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diff --git a/38429.txt b/38429.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5c4925 --- /dev/null +++ b/38429.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8185 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Frank Merriwell's Alarm, by Burt L. Standish + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Frank Merriwell's Alarm + Doing His Best + +Author: Burt L. Standish + +Release Date: December 28, 2011 [EBook #38429] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANK MERRIWELL'S ALARM *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +MERRIWELL SERIES + +Stories of Frank and Dick Merriwell + +YOUR DEALER HAS THEM! + +Handsome Colored Covers + +Stories of Generous Length + +For three generations, the adventures of the Merriwell brothers have +proven an inspiration to countless thousands of American boys. + +Frank and Dick are lads of high ideals, and the examples they set in +dealing with their parents, their friends, and especially their +enemies, are sure to make better boys of their readers. These stories +teem with fun and adventure in all branches of sports and athletics. +They are just what every red-blooded American boy wants to read--they +are what he must read to develop into a manly, upright man. + + _ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_ + + 1--Frank Merriwell's School Days By Burt L. Standish + 2--Frank Merriwell's Chums By Burt L. Standish + 3--Frank Merriwell's Foes By Burt L. Standish + 4--Frank Merriwell's Trip West By Burt L. Standish + 5--Frank Merriwell Down South By Burt L. Standish + 6--Frank Merriwell's Bravery By Burt L. Standish + 7--Frank Merriwell's Hunting Tour By Burt L. Standish + 8--Frank Merriwell in Europe By Burt L. Standish + 9--Frank Merriwell at Yale By Burt L. Standish + 10--Frank Merriwell's Sports Afield By Burt L. Standish + 11--Frank Merriwell's Races By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in June, 1921. + 12--Frank Merriwell's Party By Burt L. Standish + 13--Frank Merriwell's Bicycle Tour By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in July, 1921. + 14--Frank Merriwell's Courage By Burt L. Standish + 15--Frank Merriwell's Daring By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in August, 1921. + 16--Frank Merriwell's Alarm By Burt L. Standish + 17--Frank Merriwell's Athletes By Burt L. Standish + 18--Frank Merriwell's Skill By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in September, 1921. + 19--Frank Merriwell's Champions By Burt L. Standish + 20--Frank Merriwell's Return to Yale By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in October, 1921. + 21--Frank Merriwell's Secret By Burt L. Standish + 22--Frank Merriwell's Danger By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in November, 1921. + 23--Frank Merriwell's Loyalty By Burt L. Standish + 24--Frank Merriwell in Camp By Burt L. Standish + + To Be Published in December, 1921. + 25--Frank Merriwell's Vacation By Burt L. Standish + 26--Frank Merriwell's Cruise By Burt L. Standish + +In order that there may be no confusion, we desire to say that the +books listed above will be issued, during the respective months, in +New York City and vicinity. They may not reach the readers at a +distance promptly on account of delays in transportation. + + MARY J. HOLMES + CHARLES GARVICE + MAY AGNES FLEMING + MRS. GEORGIE SHELDON + +Four authors enshrined in the heart of every reader of fiction in +America. See the list of their works in the NEW EAGLE SERIES. + + + + +FRANK MERRIWELL'S ALARM + +OR, + +DOING HIS BEST + +BY + +BURT L. STANDISH + +Author of the famous Merriwell Stories. + +STREET & SMITH CORPORATION + +PUBLISHERS + +79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York + + + + +Copyright, 1903 By STREET & SMITH + +Frank Merriwell's Alarm + +All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign +languages, including the Scandinavian. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I--ADRIFT IN THE DESERT +II--ON TO THE MOUNTAINS +III--THE SKELETON +IV--"INDIANS!" +V--BLUE WOLF TRIES THE BICYCLE +VI--TRICK RIDING +VII--ESCAPE +VIII--THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED +IX--A NIGHT ADVENTURE +X--THE STORY +XI--ANOTHER ESCAPE +XII--AT LAKE TAHOE +XIII--A RACE ON THE LAKE +XIV--THE HERMIT'S POWER +XV--RECOVERY +XVI--LOST UNDERGROUND +XVII--BROTHER AND SISTER +XVIII--OLD FRIENDS +XIX--BART HODGE MAKES A CONFESSION +XX--FRANK BECOMES ALARMED +XXI--ARREST AND ESCAPE +XXII--ISA ISBAN +XXIII--A KNOCK ON THE DOOR +XXIV--THE SHERIFF'S SHOT +XXV--ESCAPE--CONCLUSION + + + + +FRANK MERRIWELL'S ALARM. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ADRIFT IN THE DESERT. + + +Once more the bicycle boys pushed on westward, and it must be said +that in spite of all their perils they were in the best of spirits. + +The beautiful valley in Utah was left behind, and some time later +found them on the edge of the great American Desert. + +Water was not to be had, and they began to suffer greatly from thirst. + +The thirst at last became so great that nearly all were ready to drop +from exhaustion. + +Toots was much affected, and presently he let out a long wail of +discouragement. + +"Land of watermillions! mah froat am done parched so I ain't gwan teh +be able teh whisper if we don' find some warter po'erful soon, +chilluns! Nebber struck nuffin' lek dis in all mah bawn days--no, +sar!" + +"You're not the only one," groaned Bruce. "What wouldn't I give for +one little swallow of water!" + +"We must strike water soon, or we are done for," put in Jack. + +Toots began to sway in his saddle, and Frank spurted to his side, +grasping him by the arm, as he sharply said: + +"Brace up! You mustn't give out now. The mountains are right ahead, +and----" + +"Lawd save us!" hoarsely gasped the darky. "Dem dar mount'ns had been +jes' as nigh fo' de las' two houah, Marser Frank. We don' git a bit +nearer 'em--no, sar! Dem mount'ns am a recepshun an' a delusum. We +ain't nebber gwan teh git out ob dis desert--nebber! Heah's where we's +gwan teh lay ouah bones, Marser Frank!" + +"You are to blame for this, Merriwell," came reproachfully from +Diamond. "You were the one to suggest that we should attempt to cross +instead of going around to the north, and----" + +"Say, Diamond!" cried Harry; "riv us a guest--I mean give us a rest! +You were as eager as any of us to try to cross the desert, for you +thought we'd have it to boast about when we returned to Yale." + +"But we'll never return." + +"Perhaps not; still I don't like to hear you piling all the blame onto +Merry." + +"He suggested it." + +"And you seconded the suggestion. We started out with a supply of +water that we thought would last----" + +"We should have known better!" + +"Perhaps so, but that is the fault of all of us, not any one person. +You are getting to be a regular kicker of late." + +Jack shot Harry a savage look. + +"Be careful!" he said. "I don't feel like standing too much! I am +rather ugly just now." + +"That's right, and you have been the only one who has shown anything +like ugliness at any time during the trip. You seem to want to put the +blame of any mistake onto Merry, while it is all of us----" + +"Say, drop it!" commanded Frank, sharply. "This is no time to quarrel. +Those mountain are close at hand, I am sure, and a last grim pull will +take us to them. We will find water there, for you know we were told +about the water holes in the Desert Range." + +"Those water holes will not be easy to find." + +"I have full directions for finding them. After we get a square drink, +we'll feel better, and there'll be no inclination to quarrel." + +"Oh, water! water!" murmured Browning; "how I'd like to let about a +quart gurgle down past my Adam's apple!" + +"Um, um!" muttered Rattleton, lifting one hand to his throat. "Why do +you suppose a fellow's larynx is called his Adam's apple?" + +"Nothing could be more appropriate," declared Bruce, soberly, "for +when Adam ate the apple he got it in the neck." + +Something like a cackling laugh came from Harry's parched lips. + +Diamond gave an exclamation of disgust. + +"This is a nice time to joke!" he grated, fiercely. + +"The matter with you," said Rattleton, "is that you've not got over +thinking of Lona Ayer, whom you were mashed on. You've been grouchy +ever since you and Merry came back from your wild expedition into the +forbidden Valley of Bethsada. It's too bad, Jack----" + +"Shut up, will you! I've heard enough about that!" + +"Drop it, Harry," commanded Frank, warningly. "You've worn it out. +Forget it." + +"Great Scott!" grunted Browning. "I believe my bicycle is heavier than +the dealer represented it to be." + +"Think so?" asked Rattleton. + +"Sure." + +"Then give it a weigh." + +Browning's wheel gave a sudden wobble that nearly threw him off. + +"Don't!" he gasped. "It's not original. You swiped it from the very +same paper that had my Adam's apple joke in it." + +"Well, it was simply a case of retaliation." + +"I'd rather have a case of beer. Oh, say!--a case of beer! I wouldn't +do a thing to a case of beer--not a thing! Oh, just to think of +sitting in the old room at Traeger's or Morey's and drinking all the +beer or ale a fellow could pour down his neck! It makes me faint!" + +"You should not permit yourself to think of such a thing as beer," +said Frank, jokingly. "You know beer will make you fat." + +"Don't care; I'd drink it if it made me so fat I couldn't walk. I'd +train down, you know. Dumbbells, punchin' bag, and so forth." + +"Speaking of the punching bag," said Frank, "makes me think of a good +thing on Reggy Stevens. You know Stevens. He's near-sighted. Goes in +for athletics, and takes great delight in the fancy manner in which he +can hammer the bag. Well, he went down into the country to see his +cousin last spring. Some time during the winter his cousin had found a +big hornets' nest in the woods, and had cut it down and taken it home. +He hung it up in the garret. First day Stevens was there he wandered +up into the garret and saw the hornets' nest hanging in the dim light. +'Ho!' said Reggy. 'Didn't know cousin had a punching bag. Glad I found +it. I'll toy with it a little.' Then he threw off his coat and made a +rush at that innocent looking ball. With his first blow he drove his +fist clean through the nest. 'Holy smoke!' gasped Reggy; 'what have I +struck?' Then the hornets came pouring out, for the nest was not a +deserted one. They saw Reggy--and went him several better. Say, +fellows, they didn't do a thing to poor Reggy! About five hundred made +for him, and it seemed to Reggy that at least four hundred and +ninety-nine of them got him. His howls started shingles off the roof +of that old house and knocked several bricks out of the chimney. He +fell down the stairs, and went plunging through the house, with a +string of hornets trailing after him, like a comet's tail. The hornets +did not confine themselves strictly to Reggy; some of them sifted off +and got in their work on Reggy's cousin, aunt, uncle, the kitchen +girl, the hired man, and one of them made for the dog. The dog thought +that hornet was a fly, and snapped at it. One second later that dog +joined in the general riot, and the way he swore and yelled fire in +dog language was something frightful to hear. Reggy didn't stop till +he got outside and plunged his head into the old-fashioned watering +trough, where he held it under the surface till he was nearly drowned. +The whole family was a sight. And Reggy--well, he's had the swelled +head ever since." + +Rattleton laughed and Bruce managed to smile, while Toots gave a +cracked "Yah, yah!" but Diamond failed to show that he appreciated the +story in the least. + +However, it soon became evident that the spirits of the lads had been +lightened somewhat, and they pedaled onward straight for the grim +mountains which had seemed so near for the last two hours. + +The sun poured its stifling heat down on the great desert, where +nothing save an occasional clump of sage brush could be seen. + +Heat shimmered in the air, and it was not strange that the young +cyclists were disheartened and ready to give up in despair. + +Suddenly a cry came from Diamond. + +"Look!" he shouted. "Look to the south! Why haven't we seen it before? +We're blind. Water, water!" + +They looked, and, at a distance of less than a mile it seemed they +could see a beautiful lake of water, with trees on the distant shore. +The reflection of the trees showed in the mirror-like surface of the +blue lake. + +"Come on!" hoarsely cried Jack, as he turned his wheel southward. +"I'll be into that water up to my neck in less than ten minutes!" + +"Stop!" shouted Merriwell. + +Jack did not seem to hear. If he heard, he did not heed the command. +He was bending far over the handlebars and using all his energy to +send his wheel spinning toward the beautiful lake. + +"I must stop him!" cried Frank. "It is a race for life!" + +Frank forgot that a short time before Jack Diamond had accused him of +leading them all to their doom by inducing them to attempt to cross +the barren waste--he forgot everything save that his comrade was in +danger. + +No, he did not forget everything. He knew what that race meant. It +might exhaust them both and render them unable to ride their wheels +over the few remaining miles of barren desert between them and the +mountain range. When Diamond learned the dreadful, heart-sickening +truth about that beautiful lake of water it might rob his heart of +courage and hope so that he would drop in despair and give himself up +to death in the desert. + +Frank would save him--he must save him! He felt a personal +responsibility for the lives of every one of the party, and he had +resolved that all should return to New Haven in safety. + +"Stop, Jack!" he shouted again. + +But the sight of that beautiful lake had made Diamond mad with a +longing to plunge into the water, to splash in it, to drink his fill +till not another swallow could he force down his throat. + +Madly he sent his wheel flying over the sandy plain, panting, gasping, +furious to reach the lake. + +How beautiful the water looked! How cool and inviting was the shade of +the trees on the other shore! Oh, he would go around there and rest +beneath those trees. + +Frank bent forward over the handlebars, muttering: + +"Ride now as you never rode before!" + +The wheel seemed to leap away like a thing of life--it flew as if it +possessed wings. + +But Frank did not gain as swiftly as he desired, for Diamond, also, +was using all his energy to send his bicycle along. + +"Faster! faster!" panted Frank. + +Faster and faster he flew along. The hot breath of the desert beat on +his face as if it came rushing from the mouth of a furnace. It seemed +to scorch him. Fine particles of sand whipped up and stung his flesh. + +He heard a strange laugh--a wild laugh. + +"Heaven pity him!" thought Frank, knowing that laugh came from Jack's +lips. "The sight of that ghostly lake has nearly turned his brain with +joy. I fear he will go mad, indeed, when he knows the truth." + +On sped pursued and pursuer, and the latter was still gaining. Frank +Merriwell had engaged in many contests of skill and endurance, but +never in one where more was at stake. His success in overtaking his +friend meant the saving of a human life--perhaps two lives. + +Now he was gaining swiftly, and something like a prayer of +thankfulness came from his lips. + +Once more he cried out to the lad in advance, but it seemed that +Diamond's ears were dumb, for he made no sound that told he heard. + +One last spurt--Frank felt that it must bring him to Diamond's side. +He gathered himself, his feet clinging to the flying pedals as if +fastened there. + +A slip, a fall, a miscalculation might mean utter failure, and failure +might mean death for Diamond. + +Now Frank was close behind his friend. He could hear the whirring +sound of the spokes of Diamond's wheel cutting the air, and he could +hear the hoarse, panting breathing of his friend. + +A steady hand guided Merriwell's wheel alongside that of his friend; a +steady and a strong hand fell on the shoulder of the lad who had been +crazed by the alluring vision of the lake in the desert. + +"Stop, Jack!" + +Diamond turned toward his friend a face from which a pair of glaring +eyes looked out. His lips curled back from his white teeth, and he +snarled: + +"Hands off! Don't try to hold me back! Can't you see it, you fool! The +lake--the lake!" + +"There is no lake!" + +"Yes, there is! You are blind! See it!" + +"Stop, Jack! I tell you there is no lake!" + +Frank tried to check his friend, but Diamond made a swinging blow at +him, which Merriwell managed to stop. + +"Wait--listen a moment!" entreated Frank. + +But the belief that a lake of water lay a short distance away had +completely driven anything like reason from Diamond's head. + +"Hands off!" he shouted. "If you try to stop me you'll be sorry!" + +Frank saw he must resort to desperate measures. He secured a firm grip +on the shoulder of the young Virginian, and, a moment later, gave a +surge that caused them both to fall from their wheels. + +Over and over they rolled, and then lay in a limp heap on the desert, +where the earth was hot and baked and the sun beat down with a fierce +parching heat. + +Diamond was the first to stir, and he tried to scramble up, his one +thought being to mount his wheel again and ride onward toward the +shimmering lure. + +Frank seemed to realize this, for he caught at his friend, grasped him +and held him fast. + +Then there was a furious struggle there on the desert, Diamond making +a mad effort to break away, but being held by Frank, who would not let +him go. + +The eyes of both lads glared and their teeth were set. Frank tried to +force Diamond down and hold him, but Jack had the strength of an +insane person, and, time after time, he flung his would-be benefactor +off. + +The eyes of the young Virginian were red and bloodshot, while his lips +were cracked and bleeding. His cap was gone, and his straight dark +hair fell in a tousled mass over his forehead. + +Occasionally muttered words came from Diamond's lips, but the other +was silent, seeming to realize that he must conquer the mad fellow by +sheer strength alone. + +So they fought on, their efforts growing weaker and weaker, gasping +for breath. Seeing that fierce struggle, no one could have imagined +they were anything but the most deadly enemies, battling for their +very lives. + +At last, after some minutes, Diamond's fictitious strength suddenly +gave out, and then Frank handled and held him with ease. Merriwell +pinned Jack down and held him there, while both remained motionless, +gasping for breath and seeking to recover from their frightful +exertions. + +"You fool!" whispered the Virginian, bitterly. "What are you trying to +do?" + +"Trying to save your life, but you have given me a merry hustle for +it," answered Frank. + +"Save my life! Bah! Why have you stopped me when we were so near the +lake." + +"There is no lake." + +"Are you blind? All of us could see the lake! It is near--very near!" + +"I tell you, Jack, there is no lake." + +"You lie!" + +"You have been crazed by what you fancied was water. Some time you +will ask my pardon for your words." + +"You will ask my pardon for stopping me in this manner, Frank +Merriwell! You did it because I was the first to discover the lake! +You were jealous! You did not wish me to reach it first! I know you! +You want to be the leader in everything." + +"If you were not half crazy now, you would not utter such words, +Jack." + +"Oh, I know you--I know!" + +Then Diamond's tone and manner suddenly changed and he began to beg: + +"Please let me up, Merry--please do! Oh, merciful heaven! I am +perishing for a swallow of water! And it is so near! There is water +enough for ten thousand men! And such beautiful trees, where the +shadows are so cool--where this accursed sun can't pour down on one's +head! Please let me up, Frank! I'll do anything for you if you'll only +let me go to that lake!" + +"Jack, dear old fellow, I am telling you the truth when I say there is +no lake. There could be no lake here in this burning desert. It is an +impossibility. If there were such a lake, the ones I asked about the +water-holes would have told me." + +"They did not know. I have seen it, and I know it is there." + +Frank allowed his friend to sit up. + +"Look, Jack," he said; "where is your lake?" + +Jack looked away to the south, the east, the north, and then toward +the west, where lay the mountains. + +There was no lake in sight. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON TO THE MOUNTAINS. + + +"Where--where has it gone?" slowly and painfully asked Diamond. "I am +sure I saw it--sure! The lake, the trees, all gone!" + +"I told you there was no lake." + +"Then--then it must have been a mirage!" + +"That is exactly what it was." + +With a deep groan of despair Diamond fell back limply on the sand, as +if the last bit of strength and hope had gone from him. + +"This ends it!" he gasped. "What's the use of struggling any more! We +may as well give up right here and die!" + +"Not much!" cried Merriwell, with attempted cheerfulness. "That is why +I ran you down and dragged you from your wheel." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I knew the mirage might lure you on and on into the desert, seeming +to flee before you, till at last it would vanish in a mocking manner, +and you, utterly exhausted and spirit-broken, would lie down and die +without another effort." + +Jack was silent a few moments. + +"And you did all this for me?" he finally asked. "You pursued and +pulled me from my wheel to--to save me?" + +"Yes." + +Another brief silence. + +"Frank." + +"Well, Jack?" + +"I was mad." + +"You looked it." + +"My thirst--the sight of what I took to be water--the shadows of the +trees! Ah, yes, I was mad, Frank!" + +"Well, it's all over now." + +"Yes, it is all over. The jig's up!" + +"Nonsense! Get a brace on, old man. We must get to the mountains. It +is our only chance, Jack." + +"The mountains! I shall never reach the mountains, Frank. I am done +for--played out!" + +"That's all rot, old fellow! You are no more played out than I am. We +are both pretty well used up, but we'll pull through to the mountains +and get a drink of water." + +"You never give up." + +"Well, I try never to give up." + +"Frank, I want you to forgive me for what I said before we saw the +mirage. You know I was making a kick." + +"Oh, never mind that! It's all right, Jack." + +"I want you to say you forgive me." + +"That's dead easy. Of course I forgive you. Think I'm a stiff to hold +a grudge over a little matter like that?" + +Diamond looked his admiration from his bloodshot eyes. + +"You're all right, Merry," he hoarsely declared. "You always were all +right. I knew it all along. Sometimes I get nasty, for I have a +jealous nature, although I try to hold it in check. I never did try to +hold myself in check in any way till I knew you and saw how you +controlled your tastes and passions. That was a revelation to me, +Merry. You know I hated you at first, but I came to admire you, +despite myself. I have admired you ever since. Sometimes the worst +side of my nature will crop out, but I always know I am wrong. Forgive +me for striking you." + +"There, there, old chap! Why are you thinking of such silly things? +You are talking as if you had done me a deadly wrong, and this was +your last chance to square yourself." + +"It is my last chance--I am sure of that. I am played out, and I can't +drive that wheel farther. It's no use--I throw up the sponge right +here." + +A look of determination came to Frank's face. + +"You shall not do anything of the kind!" he cried. "I won't have it, +Jack!" + +Diamond did not reply, but lay limp on the ground. Frank put a firm +hand on his shoulder, saying: + +"Come, Jack, make a bluff at it." + +"No use!" + +"I tell you it is! Come on. We can reach the mountains within an +hour." + +"The mountains!" came huskily from Diamond's lips. "God knows if there +are any mountains! They, too, may be a mirage!" + +"No! no!" + +"Think--think how long we have been riding toward them and still they +seemed to remain as far away as they were hours ago." + +"That is one of the peculiar effects of the air out here." + +"I do not believe any of us will reach the mountains. And if we +should, we might not find water. Those mountains look baked and +barren." + +"Remember, I was told how to find water there." + +But this did not give the disheartened boy courage. + +"I know you were told, but the man who told you said that at times +that water failed. It's no use, Frank, the game is not worth the +candle." + +Then it was that Merriwell began to grow angry. + +"I am ashamed of you, Diamond!" he harshly cried. "I did think you +were built of better stuff! Where is your backbone! Come, man, you +must make another try!" + +"Must?" came rather defiantly from Jack. "I'll not be forced to do +it!" + +"Yes, you will!" + +The Virginian looked at Frank in astonishment. + +"What do you mean?" he asked. + +"I mean that you will brace up and attempt to reach the mountains with +the rest of us, or I'll give you the blamedest licking you ever +had--and there won't be any apologies afterward, either!" + +That aroused Jack somewhat. + +"You--you wouldn't do that--now?" he faltered. + +"Wouldn't I?" cried Frank, seeming to make preparations to carry out +his threat. "Well, you'll see!" + +"But--but----" + +"There are no buts about it! Either you get up and make one more +struggle, or I'll have the satisfaction of knowing you are not in +condition to make a struggle when I leave you. This is business, and +it's straight from the shoulder!" + +Diamond remonstrated weakly, but Frank seemed in sober earnest. + +"I believe it would do you good," he declared. "It would beat a little +sense into you. It's what you want, anyway." + +A sense of shame came over Jack. + +"If you've got enough energy to give me a licking, I ought to have +enough to make another try for life," he huskily said. + +"Of course you have." + +"Well, I'll do it. It isn't because I fear the licking, for that +wouldn't make any difference now, but I can make another try for it, +if you can." + +Frank dragged the other boy to his feet, and then picked up their +fallen wheels. Jack was so weak that he could scarcely stand, seeming +to have been quite exhausted by his last furious struggle with the boy +who had raced across the desert sands to save his life. Twice Frank +caught him and kept him from falling. + +"What's the use?" Diamond hoarsely whispered. "I tell you I can't keep +in the saddle!" + +"And I tell you that you must! There are the other fellows, coming +this way. I will signal them to ride toward the mountains, and we will +join them." + +Frank made the signal, and the others understood, for they soon turned +toward the mountains again. + +Then Merriwell aided Jack in mounting and getting started, mounting +himself after that, and hurrying after the Virginian, whose wheel was +making a very crooked track across the sand. + +When it was necessary Frank supported Jack with a hand on the arm of +the dark-faced lad, speaking encouraging words into his ear, urging +him on. + +And thus they rode toward the barren-looking Desert Range, where they +must find water or death. + +They came to the mountains at last, when the burning sun was hanging a +ball of fire in the western sky. From a distance Merriwell had singled +out Split Peak, which had served as his guide. At the foot of Split +Peak were two water-holes, one on the east and one on the south. + +First Frank sought for the eastern water-hole, and he found it. + +But it was dry! + +Dry, save for the slightest indication of moisture in the sand at the +bottom of the hole. + +"I told you so!" gasped Diamond, as he fell to the ground in hopeless +exhaustion. "There is no water here." + +"Wait," said Frank, hoarsely. "We'll see if we can find some. Come, +boys; we must scoop out the sand down there in the hole--we must dig +for our lives." + +"By golly!" said Toots; "dis nigger's reddy teh dig a well fo'ty foot +deep, if he can fine about fo' swallers ob wattah." + +"A well!" muttered Rattleton. "We'll sink a shaft here!" + +"Well, I don't know!" murmured Browning. + +So they went to work, two of them digging at a time, and, with their +hands, they scooped out the sand down in the water-hole. As they +worked a little dirty water began to trickle into the hole. + +"Yum! yum!" muttered Toots, his eyes shining. "Nebber saw muddy wattah +look so good befo'! I done fink I can drink 'bout a barrel ob dat +stuff!" + +They worked until quite exhausted, and then waited impatiently for the +water to run into the hole. It rose with disheartening slowness, but +rise it did. + +When he could do so, Frank dipped up some of the water with his +drinking cup and gave it to Jack first of all. + +Diamond's hands shook so with eagerness that he nearly spilled the +water, and he greedily turned it down his parched throat at a gulp. + +"Merciful goodness! how sweet!" he gasped. "More, Frank--more!" + +"Wait a bit, my boy. You have had the first drink from this hole. The +others must take their turn now. When it comes around to you again, +you shall have more." + +"But there may not be enough to go around!" Jack almost snarled. "What +good do you think a little like that can do a fellow who is dying of +thirst? I must have more--now!" + +"Well, you can't have another drop till the others have taken their +turn--not a taste!" + +When Frank spoke like that he meant what he said, and Jack knew it. +But the little water he had received had maddened Diamond almost as +much as had the mirage. As Frank turned toward the water-hole, Jack +started to spring upon him, crying: + +"We'll see!" + +"Hold on!" said Browning, as one of his hands went out and grasped +Diamond. "I wouldn't do that. You are excited. I reckon I'll have to +sit on you, while you cool off." + +Then the big fellow took Jack down, and actually sat on him, while the +Virginian raved like a maniac. + +"Poor fellow!" said Frank, pityingly. "He has almost lost his reason +by what he has passed through." + +One by one the others received some of the water, and then it came +Jack's turn once more. By this time he was silent, but there was a +sullen light in his eyes. When Frank passed him the water in the +drinking cup he shook his head, and refused to take it. + +"No!" he muttered. "I won't have it! Drink it all up! You don't care +anything about me! Let me die!" + +"Well, hang a fool!" snorted Browning, in great disgust. + +"Say, jes' yo' pass dat wattah heah, Marser Frank, an' see if dis +coon'll refuse teh let it percolate down his froat!" + +"Yes, give it to Toots!" grated Diamond. "You think more of him than +you do of me, anyway! Give it to him!" + +"Don't chool with that fump--I mean don't fool with that chump!" +snapped Rattleton. "Let him have his own way! He's got a bug in his +head; that's what ails him." + +"Let him alone, Bruce," said Frank, quietly. "I want to talk to him." + +"He struck at you behind your back." + +"Never mind; he won't do so again." + +"Oh, you don't know!" muttered Diamond. + +"Yes, I do," declared Frank, with confidence. + +"Never mind us, fellows. I want a little quiet talk with Jack." + +They understood him, and the two lads were left alone. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE SKELETON. + + +Frank began talking to Diamond in a smooth, pleasant way, appealing to +his sense of justice. At first Jack turned away, as if he did not care +to listen, but he heard every word, and he was affected. + +"You are not yourself, old fellow," said Frank, softly, placing his +hand gently on Diamond's shoulder. "If you were yourself you would not +be like this. It is the burning desert, the blazing sun, the frightful +thirst--these have made you unlike yourself. I don't mind anything you +have said about me, Jack, for I know you are my friend, and you would +not think of saying such things under ordinary circumstances. A little +while ago, away out on the desert, you told me that much. It was then +that reason came back to you for a little while. Knowing how you have +suffered, I gave you the first drink from this water-hole. The water +ran in slowly, and I did not know that there would be enough to go +around twice. You were not the only one who had suffered from thirst, +but the others made no objection to your having the first drink--they +wanted you to have it. But it was necessary that they should have some +of the water, so that all of us would be in condition to search for +the other water-hole. Surely, old fellow, you see the common sense of +this. And now, Jack, look--the water has cleared, and more is running +into the hole. It will quench your thirst, and you will be yourself +again. You are my friend, and I am yours. We stand ready to fight for +each other at any time. If one of my enemies were to try to get at me +behind my back, why, you would----" + +"Strangle the infernal cur!" shouted Diamond. "Give me that water, +Frank! You are all right, and I'm all wrong! Just let me have a chance +to fight for you, and see if I don't fight as long as there is a drop +of blood in my body!" + +Merriwell had conquered, but he showed no sign of triumph, although he +quietly said: + +"I knew all the while, dear old fellow; in fact, I believe I know you +better than you know yourself." + +Then, when the others came up, ready to jolly Diamond about refusing +to drink, Frank checked them with a gesture. + +Jack felt better when he had taken a second drink of water. As water +had risen in the hole, all the boys were able to get another round, +and the spirits of all of them were raised. + +"I believe we have some hard bread and jerked beef, haven't we, +Merry?" asked Browning. + +"Yes." + +"Well, we are all right, then. Can't knock us out now. All I need is a +good chance to rest." + +"Oh, you need rest!" nodded Rattleton. "You always need that. You can +take more rest and not complain than any fellow I ever saw." + +"Young man," said Bruce, loftily, "it won't work. I refuse to let you +get me on a string, so drop it." + +"You'll be lucky if you get out of this part of the country without +getting on a string with the other end hitched to the limb of a tree." + +"That reminds me," drawled Bruce; "at the last town where we stopped I +asked a citizen if there were any horse thieves in that locality, and +he said there were two of 'em hanging around there the night before." + +"Yes," nodded Harry, "that was the place where they said they were +going to stop lynching if they had to hang every durned lyncher they +could catch." + +"Boys," laughed Merriwell, "we are all right. When you chaps get to +springing those things I feel there is no further danger. We'll pull +out all right." + +"Suttinly, sar," grinned Toots. "I's gwan teh bet mah money on dis +crowd ebry time, chilluns. We's hot stuff, an' dar ain't nuffin' gwan +teh stop us dis side ob San Francisco--no, sar!" + +Finally, refreshed and filled with new hope, the boys mounted their +wheels and started to seek for the second water-hole. + +Frank led the way, and they turned to the south, riding along the base +of some barren cliffs. + +"Are you sure we'll be able to find our way back to the water-hole we +have left if we fail to discover the other one?" asked Rattleton. + +"I am taking note of everything, and I do not think there will be any +difficulty," answered Frank. + +They had proceeded in this manner for about two miles when they saw +before them a place where the barren cliffs opened into a pass that +seemed to lead into the mountains. + +"There is our road!" cried Merriwell, cheerfully. "It should lead us +straight to the second water-hole." + +"Yah! yah!" laughed Toots. "Cayarn't fool dat boy, chilluns! He knows +his business, yo' bet! Won't s'prise me a bit if he teks us stret to a +resyvoyer--no, sar!" + +They made for the pass, and, in a burst of energy, the colored boy +spurted to the front, taking the lead. + +Of a sudden, as they approached a point where the bluffs narrowed till +they were close together, the negro gave a sudden wild howl of terror, +tried to turn his wheel about and went plunging headlong to the +ground. + +"Wow!" gasped Rattleton. "What's struck him?" + +"Something is the matter with him, sure as fate," said Frank. + +Toots was seen to sit up and stare toward the wall of stone, while it +was plain that he was shaking as if struck by an attack of ague. Then +he tried to scramble up, but fell on his knees, with his hands clasped +and uplifted in a supplicating attitude, while he wildly cried: + +"Go 'way, dar, good Mr. Debbil! I ain't done nuffin' teh yo'! Please +don' touch me! I's nuffin' but a po' good-fo'-nuffin' nigger, an' I +ain't wuff bodderin' wif--no, sar! Dar am some white boys wif me, an' +I guess yo'll lek them a heap sight better. Jes' yo' tek one of them, +good Mr. Debbil!" + +"Has he gone daffy, too?" muttered Frank, in astonishment. + +Then the boys came whirling up and sprang from their wheels, at which +Toots made a scramble for Frank, caught hold of his knees, and +chatteringly cried: + +"Don' yeh let him kerry me off, Marser Frank! I knows yo' ain't +afeared of nuffin', so I wants yeh ter protect po' Toots from de +debbil wif de fiery eyes!" + +But Frank was so astonished that he scarcely heard a word the colored +boy uttered. + +Seated on a block of stone in a niche of the wall was a human +skeleton. It was sitting bolt upright and seemed to be staring at the +boys with eyes that flashed a hundred shades of light. + +"Poly hoker--no, holy poker!" palpitated Harry, leaning hard on his +wheel. "What have we struck?" + +For a time the others were speechless. + +Wonderfully and fantastically was the skeleton decorated. On its head +was a rude crown that seemed to be of glittering gold, while gold +bracelets adorned its arms. About the fleshless neck was a chain of +gold, to which a large locket was attached, and across the ribs was +strung a gold watch-chain, while there were other fantastic and costly +ornaments dangling over those bones of a human being. + +The eyes of the skeleton, flashing so many different lights, seemed to +be two huge diamonds of enormous value. + +No wonder the young cyclists stared in astonishment at the marvelously +bejeweled skeleton! + +"Well," drawled Browning, with his usual nonchalance, "the gentleman +seems to have dressed up in his best to receive us. Some one must have +sent him word we were coming." + +Toots, seeing the others did not seem frightened, had got on his feet +and picked up his bicycle. + +"Goodness!" muttered Diamond. "If all those decorations are solid +gold, there is a small fortune in sight!" + +"What is the meaning of this, Frank?" asked Rattleton. "How do you +suppose this skeleton happens to be here?" + +"Ask me something easy," said Merriwell, shaking his head. + +"The skeleton must have been decorated in that manner by some living +person," asserted Rattleton. + +"But where is that person?" + +"Not here, that is sure." + +"It may be a warning," said Jack, gloomily. + +"Warning, nothing!" exclaimed Frank. "It is plain the thing has been +left there by some person, and we are the discoverers. It must be that +the skeleton is that of some poor devil who perished here for want of +water." + +"And it may be that the one who placed it there perished also," said +Rattleton. + +"Very likely." + +"In which case," came eagerly from Jack's lips, "all that treasure +belongs to us! Boys, it is a wonderful stroke of fortune! We have made +enough to take the whole of us through Yale, and----" + +"If we ever get back to Yale, old fellow! This unfortunate fellow +perished here, and our fate may be similar." + +"Boo!" shivered Browning. "That's pleasant to think about!" + +"More than that," Frank went on, "the treasure does not belong to us +if we can find the real owner or his heirs." + +The excitement and interest of the boys was great. They were eager to +examine the decorations of the mysterious skeleton. + +"We'll stack our wheels, and then one of us can climb up and make an +inspection," said Frank. + +So they proceeded to stack their wheels, Toots observing: + +"Yo' can fool wif dat skillerton if yo' wants to, chilluns, but dis +nigger's gwan teh keep right away from it. Bet fo' dollars it will +jest reach out dem arms and grab de firs' one dat gits near it. Wo-oh! +Land ob wartermillions! it meks me have de fevah an' chillins jes' to +fink ob it!" + +"We'll draw lots to see who goes up," said Frank, winking at the +others. "You will have to go if it falls to you, Toots." + +"Oh, mah goodness!" gasped the frightened darky. "I ain't gwan teh +draw no lots, Marser Frank--no, sar! I's got a po'erful bad case ob +heart trouble, an' mah doctah hab reckermended dat I don't fool roun' +no skillertons. He said it might result distrus if I boddered wif +skillertons." + +"What's that?" cried Frank, sternly. "Would you drink your share of +water when water is so precious and not take even chances with the +rest of us in any danger?" + +"Now, Marser Frank!" cried the darky, appealingly; "don' go fo' to be +too hard on a po' nigger! De trubble wif me is dat I'm jes' a nacheral +bo'n coward, an' I can't git over hit nohow. Dat's what meks mah heart +turn flip-flops ebry time dar's any dangar, sar." + +"But think of the treasure up there that we have found. If it should +fall to you to investigate, and you were to bring down that treasure, +of course you would receive your share, the same as the rest of us." + +"Lawd bress yeh, honey! I don' want no treasure if I've goter go an' +fotch hit down. I'd a heap sight rudder nebber hab no treasure dan git +wifin reachin' distance of dat skillerton--yes, sar!" + +"Don't fool with him, Merry," said Diamond, impatiently. "Of course +you don't expect to send him up, and you won't think of giving him any +part of the treasure." + +Frank flashed a look at the Virginian, and saw that Jack was in +earnest. + +"You are mistaken, old man," he said. "I do not expect Toots to go up +there, but, if there is a real treasure and it is divided, you may be +sure he will receive his share." + +"Oh, well!" cried Jack, somewhat taken aback; "of course I don't care +what you do about that, but I thought you were in earnest about what +you were saying." + +"The trouble with you," muttered Rattleton, speaking so low that Jack +could not hear him, "is that you never see through a joke." + +"Come," spoke Browning, "if we've got to take chances to see who goes +up and makes the examination, come on. I hope to get out of it myself, +but if I must, I must." + +"We need not take chances," said Frank, promptly. "I will go." + +"It will not be difficult, for it is no climb at all," said Jack. "Two +of us can swing ourselves up there in a moment, and I will go with +you, Merry." + +Then it was that Rattleton suddenly gave a great cry of stupefied +amazement. + +"What's the matter?" asked Merriwell. + +"Look! Look!" gasped Harry, pointing toward the niche in the rocks. +"The skeleton--it has disappeared!" + +They looked, and, dumb for the time with amazement and dismay, they +saw Rattleton spoke the truth. + +The mysterious skeleton had vanished! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"INDIANS!" + + +"Gone!" cried Jack. + +"Sure!" nodded Frank. + +"Lordy massy sakes teh goose-grease!" gasped Toots, again shivering +with terror. "Didn't I done tole yeh, chilluns! If yo' know when yo' +am well off, yeh'll git erway from heah jes' as quick as yeh can +trabbel! Oh, mah goodness!" + +Shaking in every limb, the colored boy tried to get his bicycle out +from the others, lost his balance, fell over, and sent the entire +stack of wheels crashing to the ground. + +"Well, this seems to be a regular sleight-of-hand performance," coolly +commented Browning. "Now you see it, and now you don't; guess where +it's gone. It drives me to a cigarette." + +But he discovered that his cigarettes were gone, which seemed to +concern him far more than the vanishing of the skeleton. He declared +he had lost a whole package, and seemed to feel quite as bad about it +as if they were solid gold. + +Rattleton was excited. + +"What sort of pocus-hocus--no, hocus-pocus is this, anyway?" he +spluttered. "Where's it gone? Who wayed the old thing a took. I mean +who took the old thing away?" + +"It couldn't have gone away of its own accord," said Frank, "so some +one must have removed it." + +"Don' yeh fool yo'se'f dat way, Marser Frank!" cried Toots, sitting up +amid the fallen wheels. "Dat skillerton am de berry ol' scratch +hisse'f! De next thing some ob dis crowd will be disumpearin' dat way. +Gwan ter git kerried off, chilluns, if yo' don' git out ob dis in a +hurry." + +"Oh, shut up!" snapped Diamond. "You make me tired with your chatter!" + +"Mistah Dimund," said the colored boy, with attempted dignity, "if +yo'll let dat debbil kerry yo' off yo'll nebber be missed--no, sar." + +Jack pretended he did not hear those words. + +"Here goes to see what has become of the thing!" cried Frank, as he +scrambled up to the niche where the skeleton had sat. + +"I am with you!" cried Diamond, as he followed Frank closely. + +Reaching the nook in the face of the cliff, they looked about for some +sign of the skeleton that had been there a short time before, but not +a sign of it could they see. The ghastly thing was gone, and the +glittering ornaments had vanished with it. The block of stone on which +the object had sat was still there. + +"Well, fat do you whind--I mean what do you find?" cried Rattleton, +impatiently. + +"Not a thing," was the disgusted reply. "It has gone, sure as fate!" + +"So have my cigarettes!" groaned Browning. + +"The treasure--is any of that there?" asked Harry, eagerly. + +"Not a bit of it." + +"Well, that's what I call an unfair deal," murmured Bruce. "It is a +blow below the belt. If the old skeleton had desired to go away, none +of us would have objected, but it might have left the trimmings with +which it was adorned." + +Frank was puzzled, and the more he investigated the greater grew his +wonder. He knew they had seen the skeleton, yet it had vanished like +fog before a blazing sun. + +Jack shrugged his shoulders and shivered, saying: + +"There's something uncanny about it, old man. I believe it is a +warning." + +"Nonsense!" cried Frank. "What sort of a warning?" + +"A warning of the fate that awaits all of us." + +"You are not well, Jack." + +"Oh, it is not that! First we see a lake of water, and that +disappears; then we see this skeleton, and now that has vanished. You +must confess that there is something remarkable in it all." + +"The vanishing of the mirage came about in a natural manner, but----" + +"But you must confess there was something decidedly unnatural about +the vanishing of the skeleton." + +"It was removed by human hands--I will wager anything on that." + +"Then where is the human being who removed it?" + +"I don't know." + +Unable to remain below, Rattleton came climbing up to the niche. + +"I've got to satisfy myself," he said, as he felt about with his +hands, as if he expected to discover the vanished skeleton in that +manner. "I can't see how the blamed old thing could get away!" + +"Well, you can see quite as well as we can," acknowledged Frank. "It +is gone, and that is all we can tell about it." + +The boys satisfied themselves that the thing had really disappeared, +and they could not begin to solve the mystery. After a time they +returned to the ground. + +"It am de debbil's work!" asserted Toots. "Don' yeh mek no misteks +'bout dat, chilluns." + +They held a "council of war," and it was resolved that they should go +on through the pass and try to find the second water-hole before +darkness fell. + +Already night was close at hand, and they must needs lose no time. + +"We can come back here in the morning and see if we're able to solve +the mystery," said Merriwell. "I, for one, do not feel like going away +without making another attempt at it." + +"Nor I," nodded Rattleton. + +"It is folly," declared Jack, gloomily. "I say we have been warned, +and the best thing we can do is get away as soon as possible." + +"By golly! dat am de firs' sensibul fing I've heard yo' say in fo' +days!" cried Toots, approvingly. + +They picked up their wheels, and soon were ready to mount. + +"Here's good-by to the vanishing skeleton for to-night," cried Frank. + +He was answered by a wild peal of mocking laughter that seemed to run +along the face of the cliff in a most remarkable manner. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" it sounded, hoarsely, and "Ha! ha! ha!" came down from +the rocks, like a mystic echo. + +"O-oh, Lordy!" + +Toots made a jump for the saddle of his bicycle, but jumped too far +and went clean over the wheel, striking his knee and turning in the +air, to fall with a thump on the back of his neck. + +"Mah goodness!" he gurgled, as he lay on the ground, dazed by the +shock of the fall. "De ol' debbil done gib meh a boost then fo' suah!" + +The other lads looked at each other in perplexity. + +"Well, wh-wh-what do you think of that?" stammered Rattleton. + +"He ought to file his voice, whoever he is," coolly observed Browning. +"It's a little rough along the edges." + +"It strikes me that somebody is having fun with us," said Merriwell, a +look of displeasure on his face. + +"What are you going to do about it?" asked Harry. + +"We don't seem able to do much of anything now. Come on." + +Toots scrambled up, and they mounted their wheels. As they started to +ride away, a hollow-sounding voice cried: + +"Stop!" + +"Oh, riv us a guest--I mean give us a rest!" flung back Rattleton. + +"Stop!" repeated the mysterious voice. "Do not try the pass. There is +danger beyond. Turn back." + +"I told you it was a warning!" cried Jack. "What do you think of it +now?" + +"I think somebody is trying to have a lot of sport with us!" exclaimed +Frank. + +"Well, what are you going to do?" + +"Not a thing. I don't propose to pay any attention to it, Come on, +fellows. We must have more water, and there's none too much time to +find it before dark." + +Diamond was tempted to declare he would not go any further, but he +knew the others would stand by Frank, and so he pedaled along. + +As they drew away from the spot where they had seen the skeleton, they +heard the mysterious voice calling to them again, commanding them to +stop and turn back. Thus it continued till they had ridden on so that +it could be heard no longer. + +Despite himself Frank had been impressed by what he had seen and +heard, and a feeling of awe was on him. Ahead the shadows were thick +where the dark cliffs seemed to come together, and there was something +grim and overpowering about the bare and towering mountains that +sullenly frowned down upon the little party. + +The boys were silent, for they had no words to speak. Each was busy +with his thoughts, and those thoughts were not of the most pleasant +character. + +A feeling of heart-sickening loneliness settled down upon them and +made them long for the homes that were so far away. What satisfaction +was there, after all, in this great ride across the continent? They +had encountered innumerable perils, and now it seemed that they were +overshadowed by the greatest peril of all. + +How still it was! The mountains seemed like crouching monsters of the +great desert, waiting there to spring upon and crush them out of +existence. There was something fearsome and frightful in their grim +air of waiting. + +The whirring of the wheels was a warning whisper, or the deadly hiss +of a serpent. As they passed between the frowning bluffs, which rose +on either hand, the whirring sound seemed to become louder and louder +till it was absolutely awesome. + +Frank looked back, and of all the party Bruce Browning was the only +one whose face remained stolid and impassive. It did not seem that he +had been affected in the least by what had happened. + +"He has wonderful nerve!" thought Merriwell. + +Diamond's dark face seemed pale, and there was an anxious look on the +face of Rattleton. Toots betrayed his excitement and fear most +distinctly. + +Frank feared they would not get through the pass in time to find the +second water-hole, and he increased his speed. + +The ground was favorable for swift riding. At that time Merriwell +thought it fortunate, but, later, he changed his mind. + +Of a sudden the pass between the bluffs ended, and they shot out into +a valley or basin. + +A cry of astonishment and alarm came from Frank's lips, and he used +all his energy to check and turn his flying wheel. + +Before them blazed a fire, and around that fire were gathered---- + +"Indians!" palpitated Harry Rattleton. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BLUE WOLF TRIES THE BICYCLE. + + +"Indians!" echoed Jack Diamond. + +"Indians?" grunted Bruce Browning, astonished. + +"O-oh, Lordy!" gasped Toots. "Dis am whar a nigger boy I know is gwan +teh lose his scalp fo' suah!" + +"Turn!" commanded Frank--"turn to the left, and we'll make a run to +get back through the pass." + +But they were seen, and the redskins about the fire sprang to their +feet with loud whoops. + +At the first whoop Toots gave a howl and threw up both hands. + +"Don' yo' shoot, good Mistar Injunses!" he shouted. "I's jes' a common +brack nigger, an' I ain't no 'count nohow. Mah scalp wouldn' be no +good teh yo' arter----" + +Then he took a header off his wobbling machine and fell directly +before Jack, whose bicycle struck his body, and Diamond was hurled to +the ground. + +"Stop, fellows!" cried Merriwell. "We mustn't run away and leave them! +Come back here!" + +From his wheel he leaped to the ground in a moment, running to +Diamond's side. Grasping Jack by the arm he exclaimed: + +"Up, old fellow--up and onto your wheel! We may be able to get away +now! We'll make a bluff for it." + +But it was useless, for Jack was so stunned that he could not get on +his feet, though he tried to do so. + +Toots was stretched at full length on the ground, praying and begging +the "good Injunses" not to bother with his scalp, saying the hair was +so crooked that it was "no good nohow." + +Up came the redskins on a run and surrounded the boys, Bruce and Harry +having turned back. + +Browning assumed a defensive attitude, muttering: + +"Well, if we're in for a scrap, I'll try to get a crack at one or two +of these homely mugs before I'm polished off." + +There were seven of the Indians, and nearly all of them carried +weapons in their hands. Although they were not in war paint, they were +a decidedly ugly-looking gang, and their savage little eyes denoted +anything but friendliness. + +"Ugh!" grunted the tallest Indian of the party, an old fellow with a +scarred and wrinkled face. + +"Ugh! ugh! ugh!" grunted the others. + +Then they stared at the boys and their bicycles, the latter seeming a +great curiosity to them. + +"Well, this is a scrolly old jape--I mean a jolly old scrape!" +fluttered Rattleton. "We're in for it!" + +Toots looked up, saw the Indians, uttered another wild howl, and tried +to bury his head in the sand, like an ostrich. + +Frank singled out the tall Indian and spoke to him. + +"How do you do?" he said. + +"How," returned the Indian, with dignity. + +"Unfortunately we did not know you were here, or we should not have +called," explained Merriwell. + +The savage nodded; the single black feather in his hair fluttering +like a pennant as he did so. + +"Um know," he said. "Um see white boy heap much surprised." + +"Jee! he can talk United States!" muttered Rattleton. + +"Talk it!" said Bruce, in disgust. "He can chew it, that's all." + +"I trust we have not disturbed you," said Frank, calmly; "and we will +leave you in your glory as soon as my friend, who fell from his wheel, +is able to mount and ride." + +"No, no!" quickly declared the tall Indian; "white boy no go 'way. +Injun like um heap much." + +Browning lifted his cap and felt for his scalp. + +"It may be my last opportunity to examine it," he murmured. + +"But we are in a hurry, and we can't stop with you, however much we +may desire to do so," declared Frank, glibly. "You see we are on +urgent business." + +"Yes, very urgent," agreed Rattleton. "Smoly hoke--no, holy smoke! +don't I wish I were back to New Haven, New York, any old place!" + +"White boys must stop," said the big savage. "Black Feather say so, +that settle um." + +"I am afraid it does," confessed Browning. + +Diamond got upon his feet, assisted by Frank. + +"Well," he said, somewhat bitterly, "that is what we have come to by +failing to heed the warning we received!" + +"Don't go to croaking!" snapped Rattleton. "These Indians are +peaceable. They are not on the war path." + +"But they are off the reservation," said Frank, in a low tone; "and +that is bad. They have us foul, and there is no telling what they may +take a notion to do." + +"It's pretty sure they'll take a notion to do us," sighed Harry. + +The tall Indian, who had given his name as Black Feather, professed +great friendliness, and, when the boys told him they had been looking +for the water-hole, he said: + +"Um water-hole dare by fire. Good water, heap much of it. Come, have +all water um want." + +"Well, that is an inducement," confessed Browning. "We may be able to +get a square drink before we are scalped." + +It was with no small difficulty that Toots was forced to get up, and, +after he was on his feet, he would look at first one Indian and then +dodge, and look at another, each time gurgling: + +"O-oh, Lord!" + +And so, surrounded by the Indians, the boys moved over to the fire, +which was near the water-hole, as Black Feather had declared. + +"Well, we'll all drink," said Frank, as he produced his pocket cup and +proceeded to fill it. "Here, fellows, take turns." + +While they were doing so the Indians were examining their bicycles +with great curiosity. It was plain the savages had never before seen +anything of the kind, and they were filled with astonishment and +mystification. They grunted and jabbered, and then one of them decided +to get on and try one of the wheels. + +It happened that this one was the smallest, shortest-legged redskin of +the lot, and he selected the machine with the highest frame. + +"Ugh!" he grunted. "White boy ride two-wheel hoss, Injun him ride +two-wheel hoss heap same. Watch Blue Wolf." + +"Yes," said Browning, softly, nudging Merriwell in the ribs with his +elbow, "watch Blue Wolf, and you will see him smash my bicycle. I +sincerely hope he will break his confounded head at the same time!" + +"White boy show Injun how um git on," ordered Blue Wolf. + +"Go ahead, Bruce," directed Frank. + +"Oh, thunder!" groaned the big fellow. "I'm so tired!" + +But he was forced to show the Indians how he mounted the wheel, which +he did, being dragged off almost as soon as he got astride the saddle. + +"Ugh!" grunted Blue Wolf, with great satisfaction. "Um heap much easy. +Watch Blue Wolf." + +"Yes, watch Blue Wolf!" repeated Browning. "It will be good as a +circus! Oh, my poor bicycle!" + +With no small difficulty the little Indian steadied the wheel, +reaching forward to grasp the handlebars while standing behind it. The +first time he lifted his foot to place it on the step he lost his +balance and fell over with the machine. + +The other Indians grunted, and Blue Wolf got up, saying something in +his own language that seemed to make the atmosphere warmer than it was +before. + +The bicycle was lifted and held for the little Indian to make another +trial. He looked as if he longed to kick it into a thousand pieces, +but braced up, placed his foot on the step and made a wild leap for +the saddle. He missed the saddle, struck astride the frame just back +of the handlebars, uttered a wild howl of dismay, and went down in +hopeless entanglement with the unfortunate machine. + +"Wow!" howled Blue Wolf. + +"Oh, my poor bicycle!" groaned Browning, once more. + +The fallen redman kicked the bicycle into the air, but it promptly +came down astride his neck and drove his nose into the dirt. + +"Ugh!" grunted the watching Indians, solemnly. + +"Whoop!" roared Blue Wolf, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. + +Then he made another frantic attempt to cast the machine off, but it +persisted in sticking to him in a wonderful manner. One of his arms +was thrust through the spokes of the forward wheel to the shoulder, +and as he tried to yank it out, the rear wheel spun around and one of +the pedals gave him a terrific thump on the top of the head. + +"Yah!" snarled the unlucky Indian. + +"Two-wheel hoss kick a heap," observed Black Feather. + +Blue Wolf tried to struggle to his feet, but he was so entangled with +the bicycle that it seemed to fling him down with astonishing +violence. + +Then as the noble red man kicked, and squirmed, and struggled, the +bicycle danced and pranced upon his prostrate body like a thing of +life. + +"O-o-oh!" wailed Blue Wolf, in pain and fear. + +Toots suddenly forgot his fears, and holding onto his side, he doubled +up with a wild burst of "coon" laughter. + +"Oh, land ob watermillions!" he shouted. "Dat bisuckle am knockin' de +stuffin' out ob Mistah Injun! Yah! yah! yah! Lordy! lordy! 'Scuse meh, +but I has ter laff if it costs me all de wool on mah haid!" + +Browning folded his arms, a look of intense satisfaction on his face +as he observed: + +"I have made a discovery that will be worth millions of dollars to the +government of the United States. Now I know a swift and sure way of +settling the Indian question. Provide every Indian in the country with +a bicycle, and there will be no Indians left in a week or two." + +"Gamlet's host--I mean Hamlet's ghost!" chuckled Rattleton, holding +his hand over his mouth to keep from shrieking with laughter. "I never +saw anything like that before!" + +Merriwell sprang forward and assisted Blue Wolf in untangling himself +from the wheel, fearing the bicycle would be utterly ruined. + +The little Indian was badly done up. His face was cut and bleeding in +several places, and he was covered with dirt. With some difficulty he +got upon his feet, and then he backed away from the bicycle, at which +he glared with an expression of great fear on his countenance. + +"Heap bad medicine!" he observed. + +It seemed that the other Indians were really amused, although they +remained solemn and impassive. + +"Give me hatchet!" Blue Wolf suddenly snarled. "Heap fix two-wheel +hoss!" + +He would have made a rush for the offending wheel, but Frank held up a +hand warningly, crying: + +"Beware, Blue Wolf! It is in truth bad medicine, and it will put a +curse upon you if you do it harm. Your squaw will die of hunger before +another moon, your children shall make food for the coyotes, and your +bones shall bleach on the desert! Beware!" + +Blue Wolf paused, dismay written on his face. He longed to smash the +bicycle, but he was convinced that it was really "bad medicine," and +he was afraid to injure it. + +"Say, that is great, old man!" enthusiastically whispered Rattleton in +Merriwell's ear. "Keep it up." + +"Blue Wolf not hurt two-wheel hoss," declared Black Feather, who +seemed to be the chief of the little band. "Want to see white boy +ride." + +"Do you mean that you want me to ride?" asked Frank. + +"Ugh!" + +"All right," said Frank. "I'll show you how it is done." + +Then he motioned for the savages to stand aside. + +"No try to run 'way," warned Black Feather. "Injun shoot um." + +"All right, your royal jiblets. If I try to run away you may take a +pop at me." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +TRICK RIDING. + + +The Indians made room for Frank to mount and ride. + +Standing beside the wheel Frank sprang into the saddle without using +the step, caught the pedals and started. + +The savages gave utterance to a grunt of wonder and admiration. + +Frank had practiced trick riding, and he now proposed to exhibit his +skill, feeling that it might be a good scheme to astonish the savages. + +He started the bicycle into a circle, round which he rode with the +greatest ease, and then of a sudden he passed one leg over the frame, +and stood up on one of the pedals, which he kept in motion at the same +time. + +The Indians nodded and looked pleased. + +Then Frank began to step cross-legged from pedal to pedal, passing his +feet over the cross bar of the frame and keeping the wheel in motion +all the time. + +A moment later he whirled about, and with his face toward the rear, +continued to pedal the bicycle ahead the same as if he had been seated +in the usual manner on the saddle. + +"Heap good!" observed Black Feather. + +Then, like a cat Merriwell wheeled about, lifted his feet over the +handlebars to which he clung, slipped down till he hung over the +forward wheel, placed his feet on the pedals, and rode in that manner. +This made it look as though he were dragging the bicycle along behind +him. + +There was a stir among the Indians, and they looked at each other. + +Without stopping the bicycle, Frank swung back over the handlebars to +the saddle. Having reached this position, he stopped suddenly, turning +the forward wheel at an angle, sitting there and gracefully balancing +on the stationary machine. + +"Heap much good!" declared Black Feather, growing enthusiastic. + +"Oh, those little things are dead easy," assured Frank, with a laugh. +"Do you really desire to see me do something that is worth doing?" + +"What more white boy can do?" + +"Several things, but I'll have to make a larger circle." + +It was growing dark swiftly now, the sun being down and the shadows of +the mountains lying dark and gloomy in the valleys. + +"Go 'head," directed Black Feather. + +Frank started the bicycle in motion, and then, with it going at good +speed, he swung down on one side and slowly but neatly crept through +the frame, coming up on the other side and regaining the saddle +without stopping. + +"Paleface boy great medicine!" said Black Feather. + +"Ugh!" grunted all the Indians but Blue Wolf. + +The little savage was looking on in a sullen, wondering way, +astonished and angered to think the white boy could do all those +things, while he had been unable to mount the two-wheeled horse. + +"How do you like that, Black Feather?" asked Frank, cheerfully. + +"Much big!" confessed the chief. "Do some more." + +"All right. Catch onto this." + +Then away Frank sped, lifting the forward wheel from the ground and +letting it hang suspended in the air, while he rode along on the rear +wheel. + +"Merry is working hard enough," said Rattleton. "I never knew he could +do so many tricks." + +"There are lots of things about that fellow that none of us know +anything about," asserted Browning, who was no less surprised, +although he did not show it. + +"He is a fool to work so hard to please these wretched savages!" +muttered Diamond. + +"Now, don't you take Frank Merriwell for a fool in anything!" came +swiftly from Harry. "I never knew him to make a fool of himself in all +my life, and I have seen a good deal of him." + +"Well, why is he cutting up all those monkey tricks? What will it +amount to when it is all over?" + +"Wait and see." + +"The Indians will treat us just the same as if he had not done those +things." + +"Perhaps so." + +"Of course they will!" + +"Now, Black Feather, old jiblets," cried Frank, in his merriest +manner, "I am going to do something else. Get onto this." + +Sending the bicycle along at high speed Frank lay over the handlebars +and swung his feet into the air till he held himself suspended in that +manner, head down and feet up. + +The Indians were more pleased and astonished than ever. + +"Oh, it's all in knowing how!" laughed Frank, as he gracefully and +lightly dropped back to the saddle. + +Again the Indians grunted. + +"Now, Black Feather, old chappie," said Frank, "I am going to do the +greatest trick of all. I'll have to get a big start and have lots of +room. Watch me close." + +Away he went, bending over the handlebars and sending the bicycle +flying over the ground. He acted as if he intended to make a big +circle, but suddenly turned and rode straight toward the pass by which +they had entered the basin. Before the Indians could realize his +intention, he was almost out of sight in the darkness of the young +night. + +Howls of rage and dismay broke from the redmen. They shouted after the +boy, but he kept right on, quickly disappearing from view. + +"There," sighed Browning, with satisfaction, "I told you he was not +doing all that work for nothing, fellows." + +"He's done gone an' lef us!" wailed Toots. + +"That's what he has!" grated Diamond--"left us to the mercy of these +miserable redskins! That's a fine trick!" + +"Oh, will you ever get over it?" rasped Rattleton. "Why shouldn't he? +He had his chance, and he'd been a fool not to skin out!" + +"I thought he would stand by us in such a scrape as this." + +"What you thought doesn't cut any ice. He'll come back." + +"After we are murdered." + +Rattleton would have said something more, but the Indians, who had +been holding an excited conversation, suddenly grasped the four +remaining lads in a threatening manner. + +"Oh, mah goodness!" palpitated Toots. "Heah is whar I's gwan teh lose +mah wool! It am feelin' po'erful loose already!" + +Browning was on the point of launching out with his heavy fists and +making as good battle of it as he could when he heard Black Feather +say: + +"No hurt white boys. Make um keep still, so um not run 'way off like +odder white boy. That am all." + +"I'll take chances on it," muttered Bruce, giving up quietly. + +The four lads were forced to sit on the ground, and some of the +savages squatted near. The fire was replenished, and the Indians +seemed to hold a council. + +"Deciding how they will kill us," said Diamond, gloomily. + +"Nothing of the sort," declared Rattleton. "See them making motions +toward the bicycles. They are talking about the wonderful two-wheeled +horses." + +"Gracious!" gasped Toots; "dat meks mah hair feel easier!" + +Browning held a hand on his stomach in a pathetic manner. + +"Oh, my!" he murmured. "How vacant and lonely my interior department +seems to be! Methinks I could dine." + +"The hard bread and jerked beef," whispered Jack. "It is in the +carriers attached to the wheels." + +"Yes, and we had better let it remain there." + +"Why?" + +"These Indians look hungry, too." + +"You think----" + +"I do. They will take it away from us and eat it if we bring it out. +That would leave us in a bad fix." + +"But they can get it out of the carriers." + +"They can, but they won't." + +"Why not?" + +"They are afraid of those bicycles--so afraid that they will not go +near them. Therefore our hard bread and jerked beef is safe as long as +we let it remain where it is." + +Harry agreed with Bruce, and they decided not to touch the food in the +carriers; but all were thirsty again, and they expressed a desire to +have another drink from the water-hole. + +To this the Indians did not object, and they took turns at drinking, +although the water did not taste nearly as sweet as it had the first +time. + +Having satisfied themselves in this manner they sat down on the ground +once more, being compelled to do so by the redskins, who were watching +them closely. + +"They have us in a bad position in case they take a notion to crack us +over the head," said Harry. "We wouldn't get a show." + +"Mah gracious!" gurgled Toots, holding fast to his scalp with both +hands. "We's gwan teh git it fo' suah, chilluns! De fus' fing we know +we won't no nuffin'!" + +"We must get out of this somehow," muttered Bruce. + +"That's right," nodded Jack. "Merriwell has taken care of himself, and +left us to take care of ourselves." + +He spoke in a manner that showed he felt that Frank had done them a +great wrong. + +"It's a good thing he got away as he did," asserted Harry. "Now we +know we have a friend who is not a captive like ourselves, and we know +he knows the fix we are in. You may be sure he will do what he can for +us." + +"He'll do what he can for himself. How can he do anything for us?" + +"He'll find a way." + +"I doubt it." + +"You have become a great doubter and kicker of late, Diamond. It is +certain the loss of that Mormon girl who married the other fellow has +soured you, for you were not this way before. Why don't you try to +forget her?" + +"I wish you might forget her! You make me sick talking about her so +much! I don't like it at all!" + +"If you don't like it lump it." + +Jack and Harry glared at each other as if they were on the point of +coming to blows, and this gave Browning an idea. He saw the Indians +had noticed there was a disagreement between the boys, and he leaned +forward, saying in a low tone: + +"Keep at it, fellows--keep at it! I have a scheme. Pretend you are +fighting, and they will let you get on your feet. When I cry ready +we'll all make a jump for our wheels, catch them up, place them in the +form of a square, and stand within the square. The redskins are afraid +of the wheels--think them 'bad medicine.' They won't dare touch us." + +Browning had made his idea clear with surprising swiftness, and the +other boys were astonished, for they had come to believe that the big +fellow never had an original idea in his head. + +Both Jack and Harry were taken by the scheme, and Diamond quickly +said: + +"It's a go. Keep on with the quarrel, Rattleton." + +Harry did so, and in a very few seconds they were at it in a manner +that seemed intensely in earnest. Their voices rose higher and higher, +and they scowled fiercely, flourishing their clinched hands in the air +and shaking them under each other's nose. + +Browning got into the game by making a bluff at stopping the quarrel, +which seemed to be quite ineffectual. He seemed to try to force +himself between them, but Rattleton hit him a hard crack on the jaw +with his fist, with which he was threatening Diamond. + +"Scissors!" gurgled Bruce, as he keeled over on his back, holding both +hands to his jaw. "What do you take me for--a punching bag?" + +"You have received what peacemakers usually get," said Harry, as he +continued to threaten Diamond. + +The Indians looked on complacently, their appearance seeming to +indicate that they were mildly interested, but did not care a +continental if the two white boys hammered each other. + +Jack scrambled to his feet and dared Harry to get up. Harry declared +he would not take a dare, and he got up. Then Bruce and Toots lost no +time in doing likewise, and, just when it seemed that the apparently +angry lads were going to begin hammering each other Browning cried: + +"Ready!" + +Immediately the boys made a leap for the bicycles, caught them up, +formed a square with them, and stood behind the machines, like +soldiers within a fort. + +The Indians uttered shouts of astonishment, and the four boys found +themselves looking into the muzzles of the guns in the hands of the +savages. + +"What white boys mean to do?" harshly demanded Black Feather. "No can +run away." + +"Heap shoot um!" howled Blue Wolf, who seemed eager to slaughter the +captives. "Then no can run away." + +"Hold on!" ordered Browning, with a calm wave of his hand. "We want to +parley." + +"Want to pow-wow?" asked Black Feather. + +"That's it." + +"No pow-wow with white boys. White boys Injuns' prisoners. No pow-wow +with prisoners." + +"No!" shouted Blue Wolf. "Shoot um! shoot um!" + +"Land ob massy!" gurgled Toots. "Dey am gwan teh shoot!" + +"Black Feather," said Browning, with assumed assurance and dignity, +"it will not be a healthy thing for your men to shoot us." + +"How? how?" + +"Do you see that we are protected by the 'bad medicine' machines? If +you were to do us harm now, these machines would utterly destroy you +and every one of your party. The moment you fired at us these machines +would be like so many demons let loose, and as they are not made of +flesh and blood, they could not be harmed. Not one of your party could +escape them." + +The light of the fire showed that the Indians looked at each other +with mingled incredulity and fear. + +"Wow!" muttered Rattleton. "Is this Browning I hear? How did you +happen to think of such a bluff?" + +"Have to think in a case like this," returned the big fellow, +guardedly. "I think only when it is absolutely necessary. This is one +of those occasions." + +The Indians got together and held a consultation. + +"Can't we make a run for it now?" asked Diamond, eagerly. + +"We can," nodded Bruce, "but we won't run far. They'd be able to drop +us before we could get out of the light of the fire." + +"What can we do?" + +"Why, we'll have to----" + +Browning was interrupted by a clatter of hoofs, which caused him to +turn toward the East. The Indians heard the sound, and they turned +also. + +Then wild yells of terror rent the air. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +ESCAPE. + + +Coming through the darkness at a mad gallop was what seemed to be the +gleaming skeleton of a horse. The ribs, the bones of the neck, legs +and head, all showed plainly, glowing with a white light. + +And on the back of the horse, which had sheered to the north and was +passing the fire, sat what seemed to be the skeleton of a human being, +the bones gleaming the same as those of the horse. + +It was almost an astonishing and awe-inspiring spectacle, and it +frightened the Indians greatly. + +"Howugh--owugh--owugh!" wailed Black Feather, dismally. + +Then the savages dropped on their faces, covering their eyes, so they +could not see the skeleton horseman. + +Almost at the same moment as the horseman was passing the spot the +ghastly appearing thing seemed to give a sudden swing about and +completely disappear. + +"Poly hoker!" gasped Rattleton. "It's gone!" + +"That's right!" palpitated Diamond--"vanished in a moment!" + +"Oh, mah soul--mah soul!" wailed Toots. "Dat sholy am de ol' debbil +hisse'f, chilluns! When we see it next it's gwan teh hab one ob us fo +sho!" + +"Hark!" commanded Browning. + +The beat of the horse's feet could be distinctly heard, but the +creature had turned about and was going back toward the pass through +the bluffs. + +Chucker-chucker-chuck! chucker-chucker-chuck! chucker-chucker-chuck! +came the ghostly sounds of the galloping horse. + +"It's turned about!" gasped Harry, in astonishment. + +"It's going!" fluttered Jack. + +"And we'd better be going, too!" put in Browning. + +Then with a familiar whirring sound something came flying toward them +through the darkness, causing Toots to utter a wild shriek of terror. + +Into the light of the camp-fire flashed a boy who was mounted on a +bicycle, and they saw it was Frank Merriwell. + +"Away!" he hissed, as he flew past them. "Make straight for the pass +by which we entered this pocket. I will join you." + +Then he was gone. + +Browning gave Toots a sharp shake, fiercely whispering: + +"Mount your wheel and keep with us if you want to save your scalp! If +you don't you will be left behind." + +Then the boys leaped upon their bicycles and were away in a moment, +before the prostrate Indians had recovered from the shock of terror +given them by the appearance of the skeleton horse and rider. + +For the time Bruce Browning took the lead, and the others followed +him. Toots had heeded the big fellow's warning words, and he was not +left behind. + +Barely had they passed beyond the range of the firelight and +disappeared in the darkness when wild yells of anger came from behind +them, and they knew the Indians had discovered they were gone. + +"Bend low! bend low!" hissed Diamond. "They may take a fancy to shoot +after us! Stoop, fellows!" + +Stoop they did, bending low over the handlebars of their bicycles. + +Bang! bang! bang! + +The Indians fired several shots, and they heard some of the bullets +whistle past, but they were not hit. + +"Well, that's what I call luck!" muttered the young Virginian. + +"What do you call luck?" asked Rattleton. + +"The appearance of that skeleton horse and rider in time to scare the +Indians and give us a chance to get away." + +"Oh!" said Harry, sarcastically, "I didn't know but it was Merry's +return. I told you he would not desert us." + +"I wonder how he happened to come back just then?" + +"He came back because he was watching for an opportunity to help us, +and he saw we had a splendid chance to get away while the redskins +were scared by the appearance of the horse and rider. You ought to +know him well enough to know he is not the fellow to desert his +friends in a scrape like this." + +Diamond was silent. + +"I wonder where Frank is?" said Browning. "He said he would join us, +and he is----" + +"Right here, old man," said a cheerful voice, as a flying bicycle +brought Merriwell out of the darkness to Browning's side. "This way, +fellows! We'll hit the pass and get out of here as soon as we can." + +"Lawd bress yeh, Marser Frank!" cried Toots, joyfully. "I didn't +know's I'd see yeh no mo', boy!" + +"I hope you didn't think I had left you for good?" + +"No, sar!" declared the colored boy. "I done knows yeh better dan dat, +sar! I knowed yeh'd come back, but I was afeared yeh'd come back too +late, sar. Dem Injunses was gittin' po'erful anxious fo' dis yar wool +ob mine--yes, sar!" + +"Well, I am glad to know you thought I would not desert you. I don't +want any of my friends to think I would go back on them in the hour of +need." + +Diamond was silent. + +The pass was found without difficulty, and they went speeding through +it. + +"How did you happen to turn up just then, Frank?" asked Harry. + +"I was waiting for a chance to come to you, and I saw the chance when +that horse and rider frightened the Indians." + +"The horse and rider--where are they?" asked Browning. + +"Gone through the pass ahead of us." + +"Mah gracious!" exclaimed the colored boy. "What if dat ol' debbil +teks a noshun teh wait fu' us?" + +"What sort of ghost business was it, anyway?" questioned Rattleton. +"It seemed to be a skeleton horse and a skeleton rider, and it +disappeared in a twinkling. I will admit this skeleton business is +beginning to work on my nerves." + +"It is rather creepish," laughed Frank; "but I do not think it is very +dangerous." + +"All the same, you do not attempt to explain the mystery." + +"Not now." + +"Not now? Can you later?" + +"Perhaps so." + +"It is plain he knows no more about it than the rest of us," said +Diamond. "As for me, I am getting sick of seeking vanishing lakes and +vanishing skeletons. If I get out of this part of the country alive, +you'll never catch me here again." + +"Meh, too!" exclaimed Toots. + +"Well, I don't know as any of us will care to revisit it," laughed +Frank. "Anyway, we have been very lucky in escaping from those +Indians. That you can't deny." + +"You fooled them easily," said Rattleton. + +"Yes, and they did not even take a shot at me, which was a surprise. I +expected they would pop away a few times." + +"What are we going to do after we get out on the open desert again?" +asked Jack. "It seems to me we'll be as bad off as ever." + +"We'll have to go around the range to the south, or wait for the +Indians to get away from that water-hole, so we can go through the +mountains as we originally intended." + +"The Indians may not go away." + +"I rather think they have been scared so they'll not hang around there +long. I don't fancy they'll be anywhere in the vicinity by morning." + +"If they are gone----" + +"We'll be all right, providing we can make our hard bread and dried +beef hold out till we can reach one of the small railroad towns." + +"How far away is the railroad?" + +"Not much over fifty miles." + +"That is easy!" declared Rattleton. "We can make it on a spurt!" + +As they reached the eastern opening of the pass their attention was +attracted by a bright light that seemed to shine out from the very +niche where they had found the jewel-decorated skeleton. + +"What does that mean?" exclaimed Jack, in astonishment. + +"Land ob wartermillions!" gasped Toots. "It am de debbil's light fo' +suah, chilluns! Don' yeh go near it!" + +"By Jove!" cried Frank. "That is worth investigating! Come on, +fellows!" + +He headed straight toward the light, and as they came near the niche +they saw the bejeweled skeleton was again seated as they had seen it +in the first place, and a bright flood of light was shining upon it +from some mysterious place. + +"It's back!" exclaimed Harry, in astonishment. + +"Sure enough!" said Frank. "It is on deck again." + +"I tells yeh to keep away from dat skillerton!" shouted Toots. "Hit am +gwan teh grab yo' this time if yo' gits near hit!" + +"We'll take chances on that," declared Frank. "This time we won't give +it time to get away, but we'll go right up and examine it." + +"That's what we will!" agreed Harry. + +But even as he spoke, the light disappeared, and this made it +impossible for them to see anything up there in that dark nook. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" + +Again they heard the mocking laughter, smothered, hollow and ghostly +in sound. + +"Somebody is having lots of fun with us," said Frank, as he leaped +from his wheel. "It may be a good joke, but I fail to see where the +'ha, ha,' comes in." + +"Is the skeleton gone?" + +"I don't know, but I'll mighty soon find out." + +Without hesitation he swung himself up to the niche in the rocks, and +Rattleton followed, determined that Frank should not go alone into +danger. + +Harry afterward confessed that he was shivering all over when he +climbed up there in the darkness, but his fear did not keep him from +sticking to Merry. + +A cry broke from Frank's lips. + +"What is it?" called Browning, from below. + +"By the eternal skies, it's gone again!" + +"Didn't I tole yeh!" cried Toots, from a distance. "Come erway from +dar, Marser Frank! If yo' don', yo's gwan teh be grabbed!" + +"It is gone!" agreed Rattleton. "This beats the Old Nick!" + +Again they heard that mocking laugh, which seemed to come down from +some point above their heads. + +"Wooh!" shivered Harry. "That sounds pleasant!" + +"Hang it all!" exclaimed Frank, in a voice that indicated chagrin. "I +don't like to be made fun of this way! If we don't solve this mystery +before we go away I shall always regret it." + +"Beware!" + +It was the same voice that had uttered the warning when they were +riding into the pass, and now, in the darkness of night, it sounded +even more dismal and uncanny than before. + +"Come out and show yourself," called Frank. + +For some time the boys remained there, but they were forced to abandon +the task of solving the mystery that night. Frank descended to the +ground with no small reluctance, and Harry kept close to him. They +mounted their wheels and rode away once more, fully expecting to hear +the mocking laughter, or the ghostly voice calling after them. In +this, however, they were disappointed, as nothing of the kind +happened. + +After they had ridden some distance, Frank proposed that they halt for +the night. + +"We are in for an open-air camp to-night," he said. "It is something +we did not expect, but it can't be helped, and as the night is not +cold I think we can get along all right. We need rest, too." + +"That's right," agreed Bruce. "I feel as if I need about a week of +steady resting, but I don't care to take it here." + +"How about the Indians?" asked Jack. "We are not very far from them, +and they might find us." + +"I scarcely think there is any danger of that." + +"Why not?" + +"Those redskins were so badly frightened that they'll not go hunting +after white boys to-night. It is more likely they will skin out and +make for the Shoshone Reservation, on which they must belong." + +"But what if they should happen to follow us?" Jack persisted. + +"We must take turns at standing guard to-night, and the guard should +be able to give us warning of danger in time for us to mount our +wheels and get away." + +It was plain that Diamond was not in favor of stopping there, but he +said no more. + +Fortunately the night was warm, so they suffered no discomfort by +sleeping thus. No dew fell out there on the desert. + +It was arranged that Diamond should stand guard first, while Frank +came second, with Toots for the last guard toward morning. + +They ate some of the hard bread and jerked beef and then threw +themselves down, with their bicycles near at hand, so they could +spring up and mount in a hurry if necessary. + +Browning was the first to stretch himself on the ground, and he was +snoring almost immediately. The others soon fell asleep. + +The rim of a round, red moon was showing away to the eastward when +Jack awoke Frank. + +"How is it?" Merriwell asked. "Have you heard or seen anything +suspicious?" + +"Not a thing," was the reply. "All is still as death out here--far too +still. I don't like it." + +"Well, it is not real jolly," confessed Frank, with a light laugh; +"but I don't think we need to be worried about visitors; and that is +one good thing." + +Jack was fast asleep in a short time. + +Morning came, and Toots was the first to awaken. Dawn was breaking in +the east as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and muttering: + +"Good land! dat am de hardes' spring mattrus dis coon ebber snoozed +on--yes, sar! Nebber struck nuffin' lek dat befo'." + +Then he looked around in some surprise. + +"Gracious sakes!" he continued. "Whar am de hotel? It done moved away +in de night an' lef' us." + +It was some time before he realized that they had not put up at a +hotel the night before. + +"Reckum dis is whar we stopped las' night," he finally said. "I +'membah 'bout dat now. We was ter tek turns watchin'. I ain't took no +turn at all, an' it's wamnin'. He! he! he! Guess de chap dat was ter +wake me fell asleep hisself an' clean fergot it. Dat meks meh 'bout so +much sleep ahaid ob de game." + +He was feeling good over this when he noticed that three forms were +stretched on the ground near at hand, instead of four. + +"Whar am de odder one?" he muttered. "One ob dem boys am gone fo' +suah. Land ob wartermillions! What do hit mean? Dar am Dimun, an' dar +am Rattletum, an' dar am Brownin', but whar--whar am Marser Frank?" + +In a moment he was filled with alarm, and he lost no time in grasping +Harry's shoulder and giving it a shake, while he cried: + +"Wek up heah, yo' sleepy haid--wek up, I tells yeh! Dar's suffin' +wrong heah, ur I's a fool nigger!" + +"Muts the whatter?" mumbled Rattleton, sleepily. "Can't you let a +fellow sleep a minute? It isn't my turn yet." + +"Yoah turn!" shouted Toots. "Wek up, yo' fool! It's done come mawnin', +an' dar's suffin' happened." + +"Eh?" grunted Harry, starting up and rubbing his eyes. "Why the moon +is just rising." + +"Moon!" snorted the colored boy. "Dat's de sun comin' up! An' I don't +beliebe yo' took yoah turn keepin' watch." + +Browning grunted and rolled over, flinging out one arm and giving +Toots a crack on the neck that keeled him over on the ground. + +"Landy goodness!" squealed the darky, grasping his neck with both +hands. "What yo' tryin' ter do, boy? Want ter coon? Nebber seen such +car'less pusson, sar!" + +"Oh, shut up your racket!" growled the big college lad. "I'm not half +rested yet. Call me when breakfast is ready." + +"Yo'll done git yeh own breakfas' dis mawnin', sar; but befo' dar's +any breakfas' we's gwan ter know what has become of Marser Frank. He's +gone." + +"Gone?" replied Bruce, sitting up with remarkable quickness. + +"Gone?" ejaculated Harry, popping up as if he were worked by springs. + +"Gone where?" asked Diamond, also sitting up and staring around. + +"Dat's jes' what I wants ter know, chilluns," declared Toots. "Dat boy +ain't heah, an' I's po'erful feared de old skillerton debbil has +cotched him." + +"Why--why," said Jack, "I woke him and he took my place." + +"But nobody roused me," declared Rattleton. + +"Nor me," asserted Browning. + +"Git up, chilluns--git up!" squealed Toots, excitedly. "We's gotter +find dat boy in a hurry! 'Spect he's in a berry bad scrape!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED. + + +By this time the boys were fully aroused. An investigation showed that +Merriwell's wheel was gone. + +"Didn't I tole yeh old debbil skillerton would done cotch some ob us!" +cried Toots, in great distress. + +"I hardly understand what the skeleton could have wanted with Merry's +wheel," observed Browning. + +"G'way dar, boy! Didn' de skillerton ride a hawse!" + +"And you think it is an up-to-date skeleton that has decided to ride a +bicycle hereafter. In that case, I congratulate Mr. Skeleton on his +good sense." + +"It must be that Frank has gone on a ride without saying anything to +us," said Jack. "I do not see any other way of explaining it." + +"But why should he do such a thing?" asked Rattleton. + +"That is where you stick me." + +Browning slowly shook his head. + +"It is remarkable that he should do such a thing without saying +anything to us," declared the big fellow. + +"And he must have taken that ride in the night," said Jack. + +"While he should have been on guard," added Harry. + +The boys stood looking at each other in sober dismay. + +"It isn't possible that Merry could have gone daffy," muttered +Rattleton. "He is too well balanced for that." + +"I don't know," came gloomily from Diamond. "This dismal, burning +desert is enough to turn the brain of any fellow." + +"Yah!" cried Toots. "Don' yeh git no noshun dat boy ebber had his +brain turned! It am de weak brains dat git turned dat way. His brain +was all right, but I jes' know fo' suah dat he hab been cotched." + +"And I suppose you want to run away as soon as possible before you are +'cotched?'" + +Then the colored boy surprised them all by saying: + +"No, sar, I don' want teh go 'way till we knows what hab become ob +Marser Frank. Dat boy alwus stick by his frien's, an' dis coon am +reddy teh stick by him, even if he do git cotched." + +"Good stuff, Toots!" cried Rattleton, approvingly. "You are all right! +If anything has happened to Frank we'll know what it is or leave our +bones here." + +The boys were worried. They hurriedly talked over the remarkable +disappearance, trying to arrive at an understanding of its meaning. + +At length it was agreed that Frank might have gone back to try to +solve the mystery of the skeleton, and then they decided that two of +the party should remain where they had made their night bivouac, while +the other two proceeded to search for Merriwell. + +Diamond insisted on being one of the searchers, and Rattleton was +determined to be the other, so Browning and Toots were left behind. + +The boys mounted their wheels and rode back toward the pass through +the bluffs. + +Diamond was downcast again. + +"Everything is going against us," he declared. "There is fate in it. I +am afraid we'll not get out of this wretched desert." + +"Oh, you're unwell, that's what's the matter with you!" declared +Harry, scornfully. "I'll be glad when you are yourself again." + +"That's all right," muttered Diamond. "You are too thoughtless, that's +what's the matter with you." + +They approached the spot where the mysterious skeleton had been seen, +and both were watching for the niche in the rocks. + +Suddenly they were startled by hearing a wild cry from far above their +heads, and looking upward they saw Frank Merriwell running along the +very brink of the cliff, but limping badly, as if he were lame. + +But what astonished and startled them the most was to see a +strange-looking, bare-headed man, who was in close pursuit of Frank. +Above his head the man wildly flourished a gleaming, long-bladed +knife, while he uttered loud cries of rage. + +"Smoly hoke!" cried Harry. "Will you look at that!" + +Diamond suddenly grew intensely excited. + +"What can we do?--what can we do?" he exclaimed. "Frank is hurt! That +creature is running him down! He will murder him!" + +"If Merry had a pistol he would be all right." + +"But he hasn't! We must do something, Harry--we must!" + +"Neither of us has a gun." + +"No, but----" + +"We can't get up there." + +"But we must do something!" + +"We can't!" + +Jack grew more and more frantic. He leaped from his wheel and seemed +to be looking for some place to try to scale the face of the bluff. + +"Oh, if I could get up there!" he groaned. "I'd show Frank that I was +ready to stand by him! I'd fight that man barehanded!" + +And Rattleton did not doubt it, for he well knew how hot-blooded +Diamond was, and the young Virginian had never failed to fight when +the occasion arose. He would not shirk any kind of an encounter. + +Merriwell saw them and shouted something to them, but they could not +understand what he said. + +"Turn! turn!" screamed Jack. "You must fight that man, or he will stab +you in the back! He is going to strike you!" + +Frank seemed to hear and comprehend, for he suddenly wheeled about and +made a stand. In a moment the man with the knife had rushed upon him +and struck with that gleaming blade. + +A groan escaped Jack's lips as he saw that blow, but it turned to a +gasp of relief when Frank stopped it by catching the man's wrist. + +"Give it to him! Give it to him!" shrieked Diamond, dancing around in +a wild frenzy of anxiety and fear. + +Then the boys below witnessed a terrific struggle on the heights above +them. + +The man seemed mad with a desire to plunge the knife into Frank, and +it was plain that Merriwell did not wish to harm the unknown, but was +trying to disarm him. + +"What folly! what folly!" panted Diamond. "He'll get his hand free and +stab Merry sure! Beat him down, Frank--beat him down!" + +Once Frank slipped and fell to his knees. A fierce yell of triumph +broke from the man, and it seemed that he would succeed in using the +knife at last. + +With a groan of anguish Diamond covered his eyes that he might not +witness the death of the friend he loved. For Jack Diamond did love +Frank Merriwell, for all that he had complained against him of late. + +A cry of relief from Rattleton caused Jack to look up again, and he +saw Frank had regained his feet and was continuing the battle. + +And now the man fought with a fury that was nerve thrilling to +witness. His movements were swift and savage, and he tried again and +again to draw the knife across Frank's throat. + +Jack and Harry scarcely breathed until, with a display of strength and +skill, Frank disarmed his assailant by giving his arm a wrench, +causing the knife to fly through the air and fall over the edge of the +cliff. + +Down to the ground below rattled the knife, and then Diamond said: + +"Now Frank will be able to handle the fellow!" + +But, flinging his arms about the boy, the man made a mad effort to +spring over the brink. For some seconds, locked thus in each other's +arms, man and boy tottered on the very verge, and then they swayed +back. + +Frank broke the hold of the man, striking him a heavy blow a second +later. The man reeled and dropped on the edge of the precipice. He +scrambled up hastily, but a great slice of rock cleaved off beneath +his feet and went plunging downward. + +Then the watching boys saw the unknown tottering on the brink, wildly +waving his arms in an endeavor to regain his balance. Frank sprang +forward to aid him. + +Too late! + +With a wild scream of despair, the strange man toppled over and +whirled downward to his death. + +Frank climbed down. + +"It's all up with him, poor fellow," said he, as he stood near the +body of the unknown man, looking down at the face that was white and +calm and peaceful in death. + +"Who is he?" asked Harry. + +"What is he?" asked Jack. + +"I am afraid those questions cannot be answered," confessed Frank. +"That he was a raving maniac I am sure, and he lived in a remarkable +cave close at hand; but who he is or how he came to be there in that +cave I do not know." + +"Well, how you came to be up there with him running you down to stick +a knife in you is what I want to know," said Harry. + +"That's right," Jack nodded. "Explain it, old man." + +Then Frank told them how, after the moon rose the night before, he had +taken his wheel with the intention of riding around the camp, feeling +he could keep watch as well that way as any. After the moon was well +up, he saw there was no one anywhere about, and a desire to revisit +the spot where they had seen the skeleton seized upon him. He rode to +the spot, but there was no skeleton in the niche among the rocks. +Leaving his bicycle, he climbed up there to examine once more, and to +his astonishment, found that what seemed to be a solid, immovable +stone had turned in some manner, disclosing an opening. + +Then, with reckless curiosity, Frank resolved to investigate further, +and he descended into the opening, found some stone steps, and was +soon in a cavern. The first thing he discovered was the skeleton, +still decorated as the boys had seen it in the first place, and he +remained there till he found how it could be placed in view on the +block of stone and then removed in a twinkling. He also found a lamp +with a strong reflector, which had thrown its light on the skeleton +from a hole in the rocks. There was another opening near that, where a +person in the cave could look out on the desert, and Frank knew the +ghostly voice they had heard must have come from that place. + +Merriwell continued his investigations, having lighted the lamp, by +the light of which he wandered through the cave. Suddenly he came face +to face with an old man, who seemed surprised, but spoke quietly to +him. + +The old man declared he was "Prof. Morris Fillmore," but did not say +what he was professor of, and he volunteered to explain everything to +the boy. + +This he did, telling how he worked the skeleton to frighten away those +who might molest him in his solitude, as he wished to be alone. There +was another entrance to the cave, and, in a large, airy chamber a +horse was kept. The horse was coal black, but on one side of him was +drawn the outlines of the skeleton frame of a horse, and the strange +old man explained that he had a suit of clothes on one side of which +he had traced the skeleton of a human being. This had been done with +phosphorus, and it glowed with a white light in the darkness. + +The old hermit had entered the pocket and ridden near the camp of the +Indians. When he turned about the skeleton tracings in phosphorus +could not be seen, and so the ghostly horse and rider seemed to +disappear in a most marvelous manner. + +Frank questioned him concerning the treasure, and the old man seemed +to grow excited and suspicious. He said something about the treasure +being the property of some one who had fled from the destroying angels +of the Mormons in the old days, but had perished in the desert. Frank +was led to believe that the skeleton was that of the original owner of +the treasure. + +But when the boy would have left the cave the stranger told him he +could not do so. He informed Frank that he could never go out again, +and then it was that the boy became sure Fillmore was crazy. + +As the man was armed, Frank decided to use strategy. First he sought +to lull the man's suspicions, and after being watched closely for +hours he found a chance to slip away. + +Almost immediately the man discovered what had happened and pursued. +By chance Frank fled out through a passage that led upward till the +top of the bluff was reached, but he fell and sprained his ankle, so +he was unable to get away. The hermit followed, and the mad battle for +life took place. + +"Well, this is amazing!" gasped Jack. "What are you going to do with +that treasure?" + +"Take it to some place for safe deposit and advertise for the legal +heirs of Prof. Millard Fillmore." + +"And if no heirs appear----" + +"The treasure will belong to us." + +"Hurrah!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A NIGHT ADVENTURE. + + +Frank's plan was carried out. All the treasure was removed from the +cavern in which the mysterious old hermit was buried. The hermit's +horse was set free, and the boys carried the treasure to Ullin, +Nevada, where it was shipped to Carson and deposited in a bank there. + +"If it is not claimed in a year's time, boys," said Frank, "we will go +about the work of having it evenly divided among us. In that case we +will have made a good thing out of this trip across the continent." + +Nothing more was seen of the Indians, and the boys continued on their +trip until Carson City was reached. + +One evening Frank was strolling along alone when a shrill, piercing +cry of pain, ending abruptly, cut the still evening air. + +"Hello!" muttered Frank, as he paused to listen. "Something is wrong +with the person who gave that call." + +He listened. In a moment the cry was repeated, and this time it ended +with a distinct appeal for help. + +Frank was unarmed, but he was aroused by the thought that a fellow +being was in distress, and he ran quickly to a dark corner, from +beyond which the cry had seemed to come. + +To the left was a dark and narrow street, which looked rather +forbidding and dangerous. + +"I believe the cry came from this street," said Frank, to himself. "If +there were a few lights----" + +"Help!" + +There could be no mistake this time; the cry did come from that +street. A short distance away in the darkness a struggle seemed to be +going on. Frank could hear the sound of blows, hoarse breathing, +muttered exclamations and cries of pain. + +"Some fellow is being done up there!" thought the boy from Yale. + +Without further hesitation he ran toward the point from which the +sounds seemed to come. + +In a moment Frank was close upon two dark forms that were battling +fiercely on the ground. He could see them indistinctly in the +darkness. + +"Ah-h-h, you little whelp!" snarled a harsh voice "So ye will run +away, hey? Well, ye'll never run away no more after this!" + +"Oh, please, please don't beat me so!" pleaded a weak voice. "You--you +are killing me! Oh! oh! oh!" + +"I'll make ye 'oh, oh, oh!'" grated the other. + +Then the blows fell thick and fast. + +"Here, you miserable brute!" rang out the clear voice of Frank. "You +ought to be shot!" + +Then he grasped the figure that was uppermost and attempted to drag +him off the other. + +To Frank's surprise, although the attack had been sudden, he did not +succeed in snatching the assailant from the unfortunate person he was +beating. + +"Get out!" roared a bull-like voice. "Lemme alone, or I'll cut yer +hide open! This is none of your business!" + +"Help, sir--help!" cried the weak voice. "He has beaten me nearly to +death! He will kill me!" + +"Ye oughter be killed, ye ungrateful little whelp!" + +"Break away!" commanded Frank, as he lifted them both by a wonderful +outlay of strength and literally tore them apart. + +The one who had been assailed could not keep on his feet, but swayed +weakly and sank to the ground. + +With a sound that was like the snarl of a ferocious beast, the other +grappled with Frank. He was so short that he stood not much higher +than Frank's waist, but his shoulders were wonderfully broad, and he +had arms that were almost long enough to reach the ground when he was +on his feet. + +"Great heavens!" thought Merriwell. "What is this I have run against? +Is it a human gorilla?" + +And then he found that the creature possessed marvelous strength, for +Frank was literally lifted off his feet and flung prostrate, the other +coming down upon him. + +The fall came about so suddenly that Frank was dazed, and his breath +was nearly knocked out of his body. For a moment he did nothing, and +the creature scrambled up and grasped the fallen lad by the throat +with hands that were like iron. + +"Bother with me, will ye!" snarled that beastlike voice. "I'll fix ye +so ye won't do it no more!" + +Frank felt that he was in deadly peril, and that caused him to clutch +the man's wrists and hold fast. + +He saw something uplifted, and he knew well enough that the furious +creature had drawn a weapon of some sort. + +"Look out!" panted the weak voice from close at hand. "He will kill +you! He has a knife!" + +Then, as Merriwell used all his strength to hold back that uplifted +hand, he began to realize that, athlete though he was, he was no match +for the person he had tackled. + +The strength of those long arms was something wonderful, for little by +little the man forced Frank's hand back, and his knife approached the +boy's breast. + +Merriwell felt that his power of resistance might give out suddenly at +any instant, and then the blade would be driven to its hilt. + +He was desperate and frantic, for there was something awfully +horrifying in the steady manner in which that knife was forced nearer +and nearer. + +Cold sweat started out all over him, and he panted for breath, while +it seemed that his madly leaping heart would burst from his bosom. + +He could see two glaring eyes that seemed to shine with a baleful +light of their own in the darkness. He could see the writhing features +of a ghastly face, and he could hear the creature grate his teeth. + +Nearer and nearer came the blade. + +Crying and panting, the one whom Frank had attempted to save got upon +his feet, swayed a bit, and then steadied himself with a great effort. + +"You shall not do it--you shall not!" he gasped. + +Then he flung himself on the man, seeking to drag him from the +prostrate lad. + +Frank saw that the time had come to make a last effort for the +mastery, and so, aided by the other, he succeeded in forcing his +opponent back enough so he could squirm out from beneath. + +In a moment Frank gained his feet, and then, as the man with the knife +came up, out shot the fist of the young athlete. + +Smack! + +The blow landed fairly, sounding clear and distinct. + +Over went the dwarf, and the knife flew out of his hands, falling with +a clattering ring upon some stones. + +Merriwell knew he must follow up his advantage, but he was barely +quick enough, for the fallen ruffian scrambled to his feet with the +nimbleness of a cat. + +But again Frank struck the fellow, using all his skill and muscle. He +barely escaped being clutched by those long arms, but the dwarf was +knocked down once more. + +The sounds which came from the throat of the man were decidedly +unpleasant to hear. They did not seem to be words, but were a +succession of snarls. + +By the time Frank had struck the creature again, he did not scramble +up so quickly. + +At that moment, having heard the sounds of the struggle, some person +brought a light to the broken window of an old house that stood almost +within the limits of the street. + +That light shone out and fell full on the dwarf man as he was rising +to his feet after the third blow. His long arms were extended so that +his hands lay on the ground, and he was standing in a crouching +position on all fours. His face was pale as marble, and disfigured by +a red scar that ran down his left cheek from his temple to the corner +of his mouth. His eyes were set near together, and were blazing with +ferocity. + +Taken altogether, Frank thought that the most horrible face he had +ever seen. + +The light seemed to startle the horrid-appearing creature, and, with a +low, grating cry of baffled fury, he turned and ran swiftly away, +still in a somewhat crouching position, his hands almost touching the +ground, while he made queer leaps and bounds. + +In a moment the dwarf had disappeared. + +Frank gave a breath of relief. + +"Good riddance!" muttered the lad from Yale. + +Then he turned to look for the person he had saved from the dwarf. + +That person had disappeared. + +"Gone!" exclaimed Merriwell, in astonishment and regret. "He must have +been frightened away during the last of the struggle. He was weak, and +he may not have gone far." + +Frank resolved to search, and immediately set about doing so. He had +not proceeded far when he came upon a form stretched motionless on the +ground. + +A hasty examination showed Frank it was a boy, who seemed to have +fainted. + +"It is the chap the dwarf was beating!" decided Merriwell. + +He lifted the unconscious boy in his arms, tossing him over one +shoulder, and started toward the lighted street. + +"I must take the poor fellow to the hotel, and then we'll see what can +be done for him. He seems to be in a bad way." + +By the time the lighted street was reached the boy recovered +consciousness. He struggled a bit, moaned slightly, and then, in a +pathetic, pleading voice, he said: + +"Please don't take me back to Bernard Belmont, Apollo--please don't! I +know he will kill me!" + +"Don't be afraid," said Frank, gently. "I am not taking you to any one +who will harm you." + +A cry of astonishment broke from the boy. + +"Why," he exclaimed, "you are not Apollo!" + +"No; I am Frank Merriwell. Who is Apollo?" + +"A dwarf--a wretch--the hired tool of Bernard Belmont! Oh, he is a +monster, without heart or soul!" + +"He must be the one with whom I had the lively little set-to." + +"You--you came to my aid--you saved me from him! How can I thank you! +But I thought he would kill you!" + +"And so he might if you hadn't helped me throw him off. You did it +just in time, and I believe you saved my life." + +"Oh, but he had a knife--I could see it! And I knew he would use it. +He has such wonderful strength." + +"He is strong." + +"Strong! I do not see how you held him off! But I could see him +forcing the knife nearer and nearer, and I grew frantic, for it seemed +that you would be killed before my eyes." + +"I was rather anxious myself," confessed Frank, with something like a +laugh. + +"It was a nasty position." + +"I don't know how I dared touch him, but I remember that I did. Then +you flung him off and got up. After that, I remember that you were +fighting, and I felt sure you could not conquer him. He would get the +best of you in the end, and then he'd finish me. I was scared and +tried to run away; but I did not go far before I became sick and weak, +and--and I don't remember anything more." + +"You fainted." + +"And you whipped Apollo?" + +"Not exactly. I knocked him down a few times, but he seemed to spring +to his feet almost as soon as he went down. Then somebody brought a +light to a window and he was scared away." + +The boy clung to Frank. + +"He did not go far!" he excitedly whispered. "He is not far away! He +is liable to spring upon us any time! Bernard Belmont has sent him for +me, and he will not rest till he gets me. Oh, I must get +away--quick--to my sister! She is near--so near now! But my strength +is gone, and--and----" + +The boy began to cough, and each convulsion shook him from head to +feet. There was a hollow, dreadful sound about that cough--a sound +that gave Frank a chill. + +"Never mind if your strength is gone," said Merriwell, encouragingly. +"You'll get along all right, for I'll stick by you and see that you +do." + +"You are so kind!" + +"What's your name?" + +"George Morris." + +"Where do you live--here in Carson?" + +"Oh, no, no! I live in Ohio." + +"That is a long distance away." + +"Yes, sir." + +"How do you happen to be here?" + +The boy hesitated, seeming in doubt and fear, and then, with what +appeared to be a sudden impulse, he said: + +"I am going to tell you--I am going to tell you everything. Put me +down here. Let's rest. I am tired, and I must be heavy." + +They sat down on some steps, the boy seeking to keep in the shadow, +showing he feared being seen. + +"It's--it's like this," he began, weakly. "I--I ran away." + +"Oh-ho!" exclaimed Frank. + +The lad quickly, almost fearfully, clutched his arms. + +"Don't think I ran away foolishly!" he exclaimed, coughing again. +"I--I came out here to find my sister, who is buried." + +"Then your sister is dead?" + +"No." + +"Not dead? You said she is buried. How can a person be buried and not +be dead?" + +Frank began to think it possible the boy was rather "daffy." + +"There--there's lots to the story," came painfully from the boy. "I +can't tell you all. The letter said she was buried--buried so deep +that Bernard Belmont could never find her. That letter was from Uncle +Carter." + +"Uncle Carter?" + +"My father's brother, Carter Morris. He lives somewhere in the +mountains west of Lake Tahoe. He has a mine up there, and he is very +queer. He thinks everybody wants to steal his mine, and he will let no +one know where it is located. They say the ore he has brought here +into Carson is of marvelous richness. Men have tried to follow him, +but he has always succeeded in flinging them off the trail. Never have +they tracked him to his mine." + +"Then he is something of a hermit?" + +"Yes, he is a hermit, and my sister is with him. He wrote that she was +buried deep in the earth--that must be in his mine." + +"How did your sister come to be with him?" + +"I helped her--I helped her get away!" panted the boy, excitedly. "I +knew they meant to kill us both!" + +"They? Who?" + +"Bernard Belmont and Apollo." + +"Who is Bernard Belmont?" + +"My stepfather. He married my mother, after the death of my father. He +is a handsome man, but he has a wicked face, and he is a wretch--a +wretch!" + +The boy grew excited suddenly, almost screaming his words, while he +struck his clinched hands together feebly. + +"Steady," warned Frank. "You must not get so excited." + +The boy began to cough, holding both hands to his breast. For some +minutes he was shaken by that convulsive cough. + +"Come," said Frank, "let me get you to the hotel. You must have a +doctor. There must be no further delay." + +"No, stop!" and the boy held to Merriwell's arm. "I must tell you now. +I seem to feel that my strength is going--going! I must tell you! +He--he killed my mother!" + +"Who--Bernard Belmont?" + +"Yes, yes!" + +"Killed her? You charge him with that?" + +"I do. He killed her by inches. He tortured her to death by his +abusive treatment--he frightened my poor mother to death. And then, +when he found everything had been left to us--my sister and +myself--then he set about the task of destroying us by inches. It was +fixed so that he could get hold of everything with us out of the way, +and he----" + +Another fit of coughing came on, and, when it was finished, the boy +was too weak to proceed with the story. + +"You shall have a doctor immediately!" cried Frank, as he lifted the +lad and again started for the hotel. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE STORY. + + +Frank succeeded in getting George Morris to the hotel, took him to a +room, and put him on the bed. + +"Do not leave me!" pleaded the boy. "Apollo will come and carry me off +if you do. Stay here with me!" + +"I'll stay," assured Frank; "but I must find some of my friends and +send for a physician. You must have a doctor right away." + +Bruce, Diamond and Toots had gone out, but he found Harry, and told +him what was desired. Harry started out to search for a doctor, while +Frank returned to the boy, who was in a state of great agitation when +he re-entered the room. + +"Oh, I thought you would never come!" coughed the unfortunate lad. +"You were away so long!" + +He was thin and pale, with deep-sunken eyes, which, however, were +strangely bright. He was poorly and scantily dressed, and the hand +that lay on his bosom seemed so thin that it was almost transparent. +One of his eyes had been struck by the fist of the brutish dwarf, and +was turning purple. On one cheek there was a great bruise and a slight +cut. + +Frank's heart had gone out in sympathy to this unfortunate lad, and he +was filled with rage when he thought how brutally the poor boy had +been treated. + +Merriwell sat down on the edge of the bed, and took that thin, white +hand. It felt like a little bundle of bones, and was so cold that it +gave Frank a shudder. + +"You are very ill," declared the boy from Yale. "I believe you have +been starved." + +"That was one way in which he tried to get rid of us," said George. + +"You are speaking of Bernard Belmont?" + +"Yes." + +"He tried to starve you?" + +"Yes, and my sister also. Little Milly! You should see her! She is +such a sweet girl, and she is so good! I don't see how he had the +heart to torture her." + +"This Belmont must be a human brute!" cried Merriwell, in anger. "He +deserves to be broken on the wheel!" + +"He is a brute!" weakly cried the boy. "He killed my mother--my dear, +sweet mother! Oh, she was so good, and so beautiful! She loved us +so--Milly and me! Listen, my dear friend," and the the boy drew Frank +closer. "I--I think he--poisoned her!" + +These words were whispered in a tone of such horror and grief that the +soul of the listening lad was made to quiver like the vibrating +strings of a violin when touched by the bow. + +"You mustn't think about that now," said Frank, soothingly. "It will +hurt you to think about it." + +"But I must, for, do you know, dear friend, I feel sure I shall not +have long to think of it." + +"What do you mean?" asked Merry, with a chill. + +"Something--something tells me the end is near. Apollo, he hurt +me--here." + +The boy pressed one hand to his breast and coughed again. + +"You are excited--you are frightened," declared Frank. "You will be +all right in the morning. The doctor will fix you up all right. You +shall have the very best food you can eat, and I'll see that you +receive the tenderest care." + +The eyes of the lad on the bed filled with tears and his lips +quivered, while he gazed at Frank with a look of love. + +"You are so good!" he said, weakly, but with deep feeling. "Why are +you so good to me--a stranger?" + +"Because I like you, and you are in trouble." + +"There are not many like you--not many! I know I can trust you, and I +do wish you would do something for me!" + +"I will. Tell me what it is. I promise in advance." + +"I don't want you to promise till you know what it is, for I have no +right to ask so much of you." + +"Very well. Tell me." + +"When I am dead, for I know I shall not last long--will you find my +sister and tell her everything? Tell her how near I came to reaching +her, and let her know that I am gone. She loves me. I am only fifteen, +but she is eighteen and very beautiful. She looks like my angel +mother. Dear little Milly! Will you do this?" + +"I will do it, if the occasion arises; but we'll have you all right in +a short time, and you will go to her yourself." + +"If I recover, I shall not be able to go to her." + +"Why not?" + +"Bernard Belmont has followed me, and he will drag me back to the old +prison--I know it." + +"He shall not!" exclaimed Frank, with determination. + +"The law is with him," said the boy, weakly. "He has the best of it, +for he is my legal guardian." + +"At that he has no right to abuse you, and he can be deprived of +guardianship over you. It shall be done." + +But no light of hope illumined the face of the unfortunate boy. + +"It will be no use," George said. "He has starved me and beaten me. He +has drenched me with water, and left me where it was icy cold, so that +I have been awfully ill. And all the time I had this--this cough." + +Frank leaped to his feet and paced the small room like a caged tiger, +his soul wrought to an intense fury at the thought of the treatment +the boy had received. He longed for power to punish the monster who +had perpetrated such dastardly acts. + +"Your sister," he finally asked--"did this brute treat her thus?" + +"Nearly as bad, but she was older and stronger." + +"Tell me, how did your sister get away from him?" + +"We planned to run away together, and then I became so ill that I +could not. I--I made her leave me. I told her she must find Uncle +Carter--must let him know everything. It was our only hope. He must +save us." + +"But how did she reach your uncle?" + +"It was this way: We knew where Bernard Belmont kept some money in a +little safe, and I--I knew how to get into that safe. That money +belonged to us--it was mother's money. Belmont was not worth a dollar +when he married my mother. It would not be stealing for us to take it. +Sometimes he went away and left us to be cared for by Apollo, the +dwarf. Such care! Apollo was a monster--a brute! Bernard Belmont hired +him to torture us. This time, when Belmont went away, Apollo shut us +up in a room, leaving some bread and water for us, and we were left +there, while he visited the wine cellar and got beastly drunk. He +thought we were safe in that room--thought we could not get out. But +we had been imprisoned there before, and I had made a key of wire. We +got out. We found the dwarf in a drunken sleep, and we tied him. Then +we went to the safe and opened it. There was but a trifle over fifty +dollars in that safe. It was not enough to take us both to Nevada--to +Uncle Carter. Then I fainted, and I was too ill to try to run away +when my sister restored me. She insisted on staying with me, but I +commanded her to go. I begged her to go. I told her it was the only +way. If she did not go, we were lost, for Bernard Belmont would +discover what we had done, and he would make sure we had no +opportunity to repeat the trick. She wanted to stay and care for me. I +told her Belmont would not dare harm me till he had caught her. It +might be some days before he got back. It was possible she could reach +Uncle Carter, and then Uncle Carter could come East and save me. After +a time I convinced her. She took the money, dressed herself for the +street, and, after kissing me and weeping over me, left me. I have +never seen her since." + +"But she escaped--she reached your uncle?" + +"Yes." + +"He made no effort to save you?" + +"No." + +"Why was that?" + +"I know nothing, except that he is queer. Perhaps he thought I was not +worth saving. It was nearly a week before Bernard Belmont returned. +All that time I kept Apollo tied fast, and I rejoiced as the days went +by. When Belmont came there was a terrible outburst. I was beaten +nearly to death. He tried to make me tell where my sister had gone, +but I would only say, 'Find out.' When I had become unconscious and he +could not restore me to my senses to question me further, he started +to trace Mildred. He traced her after a time, but she had reached +Uncle Carter, and she was safe. He wrote a letter to Uncle Carter, and +the reply he received made him furious. It told him that Milly was +buried so deep that he would never see her again. She was dead to him +and to the world. Then Bernard Belmont swore that I would soon be dead +in truth. After that--oh, I can't tell it!" + +Frank saw it was exhausting the unfortunate boy, and he quickly said: + +"Do not tell it; you have told enough. But you escaped." + +"After nearly a year. I escaped without a cent of money, and how I +worked my way here I do not know. Several times I dodged detectives, +whom I knew were in the employ of Belmont. I got here at last, but I +found Bernard Belmont and Apollo were waiting for me. I tried to +escape, but Apollo found me, and--you know the rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ANOTHER ESCAPE. + + +The poor boy relapsed into silence, closing his eyes and breathing +with no small difficulty. A great flood of pity welled up in the heart +of Frank Merriwell as he looked at that thin, bruised face, and he +felt like becoming the boy's champion and avenger. + +Again Frank pressed the thin hand that looked so weak and helpless. He +held it in both his own warm, strong hands, and he earnestly said: + +"My poor fellow! you have been wretchedly treated, and it is certain +that Bernard Belmont shall suffer for what he has done. Retribution is +something he cannot escape." + +"Oh, I don't know!" weakly whispered George. "I used to think so--I +used to think that the wicked people all were punished, but I'm +beginning to believe it isn't so." + +"You must not believe it isn't so," anxiously declared Frank. "Of +course you believe there is an All-wise Being who witnesses even the +sparrow's fall?" + +"Yes." + +"Then you cannot doubt that such a Being will visit just punishment +upon the wicked man who has caused you so much suffering and pain. His +way is past finding out, but you must trust Him." + +There was something noble and manly on the face of Frank Merriwell as +he spoke those words, and the manner in which he uttered them told +that he had the utmost and implicit confidence in the wisdom of the +Being of whom he spoke. + +At that moment it scarcely seemed possible that Frank was the same +merry, laughing, lively lad who was usually so full of fun and pranks. +Those who fancied they knew him best would have been amazed could they +have seen him and heard his words. + +Thus was shown one of the many hidden sides of Frank's nature, which +was most complex and yet honest and guileless. + +The boy on the bed opened his eyes and looked at Frank in silence, for +a long time. Finally he said: + +"I see you really believe what you say, and you have given me new +faith. I have suffered so much--so much that I had begun to doubt. It +is hard to trust in the goodness of God when it seems that nearly all +the wicked ones in the world are the ones who are prosperous. Bernard +Belmont is believed to be an upright and honorable man in the town +where he lives, and the people there think he was very kind to the two +invalid children left on his hands when his wife died." + +"Some day they will know the truth." + +"It will be when I am dead!" + +"Nonsense!" + +"I am sure of it. Do you know, dear friend, Apollo hurt me so much +to-night! It seems that he hurt me somewhere in--here." + +The boy pressed his hand to his side. + +"But the doctor is coming, and he will make you well again." + +"Perhaps he can't. I had rather not get well than be turned over to +Belmont again and left for him to torture." + +George shuddered at this, and Frank ground his teeth softly, as he +thought what intense satisfaction it would give him to see the man +Belmont punished as he deserved. + +"Why doesn't Harry come with the doctor?" thought Frank, as he got up +and impatiently paced the floor. "He has had plenty of time." + +A few moments later the boy on the bed beckoned with his thin hand. + +Frank hastened to the bedside, anxiously asking: "Is there anything I +can do?" + +"Yes," whispered George; "sit down and listen." + +"I wish you would save your strength. You must stop talking." + +"I must talk, for it is my last chance. I want to tell you again that +I know my sister is somewhere in the mountains up around Lake Tahoe. +You have said you would find her. Do so; tell her I am gone. She is an +heiress, for all the money Bernard Belmont has will belong to her +then. If you could do something to aid her in obtaining her rights. +Will you try?" + +"I will try." + +"Oh, you are so good--and you are so brave! How you fought that +terrible dwarf! You did not seem afraid of him! It is wonderful! I +never saw anybody like you! Yes, yes, I am beginning to have faith. +How can I help it after this?" + +He smiled at Frank, and there was something so joyous and so pathetic +in that smile that Merry turned away to hide the tears which welled +into his eyes. + +When Frank turned back he was bravely smiling, as he said, in a most +encouraging manner: + +"Now you must have faith that you are going to get well. That is what +you need. It will be better than medicine and doctors. Think--think of +meeting your sister again!" + +"Yes, yes!" panted the boy. "Dear little Milly!" + +"How happy she will be!" + +"Yes, yes!" + +"And think of regaining possession of what is rightfully your own--of +getting square with Bernard Belmont." + +A cloud came to the face of the boy. + +"Of course I want what is mine--I want Milly to have her rights," he +slowly said; "but--but it is not my place to punish the man who has +wronged us." + +"The law will do that." + +"God will do that! I believe it once more since talking with you. I +trust Him fully." + +There were footsteps outside the door, a gentle tap, and Frank +admitted Harry and a physician. + +The doctor sat down in a chair by the bed and asked the boy a few +questions, while Frank and Harry anxiously watched and listened. The +doctor's face was unreadable. + +"Who is this boy, Frank?" whispered Harry. "Where did you find him?" + +"Wait," said Merry. "I will tell you later, but not here." + +The doctor declared that the unfortunate lad must have some light +stimulating food without delay, and he wrote a prescription. + +"Take this to a druggist and have it filled," he said, handing it to +Harry. + +Harry left the room. + +The boy lay back on the bed, his eyes closed, breathing softly. The +doctor arose and walked to the window, motioning Frank to join him. + +"How is it, doctor?" Merriwell anxiously asked, in a whisper. + +The man shook his head. + +"I can't tell yet," he confessed; "but I fear he is done for. He has +been starved, and his lungs are in a bad way. What he needs most is +stimulants and food, but everything must be mild, as his system is in +such a weakened condition. As for the injury to his side, of which he +complains, of course I cannot tell how severe that may be." + +Frank's heart sank, for the doctor was more discouraging in his manner +than in his words. + +"Save him if you can, doctor!" he entreated. + +"I will. Is he a friend or relative of yours?" + +"He is an utter stranger to me. I never saw him before to-night." + +The doctor lifted his eyebrows in astonishment. + +"Indeed! Then who is to pay the bills for his care and treatment?" + +"I will," Frank promptly answered. "Here, take this as a fee in +advance." + +A bill was thrust into the physician's hand. + +After looking at the bill the doctor assumed a very deferential +manner. + +"He should have a first-class nurse," he declared. + +"He shall," assured Merriwell; "the best one to be obtained in +Carson." + +"This is very strange," said the physician. "I can't understand why +you should do such a thing for one who is a stranger to you. You must +have an object." + +"I have." + +"Ah! I thought so!" + +"My object is to see this poor, abused boy live and get his just due. +He has been misused, and the man who has misused him should be +punished. I hope to live to know that man has been punished as he +deserves." + +"Ah!" came from the doctor once more. "Then you have a grudge against +the man?" + +"I never saw him in all my life. I never heard of him before this +night." + +The physician was more puzzled than before. + +"Then I must say you are a most remarkable person!" he exclaimed. + +Once more there were steps outside the door--heavy shuffling steps. + +The boy on the bed heard those steps, and a gasp came from his pale +lips, as he turned his head toward the door, his face distorted by +fear. + +"He is coming!" + +The words came in a hoarse whisper from the injured boy. + +Frank started toward the door and the boy wildly entreated: + +"Stop him--don't let him come in here! Hark! There is another step! +They are both there! They have come for me--come to drag me back to a +living death!" + +"Why, he is raving!" exclaimed the doctor. + +Bang!--open flew the door. Without stopping to knock or ask leave to +enter, a tall, dark-bearded man stepped into the room. + +At this man's heels came a crouching figure that seemed half human and +half beast. It had a short, thick body and long arms that nearly +reached the floor. Its face was pale as marble, save for a red scar +that ran down the left cheek to the corner of the mouth. The eyes were +set near together, and they glistened with a savage, cruel light. + +Frank stepped between the intruders and the bed, but the boy had seen +them, and he sat up, uttering a wild scream of fear, then fell back on +the pillow. + +"Who are you? and what do you want?" demanded Merriwell, boldly +confronting the man and the creature at his heels. + +"Never mind who we are; we want that boy, and we will have him!" +declared the man. "He can't escape us this time!" + +Frank glanced at the figure on the bed, and then turned back, crying +with great impressiveness: + +"He can and has escaped you, Bernard Belmont; but he will stand face +to face with you at the great bar of justice in the day of judgment!" + +"What!" hoarsely cried the man, starting back and staring at the +ghastly face of the boy on the bed; "he is dead!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +AT LAKE TAHOE. + + +Poised like a sparkling gem in a grand and glorious setting of +mountain peaks, lies Lake Tahoe, the highest body of water on the +American continent. + +The sun was shining from a clear sky when Frank Merriwell and Harry +Rattleton reached a point where they could look down upon the bosom of +the lake, from which the sunlight was reflected as from the surface of +a mirror. + +"There it is, old man!" cried Frank, enthusiastically--"the most +beautiful lake in all the wide world!" + +"That is stutting it rather peep--I mean putting it rather steep," +said Harry, with a remonstrating grin. + +"But none too steep," asserted Frank. "People raved about the beauties +of Maggiore and Como, and thousands of fool Americans rush over to the +old world and go into raptures over those lakes, but Tahoe knocks the +eye out of them both." + +"I think you are stuck on anything American, Frank." + +"I am, and I am proud of it, too. Rattleton, we have a right to be +proud of our country, and we would be blooming chumps if we weren't. +It is the greatest and grandest country the sun ever shone upon, and a +fellow fully realizes it after he has been abroad and traveled around +over Europe, Asia and Africa. I've been sight-seeing in those lands, +my boy, and I know whereof I speak." + +"You are thoroughly American, anyway, Frank." + +"That's right. I love my native land and its beautiful flag--Old +Glory! I never knew what it was to feel a thrill of joy that was +absolutely painful till I saw the Stars and Stripes in a foreign land. +The sight blinded me with tears and made me feel it would be a +privilege to lay down my life in defense of that starry banner." + +"Well, you're a queer duck, anyway!" exclaimed Harry. "I never saw a +chap before who seemed cool as an iceberg outside and had a heart of +fire in his bosom." + +Frank laughed. + +"Every man is peculiar in his own way," he said "I never try to be +anything different than I am. I am disgusted by affectation." + +"We have found Lake Tahoe, but that is not finding the 'buried +heiress,' as you call her." + +"But we will find her." + +"I scarcely think it will be an easy task." + +"Nor do I think so, but I gave George Morris my word, and I am going +to keep my promise to him, poor fellow!" + +"You never seem to consider the possibility of failure, Frank." + +"The ones who consider the possibility of failure are those who fail, +old fellow. Those who succeed are the ones who never think of +failure--who believe they cannot fail. Confidence in one's self is an +absolute requisite in the battle of life." + +"There is such a thing as egotism." + +"Yes. That consists in bragging about what you can do. It is most +offensive. It is the fellow who does things without boasting who cuts +ice in this world. The other fellow often spends his time in telling +what he can do, but never does much." + +"I think you are right; but let's get down nearer the lake. I've heard +that the water is marvelously clear." + +"It is so clear that a small fish may be seen from the surface, though +the fish is near the bottom where the lake is the deepest." + +"Then it can't be very deep." + +"It is, nevertheless. In many places it is thirty or forty feet--even +more than that." + +"Then who invented the fish story?" + +"The fish story is all right," laughed Merriwell. "I know." + +"How do you know?" + +"I've been here before." + +"Here--at Lake Tahoe?" + +"Sure." + +"Well, say!" cried Rattleton, in astonishment, "I'd like to know where +you haven't been!" + +"Oh, there are lots of places where I haven't been, but this is one of +the places where I have been. That's all." + +"What brought you here?" + +"I came here in pursuit of a young lady in whom a friend of mine, Bart +Hodge, was interested." + +"I think I have heard you speak of Hodge." + +"Yes, he was my chum when I was in Fardale Military Academy. We were +enemies at first, and Hodge did his best to down me, but we became +friendly after that, and Hodge turned out to be a very decent fellow." + +"Where is he now?" + +"Give it up. Haven't heard from Bart in a long time. Last I knew he +was out here in the West somewhere." + +The boys had reached Tahoe on their wheels, there being a road to the +lake. The road was not a very good one for bicycle traveling, but they +had ridden a portion of the way. + +Now they had left the road and pushed down to the lake by a winding +path, along which they had been forced to carry their wheels at times. + +They made their way down to the edge of a bluff, from the verge of +which they could look over into the water. + +"Say! it is clear!" cried Harry. + +"I told you so," smiled Frank. + +"But--but--why, it almost seems to magnify! I can count the pebbles on +the bottom. Look at those tiny fishes swimming around there." + +In truth the water was marvelously clear, and things on the bottom +could be seen almost as plainly as if they were not beneath the +surface. + +"Why, it don't seem possible that a boat can float on it!" broke from +Harry. + +"It is something like floating in the air." + +"Are there boats to be obtained near here?" + +"There are a number of boats on the lake. There once was a man near +here by the name of Big Gabe who owned a boat." + +"Let's get it, if he is here now. I want to take a sail on this lake. +How do we find Big Gabe?" + +"I don't know that we'll be able to find him at all. He was a +consumptive." + +"Oh, then he may be dead?" + +"Not from consumption. He came here to die, but in less than a year he +was stronger and heartier than he had ever before been, and he was so +lazy that he didn't care to do anything but lay around and take life +easy. He said he was going to stay here till he died, but there seemed +little prospect that he'd ever die. He----" + +At this moment there was a sudden wild snarl behind them, and, before +they could turn, each lad received a powerful thrust that sent him +whirling from the bluff to fall with a great splash into the water +below. + +Both lads had pulled their bicycles over the brink, so the wheels fell +with a loud splash into the water which washed against the base of the +steep rock. + +The boys themselves had been sent whirling still farther out, and they +sank like stones when they struck the water. + +But they came up quickly, wondering what had happened. + +"Blate glisters--no, great blisters!" gurgled Harry, as he spurted +water like a whale. "Where are we at?" + +"Christmas!" said Frank. "What struck us?" + +And then, on the top of the bluff, they saw a creature that was +dancing and howling with rage and satisfaction. + +It was Apollo, the dwarf. + +"May I be hanged!" exploded Rattleton. "It's that thing!" + +"It is!" agreed Frank; "and I supposed that thing must be hundreds of +miles from here." + +"Going East." + +"Of course." + +"Belmont didn't let any grass grow under his feet before he got out." + +"Not much." + +The creature on the bluff danced and screamed and waved its long arms, +while its hideous face was convulsed with expressions of rage. + +"Oh, I'd like to get at him!" grated Frank. + +"Thank you, I'd much rather keep away!" exclaimed Harry. + +Then the boys started to swim ashore. + +Suddenly the dwarf began throwing stones at them. He picked up huge +stones from the ground and sent them whizzing through the air with +great force and something like accuracy. + +"Well, this is getting rather hot!" exclaimed Frank, as a huge jagged +stone shot down past his head and sank in the water. + +"Hot!" gurgled Rattleton. "I should say so--some!" + +"Look out!" + +Another huge stone struck between them. + +"If that had hit either of us, it would have fixed us!" came from +Frank. + +"You bet!" + +"Swim, old fellow! We must get away." + +But as they swam, looking for a place to go ashore, the dwarf followed +along the top of the bluff, still pelting them with stones, while he +uttered those savage cries. + +One of the smaller stones struck Merry and hurt him not a little. + +"Wait!" he muttered. "I'll get a chance at you yet!" + +Then, regardless of the shower of stones, he started to swim in toward +the shore where he saw a place that they could get out of the water. + +But another stone whizzed down, and there came a broken, strangling +cry from Harry. + +"What happened, old fellow?" asked Frank, who was now a bit in +advance. "Did the cur hit you?" + +No answer. + +Frank looked around, and found Harry had disappeared from view. + +The dwarf on the bluff danced and howled with fierce delight. + +As quickly as he could, Frank turned about, swam back a little and +dived. It did not require a great effort to go down, for now his +clothes were thoroughly wet, and he sank easily. + +As soon as he was below the surface, keeping his eyes open, he saw his +friend lying on the bottom. The water was so clear that there was not +the least difficulty in this. + +Down Frank went till he reached Harry, whom he grasped. Planting his +feet on the bottom, he gave a great leap and shot upward. + +The water was not more than eight feet deep, and he quickly reached +the surface, immediately striking for the shore. + +But his watersoaked garments and Harry's weight dragged on him, and it +was a desperate battle to keep from going down again. + +"You must do it, Merriwell!" he told himself. "It's your only show! +Pull him out somehow!" + +Several times his head was forced below the surface and it seemed that +the struggle was over; but he would not give up, and he would not let +go his hold on Harry. + +"Both or none!" he thought. "If I can't get out with him, I'll not get +out without him!" + +The dwarf had disappeared from the bluff, which was a fortunate thing, +as he would have been given a fine opportunity to pelt them with rocks +as Frank slowly and laboriously swam ashore. Just then, if Merriwell +had been struck on the head by a stone, it must have ended the whole +affair. + +"Oh, if my clothes were off!" panted Frank. "Then I could do it. I +must do it anyway." + +He wondered how badly Harry was hurt, but it was impossible to tell +till the shore was reached. + +The water did not seem so buoyant as it should, and he almost felt +that there was a force dragging him down. + +Purely by his power of determination he succeeded in reaching the +rocks and dragging himself out with his burden, when he sank down +utterly exhausted. + +"Thank goodness!" he gasped. "I did it!" + +He had not been there many moments when he heard a cry above, and, +looking upward, saw the dwarf had returned to the edge of the bluff. + +The dwarf seemed astonished when he saw the boys had reached shore, +and he sent a stone whistling down at them. + +Frank dodged the missile, and then, with a fresh feeling of strength, +hastened up the rocks toward the top of the bluff. + +Apollo saw the boy coming and immediately took to his heels, quickly +disappearing from view. + +Finding the dwarf had escaped, Frank turned back, lifted Harry in his +arms, and again mounted the rocks. + +He reached the top and bore his friend to a place where he could rest +on some short grass where he was sheltered from the sunlight. + +Then Frank looked for Harry's injury. + +Rattleton had been struck on the head by a stone, which had cut a +short gash in the scalp, and from this blood was flowing. + +"It doesn't seem very bad," said Frank, as he examined the wound. "I +rather think it stunned him, and that is all. He was not under water +long enough to drown." + +Frank took a handkerchief from his pocket and wrung it out, intending +to bind up Harry's head with it. + +At that moment, happening to glance up, he saw a pale, horrible face +peering out from a mass of shrubbery. + +It was the face of Apollo, the dwarf. + +"That creature still here!" grated Merriwell, as he sprang up. "If he +isn't driven away, he may find a way to injure us further." + +Then he ran after Apollo, who quickly disappeared. + +Frank pursued the dwarf hotly, hearing the little wretch crashing +along for some distance, but Apollo succeeded in keeping out of sight, +and, at last, he could be heard no more. + +Merry was disgusted. He spent some time in searching for Apollo, and +then returned to the spot where he had left Harry. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A RACE ON THE LAKE. + + +To Frank's amazement, he found Rattleton reclining in a very +comfortable position, with the handkerchief bound about his head. + +"Hello, old boy!" Merriwell cheerfully called. "I reckon you are all +right, for you are able to do up your own wound." + +"I say, Frank," came eagerly but weakly from Rattleton, "what has +become of her?" + +"Her? Whom?" + +"The fairy, the nymph, the beautiful queen of the woods! She was here +a few moments ago--she was with me." + +"By Jove! that crack on the head has knocked him daffy!" thought +Merriwell. "He's off his trolley sure!" + +"Why don't you answer me?" Harry impatiently demanded. "I closed my +eyes but a moment, and when I opened them again she was gone." + +"I hope you are not referring to the dwarf," laughed Frank, lightly. +"I hope you do not mean him when you talk about a fairy, nymph and +beautiful queen of the woods?" + +"No, no! Of course I do not mean that horrible creature! I mean the +girl--the girl who was here!" + +"There has been no girl here." + +"What? I know there has! I saw her, although it seemed like a dream. I +saw her before I could fully open my eyes. She was kneeling here +beside me, and she was so beautiful!" + +"My dear fellow," said Merriwell, gently, "that tap on the head has +mixed you somewhat--there's no doubt about it." + +Harry made a feeble, impatient gesture. + +"You think I am off," he said; "but I am not. I tell you I saw a +girl--a girl with blue eyes and golden hair. Her cheeks were brown as +berries, but the tint of health was in them. And her hands were so +soft and tender and warm!" + +Frank whistled. + +"I'm afraid you are hurt worse than I thought," he said, with no small +concern. + +"Oh, scrate Gott!" spluttered Harry. "I am not hurt at all! I tell you +I saw her--do you hear?" + +"Yes, I hear." + +"But you don't believe me, and that is what makes me hot." + +"Keep cool." + +"How can I? Look here, look at my head." + +"Yes, you did a very good job. I was about to do it up when I saw that +dwarf again, and I chased him." + +"I didn't do it up at all." + +"No?" + +"Not on your retouched negative!" + +"Then who----" + +"The girl--the girl, I tell you! When I came to my senses, I felt some +person at work over me, and through my eyelashes I saw her kneeling +here at my side. I tell you, Frank, she was a dream--a vision! I +thought I was in heaven, and I scarcely dared breathe for fear she +would disappear." + +Frank was watching Harry closely. + +"Hanged if the fellow doesn't believe it!" muttered Merry. + +Rattleton's ears were sharp, and he caught the words. + +"Believe it!" he weakly shouted--"I know it! I not only saw her, but I +felt her hands as she gently brushed back my wet hair and tied this +bandage in place. Look at it, Merry, old fellow; I couldn't have put +it on like that--you know I couldn't." + +"Well, it would have been quite a trick." + +"I think she saw us thrown into the water, for she murmured something +about it. She must live near here, Frank." + +Harry was fluttering with suppressed eagerness. + +"If you saw such a girl, it is likely that she does." + +"If I saw such a girl! Oh, smoly hoke! will you never be convinced?" + +"Perhaps so," nodded Frank, as he examined the ground. + +"What are you looking for?" + +"Her trail." + +"If you were an Indian, you might find it; but no white man could find +it here, as the ground is not favorable." + +"I think that is right," admitted Frank, as he gave over the attempt. +"If you saw such a girl, I have a fancy I know who she is." + +Harry started up, shouting: + +"You do?" + +"Sure." + +"Then you saw her when you visited the lake before?" + +"No." + +"How is it that you are sure you know who she is if you never saw her +before?" + +"You are little numb just now, Harry, or you would have thought of it +yourself. She must be the buried heiress." + +Rattleton caught his breath. + +"Right you are!" he exclaimed. "Why, it must be her!" + +"It strikes me that way," nodded Frank. + +"By Jove!" palpitated Harry; "she is a peafect perch--I mean a perfect +peach! Merry, old chap, she takes the bun!" + +Frank laughed. + +"It's not often you get this way, Rattles," he said. "She must have +hit you hard." + +"Right where I live, old man. I'd like to win her." + +"But you must not forget she is an heiress." + +"Oh, come off! That doesn't cut any ice in this case. She was dressed +like anything but an heiress, and----" + +"You know why. She is living like anything except an heiress, and +still she is one, just as hard." + +"And that infernal dwarf is here searching for her!" + +"Sure." + +"We supposed he had gone East, with Bernard Belmont." + +"Yes." + +"Instead of that, Belmont sent him here to find the girl." + +"Correct me, noble dook." + +Harry started up, in great excitement. + +"We must defend her, Frank--we must protect her from that wretched +creature!" he cried. "I am ready." + +"I see you are," smiled Merry. "The thought that she might be in +danger has aroused you more than any amount of tonics. We can't +protect her unless we can find her." + +"And you said a short time ago that we would not fail to find her." + +"We will not, and I hope we may be able to find her in time to be of +assistance to her. To begin with, we must get our bicycles out of the +lake. It is a fortunate thing they fell in the water." + +"Fortunate?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"It is pretty certain the dwarf would have smashed them if they had +not." + +"That's right. I never thought of it. He would have had a fine +opportunity. It is fortunate." + +"We can remove our clothes and hang them in the sunshine to dry while +we are getting the wheels." + +A look of horror came to Harry's face. + +"No, no!" he cried, wildly. "We can't do that!" + +"Why not?" + +"The girl--she is somewhere near here. What if she should see us? Good +gracious; it hakes my mart--I mean it makes my heart stand still to +think of it!" + +Harry's expression of horror and the way in which he uttered the words +caused Frank to shout with laughter. + +"Oh, my dear fellow!" he cried; "if you could do that on the stage! It +would be great! You'd make a great hit!" + +For once in his life Harry failed to see the humorous side of a thing, +and he did not crack a smile. + +"What's the use to 'ha-ha' that way, Merry?" he cried, "You wouldn't +want a thing of that kind to happen, and you know it." + +"Of course not, old man, so we'll have to keep on part of our clothing +while we are recovering the wheels." + +They approached the edge of the bluff, and, as they did so, a canoe +shot out from the mouth of a small cove nearly half a mile away. + +There was a single person in the canoe and, immediately on seeing her, +Harry cried: + +"There she is--that is the girl!" + +It was a girl, and she was handling the paddle with the skill of an +expert, sending the light craft flying over the bosom of the lake. + +"We must call to her!" exclaimed Harry. "She must stop!" + +"We can't stop her by shouting to her, Rattles," declared Frank, +quickly. "It would frighten her, that's all." + +"But--but what can we do?" + +"Unless we can find a boat, absolutely nothing." + +Rattleton was desperate. + +"It's terrible, Frank!" he cried. "We may lose the only chance of +finding her! At least, she should be warned!" + +"Look!" directed Merriwell, who was watching the girl closely. "She is +looking back! See her use the paddle now! She is alarmed! She makes +the canoe fly! She makes it spin along at great leaps! Surely +something has frightened her! What is it?" + +Harry's excitement grew. + +"It's something, that's sure. She is using all her strength! How +beautifully she handles the paddle! See the sunshine strike her hair! +It is like gold! And now--look! look!" + +Around a point just beyond the cove came a boat in which two men were +seated. Both men were paddling, but the boat was heavy, and they were +not gaining on the fleeing girl. + +"Great Scott!" exclaimed Frank. "It is Apollo, the dwarf!" + +"Yes; and the other--the other is----" + +"Bernard Belmont!" + +"Then he is here--he did not go East at all. That was a blind." + +"Sure enough. They are here to find the girl." + +"To put her out of the way, perhaps!" + +"It would be like that man. If he gets hold of her, some terrible +accident is likely to happen to Mildred Morris. But they are not +gaining; she is keeping the lead with ease." + +"Yes," nodded Frank, satisfaction on his face; "she will not be +taken." + +The boys watched the race with great interest, seeing the girl draw +farther and farther from her pursuers, till, at last, they gave over +the attempt in disgust, although they still paddled along after her. + +She headed for a distant shore, and Frank and Harry did not cease to +watch till both boats had disappeared in the shadow of the mountains +and timber. + +"There," said Merriwell--"over there somewhere must be the present +home of that girl. It is a wild region, for I was there once myself, +and I know. We will go there and see what we can find." + +"But we must recover our wheels first." + +"That is right; and now we can remove our clothes to do so, without +fear of being seen. Come on." + +It was no simple task to get the bicycles out of the lake, but the +thought of the girl's possible danger seemed to have restored Harry's +strength, and, between them, they succeeded, after many efforts, in +accomplishing their object. + +In the meantime their clothes, which had been hung where sun and wind +would reach them, had partly dried. + +"We can't wait for them to get entirely dry," said Frank. "We'll put +them on just as they are. Nobody ever gets cold around Lake Tahoe at +this time of year." + +Harry did not object, but the garments were just wet enough so it was +not an easy thing to get into them. This, however, was done, after a +severe struggle and a small amount of startling and highly picturesque +language from Rattleton. + +"Woo!" said Harry. "If we had a fine road, we could get on our bikes +and send them spinning at such speed that the breeze would soon dry +us; but now--how do you propose to get over across this part of the +lake, anyhow?" + +"Well," said Frank, "you heard me speak of Big Gabe?" + +"Of course." + +"His cabin was not far from here." + +"What of that?" + +"He owned a sailboat." + +"Wheejiz--no, jeewhiz! that's the stuff! That's what we want!" + +"I rather thought so. With the aid of a sailboat we can get across the +lake easily." + +"Let's look for Mr. Big Gabe without delay." + +Frank took the lead, and they went in search of the big hermit, +trundling their wheels or carrying them, as was necessary. + +The modern bicycle is so light, although it is strong and stanch, that +it may be carried almost anywhere, and so the task of taking the +wheels along was not as difficult as it might have been. + +Within half an hour they came in sight of Big Gabe's hut, which lay on +the shore of the little cove out of which the girl had sped in the +light canoe. + +"It was from this very spot that I first saw that building," said +Frank. "I'll never forget it. Bart Hodge was with me. When we drew +nearer, Big Gabe himself came out and threatened to shoot us, thinking +we were trying to steal his boat, or something of that sort." + +"Where is the boat now?" + +"There it is, down where the tree overhangs the lake. See?" + +They could see the single mast and stern of the boat. + +"Good luck!" cried Rattleton. "With the aid of that, we won't do a +thing but make a lively cruise across the lake, for the wind is +rising, and we'll have a fair breeze." + +Frank was looking steadily toward the hut, and there was something +like a frown on his face, which his companion observed. + +"What's the matter?" Harry asked. + +"The hut looks deserted. The first time I saw it smoke was coming out +of the chimney. Now the chimney is giving forth no smoke, and the door +stands open. It doesn't look as if any one had been around the place +for a year." + +"That's right," admitted Harry, anxiously. "But the boat is there." + +"It may be in bad condition, else why didn't Belmont and the dwarf +take it?" + +"There was no breeze a short time ago, and they could not have sailed +it across the lake. Besides, they were in pursuit of the girl in the +canoe, and they hoped to overtake her with the aid of a boat they +could row or paddle." + +"Your reasoning is all right, my boy. We will hope the sailboat is all +right, too. Come on." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE HERMIT'S POWER. + + +Around the shore of the cove the two boys went toward the hut. As they +approached it Frank placed his hands to his mouth in the form of a +horn, and shouted: + +"Oh, Gabe! Oh, Mr. Blake!" + +His voice came back in a distinct echo from a distant rocky steep, but +that was all the answer he received. The rising breeze stirred the +open door, seeming to wave it at the boys in derision, but the air of +loneliness about the place was oppressive. + +"There's no one about," said Frank. + +"Not a soul," agreed Harry. + +They reached the cabin and looked in. It had not been occupied for two +months, at least. + +"Big Gabe is dead or gone," said Merriwell, with sincere regret. "I +hoped to find him here." + +"Well, let's see if his boat is all right," came anxiously from +Rattleton. "That is what we want to know most." + +Leaving their wheels leaning against a tree, they hastened to the spot +where the boat lay moored at a short distance from the shore. + +"We'll have to swim to get it," said Frank. "It is plain that other +boat in which we saw Belmont and the dwarf was used by Gabe to get +from the shore to the sailboat." + +Frank stripped off quickly and plunged into the lake, although the +water was cold, as he well knew from recent experience. + +Out to the boat he swam, came up by her stern, and got in without +difficulty, which was a very neat thing to do, as the average boy +would have tried to crawl in over the side, with the probable result +of upsetting the boat. + +"How's she look, Merry?" called Harry, anxiously. + +"O. K.," answered Frank. "There's some water in her, but it is a small +amount, and the sails are well reefed. They may be somewhat rotten, +but we'll be careful of them." + +"How are we to get our wheels on board?" + +Frank stood up and surveyed the bottom, which he could do with ease, +because of the unruffled surface of the cove, as the wind did not +touch it there. + +"There's a channel leading up to that large rock," he said. "I'll +bring the boat up there." + +"Look out to not get her aground so she can't be brought off," warned +Harry. "That would be a scrape." + +"I'll look out." + +Frank did not find it difficult to get up the anchor, and then, with +the aid of a long oar, he guided the boat to the rock. + +In the meantime, Harry had hastened to bring the bicycles down to the +cove, and they were all ready to be taken on board. This was +accomplished, and Harry followed them. + +"Now away, away," he cried. "We'll set our course for yonder shore." + +"Of course," punned Frank, and Rattleton made a grimace. + +"Bad--very bad," he said. "That habit has been the cause of more +sudden deaths than anything else of which I know." + +Frank laughed, and they pushed the boat from the great rock. + +Rattleton set about unfurling the sails and getting them ready for +hoisting. + +"Are you a sailor, Merry?" he asked, as if struck by a new thought. + +"Am I?" cried Frank. "Ha! ha! also ho! ho! Wait a wee, and you shall +see what you shall see." + +"Then you have been to sea?" + +Frank gave the other boy a look of reproach. + +"And you had the nerve to do that after saying what you did about the +bad pun I made a short time ago!" he cried. "Rattleton, your crust is +something awful!" + +They made preparations for running up the sail, saw that the tiller +was all right and the rudder worked properly, and looked after other +things. The bicycles were in the way, but that could not be helped. + +Harry aided Frank in setting the sail, and, with the aid of the oar, +the boat was worked out to a point where they could feel the breeze. + +"By Jove! this is rather jolly," commented Rattleton, as they began to +make headway. "With a fair wind, we'll run over there in a short time, +and then--then if we can find that girl!" + +"My boy, your face is aglow with rapture at the thought," smiled +Frank. "You have been hit a genuine heart blow. Look out that it +doesn't knock you out." + +Away they went, making fair speed, although the boat was decidedly +crude and cumbersome. + +The mountainous region beyond the lake was wild and picturesque, but, +fortunately, the boys found a cut that led down to the very shore of +the lake. + +They reached a spot where they could run up close to the shore, which +enabled them to take their bicycles off without trouble. + +The boat was made fast, the sails having been reefed once more, and +then the lads deliberately mounted their wheels and attempted to ride +into the cut. + +This was not so difficult as might be thought, for they found what +seemed to be an antelope "run" that led from the shore, and they +pedaled along that path. + +"It was somewhere in this region that we found the retreat of the gang +of money makers when I was here before," said Frank. + +"What's that? A gang that made money?" + +"Yes." + +"I suppose they had some kind of an old hut here-abouts in which they +did the work?" + +"They had a cave--a most wonderful cave it was said to be. That cave +had never been fully explored, and---- By Jove!" + +Frank interrupted himself with the exclamation, a strange look having +come to his face. + +"What is it?" asked Harry. + +"I have an idea." + +"Put us on." + +"That cave, my boy--that cave!" + +"What about it?" + +"It is said that Carter Morris, the queer old miner, lives in some +sort of an underground place." + +"That's right!" cried Rattleton, catching Frank's meaning, and growing +excited. + +"He has some sort of mysterious mine." + +"Sure, old man!" + +"And he wrote Bernard Belmont that Mildred Morris was buried from the +sight of the world." + +"Now, you believe----" + +"I do--I believe it possible that man may be occupying the very cave +once occupied by the counterfeiters." + +Rattleton was following Frank along the path, and he nearly ran +Merriwell down in his excitement. + +"You know the way to that cave?" he shouted. "You can find it?" + +"I might be able to do so, although I am not sure of it. I can try. +Even if we find the cave, we may not find the man and girl there." + +"It is a chance, anyway. It's the best we can do." + +After they had proceeded into the mountains some distance, Frank began +to look for a slope they could scale, so they might get out of the +pass. + +It was finally found, and, with their wheels on their backs, they +labored to the top. Getting down on the other side was even more +difficult, but they succeeded. + +Then Frank led Harry a wild chase, till Rattleton was pretty well +played out. His head had ceased to bleed, and he had removed the +handkerchief, but he could feel that the blow had taken not a little +of the stamina out of him. + +"How long are you going to keep this up, Merry?" he asked. + +"We must be somewhere near that cave," declared Frank. "It is getting +toward night. I hoped to be fortunate and find it before dark." + +"If we don't----" + +"There's another day coming. We have hard bread and smoked beef in the +carriers, and we can find water here. We're not nearly as bad off as +we were on the Utah desert." + +"That's right. That was a bad fix, but we pulled out of it all right. +If our clothes were somewhat drier I could regard the approach of +night with greater complaisance." + +"Our clothes are nearly dry, and they will be much more so in two +hours." + +They continued the restless search, Frank seeming utterly tireless. +Rattleton admired him for his resistless energy and unwavering +determination and confidence. + +Fortune must have smiled on them, for, as they were making their way +along a narrow cut, they turned a short corner and beheld the dark +mouth of a cave just ahead of them. + +Both lads stopped and stood beside their wheels, uttering exclamations +of satisfaction. + +"Is that it, Frank?" asked Harry. + +"It may be one of the entrances to the old cave of the +counterfeiters," answered Merry. "That cave has several mouths. This +is not the one I saw, but----" + +"It is a cave, and it may be the one we are searching for. Come on!" + +"What are you going to do?" + +"Go in." + +"We can't go in without torches." + +"That's right--dead right! Was so excited I didn't think of that. +But--hooray!--we have found it!" + +"Don't be so sure yet. We'll go up and look in." + +They approached the mouth of the cave. + +Suddenly, as they came near, there was a roar from within, and out of +the cave rushed a man whose long hair and beard were white, and whose +clothes were rude and worn. + +The boys halted in amazement, staring at this man, who also stopped. + +Frank spoke to Harry: + +"It must be Carter Morris!" + +"It is!" cried the old man, whose ears had caught the words. "How do +you know me? What right have you to know my name? I am buried--buried +from the world!" + +"Crazy as a bedbug!" whispered Rattleton. + +"Oh, crazy, am I!" sneered the man, much to Harry's astonishment, for +it had not seemed possible he could hear that whisper. "That's what +they think--the fools!" + +Rattleton clutched Frank's wrist. + +"Look," he panted; "she is coming! There she is!" + +Out of the darkness within the mouth of the cave advanced the strange +girl they had seen in the canoe. She was hatless, and she looked +marvelously pretty with her golden hair hanging about her ears and +reaching down upon her shoulders. + +"Well, she is a fairy!" admitted Merriwell. "If you win that, you'll +be a lucky lad, Rattles." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" harshly laughed the man, without a trace of mirth in +face or voice. "That is all they think of, the fools! That is what +brings them here! They know you are rich, my dear--they know it! And +they seek to win you! But you are dead to the world--dead and buried!" + +"Mr. Morris," said Frank, speaking quietly, "we have a message for the +young lady." + +"Bah!" cried the man. + +"It is from her brother," said Frank. + +"Bah!" repeated the hermit. + +But the girl started forward, crying: + +"My brother--what do you know of him?" + +The man put out his hand and held her back. + +"It is a trick," he declared--"a shallow trick! They think to fool you +that way. Don't listen to them, child! Let me talk to them." + +Then he turned on the boys, his face dark with anger. + +"Go away from here!" he cried. "Every moment you remain here your +lives are in danger! If you care to live, go away at once!" + +The girl looked frightened. + +"We can't go away till we have delivered our message," said Frank, +calmly, as he started forward. + +"Back!" cried the strange old man, flinging out his hand with a +warning gesture. "It means death if you advance another step!" + +The girl looked more frightened than ever, and the boys halted again. + +"The old pirate!" whispered Harry. "We must save her from him somehow, +Frank! I know he is detaining her against her will." + +Again that harsh, mirthless laugh. + +"You know a great deal," sneered the man; "but you do not know enough +to go away and save your lives! You do not know my power, but you +shall feel it!" + +The girl cried out and started to lift a hand. Then the man stepped to +the right and touched the wall of stone. + +To Frank and Harry it seemed that the mountains fell on them and beat +them down with a great blow that stretched them helpless and senseless +on the ground! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +RECOVERY. + + +With a feeling of numbness and pain in every limb and every part of +his body, Frank Merriwell stirred and tried to sit up. His strength +seemed to be gone, and he wondered at his weakness. + +"What--what does it mean?" he asked himself, puzzled. + +There was a cloud on his brain, and, for the time, he did not remember +what had happened. He realized he was lying on the ground, and he +wondered if he had been there long. + +After a time he turned his head a bit, and close beside him he saw +Harry Rattleton, stretched on his back, his arms outspread, his face +ghastly pale. + +A chill of horror seized upon Merriwell's heart. + +Why didn't Harry move? Why were his eyes closed? Why was his face so +white? + +There was something horrible and awe-inspiring about those rigid limbs +and that ghastly face. + +"He is dead!" + +He succeeded in speaking the words aloud, although his voice was weak +and faint. The sound startled him, and, with a mighty effort, he +lifted himself to one elbow. + +"Harry!" he panted, thickly--"Harry, wake up!" + +Still no stir. + +"Harry, Harry, are you asleep?" + +Rattleton remained motionless. + +Holding himself thus, Frank watched, but he could not see that the +bosom of his friend rose and fell at all--he could not see that Harry +breathed. + +Surely that pallid face was not the face of a living person! It had +the stamp of death upon it! + +"Merciful goodness!" whispered Frank, as he dragged himself nearer. "I +know--I am sure some frightful thing has happened to us! But I do not +seem to remember." + +He paused and stared about. Sunset light was on the snow-capped peaks +of the Sierras, and away up there they were dazzling to the eye; but +there were deep shadows below--black shadows in the heart of Frank +Merriwell. + +"The mountains!" he faintly murmured--"they are all around us! This is +not the desert--no, no! We were not overcome by hunger and thirst. +Something--something else struck us down!" + +He lifted one hand to his head, which was so numb and felt so +lifeless. What was the trouble? + +Concentrating all his faculties, he forced himself to think. Then he +seemed to remember. + +"The girl!" he faintly exclaimed--"we were searching for her! We were +trying to find the cave, and--we found it!" + +He remembered at last. He remembered the appearance of the old man of +the white hair and beard; he remembered that the girl had come forth +from the mouth of the cave; he remembered the warning of the strange +man and the frightful shock that had followed. + +"Jingoes!" he said. "I believe we were struck by lightning! I'm not +completely knocked out, but Harry seems to be." + +Then he reached Rattleton and touched his face, felt for his pulse, +sought to discover if his heart beat. + +Close to the breast of his friend Frank placed his ear, and what he +heard caused him to utter a cry of satisfaction. + +"Not dead!" he exclaimed. "He still lives! There is a chance for him." + +The thought that Harry's life might depend on his efforts aroused him +still more. He loosened Harry's sweater and the collar about his +throat, he chafed his wrists and temples, he fanned him, called to +him, sought in many ways to arouse him. + +At last he saw signs of success. Rattleton's breast rose and fell, and +he gave a great sigh. + +"That's right, old man!" cried Frank, with satisfaction. "Just open +your peepers and let us know you are recovering." + +Harry opened his eyes. + +"Where--what--why----" + +He seemed unable to ask the questions that sought for utterance. + +"I was thinking the same things a few moments ago," said Frank. "We +were knocked out in the first round with the old hermit." + +"Hermit--what hermit?" + +"That's it," nodded Merry. "You're as bad off as I was. Why, Carter +Morris, the uncle of the girl with the golden hair, who has hit you so +hard." + +A light of understanding came to Harry's face, and he revived with +wonderful swiftness. + +"I remember it all now!" he faintly exclaimed. "But I do not know what +happened to us. It seemed to me that something struck me." + +"Something did." + +"What was it?" + +"I don't know, but something knocked us both out. You remember that +the old man warned us not to advance another step--said it would mean +instant death if we did." + +"Yes; but I thought the old duffer was bluffing." + +"So did I. I have since decided that he wasn't." + +"You think he gave us the knock-out?" + +"I do." + +"How could he?" + +"Some way. He has some mysterious power, with the aid of which he +guards the mouth of that cave." + +"And that power must be----" + +"Electricity!" + +"It's a dead-sure thing!" cried Harry. "We were given an electric +shock. When the man touched the wall with his hand, he turned on the +current." + +"I believe it." + +"But how did the shock reach us?" + +"Don't know. I saw no wires." + +"Nor I." + +"There must have been wires." + +"I presume so." + +"Well, where are we now?" + +They looked around, but there was nothing about their surroundings +that they remembered having seen before. + +"We are not in front of the cave," said Frank. + +"No, we are not where we fell, that is sure." + +"We must have been removed to this spot." + +"Sure." + +"The bicycles--where are they?" + +With no small difficulty they got upon their feet, and then they saw +their wheels leaning against the face of a black rock near by. + +At first their legs seemed scarcely able to support their weight, but +they grew stronger as the moments passed, and they approached the +wheels. + +Then it was they saw something drawn with white chalk on the smooth +surface of the black rock. + +It was the representation of a human hand, with the index finger +pointing in a certain direction. + +Beneath the hand were these words: + + "THIS WAY--GO!" + +"It is a warning!" cried Frank. + +"You boot your bets--I mean bet your boots! It tells us to git." + +"Well?" + +With that word Frank turned on Harry sharply. + +"You may go if you want to," said Rattleton; "but I never knew you to +run away. You are not easily scared." + +"How about you?" + +"I am here to find that girl, and I am going to stay till I find her +or croak! That's how about me!" + +"Good stuff!" cried Merry, approvingly, as he grasped the hand of his +comrade. "We'll both stay till we find her." + +In a short time the boys began to feel like themselves once more. +Taking their wheels along, they sought for a spring, and were able to +find one. + +There they stopped and made a meal from the hard bread and jerked +beef, which was washed down with clear water from the spring. + +"Now I am all right," Harry declared. "A feed was what I needed." + +They discussed matters a few minutes, and then, carefully observing +the surroundings, decided to conceal the bicycles in the vicinity of +the spring and seek for the mouth of the cave once more. + +They found a good hiding place for the wheels, and there the machines +were stowed away. + +"We can't be so awfully far from that cave," Frank decided. "One man +and a girl would not be able to bring us a long distance." + +But the cave was not easy to find, and the more they searched the more +bewildered they became. + +Meanwhile night was coming on swiftly. + +"Hist!" warned Harry, suddenly grasping Frank's wrist and drawing him +down behind some bowlders. "Look there!" + +"What is it?" + +"Moving figures! I saw them distinctly over there." + +"The man and the girl?" + +"Couldn't tell. There they are again. Look!" + +"I see! It is not the man and the girl. It is two men." + +"That is right--or, at least, a man and something that resembles a +man." + +"It is Bernard Belmont and his gorilla man!" + +"You are right, Merry, my boy; and they, too, are searching for the +mouth of the cave. It will be a good scheme to watch them." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +LOST UNDERGROUND. + + +The boys followed Belmont and Apollo, being aided in doing so without +danger of discovery by the gathering darkness; but they knew very well +that, in a short time it would become so dark that they might lose +track of the two. + +Apollo seemed to be guiding his master to some spot, and they +clambered over the rocks with haste that indicated a desire to reach +the place without delay. + +At last the dwarf paused and swept aside some matted vines from the +face of what seemed to be a cliff of solid stone. + +A black opening, large enough to admit a man in a stooping posture, +was revealed. + +Apollo urged Belmont to follow, and then they disappeared beyond the +vines, which fell down and hid the opening again. + +"It's a cave, Merry!" whispered Rattleton. + +"Yes," nodded Frank; "it may be one of the many entrances to the great +cavern of the 'queer' makers. This may lead into the cave occupied by +Carter Morris!" + +"Then let's get in there quick!" exclaimed Harry, eagerly. "If we +don't, we may lose track of those men." + +"We must use something like caution, my boy. If we were to rush in +after them, it might do us up, for they may be laying for us." + +So the mouth of the cave was approached with caution. + +When they had reached it, Frank listened. + +From a distance inside he could hear voices, and, peering through the +vines, he caught the glimmer of a light. + +"Come in quickly after me, Harry," he directed. "Be ready to fight for +your life if attacked." + +Rattleton's heart was in his throat, and he felt that they were +plunging into unknown and terrible danger, but he said: + +"Go ahead. I am with you to the end." + +Gently and swiftly Frank made the opening in the vines larger, and +then he quickly stepped through, holding them aside for his friend to +follow. + +The vines fell back into place, and the lad crouched close to the +ground. + +"There," said Frank, "see that light? It is not a torch." + +"No. It seems to be some sort of lamp." + +"It is a miner's lamp. Look--another is being lighted." + +A match flared up, and its bright glow revealed the pale and terrible +face of the gorilla man, who was lighting the lamp. + +The lamps were arranged to be placed in the hats of those who carried +them, and this was what the two men did with them. + +When everything was arranged to their satisfaction, Belmont and the +dwarf started onward into the cave. + +"We'll follow them, Harry," said Frank. + +The light from the lamps made it a comparatively easy task for the +boys to accomplish their purpose. + +Deeper and deeper into the great cave went the two men. Once or twice +they stopped and listened. Once the boys distinctly heard Apollo say: + +"Master, I think I heard a step." + +"Nonsense!" returned the man, sharply. "You heard nothing." + +"I am sure I heard something," the dwarf insisted. + +"Then it was a rat, or, if there are no rats here, it was a piece of +falling stone." + +"It may have been," acknowledged Apollo. + +Onward they went. + +Frank and Harry had stopped and were listening. Harry's hands grasped +Merriwell's arm, and he was filled with excitement. He drew a breath +of relief when the men moved on. + +"Jy bove--no, by Jove!" he gasped. "I thought the trick was up then!" + +"Still!" cautioned Frank. "We must not alarm that dwarf too much. He +has wonderfully keen ears." + +The passage, in places, broadened into great chambers, while in other +places it narrowed till they were forced to make their way along one +at a time. + +"If we lose sight of those lights we may have some trouble getting +out," whispered Harry. + +"That's so," confessed Merriwell. "I have seen other passages besides +the one taken by them." + +The thought of being lost underground in that great cave was enough to +turn them cold with fear. + +And then, without the least warning, the lights in advance suddenly +vanished. + +"Down!" whispered Merriwell. "I believe they have discovered we are +after them. Close to the ground and listen!" + +Down they crouched, their hearts beating riotously in their bosoms. + +Not a sound seemed to break the deathlike stillness of the cave. + +"What's happened?" whispered Harry. "Where have they gone?" + +"Give it up," answered Frank. "They have disappeared, but that is as +much as I know." + +"Perhaps they are laying for us." + +But, although they waited a long time, not a sound could they hear +save those sounds made by themselves. + +"I am going ahead," declared Merriwell. + +"We may run into them." + +"Got to chance it, old man. That might be better than to have them run +away from us. Come on." + +"I'm with you." + +Keeping close together, they crept forward slowly, not knowing but +they might be attacked at any moment. + +Of a sudden, Frank gave a gasp and cry. Harry tried to grasp his +companion, and then he found himself slipping, sliding, falling. + +Down they went, getting hold of each other, but being unable to stop +their descent. It was impossible to see anything there in that +frightful darkness, and that made their peril seem awful indeed. + +Fortunately their fall was not always direct. There were times when +they seemed to be sliding down a steep slope, while dust filled their +eyes and mouths, and they were bruised and scratched and robbed of +breath. + +Finally, when it had seemed they would never cease falling, they +stopped with a great thump and lay panting side by side. + +"Great humping misery!" gasped Rattleton, weakly. "Are we diving or +are we lead--I mean are we living or are we dead?" + +"We seem to be living," said Frank, "but we might be better off if we +were dead. I think we are in a bad scrape." + +"What happened to us, anyway?" + +"We fell." + +"Or were we pushed?" + +"There was no pushing about it. We took the tumble ourselves." + +"You don't suppose the chaps we were following fell down here ahead of +us?" + +"No." + +"Then what could have become of them?" + +"They must have turned off into a side passage we did not see. That is +the only way I can explain it." + +"Well, we may not be able to get out of this." + +"We'll have to get out." + +"What if we can't?" + +"We mustn't think of that." + +"All right; but I can't help it." + +They sat up and felt of themselves, finding no bones were broken, +although they had been bruised somewhat. + +Harry was about to get on his feet, but Frank would not allow that +till he had lighted a match, as there was danger of taking another mad +tumble. + +Frank always carried matches in a watertight case, and he produced and +struck one. By the aid of the tiny blaze they first satisfied +themselves that they were not on the brink of another descent, and +there was no immediate danger of falling again. Then they tried to +look around. + +"Murder!" gasped Harry. "We are in it--bad!" + +Frank felt that Rattleton was right; without doubt they were in a very +bad scrape. But it was Merry's policy to keep up his courage and put +on a front, so he joked and laughed as if it were a matter to be made +light of. + +"I don't know how you do it, old man," said Harry, gloomily; "but I +can't laugh while we are in this sort of a hole." + +"We've both been in bad scrapes before. Keep a stiff upper lip. We'll +pull out all right. First, we must see if we can scale this place +where we fell." + +Another match was lighted, and they made an examination. It was not +long before they were convinced that it was utterly useless to think +of trying to get out that way. + +"Can't be done!" groaned Harry. + +"Not that way," admitted Frank. "But we'll find a way." + +"We came here to find the buried heiress, and now we are buried +ourselves. That's what I call hard lines." + +With the aid of their matches, they made their way along slowly, both +fearing they might take another fall, and that it might be fatal. + +"Perhaps it would be the best thing that could happen to us," said +Rattleton, dolefully. "It would be a great deal better than starving +down here underground." + +Frank said nothing. He saw their matches were running out, and the +thought of being left there in the darkness of that great cavern, with +no means of procuring a light of any sort, was overcoming him and +making it impossible for him to assume an air of carelessness and +merry spirits. + +Finally, when there were but a few matches left, Frank said: + +"We'll have to feel our way along and take chances, Harry. I am not +going to use up all these matches, for there is no telling how +valuable they may be later on." + +So, clinging to each other, they crept along inch by inch, lost in the +Stygian darkness of the great cavern of the Sierras. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +BROTHER AND SISTER. + + +"There's a light ahead, Harry!" + +Frank uttered the words in an excited whisper, after they had been +groping their way through the darkness of the great cavern for what +seemed to be many hours. + +Rattleton was greatly agitated. + +"It is a light, sure!" he panted. "Frank, we're all right at last!" + +For some time they had heard a strange puffing sound that seemed +smothered and far away, like the panting breathing of some +subterranean monster. This was accompanied by a singular buzzing roar +that sounded very uncanny. + +"What is it?" asked Rattleton, in awe--"what can it be?" + +"Give it up," confessed Frank. "Let's find out. Come on." + +They moved toward the light, and soon they found themselves looking +down into a round chamber of the great cavern from a height of many +feet. + +What they saw filled them with inexpressible astonishment. + +The place was lighted with electric lamps, and down there in the +chamber was a steam engine and a small electric dynamo. + +The engine was running steadily, and the dynamo hummed with a sound +about which there now was nothing uncanny. + +Near the engine, watching it with interest, was the girl of the golden +hair. + +Harry clutched Frank's arm. + +"There she is!" he panted. "We have found her at last!" + +They stood in silence for several moments, watching the girl, who +looked very pretty beneath the light of the electric lamps. + +Suddenly a cry came from Harry, and he clutched Merriwell's arm with +quivering fingers, pointing with his other hand. + +"Look! look!" he exclaimed. "The dwarf--there he is!" + +Sure enough, the crouching figure of Apollo was seen emerging from the +darkness of a black opening and advancing toward the girl with swift, +catlike steps. + +The girl had heard Harry's exclamation, and, startled, she looked up +toward where the boys were standing. + +Then the dwarf rushed upon her and clutched her with his iron hands. + +A scream of terror came from the lips of the frightened girl, and rang +in weird echoes through the cave. + +The hand of Apollo was pressed over her mouth. + +But that scream had been heard, and there was an answering shout from +not very far away. + +The girl struggled, but the dwarf dragged her along toward the dark +opening. + +"How can we get down there, Frank? We must take a hand! How can we do +it? It is too far to jump!" + +Rattleton was frantic. + +Frank was looking for some way of getting down into the chamber. + +Before either of them could discover a means of going to the +assistance of the girl, Carter Morris, the strange old hermit, rushed +into the cavern. + +Morris sprang to the aid of the girl, but it seemed Bernard Belmont +had been waiting for such a thing to happen, for he leaped out of the +darkness and grappled with the hermit. + +Then a savage battle took place before the eyes of the boys. + +"Furies!" roared the man of the cave, writhing to break the grasp of +his assailant. "Who are you?" + +The girl got her mouth free from Apollo's hand and screamed: + +"It is my stepfather--it is Bernard Belmont!" + +It seemed that those words filled the hermit with a mad frenzy. He +struggled furiously, and Belmont was forced to exert all his strength +to prevent himself from being overcome, although he was the assailant. + +"We must go to the rescue, Frank--we must!" palpitated Rattleton. + +The boys were determined to find a way of getting down into the round +chamber, and Frank fancied he saw a manner of descending. It would be +necessary to drop at least fifteen feet, but he started to make the +attempt and Harry followed. + +The battle between Belmont and Carter Morris continued with great +fury, and Morris seemed to become perfectly mad with rage when he was +unable to overcome his assailant. + +Bit by bit the hermit dragged the man toward the buzzing dynamo, his +eyes glowing with an awful purpose. + +Suddenly he tried to hurl Belmont upon the dynamo. + +Belmont realized the intention of the man, and a scream of fear +escaped him. + +A moment later both men went down upon the machine! + +A second they seemed to cling there, and then they were flung off, +falling upon the rocky floor of the cavern and lying still, holding +fast to each other in death! + +The girl screamed, and the dwarf seemed overcome with sudden fear. He +stared at the contorted face of his dead master, seeming unable to +realize what had happened in the twinkling of an eye. + +Down from the heights above dropped two boys. + +"Give it to him, Frank!" screamed Harry. + +They rushed at the dwarf, but, for once in his life, at least, Apollo +was mastered by terror, for, with a shout of dismay, he released the +girl and fled, disappearing in a hopping, bounding manner into the +darkness. + +Rattleton caught the half-fainting girl in his arms, crying: + +"Hurrah, Merry, we have found her, and we've saved her!" + +But she had fainted. + +When another morning dawned the two boys and the girl left the great +cave and started for Carson City. + +Already had Mildred explained to them how it happened that the steam +engine and the dynamo were found in the cavern. The coiners who had +occupied that retreat years before had discovered a valuable vein of +ore, and they had devised a scheme of mining with the aid of +electricity. The engine was brought there to run the dynamo. As a +certain portion of the cave yielded coal in liberal quantities, it was +not difficult to find fuel for the engine. + +Carter Morris, being somewhat of an electrician, had put the abandoned +machinery in running order when he took possession of the cave. + +It had been his intention to protect himself from intruders by the aid +of electric currents, and he had given Frank and Harry a frightful +shock at the mouth of the cavern by means of hidden wires. + +The electric current had caused his death when he fell upon the dynamo +in struggling with Bernard Belmont. + +The graves of both men were made in the cave, and Little Milly shed +tears over the body of her mad uncle, who had sought to befriend her +by "burying" her. + +The hidden bicycles were found, and the sailboat was discovered where +the boys had left it. + +After setting sail to cross the lake, Frank touched Harry's arm and +pointed to an object that was floating in the water, at the same time +pressing a finger to his lips and shaking his head, with a look toward +Milly. + +Harry looked and started, for he saw the ghastly, upturned face of +Apollo, the dwarf, the scar on his cheek having turned a purplish +blue. + +The girl did not see this object, and the boys believed it far better +to leave the dwarf than to horrify her by letting her see the body. + +Carson was reached without further adventure, and there a joyous +surprise awaited Mildred Morris. + +Jack Diamond met the little party outside the hotel. + +"Where are Toots and Bruce?" asked Frank, in a low voice. + +"Standing guard, as you directed," said Jack. "We have taken turns +since you went away, and he has not been left alone a moment." + +"How is he?" + +"Better--much better. The doctor says he thinks he'll come around all +right." + +Then Frank and Harry accompanied Milly to a certain room of the hotel. +Browning and the colored boy were called out of the room, and +Merriwell said to the girl: + +"Go in, Miss Morris. There's some one in there who will be glad to see +you." + +He held the door open, and urged her gently into the room. + +A moment later there was a cry of joy--two cries--a rush. Then, +peering in at the door for a moment, the delighted lads saw Milly +spring toward the bed and clasp her living brother in her arms. + +Frank closed the door. + +Immediately Toots danced a wild cancan of delight. + +"Golly sakes teh goodness!" he chuckled. "Dat gal sho' am a peach. I'd +jes' lek teh take dat sick boy's place 'bout five minutes. Yah! yah! +yah! Oh, mommer!" + +The boy whom Mildred had rushed to meet was her brother, George, who +was not dead, but had fainted at sight of his cruel stepfather and the +dwarf. Belmont had thought the boy dead, and had left Carson without +delay, much to the satisfaction of Frank Merriwell. + +And now the doctor who was attending George said the boy had a fair +show to recover. + +"Say," observed Diamond, suddenly, "the buried heiress is out of +sight! I think I will----" + +"If you try it," spluttered Rattleton, menacingly, "I'll hake your +bread--I mean I'll break your head! I saw her first, and I have first +claim there!" + +"Break away, there, you chumps," laughed Frank. "We have business +first, you know. We must speed on toward California and bring this +wonderful trip of ours to a successful finish. Onward is the cry." + +That afternoon they bade farewell to George and Mildred, and rode +away, sorry indeed at the parting. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +OLD FRIENDS. + + + "We are a set of jolly, jolly lads, + As we ride--as we ride away! + You bet we're up to date, but are no cads, + As we ride--as we ride away! + We've crossed the plains and scaled the Rockies high, + And now hurrah! for 'Frisco's town is nigh; + We sing as toward that port we swiftly fly, + As we ride--as we ride away!" + +Through a California forest of monster trees our five boys were +riding, and they sang as they rode, their voices blending beautifully +and making the old woods echo with sweet music. + +To them it seemed that all the perils of the trip were past and San +Francisco was in view, although in truth, it was more than two hundred +miles away by the route they would be compelled to follow. + +It was a perfect day, with the sun shining from a cloudless sky, as it +always seems to shine in California. It was warm, but not too hot for +comfort, and the road through the forest was fairly good, winding to +the right and then to the left beneath the shadows of the great trees. + +"If this road wasn't so crooked, we wouldn't have to travel so far," +groaned Browning, his manner being so dismal that the others broke +into a shout of laughter. + +"You shouldn't kick about this road," smiled Frank. "I've seen a road +much more crooked than this." + +"It must have been pretty crooked." + +"It was so crooked that when you started to ride on it you'd meet +yourself coming back." + +"Yow!" whooped Rattleton. "That's the worst I ever heard! A man should +be put behind bars for perpetrating anything like that." + +"I don't think I'd like to be put behind bars," confessed Merry. + +"Huah!" grunted Bruce. "There are others. Why, I know fellows who want +to be in front of bars all the time." + +"You mean they drink incessantly?" + +"No, I mean they drink whiskey." + +"Yah! yah! yah!" shouted Toots, his shrill laugh awaking the echoes. +"Nebber heard Mistah Brownin' say nuffin' funny as dat befo'! Dat teks +de cake!" + +"I wouldn't mind taking a small cake," said the big fellow. "This +California air makes me hungry." + +"Land ob wartermillions! yo's alwus hungry, Mistah Brownin', sar. Yo's +been eatin' all de way 'crost de country." + +"That's right," was Browning's confession. "And there was one strip of +country where they didn't seem to have anything to eat but corn beef +and cabbage. I actually ate so much corn beef and cabbage that I was +ashamed to look a cow in the face." + +"Well, we'll soon be in San Francisco, the greatest city in all this +Western land," put in Frank. "There we can get almost any kind of feed +we like. Why, I know a restaurant where we'll be able to get 'genuine +Boston baked beans.'" + +"You know a place?" questioned Diamond. "You know? Look here, Frank +Merriwell, what is there you don't know about? Have you been +everywhere and seen everything?" + +"Not by a long distance, but I have been in San Francisco." + +"Well, it seems to me that we never mention a place that you don't +know all about. You were perfectly familiar with Carson City." + +"Yes, I had been there before, and it is a place I shall not soon +forget, for it was there I last saw my old chum of Fardale, Bart +Hodge." + +"You have spoken of him often of late." + +"Yes; I have been thinking of him very much. It is natural, as I am +near where I saw him last. Dear old fellow! How we fought in the old +days when we first met! And, after that, what firm friends we became! +Hodge had his failings, but he was white at heart. He would lay down +his life for a friend. His parents were wealthy, and they had indulged +him in everything he desired, till he was completely spoiled and they +could do nothing with him. Fardale was noted as a place where just +such fellows were taken and broken into the traces, and so his father +sent him there. Hodge didn't do a thing at first--oh, no! not a thing! +He raised merry thunder, and he hated me with a virulent hatred. He +tried to injure me in every way he could devise, but when I pulled him +out of several bad scrapes, incidentally saving his life, he began to +see that he was in the wrong. He had a fierce battle to overcome his +natural inclination to do dirty things, but overcome it he did, and he +became fairly popular in time, although no one knew him and understood +him like myself. Between us there was a perfect understanding, and I +could control him when he would not listen to reason from any other +person." + +"I believe you were stuck on Hodge!" said Diamond, somewhat piqued. + +"No more than I am on any of my true friends," answered Frank. + +"It seems you put yourself to lots of trouble with him." + +"I did; but I fancied there was the making of a fine man in him, and I +felt that it was a shame to see a chap go to the dogs. Several times +he came near being fired from Fardale, for they could do nothing with +him. If he had been fired, his father would have forced him to hustle +for himself. With a boy of Hodge's nature that must have meant ruin, +as he would have fallen in with fast companions, would have required +money, and would have obtained it by some means or other. If his +companions had been crooked, Hodge, although his nature would have +rebelled against anything dishonest, would have become crooked also. +He told me that, and he said I was his good angel." + +"Hang it, Merry!" spluttered Rattleton; "you've been a good angel for +lots of us. It seems that every fellow who sticks by you gets on +better than he ever did before." + +"I'm a mascot," laughed Frank. "Follow me and you'll wear diamonds--or +something else." + +"There's no doubt about it," grunted Browning. "We'll be arrested if +we don't. Can't go naked in this country." + +"Yah!" cried Toots. "Don' yo' try so hard to say somefin' funny, +Mistah Brownin', fo' dat is where yo' meks a mistook, sar. Yo' falls +do'n on yo'se'f, an' yo' don' get funny at all." + +"Thanks, my colored counsellor," murmured the big fellow. "You have a +shocking habit of giving advice when it isn't asked. I wouldn't do it +so much if I were you." + +"Choke off, Toots," advised Frank. + +"All right, sar--all right," muttered the colored boy; "but I knows +what I knows--yes, sar. It done do some of de crowd good if dey took +mah advice, sar." + +The boys admired the trees and the weather, and they were supremely +happy. All were hearty and healthy, with muscles as hard as iron and +eyes clear as the eagle's. + +Browning, although still stout and sturdy, had worked himself down to +a hard, healthy condition, and was really a stunningly handsome +fellow. There was about him a suggestion of great strength, and almost +any man might have hesitated about facing him in anger. + +As Merriwell was one who constantly kept himself in perfect condition, +it cannot be said that he was looking better than when the party left +New York, although he, like the others, was tanned by exposure to all +sorts of weather. + +As the party came around a bend of the road, they saw another young +bicyclist, who was standing beside his wheel, somewhat uneasily +regarding their approach. + +"Hello!" exclaimed Diamond. "Here's a fellow traveler." + +Frank took off his cap and waved it about his head, but the stranger +did not answer the salute. + +"Some way he doesn't seem at all pleased to see us," said Rattleton. + +"It may be the way with Californians," said Diamond. + +"Anyhow we'll stop and ask him a few questions," Merriwell said. "At +least, he can't refuse to answer us, if we are civil." + +So, as the boys came up, they slackened their speed and prepared to +dismount. To their surprise the stranger made preparations to mount, +as if he contemplated riding away if they stopped. + +"He's going to run away," grunted Bruce, in disgust. + +"Hold on," urged Merriwell, addressing the stranger. "We want to talk +with you." + +Then the boys sprang off their wheels. + +To their surprise, the stranger suddenly held out his hand, almost +shouting: + +"It is Frank Merriwell, or my eyes can't see straight!" + +"Bart Hodge, as I live!" cried Frank, grasping the outstretched hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +BART HODGE MAKES A CONFESSION. + + +It was Bart Hodge! + +How they did shake hands! Strangely enough, neither of them laughed, +but there was a look of joy on their faces that told of satisfaction +and delight too great for laughter. + +"Merriwell, old man," said Hodge, his voice unsteady with emotion, "I +can scarcely believe it is true! It seems too good to be true!" + +"Hodge!" exclaimed Frank, "there is fate in this. I was speaking of +you not more than ten minutes ago." + +"Speaking of me?" + +"Sure." + +"Then you had not forgotten me?" + +"Forgotten you?" came reproachfully from Frank--"you should know I am +not the kind of fellow to forget my friends." + +"That's right," nodded Bart, quickly; "you always did stick to your +friends through thick and thin." + +"Yes, through thick and thin, old chum." + +"But it is most astonishing to see you away out here in this part of +the country. Where did you drop from?" + +"Oh, we are on a little run across the country," smiled Merry. "We +started from New York, and we're bound for San Francisco. Permit me to +introduce my friends." + +Then he presented the others of the party in turn, and Bart shook +hands with them all, expressing his satisfaction at meeting them, but +seeming rather reserved and uneasy. Frank observed that Hodge turned +his head to glance down the road now and then as if expecting the +appearance of some one or something. + +"So you're Hart Bodge--I mean Bart Hodge?" said Harry, as he was +introduced. "Well, I'm glad to know you. Merry has talked about you +ever since I first met him at Yale. He has told everything about you." + +"If that is true, I'm afraid you have not formed a very good opinion +of me," said Hodge, somewhat gloomily. + +"On the contrary, I have formed a very good opinion of you," assured +Rattleton. + +"Then it can't be Merry has told you everything." + +Frank was not a little surprised by Bart's manner, for Hodge had been +a fellow who could not easily suppress his self-conceit, and it had +always been his desire to impress strangers with the idea that he was +something quite out of the ordinary. + +A vague feeling that something was wrong with Bart seized upon +Merriwell. + +"You're not well, old man," he said. "I know it. Don't say you are." + +"Never was better in all my life." + +"But something is the trouble--I can see that." + +"Oh, no!" assured Bart; "you are mistaken, I assure you." + +But, for all of these words, Frank was not satisfied, as Bart's manner +had plainly betrayed the fact that he was trying to conceal something. + +"Which way are you traveling?" Frank asked. + +"East." + +"Too bad! We are going the other way, and I hoped you'd go along." + +"Oh, no! it is impossible," Hodge quickly asserted. + +"Business important?" + +"Well, it is--er--somewhat so." + +"Where are you from last?" + +"Oh, I've been traveling--yes, traveling," answered Bart, vaguely. + +"Now, look here!" cried Merry, decisively; "you've got to travel with +us, old man. I won't take no for an answer, for I believe you can do +it. You'll turn about and go to San Francisco with us." + +"That's right; come on," cried the others. + +Bart shook his head. + +"Can't do it--I can't. You don't know--I can't explain--now." + +"Do you think this is using me just right?" asked Frank, +reproachfully. "You'll find us a jolly crowd, and we'll have dead +loads of sport. We've made a quick run across, and we can take our +time going back. None of the fellows are obliged to hurry home. Come +along with us, Bart, and we'll do you good." + +Something like a smile flitted over Hodge's serious face. + +"You are the same old Merriwell," he said. "It has done me good to see +you a little while, Frank." + +"It will do you more good to see me longer, and it'll do me good to +have you come with me. Come along." + +Bart wavered. It was plain enough that he longed to go, but, for some +reason, he hesitated. + +Frank passed an arm about Hodge's shoulders, saying, gently but +firmly: + +"You've got to do it; you can't get out of it, old chum." + +A wave of feeling fled across Hodge's face, and there was something +like a suspicious quiver of his sensitive chin. + +"You do not understand," he slowly murmured. "I'd like to have a talk +with you, Frank. I--I might tell you----" + +"That's right," said Harry, heartily. "Old friends like you chaps want +a chance to talk over old matters and things. Excuse us. We're going +to find a chance to stretch our weary limbs on the ground. Browning +has an attack of that tired feeling, and he will fall asleep in his +tracks if he doesn't recline without delay." + +"Huah!" grunted Bruce. + +Then the boys withdrew, leaving Hodge and Merriwell together. + +Bart seemed embarrassed and uneasy. He glanced at Frank slyly, as if +in doubt, which Merry did not fail to note, although pretending not to +observe it. + +They sat down near the foot of a monster tree, against which they +could lean in a comfortable position as they chatted. The great forest +of redwood trees was all about them, and a Sabbath peace brooded over +the gentle slope of the Sierras. + +"Well, Bart," said Frank, insinuatingly, "I trust things are going +well with you?" + +A sudden change came over Hodge. A fierce look of rage came to his +face and his eyes blazed, while his voice was harsh and unpleasant, as +he cried: + +"Things are not going well with me! Everything has gone wrong! Oh, +I've had infernal luck! I know I was born under an unlucky star, and +the only time I ever did get along was when you and I were together at +Fardale." + +"Then stick by me, and change your luck again." + +"I'd like to do it, but you are going the wrong way." + +"What's the odds? There is no reason why you should not turn back +and----" + +"There is a reason." + +"Of course I do not know about that, but----" + +"Listen, Frank; you remember Isa Isban?" + +"Yes, and Vida Milburn, Isa's half-sister, with whom you were in love. +I distinctly remember that Vida was a beautiful and charming girl." + +Hodge's teeth ground together with a nerve-tingling, grating sound, +and his face was set as stone, although his eyes still blazed. + +"Yes, a beautiful girl--a charming girl!" he admitted, but with +sarcasm that could not be mistaken. + +"What's the matter? Where is Vida now?" + +"I don't know, and I don't care a rap!" + +"Oh, say! I think I tumble. It is a case of lovers' quarrel. Now, now, +now! Don't be foolish, my boy! It will come out all right. You know +true love persistently refuses to run smooth. You'll make it all up in +time." + +Hodge grinned, but there was nothing of mirth in the expression. It +seemed to Frank as if some wild animal had shown its teeth. + +"Oh, yes, it will come out all right!" he sneered. "We'll make it all +up in time! It's too late, Merriwell." + +"You think so, that's all." + +"I know so. She's married!" + +Frank gasped. + +"Married?" + +"Yes." + +"Married? Why, she is a mere girl! And you--where do you come in?" + +"I'm not in it, and I think I'm lucky. That's not worrying me." + +"But how--how did it happen? Why did you throw her over? or why did +she go back on you?" + +"I'm not going to tell the whole story now, Frank; but the fact is +that she lacked faith in me. I rather think I'm dead lucky to get out +of it, for she was rather weak and fickle. You know her half-sister, +Isa Isban, although stunningly handsome, is wild and reckless. She was +married to a gambler and maker of crooked money." + +"But he is dead--was shot, and Isa disappeared." + +"Well, she has reappeared, but I'll tell you about that later. It's +Vida I wish to tell you about now. You know Vida's old uncle and aunt +never did have a high opinion of me." + +"Not till they discovered that you were a brave and honorable fellow. +Then they seemed to turn about and think you one of the finest chaps +in the world." + +"They got over it," Hodge sneered. "They came to think me anything but +brave and honorable. They believed me a drunkard, a gambler and a +thief!" + +Frank was shocked, and he showed it. + +"Impossible!" he cried. "How could they think such a thing of you? +They had no reason to think so!" + +Bart turned crimson till it extended all over his face and neck. + +"You don't know, Merry," he muttered, positively showing shame. "I'm +not like you--I make a bad break sometimes. It is hard for me to +resist temptation, and--well, I was tempted, and I succumbed. That's +all." + +"Succumbed? What do you mean? I know your heart is right, old fellow, +and you did not do anything wrong intentionally." + +"Appearances were against me--I confess it. First--well, I was seen +drunk. That is, I seemed to be drunk, but I swear to you that I had +not taken but one drink, and that was not enough to knock out a +ten-year-old boy. It was drugged, Frank--I know it!" + +"Drugged? Who did such a villainous trick?" + +"My enemy--a young fellow who loved Vida. He has a father who's got +the rocks. He's older than I, and I thought him my friend. I met him +at her home. His name is Hart Davis." + +"The whelp! But did Vida see you?" + +"Yes. I had been out with Davis that night. In the morning I was found +on the steps of Vida's home, apparently dead drunk." + +"How came you there?" + +"I didn't know at the time. Since then--well, it is settled in my +mind. Davis said I left him to go to the place where I was boarding in +Carson City. He said I seemed to be all right when I left him, and so +he let me go. He appeared very shocked to think such a misfortune had +happened me: but--burn him!--I believe he gave me knock-out drops--I +believe he carried me to that house--I believe he left me on the +steps, where I was found!" + +Frank's eyes were blazing now, and the look on his expressive face +told how he felt toward Mr. Hart Davis. + +"And did Vida throw you over for that?" he asked, in an indignant +manner. + +"Not entirely for that. She was very shocked and cold toward me, but +when I was arrested----" + +"Arrested?" gasped Frank. "Arrested for what?" + +"For stealing a watch." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +FRANK BECOMES ALARMED. + + +"For stealing?" + +Frank's astonishment was so great that he found it difficult to utter +the words. + +"Yes," nodded Bart, gloomily, "for stealing a watch." + +"But--but I know you never did such a----The man who would think such +a thing ought to be shot!" + +"The watch was found on my person," said Bart, slowly. + +"Found on you, was it? I don't care! I know you didn't steal it. +Nothing could make me believe that." + +A gleam of satisfaction seemed to pierce the fierce look on Hodge's +face, as a shaft of sunshine sometimes pierces a black and sullen +cloud. + +"You are right, Merriwell," he said; "I did not steal it. Give me your +hand. Oh, it is good--so good to have some one in the world who has +confidence in me! It has seemed of late that everybody was down on +me." + +He grasped Frank's hand, and pressed it warmly. + +"You have been up against hard luck, old friend," came feelingly from +Frank. "And the girl shook you quite after you were arrested?" + +"Yes." + +"Were you tried?" + +"Yes." + +"Convicted?" + +"No." + +"Still she threw you over?" + +"She did." + +"Well, you are dead lucky! Such a girl is not worth thinking about! +Don't let that break you up, Hodge." + +"Wait," said Bart. "I have not told you all." + +"Go on." + +"I was arrested in one of the most notorious gambling houses in +Carson." + +It was plain that the confession cost Hodge much, for his shame was +evident, and he hastily added: + +"Give it to me, Merriwell! I deserve it! Blow me up!" + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," said Frank, slowly, "although I am +very sorry to hear what you have told me. Were you in that house to +play?" + +"Yes." + +"That is the bad part of it, for you know you can't let gambling alone +once you get at it. I had hoped you were free of your old bad habits." + +"You never hoped so more than I!" cried Bart. "But it's no use--I +can't reform. Davis induced me to go to the gambling house, and then +he dropped me like a live coal when I was pinched." + +"But you said they proved nothing against you." + +"No, they could not prove anything, for I proved that I bought the +watch of a young man who offered it to me at a bargain. That cleared +me of that charge." + +"But Vida Milburn threw you down just as hard?" + +"Yes." + +"Why?" + +"Don't you see, I was arrested in a gambling house while playing +roulette. She had seen me when I appeared to be drunk. That was +enough. Even though I did not steal, I drank and gambled. Her aunt +forbade her seeing me. She sent back my presents, and told me we must +become as strangers. Two months later she married Hart Davis." + +Frank's hand fell on the shoulder of his old-time friend. + +"It was hard luck, Hodge," he said, in a straightforward manner, "and +you were not entirely blameless. At the same time, it is certain that +girl did not care for you as she should, and she might have made you +miserable if you had won her. The girl who really loves a fellow will +believe in him and his honor till there is not a single tattered +remnant of his reputation to which she can pin her faith. I tell you, +old chum, you may congratulate yourself that you got off as you did." + +"I have tried to do so," said Hodge, "and I resolved to be a man and +forget her. But it was harder to forget than I dreamed, and then, when +I was beginning to forget, that other came upon me again." + +"That other? What other?" + +"Her half-sister." + +"Isa Isban?" + +"Yes." + +"You met Isa?" + +"In Sacramento." + +"And she looks as she did long ago--just as handsome?" + +"A hundred times more so!" cried Bart, his eyes kindling and a flush +suffusing his cheeks. "Merriwell, she is the handsomest girl I ever +knew!" + +Frank whistled, regarding Bart searchingly and uneasily. + +"What's this? what's this?" he exclaimed. "What has she been doing +with you? Why, hang me if I don't believe--I know you were hard hit by +her!" + +"I was," confessed Bart, flushing still more. "When I first saw her I +thought her Vida, but she seemed to have grown more beautiful than +ever, and I could not help looking at her. Then I discovered there was +a difference--I saw it was not Vida but Isa. When I spoke to her she +remembered me, and then--well, we became very friendly. I told her +everything, and she laughed. She said Vida was too soft for +anything--said the old aunt made Vida do anything she wished, and the +girl hadn't spirit enough to do as she desired. She said she would +stick to a fellow if she loved him even though he were jailed for +twenty years. There was spirit, dash, go about her, Merriwell! She +fascinated me. I saw in her what I had missed in Vida." + +Frank shook his head in a very sober manner. + +"My dear fellow," he said, "do you remember Isa had a husband?" + +"Yes, but he is dead," said Bart, quickly. + +"I know that; but do you remember the sort of fellow he was?" + +"Of course; he was a counterfeiter." + +"Exactly, and Isa 'shoved the queer' for him. She didn't do a thing to +me the first time we met. I changed a fifty-dollar bill for her, and +when I tried to pass the bill I came near being arrested. You remember +that?" + +"Sure." + +"I hardly think that is the sort of girl you wish to get stuck on, old +boy." + +"I don't know about that," said Bart, rather defiantly. "She stuck to +her husband through thick and thin, and I think all the more of her +for it." + +Frank was alarmed. + +"My dear fellow," he cried, "you are an easy mark. That girl is +shrewd--altogether too shrewd for you to match your wits against hers. +She will play you for a fool--I am sure of it." + +Bart reddened again and then turned very pale, his manner indicating +great embarrassment. He drew from Frank a bit, and something in his +air added to Merriwell's alarm. + +"I hope you haven't been very friendly with Isa Isban," Frank said. + +"I might have been more friendly, but she had a foolish idea that it +would injure me if I were seen with her often." + +"She had such an idea?" + +"Yes; and that goes to show the girl's heart is all right. She had +consideration for me." + +Frank bit his lip and scowled. + +"It is remarkable," he confessed. "Are you sure it was out of +consideration for you that she did not wish you seen with her?" + +"Sure? Of course." + +"It seems strange. It seems that the kind of life she has led with +that reckless coiner husband would be sure to make her careless of +others--make her hard and heartless." + +"It is not strange you think so, Merriwell; but it is because you do +not know her. I honor and respect her for standing by her husband, +even when she knew he was a rascal, and I believe she has a heart and +soul a thousand times more noble than the heart and soul of her +half-sister." + +"Bad, bad!" exclaimed Frank. "Look here, Bart, you must go along with +me. That is settled. Isa Isban will ruin you if you do not escape from +her influence." + +A look of indignation settled on Hodge's face, and he drew away. + +"If you knew her well, Frank, I would not pardon you for saying that +about her; but, as you know nothing about her, I will overlook it. +But, old fellow, please don't speak of Miss Isban in that way." + +"Miss Isban? Her name is Mrs. Scott; her husband's name was Paul +Scott." + +"I know, but she has resumed her maiden name since his death. She +calls herself Miss Isban now. You should see her, Merriwell. She looks +like a sweet girl graduate--a girl of eighteen, and----" + +"She must be twenty-one or two." + +"I don't know, and I don't care. She does not look it, and I believe +she is a splendid girl. I honor and respect her." + +"Great Scott!" thought Frank; "Hodge is in the greatest peril of his +life! I am sure of it. I am sure that girl will work his utter +downfall if he is not saved from her influence. It is my duty to find +a way to save him. I will!" + +When Frank made up his mind to do a thing, he bent all his energies to +accomplish the end. In the past Hodge had been easily influenced, but +he felt sure Isa Isban had a hold on the lad that could not be broken +with ease. The task must be accomplished by clever work. + +"Where is she now?" Merry asked. + +"I don't know." + +"Don't? How is that?" + +"Well, you see, I--I left Sacramento rather--rather suddenly," +faltered Bart. + +"Suddenly? Explain it, old chum. Why did you leave Sacramento +suddenly? I trust you did not get into trouble there?" + +Hodge ground his heel into the ground, seeming quite occupied in +digging a hole in that manner. Suddenly he started and listened. + +"A horse is coming this way--up the trail!" he exclaimed. "It is +coming at a hot pace, as if hard ridden." + +"Let it come. That needn't bother us. Answer my questions, Bart. You +know I am your friend, and there should be perfect trust and no +secrets between close friends." + +But Hodge did not seem to hear those words. He was listening to the +hoofbeats of the galloping horse, and his face had grown pale. + +"Look here, Merriwell," he hastily exclaimed, "the rider of that horse +may be a person I do not care to meet." + +Bart got up hastily, and Frank arose, saying: + +"You needn't be afraid of him. The other boys are good fighters, and +there is no single man in this country that can do you up while you +are with this crowd. We will stand by you." + +"It's not that; you don't understand. I must not be seen. I'll get out +of sight, and you must bluff him off, if he asks about me. That's all. +Here he comes!" + +A glimpse of the horseman was obtained as he flitted along between the +great trees. + +Immediately Hodge slipped behind a tree, and lost no time in getting +out of view. + +The horseman came on swiftly, and the boys saw that he was a large man +with a grizzled beard that had once been coal black. He was roughly +dressed, with his pantaloons tucked into his boots. + +As he approached the man eyed the boys closely. Close at hand he drew +up, saying in a harsh voice: + +"Wa-al, who are you, and whatever are yer doing here?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +ARREST AND ESCAPE. + + +Frank was inclined to resent the stranger's words and manner. + +"I don't understand how that concerns you, sir," he said, rather +stiffly. + +"Hey," cried the man, glaring at Merry. "Don't git insolent, +youngster! I don't like it." + +"Your question was impertinent." + +"Whatever is that? Be careful. I don't want any foolin'." + +Frank smiled at this, which seemed to make the horseman angry. + +"Hang ye!" he exclaimed. "You want to be respectful, for you're liable +to get into trouble with me, and you won't like that." + +"Shoo fly!" chuckled Toots, showing his big white teeth in a grin. +"G'way dar, man! Yo' gibs me de fever an' chillins." + +"Wa-al, dern me!" roared the man, growing very red in the face. "It's +the first time an ordinary nigger ever dared to speak to Bill Higgins +that way." + +"Hole on, sar! I ain't no ordumnary nigger, sar. I's a cullud gemman +ob 'stinction, sar, an' po' white trash cayarn't talk to me lek +dat--no, sar!" + +"Choke off that critter!" growled the man, addressing Frank. "If yer +don't, I'll shoot him full of holes!" + +"I wouldn't advise you to do that," came calmly from Merriwell. "You +might get into serious trouble if you did." + +"Trouble?--trouble over shootin' a nigger?" snorted the stranger. +"Wa-al, I think not! I've got the record of killin' a dozen white men, +and----" + +"Thirteen is an unlucky number you know. Without doubt you will be +hanged, as you deserve, when you kill the thirteenth one." + +"Mebbe so, but a nigger won't count. I'll bore him if he opens his +trap again!" + +"Land ob mercy!" gurgled Toots, dodging behind a tree. "Dat man am +crazzy fo' suah! Look out fo' him, chilluns; dar am no tellin' when +he'll tek a noshun inter his fool haid teh shoot you all." + +"You must be a very bad man," said Merriwell, sarcastically. + +"I am; and now yer realize it, mebbe you'll have a little more +respect. Who be yer? an' what're yer doing here?" + +"If you will show that you have any right to ask those questions, I +will answer them." + +"Right! Why, hang it! I'm ther sheriff of this county!" + +"Well, what have we done that the sheriff of this county or any other +county in California should come around and demand our names, as if we +were criminals?" + +"Ye're suspicious characters." + +"Is that it? And we look like dangerous criminals?" + +"I've seen fellows what didn't look more dangerous than you as was +rather tough." + +"Well, we are not tough, and we have no reason for concealing our +names." + +Then Frank gave the name of each of the boys, pointing them out as he +did so, and told how they happened to be in California. + +Bill Higgins, as the man had called himself, listened and looked them +over. His manner seemed to change, and he said: + +"You tell that pretty straight, and I reckon you're not giving me a +crooked deal, but whar's to' other one?" + +"What other one?" + +"The one what owns the other bisuckle. Thar's only five of you, and +here are six bisuckles." + +The keen eyes of the sheriff made this discovery, and Frank realized +that Hodge's wheel should have been concealed. + +"Oh, the other fellow has just stepped aside to look at the big +trees," he explained. "This is the first time we have ever seen trees +like these. They are wonders, sir. Do you have them all over the +State? How tall are they? Can you give us the dimensions of the +largest tree discovered in this State? We desire some information +concerning them." + +"I see ye do," said Higgins, with sarcasm, "an' I desire a little +information myself. You'll answer my questions." + +Frank feared his ruse would fail, but he suavely said: + +"Oh, certainly--of course, sir. We shall be pleased to answer your +questions. Do these trees make good timber for building purposes? Are +they difficult to work up? How thick is the bark? And how----" + +"That'll do!" roared the sheriff, fiercely. "I'm no bureau of +information. Whar is the other feller?" + +Frank assumed a dignified and injured air. + +"As you do not seem inclined to answer my questions, I must decline to +answer yours," he said, coldly. "If you will drive along, it will be +agreeable to us." + +Higgins showed his yellow teeth through his grizzled beard. + +"Oh-ho!" he grated. "So that's the trick. Wa-al, I know t'other chap +is near, an' I'm goin' ter see him. That is settled." + +Off his horse he sprang, leaving the animal to stand, and then, to the +surprise of all, he ran to the tree behind which Bart was concealed, +dashed around it, and gave a shout of triumph. + +A moment later the sheriff reappeared, dragging Hodge by the collar. + +"Don't try ter git away!" he commanded. "If ye do, you'll be sorry. I +don't fool with a critter of your caliber." + +"Let go!" cried Bart, indignantly. "What are you trying to do with me? +Take your hands off, sir!" + +"Not till I lodge ye behind bars, young feller. You're under arrest, +so cool down and keep still." + +"Why am I arrested?" + +"Oh, you don't know; oh, no!" + +"Answer my question, sir! Why am I arrested?" + +"Now, don't go to gettin' funny and givin' orders. It ain't necessary +to answer." + +Frank stepped forward. + +"It is no more than right that you should tell me why you have +arrested my friend, sir," he said. + +"Ho! ho!" cried the sheriff. "So he is your friend! I thought as much! +Well, don't you get too frisky, or I may take a notion to arrest you, +too." + +"Such a thing would be an outrage, and I believe you have perpetrated +an outrage in arresting Mr. Hodge." + +"I don't care what you think!" + +"At the same time, I see no reason why you should refuse to tell me +why you have arrested him." + +"Jive him gesse--I mean give him Jesse!" fluttered Rattleton, as he +sought Frank's side. "You know we will stand by you, old man. If you +say the word, we'll take Hodge away from him." + +Bill Higgins' ears were sharp, and he caught the words. Like a flash +he whipped out a huge revolver, which he held in a menacing manner, +while he growled: + +"Thirteen may be an unlucky number, but skin me if I don't make it +thirteen or more if you chaps tries the trick!" + +He looked as if he meant what he said. + +"Steady, fellows," warned Merriwell, as the boys gathered at his back, +ready for anything. "Don't be hasty." + +"It won't be good fer yer if you are!" muttered Higgins. + +"We can take Hodge away from him--I know we can!" whispered Diamond, +eagerly. "Say the word, and we'll jump him!" + +"That's right," nodded Browning, with deliberation. + +Higgins backed off a bit, still holding fast to Hodge, and handling +his revolver threateningly. + +"Blamed if I don't take the whole gang in!" he shouted. "I reckon +you're all standin' in together with this feller." + +"You will have a warm time taking in this crowd," said Frank, quickly. +"We are friends of Mr. Hodge, and therefore we think it no more than +right that we should know why he is arrested." + +"If that's goin' to satisfy ye, you shall know. He's arrested for +shovin' the queer." + +"Shoving--the--queer?" + +"That's whatever!" + +"But--but there must be a mistake." + +"Bill Higgins never makes mistakes." + +Frank was shocked, stunned. He looked at Bart, and Hodge's face, which +had been pale, turned crimson with apparent shame. It was like a blow +to Merriwell, for the conviction that Hodge was guilty came over him. + +"It was that wretched girl--she did it!" he thought. "She has led him +into this. She has influenced him to put out some of that bogus money, +and he, like the infatuated fool that he was, did it willingly. Oh, it +is a shame!" + +Bart stole a glance at Frank, and saw by the expression of Merry's +face that he was convinced of his folly. Immediately Hodge seemed to +wilt, as if hope had gone out of him. The color left his face, and it +became wan and drawn, with an expression of anguish that aroused +Frank's deepest pity. + +"I don't care!" Merriwell mentally exclaimed. "He did it because he +was hypnotized--because her influence compelled him to do so. If he is +brought to trial now it will mean his utter ruin. What can I do for +him? Can I do anything?" + +Bart saw the change that came over Frank's face, but did not +understand what it meant. Instead, noticing a hard, determined look, +he fancied his former friend was hardening his heart against him. + +Of a sudden Hodge gave the sheriff a shove and trip, sending him +sprawling on the ground, his revolver being discharged as he fell. +Fortunately the bullet harmed no one. + +Like a flash, the desperate boy darted away. He caught his wheel, +which stood against a tree, and was on it in a moment. His feet caught +the pedals, and away he went down the road. + +Bill Higgins scrambled up, uttering language that was shocking to +hear. + +"The cursed whelp!" he roared. "He can't ride faster than bullets can +travel! I'll fill him full of lead!" + +Then he flung up the revolver. + +Merriwell was quite as swift in his movements. + +"No, you don't!" + +With that cry on his lips, Frank knocked the weapon aside just as it +was discharged, and the bullet sped skyward through the tree tops. + +Then Bill Higgins whirled and tried to shoot the boy who had saved +Bart Hodge, but the heavy fist of Bruce Browning fell on his temple, +and he dropped like a log to the ground. + +Frank picked up the sheriff's revolver, which had fallen from his +hand, and, when Higgins sat up, he found himself looking into the +muzzle of his own weapon. + +"Get out!" + +Merriwell uttered the words, and Higgins took the hint. + +"All right," he snarled; "but this doesn't end it! I'll make all of +yer suffer fer this!" + +He arose, mounted his waiting horse, and galloped away after Hodge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +ISA ISBAN. + + +Late that same afternoon the five boys were riding westward, when +Frank said: + +"Something mysterious has happened, fellows." + +"What is it?" asked Jack, who was instantly interested in any mystery. + +"A short time ago I saw a horseman away down the road here." + +"Yes." + +"He was coming toward us." + +"Well?" + +"We have not met him." + +"No." + +"Look--the road lies before us for a mile. Where is he?" + +"Not in sight, that is sure." + +"He must have turned off somewhere," said Rattleton. + +"That is true, but we have seen no road that turned off from this." + +"Perhaps he saw us and turned aside to avoid us." + +"Or it may have been Bill Higgins, the sheriff, and he is lying in +wait to arrest us all," suggested Browning. + +"It was not Higgins," assured Merriwell. "It was a young man, I am +sure, although I obtained but a glimpse of him through the trees. We +have passed no house since then." + +"Never mind him," said Harry. "We must find a place to stop for the +night." + +"I wish we might learn what has happened to Hodge before we stop. I +don't believe Higgins recaptured him." + +"It's ten chances to one we'll never hear anything more about him +while we are in California." + +"I know that, and I am sorry. I wanted to keep him with us, for he is +in great need of friends to straighten him up. He has fallen in with +bad companions, and they are ruining him." + +"I should say so!" exclaimed Diamond. "He is a fool to let himself be +worked by a girl." + +"Don't take Hodge for a fool, Jack. He is anything but a fool, but he +is easily influenced, and he is proud and passionate. Fairly started +on the wrong road, he may go to ruin in a hurry. If we could get him +out of this State--save him from arrest! Should he be arrested, tried +and condemned, it would mean his utter and complete ruin. After +serving a term in prison, he would feel the disgrace so deeply that +nothing could save him." + +"Well, you have taken a big contract if you are going to try to save +him now," Diamond declared. + +"It might be done, but----Hello! this looks like a path." + +Frank was off his wheel in a moment, and he quickly decided that a +path led from the regular trail into the dark shadows to the forest to +the northward. + +"Wonder where it would take us," he muttered. And then, seized by a +sudden inspiration, he cried: + +"Come on, fellows; let's go on an exploring expedition." + +Diamond protested, and Browning growled after his usual lazy manner, +but Frank was supported by Rattleton and Toots, and the majority +ruled. + +The path, where it turned off from the road, seemed to be somewhat +hidden, but it soon became plain enough, and they were able to ride +along in single file, Merriwell leading. + +They had proceeded in this manner about a mile when they came in sight +of a small cabin that was set down in a little hollow amid the trees. + +The place looked lonely and deserted, but Frank rode straight toward +it, and the others followed. + +The boys dismounted before the cabin, and Merriwell rapped loudly on +the door. He was forced to knock three times before he obtained a +response. + +The door opened slowly, and a bent and feeble-looking man with dirty +white hair looked at them. + +"Who are you?" he asked, in a cracked voice, suspicion showing plainly +in his eyes, which were bright and clear for all of his age. + +"Travelers," replied Frank, cheerfully. "We were passing, and, as +night is at hand, we decided to ask shelter here." + +"It is useless to ask," the man declared, with a shake of his head. "I +can't keep you. It is very strange that you should be passing this +place. The road does not come within a mile of here." + +"That is true, but we found a path, and became convinced that it must +lead to a house, so here we are." + +"You have had your trouble for nothing; I shall not keep you." + +"Hospitable old man!" murmured Browning, sarcastically. + +Despite his age, the man was not hard of hearing, for he caught the +big fellow's words and shot him a look. + +"Surely you will not turn us away now," urged Frank. "It will be dark +by the time we reach the road again." + +"That is nothing to me." + +The old man was about to close the door, when, to the astonishment of +the boys, a musical, girlish voice said: + +"Let them stop here, Drew. I know one of the young gentlemen." + +The bicyclists looked at each other inquiringly, wondering which one +of them the owner of the voice could know. They all felt a thrill, for +this added zest and romance to the little adventure. + +"Am I dreaming?" whispered Bruce; "or did I hear the gentle ripple of +a female voice?" + +"Smoly hoke!" gasped Harry. "To find a girl in this spone lot--I mean +lone spot! It is a marvel!" + +"An' dat voice oh hers am lek honeydew from heabben, chilluns--'deed +it am!" gurgled Toots, poetically. + +The old man seemed astonished and in doubt. + +"Do you mean it, my dear?" he asked. "It was on your account----" + +"Never mind me, Drew," came back that musical voice. "It would be a +shame to turn them away." + +"But--but----" + +"There are no buts about it!" cried the voice sharply, almost angrily. +"You have heard what I said! They may stop here." + +"All right--all right, if you say so. There's nothing for them to eat, +and so----" + +"I'll cook something, for you have corn meal in the house. Young men +who ride wheels have appetites that enable them to eat anything." + +"All right--all right," repeated the old man, vaguely. + +"Let them put their bicycles under the shed back of the house." + +The old man came out, closing the door. + +"It is my niece, young gentlemen," he explained. "She is very +peculiar, and--well, when she says anything, that settles it, so +you'll have to stay." + +"Under the circumstances," said Frank, his natural delicacy +influencing him, although he was rather curious to see the owner of +that voice, "I am inclined to think we're intruding, and we had better +go on." + +For a moment the face of the old man expressed relief, and then that +look vanished, while he shook his head. + +"No," he said, "that will not do now. She has decided that you shall +stop, and she will not leave any hair on my head if you go away. You +must stop." + +"She must be a gentle maiden!" murmured Bruce, with a faint smile. + +The boys followed the old man around to a shed, under which they +placed their wheels. The shed had sometimes been used to shelter +horses, but no horse was there then. + +"You mustn't mind my niece," said the old man, apologetically. "She +has been spoiled, and she is determined to have her own way. She runs +the ranch." + +Again the boys looked at each other. + +"I wonder which of us she knows," said Harry. + +"It must be Merriwell," Diamond declared. "It could not be any one +else. This is a joke on him." + +Diamond's ideas of a joke were decidedly peculiar. + +He seldom saw anything humorous in what pleased his companions, and he +took delight in things which did not amuse them at all. He seldom +laughed at anything. + +Frank himself felt that he was the one the girl knew, if, indeed, she +knew any of them, and he was wondering where he had met her. In the +course of his wanderings over the world he had met many girls, not a +few of whom he had forgotten entirely. + +"If she is one of your old girls, I'm going to make a stagger at +cutting you out, old fellow," chuckled Rattleton. + +"Oh, I don't know!" smiled Frank. "You're not so warm!" + +"Just now I don't see any steam coming out of your shoes," Harry shot +back, quickly. "You're not the only good thing on the programme; you +might be cut out." + +"Land sakes, chilluns!" exclaimed Toots, with uplifted hands. "I +nebber heard no such slanguage as dat--nebber!" + +"Any of you fellows may have the girl, if you want her," said Jack. "I +have not seen her, but I'm sure she is a terror, and I don't care for +that kind." + +They followed the old man toward the door, and entered the house. + +A lamp had been lighted while they were disposing of their wheels, and +the girl was standing where the unsatisfactory light showed her face +as plainly as was possible. + +She was strikingly handsome, with dark hair and eyes and full red +lips. An expectant flush of color was in her cheeks. + +As Frank entered, the girl extended her hand to him, saying: + +"I am glad to see you again, Mr. Merriwell. Have you forgotten me?" + +"Good gracious!" cried Merriwell. "It is Vida Milburn!" + +She tossed her head, her hand dropping by her side. + +"That is not complimentary to me!" she exclaimed. "It shows you +remembered my half-sister far better than you did me." + +"Your half-sister? Then you are not Vida!" + +"No, thank you!"--with another haughty toss of the head. + +"Then--then you must be--Isa Isban!" + +"How remarkable that you should guess it," she said, with biting +sarcasm. + +"But--you--you must remember it has been some time since I saw you, +and--and I saw Miss Melburn last." + +"You saw me first, and you were so interested in me that you followed +me from Reno to Carson City. After that you met my sister, and now you +mistake me for her! I am extremely complimented, Mr. Merriwell! Never +mind. You are not so many! Perhaps you will introduce your friends. +Some of them may have a better memory than you." + +For once in his life, at least, Frank was "rattled." He introduced +Browning as Rattling and Diamond as Brownton, while he completely +forgot Harry's name. + +The girl laughed sharply, plainly enjoying his embarrassment. She +shook hands with all but Toots, saying: + +"Mr. Merriwell doesn't seem to be at his best. It is possible he has +ridden too far to-day." + +Then Frank pulled himself together, and immediately became as cool and +collected as usual, which was no easy thing to do. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Isban, but I was just thinking I had not +ridden far enough." + +He said it in his most suave manner, but the shot went home, and it +brought still more color to her flushed cheeks. + +"Oh!" she cried, with the same toss of her head, "if your wheel is not +broken, it is not too late to make several more miles before absolute +darkness comes on." + +Diamond edged up to Frank, and whispered: + +"Careful, Merry! You're getting her very angry, and she is a mighty +fine girl. Go easy, old man!" + +This was very amusing to Merriwell, for but a short time before +Diamond had expressed himself quite freely in regard to the girl, and +it was plain his ideas had undergone a change since seeing her. + +"Don't worry," Frank returned. "She won't mind a little scrap. I think +she will enjoy it. She is that kind." + +This did not seem to satisfy the young Virginian, who immediately set +about making himself as agreeable as possible with Isa. + +The boys were invited to sit down, and seats were provided for all of +them. + +Frank became rather serious, for thoughts of Hodge's misfortune began +to trouble him, and he remembered that this girl was responsible for +it all. + +Isa did not look a day older than when he had last seen her, and it +was hard to realize that she was a woman with an experience and a dead +husband. + +Browning was silent and apparently contented. He seemed to take great +satisfaction in sitting down and resting. + +After a little silence, Isa observed, seeming to take a malicious +satisfaction in what she said: + +"One of Mr. Merriwell's friends had not forgotten me, at least." + +"It might have been better for him if he had," returned Frank, in a +manner that surprised himself, for never before had he made such an +ungallant remark. + +The girl's eyes blazed and she bit her lip. It seemed that she was on +the point of an outburst, but she restrained herself and laughed. That +laugh was defiant and angry. + +"Oh, well, I don't know!" she said. "The person I speak of may find I +will stand by him better than some of his friends who would have +looked on while he was dragged away to jail." + +This was a surprise to Frank, for it showed that the girl knew +something about the adventure with Bill Higgins, which had taken place +that day. + +"So you have seen him since?" asked Merry, eagerly. "Where is he?" + +"Find out." + +"I shall be able to find out in time, I think, Miss Isban." + +"As far as he is concerned, you need not worry, for I do not think he +cares to see you again." + +"I do not believe that. He knows me too well, and he trusts me." + +"He thought he knew you, but he did not fancy you would remain passive +and see him placed under arrest." + +"I did not." + +"What did you do?" + +"I did not have an opportunity to do much except save his life." + +"Save his life?" + +"Yes." + +"How?" + +"I kept him from being bored by a bullet from Bill Higgins' gun." + +"How did you do so much?" + +"I spoiled Higgins' aim." + +"Well, that was most remarkable! I presume you expect him to show the +utmost gratitude for a service that any man might render another!" + +She snapped her fingers toward Frank, laughing scornfully: + +"That's where you fool yourself. Mr. Hodge has told me that he hoped +he might never meet you again. He has found other and better friends." + +"Perhaps you speak the truth." + +The manner in which Frank uttered the words implied not only a doubt +but a positive belief that she was not speaking the truth and she did +not misunderstand them. Her teeth clicked together, gleaming beyond +her curved, red lips, and her hands were clinched. On her white +fingers were a number of rings, set with diamonds, which flashed and +blazed like her eyes. + +"I care not whether you think I speak the truth or not," she said, and +turned her back upon him. + +Diamond evinced positive distress. + +"I can't understand you, Merriwell!" he said, in an aside. "It is not +at all like you. Why, you are always gallant and courteous to ladies." + +"That is right," agreed Frank, with deep meaning. "I am." + +Jack did not like that. + +"And you mean to insinuate that this beautiful girl is not a lady?" + +"I have my doubts." + +"Still it seems to me that you have made a bad break in your treatment +of her. You were very rude. That is not the way to treat a young +lady." + +"It is not the way to treat the most of them; but, my dear fellow, you +will have to learn that they differ as much as men. If you were to +treat all men with the utmost courtesy and consideration, you would +find that not a few would regard you as a weak-kneed slob. They would +impose on you, and their opinion of you would sink lower and lower as +you permitted them to continue their impositions without giving back +as good as they sent. In this respect, there is a class of women who +resemble men. Of course you cannot handle them as you would men, but +you can't be soft with them. A man who insulted you you would knock +down. You can't strike a woman, but you can strike her in a different +way, and, in nine cases out of ten, if she is of a certain sort, she +will think all the more of you in the end." + +"Well, I am sure you have made a mistake with Miss Isban. I could see +her deep anger and hatred for you in her eyes. She would like to +strangle you this minute." + +"I haven't a doubt of it," coolly smiled Frank, his manner showing not +the least concern. + +"She will hate and despise you as long as she lives." + +"If so, it will make little difference to me." + +Up to this time Jack had not dreamed that Frank could be anything but +courteous and bending to a lady, and now the Southerner saw there was +a turn to his friend's character that he had not suspected. + +Merriwell had not been at all brutal in his manner, but his words had +touched Isa Isban like blows of a whip. They had stung her and stirred +her blood, although they were spoken in a way that showed the natural +polish and training of their author. + +In truth the girl longed to fly at Frank Merriwell's throat. She felt +that she could strike him in the face with her hands and feel the +keenest delight in doing so. + +As she turned toward him again, there came a sharp knock on the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +A KNOCK ON THE DOOR. + + +The old man looked startled, and the girl showed signs of alarm. + +"Quick, Drew!" she whispered. "Is the door fastened?" + +"Yes!" quavered the old man. + +"My revolver--where is it?" + +"On the shelf--where you placed it." + +With a spring that reminded the boys of the leap of a young +pantheress, she reached the shelf and snatched a gleaming pistol from +it. Then she faced the door again, the weapon half raised. + +The boys were on their feet. + +"Land ob wartermillions!" chattered Toots, his eyes rolling. "Looks +lek dar am gwan teh be a rucshun fo' suah!" + +Then he looked around for some place of concealment. + +"What is it?" asked Frank. "Is there danger?" + +"To me--yes," nodded Isa. "But you do not care! I expect no aid from +you, sir." + +"Who is at the door?" + +"It may be Bill Higgins, the sheriff!" + +"Come to arrest you?" + +"Perhaps." + +"He can't do it!" hissed Diamond, as he caught up a heavy chair and +held it poised. "We won't let him!" + +The girl actually laughed. + +"At least, I have one champion," she said. + +"To the death!" Diamond heroically declared. + +The knock was repeated, and this time it was given in a peculiar +manner, as if it were a special signal. + +An expression of relief came to the faces of the old man and the girl, +but they seemed very much surprised. + +"Who can it be?" Isa asked, doubtingly. + +"It is the secret signal," said the man with the gray hair. + +"That is true, but who should come here to give the signal?" + +"It must be all right." + +"Wait. I will go into the back room. If it is repeated, open the door. +Should it be an enemy or enemies, give me time to get away. That's +all. Hold them from rushing into the back room." + +"We will do that," declared Diamond. + +In a moment Isa disappeared. + +The knock was given for the third time, and the old man approached the +door, which he slowly and deliberately opened. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" he asked. + +The reply was muffled and indistinct, but something like an +exclamation of relief escaped the man, and he flung the door wide +open. + +Into the room walked a young man with a smooth-shaved face and a +swaggering air. + +"Hello, Drew!" he called, and then he stopped and stared at the boys. +"I didn't know you had visitors," he said. + +"So it's you, Kent--so it's you!" exclaimed the old man, with relief. +"I didn't know--I reckoned it might be somebody else." + +"You knew I was coming." + +"Yes; but I didn't 'low you'd get here so soon. It's a long distance +to Carson, and----" + +"Never mind that," quickly spoke the man, interrupting Drew, as if he +feared he would say something it were better the boys did not hear. +"My horse is outside. Where shall I put him?" + +"In the shed. I'll show ye. Come on." + +The old man went out, followed by the newcomer, and the door was left +open slightly. Toots quietly slipped out after them. + +Isa Isban came back into the room. + +"I do not care to be seen here by everybody who may come along," she +explained; "but this person is all right, for Drew knows him." + +This was rather strange to all of the boys except Frank, but Merry +instantly divined that she was afraid of Higgins and more than half +expected the big sheriff would follow her there. + +The secret signal and the air of mystery and apprehension shown by the +girl and the old man convinced Merriwell that all was not right. + +Isa had at one time "shoved the queer" for a band of men who made +counterfeit money, and Bart Hodge had told Frank quite enough to +convince Merriwell that she was still in the same dangerous and +unlawful business. + +The thoughts which ran riot in Merry's head were of a startling +nature, but his face was calm and passive, betraying nothing of what +was passing in his mind. + +Once more Diamond set about making himself agreeable to Isa, and she +met him more than halfway. She laughed and chatted with him, seeming +to have forgotten that such a person as Frank Merriwell existed. + +Browning sat down in a comfortable position where he could lean +against the wall, and proceeded to fall asleep. + +After a short time Toots came slipping into the cabin, his eyes +rolling, and his whole manner betraying excitement and fear. He would +have blurted out something, but Frank gave him a signal that caused +him to be silent. + +At the first opportunity the colored boy whispered in Merry's ear: + +"Marser Frank, de bes' fing we can do is teh git out ob dis 'bout as +soon as we kin do it, sar." + +"What makes you think that?" asked Merriwell, cautiously. + +"We am in a po'erful ba-ad scrape, sar." + +"What do you mean?" + +"It am mighty ba-ad folks dat libs heah, sar." + +"Bad? In what way?" + +"Dey hab done suffin' dat meks dem skeered ob de ossifers ob de law." + +"How do you know?" + +"I done hears de ol' man and de young man talkin'." + +"What did they say?" + +"Say dat ossifers am arter 'em. De young man say dat he have to run +from Carson City to 'scape arrest, sar." + +"He is the horseman I saw ahead of us in the valley," said Frank. "He +must have seen us coming and concealed himself, expecting we would +pass him. It is plain he did not wish to be seen." + +"Suah's yeh bawn, boy! He has been doin' suffin' mighty ba-ad, an' +he's dangerous. He said he wouldn't be 'rested alive, sar." + +"This is very interesting," nodded Frank. "It seems that we are in for +one more exciting adventure before we finish the tour." + +"I don' like it, sar--'deed I don'! No tellin' what such folks will +do. He am feelin' po'erful ugly, fo' he say suffin' 'bout trubble wif +his wife an' 'bout habbin' her follerin' him. Dat am how it happen he +wur comin' from de wes' 'stead ob de eas'. He done dodge roun' teh git +'way from his wife, sar." + +"He is a brave and gallant young man," smiled Merriwell. "I admire him +very much--nit!" + +"Now don' yeh go teh bein' brash wif dat chap, Marser Frank. Dar ain't +no tellin' what he might do." + +"Don't worry. Keep cool, and wait till I take a fancy to move. I want +to look him over some more. He will be coming back with Drew in a +moment, and---- Here they come now!" + +Into the cabin came the old man, and the young man was at his heels. +There was a sullen, unpleasant look on the face of the latter, and he +glared at the boys as if he considered them intruders. + +Isa looked up and arose as they entered. + +The light of the lamp fell fairly on her face, and the newcomer saw +her plainly. + +He uttered a shout of astonishment and staggered back, his eyes opened +to their widest and his manner betraying the utmost consternation. + +"Is it possible!" he grated. + +Then he clutched the old man by the shoulder, snarling: + +"Confound your treacherous old hide! You have betrayed me. You said +the woman was Isa Isban, and she is----" + +The girl interrupted him with a laugh. + +"You seem excited," she said. "I am Isa Isban, and no one else." + +He took a step toward her, his face working and his hands clinched. + +"How did you get here ahead of me?" he hoarsely demanded. + +"In the most natural manner possible," she answered. "A friend brought +me, Mr. Kent." + +"You know my real name--you know everything! I suppose you are here to +secure evidence against me. You are looking for a divorce." + +"A divorce?" + +"Exactly." + +"I do not understand you." + +"You understand well enough. We have not been married so very long, +and our married life hasn't been any too happy. You have accused me of +abusing you--you have threatened to leave me." + +The girl looked bewildered. + +"What is the matter with the man?" she murmured. "Is he crazy?" + +The man seemed puzzled by her manner, and the witnesses of the +remarkable scene were absolutely at sea; they could not understand +what it was about. + +"I am not crazy," said the young man; "but I was a fool to marry you. +You were not worth the trouble I took to get you. I should have let +the other fool have you, instead of plotting to disgrace him in the +eyes of your uncle and aunt, so I could get you." + +A great light dawned on Frank Merriwell. + +"Great fortune!" he mentally exclaimed. "This is the fellow who +married Vida Melburn, Isa's half-sister, and he thinks this girl is +his wife! They used to look so much alike that it was difficult to +tell one from the other. + +"Married--married to you?" cried the girl. "Not on your life! Why, I +never saw you before, although I have heard of you." + +The man seemed staggered for a moment, and then, with a cry of anger, +he leaped upon her. + +"What is your game?" he hissed, as he shook her savagely. "What are +you up to? I thought you a soft, innocent little girl, and now you are +showing yourself something quite different. I believe you played me +for a sucker! And you want a divorce! Well, here is cause for it!" + +Then he choked her. + +Frank went at him like a cyclone. + +"You infernal villain!" he cried, as his hands fell on the man, and he +tore the gasping girl from his clutches. "No one but a brute ever lays +hands on a woman in anger, and a brute deserves a good drubbing almost +any time. Here is where you get it!" + +Then he proceeded to polish off the girl's assailant in a most +scientific manner, ending by flinging him in a limp and battered +condition into a corner of the room. + +Diamond had hastened to support the girl when Frank snatched her from +her assailant, but she repulsed him and flung him off, saying, +hoarsely: + +"Let me alone! I am all right! I want to see this fight!" + +With interest she watched Frank whip the man whom she had called Kent, +though she swayed and panted with every blow, her eyes glittering and +her cheeks flushed. + +As Merriwell flung the fellow into the corner, the girl straightened +up and threw back her head, laughing: + +"Well, he was a soft thing, and that is a fact! Think of being +thrashed by a boy! Drew, is it possible this is our Carson City agent, +whom you called 'a good man,' when you were speaking of him this +evening? Such a chap would blow the whole game if he were pinched. I +wouldn't trust him." + +The old man stood rubbing his shaking hands together, greatly agitated +and unable to say a word. + +Then there came a thunderous knock on the door, and a hoarse voice +demanded admittance. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE SHERIFF'S SHOT. + + +Old Drew was greatly frightened, and Davis showed alarm. + +"Hold that door--hold that door one minute!" cried Isa. "It will give +us time to get out of the way!" + +Bruce Browning's shoulder went against the door, and he calmly +drawled: + +"Anybody won't come in here in a hurry." + +"Come!" whispered the girl, catching hold of Hart; "we must get away! +quick!" + +Davis leaped after them. + +"It will not be a good thing for me to be seen here," he said. "If +there is a way of getting under cover, you must take me along." + +"That's right," nodded Isa, "for you would peach if you were pinched. +Come!" + +By the way of the door that led into the back room they disappeared. + +Rap-bang! rap-bang! rap-bang! + +"Open this door instanter!" + +Higgins roared the order from the outside. + +"What's your great rush?" coolly inquired Browning. + +A volley of fierce language flew from the sheriff's lips. + +"I'll show yer!" he thundered. "Down goes ther door if ye don't open +it immediate!" + +"Be good enough, Mr. Drew, to ascertain if our friends are under cover +yet," said Frank. + +The old man hobbled into the back room, was gone a moment, and then +reappeared, something like a look of relief on his withered face. + +"They're gone," he whispered. + +"Will it be all right to open the door?" + +"I reckon ye'll have to open it." + +"All right. Admit Mr. Higgins, Bruce." + +Browning stepped away from the door, lifting the iron bar. + +Instantly it flew wide open, and, with a big revolver in each hand, +the sheriff strode heavily into the room. + +Behind him came another man, who was also armed and ready to do +shooting if necessary. + +Higgins glared around. + +"Whatever does this mean?" he asked, astonished by the presence of the +bicycle boys. + +"Whatever does what mean?" asked Frank, innocently. + +"You critters bein' here. I don't understand it." + +"We are stopping here for the night." + +"Sho! Is that it? Well, you're not the only ones. Where are the +others?" + +"What others?" + +"One in particler--the one you helped to get away to-day. You'll have +to square with me for that." + +"I presume you mean Mr. Hodge?" + +"That's whatever." + +"I think your memory is at fault, sir. I did not aid him in getting +away, but you owe me thanks for keeping you from shooting him. He +would have made the unlucky thirteenth man." + +"Well, hang me if you ain't got nerve! All the same, you'll have to +take your medicine for aiding a criminal." + +"He has not been proved a criminal yet, sir." + +"Oh, you know all about it! Well, he's somewhere round this ranch, and +I'm going to rope him. Watch the front, Britts." + +"All right, sir," said the man who accompanied Higgins. + +Then the big sheriff strode into the back room, picking up the lamp to +aid him in his search. + +Frank held his breath, wondering what Higgins would find. + +After four or five minutes the sheriff came back, and he was in a +furious mood. + +"I know the critter is here somewhere!" he roared; "and I'll have him, +too! Can't hide from me!" + +"That's right," smiled Frank, with a profound bow. "You have an eagle +eye, Mr. Higgins, and you should be able to find anything there is +about the place. I wouldn't think of trying to hide from you." + +"Ye-he! ye-he! ye-he!" giggled Toots. + +Higgins' face was black with fury. He pointed a revolver straight at +Frank, and thundered: + +"You think you're funny, but I'm going ter bore yer if you don't talk +up instanter! You know where that galoot Hodge is hid, and you'll +tell, too." + +"My dear sir," returned Frank, as he folded his arms and looked the +furious man fairly in the eyes, "I do not know where Bart Hodge is +hidden, and I would not tell if I did." + +Higgins ground has teeth. + +"Say yer prayers!" he grated. "I'm goin' to make you the thirteenth!" + +He was in deadly earnest, yet it did not seem that Frank quailed in +the least before him. Indeed, in the face of such peril, Merriwell +apparently grew bolder, and a scornful smile curled his lips. + +"Shoot!" he cried, his voice ringing out clear and unshaken--"shoot +and prove yourself a detestable coward!" + +The other lads held their breath. They felt like interfering, but +something in Frank's manner seemed to warn them to keep still and not +try to aid him. + +"You think I won't do it," muttered Higgins. "Well, I'll show ye! I +always do exactly as I say. Now, you eat lead!" + +There was a scream, a swish, a rush of feet, a flitting form, and Isa +Isban had flung herself in front of Frank, protecting him with her own +body! + +The heavy revolver spoke! + +Bang! + +Frank had realized with wonderful quickness that the girl meant to +save him by protecting him with her body, and he caught her by the +shoulders, flinging her to the floor in an effort to keep her from +being shot at any cost to himself. + +He would not have been successful, however, but for big Bruce +Browning. + +The big fellow had been watching Higgins as a hawk watches a chicken. +At first, he had not thought it possible the sheriff would fire. He +could not conceive that the man was such a ruffian. At the last +moment, however, he saw Higgins meant to shoot. + +Browning's hand rested on the back of a chair. With a swiftness that +was simply marvelous in one who naturally moved with the greatest +slowness, he swung that chair into the air and flung it at the furious +sheriff. + +Higgins saw the movement out of the corners of his eyes, and, although +the missile had not reached him when he pulled the trigger, his aim +had been disconcerted. + +The bullet touched Frank's ear as it passed and buried itself in the +wall. + +Then old Drew dashed out the light, and the place was plunged in +darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +ESCAPE--CONCLUSION. + + +The sheriff's assistant lost no time in getting out of the cabin, +rushing to one of the horses, which had been left a short distance +away, and mounted. Then he rode madly away through the forest, +deserting Higgins in a most cowardly manner. + +When the lamp in the cabin was relighted, Higgins was found stretched +senseless on the floor, the chair having struck him on the head and +cut a long gash, from which blood was flowing. + +"I'm afraid I've killed him!" exclaimed Browning. "I didn't mean to do +that, but I had to do something. I couldn't keep still and see him +shoot Frank down like a dog." + +"It serves him right!" said Diamond, but his face was pale, and he +looked very anxious. + +"I sincerely hope he will come around all right," said Frank, as he +knelt by the man's side. "This scrape is bad enough, and, although he +has shown himself a ruffian, I do not think we care to take the life +of any human being." + +Isa Isban was looking down at the man, and her face softened and +showed pity. + +"You are right, Mr. Merriwell," she gently said. "You have taught me a +lesson. Higgins was a handsome man in his way, and it is a pity to +have him die with his boots on like this. We'll see what we can do to +fix him up." + +Frank looked up at her, and one glance was enough to convince him of +her sincerity. + +"Poor girl!" he thought. "She has never been taught the difference +between right and wrong. Even now, if she had a show, she might become +something far better than she is." + +She knelt on the opposite side of the unconscious man. + +"Bring some water, Drew," she sharply commanded. "Bring something with +which we can bandage his head." + +"Why don't ye let him die?" whined the old man. + +"It would be a bad thing for you if we did," she returned. "His deputy +has puckacheed, and he won't do a thing but bring a posse here as soon +as possible. It will be all the better for you if Bill Higgins is all +right when the posse appears." + +"I'm ruined anyway," declared Drew. "I'll have to git out. They will +search, and they're bound to find everything if they do." + +"We'll have everything out of here before morning, and then let them +search. The first job is to fix Bill Higgins up." + +Water was brought, and she bathed the head of the unconscious man, who +groaned a little once or twice. Then Frank aided her in adjusting a +bandage. Once their hands touched, and she drew away quickly, catching +her breath, as if she had been stung. + +Frank looked at her in wonder, and saw that she had flushed and then +grown very pale. Her eyes met his, and then her lashes drooped, while +the blush crept back into her cheeks. + +What did it mean? + +More than ever was this girl an enigma to him. + +The boys lifted Higgins and placed him on an improvised couch in the +corner, as Drew would not permit them to place him on the bed in the +little back room. + +By this time Hart Davis had become convinced that Isa Isban was not +the girl he had married, although she looked so much like Vida that he +was filled with wonder whenever he regarded her. + +He asked her pardon for his actions of a short time before, but she +gave him no heed, as she seemed fully intent on making the sheriff +comfortable and restoring him to consciousness. + +Hodge did not look at Davis, whom he hated with the utmost intensity, +as he feared he would spring upon the man if he did so. + +After a while, Higgins opened his eyes and stared around in a blank +manner. + +"Did we stop the mill, pards?" he huskily asked. "The whole herd was +stampeded and goin' like a cyclone down the range, horns clanking, +eyes glaring, nostrils smoking and hoofs beating thunder out of the +ground." + +"What is the man talking about?" asked Frank, in wonder. + +"He was a cowboy once," Isa explained. "He seems to be thinking of +that time." + +"It was a wild ride through the night, wasn't it, pards?" Higgins went +on, although he did not seem to be speaking to any one in particular. +"It was dark as ten million black cats, and the cold wind cut like a +knife. But we stopped 'em--we stopped 'em at last." + +Then he turned his face toward the wall and closed his eyes. + +"I hope he isn't going to die," said Frank. + +"So do I," muttered Browning, sincerely. "I don't want to have that to +think about." + +When morning came Bill Higgins seemed quite strong, but his head was +filled with the wildest fancies. He talked of strange things, and it +was evident that his mind wandered. + +Higgins did not wish to eat anything, but Isa brought him bread and +coffee, and he took it from her. + +"Pretty girl," he muttered, with a gleam of reason. "Fine girl! Wonder +how such a girl came to be out here on the ranch?" + +In vain they waited for the appearance of the deputy and a posse. The +expected did not happen. + +Frank had a long talk with Bart. + +"Old man," he said, "you must come with me--you must do it! I will not +take no for an answer. If Bill Higgins comes around all right in his +head to-morrow he will be after you again. You must make for San +Francisco and lose no time in shipping for some foreign port. After +this affair blows over, you can come back." + +Frank was not satisfied till he saw Bill Higgins delivered into the +hands of friends. + +As for the deputy who took to flight, he met with a fatal accident +while passing through the forest. Either he was swept from the back of +his horse by a limb or was thrown off. Be that as it may he was found +with a broken neck. + +And Higgins still wandered in his mind when Frank left him. + +The boys made great speed on the road to San Francisco, which they +reached in due time, and there, with the other mail that awaited him, +Frank found a brief letter from Isa Isban. + +"I wish to let you know what the physicians who have examined Bill +Higgins have to say," she wrote. "They say he has lost his memory, +and, although he may recover from the injury otherwise, it is doubtful +if he will ever regain his memory. In that case, Hodge is safe +anywhere, but it will be well for him to get out of California." + +The news was gratifying to Hodge, and he lost no time in disappearing +from view. + +The arrival of the bicycle boys in San Francisco was the cause of two +celebrations, one among themselves and another among their friends in +the East. + +The tour across the continent had been a success, and the papers were +loud in their praise of plucky Frank Merriwell and his companions. + +"And now we can take it easy," said Bruce, lazily. + +"That's Bruce," laughed Diamond. "Always willing to take a rest." + +"Dunno but wot we hab earned a rest," put in Toots. + +"Doking snownuts--no, smoking doughnuts! what a lot of adventures we +have had since we left New York!" came from Harry. "Any of us could +write a book of travels without half trying." + +"We'll take it easy for a while," said Frank. "But not for long. I've +got an idea for more sport, while we are out here." + +Long letters followed telegrams to the East and long letters were +received in return. + +"You've done the trick," wrote one fellow student. "When you get back +to Yale, well--I reckon the town won't be big enough to hold you." + +"Dear old Yale!" exclaimed Frank. + +That night the boys sang college songs far into the wee small hours of +the morning. They were more than happy, and all their past perils were +forgotten. + +THE END. + +No. 17 of the Merriwell Series, entitled, "Frank Merriwell's +Athletics," gives full play to Frank's idea for more sport, and is +full of fun, frolic, and daring deeds. + + + + +VALUE + +Nobody objects to paying a fair price for a fair article; in other +words, the public cheerfully pays for value received. + +We do not know of anything in the way of reading matter that gives +such value for a modest outlay as do the _S. & S. 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Ask for + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE + +In it you will find nothing of the immoral--nothing sordid, but +bright, cheerful love stories in which sunshine follows the +shadows--as it should. + +Love Story Magazine is for you, for every human being who has ever +loved or been loved. + +Buy a copy _now_. + +Published Semimonthly. Price, 15c. + +STREET & SMITH CORPORATION + +Publishers, New York City + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Frank Merriwell's Alarm, by Burt L. 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