A GLOOMY PROSPECT
"So, it's you yelping for help, eh?"
Buck was looking more or less surprised even when making this remark.
Fred had an idea he could see something like growing satisfaction,
almost glee, creeping over the face of the other. The prospect evidently
began to please Buck.
"Yes, it's me," the boy below replied, trying hard to appear to look at
it all in the light of a huge joke, just as he might, had it been Sid
Wells or Bristles Carpenter who had discovered his ridiculous plight.
"Huh! and however did you come in this old limestone pit?" demanded
Buck.
"Well, to tell you the truth, Buck," he said, in a conciliatory tone;
"Brad Morton, as track captain, ordered me to slip out of the bunch he
sent over the regular roads laid out for the race. He wanted me to take
the last five mile run in secret, you see; and long ago I had this
little course mapped out, when I used to practice without anybody
knowing I could run fairly well."
"Oh! you don't say?" sneered Buck. "And what was his reason, d'ye know?"
Fred knew that it was best to be frank with the other, who really had
him so absolutely in his power. He would confide wholly in Buck, come
what might.
"Well, I didn't take much stock in the thing myself, but Brad insisted,
and as he was the captain of the team, I had to do what he said, you
see, Buck. He had been told that Mechanicsburg had spies posted all
along the course, to time the runners, and get points on their weak
places. And somehow Brad got the idea in his head that they were more
anxious to watch me run than any of the others. So he thought he'd
surprise them by having me disappear, and get my practice alone."
Buck laughed at that, and it was a very disagreeable laugh, too.
"My! what an important person you've become, Fred Fenton," he observed,
with the sneer more marked in his voice than ever. "Have to have a
private course of your own because your running is attracting so much
attention! No wonder your head has begun to swell. No wonder you look
down on small worms, who only run up against hard knocks whenever they
try to even up the score."
"But you're going to help me out of this, I hope, Buck?" Fred went on,
pleasantly, almost pleadingly, for he had much at stake.
"Oh! am I? You don't say!" mocked the other. "Now, how d'ye suppose I
c'n reach down seven feet or more, and give you the friendly hand? Think
my arms stretch that far? Perhaps, now, you imagine I'll just drop in
like the poor old goat did in the fable, to let the smart fox jump up on
his back, and then out? If you do you've got another guess coming; see?"
"But there's an easy way to do it, Buck; and because Riverport needs
every little help she can get to win out to-morrow, I'm going to ask you
to do it for me."
"Sounds big; don't it?" the other went on, in his sneering way. "You're
the Great Muck-a-muck, and will carry off the prize for the long
distance run, I suppose you mean? Well, with the great luck you have,
perhaps you will--if you're there when the pistol cracks for the start.
Now, go on and tell me what you mean, and how could I get you out of
this hole--if I took the notion to try?"
"I suppose you've got your knife with you, Buck?" Fred went on.
"That's where you've got another guess coming, Fenton; fact is, I broke
the last blade in it yesterday, and threw it away," Buck answered.
"Well, then, that seems to make it harder to carry out my plan," Fred
remarked, disappointment in his tone.
"Wait," said Buck; "perhaps, after all, I might get a knife from the
feller along with me, here."
He disappeared, and Fred, straining his ears, could hear him talking in
a low tone with some one else. He was filled with a deep curiosity to
know whatever brought Buck Lemington here to the old limestone quarry;
just as the day was passing. The last thing Fred had heard in connection
with Buck was the fact that his suspected connection with the desperate
attempt to spoil the calculations of Riverport school with regard to
winning the laurels of the athletic meet by kidnapping their best
sprinter, Colon, had met with universal condemnation among the good
people of the town. There was even talk of a committee going to complain
to his father.
Perhaps Buck had in some way gotten wind of that expected coming of the
townspeople, and he might even now be on his way to some haven of
refuge, to remain practically in hiding until the storm blew over.
A minute later, and once again the face of the grinning bully protruded
beyond the edge of the pit above.
"I've got the knife all right, Fenton," he observed, curiously; "now,
what d'ye expect me to do with it? A knife alone won't pull you up; and
I reckon clotheslines don't grow around this region."
"No, but I think there's a fine stout vine close to your hand, Buck; and
if you'd be so kind as to cut that off, and let one end of it down to
me, with only a little help I'd be out of this hole in a jiffy--and
mighty thankful in the bargain."
"Well now, that is a bright idea," remarked Buck, with exasperating
slowness; "they always said you had a brain in your head, Fenton. It's a
good, strong vine too, and even a sharp knife hacks into it pretty hard.
Oh! no doubt about it holding a fellow of your nimbleness, when you
manage to get a grip on the same!"
Fred did not exactly like the way he said this. Somehow he seemed to
feel that the other was working himself up into a condition where he
would finally refuse to lend a helping hand to his old-time rival, now
that the only chance for Fred to get free seemed to rest with Buck.
As he cut away, the bully continued to talk. He was evidently enjoying
the unique situation keenly.
"Reckon you'd feel some chilly if you had to stay in that damp hole all
night; eh, Fenton?" he went on.
"I sure would," replied Fred, trying to give a little laugh; "and it
was mighty lucky for me that you and your friend happened along here
just at such a time. Now, I wouldn't have supposed that anybody would
come this way in a year; and when I hollered for help I didn't think
there was a chance in a thousand anybody'd hear."
"Well, you'd win, because it was a chance in a thousand, Fenton," Buck
went on to say, as he whittled away at the trailing vine. "Fact is, the
people down in Riverport sent a committee of old fogies up to my
governor to complain. Said I'd been guilty of a bad piece of business;
that I'd engineered the scheme for carrying Colon off to that mill, and
leaving him there, so's to knock Riverport's chances to-morrow. Perhaps
you heard something about that, Fenton?"
"Oh! I believe one of the boys did mention that there was some talk
about it being done; but honestly now, Buck, I didn't know they had gone
over to your house to interview your father," Fred answered, candidly
enough.
"Well, they did, all right," growled the other, cutting more furiously,
as his feelings began to work upon him. "And when the old man called me
in, I saw he was some mad. Reckon he'd had bad news just about then,
because I saw a letter with a foreign postmark on it, lying open on his
desk; and I know the signs of a storm under our roof."
He paused to give a last cut, and the vine came free; then he began to
slice off a few trailing side roots, so as to make a pretty fair rope
out of it. After which he started to speak again.
"He was awful mad, Fenton, I give you my word. Never saw him in such a
temper. And the way he hauled me over the coals was scandalous, too.
Said he'd think up what he'd have to do with me for punishment, over
night. Also said everything was going crooked with him at once. Well, I
just made up my mind I wouldn't stay around home, any longer; but skip
out till the breeze blew over. And I also thought up a bully good scheme
to bring the old man to terms. Huh! you ain't the only one that's got
brains, Fenton, if you do think so."
Again he paused, as if to give emphasis to his words. Fred was waiting
anxiously, to learn what Buck had decided to do. If only he would lower
that vine, he felt sure he could pull himself out in ten seconds.
"I happened to remember that we had a relative somewhere up in this
region; and so I just made up my mind to disappear for a little while
myself. It's in the air you see, even you've got the fever. And I'd play
a winning card on the governor by taking with me something he set
considerable store on. A day or two'd bring him to terms; and I reckoned
he'd promise to let up on me, in order to get back--there, how d'ye
think that'll answer, Fenton?"
He held up the stout vine. Fred could see it plainly, for the bright sky
was beyond. It seemed to be at least ten feet in length, and as thick as
one's wrist.
"That ought to do the trick finely, Buck," he remarked, pleasantly, just
as if he did not have the slightest doubt in the world but that the
other fully intended pulling him out of the hole.
"Do you think you can hold on?" asked Buck, beginning to lower away with
tantalizing slowness, as though he enjoyed keeping Fred on the anxious
seat.
"Sure I can, once I get a good grip. Just a foot or so more, Buck, and
then I will be able to reach it. And let me tell you, it's good of you
to help a fellow like this. They'll say so in town when they hear about
it, Buck."
"Think so, do you?" went on the other, as he suddenly allowed the vine
to drop until it touched the hands extended, when it was instantly
withdrawn again.
"Oh! don't you wish you could grab it, Fenton?" mocked the grinning
bully.