THE DINNER.
The dinner was a grand success. Two long tables had been placed end to
end, and around these tables gathered the light-hearted guests,
skillfully seated in such a way that each youth found a congenial and
charming girl at his elbow.
Of course, June was at Dick’s side. For the time being, Mrs. Steele and
the two elderly ladies had withdrawn, and there was no one present to
cast the lightest restraint on the innocent mirth of the gathering.
Waiters were numerous, silent, and attentive, and the courses came on in
a manner that would have done credit to a first-class hotel. Somewhere
in a near-by room the orchestra discoursed appropriate music. Beneath
the softened lights the china, cutglass, and silverware gleamed, and the
girls, flushed with pleasurable excitement, seemed the fairest to be
found in all the land.
“Of course, I’m ready to explode with curiosity, June,” said Dick, under
cover of the chatter that rose about them.
“I suppose you are,” she laughed tantalizingly, giving him a look with
those splendid eyes of hers that shot him through with the old-time
thrill.
“But you don’t seem in any hurry to satisfy that curiosity. Don’t
tantalize me, June. How did it happen?”
“Your brother brought my brother back with him to Wellsburg when he
returned from the West.”
“Yes, I know; but Wellsburg is a long distance from Meadwold. It’s
mysterious. I didn’t suppose Casper Steele knew you, yet I find you here
at his father’s country home.”
“My father knows Mr. Payton Steele very well.”
“I see a faint ray.”
“They have often had business relations. At present father is carrying
through a business deal in company with Mr. Steele. To do this he had to
come on here, and, when he found he was coming, both Chester and myself
begged him to bring us along. That’s the explanation, Dick. We met
Casper Steele, and as soon as he found out we were your friends he began
to plan this surprise party for you.”
“And I never suspected a thing.”
From the head of the table Steele laughed at Dick.
“I was afraid you might get a suspicion of it,” he said, having caught
Merriwell’s words.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to get even with you, old chap,”
said Dick. “But perhaps I’ll find a way some time.”
Near the foot of the long table sat Mabel Ditson, with Brad Buckhart on
her right and Rob Claxton on her left. She was dividing her favors
between them, and both seemed satisfied. Her position was a delicate
one, and it required art and cleverness to balance her smiles and words
so that neither should fancy the other to be the one most favored.
Sparkfair was chatting in his airy manner with a beautiful girl by the
name of Agnes Locke. Nevertheless, it seemed that he occasionally cast
faintly regretful glances in the direction of June and Dick.
Jack Randall talked confidentially with Barbara, and, save Dick himself,
it was possible no one present knew their exact relations. Suddenly
Steele rose to his feet.
“A toast!” he proposed.
“A toast! a toast!” cried all.
Casper lifted a glass.
“We’ll drink it in water, the favorite beverage of the one to whom it
will be given.”
They all rose, each with an uplifted glass of water. There was a hush,
and, with a grave smile, Casper turned his eyes on the lad at June
Arlington’s side.
“Here’s to Dick Merriwell,” he said. “Here’s to his friends and his
foes; may his friends never falter in their loyalty, and may his foes
soon realize their folly and become his friends.”
“Splendid! splendid!” was the cry as they drank the toast.
Dick thanked Casper in a clever little speech, his face flushed and his
heart warmed by it all. It was Randall who proposed the next toast.
“Here’s to Yale,” he bowed; “Yale, Harvard’s beloved rival. May the blue
ever flutter high above all other colors save the crimson.”
“I’ll have to attach an amendment to that,” laughed Dick. “May the best
team win, and, if it does, the blue has no fear of finding itself
looking up to the crimson.”
“You wait until your freshman baseball team goes against our freshies!”
cried Randall. “You know we have a slab wizard by the name of
Sparkfair.”
“Keep it dark, keep it dark!” came in a hoarse whisper from Dale. “Don’t
put the enemy wise. Let him march unsuspecting to the slaughter.”
Randall laughed.
“I think I’ll have to tell how I happened to bring Spark with me to
Meadwold,” he said, as the entire party was again seated.
“I can’t bear to have you tell,” objected Dale.
“This reckless young blade,” said Jack, “has injected himself into all
sorts of trouble since descending on Cambridge. He seems to enjoy
trouble with a keen and fiendish enjoyment. The rackets he has been in
would fill a three-volume novel. Repeatedly he has escaped disasters by
a hair’s breadth. His last escapade proved rather more serious than the
others. He stole a cinnamon bear.”
“Tut, tut!” remonstrated Sparkfair. “State the facts, Randall—the bear
conceived an overweening affection for me, and insisted on following me
like a dog.”
“Insisted on following you after you had fed him a two-pound box of
chocolates and bon-bons,” said Jack. “It was this way: An Italian organ
grinder brought a tame dancing bear into town. The dago did a lively
business around Harvard Square, for the bear was really amusing, and the
students coughed up their spare coins to see him do his stunts. Some
time in mid-afternoon the bear’s master tied him to a tree on
Massachusetts Avenue, and went into a restaurant for something to eat.
About this time Sparkfair hove upon the horizon and espied bruin. Dale
had purchased an extravagant amount of candy for some one of his
numerous lady loves. He took a notion to offer the bear a chocolate
drop, and bruin keenly appreciated the favor. For some time Spark
continued to deal out confectionery to the beast, and with each fresh
chocolate or bon-bon the bear’s liking for Dale increased by leaps and
bounds. Just how bruin’s chain came unhitched from the tree I’m unable
to say. At any rate, when Spark started to depart the cinnamon waddled
after him.”
“It was a frightful moment,” put in Dale. “Imagine my sensation of
horror when I realized that I was being pursued by a real bear. Of
course, I wouldn’t have minded so much if it had been one of those Teddy
things that they sell at a toy store, but this was the real stuff, with
genuine hair on it. It had claws and teeth, too. At first I was tempted
to fly for my life, but I didn’t know just how fast that bear could
sprint, and, therefore, I was afraid to make a start. In order to
appease the monster I opened up my second box of sweets and handed him
out a few more chocolates.”
“That’s right,” chuckled Randall. “Behold Sparkfair, in your mind,
backing down Mt. Auburn Street with the bear sniffing along after him
and licking its chops for more chocolates. It seems that Spark has a
sophomore friend whom he greatly admires that rooms in Claverly. This
sophomore’s name is Coakley. Up to date I believe he and Spark have
practiced the manly art of self-defense on each other at least four
times. Coakley has lost one of his front teeth, and for a week or so
Sparkfair was proudly displaying a beautiful black eye. Well, what do
you think Spark did? When he reached Claverly he proceeded to decoy that
bear into the building and upstairs to Coakley’s room. It happened that
Coakley was out, but his door was unlocked. Spark got the bear inside,
and then heartlessly abandoned the poor beast.”
“Not until I had fed him the last bon-bon in that two-pound lot,” sighed
Spark, with amusing dolefulness. “I know a girl who went hungry for
candy that night.”
“Coakley returned to his room in the dusk of early evening,” Randall
continued. “He walked right in, without anticipating the welcome he was
to receive. The bear was asleep on Coakley’s best Turkish rug. I don’t
think Coakley saw him. At any rate, he fell over bruin, who rose with a
grunt of disapproval. A moment later other fellows in Claverly were
horrified by the most fearsome, heart-rending scream of terror that ever
smote mortal ears. Coakley yelled murder and made a scramble to get away
from the bear. Evidently bruin fancied his friend with the candied
delicacies had returned, for he tried to embrace Coakley. As I room in
Claverly myself, I happened to see the finish. Coakley ripped open his
door and came gasping and tumbling into the hall. A furry figure
lumbered after him. Coakley slid downstairs, and the bear imitated his
example. Confused and terrified, Coakley made the mistake of dashing
into the swimming room. Bruin kept close at his heels until, with a last
despairing howl of anguish, Coakley plunged headlong into the tank. The
bear sat down on the edge and grinned with pleasure as he watched
Coakley splashing and blowing about in the water. I think Coakley was in
that tank something like three quarters of an hour before some one
brought the bear’s master, who took bruin away.
“Unfortunately, some one saw Sparkfair decoying the bear into Claverly.
Coakley has sworn vengeance. An investigation is threatened. There is a
tinge of blood on the moon in Cambridge. I thought it would be best for
Spark to get away for a couple of days, and therefore I’ve inflicted him
on this otherwise respectable party.”