As well might they have tried to hold an eel. With a squirming twist,
Frank managed to writhe from beneath them, somehow thumping their heads
together till they were dazed by the stars that seemed to flash before
their eyes. While they were in this condition, he got upon his feet,
breathing heavily, but laughing as if it were a matter of sport.
Harlow and Radford sprang up quickly. They located Frank, and, though
amazed by the manner in which he had escaped them, renewed the attack.
Now all three were fighting somewhat slower, as if the strain upon them
was telling on their wind.
The struggle was still raging when a stout, motherly-looking woman, with
a basket in her hand, came around the corner, and stopped, staring in
amazement at the scene.
"Well, I never!" she exclaimed.
The girls heard her, saw her, flew to her.
"Oh, Mrs. Barnaby!" cried Elsie.
"Oh, Aunt Hannah!" exclaimed Kate.
"Stop them!" palpitated the girl with the blue eyes and golden hair.
"Drive away those horrid fellows who are trying to whip the one in the
bicycle suit!" urged the other girl.
"What's all the row about, anyhow?" asked the woman.
Then, hurriedly and brokenly, the two girls told her what had happened.
Her kindly face grew stern and her eyes flashed as she listened.
"The rascals!" she exploded. "They oughter be hoss-whipped! I'd like to
do it, too! Hey! you git out!"
She flourished her hands and swung the basket about, but the fighting
lads did not heed her command.
Then Aunt Hannah hastened forward boldly and resolutely struck Rolf
Harlow over the head with the basket.
Smash--spatter!
The basket contained eggs, and they were broken and smashed over
Harlow's head. Out flew the sticky, yellow mass, spattering all over
Rolf.
A howl of astonishment and dismay broke from the lips of the rascal, and
then, taking one look at the angry woman, he turned and fled, while Kate
Spencer screamed with laughter.
Seeing he was deserted, Berlin Radford did not delay about following his
friend, and the two were hard scrambling up the path, and uttering cries
of impotent rage.
There was a hammock near, in which Elsie Bellwood had been reclining
when Rolf Harlow came upon her and into it Kate Spencer dropped, holding
her handkerchief to her face and laughing as if she would lose her
breath.
"Oh, goodness!" she cried. "Oh, Aunt Hannah! didn't you do it that time!
Ha! ha! ha! How astonished and disgusted that chap looked! And what a
spectacle he made as he stood there, with those broken eggs dripping
down his face and neck! Oh! oh! oh! Brother Kent will die when I tell
him about this!"
"The rascals!" burst forth the woman, as she stood with her smashed and
dripping basket in her hand, regarding it in dismay. "All them good eggs
broke to pieces, and I jest bought 'em over at the store! Who's goin' to
pay for them eggs?"
"I will be happy to pay for them," laughed Frank. "It was worth the
price of a bushel of eggs to see Rolf Harlow after you struck him with
the basket. I have to thank you for saving me the trouble of finishing
both those chaps."
Elsie ran to Frank.
"Oh, are you hurt much?" she fluttered. "I am afraid you are hurt!"
"Not a bit, dear little girl," smiled Merry, tenderly. "They did thump
me a few times, but all that thumping did not damage me at all."
It was nearly ten minutes before Kate Spencer could stop laughing, and
for an hour afterward she would break out occasionally when she
remembered how Harlow had looked after being struck by the basket.
The whole affair was explained to Mrs. Barnaby, and Frank was
introduced. He promised to send her over another basket of eggs from the
store, which eased her feelings greatly.
"I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Merriwell, sir," said the good woman. "Elsie
has told us lots about ye, but I never expected to see you here."
Frank explained how, by accident, he came to be there, telling of the
treacherous work in which he had detected Harlow not long before.
"The fellow must have come directly here after returning to Blue Cove,"
he said. "And that other chap was the spy."
"That other chap has been stopping at the Cove a few days," said Kate
Spencer. "He thinks he is a masher, and he was determined to force his
attentions upon me."
After they had talked a short time, Mrs. Barnaby went into the house,
and Kate, seeing Frank and Elsie wished to be alone, soon excused
herself and left them seated in the hammock.
"Oh, Frank," whispered Elsie, looking up at him with her innocent blue
eyes, "I am so glad to see you again! I had begun to fear we'd never see
each other any more."
"And I had begun to fear so myself, dear little girl," he confessed. "I
did not know where you were, for you were sailing over the world with
your father, and you did not have any permanent address."
"You did not answer the last two letters I wrote you."
"I answered every letter I received from you, Elsie. It must be they did
not reach me."
A look of relief added to the happiness of her sweet face.
"And I thought you were getting so far above the sea captain's poor
little daughter that you did not wish to answer. I heard that you were
in college, and that you had become famous, and--and all that. Oh,
Frank! you cannot know how I waited, and watched, and longed for an
answer to my letters!"
"It was a shame, little girl! But you should have known me better than
to think I would forget you. You should have known that, no matter what
fortune might befall me, I could not forget you. I have thought of you a
hundred--a thousand--a million times! I have longed to see you more than
I can tell!"
His arm was about her waist, and he drew her close. Her golden head fell
on his shoulder, and she smiled up into his eyes.
"How does it happen that I find you here?" he asked.
"Capt. Barnaby is one of father's old sailor friends. He has told father
many times that I could have a home with him, and at last, when I was
tired of going to sea, father sent me here. Here I met Kate Spencer.
Mrs. Barnaby is her own aunt."
"And you are not going to sea any more?"
"No; I am tired of it. I have tried to induce father to leave the sea
and settle down, but he always says: 'After one more voyage.' I'm afraid
he'll never give it up. He was rich once, you know, but he put all his
money in ships, and his ships met with bad fortune, so he lost
everything. It is his dream to wrest fortune from the sea once more."
"I am glad you are going to sea no more, for now I shall know where to
find you, and you will receive all my letters."
"Oh, Frank!" she murmured; "I believe you are braver and nobler than you
used to be--if possible."
"And you, Elsie--why, I didn't dream you could become prettier than you
were, but you have!"
Light-hearted, whistling on his way, Frank returned to the hotel at Blue
Cove.
Kent Spencer, who was seated in a bamboo chair on the veranda, smiled on
him as he approached.
"Well, Mr. Merriwell," he called, "I should say by your face that you
have found the friend I told you about?"
Frank laughed and nodded, blushing a bit.
"You are right," he confessed; "and it was the surprise of my life. But
it was lucky I went over, for I was just in time to protect her from
Rolf Harlow. By the way, have you seen Harlow within a short time?"
"I have," nodded Spencer; "and I rather fancy I know the spy you saw
with him. Something had happened to Harlow when he showed up at the
hotel a short time ago, for his clothes were very wet, and he looked
wretched and disgusted. A fellow by the name of Berlin Radford was with
him."
Frank laughed heartily.
"I'll tell you what happened to Harlow," he said, and then proceeded to
describe the fight, and the climax when Mrs. Barnaby struck Rolf over
the head with the basket of eggs.
Spencer joined in Frank's merriment.
"He had washed the broken eggs from his clothes, and that is why they
were so wet," declared Kent.
"Where are those fellows now?"
"They're gone."
"Gone? Where?"
"I don't know where, but they ordered a carriage as soon as they reached
the hotel, and it did not take them long to pack up and get out. I am
inclined to think they are gone for good."
"Which may prove a lucky thing for them."
"I rather fancy so, as I should have called Radford to account for
annoying my sister. Wasn't he the spy you caught?"
"He was," nodded Frank.
"I fancied as much when I saw him with Harlow. You have done Blue Cove
Academy a great service to-day, Mr. Merriwell. We did not suspect
Harlow. As for Radford, he has been here but a few days. It must be that
he is a member of the Alexandria Athletic Club, although we did not know
it. I didn't think those fellows up there would resort to such low
tricks; but they are bound to beat us this year and win back the title
of champions, which they lost last year. They have money, and I
understand they are betting heavily that they will win."
"I hope you will let our crew into this race," said Frank. "It will add
to the sport, even if you row Alexandria, which I think you had better
do."
"I will see that a meeting of the association is called immediately, and
the matter shall be considered. I am for taking you in. If Alexandria
kicks, let them stay out."
Frank expressed his satisfaction if such arrangement could be made, and
then went up to his room.
An hour later, the others of the Yale Combine arrived at the hotel,
Diamond in the lead, and Hans Dunnerwust bringing up the rear, as usual.
At least a dozen of the Blue Cove Academy boys were on hand to greet the
young bicyclists, who gave a cheer when they saw Frank come out of the
hotel.
"Hurro!" shouted Barney. "Here we are Frankie, me b'y!"
"Yaw!" cried Hans; "here you vos, Vrankie, mein poy! You peen glat to
seen us, ain't id?"
"Gol darn my punkins!" drawled Ephraim Gallup; "but this here is a slick
place, I snum!"
"Diamond tells us there is a chance for some sport here," said
Rattleton. "That's what we're looking for, you bet!"
Bruce groaned.
"I'm looking for quinine, blankets, hot water, pepper tea, any old thing
to warm me up!" he said. "I feel another of those confounded Arkansas
chills coming on."
Then Frank introduced his friends to Kent Spencer, and there followed a
general case of introducing. The Blue Cove lads seemed a rather pleasant
set of fellows, reminding Frank and his friends of the Lake Lily boys.
Browning did not stop for introductions, but hustled into the hotel, and
lost no time in beginning the battle to ward off a chill. Browning's
chills were unpleasant for him, but they were the subject of much joking
on the part of his comrades.
Frank had been certain that the boys would be hungry when they arrived,
and he had ordered a square meal served for them all, so that the table
was ready for them shortly after they appeared and washed up in their
rooms.
Browning was on the bed, covered with quilts and blankets, which he had
pilfered from the beds of the other fellows, gulping down quinine in
huge doses and groaning dismally.
"Aren't you coming down to get something to eat, old fellow?" asked
Hodge.
"Oh, yes, I'm cuc-cuc-cuc-coming down to eat!" chattered Bruce,
sarcastically. "I'd enjoy eating, wouldn't I?"
"We'll have something good," grinned Rattleton. "We'll have posen
frudding--I mean frozen pudding."
"Boo!" gasped the big fellow. "Dud--dud-don't speak of it!"
"And ice cream--good, cold ice cream."
"Gug-gug-get out bub-bub-bub-before I tut-tut-throw you out!" roared
Browning, in exasperation. "You are tut-tut-taking your life in your
hand when you cuc-cuc-come around me talking about ice cuc-cuc-cuc----
Confound it! get out!"
Then the laughing lads left him alone in his misery.
It was a jolly meal in the cool dining-room of the little hotel. The
boys cracked jokes, told stories, laughed and enjoyed themselves fully.
In the midst of it all, Browning stalked into the room, bundled to his
ears in blankets.
"Say," he called, "is there any good, hot tea or coffee?"
"Plenty of it," assured Merriwell.
"Gimme a cup--quick!"
Bruce found a seat at the table, and Frank ordered a cup of tea to be
brought. Then, while Rattleton and Mulloy were condoling with Browning
over his misfortune, Merriwell gave the waiter a tip to bring a cup of
cracked ice with the tea, but to place it beside Frank's plate.
The waiter obeyed the order, and soon the tea, boiling hot, was before
Browning. Bruce was so eager to swallow something hot that he caught it
up and gulped down nearly half of it. Then he uttered a roar of dismay.
"Confound it!" he cried, as soon as he could speak. "That tea has taken
the skin off all the way down! I'm parboiled inside! Oh, great Caesar!"
"You wanted it hot," said Rattleton. "The waiter brought it hot, so you
could cool it to suit yourself."
"That ought to break up your chill," laughed Frank.
Browning groaned.
"I wish I'd never seen Arkansas!" he declared. "We'd been all right if
Merriwell hadn't tried to carry out his scheme of riding through the
eastern part of the State. I caught the ague in those howling swamps,
and goodness knows when I'll get rid of it!"
"Vot you vants to done," said Hans, "is to froze dot ague oudt. Uf you
sot yourselluf down mit an ice-houses in und stayed there elefen or nine
hours, you shook all der ague away britty queek. Yaw!"
"Oh, yes!" grunted the afflicted lad. "That is a fine scheme! All you
need is a pill box and a few brains to become a first-class doctor. I
don't think!"
He tried to cool his tea so that he could drink it. After a time, he was
able to sip it. Then Frank caught Harry's eye, and made a signal that
Rattleton understood. Immediately Harry engaged Browning's attention.
Bruce sat the cup of tea down a moment, and Frank quickly exchanged it
for the cup of cracked ice.
After a bit, the big fellow took the cup by the handle, and, feeling
sure the tea must be cool enough for him to drink with impunity, lifted
it and took a mouthful of the fine cracked ice.
If possible, that gave Bruce a greater shock than he had received from
the scalding tea. Some of the ice slipped down his throat, and with a
shout of rage, the big fellow sprang up from the table and rushed from
the room, his blankets flopping about his heels.
And all those jolly, heartless jokers at the table shouted with laughter
once more.