Burt L. Standish

“ On Maiden Cliff, standing out against the sky, they saw the white cross that marks the spot where a beautiful girl fell to her death on the cruel rocks below. At times the winding road seemed to lead directly into the lake that they could see shimmering through the trees. It was one of the most beautiful drives Merriwell had ever taken.
They turned about finally and came back by the way of Lake City, a charming collection of cottages assembled at one of the most picturesque spots to be found around the island-dotted lake. ”

“ Cooler seemed to regret the time he had spent in talk, for he made a fierce dive at the clams and raked out two of them.
Merriwell's friends all looked at him to see what he would do under the circumstances. Frank was smiling, but there was a look of doubt on his face. For once in his life, he seemed in a quandary. There was something about this little, chuckling, jolly old man that seemed to forbid anyone to do him personal violence. Bruce Browning felt that. He realized that he would feel ashamed of himself if he should give the old fellow a shaking. ”

“ Paula screamed and covered her face with her hands, while Inza turned pale and stared at the onrushing monster.
Frank fully realized their peril. He knew that it meant certain death to them all if the whale struck the boat, and there seemed no possible escape.
Bruce dropped down and Frank gave a surge at the oars that made the boat give a leap like a thing of life. Then Merriwell pulled as never before had he rowed, not even in the nerve-straining, soul-killing college races against Harvard.
Jump! jump! jump!—how he made the boat leap through the water! ”

“ Nothing stirs the entire soul with a sense of the beautiful like the sound of a distant song floating over the silvered bosom of a peaceful bay or lake on a moonlight night in midsummer. Hodge and Diamond, who were rowing the boat, rested on their oars, and the four lads listened a long time. ”

“ Bart had his second watch on deck, and it was not far from midnight when he was startled to hear a voice hailing from the shore:
"Ahoy, the yacht!"
"What do you want?" asked Bart, gripping a revolver and staring toward the point from which the voice had seemed to come. "Who are you?"
"Caleb Cooler, at your service," came back the answer. "I thought I'd tell you something that may relieve your minds somewhat. Frank Merriwell is alive and unharmed." ”

“ Rockland's first baseman smothered it with ease before Cogern could get much more than halfway down the line, and a double play had been made, which retired Camden with a whitewash as a starter.
What a wild howl of satisfaction went up from the throats of the Rockland rooters! How they hammered on the railing and yelled! Their satisfaction was unlimited, for they had not dreamed there could be such a happy termination of the Camden's half of the first inning.
"Sorry for you, Pop," grinned Dayguild.
"It's a good thing for you there was a man like Smithers on second," returned Williamson. ”

“ Quick as thought Frank Merriwell sprang to save the imperiled girl. Two panther-like bounds took him to the car track, and he stooped to lift her.
Again there were cries of horror, for it seemed that the car must knock him down, and that two lives instead of one would be crushed out beneath the wheels. Women on the street turned their heads away that they might not witness the awful tragedy. ”

“ You can't fool us, old man. We have you foul, and we'll never let up on you till you lead us to Frank Merriwell. We are young, but you will find we can keep a pledge like men."
In truth, Cooler seemed in earnest as he said:
"Young gentleman, you wrong me very much. I am ready to go with you and do what I can to help find Mr. Merriwell, but that is all I can do. It will be better if you will let me go alone. I shall be able to work alone far better."
"Oh, yes," sneered Hodge. "You think we are fools! ”

“ With that rock Merriwell scooped a grave in the ground. That grave he lined with soft bits of moss, and then he took the squirrel, wrapped in the handkerchief shroud, and placed it in the grave. The earth was thrown in on the little body, and heaped up in a mound till it was a tiny model of the grave in the glade above. Then Frank thrust the flat rock into the ground as a headstone, and a tear dropped silently down. ”

“ Browning dug himself out of the bottom of the boat, hoisted his huge body to a seat, and drew a deep breath of relief.
"A man who shoots at a whale with a rifle is a thundering fool!" he observed.
"And a man who tells him to shoot is another," laughed Frank.
"That is my first adventure with a whale," said the big Yale man, "and, if I have my way about it, it will be my last."
"Is—is he really gone?" faltered Paula, looking around.
"Yes, Miss Benjamin," assured Frank, "he has departed in the direction of Greenland." ”

“ Merry laughed heartily.
"This is a joke!" he exclaimed.
The officer seemed puzzled, but he frowned at Frank, saying:
"You are not likely to find it a joke, young man. It is a serious offense, and, if you have not some rich folks who will settle handsomely for your little lark, you will go to jail."
"My dear sir," said Merriwell, with perfect coolness, "you are taking too much for granted. You are standing on the ground that the charge against me is true. It will be the easiest thing in the world to prove that it is not." ”

“ Denning, like Frank Merriwell, had been inquisitive. He had attempted to solve the mystery of the island, and he had disappeared. Afterward the grave had been found on the island. No one had dared open that grave to see if the body of the missing man from Boston lay within.
Frank felt a desire to look at that grave again. He went down toward it, entering the thick woods. Every step that he advanced seemed to cause the feeling to grow stronger upon him. The woods were silent and deserted. It did not seem possible that there could be a thing of life other than Frank anywhere within them. ”

“ CHAPTER XXI. SETTLING A POINT.
"Now, fellows," said Frank Merriwell, as he faced his four "shipmates" in the cabin of his yacht, White Wings, which was riding at anchor in the harbor at Green's Landing, "I have called you together for a council of war."
"I'm tired," grunted Bruce Browning. "Can't I rest in my bunk while the powwow is going on?"
"No," came firmly from Frank, "this is a matter of business, and it won't hurt you to sit up a while."
"Oh, get a brace on!" exclaimed Diamond, flinging the words at the big Yale man. "Act as if you had some life in you, old fellow." ”

“ To-morrow we'll put a team into the field that will paralyze Rockland. It will be such a team as Rockland or the State of Maine never saw before! Will we do 'em? Oh, say! We'll wipe 'em off the earth!"
"Oh, that's not certain," cautioned Frank. "You can't be sure of a victory till it is won. Camden thought she had a sure thing to-day."
"It will be different to-morrow," said Moslof. "If you pitch a winning game, the people of Camden will give you the whole town when we get back here!"
"Well, I shall do my best to pitch winning ball," assured Merry. ”

“ The man in the launch who had claimed to be sheriff stood up and waved his clinched fist above his head.
"In the name of the law, I command you to surrender!" he shouted.
"Show your authority," calmly returned Merriwell.
"Here it is—the bill of sale of that yacht."
"That is no authority. Do you think you can bluff us because we are young? You will find you have made a big mistake."
"Board them!" cried Flynn. "Take the yacht! That is the only way to do it!"
"You will find that is a mighty hard way to do it!" grated Bart Hodge. "Come on, Snell! I want to get at you!" ”

“ The nerve of the act dazed Dayguild for a moment, and then he threw the ball to the catcher, thinking to put out the runner with ease.
The catcher dropped it!
McDornick made a headlong plunge for the plate, touched it, leaped up and dodged away before the catcher could pick up the ball.
Camden had scored!
Roar, roar, roar! The crowd went wild with joy. The black cliffs above flung back the burst of sound. It seemed enough to wake the dead in the distant cemetery tinder the slope of Battie. ”

“ Browning grunted.
"The yelling of the Camden crowd on the Rockland ball ground to-day sounded better to me," he said.
Quoth Merriwell:
"'The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, strategems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.'"
"Huah!" ”

“ Some of the small boys grew so excited that they kept yelling at Briggs to let Frank go. But they were scarcely less excited than the lads of eighteen or twenty. A dozen of them got together and actually talked of taking Briggs' prisoner from him. In their enthusiasm they might have tried it, but for the coolness of one or two among them.
"It's a blamed shame to have this thing happen in Rockland!" declared one fellow. "What will Merriwell think of us? He will be dead sore on this town."
"He isn't a fool," said a cooler head. "If he is all right, it isn't likely that any harm will come to him. ”

“ Ordinarily a lazy man is despised by his companions, but such was not the case with Browning. Genial, big-hearted, strong as a giant, yet gentle as a baby, he made hosts of friends and very few enemies. At one time he had been really ambitious, but that was before the coming of Frank Merriwell to Yale. Browning had been dropped to Merriwell's class and, as there could be but one real leader in the class, he lost his ambition when Merriwell showed his superiority. ”

“ Down in the harbor, amid the other yachts, the White Wings lay at anchor, and his keen eyes could detect figures moving about on her deck.
"Jingoes!" thought Merry. "This is a lovely spot. I wonder more people do not come here during summer. There can't be anything more beautiful at Bar Harbor." ”

“ The cry was uttered by a small boy as the Camden ball team entered the Rockland ball ground.
A great crowd had assembled in the "cigar box," as the ground was sometimes called because of its narrow limits. All Rockland had heard that Camden would have a new battery, and nearly all Rockland had heard of Merriwell and Hodge, for Frank had insisted that Bart should support him behind the plate. The fact that Rockland had won from Camden with Woods in the box made the rooters feel that their team was invincible—that it could not be defeated by Camden. ”

“ That night they slept well in their berths, for a cool breeze sprang up about midnight, so the cabin of the yacht was not too warm, and there was the gentlest of rocking motions to lull their senses.
Frank was astir at daybreak, and it did not take him long to turn the others out when he discovered there was a land breeze.
"It's just what we want," he said. "We must get away in a hurry, fellows. We can take our breakfast after we get outside the harbor."
So the anchor was raised, the sails run up in a hurry, and the White Wings, with Frank at the wheel, headed for the Spindles. ”

“ But no man had proved a truer friend to Merriwell than the once famous "King of the Sophomores." Browning was not particularly demonstrative in his affection, but he could be depended on in any case of emergency, as Frank had learned, and the big fellow was a good man to have for a backer.
Browning could not be driven to do anything, nor could he be jollied into it, a fact that irritated Hodge more or less.
"There is one thing we do not possess that we should have," said Merry, as Jack came aft and stood near the wheel. ”

“ Already Merry had learned that men who commit crimes betray themselves by certain peculiar movements. The thief unconsciously assumes the pose of a man picking a pocket, or taking what does not belong to him. The burglar crouches in his walk and steals along catlike. The guilty man often casts sly backward glances over his shoulder. It is rare for him to have the air and manner of innocence.
But this little man in gray, when, without doubt, he believed himself to be alone, was still the same care-free, careless old fellow. ”

“ Look here, Merriwell, can't you pitch one or two games for us, if no more. Camden has a better team than Rockland, but Rockland is stronger in the box. We started out with a lead the first of the season, but we've been dropping games to Rockland right along lately, and we won't be in it if the thing keeps on. I have telegraphed and telephoned all over the country for a strong pitcher, but I haven't got hold of the right man. You'd be just the man for us. Why, you would paralyze Rockland with that double-shoot of yours. ”

“ Then came a fatal half for Camden. Merriwell had seen Woods feeling of his elbow and working it as if it did not feel just right, and he was not surprised when Rockland fell to batting the new pitcher of the Camdens.
"Moslof ought to take Woods out," Frank said to Diamond. "He has hurt that lame arm already."
"You must be wrong, Merry," said the Virginian. "See the speed he is using. Why, I can hardly see the ball as it goes over the plate."
"Speed is all he is using," declared Merriwell, "and Rockland is eating speed. He can't use his curves, as it hurts his arm to do so." ”