CHAPTER XXV.CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN TRAP.Although Fred Fillmore was among the first to congratulate Merriwell, he found an opportunity to slip out of the shed while efforts were being made to restore Husker Galway.Hackett followed him.“I’ve got to have a drink!” exclaimed the latter. “I want something to brace me up after that.”“Just what I’m after,” said Fillmore. “That was enough to drive any one to drink.”They found their way to the bar and both ordered whisky, regardless of the fact that they had been drinking beer and an abundance of that.“What do you think of it, Fred?” asked Hackett, his hand unsteady as he poured his drink.“I can’t think!” confessed the captain of the lacrosse team. “Husker Galway knocked out—by him!”“And he was jagged when the scrap began.”“Was he?”“Wasn’t he?”“I don’t believe it.”“But—but he appeared to be.”“I know he did.”“Then you think——”“He fooled us.”They looked at each other. After a moment or two, Hackett nodded slowly.“I reckon that’s right,” he said. “He fooled us.But he must be a tank, for he drank as many as seven big slugs of Old Tom gin.”“So did Hodge.”“Yes.”“Well?”“Well, Merriwell may have braced up after getting into the scrap. Perhaps that was what sobered him.”“What sobered Hodge?”Again they looked at each other blankly.“It’s too much for me,” admitted Hackett. “I give it up. But I never dreamed Merriwell could fight like that, even if he didn’t take a drink. Why, why, Fred, he knocked out the champion of the Pimlico Road and a man who might easily be the champion of Baltimore!”“Don’t I know it? You don’t have to tell me! I’d bet my life Husker could hammer the head off him—before I saw this. I can’t believe Merriwell did it!”“Well, let’s drink up. Here’s to drown our disappointment.”They tossed off the drinks.“I haven’t taken a drink before this term,” said Fillmore dolefully, “and I did so to-day to pull those dubs into the trap. If any one peaches on me, I’ll get a raking over.”“You can’t get much of a raking, for wasn’t Branch in the bunch? He’s the one who will get the raking. He’ll lose his job.”“He doesn’t care, for the season is pretty nearly over, and he graduates, so he doesn’t want the positionagain. That’s how I induced him to get onto the band wagon to-day. We’re not going to take Merriwell and Hodge back to their ladies in the shape we expected.”“Unless we get them into a mess with the whole bunch and all jump on them.”“Can’t do that. The boys won’t stand for it. Some of them are gone on Merriwell now. They thought it would be a joke to get the great athlete out here and put him up against Galway; but they’ll see no joke in mobbing him. It won’t work. We’re baffled to-day, old man, and we may as well throw up the sponge.”“But there’s another time coming,” muttered Hackett.“We’ll have to give Merriwell that game. I hate him! I thought I hated Herb Onslaw, but I hate Merriwell worse. I’d like to get a rap at him.”“You might be able to in the game.”“That’s right,” nodded Fillmore. “More than one fellow has been knocked out with a lacrosse stick while playing. No one could prove I did it intentionally. It would give me lots of satisfaction. It’s the very chance I’ve been praying for with Onslaw.”“Onslaw will be in the game, too.”“So Merriwell says, but we’re not sure of it. I hope he is! It would delight me to get even with both chaps in one day. Yes, we’ll have to give Merriwell the game.”“Let’s drink another and get back before we’re missed.”Their faces were flushed and their tongues thick. Already they had taken as much as they could stand, but the time had passed when they could gauge theircapacity. Once more they drank whisky, and both staggered a little as they left the bar.They met the students, accompanied by Merriwell, Hodge, and Galway, coming from the shed. To their surprise, Galway showed no resentment toward his conqueror.But he gave Fillmore a vicious look, although he said nothing.The slugger was determined to “blow” the crowd. He insisted that it was on him.Frank and Bart could not refuse without appearing caddish, so they accepted the man’s invitation, although they now ordered ginger ale.“What?” cried several of the students, in astonishment.“Ginger w’ot?” gasped Galway. “Oh, say! dat’s a joke. Ye’re foolin’!”“No,” said Merry. “We have had quite enough to drink. I make a practice of stopping when I have enough. I always order ginger ale or sarsaparilla at that stage.”“I would meself,” grinned Galway, looking very hideous with his bruised face and split lip; “but w’en I have enough I can’t say sarsaparilla.”In vain Frank and Bart were urged to drink something stronger; they persisted in their determination to take nothing but ginger ale, and ginger ale they drank.On the other hand, although they already had too much, Fillmore and Hackett again drank whisky.A short time after that both these fellows were in a wretched condition. They insisted on returning home,and Merry, thinking the open air would do them good, besides wishing to get them away from the road house, ordered the team hitched up.It was necessary to lift Fillmore and Hackett into the carriage. Hodge looked after one, while Frank took care of the other.It happened that neither chap betrayed himself directly, although both mumbled things which were suggestive of their feelings over the outcome of the encounter.“Shay!” Fillmore finally exclaimed, seizing Frank’s arm and looking into his face wonderingly; “shay, Merriwell, how’d ju do it?”“Do what—defeat Galway?”“No; how’d ju drink all that gin an’ keep shober? Tha’s what puzzlesh me. Musht be reg’ler tank, Mer’well.”“I didn’t drink any gin,” laughed Frank. “That’s the secret of it, my boy. I never drink intoxicants.”“Oh, shay, come off! I shaw you take five, shix, sheven drinks—more’n that.”“Sho did I,” put in Hackett, bracing up. “You’re ri’, Fred, ol’ man—I shaw him do it. Reg’lar tank, tha’sh ri.”“You did not see me take a single drink of gin,” declared Merry. “When you insisted that we should drink something, gin was brought for us, with water on the side. We drank the water and left the gin. Black Tom drank the gin, and I hope it does not cost him his position.”“Wha’—wha’—wha’——” gurgled Fillmore, in adazed way. “I don’t think I jusht undershtand ju. How wash that?”“We drank the water, which looked the same as gin, and left the gin, which was brought with it.”Hackett was sitting on the back seat with Hodge. He reached forward and jabbed Fillmore in the back.“Ol’ man,” he mumbled, “we’re a pair of eashy marks, that’sh what we are! We’ve been fooled. We started to get thesh fellersh full an’ have fun wish them, an’ they played it on ush. I want to go die shomewhere!”Fillmore was even more disgusted than Hackett.“Next time you pick out two chaps as easy be sure you do not make a mistake,” advised Hodge.Frank laughed over it.“I fancied you were planning something for us,” said Merry, “and so we turned it on you. It’s all right, fellows. No hard feelings. We’re able to stand the joke.”“Joke’s on ush,” said Hackett.For some time Fillmore rode in silence. They had reached Druid Hill Park.Suddenly the captain of the lacrosse team flew into a drunken rage.“Anybody can keep shober ’f he drinksh water!” he snarled. “That washn’t smart! I ’fuse to ride with a man who drinksh water! It’sh dishgrace! Lemme out! I’ll take car home! Lemme out!”“Don’t be silly,” said Frank. “You’re not going home now, either of you. You’re not in condition to go home. We’ll take you to the Belvidere with us and get you straightened out. You don’t want to showyourselves in this condition. What will your sister think, Fillmore? What’ll she say? Keep still!”“I’m all ri’! Guess I know when I’m all ri’! Needn’t think you’re only shober person on earth! I’m shober—perfec’ly shober. But I’ve been inshulted! I’ve been basely desheived! I won’t ride ’nozer inch wish you! Lemme out!”“That’s ri’, Freddie, ol’ man!” joined in Hackett. “I’m wish you! Le’sh git out an’ walk.”“Shtop thosh horsesh!” commanded Fillmore, starting to rise.Frank pulled him back on the seat.“I tell you to keep still!”“I tell you go to thunder!” snarled Fred, as he tore from Merry and flung himself from the carriage.He fell sprawlingly, but gathered himself up directly and was on his feet when Merry stopped the horses.“G’wan!” cried the unreasonable chap. “Want noshing to do wish you!”Hackett tumbled out.“G’wan!” he echoed. “Noshing to do wish you at all!”He joined Fillmore and feebly tried to brush the dust from his friend’s clothing.“What are we going to do about it, Hodge?” asked Frank.“Let the blamed fools go,” answered Bart, at once. “Why should we bother with them? They’ve fixed themselves the way they planned to fix us.”“I suppose that is true, but they’re intoxicated, and I can’t leave them this way.”In vain he tried to reason with Fillmore andHackett. They took to the nearest walk, arm in arm, and reeled away. Merry drove along as near them as possible, hoping they would change their minds and decide to get back into the carriage.“Show that you can take a joke as well as anybody, fellows,” he urged. “Come, get in here again.”He was invited to go to a most disagreeable place, and the Hopkins men kept on until they came out of the park and boarded a street car.Then, of course, Merry had to give up.Befogged by drink, Fillmore went straight to his sister’s home, taking Hackett with him. On entering they encountered Inza and Elsie, and thus, through their own folly, exposed themselves to the girls in much the same condition in which they had intended to expose Frank and Bart.
CHAPTER XXV.CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN TRAP.Although Fred Fillmore was among the first to congratulate Merriwell, he found an opportunity to slip out of the shed while efforts were being made to restore Husker Galway.Hackett followed him.“I’ve got to have a drink!” exclaimed the latter. “I want something to brace me up after that.”“Just what I’m after,” said Fillmore. “That was enough to drive any one to drink.”They found their way to the bar and both ordered whisky, regardless of the fact that they had been drinking beer and an abundance of that.“What do you think of it, Fred?” asked Hackett, his hand unsteady as he poured his drink.“I can’t think!” confessed the captain of the lacrosse team. “Husker Galway knocked out—by him!”“And he was jagged when the scrap began.”“Was he?”“Wasn’t he?”“I don’t believe it.”“But—but he appeared to be.”“I know he did.”“Then you think——”“He fooled us.”They looked at each other. After a moment or two, Hackett nodded slowly.“I reckon that’s right,” he said. “He fooled us.But he must be a tank, for he drank as many as seven big slugs of Old Tom gin.”“So did Hodge.”“Yes.”“Well?”“Well, Merriwell may have braced up after getting into the scrap. Perhaps that was what sobered him.”“What sobered Hodge?”Again they looked at each other blankly.“It’s too much for me,” admitted Hackett. “I give it up. But I never dreamed Merriwell could fight like that, even if he didn’t take a drink. Why, why, Fred, he knocked out the champion of the Pimlico Road and a man who might easily be the champion of Baltimore!”“Don’t I know it? You don’t have to tell me! I’d bet my life Husker could hammer the head off him—before I saw this. I can’t believe Merriwell did it!”“Well, let’s drink up. Here’s to drown our disappointment.”They tossed off the drinks.“I haven’t taken a drink before this term,” said Fillmore dolefully, “and I did so to-day to pull those dubs into the trap. If any one peaches on me, I’ll get a raking over.”“You can’t get much of a raking, for wasn’t Branch in the bunch? He’s the one who will get the raking. He’ll lose his job.”“He doesn’t care, for the season is pretty nearly over, and he graduates, so he doesn’t want the positionagain. That’s how I induced him to get onto the band wagon to-day. We’re not going to take Merriwell and Hodge back to their ladies in the shape we expected.”“Unless we get them into a mess with the whole bunch and all jump on them.”“Can’t do that. The boys won’t stand for it. Some of them are gone on Merriwell now. They thought it would be a joke to get the great athlete out here and put him up against Galway; but they’ll see no joke in mobbing him. It won’t work. We’re baffled to-day, old man, and we may as well throw up the sponge.”“But there’s another time coming,” muttered Hackett.“We’ll have to give Merriwell that game. I hate him! I thought I hated Herb Onslaw, but I hate Merriwell worse. I’d like to get a rap at him.”“You might be able to in the game.”“That’s right,” nodded Fillmore. “More than one fellow has been knocked out with a lacrosse stick while playing. No one could prove I did it intentionally. It would give me lots of satisfaction. It’s the very chance I’ve been praying for with Onslaw.”“Onslaw will be in the game, too.”“So Merriwell says, but we’re not sure of it. I hope he is! It would delight me to get even with both chaps in one day. Yes, we’ll have to give Merriwell the game.”“Let’s drink another and get back before we’re missed.”Their faces were flushed and their tongues thick. Already they had taken as much as they could stand, but the time had passed when they could gauge theircapacity. Once more they drank whisky, and both staggered a little as they left the bar.They met the students, accompanied by Merriwell, Hodge, and Galway, coming from the shed. To their surprise, Galway showed no resentment toward his conqueror.But he gave Fillmore a vicious look, although he said nothing.The slugger was determined to “blow” the crowd. He insisted that it was on him.Frank and Bart could not refuse without appearing caddish, so they accepted the man’s invitation, although they now ordered ginger ale.“What?” cried several of the students, in astonishment.“Ginger w’ot?” gasped Galway. “Oh, say! dat’s a joke. Ye’re foolin’!”“No,” said Merry. “We have had quite enough to drink. I make a practice of stopping when I have enough. I always order ginger ale or sarsaparilla at that stage.”“I would meself,” grinned Galway, looking very hideous with his bruised face and split lip; “but w’en I have enough I can’t say sarsaparilla.”In vain Frank and Bart were urged to drink something stronger; they persisted in their determination to take nothing but ginger ale, and ginger ale they drank.On the other hand, although they already had too much, Fillmore and Hackett again drank whisky.A short time after that both these fellows were in a wretched condition. They insisted on returning home,and Merry, thinking the open air would do them good, besides wishing to get them away from the road house, ordered the team hitched up.It was necessary to lift Fillmore and Hackett into the carriage. Hodge looked after one, while Frank took care of the other.It happened that neither chap betrayed himself directly, although both mumbled things which were suggestive of their feelings over the outcome of the encounter.“Shay!” Fillmore finally exclaimed, seizing Frank’s arm and looking into his face wonderingly; “shay, Merriwell, how’d ju do it?”“Do what—defeat Galway?”“No; how’d ju drink all that gin an’ keep shober? Tha’s what puzzlesh me. Musht be reg’ler tank, Mer’well.”“I didn’t drink any gin,” laughed Frank. “That’s the secret of it, my boy. I never drink intoxicants.”“Oh, shay, come off! I shaw you take five, shix, sheven drinks—more’n that.”“Sho did I,” put in Hackett, bracing up. “You’re ri’, Fred, ol’ man—I shaw him do it. Reg’lar tank, tha’sh ri.”“You did not see me take a single drink of gin,” declared Merry. “When you insisted that we should drink something, gin was brought for us, with water on the side. We drank the water and left the gin. Black Tom drank the gin, and I hope it does not cost him his position.”“Wha’—wha’—wha’——” gurgled Fillmore, in adazed way. “I don’t think I jusht undershtand ju. How wash that?”“We drank the water, which looked the same as gin, and left the gin, which was brought with it.”Hackett was sitting on the back seat with Hodge. He reached forward and jabbed Fillmore in the back.“Ol’ man,” he mumbled, “we’re a pair of eashy marks, that’sh what we are! We’ve been fooled. We started to get thesh fellersh full an’ have fun wish them, an’ they played it on ush. I want to go die shomewhere!”Fillmore was even more disgusted than Hackett.“Next time you pick out two chaps as easy be sure you do not make a mistake,” advised Hodge.Frank laughed over it.“I fancied you were planning something for us,” said Merry, “and so we turned it on you. It’s all right, fellows. No hard feelings. We’re able to stand the joke.”“Joke’s on ush,” said Hackett.For some time Fillmore rode in silence. They had reached Druid Hill Park.Suddenly the captain of the lacrosse team flew into a drunken rage.“Anybody can keep shober ’f he drinksh water!” he snarled. “That washn’t smart! I ’fuse to ride with a man who drinksh water! It’sh dishgrace! Lemme out! I’ll take car home! Lemme out!”“Don’t be silly,” said Frank. “You’re not going home now, either of you. You’re not in condition to go home. We’ll take you to the Belvidere with us and get you straightened out. You don’t want to showyourselves in this condition. What will your sister think, Fillmore? What’ll she say? Keep still!”“I’m all ri’! Guess I know when I’m all ri’! Needn’t think you’re only shober person on earth! I’m shober—perfec’ly shober. But I’ve been inshulted! I’ve been basely desheived! I won’t ride ’nozer inch wish you! Lemme out!”“That’s ri’, Freddie, ol’ man!” joined in Hackett. “I’m wish you! Le’sh git out an’ walk.”“Shtop thosh horsesh!” commanded Fillmore, starting to rise.Frank pulled him back on the seat.“I tell you to keep still!”“I tell you go to thunder!” snarled Fred, as he tore from Merry and flung himself from the carriage.He fell sprawlingly, but gathered himself up directly and was on his feet when Merry stopped the horses.“G’wan!” cried the unreasonable chap. “Want noshing to do wish you!”Hackett tumbled out.“G’wan!” he echoed. “Noshing to do wish you at all!”He joined Fillmore and feebly tried to brush the dust from his friend’s clothing.“What are we going to do about it, Hodge?” asked Frank.“Let the blamed fools go,” answered Bart, at once. “Why should we bother with them? They’ve fixed themselves the way they planned to fix us.”“I suppose that is true, but they’re intoxicated, and I can’t leave them this way.”In vain he tried to reason with Fillmore andHackett. They took to the nearest walk, arm in arm, and reeled away. Merry drove along as near them as possible, hoping they would change their minds and decide to get back into the carriage.“Show that you can take a joke as well as anybody, fellows,” he urged. “Come, get in here again.”He was invited to go to a most disagreeable place, and the Hopkins men kept on until they came out of the park and boarded a street car.Then, of course, Merry had to give up.Befogged by drink, Fillmore went straight to his sister’s home, taking Hackett with him. On entering they encountered Inza and Elsie, and thus, through their own folly, exposed themselves to the girls in much the same condition in which they had intended to expose Frank and Bart.
Although Fred Fillmore was among the first to congratulate Merriwell, he found an opportunity to slip out of the shed while efforts were being made to restore Husker Galway.
Hackett followed him.
“I’ve got to have a drink!” exclaimed the latter. “I want something to brace me up after that.”
“Just what I’m after,” said Fillmore. “That was enough to drive any one to drink.”
They found their way to the bar and both ordered whisky, regardless of the fact that they had been drinking beer and an abundance of that.
“What do you think of it, Fred?” asked Hackett, his hand unsteady as he poured his drink.
“I can’t think!” confessed the captain of the lacrosse team. “Husker Galway knocked out—by him!”
“And he was jagged when the scrap began.”
“Was he?”
“Wasn’t he?”
“I don’t believe it.”
“But—but he appeared to be.”
“I know he did.”
“Then you think——”
“He fooled us.”
They looked at each other. After a moment or two, Hackett nodded slowly.
“I reckon that’s right,” he said. “He fooled us.But he must be a tank, for he drank as many as seven big slugs of Old Tom gin.”
“So did Hodge.”
“Yes.”
“Well?”
“Well, Merriwell may have braced up after getting into the scrap. Perhaps that was what sobered him.”
“What sobered Hodge?”
Again they looked at each other blankly.
“It’s too much for me,” admitted Hackett. “I give it up. But I never dreamed Merriwell could fight like that, even if he didn’t take a drink. Why, why, Fred, he knocked out the champion of the Pimlico Road and a man who might easily be the champion of Baltimore!”
“Don’t I know it? You don’t have to tell me! I’d bet my life Husker could hammer the head off him—before I saw this. I can’t believe Merriwell did it!”
“Well, let’s drink up. Here’s to drown our disappointment.”
They tossed off the drinks.
“I haven’t taken a drink before this term,” said Fillmore dolefully, “and I did so to-day to pull those dubs into the trap. If any one peaches on me, I’ll get a raking over.”
“You can’t get much of a raking, for wasn’t Branch in the bunch? He’s the one who will get the raking. He’ll lose his job.”
“He doesn’t care, for the season is pretty nearly over, and he graduates, so he doesn’t want the positionagain. That’s how I induced him to get onto the band wagon to-day. We’re not going to take Merriwell and Hodge back to their ladies in the shape we expected.”
“Unless we get them into a mess with the whole bunch and all jump on them.”
“Can’t do that. The boys won’t stand for it. Some of them are gone on Merriwell now. They thought it would be a joke to get the great athlete out here and put him up against Galway; but they’ll see no joke in mobbing him. It won’t work. We’re baffled to-day, old man, and we may as well throw up the sponge.”
“But there’s another time coming,” muttered Hackett.
“We’ll have to give Merriwell that game. I hate him! I thought I hated Herb Onslaw, but I hate Merriwell worse. I’d like to get a rap at him.”
“You might be able to in the game.”
“That’s right,” nodded Fillmore. “More than one fellow has been knocked out with a lacrosse stick while playing. No one could prove I did it intentionally. It would give me lots of satisfaction. It’s the very chance I’ve been praying for with Onslaw.”
“Onslaw will be in the game, too.”
“So Merriwell says, but we’re not sure of it. I hope he is! It would delight me to get even with both chaps in one day. Yes, we’ll have to give Merriwell the game.”
“Let’s drink another and get back before we’re missed.”
Their faces were flushed and their tongues thick. Already they had taken as much as they could stand, but the time had passed when they could gauge theircapacity. Once more they drank whisky, and both staggered a little as they left the bar.
They met the students, accompanied by Merriwell, Hodge, and Galway, coming from the shed. To their surprise, Galway showed no resentment toward his conqueror.
But he gave Fillmore a vicious look, although he said nothing.
The slugger was determined to “blow” the crowd. He insisted that it was on him.
Frank and Bart could not refuse without appearing caddish, so they accepted the man’s invitation, although they now ordered ginger ale.
“What?” cried several of the students, in astonishment.
“Ginger w’ot?” gasped Galway. “Oh, say! dat’s a joke. Ye’re foolin’!”
“No,” said Merry. “We have had quite enough to drink. I make a practice of stopping when I have enough. I always order ginger ale or sarsaparilla at that stage.”
“I would meself,” grinned Galway, looking very hideous with his bruised face and split lip; “but w’en I have enough I can’t say sarsaparilla.”
In vain Frank and Bart were urged to drink something stronger; they persisted in their determination to take nothing but ginger ale, and ginger ale they drank.
On the other hand, although they already had too much, Fillmore and Hackett again drank whisky.
A short time after that both these fellows were in a wretched condition. They insisted on returning home,and Merry, thinking the open air would do them good, besides wishing to get them away from the road house, ordered the team hitched up.
It was necessary to lift Fillmore and Hackett into the carriage. Hodge looked after one, while Frank took care of the other.
It happened that neither chap betrayed himself directly, although both mumbled things which were suggestive of their feelings over the outcome of the encounter.
“Shay!” Fillmore finally exclaimed, seizing Frank’s arm and looking into his face wonderingly; “shay, Merriwell, how’d ju do it?”
“Do what—defeat Galway?”
“No; how’d ju drink all that gin an’ keep shober? Tha’s what puzzlesh me. Musht be reg’ler tank, Mer’well.”
“I didn’t drink any gin,” laughed Frank. “That’s the secret of it, my boy. I never drink intoxicants.”
“Oh, shay, come off! I shaw you take five, shix, sheven drinks—more’n that.”
“Sho did I,” put in Hackett, bracing up. “You’re ri’, Fred, ol’ man—I shaw him do it. Reg’lar tank, tha’sh ri.”
“You did not see me take a single drink of gin,” declared Merry. “When you insisted that we should drink something, gin was brought for us, with water on the side. We drank the water and left the gin. Black Tom drank the gin, and I hope it does not cost him his position.”
“Wha’—wha’—wha’——” gurgled Fillmore, in adazed way. “I don’t think I jusht undershtand ju. How wash that?”
“We drank the water, which looked the same as gin, and left the gin, which was brought with it.”
Hackett was sitting on the back seat with Hodge. He reached forward and jabbed Fillmore in the back.
“Ol’ man,” he mumbled, “we’re a pair of eashy marks, that’sh what we are! We’ve been fooled. We started to get thesh fellersh full an’ have fun wish them, an’ they played it on ush. I want to go die shomewhere!”
Fillmore was even more disgusted than Hackett.
“Next time you pick out two chaps as easy be sure you do not make a mistake,” advised Hodge.
Frank laughed over it.
“I fancied you were planning something for us,” said Merry, “and so we turned it on you. It’s all right, fellows. No hard feelings. We’re able to stand the joke.”
“Joke’s on ush,” said Hackett.
For some time Fillmore rode in silence. They had reached Druid Hill Park.
Suddenly the captain of the lacrosse team flew into a drunken rage.
“Anybody can keep shober ’f he drinksh water!” he snarled. “That washn’t smart! I ’fuse to ride with a man who drinksh water! It’sh dishgrace! Lemme out! I’ll take car home! Lemme out!”
“Don’t be silly,” said Frank. “You’re not going home now, either of you. You’re not in condition to go home. We’ll take you to the Belvidere with us and get you straightened out. You don’t want to showyourselves in this condition. What will your sister think, Fillmore? What’ll she say? Keep still!”
“I’m all ri’! Guess I know when I’m all ri’! Needn’t think you’re only shober person on earth! I’m shober—perfec’ly shober. But I’ve been inshulted! I’ve been basely desheived! I won’t ride ’nozer inch wish you! Lemme out!”
“That’s ri’, Freddie, ol’ man!” joined in Hackett. “I’m wish you! Le’sh git out an’ walk.”
“Shtop thosh horsesh!” commanded Fillmore, starting to rise.
Frank pulled him back on the seat.
“I tell you to keep still!”
“I tell you go to thunder!” snarled Fred, as he tore from Merry and flung himself from the carriage.
He fell sprawlingly, but gathered himself up directly and was on his feet when Merry stopped the horses.
“G’wan!” cried the unreasonable chap. “Want noshing to do wish you!”
Hackett tumbled out.
“G’wan!” he echoed. “Noshing to do wish you at all!”
He joined Fillmore and feebly tried to brush the dust from his friend’s clothing.
“What are we going to do about it, Hodge?” asked Frank.
“Let the blamed fools go,” answered Bart, at once. “Why should we bother with them? They’ve fixed themselves the way they planned to fix us.”
“I suppose that is true, but they’re intoxicated, and I can’t leave them this way.”
In vain he tried to reason with Fillmore andHackett. They took to the nearest walk, arm in arm, and reeled away. Merry drove along as near them as possible, hoping they would change their minds and decide to get back into the carriage.
“Show that you can take a joke as well as anybody, fellows,” he urged. “Come, get in here again.”
He was invited to go to a most disagreeable place, and the Hopkins men kept on until they came out of the park and boarded a street car.
Then, of course, Merry had to give up.
Befogged by drink, Fillmore went straight to his sister’s home, taking Hackett with him. On entering they encountered Inza and Elsie, and thus, through their own folly, exposed themselves to the girls in much the same condition in which they had intended to expose Frank and Bart.