[Illustration: "He finally found himself slugged under the ear and sent
flying over a chair."]
FRANK MERRIWELL
AT YALE
BY
BURT L STANDISH
1903
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I--Trouble Brewing
II--Challenged and Hazed
III--The Blow
IV--The Fight
V--The Finish
VI--A Fresh Council
VII--A Surprise
VIII--The "Roast" at East Rock
IX--The Duel
X--At Morey's
XI--"Lambda Chi!"
XII--Freshman Against Sophomore
XIII--Jubilant Freshmen
XIV--The Rush
XV--On the Ball Field
XVI--To Break an Enemy's Wrist
XVII--Talking it Over
XVIII--Merriwell and Rattleton
XIX--Who is the Traitor?
XX--A Hot Chase
XXI--Roast Turkey
XXII--A Surprise for Frank
XXIII--The Yale Spirit
XXIV--Gordon Expresses Himself
XXV--The Traitor Discovered
XXVI--The Race
XXVII--A Change of Pitchers
XXVIII--The Game Grows Hotter
XXIX--The End of the Game
XXX--Rattleton is Excited
XXXI--What Ditson Wanted
XXXII--Ditson is Trapped
XXXIII--"Play Ball"
XXXIV--A Hot Finish
FRANK MERRIWELL AT YALE,
CHAPTER I.
TROUBLE BREWING.
"Here's to good old Yale--drink it down!
Here's to good old Yale--drink it down!
Here's to good old Yale,
She's so hearty and so hale--
Drink it down! Drink it down! down! down!"
From the open window of his rooms on York Street Frank Merriwell heard
the distant chorus of a rollicking band of students who had been having
a merry evening in town.
Frank had passed his examinations successfully and had been admitted as
a student at Yale. In order to accomplish this without taking a
preparatory course at Phillips Academy, he had found it necessary to
vigorously "brush up" the knowledge he had acquired at the Fardale
Military Academy which was a college preparatory school.
Professor Scotch, Frank's guardian, had been of great assistance to him,
for the professor knew just about what would be required at the
entrance examination, and he had kept the boy digging away away at the
propositions in the First Book of Euclid, had drilled him in Caesar,
caused him to spend weary hours over Virgil and the Iliad, and made him
not a little weary of his Xenophon.
As he passed without a condition, although he had been told again and
again that a course at Phillips Academy was almost an absolute
necessity, Frank was decidedly grateful to the professor.
Professor Scotch's anxiety had brought him to New Haven, where he
remained "till the agony was over," as Frank expressed it. The little
man bubbled over with delight when he found his _protégé_ had gone
through without a struggle.
Having secured the rooms on York Street, the professor saw Frank
comfortably settled, and then, before taking his departure, he attempted
to give the boy some wholesome advice.
"Don't try to put on many frills here the first year," he said. "You
will find that freshmen do not cut much of a figure here. It doesn't
make any difference what you have done or what you have been elsewhere,
you will have to establish a record by what you do and what you become
here. You'll find these fellows here won't care a rap if you have
discovered the North Pole or circumnavigated the globe in--er--ah--ten
days. It will be all the better for you if you do not let them know you
are rich in your own name and have traveled in South America, Africa,
Europe, and other countries. They'd think you were bragging or lying if
you mentioned it, and--"
"You know well enough that I am not given to boasting about myself,
professor, and so you are wasting your breath," said Frank, rather
resentfully.
"Hum! ha! Don't fly off the handle--keep cool. I know you have sand, and
you're made of the right kind of stuff; but you are the greatest hand to
get into scrapes I ever saw, and a little advice won't do you any harm.
You will find that in many things you cannot do just as you would like,
so you must--"
"I'll get into the game all right, so don't worry. You will remember
that I did fairly well at Fardale, and you should not worry about me
while I am here."
"I will not. You did well at Fardale--that's right. You were the most
popular boy in the academy; but you will find Yale is far different from
Fardale."
So the professor took his departure, and Frank was left to begin life at
college.
His roommate was a rollicking, headstrong, thoughtless young fellow from
Ohio. Harry Rattleton was his name, and it seemed to fit him perfectly.
He had a way of speaking rapidly and heedlessly and turning his
expressions end for end.
Frank had been able to assist Harry at examination. Harry and Frank
were seated close to each other, and when it was all over and the two
boys knew they had passed all right, Harry came to Frank, held out his
hand, and said:
"I believe your name is Merriwell. Mine is Rattleton and I am from Ohio.
Merriwell, you are a brick, and I am much obliged to you. Let's room
together. What do you say?"
"I am agreeable," smiled Frank.
That was the way Frank found his roommate.
Harry was interested in sports and athletics, and he confided to Frank
that he was bound to make a try for both the baseball and football
teams. He had brought a set of boxing gloves, foils, and a number of
sporting pictures. The foils were crossed above the mantel and the
pictures were hung about the walls, but he insisted on putting on the
gloves with Frank before hanging them up where they would be ornamental.
"I've taken twenty lessons, old man," he said, "and I want to point you
a few shows--I mean show you a few points. We'll practice every day, and
I'll bet in less than ten weeks I'll have you so you'll be able to hold
your own with any fellow of your age and weight. Ever had the gloves
on?"
"A few times," answered Frank, with a quiet smile.
"That's all the better. I won't have to show you how to start in. Here,
here--that hand goes on the other glove--I mean that glove goes on the
other hand. That's the way. Now we're off. Left forward foot--er, left
foot forward. Hold your guard this way. Now hit me if you can."
Almost like a flash of lightning Frank's glove shot out, and he caused
the glove to snap on Harry's nose.
"Whee jiz--I mean jee whiz!" gasped the astonished boy from Ohio.
"You're quick! But it was an accident; you can't do it again."
He had scarcely uttered the words before Frank feinted and then shot in
a sharp one under Harry's uplifted guard.
"Great Scott! You do know some tricks! I'll bet you think you can box!
Well, I'll have to drive that head out of your notion--I mean that
notion out of your head. Look out for me now! I'm coming!"
Then Harry Rattleton sailed into Frank and met with the greatest
surprise of his life, for he found he could not touch Merriwell, and he
was beaten and hammered and battered about the room till he finally felt
himself slugged under the ear and sent flying over a chair, to land in a
heap in one corner of the room. He sat up and held his gloved hand to
his ear, which was ringing with a hundred clanging bells, while he
stared astounded at his roommate.
"Wow!" he gurgled. "What have I been up against? Are you a prize
fighter in disguise?"
That experience was enough to satisfy him that Frank Merriwell knew a
great deal more than he did about boxing.
As Frank sat by his window listening to the singing, on the evening that
this story opens, he was wondering where Harry could be, for his
roommate had been away since shortly after supper.
Frank knew the merry singers were sophomores, the malicious and
unrelenting foes of all freshmen. He would have given not a little had
he been able to join them in their songs, but he knew that was not to be
thought of for a moment.
As he continued to listen, a clear tenor voice struck into that most
beautiful of college songs when heard from a distance:
"When the matin bell is ringing,
U-ra-li-o, U-ra-li-o,
From my rushy pallet springing,
U-ra-li-o, U-ra-li-o,
Fresh as the morning light forth I sally,
With my sickle bright thro' the valley,
To my dear one gayly singing,
U-ra-li-o, U-ra-li-o."
Then seven or eight strong musical young voices came in on the warbling
chorus, and the boy at the window listened enchanted and enraptured,
feeling the subtle charm of it all and blessing fortune that he was a
youth and a student at Yale.
The charm of the new life he had entered upon was strong, and it was
weaving its spell about him--the spell which makes old Yale so dear to
all who are fortunate enough to claim her as their _alma mater_. He
continued to listen, eagerly drinking in the rest of the song as it came
through the clear evening air:
"When the day is closing o'er us,
U-ra-li-o, U-ra-li-o,
And the landscape fades before us,
U-ra-li-o, U-ra-li-o,
When our merry men quit their mowing,
And along the glen horns are blowing,
Sweetly then we'll raise the chorus,
U-ra-li-o, U-ra-li-o."
The warbling song died out in the distance, there was a rush of feet
outside the door, and Harry, breathless and excited, came bursting into
the room.
"I say, old man," he cried, "what do I think?"
"Really, I don't know," laughed Frank. "What do you think?"
"I--I mean wh-what do you think?" spluttered Harry.
"Why, I think a great many things. What's up, anyway?"
"You know Diamond?"
"The fellow they call Jack?"
"Yes."
"I should say so! It was his bull pup that chewed a piece out of the leg
of my trousers. I kicked the dog downstairs, and Diamond came near
having a fit over it. He's got a peppery temper, and he was ready to
murder me. I reckon he thought I should have taken off my trousers and
given them to the dog to chew."
"He's a Southerner--from Virginia. He's a dangerous chap, Frank--just as
lief eat as fight--I mean fight as eat. He's been in town to-night,
drinking beer with the boys, and he's in a mighty ugly mood. He says you
insulted him."
"Is that so?"
"It's just so, and he's going to dallenge you to a chewel--I mean
challenge you to a duel."
Frank whistled softly, elevating his brows a bit.
"What sort of a duel?" he asked.
"Why, a regular duel with deadly weapons. He's awfully in earnest,
Frank, and he means to kill you if you don't apologize. All the fellows
are backing him; they think you will not fight."
"Is that so? Looking for me to show the white feather, are they? Well, I
like that!"
"But you can't fight him! I tell you he's a fire eater! I've heard that
his father killed a man in a duel."
"And that makes the son dangerous! No, Harry, I can't afford to--What's
all that racket?"
The sound of voices and of many feet ascending the stairs could be
heard. Harry turned pale.
"They're coming, Frank!" he exclaimed. "It's the whole gang, and Diamond
is with them. He means to force you to fight or squeal!"