Both Hans and Ephraim were ghastly pale. The Dutch lad's teeth were chattering, and the Yankee boy's knees shook beneath him. But both tried to put on a bold front.
"Are ye ready, jintlemin?" demanded Barney Mulloy, who had been chosen to give the word.
"Vait a moment," commanded Hans, waving his hand frantically at Barney. "I vos goin' to gif dot feller a shance to safe his life. Uf he vants to abologize now I vont shood him drough der heart mit a pullet."
"Hurry up this business!" blustered Ephraim, waving the big pistol. "If ye fool around here all night it will git so thunderin' dark I can't see ter hit ther middle button on the Dutchman's coat."
"Vos you goin' to abologize?" shouted Hans.
"Be you goin' to run away?" demanded Ephraim.
"Uf you don'd abologize, I voss a dead man," cried the Dutch lad, threateningly.
"Ef you don't run away, you're a dead man," declared the Vermonter.
Now it happened that Sammy Smiles had brought along some stale eggs which he had been keeping for some festive occasion, and he had given one of them to Frank, while they had come to a perfect understanding as to the proper manner and the right moment to use them. With the eggs concealed in their hands, they were waiting for Barney to give the word.
"Come, come, jintlemin," called the Irish lad, sharply. "Take yer positions, fer Oi'm goin' t' give th' worrud."
"This is your last chance to run away, Dutchy," faltered Ephraim, who seemed to be losing confidence.
"Dis vos your lasd obbortunity to abologize, Yankee," said Hans, rather weakly.
"Ready to foire at th' worrud," called Barney.
Hans' teeth were plainly heard to rattle together like dice.
"One!" counted Barney.
"Uf he don'd run avay, I vas reaty to hear him abologize," murmured the Dutch lad.
"Say!" Ephraim hoarsely whispered to Sammy. "Git a rope an' tie me, quick! Hang me ef I don't believe my legs is goin' to run the best I kin do."
"Two!" counted Barney.
"Shimminy Gristmas! vere vas someding I can hide pehind?"
"Great thutteration! I'm a goner!"
"Three—fire!"
Both of the bold duelists turned their heads away, pointed the pistols at something, and fired.
Bang! bang!
Frank and Sammy Smiles let the eggs fly, and the aim of both was accurate.
Sammy's egg struck Hans behind the right ear, and spattered all over the side of the Dutch lad's head, while Frank's egg landed on Ephraim's neck.
"I vos a deadt man!" squawked the Dutch lad, as he went over in a heap.
"I'm shot, by gum!" squealed the Yankee, as his knees collapsed and he measured his long length upon the ground.
"Smoke!" cried Barney Mulloy, grasping his nose with both hands. "It smells loike ye'd both been corpuses fer a long toime!"
"By Jove!" gasped Frank. "That odor is strong enough to lift a safe!"
The other witnesses of the duel roared with laughter, but Hans was bellowing and Ephraim was groaning so loudly that neither of them heard the sounds of mirth.
"I can feel mein prains runnin' all ofer der side uf mein headt!" howled Hans.
"Send for a doctor!" shrieked Ephraim. "I'm covered with blood! My jubilee vein is cut clean in two, an' ther blood is runnin' down my neck!"
"I vos dyin'!"
"I'll be dead in a minute!"
Sammy Smiles held fast to his nose, and made haste to bend over his principal, whom he pretended to examine.
"Bring bandages!" he shouted. "Help me to stop him from bleeding to death."
"It's nary a bit of use," groaned the Vermonter. "No feller ever lived with his jubilee vein cut in two!"
"Merciful goodness!" cried Frank, in pretended horror, as he hovered over Hans, also taking care to cling to his nose. "The whole top of his head is shot away!"
The Dutch boy gave a wild, despairing wail.
"Und you said dot feller vos goin' to run avay! Dunder und blitsens! I vos a fool dot I don'd run avay meinseluf pefore mein prains he shot oudt!"
"Never mind," said Frank. "You will die like a hero, and we'll bury you with all the honors of war."
"Yah!" snorted Hans. "Dot vos nice—I don'd pelieve! I don'd care apout dot honors uf var! Oh, Shimminy Gristmas! vot a fool a blamed fool vos!"
"I am surprised at you," said Frank, sternly. "You should be proud to perish in such a heroic manner."
"Oh, yaw! I peen tickled to death—mit a pullet. Id vos fun!"
"I am afraid you are not a success as a hero."
"Vell, I dudder peen a success as a coward und kept avay from dot pullet."
In the meantime Ephraim had recovered from the shock sufficiently to detect the powerful odor of the stale egg that had struck him.
"Great gum!" he gurgled. "What was that Dutchman's pistol loaded with? Something must have crawled inter ther pesky thing an' died there!"
"Do you really smell anything?" chuckled Sammy Smiles.
"Do I?" howled the Yankee boy, sitting up and gasping for breath. "I ruther think I do, by gum!"
"You must be mistaken. Being seriously wounded, you imagine it. It is the result of your injury."
"Is that so? Wal," he wildly panted, "if that's ther case, I hope I'll die soon an' git aout of my misery!"
The spectators were convulsed with merriment, and Ephraim began to smell a rat—if, indeed, it were possible to smell anything but the ancient eggs.
"Say!" he snorted, "you fellers don't act like there was anybody dyin' around here. An' by chaowder! this smell is jest ther same ez I struck when I crawled under dad's old barn to find where the speckled hen was layin', an' crunched up some aigs that hed bin there two or three months. Ef that Dutchman loaded his pistol with a ripe aig an' shot me in the neck, I'll paound the stuffin' aout of him, by gum!"
"Vot vos dot?" roared Hans, also sitting up, and glaring at the Vermonter. "You don'd peen pig enough to bound der sduffin oudt uf nottings!"
"Wal, dern my skin ef I don't show you! Ef I'm mortally shot, it'll be some satisfaction to die thumpin' you, by gum!"
"Keeb avay off!" squawked Hans, as Ephraim began to crawl toward him. "Keeb avay off, ur I vos goin' to bulverize you britty queek right avay soon!"
"You pulverize, an' be hanged! All I want is to git holt of ye."
Hans began to scramble out of the way.
"Holt on! holt on!" he cried. "Dot don'd peen no fair to sdrike a man mit haluf uf his heat plown off!"
"Your head's all right, only one side of it is plastered over with some yaller stuff. You shot me in the neck, and I'm all kivered with blood, but I kin do ye, jest ther same!"
"Dot vos der gweerest colored plood vot I nefer saw! You don'd peen shot ad all."
"Then, by gum! I'm goin' ter lick ye anyhaow!" and Ephraim scrambled to his feet.
"Vell, you don'd done dot till you catch me, py Shimminy!"
Hans also scrambled up, and immediately took to his heels, with the tall Yankee in hot pursuit, leaving the spectators of this ridiculous duel to exhaust themselves with merriment.
It had already grown quite dark.
The fun for the time being was over, but there was an engagement of quite a different nature to take place.
Barely had the Dutch boy disappeared, with the Vermonter at his heels, when Frank and several others of the party slipped away into the shadows and made for Black Bluff.
Bascomb and a large number of his friends were waiting when Frank arrived, and Merriwell heard the big fellow sneeringly observe:
"He has really come at last! I didn't know but he was going to take water. I was afraid I'd lose the satisfaction of giving him the licking he needs."
Frank bit his lip, and remained silent.
Bart Hodge was on hand, and he was quickly at Frank's side.
"Where have you been?" he asked. "I was beginning to fear Bascomb had put up some kind of a job to keep you away, so he could claim you were afraid to meet him."
"I have been acting as second in another affair," said Frank. "I want you to represent me in this. Will you?"
"You have no need to ask that, for you must know that it will give me pleasure. I want to see you give that big brute the drubbing he merits, so he will keep still for a while. He has been trying to injure you ever since you entered the academy, and he has said here to-night that he proposed doing me up to square an old score after he had finished you. I tried to get him to take me first, for I told him there wouldn't be anything left for me to fight when you were through with him. He said he was going to polish you off easily, and he has been whispering and laughing with that sneaking Reynolds. Somehow, I feel as if they have put up some kind of a job to get the best of you, and that is why they feel so well. You want to be on your guard for tricks, old man."
"I will," assured Frank, as he began to "peel" for the fight. "Go over and make arrangements with Reynolds. If you can get him to agree to make it a go-as-you-please till the best man whips you will suit me."
"All right; I'll stand for that."
Away went Hodge to consult with Reynolds, and Frank did not dream that he had proposed just the kind of a fight that Bascomb and his second most desired.
The wind was coming in across the bay, and the sea was moaning at the ragged base of Black Bluff, on the heights of which the fight was to take place. There were scudding clouds in the sky, but the night did not promise to be very dark.
It did not take Hodge long to complete arrangements with Reynolds, and he soon returned to inform Frank that it was to be one straight fight from start to finish, with no rests till one or the other whipped.
Frank had not supposed there would be near so many spectators present, and he well knew that the most of those assembled were fellows who were secretly envious of him because of his popularity, although nearly all had made protestations of friendship in the past.
Frank did not care for the friendship of such fellows, as there was nothing in the world he despised more than a hypocrite. He could respect a foe who was open and frank; but he had no use for anybody who wore two faces.
Fred Davis had not been told where the fight was to take place; but he had scented it in some way, and he came panting to the spot, just as Merriwell and Bascomb were about to meet. He rushed straight to Frank, exclaiming:
"You must not fight on my account! You shall not! You haven't any right to do it! This must stop!"
"Here, Bart," said Merriwell to Hodge, speaking quietly and firmly, "turn this boy over to Mulloy, and tell him to keep Davis from making any fuss."
"But you must listen to me!" cried the little plebe, on the verge of tears. "People sometimes get killed in fights. If you are badly hurt, I'll never forgive myself. Can't I do something to stop it? Why, I will apologize to Bascomb, and——"
"That would simply place you more in contempt, and would not let me out in the least, boy. Take him away, Mulloy," Frank spoke to the Irish lad, who was now at hand. "See that he doesn't get into trouble."
Seeing it was impossible to put an end to the contest, Fred gave up in despair.
Merriwell and Bascomb now faced each other. There was no demand that they should shake hands, and neither offered to do so. The boys formed a circle around them, and, at the word, they leaped at each other and the fray had begun.
Bascomb made an effort to clinch immediately, but Frank landed two blows that sent him staggering. This was an advantage which Merriwell followed up, and Bascomb was forced to keep falling back for some moments, shifting the battle-ground considerably from the point where the struggle began.
Spat! spat! spat! sounded the blows; but it was not always an easy thing to tell who was getting the worst of it.
To and fro, forward and back, moved the fighting lads, their movements being breathlessly followed by the spectators. Sometimes it would seem that one of the lads had the advantage, and then it would appear to be the other.
With his hands clasped together and his heart beating wildly, Fred Davis strained his eyes to see it all. To him every moment seemed an hour of acute agony and suspense.
Bart Hodge and Barney Mulloy were both intensely interested and excited, but neither of them entertained a doubt but what, barring accident, Frank would come forth the victor.
The breathing of the fighting boys became short and loud, and Bascomb occasionally muttered fierce words. Merriwell fought silently and fiercely.
At length the tigerish determination of Bascomb's foe began to drive the big fellow back again. Several times he clinched Frank, but his hold was quickly broken on each occasion. Three times both went down; but the strength of neither seemed sufficient to get the advantage and hold the other.
At length, as they were apparently on the point of grappling again, Bascomb was seen to make a quick move of one hand, and Frank immediately cried:
"My eyes! Oh, I am blinded! They are burning!"
Instantly there was the greatest excitement.
"Foul play, by the eternal skies!" shouted Bart Hodge, leaping forward. Instantly someone gave him a blow that sent him reeling.
"Howld on, ye imps!" roared Barney. "Ye can't play your dirty thricks here!"
"Keep them away!" grated Bascomb. "Keep them away, and I'll fix this fellow now!"
Frank heard the bully's voice, but he could not see Bascomb. With a cry of unutterable fury, Merriwell leaped for his foe, caught him, grappled with him.
Then was seen such a mad struggle as not one of the boys present had ever before witnessed. Merriwell seemed like a tiger that had been stung to ungovernable rage, and Bascomb exerted every bit of skill and strength he possessed.
Round and round they whirled, away they reeled, and then a cry of surprise and horror suddenly broke from the crowd.
The beginning of the fight had been at a long distance from the brink of the bluff, but, all at once, it was discovered that, in the darkness, they had shifted about till they were close to the verge. And, unconsciously, they were staggering swiftly to the edge.
"Stop them!" shouted Hodge. "Quick, or they will go over!"
Fred Davis leaped forward, clutched at the struggling lads, but could not hold them. In a twinkling they tore away, and reeled on.
Others would have interfered, but it was too late. Both Hodge and Mulloy did their best, but Bascomb and Merriwell escaped their outstretched hands.
Then another cry of horror went up.
The fighting lads were tottering on the brink. They realized their peril at last; but, before they could make a move to save themselves, they went over.
"Merciful Heaven!" gasped Hodge. "That is the end of them both!"
For a moment the horror-stricken witnesses stood and stared through the darkness at the place where the foes had disappeared over the brink of the bluff, and no one seemed capable of making a move or saying a thing immediately after those blood-chilling words came from the lips of Bartley Hodge.
Fred Davis was the first to recover. Down upon the ground he flung himself, peering over the verge of the bluff, and calling:
"Frank—Frank Merriwell!"
Immediately there was a faint, muffled answer from near at hand.
"Thank Heaven!" Fred almost wept. "He has not fallen into the sea! He is near at hand! I can hear him! Frank, where are you?"
"Here—clinging to this vine," was the faint reply. "The thing is giving—it will tear away! Quick—grasp my wrists!"
Fred saw that the dark form was dangling immediately below, and, without delay, he reached down and found a pair of hands which were clinging madly to a stout vine.
The vine was really giving way, and Davis instantly grasped both wrists of the imperiled lad.
"I've got him, boys!" he shouted, joyously. "Pull us up—pull us up! I can hold fast if you pull us up at once! He has hold of one of my hands now; he will not let go. Pull us up, and he will be saved!"
"Lay hold here!" shouted Hodge, grasping Davis by the shoulder. "Down on your faces, two of you, and clutch Merriwell the moment he is lifted far enough for you to grasp him. Work lively, now! Are you ready?"
"All ready," came the chorus.
"Then hoist away, lads, and up he comes!"
So, with a strong pull, the imperiled youth was dragged up over the brink to safety, falling prostrate and panting at the feet of his rescuers.
"Poor Bascomb!" exclaimed one of the boys. "I am afraid he is done for!"
"Not much!" panted the boy they had just saved. "But that was a mighty close call."
"What's this?" shrieked Fred Davis, dropping to his knees and staring into the face of the fellow he had helped to rescue. "This isn't Merriwell! It's Bascomb!"
Exclamations of astonishment came from every lip, for all had thought they were rescuing Frank.
"Great Jupiter!" gasped Bart Hodge. "It must be that Merriwell went clean down the face of the bluff!"
"An' thot manes he is a dead b'y!" declared Barney Mulloy. Fred Davis quickly leaped to the brink, and wildly shouted:
"Frank Merriwell! Frank Merriwell! Where are you? Frank! Frank!"
No answer save the moaning of the wind and the gurgle of the sea which came up from the base of the bluff, like the last strangling sound from the throat of a drowning person.
"He is gone!"
A feeling of unutterable horror came over the little party on the bluff, for they all seemed to realize what a terrible thing had happened.
Fred Davis fell to sobbing and moaning. Again and again he sent his voice down the face of the bluff, shouting into the darkness that hovered over the surging sea:
"Frank Merriwell! Oh, Frank, where are you? Frank! Frank!"
A night-bird swept past, and answered his shouts with an eerie cry; but the voice of Frank Merriwell did not come up out of the darkness below.
"It's no use!" came hoarsely and hopelessly from the lips of Bart Hodge. "Merriwell is a goner! It was most remarkable that Bascomb caught hold of that vine and so escaped."
Fred Davis sprang to his feet, and rushed at Bascomb, who was cowering and shivering in the midst of the boys.
"You killed him!" screamed the little plebe. "You're responsible for his death! It was murder!"
"Thot's roight!" came from Barney Mulloy.
Bascomb cowered and retreated before Davis. All his bullying spirit was gone, and he shivered when the little fellow declared it was murder.
"You shall be hanged!" wildly cried Fred, shaking his clinched hands in Bascomb's face. "I will testify against you! You shall be arrested and hanged!"
"Take him away, somebody!" muttered Bascomb, hoarsely.
"Touch me if you dare!" defied Davis, who seemed quite beside himself. "I have been a coward long enough, and I am not afraid of you all now! If I hadn't been a coward, I should have fought here to-night, instead of Merriwell, and he would be alive now! Oh, I'll never forgive myself for letting him fight in my place! But I'll do my best to avenge—I'll swear he was murdered!"
"That's rot," said Rupert Reynolds, rather weakly. "It was a clean case of accident."
"I am not sure about that," came significantly from the lips of Bart Hodge. "We all heard Merriwell cry out that he had been blinded. That meant something. There was foul play here, and the parties who were in the dirty game must suffer for it."
"Faith, an' thot's roight, Bart, me b'y!" exclaimed Barney Mulloy. "It's as clane a lad as iver brathed thot wint over Black Bluff to his death th' noight, an' somebody will pay dear fer this pace av worruk."
Bascomb still remained silent, seeming incapable of offering any defense.
"It is useless to waste any more time here," said Hodge, sharply. "This awful business must be reported in camp. We must get boats from the boathouse, and search for Merriwell's body."
He started away, and the boys began to follow him. Bascomb stood quite still, and saw his late supporters, with the exception of Reynolds, draw away and leave him, as if he were some creature to be avoided.
"Oh, that's the way!" he grated, bitterly. "They're afraid they will be mixed in it some way, and so they sneak! I am left to face the music alone!"
"Brace up, old man," urged Reynolds. "You may not be in such a very bad box. I don't see how they can do anything but expel you from the academy, and it is likely I will have to take the same medicine, as I was your second."
"Oh, you're trying to show a bright side; but I tell you, Reynolds, there is something worse than expulsion to follow this!"
"What do you mean?"
"You heard that plebe Davis declare he would charge me with murder?"
"Sure; but he's deranged for the moment."
"He will make the charge, just the same; and I'll have to face it."
"But it cannot be proved against you."
"I am not so sure. If I hadn't flung red pepper in Merriwell's eyes I'd have a better show. Now it will look as if I did that to blind him, so I might force him over the bluff."
"I don't believe anybody can think you as bad as that. You certainly had no desire to do anything more than whip Merriwell by some means, fair or foul."
"It is easy enough to say that, but I'm afraid it will not be easy to make people believe it. I swear, Reynolds, it's a terrible thing to have anything like this hanging over a fellow! Why, it has taken all the nerve out of me! I'd give my right hand to see Frank Merriwell alive and well at this moment!"
"Don't go to pieces that way, Bascomb!" entreated Rupert. "You've got to keep a stiff backbone. Come, let's hurry after the others."
Reynolds got hold of Bascomb's arm, and fairly dragged him after the other lads, who were making their way toward camp.
Each step that brought the big fellow nearer camp made him more desperate. Finally, he declared:
"I'm going to know what Hodge and Mulloy mean to do."
Then he hastened forward till he came upon Bart and Barney, who were accompanied by Fred Davis.
"Look here, fellows," said Bascomb, "I've got some questions to ask you."
"Well, ask them," directed Hodge, shortly, as the boys halted and clustered again.
"I want to know if you actually think I am wicked enough to wish to kill a fellow cadet and classmate?"
"As fer mesilif, Oi dunno," admitted Barney. "Yure a big scoundrel, but Oi don't loike ter think any felly's villain enough to do murther."
"But it looks mighty black for you, Bascomb," said Bart. "We all heard Merriwell cry out that he was blinded, and then you seemed to drag him straight for the brink of the bluff."
"It was an accident!" declared Bascomb, hoarsely. "I did not dream we were anywhere near the edge of the bluff."
"It was not accident!" cried Fred Davis. "It was murder, and I will swear to it!"
"You hear that," came huskily from the lips of the accused. "If you fellows stand by him, I am done for."
"We'll have to be given time to think it over."
"No, that is wrong, for you'll be forced to make some explanation as soon as you get into camp."
"We'll simply tell the truth."
"That will ruin me!"
"Which cannot be helped. The truth is the only thing that will stand in a case like this."
"All right. There's no show for me."
Bascomb turned about in a blind way, and Reynolds caught him by the arm, asking:
"Where are you going? What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," was the hopeless reply. "It doesn't make any difference where I go or what I do now!"
The most of the boys moved toward camp again, leaving Reynolds talking earnestly with Bascomb. Before the camp was reached, Reynolds came running and panting after them.
"Bascomb has gone crazy!" he cried. "He said he was going to kill himself, and he broke away from me and ran into the woods! It is terrible!"
"I don't know but suicide is his easiest way out of this scrape," said Hodge.
"It is the only way he can escape hanging!" came from Fred Davis, who seemed to be aroused to a point of relentless hatred for Bascomb.
"Merciful goodness!" came faintly from Reynolds, who seemed to be weakening. "What a dreadful affair this is! I'd give anything in my power to give if I were well out of it!"
"An' ye'd be gittin' out chape at thot, me hearty," declared Barney Mulloy.
"If I'd ever dreamed what would come of it, horses couldn't have dragged me into the affair!" almost whimpered Reynolds.
"An' now ye're in it, it won't do yez nivver a bit av good to whoine, me b'y."
"All you can do is brace up and face it out," said Hodge. "That's what the rest of us will have to do. It's likely we'll all be fired from the academy for our shares in the business."
"I wouldn't mind that if it would bring Merriwell back all right," asserted Reynolds, and there was a sincere sound in his voice.
"We'd all take our medicine without a murmur if it would restore him to life. He was the whitest boy that ever breathed!"
"I think you're right," admitted Rupert. "I don't like him, but I presume that was my fault. Perhaps I was jealous because he was so popular. He never did me a mean turn."
"Och! an' he nivver did anybody thot!" quickly put in Barney. "It wur ivver a good turn, av it wur anything at all, at all."
And so, talking of Frank's virtues, the boys approached the camp. It was decided among them that Hodge should report the affair to Lieutenant Gordan, and they should all get into camp without being challenged, if possible. For this purpose they separated, and slipped in one by one, by various ways.
Hodge himself found a little difficulty in getting past the sentinel, by whom he did not wish to be challenged and taken in custody, as there would be a certain amount of red tape business that would delay him from seeking the lieutenant immediately and making his report.
He finally succeeded in getting into camp, and hurried directly to his own tent. As he entered, he was surprised to see a lamp had been lighted, and somebody was wringing out a towel in the water-bucket, at the same time having his head and face well swathed with another towel, that was dripping wet.
"Well, who in thunder are you? and what are you up to here?" demanded Bart, indignantly.
The fellow with the towel about his head pulled enough of it away from his mouth to reply:
"Hello, Bart! I am soaking the red pepper out of my eyes, and incidentally bathing my bruises at the same time. I couldn't see to guard for all of Bascomb's blows."
Hodge reeled backward, and came near collapsing. He caught hold of the tent pole at the front, and clung to it for support.
"Frank!" he cried, faintly.
"That's my name," affirmed the other, as he unwound the towel from about his head, and looked at Bart with a pair of very red eyes. "You look as if you saw a ghost."
"Well, I couldn't be more surprised if I saw a whole regiment of ghosts. Is it really you—alive?"
"To be sure."
"But—but—didn't you go over Black Bluff?"
"Yes."
"Then how do you happen to be here? It can't be you fell all the way down into the water, and then swam out?"
"No."
"Then what did happen? For mercy sake, tell me, and relieve me of this suspense."
"Why, I didn't fall far—not more than ten feet. I struck on a shelf, and lay there stunned."
"And Bascomb clung to some vines till we pulled him back to the top of the bluff."
"Those vines fell all around the shelf I was on, and I was half-covered with them when I recovered enough to thoroughly realize my position. It is likely that, while he was clinging to them, Bascomb partly covered me with them by winding his legs about them, thus changing their position after I fell."
"And he covered you so that the vines and the darkness prevented us from seeing you."
"I suppose so."
"But why didn't you answer? Davis called to you more than twenty times."
"I was stunned, and I did not hear him at first. When I did hear, it was impossible for me to answer, although I tried to do so."
"And we went away and left you there."
"Yes."
"How did you get off the ledge?"
"My strength came to me swiftly when I realized my position. As soon as possible, realizing I was alone, I sought a way to get to the top of the bluff. I was successful, for I found some clefts in the rock for my feet, and, aided by the vines, I climbed up. Then I lost little time in getting into camp, for I didn't know what sort of a report you fellows would bring. I did not expect to reach camp ahead of you, but it seems that I did, although I had not been in the tent two minutes when you showed up."
Up to this moment Hodge had held off, as if not quite able to believe it possible Frank had escaped. Now, with a cry of joy, he sprang forward and embraced his comrade.
"This is the happiest moment of my life, Frank!" he declared, with tears of joy in his eyes. "Why, I was about to report you as dead, and start out an expedition to search for your body! I couldn't have felt so bad had you been my own brother. Davis is distracted. He has charged Bascomb with murder, and swears he will stick to it in court. Mulloy was also inclined to look on it as a case of murder, and Bascomb became so scared that he ran away while we were returning to camp. Reynolds said Bascomb swore he was going to commit suicide."
Frank straightened up quickly.
"Look here, Hodge," he said, "you must act, and you must act swiftly. I do not want to go to Lieutenant Gordan in this condition; but you must go to him, and tell him that Bascomb seems to be out of his head and has run away, threatening to kill himself. The lieutenant will be sure to send out a detachment to search for the poor fellow. If you see Mulloy, tell him I am all right, and get him to keep Davis still. The plebe mustn't blow the story all over camp. Let everybody know I am all right. As soon as I can soak this red pepper out of my eyes, I'll be ready to help in the search for Bascomb, if I am needed. Go quickly!"
"All right; I'm off."
Hodge darted out of the tent, and Frank wrapped another wet towel about his head and eyes.
All night the search for Bascomb continued, the cadets carrying on the work in relays.
Hodge had convinced Lieutenant Gordan that Bascomb had suddenly become deranged, and had succeeded in having the search instituted without telling the real cause of the disappearance.
The joy of the boys when they knew Merriwell was safe in his own tent had been boundless, but they were forced to keep it suppressed, fearing that too much of a demonstration would arouse suspicion, and create an investigation.
Davis wept for joy. At first he could not believe such good news could be true, and he had rushed straight to the tent, where Frank was already receiving congratulations.
"You don't know what a terrible load this lifts from my shoulders!" cried the little plebe, in ecstasy. "Nobody shall ever fight for me again! I can't lick anybody, but I will stand up and take my thumping when it is necessary. I am going to write to mother tomorrow that it is absolutely impossible for a fellow to get along here without fighting, and I am going to ask her to release me from my promise. I won't lie for anybody, but I am going to fight when I have to!"
"I do not believe you will be forced into many fights when the boys understand you," said Frank.
Frank reduced the inflammation in his eyes so he was able to take part in the search, and he declined to be relieved, continuing in his efforts through the entire night.
Near sunrise, with a company of plebes under his command, he was beating a piece of woods along the bank of a river about four miles from the academy. Davis was one of the company. The little fellow had grown intensely anxious for the quick discovery of Bascomb, hoping the big bully had done no harm to himself.
"If he should commit suicide, I'd feel that I must be responsible for that," said Fred.
"You are altogether too conscientious," declared Frank. "There are none of us but hope to find Bascomb all right, but no one save himself will be to blame if he has taken his life."
Birds were singing their morning songs, and there was a rosy tinge spreading upward in the eastern sky. The breath of the morning was sweet with the perfume of June; but the boys heeded none of the beauties of nature around them, for they were fearing that at any moment they might come upon some ghastly thing there in the heart of the green woods.
All at once, they did come upon a haggard, pale-faced lad, who was sitting on a fallen tree, and seemed to be waiting for them to approach.
It was Bascomb.
"I have dodged searching parties all night, and I am not going to run any——"
Thus far did Bascomb get, and then he saw Merriwell. He stopped, and his jaw fell, while he shuddered, showing the strongest symptoms of terror. His eyes bulged from their sockets, and the expression on his face was one of unutterable horror.
"Bascomb!" cried Frank. "I am glad I have found you!"
He stepped toward the big fellow, but Bascomb leaped to his feet, shrieking:
"Don't touch me! You are dead—dead! Go away!"
And then, before another word could be said, before anybody could do a thing to prevent it, Bascomb turned and fled through the woods—fled as if pursued by fiends, shrieking forth his terror.
"After him!" cried Frank. "Don't let him get away! He is so scared that he will surely do himself injury if he escapes."
The pursuit began, and Merriwell soon found that Fred Davis was rather fleet of foot. In fact, Fred was able to keep near to Frank's side.
It was a wild chase through the strip of woods. Impelled by terror, Bascomb ran as he had never run before. Under ordinary circumstances, Frank could have overtaken him easily, but this was far from an ordinary case.
At length, however, Frank and Fred began to gain on the fugitive.
Casting wild glances over his shoulder, Bascomb discovered this, and his terror knew no bounds. He had been running parallel with the river, but he suddenly changed his course and made straight for it.
"He is going to try to drown himself!" cried Frank.
Then an accident happened to Merriwell. He tripped in some underbrush, and fell heavily to the ground. When he got upon his feet, he saw Bascomb leap from quite a high bank into a deep part of the river.
Fred Davis was not far from Bascomb's heels, and he was stripping off his coat when the big fellow plunged into the water. The coat was flung aside in an instant, and then Frank saw Fred boldly plunge into the water after Bascomb.
"By Jove!" exclaimed Merriwell; "the little fellow has courage, after all!"
He hurried forward, and when he reached the bank, he saw a struggle taking place in the river.
Bascomb did not want to be rescued. Made crazy by the horrors he had experienced through the night, and by the sight of Merriwell, whom he believed a ghost, he was determined to drown himself in the river.
Three times Davis struck at Bascomb's temple with his clinched fist, and he finally landed with sufficient violence to stun the big fellow.
Then, with the skill of a veteran life-saver, the little plebe swung the heavy yearling over his back, and struck out for the bank, swept down stream by the current.
Frank ran along the bank till Davis came near enough to be pulled out with his burden, and Frank dragged both the water-dripping lads to solid ground.
"By gracious! Davis, you have proved your value this morning!" cried Frank, as he clung to the panting little plebe. "Bascomb will owe you his life, and no one can call you a coward from this time on."
The other boys came running to the spot, breathing heavily, and Frank soon explained exactly what had taken place. They looked at Davis with increased respect, and one of them proposed three cheers for "Baby," which were given with a will.
The sound of the cheering seemed to arouse Bascomb. He opened his eyes, and the first person he saw was Frank. With a moan and a shudder, he covered his eyes with his hands, gasping:
"Take him away! Don't let him touch me!"
"You have no reason to be afraid of me," assured Frank, quietly. "I am no ghost; I am alive and well."
"No, no; it cannot be!"
"It is the truth. I did not go to my death over Black Bluff, as you thought. I did fall, but I was saved by a rocky shelf."
Then Frank slowly and distinctly explained everything, finally convincing Bascomb that it was really true.