled to himself. 
 
 But the ball took a queer twist as it crossed the 
 plate, and, though Nuggledy smashed at it, he did not 
 touch it. The side was retired, Nuggledy having been 
 struck out by the double-shoot ; and as Frank came in 
 from the pitcher's box, cool and modest, the crowd 
 was ready to go wild over him. He was first at the 
 bat in this inning, and put a single into left on the 
 first pitched ball. 
 
 "You'll not be able to imitate his example !" gritted 
 Nuggledy, as Rattleton walked into position. 
 
 Rattleton fanned out, and Carker stood up. The 
 first one was wide, Simbe jumped for it, stopped it, 
 picked it up, and threw quickly to Spruce to cut off 
 Merriwell, who was making a dash for second. 
 
 "Slide!" yelled Ready, who was coaching near first.
 
 1 38 The Game of Their Lives. 
 
 "Slide!" shouted a dozen voices. 
 
 Frank threw Bimself forward in a great slide, but 
 the ball plunked into the hands of the second-baseman, 
 and Frank was put out. Then the friends of the To- 
 rontos howled. 
 
 Carker sent the next ball to the short-stop and was 
 thrown out at first, which retired the side. Not a 
 man of the Torontos reached first in that inning, for 
 Merriwell struck out Spruce, and Raub and Nuggledy 
 were thrown out at first the one by Rattleton and the 
 other by Bink Stubbs. 
 
 In the innings that immediately followed, though 
 the Merriwells gained bases and once filled all the 
 bases, they were kept from scoring; while Merriwell's 
 pitching and the wonderful work of the Athletic Team 
 prevented a single Canadian from gaining second. 
 This continued until the first half of the eighth inning. 
 
 Merriwell's heart was filled with joy and pride. His 
 men were really playing as he had never seen them 
 play before. He had told them to play the game of 
 their lives and they were doing it. Not an error did 
 they make. 
 
 Swiftwing sat on the players' benches with chest 
 heaving and eyes shining. His Indian blood was 
 stirred so strongly that he found it impossible to 
 wholly hide his feelings. Yet he spoke not a word of 
 praise in behalf of his friends. And throughout it all 
 the members of the Athletic Team refrained from
 
 The Game of Their Lives. 1 39 
 
 boasting and exhibitions of exultation in a remarkable 
 manner. 
 
 The crowd was wild with excitement as the eighth 
 inning opened, for the fielding on the part of the Ath- 
 letic Team had been superb and Merriwell was now to 
 go to the bat. 
 
 Nuggledy felt bound to strike Frank out ; but Frank 
 was cautious and did not swing until after two balls 
 and two strikes had been called. Then he met the 
 next and drove it far into center. 
 
 "Another homer!" the crowd yelled. 
 
 The center-fielder had played far back and Merri- 
 well saw him close after the ball. The way Frank ran' 
 won cries of admiration from friends and foes alike. 
 He seemed to be winged. He crossed first and second 
 and tore along toward third. 
 
 "Cuc-cuc-come home !" Gamp began to yell, but the 
 center-fielder had the ball and was throwing it to sec- 
 ond, and Danny on the coach-line stopped Frank at 
 third. 
 
 Nuggledy was so unmercifully guyed from all quar- 
 ters that when he received the ball from Spruce he 
 threw it on the ground in a perfect fury of rage. He 
 seemed crazy with anger ; and, as the ball bounded up 
 and rolled away from him, Frank darted for home. 
 
 The Canadians began to yell to Nuggledy, who 
 seemed unable to see the ball ; and so much- time was
 
 140 The Game of Their Lives 
 
 lost that when he did pick it up and throw it Frank 
 was already home. 
 
 The greatest uproar followed, the crowd guying 
 and shouting at Nuggledy and cheering for Merriwell. 
 Nuggledy was still in a white passion when Rattleton 
 came to the bat, and he hit Rattleton with the first 
 pitched ball and so gave him first. 
 
 Then Carker got a little single, which took Rattle- 
 ton to second. Nuggledy could hardly see, when 
 Stubbs walked into position with bat on shoulder. Ke 
 sent in the balls, but they were so wide of the plate 
 that Bink did not even remove the bat from his shoul- 
 der, but took first on balls. 
 
 It was plainly evident to Captain Parr that the Cana- 
 dian pitcher was "all to pieces." He walked in, took 
 the ball, and, entering the pitcher's box, sent Nug- 
 gledy to first. 
 
 Parr faced the home plate and sent Danny a slow 
 drop. Danny tried hard to hit it, but it was too slow, 
 and he fanned out on three of these slow balls. 
 
 Ready came up somewhat confident, for that slow 
 drop looked easy ; but it fooled him in the same way, 
 and he struck out. 
 
 "I lul-live on slow dud-dud-drops !" Gamp stuttered 
 as he stepped up. 
 
 He swung at the second and tried to line out a 
 heavy one, but hit to Climber at short. Climber threw 
 wide to second and failed to cut off Stubbs, but Gamp
 
 The Game of Their Lives. 141 
 
 immediately lifted a little fly that was caught, and the 
 side was retired. 
 
 Dolph Reynolds, who had been making his way to 
 the players' benches, filled with supreme confidence and 
 with a face wreathed in smiles, said to Ready, as the 
 side was walking to the field : 
 
 "That pot you fellows made up is safe, don't y' 
 'now.'" 
 
 Frank heard him, and he felt hurt and angry. The 
 words revealed to him the fact that the members of 
 the Athletic Team had wagers laid on the success of 
 the side in this game. 
 
 "You fellows have been betting, Jack, when I asked 
 you not to?" he demanded of Ready. 
 
 Ready looked annoyed. 
 
 "What of it, Merry ? We felt sure we would win 
 and, yes, we put up some money! I'm willing to 
 shoulder most of the blame, though, for half the 
 amount came from the jeans of your unworthy serv- 
 ant." 
 
 "I don't like it!" Frank sharply declared. "And I 
 did think, after what I said, that there would be no 
 betting."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH. 
 
 There appeared to be a change in Merriwell's pitch- 
 ing after that. He seemed to let up somehow, and, in- 
 stead of striking out the batters, they began to hit 
 him. Parr was the first up and he sent a hot liner 
 to Jack Ready, who caught it and held to it, though 
 it nearly lifted him off his feet. Then Climber batted 
 a scorcher down the line to third, but Jack jumped for 
 it, stopped it with one hand, then picked it up and, 
 with a splendid throw, put Climber out at first. 
 
 Ready's work was received with enthusiastic cheer- 
 ing, which caused him to give his right hand a peculiar 
 little wiggle, though this was his only acknowledg- 
 ment that he heard the enthusiastic shouts. 
 
 Simbe now sent up a high foul far back of third 
 base. It seemed that Ready could not get it, though 
 he dashed for it. He got it, however, getting nicely 
 under it and connecting with apparent ease. 
 
 Then the spectators howled again. The side was 
 out and Ready had retired every man. Frank laughed, 
 as Ready approached him while they were walking in. 
 
 "You seem to have done enough in this inning to 
 win your money!" 
 
 "Thanks!" chirped Ready. "I haven't had much
 
 The Triumph. 143 
 
 chance this game to show the wonderful baseball tim- 
 ber that is in me, but I couldn't resist the temptation 
 to be a bit sensational just now. Of course, I'll not 
 do it again I'll never have the luck and the oppor- 
 tunity !" 
 
 Frank gave a glance across the field, and at that mo- 
 ment he saw near the corner of the grand stand the 
 white face of Herbert Hammerswell. White as it 
 appeared to be from weakness, it was seen by him to 
 be filled with rage and hate because of the wonderful 
 work of the Athletic Team. 
 
 "You've been getting some big doses of very bitter 
 medicine recently, Herbert," Frank muttered; "but I 
 haven't the least hope that it will have any reforming 
 power. You're one of the fellows who never reform 
 and never learn !" 
 
 With the beginning of the ninth inning Parr put 
 Nuggledy again into the pitcher's box, for the fellow 
 had cooled down and the captain thought he could 
 once more be trusted. Parr had given him a sharp 
 talking to, and Nuggledy had been cool enough to 
 stand it, which was in itself a good sign. 
 
 "I'll show these fellows that I can pitch!" he was 
 thinking, as he faced the plate. "I made a fool of 
 myself awhile ago, but I'll not do it again. Here goes 
 for business!" 
 
 Though his face was still white and the grin had 
 long ago disappeared, Nuggledy had regained control
 
 144 The Triumph. 
 
 of his nerves, as he now showed by; striking out 
 Browning. 
 
 Bart followed, and shared Browning's fate. Then 
 Frank came again to the bat. 
 
 "I'm going to do you the same way !" the Toronto 
 pitcher was whispering. "If you get me this time 
 you'll be a miracle!" 
 
 Merry let two balls go by which were wide of the 
 plate, and two strikes were then called on him. 
 
 "I've got you!" Nuggledy was whispering. "I've 
 got you !" 
 
 But Merriwell sent the next one into center field. It 
 was gathered in, however, by Shannon, the center- 
 fielder, and the side was out. 
 
 The last half of the ninth inning began with Frank 
 in the box in his best form. Though he had made use 
 of the double-shoot when it was needed to make sure 
 of striking a man out, he had not used it unnecessarily, 
 and his wrist had stood up remarkably well under the 
 work. It was still in excellent condition in this last 
 half of the ninth ; and to make sure that the remain- 
 ing work would be done thoroughly and well he struck 
 out Hotfuss and Spruce with the double-shoot. 
 
 "Hit it!" Nuggledy begged of Raub, as the latter 
 took up the bat. "Hit it and give me one more 
 chance." 
 
 Merriwell heard the words, and, instead of trying
 
 The Triumph. 145 
 
 to strike Raub out, he deliberately gave him his base 
 on balls, so that Nuggledy might come up. 
 
 Nuggledy had his nerves in complete control as he 
 stepped into place with the bat, but his face was still 
 pale and showed traces of his passionate outbreak. 
 He wanted to redeem himself in some manner and to 
 show Merriwell and the crowd that howled for him 
 that Frank was, as he mentally put it, "not the only 
 strawberry in the short-cake." 
 
 "Keep cool !" Parr urged. 
 
 "Oh, I'm cool, all right!" Nuggledy grumbled, as 
 he lifted the bat to swing. 
 
 Merriwell sent what seemed to be a straight ball, 
 but it curved just over the plate, and Nuggledy hit 
 nothing harder than the atmosphere. The next was 
 an in curve, changing strangely to an out. Grinding 
 his teeth as he slashed at it, Nuggledy again punctured 
 the ozone. 
 
 "You're gittin' well acquainted wid de double-shoot 
 by dis time !" one of the boys shrilly squealed. "Next 
 time you meet it you won't need ter be inter duced 
 to it. See?" 
 
 Nuggledy fancied that the next would be an out 
 curve, and it was. He thought it would change to an 
 in, and it did. He thought he could figure out just 
 where to strike to meet it, and he struck; but the in' 
 curve was much sharper than he believed could be 
 possible, and again the Toronto pitcher fanned.
 
 146 The Triumph. 
 
 "Three strikes, out !" he heard the umpire cry, and 
 he knew that the game had ended, with a score of five 
 for the Merriwells to nothing for the Torontos. 
 
 When he realized that, his heart seemed to drop 
 into his boots. The Torontos, who had been so con- 
 fident, beaten white-washed by this unknown team, 
 whom he and his friends had thought a lot of "farm- 
 ers" and "lobsters." It was unbelievable, yet it was 
 true. 
 
 The spectators were wild. Numbers of them rushed 
 at Frank. The excitement and enthusiasm were in- 
 tense. Not only were the baseball enthusiasts anxious 
 to take Frank by the hand the wonderful hand that 
 had pitched the double-shoot but they would have 
 lifted him and carried him about in a triumphal pro- 
 cession if he had been willing to permit it. The other 
 members of the Athletic Team also came in for a full 
 share of the praise and the congratulations. 
 
 When the tumult had somewhat subsided, the To- 
 ronto manager contrived to draw Frank aside for "just 
 a word." 
 
 "How much salary would it take, Merriwell, to sign 
 you for the Torontos ? I want you for a pitcher. I'm 
 in earnest about this. I never saw such pitching, and 
 I want you. If you will name a figure that I can 
 touch at all, I'll pay it!" 
 
 It was an honor and an invitation which Frank was 
 of course unwilling to consider for a moment.
 
 The Triumph. 147 
 
 When the manager found that he could not sign 
 Frank and was moving away, Nuggledy came up with 
 extended hand. His face was still pale. He knew he 
 had been honestly defeated, and he realized now that 
 there were some curves of which he had no knowledge 
 and in whose existence he had scoffingly disbelieved. 
 
 "Merriwell," he said, glancing round to make sure 
 he would not be heard. "I knock under, and I'll give 
 you a thousand dollars if you will teach me how to 
 pitch the double-shoot!" 
 
 "You saw it," was Frank's answer. "Perhaps you 
 can work it out yourself, but the secret isn't for sale!'' 
 
 Dolph and Juliet Reynolds pushed forward with en- 
 thusiastic greetings. 
 
 "I have a new name for your team," she said, smil- 
 ing, "Frank Merriwell's Wonders. Such wonderful 
 playing I never saw." 
 
 "It was more than wonderful, don't y' 'now !" Dolph 
 exclaimed. "More than wonderful!"
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MERRIWELL TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Three young men met at the edge of the Niagara 
 River that night a short distance below the new single- 
 arch steel bridge which has taken the place of the old 
 suspension bridge. They were Jack Ready, Jack Dia~ 
 mond, and Harry Rattleton. Each had come to the 
 place alone. 
 
 "Are you ready?" asked Diamond. 
 
 "Always Ready! That's my name." 
 
 Diamond turned a glance of hate on Harry Rat- 
 tleton. 
 
 "I thought there were to be no seconds?" 
 
 "Refuse me ! He is not my second. He is also like- 
 wise a principal. I received two lovely challenges this 
 afternoon inviting me to bare my peaceful breast to a 
 foe one was from you, the other was sent by our good 
 friend, Rattleton. Quite a coincidence, wasn't it? I 
 think I shall have to pour this into some reporter's ears 
 and get it into the papers. A three-cornered duel on 
 the banks of the raging Niagara under Luna's pale 
 light." 
 
 Diamond and Ready had quarreled again after the 
 ball-game, and then Rattleton had come at Ready in 
 red-hot wrath, with the result that within a half-hour 
 of each other Jack Ready had received two challenges
 
 Merriwell to the Rescue. 149 
 
 to a duel; all because he had carried on a flirtation 
 'with Juliet Reynolds. 
 
 "I didn't come out here to listen to the chatter of a 
 fool!" said Diamond. "If you intend to fight, I am 
 ready. If you do not intend to, I shall brand you as 
 a coward and a cur!" 
 
 Rattleton was puzzled. He had come out there to 
 fight, too, but the presence of Diamond disturbed him. 
 He glanced round. 
 
 "I see no weapons !" he snapped. 
 
 "As the receiver of your challenges, honored sirs, 1 
 understand that I have the choice of weapons. Be- 
 hold this raging tide! Like the sea, it seldom gives 
 up its dead. We will write out a paper giving the 
 history of this rash meeting, which we will all sig% 
 and then gently deposit it under a stone here where it 
 will be found after our debut into some other planet. 
 Then we three will leap into the river. If any one 
 of us gets to the other shore he may stick a feather 
 in his hat and announce that he is the victor. The 
 Niagara is the weapon of my choice! I think I shall 
 remember this in my next incarnation." 
 
 "Do you mean to fight or not ?" Diamond hotly de- 
 manded. "This is insufferable." 
 
 "I have chosen my weapon. The proposition is emi- 
 nently fair for all of us. We three will plunge in to- 
 gether. If you object to getting your clothing 
 wet "
 
 150 Merriwell to the Rescue. 
 
 "This is an insult!" sputtered Rattleton. 
 
 Ready threw up his hands as if in despair. 
 
 "What would you, honest gentlemen? Could we 
 make our exit in a handsomer way?" 
 
 He looked over the moonlit river. The surface ap- 
 peared placid enough. Farther up where it was much 
 rougher the little steamer, Maid of the Mist, moved 
 daily, pushing her nose into the very edge of the falls. 
 But Ready knew that below the placid surface a ter- 
 rible undertow lay in wait for any one rash enough or 
 unfortunate enough to come within its grasp. At that 
 moment Rattleton glanced toward the bridge. A man 
 had walked out upon it, who, in the semi-darkness, 
 looked strangely like Herbert Hammerswell. 
 
 "This is disgusting!" said Diamond to- Ready. 
 "You are not only a coward, but you lack the common 
 instincts of a gentleman. You accept my challenge 
 and ask me to meet you here and -then you insult me in 
 this way. I shall brand you as a coward." 
 
 He turned about and strode toward the bridge. 
 The man on the bridge drew back with a quick move- 
 ment as Diamond stepped in that direction. The next 
 moment there was a cry, and Rattleton saw the man 
 shooting downward into the river. 
 
 "Whee-giz!" Harry excitedly exclaimed. "Do you 
 see that?" 
 
 He leaped by Diamond on the run and dashed to- 
 
 ip rvnnt wrVifrf tVif man Viarl <;triirk the water.
 
 Merriwell to the Rescue. 151 
 
 [The point was near shore, fortunately, and when the 
 man went down the undertow did not hold him there. 
 He came up as Rattleton gained the bank, and threw 
 up his hands despairingly. Rattleton felt sure the 
 man was Hammerswell, even though the distance had 
 been too great and the light not good enough to per- 
 mit him to see the man's face. 
 
 For a moment Rattleton stood in hesitation. The 
 current drew the struggling form nearer. Behind him 
 Rattleton heard racing feet. It strengthened him to 
 feel that others were near to assist in the rescue. He 
 knew that the man might be saved, even if he was the 
 hated Hammerswell. Then he threw off his shoes as 
 quickly as he could and sprang into the river. 
 
 "I believe it is Hammerswell!" Ready shouted, 
 dashing past Diamond to the bank. 
 
 He saw the man go under. Saw Rattleton reach 
 down for him. Beheld then a fearful struggle in 
 which Rattleton tried to get hold of the clinching, 
 drowning fellow, and saw Rattleton go under, drawn 
 down by Hammerswell for the man was indeed 
 Hammerswell. 
 
 Rattleton came to the surface farther down, still 
 clinging to Herbert. He was nearer ashore. Yet he 
 appeared not to be able to make much progress and 
 he seemed to be constantly drawn downward, as if 
 sucked at by the undertow. 
 
 He was already past the point on which Ready
 
 152 Merriwell to the Rescue. 
 
 stood, but Ready leaped in to go tc his aid, while Dia- 
 mond, forgetting the quarrel of a minute before, ap- 
 peared also to be getting ready to lend aid. Then a 
 form appeared on the shore a little farther down 
 the form of Frank Merriwell. 
 
 Merriwell had come to stop the duels, but he saw 
 that other work was now cut out for him. He did 
 not understand the situation, but he saw the forms in 
 the water, and he was sure that some of them were his 
 friends. 
 
 "Try to swim this way !" he shouted, f unneling his 
 hands. 
 
 When Ready reached Rattleton he tried to relieve 
 him of HammersweH's heavy weight, for Herbert was 
 now insensible, 
 
 "That's Merriwell!" Rattleton panted. "Can we 
 swim to that point?" 
 
 Diamond hurried down the bank when he heard 
 Frank's voice, desisting from his intention of plunging 
 in to the aid of those struggling in the water. 
 
 "Swim to this point!" Merriwell called again. 
 
 The point projected slightly, and he stood out on 
 the end of it. Seeing that he was understood, he 
 dropped down on the rock and began to take off his 
 shoes and clothing. 
 
 But for the aid of Ready, Rattleton and Hammers- 
 well would both have been carried away. But Ready 
 iwas so powerful a swimmer that he began to pull them
 
 Merriwell to the Rescue. 153 
 
 in toward the shore. Yet all were hampered by their 
 clothing, and that awful undertow continually plucked 
 at them, as if determined to drag them down into the 
 seething depths far below. 
 
 "No need of your risking your life in there, Dia- 
 mond!" Merriwell commanded. "Stay there." 
 
 Merriwell saw that Ready and the others in the 
 water would be carried past the point. That would be 
 almost fatal, for if the shore was not soon gained, their 
 strength would be gone, and the river became wilder 
 and rougher below. 
 
 As he spoke the words to Diamond, Frank went to 
 the rescue, plunging lightly into the river, and then 
 keeping himself on the surface by high swimming, thus 
 preventing the effect of the undertow. 
 
 And thus he waited until they came within reach, 
 and then, adding his powerful swimming strength to 
 that of Jack Ready, the entire party gained the shore, 
 where Hammerswell was found almost lifeless and 
 Rattleton so exhausted that he could not stand. 
 
 "I take back what I said about you !" said Diamond, 
 giving Ready his hand some time later. "Your ideas 
 are not at all like mine, but you're not a coward. I 
 haven't any call to like you, but you are a brave man!" 
 
 "And Rattleton went first!" said Ready.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MADISON JONES. 
 
 It is some days later. The scene is very much as 
 before save that the figures have changed. Instead 
 of live, healthy, young ball-players, we see before us a 
 man, slinking in the bushes, and every now and then 
 peering cautiously over the country. 
 
 Madison Jones, for that was his name, cautiously 
 lifted his head from the clump of bushes in which 
 he had hidden himself and glanced warily down the 
 woodland path. His red eyes were ringed with dirty 
 circles, his face was grimy with coal-dust which a 
 recent washing had failed to remove, and in his mus- 
 cular right hand he clutched a heavy slung-shot. 
 
 "There ain't no law that says a man has a right to 
 as much money as that," he growled. "A roll of big 
 bills as thick as my arm and he gimme this !" 
 
 As he sank down into the bushes he fished a dime 
 out of a pocket and angrily flung it away. 
 
 "Gimme that, when I told him that I had been dis- 
 charged and was starvin'! Ten cents, and him with 
 such a roll! But I'll have it if I have to drag him 
 out of the club-house. I follered him up here to git 
 it, and I'll git it!" 
 
 He ground his teeth together with fierce determina- 
 tion ; then bored a hole through the leaves, and lying
 
 Madison Jones. 155 
 
 flat on his stomach, surveyed the path and the woods 
 within his field of vision. 
 
 "If the other feller comes along I'll tackle him, fer 
 I reckon he's got as much money as his chum, and if 
 they come together I'll climb 'em both. I can lay out 
 two such fellers and not half try, fer one is drunk all 
 the time, and I allow that t'other one hasn't enough 
 courage to go up against a free-lunch counter." 
 
 If ever the brand of Ishmael was stamped on any 
 one it was stamped on the miscreant who thus lay in 
 wait, muttering and fingering the deadly slung-shot. 
 From his round, bullet head to his heavy, clay-stained 
 boots, every line revealed the criminal. Yet he had 
 worked his way from Buffalo to Toledo as coal-passer 
 on the steamer, and always talked loudly of the rights 
 of the workingman. 
 
 "Never another shovelful of coal do I heave fer man 
 or company, if I can git that wad," he huskily whis- 
 pered. "Never another ! I've wanted to be an honest 
 man and work fer a livin', but what's the use ? P'raps 
 it's in the blood. Or may be it's the name! When 
 a boy's parents name him so that he is compelled to 
 go through life as 'Mad Jones/ what's to be expected? 
 A man has got to be either a villain or a lunatic if he 
 is called Mad Jones !" 
 
 He lifted himself a little and caught his breath with 
 a gasping sound.
 
 156 Madison Jones. 
 
 "Ah ! there they come ! Both together. But I can 
 do 'em both." 
 
 Jack Ready and Greg Carker had walked into view 
 and now came slowly along. They were the camera 
 fiends of Frank Merriwell's Athletic Team and they 
 had been out along the lake shore in search of views 
 suitable for the lens. 
 
 Merriwell's party was now at Granada Heights, the 
 guests of the Toledo Blades, whose captain and prin- 
 cipal member had been a passenger on the steamer that 
 brought the Athletic Team from Buffalo to Toledo. 
 The Toledo Blades was the appropriate name of an or- 
 ganization of clever and lively young men of the Ohio 
 city who delighted in athletics and out-of-door life 
 and sports. By a plentiful use of money and a good 
 deal of artistic taste, they had changed a rough wood- 
 land on the lake shore into a handsome park, adorned 
 with a club-house of Moorish design, the whole of 
 which they called Granada Heights. 
 
 After overwhelmingly defeating the Toronto base- 
 ball-team at Niagara Falls, Merriwell's team had gone 
 to Buffalo and thence by lake to Toledo, and were soon 
 to meet the Toledo Blades at that city in a field con- 
 test. Just now they were enjoying the lake breezes 
 and the cool shade at Granada Heights, to the great 
 delight of lazy Bruce Browning, who unblushingly 
 confessed that he liked nothing better than to lie 
 around and doze and dream all day, and that sports of
 
 Madison Jones. 157 
 
 all kinds were a weariness to the flesh. He even went 
 so far as to declare that games and sports of all kinds 
 were designed and pursued by fools for insane pur- 
 poses of self-torture, and that he was an utter idiot to 
 permit his friends to drag him into them. But it 
 was noticeable that when he once went in, no devotee 
 ever fought more fiercely for his faith than lazy Bruce 
 did for the honor of an honorable victory. 
 
 "The whole world does nothing but make pictures," 
 Greg Carker was philosophizing, as he and Ready 
 walked unsuspectingly toward the miscreant who lay 
 hidden in the bushes with the deadly slung-shot. 
 
 "We haven't made many this morning," Ready 
 chirped, swinging his camera as if to be ready for a 
 snap-shot in case a deer leaped from the bushes or an 
 aeronaut dropped from the clouds. "I've chased my 
 face all morning and seen nothing but that pile of 
 rocks with the waves washing their feet with soap- 
 suds the feet of the rocks, I mean and the hawk 
 sailing over them. 
 
 " 'O'er all that flutter their wings and fly 
 A hawk is hovering in the sky !' 
 
 The way that hawk hovered over us he must have 
 thought we were winged rabbits." 
 
 The bored look deepened in Carker's thin, intel- 
 lectual face. It annoyed him to have Ready indulge 
 in chatter when he wanted to philosophize. 
 
 '"The average man doesn't understand that life,
 
 158 Madison Jones. 
 
 from the cradle to the grave, is simply an endless 
 making of pictures. While we are young we build our 
 Castles in Spain." 
 
 "Moorish architecture, something like the club- 
 house at Granada Heights !" Ready interrupted. 
 
 "We build our fairy castles and fill them with pic- 
 tures of the things we are to do, the lives we are to 
 lead, the worlds we are to conquer. The pictures are 
 high-colored, with lots of sunset gold and silver-lined 
 clouds in them. We see ourselves riding in a chariot 
 of triumph over streets of gold, with Mammon chained 
 to the wheels, and the world crowding round us with 
 applauding hands. 
 
 "When we grow old we continue to make pictures 
 memory-pictures, filled with the scenes and faces of 
 the past. We put our loved ones in the gallery of the 
 saints and paint halos round their heads and give to 
 them a beauty which was never theirs in life." 
 
 "And we take snap-shots of the big fish we used to 
 catch when we were boys, forgetting the little ones!" 
 Ready airily continued. "The pictures always show 
 us licking the other fellow, and never getting licked. 
 In those pictures, the brooks we used to swim are 
 raging seas and the sand dunes we scuffed over are 
 cloud-capped mountains. The sweetheart of our boy- 
 hood days has cheeks as red as a new mowing-ma- 
 chine. We see her welcoming us with a smile as broad 
 and cheerful as that of a catfish. Here in the West
 
 Madison Jones. I5f 
 
 you must always say catfish, Mr. C'arker, and never 
 horned pout! If you should say here that the lips of 
 a girl were like those of a pout, the people would prob- 
 ably think that you meant to insinuate that she had 
 a bad temper and that " 
 
 Madison Jones had lifted himself as Carker and 
 Ready drew nearer; but now he sank down with an 
 exclamation of disappointment and disgust. 
 
 "Not the fellers at all !" he was grumbling. "I'll bet 
 the ten-cent piece I throwed away that they took the 
 other path. I reckon these idiots belong to the Mer- 
 riwell crowd." 
 
 "Didn't you fancy you saw something move in those 
 bushes ?" Ready asked, dropping his jocular tone. 
 
 "Some small animal or bird, I suppose," Greg an- 
 swered. 
 
 "You're right, I guess. These woods are so thick 
 I've been half-expecting a polar bear to prance out 
 and pose for us. Go on with your picture-making. 
 It's the only kind we'll have this morning. Or, if you 
 want to stir up those bushes and anything hops out, 
 I'll snap it and divide with you." 
 
 But Carker preferred not to poke into the bushes. 
 His head was full of poetic fancies, which he wanted 
 to pour out, even if Ready seemed unappreciative ; so 
 they walked on by the clump where Madison Jones 
 lay with gripped slung-shot, and were soon beyond his 
 reach-
 
 160 Madison Jones. 
 
 After a time they left the path, for it seemed to be 
 taking them farther from the club-house, to which 
 they wished to return, and swung- into a faint trail that 
 bisected the path to which Jones' disappointed 
 thoughts had gone and to which he had hurried as 
 soon as they were far enough away to permit him to 
 leave his hiding-place without being seen by them. 
 
 "I drew a blank in the picture lottery that time," 
 said Ready, as he caught his foot in a vine and tripped, 
 pitching the camera forward in an endeavor to catch 
 himself, and accidentally clicking the button. "I wish 
 we had continued along the lake shore. We could 
 have got some rock views, if nothing else." 
 
 "Here is a wider path," said Carker. "We'd better 
 follow it. It seems to go straight toward the club- 
 house." 
 
 Again Carker and Ready turned, and in so doing 
 missed a fearful scene, which at that moment might 
 have been visible to their eyes only a few feet away if 
 the screen of bushes had not shut it from them.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A MURDEROUS BLOW. 
 
 "Aw! I'm disgusted with you, don't you know!'* 
 
 The shot was fired at Herbert Hammerswell by his 
 friend Delancy Livingston. 
 
 Hammerswell stopped in the path, with flushing 
 face, though the flush was caused more by the liquor 
 he had recently swallowed than by anything else. 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" he demanded. 
 
 "You're steaming all the time, don't you know, and! 
 I don't like it. I don't like a man who all the time 
 tries to keep his spirits up by pouring spirits down!" 
 
 "Do you mean to insinuate that I'm drunk ?" Ham- 
 merswell asked. 
 
 "Aw ! I mightn't go so far as that, you know, but 
 I haven't seen you really sober since we were at Ni- 
 agara. You got such a fright there, when you thought 
 you had drowned Merriwell and found you hadn't, and 
 when you fell into the river, don't you know, that 
 you've been bracing yourself ever since. I don't mind 
 if a fellow takes a drink now and then, but when he, 
 aw! simply saturates himself with the stuff, it makes 
 me sick." 
 
 Madison Jones was in another clump of bushes 
 some distance away, but by parting the leaves he could
 
 1 62 A Murderous Blow. 
 
 see the two youths quarreling in the path, and his grip 
 of the slung-shot cord tightened. 
 
 "The two of them together, and the right ones this 
 time! That Delancy's got the roll, and I've an idea 
 that the other feller's pockets are lined, too. I can 
 knock 'em both out, and I'll do it." 
 
 He pulled up some earth and rubbed it harshly into 
 his face, to darken and disguise it, and plastered his 
 hair with leaves and sticks. 
 
 "They'll think I'm the Wild Man from Borneo, 
 when I jump out onto them from these bushes, and 
 they'll be so scairt they won't think of makin' a fight. 
 I wish they'd stop that pow-wowing and come on !" 
 
 "I've had only one drink this morning!" Hammers- 
 well blustered. "And I'll thank you to attend to your 
 own affairs." 
 
 "You must have taken it in a lager-beer schooner, 
 then!" was Delancy's unruffled reply. "I shall quit 
 you dead cold, don't you know, if you keep it up! 
 You were steaming all the way over on the boat, and 
 you've been at it ever since. I can see that the club 
 fellaws are getting as tired of it as I am. They 
 thought we were gentlemen, don't you know, when 
 they invited us out here!" 
 
 "Why don't they come on?" Madison Jones was 
 growling. "I'm gittin' nervous lay in' here waitin' fer 
 'em." 
 
 "The fellaw that invited us up here was mv friend,"
 
 A Murderous Blow. 163 
 
 Delancy went on, "and he supposed that you were a 
 gentleman because you were my friend, and so the 
 invitation was given to you. But the Blades of To- 
 ledo will politely tell us that our room is better than 
 our company, if you go on this way. Aw! I'm sick 
 of it, don't you know! I'm horribly sick of it!" 
 
 "I've got to steam up if I'm to carry out any plans 
 to beat Merriwell. There is something about the fel- 
 low that takes my courage away from me when I come 
 near him. I don't feel so when I've had a drink. I 
 was shaken up by that Niagara business, I admit ; but 
 I'll let up just as soon as I've evened the score with 
 Merriwell. I didn't expect to find him at Granada 
 Heights, but he has come here. I thought he wouldn't 
 go out of Toledo. But he's here, and again the chance 
 to do him up has come. I can't miss it." 
 
 Hammers well seemed to become more sober as he 
 talked. 
 
 "I will have nothing to do with anything of that 
 kind !" Delancy declared. "Aw I you're a villain, Ham- 
 merswell, don't you know I You're a bloody villain !" 
 
 Hammerswell smiled drunkenly. He regarded this 
 as a compliment. 
 
 "Perhaps I am a villain. It takes villainy to match 
 villainy. I'm going to do up Frank Merriwell, if I 
 hang for it !" 
 
 Delancy turned away in anger and disgust. 
 
 "Drop that, or I'll cut you dead!"
 
 164 A Murderous Blow. 
 
 Then he walked away from Hammerswell, moving 
 along the path in the direction of the concealed ruffian, 
 while Hammerswell stared at him, uncertain what to 
 do or say. 
 
 "Comin' on alone!" Madison Jones whispered. 
 "The feller with the wad. Asked him f er help a while 
 ago and he gimme a dime! He'd ought to have his 
 head ripped open fer that. Gimme a dime to keep the 
 wolf out o' the front yard a dime! Blast him! I'll 
 give him an extra welt fer that. A dime ! and he and 
 t'other feller won five hundred dollars at poker on the 
 boat comin' over from Buffalo ! Settin' in the saloons 
 playin' cards like kings, and me breakin' my back and 
 burnin' my eyes out and sweatin' myself to rags 
 heavin' coal to keep the engines runnin' to carry them 
 across! A dime!" 
 
 The snarling exclamation seemed to choke him. 
 Delancy Livingston walked straight on, swinging his 
 cane and fuming, and soon was hidden from the sight 
 of Herbert Hammerswell. 
 
 "Aw! I'll have to cut the fellaw dead cold!" he 
 was thinking. "I've been a fool to continue with him 
 as I have. I don't like Merriwell a little bit, but I'm 
 not going to be continually poking my neck into a hal- 
 ter to get even with him, don't you know! Only an 
 idiot would do that. Hammerswell's drinking like a 
 fish to give him enough courage to continue his work 
 against Merriwell. But I'm out of the game. Yet
 
 A Murderous Blow. 165 
 
 there was a swell way about the fellaw that I liked, 
 before he got to steaming so outrageously." 
 
 Nearer and nearer he came to the concealed form. 
 He passed the bushes so near that Jones could have 
 touched him with outstretched hand. Then Jones rose 
 lip; and, with a gurgling gasp which caused Delancy 
 to turn half-round, he swung the heavy slung-shot and 
 felled the youth in the path. Delancy Livingston 
 threw up his hands and pitched forward on his face 
 without a cry. 
 
 "Killed him, I reckon!" the ruffian whispered, half 
 in fear; and, dropping the slung-shot in the path, he 
 began a hurried search of Delancy's pockets. 
 
 "Ah! here it is!" he snarled, as he nervously drew 
 out a roll of bills. "The very wad he fished up when 
 he gimme the dime. I allowed he'd have it with him 
 fit!" 
 
 Then he went through other pockets, and, not rind- 
 ing more money, was about to relieve Delancy of his 
 watch, when he heard an exclamation, and saw a form 
 bound toward him through the bushes. It was Frank 
 iMerriwell, who had chanced to be walking near. 
 
 This unexpected interference was so startling, for 
 Frank seemed to have risen right out of the under- 
 growth by the path, and the look in Frank's eyes was 
 so fear-inspiring, that Jones rose to his feet. 
 
 "You murderer !" came from Merriwell's lips, as he 
 saw the senseless form on the ground.
 
 1 66 A Murderous Blow. 
 
 Another leap would have taken him upon the shiv- 
 ering and startled wretch, who would not have cared 
 if the prospect had been of an encounter with Herbert 
 Hammerswell. 
 
 Frank's muscular hand seemed reaching out to 
 grasp the miscreant, and Jones, filled with a terror he 
 could not understand, turned about in a headlong 
 flight that took him tearing through the bushes like a 
 madman. Merriwell picked up the slung-shot, and 
 the roll of bills which Jones had dropped in his fright, 
 and stooped over Delancy. 
 
 As he did so he thrust a hand into Delancy's bosom 
 to ascertain if there were any heart beats. He heard 
 a cry and glanced up. Herbert Hammerswell was 
 racing down the path toward him, accompanied by 
 Leverett Osgood, one of the leaders of the Toledo 
 Blades, who had come up with Hammerswell in the 
 path but a moment before.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MERRIWELL ACCUSED. 
 
 The blow which felled Delancy Livingston was de- 
 livered with sufficient force to kill, if it had fallen 
 fairly, but it had fallen glancingly, and Delancy's cap 
 had somewhat served as a shield. Not only was De- 
 lancy's heart beating, but he was returning to con- 
 sciousness as Merriwell stooped above him; and as 
 Merriwell heard that cry from Hammerswell and 
 turned, Delancy rolled half over on his side, and stared 
 dazedly up into Merriwell's face. 
 
 He vaguely knew that he had been stricken down, 
 and it seemed to him that Merriwell's was the hand 
 that had done the work. 
 
 Hammerswell came down the path with quick, fierce 
 strides and strangely working features, closely fol- 
 lowed by Osgood. Unfortunately, Osgood, who was 
 not especially popular with the club members, though 
 he was one of the wealthiest and consequently one of 
 the most influential, had disliked Frank from the first, 
 probably because Merry was a popular idol and he was 
 not for it is the nature of some men to become jeal- 
 ous of those who possess what they desire and cannot 
 get. In addition to this, Osgood had lent a listening 
 and credulous ear to some of the damaging stories 
 against Merriwell's character and reputation which
 
 1 68 Merriwell Accused. 
 
 Herbert Hammerswell always delighted to repeat to 
 any who would hear them. 
 
 Delancy Livingston's uncertain gaze wandered from 
 Merry's face to the slung-shot and the roll of bills. 
 
 "You struck me down like a dog!" he gurgled, as 
 Frank turned back for the purpose of assisting him 
 and at the same time dropped the money and the 
 weapon. "You're a murderous scoundrel, don't you 
 know !" 
 
 Hammerswell and young Osgood heard and under- 
 stood the words, though so gurglingly spoken. A wild 
 joy filled the heart of the youth who had, as Frank's 
 enemy, so persistently dogged his steps. He thought 
 he saw the evidences of the truth of the accusation in 
 the bills and the slung-shot and in Frank's attitude 
 with hand beneath Delancy's coat at the moment they 
 sighted him round the turn in the path. 
 
 In spite of this, Herbert came to a hesitating halt. 
 He wanted to accuse Merriwell of this murderous as- 
 sault, but felt cowed, in spite of the courage given him 
 by the liquor he had taken. Yet he quickly rallied 
 and blustered : 
 
 "You are a murderous scoundrel, Merriwell, as I've 
 always known, and this proves it!" 
 
 Merriwell rose to his feet with a dangerous glitter 
 in his eyes. His right fist was clenched, and he re- 
 strained himself with difficulty from striking the 
 coward.
 
 Merriwell Accused. 169 
 
 "Hammerswell, you're a liar by the clock !" 
 
 "There is the proof!" Hammerswell continued, 
 while Frank began to laugh. "You had that slung- 
 shot and the roll of money in your hands, and you 
 were searching for more money, or for his watch. 
 Osgood saw you as well as I." 
 
 "And I saw 'im!" declared Delancy, weakly at- 
 tempting to rise. "He struck me down with that thing 
 and then robbed me. I saw the money, too." 
 
 Osgood was silent, though his face showed a readi- 
 ness to accept this belief. If Hammerswell's cowardly 
 nature had not been given a false strength by his pota- 
 tions he would have taken warning from Frank's dan- 
 gerous laugh. But now he saw in it an indication of 
 confusion and fear and his bravado increased. 
 
 "You can't scare me by your threats, Merriwell! 
 You tried to murder and rob " 
 
 Crack! 
 
 Merriwell's white fist shot out and Hammerswell 
 reeled backward in the path, and was only kept from 
 falling by the outstretched arms of Leverett Osgood. 
 
 "This is an outrage, Merriwell!" Osgood hotly 
 panted. "If a fellow flies into a rage, it's mighty good 
 proof, as a rule, that he is guilty!" 
 
 Frank turned on Osgood with flashing eyes. 
 
 "I stand ready to settle with such fellows as these, 
 at any place and any time, though I know that I dis-
 
 iyo Merriwell Accused. 
 
 grace myself by noticing them. Go for a carriage for 
 Livingston !" 
 
 There was something in the words and manner that 
 made Osgood jump as if he had been touched by a 
 galvanic battery. 
 
 "A carriage at once!" Frank repeated. "I'm sure 
 this fellow is worse hurt than he thinks he is !" 
 
 "Certainly !" said Osgood, and he ran back along 1 
 the path to obey the order and hurry help at once. 
 
 Hammerswell was now standing very erect and 
 white, though his face a moment before had been red 
 with drink and excitement. His rage burned like a 
 furnace. 
 
 "You have hit me, Merriwell a cowardly blow! 
 I'll not forget it. You struck Delancy down and tried 
 to rob him. I think I understand why, for lately I've 
 heard that you've been hard up and pressed for money. 
 You are bound to keep up your reputation, even if you 
 have to resort to such means to enable you to do it. 
 We have the evidence, and we'll make it interesting 
 for you. You have sent Osgood away, thinking that 
 while he is gone you can scare me, but you can't scare 
 me." 
 
 Merriwell understood the change in Hammerswell's 
 manner, for he had known that Hammerswell was 
 getting courage from the flowing bowl. Nevertheless, 
 it was with great difficulty that he restrained himself
 
 Merriwell Accused. 171 
 
 from again striking the man who stood thus tauntingly 
 before him. 
 
 Delancy Livingston again made a weak effort to 
 crawl to his feet, and this time succeeded, picking up 
 the roll of bills and thrusting them into a pocket as he 
 did so. 
 
 "Yes, we'll make it hot for you, Merriwell !" he de- 
 clared. "You struck me down like a dog, don't you 
 know, and I'll not forget it, nor forgive it! I might 
 have thought that you didn't, if I hadn't seen the evi- 
 dence with my own eyes." 
 
 "Hammerswell is drinking, and so is hardly re- 
 sponsible for what he says, and only a coward would 
 strike a man in your condition. I've sent for a car- 
 riage, and I'll stay by and help you into it, if you 
 wish." 
 
 Frank was again calm and collected. He wanted 
 to take Hammerswell by the throat and choke him, 
 but he controlled the inclination. 
 
 "As for you, Hammerswell, you're a cur on whom 
 it is not worth while to waste words. You have 
 dogged my footsteps from the Adirondacks to Toledo. 
 Perhaps you think it will be safe for you to keep it up, 
 but I want to tell you that you are mistaken. I have 
 let you alone "when I ought to have hammered you into 
 the earth. But patience has ceased to be a virtue. 
 And now I warn you that if you continue this I shall 
 punish you in a way that you will remember as long
 
 172 Merriwell Accused. 
 
 as you live. You followed me around this way last 
 summer you and your father. The limit has been 
 reached!" 
 
 The color came again into Hammerswell's face. 
 He saw that Frank was in deadly earnest; and, in 
 spite of the liquor, the old fear of Merriwell crept 
 back into his mean little heart. 
 
 "I I 
 
 "You have heard what I have to say. Remember it 
 and act on it, or you will live to regret it. You talk 
 to me about murderous intentions, when you have 
 hired men to maim or assassinate me, when you were 
 too cowardly to undertake anything of the kind your- 
 self. But I have recognized the hand back of it all. 
 When I do strike you, I will strike to pulverize !" 
 
 He turned again to Delancy, who looked wofully 
 weak and white, but who, in spite of his condition, had 
 more real courage at that moment than Hammerswell 
 had ever had in his life. 
 
 "Shall I stay and help you? Some one ought to 
 be looking after the fellow who struck you down. I 
 saw him, and he ran in that direction when I jumped 
 through the bushes at him." 
 
 "Don't bother about that phantom for he's just a 
 phantom, don't you know!" Delancy sneered. "I 
 think I don't want your help, thank you, though my 
 head is spinning round, and I feel like a chicken with 
 a wrung neck."
 
 Merriwell Accused. 17? 
 
 "Very well, then!" was Merriwell's curt rejoinder; 
 and he left the path and set out for the club-house, 
 intending- to report and send out searchers for the 
 miscreant who had fled. 
 
 On the way he met Bruce Browning, who came 
 hopping down a path as light footed as a colt. Brown- 
 ing had heard that Delancy had been stricken down, 
 and also that Merriwell was in trouble of some kind, 
 though just what he had not been able to find out, for 
 Osgood had made a statement, and hurried away after 
 sending a man for a carriage. 
 
 "Just when I'm thinking you're in some sort of a 
 tarnation scrape, you rise up before me like Hamlet's 
 ghost !" Bruce drawled, stopping in the path in front of 
 his friend. 
 
 Merriwell smiled. 
 
 "By Jove, old boy! I thought you were too lazy to 
 run like that." 
 
 "Easily explained/' droned Browning. "Laziness 
 runs in our family." 
 
 "No need for laziness to run now. Walk back to 
 the club-house with me, and I'll tell you what has 
 happened. I tried to help an idiot back there, and 
 he turned on me like a warmed rattlesnake."
 
 CHAPTER xxv. 
 
 AT GRANADA HEIGHTS. 
 
 There was a tremendous undercurrent of excitement 
 at Granada Heights that forenoon ; though, after the 
 first ebullition, everything looked quiet enough on the 
 surface. Hammerswell and Delancy Livingston had 
 departed for Toledo, after telling their story to the 
 club members, and Leverett Osgood, who had backed 
 their assertions, had gone with them. 
 
 Merriwell saw and heard all, but explained only to 
 his friends, feeling that he could not assert his inno- 
 cence of the ridiculous charge to the members of the 
 club whose guest he was. If they were inclined to 
 believe the three who had departed, the only cotirse 
 for him was to leave also ; otherwise he could do noth- 
 ing but remain until the expiration of his visit To 
 go to the members and tell them that he could not be 
 guilty of attempted murder and robbery was a thing 
 he could not think of, even though he felt that some 
 of them, particularly the friends of Osgood, probably 
 believed the story. 
 
 But he was set at rest by a call from Merret Pal- 
 mer, the captain of the Blades, a splendid young fel- 
 low, who was accompanied by Bennett Saulsbury and 
 Sidney Gail. 
 
 "We take no stock in that story, Merriwell!" Pal-
 
 At Granada Heights. 175 
 
 mer warmly and cordially declared. "We thought 
 you might think that we did if we stayed away, that's 
 all." 
 
 Nearly all of Merriwell's friends were in the room 
 at the time of this visit. 
 
 "We have men out looking for the fellow you 
 described, and I've no doubt he will be captured." 
 
 "Osgood is a pretty good fellow," said Gail, "but 
 he's likely to go off half-cocked in his opinions and 
 to jump at conclusions that make a man stare. We 
 are sincerely sorry for his attitude in this matter, but 
 we don't want you to feel that it reflects the sentiments 
 of the club." 
 
 "Yes, we know that you're all right, Merriwell," 
 chimed in Saulsbury. "We heard of you and your 
 friends 1 ong before you reached Toledo; and, when 
 we learned that on the voyage down the lake you 
 had arranged with Merret to meet the Blades in field 
 sports, we were simply delighted. Not that we think 
 we can easily defeat you, but because we know that it 
 was an honor to compete with your team. We know 
 your record at Yale and the records of your friends. 
 As for Hammerswell and Livingston, we know noth- 
 ing about them, except that Delancy is an acquaintance 
 of Osgood, and through him they were invited to 
 Granada Heights. But as for myself, I'm glad the 
 fellows have cut out ; all but Osgood, I mean. As he
 
 1 76 At Granada Heights. 
 
 is a member of the club, we feel called on to apologize 
 for his conduct in this matter/' 
 
 "The story is simply too silly to listen to!" Bart 
 Hodge growled. "The idea that Merriwell could do 
 a thing like that !" 
 
 "It makes me cot under the holler!" sputtered Rat- 
 tleton. 
 
 "We'll not allow it to interfere in any way with 
 the contest ?" said the captain, in a questioning way, 
 looking at Frank. 
 
 "We are still ready to meet your organization on 
 the day and hour named," was Frank's answer. "I 
 am sorry the thing occurred, and that I have been so 
 misjudged, but it's just what I could expect from 
 Hammerswell. He's been trying to injure me for a 
 long time. But it won't amount to anything. I want 
 you to know, though, that I am grateful for your 
 confidence." 
 
 Bart had been raging against Hammerswell, and 
 again broke out, when the captain and his companions 
 were gone. 
 
 "I'm only sorry, Merry, that you didn't hammer 
 the face off the scoundrel!" he snarled. "If I had 
 been there, I'd have done it for you. He keeps away 
 from me, for he knows I won't stand any nonsense 
 from him." 
 
 ''After you saved Livingston from being mobbed
 
 At Granada Heights. 177 
 
 and rurdered I mean robbed and murdered, for him 
 to turn against you that way!" grumbled Rattleton. 
 
 "We'll try not to let it disturb us," said Frank. 
 
 "But if they should have you arrested?" asked 
 Danny. 
 
 "If it were you, I should say for them to go ahead," 
 chirped Bink. "It would give us a rest !" 
 
 "I've only one wish for you," retorted Danny, "and 
 that is that you may live to be as old as your jokes." 
 
 "Doesn't such nonsense annoy you ?" queried Carker, 
 addressing Frank. 
 
 "Oh, no. I used to work in an old saw-factory !" 
 
 Then Carker stared, for he failed to see the teeth 
 of the pun, but Bink and Danny howled. 
 
 "If you'd only given Hammerswell what he de- 
 served !" snarled Hodge, paying no attention to what 
 the others had said. 
 
 "You would despise a man who would strike a 
 drunken coward, no matter how insulting the latter 
 might be, wouldn't you?" Merry demanded. "That 
 is the way I felt. I wanted to knock Hammerswell 
 down, and I so far forgot myself as to strike him. 
 But I regretted it instantly. To have gone further, 
 or to strike Delancy in the condition he was then in, 
 would have been the essence of cowardice." 
 
 "I'm for pulling out of this game, anyway," Bart 
 went on. "I looked for a fine time here in Toledo. 
 But you are queered here now, no matter what may
 
 178 At Granada Heights. 
 
 be said or done. Likely you will be arrested, and 
 there will be some who will fancy that you may be 
 guilty. It makes me sick and mad. I'm in favor 
 of going on to Chicago, and letting Toledo go by. 
 We're out for sport and pleasure this summer, not 
 worriment." 
 
 It was a long speech for Hodge in his present tem- 
 per, but he felt strongly on the subject. 
 
 "Oh, we'll stay and do up the Toledo Blades," 
 grunted Browning. "But I'm not in any hurry to 
 get away from Granada Heights. I haven't found a 
 more comfortable place this summer, not even in the 
 Adirondacks." 
 
 "We have arranged to meet them, and I've no dis- 
 position to back down from the arrangement," was 
 Merriwell's comment. "I think we will have some fine 
 sport. They have a runner that I want to put Gamp 
 and Swift wing against." 
 
 "And me!" piped Danny. 
 
 "There will be work for you, my boy, and for all 
 of us. The Blades of Toledo are not likely to be 
 easy." 
 
 "Aw ! he must anticipate an arrest, don't you know !" 
 
 Delancy Livingston put up his monocle and stared 
 at Frank Merriwell, who was passing along the street 
 in front of the hotel with Merret Palmer, the cap- 
 tain of the Toledo Blades. 
 
 Delancy's words were intended for Herbert Ham-
 
 At Granada Heights. 179 
 
 merswell, who lounged in a chair at his side and also 
 looked down into the street from the window of the 
 hotel. 
 
 "The fuses are all laid and the mine is ready for 
 the explosion," said Hammerswell, with a scowl. 
 
 "I can't see why the officers fail to move in the 
 matter, don't you know! The fellaw is walking the 
 streets of Toledo as if he owned the place and had 
 put a fence around it. I don't like it. Why don't 
 they move against him? That's what I should like 
 to understand, don't you know!" 
 
 This was answered by an owlish look of wisdom. 
 
 "The thing is hie all right, Delancy. Lines all 
 laid for the explosion. It will come to-night. Going 
 to be a good one. Red fire and rockets and all that. 
 Just you don't go to becoming excited, and it will be 
 all right." 
 
 "Oh, you're disgustedly drunk again, and I don't 
 like it! You're throwing away your money like a 
 
 fool, too. You'll Aw! I don't want to talk 
 
 to you when you get that way !" 
 
 " 'Sh all right !" Hammerswell assured. "Every- 
 thing's all right. Trust to yer uncle. When I lay a 
 plan, that plan's good one, and don't ye forget it! 
 This best plan I ever laid. When it happens, make 
 these hie Toledo Blades think 'the sky is fallin' 
 down on their poor bald heads an' they better see the 
 king!'"
 
 i8o At Granada Heights. 
 
 He looked as grave as an undertaker while quoting 
 this classic of the nursery. 
 
 "What's your plan?" Delancy demanded, putting 
 down the eye-glass and turning on him, when Merri- 
 well had passed from sight. 
 
 "Tha's all right, too!" 
 
 Hammerswell was intoxicated, but not enough to 
 lose his caution. His plan was spectacular, and he 
 feared Delancy might object to it, for Delancy had 
 been filled with objections lately. 
 
 Merriwell and his party had returned to Toledo, 
 whither they had been preceded by Hammerswell, Liv- 
 ingston, and Leverett Osgood; and Delancy, having 
 left the details to Hammerswell, was irritated to see 
 Merriwell still wajking the streets when he fancied 
 Frank ought to be in jail or under arrest. 
 
 "When are you going to stop this drinking, Ham- 
 merswell?" he demanded. Hammerswell tried to 
 straighten up and look extremely sober. 
 
 "I sha'n't take 'nother drink to-day not 'nother 
 drink!" 
 
 In spite of his drunken mood, he meant it, dimly 
 realizing that what he now needed to carry on his 
 plan was shrewdness rather than the brute courage 
 he had sought for through liquor. Delancy turned 
 away. He did not believe that Hammerswell was in 
 earnest, or could carry out his promise. 
 
 "G'-by!" called Herbert, 'flabbily waving his hand
 
 At Granada Heights. 181 
 
 as Delancy walked off. "See you later. Plan's all 
 right !" 
 
 Then he crept away to his own room and to bed, 
 not to emerge until evening, when he came forth 
 white-faced and sober, with shaky limbs and a cow- 
 ardly heart, but more crafty and vindictive than ever. 
 
 "Aw ! I should have liked an invitation to that Ger- 
 man, don't you know!" was Delancy's salutation, his 
 reference being to a dinner and German given that 
 night by Merret Palmer and other members of the 
 Toledo Blades in honor of the visiting team of Yale 
 athletes. 
 
 "I shouldn't have gone if I'd had one !" Hammers- 
 well snarled. "It would make me sick to be in that 
 crowd. The Blades are going wild over Merriwell, 
 even after what he has done after that attempt to 
 murder and rob you!" 
 
 He did not want Delancy to forget that. 
 
 "Aw! I think I should have liked an invitation. 
 Some stunning girls there to-night, you know ! Rich, 
 too. It makes me feel deuced uncomfortable not to 
 be going, when the thing is for the Blades and their 
 friends, I understand." 
 
 He put up his eye-glass and ogled a young lady who 
 was passing. 
 
 "Aw! deuced handsome!" he murmured. "Right 
 clever girls out here, don't you know t And I wouldn't 
 have believed it."
 
 1 8a At Granada Heights. 
 
 "Better be cautious," Hammerswell warned. "That 
 was Merret Palmer's sister. The chap with her gave 
 you a black look. They're on their way to the din- 
 ner, I suppose. It wasn't given by the Blades as an 
 organization, but only by certain members, and that's 
 why we were left out. You see, if it were given by 
 the Blades, Osgood would have invited us." 
 
 "And that is why " 
 
 "Yes, that accounts for the milk in the cocoanut. 
 If the Blades had given it as an organization, Osgood 
 would have asked us, and to the other fellows we are 
 non persona grata." 
 
 "Aw ! confound them !" 
 
 "But I'll be there !" said Hammerswell, with a fierce 
 look. "I shall smuggle myself in, for that red-fire- 
 and-rocket business will take place in the ballroom 
 after the supper." 
 
 "Aw!" and Delancy stared through his eye-glass. 
 "You said you wouldn't go?" 
 
 "In my proper person. I shall smuggle myself in. 
 If you're clever, you can do the same. It will be 
 worth it." 
 
 Hammerswell smuggled himself in, by the aid of 
 a bribe, and blacked as a waiter ; and when the officer 
 who had been sent to make the arrest, and who also 
 had fingered some of Hammerswell's money, pushed 
 into the big dining-room from which the chairs had 
 been removed, and where the dancing was in progress,
 
 At Granada Heights. 18) 
 
 Hammers well stood in a side entrance and watched 
 him with a sort of ghoulish glee. At that moment 
 his heart was blacker than his face. 
 
 Merriwell was dancing with Fannie Palmer, Mer- 
 ret Palmer's sister. The room was crowded with the 
 whirling, swaying figures of handsomely gowned girls 
 and women and with clever and witty men. Every 
 member of the Toledo Blades was there, with the ex- 
 ception of Leverett Osgood and a few of his cronies, 
 and all had vied with each other in making the evening 
 pleasant for the Yale athletes. 
 
 "It will kill him!" Hammerswell whispered, re- 
 straining his joy with difficulty. "The disgrace of 
 being arrested here will kill him. This is a revenge 
 worth working for ! This is even better than maiming 
 him or injuring him in any other way. He is as 
 proud as Lucifer, and the thing will tear his heart 
 out." 
 
 It was well for him that his face was blacked, for 
 its working and the fire which suffused it would other- 
 wise have been noticeable. The officer walked across 
 the room, pushing the dancers aside, and, approaching 
 Merriwell, laid a hand on his shoulder. 
 
 "I arrest you, sir, for assault with intent to kill!" 
 he said in a loud voice. "You will come with me !" 
 
 Fannie Palmer swayed on Merriwell's arm as if 
 about to swoon, while Merriwell's face flamed like 
 fire
 
 1 84 At Granada Heights. 
 
 Women gasped and shrieked, and a half-dozen 
 members of the club pushed forward, among them 
 young Palme .fcimself. 
 
 "This is a shame !" Hammerswell heard Palmer say, 
 "'If you had a warrant you could have served it in 
 ome more appropriate place. We will become his 
 sureties in any amount needed." 
 
 "That's all right," the officer sneered. "But ] 
 know my duty. This young man is charged with an 
 assault with intent to commit murder. I have the 
 papers issued to me in legal form. He goes with 
 me!" 
 
 "But " 
 
 "If he can get the judge to admit him to bail, all 
 right ; otherwise, I shall land him in jail and hold him 
 there." 
 
 Hammerswell fairly hugged himself in delight. 
 
 "Oh, it's a glorious revenge!" he panted, leaning 
 eagerly forward. "A glorious revenge! Frank Mer- 
 riwell, you now feel the hand of Herbert Hammers- 
 well. I've got Delancy and Osgood as witnesses 
 against you, and if we don't make you smoke, then 
 I'm a liar and an idiot." 
 
 The protests of Merret and other members of the 
 club were of no avail, and Hammerswell had the great 
 pleasure of seeing Frank led from the dancing-room 
 under arrest.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 BART LOSES HIS TONGUE. 
 
 Crack ! whack ! crack ! 
 
 Bart Hodge's hard knuckles played a tattoo on Her* 
 bert Hammerswell's face. 
 
 "Take that! and that! and that!" 
 
 Hammerswell staggered backward. 
 
 "Stand up like a man, you booby!" Bart snarled. 
 "Stand up and meet me !" 
 
 Hammerswell saved himself from a fall by catch- 
 ing at the fence back of him, and then clung to it as 
 if for protection. Tke German had been broken up 
 by the arrest of Merriwell the night before, and though 
 Merret Palmer and the leading members of the Blades 
 of Toledo had secured Merriwell's release by becoming 
 his bondmen, the justice before whom the preliminary 
 hearing was held had been so impressed by the evi- 
 dence brought forward by Hammerswell, Livingston, 
 and Osgood that he had scored Frank in a talk from 
 the bench in which the guilt of the accused was 
 strongly intimated. The day had been a humiliating 
 one to Frank and his friends ; and now, meeting Ham- 
 merswell by chance, Hodge had permitted his anger 
 to get the better of him. 
 
 "I'll have you arrested for this !" Herbert panted, a 
 look of deep fear iu his eyes.
 
 l86 Bart Loses His Tongue. 
 
 "And if you do, I'll pay the fine and lick you again 
 as soon as the thing is over. Come on and defend 
 yourself!" 
 
 "I don't want to fight !" Hammerswell whined, still 
 clinging to the fence. 
 
 "Merry thinks that it is cowardly to strike a fellow; 
 as I have hit you, when that fellow is a coward and 
 no fighter that it's too much like a big dog jumping 
 on a little one. But I don't care anything for that. 
 You deserve to have your face hammered in, and I'm 
 the boy to do it!" 
 
 "Let me go!" Hammerswell begged. 
 
 "Stand up and strike back, you sneak! Stand up 
 before I knock you through the fence !" 
 
 "Don't hit me again! Please don't hit me- again!" 
 
 "You white-livered puppy! Do you know what I 
 want to do to you ?" 
 
 He advanced threateningly, and Hammerswell, 
 shrieking in fear, started to run. But Bart put out 
 a foot, and the pusillanimous miscreant went down in 
 a groveling heap. 
 
 "Don't strike me! Don't strike me! I'll do any- 
 thing, if you " 
 
 "Get up !" Bart fiercely commanded. 
 
 "Yes, yes!" 
 
 "Get up before I'm tempted to kick you into rib- 
 bons. Get up, I say!" 
 
 Hammerswell sprang up and again started to run;
 
 Bart Loses His Tongue. 187 
 
 but fell once more, this time across a wide board, 
 which in his terror he did not see. Delancy came 
 racing across as if to help his friend. 
 
 "I'll polish you off, just as soon as I get through 
 with this fellow!" Bart exclaimed; then deliberately 
 walked up to Hammerswell, who was floundering and 
 threshing in an effort to rise, and administered to him 
 a vigorous spanking with a bit of shingle which lay 
 in the path, whereupon Hammerswell bawled like a 
 whipped schoolboy. > 
 
 "Now I'm ready for you !" Hodge cried, turning to 
 Delancy, as Hammerswell scrambled up. 
 
 "Aw ! I feel like caning you, don't you know I" 
 drawled Delancy, swinging his cane and putting up 
 his eye-glass. Bart faced him fiercely. 
 
 "Even if you are a simpering dude, you're more of 
 a man than Herbert Hammerswell. If you want to 
 defend him or defend yourself, put up your hands, or 
 come at me. I'm ready for you." 
 
 Delancy retreated, flourishing the cane. 
 
 "Aw! I'm not a fighter, you know. I leave fight- 
 ing to bulldogs and pugilists, don't you know!" 
 
 For a moment Hodge seemed about to strike himj 
 but he checked the impulse. 
 
 "I think Merry is right. I can't hit you, unless you 
 are willing to stand up and fight. But you're a cad !" 
 
 "Aw! you're another, don't you know!" Delancy 
 declared, again putting up the eye-glasa in that irrj-
 
 1 88 Bart Loses His Tongue* 
 
 tating way, as if Bart were S9me sort of insect that he 
 wvished to inspect Hammerswell was backing off, as 
 if he feared Bart might again come at him. 
 
 "Hit him, Delancy!" he urged. "Hit him!" 
 
 "Aw! hit him yourself!" was the retort. 
 
 "That's right. Come at me, both of you both of 
 you at once!" 
 
 But Hammerswell did not care to try anything of 
 the kind, and Delancy seemed to get all the "satisfaction 
 he wanted simply by swinging his cane at Bart and 
 staring at him through the eye-glass. 
 
 "You're cowards and cads, both of you!" Bart 
 hissed. "I shall forget that, though, and that it's 
 beneath the dignity of any honest man to strike you, 
 and hammer you to pieces if you don't keep out of 
 Merry's way, and out of the way of ever member of 
 the Athletic Team. I don't want you to tempt me, 
 for I can't stand much!" 
 
 Hammerswell shivered under Bart's glance, and 
 Delancy Livingston had a cold, creepy sensation of 
 fear as he retreated, again swinging his cane. 
 
 "Remember it !" said Bart ; then turned and walked 
 quickly away, for he observed some men approaching, 
 and did not care to be seen publicly quarreling or 
 bandying words with the creatures whom he so de- 
 spised.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 DANNY HAS SAND. 
 
 The beautiful grounds of the Blades of Toledo, on 
 the Maumee River, drew an immense crowd on the 
 afternoon of the day set for the field contests between 
 Merriwell's team and the Blades. The day was pro- 
 pitious, the sky bright, and the promise of sport good ; 
 but there was, nevertheless, a shadow over every- 
 thing, deeply felt by Frank and his friends and by; 
 the members of the entertaining organization. 
 
 The feeling that Frank was in great danger from 
 the charge which had been lodged against him, and 
 the testimony with which it had been supported, could 
 not be shaken off. This feeling was not groundless; 
 for when the circumstantial evidence in the case was 
 dispassionately examined it was found to be strongly^ 
 against Merriwell. 
 
 Delancy Livingston, Herbert Hammerswell and < 
 Leverett Osgood were all positive in their statements. 
 They had seen Frank bending over Delancy, who had 
 been stricken down in a cowardly way, and had seen^ 
 in his grasp the slung-shot and a roll of bills, and 
 had beheld him, as they supposed, searching Delancy 
 for other valuables or money. Against this could be 
 produced nothing but Merriwell's unsupported declara-*
 
 190 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 tion of innocence and his assertion that he had in- 
 terrupted the real thief and frightened him away. 
 
 None felt the weight of the evidence against Frank 
 more than did Merret Palmer, the captain of the 
 Blades, though Merret was personally sure of Frank's 
 entire innocence. He had talked with Osgood, but 
 could not shake Osgood's story in the least. Osgood 
 believed that Merriwell was guilty, and he intended 
 to say so when the time came for the regular trial. 
 
 The feeling of pride with which the Toledo athletic 
 men and prominent citizens, as well as the newspapers, 
 had welcomed Merriwell and his friends, had given 
 way to an uncomfortable suspicion which was very 
 unpleasant And, though the newspaper comments 
 on the charge against Merriwell were guarded and 
 infrequent, there was in them a noticeable lack of cor- 
 diality. 
 
 "This whole business makes me awfully hot !" Bart 
 asserted, as he stood talking of the situation to young 
 Palmer while the crowd filed into the grounds. "I 
 have heard a lot of these people talking, and more 
 than half of them, I believe, have come to see Merri- 
 ivell, not because he is a great athlete, but simply be- 
 cause he is suspected of an attempt to rob and kill 
 Delancy Livingston. It not only makes me hot, but 
 it makes me sick !" 
 
 "There is a good deal of that sort of feeling," Pal- 
 reluctantly admitted. "I don't want you to sa^
 
 Danny Has Sand. 191 
 
 anything to Merriwell about it, but one of the best 
 lawyers in the city told me yesterday that he believed 
 Merriwell is in danger of being sent to prison. The 
 charge is all rot, of course, and I have confidence that 
 the right will win, but the way things have turned 
 makes the case look black. I'm sure, though, that 
 Merriwell's former good name will break the force 
 of the charge and secure his release." 
 
 This was not at all satisfactory to Bart Hodge, 
 who fairly ground his teeth at the thought that any 
 one could for a moment suspect Merriwell of any- 
 thing criminal or dishonorable. Frank came saun- 
 tering toward them as they talked. In his face was 
 the sunshine of a good conscience and abounding 
 health. He did not seem to be troubling himself about 
 the black charge against him. 
 
 "A fine day," he said, as he came up. "I believe 
 that my men are all in tip-top condition." 
 
 He looked out on the field, where Gamp and Ready 
 were racing and leaping, and other members of the 
 team were engaging in various warming-up exercises. 
 
 From a seat on the bleachers, to which he had sur- 
 reptitiously crept, Herbert Hammerswell glanced at 
 the field, then turned his gaze, full of malevolent hate, 
 on Frank and Bart. He had disguised himself by 
 assuming cheap clothing and by slightly darkening 
 his face and wearing a small, sandy-colored mustache. 
 
 "I've got you in a bad hole, old man!" was his
 
 192 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 thought, as he eyed Merriwell. "I've had you in 
 tight places before, but never in so close a one. If 
 you don't go to the penitentiary, all signs will fail." 
 
 Delancy had not come to the field had declared 
 that he did not want to come and would not come, 
 simply because he was more disgusted than ever with 
 Hammerswell's childish exhibition of cowardice in his 
 encounter with Hodge. As Merriwell turned back 
 toward the benches, Danny Griswold came out of a 
 dressing-room clad in a suit of unsoilable old clothes. 
 
 "What's he up to now ?" was Frank's thought. "He 
 looks like a miniature ragman." 
 
 Another diminutive chap had emerged from an- 
 other dressing-room, and a man was standing on a 
 ladder applying something with a broad brush to the 
 flagpole that rose in front of the grand stand. 
 
 Rattleton ran beamingly toward Frank. 
 
 "Banny's got a debt I mean Danny's got a bet 
 with little Partridge that he can beat him climbing 
 a greased pole; and they're getting ready. It will 
 be a nicpic a picnic to see them." 
 
 The crowd was laughing and cheering the man who 
 was applying the grease to the pole, while Danny, 
 having now pranced into full view, posed like an ad- 
 miral on the quarterdeck, in spite of his ragamuffin 
 , attire. 
 
 Curt Partridge was no larger than Danny, though 
 much more slender. He wore a long-tailed coat, and
 
 Danny Has Sand. 19; 
 
 when he rushed at the pole he looked as much like a 
 spider monkey as a man. 
 
 The pole was round and as "slick as grease," and 
 when Partridge tried to climb it he appeared to fall 
 down faster than he could ascend. 
 
 "Oh, I'm just practising!" he called to the laughing 
 crowd that was showering him with all sorts of hu- 
 morous advice. "Wait till I rub all the oil from the 
 old thing, and I'll go up it like a flash." 
 
 "Oh, we're waiting!" squealed Danny, who beamed 
 in anticipation of an easy victory. "I don't want to 
 have to wait till these beautiful garments wear out t 
 though !" 
 
 Partridge's efforts to ascend the pole were a com- 
 plete failure. Nothing daunted, Danny advanced with 
 an air of supreme confidence. His hands were in his 
 pockets, and his pockets were bulging. 
 
 "Now see me !" he called out. "Everything is easy: 
 to the man who knows how." 
 
 The crowd shouted. 
 
 "Hear the kid calling hisself a man!" one gawky, 
 long-necked fellow yelled rudely. 
 
 But Danny was undisturbed. When his hands 
 came out of his pockets, each held a quantity of sand. 
 This he threw on the greased pole, where it stuck and 
 formed something of a rough surface. Up this Danny 
 shinned in a lively manner, stopping at the sand limit
 
 194 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 and showering the higher places with more sand from 
 his pockets. 
 
 The spectators began to cheer in appreciation of the 
 little fellow's cleverness, for he was working up the 
 pole in a handsome way, due to the aid of the sand. 
 
 When he had climbed as high as he cared to go he 
 dropped to the ground, took off his ragged hat, and 
 made a profound bow. 
 
 "Ladies and gentlemen, I have shown you that 
 even a greased pole may be climbed by the man who 
 knows how. The only thing that prevents people 
 from ascending in the world is a lack of perseverance. 
 And always remember that you never can succeed un- 
 less you've got 'sand' !" 
 
 Then he bowed again and retreated amid a din of 
 applauding cheers. 
 
 Four men had now been assigned their positions by 
 the clerk of the course, and were lined up at the start- 
 ing-point ready for the one-hundred-yards dash. Refe- 
 rees, judges, time-keepers, and starter were in their 
 places. Merriwell sat at one side, with the members 
 of his Athletic Team. In the grand stand and bleach- 
 ers was a brilliant array of color. The dresses and 
 ribbons of the ladies, the blue of Yale, and the red-and- 
 g-old of the Toledo Blades made grand stand, grounds, 
 and bleachers blossom like beds of moving flowers. 
 
 All eyes were centered on the four men lined up 
 for the one-hundred-yards dash. One of them was
 
 Danny Has Sand. 195 
 
 Carker, slender, thin-faced, thin-limbed, and intel- 
 lectual-looking. Another was Jack Ready, jauntily 
 bearing the Yale Y on his breast, and round and red 
 of cheek, as if he were ending the race, instead of 
 merely holding himself in readiness to begin it. 
 
 The other two were Gail, tall and slim, and Broad- 
 bent, whose sunken chest and spindle legs made him 
 look like a consumptive, but who was said to be won- 
 derfully fast in the short distances. In addition, 
 Broadbent had a thin face and little, gleaming black 
 eyes like those of a ferret. The men of gambling in- 
 stincts were placing their money quietly on Broad- 
 bent, though the Blades of Toledo objected to betting. 
 
 The starter lifted his pistol, and asked the question : 
 
 "Are you ready ? On the mark ! Get set !" 
 
 There was a tense straining of limbs, a crouching 
 of bodies, and a swaying of arms as the men an- 
 swered. Then the pistol cracked, and the runners 
 came down the hard cinder-path with legs flying. 
 
 Ready leaped into the lead, and Joe Gamp began 
 to "haw-haw" and screech. 
 
 "You're cue-coming, Ruh-Ruh-Ruh-Ready !" he 
 bawled, his tongue buzzing over the name like a fence 
 splinter in a high wind. The spectators rose up and 
 yelled, while flags and handkerchiefs fluttered. 
 
 Then a pretty thing was seen. Broadbent, the 
 spindle-legged and thin-chested, pushed up out of the 
 crowd, overtook Ready and passed him, in spite of all
 
 196 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 that Jack could do, and in a mad dash that set the spec- 
 tators wild, breasted the tape at the finish-line six 
 good yards ahead. 
 
 "A pretty dash !" said Merriwell, and the time went 
 up on an announcement-board "10 1-5 seconds." 
 
 For the i2O-yards hurdle-race, Bart Hodge and 
 Harry Rattleton were entered, with Bennett Saulsbury 
 and Ralph Morris of the Toledo Blades. Merriwell 
 had a good deal of confidence in Bart's ability to pull 
 out ahead in this hurdle-contest, for Bart had a good 
 eye, was speedy, and, moreover, had practised at hur- 
 dles under Merry's personal supervision. 
 
 But Morris, who was taller and lighter than Hodge, 
 and seemed to be really quicker on his feet, was the 
 favorite with the betting-men and with most of the 
 spectators. Morris had a hurdle record, too. 
 
 "If you've a man who can beat Morris, he's a good 
 one!" was the declaration of Palmer, the captain of 
 the Blades. "He hasn't the wind for a mile run, but 
 he's simply great at hurdles." 
 
 There were ten hurdles set ten yards apart, with a 
 fifteen-yard clear start and finish. The height of the 
 hurdles was three feet six inches. At the crack of the 
 starter's pistol, Harry Rattleton got away first, and 
 in such a race a good start is often a big part of the 
 battle. But Harry could not hold his lead. Sauls- 
 bury and Bart both passed him. 
 
 "Bart's going to win. Whoop!" shrieked Bink
 
 Danny Has Sand. 197 
 
 Stubbs, waving his cap. "Climb over them, you old 
 scrapper ! Just imagine you're fighting fire or knock- 
 ing somebody out, and you'll win sure." 
 
 It does not require a great deal of jumping-ability 
 for one to be good at hurdles. The aim of the trained 
 hurdler is to barely clear the hurdles, skimming over 
 the tops so closely that he almost grazes them, yet 
 without touching or knocking them over. Instead of 
 running as fast as he can between each leap, and ta- 
 king the hurdles with no definite number of steps, he 
 takes a certain number of steps between each flight, 
 and reaching each hurdle at the most favorable point 
 for the rise. 
 
 Hodge was cleverly taking the hurdles, coming on 
 in fine style, but Bink had hardly begun to shriek and 
 howl his encouragement, when Morris was seen to be 
 gaining. His leap over each bar resembled the ryth- 
 mic rising motion of some birds in flight, and he came 
 with the speed of a deer. 
 
 "Don't let him do you, Bart!" Danny yelled, wild 
 with excitement. 
 
 But Morris came on, passed Bart in a low, easy 
 leap, and beat him out neatly at the finish, the others 
 swinging behind. 
 
 The time was 161-5 seconds. 
 
 "I ought to have won that, Merry!" Hodge con- 
 fessed in some humiliation, as he stood pantingly by 
 his friend and captain. "But I couldn't get that arrest
 
 198 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 and trial out of my mind, even when I felt that Mor- 
 ris was passing me. It's going to be a handicap on 
 the whole team in the same way, I know, for I've 
 heard the fellows talk. They're blue about it, and 
 they're worried. And I'm more worried about it 
 than I like to confess even to you. When I see Ham- 
 merswell, I shall have to lick him again." 
 
 Merriwell gave him a serious look. 
 
 "You've no business to feel that way, Bart. You 
 mustn't feel that way. Put the thing out of your 
 mind, just as I have. No man can do well at any- 
 thing who carries a load of worry on top of his work. 
 That's what kills people it will knock out the best 
 man that ever lived ! We're going to win these con- 
 tests, and I'm going to come out of that other thing 
 all right. Just take my word for it and believe with 
 me. You must! Understand? You must!" 
 
 "We seem to be getting it in the neck," grunted 
 Bruce, as he loafed uneasily past, looking as calm as 
 an unruffled sea and as strong, yet inwardly disturbed 
 and filled with foreboding. 
 
 "Just put your thoughts on winning the hammer- 
 throw and the shot-put. You are not required to fret 
 away any mental fiber over anything else. The fellows 
 who are in the races must look after the races." 
 
 Others came to Frank in the same mental stew, and 
 they went away feeling saner and stronger. He had 
 a way of communicating his own inward strength and
 
 Danny Has Sand. 199 
 
 mental poise to his friends, and because of it they had 
 won on many a hard-fought field, and were likely to 
 win many more times when everything seemed against 
 them. 
 
 "I'm ashamed of you," he at last said to Rattleton, 
 who came up in spluttering dismay. "We're here to 
 win these contests, Harry, and we must win them." 
 
 "If we just had Diamond!" said Rattleton, who 
 had raged against the splendid Virginian through 
 jealousy at Niagara, but who admired and loved him 
 just the same. 
 
 Joe Gamp and Jack Ready were to contest with 
 Carl Moonlight and "Pepper" Benton in the quarter- 
 mile run. Moonlight was as tall and almost as awk- 
 ward as Joe Gamp. He was of German parentage, 
 and had an expansive, good-humored face and flaxen 
 hair, and it was expected that the fight between him 
 and the lank New Englander for the finish would be 
 something pretty to see. 
 
 "When yon see me run, you'll think I'm shod with 
 the slippers of Mercury!" Ready airily declared, as 
 he looked into the face of "Pepper," who was taller 
 than he. 
 
 "Sure! And those slippers will make you slip up 
 before you reach the tape-line!" was the answer. 
 
 Then the starter's pistol cracked, and with a flash- 
 ing of white limbs the runners were off, amid an out-
 
 200 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 burst of wild cheers and an encouraging flutter of 
 handkerchiefs. Moonlight leaped into the lead, with 
 Ready a close second. 
 
 "Ready's crowding him!" said Bruce placidly. "I 
 should like to see some of the fellows pull off a vie- [ 
 tory. We seem to be getting it in the neck." 
 
 "We'll continue to," was Bart's unpleasant answer. 
 "The fellows haven't any heart in the thing. They're 
 thinking of that arrest all the time. What little hope 
 I've got I'm pinning to Gamp. The fellow doesn't 
 wake up till the race is half-over." 
 
 "And in a quarter-mile there isn't a great deal of 
 time for waking up." 
 
 Ready came on in a splendid burst of speed, but 
 Benton was pushing him closely, with Gamp a yard 
 behind. Then Gamp began to pull toward the front, 
 amid the yells of the Athletic Team and their friends, 
 and the howls of a group of small boys, who were, as 
 usual, Merriwell enthusiasts. 
 
 Gamp passed Benton, and then Jack Ready, and 
 began to fight with Moonlight for the lead. Then 
 was seen a beautiful sight. The two fellows lost all 
 their awkwardness. The German threw his yellow 
 head back on his shoulders, pushed out his chest, and, 
 crowding by Gamp, who was right at his shoulder, 
 came down the path like the wind. 
 
 For one brief moment it seemed that Gamp would 
 be the winner, and Danny and Bink were dancing with
 
 Danny Has Sand. 201 
 
 joy. Then Moonlight spurted ; and Gamp was still at 
 his shoulder when they breasted the tape, and again 
 a member of the Toledo Blades had won first place. 
 
 "We're done up!" groaned Hodge, while Bruce's 
 broad face appeared to sober. 
 
 At that moment the notes of a fife, with the rattle 
 and ruba-dub-dub of drums floated across the field, 
 -and three queer figures came into view, each wearing 
 on his hat a "stove-pipe" section of blue cardboard 
 bearing a big white Yale Y. 
 
 They were marching abreast, and only a glance was 
 needed to show that they were disguised. The fifer, a 
 tall, lank fellow, capered his fingers rather awkwardly 
 on the fife, though he contrived to get a tune out of it. 
 He was the tallest of the three. The snare-drummer 
 was of medium height, while the man who bore the 
 big drum, pounding it in time and out of time and "in 
 every old way," was almost as big and round and 
 squat as his drum, though whether this effect was 
 produced by stuffed clothing or was natural, no one 
 could say. They were garbed like "jay" farmers, and 
 each wore a red beard that defied penetration. 
 
 Merriwell stared. 
 
 "Some sort of a joke of the Toledo Blades!" 
 grunted Bart. 
 
 "Some members of the Blades fixed up in that way 
 to look funny!" said Corker, who was not pleased
 
 202 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 with what he considered childish exhibitions. "Some 
 fellows have queer ideas of humor." 
 
 The fifer was playing, or trying to play, that old, 
 old fife piece, "We Are Marching Down to Old Que- 
 bec!" He made rather a mess of it; but no music 
 from Sousa's band was ever received with more cheer- 
 ing or greater demonstrations of delight. The people 
 simply stood up in the grand stand and howled. 
 
 "That bands the beat beats the band !" gasped Rat- 
 tleton. 
 
 "Git onto the jay wid the base-drum !" yelled one of 
 the boys. 
 
 "Dat fifer must be Jack come down frum his bean- 
 stalk !" yelled another. 
 
 "See de snare-drummer stumble wid his sticks !" 
 
 "Haow's the haying?" yelled Joe Gamp. 
 
 The fifer took the fife from his mouth, stared at 
 Gamp, and, in a close imitation of Gamp's dialect, 
 shouted back: 
 
 "The hayin's all right, b'gosh ! an' so's this music !'" 
 
 "Did you say Sousa's music?" demanded Bink. 
 
 "Young feller, don't git gay!" the leader threat- 
 ened. Then turned to his men : 
 
 "Right abaout face. Lef foot forrud. Naow, 
 inarch. Halt !" 
 
 The drums stopped, and so did the men, facing 
 toward the grand stand, where handkerchiefs were 
 fluttering and shouts of laughter were rising.
 
 Danny Has Sand. 203 
 
 "Naow, all together. Give 'em a rip-roarin' one, 
 b'gosh!" 
 
 A dozen dialects seemed to mingle in the cry : 
 
 "Hooraw for Frank Merriwell!" 
 
 "Don't fall mit dot trum on top of you!" shouted 
 a good-natured German to the fat drummer. 
 
 "Ton'd you oben your mouth so vide dot id vill 
 fall indo you !" was shot back in answer. 
 
 "Will yez git onto the luks av him!" yelled a big 
 Irishman. 
 
 "If it's insultin' us ye are, Oi'll break the face av 
 yez!" the snare-drummer yelled back. "Oi'm from 
 the Ould Dart mesilf, and Oi won't shtand anny sass, 
 begob!" 
 
 "Whoop!" squealed Bink. "This is the funniest 
 circus I've seen in a month of Sundays !" 
 
 "The jay band from Jayville, come out to whoop 
 things up for Merriwell!" screeched Danny. "Some- 
 body pinch me, please, so that I can tell if I'm awake 
 or dreaming." 
 
 The fifer put his fife to his lips and gave the key- 
 note, and the three disguised, farmerish fellows began 
 to sing, each in a separate dialect, at the same time 
 moving their feet as if marching : 
 
 "We are marching down to old Quebec, 
 Where the drums are loudly beating; 
 The Americans have gained the day, 
 And the British are retreating."
 
 204 Danny Has Sand. 
 
 But they did not sing it so plainly as that. The tall 
 fif er started in alone : 
 
 "We are marching daown tew old Quebec," 
 
 and was then drowned by the heavy voice of the fat 
 base-drummer : 
 
 "Vere der trum vos loutly peating, 
 The Americans hov gained the day, b'gob, 
 And the British fale loike retrating." 
 
 Then the tall fifer yelled, crowded out and followed 
 by the others: 
 
 "The wars are all o'er, b'gosh, an' we'll turn back 
 
 Vrom der blace vere virst ve sdarted, 
 We'll open up the string, begorra! an' choose a couple in, 
 To relase the poor broken-harrted." 
 
 The clumsy base-drummer was behind here, and 
 bellowed, as he thumped his drum for emphasis : 
 "Shust to cheer ub dose vemales whose hearts vos 
 vide-oben pu'sted." 
 
 "I should like to know the nationality of these 
 guys," said Greg Carker, in a voice loud enough for 
 them to hear. 
 
 "They were bred in old Kentucky!" chirped Bink 
 Stubbs. 
 
 "You vos a liar !" shouted the base-drummer. 
 
 "If yez sass me, ye hatchet-faced lobster, Oi'll t'ump 
 yez wid me dhrurn-shticks !" 
 
 "We'll cut him daown fer hay while he's green, 
 b'gosh!" said the fifer.
 
 Danny Has Sand. 205 
 
 Frank Merriwell was broadly smiling. 
 
 "Take off your beards and show us who you are," 
 urged Carker. 
 
 "Shed your hayseed and show us your hair I" 
 shouted Danny. 
 
 The fifer began to sing, followed by the others in 
 rather straggling order : 
 
 "We was bread in old Kentucky, 
 
 We wor butter in New Orlanes, 
 We vos vresh pork in Chicago, 
 In Boston we was baked beans!" 
 
 Here the fifer drew a long breath, and started in 
 again, taking the first line as before, followed again 
 by the snare-drummer with the next line, and he byj 
 the base-drummer with the next : 
 
 "We was codfish in Newfoundland, 
 
 In Kansas, b'gobs, we wor wh'ate! 
 But in efery bart uf der vorlt, you pet! 
 Merriwell never was beat!" 
 
 Everybody howled as the song concluded. 
 
 "Merriwell never was beat !" shouted the lank fifer. 
 Then he turned to his men and swung his fife. 
 
 "Naow! Merriwell! Merriwell! Three cheers for 
 Frank Merriwell!" 
 
 Then a thousand throats seemed to burst forth in 
 one great shout for Merriwell,
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE ASCOT BAND. 
 
 That shout was joined in not only by Frank's friends 
 and admirers, and they were many in Toledo, but by 
 a large number of people who did it to cheer the three 
 queer Merriwell rooters. 
 
 Excited queries concerning their identity were fly- 
 ing round. Frank Merriwell was still broadly smi- 
 ling. 
 
 "Dick the whoens I mean who the dickens are 
 they?" sputtered Rattleton. 
 
 "Well, that's what I should like to know myself!" 
 grunted Bruce. 
 
 "They're for Merriwell, all right !" squealed Danny. 
 
 "Who do you think they are, Merry?" Carker in- 
 quired, the bored look having departed from his face. 
 
 "If that three-man band will only play for me 
 when I run next time, it will give to my Mercury 
 wings the speed of the wind !" chirped Ready. "Re- 
 fuse me, but I must confess that I'm puzzled !" 
 
 Swiftwing stood with arms folded and impassive 
 face. The people on the ground, in the grand stand, 
 and in the bleachers, were hurling all sorts of ques- 
 tions at the three fellows who had made so strange 
 an entrance upon the scene, and the three were shoot-
 
 The Ascot Band. 207 
 
 ing back replies that tended to set everybody in a 
 good humor. 
 
 "Gug-gug-gug-goshf ry ! I nun-never sus-seen any- 
 thing like it sense the time me and my brothers gug- 
 got up the tin-pup-pup-pan band and charged the 
 school-house!" stuttered Gamp. "That was sus-some- 
 thing of a sus-sus-sensation, naow, I tell you! I 
 beat my old tin-pan till I pup-pup-pounded a hole 
 through it. I was a thumper in them days, by chaow- 
 der ! but I wan't nigh as fat as the feller with that big 
 drum, you bet. A-haw! haw! a-haw! If you'd chop 
 off his legs and his head you couldn't tell him frum 
 his drum!" 
 
 "I believe Merry knows who they are!" declared 
 Bart, who had been studying his friend's face. "Whc* 
 are they, Merry?" 
 
 "Yes, I know, but I'll leave you to find out." 
 
 The officials of the contests were busying them*- 
 selves, for the games had apparently come to an end, 
 and now the announcement of the one-mile run was 
 made. 
 
 Swiftwing and Gamp, Moonlight and Ralph Morn's, 
 the latter said to be a phenomenal runner in a mile 
 race, were in this event. Those who were not ready 
 dived for the dressing-rooms, to reappear shortly in 
 racing-suits. 
 
 The betting-men and the citizens of Toledo, as well 
 as the Toledo Blades, were sure that another victory
 
 208 The Ascot Band. 
 
 was to be added to those already won by the Blades, 
 all pinning their faith on the splendid running-abili- 
 ties of Morris and Moonlight. Morris was as tall and 
 deep chested as Moonlight. 
 
 Swiftwing, however, was the favorite of a great 
 many, particularly the ladies, perhaps because he was 
 an Indian, and also because he was a veritable demi- 
 god in looks as he came out of the dressing-room and 
 walked solemnly into position. 
 
 "Hooray fer the Merriwell b'ys !" shouted the snare- 
 drummer, giving his drum-sticks such an elaborate 
 flourish that he struck the fat base-drummer in the ear. 
 
 "Vot vos I ub to?" the latter howled, turning on 
 the other with lifted stick. 
 
 "Shut up, ye Dutch chaze!" 
 
 "You shud ub my mouth!" the other cried, with a 
 fierce flourish. "You vos alvays sdickin' my nose into 
 your pusiness." 
 
 "If ye sass me, ye lobster, I'll woipe up the flure wid 
 yez!" 
 
 "Kept avay off from you !" shouted the other. 
 
 "Begorra! Oi'll break the face av yez, ye balony- 
 sausage !" 
 
 The fat fellow shook his fist under the snare-drum- 
 mer's nose. 
 
 "You vos a palony-sissage myseluf, und you couldt 
 vhip me mit your hants tied!" 
 
 "Begosh, I'll birch ye both, if you don't carm
 
 The Ascot Band. 209 
 
 daown !" the lank fif er declared. "Hooray fer Frank 
 Merriwell !" 
 
 The others forgot their quarrel instantly. 
 
 "Dot vos der stuffin's! Do heem ag'in! Whoop 
 her up vor Vrankie Merriwell!" 
 
 "Oi'm howlin' f'r the Merriwell runners, you bet! 
 .They can bate the wurruld !" 
 
 Rattleton plucked at MerriweH's arm. 
 
 "Say !" he excitedly whispered. 
 
 The crowd was dividing its attention between these 
 queer hayseeds, whose dialects were so different from 
 their appearance, and the men who were getting ready 
 for the mile run. It was great fun to behold the 
 "farmers" quarreling at each other in the broken Eng- 
 lish of Germany, the brogue of Ireland, and the nasal 
 twist of the New England backwoods. 
 
 "Git into line there and dew quit your fussin' !" the 
 lank fifer commanded. 
 
 "Yaw!" exploded the fat drummer. "Gid me a 
 line, und shut ub." 
 
 "Oi'll shut yez up wid a cr'rack on the jaw, d'ye 
 moind, av yez don't quit hur'rlin' yer Dutch nonsinse 
 at me, begobs!" 
 
 "Naow !" cried the leader. "All ready. The racers 
 are goin' to start. Play 'em a tune to cheer' em. A 
 lively one, b'gosh! Naow! All together!" 
 
 fie put his fife to his lips and began to squeal out
 
 210 The Ascot Band. 
 
 "The Girl I Left Behind Me," as the pistol of the 
 starter cracked, and the four runners leaped forward. 
 
 "Say!" Rattleton excitedly whispered, tugging at 
 Merriwell's coat. "I know those fellows." 
 
 Merriwell laughed. 
 
 "You've caught on, have you, Rattles?" 
 
 "Who are they ?" Bruce grunted. 
 
 "Tell him, Merry. I'm afraid even yet that I may 
 be mistaken." 
 
 "Dunnerwust, Barney Mulloy, and Ephraim Gal- 
 lup! I saw through their disguise as soon as they 
 came on the grounds and began to talk." 
 
 "But it can't be!" protested Bart. "They're not in 
 Toledo! How does it happen that they're in Toledo, 
 if your guess is true?" 
 
 "My guess is true, though I don't know how they 
 happen to be in Toledo. They are here, and, learning 
 of our advent into the place and of this contest, they 
 have planned this little business as a pleasant sur- 
 prise." 
 
 "Hakes me want to go out and mug them I mean 
 it makes me want to go out and hug 'em!" beamed 
 Rattleton. "Say, fellows, this is the jolliest go I ever 
 heard of. I'm not dreaming, am I ?" 
 
 The shriek of the fife and the eccentric rattle of the 
 drums were enough to convince him that he was not 
 dreaming. 
 
 The runners were moving along in full view of the
 
 The Ascot Band. 211 
 
 grand stand and bleachers in beautiful style, and the 
 three "jays" were fifing and thumping so loudly that 
 they appeared to be resolved to make their "music" 
 heard to the farthest end of the track. 
 
 "You're right, Merry!" Bart assented. "I don't 
 know how I could have been so stupid. They're Mul- 
 loy, Dunnerwurst, and Gallup! The same old three!" 
 
 "But who could be expected to recognize them in 
 those beards and with that outlandish clothing?" said 
 Carker, who was not very familiar with the appear- 
 ance of Gallup and Hans, and who had never before 
 seen Barney. 
 
 "Regular jays from Jayville!" chirped Ready. 
 "When I look at them I seem to smell the hay of far- 
 off meadows." 
 
 The crowd was dividing its cheers between the 
 "jay" band and the runners; though, more and more, 
 attention was being turned toward the latter. 
 
 The race was seen to be a fine one. Moonlight and 
 Swiftwing were in the lead, closely followed by Mor- 
 ris, with Gamp ten yards behind, as the quarter-mile 
 was passed. 
 
 The track was almost circular and a half-mile long. 
 As the runners came down on the second quarter- 
 stretch, the fife squealed even more loudly and the 
 din of the drums became deafening. Swiftwing was 
 in the lead, though only a foot or so, and Gamp was 
 crawling up on Morris.
 
 212 The Ascot Band. 
 
 Gamp continued to lessen the distance. Then Moon- 
 light spurted in an effort to overtake and pass Swift- 
 wing, and the crowd stood up in the seats and yelled. 
 As the runners neared the grand stand, Gallup forgot 
 to blow the fife and Hans forgot to thump the big 
 drum. 
 
 "Git daown to business, Swiftwing!" Gallup yelled. 
 
 "You run-queek-mit-der-ving, gid a faster move on 
 me !" Hans howled. "Shust t'ink dot you vos a mule 
 mit an oats-pundle in vront uf mine nose! Dose vos 
 der stuffin's ! Gid me town to mine pusiness. Yaw ! 
 Go id! go id!" 
 
 In his excitement he seized the big drum-stick and 
 joined Mulloy, who had steadily hammered away on 
 his snare-drum, and Gallup, now recollecting him- 
 self, put the fife to his lips and again sought to send 
 Swiftwing and Gamp on with "The Girl I ,Left Behind 
 Me." 
 
 Moonlight was almost abreast of Swiftwing as they 
 passed the half-mile, with Morris a close third, though 
 crowded by Gamp. But Gamp continued to gain, 
 running in long, easy lopes that somewhat resembled 
 the Indian stride of Swiftwing, and at the three-quar- 
 ters pole he passed Morris. Then Moonlight, having 
 overexerted himself, dropped back into fourth place, 
 and Gamp swung up beside Swiftwing on the third 
 quarter, with Morris right at their heels. 
 
 From this on it was a fight for first place between
 
 The Ascot Band. 213 
 
 the Pueblo and the gaunt New Englander. The In- 
 dian lope of Swiftwing was wonderfully effective, but 
 Gamp's strides were longer, and his gaunt legs moved 
 like the piston-rods of an engine as he neared the end. 
 He held his own with Swiftwing, whose running was 
 something beautiful to see; then, with a spurt, he 
 leaped past the Indian and beat him out two feet at 
 the end. 
 
 The "three-man band" was filling the air with a 
 din, but it was drowned in the wild shout that went 
 up when Gamp and Swiftwing crossed the line. It 
 had been a splendid race, and it was a splendid victory. 
 The time was good, too! Four minutes and twenty- 
 one seconds for Gamp. 
 
 The tide had turned. The coming of the eccentric 
 trio of disguised friends had lifted the cloud that was 
 shadowing the Athletic Team and rendering their ef- 
 forts futile. Everybody felt it. Frank walked out 
 to the "three-man band," as Ephraim put down his 
 fife. 
 
 "That was handsomely done!" he said. "I don't 
 know how you happen to be in Toledo, but you have 
 done me and the fellows a good turn. We're going to 
 win this series of contests now, without any doubt." 
 
 "Vrankie, my poy! You vas gladness to seen me!" 
 shouted Hans, dropping the big drum-stick and clasp- 
 ing Merriwell's hand, though he did not remove his 
 disguising beard, and his unfeigned pleasure made
 
 The Ascot Band. 
 
 him appear more comical than ever before. "You 
 vos neffer so gladness in mine life!" 
 
 "B'gobs! We t'ought thot yez naded a mashcot, 
 and we got togither and kim over to be thot very 
 thing fer yez !" shouted Mulloy, getting hold of the 
 other hand. "Av anybody can holler louder fer yez 
 than Barney Mulloy, Oi'll punch the villain's head for 
 him, so Oi will!" 
 
 "B'gosh, we met together in this old taown by 
 chance!" cried Gallup. "Some feller told us that you 
 was daown here, and he thought you was going to 
 fluke-up to-day; so we org'nized our band, and we 
 come daown to help ye. By gum! I wa'n't afeared, 
 though, that anything could do up yore fellers, Merri- 
 well! Tain't in the blood of the fellers that trains 
 with you ter be licked !" 
 
 "Hooray for Gamp!" Danny was yelling. 
 
 "Hooray for Swiftwing!" screeched Bink. 
 
 .Then the crowd joined in and roared again.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 MERRIWELL'S DASH. 
 
 The coming of the mascot band seemed to have 
 been the one thing needed to put life into Merriwell's 
 men; for Jack Ready almost immediately won the 
 half-mile run in a contest with Broadbent, and Bart 
 Hodge captured the 22O-yards hurdles in a hot con- 
 test with Ralph Morris. 
 
 That the race might be made as interesting as pos- 
 sible from the point of view of the spectators, six men 
 were entered for the 22O-yards dash Merriwell him- 
 self, with Joe Gamp and Swiftwing, representing the 
 Athletic Team, and Carl Moonlight, Broadbent, and 
 "Pepper" Benton the Toledo Blades. 
 
 The applause on their appearance from the dressing- 
 tents was pretty equally divided between Frank Mer- 
 riwell and John Swiftwing, for both were almost per- 
 fect specimens of physical manhood. Swiftwing, in 
 his light racing-suit, looked like a dark bronze statue, 
 while Merriwell's perfectly formed limbs and arms 
 were a beautiful pink. He appeared larger than when 
 clad in ordinary clothing, and the sight of his well- 
 proportioned yet massive muscles was a revelation as 
 to what persistent and intelligent all-round training 
 can do for a young man.
 
 216 Merri well's Dash. 
 
 "He can't run with those spindle-legged fellows, 
 though!" was the remark that went round. 
 
 "Ton'd you fool myseluf apoudt dot !" yelled Hans, 
 who overheard it. "I vos a vlying-machines ven he 
 geds me vound ub!" 
 
 The mascot band had been "lifting" the other run- 
 ners over the ground with "Yankee Doodle" and 
 "Marching Through Georgia." Now Gallup pushed 
 the Yale "stove-pipe" to the back of his hat, pulled 
 off the big red beard, and began to tune up with, 
 "Here's to good old Yale, drink it down! drink it 
 down !" 
 
 Hans Dunnerwust jerked off his red beard, and, 
 after deliberately hunting for a safe pocket in which 
 to stow it, solemnly tucked it away, then spat on his 
 hands, and again took up the drum-stick. Mulloy gave 
 his beard a fling into the air, with a whoop of joy at 
 sight of Merriwell. 
 
 Danny began to sing: 
 
 "Balm of Gilead, Gilead, 
 'Way down on the Bingo Farm." 
 
 Then some Yale men in the grand stand broke out 
 with the famous Yale cry: 
 
 "Brek key co ax coax coax 
 Brek key co ax coax coax 
 Wh-o-o-up who-o-up paraholoo Yale!" 
 
 What a contrast there was in the runners as they
 
 Merriwell's Dash. 217 
 
 strained in position for the start! Merriwell, beauti- 
 ful as Apollo; Swiftwing, looking like a bronzed god; 
 Joe Gamp, tall, lank, awkward; Broadbent, with hat- 
 chet features, sunken chest, and spindle legs; Moon- 
 light, yellow-maned and Teutonic, and "Pepper" Ben- 
 ton, lithe, muscular, and freckle-faced. 
 
 In spite of the wonderful running of Gamp and 
 Swiftwing, those who fancied themselves judges of 
 such things believed that the chances in this dash 
 were all in favor of Moonlight and Broadbent Moon- 
 light was a wonderfully fast runner; and in a short 
 3ash, Broadbent, in spite of his appearance, was 
 simply a phenomenon. 
 
 The starter's pistol cracked, and the runners leaped 
 away, with Hans furiously pounding the big drum, 
 Gallup blowing the fife with all his might, and the 
 spectators yelling. Broadbent looked to be two feet 
 ahead at the very beginning of the run, with the others 
 abreast. Then the beautiful form of Merriwell pushed 
 out into clearer view, passing the spindle-legged fel- 
 low. 
 
 Danny and Bink began to shriek and howl. Moon- 
 light and Swiftwing drew abreast of Broadbent, 
 closely followed by Gamp. Merriwell was already two 
 yards in the lead. Swiftwing passed Moonlight, with 
 Gamp at his heels. 
 
 Then Moonlight and Broadbent spurted, in a des- 
 perate effort to regain what they had lost. Moonlight
 
 218 Merriwell's Dash. 
 
 came up with Gamp, but the lank fellow again left 
 him. Merriwell was ahead, with Swiftwing two yards 
 behind him. 
 
 The people rose to their feet, with a babel of ex- 
 clamations and cries. Rattleton tried to say some- 
 thing, and stuttered so in attempting to right a re- 
 versed sentence that he fairly choked himself red in 
 the face. Bruce began to bellow like a fog-horn, and 
 Bart smiled his grim satisfaction. 
 
 "Come home, Merry !" Bink screeched, throwing his 
 hat on the ground and jumping on it. "Co-ome 
 ho-ome !" 
 
 High over all sounded the furious pounding of the 
 oase-drum and the shrill squeal of Gallup's fife. 
 
 Merriwell was coming home! He was now eight 
 yards in the lead, and Swiftwing was behind him. 
 Gamp was now close after Swiftwing, with Moon- 
 light right at his heels, and Broadbent and Benton 
 stringing along farther back. 
 
 Then the fife began to whistle, "See, the Conquering 
 Hero Comes !" 
 
 Hans was not trying to keep time, nor did Mulloy 
 appear to care for so small a matter. They were 
 simply bent on making a deafening noise, and they 
 were succeeding. 
 
 "Dose vos der stuffin's!" yelled Hans, as he furi- 
 ously pounded away. "See my legs vly avay mit 
 heem! You vos a automobilier, und I ton'd vorget
 
 MerriwelPs Dash. 219 
 
 myselluf vor a minute, you pet! Whoob! whoob! 
 Vrankie, I vos a locomoinchine mit a red vlag tied to 
 your catcher-cowl Whoob! whoob! Come home to 
 dem vot lofes you, Vrankie!" 
 
 Merriwell was nearing the tape. So fine a burst of 
 speed had never been seen on the cinder-path of the 
 Toledo Blades, and the excitement was intense. 
 
 He crossed the line, twelve yards ahead of his best 
 competitor, John Swiftwing, with Gamp three yards 
 behind the Pueblo. The Toledo Blade contestants 
 were simply "not in it."
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 FRANK MERRIWELL'S VAULT. 
 
 The greatest jumper of the Toledo Blades was the 
 captain, Merret Palmer. In the running high-jump 
 he had a record of five feet eight and a half inches. 
 He was equally celebrated as a vaulter. It was be- 
 lieved by his friends that few could defeat him at 
 pole-vaulting. None of the other members of the 
 Toledo Blades could approach him in the high- jump 
 and the pole-vault, and because Merriwell was said to 
 be something of a wonder in both of these, Palmer 
 was put against him. 
 
 The running high- jump came first. The queer mas- 
 cot band had marched, playing, round the grounds in 
 front of the grand stand immediately after Merriwell; 
 had won the 22O-yards dash, to the delight and amuse- 
 ment of the vast crowd of spectators. 
 
 Now the "band" took position where the running 
 high-jump was to be contested and "tuned up" for 
 the purpose of cheering Merriwell. 
 
 "Uf Vrankie Merriwell ton'd peat heem, he will 
 peat me myselluf !" Hans gravely shouted, as he took 
 up the drum-stick. 
 
 "Shut up, ye Dutch chaze!" Barney commanded. 
 "Yez couldn't git yure fut over a broom-shtick. The 
 leddies do be af ther laughing at yez f Oi'll be ashamed
 
 Frank Merri well's Vault. 221 
 
 bf mesilf for being seen wid the loikes of sich as ye 
 air!" 
 
 "Oh, you gone to grass !" Hans blurted. "You vos 
 nod half so funny as I t'ink I vos !" 
 
 Merret Palmer was in position for the jump, and 
 now started. He made a beautiful run, and easily 
 cleared the bar. Merriwell did the same. Then the 
 bar was lifted higher, and Palmer cleared it again. 
 Merriwell followed in the same way. 
 
 Again the measurers elevated the bar. 
 
 "Merriwell will never go over that!" said Sauls- 
 bury. 
 
 "I'm afraid they've put it so high that Palmer can't 
 go over it," said Gail. 
 
 Palmer carefully estimated the distance with his 
 eye, then broke into a run. He made a beautiful leap, 
 and it appeared that he would easily clear the bar. 
 But the height was very high and deceptive. Palmer 
 struck the bar and carried it away. 
 
 "Put it two inches higher!" said Frank. 
 
 The measurers looked questioningly at him. 
 
 "Just a bluff!" Gail whispered. "He knows he'll 
 carry the bar away, too, and thinks he may as well 
 have it two inches higher, and so give the appearance 
 of having made a great jump! The thing is too thin, 
 though." 
 
 Bart heard him and gave him a black look, but at 
 once turned toward Frank. The mascot band was
 
 222 Frank Merri well's Vault 
 
 shrieking and pounding away, but it seemed to re- 
 double its effort as Merriwell started for the run. The 
 noise, unmusical, yet produced by men who loved and 
 adored him, seemed to give speed and lightness to 
 his movements. Then he rose into the air with the 
 lightness of a bird, and cleared the bar with the great- 
 est apparent ease. 
 
 A wild shout went up from the spectators. The 
 jump had been phenomenal. Gail was astounded and 
 bewildered. 
 
 "I didn't think it possible !" he gasped. 
 
 "Which only shows that you don't know Merri- 
 well!" Bart snapped. 
 
 The figures went up : "5 feet 1 1 1-4 inches." 
 
 While the "jay" band was still playing and the 
 people shouting, big Bruce Browning walked into posi- 
 tion for the hammer-throw, taking the hammer and 
 stepping into the seven-foot ring. He looked like a 
 young Hercules. Twice the heavy hammer was 
 swung round, then it went over his shoulder in a 
 mighty throw, which measured 150 feet 5 inches. 
 
 A big giant named Devan was his competitor in 
 this event; but Devan's throw measured only 133 feet 
 9 inches a good throw, but appearing to fall ridicu- 
 lously short in comparison with the one made by 
 Bruce. 
 
 After that Bruce defeated Devan easily in the shot- 
 putting event; and Jack Ready and Joe Gamp took
 
 Frank Merriwell's Vault. 223 
 
 the honors in the running broad jump. Everything 
 in sight was now being taken by the Athletic Team. 
 Then Merriwell and Palmer came forward to fight 
 for the honor of the pole-vault. The mascot band 
 "tuned up" again. 
 
 "Now you seen me go higher as der moon vot 
 jumbed of er der cow !" squawked Hans. "Fetter you 
 put a string to heem to bull me town again !" 
 
 "B'gosh ! I'll put a string raound your neck to keep 
 you from talking all the time an' f ergittin' to paound 
 that drum !" threatened Gallup. "I will, by chaow- 
 der!" 
 
 Bart and others were cheering the mascot band, 
 and in consequence Hans was so pleased and excited 
 that he thumped the atmosphere quite as much as he 
 did the drum-head, and forgot entirely that in music 
 there is such a thing as "time." 
 
 Palmer came first in the pole-vault. He made a 
 pretty leap, and easily cleared the high bar. Merri- 
 well duplicated the performance. 
 
 The bar was pushed far up. Palmer went over it 
 again, but not with such ease, while Merriwell ap- 
 peared to have no difficulty in passing cleverly over it. 
 Again it went up, astonishingly high as it seemed. 
 Palmer, however, appeared confident that he could 
 clear it, though his friends, made anxious by his ex- 
 perience in the high-jump, were plainly nervous. 
 
 Palmer made a quick, confident run, planted his pole
 
 224 Frank Merriwell's Vault 
 
 firmly, and rose lightly ; but the bar was too high for 
 him, and he knocked it down instead of passing over 
 it. 
 
 Merriwell stood for a moment surveying the dis- 
 tance with his eye, while the mascot band dinned and 
 Hans squawked encouragingly. Then he made the 
 same kind of a run, and passed over the bar with as 
 much apparent ease as when it was lower. The Blades 
 were amazed. 
 
 "Vot you tolt me?" squawked Hans, stopping his 
 pounding for a moment and glaring round. "Vos der 
 cow jumper of er der moon petter as dot?" 
 
 "Put the bar six inches higher!" Merriwell com- 
 manded. 
 
 The measurers stared. 
 
 "Put it six inches higher!" he repeated. 
 
 "You seen me ?" howled Hans, giving the big drum 
 a terrible thump. "I vos going to peat dot, und yumb 
 ofer der cow vot jumbed ofer der moon. Climb me 
 ub in a tree und hold me dose pars higher yit a'ready I 
 Gid oudt uf de away off, eferypoty! Now you seen 
 me!" 
 
 The measurers put the bar six inches higher. The 
 spectators were howling. They liked an exhibition of 
 grit, though many began to fear that even Merriwell 
 had cut out too hard a task for himself. 
 
 Hans and Barney "lifted" on the drums as Frank 
 started, and Gallup gave the fife an extra squeak.
 
 Frank Merrlwell's Vault. 225. 
 
 Merry passed over the short distance with the light- 
 ness of a bird, planted the pole in the ground a little 
 space in front of the bar, and lightly lifted himself into 
 the air. He went up, up, as if flying, swung himself 
 gracefully over the high bar as he reached the perpen- 
 dicular, letting go the pole at the same moment, and 
 dropped to the ground on the other side as lightly as 
 a feather. 
 
 There was a thunder of applause, while the meas- 
 urers and the athletic members of the Toledo Blades 
 who knew something about pole-vaulting were struck 
 dumb. The height of Merriwell's great pole-vault 
 was ii feet ii inches. It was a record-breaker.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 JACK READY'S PHOTOGRAPHS. 
 
 Jack Ready came into Merriwell's room that night 
 in great excitement, holding in his hand a surprising 
 camera picture for which he could not account. 
 
 The room was filled with Merriwell's friends, in- 
 cluding Mulloy, Dunnerwust, and Gallup, who had 
 been volubly explaining how, by the merest chance, 
 they had stumbled upon each other in the city of 
 Toledo and had then conceived the plan of visiting 
 the grounds of the Toledo Blades in their "jay" dis- 
 guise as a mascot band. 
 
 "By chaowder! It was the most sing'lar thing I 
 ever knowed," Gallup declared. "The Dutchman 
 bumped ag'in me right in the middle of the street; 
 and as we was shakin' hands, Mulloy come along and 
 jammed my hat daown on my head, and hollered 
 'Haow de do?' B'gosh, I 'most fainted. Never 
 heard of anything so queer in all my born days!" 
 
 "Not half so queer as this!" chirped Ready. "I 
 think I must have been taking pictures in my sleep 
 sort of walking round on the ozone in broad daylight 
 and snapping my camera without knowing anything 
 about it. I've got a picture here that I never took!" 
 
 H, thrust it under Frank's nose. Merry stared a* 
 it for a moment, then fairlv leaped from his chair.
 
 Jack Ready's Photographs. 1 227 
 
 "You see who the parties are ?" he asked. 
 
 "Well, my cranium feels so queer since discovering 
 tkat thing while I was developing my films that I 
 can't trust my eyes to anything. But if I'm not 
 dreaming say, fellows, I'm not dreaming?" 
 
 Greg Carker pushed forward for a look at the pic- 
 ture. 
 
 "If I'm not dreaming, I should say that one of the 
 fellows the one who is being gently belted with the 
 slung-shot is Delancy Livingston !" 
 
 "It is Livingston !" exclaimed Carker. "Where did 
 you get that ?" 
 
 "Just now; a while ago, that is while developing 1 
 films. I can account for the other pictures, but not 
 for that. I know I never snapped on that scene 
 unless I did it in my sleep!" 
 
 "Where were you when Delancy was knocked 
 down ? Were you out in the woods by the lake shore ?" 
 
 Frank put the questions. Almost a dazed look came 
 into Ready's face. 
 
 "Say!" he cried. Then stopped, as if the thought 
 was impossible. 
 
 "Say !" he began again. 
 
 "Well, say it !" Hodge grumbled. 
 
 "I was out there with Carker, and we had our 
 cameras; but I didn't think why! it's possible, isn't 
 it ? I remember that, as we were going along a path, 
 or toward a path, I stumbled and pushed my camera
 
 Jack Ready's Photographs. 
 
 button. I recollect now, too, that I said to Carker, 
 'There's a film gone!' or something like that. But the 
 camera wasn't pointing at anything!" 
 
 "Where is the picture of the bushes and trees which 
 you must have got when you pressed the button?" 
 Carker queried. "That is, supposing that your camera 
 was ready for taking a picture at the time?" 
 
 "The camera was ready. I thought something 
 might hop out of the bushes and I held it ready, so 
 that I could instantly press the button in case of need. 
 There isn't any picture with bushes and things, ex- 
 cept this one; and it shows this scene. Say! fellows, 
 I must have snapped the scene when the trampish fel- 
 low was beating Delancy down with the slung-shot." 
 
 "Nothing else!" Frank declared. "That's the very 
 fellow, and that's the very scene I looked on myself, 
 though from a different point of view, when I leaped 
 through the bushes to help Livingston." 
 
 "And got yourself into trouble by it!" snarled 
 Hodge. 
 
 "It's all clear to me, since your explanation,*' Frank 
 went on. "You had the camera pointed through an 
 opening in the bushes upon that very scene at the mo- 
 ment you stumbled and pressed the button, and the 
 camera faithfully recorded what it saw. You have a 
 witness that no honorable court will go back on !" 
 
 Hodge stared, then uttered a war-whoop and leaped 
 to his feet
 
 Jack Ready's Photographs. 229 
 
 "A witness ! Sure ! And I never thought of it that 
 way ! What an idiot I am ! Merry, you're all right !" 
 
 There were almost tears in the eyes of the honest 
 fellow and true friend for Merriwell had no truer 
 friend than Bart Hodge. And Hodge had been troub- 
 led beyond measure by the evidence which was to be 
 brought against Frank in the trial, which was fixed 
 for an early day. He had talked the matter over, 
 without Frank's knowledge, with the members of the 
 [Athletic Team, with those who could be trusted as 
 friends in the Toledo Blades, and with some of the best 
 lawyers in Toledo; and none of them could make him 
 feel that Merriwell was not in imminent peril of im- 
 prisonment and ignominious disgrace, even though in- 
 nocent. 
 
 He saw now that the picture which Ready had un- 
 knowingly taken in the grounds at Granada Heights, 
 by the lake shore, was the one thing needed to clear 
 Frank of the faintest suspicion of guilt. This picture, 
 added to the abundant proof of Frank's stainless repu- 
 tation hitherto, would be enough to convince any un- 
 prejudiced judge and secure Merriwell's release. 
 
 Bart was dancing about the room like a wild man. 
 Carker took the picture and passed it round for in- 
 spection. 
 
 "Where's my fife?" yelled Ephraim, 
 
 He leaped up also.
 
 230 Jack Ready's Photographs. 
 
 "Und my trum vos creebed avay by mysellufl" 
 squawked Hans. "Vere vos does trums?" 
 
 "From the looks of you, I think you must have 
 eaten yours for supper!" chirped Bink Stubbs. 
 
 "Shut ub my mouth!" Hans howled, glaring at 
 the little joker. "Uf you ead so much as myselluf you 
 voult pe pigger as two moons. Who tolt you so much 
 alretty yet righdt avay queek ? You see dot ?" shaking 
 his fist under Bink's nose. "You vill hit me, uf you 
 talk so much sassiness to yourselluf. I ton'd stant no 
 such voolishness from me or anypotty !" 
 
 "B'gorra! I bel'ave I'll put the two hands av me 
 on the little dhrum!" Mulloy exclaimed, likewise 
 scrambling up. Then the three dived into the hall, 
 and, returning in a few moments with the fife and 
 drums, began a furious pounding and fifing that was 
 enough to raise every guest in the hotel. 
 
 Gallup straggled in the first notes, as if in uncer- 
 tainty, then swung into "We Won't Go Home Till 
 Morning!" 
 
 In another minute pandemonium had broken loose. 
 Not until then did Frank realize how much all these 
 friends had been worried about the serious charge 
 which had been brought against him and which was 
 to be pressed by some of the strongest legal talent of 
 Toledo, employed by the money of Hammerswell and 
 Delancy Livingston. Confident in the purity of his in-
 
 Jack Ready's Photographs 231 
 
 tentions and in his innocence, he had not felt the 
 situation to be so grave; but these friends had felt it. 
 
 "I see now why you fellows were so blue at the be- 
 ginning of the contests with the Blades," he said, 
 taking Bart's hand in a warm clasp. "You couldn't 
 win anything, because you were weighted down with a 
 great fear." 
 
 "You're right, old man !" Hodge shouted. "And if 
 something hadn't happened to lift us out of that Slough 
 of Despond the Blades would have won as sure as 
 fate!" 
 
 "And the thing that happened was the coming of 
 the mascot band! Let the honest fellows drum and 
 tear around, I'm glad to have such friends." 
 
 Never had there been such an exhibition of the great 
 nold which Frank Merriwell had on the affections of 
 his friends. Thought of his danger had taken the 
 strength and cleverness from their athletic frames and 
 the courage out of their hearts. 
 
 "What's the matter?" the landlord demanded, po- 
 king his head through the doorway. 
 
 "Celebrating the release of a captive!" drawled 
 .Browning, as he lighted a match and thrust it against 
 the tobacco in the bowl of his pipe. "This is the year 
 of jubilee !" 
 
 The landlord smiled, but went away mvstified. He
 
 Jack Ready's Photographs. 
 
 knew, however, the next day, when Merriwell was 
 given an honorable release by the judge of the court; 
 for the mascot musicians lined up in front of the hotel 
 and Merriwell's friends gave Ready and the "jay" 
 band "three cheers and a tiger!"
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 IN PURSUIT OF MADISON JONES. 
 
 "The very man!" 
 
 Merriwell laid a hand on the shoulder of Bart Hodge 
 and drew him half-round, that he might see a roughly 
 dressed fellow who had walked out of a drinking- 
 place on one of the principal streets of Chicago. The 
 man's face and hands were grimy, and his coal-stained 
 soft hat was drawn well over his eyes. Hodge stared. 
 
 "Don't you recognize him?" Frank asked. "That's 
 the chap who downed Delancy Livingston with the 
 slung-shot." 
 
 "Sure! The same fellow! But I should not have 
 recognized him, for I saw only his photograph, you 
 know. What are you going to do ?" 
 
 "Follow him. Come on !" 
 
 The man left the crowded and well-lighted thorough- 
 fare for a side street, and walked shamblingly on, with 
 hat still drawn over his eyes as if he desired to escape 
 close observation, and Merriwell and Hodge, turning 
 into the same street, hastened after him. That grimy 
 face had brought back vividly to Merriwell a sight 
 he had beheld in the wooded grounds at Granada 
 Heights, near Toledo, a few days before. 
 
 Jones had escaped, and Frank now saw him for the 
 first time since the assault.
 
 234 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 
 
 "No man who carries a little money about with him 
 as safe while that miscreant is out of jail," was Frank's 
 thought, as he and Bart walked along the narrow 
 street after "Mad Jones," as the fellow was often called 
 by his acquaintances. "The thing for me to do is to 
 point him out to the first officer we meet and cause his 
 arrest. Delancy won't thank me for it; but I'm not 
 trying to do things to please him." 
 
 "We'll keep well back, so that he won't observe us," 
 he said, aloud, as calmly as if speaking on any ordi- 
 nary subject. "I don't want him to get away from me 
 here, as he did at Granada Heights." 
 
 "All right, Merry ! I wouldn't do anything to please 
 Delancy, though, if I were you !" 
 
 "This won't please Delancy. It will simply brealc 
 him and Hammerswell all up if I can lay hands om 
 that fellow and force a confession from him. They're 
 still claiming that I am really the chap who used the 
 slung-shot on Delancy and tried to rob him, in spite 
 of the evidence of the picture and the fact that I was 
 given an honorable discharge by the judge. They sayj 
 that the judge was an old fool and that the picture 
 was manufactured for the purpose." 
 
 "Oh, I know all about it!" was Hodge's hot re- 
 joinder. "I had the pleasure of thumping Hammers- 
 well a few for what he did, and I'm just waiting for 
 an excuse to get a crack at Delancy. I'm not through
 
 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 235 
 
 with those fellows. I wonder if they have followed 
 us to Chicago?" 
 
 "If they have, they're keeping shady." 
 
 The picture mentioned was one taken by an acci- 
 dental snap-shot of Jack Ready's camera. It showed 
 Madison Jones striking Delancy Livingston down with 
 a slung-shot, and its worth as evidence had been strong 
 enough to secure Merriwell's immediate release from 
 custody. 
 
 Mad Jones turned from the narrow street into a 
 narrower one, which was little more than an alley. As 
 he made this change he stopped for a moment and 
 glanced back. Frank and Bart had stopped, and 
 seemed to be looking into the windows of a cheap shop 
 at the moment. But the eyes of Madison Jones were 
 keen. 
 
 "Spotted!" he growled. "That devil of a Merri- 
 well is on my trail ! And he's as keen as a hound. 
 What am I to do ?" 
 
 He seemed about to turn round and boldly try to 
 make his way back to the main thoroughfare. His 
 eyes shone evilly and his fingers twitched, while into) 
 his face there came a dangerous light. 
 
 "If they follow me it'll be the worse for them !" he 
 grated. "What's it any of their business? Merriwell 
 got out of the thing safely, and I jumped to Chicago 
 I got no swag, anyway, and I won't be nabbed for it.
 
 236 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 
 
 They'll run up against something worse than the slung- 
 *fihot, if they try to chase me down." 
 
 Then he dived into the alley. 
 
 "Come !" Frank whispered, and bounded with light 
 steps to the entrance, arriving in time to see Jones 
 whisk into a doorway and disappear. 
 
 "He's gone into that house!" Bart panted. 
 
 "And will go out at another entrance." 
 
 There was only an instant of indecision ; then Merri- 
 well, with Hodge at his heels, passed through the 
 same doorway. They found a flight of stairs before 
 them, up which they passed, quickly but warily, and 
 came out on a landing; then climbed up a second flight 
 to a similar landing. 
 
 "There are only two ways out of this place," said 
 Frank, glancing round. "One leads down into the 
 house and the other, I think, goes up to the roof." 
 
 "Which way did he go?" 
 
 The excitement of the chase was giving color to 
 Hodge's dark cheeks and brightening his eyes. 
 
 "To the roof, I think. Probably he believes that 
 we did not see him enter that doorway, and that we 
 will think he passed on through the alley." 
 
 "He must know this place?" 
 
 "Yes, likely. I wish we had an officer." 
 
 "If we come on him there will be a fight, Merry I 
 And we'll find him ready for us. These fellows carry 
 weapons with them as a rule."
 
 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 237 
 
 "We'll have to keep our eyes open. Shall we fol- 
 low him to the roof ?" 
 
 "Just as you say. I'm with you!" 
 
 Hodge was always ready to back Frank in any un- 
 dertaking, no matter how dangerous. 
 
 "I'm afraid he has given us the slip," Frank whis- 
 pered, closely scanning the stairway that he believed 
 led to the roof. A dim lamp burned in the hall. 
 
 "I don't like this way of entering a house without 
 permission," he continued. "I think we'd better go 
 back for an officer." 
 
 "And let him get away ?" 
 
 "We ought to have an officer, or some authority. I 
 really think the fellow is hiding on the roof, secure in 
 the belief that we have been thrown off the scent He 
 must have seen us at that corner!" 
 
 Frank was not wasting time in words, but began 
 to descend the stairway. 
 
 When they reached the alley, he hurried Bart to 
 the street for an officer, and was pleased to see him 
 return almost instantly with a blue-coated policeman. 
 
 "A regular thug on the roof, do yez mane to say ?" 
 the cop questioned, fingering his club. "Thin Sul- 
 livan's the b'y fer yez. Oi've been watchin' this house, 
 yis ; an' it's a thave's nest, d'ye moind ! Phat moight 
 be the name av him ?" 
 
 "Madison Jones, or Mad Jones," was Hodge's eager 
 answer.
 
 238 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 
 
 "Oi t'ink Oi've heard av him, an' a tearin' divil he 
 is ; but Sullivan is the b'y f er him. The chafe gev me 
 the names av fellys that air fraquinters av the place, 
 and av me mimory sarves me this is one av thim. 
 Mad, is he? Oi'll make him madder than a dog wid 
 the hoidrophobye whin Oi play a chune on his skull 
 wid me club." 
 
 It was plain that Sullivan was anxious to distinguish 
 tiimself in the eyes of his superiors by making a valu- 
 able arrest, and that he could be depended on to put up 
 a big fight if Jones should be encountered. 
 
 Merriwell and Hodge reentered the house with the 
 policeman, and the three made their way to the upper 
 landing, where Sullivan halted in indecision. 
 
 "Oi sh'u'd say thot he's more loikely to be dowu 
 there, than an the roof," he declared, pointing with his 
 club to the other stairway. "Oi'll inspict the place." 
 
 Clutching the club, he hastened down the flight, 
 while Hodge at Frank's direction, mounted to take a 
 look over the roof. Merriwell remained on the landing 
 for the purpose of stopping Jones if he made a dash by 
 either of the others. 
 
 "I'm afraid he has found his way to the street," 
 was Frank's thought. "But we'll know in a minute, 
 unless he has some hiding-place in which he can safely 
 secrete himself. From what Sullivan said, this place 
 must be a sort of headquarters for thieves and sus- 
 picious characters. Well, it looks it!"
 
 in Pursuit of Madison Jones. 239 
 
 At that moment there came sounds of a struggle 
 from the roof. 
 
 "Hodge has found him!" was his exclamation, as 
 he leaped for the stairway. 
 
 Not seeing anything suspicious in the casual survey 
 he was able to give from the top of the stairway, Bart 
 had crawled out on the flat roof for the purpose of 
 thoroughly satisfying himself that no one was there* 
 At one side there was a sheer drop of many feet to 
 the pavement. On the other side there seemed to be 
 a similar drop, either into a courtyard or to the roof 
 of a lower building. 
 
 Though the night was hot, the breeze from the lake 
 made the roof pleasantly cool. There was very little 
 haze in the sky, and, in spite of the smoky atmosphere, 
 the stars looked big and bright. Bart might have been 
 able to fancy himself back in the Adirondacks, or at 
 Granada Heights on the shore of Lake Erie, but for 
 the incessant roar that came to him from the streets. 
 
 "There doesn't seem to be much of a place for a 
 fellow to hide up here," was his thought, as he slowly 
 advanced, carefully noting every object. "I'll have 
 my trouble for my pains! Likely the rascal gave us 
 the slip when we went down to look for a cop." 
 
 The roof was poorly lighted, for it was above the 
 electric lamps, and in consequence there were black 
 shadows here and there. Keen, burning- eyes were
 
 240 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 
 
 watching Hodge from one of these. They were the 
 eyes of Madison Jones. 
 
 "Thought I gave 'em the dodge !" he gritted. "But 
 I won't be taken. I'll fling the fellow into the street 
 if he tries to lay his hands on me !" 
 
 From his position he could see Hodge plainly. 
 
 "Just a boy! I wonder if he reckons that I'll go 
 along with him if he asks me to? Not much!" 
 
 He drew himself closer against the dark wall at his 
 back and put down his hand as if searching for a 
 weapon. Hodge walked straight on toward the wall. 
 He saw the shadow, but he did not see the form, and 
 he fancied no one was there. He reached one end of 
 the wall, in his circuit of the roof, and began to pass 
 along the shadowed area. 
 
 Madison Jones stiffened his muscles for a struggle. 
 He believed that the youth saw him and intended to 
 make a near approach and then suddenly pounce on 
 him, thus taking him at a disadvantage. 
 
 He did not intend to be beaten down in that way; 
 so, when Hodge was within a yard of him, he sprang 
 up with a snarl like that of a tiger. In another mo- 
 ment Bart was struggling for his life struggling with 
 a man who was his superior in strength and whose 
 strength seemed to be doubled by the fear that now 
 gripped him. 
 
 "I'll throw you into the street !" Jones hissed. "I'll 
 teach you to attend to your own affairs."
 
 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 241 
 
 Then his sinewy fingers sought for Hodge's throat, 
 and one of his heavy fists was driven at the youth's 
 head. But if Bart was not so strong as his assailant, 
 he was far more active, and was, besides, a clever 
 wrestler and skilled in the art of self-defense. 
 
 He dodged the blow aimed at his head and writhed 
 away from the clutching fingers. Then his heavy 
 right fist shot out with telling effect, landing in the 
 man's face. Jones staggered backward, but did not 
 fall, and came at Bart again with the roar of a mad 
 bull. That blow had deeply enraged him and made 
 him an even more dangerous foe. 
 
 Again and again Bart's fists shot out with punishing 
 effect. But Madison Jones could take punishment like 
 an ox. Finding he could not evade the rain of blows, 
 he put down his head and came again at Bart with a 
 furious rush. 
 
 Bart's heavy right struck him full on the head, but 
 Jones came on as if his head were merely an iron 
 battering-ram. As he came he flung out his strong 
 arms; and, fairly beating down Bart's hands by mere 
 muscular strength and endurance, he caught him round 
 the waist and lifted him from his feet. 
 
 The horrible face, grimy and bleeding, was thrust 
 almost against Bart's, and the arms held down Bart's 
 right hand as if they were bands of welded iron. The 
 aroused ruffian had a giant's strength. A cry was 
 heard at that moment, as Merriwell reached the roof,
 
 242 In Pursuit of Madison Jones. 
 
 and, dimly seeing the struggle that was taking place, 
 rushed toward the combatants. 
 
 "I'll kill ye!" Jones grated, transformed by his blind 
 anger into a madman. As he said it, he rushed across 
 the roof, thinking he was bearing Hodge toward the 
 street, into which he meant to hurl him. 
 
 Instead, his blind rush carried him toward the other 
 side, where there was a sheer drop into the darkness 
 to another roof. 
 
 Jones saw that he was not at the street side of the 
 roof, but he felt that this served as well. Merriwell 
 was coming with quick leaps across the flat roof. 
 
 "I'll kill ye!" Jones snarled again, and, lifting Bart 
 in his strong arms, he hurled him into space.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 AN EMPTY BIRD'S NEST. 
 
 A chill of fear struck through Frank Merriwell 
 when he saw the villain hurl Hodge from the roof, for 
 it seemed to him that his friend was going to his death. 
 Then he leaped at Jones. 
 
 For a brief instant the latter reeled on the edge of 
 the roof. Frank expected an encounter. Instead of 
 meeting him, however, Jones gave a quick turn and 
 leaped into the darkness whither he had hurled Hodge. 
 As he left the roof there was a loud crash of break- 
 ing glass ; then Jones disappeared, and a moment later 
 Frank heard him fall heavily. 
 
 Merriwell listened, straining his eyes into the gloom. 
 He heard a movement below, as if some one were 
 scrambling or crawling along. 
 
 "Hodge!" he called, his voice thrilled with anxiety. 
 "Hodge! Are you hurt, Hodge?" 
 
 The crawling movement continued, as if some ani- 
 mal were writhing in pain. Frank's feelings were in- 
 describable. He wanted to leap from the roof himself, 
 that he might assist his friend. 
 
 In wild anxiety, he threw himself on his knees and 
 began to feel along the edge. His hands came in 
 contact with what seemed to be a spout or piece of 
 guttering. .Without a moment's hesitation he drew
 
 244 An Empty Bird's Nest. 
 
 out his handkerchief, and, slipping over the rim of the 
 roof, took hold of the spout with both hands, after 
 first wrapping them in the handkerchief, and slid 
 downward. He knew that a roof was below, and he 
 intended to let himself fall the remaining distance, if 
 the spout ended suddenly. But it continued all the 
 way down, and his feet struck the lower roof with a 
 thud. 
 
 His hands were torn and bleeding in spite of the 
 protection afforded by the handkerchief, but he was 
 scarcely aware of it. As soon as his feet touched 
 the roof he turned and leaped in the direction of the 
 sound. 
 
 "Hodge!" he called; but there was an ominous si- 
 lence. The scraping sound had ended. 
 
 He brought himself to an abrupt halt on the edge 
 of a black-looking space, and bending forward touched 
 a broken and ragged skylight. Then he recalled the 
 noise of breaking glass. Perhaps Hodge had gone 
 through the skylight. That crashing of glass had 
 come at the instant of Jones' leap. It must have been 
 made b$ Hodge smashing downward through this 
 place. 
 
 Merriwell leaned over in a fever of anxiety. What 
 had become of Hodge of the friend who was more 
 to him than a brother? He felt a twinge of self-ac- 
 cusation, for it was through him that Bart had been 
 led into this awful peril.
 
 An Empty Bird's Nest. 245 
 
 "Hodge!" he called. 
 
 The dull roar of the streets alone came back in an- 
 swer. 
 
 "Hodge!" he shouted again. 
 
 There was a stir below. 
 
 "Is that you, Hodge? For mercy sake, speak!" 
 
 "Y-yes !" came back feebly in answer. 
 
 "Are you hurt? Where are you?" 
 
 "I think not much hurt, Mer-Merriwell ! I don't 
 > don't know where I am !" 
 
 It scarcely seemed Bart's voice. 
 
 It came again, and now appeared to be stronger. 
 Evidently Hodge was dazed. 
 
 "Can you tell me what sort of a place you are in?" 
 Frank asked, stretching himself over the broken sky- 
 light and trying to look down on his friend. There 
 was a moment of hesitation. Hodge seemed to be 
 fumbling about and still dazed. 
 
 Madison Jones had evidently escaped from the roof, 
 or was hiding somewhere upon it; but Merriwell was 
 too much disquieted about Hodge to wish to pay any 
 further attention then to the ruffian. 
 
 "Will it be safe for me to try to jump down there ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 In reply, there was the scratching of a match. When 
 the light flared up it revealed Bart Hodge, half- 
 crouching, half-lying, on the floor of the room below, 
 beside a lounge, holding up the match. Then Hodge
 
 246 An Empty Bird's [Nest 
 
 glanced upward and was able to see Merriwell 
 stretched over the skylight between himself and the 
 sky. 
 
 Merriwell's quick glance caught the possibility oi 
 the situation. The distance from the skylight to the 
 floor where Bart lay was not great. He half-rose for 
 a leap, then jumped for the lounge. The air set in 
 motion by the swift descent of his body put out the 
 match, and he landed with a heavy "plunk" in the 
 middle of the lounge, which threw him back as if he 
 were a bounding ball. 
 
 "Hurt, Merriwell?" was Bart's anxious inquiry, 
 "What made you?" 
 
 Then another match was scratched, and by its light 
 Frank found himself on the floor within a yard of 
 Hodge, somewhat jarred but not in the least injured. 
 
 Scrambling up, he took the blazing match from 
 Hodge's shaking fingers and applied it to the gas-jet 
 above their heads. There was a flash, and the room 
 was brilliantly illuminated. The floor was covered! 
 with pieces of broken glass. The place was scantily 
 furnished, and the furniture was old and worn. Near 
 the center was a round card-table covered with green 
 cloth. 
 
 "I'm all right!" was Frank's answer, as he threw 
 down the match. "How are you feeling, old fellow? 
 You had a dreadful fall. Any bones broken ?" 
 
 Bart had fallen through the skylight squarely upoa
 
 An Empty Bird's Nest. 247 
 
 the lounge. He was slightly cut and scratched by the 
 glass, and the fall had rendered him unconscious. He 
 had, up to this moment, been somewhat dazed. But 
 his faculties were clearing. He understood the situa- 
 tion now, and he staggered to his feet. 
 
 "Sound as a top!" was his grim declaration, as he 
 began to feel of himself tenderly. "That lounge saved 
 my bacon, I guess. What became of Jones ? And the 
 cop?" 
 
 Merriwell saw him wince with pain as he moved his 
 right arm. 
 
 "Your arm is hurt !" 
 
 "Not a bit of it, Merry. Just jammed a little. 
 From the feeling, I fancy I must have landed on my 
 shoulder. But I'll be all right and able to catch in that 
 game to-morrow afternoon against the Chicagos." 
 
 Frank looked grave. 
 
 "Let me see it," he said, walking up to Bart and 
 taking hold of the arm and shoulder, which he began 
 to move. 
 
 Hodge pressed his jaws together, but no cry of pain 
 came. 
 
 "Your shoulder is hurt !" 
 
 "Just a little!" Hodge insisted. "I'll be able to 
 catch all right! Don't worry about it Has Jones 
 got out of the building? Or is this the same build- 
 ing? He threw me from the roof. I know that. I 
 went down, to be smashed to pieces, as I felt sure; but
 
 248 An Empty Bird's Nest 
 
 struck the skylight and tore it into giblets, then landed 
 here. Say, Merry, there will be a big bill to pay for 
 that skylight! Where are the owners of this place?" 
 
 "I think they'll not trouble us. It looks to be some 
 sort of a cheap gambling-den. They have probably 
 been frightened away temporarily by the police. Sul- 
 livan said, you'll remember, that he had been detailed j 
 to watch the place." 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
 "I don't know. Jones jumped to the roof, after 
 you. I heard him crawling, and I think he must have 
 been hurt. It is probable he has escaped us." 
 
 He turned to look for a way out of the room. 
 There were two doors, both opening on stairways. 
 
 "The fellows who haunted this place wanted a way 
 to get out easily," was his comment. 
 
 "Hello !" cried Bart. "Here is an electric button." 
 
 "Perhaps it will summon the janitor," Merriwell 
 suggested, and pressed it. 
 
 They waited, but there was no answer to the sum- 
 mons, and it began to seem that the house was en- 
 tirely deserted. 
 
 "The police are watching an empty nest, for the 
 birds are flown." 
 
 Then he turned to one of the stairways and was 
 followed by Bart, after turning off the gas. The stair- 
 way was dark, but they guided themselves down it by
 
 An Empty Bird's Nest. 249 
 
 lighted matches, and finally found a bolted door. 
 When the bolt was shot back and the door opened, they 
 were on steps leading into a sort of courtyard. 
 
 "Be the faix av me ! Phere hov yez been?" 
 
 it was the voice of Sullivan,
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 FRANK DISAPPEARS. 
 
 Sullivan was panting and perspiring, for the houses 
 and courtyard were very hot, and he had been wildly 
 rushing from point to point, hearing strange noises 
 and crashing glass, but without understanding what 
 it meant or being able to discover anything. 
 
 "You haven't seen Jones ?" Frank asked. 
 
 "Oi hovn't seen annything, but Oi've hearrd the old 
 diwil himself sthompin' wid his hoofs and 'atin' the 
 windy glass." 
 
 Frank laughed at the drollery of the Irish police- 
 man. After explaining to Sullivan what had occurred, 
 they ascended to the roof, upon which was the broken 
 skylight, and searched with him for some traces of 
 Madison Jones. 
 
 "He must have gone down this fire-escape," was 
 Merriwell's conclusion. "But he may not have gone 
 to the street, and may be still in the house." 
 
 Sullivan turned the light of his lantern on the fire- 
 escape. It passed a window ledge below, and Bart 
 was about to swing himself over and descend to this 
 window. He drew back, however, with a wince of 
 pain. 
 
 "Your shoulder hurts you?" Frank questioned. 
 
 "It seems to be out of gear a little. But I don't
 
 Frank Disappears. 251 
 
 think it amounts to anything. I mustn't risk laming 
 it, that's all, for I've got to catch in that game to-mor* 
 row." 
 
 "We'll go back by the way of the stairs, then. I 
 fancy the fellow wasn't so much hurt as that crawling 
 noise made me think, and that he has escaped from the 
 house. He could easily have gone down to the street 
 from here. We'll look through the lower story." 
 
 The lower story yielded no better results. Sullivan 
 was greatly disappointed. He had been feeling re- 
 cently that his tenure of office was not very secure, and 
 he hoped that the capture of some well-known criminal 
 would reinstate him in the good opinions of his cap- 
 tain. 
 
 "Oi don't want to gev up the sairch," he said, run- 
 ning his eyes over the rooms and corridors, as he 
 passed from point to point with his lantern. 
 
 On leaving the house they entered a little alley, and 
 the policeman hastened round to his station in front. 
 He was scarcely gone when Frank, who was standing 
 in the shadows with Bart, saw Madison Jones come 
 out of the house they had left and stand staring about 
 in the lower doorway. He stood there for only a mo- 
 ment, then started down the alley, moving from them. 
 
 "Call the cop again," Frank whispered. "I'll tr)| 
 to see where the fellow is going." 
 
 He kept along in the shadow, as Bart hurried away; 
 for Sullivan, and saw Jones dive quickly up anothe
 
 252 Frank Disappears. 
 
 stairway on the farther side of the alley. Merriwell 
 walked to this stairway and peered up cautiously. It 
 was as dark as the one from which he had recently 
 emerged. 
 
 Hoping to ascertain what had become of Jones, he 
 crept softly to the top of the stairs and then along 
 a dark hall. There were bits of plastering on the floor, 
 indicating that the place was being repainted. Jones 
 had stopped in the hall, perhaps to discover if he was 
 again pursued. They saw each other at the same mo- 
 ment. 
 
 "Halt!" Merriwell commanded. "Do not let him 
 get out the other way, my men!" 
 
 Then he made use of one of his familiar ventrilo- 
 quial tricks. 
 
 "We've got the way guarded here !" seemed to come 
 in another voice. 
 
 Jones fancied it came from some point beyond the 
 hall. He faced toward Merriwell, as if bewildered, 
 then jumped violently backward and whisked out of 
 sight in the gloom. Frank hurried along the hall after 
 him. Then his feet trod on nothing but air, and he 
 shot downward into blackness and space. 
 
 When Bart Hodge gained the alley with Sullivan, 
 both running, neither Merriwell nor Jones was to be 
 seen. The alley was deserted. They hastened on 
 through it, looking about as they went, and came out 
 on another street
 
 Frank Disappears. 253 
 
 "I don't see what's become of them!" said Hodge* 
 "Seems to me Merry wouldn't have left the alley with- 
 out telling us where he was going. Perhaps the chap 
 ran into one of the houses and Merry chased in aftec 
 him?" 
 
 They returned to the alley and made a search. Sul- 
 livan crept to the top of the stairway which Frank had 
 ascended, but made no farther search, as his light re- 
 vealed nothing more suspicious than a half-torn-up 
 hall, liberally sprinkled with pieces of plastering. For 
 more than an hour the search was kept up in the alley 
 and the houses grouped along it. But Merriwell could 
 not be found. He had simply vanished.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 A SOLEMN COMPANY. 
 
 Merriwell, on behalf of the Athletic Team, had chal- 
 lenged the regular Chicago baseball-team, learning that 
 the Chicagos had a day in the Windy City in which no 
 game was scheduled for them; and the challenge had 
 been accepted. 
 
 The Chicago National Leaguers might have ignored 
 this challenge but for the fact that the newspapers had 
 made the whole country familiar with the story of the 
 defeat of the Torontos by Merriwell's men at Niagara 
 [Falls. "Merriwell's Wonders," the Athletic Team had 
 been called by the press because of their wonderful 
 .work in that game, and the Chicagos were therefore 
 ready to pay respectful attention to a challenge from 
 Captain Merriwell. 
 
 The Chicago dailies were already filled with gossip 
 about the great game that was now scheduled, and the 
 baseball-cranks were more than ordinarily interested. 
 It had been arranged that the winning team was to 
 take the whole of the gate receipts, and as there was 
 every indication that an enormously large crowd would 
 turn out to witness the game if the weather should be 
 at all favorable, the capture of the gate receipts would 
 be worth a big struggle, to say nothing of the glory 
 of defeating the "Chicago Colts."
 
 A Solemn Company. 255 
 
 But Merriwell had mysteriously dropped out ol 
 sight, and Hodge's shoulder was troubling him so 
 that it seemed doubtful if he could catch even if Merry 
 were in the pitcher's box and ready for the game. 
 Therefore, it was a gloomy lot of fellows who gathered 
 in Browning's room at the Palmer House to discuss 
 the situation. 
 
 "I don't care anything about the game," Hodge 
 groaned, as he felt of his lame shoulder and scowled. 
 "If we only knew what has become of Merry! That's 
 the only thing I'm interested in now. We can let the 
 old game go, but we've got to find out what has be- 
 come of Merry." 
 
 It seemed that this would be a very hard thing to 
 do, though, for the city had been searched and was 
 being searched as with a fine-tooth comb, without re- 
 sult. Police and detectives were everywhere looking 
 for Frank Merriwell and Madison Jones. But from 
 the moment Bart beheld them last in the little alley 
 neither had been seen. Hence Bart but expressed the 
 feeling of every member of the team when he de~ 
 clared that they could "let the old game go," but that 
 Merriwell must be found. 
 
 "He'll turn up all right !" Rattleton insisted optimis- 
 tically. "I don't doubt that he's still chasing that ras- 
 cai. And he'll get him. too!" 
 
 "But why doesn't he send us some sort of word?"
 
 256 A Solemn Company. 
 
 demanded Bruce, who, though he smoked his pipe and 
 tried to appear placid, was as nervous as Hodge. 
 "That's what I'd like to know. It isn't his way to step 
 out in a critical time and send us no sort of word. He 
 must know that we are anxious about him." 
 
 "If he is living!" said Carker, voicing a thought 
 that had been kept in the background. "It begins to 
 seem to me that something so serious may have hap- 
 pened to him that he can never come back. He may 
 be dead!" 
 
 "Shut up!" growled Hodge, while his face grew 
 pale. "Stop talking that sort of rot. Of course, h* 
 isn't dead !" 
 
 Merriwell dead ! 
 
 It was a thought to chill the blood in the veins of 
 these faithful friends and adherents. 
 
 Danny and Bink had long ago forgotten to joke, 
 and now looked as solemn as a pair of pigmy under- 
 takers. Ready now and then tried an airy flight of 
 words, but they were so poorly received, and he really 
 felt so distressed, that he had given up these attempts. 
 Gamp, big and awkward, but with a heart of gold, was 
 ready to blubber like a schoolboy, but manfully choked 
 down his feelings and continued to hope for good 
 news. 
 
 Swiftwing alone, always solemn and sphinx-faced,
 
 A Solemn Company. 257 
 
 appeared not to have changed his demeanor. He safc 
 now staring silently out of the window without see- 
 ing the throngs in the street, but what his thoughts 
 were no one could guess. Thus the Athletic Team sat 
 through the morning on the day scheduled for the 
 game, interrupted now and then by the entrance of a 
 messenger with a telegram for Hodge from some po- 
 lice-station or detective. 
 
 At each such interruption the members of the team, 
 including Swiftwing, would gather eagerly round Bart 
 to see the telegram, in the hope that something of im- 
 portance had been discovered ; and at each time they 
 would be disappointed. 
 
 "These detectives and police officers are like a lot oi 
 moles !" Hodge grumbled, when the morning was well 
 gone and one of these disappointing messages had been 
 received and excitedly read. "And I've always heard 
 that the Chicago police were pretty good." 
 
 "Men have disappeared in great cities and nevew , 
 been heard of again, in spite of everything the police 
 could do," was the pessimistic statement of Greg 
 Carker. "The police are not omnipotent. If Merri- 
 well's body should be in the lake or " 
 
 "Will you shut up?" Bart growled. "If you go at 
 that again, I'll have to smash you I" 
 
 "Why, it's so!"
 
 258 A Solemn Company. 
 
 "Shut up! If old Job had had such a comforter as 
 you he would have committed suicide." 
 
 "What shall we say to the Chicagos?" Danny in- 
 quired dolefully. 
 
 "Just tell them the truth," said Bruce. "Merriwell 
 has disappeared and we can't play." 
 
 "But Swiftwing can pitch," Bink suggested. 
 
 Swiftwing did not stir, though he heard the words* 
 
 "But we would be knocked out, anyway!" Hodge 
 grumbled. "My shoulder is done up. And if it were 
 as fine as silk, I couldn't do anything with Merry gone 
 in this way. This takes all the heart out of me. I 
 don't want to play." 
 
 "Do you think I could hold down first bag with 
 Merry's fate unknown?" Bruce growled, giving Bink 
 a withering look. "You little runt, you haven't the 
 Reeling of a rat !" 
 
 Bink's face became more solemn than ever. 
 
 "I was just thinking," he apologized, "that even if 
 iMerry were dead " 
 
 "He isn't !" Bart blurted out 
 
 "Of course he isn't f But if he were, I'm pretty sure 
 that he would want us to go right ahead and win this 
 game." 
 
 "You're right," Bruce assented. "He would want 
 us to do all of that "
 
 A Solemn Company. 259 
 
 "And we would like to do what he'd want us to do !" 
 Bink continued. 
 
 The pitiful tone touched Hodge. 
 
 "You're right," he admitted, giving the little fellow 
 a look of sympathy. "I beg your pardon for what I 
 said."
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THE SCHEME OF SANFORD HAMP. 
 
 A serious-looking man, wearing a high silk hat and 
 black clothing, who occupied the room next to that in 
 which the solemn group sat throughout the morning, 
 paced for a long time up and down the hall, getting a 
 peep at Merrhvell's friends as he passed the half-open 
 doorway. The conversation within the room was not 
 carried on in subdued tones, for there was nothing in 
 the distressing circumstances surrounding them that 
 Merry's friends were trying to conceal. 
 
 This solemn-looking man might have been taken for 
 a minister, but that his nose blossomed too redly. He 
 swung a light cane, and now and then stopped and 
 stared at the floor and walls in apparent fits of abstrac- 
 tion, while he eagerly drank in all the details of the 
 story of Merriwell's disappearance and the condition 
 of Hodge's shoulder. 
 
 When he was sure he had the whole story under his 
 hat, he walked softly away, and, going to Merriwell's 
 door, whose number he had gained from a glance at 
 the hotel-register, he deftly fitted a key and let hinv 
 self into Frank's room. 
 
 "Just the thing!" he muttered, taking from a table 
 a letter which Frank had written but had not mailed.
 
 The Scheme of Sanford Hamp 261 
 
 Then he softly retreated, locked the door, and slipped 
 away to his own room. There he put the pilfered let- 
 ter on a writing-desk, traced the characters over care- 
 fully with a pencillike stick, and slowly wrote a letter 
 in imitation of Merriwell's handwriting. 
 
 "It's all right," he smilingly whispered, as he studied 
 it over and compared the writing with Frank's. 
 "When Sanford Hamp gets left, the iceman can gcr 
 out of business!" 
 
 Putting the letters in his pocket, he went down- 
 stairs, passing the hotel telegraph-office, and going to> 
 another telegraph-office wrote and sent this message: 
 
 "LEE METCALF, Galesburg, Illinois. 
 
 "Wire this to Bart Hodge, Palmer House, Chicago : 
 'Tracked Jones here. Have sent catcher to take your 
 place. Use him and win. Return after game. All 
 nght. Merriwell.' CHUCK/' 
 
 After wiring this he called a cab, driving to a cheap 
 notel off Dearborn, where he sent a messenger boy 
 out with a note. The boy soon returned, accompanied 
 by a man who looked to be a genuine tramp. 
 
 "I've work cut out for you, Walker," was Hamp"' 
 greeting, when he and the tramp were alone together. 
 "I've got a scheme by which you are to catch for Frank 
 Merriwell's team this afternoon in the game against 
 Chicago. Their catcher has lamed his shoulder, and I
 
 262 The" Scheme of Sanford Hamp. 
 
 want you to go in, and, while pretending to catch for 
 all you're worth, throw the game and defeat them. 
 You're just the man to do it." 
 
 The tramp stared. 
 
 "There's a hundred dollars in it for you, if you fol- 
 iow my instructions." 
 
 The tramp's eyes lighted. 
 
 "How much now." 
 
 "Not a red cent, for you'd get drunk and the whole 
 plan would be in the soup. But you know me, and 
 you know that my word is good." 
 
 Walker sank disappointedly back into the chair. 
 
 "What's your plan? How are you goin' to get me 
 onto the team ?" 
 
 "It's ten in your pocket, even if I fail in that. But 1 
 don't think I'll fail. Sanford Hamp doesn't fall down 
 often, you know. I'm going to send you to the Palmer 
 House, where the Merriwell men are stopping, with 
 this note from their captain." 
 
 He took out the note he had written in his room 
 and gave it into the tramp's dirty fingers. 
 
 "You'll see that it's signed by their captain and 
 manager." 
 
 The tramp winked knowingly. Hamp took out his 
 Cratch. 
 
 "You'll wait here half an hour before you go. B>
 
 The Scheme of Sanford Hamp. 263 
 
 that time they will have received a telegram from Cap- 
 tain Merriwell from Galesburg, telling them that he 
 has arranged for you to catch in place of Hodge, 
 whose shoulder is lame. They're the sort to do what- 
 ever this fellow Merriwell says." 
 
 "It don't look reasonable that they'll put me behind 
 the bat, though !" giving his tattered clothing a glance. 
 "Tramps ain't goin' round catching for famous ball- 
 teams." 
 
 "It will go with these fellows, if their captain says 
 so. I've been listening to them all the morning and 
 have got the inside of the whole thing. The captain 
 has dropped out of sight, somehow; they don't know 
 how, and I don't. But my guess is that he's been done 
 up by thugs or knock-out drops, or something of the 
 sort, and that his body will be found in the lake, or 
 in the river, or in some hole by and by. From their 
 talk, I'm sure if he is on top of ground he would have 
 let them know before this. He'll not come back. In 
 the meantime, we can work this little racket." 
 
 "What's your interest?" the tramp asked, winking 
 a swollen eye. 
 
 "Well, I don't care to say how much, but it's enough 
 to make me willing to hand over to you the hundred 
 
 all right if you throw the game. I've got some bets 
 
 P 
 
 4 up on Chicago. I think they are safe. B"f the way
 
 364 The Scheme of Sanford Hamp. 
 
 things have turned round, the game will not be played, 
 the bets will be called off, and I'll lose the winnings. 
 See? If the game is played and the Merriwells are 
 beaten, I'm ahead by a good deal. Throw the game, 
 and the hundred is yours as soon as the trick is done, 
 without a word." 
 
 "Couldn't you make it more'n a hundred?" 
 
 Hamp frowned. 
 
 "Don't become covetous, Walker! I've put green- 
 backs into your hands before, and will do it again, if 
 we can pull together. But you must let me make the 
 plans and name the figures. Haven't I always paid 
 you all your jobs are worth ?" 
 
 "Oh, I'm your man! If the fellows don't tumble 
 to the racket and kick me out of the hotel. I reckon 
 the hotel people will want to throw me out, anyway." 
 
 "Not if you say you have an important letter for 
 the Merriwells." 
 
 "Oh, I'll try it. It's a tenner, anyhow ; and I'd bt 
 kicked all day for ten dollars a kick. Ten dollars is a 
 good deal to a Weary Walker like me." 
 
 A smile spread over his greasy face, 
 
 "And a hundred is more." 
 
 "You bet Oh, I'm the boy to work the game, if 
 it can be worked 1"
 
 The Scheme of Sanford Hamp. 265 
 
 "You're in condition to catch?" 
 
 "Well, I'm not to say in the best possible condition, 
 but I was a crackajack in my day, and I ain't forgot 
 the twists. I'll show 'em some Weary Willie work 
 that'll stick their eyes out !"
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIT. 
 
 THE TRAMP CATCHER. 
 
 Sanford Hamp's middle-man made his way to the 
 Palmer House, boldly inquired for some member of 
 the Merriwell ball-team, stating that he had an im- 
 portant letter to deliver from their captain, and was 
 overheard by Bruce Browning, who had left the room 
 and was walking up and down in the lobby, pulling at 
 his inseparable pipe. 
 
 Bruce turned and saw before him a greasy, disrepu- 
 table fellow of the genus tramp, whose swollen, grimy 
 face showed unmistakable signs of a too familiar ac- 
 quaintance with drink. 
 
 A few minutes before the telegram from Galesburg 
 had been received, and the cloud had been lifted from 
 the hearts of Frank's friends. 
 
 "But this can't be the man ?" was Bruce's thought 
 "He surely didn't mean such a tough-looking fellow as 
 this?" 
 
 Then he demanded somewhat gruffly, instinctively 
 drawing back from the tramp's too odorous presence : 
 
 "What is it? I'm a member of Merriwell's Ath- 
 letic Team." 
 
 The tramp doffed his ragged hat, impressed by the 
 great size and strength of the young giant before him,
 
 The Tramp Catcher. 267 
 
 and, fishing the letter from the depths of a torn pocket, 
 handed it to Browning. It was addressed to the Ath- 
 letic Team, and purported to have been written in Chi- 
 cago by Merriwell : 
 
 "I am again on the trail of Jones. He has taken 
 the train for Galesburg, and I shall follow him. The 
 man who will deliver this note to you is a tramp, but 
 I personally know that he is one of the best ball- 
 catchers in the country. I don't think Bart ought to 
 try to catch, even if his shoulder feels better. Put the 
 tramp in Bart's place and go ahead, letting Swiftwing 
 pitch. You can win the game, and I want you to. 
 Don't worry about me. I am all right. I will tele- 
 graph you as soon as I reach Galesburg and will keep 
 you posted by wire as to my movements. Trust the 
 tramp. He is all right, and will catch great ball for 
 you. I know you can win. MERRIWELL." 
 
 As soon as he had read the letter Bruce beckoned 
 to the tramp and led the way to the room where most 
 of the other members of the party were still gathered, 
 talking over the telegram and rejoicing over the sup- 
 posed news that Frank was all right. 
 
 All stared as Bruce came into the room followed by 
 the tramp. The latter dropped into a richly uphol- 
 stered chair, nonchalantly put his tattered hat on his 
 knee, and familiarly surveyed the surprised group 
 about him. 
 
 "I kin win der game fer ye," he declared, a grin on 
 nis unshaven, dirty face. "Merriwell knows I kin, and
 
 268 The Tramp Catcher. 
 
 he sent me. He gimme that letter, and he told me to 
 hunt you fellers up here." 
 
 Carker changed his seat, to get farther away. 
 
 "Oh, I ain't a bit particular!" the tramp laugned, 
 humorously rolling his watery eyes. "I'd jist as soon 
 set by you as anybody. I've got the smell of the med- 
 ders on me new outin'-suit, I reckon, but that's better 
 than some things I could name. I never was proud !" 
 
 "It's from Merriwell !" said Bruce, giving the letter 
 co Hodge. "There can't be any doubt about that." 
 
 Bart was also sure that the letter was from Merri- 
 well, as he glanced it over. The imitation of Frank's 
 handwriting was so clever that it would have deceive^ 
 an expert. 
 
 Hodge read the letter aloud, while all eyes were 
 fixed on the tramp; then passed the letter to the other 
 members of the team. They were glad to get another 
 message from Merry, but did not like the appearance 
 of the catcher selected. 
 
 "He couldn't catch apples !" thought Bart. "What 
 was Merry thinking about? He must have beer 
 crazy!" 
 
 "Where did you meet Merriwell?" Bruce asked. , 
 
 "Near the Dearborn Street station, jist before he 
 left the city. He tol' me the fix you was in, an' asked 
 could I catch as I used to. I told 'im I could, and he 
 gimme that and sent me. I'd 'a' come straight, but I
 
 The Tramp Catcher. 269 
 
 got to talkin' wid a chum an' the time passed. You 
 know how 'tis, gents ! The time is allus passin' !" 
 
 He waved a fat and greasy hand in a chummy way 
 that made Greg Carker shiver. 
 
 "Call again in ten minutes," Hodge requested. "We 
 want to talk this thing over." 
 
 "Cert. I ain't proud. The compliments people gives 
 me at me back is giner'ly as good as the things they 
 say to my face. So long, gents! I'll be waitin' fer 
 ye! I'll say this, though, I kin catch in that game to 
 win, if winnin's what you want !" 
 
 Bruce stopped him. 
 
 "Where did you ever catch?" 
 
 He winked his watery eyes. 
 
 "Gents, that's a matter of ancient hist'ry, an' I never 
 was good at ancient hist'ry. But if you don't b'lieve 
 that I can catch throw a dollar at me ! I won't dodge 
 it. Er take me out into some nice back yard and 
 pitch baseballs at my head. Suit yerselves. So long f 
 T 'll be waitin' fer ye in the ante-chamber." 
 
 There was a long consultation after his departure. 
 The result was what Sanford Hamp had anticipated. 
 They decided to follow Merriwell's instructions, even 
 though they did not like the tramp's appearance, if on 
 trial they found that he really could catch. 
 
 Then the tramp was called back, and was taken by 
 the team to a favorable point, where Swiftwing tried 
 him thoroughlv with all kinds of pitched balls and
 
 270 The Tramp Catcher. 
 
 curves. To the astonishment of all, he proved to be a 
 wonderfully clever catcher. He held the hottest balls 
 that Swif twing could send him, no matter how sudden 
 the curves and shoots, and altogether did such credit- 
 able work that the team felt that Frank had been wise 
 in sending him. 
 
 "Oh, Merriwell never makes any breaks !" Rattleton 
 declared. "When the fellow came with the letter, that 
 was enough to tell us that he was all right. Frank 
 wouldn't have sent him, otherwise/* Bink Stubbs 
 walked up to big Bruce Browning: 
 
 "Do you know what I think?" 
 
 "I never knew you troubled yourself to do any 
 thinking." 
 
 "Don't be funny, old man. For once I'm serious. 
 That chap isn't a tramp!" 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 "It's one of Merry's practical jokes. No tramp 
 could handle himself in that way. Why, he'd be worth 
 a fortune to a National League team f He could get a 
 big salary." 
 
 "If he'd let booze alone!" 
 
 "Perhaps he's made up for effect. That fellow, 1 
 tell you, is some crackajack catcher, and Merry has 
 sent him in this disguise to give us a surprise. He can 
 catch, and we're going to win this afternoon." 
 
 But Bart, in spite of his loyalty to Merriwell, still 
 held doubts. He did not doubt the genuineness of the
 
 The Tramp Catcher. 271 
 
 letter, but he did doubt the tramp's ability when the 
 rush and turmoil of a great ball-game was on. But 
 he resolved to follow Merriwell's instructions, in spite 
 of this. 
 
 The catching of the tramp, who gave his name as 
 Willie Walker, was satisfactory, and the Athletic 
 Team sent word to the Chicago Colts that in spite of 
 the absence of Merriwell they would play the game as 
 agreed that afternoon. 
 
 When Sanford Hamp learned of this, which he did 
 from the lips of the tramp, he smiled a smile of deep 
 satisfaction. 
 
 "That's all right. I thought it would work. The 
 hundred is yours as soon as the game is ended. Make 
 a bluff of good work, and then fall down at a critical 
 time and let the Chicagos rake in the gate-money. If 
 you do it as cleverly as I know you can, I don't know 
 but I'll increase the little wad I've promised you I"
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE GAME BEGINS. 
 
 Bruce Browning was chosen captain of the team in 
 the absence of Merriwell, because he could be de- 
 pended on to keep a clear, cool head on his shoulders 
 no matter what occurred, and the Athletic Team went 
 out to the ball-grounds to meet the National Leaguers, 
 with the tramp as catcher and Swiftwing as pitcher. 
 
 As it was the regular Chicago team of the National 
 League, of course the betting was in favor of Chicago, 
 in spite of the record which Merriwell's men had made 
 against the Torontos at Niagara Falls. When it was 
 known that the battery was to be a "freak" one an 
 Indian pitcher and a tramp catcher and that Merri- 
 well himself was not on the grounds, the odds against 
 the Athletic Team jumped to astonishing figures. The 
 betting-men were sure that the Merriwells would lose. 
 
 Sanford Hamp was sure, too, and he industriously 
 took all the bets he could get, offering such odds on 
 Chicago that many men were tempted to accept his 
 offers in the hope that something might happen to 
 throw the game to the Athletic Team ; for in baseball 
 there are so many features of uncertainty that a game 
 may sometimes go to a team that has scarcely a single 
 element of strength. 
 
 The day was glorious for ball-playing, and a mighty
 
 The Game Begins. 273 
 
 throng had gathered to witness a battle royal. There 
 were hosts of pretty girls in the grand stand, and the 
 bleachers were packed, for the Chicago people loyally 
 supported the Colts. Long before the game began, 
 people were cheering and horns and megaphones 
 dinned the air. The volume of sound increased while 
 the teams were engaged in their warming-up, for the 
 sight of the tramp catcher and the Indian pitcher was 
 a novelty. 
 
 "The gate receipts will be something great!" said 
 Hodge. 
 
 "If you and Merry were only the battery !" said Rat- 
 tleton. "But we're going to win, anyway. Merry 
 says we can, and I'm sure we can, when he says so." 
 
 "If Swiftwing don't go into the air again !" grunted 
 Hodge. "And I'm afraid of that tramp! Still, he 
 did catch like a professional." 
 
 This was the batting-order of the two teams and 
 the positions of the men: 
 
 ATHLETIC TEAM. CHICAGOS. 
 
 Ready, ab. Starrett, rf. 
 
 Gamp, cf. Docoram, ss. 
 
 Browning, ib. Warford, cf. 
 
 Rattleton,2b. Kith, If. 
 
 Swiftwing, p. Fleckley, ib. 
 
 Walker (the tramp) , c Steinway, 2b. 
 
 Carker, If. Winir, 3b. 
 
 Stubbs, ss. Woodbury, c. 
 
 Griswold, rf. Dashmore, p. 
 
 Bruce was nervous and anxious, but he contrived to 
 conceal the fact, and exerted himself to fill his men
 
 274 The Game Begins. 
 
 with confidence. He had a talk with the tramp and 
 Swiftwing, and a few words for each of the players. 
 
 The captain of the Chicagos offered the Athletic 
 Team the privilege of the field or the bat. 
 
 "We'll go to the bat," said Browning, speaking to 
 his men. "Their pitcher, Dashmore, is a new man. 
 He's likely to be nervous, for he will be anxious to 
 make a record in this first game. He is bound to 
 realize that he is on trial and is watched by the crowd, 
 and if we can hit him hard and break his heart in 
 the first inning, we'll have things coming our way 
 right at the start." 
 
 "Oh, I'll hit him hard !" chirped Ready, picking out 
 a bat, for he was to be first up. "I always hit hard, 
 even if I touch nothing but the circumambient air. 
 Shall I put it into left field or deep center?" 
 
 Hodge did not like this chirping. He was watching 
 the tramp and groaning inwardly because his shoulder 
 seemed to be getting worse instead of better. He had 
 mentally resolved to go behind the bat, in spite of the 
 condition of his shoulder, if the tramp failed to do 
 good work, but he realized now that this was wholly 
 out of the question. 
 
 "I'm not so sure of things as I might be," was his 
 thought. "Oh, if Merry were only here, and I could 
 go behind the batf We'd do up these confident Chi- 
 cagos if such a thing could be done." 
 
 Where was Merriwell ?
 
 The Game Begins. 275 
 
 The umpire tossed a spotless ball to Dashmore, who 
 caught it with one hand, and then carefully examined 
 the pitcher's box and its surroundings. He was a 
 trimly built fellow, with a long, thin nose, blue eyes, 
 and closely cropped reddish hair. He was plainly 
 nervous, as he looked at the yelling rooters, and heard 
 the din of the crowd. He realized that those shouting 
 thousands would hiss and hoot at him as wildly as 
 they now cheered, if he failed to meet their expecta- 
 tions as a pitcher. Then he faced Jack Ready, who 
 had stepped into position, and sent in as his first ball a 
 swift one right over the plate. 
 
 "One strike!" said the umpire. 
 
 "Meet the ball!" Bruce commanded. "We can eat 
 speed." 
 
 It was Browning's first experience as captain, but 
 he knew that a swift ball should not be slashed at and 
 that was what he feared Ready would do but should 
 be met with the bat, the swiftness of the ball being all 
 that is needed to drive it out. On the other hand, 
 slow ball should be hard batted. 
 
 Ready tried to meet the ball. He was considered 
 one of the safest batters on the Athletic Team, but 
 Dashmore's speed was so great that Ready made three 
 fouls. Then the speed increased and Ready fanned 
 out. 
 
 "I'll bub-bub-bub-bet ten dud-dollars nobody cue-can
 
 276 The Game Begins. 
 
 fan me out with speed !" Gamp boasted, as he took up 
 the bat and stepped into position. 
 
 He swung at the first ball, which was an in shoot, 
 and lined it hotly down to short-stop. But hot as it 
 was, Docoram held it, and Gamp was out. 
 
 Browning smiled placidly as he loafed into place. 
 Even the responsibilities of the position of captain 
 seemed not to relieve him of his laziness. 
 
 "Well, boys, we'll begin it right here!" he slowly 
 grunted. 
 
 "About time!" Danny chirped. 
 
 "This retires the side!" Dashmore exclaimed, his 
 blue eyes shining with gratification, for the auspicious 
 opening of the game and the manner in which his work 
 was being received by the Chicago rooters pleased him. 
 The first ball seemed fairly to burn the air, it came so 
 swiftly. Bruce calmly let it go by. 
 
 "Strike one!" 
 
 "Here is where we begin work," he said again, lift- 
 ing his bat. The ball appeared to come as swiftly as 
 before. 
 
 Crack! 
 
 Bruce met it fairly and sent it flying into deep cen- 
 ter. It was a three-base hit, and a contingent of Yale 
 men, grouped in a body in the bleachers, sent up 3 
 roar as the big fellow tore along the bases. 
 
 "This is all right!" said Rattleton, as he took the 
 bat. "If I can bring him in now I"
 
 The Game Begins. 277 
 
 Harry made a desperate effort to bring Bruce in, but 
 Dashmore's speed was entirely too much for him. He 
 quickly fanned out, and the side was retired without a 
 score. Grand stand and bleachers, and the grounds 
 as well, appeared to go wild as the Colts came in from 
 the field. Dashmore's fair face was flushed with pleas- 
 ure, and his blue eyes were shining like stars. 
 
 "We've got 'em on the run!" said Woodbury, the 
 Chicago catcher. 
 
 "You bet!" Dashmore responded. 
 
 Swiftwing and the tramp, Willie Walker, were con- 
 ferring. Then Swiftwing walked away and entered 
 the box, and Starrett came to the bat 
 
 Bart Hodge sat on the bench, nervous and anxious. 
 It seemed strange for the Athletic Team to be playing 
 a game with him sitting there and another man behind 
 the bat. And such a man! He felt disgraced when 
 he looked at the tramp, for the fellow was apparently 
 more repulsive-looking than when at the hotel. The 
 evidences of dissipation were written all over his face. 
 
 "This thing grinds me !" Hodge was thinking. "I've 
 known Merry to do queer things, but I'm sure never 
 anything like this before. And how is it going to turn 
 out? If Merry were only here, he could go behind 
 the bat and catch for Swiftwing, if this fellow fails. I 
 got this shoulder knocked out just at the wrong time !" 
 
 "Now we'll see the work of Weary Willie!" some 
 one was pjping from the crowd.
 
 -278 The Game Begins. 
 
 "Hurrah for Dusty Rhodes !" another yelled. The 
 tramp grinned. 
 
 "First cousin o' Cecil Rhodes!" he called back, as 
 he adjusted mask and breastpad. "Wen these fellers 
 picked me up they found a Kimberley di'mond mine. 
 See?" 
 
 "Might be a diamond if they'd rub the dirt off!" 
 was shouted by a dudish fellow who stood by the 
 bleachers with a cigarette between his teeth. 
 
 "Not a nasty cigarette smoker, anyway !" the tramp 
 retorted. 
 
 "That's one on you, chummie!" Bink chattered 
 across to Danny. 
 
 "I think I'll swear off on cigarettes now!" Danny 
 chattered back. 
 
 "Do!" cried the tramp, whose ears appeared to be 
 wonderfully acute. "You'll be as clean as me, then !" 
 
 Swiftwing faced Starrett. At the very outset the 
 tramp came up under the bat and gave his s-jgnals to 
 Swiftwing, who sent over an inside corner-cutter. 
 
 "Strike one!" called the umpire. 
 
 Starrett grasped the bat more firmly, as the tramp 
 cossed the ball back and Swiftwing prepared again to 
 throw. 
 
 It came with an out curve and missed the plate. 
 
 "Ball one." 
 
 Bart saw that the tramp was holding the balls all
 
 The Game Begins. 279 
 
 right. The ball went back, and the Pueblo pitcher 
 threw again. 
 
 "Ball two!" 
 
 Again it was wide of the plate. It was swifter 
 than the others, but the tramp had smilingly gathered 
 it in. Swiftwing stooped and rubbed the ball in the 
 dirt next time. 
 
 "That's the stuff!" the tramp grinned. 
 
 "Make it dirty like me, and it'll be a winner." 
 
 Swiftwing signaled and threw an in curve. Star- 
 rett struck at it and fanned. 
 
 "Strike two." 
 
 "Them's the stuff!" the tramp shouted, as the ball 
 plunked into his mitt and he quietly tossed it back, 
 "Do it ag'in, pardner!" 
 
 Swiftwing tried another out curve and missed the 
 ?late. 
 
 "Ball three!" 
 
 The tramp signaled. The crowd was buzzing with 
 excitement, for the next pitched ball was sure to settle 
 it. Swiftwing rubbed more earth on the ball, hesitated 
 a moment, then sent in one at his best speed right over 
 the plate. 
 
 Starrett saw that he must try to get it, and he 
 swung. But he made a clean miss. The ball struck 
 in the tramp's mitt and went through it, spinning off 
 .to one side, and Starrett jumped for first, while the 
 spectators rose up and howled. The tramo leaped for
 
 280 The Game Begins. 
 
 the ball, but appeared to be slow, so that when he got 
 the ball and threw to first he was too late to cut Star- 
 rett off. 
 
 Hodge's hot heart flamed. He had seen the tramp's 
 "error," and it had seemed unnecessary. Up to that 
 time the catcher had held everything with apparent 
 ease, but this important ball he let go through his mitt. 
 
 "If it wasn't for this shoulder, I'd ask Bruce to 
 put me in there !" he growled. "That thing looked to 
 be done purposely." 
 
 Docbram came up. Starrett was playing off first, 
 and when the Indian threw he made a dash for sec- 
 ond. The tramp held the ball and threw to second to 
 cut him off, but it was so poor a throw that, though 
 Rattleton held it, he could not get it on the runner in 
 time. 
 
 Hodge gave the tramp a fierce questioning look, but 
 the latter met it with his easy, confident grin. San- 
 ford Hamp, from his seat in the bleachers, was watch- 
 ing Walker with gratification. 
 
 "I'd like to throw a bouquet to the hound !" was his 
 thought. "That fellow would simply be great if he 
 would only let up on booze." 
 
 Swiftwing's eyes were beginning to glitter. After 
 getting the ball he faced toward the plate and stood 
 a moment looking at the tramp in a peculiar way. 
 But the tramp only smiled, and, putting up a dirty paw, 
 lazily waggled a signal.
 
 The Game Begins. 281 
 
 Having finished his stare, Swiftwing threw an un- 
 derhand rise, Docoram struck it and drove it to the 
 ground half-way between the home plate and the 
 pitcher's box. It rose in a bounce and appeared to be 
 going high over Swiftwing's head. Starrett had been 
 olaying off second to go to third. 
 
 With a leap like a mountain-lion, the Pueblo pitcher 
 prang into the air. He grasped and held the ball and 
 seemed to turn in mid-air like a cat. The instant his 
 feet struck the ground he threw to second. Starrett, 
 who had made up his mind that he could reach third 
 and was about to start on the run, saw the ball coming 
 from Swiftwing's brown fingers and jumped back. 
 
 But Rattleton got the ball and put it upon the start- 
 led runner while the latter was off the bag; then 
 turned and threw to first to cut off Docoram, who was 
 making a lively sprint. 
 
 "Slide!" yelled the excited coacher near first. 
 
 A slide to first is most unusual, but Docoram tried 
 it, hoping to astonish the umpire into favoring him, 
 but big Bruce Browning was holding the ball before 
 Docoram reached the base. 
 
 "Out, second and first !" shouted the umpire. 
 
 This was ball-playing extraordinary ball-playing 
 that was worth witnessing, for ordinarily only the man 
 running to first would have been put out. The wild 
 shout raised by the Yale men was taken up by the en-
 
 282 The Game Begins. 
 
 tire body of spectators and swelled into a thunderous 
 outburst of applause. 
 
 "Youse fellers is de warmest babies in der bunch!" 
 the tramp shouted as soon as his voice could be heard, 
 "Pardners, it makes me love yen Do it ag'in!" 
 
 Sanford Hamp had hard work to check the impulse 
 to take off his silk hat and wave it at the tramp. 
 
 "Walker is a born actor. If he'd let booze alone 
 he'd be great. That was a great play those fellows 
 made. I never saw anything like it." 
 
 The tramp's swollen features were beaming, and, 
 turning to the Yale men who were barking out the 
 Yale yell, he waved his cap.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 WHERE IS MERRIWELL? 
 
 As the applause subsided Warford came to the bat 
 Hodge was still watching the catcher. Swiftwing sig- 
 naled to the tramp that he would send in a slow drop 
 and the tramp nodded. 
 
 The Pueblo's delivery fooled the batter. The ball 
 seemed to be a speedy one, coming straight over the 
 plate ; but it hung deceptively in the air, and Warford 
 missed it. Hodge, who was paling and flushing by\ 
 turns, saw it plunk into the mitt of the tramp. 
 
 "One strike!" called the umpire. 
 
 "Injun, you've got an eye!" chirped the tramp, as 
 he tossed the ball back. "Do it ag'in !" 
 
 Swiftwing signaled and sent in a corner-cutter. 
 Warford hesitated, then struck at it as it crossed the 
 corner of the plate, and again missed. 
 
 "Now yer pleasin' mef the tramp howled, as he 
 sent back the ball. 
 
 The Pueblo signaled that he would again pitch a 
 slow drop. But Warford was not to be fooled that 
 way again. He saw that it was a drop. Two strikes 
 had been called on him. He gaged the drop just 
 right, and with a merciless slash drove the ball far out 
 into deep center. 
 
 It flew to the left of the pitcher, far aboy.e his head,
 
 284 Where is Merriwell? 
 
 and hissed on as if it meant never to stop. Warford 
 was bounding for first 
 
 "It's a home run !" some of the Chicagos were yell- 
 ing. 
 
 Joe Gamp had turned about and was running as fast 
 as his long legs would take him in the direction the 
 ball was going. He was too close in, and it did not 
 seem possible for him to spin the ground beneath him 
 fast enough to enable him to get under the ball. 
 
 But Gamp was getting over the ground in a de- 
 ceptive way. Warford passed first and started for sec- 
 ond. The ball-cranks were howling and hundreds 
 were standing up in the bleachers, swinging hats and 
 handkerchiefs. 
 
 "Fly, you dear old clown !" yelled Ready from third, 
 funneling his hands to make the sound carry, though 
 he did not expect Gamp to hear him. 
 
 "He's a swaller!" laughed the tramp. "He's got 
 wings !" 
 
 He was speaking of Gamp, not Warford, though 
 Warford was sprinting along at a lively gait. 
 
 As he ran, Gamp turned his head now and then to 
 look toward the oncoming ball. It was slowly drop- 
 ping, yet still it seemed that it must go over his head. 
 Then he gave a great leap that rivaled the jump of 
 the Indian pitcher, stretched his long legs upward, and 
 gathered in the ball. 
 
 The thing was marvelously done.
 
 Where is Merriwell? 285 
 
 The Yale yell rent the air. The tramp threw his cap 
 on the ground and leaped on it, as an echo of that yell 
 burst from his throat. When he picked up the hat 
 and jammed it on his tangled hair his watery eyes 
 were strangely bright, and his cheeks flushed with a 
 color that was not of drink. Evidently he had been a 
 ball-player in his day, and such work awoke to the full 
 his old instincts. 
 
 "The earth's comin' our way !" he yelled. 
 
 "A lot of it seems to have stuck to you already !" wae 
 *he ungracious fling of a man in the bleachers. 
 
 "That's right, pardner. But I'm willin' ter divide. 
 I ain't any hawg!" 
 
 As the Athletic Team came in from the field, Bart 
 Hodge left the benches and approached the tramp. 
 
 "A word with you!" he requested, in an ominous 
 way. 
 
 "Cert!" Walker chirped. "Allus willin' to talk with 
 gentlemen who air my ekals !" 
 
 "I was watching you a while ago," said Hodge, ig- 
 noring this. "I saw you let that ball go through your 
 mitt and fumble it before you made the throw. You 
 had a chance to put that man out and you did not." 
 
 The tramp looked indignant. 
 
 "I half-way believe that you did that purposely/ 1 
 Hodge declared, while his eyes shone. "I shall keep 
 my eyes on you. If more of that sort of thing occurs, 
 I'll know what you're up to, for it's not likely that
 
 2b Where is Merriwell? 
 
 you'll hold all the balls that amount to nothing and 
 make errors when they're sure to count against our 
 side." 
 
 An anxious look came into Walker's swollen face. 
 
 "Don't be hard on me, pardner !" 
 
 "I don't want to be hard on you, but I want you 
 to know that there can't be any monkey business here. 
 If I see that you are not playing white, you'll go right 
 out, and don't you forget it! I mean business. I'll 
 have the captain take you out of the catcher's box so 
 jquick that it will make your head swim. I don't like 
 what I saw, and I want you to know that I don't like 
 it." 
 
 There was something rather terrifying in Hodge's 
 earnestness. He seemed almost fierce, and the light in 
 his eyes told the tramp that he was a dangerous man 
 when aroused. 
 
 "I'm playin' fair, pardner!" Walker pleaded. "I'm 
 a-goin' to help you fellers win this game, an' if I let 
 another sich ball pass er make another wild throw like 
 that, you kin kick my old hide into fishin'-nets. That's 
 the word o' Willie Walker!" 
 
 "I shall watch you!" Hodge warned, walking away, 
 as his friends moved toward the bench and Swiftwing 
 took up the bat. 
 
 Dashmore caught the ball tossed to him by the um- 
 pire, pulled his cap closely down over his closely 
 cropped reddish hair, and searched the Pueblo with
 
 Where is Merriwell ? 287 
 
 his blue eyes, thrusting out his sharp nose as if he 
 would aid his vision by the sense of smell. 
 
 Swiftwing's impassive brown face was as difficult 
 co read as that of a wooden Indian in front of a cigar- 
 store. He stood ready to bat, with his wagon-tongue 
 uplifted, and in a pose that was so unstudiedly and 
 unconsciously beautiful that there was a running-fire of 
 handclapping. 
 
 "If you want to win applause, you should pick out 
 Indians for your ancestors," chirped Bink. "That's 
 the way the Indian looked who sighted the catboat of 
 Columbus." 
 
 Danny blew a cloud of cigarette smoke through his 
 nostrils. 
 
 "A runt like you would never gain applause if he 
 were as red as Michigan copper and had a Montezu* 
 man for his grandmother! Come off the dump!" 
 
 Dashmore took a signal from Woodbury ; then sent 
 in a hot liner straight over the plate. Swiftwing tried 
 to connect with it, but failed. 
 
 "One strike!" 
 
 Dashmore tried this again, but slipped slightly as 
 his arm went up and the ball missed the plate. Swift- 
 wing saw that it would miss and did not strike at it, 
 
 "Ball one!" called the umpire. 
 
 Dashmore had given his catcher to understand that 
 ne would use speed and a straight ball, working the 
 corners.
 
 288 Where is Merriwell? 
 
 The ball came again, hissing hot. Swiftwingf did 
 flot swing at it. 
 
 "Strike two!" 
 
 "That there pitcher is makin' the atmosphere 
 smoke!" said the tramp. "Didn't ye see the flash then, 
 like a trolley goin' along the wire in the night? But 
 I think I c'u'd hold him!" 
 
 Again the ball came red-hot from Dashmore's fin- 
 gers. Swift wing connected with it, belted it out, and 
 leaped for first. Docoram, the short-stop, leaped for 
 it, knocked it down, fumbled it a moment, then threw 
 swiftly to first. But the terrific running of the Pueblo 
 put him there ahead of the ball. 
 
 "That was an error that Willie Walker didn't* 
 make !" the tramp chirped in a voice loud enough for 
 Hodge to hear. 
 
 Then the tramp walked into place to bat. Hodge, 
 from the coacher's position near first, fixed his eyes on 
 Walker, and the latter, noticing this, gave him an ex- 
 pansive smile in return. 
 
 "Oh, I'm a warm baby !" he called to Hodge, as he 
 put up the bat and turned his eyes on Dashmore. 
 
 The ball came like a bullet. Swiftwing was play- 
 mg off first, closely watched by Dashmore and Wood- 
 bury. The tramp "took" the ball, letting a "strike" be 
 called on him, and Swiftwing fairly flew toward sec- 
 ond. 
 
 Woodbury threw to second, but again t the wonderful
 
 Where is Merriwell? 289 
 
 running of the Pueblo put him on the base ahead of 
 the ball. Dashmore's blue eyes took on a steely, de- 
 termined gleam. He increased the speed of the next 
 ball, sending it in with all his might. The tramp 
 struck at it and missed. 
 
 Swiftwing was playing off second, but he was so 
 closely watched that he could not steal. Hodge's face- 
 was again paling and flushing. 
 
 "I'll tear der cover off of it this time!" the tramp 
 declared, with gritted teeth. 
 
 But again he fanned, as the ball hissed over the 
 plate. 
 
 "Three strikes, out !" said the umpire. 
 
 Hodge's face grew dark and wrathful. 
 
 "That strike-out was intentional !" said Greg Carker, 
 as he arose to take the bat. 
 
 The tramp walked back, with a queer look in his 
 watery eyes. 
 
 "Gents," he said apologetically, "that new Chicago 
 pitcher is the very old devil !" 
 
 Again Dashmore signaled "speed," and again the 
 ball burned the air. It was too fast for Carker, and he 
 did not strike. 
 
 "Strike one !" the umpire sang out. The balls were 
 cutting the corners. Browning, who was near Hodge, 
 gave the latter a placid look. 
 
 "How do the cards run to-day ?" he drawled. 
 
 "Dead against us !" snapped Bart.
 
 290 Where is Merriwell? 
 
 "That's what I thought. We seem to be getting it 
 m the neck. Chicago has picked up a wonder in that 
 new man!" 
 
 "And we've got a scoundrel in that tramp, I'm 
 afraid!" 
 
 "That's what I'm beginning to think." 
 
 "Why in the name of everything did Merry send 
 him?" 
 
 "If Merry hadn't sent him, I think I'd lay him off, 
 even if it lost the game." 
 
 "I'm afraid it's going to be lost, anyway." 
 
 "Brace up!" Bruce urged, remembering that he wa? 
 captain. 
 
 Sanford Hamp was smiling from his seat in the . 
 bleachers. 
 
 "The old guy is bamboozling those fellows beauti- 
 fully," was his thought. "I'll have to raise him for 
 this kind of work. He's simply great!" 
 
 Where was Merriwell ?
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 INTERESTING WORK. 
 
 The next ball was straight over the plate. Again 
 Carker hesitated and did not strike. 
 
 "Strike two!" called the umpire. 
 
 Carker' s face flushed. The bored look had long 
 ago vanished. He gripped the bat anew and almost 
 breathlessly awaited the next ball. It seemed to be 
 coming the same way. He slashed at it. 
 
 "Three strikes, out!" said the umpire. 
 
 "I never saw such speed before !" Carker grumbled, 
 as he took his place in the benches. "No one could 
 hit such balls!" 
 
 "If Merry were here he could get 'em !" Rattleton 
 declared. 
 
 "You bet he could !" chirped Bink, stepping out, for 
 he was to be the next up. "Gents, there's a great load 
 of responsibility resting on my manly shoulders, but 
 I guess I'm equal to it. If none of the rest of you can; 
 hit Dashmore and push that Indian along, I'm the 
 man for the business !" 
 
 Then Bink walked into position and fanned out on 
 three pitched balls, each of which was in the mitt of 
 the catcher before Bink swung at it. Throwing down 
 the bat, he walked over to Danny. 
 
 "Kick me!" he begged.
 
 292 Interesting Work. 
 
 And Danny kicked him so hard that Bink was fairly 
 lifted from his feet. Not a single score had been 
 made in the inning. 
 
 Swiftwing conferred with the tramp and again enr 
 t'ered the pitcher's box. Hodge jealously watched the 
 tramp as the first ball came in. It was a "ball," wide 
 of the plate and fairly speedy, and the tramp held it. 
 
 "Oh, he always holds them, when it amounts to 
 nothing!" Hodge grumbled. The ball came in, Kith 
 struck at it and missed, and again the tramp held the 
 ball, tossing it back to the pitcher with a flourish. 
 
 Then the Pueblo threw an in curve, which Kith did 
 not swing at, and the tramp easily held that. 
 
 "Strike two!" called the umpire. 
 
 Then the ball came over the plate, and Kith lined 
 out a long high fly into left field. Carker ran for it, 
 leaped and seemed about to miss it, but it stuck in his 
 left hand. The Yale cry rose on the air, and the 
 tramp, waving his hat, greeted it with an oily grin. 
 
 "That's the stuff!" he shouted. "We are gittin* 
 inter gear!" 
 
 Sanford Hamp bestowed on him an approving smile. 
 
 After two balls and one strike, all of which the 
 tramp held, Fleckley, who was next up, drove a 
 grounder down past Ready so swiftly that the apple- 
 cheeked third baseman, though he made a lively jump, 
 could not get his hands on it, and Fleckley easily took 
 first.
 
 Interesting Work. 293 
 
 Fleckley flew for second on the first pitched ball, 
 seeming to feel that he could steal safely on the tramp. 
 [The tramp held the ball in his mitt and threw to Rat- 
 tleton on second. Rattleton got the ball and put it 
 on Fleckley, but it flew out of his hands as he did so, 
 and Fleckley was safe on second. 
 
 The Chicago rooters were roaring. 
 
 "Fleckley will never get any farther!" was yelled 
 from the Yale contingent. 
 
 Then Steinway, after one strike, drove another balli 
 by Ready. Ready leaped again, and again failed to 
 get his hands on it, and Steinway took first. Fleckley 
 started for third amid a tumult of excitement, but 
 Carker ran in behind Ready and got the ball so quickly] 
 that Fleckley was forced back to second. 
 
 Hodge had turned his attention to Swiftwing, and 
 SO had Bruce. Swiftwing was being hit by the Chi- 
 cago men. The Yale rooters and every one else 
 realized it, and the friends of the Merriwells began 
 lo grow decidedly anxious. 
 
 "The Pueblo will soon go up in the air!" thought 
 Hodge, feeling nervously of his lame shoulder. "I 1 
 svish I could pitch, or catch, or do something. They're 
 going to put it all over us ! Oh, if Merry were only 
 here!" 
 
 No other message had come from Galesburg, and 
 the hope had been growing in him that Merriwell was 
 im his way back and would yet appear in time to save
 
 294 Interesting Work. 
 
 the game, even if the Pueblo pitcher proved a failure. 
 Once before, in a critical game, Swiftwing had lost 
 control in this way, and the iron nerve of Merriwell, 
 who went into the box in spite of the horrible condi- 
 tion of his wrist, alone saved the day for the Athletic, 
 Team. 
 
 But could Merriwell come now? Hodge had been 
 hoping so. He had told this hope to others, and a 
 belief was being cherished by all that their great cap* 
 tain and manager might yet appear in time to save the 
 team by his wonderful pitching and generalship. 
 
 "I'm no good as captain!" Bruce was telling him- 
 self. "Somehow, I can't put the spirit into the fel- 
 lows that Frank can. We need him ! We need him f" 
 
 He felt that he would jump for joy if Frank should 
 appear and take the burden of responsibility, and step 
 into the pitcher's box. 
 
 "With Swiftwing and the tramp as battery, we're 
 simply not in it!" was Hodge's gloomy conclusion. 
 
 And again he was filled with that overmastering 
 wish for Merriwell. 
 
 "This is more important than catching that rascal, 
 Jones !" he inwardly fumed. "Why doesn't he let the 
 scoundrel go? We're done up without him !" 
 
 The Chicagos were in a happy frame of mind. The 
 gate receipts were something enormous, and that 
 money they believed would be theirs. 
 
 Winir came to the bat with a look of confidence.
 
 Interesting Work. 295 
 
 The others had hit the Indian pitcher, and he believed 
 he could do the same. 
 
 "He's a Winner!" the Chicagos shouted, punning 
 the name. 
 
 "I am always a Winir !" the batter flung back. "Se? 
 me connect!" 
 
 Swiftwing signaled the tramp and pitched an in 
 shoot. Winir swung at it, and, to the astonishment 
 of everybody, drove another ball along the same track 
 by third. But Jack Ready did not intend to let an- 
 other such go by, and when he saw this ball coming 
 he told himself that he would stop it or die. Then he 
 threw himself at full length and stopped the ball. 
 
 Fleckley and Steinway had been forced from their 
 bases, and Fleckley was doing his level best to get to 
 third. The spectators were roaring simply roaring. 
 Stubbs, the short-stop, reached third ahead of Fleck- 
 ley, and with foot on base caught the ball thrown by 
 Ready, who did not rise from the ground but merely 
 sat up to throw. Then Stubbs threw to first to catch 
 Winir, but Winir beat the ball and was safe. 
 
 "Out, third !" said the umpire. 
 
 Steinway was now on second, Winir on first, and 
 two men were out Fleckley and Kith as Woodbury 
 came to the bat. 
 
 Swiftwing's dark eyes were very bright, but this 
 was the only sign of emotion he exhibited. He real- 
 ized that the Chicagos were hitting him, and if he 
 
 \
 
 296 Interesting Work. 
 
 had not realized it, the exclamations and shouts of the 
 spectators would have told him so. The knowledge 
 made him cautious too cautious, in fact; for this 
 over-caution caused him to give Woodbury a base on 
 balls. 
 
 Then Dashmore, Chicago's new pitcher, who was on 
 trial for the first time in this game, came up next at 
 the bat, to be faced by his opponent, the Indian pitcher. 
 Swiftwing was still over-cautious, and two "balls" 
 were called on him, for balls that did not come near 
 the plate. Then he put one straight over and got a 
 "strike" called. 
 
 The tramp was holding everything in a beautiful 
 way. Hodge, who was all the time watching him, 
 even while fuming against the Pueblo, could find noth- 
 ing in the work to cavil at. Again the Pueblo pitcher 
 put the ball straight over, and Dashmore knocked a 
 long fly into the right field. 
 
 Danny sprinted for it, and the little fellow pulled it 
 down with a splendid leap, just as Carker had done 
 and Chicago was again retired without scoring.
 
 CHAPTER XI3. 
 
 MERRIWELL. 
 
 The Athletic Team was worried. 
 
 "Chicago is getting onto Swiftwing, and they're 
 going to stuff the hammering hammer the stuffing 
 out of him !" said Rattleton to Hodge. 
 
 The Pueblo realized the same thing and appeared 
 to want to keep away from the other members of 
 the team. He was never talkative, and now he had 
 not a word to say. Only once did he exhibit any 
 feeling. Then he turned with blazing eyes toward 
 the cheering Chicago rooters in the bleachers and 
 gave them a fierce glance. 
 
 Danny stepped chirpingly to the bat, and fanned out 
 under the fierce speed of Chicago's new pitcher. He 
 looked dazed as he heard the final ball plunk into the 
 catcher's mitt just as he swung to meet it. Then, 
 with a solemnity as great as Swiftwing's, he walked 
 slowly over to Bink. 
 
 "Chummie, I repeated your beautiful performance. 
 Kick me hard!" 
 
 "You worthless little runt, you bet I will !" Stubbs 
 howled; and he viciously kicked him with both feet, 
 to the great amusement of ball-players and specta- 
 tors. Ready came up the head of the batting-list, 
 
 "We've Ot to get right in and 'do' this pitcher 1"
 
 298 Merriwell. 
 
 said Bruce, who had a good deal of confidence in 
 Ready's hitting-abilities. "Take your time and meet 
 the ball. You can do it." 
 
 "Sure!" chirped Jack. But Ready could no more 
 touch that swift delivery than if the ball were chain- 
 lightning, and he, too, fanned out, amid the yells of 
 the Chicago rooters. 
 
 "There's a good deal depending on you, old fel- 
 low !" Bruce called to Gamp, as the latter walked awk- 
 wardly from the benches. 
 
 "As the sus-suspender sus-said to the suspender but- 
 but-ton!" stuttered Gamp, as he took up the bat. 
 "Here gug-gug-goes !" . 
 
 And Gamp fanned out. 
 
 The Athletic Team had seldom met anything so 
 discouraging. Three men had struck out without 
 touching the ball. Small wonder that Dashmore came 
 in with his face flushed and his blue eyes shining, and 
 the Chicago rooters went mad with joy. 
 
 "Oh, for Merriwell!" Hodge groaned. "Why 
 don't he come?" 
 
 Starrett, the head of the Chicago batting-list, came 
 to the bat in the second half of the third inning, and 
 he opened brilliantly for the National Leaguers with! 
 a hit past Danny into the right field. 
 
 Docoram, who followed him, did not wait for hins 
 to steal second, but slashed a ball out over the head
 
 Merriwell. '299 
 
 of Rattleton. Then Warf ord smashed the first pitched 
 ball out into the left field. 
 
 The Chicago rooters were in a frenzy of excite- 
 ment, while the Merriwell rooters were gloomily si- 
 lent. Sanford Hamp was smiling cheerfully from his 
 place in the bleachers. 
 
 "That Indian pitcher has gone right into the air! 
 The work cut for Dusty Rhodes will be dead easy." 
 
 Warford's ball into the left field was a safe base- 
 hit, and would have been all right if Starrett had been 
 satisfied to stop on third, but he tried to go home from 
 second. Carker got the ball, and, with a fine throw, 
 lined it to the tramp. The tramp caught it hand- 
 somely and nailed it upon Starrett as he made his 
 slide for the home plate. 
 
 Starrett was out. Everybody was howling, for the 
 work had been of the most exciting kind. 
 
 The tramp leaped into the air with a triumphant 
 yell and tried to kick the back of his head. His 
 watery eyes shone and he seemed wildly excited. 
 
 "How is that for a Weary Willie?" he screeched. 
 "Did ye see me? Oh ! did ye see me? 7 ' 
 
 "What's the matter with the fellow?" Sanford 
 Hamp fiercely hissed under his breath. "Has he gone 
 crazy? Why did he do that? He could easily have 
 let that fellow score!" 
 
 Docoram had reached second and Warford first.
 
 300 Merriwell. 
 
 Swiftwing's brown face looked a dirty yellow, and 
 he was trembling, though he still strove to hide every 
 indication of emotion. 
 
 Again he became cautious so cautious that he gave 
 ICith his base on balls and filled the bases. 
 
 "Oh, for Merriwell !" Hodge groaned for the hun- 
 idredth time. Then he heard an ear-splitting yell of 
 joy from Danny, which was followed by whooping 
 yells from the throat of almost every member of the 
 team. Looking up, he saw Merriwell. 
 
 Frank had just come upon the field. He was in 
 uniform, with the white Yale Y on his breast. Hodge 
 bounded to his feet like a madman. 
 
 "Merry!" he yelled. "Whoop! Merry!" 
 
 His voice choked and he could say no more. But 
 he ran up to Frank, and fighting his way through the 
 struggling members of the team, who were rushing 
 wildly from the field, crowding round Merriwell and 
 acting like a lot of maniacs, he put a hand on Frank's 
 shoulder. Bart's breast was heaving with emotion, 
 his face was hotly flushed, and there were tears in his 
 eyes. 
 
 "You've come, Merry! Hurrah! We're all right 
 
 now! 
 
 r 
 
 Merriwell looked curiously at the figure in mask 
 and pad behind the bat. Swiftwing was hurrying for- 
 ward from the pitcher's box. 
 
 "Glad you've come!" said the Pueblo. "I'm glad
 
 Merriwell. 301 
 
 to have you take my place. Can't pitch any morel 
 Take my place !" 
 
 Then the Pueblo turned away, with a strange light 
 in his dark eyes, and walked with dignified stride to- 
 ward the benches. Again Merriwell looked at the 
 tramp. 
 
 "He's doing better than at first," explained Hodge, 
 catching the inquiring glance. "I wanted to kick him 
 out of the nine at first, but he's doing better." 
 
 "And your shoulder?" 
 
 "Well, you know if I could use it he wouldn't be 
 there! I wouldn't have let him go there, even for 
 your orders!" 
 
 The ball-game seemed to have come to an end. 
 But the news that Merriwell, the missing captain and 
 manager of the Athletic Team, had appeared on the 
 grounds was spreading through the throng like wild- 
 fire. The Yale contingent in the bleachers was again 
 barking out the Yale yell, and the Merriwell rooters 
 everywhere were hurrahing. Frank beckoned to the 
 tramp, and walked toward the pitcher's box, where 
 they conferred. 
 
 "Can you hold the double-shoot?" Merry asked. 
 
 "Derwhat?" 
 
 "The double-shoot." 
 
 Seeing the puzzled look, Frank explained. 
 
 "I kin hold any old thing. Send 'em along f* 
 
 "How did you get on the team ?"
 
 302 Merriweli. 
 
 "I come to win fer yer behind der bat. Oh, I'm a 
 catcher frum headwaters, I ami" 
 
 "How are we standing?" 
 
 "Last half third innin', one man out, and nary a 
 score !" 
 
 i There was no time for further talk. Frank sent 
 the tramp back to his place, and the umpire called 
 "play ball!" 
 
 The Athletic Team had hastened into the field, crazj 
 with delight. Sanford Hamp was scowling from the 
 benches. 
 
 "But it's all right !" he whispered to himself. "They 
 say this Merriweli is a wizard pitcher; but no matter 
 how fine he is, the tramp will throw the game. I'm al) 
 Tight!" 
 
 Fleckley came to the bat, and Frank tried him with 
 the double-shoot with the first pitched ball. Fleckley 
 did not like its appearance, and refused to swing at it, 
 and it struck in the catcher's mitt. The tramp dropped 
 it, and came near letting Docoram come home from 
 third. 
 
 Frank shook his head warningly at the tramp and 
 again tried the double-shoot. Fleckley swung, but 
 did not connect, and again the tramp failed to hold the 
 ball. 
 
 "Strike two!" called the umpire. 
 
 This was enough to convince Merriweli that the 
 tramp could not hold the double-shoot, and he saw
 
 Merriwell 303 
 
 that in the work now cut out for him he must depend 
 on speed alone, with headwork. 
 
 He signaled the tramp catcher and sent a ball right 
 over the plate. It was a high ball that literally burned 
 the air. Fleckley struck out, and, to Frank's gratifi- 
 cation, the tramp clung to the ball. 
 
 When Steinway came to the bat, Merriwell de- 
 veloped surprising speed. The balls went over the 
 heart of the plate with such terrific force that they 
 seemed to lift the tramp right up into the air. 
 
 But he held them. Steinway struck out on three 
 pitched balls, and the Athletic Team came in from 
 the field howling. 
 
 Then Frank had a talk with Swiftwing, in which 
 he contrived to say many things that tended to take 
 the soreness out of the Indian's heart and make him 
 feel that, after all, he had not disgraced himself in 
 the pitcher's box. The tramp rubbed admiringly up 
 against Merriwell. 
 
 "Pardner!" he cried. "It does me heart good to 
 Ketch fer a man wot kin t'row a ball! You'se del 
 greatest stuff I ever ketched, I'm proud of yer!" 
 
 Merriwell gave him an approving glance. 
 
 "You held those balls finely. No one could have 
 done better!" 
 
 The Yale men were again barking, and the tramp 
 turned toward them and lifted his hat.
 
 304 Merriwell. 
 
 "Do it ag'in!" he shouted. "It does me good ttf 
 hear ye !" 
 
 Then he returned to Frank, plucked at his sleeve, 
 and drew him aside, to whisper something into his 
 ear. Frank drew back and gave the tramp an as- 
 tonished survey, while a strange light came into his 
 eyes. He gripped Walker's hand and spoke to him 
 for a moment in a low tone. 
 
 "That tramp is all right !" he declared to Hodge, . 
 moment later. "I was shy of him at first, but he's 
 all right. We can trust him!" 
 
 "Glad to know that he's all you thought he was," 
 was Bart's reply, which Frank thought a bit enig- 
 matical, for as yet he knew nothing of the manner in 
 which the tramp had secured the position of catcher. 
 
 "I've been afraid from the first that he would throw 
 the game," said Carker. "And I'm still afraid." 
 
 "You needn't be!" was Frank's statement. "I can 
 assure you positively that he is all right." 
 
 Was Merriwell fooled? 
 
 "The old hound is playing his cards well !" San- 
 ford Hamp was muttering, as he watched Walker. 
 "I'll have to raise the amount I promised him. He's 
 a born actor." 
 
 Browning loafed confidently to the bat, "smiling/* 
 as Danny said, "like a summer sea-serpent." All were 
 confident, since Merry's appearance, and Bruce, re-
 
 Merriwell 305 
 
 lieved of the responsibility of the captain's position, 
 was lazily happy. 
 
 But the speed of Dashmore was too great for 
 Bruce, and he fanned out, to his unspeakable disgust. 
 Rattleton came up, excited and twisting his sentences 
 in a remarkable way. 
 
 "I'm so see I don't know whether I can proud or 
 not !" he gurgled. "I mean I'm so proud I don't know 
 whether I can see the ball or not. But here goes* 
 Hurrah for Merriwell!" 
 
 Then he slashed away, fanning twice, and was put 
 out on a high foul. 
 
 "That Chicago man is a wonder!" was Frank's 
 comment. "He has great speed !" 
 
 "Nothin' 'tall like yours, pardner!" grinned the 
 tramp. "Your balls was so hot they blistered my 
 hands through the mitt. Never seen nothin' like it!" 
 
 Merriwell came to the bat. Dashmore flashed him 
 a glance out of those gleaming blue eyes and put on 
 his highest speed. Frank met this first pitched ball 
 without any effort to "kill" it, and placed it in the right 
 field. 
 
 "Oh, we're right all now I mean all right now!'* 
 crowed Rattleton, as Frank took first. 
 
 "Pardners, here's ter duplycate de performance I'* 
 the tramp boasted, as he stepped into position. 
 
 Then he followed with a little place hit over the
 
 306 Merriwell. 
 
 short-stop. Frank, who had played well off first, was 
 running as the bat cracked against the ball. Short- 
 stop and center-fielder were both trying to get the ball, 
 racing toward each other. The Yale men broke out 
 enthusiastically as Merry passed second and tore like 
 a steam-engine toward third. 
 
 The ball came in; but Frank beat it with a long, 
 swift slide, and was safe. 
 
 "What's the matter with Dusty Rhodes ?" some fel- 
 lows were yelling. 
 
 "Nuttin' der matter wid him but his fine clo'es!" 
 the tramp yelled back. 
 
 "Bring Merriwell home!" Hodge piped to Carker, 
 as the latter came to bat. 
 
 But Carker was not equal to that work. Dash- 
 tnore's speed simply paralyzed him, and he struck out 
 iwith bewildering quickness, retiring the side again 
 without a score. 
 
 With Frank in the box and the tramp behind the 
 oat, Winir came up. The Chicago rooters encour- 
 agingly yelled to him that he was a "Winner," but 
 the encouragement availed nothing. 
 
 Merriwell again put the balls straight over the plate, 
 and with such speed that the tramp rose up in the air 
 as he caught them, while his watery eyes glistened. 
 But the tramp held every ball as if it were gold and 
 he was to own it if he caught it.
 
 Merriwell. 307 
 
 Winir fanned out, and Woodbury took the bat, to 
 be struck out in the same way. 
 
 "Talk about speed!" the Chicago batters began to 
 growl. "There's nothing like this in the National 
 League ! Nobody could touch such balls." 
 
 Dashmore, the new Chicago pitcher, was up next. 
 Merriwell looked him over, sized him up, and then, 
 using nothing but terrific speed, struck him out so 
 quickly that Dashmore's head fairly swam. The side 
 was outj and still there was no score.
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 FRANK MERRIWELL/S SPEED. 
 
 Dashmore entered the pitcher's box resolved that he 
 would not let the pitcher of the Athletic Team beat 
 him in speed and control, and he had no trouble in 
 striking out Bink and Danny. Ready got a hit, how- 
 ever, and reached second, but got no farther, for Gamp 
 was caught out on a ball to third, and the side was 
 retired. 
 
 From that time on until the beginning of the ninth 
 inning, the game was a battle royal between great 
 pitchers, in which the tramp catcher proved himself to 
 be a veritable wonder. Only twice did he drop Mer- 
 riwell's terrific balls, though nearly every time the ball 
 plunked into his hands its speed seemed to lift him 
 almost from his feet. But he clung to the hottest, 
 grinning and shouting in his greasy, confident way, 
 and now and then asserting, as he tossed back the ball, 
 that he was "de warmest baby in der bunch." Merri- 
 well was delighted with him. 
 
 Dashmore kept up his great speed through three or 
 four innings. Hits were made off him now and then, 
 but they were ineffective and he kept them scattered; 
 but as the battle raged hotter and fiercer, the new
 
 Frank Merri well's Speed. 309 
 
 Chicago man began to lose control and seemed also to 
 be losing heart. Merriwell was too much for him. 
 He had expected to cover himself with glory because 
 of his great speed, and, lo! another man had dropped 
 out of the air, as it were, and now completely over- 
 shadowed him. 
 
 The spectators went into frenzies of applause and 
 howled themselves hoarse over the beautiful work of 
 the batteries and players. The Yale men in the bleach- 
 ers kept the Yale cry incessantly going, and the tramp, 
 sending it back now and then, appeared to grow lithe 
 and more manly under its sound, while his watery 
 eyes glistened in an indescribable way. 
 
 Sanford Hamp gloomed and growled and swore by 
 turns. Things were not going to suit him. The 
 tramp seemed to be strangely playing to help the Mer- 
 riwells to win, instead of trying to throw the game, 
 as he had promised. The Merriwells were filled with 
 wild exultation. The wonderful work of their cap- 
 tain and pitcher made them love him more than ever, 
 and at times they could hardly resist the temptation to 
 seize him and lift him aloft in their arms and carry 
 him in a triumphal march round the diamond. 
 
 At the end of the eighth inning Sanford Hamp 
 wormed his way out of the bleachers, and approaching 
 the tramp, who had been doing exceptionally fine work, 
 tried to speak to him.
 
 3io Frank Merri well's Speed. 
 
 "You've played me a trick, Walker !" he hissed. 
 
 "Git out o' my way!" the tramp howled, straight- 
 ening to his fu^J height. 
 
 "I want a word with you !" 
 
 "Git out o' my way !" 
 
 The watery eyes were blazing. Hamp took him by 
 the shoulder, as if to whisper something to him, and 
 the tramp, with an awful look in the face, smashed his 
 tempter between the eyes with his catching-mitt. 
 
 Sanford Hamp reeled back, while the unexpected 
 scene raised excited cries. 
 
 "I'll settle with you for this !" he hissed. 
 
 "Go 'long!" the tramp shouted in a fury of pas- 
 sion. "Go 'long, or I'll kick you into ribbons !" 
 
 A special policeman pushed fbrward, but Merri- 
 well interrupted him and told him that the fellow de- 
 served more than he received for interfering with the 
 catcher; and, as Hamp had disappeared, the incident 
 was passed over and quickly forgotten in the excite- 
 ment of the game. Merriwell himself did not under- 
 stand just what had taken place, for the tramp refused 
 to answer questions. 
 
 Merriwell was first at the bat in the beginning oi 
 the ninth inning. Dashmore, who had been struck 
 out by Frank several times, was eager to strike out
 
 Frank Merriwell's Speed. 311 
 
 Frank. Therefore, he pulled himself together and 
 tried to get his former speed. But Merriwell quietly 
 picked out a favorable ball, which he met squarely, 
 and lined out a three-base hit, duplicating Bruce's 
 three-bagger in the second inning. 
 
 "See me duplercate de performance!" chirped the 
 tramp, coming next to the bat. 
 
 But he did not. He struck the second pitched ball, 
 but it went up into the air, and Steinway, the second 
 baseman, got under it and caught him out. Frank 
 on third was watching for an opportunity to score; 
 but Carker, who followed the tramp, fanned. 
 
 Then Stubbs came to the bat. As Stubbs and 
 Danny were the poorest batters on the list, Frank 
 knew that the chances were ten to one that Stubbs 
 would be unable to do anything against the speedy 
 Chicago pitcher. Two strikes were called, and Mer- 
 riwell, sure that Stubbs would strike out on the next 
 pitched ball, ran right off the base without waiting 
 for the ball to go in. 
 
 Instead of delivering the ball, Dashmore turned and 
 threw to third, and Frank was caught between third 
 and the home plate. Winir, the third-baseman, chased 
 Frank toward home, and Dashmore leaped from the 
 pitcher's box and came up on the base-line between 
 Frank and the home plate.
 
 312 Frank Merriwell's Speed. 
 
 Field, bleachers, and grand stand were in a roar of 
 excitement. Merriwell was in a dangerous and tick- 
 lish place, as he played back and forth between the 
 third baseman and the pitcher. 
 
 Finally, the pitcher, having the ball between Frank 
 and the home plate, threw the ball to Winir, as Frank 
 ran back toward the third baseman. Frank wheeled 
 like a cat, and by a rapid dive, passed the pitcher be- 
 fore the ball could get back to him. 
 
 The din from the field and the bleachers became 
 deafening. Everybody was shouting and yelling. 
 The catcher was now the only man between Merri- 
 well and the home plate, but the catcher was waiting 
 for him. 
 
 The third baseman threw to the catcher. Frank 
 started back, followed two or three steps by the 
 catcher. The pitcher was now between Frank and 
 the third baseman and close to Frank, and the catcher 
 made a quick throw to him, believing that the pitcher v 
 could put the ball on the daring runner. The instant 
 the catcher threw, Frank wheeled again with that 
 lightning leap, and, going like a shot for the home 
 plate, took it on a slide. 
 
 The uproar was tremendous ; so terrific, in fact, that 
 the voice of the umpire could not be heard, as he ex- 
 citedly shouted that Frank was safe. The pitcher had
 
 Frank Merriwell's Speed. 313 
 
 returned the ball to the catcher, but so rapid had been 
 Merriwell's movements that he beat the ball. 
 
 The last score of the whole game had been made 
 and made by Frank Merriwell! 
 
 Two strikes had already been called on Stubbs, and 
 as soon as the excitement had somewhat subsided, 
 Dashmore, who had returned to the box, sent in a hot 
 ball. Stubbs knew it would be a "strike," and that 
 he could not touch the ball; and in his wild exuber- 
 ance for Frank's clever work had set him crazy he 
 flung the bat into the air. 
 
 "Three strikes, out !" said the umpire, 
 
 "Who cares ?" Stubbs yelled, turning a handspring. 
 
 The side was out. In the second half of the ninth, 
 Starrett, the head of the batting-list of the Chicago 
 Colts, came up first. 
 
 Merriwell's speed seemed to be greater than ever. 
 Dashmore's greatest could not compare with it. And 
 the wonderful tramp behind the bat held the balls. 
 
 Starrett struck out. Docoram followed and also 
 struck out. 
 
 "Whoop!" screeched the tramp. "Do it ag'in, pard- 
 ner !" 
 
 Frank was ready to do it again. Warford came 
 up, and he, too, struck out. 
 
 Not a single safe base-hit had been made off Merri-
 
 314 Frank Merri well's Speed. 
 
 well. The game was ended, and this was the score 
 by innings: 
 
 123456789 
 
 Athletic Team o o O O O o O I I 
 
 Chicago Colts O O O O O
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THE END OF THE CHASE. 
 
 "Pardners, I couldn't do it, even for Sanford 
 Hamp's money. When I heard that Yale cry, my; 
 battered old hulk grew young again." 
 
 The Athletic Team were again at the Palmer House, 
 and the tattered tramp pitcher was telling them a 
 strange story. His breath was redolent of liquor, and 
 his watery eyes now and then shed copious tears. But 
 his language was no longer the jargon of tramps. 
 
 "I just couldn't do it !" he went on. "I know I'm a 
 worthless old bum. I'm simply a Weary Willie, and 
 I'm not trying to deny it. But I was a Yale man 
 once, pardners, though yow wouldn't believe it to look 
 at me. That Yale college cheer took me back to the 
 old days. I saw the old fence. I was again in the 
 campus with the college buildings round me. I was a 
 Yale man a catcher on the old Yale nine! I woke 
 up ; and I swore I'd help the Yale Athletic Team win 
 that game or die. When Hamp came over to me I 
 wanted to kill him!" 
 
 He choked, blew his red nose violently, and when 
 he spoke again the tears he was shedding and the 
 liquor he had recently swallowed thickened his voice.- 
 
 "But there ain't any hope for me, gents !" he de- 
 clared, dropping back toward the old tramp patter.
 
 316 The End of the Chase. 
 
 "Drink downed me. It lost me everything. I forgot 
 all that's worth knowin', chief of which is that a man 
 rnay always be a man, if he wants to. I feel a little 
 bit now as if 'twould be pleasant ag'in. But I know 
 that I'll take whatever money you kind gents is a 
 mind ter give me and swaller it in drink, and that 
 I'll strike the highways as soon's I'm out er Chicago 
 and ag'in be a Weary Willie an' a Dusty Rhodes. It's 
 writ in the Book o' Fate, and I can't git away frum 
 it!" 
 
 "And he can catch!" Bart exclaimed admiringly, 
 after the tramp had departed. 
 
 "A wonderful catcher. When he told me his true 
 name and that he had once been a catcher on a Yale 
 college nine, I remembered stories of him. A Yale 
 man and a wonderful ball-player wrecked!" 
 
 "Worse than wrecked!" said Carker. 
 
 "Yes, worse ;than wrecked !" 
 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 It had not taken Merriwell long to tell the story 
 of his disappearance. When he dropped through the 
 hole in the upper hall that was covered with bits of 
 plastering, he fell into a cellarlike place. The fall 
 was a heavy one, and the manner in which he landed 
 gave his neck a dangerous twist and rendered him un- 
 conscious. 
 
 When he came to himself he was in an adjoining 
 room, in bed, waited upon by a chattering old man,
 
 The End of the Chase. 317 
 
 who seemed to be a half-maniac. This old man had 
 heard the fall and had carried him out of the cellar 
 into this room. Not only that, but he had made 
 himself Frank's attending physician, and in the course 
 of his supposed duties in this line had poured down 
 his patient's throat a draught that caused Frank to 
 sleep like a log for many hours. 
 
 When Merriwell came out of this sleep his neck 
 pained him and his head felt strangely large and light ; 
 but he was otherwise all right; and these unpleasant 
 feelings passed away after he had been a short time 
 in the purer outer air. He made his way hurriedly 
 out of the place, for he had discovered that the time 
 for the ball-game was at hand, and then had hastened 
 to the hotel, put on his Yale Athletic Team suit, and 
 reached the ball-grounds as already described. 
 
 "We were fools for being taken in by those for- 
 geries!" growled Hodge. 
 
 "I don't think so," said Frank, looking over the 
 forgery of Sanford Hamp. "If I hadn't known any 
 better, I should have been deceived by this bit of work 
 myself. It looks just like my writing!" 
 
 ******* 
 
 With a cowboy yell, a man jumped along a nar- 
 row street of the Windy City, dragging another man 
 by a lariat. It was the little street in which Merri- 
 well had lost sight of Madison Jones. 
 
 The cowboy was Bill Higgins, the "roper from the
 
 38 The End of the Chase. 
 
 Cimarron," and the man who was being unceremoni- 
 ously jerked along with the lasso round his neck 
 twas Jones himself. 
 
 "Dingdest chase ye ever saw !" cried Higgins, giv- 
 ing the rope a yank that threw Madison Jones down 
 * on the cobblestones. "He run up that way, and I 
 I idanced up after 'im, an' when he jumped I let the ol* 
 rope go, and I got 'im ! He's yer meat, Merriwell. I 
 ' idon't want him!" 
 
 Merriwell and Hodge, again in pursuit of Madison 
 [Jones, had strangely encountered Bill Higgins in the 
 very heart of Chicago. He had joined them in the 
 pursuit, declaring that nothing could please him bet- 
 ter than to take part in "sich a round-up." 
 
 This was the result. 
 
 "Merriwell," he said, turning for a moment from 
 Jones, "if I'd knowed you fellers was shore enough in 
 this hyer city, dinged if I wouldn't have come 'fore I 
 started. You've got to go back with me to the ranch. 
 fThe hull outfit will be tickled to death to see yel 
 lYou've got to go ! Understand ? If ye don't, hanged 
 if I don't rope ever' one of ye, and tie ye up hoofs 
 and horns, and carry you out there 'thout saying an- 
 iother word about it. You hear me!" 
 
 "Then we'll go!" laughed Merriwell. "I think I 
 should like to see Badger's ranch !" 
 
 "Whoop!" Higgins yelled. "We've got our brand- 
 fo'-irons on this feller ! Let's drive him into the cat-
 
 The End of the Chase. 319 
 
 tie-pens quick's we kin. We kin start fer the ranch 
 in the morning! Whoop! I'm going to telygraph 
 the ole man this very night that you fellers air shore 
 comin'!" 
 And he did! 
 
 THE END.
 
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 MARION AND HIS MEN. By John De Morgan. 
 
 THE YOUNG AMBASSADOR. By John De Morgan. 
 
 THE YOUNG GUARDSMAN. By John De Morgan. 
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE LIVELY BEE. By John De Morgan. 
 
 THE TORY PLOT. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 IN BUFF AND BLUE. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 WASHINGTON'S YOUNG SPY. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 UNDER GREENE'S BANNER. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 FOR FREEDOM'S CAUSE. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 CAPTAIN OF THE MINUTE MEN. By Harrie Irving Hancock. 
 
 THE QUAKER SPY. By Lieut. Lounsberry. 
 
 FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM. By Lieut. Lounsberry. 
 
 BY ORDER OF THE COLONEL. By Lieut. Lounsberry. 
 
 A CALL TO DUTY. By Lieut. Lounsberry. 
 
 IN GLORY'S VAN. By Lieut. Lounsberry. 
 
 THE TRADER'S CAPTIVE. By Lieut. Lounberry. 
 
 THE YOUNG PATRIOT. By Lieut. Lounsberry. 
 
 ' OLD PUT " THE PATRIOT. By Frederick A. Ober. 
 
 THE LEAGUE OF FIVE. By Commander Post. 
 
 THE KING'S MESSENGER. By Capt. Frank Ralph. 
 
 DASHING PAUL JONES. By Frank Sheridan. 
 
 FROM MIDSHIPMAN TO COMMODORE. By Frank Sheridan. 
 
 THE CRUISE OF THE ESSEX. By Frank Sheridan. 
 
 LAND HERO OF i8. By C. C. Hotchkis*. 
 
 FOLLOWING MAD ANTHONY. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 THE YOUNG CAPTAINS. By T. C. Harbaugh. 
 
 CAMPAIGNING WITH BRADDOCK. By William Murray Graydon. 
 
 Price, 5O cents per volume 
 
 For sale by all booksellers, or sent, postpaid, 'on receipt of price ' 
 by the publisher 
 
 DAVID McKAY, Philadelphia 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
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 RENEWAL MAR 2 8 1972 
 
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 RENEWAL APR n 1972 
 
 APR231972 
 
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 University Research Library