CHAPTER VTHE FIGHT ON THE BEACH.
As soon as Merriwell, Hodge and Diamond walked away, the girls arose and hurried from the spot.
“Oh, I could kill him!” flared Hattie.
Mabel said nothing.
They walked down the beach till they came to some steps that led up to an unoccupied cottage. They sat down on the steps.
“To think that fellow could say anything like that about us!” exclaimed Hattie, passionately.
“It is dreadful,” acknowledged Mabel.
“Dreadful! Why, it’s awful! He said we were bold! Oh! Ugh! How I hate him! How I hate him!”
“Don’t get so excited, Hattie.”
“Why, haven’t I every reason to get excited? Oh, I’d like to tell Mr. Jack Diamond what I think of him!”
Mabel sat still and looked out upon the water.
“He didn’t mean for us to hear it,” she said, after a time.
“But he said it! It’s just as bad!”
Pretty soon there was a queer sound in Mabel’s throat. Hattie looked at her in astonishment. Mabel was sobbing.
Above the bank there was grass on the ground, so the feet of two lads walking along there made no sound. They halted in amazement, looking down at the girls.
Hattie had placed her arm about her friend, and was trying to comfort her, saying swiftly:
“The wretch! How did he dare say it! He has broken your heart, Mabel! How can fellows be so mean!”
“It is Miss Mischief and Miss Hazle, Bart,” said Frank Merriwell. “Somebody has insulted them.”
“I’d like to punch the head of the fellow who would dare!” growled Hodge.
They heard him and looked up quickly. Then the boys were in a quandary, not knowing exactly what to do.
“We must pretend we did not know she was crying,” said Frank. “We must go down there, Bart.”
He whispered the words, and Hodge nodded. So they descended the bank, greeting the girls cheerfully.
“We have been looking for you,” declared Frank. “How fortunate we found you!”
“Yes, very fortunate,” said Hattie, a strange inflection in her voice. “We have something to say to you—something we wish you to tell a particular friend of yours.”
“Hattie, stop!” gasped Mabel. “Would you——”
“Yes, I would!” flashed Hattie.
“You mustn’t!”
“I must! Your friend, Mr. Diamond, expressed his opinion of us a short time ago.”
Frank was astounded and confused. For once in his life he did not know what to say. He wondered how these girls had learned what Jack said.
“Hattie, be still!” cried Mabel.
“Mr. Diamond was kind enough to say he thought us bold,” said Hattie. “And Mabel is crying over it.”
“I am so sorry,” said Frank, as he sat down on a stone at the foot of the steps. “Mr. Diamond would not have hurt Miss Mitshef’s feelings for the world. I assure you, he is a perfect gentleman, and——”
“He should not form opinions on such short acquaintance!” cried Hattie, still very angry. “He has no right to judge us!”
“I am afraid he has,” said Mabel, much to the surprise of all.
“What do you mean?” gasped the dark-haired girl. “It can’t be that you——”
“That’s what I cried over,” said Mabel, with a hysterical little laugh. “I knew Mr. Diamond spoke the truth!”
Bart Hodge staggered, and Frank caught his breath, while Hattie Hazle was speechless with astonishment.
“He had a reason to think me bold,” Mabel went on, swiftly. “I gave him that reason, for didn’t I do my best to flirt with him? A girl who does anything of the sort must expect the fellows to say she is bold. I don’t blame Mr. Diamond, for I know he did not say it to harm me, and he did not dream it would reach my ears. He was right! And he taught me a lesson. Folks have called me Mabel Mischief, and I have fancied I could do just as I pleased. Now I know I must be careful, for I am no longer a little girl. I owe Mr. Diamond a debt of gratitude.”
Hattie Hazle was quite overcome.
“Why, Mabel!” she said, “do you really mean it?”
“Of course, I mean it, Hattie. For the first time in my life I understand how my carelessness may be regarded by a stranger. In the future I shall be careful.”
“And you do not hate Jack Diamond?”
“No, for he spoke the truth.”
“Well, I declare!”
That was all Hattie could say. She had been very angry a short time before, but now she was bewildered. It was some time before she could see the matter in the same light as Mabel did, but, after a while, the light-haired girl convinced her that they had really given the Virginian every reason to say what he did. Then Hattie became very sober, and it was plain that she was meditating. She realized at last that her thoughtless conduct had given people opportunities to talk about her. And then, all at once, realizing her position, she jumped up, saying:
“Come, Mabel, let’s go to the cottage.”
As she turned around, she saw three persons who were looking down at them from the bank above.
“Oh, there they are!” exclaimed the voice of Walter Wallace. “You are right, Mr. Flynn, in what you said about Merriwell and his friends. They are up to their tricks. But we are three to their two, and now is our chance.”
“Come on, then!” urged the hoarse voice of Parker Flynn, and the trio came charging down the bank, the third one being Mart Woodock.
“Look out, Merriwell!” shouted Hodge.
But Frank was on his feet, ready to meet their assailants, and, a moment after, a savage battle was taking place there on the shore.
“Get away, girls—get away quick!” urged Frank. “If people come and find you here, your names will be drawn into this affair.”
The girls heeded the warning and ran away swiftly.
“Take that, you cur!” cried Hodge, striking Wallace fairly in the mouth. “You will find all the fight you want here.”
“Back to back, Bart!” hissed Merry. “It’s not the first time we have fought that way!”
Back to back they placed themselves, and they fought fiercely.
Parker Flynn was there, and he was eager to get at Merry. He held a large stone in one hand, and he watched his chance to strike Frank with it.
“I’ll crack his skull if I hit him right!” grated the fellow. “In a fight like this it would not count against me, for it would not be possible to tell who did the job.”
Frank was watching Flynn, for he knew the fellow was desperate, and would hesitate at nothing.
Woodock considered himself something of a fighter, and he did make it hot for Merriwell for a few moments; but Frank got in a blow that dazed the fellow and made him wary.
Hodge found Wallace not eager to follow him up, and this caused him to break away from the back-to-back program for a moment and leap toward Walter.
Smack!—Hodge landed with his left, and Wallace was stretched on the sand. Then Hodge sprang back to defend Frank’s rear.
Flynn fancied he saw his opportunity, and he made a rush to get at Frank from behind. As Hodge whirled into his position, the stone in Flynn’s hand came down on his head.
Without a cry or a moan, Bart dropped and lay still.
“The wrong one!” gasped Flynn, dropping the stone. “I’ve finished him, too!”
Then he wheeled suddenly and took to his heels.