CHAPTER V.THE DINNER.
The dinner was a grand success. Two long tables had been placed end to end, and around these tables gathered the light-hearted guests, skillfully seated in such a way that each youth found a congenial and charming girl at his elbow.
Of course, June was at Dick’s side. For the time being, Mrs. Steele and the two elderly ladies had withdrawn, and there was no one present to cast the lightest restraint on the innocent mirth of the gathering. Waiters were numerous, silent, and attentive, and the courses came on in a manner that would have done credit to a first-class hotel. Somewhere in a near-by room the orchestra discoursed appropriate music. Beneath the softened lights the china, cutglass, and silverware gleamed, and the girls, flushed with pleasurable excitement, seemed the fairest to be found in all the land.
“Of course, I’m ready to explode with curiosity, June,” said Dick, under cover of the chatter that rose about them.
“I suppose you are,” she laughed tantalizingly, giving him a look with those splendid eyes of hers that shot him through with the old-time thrill.
“But you don’t seem in any hurry to satisfy that curiosity. Don’t tantalize me, June. How did it happen?”
“Your brother brought my brother back with him to Wellsburg when he returned from the West.”
“Yes, I know; but Wellsburg is a long distance from Meadwold. It’s mysterious. I didn’t suppose Casper Steele knew you, yet I find you here at his father’s country home.”
“My father knows Mr. Payton Steele very well.”
“I see a faint ray.”
“They have often had business relations. At present father is carrying through a business deal in company with Mr. Steele. To do this he had to come on here, and, when he found he was coming, both Chester and myself begged him to bring us along. That’s the explanation, Dick. We met Casper Steele, and as soon as he found out we were your friends he began to plan this surprise party for you.”
“And I never suspected a thing.”
From the head of the table Steele laughed at Dick.
“I was afraid you might get a suspicion of it,” he said, having caught Merriwell’s words.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to get even with you, old chap,” said Dick. “But perhaps I’ll find a way some time.”
Near the foot of the long table sat Mabel Ditson, with Brad Buckhart on her right and Rob Claxton on her left. She was dividing her favors between them, and both seemed satisfied. Her position was a delicate one, and it required art and cleverness to balance her smiles and words so that neither should fancy the other to be the one most favored. Sparkfair was chatting in his airy manner with a beautiful girl by the name of Agnes Locke. Nevertheless, it seemed that he occasionally cast faintly regretful glances in the direction of June and Dick.
Jack Randall talked confidentially with Barbara, and, save Dick himself, it was possible no one present knew their exact relations. Suddenly Steele rose to his feet.
“A toast!” he proposed.
“A toast! a toast!” cried all.
Casper lifted a glass.
“We’ll drink it in water, the favorite beverage of the one to whom it will be given.”
They all rose, each with an uplifted glass of water. There was a hush, and, with a grave smile, Casper turned his eyes on the lad at June Arlington’s side.
“Here’s to Dick Merriwell,” he said. “Here’s to his friends and his foes; may his friends never falter in their loyalty, and may his foes soon realize their folly and become his friends.”
“Splendid! splendid!” was the cry as they drank the toast.
Dick thanked Casper in a clever little speech, his face flushed and his heart warmed by it all. It was Randall who proposed the next toast.
“Here’s to Yale,” he bowed; “Yale, Harvard’s beloved rival. May the blue ever flutter high above all other colors save the crimson.”
“I’ll have to attach an amendment to that,” laughed Dick. “May the best team win, and, if it does, the blue has no fear of finding itself looking up to the crimson.”
“You wait until your freshman baseball team goes against our freshies!” cried Randall. “You know we have a slab wizard by the name of Sparkfair.”
“Keep it dark, keep it dark!” came in a hoarse whisper from Dale. “Don’t put the enemy wise. Let him march unsuspecting to the slaughter.”
Randall laughed.
“I think I’ll have to tell how I happened to bring Spark with me to Meadwold,” he said, as the entire party was again seated.
“I can’t bear to have you tell,” objected Dale.
“This reckless young blade,” said Jack, “has injected himself into all sorts of trouble since descending on Cambridge. He seems to enjoy trouble with a keen and fiendish enjoyment. The rackets he has been in would fill a three-volume novel. Repeatedly he has escaped disasters by a hair’s breadth. His last escapadeproved rather more serious than the others. He stole a cinnamon bear.”
“Tut, tut!” remonstrated Sparkfair. “State the facts, Randall—the bear conceived an overweening affection for me, and insisted on following me like a dog.”
“Insisted on following you after you had fed him a two-pound box of chocolates and bon-bons,” said Jack. “It was this way: An Italian organ grinder brought a tame dancing bear into town. The dago did a lively business around Harvard Square, for the bear was really amusing, and the students coughed up their spare coins to see him do his stunts. Some time in mid-afternoon the bear’s master tied him to a tree on Massachusetts Avenue, and went into a restaurant for something to eat. About this time Sparkfair hove upon the horizon and espied bruin. Dale had purchased an extravagant amount of candy for some one of his numerous lady loves. He took a notion to offer the bear a chocolate drop, and bruin keenly appreciated the favor. For some time Spark continued to deal out confectionery to the beast, and with each fresh chocolate or bon-bon the bear’s liking for Dale increased by leaps and bounds. Just how bruin’s chain came unhitched from the tree I’m unable to say. At any rate, when Spark started to depart the cinnamon waddled after him.”
“It was a frightful moment,” put in Dale. “Imagine my sensation of horror when I realized that I was being pursued by a real bear. Of course, I wouldn’t have minded so much if it had been one of those Teddy things that they sell at a toy store, but this was the real stuff, with genuine hair on it. It had claws and teeth, too. At first I was tempted to fly for my life, but I didn’t know just how fast that bear could sprint, and, therefore, I was afraid to make a start. In orderto appease the monster I opened up my second box of sweets and handed him out a few more chocolates.”
“That’s right,” chuckled Randall. “Behold Sparkfair, in your mind, backing down Mt. Auburn Street with the bear sniffing along after him and licking its chops for more chocolates. It seems that Spark has a sophomore friend whom he greatly admires that rooms in Claverly. This sophomore’s name is Coakley. Up to date I believe he and Spark have practiced the manly art of self-defense on each other at least four times. Coakley has lost one of his front teeth, and for a week or so Sparkfair was proudly displaying a beautiful black eye. Well, what do you think Spark did? When he reached Claverly he proceeded to decoy that bear into the building and upstairs to Coakley’s room. It happened that Coakley was out, but his door was unlocked. Spark got the bear inside, and then heartlessly abandoned the poor beast.”
“Not until I had fed him the last bon-bon in that two-pound lot,” sighed Spark, with amusing dolefulness. “I know a girl who went hungry for candy that night.”
“Coakley returned to his room in the dusk of early evening,” Randall continued. “He walked right in, without anticipating the welcome he was to receive. The bear was asleep on Coakley’s best Turkish rug. I don’t think Coakley saw him. At any rate, he fell over bruin, who rose with a grunt of disapproval. A moment later other fellows in Claverly were horrified by the most fearsome, heart-rending scream of terror that ever smote mortal ears. Coakley yelled murder and made a scramble to get away from the bear. Evidently bruin fancied his friend with the candied delicacies had returned, for he tried to embrace Coakley. As I room in Claverly myself, I happened to see the finish. Coakley ripped open his door and came gaspingand tumbling into the hall. A furry figure lumbered after him. Coakley slid downstairs, and the bear imitated his example. Confused and terrified, Coakley made the mistake of dashing into the swimming room. Bruin kept close at his heels until, with a last despairing howl of anguish, Coakley plunged headlong into the tank. The bear sat down on the edge and grinned with pleasure as he watched Coakley splashing and blowing about in the water. I think Coakley was in that tank something like three quarters of an hour before some one brought the bear’s master, who took bruin away.
“Unfortunately, some one saw Sparkfair decoying the bear into Claverly. Coakley has sworn vengeance. An investigation is threatened. There is a tinge of blood on the moon in Cambridge. I thought it would be best for Spark to get away for a couple of days, and therefore I’ve inflicted him on this otherwise respectable party.”