CAPTURED BY WHITECAPS.
Fuming with fury, the Conrads walked back into the village.
“I think I will have him arrested!” grated Darius. “Assault and
battery--that’s the charge! He must be punished for what he has done,
the young ruffian!”
“That’s right, governor,” whined Dyke, who walked with a limp, and had
a general shaken-up appearance. “If you don’t give it to him, I will!”
“You? Haw! You are no match for him.”
“Not alone.”
“Nor with me to aid you. Why, the fellow has muscles of steel, and he
is quick as a cat!”
“You wouldn’t be asked to help.”
“Hum! No? What are you driving at?”
“You remember how Eli Gibbons was used when he refused to leave town a
while ago?”
“Yes. It was scandalous. He was nearly killed by a gang of masked
ruffians who carried him off into the woods somewhere, stripped him,
tied him to a tree and lashed him with withes till he fainted. Several
papers had articles in them about the outbreak of whitecaps right here
in our county.”
“Well, I know the fellows who did that job,” grinned Dyke.
“You do?” gasped the father, with a look of great consternation and
distress. “My son, I am astonished--I am pained! It cannot be that you
associate with such disreputable characters? I will not believe it!”
“Perhaps, if it became necessary, they could be induced to give Mr.
Frank Merriwell some of the same medicine. But of course, if you are
going to have him arrested, it will not be necessary.”
“Haw! No, of course not. On second thought, however, I am not sure that
the charge against him would stand. He might defeat us. He might show
that we were the aggressors. That colored boy would swear to anything.”
“In that case----”
“Really, I don’t see that anything can be done.”
“Then the Bloomfield whitecaps will have to take a hand. Oh, he’ll be
fixed, governor!”
“Hum! Don’t speak to me of such lawless acts. Really, I cannot
countenance anything of the kind. Of course he should receive some
punishment. If whitecaps were to take him out and give him such a
walloping as Gibbons received, it would be my duty as a peaceable,
law-abiding citizen to frown down upon such acts. However, in case it
were discovered that you were concerned in it, Dyke, as a parent, I
should be obliged to protect you. Money would do that, you know. It is
a most disgraceful state of affairs, I must confess, but money will do
almost anything in this country.”
“Then we’d better go ahead and do him up, hadn’t we, governor?”
“My son, my son!” cried the old hypocrite, with uplifted hands; “you
know I always set my face against such acts of unlawfulness. I am a
good citizen and a church member. However, you are too old for me to
control now, and I shall not hold myself responsible for your acts. The
proud in spirit should be humbled in the dust, even though it may be by
human agency, and Frank Merriwell needs humbling.”
Dyke grinned.
“He’ll get humbling enough,” the young rascal declared. “Wait till
the gang gets after him. But I’ll need some money to fix it with the
gang. There are seven of them, and they won’t do a thing less than ten
dollars each. About a hundred dollars will do the trick.”
“I don’t see where the money is coming from.”
“You’ll have to cough, governor.”
“I? You forget! Why, I have told you plainly that I do not countenance
such things. The idea that I would give money to have anything of
the kind carried on! I am shocked! But I believe you need a new suit
of clothes, my son. I am pleased to see you well dressed. Here is a
hundred dollars to purchase a new suit.”
Darius took out a roll of bills and stripped off a fifty, two twenties
and a ten, which he passed to Dyke.
“That new suit of clothes will be a great deal warmer for Mr. Frank
Merriwell than for me,” grinned the worthy son of a worthy father.
“This is all right, governor. You’ll hear something drop some of these
dark nights.”
“There, there! Don’t mention such disgraceful proceedings to me again.
I am pained at the mere thought. If you need any more money for that
suit let me know.”
By this time they were in the village, and they separated, Darius going
to his office, while his son sought “the gang.”
So it happened that one night as Frank was returning home from the
village, he was tripped by a rope stretched across the road about a
foot from the ground. Before he could recover, he was pounced upon by a
gang of masked ruffians.
Frank made a savage fight, but he was overpowered by superior numbers,
and his hands were tied behind his back, while a gag was forced into
his mouth. In order to compel him to take the gag between his teeth, he
was choked till he was nearly dead.
After this treatment, Frank was too weak to walk. The ruffians did
not dare remain in the road longer than absolutely necessary, so the
captive was picked up and carried across fields, over fences and into a
dark strip of woods.
In the woods the gang rested.
“Well, he made a hard fight fer it,” said one.
“Come mighty near gettin’ away oncet,” observed another.
“Get out!” exclaimed a third. “He made us hustle, that’s all. I
expected it. He’s an athlete.”
“Where we goin’ to take him?”
“To the old house.”
“Let’s make him walk.”
“Perhaps he will walk of his own willin’ness, but I don’t believe you
can make him. He can’t be drove much.”
“Oh, he’ll be easy enough to handle before the night is over, if the
chap that hired us to do this trick carries out his plan.”
Frank heard this talk. He was wondering what it all meant. Why had he
been set upon in such a manner and handled so roughly? Why had he been
made a captive and taken there into the woods?
He had not been suspecting danger when he was set upon, and so was
quite unprepared.
At last the gang was ready to start on again, and Frank was placed on
his feet and marched along in their midst. He made no resistance now,
feeling that it was folly to do so.
There was a road through the woods, but it was rough and crooked, and
they all stumbled along in the darkness, some of them uttering language
of a savage nature.
After some time they came to an opening. Frank heard the sound of a
waterfall, and then he was taken into a dark house that stood there in
the woods.
The door closed behind him, and he was pushed through a hall. Then
another door opened, and a lighted room was entered.
In that room a single person was waiting. He was roughly dressed, and
over his head was a cowl-like cap of white that fell to his shoulders.
In this were two slits for eyeholes.
This person was standing when the other whitecaps forced Frank into the
room. He uttered an exclamation of satisfaction when he saw Merriwell.
“Well done!” he cried, in a disguised voice. “I was beginning to fear
you had failed.”
So this was the person who had ordered the capture. Frank looked at him
searchingly.
“None of your insolent staring!” grated the leader, and, reaching Frank
with a single stride, he struck him on the cheek with the open hand.
Quick as thought, Frank lifted a foot and kicked the fellow fairly
across the room!