CHAPTER I
"WHAT IS HE AFRAID OF?"
"Say, there are the Racer boys back!"
"That's great! Now the fun will start!"
"It sure will. I was afraid they weren't coming here this term."
"Say, Riverview Hall wouldn't know how to get along without 'em."
"Guess you're right."
"Hello, Andy!"
"Hi, there, Frank!"
A group of students who had been skylarking about the boarding school campus, made a rush for the two lads who were slowly advancing across the green stretch.
It was early in the year, and the weather, which had been wet and rather cold, was now turning into balmy spring, with the feeling of baseball in the air. The Easter vacation was over, and the new term at Riverview Hall would open in a few days. Some of the students had already arrived, and more were coming. Among those who had made their appearance were Andy and Frank Racer, whose advent caused such delight to their chums.
"Now we'll have some baseball!" exclaimed Ward Platt, who could not seem to get along without some form of athletics. "Andy and Frank will just make up enough so we can have two nines," he added.
"And we'll do something else besides play ball," declared Jack Sanderson.
"What?" asked John North.
"We've got to turn in, and get up some new kind of hazing for the Freshmen. There'll be a lot of 'em here this term, I understand."
"Good! The more the merrier!" exclaimed Duke Yardly.
"Well, come on and see what news Andy and Frank have," suggested Donald Burgess. "They're always doing something different, and there's no telling what it will be this time."
"That's right," agreed his chums, and they soon surrounded the two lads whose coming seemed to so liven up matters at Riverview Hall.
"How about you, Frank?" asked Ward Platt, as he grasped the elder of the two brothers by the hand.
"Fine," was the rather quiet answer. "And how about you and the other fellows?"
"Slick as axle grease," was the jolly answer.
"What have you been doing with yourself, Andy?" inquired Jack Sanderson, as he clapped the younger Racer lad on the back with such force that Andy gave forth a sound like a small bass drum.
"Prac-practicing!" gasped Andy, as soon as he could get his breath. "Just—practicing, Jack."
"Practicing what, you old mush-eater?" demanded the other. "Have you some new kind of baseball dope, or is it some place to go camping up at the North Pole?"
"Just practicing," replied Andy, who seemed to be trying to get in a certain position in regard to Jack. "Practicing this, old man!" he suddenly exclaimed, and with a quick push, a motion of his foot, and a shove, he sent Jack sprawling backward in the grass.
"That's one for you, Jack!" exclaimed Ward.
"Now will you be good?" demanded Donald Burgess.
"Did you say you wanted gravy on your eggs?" innocently inquired John North.
There was a general laugh as Jack slowly arose, looking rather dazed, for his fall had been a sudden one. He glanced sharply at Andy Racer.
"What did you say you had been doing?" he asked.
"Practicing," replied Andy, with just the suspicion of a grin on his face, that was still tanned from much out-of-door life. "Practicing that trip-up. It's a form of Japanese wrestling, and a fellow back home showed it to me. I've been practicing up on it during the Easter vacation, and I wanted to see if I could work it."
"Oh, you can work it all right!" exclaimed Jack, carefully feeling his elbow. "Let's see how it's done."
"All right," agreed Andy with a readiness that was all too apparent. "Stand up just as you did before, and——"
"Not on your life!" exclaimed Jack, backing away. "No you don't! Once in a day is enough. I meant just show me the motions."
"It's impossible to demonstrate it without a subject to work on," replied the younger Racer lad, while his brother and some of his chums were quietly laughing off to one side. "Come on; I won't throw you hard."
"No, you don't!" went on Jack, still backing away. "Try it on someone else for a change."
"All right," readily agreed Andy. "This is how it's done," and before John North was aware of what was about to happen, Andy turned on him suddenly, and, in an instant, though he tried to save himself by grappling with Andy, John, too, went down.
"Say, that's a dandy trip, all right!" exclaimed Henry Walker. "Come on now, Andy, show us how it's done without sending us head over heels."
"No, the price of admission is one fall!" insisted Andy, who was quite proud of his accomplishment.
"Up to his old tricks; isn't he?" asked Jack of Frank, who was quietly regarding his younger brother.
"Yes, I'm afraid he'll never get over 'em. Andy sees a joke in everything, or, if it isn't there, he'll make it."
"Oh, that's all right. It's a good thing. What's the use of being gloomy? I'm going to get him to show me how it's done."
"Why are you so anxious to learn?"
"Oh, it'll come in mighty useful when we start hazing some of the Freshmen. There are some husky ones here this term, and we'll have our hands full making them walk the chalk line."
"Many here yet?" asked Frank.
"Yes, quite a few, and more are coming."
"Any nice fellows?"
"Yes, lots; to judge by the looks. Since the school has been renovated, thanks to you and Andy, we get a better class of fellows. Yes, there are some nice chaps here, and one fellow who seems to have something of a mystery about him."
"A mystery?" asked Frank, wonderingly.
"Yes, he acts just as if he——"
But Jack suddenly interrupted himself by exclaiming:
"There, Andy's showing how he does that tripping act. I must get next to how it's done. Come on—though I suppose you know," and he started away from Frank.
"No, I don't know the secret of it," admitted the elder Racer lad. "Andy fooled me with it once or twice until I invented a new way to stand him on his head, and then he quit."
"I see!" laughed Jack. "But come on over," and he led the way toward where Andy stood, surrounded by a group of admiring lads.
"But you started to say something about a mysterious Freshman," suggested Frank, who liked to follow up matters.
"Tell you about it later," promised Jack, and he pushed his way into the throng about Andy. "I want to see this first."
Andy was demonstrating his famous "double-hammer-grip-half-Nelson-three-quarter-leg-lock-hold-trip," as it was afterward christened.
"You just put up your right arm so," said Andy to John North, "and then you stick out your left foot, and then you take hold of the other fellow's left hand. Then you take a long breath, lean against him, draw back your other foot and—there you are!"
As Andy spoke John was forced to execute a twist, and found himself sitting on the grass, looking at his companions with such a strange expression that they couldn't help laughing.
"That's how it's done," said Andy, with just a trace of a laugh.
"So—so I see," grunted John, as he arose.
"Oh, rats!" exclaimed Jack. "I thought you were going to do it slow, so we could see the different motions."
"That's the trouble with it," went on Andy. "It has to be done quickly, or it won't work, proving to you that I have nothing up my sleeves," he went on, in the tone of a professional magician; "and that the hand is quicker than the eye. Ahem!"
"Oh, cut it out!" yelled several.
"Yes, show us how it's done. We're all friends of yours," went on Jack. "We may need it in our business when it comes to hazing the Freshmen."
"All right, I'll show you," and with that Andy proceeded to demonstrate slowly, and with much explanation, how the trick fall was brought about. It was really a knack of making the other lad trip himself, by pulling him forward, and then suddenly compelling him to change his center of gravity; and Andy had it down to perfection.
"Say, that's all to the fried eggs!" exclaimed John North, admiringly, when the explanation was completed.
"It sure is," agreed Jack. "I wonder if I can do it?"
He tried, but was not very successful, and then some of the others began imitating it, with Andy standing by and giving words of advice.
"Say, haven't you had enough of this?" asked Frank Racer after a while. "Come on, Andy; we've got to see about our room, and get our things in shape. I want the trunks brought up from the station."
"All right, I'm coming," replied his brother. "No, that's not the way to put out your foot, Jack," and he started toward his chum.
"No, you don't!" exclaimed the latter, backing away. As he did so he glanced across the campus, and at the sight of a solitary figure advancing toward one of the dormitories he uttered an exclamation. Then Jack glided to the side of Frank Racer and whispered to him:
"There he is!"
"Who?"
"That strange Freshman I was telling you about. Just watch him, and see how queer he acts."
The two watched while Andy once more went through his little wrestling lesson. The lad to whom Jack had pointed was about the build of Frank Racer, though slightly larger, and he seemed to be of athletic mould. Yet there was a curious air about him, and, as he walked on, he glanced over his shoulder from time to time, as though to make sure that he was not being followed.
"That's queer," commented Frank.
"It sure is," agreed Jack.
"Does he do that often?"
"All the while since he's been here."
"And how long is that?"
"Three days now. He arrived the day after I came. How does he strike you?"
"Why, just as if he was looking for someone to come up behind him, and hit him with a brick," said Frank.
"That's it, exactly."
"And yet, what is he afraid of?" went on the elder Racer lad. "What's going to happen to him here, I'd like to know?"
"And I don't know. That's the mystery of it. Ever since he's been here he's acted as though he was afraid of something going to happen, or as if someone was going to attack him. I've been watching him, trying to find out what it means, but I can't."
"What sort of a fellow is he otherwise?"
"Oh, good enough."
"What's his name, and where does he come from?"
"Chase—William Chase. I s'pose we'll call him Bill when we get to know him better. But at present it's William. And he comes from some place out west—I don't just know where—on the prairies, I fancy, from one or two remarks he's made."
By this time the strange lad had reached the dormitory. As he entered the doorway he wheeled about quickly as if to make sure that no one was following him, and, even at that distance, Frank and Jack could see a look of fear on his face.
"Thatismighty queer," murmured Frank. "What is he afraid of? We'll have to look into this."