“Fellows,” said Frank, “now that the earthquake has passed, let’s talk about something more interesting. You know to-night is the night we celebrate Omega Lambda Chi.”
“Ah-ha!” cried Ready, with a flirt of his hand; “I’ll be there. Oh, the poor freshmen!”
“Bub-by gum!” chuckled Gamp. “We’re gug-gug-gug-goin’ to have a circus this year. I hear the fuf-fuf-fuf-freshmen are onto all our tut-tut-tricks, and they sus-sus-say the sophs are gug-gug-gug-goin’ to get it in the neck.”
“Oh, I don’t know!” chirped Ready. “I think the sophs are able to look out for the freshies.”
“But you’ll never trap them unless somebody leads them into the snare,” said Frank.
“Wait and see. They are a particularly innocent lot this year.”
“That’s the way it looks to you, but I think, as a class, they are even more up to snuff than usual.”
“Come off! Why, last year——”
“You were a freshman, Ready, and you bit a number of well-baited hooks.”
“Oh, did I? He, he! Well, I fancy some otherpeople were bitten on a few occasions. I remember a certain delightful evening when a party took me out to give me a little haze. I believe I was put in with a skeleton, and I went mad while confined there. Oh, say! Merriwell, you were a mark that night!”
Frank colored a little as he laughingly confessed:
“You did fool me, all right, Ready; but you would have fooled anybody, for you played mad to perfection. We all thought we had driven you crazy.”
“I played mad, but there was no play about your madness when you found you were fooled. Oh, ha, ha, ha! It makes me laugh to think what a great time I had!”
“Forget it!” cried Frank, also laughing.
“How can I?”
“Just do. I never tried to get square, have I?”
“Oh, never! That seemed to teach you the folly of trying to monkey with little Jack.”
“Conceit!” muttered Bingham. “You need some of it taken out of you.”
“Perchance thou art right, but I’m a bettor that finds no takers, and, therefore, I’m much better than my associates. Git ap!”
Frank Merriwell’s eyes twinkled, and a sudden resolve took possession of him.
“We’re all going to have a hand in the festivities to-night,” he said. “But I hear there is one man amongthem who has somehow got onto the usual order of things, and means to make a diversion.”
“Is it Morgan?” asked Ready.
“No.”
“Then it must be Starbright,” said Mason.
“No.”
“But they are the two leaders of the freshmen,” asserted Bingham. “First one seems to be the leader, and then the other bobs up. It’s impossible to tell just who is the cock of the walk in that class.”
“This time a new man has come to the front,” said Merry.
“Not Dashleigh?” grunted Browning. “That fellow never was cut out for a leader.”
“No, he is not the one.”
“Can’t guess who it is, then.”
“It’s Boltwood.”
“What? That fellow with the long hair?”
“Same.”
“Get out!”
“Fact.”
“Why, he’s fruit!” chuckled Ready. “He thinks he’s a poet. Oh, he, he, he! Why, he’s a guy!”
“Nice built fellow,” observed Carson. “Looks like he might become an athlete.”
“But he’s soft as mush,” said Ready. “He never takes any training, and a kid can handle him.”
“Now,” said Frank, in a peculiar manner, “I havea fancy that he is not so easy as you think, and I’ve been told that he’s onto the usual event in the Pass of Thermopylæ, and has a counter trick in store for the sophs.”
“Oh, has he?” exclaimed Ready warmly. “Well, we’ll have to look out for Mr. Rolf Boltwood.”
“I have a plan,” said Frank, still with a queer twinkle in his eyes.
“Unfold it, oh, mighty one!” urged Jack.
“Why not fool the freshmen completely by causing Boltwood to fail to put in an appearance? We’re all looking for the thing to come off right to-night, and we don’t want any one to spoil the plans.”
Ready placed his forefinger gently on his forehead and seemed buried in profound thought.
“Is it worth the trouble?” he asked.
“Of course. You don’t know what sort of a game he may have planned. Thus far, I think, he has not revealed it to any one, fearing it might get out in some way. If you delay, it may be too late. I think it is understood that he is to be the leader of the freshmen on this occasion. If he vanishes, somebody else will take his place, and all will go merrily as a marriage-bell.”
“I believe you are right,” nodded Ready. “Somehow, I rather fancy the adventure. Who is with me?”
“Why, I suppose you can count me in,” said Bingham. “But how is it to be done?”
“Boltwood is mashed on one of those chorus girls,” said Frank.
“Know her name?”
“Lotta.”
“Lotta what?”
“Lotta trouble, perhaps. Never mind her last name; Lotta, Lottie, or Tottie will go.”
“Well, what’s the play?”
“With the aid of Lotta’s magic name, he may be lured away.”
“How?”
“Lotta can write him a little note, you know, asking him to meet her.”
“It’s too late for that now.”
“Not at all. The note can be written at once. Wait; I’ll do it. He has never seen her handwriting. I can imitate the writing of a girl, I fancy. Where is the company stopping?”
“Lots of the chorus hang out at the Tontine,” said Bingham. “My charming friend hangs up her hat there.”
“Then it’s likely Lotta stops there. That’s good luck, for there is no trouble in getting some Tontine stationery. Get into this thing, Carker, and stop listening for the rumbling of that earthquake. Hustle over to the Tontine and get me some paper and envelopes. While you are about it, call a cab and haveit stand at the corner of Temple and Elm. Get a closed cab, with curtains.”
“Ye gods!” cried Ready; “I scent a frolic! Let Carker get the paper and envelopes; I’ll attend to the cab.”
“All right. Hustle along in a lively fashion, for there is no time to spare. Have you a nice, safe place to lodge Boltwood this evening till the festivities are over?”
“Have we? Ask me! Didn’t we keep Earl Knight safe and snug when we had him? Oh, we can enclose Boltie in a dungeon cell, and he can enjoy himself reciting poems to the bare walls. La, la! There is something doing, and little Jack is himself again!”
Ready grabbed Carker by the collar and yanked him out of the room in a hurry.
“Bingham,” said Frank, “locate Boltwood, and report here as soon as possible.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” sang out the big sophomore, and away he went.
When the door had closed behind Bingham, Frank looked around. There were no more sophomores in the room, and he laughed heartily.
“Fellows,” he said, “somebody is going to be surprised to-night. This is going to be a regular circus.”
“What’s the game?” asked Mason, tumbling that Merry was up to some kind of a trick. “Let us in.”
“Never mind,” answered Frank, shaking his head.“But watch out for a surprise this evening. Don’t say a word. Jack Ready will be the leader of the sophomores, and he expects to have everything his own way. Oh, it will be a great celebration of Omega Lambda Chi, if nothing goes crooked.”
And that was all he would say.
Carker came back with the paper and envelopes, and Merry at once sat down to write the decoy letter. By the time it was finished, Ready showed up, announcing that the cab was waiting at the corner. Then Bingham came in and said that Boltwood was in his room, writing a sonnet to Lotta’s ear.
Frank read the decoy letter, which ran like this:
“Dear Mr. Boltwood: Since we parted last night something very surprising has happened. I have received a letter from my dear mama, telling me that my Aunt Kitty has died and left me a fortune if I will leave the stage. Isn’t that just perfectly lovely? And still, I shall so hate to give up my career and relinquish my art. But we’re all out for the dust, and sometimes the ghost fails to walk, which makes us warm under the lapels of our sealskins. With the money dear old Aunt Kit has left to me, I can raise quite a breeze.“I am going home to-morrow, but before I go I wish to see once more the friend who recited such beautiful poetry last evening. I could not go away without seeing you, Mr. Boltwood. It can only be for a few minutes, as I have to play to-night. The messengerwho brings this will take you to where I am waiting in a cab. Do come at once, dear boy! If I only had some of Aunt Kit’s dough now, I’d square myself with you for the feed you gave me last night. Don’t fail me, dear Mr. Boltwood. Yours, etc.,“Lotta.”
“Dear Mr. Boltwood: Since we parted last night something very surprising has happened. I have received a letter from my dear mama, telling me that my Aunt Kitty has died and left me a fortune if I will leave the stage. Isn’t that just perfectly lovely? And still, I shall so hate to give up my career and relinquish my art. But we’re all out for the dust, and sometimes the ghost fails to walk, which makes us warm under the lapels of our sealskins. With the money dear old Aunt Kit has left to me, I can raise quite a breeze.
“I am going home to-morrow, but before I go I wish to see once more the friend who recited such beautiful poetry last evening. I could not go away without seeing you, Mr. Boltwood. It can only be for a few minutes, as I have to play to-night. The messengerwho brings this will take you to where I am waiting in a cab. Do come at once, dear boy! If I only had some of Aunt Kit’s dough now, I’d square myself with you for the feed you gave me last night. Don’t fail me, dear Mr. Boltwood. Yours, etc.,
“Lotta.”
“Will that do?” asked Frank. “I’m afraid it is not quite consistent in this, but I don’t think Boltwood will have time to analyze it, or even to scrutinize it closely, so I hope he’ll not notice any little breaks.”
“It’s artistic,” declared Ready enthusiastically.
“Hardly that.”
“Oh, but it is! That stuff about the ghost walking, and about giving up her career and her art, is simply great!”
“And being out for the dust isn’t bad!” chuckled Bingham. “I notice the most of them are looking for geldt.”
“Did your aged lady friend try to hit you up for a sawbuck last evening?” inquired Ready, with an innocent look in his eyes.
“Certainly not!” cried the big sophomore indignantly. “She was an exception. She follows the stage for her health.”
“Well, she must have been at it long enough to have glorious good health.”
“She’s only eighteen.”
“Eighteen?” said Jack. “That’s a one and an eight.The figures will hit her all right if you put the eight first.”
“She’s just a foolish little society girl, who thought it would be a grand thing to give up her life as a gay butterfly and follow a career.”
“Society girl!” chirped Ready. “La, la! She must have been one of the Hogan’s Alley four hundred. Following a career, is she? Oh, lud! oh, lud! I don’t wonder the career is trying to run away. Anything would run from that face of hers.”
“She’s highly educated. You should have heard her quote from the classics.”
“I’ll bet she did! Took the choice passages right out of George Ade’s ‘Fables in Slang.’ My, my! but she’s the real thing, Bing! But never, never venture to take her to a dog-fight. She’ll scare the dogs into fits and break up the whole shooting-match.”
“Come, come!” laughed Frank. “We are losing time. Here is the precious missive.”
“Precious missive is great!” chuckled Ready.
“Take it, hustle out, get a messenger-boy, give him instructions, and wait for Boltwood inside the cab. Be sure to get the fellow in.”
“Leave that to us,” chuckled Ready. “We’ll take him in!”
They grasped the letter and hustled from the room.
As soon as they were gone, Merry sat down and laughed.
“I’d lul-lul-lul-like to know just wh-wh-where the jug-jug-jug-joke is!” said Gamp.
“So would I,” confessed Hock Mason.
“Me, too,” grunted Browning.
“Let us in,” urged Carson.
“Oh, you’ll find out all about it this evening,” declared Frank. “See if it isn’t a jolly racket. Makes me feel same as I used to at Fardale when I put up a job like this.”
“By thunder!” cried Carson. “If I ever have a boy I’m going to send him to Fardale! It must be a great place, to turn out chaps like Merriwell.”
“And Hodge,” grunted Bruce, with some sarcasm.
“And Merry sometimes speaks of the rackets he had there. It must be a great school.”
“One of the finest in the country,” nodded Frank. “If I have boys of my own, to Fardale they will go. If I had a younger brother, which, unfortunately, I have not, I’d see that he was sent to Fardale.”
“No wonder he’s stuck on Fardale,” said Browning. “It was there he met Elsie Bellwood.”
Frank looked serious.
“And Inza Burrage,” said Carson.
Frank smiled.
Browning was regarding Merry searchingly, and an expression of dissatisfaction settled on his strong face.
“But I didn’t think you’d let anybody, not evenHodge, cut you out with Elsie, Merriwell,” he ventured to say.
Frank turned on the big fellow at once.
“There are lots of things you do not know, Bruce,” he spoke in a very quiet manner. “If you were joking, why that’s all right; but I fancied you spoke earnestly, and, if so, I don’t want you to get any false notions that you know it all.”
“Well, I know how things look from the road. You think a lot of Hodge, but no man has a right to give up a nice girl like Elsie Bellwood just because his particular friend gets struck on her.”
Frank was not a little surprised to hear Browning speak in this manner, for Bruce was the last man in the world to meddle with the business of another, especially in such a delicate matter as this. Such being the case, Merry knew that Browning must feel strongly on that particular point, else he’d never ventured to say a word.
Browning was sitting up now, looking grim and solid.
“He’s stuck on Elsie himself!” thought Frank, in surprise. “That is what’s the matter! He’s a big, strong fellow, and such men have a way of getting all broke up over girls like Elsie. It has made him sore to see Hodge walk off with her, same as he has since that Doctor Lincoln affair.”
Aloud Merry observed:
“You are not in a position to correctly understand the matter, old man. Some time you may.”
But Browning shook his head gloomily.
Frank remembered that Bruce had not been in the best of spirits of late, and now he fancied he was beginning to understand the meaning of the change that had come over the big fellow. At last, Browning had realized that some great event had taken place, bringing about a condition of affairs that astonished and displeased him. Merriwell had withdrawn from Elsie, and Hodge had stepped in.
Perhaps, in his heart, Bruce had long admired Elsie, refraining from letting her or any one else know it because he was Frank’s friend, and Frank seemed to care for her. Such being the case, it must gall him greatly to see Merry apparently give up the blue-eyed, golden-haired girl without a struggle, letting Hodge step in and carry her off in triumph.
“All right,” grunted Bruce somewhat sourly. “But you’ve just the same as given any of us fellows an invitation to jump in and lug off any girl you may be bracing to.”
“That’s right,” laughed Frank. “If you can do it, go ahead and do it. If I can’t hold the girl, I’m sure I don’t want her. When she willingly turns to another, he is welcome to her.”
It struck Bruce that Elsie must have willinglyturned from Frank to Bart, and, for the first time in his life, he felt resentment and anger toward Elsie. Still, he continued to be angry with Frank for giving her up.
“Don’t believe you’d done it for anybody but Hodge,” he muttered sulkily. “I suppose you have Inza Burrage left. Well, by thunder! you want to look out and keep her. I’m just mad enough to lug her off myself, if I get the chance! She seemed to like that fresh lubber Starbright one spell, and if she can get smashed on him there ought to be a show for me.”
Frank smiled. He had not told Browning of his engagement to Inza. It had been Inza’s fancy that while her father was so very ill it was not best to announce the engagement.
While the situation had cleared up for the four persons most acutely interested and concerned, to those like Browning, who knew only a part of the truth, it looked more complicated and cloudy than ever.
Bruce had not intended to speak out to Frank, especially before others, and his first remark was made in a manner that was half a joke; but, having branched forth, he soon became serious and earnest.
“By gug-gug-gorry!” exclaimed Gamp. “I gotter go git ready for to-night. S’pose you’ll be on hand to lead the class, won’t we, Fuf-Frank?”
“I may not,” said Merry.
“Why? How is that?” cried Carson. “We want you.”
“Got to have you!” declared Mason.
“Can’t get along without you,” growled Browning.
“Well,” said Frank, “I think I’ll be there; but if you should not see me, you are to lead the class, Browning.”
“Me?” gasped Bruce, without regard to grammar.
“Yes.”
“No!”
“That’s all right; you are to do it. You can, if you will.”
“But the idea! I’ve never done anything like that——”
“Since you were ‘King of the Sophomores.’ My dear fellow, you were a leader in those days, and you can be now, if you will be. I know you have become lazy as a dog, but you have to wake up when you play ball, and it will do you good if you have to lead the class to-night.”
“Oh, but say!” protested Bruce, “what kind of an Omega Lambda Chi celebration will this be without Merriwell to take the lead?”
“Rotten!” exploded Carson.
“Bub-bub-bum!” stuttered Gamp.
“Sloppy!” exclaimed Mason.
“The whole class will be sore if you don’t show up,” asserted Bruce. “I know you have some kindof a wild scheme in your head, but you must be on hand to lead the class.”
“I may be,” repeated Frank again. “But you must go right ahead if I am not.” He put his hand on Browning’s shoulder. “I ask this of you as a favor. I know the men will fall in and follow your lead.”
“All right,” muttered Bruce. “But I may be taken sick between now and then. You’d better be on hand.”
“I have told you I expect to be there. That must be satisfactory. Just do the right thing if you do not find me on hand. That’s all.”
They went out and left Merry, who closed and locked the door behind them. And thus hidden safely in his room, Frank went to his trunk, from which he took a certain square box. With the aid of the contents of that box, he proceeded to work a most remarkable transformation.