ANOTHER ESCAPE.
The poor boy relapsed into silence, closing his eyes and breathing
with no small difficulty. A great flood of pity welled up in the heart
of Frank Merriwell as he looked at that thin, bruised face, and he
felt like becoming the boy's champion and avenger.
Again Frank pressed the thin hand that looked so weak and helpless. He
held it in both his own warm, strong hands, and he earnestly said:
"My poor fellow! you have been wretchedly treated, and it is certain
that Bernard Belmont shall suffer for what he has done. Retribution is
something he cannot escape."
"Oh, I don't know!" weakly whispered George. "I used to think so--I
used to think that the wicked people all were punished, but I'm
beginning to believe it isn't so."
"You must not believe it isn't so," anxiously declared Frank. "Of
course you believe there is an All-wise Being who witnesses even the
sparrow's fall?"
"Yes."
"Then you cannot doubt that such a Being will visit just punishment
upon the wicked man who has caused you so much suffering and pain. His
way is past finding out, but you must trust Him."
There was something noble and manly on the face of Frank Merriwell as
he spoke those words, and the manner in which he uttered them told
that he had the utmost and implicit confidence in the wisdom of the
Being of whom he spoke.
At that moment it scarcely seemed possible that Frank was the same
merry, laughing, lively lad who was usually so full of fun and pranks.
Those who fancied they knew him best would have been amazed could they
have seen him and heard his words.
Thus was shown one of the many hidden sides of Frank's nature, which
was most complex and yet honest and guileless.
The boy on the bed opened his eyes and looked at Frank in silence, for
a long time. Finally he said:
"I see you really believe what you say, and you have given me new
faith. I have suffered so much--so much that I had begun to doubt. It
is hard to trust in the goodness of God when it seems that nearly all
the wicked ones in the world are the ones who are prosperous. Bernard
Belmont is believed to be an upright and honorable man in the town
where he lives, and the people there think he was very kind to the two
invalid children left on his hands when his wife died."
"Some day they will know the truth."
"It will be when I am dead!"
"Nonsense!"
"I am sure of it. Do you know, dear friend, Apollo hurt me so much
to-night! It seems that he hurt me somewhere in--here."
The boy pressed his hand to his side.
"But the doctor is coming, and he will make you well again."
"Perhaps he can't. I had rather not get well than be turned over to
Belmont again and left for him to torture."
George shuddered at this, and Frank ground his teeth softly, as he
thought what intense satisfaction it would give him to see the man
Belmont punished as he deserved.
"Why doesn't Harry come with the doctor?" thought Frank, as he got up
and impatiently paced the floor. "He has had plenty of time."
A few moments later the boy on the bed beckoned with his thin hand.
Frank hastened to the bedside, anxiously asking: "Is there anything I
can do?"
"Yes," whispered George; "sit down and listen."
"I wish you would save your strength. You must stop talking."
"I must talk, for it is my last chance. I want to tell you again that
I know my sister is somewhere in the mountains up around Lake Tahoe.
You have said you would find her. Do so; tell her I am gone. She is an
heiress, for all the money Bernard Belmont has will belong to her
then. If you could do something to aid her in obtaining her rights.
Will you try?"
"I will try."
"Oh, you are so good--and you are so brave! How you fought that
terrible dwarf! You did not seem afraid of him! It is wonderful! I
never saw anybody like you! Yes, yes, I am beginning to have faith.
How can I help it after this?"
He smiled at Frank, and there was something so joyous and so pathetic
in that smile that Merry turned away to hide the tears which welled
into his eyes.
When Frank turned back he was bravely smiling, as he said, in a most
encouraging manner:
"Now you must have faith that you are going to get well. That is what
you need. It will be better than medicine and doctors. Think--think of
meeting your sister again!"
"Yes, yes!" panted the boy. "Dear little Milly!"
"How happy she will be!"
"Yes, yes!"
"And think of regaining possession of what is rightfully your own--of
getting square with Bernard Belmont."
A cloud came to the face of the boy.
"Of course I want what is mine--I want Milly to have her rights," he
slowly said; "but--but it is not my place to punish the man who has
wronged us."
"The law will do that."
"God will do that! I believe it once more since talking with you. I
trust Him fully."
There were footsteps outside the door, a gentle tap, and Frank
admitted Harry and a physician.
The doctor sat down in a chair by the bed and asked the boy a few
questions, while Frank and Harry anxiously watched and listened. The
doctor's face was unreadable.
"Who is this boy, Frank?" whispered Harry. "Where did you find him?"
"Wait," said Merry. "I will tell you later, but not here."
The doctor declared that the unfortunate lad must have some light
stimulating food without delay, and he wrote a prescription.
"Take this to a druggist and have it filled," he said, handing it to
Harry.
Harry left the room.
The boy lay back on the bed, his eyes closed, breathing softly. The
doctor arose and walked to the window, motioning Frank to join him.
"How is it, doctor?" Merriwell anxiously asked, in a whisper.
The man shook his head.
"I can't tell yet," he confessed; "but I fear he is done for. He has
been starved, and his lungs are in a bad way. What he needs most is
stimulants and food, but everything must be mild, as his system is in
such a weakened condition. As for the injury to his side, of which he
complains, of course I cannot tell how severe that may be."
Frank's heart sank, for the doctor was more discouraging in his manner
than in his words.
"Save him if you can, doctor!" he entreated.
"I will. Is he a friend or relative of yours?"
"He is an utter stranger to me. I never saw him before to-night."
The doctor lifted his eyebrows in astonishment.
"Indeed! Then who is to pay the bills for his care and treatment?"
"I will," Frank promptly answered. "Here, take this as a fee in
advance."
A bill was thrust into the physician's hand.
After looking at the bill the doctor assumed a very deferential
manner.
"He should have a first-class nurse," he declared.
"He shall," assured Merriwell; "the best one to be obtained in
Carson."
"This is very strange," said the physician. "I can't understand why
you should do such a thing for one who is a stranger to you. You must
have an object."
"I have."
"Ah! I thought so!"
"My object is to see this poor, abused boy live and get his just due.
He has been misused, and the man who has misused him should be
punished. I hope to live to know that man has been punished as he
deserves."
"Ah!" came from the doctor once more. "Then you have a grudge against
the man?"
"I never saw him in all my life. I never heard of him before this
night."
The physician was more puzzled than before.
"Then I must say you are a most remarkable person!" he exclaimed.
Once more there were steps outside the door--heavy shuffling steps.
The boy on the bed heard those steps, and a gasp came from his pale
lips, as he turned his head toward the door, his face distorted by
fear.
"He is coming!"
The words came in a hoarse whisper from the injured boy.
Frank started toward the door and the boy wildly entreated:
"Stop him--don't let him come in here! Hark! There is another step!
They are both there! They have come for me--come to drag me back to a
living death!"
"Why, he is raving!" exclaimed the doctor.
Bang!--open flew the door. Without stopping to knock or ask leave to
enter, a tall, dark-bearded man stepped into the room.
At this man's heels came a crouching figure that seemed half human and
half beast. It had a short, thick body and long arms that nearly
reached the floor. Its face was pale as marble, save for a red scar
that ran down the left cheek to the corner of the mouth. The eyes were
set near together, and they glistened with a savage, cruel light.
Frank stepped between the intruders and the bed, but the boy had seen
them, and he sat up, uttering a wild scream of fear, then fell back on
the pillow.
"Who are you? and what do you want?" demanded Merriwell, boldly
confronting the man and the creature at his heels.
"Never mind who we are; we want that boy, and we will have him!"
declared the man. "He can't escape us this time!"
Frank glanced at the figure on the bed, and then turned back, crying
with great impressiveness:
"He can and has escaped you, Bernard Belmont; but he will stand face
to face with you at the great bar of justice in the day of judgment!"
"What!" hoarsely cried the man, starting back and staring at the
ghastly face of the boy on the bed; "he is dead!"