THE CAPTURE OF LINK MERWELL
"Where did that cry come from, Dave?"
"I think it came from the top of the cliff, Phil. Listen! there it goes
again."
Both boys strained their ears once more, and now heard another voice,
heavy and threatening.
"Leave this place! Leave at once, I command you! No one has any right to
disturb me!"
"Don't hit me, I'll go!" returned the one who had first spoken, and a
few seconds later he came into view at the edge of the cliff.
"Hello, it's Link Merwell!" burst out Dave, in amazement.
"Yes, and see, that wild man is after him!" added the shipowner's son.
He was right. Following closely upon the appearance of Link Merwell the
boys at the foot of the cliff had seen some brushwood thrust aside, and
now appeared the strange fellow who had so frightened the girls some
time previously. He was dressed up more fantastically than ever, and had
his face smeared with red and yellow. Over his shoulder, suspended by a
strap, he carried an old-fashioned fowling piece, and in his hands was a
heavy club.
"Go away from here! Go away, I say, and never come back!" cried the
strange individual, dancing around wildly and flourishing his club close
to Link Merwell's head.
"All right, I'm going! Please don't hit me!" pleaded the youth, who was
plainly in terror of his life. And then, in his haste to escape, he took
several steps forward.
"Look out there, or you'll have a bad fall!" yelled Dave, in quick
alarm.
The warning, however, came too late. Deceived by the brushwood and vines
growing at the edge of the cliff, Link Merwell lost his footing, and the
next instant came tumbling headlong.
"Ha, ha! I told you to keep away! Now don't come back!" yelled the
fantastically-dressed man in the bushes behind the cliff; and then with
another yell he suddenly disappeared from view.
Dave and Phil rushed forward fully expecting to find Merwell seriously
hurt. But in falling the youth had been fortunate enough to catch hold
of some of the trailing vines, and these had stayed his progress
somewhat, so that all he received was a violent shaking-up.
"Don--don't let--let him sho--shoot me!" spluttered Link Merwell, as he
turned over and scrambled to his feet. Then, for the first time
recognizing those who stood before him, his face showed more concern
than ever.
"Who's that fellow who attacked you, Link?" asked Dave, quickly.
"I don't know--some crazy old lunatic, I suppose," muttered the former
student of Oak Hall. "Is he--he--coming after me?"
"No, he just dashed out of sight," answered Phil. "He's the same chap
who nearly scared the girls to death," he added to Dave.
"How do you know? He didn't look like that fellow," returned our hero.
"I recognized him by his voice, even though he is dressed quite
differently, Dave. He must be as crazy as they make them."
"Oh, so you know him, do you?" put in Link Merwell, questioningly. He
had gotten to his feet and was now straightening out his apparel.
"I must say, Link, I didn't think I was going to have the pleasure of
meeting you so soon," said Dave, with a little bit of pardonable
sarcasm.
"Humph!" Link Merwell was on the point of saying more, but bit his lip
and kept silent.
"So you were on board the steam yacht when she took fire," put in Phil.
"I was."
"Why didn't you show yourself; were you afraid?"
"That was my business. I didn't have to show myself if I didn't want
to."
"We know well enough why you didn't show yourself, Link," broke in our
hero. "And we also know why you left Mr. Appleby's camp so suddenly. You
were afraid of arrest."
"Who told you that?"
"Nobody told us. We know it," went on Dave. "You have escaped several
times, but I guess we've got you now."
"Hi! don't you dare to touch me!" exclaimed Link Merwell, in fresh
alarm. "You haven't got any right to put your hands on me."
"Right or wrong, Link, we are going to make you a prisoner," declared
Phil, and advancing he caught the youth who had helped to rob Mr.
Wadsworth's jewelry works by the arm.
"You let me go, Phil Lawrence! If you don't it will be the worse for
you!" bawled Link, and tried to wrench himself loose.
"Here, none of that!" broke in Dave, quickly, and stepping forward, he
caught the evildoer by the other arm. "You just march along with us!"
"I won't go!" bawled the boy who had gotten himself into trouble. "Let
go of me, I tell you!"
He started to struggle, and for a minute or two Dave and Phil had all
they could do to hold him. Then, in sudden viciousness, Link kicked
out, taking Dave in the shin.
"Oh, so that's your game, is it?" cried Dave, his anger rising. And
then, as Link kicked out once more, he caught the foot and gave the
youth a shove that sent him sprawling on his back. Before Link could
arise, Dave rushed in and sat down heavily on him.
"Oh!" grunted the fallen one. "D-don't cru-crush my ribs!" he panted.
"L-let u-up!"
"I won't let up until you promise to behave yourself," answered Dave,
sternly. "For two pins, Link, I'd give you the thrashing of your life.
You deserve it. What right had you to send me that note and call me a
'poorhouse nobody'?"
"That's right, Dave. Pitch into him! Give him what he deserves!" agreed
Phil. "Maybe a good licking would knock some common-sense into him."
"D-don't you dare to--to t-touch me," panted the boy under Dave. "If
you--you do, I'll ha-have the l-law on you!"
"Don't talk about the law!" cried Dave. "The law will take care of you.
When I caught you down on Cave Island, and you said that you were sorry
that you had joined Jasniff in that robbery and that you were going to
reform, I felt sorry for you. But you are a faker, Merwell, and I don't
believe you ever will reform, and that's the reason I'm going to do my
best now to place you in the hands of the law."
"You--you--you let me u-up!"
"I won't let you up until you promise to behave yourself and come along
with us."
"A-all right, I pro-promise."
"Very well, then, you can get up," answered Dave, arising. "But
remember, you have given us your word, and if you break it, I'll
guarantee that Phil and I will come down on you like a ton of bricks.
Now, if you know when you are well off, you'll do exactly as we tell you
to."
"I've got a scheme, Dave," broke in Phil, bringing out an extra piece of
fishline from his pocket. "Let's tie his hands behind him with this.
Then I don't think he'll care to run away--not very far, anyhow."
"Humph! can't you let me walk along without having my hands tied?"
grumbled the prisoner.
"We are not going to take any chances, Link," answered the shipowner's
son. "Now that we have caught you we are going to see that you get where
you belong--in prison."
"You send me to prison and my father will make it hot for you!"
"You stop threatening us, Link!" ordered Dave, sternly.
"All right. But you'll see!"
Much against his will, Link Merwell was forced to place his hands behind
him, and in a few minutes Phil and Dave had secured the fishline around
his wrists. Then they picked up his cap, which had fallen off, and
placed it on his head.
"Now then, march!" ordered Dave. "And no funny work!" And he led the way
back along the brook, with Merwell following and Phil bringing up the
rear with the fishing outfits.
"Say, how do you expect a fellow to get over these rocks with his hands
tied behind him?" grumbled Link Merwell, after he had slipped several
times.
"You'll have to do the best you can," returned Phil, coldly. "A jailbird
like you can't expect much consideration."
"Bah, you make me tired, Phil Lawrence!" growled the prisoner. "I don't
think you'll be able to send me to prison; not for long, anyhow! My
father's got plenty of money; he'll get me out some way."
"If he spends any money on you he'll be foolish," returned the
shipowner's son. "Now go ahead, we are not going to waste all our time
on you."
It was not long after this when they came in sight of the other boys.
Ben and Roger were still fishing, while Luke and Shadow were resting on
the rocks, the latter telling one of his favorite stories.
"Hello! What luck?" called Ben, looking up. And then he added: "Great
Caesar's ghost! if it isn't Link Merwell!"
"Where did you run across him?" cried Luke, leaping to his feet,
followed by Shadow.
"We found him running away from some kind of a wild man," answered Dave.
"The wild man who scared us into fits the other day?" queried Roger.
"We don't know if it was that fellow or somebody else," answered Phil.
Link Merwell was much crestfallen to confront so many of his former
schoolmates of Oak Hall. He realized that he was "in the camp of the
enemy" in more ways than one. At one time or another he had played each
of them some sort of a scurvy trick, and he realized that not one of
them would have a good word to say for him.
"Well, I see they have made you a prisoner," remarked Luke, as he
noticed that Link's hands were tied behind him.
"Humph! they had no right to do it," growled the prisoner. "Where are
you going to take me, anyhow?"
"We are going to take you to our bungalows," announced Dave. "There you
will have the pleasure of talking the matter over with Mr. Wadsworth."
At the mention of the name of the man he had robbed, Link Merwell winced
and his face paled. Evidently he did not relish what was in store for
him.
"Say, having his hands tied behind him puts me in mind of a story,"
began Shadow. "Once there was a fellow----" and then, as the would-be
story teller saw a look of disgust coming over the faces of his chums,
he added hastily: "Oh, well, never mind. I'll tell you that story some
other time."
"Is Mr. Wadsworth staying up here with you?" asked Link, while Ben and
the others prepared to return to the bungalows.
"He is," answered Dave.
"Is his family with him?"
"Yes, we are all up here for a short vacation." Dave looked at his enemy
squarely in the eyes. "Link, do you think you are treating me just
right? I never put a straw in your way, and yet you have done everything
you could to make things unpleasant for me. I tried to help you down on
Cave Island, and in return for that you have been sending letters to Nat
Poole asking him to help you in hurting me. And then the other day you
sent that note calling me a 'poorhouse nobody.'"
"Oh, don't preach to me, Dave Porter!" growled the youth who had been
made a prisoner. "I hate that kind of talk. You always tried to set
yourself up as being better than any one else. Maybe you could get on
the soft side of Gus Plum, but you can't play any such game as that on
me. I know what I am doing."
"Link, I'm sorry to hear you talk that way," went on Dave, earnestly.
"Do you want to spend all your life in prison?"
"Bah, don't talk to me! Didn't I tell you I don't want any preaching? If
I've got to go to jail I'll go, but it won't be for long, mark my words!
My father has got lots of money, and I guess the lawyers will know what
to do. But let me tell you something, Dave Porter"--and now Link
Merwell's face showed both cunning and hatred--"you found fault with
that note I sent to you calling you a poorhouse nobody. Well, that is
all you are; a poorhouse nobody!"
"See here, Link----" began our hero, his temper rising.
"Oh, now, just wait, Dave Porter! Just wait a little, and you'll find
out what I mean. You are a poorhouse nobody and nothing else. Dave
Porter? Why, you are not Dave Porter at all! You are a poorhouse nobody;
that's all you are!"