Burt L. Standish

“ The thought was so exhilarating that the warm blood was again driven through their veins, and the numbness seemed in a measure to go out of their chilled bodies. Nothing is so reviving as hope. And hope was theirs again. The raft drifted so slowly and Bart was so eager that he wanted to leap into the sea and swim to the vessel.
"Let us save our strength," was Merriwell's advice. "We are going straight there. We will probably need all the strength we have." ”

“ A hundred voices were screaming at the big brute, which crouched with undulating tail and open jaws; but not another person seemed to be moving toward Elsie to render her assistance, with the exception of Frank Merriwell.
He saw the girl pick up the iron goad. Then Elsie Bellwood leaped between the tiger and Inza. As she did so she lifted the goad. The tiger turned its attention from Inza to Elsie, and the latter struck at it, as if the goad were a spear.
Frank Merriwell heard the click of a revolver at his side. He saw a man shakily lifting it. ”

“ All the windows of all the dormitories which face the campus were crowded with students and with women.
Three of these windows held Frank Merriwell's friends. Frank was there, with Inza, Elsie, and Winnie, together with Mrs. Hodge and Inza's invalid father, Bernard Burrage.
"As in life, the good and the evil mingle," sighed Dismal Jones, as his eyes fell on Jim Hooker and other honorable sophomores who were marching in close proximity to the Chickering set. "The wheat grows up with the tares, and the result is an everlasting bobbery." ”

“ Badger grumbled, following him. "He thinks you can beat me shooting. He was afraid I would. I can beat you, and I'd like to do it, to spite Bart Hodge."
"I don't think you are in any condition to do more shooting."
"Oh, I'm all right!" Badger rather snappishly declared, his heart hot against Hodge. "Don't let anything of that kind worry you, Merriwell. I want to shoot at ten double rises against you—ten double rises at unknown angles. You've declared that you haven't tried to shoot. I dare you to give me this trial. The numbness is going out of my arm, and it will soon be all right. ”

“ Badger tossed a leg over the arm of his chair, and looked out of the window.
"It has been his boast all along that he would have you in his flock by and by! You have always sworn by all that's good and bad that you would never become a friend of his!"
"I'm not a friend of his!"
Pike laughed sneeringly.
"What do you call it? If I say a word against Frank Merriwell you want to eat me up. It's come to that! You were ready to fight him any minute, at first; now you're ready to lick the polish off his shoes, just like the rest of those fellows." ”

“ None of us has fallen in love with Buck Badger!"
"We'll be bub-bub-bub-beat worse than any old drum!" grunted Gamp.
"Everlastingly thumped!" wailed Danny.
"I don't know that I can get up enough interest to do much good on first," grumbled Bruce, who was as little pleased as any one.
"What's the use of going to the trouble of playing when you know at the start that you're to be defeated?"
"Look here, Bruce!" said Merriwell firmly. "I don't want to hear you talk that way! We are not going to be beaten. We will wallop Abernathy's men, and don't you worry. We can do it all right!" ”

“ It was composed of Frank Merriwell and a number of his intimate friends; and wherever Frank and his friends were, Dull Care usually hid his agued face and gave place to smiling Pleasure.
"That grumbling old boatman at the New Haven wharf was a liar!" groaned Dismal Jones, as if it were a grief that he had not found the boatman's unpleasant prognostications true.
"What did he say?" asked Danny Griswold, who had been prancing the deck like a diminutive admiral, stopping now and blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke from his nostrils.
"He said that a smoker of cigarettes is always a measly runt!" ”

“ Pike was crafty in his hate. He did not intend to lose his grip of the Kansan. He realized that he had gone almost too far. Badger would bear a good deal from him because of what they had been to each other, but to this there were limits. He felt that he had nearly reached the limit.
"He shall not pitch ball Saturday, if I can help it!" he hissed, as he looked over the things in the closet. "If I can work it, it will make Hodge so hot against him that there will be a fight. And perhaps it will turn Merriwell and his precious flock against him, too. It's risky, but it is worth all the risk." ”

“ Other fire-engines had come up. The people who fell back from the dangerous vicinity crowded on the Yale men who had looked so anxiously after Merriwell as he hastened to the aid of the imperiled freshman. Willis Paulding, feeling Merriwell's rebuke, and stung by a feeling of his own cowardice, had slipped away.
"I don't like that," Hodge grumbled, looking at the spot where Frank had vanished.
"I've seen things myself that I like better!" grunted Browning.
"You can bet your life that Merry will go wherever a friend is in danger!" said Rattleton. ”

“ Tears of honest grief and indignation came into Frank's eyes.
"Barney Mulloy dead?" exclaimed Inza, coming up at that moment and hearing the news.
"What?" cried Elsie.
"Report in the Herald," Frank answered. "Killed yesterday by hoboes, somewhere below Sandy Hook."
Bad news spreads as if by magic. In a little while the other members of the party, having read the story for themselves or heard of it from others, gathered round Merriwell.
"Well, he was an honest boy," said Hodge, a noticeable tremor in his voice.
"A better-hearted lad never lived!" Merriwell asserted. ”

“ Class spirit, that wildly jovial night, seemed to melt the sophomores into a fraternizing, loving brotherhood, where discord was unknown, even though the class contained such opposite elements as Buck Badger, Jim Hooker, Donald Pike, Pink Pooler, the Chickering set, Porter, Cowles, Mullen, Benson, Billings, Webb, and others. Though these might join in class dances and marches, and howl themselves hoarse in honor of the sophomores and of Yale, some of them could no more unite in any true sense than oil and water. ”

“ He did not stop in the campus. It was filled with Yale fellows, and the fence in front of Durfee Hall was crowded. He saw here and there men whom he knew well, and who nodded to him. He hardly took time to return the greetings.
"What's the matter with Badger now?" rumbled Browning. "He is charging along like a blind bull at a fence."
"Why do you ever notice what the fellow does at all?" Bart Hodge grumbled.
"Well, even cranks are interesting," said Dismal Jones, also looking curiously after Badger.
"Curiosities likewise," remarked Danny Griswold, puffing at his cigarette. ”

“ When evil makes itself seem to us good, we're sure to give way. 'Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall!'"
Merriwell smiled. He liked to get the opinions of his friends, though usually he acted on his own.
"So you think it was a temptation instead of an opportunity?"
"What is a temptation?" chirped Bink Stubbs.
"Why, every time you grin at me that way I want to hit you in the mouth," explained Danny. "It's a temptation I can hardly resist!"
"Crush it!" yelled Bink, feinting with his fists. "If you don't, I'll have to!" ”

“ Awhile ago, they were recklessly burning powder and hurling shot all round. Now they act as if they were crazy."
"Must be playing some sort of game of circus!" guessed Browning. "They're tumbling about like acrobats—or fools!"
"And howling like wild Indians!" said Danny. "I think they are playing a Wild West."
"They ought to have Bill Higgins here, then, to make the show complete," Merriwell remarked, with a smile. "But seriously, I don't believe they're playing anything. Those yells sound real."
"Help!" howled Willis Paulding, forgetting his drawl, "We're being stung to death!" ”

“ In this beastly East, instead of meeting a man and fighting him, the first thing a fellow thinks of, if he has a word with another, is to call in the police. But I'm not afraid of the New Haven police!"
Badger's heart seethed like a volcano.
"See her! Well, I reckon! I'll see her if I die for it! I'll see her, even if she refuses to speak to me! I'm going to find out what's at the bottom of this!"
While the Westerner was thus storming, an expressman came with the little package containing the ring and the trinkets which Badger had given to Winnie. ”

“ But when he glanced up he saw Danny Griswold's head protruding from the muzzle of a large coast-defense cannon. Merriwell was astonished, though such a piece of recklessness was just like Danny. It was not that Frank feared any peril to Danny from the gun, but the officers and gunners would be indignant, no doubt, if they caught the little joker playing hide-and-seek in that way with one of their pets.
"I'll give him a scare," he thought. "He is getting altogether too fresh."
"Danny Griswold, that gun is loaded, and they are going to fire it!" Merry cried, with well-simulated fear. ”

“ And because he recognized in Frank Merriwell these same unselfish qualities he had come to him with this request.
"I doubt much if Badger will accept the offer," said Frank.
"I shall take the offer to him, anyway. I believe it will brighten him to receive it, even if he refuses it. That desire for popularity which you mentioned will, I think, make him accept. He may tell himself and all his friends that he doesn't care for your opinion, but he does, just the same! He can't help caring for the opinion of any man who is a gentleman. ”

“ Bink and Danny, Gamp and all the others of Merriwell's friends who chanced to be grouped there, had already suffered the amputation of their shirt-tabs, and having no further fear on that point, were hilariously anxious that not a shirt-tab should be worn by a Yale man that night. The "fruit" on the tree at Durfee was increasing in quantity and variety at a prodigious rate.
"A dollar apiece for its ears!" some one else screeched.
But the cat was too agile for the hands that were reached out to stop its flight. It whisked under the legs of the students and was out and away like a shot. ”

“ Though the surprise must have been great, the man, who was large and strong, wheeled round to resist the attack, and the large dog, which had before been seen, sprang up from the deck and flew at Merriwell's throat. The ready club in the hands of Bart Hodge tumbled the dog over with a howl, and Merry and the big fisherman began to struggle in the growing darkness for the mastery. ”

“ Hodge was hardly able to breathe, and Harry Rattleton was fidgeting uneasily. The spectators craned their necks as Badger, whose trial came first, walked into position with an air of easy confidence, that dark, determined smile disfiguring his face.
"I'm afraid your chances are gone, Merriwell!" droned Dismal Jones. "'We never miss the water till the well runs dry.'"
"Keep still," grunted Browning, "or you'll make me nervous!"
"I wish somebody would make Badger nervous!" wailed Bink.
"Sing out that a queen bee is coming for him!" urged Danny, in an undertone. ”

“ A section of the rear wall had fallen outward, and the part of the hotel containing the kitchen was a burning wreck. Bart hardly heard the sound, so absorbed was he in the task before him. He did not feel Merriwell's weight—in fact, his strength seemed to be as great as Browning's.
"Frank!" he cried, in his heart—"Frank, my dearest friend, if I can't carry you out, we'll die together!"
The fire in the stairway had greatly increased. But Hodge did not hesitate. ”

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

“ I told you, Pike, that I have already accepted it. I'm not Merriwell's friend, and I despise Bart Hodge; but I'm not ungrateful. Whatever other things we learn out West, we learn to pay back favor for favor. I'd be a dirty coyote if I refused to accept that invitation after what Merriwell did for me. That's the way I look at it. I know that I can pitch ball. You know it, too. I can twirl a ball just as good as Frank Merriwell, or any other fellow in Yale, and you know that, too. I reckon I'm able to ride my bronco alone, without Merriwell's help. ”

“ Each society takes in fifteen members, or forty-five in all, out of the two hundred and fifty or more men that usually compose the junior class. As every junior is anxious to become a member, the feverish interest with which the subject is regarded by the juniors may be imagined. This interest had gradually spread throughout the college. Now the subject suddenly leaped to such importance that it overshadowed the ball-game which Yale was to play against Princeton, and the coming boat-race at New London, in which the phenomenally popular Inza Burrage was to be the mascot of the Yale crew. ”

“ And, as the steamer wallowed on through the increasing fog, the world seemed suddenly to have become wrapped in gloom.
"Wish we'd stayed in New Haven!" grunted Browning. "I'll have to smoke faster to keep warm, or go below."
"And I wish we were in New York," said Bink. "There is something there to warm up the blood."
Danny looked at him.
"Drinks? Likely the captain has a private bottle tucked away somewhere that he will give you a nip out of."
"Life, I mean. Pulsing streets, swarms of people, theaters, hand-organs——"
"Oh, yes, a monkey is usually lost away from a hand-organ!" ”

“ Inza had been knocked down by the horse, and lay unconscious, while Elsie had been swept on in the crowd. More than that, the keeper of the tiger, who had courageously leaped after the terrible beast with his spearlike iron goad, hoping to be able to prod and cow it into subjection, had been knocked flat also by the horse, his iron goad flying out of his hand and into the street.
Though Frank was some distance away, he started toward the tiger, which had crouched and seemed about to spring on Inza. But before he could take a step, he saw Elsie run from the crowd toward Inza and the tiger. ”

“ For reply, the man leaped at Lee with a snarl like that of an enraged dog.
"Loony as a locoed cowboy!" thought Badger. He was on the point of rushing to Lee's assistance. But there was no need. Lee, who was light on his feet, avoided the rush and ran for a side door, through which he escaped into the house, leaving Gaston to rave and mutter, and at last retreat into the street and hurry away.
Not until the man had disappeared did the Westerner leave the grounds. Then he leaped the fence, and hurried back to the campus. ”

“ Only four more shots were to be fired in it, at two pairs of birds. Badger had to his credit thirteen hits and three misses, and Merriwell the same.
"If you should miss one of the four and Badger should hit them all you would be beaten!" Bart urged uneasily. "And I don't want you to be beaten by him. I'm afraid you are going to tie. I want you to beat him. I can't stand it to have him crowing round."
Merriwell smiled placidly.
"Don't steam so, Hodge. It just heats you up, and makes you unhappy. If Buck Badger should beat me, I don't see that it would make a great difference. ”

“ The memory of it caused Bart to lose his head again.
"Badger is my enemy! A man who is his friend is no friend of mine! That is flat! I don't think I can make it plainer."
"You can't; it's plain enough. Badger is not my friend, but I am not his enemy."
"Don't tell me, Merriwell! You are his friend. You wouldn't ask such a thing, if you weren't. You must know that every one of the fellows will kick. ”

“ Then he stuck his pipe into his mouth, quickly fished out some tobacco, and crammed the bowl full, and lighted it.
"Smoke 'em off!" he said. "That's a good way to fight bees."
"And tobacco smoke keeps away other female critters!" laughed Danny, trying rather vainly to imitate the peculiar quality in the farmer's speech. "That's the reason you have never been popular with the fair. Now there is Veazie——"
"What about cigarettes?" drawled Browning, making a fog round his head. "Don't let the kettle call the pot Blackie! The most disgusting thing ever created is a smoker of cigarettes!" ”

“ Frank answered.
"Very humiliating to a man of Badger's character. And it has just taken the heart out of him. Until that time he was one of the most promising of the new pitchers at Yale. I was expecting good things from him. Now he seems to be nothing but a blighted 'has-been!'"
Merriwell smiled.
"And of all the sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"
"Just so," assented Kirk. "It's too bad to see a capable fellow go to the bone pile! I don't like it. I talked with him and tried to encourage him, but it had no permanent effect. ”