Frank Merriwell’s Prosperity

CHAPTER III. BART’S WILD MOVE.

It was nearly an hour later that Vance returned to the theater, wearing a bandage over his eye, and having his hat pulled well down to hide the fact.

He was decidedly nervous, and still there was something of triumph in his manner. He did not seem to feel the disgrace of his misfortune as keenly as it had been fancied he would.

“Hang it all,” said Garland, finding an opportunity to speak with Lester alone. “You actually act as if you thought you had come off best in your encounter with Hodge! What ails you?”

“I rather think I’ll come off best in the end,” grinned Lester, in a peculiarly knowing manner.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Yes, you do. I can see a peculiar under-meaning in your manner. What has happened?”

“Nothing that I know about.”

“You did not see Hodge after leaving the theater?”

“Yes.”

“Did? Where?”

“At the hotel.”

“What was he doing?”

“Coming out of a room.”

“What room?”

“Merriwell’s.”

“What had he been doing in there?”

“How do I know?”

Garland looked at Vance steadily for some moments.

33“You know something you are not telling,” he declared.

“On my word, I do not!” protested Lester, in sudden alarm. “What could I know?”

“Well, you are acting rather queer. Has Hodge been up to anything?”

“Been up to anything?” repeated Bart’s enemy, as if he did not understand. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, nothing! Let it drop. But I wonder why you think you will come out best in the end.”

“Because I think this Hodge is a rascal, and I believe others will find it out. That’s all.”

“I don’t understand what there is to warrant such a belief.”

“Oh, I fancy I have read him pretty thoroughly. I know just about how he is made up.”

“I’m afraid you are off your trolley. Hodge is not popular in the company, but I’m inclined to believe he’s on the level, for otherwise Frank Merriwell would not have anything to do with him.”

“Merriwell may be fooled in the fellow, you know.”

“Not likely.”

“Why not?”

“They have been friends a long time. I believe they were schoolmates together. That is why Merriwell sticks by Hodge as he does. He’s a chap who will never turn his back on old friends, no matter what they may do.”

Vance grinned.

“I’ll bet the time will come when Frank Merriwell will turn his back on Bart Hodge,” he declared.

“I do not understand what reason you have for thinking that.”

“I suppose not.”

“Explain.”

34“I can’t. It’s a sort of feeling I have, that’s all.”

“Well, I wouldn’t advise you to bank much on that feeling. It will fool you. You feel that way because you hate Hodge. I don’t wonder you hate him, but, take my advice and let him alone. He is a dangerous fellow.”

“Thank you for the advice. He isn’t half as dangerous as you think, Garland. In fact, I regard him as perfectly harmless.”

“That eye doesn’t proclaim him to be. He must have given you that in short order. There was a squall from Stanley, and I rushed to see what had happened. Heard a heavy fall, and you were picking yourself up when I arrived on the scene, while Hodge was gone.”

“That’s it!” growled Vance. “He didn’t stay to face me! He took to his heels, like the sneak he is!”

“I hardly think he ran away.”

“I don’t care what you think; he did run away, just the same, and I’ll bet he’ll take care not to meet me again.”

“He’ll have to meet you.”

“Perhaps not.”

“Of course, he will. You are both in the same company, and you have business with each other in the play.”

“All the same, I don’t think Bart Hodge will dare meet me again,” boasted Vance.

Garland turned away with an impatient gesture. He did not like Hodge, but the seeming conceit of Vance was too much for him.

Vance saw the look on Garland’s face, and it cut him somewhat. He longed to tell Granville something more and he opened his lips to do so, but prudence bade him keep still, and so he did not speak.

With Hodge lacking, the rehearsal went on as well as possible, special attention being given to the specialties.

35Frank was restless and nervous. He longed to go in search of Bart, for he fancied it was possible the hot-headed fellow had cooled down enough to listen to reason. He observed Vance was swaggering around in a rather remarkable manner under the circumstances.

“I wonder if he saw anything of Bart?” thought Frank.

Merry did not like Vance, but he resolved to question him, and so he asked him if he had seen Hodge; doing so quietly in order not to attract attention.

“Yes,” answered Lester, speaking loudly, “I saw Hodge at the hotel. He was coming out of your room, too.”

“Coming out of my room?” questioned Frank, lifting his eyebrows.

“Yes, sir.”

“Where did he go?”

“I don’t know.”

Frank did not question the fellow any more concerning Bart. Just then, Lester, who was looking down at his left hand, as if examining his finger nail, gave a start, exclaiming:

“That’s queer!”

“What is queer?” asked Frank.

“My ring is gone.”

“Perhaps you left it somewhere.”

“No, I had it a while ago. I have been wearing it next to my little finger, and I had a hard time to get it on, so I put it on my little finger, although it was too large.”

“When was that?”

“Just before rehearsal began.”

“Then it’s likely you have lost it.”

“By gracious! I’m afraid so, and I valued it highly. It had my monogram set in fine stones, you know, and 36it was a present to me. I wouldn’t lose it for any amount of money!”

“It may be around the stage somewhere.”

In a few moments nearly everyone was searching for Lester’s ring. Although they looked all around the stage and in the dressing rooms, it was not found.

“You must have lost it after you left the theater, Vance,” said Rufus Small.

“If I lost it on the street, I’ll never see it again,” said Lester, dolefully. “It’s mighty tough!”

“Where did you go from here?”

“To a market, and then straight to the hotel.”

“Perhaps you lost it in the hotel. It may be in your room.”

Vance started and looked somewhat agitated.

“That’s so!” he cried. “I’ll look for it there if you’ll let me go, Mr. Havener.”

“We’ll all go,” said Havener. “We can’t do anything more this afternoon.”

“Needn’t hurry on my account,” said Vance, anxiously.

But rehearsing was over, and, not a little to Lester’s uneasiness, Frank Merriwell left the theater at once and hurried toward the hotel. Vance was unable to get ahead of Merry without running, and this he did not do.

Presenting himself at the desk, Frank asked if Hodge was in his room or around the hotel.

“No,” answered the clerk, “he has left.”

Merry caught his breath, a queer sensation striking through his heart.

“Left?” he exclaimed.

“Yes, sir.”

“You don’t mean——”

“He has settled his bill and departed.”

“Impossible!” cried Frank, in great consternation.

37The clerk lifted his eyebrows, but said nothing.

“I beg your pardon,” said Merry, quickly. “I did not mean to contradict your statement, but it does not seem possible for me to believe it. Will you give me the particulars?”

“There are no particulars, save that he asked for his bill, paid it, took the key to your room to get something he said he had in there, came down very soon with his grip and coat, and left.”

It was a rare thing for Frank Merriwell to be dazed, but he seemed so just then.

A little distance away stood Lester Vance, a look of intense satisfaction and triumph on his face.

“Bart has gone crazy!” thought Frank, his lips being pressed together. “He’ll be sorry for this. Unless I can stop him, there is no telling what may become of him. I’ll not be likely to see him again for a long time, and he is in such a reckless mood now that it will be dangerous for him to go by himself.”

He took his key and went up to his room.

“I must have a chance to think,” he decided. “I must conclude what to do.”

He closed the door of his room, and then he noticed a sheet of paper, covered with writing, lying on the table. Hastily he caught it up.

“From Bart!” he breathed. “Wonder what this will tell me.”

His eyes ran over the written lines hurriedly, and this is what he read:

“Frank: It’s no use—I quit! I suppose you will say it is a mean trick for me to leave you this way, but I don’t care if you do! It’s my nature cropping out. I think the devil is in me. I have taken all the money I need, and it will be useless for you to attempt to follow me up. You may as well let me go this time. I 38take the money in place of my salary, which you have not yet paid me. Hodge.”

Frank stood there, staring at the paper—staring, staring. The words ran together and danced before him. Something was tugging at his heart.

“Poor Hodge!” he murmured. “He cannot conquer himself.”

Then he crushed the paper and threw it on the floor.

“I’ll wager he didn’t take enough money to keep him a week!” came hoarsely from Frank’s lips. “He should have taken twenty-five dollars, at least, and it’s likely he hasn’t taken more than ten.”

He picked up his grip and quickly emptied it upon the bed. Then he soon removed the false bottom and looked into it.

Frank stood there, as if turned to stone. On his face was a look of mingled astonishment and pain.

“Gone!” he finally said, his voice cold, hard and metallic. “Every dollar gone—eight hundred and sixty dollars in all!”

Rat-tat-tat!—a knock on the door.

Before Frank could speak the door swung open, and Granville Garland, Douglas Dunton and Lester Vance entered.

“Mr. Merriwell,” cried Vance, “Dunton has heard something about Hodge!”

“Has he?” said Frank, with perfect coolness, as if nothing had happened to disturb him in the least.

“I have,” nodded Dunton, looking serious. “I heard that he was seen purchasing a ticket for St. Joseph.”

“Is it true he has gone?” asked Garland. “I could hardly believe it when Vance told me.”

“I’m afraid he has been foolish enough to leave,” admitted Merry.

39“And all because Havener called him down! My, my! How foolish! He oughtn’t to mind a little thing like that.”

“That was not all,” said Vance significantly.

“No?”

“Remember what I told you?”

“Yes.”

“What was that?” asked Frank, sharply, causing Lester to start a bit.

“Eh? Oh—oh—nothing much. Only—only——”

“Only what?”

Vance stiffened up.

“I said Hodge would sneak,” he declared, attempting to be bold.

“Oh, you did?”

“Yes. He ran away after hitting me and I said he would not stay to face me again. I knew he would sneak.”

“Remarkable!” exclaimed Frank, with a short laugh. “So you think Hodge ran away to keep from meeting you again?”

“I am sure of it. He is a coward!”

“Mr. Vance,” said Frank, “whatever else Bart Hodge may be there is not a drop of cowardly blood in his body. If you were a thousand instead of one he would not have run away from you.”

Vance colored.

“You think so,” he said; “but I don’t fancy you know him very well for all that you have been acquainted with him so long. I’ve never liked his looks. To me he seemed to be a chap who would hesitate at no crime.”

Vance saw that Merry had been investigating the grip, and he fancied his words would give the young actor-playwright a start, but Frank’s nerve was unruffled.

“What are we going to do?” demanded Garland.

40“Yes, that’s the question,” said Dunton, anxiously. “We can’t play without Hodge to-night.”

“It strikes me that he has played you dirty, Mr. Merriwell,” said Granville. “And he is the fellow with whom you have been so friendly!”

“A nice friend!” muttered Vance, sneeringly.

Frank was sick at heart, but his calm face did not betray the pain he felt.

“It is possible you do not understand how matters stood,” he said. “I had no contract with Hodge.”

“Didn’t?” cried Dunton.

“Really?” exclaimed Garland.

“That’s queer!” ejaculated Vance, in disappointment.

“No,” said Frank, “I had no contract with him, and so he has broken no pledge to me in leaving in this manner.”

“Still,” said Dunton, “there must have been some sort of understanding between you, and Hodge was pretty cheap to skip out without giving any sort of notice.”

“Not exactly the act of a friend of whom one can be proud,” broke from Garland. “I think you’ll have to acknowledge that, Mr. Merriwell.”

Frank was determined to defend Bart as far as possible.

“You do not know all that happened at the theater to-day,” he said. “Hodge and I had some words.”

It was galling for him to make that confession, but he felt that something must be said to explain the sudden desertion of Bart.

Garland whistled a bit.

“Then that must have happened before the unpleasantness between Hodge and Vance?” he said.

“It did,” nodded Merry. “Hodge left me in anger. He is hot-blooded and impulsive, and he did not stop to reason about the matter. He has skipped out, it is evident, 41but I believe he will cool down and come back when he comes to think it all over.”

“But he’ll be treating you dirty if he doesn’t come back in time for the performance to-night,” said Garland. “You would not be likely to take him back if he returned to-morrow. I’m sure you wouldn’t take back any of the rest of us if we served you such a trick.”

“You can’t be sure of anything of the sort,” said Frank, sharply. “You were not with the company when Leslie Lawrence deserted and returned to beg pardon. I did not fancy Lawrence, he was not a friend, and yet I took him back. If Bart Hodge returns to-morrow, I shall take him back.”

“Oh, you can do as you like about that,” said Garland.

“I suppose you would take him back if he had stolen your clothes from you?” asked Vance, jeeringly.

“If I chose to I certainly should,” answered Merry, his eyes seeming to bore Bart’s enemy through.

“Hodge didn’t have much money yesterday,” said Vance, staring at the open grip. “I wonder how he happened to have enough to-day to settle his hotel bill and purchase a ticket?”

“How do you know he didn’t have money yesterday?”

Frank shot the question at Vance.

“Oh, he—I—I heard him say so on the train.”

“Did you?”

“Yes. Where do you suppose he got his money?”

“Perhaps I let him have it.”

Vance was disappointed and puzzled. He could not understand why Merriwell did not denounce Hodge, for he was certain Frank had discovered the money was gone. Was it possible Merry intended to keep silent 42and not charge Hodge with the robbery? Vance could hardly believe such a thing possible. He could not fathom the depths of such fidelity to a treacherous friend.

“What’s this?” said Garland, stooping and picking up the crumpled sheet of paper. “There’s writing upon it.”

“Yes,” said Frank, as he quickly took it from the man’s hand. “I threw it down there.”

Again Vance was disappointed.

“Merriwell is too proud to let us know,” he thought. “He doesn’t want us to think he was fooled by Hodge.”

“Well, I, for one, shall not feel very good toward Hodge if he does come back,” admitted Dunton. “What are we going to do, Mr. Merriwell? The town is billed for the play, the day has arrived for the performance, and there is a big advance sale.”

“We’ll have to lay off to-night,” answered Frank, as if that settled it without further talk. “I will attend to that. Don’t let it worry you.”

“How can you get a man to fill Hodge’s place?” asked Garland.

“That I do not know yet.”

“I wonder what he was after in this room,” came from Vance, in a last desperate effort to force Frank to speak out. “He sneaked out of here as if he had committed a crime. You haven’t lost anything, have you, Mr. Merriwell? He didn’t take anything from you, did he?”

“I haven’t looked around yet,” was the cool answer. “As for coming into this room, he had a right to do that at any time. It was a privilege I gave him, and it was always so understood by hotel clerks wherever we stopped. I know you do not like Hodge, but take 43my advice, don’t try to make him appear worse than he is. I don’t like it, and I won’t have it!”

Frank walked to the door and opened it.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “I beg you to excuse me. I have business to look after, and time is valuable now.”

They took the hint and filed out. The door closed after them. Vance wheeled about and looked toward the door, his lips curling in scorn.

“Merriwell is a fool!” he declared.

CHAPTER IV. “TRUE AS STEEL.”

Shortly after the three actors departed, Ephraim Gallup came bursting into Frank’s room, looking excited and agitated.

“Gol-darn my pertaturs!” he spluttered. “Whut’s this I hear abaout Hodge?”

“I don’t know,” said Frank. “What do you hear?”

“He’s gone!”

“Yes.”

“Skipped?”

“Yes.”

“’Thout notifyin’ yeou?”

“Yes.”

“Jee-roo-sa-lum!”

Gallup was stricken dumb for the moment. He stood there, his mouth yawning and his eyes bulging, utterly incapable of expressing his emotions.

Frank was packing some articles into his grip. He seemed to be making arrangements to depart.

“Jee-roo-sa-lum!”

Again the Vermont youth uttered the exclamation. He straightened up and cleared his throat. His mouth came together, and he began to look angry.

“By gum!” he exploded. “That’s whut I call a darn mean trick! I swan to man I never thought Hodge’d go back on yeou, Frank!”

Merry was silent, calmly continuing the packing of his grip.

“An’ they’re sayin’ daown in the office that he swiped somethin’ wut didn’t b’long to him,” said Ephraim.

45That gave Frank a start.

“Who says so?” he asked, his heart giving a leap and seeming to drop back heavily, as if weighted down with sudden dread.

Was it possible Bart had stolen something from the hotel? Frank could not believe it.

“Why, some of the comp’ny.”

“Ah!”

It was a breath of relief that came from Merry’s lips, and still the suspense was not fully removed. What if Hodge had taken something belonging to some other member? Under the circumstances, it would brand him as a thief, even though actors frequently appropriated articles belonging to others of the craft, without seeming to regard it as stealing. In this case, nearly every member of the company would be against Bart, and they would magnify any little occurrence that might damage him.

“What were they saying?” asked Frank, with apparent unconcern. “What do they claim Bart has taken?”

“They say Vance knows he tuck somethin’ frum yeou, Frank.”

“Oh, is that the yarn! Well, I wonder how Lester Vance knows so much?”

“I dunno.”

“It would seem more manly for him to be silent about Hodge under the circumstances. If he talks too much it will look like a case of spite.”

“That’s so.”

Frank was relieved, and still he wondered how Vance could be certain enough to make such a charge against Hodge. He soon decided that it must be no more than suspicion on the part of Bart’s foe. Lester had seen Bart leave Merry’s room, and he had decided that Hodge had been in there for no honest purpose. That must be the explanation of the accusation against the erring youth.

46“Hodge didn’t take ennything of yeou, did he, Frank?”

Ephraim threw the question fairly and squarely at Merry.

Instantly Frank straightened up, giving the Vermont youth a look that seemed full of resentment and indignation.

“How can you ask such a question, Ephraim Gallup!” he cried. “I am astonished! Have you forgotten how many times Bart has been unjustly accused of such things? Have you forgotten how I have always stood by him without ever once being mistaken? Do you think Bart Hodge would stoop to do me a deliberate injury now?”

Ephraim was abashed for a moment, and then he said:

“Waal, he’s doin’ yeou an injury by jumpin’ aout an’ leavin’ ye in this air kind of way, by thutter!”

“He didn’t stop to think what he was doing. That’s what’s the matter. If he had, wild horses could not have dragged him away.”

“Mebbe so.”

“You know it, Ephraim—you know it! Hodge is passionate and hot-headed. After his call down by Havener to-day he came to me in my dressing room. We had some words.”

“Great juniper!”

“Hodge was unreasonable. I found it impossible to talk the matter over with him properly. When I tried to do so, he flew off the handle. For the first time since we became chums I was unable to control him. His hot temper had burned his reason out. He left the theater and rushed here to the hotel. Without delay he packed up and took a train out of town. If he had given himself time to cool down he would not have thought of doing such a thing.”

“I don’t like somethin’ they’re sayin’ about him naow.”

47“What?”

“That is kainder looks ez if he run away to git rid of meetin’ Vance ag’in.”

Frank laughed.

“That is the worst kind of foolish talk,” he said. “Hodge would not run from an army of fellows like Lester Vance.”

“I don’t b’lieve he would, uther,” nodded Ephraim.

“If Vance had such a fancy in his head he is fooling himself.”

“I kainder think he b’lieves it hisself, by thutter!”

“He doesn’t know the kind of material Bart Hodge is built from.”

“Whut yeou goin’ to do, Frank?”

“I shall attempt to follow Hodge and bring him back.”

“No? Yeou don’t mean it!”

“Certainly I mean it. Do you think I am going to let the poor fellow go to ruin? To-morrow he will be overwhelmed with shame for his hasty act, but that very shame will keep him from returning unless I find him and bring him back.”

“Frank,” said Ephraim, “yeou are the kaind of a friend to hev! Yeou stick to yeour friends to the last gasp. Be yeou goin’ right erway?”

“Yes.”

“Do yeou know where Bart’s gone?”

“No; but I have a fancy that he has struck for St. Joseph first. I shall try to trace him there.”

“Will yeou be back to-morrer?”

“I hope to, but I am not coming back till I find Bart Hodge!”

“But whut be we goin’ to do?”

“I’ll make arrangements about that. I want you to find Havener and send him here to this room without delay. I have some instructions to give him.”

48“All right,” said Ephraim. “I’ll hunt him up an’ tell him.”

He hurried from the room. Outside the door he paused a moment.

“By gum!” he muttered. “Was there ever another feller that stuck to his friends same as Frank Merriwell does? He’s true ez steel!”

Havener came up and found Merriwell all ready to leave. The stage manager looked rather dejected.

“I’m sorry about this business, Mr. Merriwell,” he said, humbly. “I’m sure I didn’t think it would end this way. If I had dreamed it would I should have permitted Hodge to do just as he liked.”

“And thus ruined the discipline of the entire company,” said Frank. “You would have made a great mistake, Havener.”

“But he’s gone—he’s skipped.”

“Yes.”

“And he has done it because I spoke to him on the stage. I might have taken another opportunity.”

“Mr. Havener, when I made you stage manager of this company I did so with the full intention that you should manage the stage and the people on it. I made no reservations. At rehearsal I am under you, and I thoroughly understand that. It is the only way to run a company as it should be run. A stage manager must have absolute authority in his province, or he is of very little value. I tried to tell this to Hodge, but he was too hot to listen.”

“But Hodge is your friend.”

“Yes.”

“And you always stand by your friends.”

“Always. At the same time I will not uphold a friend to the absolute injury of somebody else. I will stand by him and endeavor to convince him of his error, if he has 49made one; but I will not aid him in injuring another person.”

Havener brightened and the downcast look left his face.

“I was afraid you would blame me in this matter,” he said. “It’s pretty rough to be upset just like this, after all the troubles you have had and just when there seemed to be plain sailing ahead.”

“I do not blame you at all, Havener. I have heard just what took place on the stage, and I have no complaint to make.”

“Thank you,” said Havener, much relieved.

“You have nothing to thank me for. I am going away. I am going to make an attempt to overhaul Hodge and bring him back.”

“The performance to-night——”

“Will not take place.”

“The manager of the theater will be furious.”

“I can’t help that.”

“What will you do about it?”

“I want you to attend to that matter.”

“You will give me instructions?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“You are to notify the box office without delay that sale of seats must stop.”

“Oh, but there will be a flurry!”

“Tell the manager just what has happened. Here is a check which I have made out for you. It is for five hundred dollars.”

Frank handed Havener the check.

“What’s this for?” asked the stage manager.

“To settle with the manager of the opera house and to pay bills here till I return.”

Havener slowly shook his head.

“I’m afraid this won’t do,” he said.

50“Not enough?”

“Yes.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“It’s a check on a Denver bank, and it’s for five hundred dollars. I don’t think I can get it cashed in this place, Mr. Merriwell. You have plenty of ready money. You had better give me some of that.”

Just a bit of color added its flush to Frank’s cheeks.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Havener,” he said, “I have not plenty of ready money at the present time.”

“But—but you told me on the train——”

“I know what I told you. I said I was carrying several hundred dollars with me so that I’d not get in a tight corner.”

“Yes, you told me so.”

“I have disposed of that money since coming to Atchison.”

Havener stared.

“Disposed of it?” he muttered as if he did not understand.

“Yes. I have none of it handy now. For myself, I have less than a hundred dollars, which I was carrying on my person, but that will be enough for the present.”

“Remarkable!” exclaimed Havener. And then, all at once, a singular expression came over his face. “It isn’t possible that what they are saying about Hodge is true?” he exclaimed. “You don’t mean to admit that——”

“I do not mean to admit anything of the sort!” Merry cut in, without waiting for him to finish. “Vance was here with his unpleasant hints and suggestions. I will make that check good.”

“Make it good?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

51“By getting the name of the hotel proprietor on the back of it.”

“Can you?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“I know that Mr. Kent Carson, who knows the proprietor of this house very well, has vouched for me here, and the word of Kent Carson goes anywhere in Kansas or Colorado.”

“If that’s right, you are lucky. I believe I understand why you are determined to follow Hodge up. I hope you catch him, Mr. Merriwell. I didn’t think it of him!”

“That is the kind of talk I do not like,” declared Frank, sharply. “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“I shall be glad to grant it, you may be sure of that.”

“You are to inform the company that I have left five hundred dollars with you to keep things straight and as a guarantee that I will return.”

“All right.”

“But you are not to say that I left you a check for five hundred dollars. You are to let them infer that I left the cold cash. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You are to permit no member of the company to see you cash that check.”

“Very well.”

“If anyone hints that there is anything queer about this business you are to silence that person without delay.”

“I’ll do it, all right.”

“You know what to do in relation to the theater here.”

“But what if you do not return in time for us to play in Leavenworth?”

“I will cancel with Leavenworth by wire. No: if you do not hear from me by ten o’clock to-morrow forenoon 52you cancel. That will be better, for I might be where I could not wire you.”

“Say, but this is tough!” exclaimed Havener. “I hoped there would not be any more of this kind of business.”

“So did I,” nodded Frank; “but we can’t help it. It’s pretty ragged, but we’ll have to swallow it.”

“I don’t understand how it is that you still hold a feeling of friendliness toward a fellow who could put you in such a bad box.”

“That is because you do not understand Hodge and our relations. If I let him go now without an attempt to bring him back, I should regret it always.”

“It’s a lucky fellow who wins such friendship as yours,” said Havener, admiringly. “But I’m afraid Hodge doesn’t deserve it.”

“I don’t like that kind of talk!” exclaimed Frank, with a slight show of impatience. “I have upheld you in the matter of the affair at rehearsal, but I don’t like to hear you say anything against Hodge now.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“All right. Now we will go down and find the proprietor of the hotel. I believe he will put his name to that check. I’ll take my deposit book along, to show him that I have a little something in the bank at Denver.”

They descended the stairs, Frank carrying his grip, but leaving his handsome light overcoat behind. The proprietor of the hotel was found, and in less than five minutes Merry had talked him into putting his name on the check, although he regretted doing so as soon as Frank was gone.

CHAPTER V. ON THE TRACK.

An evening train bore Frank Merriwell into St. Joseph. He had learned of a certainty that Hodge had purchased a ticket and taken a train for that city, and he hoped to find Bart there, although he feared he should not.

If Bart kept on for Chicago, as he might do, there was little chance of overtaking him.

After starting, Frank began to realize that such a blind pursuit seemed foolish in the extreme.

His one hope was that Hodge would step off in St. Jo. If Bart did not——

Frank did not like to think of that. And still the conviction that it was more than likely Hodge would continue his flight grew stronger and stronger.

“Well,” muttered Merry, as he stepped off the train, “I’ll make a search for him here. It’s the best I can do.”

He had known all along that he might have stopped Hodge by means of telegrams to the police departments of various places through which the fugitive must pass; but, even though Hodge had taken the money from the grip, Frank’s soul revolted against recovering it by bringing about the erring fellow’s arrest.

Already Bart was on the downward road—the road to ruin! Frank felt certain of that. Was it possible to stop him—to save him? It did not seem possible. It appeared as if Bart’s downfall were complete.

After leaving the station Frank found a policeman and asked a number of questions. Then he proceeded to a hotel, where he registered and left his grip. He examined the register, but Bart’s name was not there. He scarcely 54expected to find it, for something told him Hodge would not register under his own name.

Frank believed he could recognize Bart’s handwriting at a glance, no matter what the name might be, and it was in this manner that he hoped to trace the fugitive.

He set out on a weary round of hotels, examining the register at each one. He could not run over the list of arrivals swiftly, for he knew it was possible Hodge might attempt to disguise his handwriting, as well as assume a fictitious name. This made him scrutinize each signature closely and carefully. It was a tiresome task, but he plodded on, hoping against hope. His nature revolted against such crude detective work, but this did not seem to be a case at which he could work in a systematic manner. If he found Hodge it would be a case of good fortune as much as anything else, and he knew it.

At last he had visited all the hotels and his search had been unrewarded.

“It’s no use!” he muttered, in disgust. “A detective would laugh at me for trying to find a fugitive in such a manner. Yes, he would laugh at me for thinking a chap who had just stolen more than eight hundred dollars would stop so soon after taking to flight.

“Still, to me there seems two reasons why Hodge may have stopped here. If he had not taken money he might not have thought it necessary to get further away. If he did take it, he may have thought it would be easier to stop him by means of telegrams if he continued his flight by train than it would if he dropped off here and lost himself in this city.”

This reasoning did not give Merry much comfort. He began to realize that he was hungry. He had not felt the need of food before, so eager had he been to investigate the hotel registers.

55Coming to what seemed like a respectable restaurant, he went in and gave an order.

He sat down near a table at which two men were eating. He noticed that, although they made a display of flashy jewelry, they were rather tough-looking chaps, decidedly sporty in their dress. One of them had a thick neck and close-cropped hair, while his face resembled that of a bulldog. The other addressed him as “Mul,” or “Muldoon.”

It soon became evident that the other man’s name was Rafferty. He had long, slim hands, with fingers that squirmed in a snakish manner. His eyes were restless and watchful.

Frank had a theory that most men betray the profession they follow by the language they use. While he was waiting for his order to be served he unconsciously listened to the talk of the two men.

“Well, Muldoon,” said the fellow with the snaky fingers. “I’ve taken your tip and shoved up a good wad on the sucker.”

“An’ yer all right, my boy,” asserted the owner of the bulldog face. “Dat chap ain’t so much of a sucker as some folks take him fer. Jest ’cause he comes from Chicago dey gives him dat name.”

“You feel sure he’ll brand the Maverick?”

“Do I? Well, say, ef I had a million I’d put it on dat. If he ever lands dat left maul on Kansas Jim’s neck der Maverick won’t know wot hit him.”

“There is no cold deck in this game, is there? It’s to be a square game with no holdout?”

“Say, want me ter tell yer somethin’?”

“Sure.”

“Der Maverick’s up ag’in it.”

“No?”

“Dat’s straight.”

56“How do you know? Won’t he have a show?”

“He’ll never do up Hanks.”

“Then he’s playing against marked cards?”

“It’s dis way: It’ll be on der level jest as long as it can be, but if dey see Jim’s gittin’ der woist of it—well, he’ll be t’rowed down.”

“How?”

“Dunno yit.”

“How do you know so much?”

“I’m on der inside, I told yer. I can’t give erway der boys wot puts me onter der game, but dey’ve tole me ter tip me friends off ter lay their long green on der Sucker.”

“Well, Mul, I don’t forget this turn if the game does run my way. I’ll see that you get a chance to go against Tommy the Terror, just as I promised, if I rake in the chips to-night. I don’t suppose there is any danger that the police will interfere?”

“Well, dere was danger, but I rudder t’ink der cops has been put off der scent. Dey dunno jest when der little bout’s goin’ ter come off.”

“But they must have seen the sports coming into town to-day. Lots of them have struck St. Jo. within the last ten hours.”

“I should guess yes! It’ll be a good t’ing fer der club.”

“I don’t believe there is any other city in the United States where this sort of game could be played to a finish. It’s to be a regular prize fight under pretension of having a private sparring exhibition.”

“Dat’s wot.”

“But the way the sports have come into town should be enough to tell the police that something more than usual is to take place.”

“Aw! der perlice here are dead slow! Den dey don’t 57care much, anyway. Was dere menny sports come on der train wid you, Rafferty?”

“Several. One young fellow had got onto the fight somehow, and he was dead crazy to see it, but didn’t know how to get there. I think he had a roll to blow, too.”

“Well, why didn’t yer give him der tip if yer t’ought he was on der level?”

“I did. I sent him to Mike Kelley and told him Kelley would get him in.”

Frank had decided that the fellow with the bulldog face was a slugger and prize fighter, while his companion, the owner of the squirming fingers, was a gambler. The language of the men had revealed this plainly enough.

“Did yer give der young duck der word?”

“Yes. I told him to say ‘upper cut’ to Kelley and shove out his fiver.”

“That was all right. Who was yer friend?”

“I didn’t get his name. He was carrying a heavy grip, with a long slip of paper pasted on the side of it. On the paper were printed the words ‘True Blue,’ but I don’t know what that meant.”

It was impossible for Frank Merriwell to repress a start. He came near leaping to his feet with an exclamation of satisfaction, but quickly closed his mouth and dropped back into his seat.

“On the track at last!” he mentally exulted. “That young fellow who seemed to have a roll to blow and who was so eager to see the prize fight was Bart Hodge!”

Frank Merriwell was on the alert now, his ears open to catch every word of the conversation to which up to that point he had listened with the idlest sort of interest.

Frank wondered why he had not thought of tracing Bart by means of the strip pasted on Hodge’s grip. In a moment, however, it seemed natural enough that he had 58not thought of such a thing, for it had not seemed probable a fellow who had just stolen over eight hundred dollars would travel around with a conspicuous label by which he might be spotted and recognized. It was rather remarkable that Hodge had not removed the words in some manner from his traveling bag.

And Hodge had acted as if he had a “roll to blow!” In the midst of his feeling of satisfaction, Frank was stricken by a sharp pain. He was glad to be on the track of Bart, but the evidence of his former friend’s complete depravity filled him with distress.

Hodge had taken the money, and he was bound to have a gay time while it lasted. At least, everything seemed to indicate that.

Merry fancied that Bart had given up at last in his attempt to be honest and upright. For a long time he had struggled against his natural inclinations and against the unjust suspicions of others. He had grown tired fighting fate, for it had seemed that fate was determined that he should go wrong. No one save Frank Merriwell had shown absolute confidence in him.

Merriwell had ever seemed to believe that Bart would turn out well in the end, but now it appeared that his faith had been sadly at fault and his confidence woefully misplaced.

Frank could understand how a proud, sensitive fellow like Hodge could be driven to dishonesty by suspicion and mistrust. But there was one thing Merry could not understand.

How had Hodge smothered his conscience and his sense of justice and gratitude enough to permit him to rob the best and truest friend he had ever known?

That was a puzzle to Frank. He did not like to think of it. He could not bear to believe he had been entirely wrong in his estimate of Bart’s character.

59Somehow Frank had hoped in the face of all the evidence of Bart’s culpability that it was not really true—that Hodge had not taken the money.

But now it seemed there could no longer be a doubt of it. This gambler Rafferty had fallen in with Hodge, and had given him a “tip” concerning the proper manner to get to the prize fight that was to take place in St. Jo.

Hodge had seemed to have a roll and he was aiming straight in the proper direction to get rid of it. Having cut clear from Frank, it was plain he was seeking the low and vicious.

Although a youth who could “handle his dukes” and take care of himself in a fight, Frank Merriwell thought very little of prize fights and prize fighters. He regarded professional pugilism as brutal, and the “sports” who followed it up and took delight in it as a low type of humanity. It was his belief that such affairs should be prevented by law, and the participants in them should be severely punished by fines and imprisonment.

Not that Frank wished the encounters stopped for the sake of the principals, but because he believed such spectacles aroused the worst instincts in the witnesses of them and tended to lower and degrade human beings who saw them.

Frank knew there was not a little that was cruel in Bart Hodge, but he had suppressed this instinct in his endeavor to model after Merry. He was one, however, who would have no mercy on an enemy, should it happen that that enemy fell into his power. And always had he seemed to take great satisfaction in a square standing fight.

Merry thought of his first battle with Hodge one moonlight night in an old pasture at Fardale. That fight had not been finished, but Frank recalled how like a fiend the black-haired boy had struggled. Since that time he had 60seen Bart in many encounters, and always Hodge had fought with the same terrible fierceness, as if he was burning with a desire to kill his antagonist.

Such a fellow would take pleasure in witnessing a bloody and brutal prize fight—a fight to a finish.

Somehow Frank’s sympathy for Hodge lessened. Had Bart taken the money because he was in need of it, had he taken it to pay debts, had he taken it with the hope of going somewhere and starting in business for himself, then Frank could have been more lenient. But for Hodge to seem to hasten with the stolen money straight to the companionship of “sports,” gamblers, prize fighters and men of that order—it was too much!

“These men must not get away,” thought Frank. “I must follow them. I must find out where this fight is to take place and I must get into it.”

The waiter brought his order.

“If I could find this man Kelley of whom they were speaking,” thought Merry. “I know how to get there through him. Five dollars and the password, ‘upper cut,’ would do the trick.”

He began to eat in haste, for he heard Muldoon remark:

“We’d better be hustling, Rafferty. Der game will open at ten o’clock.”

“I’ll be ready to go in a minute,” said the gambler. “Here, waiter, what’s the check?”

Frank was very hungry, but he would have left his food untouched rather than to lose sight of them then. He bolted down a few mouthfuls and drank the cup of coffee he had ordered.

By that time Muldoon and Rafferty had risen and were preparing to go.

Frank called the waiter the moment the two men started for the door.

61“Check—quick!” he exclaimed. “Got to catch a train. Didn’t know it was so late.”

The waiter gave him his check and he paid it in a hurry, flinging down a quarter extra, and, grabbing his hat, bolted for the door.

Out on the street he was relieved to see Rafferty and Muldoon a short distance away, walking rapidly.

Frank followed them.

“I rather think you will lead me straight to Hodge,” he thought, exultantly. “If this was not a piece of luck! And it came just when I seemed wholly off the scent.”

Neither of the men seemed to imagine they were followed, and so Frank had no trouble in shadowing them.

At length the men turned into a side street. There it was somewhat more difficult to keep track of them, but Merry shadowed them without seeming to be doing anything of the sort. He kept track of all their twists and turns, unfamiliar with the city, though he was, and, at last, he saw them enter a saloon by a side door.

Frank was not far behind them. He noticed that others were flocking into that saloon by the same side entrance.

Inside, the saloon was packed. Men were smoking, drinking, swearing and exchanging sporting talk. Most of them were loudly dressed, and the saloon lights glinted on many huge diamonds, of which there was a decidedly vulgar display. A good number of the men were of the thick-necked, beefy sort.

It was such a saloon as Frank would regard as a “beer joint,” but beer was not the beverage there that night. It was either whisky, champagne, or nothing—and where was the man who was taking nothing?

“Kansas Jim will win in a walk.”

“Go on, you bluffer! He ain’t in it with the Sucker!”

“Hanks won’t last three rounds.”

62“What have you got that says so besides your mouth?”

“I’ve got good horse sense.”

“But no rino. Back your talk—back it up!”

“Where’s your money?”

“Here—right here.”

The speaker flourished a “roll.”

This talk did not seem to attract much attention, for everybody seemed talking in a similar manner. One man was pounding on the bar. He had a huge red nose and a diamond in his shirt bosom that was as large as an acorn.

“I’m Ned Carter of Kansas City!” he cried. “I reckon you gents know me! If any of you has money to throw away just back the Maverick. That steer will get branded deep to-night.”

“And I’m Col. McGraw of Topeka!” roared a tall man, who wore a slouch hat thrust far back on his head, and whose drooping mustache and long imperial were iron-gray. “I don’t give a dern whether you gents know me or not; but I’ll bet a cool thousand even that the Maverick will put the Sucker to sleep inside of fifteen rounds if he’s given a square deal.”

“Where’s your long green?”

“Money talks!”

“Put up, colonel!”

“Or shut up, colonel.”

“Oh, I’m here to back my talk,” declared the Topeka man, fishing into an inside pocket. “Here’s the—— Well, I’m blowed!”

“What’s the matter?”

“I’ve been touched! Gents, I’ve been robbed of five thousand dollars I took to back the Maverick!”

“Ha! ha! ha!” roared the crowd. “Colonel, it won’t go! You are a squealer!”

To this the Topeka man roared a vigorous protest, but his words were drowned.

63Frank’s breath was almost taken away.

“Well, this beats!” he gasped. “It must be the police of this city are dead slow, or else they are standing in with the parties who are running this fight. If they were not, they’d be dead certain to catch on.”

He looked around for Rafferty and Muldoon, but could see nothing of them.

“I’m certain they came in here,” he muttered. “They must be somewhere in this crowd.” He moved about to find them, being obliged to crowd his way about.

“Hi, there, young feller! ye’re treadin’ on my toes!”

“I beg your pardon,” said Frank, as politely as he could.

“Waal, ye’d better!” growled the big man, glaring at him. “What’re you in here fer, anyhow? Ye’re nothin’ but a boy. This ain’t no place fer you.”

Frank attempted to move away, but the arm of the man shot out, and Merry was collared.

“You go home to your mammy, youngster,” advised the fellow, starting to drag Frank to the door.

“Toss him out, McGinty!”

“Give him the bounce, slugger!”

“Spank the mother’s boy and send him home.”

“Does his mother know he’s out?”

The door was reached, and the big fellow started to swing Frank round to get a better hold of him. At that moment Merry broke away with a sudden twist and yank, caught the surprised ruffian behind, gave him a strong shove, and planted his foot with all his strength under the tail of the man’s coat.

McGinty, the slugger, was fairly lifted by that kick and sent spinning through the swinging doors, which opened before him and closed behind him.

CHAPTER VI. RUN TO EARTH.

“Great ginger!”

“Holy smoke!”

“Did yer see that!”

“It’s dr’amin’ Oi am!”

“The young feller kicked the slugger out!”

“That’s what he did!”

“And it’s the first time anything like that ever happened to the slugger.”

“McGinty’ll come back for his gore!”

“Young chap, you’d better skip out by the other door, or he’ll kill you.”

“Thank you,” said Frank, quietly, his eyes flashing. “I am minding my business, and I shall not run away from that tough. If he bothers me again I’ll kick him so hard he won’t be able to walk for a week.”

“That’s the stuff!” roared Col. McGraw of Topeka. “The boy is all right! He’s no baby, and anybody who thinks he is makes a mistake. What’ll you have, young man? If I have been touched, I’ve got enough red money left to buy the drinks, and you can have anything you want.”

“I never drink, sir,” answered Frank, calmly.

“Wh-wh-what?” exploded the colonel. “Never drink?—and you kicked McGinty? Oh, say——”

But Frank could not be induced to drink.

“What do you think of that, Kelley?” asked the Topeka man, in apparent disdain, addressing one of the barkeepers.

65The man spoken to seemed so busy that he paid no attention to the question.

“Kelley! Kelley!” Frank mentally exclaimed, taking good note of the man who had been called that. “This must be the Kelley Rafferty directed Hodge to see.”

He felt that the scent was growing hot.

McGinty did not return, and two or three men went out to see what had become of him. They came back carrying the man Frank had kicked through the door.

“He’s done,” one of them said. “Found him lying outside, and he said he couldn’t get up.”

“Well, why in blazes did you bring him in here?” shouted one of the barkeepers. “Take him into the back room, now.”

As McGinty was carried along he saw Frank.

“Say, young fellow,” he feebly asked, “do your legs run by steam? I was kicked by a mule once, but that wasn’t a patch to this!”

Then they bore him into the back room.

Much to his dismay, Frank found that this little incident had sufficed to draw attention to him. Again and again he was urged to drink. At length, in order to get up to the bar and find a chance to speak to Kelley, he consented to take a plain seltzer.

He reached the end of the bar and Kelley served him. As he did so, Frank thrust a five-dollar bill over the bar, saying:

“Upper cut.”

“No good,” answered Kelley, shoving it back, to Frank’s dismay. “All gone.”

“But Mr. Rafferty said——”

“Rafferty? Are you one of his?”

“Yes, he told me——”

66“Then you’ve got the last one there is.”

The bill was taken, and a piece of pasteboard was tossed at Merry, who caught it deftly.

On the pasteboard it said:

There was no date upon it.

“Is this good for to-night?” asked Frank.

“Sure,” nodded Kelley. “If you ain’t drinking anything but seltzer you’d better be getting in so that you’ll have a chance as near the ropes as you can get.”

“I am going in now,” said a man. “You can come along with me, young fellow.”

Frank gladly availed himself of the opportunity.

“Well, if this isn’t luck!” he thought. “I am bound to get there now, and I think I’ll be sure to find Hodge.”

He followed the man through a swinging door, and they passed along a dark wall till they came to another door. Then they ascended a flight of stairs, turned to the right, seemed to enter another building, traveled another passage, ascended more stairs, and came to a door where their tickets were taken.

“How long before the go?” asked the man with Frank.

“Not long,” was the doorkeeper’s response. “Fifteen or twenty minutes, perhaps.”

They were admitted, and Frank soon found himself in quite a large room, with something like a pit in the center. In this pit was a raised platform, which was surrounded by ropes. All around this platform were rows of seats, rising tier on tier, as they do in a theater.

From at least six different entrances people were streaming into that room, and already a great crowd occupied 67the seats. Men were smoking everywhere, but a huge fan ventilator seemed to carry off most of the smoke and keep the air fairly clear.

Frank wondered if Hodge was there. He began to look around for Bart at once.

“Come on,” urged his companion. “We must get as good a place to see as possible. Let’s get down in front.”

But Frank was not so eager to get down toward the front, for he wished to be where he could overlook the crowd of spectators. He permitted the man to go ahead, but lingered behind.

It was wonderful how swiftly those seats filled up. It was not long after Merry entered before every seat seemed taken and many were standing. Betting talk was being made on all sides. The odds seemed in favor of the “Sucker.”

Still Frank could see nothing of Hodge, and it seemed that he had surveyed the face of every person present. He began to fear that Hodge was not present and would not appear.

“If he ever dreams I have followed him he will stay away from here—he’ll get out of St. Jo.,” thought Merriwell.

Although the seats were taken, still the spectators came pouring in.

A loud-voiced fellow appeared and made an announcement. He delivered quite a speech, explaining how the referee had been chosen, and finally introduced the referee, who followed with a speech of his own, in which he boasted so much of his squareness that Frank decided he must be a great rascal.

Then there was a howl from the assembled crowd:

“There comes the Maverick!”

Swathed in a blanket, one of the principals entered the roped arena, accompanied by his second. The crowd 68thundered its applause, and he bowed his bullet head several times in acknowledgment, finally sitting down in a corner.

Then came the other fighter, also wrapped about by a blanket, and the audience howled still more hoarsely.

Frank paid very little attention to this. He scarcely noted what followed. Finally he heard the clang of a gong, and then he knew the fighters were at it. He glanced toward the “squared circle” and saw them sparring, lunging, dashing, retreating and dancing about each other, but his heart was sinking more and more as he failed to see anything of the one person he sought.

And then, right in the midst of the very first round, came a startling cry:

“The police! the police!”

“We’re raided!”

There was a hammering at the doors.

At that very instant Frank Merriwell’s eyes rested on the face of the one he sought. There he was, almost directly opposite.

“Bart!” he shouted—“Bart Hodge!”

Hodge must have heard the cry, for he looked across and his eyes found Frank’s.

A moment later Hodge was swept out of sight by the stampeding crowd.

Frank felt himself lifted, carried, whirled about, borne onward despite himself. He struggled to run back, to force his way toward the spot where he had seen Hodge. It was useless.

Bang! bang! bang!—the police were hammering at the heavy doors.

Crash!—a door fell.

The police rushed in and the lights went out!

How it happened Frank Merriwell was unable to tell, but in the darkness he was swept along through a doorway, 69down a flight of stairs, carried onward again by the rushing men, to finally stumble down another flight and grope his way out into the street by a basement door.

He had escaped arrest, but had lost Hodge. He found his way back to the saloon where he had purchased the ticket, but that was in the hands of the police.

Evidently the officers of St. Jo. were not so slow, after all. They had made a goodly haul, and patrol wagons were bearing the prisoners away by the twenties.

“I’ll bet anything Hodge was nabbed!” thought Merry. “If so, that will be all the better, for I’ll be able to reach him when he is arraigned in court to-morrow morning.”

Till midnight he remained up trying to find something of Hodge, and then he sought his hotel, more than satisfied that Bart had been captured by the police.

In spite of his exciting adventure, Frank slept well after retiring to bed. He had a way of relaxing his nerves and throwing off all worry and care, enabling him to sleep under the most trying circumstances.

In the morning Merry arose much refreshed, even though he had retired late. The theatrical business had accustomed him to late hours.

He ate a good breakfast, and was on hand when court opened. He saw the prisoners arraigned, and, to his unspeakable disappointment, Bart Hodge was not among them.

“But Hodge is here in St. Jo.,” thought Frank. “That is, he is here unless, after seeing me last night, he took alarm and fled. It’s probable he may have done that. It was foolish for me to shout to him just as the police were breaking in.”

It was useless, however, to regret this action.

Frank went to Kelley’s barroom. The place was wide open and doing business, as if nothing had happened.

70Merry inquired about Hodge, and, after a time, Kelley seemed to remember Bart.

“Dark-faced chap,” said Kelley. “Rafferty sent him here, same as he did you?”

“Yes,” nodded Frank, eagerly.

“You want to find him?”

“Yes.”

“I dunno how you will.”

“I’ll give twenty-five dollars to find him!” cried Merry.

A man who had been listening stepped forward.

“Do you mean that, young feller?” he asked.

“I do!” declared Frank.

“Will you give me that to tell you where to find him?”

“I will.”

“All right. I know the fellow you mean. He said he had a lot of money, or he made some of Mike Roper’s gang believe he had. But the gang got left on him, for they didn’t find enough on him to pay them for doping him.”

“Then Hodge has fallen in with a tough crowd?”

“He’s the only one to blame for it. They’d let him alone if he hadn’t put up such a bluff about having a lot of money.”

“And he didn’t have any?”

“Well, Frosty Ike said he didn’t have enough to buy drinks for the crowd all round.”

“Take me to him. You shall have the money I said I would give.”

Frank followed the man from the saloon.

“Now, look here,” said the stranger, who was rather disreputable in appearance, “you’ve got to promise not to blow to a living soul that I put you onto this.”

“I’ll agree to that,” said Frank.

“And you’ve got to agree not to pull me into court over it.”

71“If you are pulled into court it will be well worth your while.”

The man stopped, irresolutely.

“I don’t reckon I’ll go along with ye,” he said. “I can’t afford to get Frosty Ike down on me.”

“Who’s Frosty Ike?”

“The worst man in St. Jo. He eats railroad iron when he’s hungry! I wouldn’t make him a bite.”

“Well, now, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you lead me to my friend you shall have the twenty-five dollars. If it is true that this Frosty Ike and his gang have not robbed my friend there will be no danger of your getting into court. If they have robbed him I’ll give you a hundred dollars to testify against them, in case I think it best to prosecute. I may not prosecute.”

“You will have to agree not to prosecute before I’ll go any further. I wouldn’t get mixed up with Ike for two hundred dollars.”

Frank was not long deciding. He realized that he could not prosecute Frosty Ike’s gang without having all the facts come out concerning the manner in which Hodge obtained the money, and he concluded to give the man the desired pledge.

He was led to a low quarter of the city near the river. Down among a lot of storehouses they went, and entered one of the old buildings.

“He’s in here somewhere,” said Merry’s companion. “We’ll have to hunt for him.”

Frank was on guard for a trap, for it seemed quite possible he had been led into a snare. The search began. From room to room they went. At last they came to a wretched room, filled with old boxes and barrels. Frank was in advance. He entered the room, and there lay Hodge on the floor, drugged or—drunk!

It was hours later that Bart came to himself in a respectable 72room of a hotel. He opened his eyes, and they rested on Frank Merriwell, who was sitting there, watching and waiting.

Bart did not speak. He lay there, wondering where he was and if he had been dreaming.

After a little, Frank moved nearer the bed, smiling in his old, pleasant way, and said:

“Well, old man, I expect you feel pretty rocky?”

Still Hodge did not speak.

“The doctor said he thought you’d come round all right in a short time,” observed Merry. “He hasn’t been gone long.”

“Frank!”

“What is it, old man?”

“Have I been ill?”

“Well, you were about as ill as knockout drops could make you without doing you serious damage.”

“Knockout drops! Then it was no dream! Then I did talk like a fool to you in Atchison and run away! Then I did resolve to go straight to the devil in a hurry and try to make a start on the road! Then I really saw you at the prize fight just as the police broke in! Then I really did get in with a gang after that and drink with them! I have betrayed you, Frank! I ran away from you, like a miserable sneak! I felt I was doing a mean thing after I had started, but it was too late then!”

“It is never too late to mend, you know.”

“A fool said that! In my case, it is too late!”

Still he had said nothing of taking the money. Frank wondered at that.

“What made you follow me, Frank?” said Bart. “Why didn’t you let me go? You have bothered with me enough. There is no reason why you should do so any more. You must despise me now. Why did you follow me?”

73“I thought I might overtake you in time to save you, but you fell into the hands of those toughs, and they stripped you. You did not have coat, hat, watch or money when I found you.”

“They didn’t get much money,” said Bart, “for I didn’t have much. My watch was valuable, of course, but——”

“What became of the money you had?” asked Frank.

“Why, I didn’t have much,” said Bart, “though I put up a bluff with the sports that I did. I took only twenty dollars, you know, and I left the note telling you I had taken that. I thought that was not too much for my work.”

Frank sat still some seconds, staring at Bart. Then he rose to his feet, and the look on his face caused Hodge to rise to his elbow and cry:

“What is it? What is the matter, Merriwell?”

“Bart,” said Frank, slowly, “every dollar I had in that grip was gone when I looked for it after your departure.”

That brought Hodge out of bed.

“Gone?” he gasped, in horror. “Gone? Why, how could that be?”

“I don’t know.”

“Frank—Frank, you don’t think I took that money? My God! you don’t think I took it? I have fallen pretty low, but you don’t think I would rob you—you who have been the only true friend I had in all the world? Why, Merry, I’d starve—I’d suffer the tortures of hell before I’d do such a thing!”

Frank did not doubt him then; he felt in his heart that Bart spoke the truth. And Merry’s heart leaped with joy and triumph. Hodge was not guilty!

Who was?

But Bart was completely “broken up” by what he had heard. Never had Frank seen him look so overcome by horror.

74“Merry, Merry!” he gasped, “did you think I had stolen your money? Was that why you followed me?”

“No!” cried Frank. “That was not why I followed you, Hodge. I followed because I hoped to overtake you and bring you back—because I wished to save you from the consequences of your folly.”

“But you thought I had taken the money?”

“I hoped not.”

“Still, you thought I had! Oh, heavens! Frank, Frank, this is enough to break a fellow’s heart!”

He dropped down on the bed, burying his face in his hands and shaking all over.

Frank’s distress was great, but it was mingled with a feeling of triumph.

“Bart,” he said, speaking swiftly, “I could not account for the loss of the money. It was gone, and on the little table was your note, in which you said you had taken enough to meet your needs. What was I to think? It was your handwriting—I knew that. How could I account for the disappearance of the money?”

“How can you account for it now?” groaned Hodge. “Frank, are you sure it was gone—are you sure you made no mistake?”

“Yes, sure.”

“It doesn’t seem possible!” panted Hodge.

Then he caught sight of Frank’s grip, sprang for it, caught it up.

“Open it, Frank!” he cried—“open it and let me see! I shall not be satisfied till I look!”

“It is no use,” said Merry. “The money is gone.”

“Open it!” Hodge shouted.

Frank did so. Bart tore out the contents. He sprang the fastening that held the false bottom in and removed the bottom.

“Yes, gone!” he groaned, thrusting in his hand and 75feeling about. “But as there is a God, I swear I did not take it! Do you believe me, Frank?”

“Yes, Bart, I believe you.”

“Thank Heaven!”

“More than that, I never did believe that you took it. My doubts caused me to keep silent when I made the discovery. Not a single person knows I lost the money.”

“You—you kept silent—for my sake?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, Frank, again you have shown yourself the noblest fellow in the whole wide world. But I was not worth it! Oh, I am so ashamed of myself! I am such a mean, degraded creature!”

“You are nothing of the sort, Bart. You are too quick and passionate, and you have made a false step, but there is plenty of time to turn back.”

“I’ll never rest till I bring the real robber to justice!” vowed Hodge.

Then he gave a sudden cry:

“What’s this?”

He took something out of the grip—a ring!

Frank snatched it from Bart’s fingers and looked at it. Then, with remarkable coolness and a feeling of unspeakable satisfaction, he said:

“This is the evidence that will convict the real robber! Look at the monogram on that ring—‘L. V.’”

“‘L. V.’ Why, that stands for——”

“Lester Vance!”

Frank and Bart returned to Atchison. Of course Merry provided Hodge with a coat and hat. Fortunately, Bart had left his overcoat at a lodging house where he had stopped, so that was not stolen from him.

As soon as possible Merriwell summoned Lester Vance 76to his room. Vance came in, looking rather uneasy. Hodge was there.

“Mr. Vance,” said Frank, “have you found your ring which you lost yesterday?”

“No, I have not,” confessed Lester.

“I have.”

“You?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Under the false bottom in my grip, where I used to keep my money!”

Lester was thunderstruck. He turned deathly white and trembled all over.

“Vance,” said Merriwell, his eyes seeming to flash fire, “you can save yourself from disgrace, exposure and imprisonment by returning every dollar of that money. Otherwise, you go to prison!”

Vance broke down immediately and confessed. He told how he had slipped down to the office after Hodge and obtained the key to Frank’s room when the clerk was not looking, and how he had been able to take the false bottom out of the grip and secure the money. He restored the whole of it, and left the company suddenly and mysteriously.

The various members of the company, with the exception of Frank and Bart, believed Vance had departed thus hurriedly because of Hodge’s return.

Frank did not betray Vance, and he caused Hodge to keep silent.

CHAPTER VII. FOOLISH GIRLS.

“Say!”

“What?”

“It’s getting too thin!”

“What’s that?”

“The way mash letters are coming in.”

Bart Hodge smiled faintly.

“I should say it was getting too thick, Frank,” he said.

Frank looked at Bart quickly.

“You are coming all right!” he exclaimed, with satisfaction. “When you can even crack a ghost of a joke like that it is a sign that you are getting to be yourself again.”

“Haw!”

Ephraim Gallup uttered the exclamation. He was sitting near the window of the room looking out into one of the principal streets of St. Joseph.

“Now, what is the matter with you, Ephraim?” Merry asked.

“B’gosh! I thought yeou hed more sense!” drawled the Vermonter.

“Sense? How?”

“Then ter think Hodge is gittin’ like hisself ’cause he tried to crack a joke. It kainder seems ter me he’s gittin’ off his trolley. Did yeou ever hear him crack a joke when he was all right?”

“Don’t know—I don’t remember about it,” confessed Frank, smiling.

“’Course ye don’t. I think it’s a mighty bad sign when Bart Hodge tries ter joke. He must be sick!”

Hodge said nothing. He was sitting astride a chair, 78with his arms resting on the back and his chin resting on his arms. He looked at Ephraim grimly.

Frank was sitting by a table, opening the mail Ephraim had just brought to him.

“True Blue” was playing a two nights engagement in St. Joseph, having opened the previous night at the Crawford Theater. The house had been packed, and the rattling college play went with a vim that electrified the audience and created a sensation. The manager of the theater had been delighted, and he lost no time in asking for a return date, which, however, Merry was unable to give him, on account of the lateness of the season and the route already booked.

Fortunately, Merriwell had been able to find a man to fill the place of Lester Vance, who had been “released” so abruptly in Atchison.

To Merry’s surprise the night before, the opening night, several handsome bouquets of flowers had been handed to him over the footlights, and one had been thrown at his feet from a box. He saw the person who threw the flowers, in acknowledgment of which he had bowed a bit and smiled, and he observed that she was a decidedly handsome young woman.

To his further surprise, he afterward discovered a slip of paper attached to the bouquet, and on the paper were written Portia’s words, “If you do love me, you will find me out!”

Frank had looked on this as something of a joke, but now, on receiving his morning mail, he was astonished to find in it no less than four “mash notes.”

“It’s evident you have made a hit with the fair sex in this city, Merry,” said Bart.

“He does that ev’rywhere, by gum!” grinned Ephraim; “but they don’t seem quite so forrud in some places. I ruther guess he hit ’em harder than usual here.”

79“Here’s one that is a prize!” exclaimed Merry. “Poor girl! She should take a course at a good grammar school.”

He handed the note over to Bart. This is what Hodge read:

“Deer Sur: I seen you last night at the Theeatur, and i was Stuck on you right Hard, you Bet. you are All Right. I never seen Nobody cud touch you When it cums to Good axting. I am Only 17 year Old, but i haiv alwus Wanted to go ontew the stayge. i Would like to Play a Part like cassie Lee plays. i Do wisht you hed a Chanc for me in Your compny. you Are so handsum. oh i cud Love a Man Like you with all my Harte. I Will bee out side of The stayge Doar when you Go in to night. i have Golden hare, and ware a Red hat, with a White fether in it. You will kno Me by that.

“Grammar school!” exclaimed Hodge, as he passed the note on to Ephraim. “She should attend the primary! What a fool she must be!”

“Oh, I dunno!” grunted Ephraim. “She says Frank is all right. There ain’t northin’ foolish abaout that.”

“It is likely the poor girl has had no opportunities,” said Merry. “I am sorry for her.”

“Look out!” warned Hodge. “If you get up a feeling of sympathy for all the females who write you mash notes you’ll be in hot water. Every popular young actor has to dodge girls who want to steal him.”

“By thutter! I’ve notissed some of this comp’ny don’t do mutch dodgin’,” grinned Gallup.

“What do you mean?” asked Frank.

“Waal, they have mashes in ev’ry place they go to.”

“But they do not bother with the girls who get mashed on them?”

80“Don’t they!”

“Do they?”

“I guess yes!”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve got eyes.”

Frank frowned a little.

“I do not like to carry round men who will give my company the reputation of being a lot of mashers,” he said, soberly. “Of course there is such a thing as a ‘harmless flirtation,’ but the girl who flirts with a strange actor is very foolish. She is playing with fire, and there is great danger that she will be burned.”

“But you can’t stop it,” said Hodge. “I haven’t been on the road very long, but I have found out that girls everywhere are ready to make fools of themselves over any old thing that is an actor.”

“Why, you haven’t been flirting with them?”

“I rather think not! You know well enough, Merriwell, that I do not take any stock in girls. All the same, I’ve never been in a place yet where I could not have made the acquaintance of girls. Mind, I say girls—not a girl.”

“It’s remarkable that intelligent girls should be so foolish.”

“Foolish is the word for it, Merriwell. And surely most of the girls seem intelligent enough. Some of them are very pretty.”

“And those bright and pretty girls are willing to become acquainted without an introduction with actors of whom they know absolutely nothing! Strange.”

“By gum!” broke in Ephraim. “It does seem that they’ll take any old thing they kin git ef it is an actor.”

Frank shook his head, looking very grave.

“How do they know but they are flirting with married men?”

81“Some of um don’t seem to keer a rap.”

“Those must be bad girls, don’t you think, Ephraim?”

“I dunno. Some of um don’t seem so bad.”

“I asked that question to see what you thought about it. I, myself, do not fancy they are bad—all of them. It is simply a case of folly. There is a certain glamour about an actor that robes him with false attractions for light-headed young girls. It makes the most commonplace fellows seem like heroes. No. I do not think all girls who flirt with actors are bad, but I do think they are foolish. It is quite likely they would turn in scorn and repugnance from the very fellows who seem so much like heroes to them could they know the truth about those same heroes. When a theatrical company comes into a place, the girls will turn in many cases from the respectable, honest young men whom they know, and smile and flirt with the members of the company, who are utter strangers to them. In this manner they often acquire undesirable reputations without going to the extreme of doing anything seriously bad. But when a girl injures her reputation in such a manner it is pretty hard for her to win back the ground she has lost. She is regarded with suspicion, she has become a theme of gossip and perhaps she is startled to find that the young men she knows, who have always been polite and respectful, have suddenly grown familiar and forward in their manners toward her. She does not understand this, but she is entirely to blame for it. It is but natural for a young man to think there is something wrong about a girl who will flirt with a strange actor. It is but natural for him to lose in a certain measure his respect for such a girl and become free and easy in his treatment of her. He sees no reason why he cannot be that way if she will laugh and talk with an actor—a man of whom she knows absolutely nothing.”

Hodge nodded.

82“It’s plain enough you have thought about this matter, Frank,” he said.

“I have,” declared Merry. “Since going on the road I have thought of it a great deal, for you must know that I have seen how easy it is for a traveling showman to make the acquaintance of pretty girls wherever he goes. I don’t know that I have ever expressed myself on the subject before.”

“Yeou ain’t much of a hand to talk abaout gals,” said Ephraim.

“No, I do not like to say anything about them unless I can say something pleasant. I think girls are the fairest creatures in all the world, but they have their faults, the same as other fair things.”

Hodge smiled sarcastically.

“They’re all faults!” he declared. “I have grown disgusted with them.”

“Oh, you’re a pessimist!” said Frank. “You are too extreme. But I really wish there was some way to warn the young girls of the country against the folly of flirting with traveling actors.”

“There is no way.”

“I am afraid not. They will continue to flirt, as they have in the past, and no end of sorrow and shame will come from it.”

“Some gals do it,” said Ephraim, “because they think they kin hev some fun that way without goin’ too fur.”

“When the first false step is taken no human being can tell where it may lead.”

Hodge nodded. In his heart he knew Frank Merriwell spoke the truth.

“Any girl must know she will be seen by people who know her in case she flirts with a strange actor,” Frank continued. “What does she suppose will be thought of her! If she does not think enough of herself to refrain 83from such dangerous amusement, she should pause to consider what others may think of her. The story will pass from mouth to mouth; it may be elaborated. Perhaps she has passed in good society in her home. Of a sudden she notices that some of her former girl friends are a trifle frigid toward her. Then it is possible some little social event takes place and she received no invitation. She feels hurt and mortified. She may not suspect the truth, and so she goes on doing the very things that have led to her unpleasant situation. Or she may suspect it and say, in anger, that she has done nothing wrong, and so in absolute defiance keeps on as she has begun. In both cases she finds herself dropped from her social circle, and she is forced to seek friends elsewhere. She feels this keenly, but it may make her all the more desperate and defiant, so that she carries her flirtations with strangers further than she otherwise would. In her anger and desperation she may grow very reckless, which may lead to her utter shame and disgrace.”

“Darn it, Frank!” cried Ephraim, “ef the gals could hear yeou talk, I ruther guess they’d be keerful. But they can’t hear ye, so haow be yeou goin’ to do um any good?”

“I have thought of writing a play about it, or a book. If I wrote a book, it should be a novel and its title should be, ‘Harmless Flirting.’”

“You would waste your time, Merriwell,” said Hodge. “Your book would not be read by the ones for whom you wrote it. Such light-headed girls seldom read anything.”

“I am afraid you are right,” confessed Merry. “I am afraid girls will go on flirting with actors and strangers to their own sorrow and remorse.”

Frank picked up one of the letters from the table.

“Now here is something from a girl for whom I am sorry,” he said.

84He read it aloud:

“Dear Mr. Merriwell: I suppose you will think me very foolish to write to you, but I saw you in your beautiful play ‘True Blue,’ last night, and I was perfectly charmed. It is a lovely play, and you act the part of Dick Trueheart in a just perfectly splendid manner. My brother Tommy says you are a real Yale college man, and that you are just a peach. Tommy is fourteen. I am sixteen, but I’m real large for my age, so almost everybody thinks I am eighteen. I am going to see you again to-night. I wish I knew you. I think you must be awfully nice. I think actors are lovely, but papa says they are no good. He is a cross old patch. My mother is dead. I hope to go on the stage sometime and become a great actress, and wear diamonds and have flowers passed me over the footlights. I inclose a knot of blue and white ribbon. If you will wear it on your baseball uniform to-night I shall know you would like to become acquainted with me, and I will find a way to let you know my address before you leave St. Joseph. Oh, I do hope you will wear it! From your sincere admirer,

“Waal, by gum! she’s hit hard!” grinned Ephraim.

“She’s another little fool!” sneered Hodge.

“Now, I am sorry for Dora,” declared Frank. “Her little head is full of false notions, and she is very liable to make a big mistake on that very account. I wish I might warn Dora.”

“You can by wearing that knot of ribbon and becoming acquainted with her.”

“That is the very thing I will not do. I do not believe in becoming acquainted in such a manner.”

“Then yeou ain’t goin’ to wear the ribbon?” asked Ephraim.

“Certainly not!”

“B’gosh! yeou’d better let me wear it!”

Frank looked at the Vermont youth in surprise.

85“You, Ephraim?” he cried. “What’s struck you? It doesn’t seem that my talk of a few minutes ago impressed you much.”

“Oh, I’m only jokin’,” protested Gallup, sheepishly.

Frank picked up another letter.

“Now, here is one that makes me weary!” he said, with a show of repugnance. “Listen:

“‘Dear Old Chappie: If you want to become acquainted with a jolly girl, meet me to-morrow at 2 P. M. in front of the theater. You will know me by the white pinks I will wear. Don’t be afraid to catch on.

“She must be gay, by jee!” gasped Ephraim.

“Bah!” cried Frank, tearing up the letter and flinging it down.

He took another from the table.

“Here,” he said, “is the most foolish one of the lot, for it is from a person who should know better.”

“How do you know whom it is from?” asked Hodge.

“I saw her last night. She was the one who flung the flowers from the box.”

“I noticed her. A stunning woman.”

“Yes, a handsome woman, twenty-five years old, at least. Listen to this:

86“Great ginger!” gasped Ephraim. “Did a female woman write that stuff to yeou, Frank?”

“That is not all,” said Merry. “She has ended, like the others, by trying to make an appointment with me.”

“It seems to be getting pretty hot, Frank,” said Bart.

“Too hot,” declared Merry, plainly annoyed. “I don’t like it at all.”

“Most actors would like it. They would be in their glory.”

“Then I am glad I’m not like most actors.”

“Yeou alwus was pop’ler with the ladies,” grinned the Vermont youth.

“I don’t mind being popular with the ladies, but I do not fancy this kind of popularity.”

“You’d never do for a matinée hero,” said Hodge. “I have heard that they are deluged with mash notes. It gets to be a common thing with them, and they don’t mind it at all.”

“I don’t like to see such a display of weakness on the part of human beings. Now, what does this woman who has quoted Juliet to me know about me?”

“As much as you know about her.”

“And she has taken chances of becoming a laughingstock and object of ridicule by writing me such stuff. For all she knows, I may be married.”

“And, for all you know, she may be married.”

“I do not believe that is possible. No married woman would write such a letter.”

“Wouldn’t? Oh, I don’t know! Some of them are inclined to be rather gay.”

“If this one is married, she must be crazy.”

There came a knock on the door.

“Come,” Merry called.

The door opened, and a bell boy stood there.

CHAPTER VIII. AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION.

“There is a lady in the parlor who wishes to see Mr. Merriwell,” said the boy.

“A lady?” exclaimed Frank, with a start.

“Yes, sir.”

“Did she send up a card?”

“No, sir.”

“Nor give you her name?”

“No, sir.”

“I’ll be down directly.”

The boy bowed, closed the door and departed.

Ephraim was chuckling.

“Gol-durned ef they ain’t comin’ to see yeou, Frank!” he exclaimed.

“Nonsense!” cried Merry. “This is not one of them.”

“Then who is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It might be one of them,” said Hodge, rather maliciously.

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Merry, but it was plain he did not fancy the idea. “No one but a crazy female would think of doing such an immodest thing.”

“From what you have said, it’s plain you think some females do get a little daffy over actors.”

“Whut ef it is one?” asked Ephraim, still chuckling. “Whut will yeou do, Frank?”

“I’ll give her a little advice!” exclaimed Merry, as he prepared to go. “I shall talk plainly to her. But it may be some actress who is out of an engagement and wants a position.”

88He went out, leaving Bart and Ephraim in the room. Frank was not in the most agreeable mood possible, for he had been annoyed by the letters.

He made his way straight to the ladies’ parlor. In a corner a woman was sitting. No other person happened to be in the parlor at the moment when Frank entered.

As Frank came in, the woman rose quickly and came toward him. He paused when he saw her face fairly.

“Great Scott!” was his mental exclamation. “It is the one who threw the flowers from the box!”

The woman was handsomely dressed, and she showed some signs of agitation. Frank surveyed her quickly. He saw at a glance that she was a person who seemed more attractive at a distance than on closer view. Still she was of the type that most men might call handsome. There was a look of mingled boldness and hesitation about her that was rather bewildering.

Her voice was not unpleasant.

“Mr. Merriwell!” she exclaimed.

“You wish to see me, madam?” said Merry, rather frigidly.

“Yes, yes!” she exclaimed.

“I am here.”

There was nothing in Frank’s manner to encourage familiarity.

“You—you—don’t you recognize me?”

The situation was far from agreeable to him, and he resolved to discourage her at the very start.

“I have not had the honor of being presented to you,” he said, with a faint bow.

She made an impatient gesture.

“But you recognize me? I threw you flowers—from the box. There—there—was a—a note attached.”

“Indeed?”

“Yes, yes.”

89“Madam, permit me to tell you it was very foolish for you to write a note to an utter stranger.”

“But you—you did not seem like a stranger. You—why, it seemed that I had known you always!”

She half extended her hand, as if to rest it on his arm, but he drew back. A shadow came over her face, and a look of pain seemed to leap into her large dark eyes. Very expressive eyes they were. At first they had seemed full of innocence, but somehow there was something uncertain and shifty about them—something that gave their wide-open innocence the lie.

“Yes,” said Frank, regretting the necessity of speaking thus, yet feeling that he must, “it was very rash of you. You could know nothing of me. For all you knew I might be a rascal.”

“Oh, no, no, no!” she cried. “I knew you were not that! A rascal could not play the part of Dick Trueheart and make it so natural—so noble. I knew you had a good and noble heart. I knew you were the one man in all the wide world whom I could love!”

It was becoming more embarrassing for Merry. Somehow, there was a mingled timidity and unspeakable boldness about the woman that mystified him not a little. He wondered if she could be just right, mentally.

“Madam,” he said, “will you tell me at once what you want of me. My time is limited.”

“Now, don’t speak to me like that!” she almost sobbed. “It hurts me—here!”

One hand fluttered up to her heart.

“Well, this is a nice mess!” thought Merriwell. “What can I do with her?”

He did not like to run away; it did not seem dignified.

“As I watched you last night,” she went on, swiftly, “I became more and more infatuated. When the curtain fell on the third act I was completely carried away. I 90knew I had found the hero of my life’s dream. I did not know you. We had never met before. I knew of no manner of obtaining an introduction. Then it was I resolved to fling conventionality to the wind, and I hastily wrote a single line on a slip of paper, which I attached to the flowers I carried. Then, when you were called before the curtain, I flung the flowers at your feet. You picked them up—oh, bliss!—and bowed and smiled upon me!”

She seemed trembling with the great excitement that governed her. The embarrassment of Frank’s position increased.

“Hang it!” he thought. “I wish I had let those flowers alone!”

“I went home,” the young woman continued. “And all last night I dreamed of you, over and over and over. They were happy dreams. Ah, I was so sorry when the light of morning came in at my window and drove away my dreams by robbing me of sleep. I tried to sleep and dream some more.”

“Well, she’s got it bad!” Merry mentally exclaimed. “I’m afraid I’ll have trouble with this case. I wonder if insanity runs in her family. She’s old enough to know better, so she must be cracked.”

“At last,” the panting woman continued, leaning toward him, “I arose, and I made a desperate resolve to meet you somehow—anyhow. Then I wrote to you in the words of Juliet, which seemed to express my feelings so well. Did you receive my letter?”

“Yes,” confessed Frank.

Her face lighted up.

“Ah,” she sighed, “I wonder if you understood—I wonder if you knew how sincere I was! Oh, I could not write you everything, and I longed to so much, but I knew you would not understand. As it was, I had 91to find a moment when my husband did not see me, for he——”

“Your husband?” grasped Merry, thunderstruck.

“Yes; he is so suspicious—so jealous and cruel!”

“Great heavens! madam, are you married?”

“I am. I was married when I was sixteen—to a man I hate! Oh, you cannot know the horror of being bound to a person you hate! It is dreadful!”

Now, Merry was beginning to grow indignant.

“And you, a married woman, are seeking a flirtation with a stranger—an actor? Madam, your folly is astonishing!”

“Don’t—don’t speak to me like that!” she pleaded, tears seeming to spring to her eyes. “I am not seeking a flirtation! I am seeking to know my ideal. You—you are my ideal!”

“It is the height of folly and rashness!” exclaimed Frank, severely. “Madam, if you have no thought for yourself, you should have some regard for me! Think of the position in which you are placing me!”

“But if you care for me—if you love me——”

“I do not!”

Once more her hand fluttered up to her heart.

“That is because you do not know me,” she declared. “If you knew me—if you knew all about my terrible position, tied to this man I hate, you would have sympathy for me.”

“Even though you are bound to a man you hate, you are doing a most unwise thing in seeking consolation from a stranger and an actor. You can know nothing of me. Take my advice, madam, release yourself from this man you hate before you seek to win the affections of any other man. If you do not, you will succeed in winning nothing but the disdain of any man worth winning.”

92Again the tears brimmed in her eyes.

“Oh, how can you speak to me like that!” she cried. “It is cruel of you!”

“In this case, cruelty may be kindness. You have placed me in a most awkward situation, madam. If you have as much regard for me as you claim, it hardly seems that you would do such a thing.”

“Oh, what can a woman do when her heart governs her in her every act! I felt that I must meet you, and there was no other way for me to do so. I could not let you go without knowing you—without seeking a few words of consolation from you.”

“I am very sorry for you, but you should let your head govern your heart. I trust you will excuse me, madam. This interview is anything but pleasant for me.”

He half turned away, but she uttered a cry that stopped him. She seemed on the point of flinging herself at his feet.

“Great Scott!” gasped Merry. “I hope she isn’t going to make a scene of that sort! It would be too much!”

“Don’t—don’t leave me just yet!” she entreated.

“I must,” he firmly answered.

“Stop!” she exclaimed, her eyes beginning to flash. “You cannot scorn me—you shall not! I have cast my pride aside, and I have exposed myself to your ridicule—all for what?”

“Nothing.”

The word seemed like a blow. For a moment he fancied she was about to pour a torrent of angry words upon him, but something entirely different happened. With a low, queer cry, she sprang forward, attempting to fling her arms about his neck!

“I love you!” she panted.

He grasped her wrists and held her off.

93“You are crazy!” he exclaimed.

At that instant a flushed and furious-looking man burst into the parlor, carrying a revolver in his hand.

“Villain!” cried the man. “That is my wife!”

“Well, this is jolly!” muttered Merry, wheeling to face the newcomer.

“Reginald!” burst from the lips of the woman.

The man paid no attention to her, but he glared at Merry in a murderous manner, shaking the revolver.

“Wretch!” he snarled.

He was a man about thirty years of age, well dressed, but somewhat dissipated in appearance. He seemed wrought up to a pitch of great fury.

“My dear sir,” said Merry, with the utmost coolness, “you had better be careful with that revolver.”

“Be careful!” grated the angry husband. “I’ll be careful with it! I’ll fill you full of lead!”

“Now, I wouldn’t do that. You might be sorry for it afterward.”

“What were you doing with my wife?”

“Giving her a little advice, that’s all.”

“I know better! I know what I saw with my own eyes! I tracked her here! I knew she flung flowers to you last night! I knew she wrote to you this morning!”

“If a lady sees fit to fling flowers to me, I can’t help it. If she writes to me, I can’t prevent that”

“Then you acknowledge it! That is enough! Now I will shoot you!”

“Reginald!” the woman again cried. “Heavens, he will shoot!”

As the man lifted the revolver Frank leaped to one side and sprang forward. In a twinkling he had grasped the weapon. There was a short, sharp struggle, and 94the young actor leaped away, with the weapon in his hand.

“I think I have stood about enough of this nonsense!” he said, sternly.

The man seemed astounded by the easy manner in which he was disarmed, but he made a motion as if thinking of following Frank up.

“Don’t do it!” advised Merry. “The limit has been reached! I did not seek the acquaintance of your wife, and——”

He caught a look from the trembling woman, and he was puzzled by it. There seemed disappointment and appeal in her eyes. Instantly Merry wondered what he could say to shield her. It seemed strange that she did not faint or go into hysterics at the sight of her husband, but still there was an expression of terror on her face that made Frank pity her.

“Poor, weak thing!” thought Merry. “There is no telling what may be the result of this for her.”

Then he swiftly said:

“The lady was pleased with my play and my acting. She came here to tell me so. It is possible she has contemplated becoming an actress herself. She may have come to me for that reason. If so, I advise her to give up all thoughts of going on the stage.”

It was lame enough, but it was the best he could do under the circumstances without lying direct. Frank hated a liar, and yet he realized there were times when a man’s gallantry to a woman would force him to deviate from the direct truth. Such a “deviation” did not seem like a genuine lie.

“Bah!” cried the man, scornfully. “Don’t think you can make me believe such rot as that! I know better!”

“You are at liberty to believe it or not, just as you 95like, sir,” said Merry. “But I have stood quite enough nonsense.”

“Oh, you have? And you enticed my wife here to meet you!”

“I did nothing of the kind, sir. Your wife came here entirely of her own accord, without enticement of any kind from me.”

“Oh, I know better! You can’t make me believe it was because she was interested in your play. She’ll not dare say that. Tell the truth woman—why did you come here?”

She threw back her head, and then a strange, defiant laugh burst from her lips.

“Very well, sir,” she sneered. “I will tell the truth.”

“Go on, go on! Why did you come here, madam?”

“I came because I wished to meet Frank Merriwell.”

“Ha! You confess it?”

“Yes, I confess it!”

“Ah-a!”

“I admire him—I love him!” declared the woman.

“Ah-a!” again burst from the lips of her husband.

“He is my ideal.”

“You hear that, sir!”

Frank heard it, and he realized that his efforts to shield her had been worse than useless.

“As for you,” she went on, giving her husband a scornful look. “I thought I loved you once—till I saw Frank Merriwell. Now—now I despise you!”

“By Jove! this is getting hot again!” thought Merry. “What fools some women are!”

The man ground his teeth together and walked the floor. He threw his hat aside and tore his hair.

“I knew it!” he panted. “This cheap actor has won your heart! He has alienated your affections from me!”

96“Don’t dare call him a cheap actor!” she exclaimed, haughtily. “He is grand and noble!”

“I must make a noble picture just now,” thought Frank, in deep disgust.

The words of the woman seemed to throw the man into still greater fury, and it appears that he was about to attack her.

“I’ll have to defend her if he does,” Frank mentally decided.

“Woman, woman!” panted the furious husband, glaring at her. “Is this what you have come to!”

“It is,” she returned, defiantly. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll kill you—I’ll kill you both!”

“A man who threatens that way seldom carries out his threats,” was Merry’s consoling thought.

“Go ahead,” defied the woman. “I rather think Frank Merriwell can protect me.”

“Protect you! I am the one to protect you! And you have turned to this common actor!”

“‘Cheap actor!’ ‘Common actor!’” muttered Merry. “This is real jolly!”

“You protect me!” sneered the woman. “I am done with you! I shall leave you forever!”

“And this wretch has caused it all. You cannot deny that!”

“I do not wish to deny it. Ever since his eyes met mine, I have felt myself drawn to him by an irresistible influence.”

“He has hypnotized you! Oh, he shall pay dearly for this!”

The husband shook his fist at Frank.

“He has won my heart, and I can never be anything to you again,” laughed the reckless woman.

97“Oh, you scoundrel!” shouted the man. “You have ruined my happiness! I swear you shall pay for it!”

“I think I have stood quite enough of this!” Merry broke out. “I deny that I have interfered with you in any way.”

“How can you deny it—liar?”

“If you dare use such language again, I’ll be tempted to give you the thrashing you seem to desire, sir!” flashed Frank. “I am very sorry this unfortunate affair has taken place, but I declare it is in no way my fault. At first I was inclined to protect this lady, but she has seen fit to make that impossible, and now I feel at liberty to tell the whole truth.”

“Tell it! tell it—if you dare!”

“I will, in a very few words. I confess that your wife threw me flowers from a box last night, and she came here to meet me to-day.”

“Then there was an appointment?”

“No! I did not know she was coming. She did not send up her card, but the boy said a lady wished to see me in the parlor. I believe every man should be as gallant to ladies as circumstances will permit.”

“Oh, yes!” sneered the husband, his lips curling.

“I came down to see what the lady desired. Your wife was here. I was in no way responsible for what followed, but I assure you that she received no encouragement from me.”

“What did I see as I entered this room?” demanded the man.

“You saw me preventing her from clasping her arms about my neck. I had just told her how foolish she was, but she would not be rebuffed.”

“Liar!” panted the husband, seeming to become still more furious. “Do you dare accuse my wife of such immodesty! Do you dare charge her with following 98you without encouragement! She would not do such a thing. You are trying to shield yourself behind a woman, you cowardly young——”

“Stop!” exploded Frank, stepping forward. “I have stood quite enough of this from you! I am sorry for you, but I am not willing to be called all sorts of vile names. Your wife forced me to tell the truth and the whole truth. I do not fancy lying, but I might have stretched the truth to protect her if she had given me any chance. She gave me no chance. She came here of her own accord, without encouragement from me, and——”

“Oh, you shall pay for every word you speak! You dare thus traduce my wife, you——”

“Stop again! I have seen quite enough of both you and your wife. I trust you will be good enough to take her away. She is not the only one to write me mash notes, and——”

Again the husband interrupted:

“So you boast of your conquests! You are a gallant young blade! But you are like all actors, a poor, miserable——”

“You are like all jealous husbands—you have not a particle of sense in your head. You are decidedly exasperating, sir. Be kind enough to take your wife and go!”

“I will not go with him!” panted the woman, suddenly rushing on Frank and clasping him about the neck. “I will stay with you! You are the one I love!”

CHAPTER IX. UNMASKED!

At this moment another man stepped into the parlor. He wore a long overcoat and his features were hidden by a full beard.

“Ha!” shouted the husband, triumphantly, rushing at this man and catching him by the arm, while he pointed toward Merry and the woman. “Look there! See! I want you for a witness in this matter, Mr. Davis! There is my wife with this wretch of an actor who has enticed her here! Do you see—do you see?”

The other nodded.

“Yes, I see,” he said in a muffled voice.

“Don’t forget it, Davis! I shall want your testimony in court.”

“I’ll not forget it.”

By this time Merry had succeeded in putting the woman aside again, and now he was thoroughly exasperated.

“It is plain you are determined to get me into a fine mess!” he exclaimed.

“Take me away with you! He will kill me if you don’t!”

“Madam, you have passed the limit! I think you should be in an insane asylum.”

“Oh, you are cruel!”

“Well, I feel a trifle that way!” confessed Merry.

Then he started toward the two men, but they turned toward the door, the husband crying:

“I’ll have him arrested!”

“Wait!” cried Frank.

100“No! I am going for an officer!”

But Bart Hodge appeared in the door, saying, grimly:

“Don’t be in a rush, gentlemen. Mr. Merriwell wishes to talk with you a little.”

“Stand aside!” snarled the husband, with a threatening gesture.

“I wish you would try that little trick!” flared Hodge, his face flushing suddenly. “I believe I’d enjoy a good scrap. I haven’t taken a hand in one for so long that it would be a satisfaction.”

“Let us pass!” growled the man with the full beard and the muffled voice.

“That’s what they say in melodrama,” observed Hodge, with grim humor. “‘Unhand me, villain!’ and ‘Let me pass!’ are stock phrases. There is no copyright on them, so you may use them whenever you like.”

Merry was somewhat surprised by Bart’s cool manner, but he knew there was a slumbering volcano beneath all that coolness.

“Rush on him!” came hoarsely from the bearded man.

“Yes, do!” urged Hodge, putting up his hands. “I’ll manage to get a pop at you both, I fancy.”

They hesitated.

“Hold them, Hodge,” directed Frank. “I have something to say to them.”

“What’s up, Frank?”

“I believe there is a game on,” answered Merry.

“A game?”

“Yes.”

“What sort?”

“Blackmail!”

The woman uttered a scream, and something like an oath came from the man who had professed to be her husband.

101“This is interesting!” exclaimed Hodge. “Then it appears that I happened on the scene just in time.”

“You did.”

“They’ll not get out.”

“We will!” growled the man called Davis. “Come on, Seely!”

“I’m ready!”

“Waal, Bart, if yeou can’t hold the ’darn critters alone, I ruther guess we kin both do it,” drawled a voice, and Ephraim Gallup appeared to reënforce Hodge.

The men uttered exclamations of disappointment, alarm and disgust.

Frank Merriwell laughed shortly.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “I wouldn’t hurry away. Just wait a while, and we will settle this little matter.”

He advanced on them, scanning Davis closely.

“I believe I have seen you before,” he said.

“Never,” answered the bewhiskered man, seeming anxious to get out of the room. “I do not know you.”

“Why don’t you speak in your natural tone?” asked Merry, sweetly. “You will injure your voice trying to disguise it by growling like that.”

“You go to blazes!”

“Thank you for the invitation, but I have found things quite hot enough right here to suit me. Now, if the tables should be turned, and you were to find it rather warm, it would be no more than fair.”

Both men seemed anxious, but the professed husband attempted to bluster again. His anger seemed artificial, however, and he did not impress anyone.

“Acts like a rooster with his tail feathers yanked out,” grinned Gallup. “He’s mighty mad over it, but the feathers are gone jest the same.”

Hodge had his lips pressed together, and he looked ready for anything that might happen.

102A few words passed between the two men. It was plain they contemplated rushing on Bart and Ephraim in order to break from the room.

Frank strode forward quickly and grasped the bewhiskered man by the shoulder, saying:

“Let me have a fair look at you, sir.”

The fellow turned with a snarl, striking hard at Merriwell’s face.

Frank ducked, thus avoiding the blow. A second later, he caught hold of the fellow’s whiskers, gave a yank, and off they came in his hand.

They were false!

The man’s face was revealed.

“Lester Vance!” cried Frank, triumphantly.

It was a complete unmasking. The face of the rascally actor who had been “released,” on account of his crooked work in Atchison, was exposed by the sudden tearing away of the false beard.

“Great gosh!” gurgled Ephraim.

Hodge said nothing, but he glared at Vance with a look of deepest hatred.

Vance himself seemed stricken dumb.

The woman dropped down on a chair, and her “husband” stood and uttered some words which would not look well in print.

Frank Merriwell laughed chillingly.

“A very pretty little game!” he commented, sarcastically; “but it is all up now. It didn’t work.”

“It was no game!” snarled the man called Reginald by the woman. “You can’t get out of it so easy!”

“You will be lucky if you get out of it short of six years,” said Hodge. “The law is rather severe on blackmailers.”

“And on thieves,” put in Ephraim, who had learned 103of Lester Vance’s crooked work. “They make a purty good pair, by gum!”

“Vance,” said Merriwell, “you were foolish not to take my advice and get as far away from us as possible.”

Vance muttered something.

“But you were doubly foolish,” Merry went on, “to come here in such a slim disguise to aid in this miserable attempt to blackmail me. I have been an actor too long not to tumble to false whiskers when I see them.”

“Take my advice, Merriwell,” cried Hodge, “land that snake in prison! You can afford the time to get such a rascal out of the way.”

Vance was very pale, and showed agitation and fear.

“That’s right, by gum!” nodded Ephraim. “He is a snake, an’ I’d shove him naow.”

Vance exchanged looks with the other rascal. It was plain both men were confounded by the turn affairs had taken. But the one who claimed to be the woman’s husband had obtained another revolver, and, of a sudden, he pointed it at Frank Merriwell, crying:

“At least, I’ll shoot the villain who has trifled with my wife!”

Not one of the young actors was near enough to prevent him from shooting if he wished, but Merry instantly faced him, looking straight into his eyes over the top of the revolver, and calmly saying:

“You are a good bluffer, sir, but you haven’t the least idea of shooting anybody.”

And then he walked straight up to the man, took hold of his hand and pushed the revolver aside.

“Give it to him!” exclaimed Gallup. “I don’t want no darn fool p’intin’ pistols at me, by thutteration!”

The fellow made a sudden attempt to spring backward with the revolver. He had been dazed by Merriwell’s calmness and audacity, but now he resorted to 104action. He realized that the young actor fully fathomed him, and it stung him to madness to think that his bluff had been “called” in such a prompt manner.

Frank, however, had taken hold of the weapon, and, with a sudden twist, he jerked it from the hand of the man, disarming the fellow in a twinkling.

The eyes of Hodge glittered with satisfaction. This was Merriwell in his old form. Not a whit of his nerve had Frank lost since the more exciting days at Yale, on the diamond, the gridiron, in the cane rushes and college bouts.

Having the revolver in his hand, Frank snapped it open, and then he burst out laughing.

“Empty!”

With that word, he flung it at the man’s feet.

“Waal, I be darned!” gasped Gallup, and then he roared with laughter.

This laughing seemed to infuriate the one who claimed to be the husband.

“Curse you!” he snarled, catching up the revolver. “It won’t take long to load it!”

He plunged a hand into his pocket, as if reaching for cartridges.

“I wouldn’t advise you to load it, sir,” said Merry, placidly. “It will go harder with you if you are found with a loaded weapon when the officer comes.”

“The officer?”

“Yes. Hodge, call a boy and send out for a policeman.”

“Then you mean——”

“Business!” finished Frank, grimly. “I don’t like blackmailers, and I think they are dangerous, so I fancy I’ll have you put away for safe-keeping.”

“That’s right!” cried Hodge, with intense satisfaction.

The woman began to weep.

105Lester Vance looked around, as if in search of some avenue of escape. At last he realized that he was in a very bad scrape, and he longed to be well out of it.

All at once, with a wild cry, the woman sprang up, rushed at Frank, clasped him about the neck and began to scream. Shriek after shriek came from her lips.

Merry attempted to put her away, but she clung to him in a frantic manner, continuing to scream.

Her wild cries brought bell boys, porter, clerk, guests and others rushing onto the scene, and crowding into the parlor. There were some moments of general confusion, a struggle near the door, and then the woman seemed to swoon and slip to the floor.

Of course Merry was questioned, of course he was regarded with suspicion. A pompous man demanded to know the meaning of it, looking accusingly and scornfully at Merry.

In a very few words, Frank explained that an attempt at blackmail had been made, but when he looked round to point out the two men concerned in the crooked work, he found they had slipped away in the general confusion.

“Gol-darned if I noticed when they got aout!” exclaimed Gallup, in chagrin. “I was so upset by the howlin’ of that air woman that I never saw nothin’ else.”

“Where’s Hodge?” demanded Frank.

“Here,” said Bart, coming forward, and Merriwell saw that he also looked crestfallen.

“Where are those men?”

“I tried to hold Vance,” answered Hodge, “but some men seemed to think I was trying to murder him, and they parted us, giving him a chance to get away.”

“Gentlemen,” said Merriwell, speaking to the assembled crowd, “I think you see how it is. The scoundrels have taken to their heels, leaving this unfortunate woman 106here to get out of it as best she can. The way they ran must convince you that they are just what I claimed—blackmailers.”

The woman showed signs of reviving. A gallant man assisted her to rise, and she quickly dropped down on the sofa, seeming weak and faint. As she was rather handsome, the man, like men, began to say there must be some mistake, as it was not possible she had been concerned in an attempt at blackmail.

Frank listened to them with a faint smile on his face.

“They make me sick!” growled Hodge. “If she were old and plain, they wouldn’t take so much interest in her.”

Of a sudden, the woman sprang up, her eyes flashing, her cheeks flushed.

“Let me pass!” she exclaimed, dramatically.

“The same old melodrama line!” murmured Merry, seeming indifferent in regard to the woman.

“Are you going to let her go?” hissed Hodge.

“Yes.”

“Don’t do it, Frank!”

“Yes.”

“You are foolish! You——”

“Wait, Bart; we’ll talk of this later.”

“And she will get away.”

Hodge seemed inclined to make an attempt to stop the woman, but Merriwell restrained him, to his deep disgust.

Out of the room walked the woman, and she hurried straight from the hotel.

“The show is over, gentlemen,” laughed Frank. “I trust you have received your money’s worth.”

Then he bade Hodge and Gallup follow, and left the parlor.

CHAPTER X. MORE ADVENTURES.

Bart followed Merry to his room, and Ephraim trailed along behind. When they were in the room, Merry fell to laughing. Hodge flung himself down on a chair, looking sullen and sour, upon which Frank laughed the harder.

Ephraim sat on the edge of the bed and grinned, but seemed to be in doubt whether he had better laugh or not.

“Come, come, Hodge!” cried Merry. “What’s the use to look that way? It’s all over now.”

Hodge growled something under his breath.

“I should think yeou’d be hoppin’ mad yourself, Frank,” said Ephraim.

“Oh, he laughs at everything!” exploded Bart. “He says I have no sense of humor. Well, I am glad I haven’t if he sees anything funny about this business!”

“Certainly I do see something funny about it,” asserted Merry.

“What is it?”

“The idea of anybody attempting to blackmail an actor—a traveling showman. It is enough to make a horse laugh. I doubt if such a remarkable thing ever happened before.”

Ephraim began to see the affair from Frank’s viewpoint, and his grin broadened with great rapidity.

“By gum!” he cried. “I never thought of that! I guess folks wouldn’t b’lieve it ef yeou was to tell um.”

“Still I fail to see what there is laughable about it,” 108snapped Bart. “The fellow knew you had money—Vance told him that.”

“Without doubt.”

“And he knew you were young. He fancied you would be easy game. Where is there anything funny about it?”

“I am an actor.”

“But you are a dead easy thing!” declared Bart. “Think of letting that woman go in such a manner!”

“Now, Hodge,” said Frank, with more seriousness, “after I have talked to you a bit, I rather fancy I can make you acknowledge that was the most sensible thing to do.”

“Oh, no, you can’t! You’re forever doing things like that!”

“You know I was in earnest about giving Vance and the other rascal their dues. You know that, Bart.”

“Well, it was a surprise to me.”

“Still you know it, don’t you?”

“You seemed to be ready.”

“Exactly. It was not my fault that they escaped.”

Bart flushed and looked uncomfortable.

“I suppose it was my fault?” he cried, almost resentfully.

“I did not mean that. I do not blame you, Hodge.”

“I thought you did. I’d held onto Vance if those fool men hadn’t interfered. They gave him his chance, and he took it.”

“Waal,” drawled Ephraim, sheepishly. “I own right up, b’gosh! that I was so ’tarnally flustered when that woman began to yoop her up that I didn’t notice nothin’ till the men hed got erway.”

“Which was exactly what the woman wanted,” said Merriwell. “She grabbed me and screamed like that in 109order to give the men a chance to skip. They took the chance.”

“Which shows she was just as bad as the men,” said Bart.

“I haven’t a doubt of it,” nodded Frank.

“But you let her get away! Oh, it’s like you!”

“Hodge, do you remember what you said when those men in the parlor were declaring the woman was too refined-looking to be engaged in a blackmailing scheme?”

“Yes. I said they made me sick.”

“That was it. You also said that were she plain and old they would not make such a fuss over her.”

“Yes.”

“Well, old man, at that moment I realized how little chance there was of convicting that woman of blackmail were she arrested. Do you suppose a jury of twelve men would have agreed to convict a young and handsome woman like that?”

Hodge was silent.

“Answer!” exclaimed Frank. “Do you suppose that woman could have been convicted?”

“I doubt it,” admitted Bart.

“That was the very reason I was willing to let her go. I should have been foolish to put myself to the trouble of prosecuting her with every chance against conviction. I knew that.”

Bart jumped up.

“Men are bigger fools than women!” he snapped. “I am beginning to realize that better and better.”

“And you are a woman hater!” laughed Merriwell.

“Don’t fling that at me! A pretty woman will make a fool of a man any day, and it is impossible to find twelve men who will convict a pretty woman of crime if they can help it. Adventuresses know it, and they profit by it. If they are arrested, they work all their 110arts on judge and jury, and in nine cases out of ten, they go scot-free. The old fools on the jury ogle the pretty prisoner, and sometimes they openly flirt with her. They sympathize with her because she is young and pretty, and, when the evidence is so strong they cannot acquit her, they disagree. Yes, men are fools!”

Frank nodded.

“That being the case,” he said, “I think you will have to admit that I was wise in letting the woman go.”

“Perhaps so,” acknowledged Hodge; “but I hated to see her get off. She was the chief one in a pretty mean piece of business.”

“I do not think she was the chief one.”

“Then who——”

“Vance.”

“Well, you let him off after he had robbed you.”

“He returned every dollar of the money, and I did not lose anything. A man in my place can’t afford to spend time in lawsuits. It would ruin my plans. Vance seemed thankful to get away, and I hoped we’d not hear anything from him again.”

“You hoped in vain.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll hear from him again.”

“Perhaps.”

“If we do——”

“It will be unfortunate for Lester Vance,” said Merry. “He has reached the limit.”

“By gum!” cried Gallup, staring at Frank. “He wants to keep out of the way naow! When Frank Merriwell looks that way, he’s out fer business.”

Hodge also saw the look on Merry’s face, and he recognized it as the peculiar expression Frank wore whenever his patience was exhausted and he had decided to crush an enemy. And remembering things which had 111happened in the past, Bart knew well enough that Frank could strike an enemy with terrible effect when he wished to do so.

Frank was on his way to the theater that afternoon, swinging along at a lively pace, paying very little attention to anybody, when somebody called:

“Mr. Merriwell.”

He looked up quickly, and saw approaching him a rather good-looking girl of about nineteen. She was rather gaudily attired, and he noticed instantly that she carried some pinks.

“Great Scott!” muttered Merry. “It’s another one of them!”

He waited, although he really felt like running away. The girl came forward smiling. There was something rather saucy in her manner, and he saw there was paint on her cheeks and rouge on her lips. As soon as he discovered this, his desire to hasten away increased.

“Why,” laughed the girl, “you do not seem a bit glad to see me. Perhaps you did not receive my note.”

“I do not know you, miss,” said Merry. “I do not think we have been introduced.”

“Introduced! Ha! ha! ha! What do you care! I’ll introduce myself. I’m Daisy Blaney.”

“Miss Blaney, don’t you think you are rather foolish to speak to a stranger like this?”

“Oh, I guess not! You’re all right. I said that as soon as I saw you come onto the stage last night. I wondered if you looked as well off the stage as you do on it, and by gracious! I believe you look handsomer!”

This was almost too much for Frank. He flushed painfully, which seemed to add to the girl’s enjoyment.

“Miss Blaney!” he said, grimly, “I must say you are rather outspoken in your compliments.”

“It’s a little way I have, my dear fellow. Why, I do 112believe you are blushing! Who ever heard of an actor that blushed! Ha! ha! ha!”

Frank’s embarrassment increased.

“Oh, say!” the girl went on; “don’t look at me that way. What do you care? I wanted to get acquainted with you, and there wasn’t any other way to do it.”

“Then it would have been better not to do it at all. Aren’t you aware you are putting yourself in a very bad light by deliberately seeking the acquaintance of a man and making it in such a manner?”

“Well, if you aren’t a queer actor!” she cried. “I have met lots of them, but I never struck one like you before. Usually they are ready enough to become acquainted.”

“I am afraid you have judged all actors by the ones you have met in this irregular manner. There are honorable men who are actors, the same as there are honorable men in other professions.”

The girl whistled softly.

“Is that so? That’s all right! That’s why I wanted to meet you. I reckoned you were on the dead level.”

“No man who is on the dead level will seek the acquaintance of any young lady in this manner.”

“No? Oh, come off! I’ve met lots of fellows who were all right, and I never had an introduction to them, either. You must have old-fashioned notions in your head, and you are the last chap I’d ever thought had ’em. Why, I took you for a fellow who would be rather lively! You must be dead slow. You need somebody to wake you up.”

“I am afraid you are not slow, miss!” exclaimed Merry, severely.

“No, I’m not. I don’t like slow coaches. Oh, say, Frank, come out of it! What do you take me for?”

113“For a very foolish girl, Miss Blaney. I am sorry for you.”

“Sorry! Oh, come off! You must belong to the Y. M. C. A.! By George! I didn’t think you would lecture me!”

“I haven’t time to give you a lecture, but I think you should receive one. I’d like to talk with you a while, for I think I could show you the folly of what you are doing.”

“Are you in earnest?” asked the girl, beginning to show astonishment.

“Never more so in my life.”

“Well, you beat the band! And I thought you were sporty!”

“I hope I am not sporty in the way you mean.”

“You must have wings sprouting! Are you kidding me? What are you doing?”

“I am saying what I mean.”

“And you do not believe in having a good time?”

“On the contrary, I do believe in having a good time. I believe everybody should have a good time.”

“Now you are shouting.”

“But there is a right way to have a good time, and a wrong way. I fancy you often think you are having a good time when you are deceiving yourself. One kind of a good time leads to satisfaction and pleasant memories; another kind of a good time leads to misery and remorse. My dear girl, be careful what kind of a good time you choose to have.”

“Oh, say, you ought to be a preacher! You an actor! You have made a mistake!”

“An actor may be a preacher. He may preach morality in his acting. I believe an actor has the greatest opportunities for doing good by his methods of preaching.”

114“Excuse me while I draw my breath! You’ve knocked me silly!”

“I fancy you have met the worst class of actors, Miss Blaney. You thought them all alike.”

“I never saw one before that wasn’t ready enough to make a mash and have a racket.”

Frank saw he was not making much impression on the girl. He had discovered that she was rather bright, for all that she was so reckless in her manner, and he was truly sorry for her.

“I am glad to say all actors are not mashers,” he said, slowly. “I hope none of my company are. My dear girl, you are making the mistake of your life by seeking the acquaintance of strange men in such a manner—by having anything at all to do with strange men. Don’t do it any more. You are good-looking, and I fancy you have a good education. Be careful what you do. By your actions you can win the scorn or the respect of people, just as you choose.”

“Oh, don’t talk to me that way!” she cried, with curling lips. “It’s too late!”

“Why too late?”

“Oh, people think I’m fly, and I can’t change their minds now. I’ve got the name, whether I deserve it or not.”

“Who is to blame? You must have given them reasons for thinking so.”

“Perhaps I have!” she exclaimed, defiantly, all the laughter gone from her face in a moment. “But I did it because they began to talk about me.”

“What did you do to make them talk about you?”

“Oh, I didn’t die! I was ready to have some harmless sport, and they began to say I was gay. That made me mad. I said I would give them something to talk about—and I did!”

115“And there was where you made your greatest mistake, my dear girl.”

“Now, don’t talk to me that way. I’ve heard enough of it from other people! I didn’t want to get acquainted with you to be preached at—not by a long shot.”

“Miss Blaney, have you no thought for others? Is there no person whose heart you are breaking by your recklessness? Your mother——”

“Don’t—don’t talk to me about her!”

“Why not?”

“Because—oh, just because!”

“I think I understand. Your mother worries over you. She has tried to talk with you and tell you you were doing wrong. Am I not right?”

“She talked too much. That’s what drove me away from home.”

“Drove you away from home? Then you have left home?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“A week ago.”

“Do your folks know where you are?”

“Yes.”

“And they let you go?”

“The old man says I needn’t ever come home again.”

“But your mother?”

The girl’s head drooped.

“I suppose mother is all broken up,” she confessed.

“Haven’t you been to see her?”

“Can’t. It’s too far!”

“How is that?”

“We live in Carrolton. I ran away from home.”

Now Merry’s interest was thoroughly aroused.

“How did you happen to come to St. Jo.?” he asked.

“Oh, I’ve got friends here. I’ve been here visiting 116twice before. The first time I was here was when I began to flirt with an actor.”

“Miss Blaney, you should return home. Your mother will be glad to see you, and——”

“The old man will kick me out. It’s no use, Frank Merriwell. I think you mean well enough, but you are off your trolley in regard to me. I can’t go back now, and I’m bound to have a good time while there is a good time going. I thought you were sporty, but I see I made a mistake. I reckon I’d better shift along. You are all right—from your head up.”

“Wait a moment. We play in Carrolton to-morrow night. Can I not take a message to your mother from you? Think how she must feel. Can’t I tell her something that will cheer her up?”

“What’s the use?”

“How do you know but her heart is breaking for you? Perhaps she prays for you night and day. Perhaps——”

“Oh, don’t!” cried the girl. “I don’t like to hear about that. No, I won’t send a message by you. The idea that an actor should want to take such a message! Ha! ha! ha! Why, it’s perfectly ridiculous! Ha! ha! ha! ha!”

The girl’s laughter caused him to shiver a bit. It was not the laugh of genuine merriment—it was forced and unnatural.

She was quick to see how it touched him, and she suddenly cried:

“Don’t mind me! I’m not worth it! You have tried to give me some good advice, but it’s a waste of breath. I’m going to do as I like, no matter what comes of it.”

“Whatever you do,” said Frank, with deep earnestness, “don’t forget your mother! When you are having a good time, as you call it, think of your mother. When 117you are gay, think of your mother, who may be praying for you at that moment. That is all, Miss Blaney. Good-by! I would like to know that some day—very soon—you go back to your mother.”

She was not laughing now. All the false merriment had gone out of her face, leaving it very sober. Something like tears seemed to fill her eyes.

“Good-by,” said Frank, once more.

Without a word, the girl turned swiftly and hurried away, almost running.

“Too bad!” he muttered, as he hurried on to the theater.

CHAPTER XI. FRANK SPEAKS HIS MIND.

At the stage door he saw Douglas Dunton talking to a very pretty, blue-eyed girl, who started and blushed when she beheld Frank, quickly exclaiming in a low tone:

“Oh, there is Mr. Merriwell!”

“Never mind him,” laughed Dunton. “He’s not the only pebble on the beach.”

Frank said not a word, but entered the theater, apparently to the disappointment of the girl.

A short time later, Dunton came in. Frank called him aside.

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Dunton,” he said, “but there is a matter I wish to speak about.”

“Oh, it’s all right,” grinned Douglas. “I knew you didn’t want to catch on there, old man. Elsie Bellwood or Inza Burrage is your style. This girl——”

“How did you know I mean to speak of the girl?”

“Oh, that wasn’t so hard to guess! She’s all broken up over you, but I think she can be induced to forget you. She is a little beauty, only she’s rather light-headed and thinks she’d like to be an actress.”

“Foolish child!” said Merry, scowling. “She needs somebody to look after her closely.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind taking the job of looking after her.”

“In what way, Dunton? How did you meet the girl?”

“Oh, she was walking around outside the theater, and I simply walked up and spoke to her.”

“You never saw her before?”

119“Of course not. It was a case of mash.”

Frank scowled still more.

“Dunton,” he said, “I hope you are not a masher. I hope you do not make it a practice of trying to mash pretty girls in the places where we play.”

“Oh, of course not; but when——”

“Mashing actors I detest,” declared Frank, plainly. “They have done no end of harm. They have given the profession a bad name. I would like a company who did not make a business of mashing.”

“Oh, I don’t make a business of it!” protested Douglas. “But when a fellow sees a nice little thing like this, he doesn’t feel like letting it go by—especially when it is easy.”

“I am sorry you spoke to the girl. She has an innocent face. Dunton, I wish you would let such girls alone.”

“What? Why, you wouldn’t want the members of your company running around with fly girls in the places where we go, would you?”

“No! I want them to mind their own business. I hope you will understand me, my dear fellow, and will not be offended. I do not wish my people to get a bad name by associating with those who are bad; nor do I wish them to get bad names by misleading those who are weak and foolish. It is likely that little girl has a mother who——”

“No; her mother is dead.”

“So much the worse. She has no one to look out for her and restrain her. She can easily be influenced in the wrong direction. No man who is a man will mislead such a girl.”

Dunton was restless.

“Oh, you’re putting it too strong, Mr. Merriwell,” he said. “There is no harm in a little flirtation with a pretty girl. Don’t be jealous because I happened to catch on to her before you came along.”

120He tried to turn this remark with a laugh, but Frank said:

“You know very well that is not why I am speaking to you. There was something about that girl’s innocent face that made me sorry for her. She is trembling on the brink of a downward path, I am sure of it. She is a girl not naturally bad, but she has her head filled with false notions, and she needs somebody to look out for her till she gets old enough to become aware that those ideas are false.”

“Oh, you are making too much of this, Mr. Merriwell. Don’t worry about girls like that. There are thousands of them. They are everywhere.”

“All the more reason why a man should take an interest in them. If one of them can be prevented from making the fatal mistake, it is a great thing.”

“If they are bound to be gay, they’ll be so, and you may lecture to them all you like.”

“But I hope no one in my company will help any girl to become ‘gay,’ as you call it. That is all I have to say, Dunton. I trust you will understand me. I don’t wish to meddle with your business.”

Frank knew it was useless to say anything more or talk plainer. Dunton understood him, and all he might add to what he had said would make no deeper impression.

That night the theater was packed to the doors. The “S. R. O.” sign was put out some time before the curtain went up, and several hundred more seats might have been sold. More than ever was the manager of the house delighted. He declared “True Blue” the greatest drawing card of the season, and he offered all kinds of bookings for next season.

The performance went off smoothly. The splendid climaxes in each act received tumultuous applause, and at 121the end of the third act the audience was worked up to a pitch of great excitement. There were repeated curtain calls.

“Merriwell,” said Hodge, his dark face flushed with excitement, “this play beats your first one out of sight. I’ve never acknowledged it before, but I do now. ‘John Smith’ was not in it with this piece. Oh, but you wouldn’t do a thing with this in New Haven! Can’t you play there, Frank?”

“Perhaps,” smiled Merry, in a singular way. “I am going to put the play to the test in Chicago. We’ll be there the first of next week, and then we jump to New York.”

“What?” cried Hodge. “And you have never told me before?”

“Because I have been working for those engagements, but did not know that I’d get them. We play a week in New York. It’s make or break, old man. I started out on that plan, and I’m going to stick to it. I’ve been aiming for the top notch, and I’ll get there if it is possible.”

“You’ll get there!” exclaimed Bart.

Frank was almost the last one of the company to leave the theater that night. He had remained to see that everything was properly cared for, being anxious that there should be no further hitches in the performance of “True Blue.” The company carried quite a lot of special scenery and mechanical “effects,” the most striking of which were those used in the great boat race scene which concluded the third act of the play, and Frank wished to be certain that everything was properly handled in getting it ready for shipment.

Well satisfied, Merry was walking swiftly toward his hotel when he noticed two persons entering a restaurant. He paused instantly, whistling softly to himself.

122“Dunton and the blue-eyed girl!” he exclaimed. “He made a date with her, and she met him after the performance. I’m sorry she did it.”

He went forward till he could look into the front window of the restaurant, and he saw the actor and girl pass behind a screen down the room.

“I suppose the tables reserved for ladies must be down there,” muttered Frank. “Well, I don’t like the idea of playing the spy on anybody, and so I think I will let them alone.”

He walked on, but his sense of satisfaction had passed, and he was depressed. Although he tried to forget the actor and the girl, he found he could not do so.

Before the hotel was reached, he stopped short and stood in deep thought for some minutes. The blue eyes and innocent face of the girl haunted him.

“I can’t abandon her to what may happen!” he muttered. “No, even though I hate to play the spy. It is my duty to see that no harm comes to that foolish girl.”

He turned squarely about and retraced his steps.

Reaching the restaurant, he entered and walked down the room till he reached a table near the screen. There he took a seat, for, just as he reached that place he noticed a mirror set against the wall in such a position that it reflected a certain portion of the room beyond the screen, and that mirror showed him Dunton and the blue-eyed girl sitting at a table. Frank sat down where he could watch their every movement by aid of the mirror.

There were a number of couples in the room beyond the screen, and the sound of talk and laughter came plainly to Merry’s ears. Three men besides himself had taken seats in his part of the room.

Merry had sized up the place quickly. He decided that it was a second-rate restaurant, catering to the class of people who kept late hours.

123A waiter came for his order, and Frank realized that he was hungry, so he ran over the bill of fare and ordered something he fancied would satisfy his appetite.

“What will you drink?” asked the waiter.

“Water,” was Frank’s answer.

“Wouldn’t you like beer?”

“No.”

“Tea or coffee?”

“No.”

The waiter lifted his eyebrows in surprise and departed.

While waiting for the order to be served Merry watched the reflections of Dunton and the blue-eyed girl. The actor was doing his best to make her feel at ease, but it was evident that the experience of dining with a man in a restaurant at that hour of the night was novel to her, and she was nervous and excited, although she made efforts to appear at ease.

The popping of corks and clinking of glasses came from beyond the screen. The laughter of the men and women was of the strained and artificial kind. One man was talking rather loudly in a manner that plainly indicated his tongue felt thick and unwieldy. Occasionally a woman would begin to sing, but her companions cut her off.

“A bad place for the blue-eyed girl!” thought Merry. “I doubt if she ever saw anything like it before.”

Dunton was talking earnestly to the girl. He seemed to be telling her some sort of story, and he was using every fascination of which he was capable. On the stage, Dunton usually played heavies and villains; in everyday life Dunton was something of a comedian. Now he was able to bring fleeting smiles and nervous laughter to the lips of his companion.

124A waiter brought them an addition to their order. Dunton told a funny story that seemed to amuse and startle the girl, for she looked at him reprovingly, even while she laughed.

“But they are not drinking!” muttered Frank, with no small satisfaction.

His own order was filled after a time, and he fell to eating. He had begun to wonder if he had not made a mistake in thinking the girl in any serious danger. Perhaps Dunton had not known the real character of the restaurant when he took her in there. Still, Frank was sorry she had been brought into a place where such people could sit near her and she could hear the sounds and see hints of the false pleasures which lure so many girls to waywardness.

For some little time Merry did not pay much attention to what was taking place behind the screen. At length, he observed that Dunton was leaning over the narrow table and talking in a low tone to the girl, his eyes looking into hers. The actor had secured one of her hands. As she listened, the color in her cheeks came and went. She seemed confused and abashed, yet fascinated.

Now, Frank knew she was in real danger. He thrilled all over, and half started from his seat, but dropped back, muttering:

“Not yet!”

A waiter came with two bottles, buried to their necks in cracked ice. He stopped at their table and prepared to open the bottles.

Frank felt that the time for action was close at hand.

One bottle was opened and glasses were filled.

Frank was astounded that Dunton should think of “blowing himself” on champagne, for that was what, beyond a doubt, the bottles contained. It was a most remarkable 125thing for an actor to open anything so expensive for a stranger.

When the wine was placed before the girl, she hesitated and drew back. Frank was watching her closely, and that movement, that hesitation, settled him in the resolve to act.

Dunton leaned over the table, laughing and coaxing her. In a good-natured way, he was ridiculing her into drinking the wine.

Frank felt his blood tingling in his body as he watched this.

Merry rose to his feet. A check had been placed on his table, and he tossed the amount of his bill beside it.

All the while he was watching the girl. He hoped she would refuse to touch the wine, but he realized she lacked the firmness to do so. Her face, though pretty, betrayed in its mold the weakness of her character.

Dunton was winning. The girl looked at the wine, while he continued in his persuasive way to urge her to try it. In hesitation and laughing confusion she asked him something, and Frank knew he was declaring on his honor that the wine was harmless.

She reached out her hand, which trembled the least bit, and took up the glass.

And then, just as Dunton was clinking his glass against that of his pretty companion, Frank walked round the screen. The girl lifted her glass to drink.

Merriwell stood beside the table.

“Miss,” he said, quietly, “I wouldn’t do it if I were you.”

She gave a little cry of alarm, and nearly dropped the glass.

Dunton stared at Frank and muttered an exclamation of astonishment.

126“Oh, it’s Mr. Merriwell!” cried the girl, in mingled delight, confusion and shame, as she put the wine down.

“Yes, it is!” said Dunton; “but where the dickens did he come from?”

Frank looked the actor sternly in the eyes.

“I think I wasted my breath when I talked to you to-night, Dunton,” he said.

The man moved restlessly in his chair, and his face flushed in an angry way.

“Have you been spying on me, Mr. Merriwell?” he demanded.

“I have been watching you,” said Frank, honestly. “It was purely by accident that I saw you come in here with this young lady. I came in also and sat out there beyond the screen. I sat down where, by the aid of the mirror yonder, I could see everything you did.”

Dunton’s anger threatened to flare forth. He half started up, but dropped back, grating his teeth together. His look just then reminded Merry of the time when, infuriated beyond endurance, Dunton had tried to wound or kill Frank in a sword combat on the stage.

“Why have you done this?” snarled the angry actor.

“Because I was impressed by the innocent appearance of this girl, and I feared for her safety. I thought it possible I had been mistaken till I saw this wine brought on, and now——”

“Now—what?” hissed Dunton, in great excitement.

“Now,” said Frank, looking straight into the eyes of the girl, “I’m going to take this young lady home!”

With a savage exclamation Dunton sprang to his feet, staring at Frank.

“Well, this is the greatest case of nerve!” he exclaimed.

The girl looked frightened and seemed on the verge of bursting into tears.

127“Steady, Dunton!” commanded Merry, turning on him. “Don’t make a scene. It will do no good.”

“Do you think this is a very nice thing for you to do, Mr. Merriwell!” panted Dunton. “Don’t you think you are overstepping the bounds?”

“I fancy not.”

“But the young lady will not go with you!”

“On the contrary, I am quite sure she will.”

“Not on your life! She is with me! I believe you are jealous because you did not catch on with——”

“Stop!”

That word cut the speaker off instantly. Merriwell’s eyes looked dangerous just then, and Dunton knew Frank could not be trifled with when he was aroused.

“Oh, very well!” said the actor, with an effort to be mildly sarcastic. “I presume you will walk in here and take the young lady away from me without her consent? It is barely possible she may have something to say about it.”

“It is,” admitted Frank, “and I propose to let her say it, but still I am sure she will permit me to see her safely home.”

The girl arose at once, but just then two waiters came hurrying up, demanding to know what the trouble was about.

“No trouble at all,” assured Frank.

“Well, what are you doing bothering this gent and lady?” growled one of the waiters, who looked like a bouncer.

Frank did not look at him.

“Will you come with me, miss?” he asked.

“Well, that beats!” gasped the bouncer. “He’s tryin’ ter take the gent’s lady frien’ away from him.”

“T’row him out!” suggested the other.

“All right!”

128Now Frank paid some attention to the men.

“Don’t attempt to put your hands on me!” he said, grimly. “If you do, I shall knock you down!”

“Ho! ho!” laughed the bouncer. “Out yer goes, freshy!”

He endeavored to catch hold of Merry to run him for the door, and the other offered assistance.

Smash! crack!—two blows stretched one of the waiters on the floor and sent the other flying over the top of a table.

The girl seemed overcome with terror, but Merry politely offered his arm, calmly saying:

“If you will accept my protection, I will see you home.”

She took his arm, and they started toward the door.

All this had happened so suddenly that the other patrons of the place scarcely seemed aware there was any trouble before the waiters had been knocked down and Frank was leaving with the girl.

Uttering furious exclamations, the waiters scrambled up.

“Give it to him!” snarled the bouncer, starting after Frank.

Then, strangely enough, Douglas Dunton thrust out his foot, and the man tripped over it, going down with a crash. The other waiter was following him closely, and he went sprawling over his companion.

Dunton made haste to skip out by a side door, not even stopping to pay his bill. The waiters saw him escaping, and, remembering he had not paid, they turned after him, giving Merry an opportunity to get away without further molestation.

CHAPTER XII. A LIVELY NIGHT.

Entirely unaware that he had been saved from a second attack from the waiters by Dunton’s action, Frank lost no time in leaving the place, the girl clinging to his arm.

She was so badly frightened when the street was reached that it was some time before she could tell where she lived.

When they had walked some distance, Frank said:

“Miss, I hope you will pardon me for interfering as I did, but I could not help it when I saw Dunton inducing you to drink wine. I read innocence in your face. I knew you were out of your element in that place and among the frequenters of it, and I resolved to save you.”

“But—but, the gentleman I was with, Mr. Dunton, is one of your company, Mr. Merriwell,” faltered the frightened and bewildered girl.

“I am well aware of that, and that was one reason why I was all the more determined to save you.”

“But he seemed like a nice fellow. Of course I did not admire him as I do you, Mr. Merriwell, but he was so pleasant, so jolly, so kind!”

“I haven’t a doubt of it. That made him all the more dangerous. I saw you talking with him when I entered the theater this afternoon.”

“Oh, did you!” she exclaimed. “Why, I didn’t think you noticed me at all!”

“But I did, and I had a talk with Dunton about you.”

“About me?”

“Yes.”

“Goodness! I was not aware I was so important!”

130“I talked to him plainly, and I fancied my words had some impression. I was astonished when I saw you entering that place in company with him to-night.”

“Oh, Mr. Merriwell!” cried the girl, in confusion; “is that a bad place? I didn’t know. I never was in there before! I didn’t know anything about it.”

“I believe that is the truth, for you did not seem at all at home in the place. I noticed that while watching you.”

“Mr. Dunton said it was a respectable restaurant, and he was so kind to ask me to have a little lunch with him, and he seemed so much like a perfect gentleman, and I didn’t like to refuse, and you did not even give me a look this afternoon, and—and——”

“There, there! You have explained it all. I understand it perfectly, my dear Miss—Miss——”

“Dow—Dora Dow.”

“Dora?”

“Yes.”

“One of the notes I received to-day was signed Dora.”

“I—I wrote it,” confessed the girl, greatly embarrassed.

“I thought so.”

“You—you didn’t wear—the—the ribbon I sent.”

“No.”

“Then you did not want to know me?”

“My dear girl, I did not believe I would be doing right to encourage you in your folly. It is plain you have some very mistaken ideas in your little head. You said you thought actors perfectly lovely.”

“I do.”

“Some actors may be, but it is not safe for you to think them all so, and, above all things, it is not safe for you to make the acquaintance of actors as you made that of Douglas Dunton.”

“But there’s—there’s no other way to become acquainted with them, is there, Mr. Merriwell?”

131“I fancy you will be better off if you do not know them.”

“I must know them! How can I ever get onto the stage unless I do? Now, tell me that, Frank Merriwell!”

“My dear Miss Dow, is it absolutely necessary for you to go on the stage?”

“I don’t know that it’s absolutely necessary, but I want to do so. It must be just perfectly lovely to play parts and sing and get flowers and wear diamonds!”

“That is how it seems to you. You know nothing of the work and worry of the life, nothing of its uncertainties, its privations. You see the actors dancing and singing and being merry before the footlights, and it seems ‘perfectly lovely.’ You may not know that in hundreds of cases the actresses send themselves the flowers they receive. Their diamonds glitter, but stage diamonds are paste, as a rule. I have no time to tell you all about the hollow mockeries of the life, but I have an opportunity to warn you, if you have a home, to stick by your home, and forever give up the notion of becoming an actress.”

The girl pouted.

“Oh, I don’t like you, Mr. Merriwell!” she cried. “I didn’t think you, an actor, would talk like that! That is the way papa talks.”

“Your father is right. Listen to him. I believe you said in your note that your mother is dead?”

“Yes.”

“That is most unfortunate. Just now you need a mother to look out for you. But you have a home. If you were to become an actress, it is probable you would not have a home. Six months in the year, perhaps, or even more, you might be searching for an engagement, living as best you could during that time, uncertain as to the future. You would be the prey of sharks and sharpers, you would be bullied and cheated, you might get out 132with a company and be left stranded and penniless a thousand miles from anywhere. Your sensitive nature would revolt against mankind and the world. All your finer nature would be ruined. Then you would do one of two things. You would end it all by taking your own life, or you would turn about and prey upon men, sinking lower and lower, traveling the road to destruction.”

The girl shuddered and cried out:

“Oh!” she gasped. “I can’t believe anything so horrible would happen to me!”

“It has happened to thousands before you.”

“But I—I thought——”

“That all actresses were happy and prosperous—that they lived lives of ease and pleasure.”

“Yes, it seemed that way.”

“And I dare say you thought it an easy thing to become an actress?”

“It seemed so,” she repeated.

“Did you ever stop to think if you had any special qualification for becoming an actress?”

“Well, I thought I was rather—rather——”

“Pretty?”

“Yes,” she admitted, in great confusion.

“And did you think that the only requirement for becoming an actress?”

“No, of course not, but——”

“The girl who can act, who has real dramatic ability, is fortunate if she is pretty. That is absolutely true. It requires great talent for a homely girl to win success on the stage. At the same time, a girl who is merely pretty has almost absolutely no show unless she has dramatic ability to some extent, or can sing in a manner to command attention. Are you a fine singer?”

“I can sing a little.”

“A little will not do. Keep off the stage, Miss Dow. 133Avoid actors. Do not flirt with them. You know nothing about them. They may be honorable men, and they may not be. The chances are that they are not. They are here to-day and gone to-morrow. They live lives which tend to rob them of their fine sense of honor.”

The girl was silent some moments, as they walked along. At last she said:

“Mr. Merriwell, I believe you have told me the truth. I have refused to believe others who have told me things about the stage and actors, but you are an actor, and you know what you are talking about. I realize now that I was very foolish to-night. Oh, I’ll get a scolding from papa, for he told me I could not go to the theater, and I ran away to go, just to see you.”

She seemed on the verge of tears.

“If your father scolds to-night, do not answer him saucily,” advised Frank.

“What can I tell him? He will want to know where I have been.”

“My dear girl, the best thing you can do is to tell him the truth.”

She gasped.

“I’d never, never, never dare do that! He would be furious!”

“Then you must not ask me what to tell him. I can give you no other advice.”

Again she was silent some moments.

“I’ll do it!”

The exclamation burst from the girl’s lips.

“Mr. Merriwell,” she said, “I am going to tell papa just what has happened, no matter how angry he may be. I’ll tell him all about the good advice you have given me, and I’ll also tell him that I mean to heed it. No matter what happens, I am going to tell the truth to-night! That is settled!”

134“Bravo, little girl!” exclaimed Merry, in great satisfaction. “I do not believe you will be sorry.”

They turned down a street, and the girl stopped before they had gone far.

“I live just a few doors below,” she said. “I don’t think you had better go further. Mr. Merriwell—I—I don’t know how to say it, but I want to—to thank you. You have been awfully kind to me, and I appreciate it. You are just as brave as I believed you were, for you were not a bit afraid of those two waiters in the restaurant, and you handled them so easily! No matter what you have said about actors I shall always know there is one who is brave, noble and honorable! I shall not forget you, Mr. Merriwell!”

Her voice trembled.

“I am glad to know you will remember me that way, Miss Dow,” said Merry. “You must not understand that I said all actors were bad. There are honorable men who are actors, the same as there are honorable men in other professions. The dishonorable ones, however, are those you are most likely to meet through a chance acquaintance. I hope you will never make the acquaintance of any man again in such a manner.”

“I—hope you do not—think too—bad—of—me,” she murmured, hanging her head.

“I do not think that way of you at all,” assured Frank. “I simply think you are like many other girls, too ready to depend on the honor of men of whom you know absolutely nothing.”

“Thank you.”

“Good-by.”

“You—you may come to St. Jo. again?”

“Possibly, although it is uncertain.”

“But you have done so well here this time, and the people liked you so much.”

135“I know; however, I may not be in the theatrical business next season. I hope to return to college. Good-by.”

She held out her hand.

“Good-by!” she exclaimed, impulsively. “I wish you all the success you deserve, and that is good fortune in everything.”

He took her hand. Then she turned away quickly, and he watched her till she had ascended the steps to her home.

Frank was satisfied. No matter what came out of the affair between himself and Dunton, he felt that he had done right. Thinking it all over, he walked onward swiftly.

Suddenly he stopped and looked around.

“By Jove!” he muttered. “I believe I have lost my way! I do not remember passing through this quarter of the city.”

He walked on slowly.

“I’ll meet a policeman pretty soon,” he thought, “and I’ll ask him to direct me.”

But the section of the city seemed to grow still worse as he advanced. Almost before he was aware of it, he found himself near the water front.

“Well, I’m clean off my trolley!” he muttered, turning back.

Pretty soon he came to a street where lights shone from windows here and there, and there were sounds of laughter and music issuing from some of the rather disreputable-looking buildings. Women flitted along the street, sometimes accompanied by men, sometimes alone. One of them, quite alone, stopped Merry, grasped him by the arm, peered into his face, and brokenly asked:

“Have you seen her?”

By the light that shone from a window, Frank saw 136that the woman was at least fifty years old and dressed in a fairly respectable manner. She seemed greatly excited, and she was trembling.

“Whom do you mean, madam?” asked Frank, respectfully.

“My child—my little girl!” answered the woman. “She is here somewhere in this city! I don’t know where! I can’t find her! Oh Heaven! I can’t find her!”

“You have lost your daughter?” questioned Frank, with a thrill of sympathy.

“Yes, yes! Have you seen her?”

“How should I know her if I saw her?”

The woman seemed dazed. She put her hand to her head, as if trying to think. Frank could see she was nearly distracted with grief. Her eyes were red from weeping and her care-lined face still wet with tears.

“I don’t know! Oh, I don’t know how to find her! The only way is to ask somebody—anybody. I thought I would ask the men whom I met on the street to-night, hoping some of them might be able to tell me something about her.”

“I am very sorry, madam, but I’m afraid I can tell you nothing.”

A despairing moan issued from the woman’s lips.

“I followed her as soon as possible,” she said. “She ran away from home and came here to this city. She has been here before, and the city has ruined her. Her head is filled with false notions! Oh, I fear I shall not find my little girl again!”

“Cheer up, madam. Have you applied to the police?”

“No, no; not yet! I didn’t want to do that. Daisy is so proud—so spirited! She would be awfully angry if I were to put the police after her.”

“Daisy!” exclaimed Frank.

“Yes, that is her name.”

137“Daisy Blaney?”

The woman gave a scream and caught hold of him with wonderful strength.

“You have seen her? You know her? You can tell me where she is?”

“If that is your daughter’s name, I have seen her and had a talk with her.”

“Where is she—where is she?”

The woman was so excited that she fairly choked over the words.

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t tell me that!” the distracted mother screamed. “You must know!”

“I give you my word of honor that I do not.”

“When did you see her?”

“Shortly after noon to-day.”

“Where?”

“Near the Crawford Theater.”

“What was she doing there?”

Frank did not wish to tell that she had spoken to him. He said he did not know, and, in a clever manner, explained how he had talked with her, without telling how it came about.

“Poor Daisy! My little Daisy!” sobbed the woman. “She did not tell you the whole truth. She is not stopping with her friends here now. Her father was rather harsh with her, but he is ready enough to take her back. I followed her as soon as I could, but I have hunted, hunted, hunted—all in vain. Oh, I must find her! Can’t you help me?”

“My good woman, the best thing you can do is to get some rest to-night and look for your daughter to-morrow.”

“Rest! Do you think I can rest while my little girl is adrift in this wicked city? No, no! I shall never rest again till I find her!”

138In vain Frank urged her, seeing that she was almost utterly worn out. She would not listen to him. She made him promise he would tell Daisy if he saw her that her mother was there searching everywhere for her. And then, all at once, the woman cried out that she must be searching, searching, and away she went.

When she was gone, Frank realized he had not found where she was stopping, or how he could communicate with her if he happened to meet Daisy again.

“But it isn’t likely I’ll see the girl again,” he muttered, walking on. “We leave the city early to-morrow.”

The meeting with the unfortunate woman had driven the feeling of satisfaction from him. He could not forget her and her saddened, tear-wet face. He was haunted by thoughts of her.

He came to a large building, in front of which hung a lighted, transparent sign, which read:

The sound of music came from the open windows far above his head.

As he paused a moment and glanced upward, he heard a laugh that gave him a start. He had heard that mocking laughter before.

“It’s Daisy Blaney!” he exclaimed.

In a moment Frank had formed a resolution. He would find the girl if she were in the dance hall.

Frank ascended the stairs, learned that he could obtain admission for fifty cents, paid the money and entered the hall.

A waltz was in progress, and the floor was covered with gliding, whirling couples. As Frank had expected, the patrons of the dance were of the lower order of 139society, although there seemed to be some semirespectable people on the floor.

Merry looked around for the girl whom he sought, and, to his intense satisfaction, it was not long before he discovered her. She was waltzing with a tall, red-headed young man, who looked like a would-be tough.

Frank kept watch of her, and when the waltz was over he saw her disappear with her partner into an adjoining room.

Merry followed.

He found this room was where “refreshments” were served. In this case the “refreshments” seemed to consist mainly of beer, which the thirsty couples consumed at little tables.

Daisy and her partner were seated at a table, and Frank walked past, hoping she would notice him. She did, and instantly she uttered an exclamation of surprise.

“Frank Merriwell!” she cried, starting up. “What are you doing here?”

“Miss Blaney,” said Frank, stopping and lifting his hat in the most respectful manner, fully aware that the red-headed youth was glaring at him in a savage manner. “I was looking for you.”

“For me?” gasped the girl, in still greater astonishment. “Now you are chucking a jolly at me!”

“Not a bit of it.”

“Then come sit down. Mr. Merriwell, this is a friend of mine, Mr. Gallagher.”

Frank acknowledged the introduction by a bow, and “Mr. Gallagher” growled something in his throat.

Daisy urged him to sit down, but Frank did not fancy taking a seat in that place. However, in order to get an opportunity to talk with her, he finally seated himself, to the disgust of the youth with the red hair.

140“Wot’ll yer have?” demanded a waiter, appearing at Frank’s elbow the moment he was seated.

“You may bring me a sarsaparilla,” said Merry, “and serve Miss Blaney and Mr. Gallagher whatever they choose to order.”

“Sarsaparilla!” shouted the girl, with a laugh. “Oh, say, Merry, old fellow, have a beer! Babies drink soft stuff!”

“Then I think you’ll have to class me with the babies,” said Frank.

“Excuse me,” growled Gallagher, rising. “I don’t drink wid chaps that goozle that kind of stuff.”

Then he walked away.

Merry was satisfied to have the fellow depart.

The moment Gallagher was gone, Daisy’s manner changed, and she swiftly said:

“What made you come here? You are in danger!”

“Danger?” exclaimed Frank, astonished.

“Sure thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Soon as I left you to-day, some men came up to me and asked me if I knew you. I chucked a bluff that you were a particular friend of mine. Then they offered me twenty-five dollars to decoy you into a dive where they could knock the stuffing out of you.”

“This is interesting!” commented Merry, with a smile.

“Both those chaps are here to-night!” said the girl.

“Still more interesting.”

“You had better get out right away. There are some scrappers here, and you wouldn’t stand a ghost of a show if they spotted you, and tried to lay you out.”

“You must go with me, when I go, Miss Blaney.”

141“I must? What for?”

“Your mother is in St. Jo. searching for you.”

“My mother?” cried the girl, astounded. “Oh, come off your perch! What are you giving me?”

“The truth. I met her a short time ago. She is nearly crazy, and she’s wandering up and down the streets to-night, searching for you, stopping every man and asking if he has seen you. She stopped me, and that was how I knew she was here.”

The girl turned pale for all of the paint on her cheeks.

“Heavens!” she gasped. “I didn’t think for a minute she would do such a thing! My mother wandering about the streets of this city to-night! It’s awful!”

“Here’s yer drinks,” said the waiter, as he placed the glasses before them.

“I don’t want anything more,” said the girl, rising.

“But der drinks were ordered, an’ dey’ll have ter be paid fer,” declared the man, in an ugly manner.

“Here is your pay,” said Frank, flinging down a piece of money. “Come, Miss Blaney; we’ll try to find your mother.”

They started to leave the room, but before they had crossed the floor three men appeared in the doorway. Mr. Gallagher was one of them, and he pointed at Frank, saying:

“Dere’s yer meat, gents!”

The others were Lester Vance and Reginald, the blackmailer!

“Those are the men who wanted me to decoy you into a dive!” whispered Daisy Blaney, in great alarm. “You are in a bad scrape, Frank Merriwell!”

Both the rascals uttered exclamations of satisfaction on seeing Frank.

“We’ve got him!” cried Vance, triumphantly. “Let’s 142fix him so he’ll not be pretty enough to play the hero on the stage again for a month!”

“Oh, we’ll fix him!” laughed the other man, showing his teeth.

“He’ll be easy,” sneered Gallagher. “He drinks sarsaparilla!”

Then the two men sprang at Frank, crying:

“Spotter! Fly cop! Spy!”

That cry was enough to create a sensation in the room.

Merry met their assault, and he quickly got a crack at Vance that sent the fellow spinning.

A hot fight ensued, but Frank was more than a match for the two men. He seemed to avoid their worst blows, and the way he got back at them filled Daisy Blaney with unutterable satisfaction.

“Well, he’s a bird, Gallagher, if he does drink sarsaparilla!” she cried. “He can eat you!”

That infuriated the red-headed fellow, and he plunged into the conflict. He took Frank by surprise, and got in a blow that staggered Merry for a moment.

“Dat fresh eat me!” howled Gallagher. “Well, I guess nit. He’s a soft t’ing, an’ I can do him wid me hands tied behind——”

Just then Frank got at Mr. Gallagher. He feinted, leading the fellow to lift his guard, and then Merry drove in a sledge-hammer blow over the heart that caused the red-headed chap to collapse and lay gasping and groaning on the floor.

It is possible Frank would have come off with flying colors, but the men had been given the impression that he was a spotter or spy who had been sent there for the purpose of making the club trouble, and now at least a dozen persons sailed into him. Before such an onslaught he was unable to stand. He was beaten to his knees, and 143he would have been trampled under their feet in a few seconds more.

Then it was that a woman literally tore her way into the heart of the crowd, pushed and beat them back from Frank, and stood over him with a small revolver in her hand, screaming:

“Cowards! Are there no real men among you? Back! This gun is loaded, and, by Heaven! I’ll shoot the first one who tries to touch him!”

“It’s Queen Mab!” exclaimed several, and they fell back before her.

Frank staggered to his feet. One look he took at the woman, and he saw she was the one who had sought to aid in blackmailing him.

“He is no spotter,” she declared. “He is Frank Merriwell, the actor who is playing at the Crawford. I suppose he came in here to enjoy himself, the same as any man may. He has behaved himself, and this brutal assault is an outrage.”

“Mab!” cried a shaking voice, and the man who had claimed to be her husband forced his way forward, his face bruised and cut and bleeding from the blows he had received, “have you gone crazy?”

“No!” she shouted back. “But I’ve seen enough of this! Shame on you, Reg, to try to get revenge like this just because he was too sharp to bite your bait! As for that fellow who planned the job, he’s a cheap actor who was kicked out of Merriwell’s company, and he has been trying to do something to get revenge. I’m disgusted with him!”

It seemed that the woman was well known there, and her words carried some weight. It was useless for the man to protest, she showed her scorn for him and expressed her admiration for Frank Merriwell.

“He’s going out of here!” she declared, “and not another 144one of you will lift a hand against him! I’ll shoot the dog that tries it. I promise you that, and you know Queen Mab always keeps her promises.”

“What she says goes,” declared a man. “You may as well let the young fellow alone. She’ll take him out.”

“I’m not going without Daisy Blaney,” muttered Frank, looking round. “Where is she?”

Daisy was found, and the three moved toward the door. No one offered to stop or molest them.

When the street was reached, the woman stopped and put up her revolver. She laughed a little.

“I rather admired you this morning, Mr. Merriwell,” she said. “I found you were too shrewd to be caught in such a trap as we had set for you. But more than ever I admire you now since I have seen you fight a dozen men and nearly prove a match for them all. You are all right, my boy, and you’ll not be troubled again by Queen Mab.”

Then, before Frank could say a word, she whirled about and ran back into the building.

They were standing there in the light from the doorway when there came a cry, and a woman came running up, flinging her arms about the girl.

“Daisy!” she screamed. “My child, I have found you!”

“Mother!” exclaimed the girl, putting her arms round the aged woman and supporting her. “Mr. Merriwell found me and told me you were here, searching for me. Oh, mother, mother! I am so sorry!”

The woman was crying. Between her sobs, she exclaimed:

“Daisy, you will—go back—home? Father is—sorry! He’ll forgive and—forget, if you’ll—come back. I have been distracted! You—you’ll kill me if you don’t—come home! Won’t you come?”

145“Yes, mother,” said the girl, now breaking into tears, “I’ll come home!”

“Well,” uttered Frank Merriwell, “this has been a rather lively night, but it has turned out most satisfactory in all ways.”

“Merriwell,” said Dunton, the following day, “I don’t remember just what I said in that restaurant last night, for I was pretty angry with you. I have been thinking it over since, and I’m rather glad you did just what you did. That little girl was altogether too unsophisticated. I don’t hold any hard feelings, and I hope you’ll forget anything I shot at you.”

“It’s all right,” assured Frank. “It’s rather awkward for either of us to speak about the matter, and I’m glad you were the one to mention it. But let such girls alone, Dunton. The world is bad enough, and women have reasons enough for thinking men deceivers and villains. You’ll find you’ll feel better if you do your best to make them think they have made a mistake in judging the sterner sex.”

“I think you are right about that,” confessed Dunton. “I believe I have learned a lesson.”

CHAPTER XIII. A MISSOURI TERROR.

“Stop!”

“What?”

“That!”

Frank Merriwell shot out the first and last words; a local sceneshifter and stage hand of the Wilcoxson Opera House asked the question.

Several days had elapsed and Merriwell’s company had reached Carrolton, Missouri, and Frank was watching the men who were bringing the special scenery for “True Blue” onto the stage.

The local stage hands were assisting in this work, and one of them, a rather fresh young chap, began to tear off some of the cleats that held the sets together. To do this, he used a hammer, and he began knocking them apart in a reckless manner.

Then came Frank’s command.

The young fellow seemed astounded.

“What’s the matter with you?” he demanded. “We can’t take care of this stuff in this shape.”

“Let it alone,” ordered Merry. “I’ll have somebody look out for that who knows how to do it without staving it to pieces.”

“What do ye suppose I’m hired for?”

“You are not hired to smash my scenery. If you are, I’ll not allow it.”

“Your scenery!” sneered the fellow, who did not know Merry, and fancied he might be the property man of the company, as he was a beardless youth. “Why, you talk as if you owned the old show! You make me tired! 147Some chaps like to show off when they get a little authority, and I reckon you’re one of that kind.”

Frank made no retort to these insolent words, but his jaws squared a bit and there came to his eyes a look which the fellow would have known was dangerous had he been better acquainted with Merry.

The local stage hand fancied he had settled the matter by giving the presumptuous “property man” a call down, and he now went at the scenery again, smashing at the cleats with the hammer.

He did not strike more than a single blow, for, with a spring, Frank had him by the collar.

In a moment, Merry took the hammer from the surprised chap’s hand, and flung it far away.

“Here! what the——”

The fellow whirled about and struck at Frank, but he was sent spinning to one side, to fall sprawling over some properties.

“Don’t try it again,” calmly advised Merry.

The astounded stage hand scrambled up, snarling with anger.

“I’m Joe Hooker!” he cried. “And I can do up anything in this town. I’ll have to smash ye for that!”

“If you know what is real healthy for you, Joe Hooker,” said Frank, with a grim smile, “you’ll keep your distance and let this scenery alone. You’re too fresh.”

“You’re the one that’s fresh, you two-cent property man!” howled the wrathy fellow. “You think you own the whole show, but I’ll knock some of the conceit outer your head!”

He made a furious rush at Merry.

Apparently Frank had no thought of getting out of the way, but, at the moment when Hooker struck out with his open hand, thinking to give Merry a slap that 148would set his head ringing, if it did not upset him, the young actor leaped aside, ducking the swinging blow, caught his assailant by the collar and a handy portion of his trousers, and ran him off the stage, shooting him down a flight of stairs, at the bottom of which he fell sprawling.

Ephraim Gallup came round just in time to witness this, and he stood laughing heartily, his hands on his hips.

“Gol-darn ef I don’t believe he kainder thinks he struck somethin’ all-fired decepshus, Frank!” chuckled the Vermont youth.

Billy Wynne, the property man, had also seen the finish of the encounter, and he was highly amused.

There was a scrambling sound on the stairs, and, a moment later, Joe Hooker, his face flaming red, came scrambling and panting to the top, revenge gleaming in his eyes.

“Drat ye!” he snarled. “Ye didn’t do that fair! You don’t ’mount ter shucks, and I can paralyze ye in a fair fight!”

“I am not here to fight,” Merry laughed. “I am minding my own business, and, if you know when you are well off, you will do the same. If you don’t, you may get hurt.”

Frank’s laughter irritated the chap more than anything else. Again he made a rush, but this time it was with the intention of smashing Frank without delay.

Now Frank wished to avoid a fight, if possible, and he easily dodged in time to avoid the fellow’s rush.

Gallup shouted:

“Yeou darn fool! Yeou don’t know who yeou’re gittin’ up ag’inst! You’ll be etarnally chawed up fust thing yeou know!”

149But the furious stage hand did not heed, if he heard. He wheeled and came at Merry again.

Frank was beginning to get tired of this. He did not wish to strike the fellow, and yet he could not keep up the dodging.

The curtain had been raised to let light in onto the stage while the scenery was being brought in and arranged.

Once more Merry managed to avoid the rush of the angry chap, although he was barely able to do so, as now the fellow was watching for him to dodge.

This dodging made Hooker all the more confident, for he thought Frank did not dare stand up and meet him.

This time, however, Frank stepped back as the belligerent stage hand plunged past him, unable to stop his rush when Frank had dodged, and quickly grabbing him, flung him clean out over the proscenium and footlights, so he struck sprawling between the front row of seats and the stage.

This handling astounded Hooker, who could not understand it at all. He jumped up and started to leap back onto the stage.

The local stage manager had appeared in time to witness the manner in which Frank handled Hooker, and now he shouted:

“Here, Joe, what’s up?”

“That dratted property man’s meddlin’ with me!” snarled Hooker. “I’ll eat him if he’ll stop dodging!”

“Property man!” cried the stage manager. “Why, you’re daffy! That’s Frank Merriwell, the owner of the show!”

Hooker was astounded. He had reached the stage again, and he stopped in a half-stooping posture, staring at Merry, his under jaw drooping.

150“Him the owner of the show?” he ejaculated, in evident doubt. “Ye’re kidding, Sawyer.”

“No, I am not,” assured the local stage manager. “What’s all this about, anyhow? What’s he been doing, Mr. Merriwell?”

“He started to tear apart some of the scenery here, and I told him to let it alone, but he was not inclined to do so. When I stopped him he attacked me.”

“An’ he faound himself up ag’inst a feller that kin eat Hookers ez fast ez they kin walk up,” laughed Ephraim Gallup. “There ain’t enough Hookers in Mizzury to bother Frank Merriwell.”

“Is that so?” sneered the stage hand. “My brother Sam can clean out this whole show. He’s just home from New Mexico, and there ain’t anybody in this town wants to tackle him.”

“Yeour brother Sam would be pie for Frank Merriwell,” asserted Ephraim. “Ef he knows when he’s well off, he’ll mind his own business.”

“By hocus, we’ll see,” shouted Hooker. “He don’t ’low anybody to meddle with me, and I’ll just bring him round here. He’ll make things sizzle!”

The fellow started for the door.

“Where are you going?” demanded Frank, sharply.

“After Sam, by thunder!”

“Don’t do it!”

“I will!”

“I shall not handle your brother in the same gentle manner that I handled you, in case he comes here and attempts to make trouble. You know you were wrong, so you had better drop it.”

“That’s right, Joe,” said the local stage manager, anxiously. “What’s the use to kick up a fuss over it?”

“Think I’m going to stand this kind of treatment?” snarled Joe. “I’m no fool! I’ll be back pretty soon.”

151Then he ran off the stage and down the stairs.

The stage manager looked frightened.

“You had better leave right away, Mr. Merriwell,” he said.

“Why?” asked Frank.

“Joe’ll do it.”

“What if he does?”

“His brother’s a pirate! He’s a big fellow, and a regular ruffian. He’s been in half a dozen fights since he got home, a week ago. He killed a man in a fight before he left for New Mexico, two years ago, and that was why he got out of here. They ain’t dared try to arrest him sense he come back.”

“Well, that’s pretty interesting!” commented Frank, with a slight show of scorn. “So the law-abiding citizens of Carrolton permit the ruffian to run things just as he pleases?”

“Yes.”

“That’s strange.”

“He’s armed. He carries two pistols all the time.”

“What of that?”

“And he can shoot.”

“Well?”

“He went into a saloon the night he got home and shot the necks off all the bottles in sight, ending by shooting out the lights.”

“And nobody arrested him for that trick? Well, this fellow must be regarded as a bad man from Bitter Creek.”

“That’s what he calls himself.”

“I think he needs to be curried down.”

“There ain’t nobody here dares tackle the job. He gets drunk and shoots out windows in houses, and has a great time.”

152“I should think they’d bind him over to keep the peace.”

“They don’t want to try it. He’s going back to New Mexico pretty soon, and as long as he don’t do any great damage they’ll keep still while he’s here and pray for him to go. He’ll be furious when he hears Joe’s story. There’ll be the dickens to pay!”

“Well, I don’t like to have trouble with anybody,” admitted Frank, with a slight show of regret; “but I couldn’t let that young fellow smash up my scenery. Why do you have him round the theater?”

“He’s a good worker, and the managers are the ones who hire him. I don’t have anything to do with that. You had better go away, Mr. Merriwell.”

“Go away?”

“Yes, before he comes back with Sam.”

“Why?”

“So they will not find you.”

“What? Do you want me to run away? Is that it?”

“It will be a discreet thing for you to do.”

“And cowardly.”

“Nobody is regarded as a coward for trying to avoid trouble with Sam Hooker. People say anybody who won’t get out of the way and let him alone is a fool.”

“I shall not run away from Mr. Hooker.”

“Remember he carries pistols.”

“It doesn’t make any difference if he carries cannons. Go ahead with the work of putting in my scenery. I shall stay here till the last piece is in.”

“That’s all right, Frank,” said Ephraim; “but there ain’t no need of yeou gittin’ chawed up by this pirut. I an’ Wynne’ll stay here ter look aout fer the stuff, an’ yeou better go to the hotel.”

Frank regarded Gallup with astonishment.

153“Well, by Jove!” he exclaimed. “That beats! I didn’t think I’d hear anything like that from you!”

The Vermonter reddened a little.

“Darn it!” he cried. “There ain’t no reason why yeou shouldn’t be keerful. That ain’t bein’ a coward.”

“Of course not,” hastily put in Sawyer, the local stage manager. “Didn’t I tell you nobody is regarded as cowardly for attempting to avoid trouble with Sam Hooker.”

“Still, I should feel that I was running away.”

“That’s better than having your head broken. If you stay here and wait for Sam Hooker, you won’t play to-night.”

“Think not?”

“I know it. He’ll put you out of shape. They say he knocked down old Dorman’s bull with one blow of his fist.”

“I have heard of such things being done,” said Frank, still without showing alarm; “but I’ve never happened to see anybody do it yet.”

“I know he broke one of Mose Herrick’s ribs with a blow.”

“Well, I shall do my best not to let Mr. Sam Hooker hit me in that manner. That is all.”

“If you do your best, you will get out and go to the hotel. If he comes there you’ll have somebody tell him you have gone somewhere else.”

Frank laughed.

“Just keep that stage door wide open,” he directed. “I threw Joe Hooker down those stairs, and it may happen that his brother will take the same sort of tumble. Go on putting the stuff in, and don’t worry about me.”

So the work continued, although everybody but Frank seemed anxious and nervous. Merry was perfectly cool, and seemed to have forgotten all that had occurred and 154that Joe Hooker had departed to look for his terrible brother.

It was not much more than thirty minutes before there was the sound of heavy feet on the stairs, and, after taking a look down, Ephraim ran to Frank, exclaiming:

“They’re comin’, by gosh!”

Not a word did Merry say, but he advanced to meet the Hookers, buttoning his coat tightly around him.

Joe Hooker came in first, his face shining with triumph. He was followed by a large man, who was dressed in the rough garments of a cowboy and wore a wide-brimmed hat, with a cartridge band round it. This fellow had a flushed face and reddish eyes. He did look decidedly savage.

“Wherever is this yar kay-o-te?” he demanded.

“Right there!” cried Joe, pointing at Frank Merriwell. “That is the chap! He’s the one, Sam!”

The cowboy stopped, placed his hands on his hips, and glared at Frank in great amazement.

“Hey?” he shouted. “Is that him?”

“It is,” assured Joe.

“An’ he slammed yer round?”

“Yep.”

“This yar dood did?”

“Yep,” sheepishly admitted the younger brother.

“Yer must bin dreamin’!”

“No; he done it, Sam.”

“An’ he allows he kin fight?”

“He does.”

“Why, he wouldn’t be a bite fer me. Look hyar, ef you can’t handle that yar lily-faced chap, yer ain’t no brother o’ mine. I reckoned yer was goin’ ter put me up ag’in somethin’ what wuz wuth tacklin’.”

155Sam Hooker seemed to be on the point of turning about and leaving, much to the relief of Ephraim and the local stage manager.

But Joe had no thought of letting the affair end like that.

“If you don’t thrash him, Sam,” he said, “he’ll blow all over town that he walloped a Hooker.”

“Hey?”

“He’ll do it, sure.”

The cowboy turned and looked Frank over again.

“Did yer slam my brother around somewhat?” he asked.

“Your brother did not obey me when I asked him to stop hammering at some of my scenery, and I was compelled to handle him roughly,” admitted Frank, quietly.

“Did yer throw him off the stage?”

“Yes.”

“Down ther stairs?”

“Yes.”

“An’ yer said ye’d handle me rougher than that ef I come round?”

“I believe I made some such remark.”

“There!” shouted the younger brother, in delight. “I told ye!”

“Whoop!” roared the elder. “Is this yar possible? Is it possible a hand-fed cosset calf will blat at this untamed old maverick in this yar manner? I reckon I’m dreamin’!”

“It’s jest what he done, Sam,” declared the younger brother, eagerly. “He thinks he can do you.”

“Waal, I reckon I’ll hev ter wipe up ther floor with him, jest ter teach ther blame fool a lesson.”

Whereupon the cowboy spat on his hands and prepared to attack Merriwell, at whom he glared in a manner 156that expressed his contempt for such an insignificant person.

Ephraim Gallup stood near, his mouth wide open and his knees seeming to shake beneath him. The aspect of the cowboy was so terrible that the Vermonter actually seemed frightened.

Sawyer, the local stage manager, was also frightened, but he did not dare interfere, for he stood in great fear of Sam Hooker.

“It’s too bad!” he said, in an aside to Billy Wynne. “There won’t be any show to-night, unless Mr. Merriwell has an understudy. Sam Hooker will stave him all up.”

“Perhaps so,” said Wynne. “But Frank Merriwell is quite a scrapper when he is forced to fight.”

“He’ll be a baby in Sam Hooker’s hands.”

“I hope not.”

“It’s no use hoping. He’s done for! Too bad!”

“Are ye reddy, tenderfoot dood?” shouted the cowboy.

“I warn you again to keep away and let me alone,” said Frank, grimly. “I do not wish to fight with you.”

“To be course ye don’t! Haw! haw! Ye’d be a fool ef ye did! But ye’ve made some loose talk, so that I’ve gotter chaw ye up. Be ye reddy?”

Frank stood with his hands at his sides, his eyes watching every motion of the ruffian. He seemed perfectly careless and unprepared, but, in fact, he was quite ready for anything.

Sam Hooker took a step forward, but paused in astonishment when Frank did not cower or attempt to run away.

“Give it to him!” urged Joe, who seemed anxious to “get even” with the youth who had handled him so easily. “He’s a dodger! Look out for him!”

157“He won’t be able to do no dodgin’ when I’m done with him,” declared the vicious cowboy.

“Mr. Sawyer,” said Frank, speaking in a cool manner to the local stage manager, “please hold the door wide open, so I can throw this ruffian downstairs without trouble.”

Sam Hooker gasped.

“Do my ears hear straight?” he gasped. “Throw me downstairs! What—that? Waal, may I be jiggered!”

Then, with a roar, he made a leap at Frank.

CHAPTER XIV. THE DOWNFALL OF SAM HOOKER.

To the astonishment of Joe Hooker, Frank Merriwell did not attempt to dodge. Instead, with a sweep of one arm, he knocked Sam Hooker’s hands aside, and then planted a blow on the cowboy’s chin. It was a swinging uppercut, and it literally lifted the ruffian off his feet.

The head and shoulders of the man struck the floor before any other part of his body. Barely had he dropped when the young actor was on him, grasping him by the collar and slack of his trousers. With a jerk, Frank brought the man up, ran him to the door, and gave him a thrust. Then, at the very head of the flight of stairs, Merry lifted Sam Hooker with a terrible kick.

The man actually seemed to turn over and over in the air, and he struck at the bottom of the stairs with a thud that shook the building.

Joe Hooker gave a shout of rage, and he was on Frank just as Merry delivered that kick. It was too late for him to aid his brother, but he knocked Frank against the wall, and then tried to clutch him by the throat.

Right there Ephraim Gallup “got into gear.”

“Hold on, ye crooked critter!” he shouted. “Yeou can’t do that when I’m araound, by thutteration!”

He caught hold of Joe Hooker and gave him a yank backward.

In a moment Merriwell had recovered from the surprise of the sudden attack, and he also had hold of the cowboy’s younger brother.

“Let me have him, Ephraim!” he grimly commanded.

159“I don’t want him,” confessed Gallup, as he relaxed his hold on Frank’s assailant.

Merry whirled Joe toward the door, and, a moment later, the fellow went sailing downstairs after his brother, on top of whom he landed.

Sam Hooker, stunned and bewildered, was just crawling to his feet when Joe came flying through the air, striking on his shoulders. The cowboy was hurled to the floor again by the crushing weight of his brother.

Joe was not seriously hurt, as his fall had been broken, but Sam lay still and groaned.

Joe sat up and looked at his brother, whom he had regarded as mighty and invincible. Sam opened his eyes after a little and looked at Joe. It was several moments before either of them spoke.

“Are ye hurt much?” asked Joe.

“I dunno,” grunted Sam.

“Feel any pain?” asked Joe.

“I dunno,” grunted Sam.

Then they were silent several moments, still staring at each other. At last, Sam ventured to speak again.

“What done it?” he inquired. “Was there an earthquake?”

“You went up to lick a dude for me,” explained Joe.

“Did I?” murmured the cowboy. “I’m ruther muddled. Where’s the dude?”

“Up there.”

“An’ we’re down here?”

“Yes.”

“Sing’lar!”

Again they were silent, while the cowboy seemed trying to collect his thoughts, plainly no easy matter.

“What did I do to the dude?” he finally asked.

160“Nothing,” answered Joe, dolefully. “He did it to you. He kicked you clean down the stairs, and then threw me after ye.”

Sam made a frantic struggle and sat up.

“Look hyar, Joe!” he growled; “don’t tell me a lie, fer I’ll wallop yer ef yer do!”

“That ain’t no lie,” declared Joe. “He done it, Sam.”

“How?”

“Don’t ask me! I reckoned you’d chew him up, but he seemed to handle you easier than he did me.”

“Why, thar ain’t no galoot in this yar town kin handle me!” growled the cowboy, making a desperate struggle to rise.

He grew dizzy and toppled over. Then Joe assisted him to his feet, but he stood there in a bewildered way.

“Never felt so queer in all my life,” he muttered. “The wind seems all knocked out of me. I think I need a drink to brace me up.”

“What are you going to do to the dude?”

“I don’t think I’ll do a thing ter him now, but I reckon I’ll settle with him later. I’ll shoot him full of holes like a sieve! I’ll smash him like a fly! I’ll rope him like a—steer! I’ll brand him like a calf!”

Joe seemed greatly disappointed.

“I allow you made some talk like this before we came here,” he said; “but the dude kicked you down the stairs.”

“I wasn’t ready for him. I wasn’t expecting him to move so quick. He took me off my guard. Ef he’d seemed at all dangerous, I’d been watchin’ out. But I’ll do him! He’ll never play in his old show ter-night! I promise you that, Joe. I’ll fix him so he won’t be able ter walk acrost ther stage!”

With that threat, the cowboy staggered out of the building, aided by Joe.

As Joe landed in a heap on Sam, Sawyer, the stage 161manager, stared at Frank Merriwell in wonder and admiration.

“How did ye do it?” he muttered. “Why, Sam Hooker didn’t seem to bother you no more’n his brother Joe, and both of ’em was pie.”

“Haw! haw! haw!” roared Ephraim Gallup, slapping his thigh. “I did think that big feller was dangerous, but he was disposed of so gol-darn easy that it was over before I knowed it hed begun.”

“And he is the terror of the town!” gurgled Sawyer.

“When he come up here, I ruther thought I’d like to be to hum on the farm, b’gosh!” confessed Ephraim; “but now I wouldn’t hev missed it fer a hull acre of pertaturs.”

“Mr. Merriwell is a noted amateur athlete,” said Billy Wynne, speaking to Sawyer. “But he never boasts about it, and we, the members of his company, are just beginning to find it out.”

“Well,” said the stage manager, “I’m glad he was able to handle Sam Hooker, but I wish he’d done the feller up so he couldn’t make any more trouble. He’ll try to get revenge, see if he don’t. He’ll make lots of trouble for Mr. Merriwell.”

“He better not,” said the Vermont youth, grimly. “The best thing he kin do is ter keep still and mind his business.”

“He won’t do that. Mr. Merriwell must be on the watch for him.”

“I hardly think Mr. Hooker is very dangerous,” smiled Frank. “I have noticed in almost every case that bullies are overrated. People get to thinking them very dangerous, and thus they are able to carry on a reign of terror till somebody takes the wind out of them. After that they seldom amount to much. Sometimes they degenerate so that boys can handle them. I am willing 162to prophesy that Mr. Hooker will turn out one of this kind. As soon as it is well known that somebody has thrashed him, he will become an object of ridicule, and no one will have cause to fear him.”

“Well, if you could bring such a state of affairs about, the whole town would owe you a vote of thanks,” declared Sawyer.

“It is not very likely that he will molest me again, unless, by some chance, it becomes known that he was handled roughly this time. Then he may make a desperate attempt to reclaim his lost reputation.”

“And you are not at all afraid of him, Mr. Merriwell?” “Afeared of him?” exploded Ephraim Gallup. “By gum! I ain’t never yit seen ther critter that walked araound on two laigs that Frank Merriwell was skeered of.”

“But this fellow is a bloodthirsty ruffian.”

“I do not believe he is nearly as bloodthirsty as he wishes people to believe,” said Merriwell.

“Would you go right out of the door down there if you knew he was waiting for you?” asked Sawyer, doubtfully.

Frank laughed outright.

“Do you think I would drop out of a window on the other side of the building so he would not see me?”

“No, but it don’t seem to me that you know just what kind of a man Sam Hooker is. You don’t seem to realize that he has whipped five fighting men in a stand-up battle. I don’t believe that kind of a man can be easily tamed.”

“Why, ding-darn it!” cried Gallup. “He never come back to git any more arter he run ag’in Frank!”

“And for that very reason,” said the local stage manager, 163“I am inclined to believe he will lay for Mr. Merriwell.”

“If he does, he’ll git a wuss wallopin’ then he ever guv anybody in his life. I’ll warrant him that.”

“He made a mistake in thinking he was going to handle Mr. Merriwell easily. Next time he will not make that mistake.”

“Waal, he don’t want ter.”

“He’ll try to smash Mr. Merriwell at the very start.”

“Don’t worry about that, Mr. Sawyer,” said Frank. “Go ahead getting my stuff in. Ephraim, go to the hotel and send Havener and Dunton here to help handle this stuff. We must have somebody in the place of Joe Hooker.”

“All right.”

Ephraim departed, and Frank continued to watch the disposal of his scenery as it was brought in.

It was not long before Havener, Dunton and Gallup appeared. Ephraim came in fuming.

“By gum!” he cried. “Yeou’re goin’ ter have a raow with that feller, sure, Frank! He’s watchin’ fer ye!”

“Hooker?”

“Yep.”

“I knew he would!” exclaimed Sawyer.

“Where is he?” asked Merry.

“At the saloon on the corner,” answered the Vermonter. “He was peekin’ aout of the winder, an’ he jumped aout when he saw me comin’. Soon as he saw yeou warn’t with me, he said somethin’ kainder disgusted like an’ went back in. There’s a reg’ler gang with him.”

“A gang?”

“There is a crowd of young toughs who follow him around,” explained Sawyer. “They think he’s able to whip Corbett, and they take delight in seein’ him smash anybody.”

164Frank did not show the least alarm, but his face grew grim and resolute.

“I rather fancy I shall have enough of my friends with me to see that I get fair play,” he said. “That is all I ask.”

Dunton got close to Frank, and said:

“You can count on me, Mr. Merriwell. I believe I’d like a chance to make myself solid with you again, for you must have a poor opinion of me since what happened in St. Jo.”

“You did no more than hundreds of actors are doing every season,” said Merry; “and you were man enough afterward to acknowledge that you believed you were in the wrong. I have held nothing against you, Dunton.”

“Thank you,” said the actor, simply.

“Ephraim told us about your encounter with this ruffian,” said Havener. “You should have broken his head with a club.”

They continued the work of arranging the scenery and getting it ready for quick handling at night. The first scene was set.

Frank told Sawyer that he wanted five men for supers, and they must be on hand at three o’clock for instructions. Sawyer promised to provide them.

Then Frank prepared to leave.

“Now,” said Ephraim, who was somewhat agitated, despite his efforts to keep cool, “there’s goin’ ter be a dinged hot old time. Come erlong, Mr. Sawyer, if yeou want to see ther jamboree.”

“I’ll follow,” said Sawyer, and it was plain that he did not wish to be seen with the actors.

As they approached the saloon on the corner a number of men were seen loitering in front of it. One of them darted into the saloon.

165“Gone ter tell Hooker!” gurgled Ephraim. “Jeewhillikins! I’m beginnin’ ter feel that I kainder wisht I was to hum on the farm!”

Next to the saloon a man was washing windows with a hose.

As the little party reached the corner, Joe Hooker came running out, quickly followed by his brother and several of the toughs of the town.

“There he is!” cried Joe, pointing to Frank. “Now smash him, Sam! Yeou said you would.”

The cowboy grinned viciously as his eyes rested on Frank. He placed himself squarely in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Don’t let him get hold of you, Merriwell!” panted Dunton, who was pale and unsteady. “He looks like a perfect devil!”

Frank said nothing.

“Hold on, hyar!” roared Sam Hooker, glaring at Merry. “You’re ther galoot I’ve bin waitin’ fer!”

“Go for him, Sam!” cried the toughs. “Give it to the dude show chap!”

“Oh, I’ll make mincemeat of him,” promised the ruffian, advancing on Merry. “I’ll pulverize him!”

Frank did not order him to keep off, for he knew it would be a waste of breath. Instead of that, to the astonishment of Hooker and his gang, he went straight at the fellow like a flash.

This was a movement entirely unexpected. The cowboy attempted to catch hold of Merry, but Frank dodged aside, still advancing, struck the fellow a blow on the elbow that whirled him sideways, and then gave him one under the ear that made him stagger.

“Paste him, Sam!” howled Joe, beginning to dance.

166The ruffian whirled back, but Merriwell had followed him closely, and the blow Hooker struck was readily parried. Then Merry began to hammer the fellow scientifically, following every advantage closely, and keeping him going. Only once was Frank hit, and that was a weak blow, for he jumped back in time to avoid the full force of the swinging drive, which must have knocked him down had he not made the movement.

As Frank leaped back, the ruffian fancied things had turned his way, and, uttering unprintable language, he tried to close in.

“Don’t let him get hold of you, Merriwell!” again panted Dunton, who was shaking in every limb.

To the astonishment of everybody, Frank paid no heed to this, but suddenly darted inside his assailant’s guard and grappled with him.

“Now I’ve got ye!” shouted the cowboy.

“Now Sam’ll break him!” yelled Joe Hooker, with satisfaction.

Then something happened that caused everybody to open his eyes.

The ruffian tried to crush the young athlete, but, by a wrestling trick, Frank lifted him, flung his heels into the air, snapped him over his hip, and sent him heavily to the solid walk.

These movements had carried them close to where the man who had been washing windows in a dazed way, with the hose in his hands, the water pouring from the nozzle.

In a twinkling, Merriwell caught the hose from the man’s hand and turned the stream on Sam Hooker, who had risen to a sitting position.

167“Whar is he!” the ruffian roared. “Has he run away? I’ll swaller——”

“Water!” laughed Frank.

Sizz—spat!—the stream from the hose struck Hooker full in the mouth, drowning his words instantly.

The fellow was knocked flat on his back by the force of the water.

“Perhaps this will cool him off,” observed Merry.

The crowd of toughs began to realize what was happening to the terror of the town, and they were astounded.

“Ther dude flammed him!”

“Sure thing!”

“Sam’s met his match!”

“You bet!”

“That’s Frank Merriwell!” cried one of the boys of the town. “If you fellers have ever heard of him, you oughter know he can do up all the Hookers in Missouri! He’s a honey cooler!”

Joe Hooker was dazed, for up to this meeting he had not realized that his bully brother had met his match in a smooth-faced, boyish-looking actor.

Even now, when the realization of the truth was beginning to force itself on Joe, he was so infuriated because such a thing could be possible that it made him crazy. Snarling and spitting like a wild cat, he made a spring for Merry.

Quick as a flash, Frank turned the stream from Sam Hooker to his brother. It struck Joe in the eyes, blinding him, staggering him. It filled his mouth and forced its way down his throat. He gurgled and choked, and then his heel caught and he fell flat on his back.

By this time Sam was able to sit up again, catching his breath and rubbing the water out of his eyes.

168“Oh, I’ll have his blood!” panted the cowboy. “This settles him! Whar is he? Show him ter——”

He was trying to get out a revolver when Merry gave it to him again, and over on his back he was knocked once more.

The spectators had been filled with wonder, but now they saw the ludicrous side of the encounter, and they began to pound each other on the back and shout with laughter.

“I sw’ar, it’s ther funniest thing I ever saw!” roared one.

“Think of Sam takin’ water like that!” shouted another.

“He’s swallered enough ter p’izen him a’reddy!” declared another.

“Bet he ain’t hed a bath afore in a year!” exclaimed a fourth.

And then, in chorus, they roared:

“A-haw! a-haw! a-haw!”

Ephraim Gallup executed a grotesque dance on the sidewalk.

“By gum! this is a reg’lar jamboree!” he giggled. “It oughter be an advertisement fer ther show if Frank does ther bully of ther taown up good.”

“It will be the wonder of the place,” declared Sawyer, the local stage manager. “I don’t understand it now.”

Douglas Dunton showed his relief. Although he had agreed to stand by Frank, Dunton had been decidedly frightened. Now he was beginning to laugh.

Havener had not said much, but he was looking on in great satisfaction, nodding his approval over what was happening.

169Joe Hooker sat up, but Merry was giving Sam all he wanted just then, and he paid very little attention to Joe.

The younger brother got onto his hands and knees, and then sprang to his feet. He did not make more than two steps toward Merry, however, before the stream of water struck him in the eyes once more.

This time it came unexpectedly, but Joe was not knocked down. He reeled back, putting up his arm to protect his face.

Frank continued to pour the water upon him. Joe whirled back toward Merry, but the water struck him in the back of the neck. He bent over, and the stream beat under his coat, turning it up over his head. Then, with his coat in that manner, Joe gave up and took to his heels, dusting round the corner.

“Go it!” shouted the crowd, in merriment.

No one had offered to help the brothers. At first no one had imagined Sam Hooker could need help in disposing of the boyish actor. When they began to understand that the bully had met his match, they were so dazed that no one made a move to help him. When the stream of water was turned on him, the risibilities of the rough fellows were aroused, and they shouted with laughter over the plight of the fellow upon whom they had gazed in fear and awe a short time before.

As soon as a bully ceases to command respect, as soon as he is made ridiculous, his prestige is gone. No one had dared laugh at Sam Hooker before that. He had done the most grotesque things without causing anybody to crack a smile. Now, however, they literally roared with amusement.

Sam heard them laughing. At first it infuriated him, but that stream of cold water cooled his rage swiftly. He got onto his hands and knees and tried to rise. The water struck him again, sending him back to his hands 170and knees. That was too much. Without realizing what a laughable spectacle he presented, he scrambled on all fours for a place of safety. He scampered round the corner after his brother, and Frank Merriwell was left in possession of the field.

CHAPTER XV. THE FRUITS OF EFFORT.

“Permit me to return your hose to you, sir,” said Merry, smilingly, as he gave the hose back to the man from whom he had snatched it. “I trust you will pardon me for my rudeness in taking it thus abruptly, but there did not seem to be time enough to ask in a polite manner.”

The man was holding onto his sides and shouting with laughter.

“O-ho! o-ho! o-ho!” he bellowed. “Funniest—thing—I—ever—saw! Oh-ho! a-haw! a-haw!”

He wiped his eyes, literally gasping with laughter.

“I am glad I was able to provide you with amusement, sir,” said Merry, quietly. “And I trust I have caused you no inconvenience.”

“Hey?”

The man suddenly grew sober.

“By gosh!” he exclaimed.

He looked alarmed.

“What is it?” asked Frank.

“Never thought of it before.”

“Thought of what?”

“What Sam Hooker may think about my lettin’ you have the hose.”

“But you didn’t let me have it. I took it.”

“I know you did, but Sam may not look at it that way.”

“You fear he’ll make trouble for you?”

“Yep.”

“If he does, I’ll hunt him up and give him the worst thrashing of his life,” said Merry, with the utmost coolness, speaking loudly enough for the staring roughs to 172hear. “I have been very gentle with him thus far, but the limit is reached. Next time I have trouble with him I think I shall break his back.”

“Gosh!”

“Wow!”

“Hear him talk!”

“Bet he kin do it!”

“He’s hot stuff!”

These muttered exclamations came from the lips of the toughs.

“Didn’t I tell ye he could do up all the Hookers in Missouri!” triumphantly cried the village boy. “I’ve read all about him, and he is the warmest biscuit in the pan.”

“I reckon I’d better git away afore Sam Hooker comes back lookin’ fer me,” said the man who had been using the hose.

He shut off the water, made haste to detach the hose, and hustled into the store, without saying another word.

“Come on, gentlemen,” said Merry, speaking to his friends. “The Hookers seem to have hooked it.”

Then he turned to the staring toughs, saying:

“If it should happen that Sam Hooker wishes to see me again, tell him to come round to the hotel and call for me. If he hasn’t had enough, I’ll finish him next time.”

With that he walked away, accompanied by Ephraim, Havener and Dunton.

Dunton was breathing easier.

“Merriwell,” he said, “I don’t know how you do it.”

“It wasn’t half as hard as it looked,” declared Frank.

“But that fellow was a most desperate-looking ruffian.”

“He seemed pretty desperate, but there’s not much behind his outward appearance. I saw that in the first place.”

173“How could you see it?”

“Well, I will explain. He is masquerading here in cowboy rig, and he is doing that to impress the people of this place. He makes himself look as fierce and terrible as possible. That is for the purpose of terrifying people and making them stand in awe of him. He has a way of swaggering and bragging. Now, a real desperado seldom makes such an effort to convince people that he is desperate. Very often it is the case that the genuine desperado, the real dangerous man, is peaceful and mild in appearance, seeking to avoid rather than to attract attention. One of the most desperate ruffians the West ever produced—Slade—was as mild-mannered as a woman. Wild Bill, who was a ‘killer’ all his life, never swaggered and boasted of what he could do. Jesse James was not a boaster. I might name many others. In nine cases out of ten, the desperado who boasts and brags, who swaggers and tries to frighten everybody by his terrible appearance, is a craven at heart, and he may be handled with ease once he realizes he has met his master.”

“Merriwell,” said Havener, “it is a wonder to me how you read human character so well. Do you ever make a mistake?”

“Oh, yes!” laughed Frank, honestly. “I have made lots of mistakes.”

“How?”

“By trusting men who were rascals. By giving them too much chance at me.”

“It’s alwus in that way that he makes mistakes, by thutter!” put in Gallup. “He never makes um any other way, an’ I guess by jee! that sometimes when he does trust a feller, he knows the chap’s crooked, but kainder hopes he won’t prove that way.”

174“Yes,” smiled Merry, “I have trusted many chaps, while I felt in my heart that they were crooked, but I hoped I might be mistaken. I do not like to condemn a man before he has been given a show to display what there is in him.”

Dunton had been walking along in silence after his first remark. Now he observed:

“I rather believe that sometimes, by trusting such fellows, you put them on their honor so that they are ashamed to do you a dirty turn.”

“That is my object—it is my hope,” said Merry. “The moment a man knows he is mistrusted, if his character is weak, he begins to mistrust himself. Let him feel that others have confidence in him, and his conscience in many cases makes him ashamed of being crooked.”

“I don’t suppose I’m any too good,” admitted Dunton. “In fact, I realize I’m not. It was not so long ago that I tried to do you a bad turn, Merriwell. That was when you first joined the company to which I belonged. I was no match for you. You did me up, but then, instead of exposing me and causing my release in disgrace from the company, you kept still and gave me a show. When I understood the full extent of your generosity, I began to compare myself with you, and the comparison was odious. I was disgusted with myself. I said, ‘Frank Merriwell is square, white and generous. What are you?’ Then I came to you, Merriwell, and owned up.”

“That’s right,” nodded Frank. “And I do not believe to this day Havener knows anything about it, although he was witness of the whole affair as it originally happened.”

“I knew there was some trouble between you and Dunton,” said the stage manager, “and I saw that it came out all right, for both of you dropped all hard feelings, or seemed to.”

175“But you never knew,” said Dunton, “that I tried to kill Merriwell.”

“Kill him?” gasped Havener.

“Yes.”

“Great gosh!” gurgled Ephraim.

“No,” admitted the stage manager, “I never knew that.”

“Well, it’s a fact,” admitted the actor. “It was in the time when we were playing in repertoire just after the wind up of poor old ‘Uncle Tom.’ You remember that Merriwell was run into the leading part in a hurry, to fill the place of Leslie Lawrence, who was ill.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“And I wanted that part.”

“I remember that.”

“I thought it a shame to run in a rank amateur like Merriwell on a lead.”

“You said so.”

“Well, I was hot because I could not have the part, and I did not rehearse very well.”

Havener nodded. He remembered all this perfectly.

“In my heart,” Dunton went on, “was a perfect hell of fury. I don’t think I ever felt that way before. My hatred for Merriwell knew no bounds. I resolved to show him up. I am something of a fencer and there was a sword duel in the play. I was the villain in the piece, and I fought with the hero. It was necessary for Merriwell to do the duel with me. In the piece I should seem to have the best of it at first, and then he should show superior skill and disarm me.”

“I remember all about that,” said Havener. “Go on.”

“It was in that duel that I determined to make a monkey of him. I would show the audience what a stick he was.”

176Ephraim Gallup chuckled.

“I’ve known other folks to git fooled in a real duel with him,” said the Vermonter.

“This turned out a real duel,” said Dunton. “When the time came, I insulted Merriwell by adding venom to the regular lines of the part. I called him a crawling cur. I did my best to make him feel my real contempt for him.”

Frank was smiling, but he said nothing.

“The duel began,” Dunton continued. “I started to play with Mr. Merriwell, who had rehearsed awkwardly in the afternoon. To my surprise, I found his awkwardness was gone. He met me with the touch and skill of an expert. At first I could not realize that he had fooled me. When I did, I was infuriated beyond measure. My first thought was to wound him, if I could.”

Havener uttered a low exclamation.

“I fought with all the skill and fury I knew,” said Dunton; “but he met all my attacks, and held me at bay with ease. My rage increased till I lost my head entirely. I longed to kill him, I swore I would kill him—I made a desperate attempt to do it!”

“Gosh!” gasped the Vermont youth, staring at the speaker.

“I remember that the duel was the finest I ever saw on the stage,” said Havener, “but I was afraid something would happen. I didn’t dream it was a real duel.”

“It was,” nodded Dunton. “I lunged straight for Merriwell’s body, trying to run him through.”

“Waal, darn my pertaturs!” palpitated Ephraim Gallup.

“I know that he understood my purpose. I do not think I deceived Mr. Merriwell for a moment. He met me fairly. Then, before I knew it, my weapon was 177wrenched from my hand and sent spinning into the air.”

“Hooray!” exclaimed the Vermont youth, with satisfaction.

“Merriwell caught it when it came down, and immediately offered it to me, hilt first.”

“Thutteration!” gurgled Gallup.

“A single moment I hesitated,” the actor continued, “and then I was seized by such rage as I never felt before and never expect to feel again. I snatched the weapon and made one mad lunge to drive it straight through the heart of my antagonist.”

The Yankee lad nearly lost his breath.

“Mr. Merriwell was on guard for me. He was not taken unawares, and he foiled my attempt. Then he attacked me with such fury that I could not stand before him. I was driven back and back. I saw a terrible light in his eyes, even though he laughed in my face. His sword was flashing and glittering everywhere. I realized that I was completely at his mercy, and I believed he intended to kill me. Then I dropped my sword and cried for mercy.”

“Whoop!” exploded Gallup. “That’s ther way Frank Merriwell serves ’em! Oh, he is the boy ter do it!”

“Well,” finished Dunton, “I more than half expected to be cut down, but nothing of the kind happened. I remember with what scorn Mr. Merriwell said he would not stain his sword with my treacherous blood. I remember how I felt after that. No person can understand the tumult of feelings in my heart. I thought of running away. You complimented us on the duel after the curtain had fallen, Mr. Havener, but you warned us that we were far too reckless, and we must not do it that way again. I believed Mr. Merriwell would expose me 178then. He did not. Then I was sure he would do so very soon. He did not. I waited in suspense as long as I could stand it, and then I came and asked him when he was going to blow the whole thing. He said he was going to wait and see how I behaved in the future, and that he had no thought of blowing if I didn’t try it again. Well, I haven’t tried it. Have I, Mr. Merriwell?”

“No,” answered Frank, “we haven’t had much trouble since then.”

“And to think I never knew a thing about this before!” exclaimed the stage manager. “Mr. Merriwell never breathed a word of it to me—not a word.”

“Of course he didn’t!” exclaimed Ephraim. “He never blows anything.”

“Mr. Dunton kept his word to me,” said Frank. “I am sure it was my place to keep mine to him.”

“And you engaged him for your own company!”

“Yes; he was too good a man to let slip. I had a place for him, and he has filled it.”

“And I think,” said Douglas Dunton, seriously, “that my association with Frank Merriwell has improved me in various ways. Anyone who takes him for a model is bound to improve.”

“That’s right, b’gosh!” nodded Gallup.

Hodge came rushing into Merriwell’s room almost as soon as Frank arrived. He waved two papers over his head in a triumphant way, crying:

“Great stuff, Frank—great stuff!”

Merry was astounded, for such a demonstration on the part of Hodge was almost unprecedented.

“What is it?” asked Frank.

“The dramatic papers from the East.”

179“Well, what about them?”

“Got full reports of ‘True Blue’ in ’em. Great stuff, I tell you!”

“Well, this is interesting. The papers must have given the play a good send off?”

“Great—simply great! Here’s the Dramatic Reflector, the leading New York paper, and it has almost a quarter of a column about the production of your piece in Puleob.”

“As much as that?”

“Yes. And the Snipper gives you a good long notice, too. The Reflector says ‘True Blue’ is a winner from the start, and you are a dandy in your part. The Snipper does not give the cast, same as the other paper, but its notice is just as complimentary. Here, read ’em, read ’em!”

Frank took the papers and read the notices. His face showed his satisfaction.

“It is better than I expected,” he said. “Now I understand how it happened that I received notice in St. Jo that there was an opening in New York for the week that I desired. The manager of the theater had seen these notices.”

“That’s about the size of it,” nodded Hodge. “Oh, you are on the straight road to success—you are forging to the front.”

“Well, I have hopes of getting there,” smiled Frank.

“You will. I know that. Just think of the houses we had in St. Jo. And the advance sale here is remarkable. The manager says he never knew such a sale but once before. The house will be jammed to-night. We could play here three nights to paying business, and this is a small place. What’ll we do when we hit Chicago?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

180“What do you mean by that?”

“Chicago will be the test.”

“How?”

“I think I shall be able to tell in Chicago whether the piece will be a success or not.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. You can’t be sure. The taste of Chicago sometimes varies from that of New York. What is a success in one place is sometimes a failure in the other.”

“But that happens so seldom that it is an exception. If ‘True Blue’ catches on in Chicago, it will go in New York.”

“Well, I believe it is bound to go anywhere. It took me some time to realize you had written a better play than your first one, but I know it now.”

The door was standing ajar. Cassie Lee appeared outside.

“May I come in?” she called.

“Come right in, Cassie,” invited Frank. “Who’s that following you? Tell him to come in.”

The soubrette entered, followed by Havener.

“I—I came to tell you something,” she said, but hesitated, as she saw Bart sitting there.

“If it’s anything private, I’ll disappear,” said Hodge.

“It’s nothing private,” declared Havener. “There is no reason for being secret about it, Cassie. The entire company knows we’re engaged.”

“But I don’t feel just like—like——”

“Oh, I know,” smiled Havener, who looked decidedly happy. “But I’ll tell. We’re going to be married in Chicago, Mr. Merriwell. We have settled on that. I’ve induced Cassie to agree to it at last.”

“I congratulate you, Havener!” exclaimed Frank, 181grasping his hand and shaking it warmly. “I believe you will be happy together, and surely you deserve happiness, if any man deserves it, for fortune was rather hard on you in your other venture.”

Bart rose and extended his hand to the stage manager.

“Permit me to add my congratulations,” he said.

Havener accepted Bart’s hand.

“And Cassie,” said Frank, looking into the eyes of the girl. “Why, she’s changed remarkably in the last few weeks. The sad look has gone from her face, and there is color coming to her cheeks and luster to her eyes.”

“I owe you everything, Frank!” she murmured. “Everything!”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“You gave me courage to fight my terrible habit. You encouraged me to pray. Heaven gave me strength. I believe I have won at last; but not until I was reasonably sure of that would I again consent to the marriage after that woman interfered with the other. The shock of that nearly sent me back into my old ways again.”

“But it has ended well at last.”

“Yes, yes.”

“I am very glad, Cassie—glad for both you and Havener. I knew how much depended on it.”

“The happiness of our lives depended on it—yes, our very lives!” asserted the man.

“Well,” said Frank, “I presume I am to be best man?”

“Of course!” cried Havener and Cassie together.

“Then that is settled.”

“I have satisfied myself beyond a doubt, and Cassie 182also, that the woman I believed my wife was the lawful wife of another at the time we were living together. She committed bigamy. That clears me of her, and I am free.”

Frank showed Havener and Cassie the notices in the dramatic papers, and they took their turn to congratulate him.

“The sun of happiness and prosperity is shining brightly on all of us just now,” said Merry. “I see my way clear to get back to college, and——”

“Leave the rest of us in the lurch,” laughed Havener. “Well, I guess we can take care of ourselves.”

“But I don’t propose to leave the rest of you in the lurch, Havener.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“This play will go on the road again next season.”

“Yes; who will manage it?”

“Roscoe Havener.”

“What?”

Havener was astounded.

“I have resolved on that, if you care to take it out.”

The stage manager was dazed for the moment.

“Oh, that is so good of you!” cried Cassie. “Just think of it, Ross! You were saying yesterday that you’d give anything if you had a piece like this for me to play in!”

“I know it,” said Havener; “but I never dreamed of——”

“Nor did I!” cried the little soubrette. “Oh, how can we thank Frank!”

“I don’t know,” said Havener. “Words can’t seem to express what I want to say.”

“Same here!” chirped Cassie.

183“Don’t say anything,” laughed Frank.

“But how are we to get all the money to back the piece?” asked Havener.

“I’ll back it myself,” said Frank. “That is, I’ll do it if Chicago and New York does not break me. Of course, I may run against snags in those places. If I get broken, I believe you should be able to find an angel, Havener, in case I do not keep in the business.”

“It’s a shame that you are thinking of leaving just as you’re getting such a start!” cried Cassie.

“I want to get back to college,” said Frank. “I feel something drawing me back there. If I wait longer, my old classmates and chums will be gone. Of course I can go back and finish my course, but it will not be the same. I have made up my mind to return to Yale somehow in the fall.”

“Well,” said Cassie, “whatever you do, I wish you good fortune and happiness, for I am sure you deserve it.”

“Thank you. A man deserves what he wins. I have worked hard to win out, and prosperity seems coming my way at last.”

Havener and Cassie departed pretty soon, and Frank turned to find Bart seated on a chair, his elbows resting on his knees, and his face hidden in his hands.

CHAPTER XVI. BART AND DAISY.

The change from Hodge’s jubilation of a short time before to his present attitude and appearance of dejection was rather startling. Merry paused an instant, then stepped forward quickly, exclaiming:

“Bart!”

Hodge did not stir.

Frank’s hand fell gently on his shoulder.

“What’s the matter, old man?” asked Merry, softly.

“Nothing,” mumbled Hodge.

“Oh, but there is,” declared Frank. “You were feeling well enough a short time ago. What’s the meaning of this change?”

Hodge was silent.

“Look here, Bart,” said Merry, gently, “I’m your friend—I’m the one for you to talk to about this matter, old man.”

Bart looked up, now, but there was something like defiance in his face.

“There isn’t anything to talk about,” he asserted. “Can’t a fellow have the blues once in a while, if he wants ’em!”

“Nobody wants the blues, Hodge. A man in good health, with a liver that is not torpid, should not have the blues. Is there anything the matter with your liver?”

“Dunno.”

“There was a cause for the sudden change in you,” said Merry, seriously. “A little while ago you seemed in better spirits than you have shown before for a month. And now you are in the funks.”

185“Oh, don’t use that word!”

“What word?”

“Funk.”

“What’s the matter with that word?”

“It’s Yale slang.”

“What of that?”

Hodge sprang up and walked the floor.

“I don’t want to hear it!” he cried, fiercely. “I don’t want to hear anything that will remind me of Yale! Isn’t it bad enough for me to know you are going back there!”

“I’m afraid I do not quite understand you,” said Merry, slowly. “Why should you feel that way about it?”

“I am an outcast! You are going back to finish your course.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

“Are you jealous, Hodge?”

“No; I’m glad you’re going—I’m glad for you!”

“Then what is the matter? You seem to be completely off your trolley, old man. You’re getting freakish.”

“Oh, I suppose so! Rub it in! I had a letter from my mother yesterday. She said she was sorry to give me up, but I had been a terrible disappointment to her. She did hope I would get through college. She was sending me money to get through on, you know. I was a fool! I gambled her money away, and she sent it without letting my father know, for he would have stopped her had he known. Oh, isn’t there a reason why I should feel blue?”

“I think you are inclined to make things out worse than they are, Hodge.”

“Worse! worse! Ha! ha! How could they be any 186worse? Here my mother, who has clung to me all through everything, is giving up in despair! She thinks I have gone to the dogs.”

“And I suppose you do not write and tell her all the truth?”

“What’s the use?” said Bart, bitterly. “She knows I ran away from college. Do you fancy it would make her feel any better to know I did so because I could not meet the gambling debts I had contracted? In this case, it is better not to tell the truth.”

“I think I will write to your mother, Bart.”

“What for?”

“I have something to tell her.”

“What?”

“That you are going back to college in the fall.”

Hodge stopped and stared at Frank. After a few moments, he spoke:

“Why would you tell her such a thing as that?”

“It would make her feel better.”

“But you were speaking of telling the truth a moment ago.”

“And I should be telling the truth then.”

“What?”

“Nothing but the truth.”

“Look here, Merriwell, I want to know just what you are driving at! Come out and give it to me straight.”

“All right,” smiled Frank. “I mean that you are going back to college when I go. Is that plain enough?”

“It’s plain enough, but it’s you who are off your trolley.”

“Oh, I think not.”

“You are, just the same. I am done with Yale. How 187could I go back there, after skipping out as I did and leaving all those debts? It’s impossible.”

“You know your debts were paid. When Browning returned to college, he squared them all.”

“Without my knowledge, Merriwell. I refused to let you send the money, but you did it without letting me know a thing about it. I was the one to pay the debts I had contracted. You did that.”

“Something I’ll guarantee is known to no person but Browning.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I know it.”

“How?”

“He was bound by a pledge not to say I had anything to do with it, but to give the impression that the money came from you.”

Something misty came into the eyes of the dark-haired lad.

“Merriwell,” he said, huskily, “I’d be an ungrateful churl not to appreciate such kindness!”

“It’s all right, old man; it’s what I’d wish another to do for me were I in your place.”

“It’s exactly what you would not accept from another. I know that. You put me in this position without my consent. Now I owe you all that money.”

“Forget it!”

“That’s easy to say, but it’s not easy to do. Now you are going back to college, and what’s to become of me? I am left!”

“I tell you that you are going with me.”

“No; I have no love for any of your Yale friends. Of course I was sorry that I failed to finish my course and graduate. It’s too late now. I tell you my mother has 188given me up. That makes it impossible for me to return to college. She was paying my way. Now there is no one to furnish me with money, and I am as bad off as you were when you lost your fortune.”

“Bart, I’ve been thinking of something lately. You know all about our discovery of the lost fortune in the Utah Desert.”

“I know all about your discovery of it, and I know no other person had a hand in it.”

“But Browning, Diamond, Rattleton and Toots were with me. It has been divided equally among us. Shortly after the discovery of that treasure you joined our party. I have thought it all over, and it seems no more than fair that you should have a share of that fortune.”

“You’re going daffy!”

“Not a bit of it. I say it is right. The others have received their shares, but you shall have your share of mine. I will divide with you, and that will give you four thousand dollars. With that sum you can return to college and finish your course.”

Hodge laughed sarcastically.

“I’d like to know what you take me for!” he cried. “Are you trying to insult me, Frank?”

“You know better!”

“Do you imagine I’m a fool?”

“No.”

“Well, then, don’t ever make me such an offer again. You know what I think of those chaps who accepted the checks you sent them. You know I believe that treasure belonged entirely to you, and no other had a right to a dollar of it. Do you take me for a fellow who would accept from you a gift of four thousand dollars? Well, that’s what you propose to make me—nothing more, nothing 189less. It won’t go with me, Merriwell. I do not thank you for the offer, for you should have known better than to make it. Go back to Yale. I wish you good fortune—I wish you everything you desire. I will go my way in the world; you’ll go yours. It must come to that in time, anyhow. What odds if it comes sooner than we had anticipated! You have taken an interest in me, Frank, and your friendship is the pleasantest memory of my life; but even that must become a mere memory sometime.”

“There is no reason why it should become a mere memory while life shall last,” said Frank, soberly. “Though fate may divide us, still our friendship should remain firm and unshaken. As for your return to Yale, I’m not going to say anything more about it now, but I shall not give it up.”

While a rehearsal was taking place for the benefit of the supers that afternoon the local stage manager came to Frank and said:

“Mr. Merriwell, there is a young lady down at the door who wishes to see you.”

“A young lady?” exclaimed Merry, not without a feeling of consternation, for his recent experiences in St. Joseph were vivid in his memory.

“Yes, sir.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know her name.”

“But she belongs in this town?”

“Yes.”

“Methinks thou hast another mash, most noble grand high muck-a-muck,” spouted Douglas Dunton, in the eccentric manner he sometimes assumed.

“I’m afraid so,” admitted Merry.

“Perchance thou wouldst send me down to see the fair damsel—but I doubt it,” murmured Dunton.

190“No,” said Frank, “I think I had better go down myself.”

He went down to the door and found the girl who was waiting there. He was surprised to see her standing with her head bowed, in an attitude of apparent dejection and shame.

“Did you wish to see me, miss?” he asked.

She nodded her head, but did not look up, not a little to his perplexity and wonderment.

“I am here.”

“Mr. Merriwell,” she murmured, “I have come to thank you.”

“To thank me?” exclaimed Merry. “For what?”

“For your kindness to me in St. Joseph.”

Frank’s heart dropped.

“Good gracious!” he thought. “Has she followed us from St. Jo.?”

Then the girl looked up, and he recognized her.

“Daisy Blaney!” he exclaimed. “Why, I didn’t know you!”

No wonder he had not recognized the bold, saucy, reckless girl in this meek, abashed, low-spoken maiden.

“Yes, Daisy Blaney,” she said. “I thought perhaps you did not want to know me, and I did not wonder much.”

“Didn’t want to know you? Why not, Miss Blaney?”

“Oh, because—because—you know,” she faltered, in confusion. “I reckon I ain’t just the sort of girl you would be proud to introduce to your friends. You didn’t meet me under very favorable circumstances, and you must think I’m pretty far down the scale.”

“I hope not,” said Merry, quickly.

“Still, I know just what you think, and I don’t know 191that I blame you much. You are different from any show feller I ever met before. I never fancied any of them cared a snap what became of a girl if they could have a good time. None of them ever gave me any good advice before. I never saw one before you who was not ready to catch on and have a racket. Instead of catching on, you gave me a calling down. I knew I deserved it, and it made me feel all the more reckless. I thought I was too far on the road to turn back, and I tried to forget what you said to me; but I couldn’t forget it, and it kept sounding in my ears all the time. I couldn’t run away from the sound; I couldn’t drown it with music and laughter. I saw you looking at me in that sympathizing, pitying way, and, though I tried to laugh at you for a fool, your eyes haunted me. Oh, I tell you I was right miserable after that talk with you. You set me to thinking of mother and home.”

“Mother and home!” said Frank, softly. “The two strongest influences for good. How many a wayward wanderer has been reclaimed by thoughts of mother and home!”

“If mother had had her way at home I’d never left,” the girl went on. “It was the old man—father, I mean. He drove me away. He didn’t seem to understand me at all. If I made a little mistake, he was so harsh and cruel with me. Why,” she exclaimed, suddenly relapsing into slang under the pressure of excitement, “the old duffer uster be a pretty gay boy himself, and there wasn’t any reason why his daughter shouldn’t take after him. All the same, he never thought of that, but he was dead hard on me.”

Frank knew this was the fault of many fathers. They forgot their own younger days and were harsh and hard with their sons or daughters who showed they had inherited certain lively qualities from their parents.

192“But your mother—for her sake, you must overlook anything from your father.”

“Yes, I suppose I ought, but it’s pretty hard sometimes. He’s tried to be so strict with me it’s driven me to do some of the things I have done.”

“That is where you are making your mistake. I do not wish to lecture you now, Miss Blaney, and I am going to say no more about it. I am glad I was able to find you that night in St. Jo.”

Her eyes began to shine and something like a flush came to her cheeks, which, with satisfaction, Merry observed were now unmarred by paint.

“You were brave, Frank Merriwell!” she cried; “just as you seemed to be in the play—just as I knew you were! Those men did not frighten you in the least. You fought the whole crowd like a tiger. But I thought you would be killed till that woman interfered. Who was she?”

“A stranger—a woman I had never seen but once before in my life. Then she was in a plot to blackmail me. The plot failed, and she was ready to turn against her accomplices. What do you know of her?”

“Nothing, save that she is known in the sporting circles of St. Jo. as Queen Mab, and she is something of a mystery. There’s not a gay girl in the city who would not give anything to be like Queen Mab.”

“I am sure the woman is not all bad. It was rare good fortune that brought your mother along there just as we escaped from the place.”

“One reason why I came here was to thank you,” said the girl; “but there is another reason.”

“Yes?”

“Yes; I want to warn you.”

“To warn me?”

193“You have had some trouble with Sam Hooker.”

“I have.”

“Everybody in town has heard of it. Sam is in disgrace, but he has sworn a great oath that he’ll disgrace you worse than you did him.”

“Oh, he has?”

“Yes, I heard it from his brother Joe. You know Joe kind of—kind of—— Well, he calls at our house.”

The girl’s confusion explained her meaning. The red blood mounted to her face now, and Frank saw she was ashamed of Joe Hooker when she compared him with some of the flashy city youths she had met.

“He told you?” questioned Merriwell.

“Yes; I pumped it all out of him. He doesn’t know I ever met you in all my life. I slipped in here on the sly, so they would not catch on that I had warned you.”

“It was kind of you.”

“No; it won’t half pay back what you did for me—the risk you ran. I was thinking of that.”

To Frank it seemed a case of “bread on the waters.” But he had not learned what plot had been formed against him, and his curiosity was aroused.

“Joe says Sam is just furious,” the girl went on. “He is fierce enough to kill you. He would kill you, if he dared. He loaded up his guns and swore a mighty oath to make you regret the day you were born.”

“There is considerable wind about Sam Hooker,” said Frank; “but still he might be driven to something desperate.”

“You know he’s been a cowboy?”

“Well, he says so.”

“He really has, and he can throw a lasso.”

“What of that?”

194“He’s coming to the show to-night.”

“What then?”

“He says he’s going to bring his lasso.”

“Why?”

“And he swears he will rope you from the stage.”

“Is that it?” cried Merry. “So that is what he means to do?”

“Yes. He says he’ll drag you over the footlights and clean out of the theater.”

“Well, this is rather interesting!” exclaimed Frank; “and I am greatly obliged to you for telling me about it.”

“What will you do?”

“I shall be prepared for Mr. Hooker, be sure of that. But you must take care not to let him know you have told me.”

“Little danger of that. I wouldn’t dare. Joe invited me to come to the theater with him to see Sam square the score. I shall be here, and I do hope you will look out.”

“Don’t worry at all about that, Miss Blaney. Now that I know what is coming, there is not the least danger in the world that I shall not be ready.”

“I am glad I was able to warn you, Mr. Merriwell.”

“It may prove a most fortunate thing for me. I thank you, Miss Blaney. I shall not forget your kindness.”

He held out his hand, and she grasped it eagerly, looking up into his face.

“Oh, Mr. Merriwell!” she exclaimed; “I hope you’ll not think of me as so very bad! I hope you won’t remember me that way!”

“No,” he said, looking straight into her eyes; “I shall not think of you that way, Miss Blaney. I shall think of you as the joy of your mother in her old age. I shall think of you as loving and soothing her in her declining years. I hope I shall not be mistaken in my thoughts.”

195“You shall not!” she said, earnestly; “I promise you that, Frank Merriwell! I will be a better girl in the future. It will help me to be better knowing you remember me that way. Good-by.”

She turned hurriedly and was gone.

CHAPTER XVII. PLAIN WORDS.

The entire company seemed in high spirits that night as the time approached for the curtain to rise on the opening scene of the first act.

People were pouring into the theater. Every seat had been sold, and the sign “S. R. O.” was displayed at the box office.

“Methinks this settles it,” spouted Douglas Dunton, behind the curtain. “Prosperity has struck us hard, and we are winners from the word ‘go.’ Oh, this whole company is hot stuff!”

The orchestra began to play, and Frank, made up for his first appearance, came to the peephole and looked out at the audience.

Every seat in the Wilcoxson Opera House was filled. The rear of the theater was packed with those who had paid admission for the privilege of standing.

“By gum! it’s a sight fer sore eyes!” exclaimed Ephraim Gallup, close to Frank. “Don’t yeou think so?”

Frank did not reply, for he was searching the faces of those in the rows near the stage, looking for Sam Hooker.

“There he is!”

Merry muttered the words as his eyes rested on the ruffian.

Sam had secured a seat where he could easily accomplish his purpose, as he fancied. There was a look of fierce determination on his countenance.

197After looking at the fellow some moments, Merry said:

“He’ll try it!”

“What the dickens are yeou talkin’ abaout, Frank?” asked Gallup.

Merriwell straightened up.

“Ephraim,” he said, “go find Mr. Garland and bring him to me.”

“All right.”

The Vermonter hurried away, soon returning with Granville Garland.

“Great fortune, Mr. Merriwell!” exclaimed Garland. “That’s the sort of a house that pays. It strikes me we are forging to the front with great strides.”

“Mr. Garland,” said Frank, “have you the revolver you draw on me in the first act?”

“Yes.”

“Let me take it.”

Garland, wondering a little, passed the weapon to Merry.

Immediately Frank took some cartridges from his pocket, snapped the weapon open, and——

“What are you doing?” exclaimed Garland, in perplexity. “The revolver was loaded, Mr. Merriwell.”

“With blanks.”

“Of course.”

“I am loading it with another kind of cartridge,” said Frank, as he refilled the cylinder.

“Not with regular cartridges?”

“Yes.”

“Why—why, I don’t understand why you are doing that.”

“I suppose not,” admitted Frank, as he finished loading 198and snapped the weapon back into shape. “I didn’t think you would understand.”

“A weapon that is loaded with anything but blank cartridges is not a very safe thing to squabble over.”

“That is true, and, for that reason, we must be very careful in our squabble over it to-night, Mr. Garland.”

“Really, I—I don’t like this. What if something happened!”

“Something is liable to happen. That is why I have loaded this weapon. If I should call for it suddenly, you are to pass it to me; but I do not think I shall need it till after the struggle takes place. It will be in my possession from that time on.”

“Won’t you explain, Mr. Merriwell?”

“No. It is sufficient that I have a reason for wishing this revolver loaded with something besides blanks. Here, take it, Garland, and be careful with it. When you pull it on me, point it in the air and begin to pull down with it. I will spring forward and grasp it before it covers me. Keep your finger off the trigger. Do not hang to it quite as tight as usual in the struggle.”

“All right,” said Garland, in a puzzled way; “but I’d give something to know what is going on.”

Ephraim Gallup was as much puzzled as Garland, but he asked no questions, for he knew there were times when it was utterly useless to question Merry.

The story of Merriwell’s strange act passed from mouth to mouth, and the actors and actresses were puzzled and bewildered over it. Agnes Kirk even declared that she believed success had turned Frank’s brain.

“He was always queer,” she asserted. “A fellow who will stoop to feed and pet a tramp cat and then carry it around as a mascot is not right. But I call on everybody 199to notice that we have become prosperous since he let that cat go.”

“Oh, I hardly think that,” said Stella Stanley. “He did not let the cat go till after this piece had made a hit. Then he said he could not carry the creature around, and he would prove she had nothing to do with the success or failure of the show by letting her go. He seemed to knock the wind out of your superstitious prophecies, Agnes.”

“Not at all,” declared the other actress, stiffly. “I said the cat would hoodoo us in the first place, and it did, no matter what happened afterward.”

“Oh, it’s no use to talk with you.”

“Not a bit.”

Stella Stanley turned away, laughing. She saw Hodge, standing at a distance, regarding her steadfastly.

Since the affair in Atchison, when Bart deserted the company, the dark-faced youth had scarcely spoken to Stella. After being brought back by Frank, he seemed to take the utmost pains to avoid her.

Now, as she started toward him, he wheeled about and disappeared behind the back drop.

“I’d like to know what ails him!” she exclaimed, somewhat angrily. “He shan’t keep up this running away from me!”

Then she followed Hodge and ran him down back where the shadows were thickest. She grasped him with both hands.

“Look here, Bart Hodge!” she exclaimed; “do you think I’m going to eat you up? or what ails you? You run away from me as if you regarded me as a snake!”

Hodge stood there, silent, looking at her. She gave him a shake.

200“Stop it!” she cried. “I’m tired of it! I don’t like it! I won’t have it! Will you be good enough, Mr. Bart Hodge, to treat me differently?”

“I don’t know,” he said, obstinately. “Why should I?”

“Why shouldn’t you?”

“There is every reason why I shouldn’t.”

“Name a few of them.”

“To begin with, you regard me as a mere boy—a stripling who does not know his own mind. You insulted me when I told you of my admiration for you. You laughed at me. You might as well have said ‘calf love.’ I won’t stand for that kind of treatment from you or any other woman!”

She did not laugh at him now, for he was beginning to realize that he could not be treated like a boy. She could not flatter and flirt with him as she did with Billy Wynne. His admiration for her was not of the sort to endure that kind of cajolery.

“Mr. Hodge,” she said, “if I did anything to offend you, if I was offensive, I beg your pardon.”

“Yes, you beg my pardon, but you will go on regarding me as an addle-pated boy. If I dared open my lips to honestly tell you of my admiration, you would laugh at me! Oh, I know! You are like them all—only handsomer and colder!”

“You have a fancy that you have read me, Bart Hodge, but let me tell you that you are a very poor judge of human nature. You seldom read anybody aright.”

“It’s not such a difficult thing to read a woman,” he sneered. “They are all alike in one respect—they are as treacherous and fickle as cats! They think they love. They enjoy being petted and caressed. They purr and show all sorts of affection, but they are shallow. No more than a cat do they know true affection! As ready as 201a cat are they to sink their claws into the hand that caresses them! And when their master is gone, like a cat, they seek petting and fondling from another. They cannot be constant till the master returns; they cannot be true to death and after—like a faithful dog!”

Stella Stanley was rather high-spirited, and it made her “hot” to hear anybody talk in such a manner.

“You are trying your best to insult me now,” she said, “and you are succeeding very well! I’d like to tell you what I think of men like you, but I haven’t the time, and I don’t choose to waste my breath on you now. In some respects, I admire you; in others, I despise you. You are like all men, thoroughly unjust toward women. Other men may hide their thoughts, but you speak out; that is the difference. Men talk of the fickleness of women, but experience shows that women are far more constant than men. Once a woman loves a man truly, with all her heart and soul, she never loves another like that. She gives that man all that is best of her. What does she receive in return? If he provides her a home, clothes, food, he thinks he is doing his full duty. Don’t talk to me of the fickleness of women!” she hissed. “Don’t ever dare speak to me again like this, Bart Hodge! Sometimes I think I admire you, but when you show yourself as you have just now, I despise you!”

With that she left him; but she did not despise him, for all of her words.

And Bart? He was trembling all over.

“By Heaven!” he hoarsely whispered. “I could love her, but I won’t!”

CHAPTER XVIII. AN ASTONISHING SHOT.

The overture was finished, and the orchestra played a “riser” for the curtain to go up.

“True Blue” began.

It was an audience to make any actor do his best. Gallup in the part of Reuben Grass soon put the audience in a good humor. He strolled onto the stage in his jay make-up, singing the song with which he had made such a hit in Merriwell’s first play:

The audience received him with a burst of applause, and Ephraim responded by getting off several country gags that delighted everybody.

No, not everybody. Down near the front sat a man who scowled and glowered at the stage. It was Sam Hooker, and he was there to make trouble. He was handling something which Gallup could not see. Ephraim paused and winked at the ruffian in a most tantalizing manner.

The audience was waiting for the appearance of the star. The whole town had heard of the manner in which Frank had treated the terror of the place, and everybody seemed anxious for a look at the boyish actor who had dared face the ruffian.

Granville Garland, as Carius Dubad, came on and 203carried things with a high hand, everything leading up to an effective enter for Merriwell.

Dubad was terrorizing Grass when the moment came for Merry to make his appearance. As he entered there was a great burst of applause and a voice from the gallery cried:

“That’s him! That’s Frank Merriwell hisself, and he’s a lollypalooser!”

Then about fifty boys jumped up in the gallery and yelled like a lot of wild Indians.

Immediately after his enter, Frank’s lines caused him to threaten to fling the villain of the piece out of the house, whereupon the villain drew a revolver.

This was the weapon Frank had loaded with bullet-bearing cartridges. Merry sprang on Garland and wrested the revolver from his hand, while Ephraim looked on in apparent terror.

While this brief struggle was taking place, Sam Hooker rose to his feet, roaring:

“Whoop! He’s a purty lively maverick, but I’m ther puncher ter put my brand on him. First I’ll rope him, same as I would a steer. Hyar goes!”

Round and round his head he swung a lariat, and then he quickly made the throw.

The man’s words had warned Merry that the time for action had come. With the loaded revolver in his hand, he sprang back from Garland.

The noose of the lasso came shooting through the air.

Quick as thought, Frank lifted the revolver and fired a single shot. The bullet cut the rope, and the noose fell harmlessly at the feet of the young actor!

It was over in the twinkling of an eye, and the ruffianly cowboy stood there with the useless end of the cut rope in his hands, dazed and bewildered by what had happened.

204The audience was startled, and Frank saw that the people must be calmed at once, so he immediately stepped to the footlights and began to speak:

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “there is no real cause for alarm. Please keep your seats. The attempt of this ruffian with the rope to break up the performance has proved a failure. This is his third attack to-day upon me. I fancied I had taught him a lesson, but he does not seem to have sense enough to know it. Now, if there is an officer present, I wish he would remove the man from the house. The performance will then go on.”

“Waal, dern my eyes!” muttered Sam Hooker, having drawn in the rope and examined the severed end. “Ther critter shot it in two with a bullet!”

“Is there an officer present?” asked Frank, from the stage.

“You needn’t call fer an officer,” said Sam Hooker. “I’ll go right out without no trouble. You say I ain’t got sense enough ter know when I’m beat. Mebbe not, but I’ve got sense enough ter know you froze me out on this yar game without half tryin’.”

Then the dejected ruffian turned and made for the door, hissed on every hand by the angry audience.

When Hooker had disappeared, the performance continued as if nothing had happened.

There was not a little excitement among the actors. They bombarded Merriwell with questions at the end of the act. They wanted to know how it happened that he had been aware of Hooker’s intention. On this point he did not enlighten them, but he assured them he had been prepared for any move the ruffian had contemplated.

The time between the acts gave the audience a chance to buzz about the remarkable thing that had happened. Some could not believe it possible Frank had cut the rope 205with a bullet. Not a few insisted that it was impossible, because actors never used weapons loaded with bullets on the stage.

But all had witnessed what had happened, and it was plain the star had defeated Sam Hooker’s purpose in some manner.

There was no further attempt to interrupt the performance, although some timid ones expected Hooker to return with a gang of roughs and create disturbance.

The performance was over at last, and Frank breathed easy. Although he had been on his guard for anything that might happen, he could not help feeling relieved when the curtain fell on the last act without witnessing another effort to break him up or molest him.

“Waal, by gum!” said Ephraim Gallup, as he met Frank behind the curtain, “yeou’ve made a new record ter-night. If yeou don’t use that fer advertising in ther Chicago papers, yeou are dead slow.”

“Use what?”

“Shootin’ that rope in tew. It’d be a great story for yeour press agint. Yeou oughter git it sworn to by reliable parties who saw it, an’ telegraph it to yeour agint right off.”

“Well, I haven’t thought of that. I’m afraid it would seem too much like a fake to be swallowed by the people who read the theatrical columns in the papers.”

“Not by a darn sight! Yeou kin git it sworn tew.”

“Well, I think we can draw houses in Chicago without the use of that yarn. It may be all right, but I don’t fancy we need it.”

“Say, Frank!”

“What?”

“Let me ’tend to that.”

“What do you mean?”

206“Let me git reliable persons to swear ter whut they saw.”

“Oh, if you want to——”

“An’ let me telegraph it to Riddle.”

“I don’t care.”

“All right!” exclaimed Ephraim. “I bet yeou four dollars I git aout a yarn that packs your theatur in Chicago.”

He made a run for his dressing room to get off his stage dress and make-up, eager to carry out his plan.

Hodge was in the sulks and would have nothing to say to anybody. As soon as possible he left the theater and went to the hotel.

Ephraim, hot to get reliable citizens of Carrolton to swear to the remarkable happening of that night, had also left.

Those who were not required to remain behind and handle scenery did not lose much time in getting their make-up off and their effects together, after which they departed for the hotel.

Frank lingered to watch the packing of the special scenery. He was not supposed to do this, but his anxiety that everything should be done right led him to do so.

When the last of it was nearly packed, Frank put on his light coat and left the theater by the side door.

He had not gone twenty steps from the door before he fancied he heard a light step behind him.

Instantly Frank whirled about.

Too late!

Something settled over his head and entangled him in muffling folds. At the same moment he received a blow that knocked him down.

Although thus attacked from behind and taken by surprise, Frank made a desperate fight.

He realized he had been set upon by several assailants, 207and they were trying to beat him into nonresistance. For a time the blanket protected him from the force of their blows, but it smothered him, and he grew weaker and weaker. He did not give up, however, as long as he had the least strength left to resist.

At last he was beaten into a state of helplessness, and then, still enfolded by the smothering blanket, he was hurriedly lifted and carried away by strong hands.

When Merry came to himself he found himself in a small room that was poorly lighted by a single kerosene lamp.

Five men were in that room, all wearing masks that completely hid their faces.

In a stove a fire was burning, while on the stove sat a big pan, which contained some substance that gave out a peculiar odor.

The odor that came to Merry’s nostrils was that of tar.

The men seemed waiting for him to recover.

“He’s comin’ round,” said one.

Another of the masked gang uttered an exclamation of satisfaction.

“I’m glad the critter ain’t hurt much,” he said, in a voice which Frank instantly recognized. “I didn’t want ter crack his head, fer that ’ud spoil ther fun we’re goin’ ter have with him.”

“He won’t make much spread on the stage for a long time after we get through with him,” said the first speaker.

“Not onless he does so as a curiosity,” chuckled the other, hoarsely.

Then this one stepped up to Merry and kicked him in the ribs.

“Come, my pritty dude actor,” he said, roughly. “We’re goin’ ter give ye a new suit o’ clothes.”

At this the other masked ruffians laughed.

208“Thank you, Sam Hooker,” said Frank, quite coolly. “You are becoming exceedingly generous.”

“Who ye callin’ Sam Hooker?”

“You.”

“Waal, yer needn’t.”

“That is your name. You can’t fool me, even if your face is hidden. I know you. I know your voice.”

“Waal, what ther blazes do I care!” cried the man, stripping the mask from his face and casting it aside. “I want yer ter know me! I want yer ter know I’m gittin’ even with yer. I am Sam Hooker.”

“You would look better if you kept on the mask,” said Merry. “Anything to hide that villainous face of yours.”

“Drat ye! Do you dast talk ter me like that now!”

Again Hooker kicked Merry in the ribs.

“It’s a good time for you to do that!” exclaimed Frank, scornfully. “You wouldn’t dare if my hands were free! You are a coward—a miserable coward!”

“Hold yer tongue!”

“Oh, you can’t keep that still, unless you gag me.”

“Can’t? Waal, you may git another rap on ther head that’ll keep it still!”

“It is a wonder to me that a ruffian of your stamp has hesitated at murder. Go ahead with your dirty work!”

“Oh, we ain’t goin’ ter kill ye! Not much! We’ve got somethin’ better fer ye! We’ve got somethin’ you’ll like—I don’t think!”

“That’s right,” laughed one of the others. “It’ll keep ye good an’ warm, an’ you’ll be a pretty picture.”

“So both Hookers are in this little business. Joe, if you follow in the tracks of your brother, I’ll guarantee you will land in prison. He’ll be there within a year.”

Joe Hooker followed his brother’s example and tore off his mask.

“I want ye ter know I’m in this business, too!” he 209snarled. “If ye swear to it afterward, your word’s no better’n ourn, and we’ll swear you lie.”

“Now,” said Merry, “if the rest of the fine gentlemen will kindly uncover, we’ll be able to talk this matter over face to face.”

But the remaining three ruffians declined to show their faces.

“They jest come erlong to see ther fun,” said the cowboy. “We’re goin’ ter do ther business. Eh, Joe?”

“You bet!”

“What is your game?”

“Oh, ye’re anxious ter know! You’ll find out soon enough. Is ther tar hot, Joe?”

“Well, I reckon it’s hot enough for our requirements.”

“Then we’d better prepare the gent for his new suit o’ clothes. Bring in ther feathers.”

Now Frank understood the foul purpose of the gang, and his rage knew no bounds. However, he realized it would be useless to give vent to his anger, and he held himself in check.

“Tar and feathers, eh?” he said, apparently quite cool, for all of the seething fury in his heart.

“Ye’ve struck it,” chuckled Sam Hooker, as Joe hurriedly left the room. “You’ve made me ther laughin’-stock o’ ther town, an’ now I’m goin’ ter disgrace you.”

Joe returned with an old pillow, which he quickly ripped open, crying:

“There are yer feathers, Sam.”

“Now,” said the cowboy, “we’ll ondress ther gent.”

“Wait a minute,” said Frank. “I have a few words to say to you before you begin your dirty work.”

“Speak lively, fer we ain’t got no time ter waste. All the same, ye may as well spare yer breath, fer nothin’ you kin say will make any difference.”

“I do not expect it will, but I wish to make you a little 210promise, Mr. Hooker. It is this: If you adorn me with a coat of tar and feathers, I promise you that I will make you regret the day you ever saw me. I promise you I will make you weary of life! I will not rest in carrying out my promise. I will hound you down, and I’ll make you such an object of scorn and contempt that you will long for death! I swear it!”

This vow had no effect on the men.

“Go ahead!” cried Sam Hooker. “You’ve made me ther laughin’ stock o’ Carrolton now, an’ I’m bound ter git even with yer! Now, we’ll strip him, Joe.”

“Stop!”

Through the door bounded a girl. With all her strength she pushed Sam Hooker aside. Over Frank Merriwell she stood, with a hardwood baseball bat raised aloft.

“I’ll brain the first man who touches him!” she almost screamed.

It was Daisy Blaney!

CHAPTER XIX. AN UNEQUAL BATTLE.

“Daisy!” exclaimed Joe Hooker.

His brother gave vent to an exclamation of rage.

“Back!” cried the girl. “You shall not harm him!”

Joe took a step forward, but she glared at him and seemed ready to strike with all her strength.

“I’ll hit you, Joe Hooker, just as quick as anybody else!” she declared. “And I reckon I can lay you out with this bat!”

“Daisy, you don’t mean it!”

“Yes, I do!”

“But—but——”

“You shan’t touch him, I tell ye!” she screamed. “He was my friend. He talked to me better than anybody ever did before. I won’t see him hurt.”

A greenish light came into Joe Hooker’s eyes.

“Are you in love with him?” he sneered. “Are you struck on him, Daisy?”

“If I was,” she answered, defiantly, “I’d be struck on a man!”

“By blazes! I believe ye are!”

“I won’t see you do your mean work!” she panted. “You were to blame in the first place, and you know it! He met you like a man, and, because he was your master, now you have plotted to disgrace him this way. Shame!”

“You’re a fool, Daisy!” hissed Joe Hooker.

“I’ve been a fool to have anything to do with you!” she flung back. “I am done. From this night I’ll never speak to you again!”

“Oh, ye won’t!”

212“No! I have seen the difference between a real man and a common fellow who swaggers and blusters. Frank Merriwell is a man.”

“Now I wouldn’t let him off to save my life!” snarled Joe, all the jealousy of his nature aroused. “You are struck on him! He shall have a double coat!”

“Never!”

“Oh, but he shall! What can you do?”

“I can fight to protect him.”

“Little good that will do! You are nothing but a girl, and we are five men.”

“No, you are not men! You are cowards—all of you!”

Frank admired the girl then. He strained at his bonds trying to free his hands, but in vain.

“Jump her, Joe!” snarled Sam Hooker. “She won’t hit you.”

“I will!” she cried—“I swear I will! Don’t try to put a hand on me, Joe Hooker! If you do, I’ll stretch you on the floor!”

Of a sudden Joe attempted another tack.

“Oh, come, Daisy,” he said, coaxingly, “don’t be foolish! You can’t save him! Put down that bat and we will talk it over.”

“Not on your life! I know what you want and you don’t get it that way! Frank Merriwell has been good to me, and I will fight for him as long as I can draw a breath!”

“Look out!” exclaimed Merry, suddenly.

“One of the other men—behind you!”

It was too late, for one of the masked men had edged along till he found a favorable opportunity to spring. Now he made a leap at the girl, grasping the bat.

She screamed and struggled, but it was useless then. They seized her, tore the bat from her hands, held her helpless, even though she bit and scratched.

213“Take the cat out of here, Joe!” roared Sam Hooker. “Be lively about it! Get her away, and keep her away!”

Joe Hooker lifted the girl in his arms and carried her from the room, for all of her screams and struggles. He was not gone long before he returned, slamming the door and fastening it. He was panting, but seemed more vicious than ever.

“What did ye do with her?” asked Sam.

“She broke away from me,” answered Joe. “Hurry up with the job! I want to put the tar on myself! Oh, I’ll fix him! She called him a man! She is struck on him!”

He glared at Frank, who was now sitting with his back against the wall, having drawn himself into that position.

“We’d better be lively if that girl is free,” said Sam, nervously. “There is no telling what she may do.”

They advanced on Frank, but stopped in surprise, as he suddenly shot up to standing position, with his back against the wall. There was a look in the eyes of the captive that warned them he was not in a submissive mood.

“Grab him, fellers!” ordered Joe Hooker. “Strip his clothes off! We’ll have the tar and feathers onto him in less than five minutes! We’ll fix him!”

He sprang at Frank, but out shot one of Merry’s feet, striking Joe in the stomach and hurling him backward with terrific force. The fellow dropped to the floor, where he lay gasping, grunting and groaning, apparently badly hurt.

Sam Hooker gave a howl of rage when he saw what had happened to his brother. He had fancied Merriwell was beyond making further resistance, but now he saw his mistake. However, the fate that had befallen Joe did not render him cautious. Uttering fierce language, he rushed at Merry.

In France Frank Merriwell had learned to “box with 214his feet,” having taken lessons from a Frenchman who was an expert in the art. Frank had realized the value of being able to use his feet scientifically in a rough-and-tumble fight, and now his acquirement stood him in good stead.

Joe Hooker had been kicked in the stomach, but his brother received a kick under the chin that fairly lifted him off the floor.

Sam went down with a crash.

The masked ruffians were astounded. They stared at Frank as if unable to believe a youth whose hands were tied behind his back had upset the terrible Hooker brothers so quickly and easily.

“Go—for—him!” groaned Joe, catching his breath in gasps. “Kill him! Smash him!”

Frank Merriwell laughed! It was the old-time ringing laugh of defiance.

“Come on!” he invited. “My hands are helpless, but I fancy I am a match for all of you, so long as I can see. Come on!”

The masked ruffians hesitated.

“Make a dive for him all at once!” cried one of them. “Ready!”

“Ready!” said the others.

“Now!”

At him they leaped.

They had expected that he would stand still, but he did nothing of the kind. He ducked and darted between them. Then he whirled and raised one of them into the air with a terrible kick.

Clinging to his jaw and snarling like a furious animal, Sam Hooker struggled to his feet, meaning to take part in the struggle.

Frank saw the fellow getting up.

215“I’d rather have a good lift at you than anybody else!” cried Merry.

He got what he wanted. The kick he gave Sam Hooker threw the fellow full upon the stove, and his head struck in the pan of hot tar. Over the stove to the floor went Sam, tar and all.

Then the most frightful howls of pain issued from the throat of the ruffian. He rolled about on the floor, clawing at his face and eyes, and roaring with pain.

“I’m killed!” he shouted. “Murder! Oh, wow! Throw some water on me!”

“He wouldn’t mind having the hose turned on him now!” laughed Frank.

Joe tried to get up, but he was kicked full against his brother. In his agony, Sam struck out and smote Joe full on the nose, causing the blood to flow.

“Why, this is a regular merry old spree of a time!” exclaimed Frank Merriwell, as he danced backward, still laughing. “You chaps seem to be having lots of fun with me! Aren’t you glad you brought me here? Isn’t it a real jolly time?”

Then he actually charged on the masked rascals, and they dodged to get out of his way. Then might have been seen the remarkable and ludicrous spectacle of three men making frantic endeavors to avoid one whose hands were tied behind his back—one whom a few moments before they had regarded as a helpless captive!

“Whar’s my guns?” roared Sam Hooker. “I’ll shoot ther critter full o’ lead! I’ll kill him! I’ll——”

“You seem to have a little tar on you, Sammy,” laughed Frank. “Why, you make a real laughable spectacle! If you could see yourself in a mirror you would be greatly amused. It will take you several days to comb the tar out of your hair.”

“I’ll kill you!”

216“I heard you say so before. You were going to tar and feather me, but your scheme seems to have miscarried. You’ve got the first dose of tar yourself.”

“Where’s that baseball bat?” howled Joe Hooker. “I’ll beat his brains out! Give me that bat!”

He saw it and made a scramble for it, but Frank headed him off and bowled him over, although Joe made a desperate attempt to get hold of Merry.

Sam Hooker had not found his “guns,” but he was on his feet now, and in his hand glittered a long knife.

“Oh, I’ll fix him now!” he snarled.

“Hold on!” cried one of the masked men. “That is going too far! We don’t want a hand in a murder!”

“You go to blazes!” snarled Sam. “I’ll cut his throat!”

He made a rush for Frank, brandishing the knife.

Merry knew his life was in danger, but that did not rob him of his nerve. He actually laughed again.

“Brave fellow!” he cried. “It is what I expected of you!”

Then came a startling cry from one of the masked men:

“Fire! fire! The house is on fire!”

In the excitement of the struggle none of them had noticed it, but now they saw the room was filling with smoke. And they paused, they could hear the crackle of the flames.

“Where is the fire?”

One of the men leaped to the door and tore it open. Then they saw the gleam of the flames, and, for a moment, they were appalled.

“The old house is all afire!” shouted the man at the door. “We must get out in a hurry if we want to get out at all!”

Then there was a rush for the door.

217Sam Hooker was the last of the gang to reach the door. He turned a moment, and his tar-bedaubed face made him look like a fiend.

“Stay here and roast to death, Frank Merriwell!” he snarled.

Frank bounded toward the door, but it closed with a slam, and he recoiled helplessly from the shock of striking against it. Again and again he flung himself against that door, but it refused to yield, and he realized that he was a helpless prisoner in the burning building, abandoned to his doom by those dastardly ruffians.

There was another door, and Frank tried that, but it was as solid as the first.

He looked for windows, but the only one he could see was in the roof, far above his head.

“Cooped up!” he muttered. “Done for! Left to roast!”

It was a terrible position. He could hear the crackling of the flames as they gained headway, and the smoke came pouring into the room so thickly that it threatened to strangle him. He coughed and choked and hurled himself again and again against the doors, till he was weak and battered and hopeless.

“Somebody must see this fire,” he muttered; “but they will get here too late to save me! The jig is up!”

He was in despair.

Then came a sound at one of the doors! Then it was flung open, and a coughing, strangling girl staggered into the room.

“Daisy Blaney!” he shouted, joyously.

“Come!” she gasped. “Hurry! If you don’t, we’ll not get out of here! The old building will be all afire in five minutes!”

He followed her. The light of the flames showed her seeming to plunge into the thickest of the yellow, rolling 218smoke. He reached some stairs and fell clean to the bottom. There she got hold of him and dragged him out into the open air.

Both were coughing, but, as she worked to set his hands free, she said:

“I had to do it! It was the only way I could save you.”

“Had to do what?” he asked.

“Set the fire.”

“Did you do that?”

“Yes.”

“Daisy, you are all right! It was the best job you ever did!”

“We must hurry!” she panted. “The fire will be seen! We do not want to be found here! Men will come and ask questions.”

His hands were free, and he rose quickly. She sprang up.

“This way,” she whispered, and he ran after her, as she darted round the building, from the upper windows of which there now came a reddish glare.

“I know how to get away from here,” she said. “This old building is on the outskirts of the town.”

He trusted everything to her, and they ran on through the darkness, cutting across lots till they reached a distant street.

Then they heard the cry of fire from another direction, and they knew the first alarm had been given.

A few moments later the fire alarm sounded.

They were fortunate in escaping observation till the home of Daisy was reached.

“I’ll not forget what you have done for me to-night, Miss Blaney,” declared Frank. “You saved my life!”

“You did quite as much for me,” she asserted. “I 219believe you saved me from a life of wretchedness. You made me understand just where I was drifting.”

“You are a brave little girl! I shall remember how bravely you stood up before those ruffians.”

“But they were too many for me. I could not fight them all.”

“How did you know they had me in that old building?”

“I knew something was happening. Joe would not tell me what, but I knew they were going to do something. I followed him after he left me to-night. I did not go into the house, though he thought I did. I saw them take you there. Then was when I made my mistake. I should have hurried to your friends and told them what happened, instead of trying to save you myself.”

“Well, it has turned out all right. They will think I perished in the burning building.”

She shuddered.

“Oh, the wretches!” she exclaimed. “To leave you there to be burned to death! I’ll never have anything to do with Joe Hooker again—never as long as I live!”

“He is not in your class, Miss Blaney. In the morning both Joe and Sam will be arrested on a warrant I shall swear out. They will not be expecting it. It will be a great surprise for them.”

“I don’t care,” said the girl. “I hope you will make them suffer for their dreadful acts. I shall not pity them one bit.”

“I shall give them the full benefit of the law.”

“But you must go on with your show. I shall not see you again.”

“You will be a witness against the Hookers?”

“If you want me.”

“I do.”

220“Then you may depend on me. I’d do anything for you, Frank Merriwell!”

He pressed her hand in parting, bade her good-night and hurried toward the hotel.

At the hotel door, they met Gallup and Hodge, who were coming out.

“Hello!” exclaimed Bart. “Where have you been?”

“We was jest goin’ to the fire,” said Ephraim.

“I have been to it,” said Merry, quietly.

“Is it worth going to see?” asked Bart.

“I hardly think so. It is an old building on the outskirts of the town. It is not tenanted.”

“Not tenanted. Then how did it catch afire?”

“I am inclined to think somebody must have set it.”

Later, in his room, he told them of the thrilling adventure through which he had passed.

“What are you going to do, Frank?” panted Bart, fiercely. “What are you going to do to the Hookers?”

“Give them the full benefit of the law,” was the answer.

“They ought to be lynched!”

“That’s so, by gosh!” spluttered Ephraim. “They’re wuss’n I thought they was! If ever any critters oughter be lynched, them is the ones!”

“The sheriff will wait on them in the morning,” said Merry. “He will serve them with a great surprise, for they think I am burning in that old building.”

In the morning, however, neither of the Hooker brothers could be found in Carrolton. Whether they had learned of Merriwell’s escape or not, they had taken the alarm and fled from the town.

Frank made known the story of their atrocity, and the anger of the honest citizens of the place was great. They assured Merry that neither of the brothers would be tolerated in Carrolton again if they reappeared there.

221Had not Frank felt that any neglect of his present duties would seriously endanger the success he now seemed on the highroad to achieve he would have abandoned everything in order to follow the wretches and bring them to justice. His future weighed heavier in the balance than his just vengeance, however, for Merry was too shrewd and clear sighted to pass over the substance to pursue the shadow. “True Blue” meant wealth, the satisfaction of his desires, happiness; the punishment of the Hookers, aside from its aspect as an act for the benefit of society, was but the satisfaction of anger, and nothing more.

Accordingly, early the following morning, Frank and his company left Carrolton en route for Chicago, where the real test of “True Blue” was to come. Frank felt little anxiety as to the result of this test. He knew he had written a winning play and he believed that at last he had seized that tide in his affairs that was to bear him on its broad bosom to fame and prosperity.

Frank had experienced adversity in its most chilling form. Firm and sturdy in his purpose to overcome his misfortunes, he had toiled with body and brain like the strong-hearted American youth he was, and now, as he reviewed the past and calculated his future from its present promise, he might well say:

“I have won, as pluck and purpose and cheerfulness always win!”

This is an ideal line for boys of all ages. It contains juvenile masterpieces by the most popular writers of interesting fiction for boys. Among these may be mentioned the works of Burt L. Standish, detailing the adventures of Frank Merriwell, the hero, of whom every American boy has read with admiration. Frank is a truly representative American lad, full of character and a strong determination to do right at any cost. Then, there are the works of Horatio Alger, Jr., whose keen insight into the minds of the boys of our country has enabled him to write a series of the most interesting tales ever published. This line also contains some of the best works of Oliver Optic, another author whose entire life was devoted to writing books that would tend to interest and elevate our boys.

has written a new series of adventure stories for THE POPULAR MAGAZINE, entitled

The purchase of these stories at a handsome price, for publication in THE POPULAR MAGAZINE, beginning with the September, 1905, number, is only one step toward the goal we have set for this magazine:—that is, the best reading matter and more of it than is given by any other magazine in the world.

Cutcliffe Hyne is the author of the renowned “Captain Kettle” stories, which caused a sensation among lovers of good reading. We are free to say, however, that “The Trials of Commander McTurk” will become even more popular because they are written, at our suggestion, around an ultra-patriotic American character. We feel certain that the doughty commander will win his way into a warm corner of every reader’s heart.

THE POPULAR MAGAZINE is for sale at all newsstands at 10c. per copy. Back numbers may be secured from your dealer or from the publishers at the regular price.