[Illustration: "LISTEN, WHAT WAS THAT?" WHISPERED FRANK.--_Page 83._]
FRANK ARMSTRONG
DROP KICKER
BY
MATTHEW M. COLTON
Author of "Frank Armstrong's Vacation," "Frank Armstrong
at Queen's," "Frank Armstrong's Second Term," etc., etc.
WITH FOUR HALFTONE ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ARTHUR O. SCOTT
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1912,
BY
HURST & COMPANY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A NEW ENTERPRISE 5
II. FAILURE AND A PROVIDENTIAL RESCUE 18
III. QUEEN'S TRANSPORTATION COMPANY 33
IV. BURTON'S ARRIVAL 46
V. THE WATER CARNIVAL 57
VI. AN OLD RIVAL'S STRATAGEM 70
VII. COALS OF FIRE 84
VIII. A SWIM FOR LIFE 96
IX. SAVED 106
X. PROFITS OF QUEEN'S FERRY 116
XI. THE HAZERS' WATERLOO 129
XII. CLASS NINES 144
XIII. FRANK'S FOOTBALL EDUCATION 158
XIV. THE TELEGRAPH COMPANY 172
XV. FRANK TAKEN TO WARWICK 184
XVI. THE WARWICK GAME 197
XVII. FRANK SAVES THE GAME 214
XVIII. MRS. BOWSER'S CAT 228
XIX. IN THE BELL TOWER 241
XX. A HEAVY PENALTY 255
XXI. GAMMA'S DESPERATE TACTICS 270
XXII. SAVED BY THE WIRES 284
XXIII. END OF GAMMA TAU 299
ILLUSTRATIONS
"Listen, what was that?" whispered Frank. _Frontispiece_
PAGE
Frank turned just in time to see a flash of white
disappearing beneath the surface. 27
"It's Choctaw!" cried the Codfish. "Who can
read Choctaw?" 179
Down it went to the ground, rose and was sent
spinning on its long flight from Frank's toe. 225
Frank Armstrong, Drop Kicker
CHAPTER I.
A NEW ENTERPRISE.
On a certain warm afternoon in the early part of July any one
passing along the main street of the little summer resort of Seawall
might have observed, had he chanced to glance seaward, a trim sloop
riding easily at anchor, her milk-white mainsail swaying idly in the
scarce-moving breeze. The water was like glass, excepting that here
and there it was wrinkled for a moment by a puff of wind which passed
instantly, leaving the mirror-like surface as before. Midway of the
sloop's cockpit sat the Ancient Mariner himself, nodding. His back
was braced against the gunwale and his pipe hung on his chest--a
gentle-looking old man with a long, grizzled beard, taking his
siesta as even Nature seemed to be taking hers that afternoon. His
toil-worn hand hung over the gunwale, and, had one been near enough,
the old man might have been heard to snore softly.
A quarter of a mile up the bay there appeared three black specks
in the water. They might have been corks merely, but as they came
steadily along you could have imagined them to be seals. They came
nearer, swimming noiselessly, scarcely making a ripple. Now they
were right alongside the sloop. Two of the seals, or whatever the
dark forms were, glued themselves close under the sweep of the
stern. The third swam cautiously toward the outstretched hand of the
Ancient Mariner, and tweaked one of the fingers which hung within
reach of any fish that might be bold enough to try a bite at the
tempting morsel. Instantly the Ancient was in motion and the "seal"
disappeared below the surface in a twinkling.
"Shiver my bloomin' timbers, what was that?" yelled the Mariner as
he jumped to his feet. "Some ding-busted dog-fish trying to make
a meal?" and he reached for his pike-pole to do execution to the
attacking dog-fish.
At this burst from the Ancient there came from under the stern an
answering burst of laughter. Another and still another joyful
chuckle followed, and in an instant there bobbed up three heads to
the astonished gaze of the occupant of the boat.
"You young rapscallions, so it wasn't a dog-fish after all," said
the Ancient. And then, rubbing his eyes, he looked again. "Bust my
bulkhead, if it isn't little Frank Armstrong!"
"Surest thing you know, Captain Silas," shouted Frank, treading water
and keeping his hands going at the same time with a fin-like motion
that held him out of the water to his shoulders. "Come on out, Jimmy;
come out, Lewis; no use hiding now."
"Well, I swan!" was all Captain Silas could say, for it was indeed
the old captain himself. "What are you doin' away out here in the
bay? You're worse nor a parcel of fish."
"Oh, Captain," cried Jimmy Turner, shooting out from the boat on
his back and splashing water in Lewis Carroll's face, "we expected
to have a lot of fun, but this galoot of a Lewis had to snigger out
loud, and that spoiled everything."
"You sniggered yourself," retorted Lewis.
"We couldn't help it," said Frank. "Did it scare you much, Captain?"
"Well, I reckon it wouldn't have scared me so much if I hadn't been
dreaming I was hauling in a big sword-fish, and just as I was going
to grab him with my gaff, up he jumps and grabs my hand. I give such
a jump that I near fell out the other side o' the boat."
The boys laughed again and splashed water.
"Come on into the boat," said the captain, grinning at the joke that
had been played on him. "Come on in and let's see how you look," and
he held out a gnarled hand to Frank, who seized it and was soon over
the side. Jimmy followed easily, but it took two of them to get Lewis
aboard, who, in spite of all his athletic endeavors, continued to
grow more like an ordinary washtub every day. But finally, after much
tugging, they landed Lewis safely. The three swimmers sat and dripped
water over Captain Silas' seats.
"Must have come into a fortune, Captain," exclaimed Frank, looking
over the trim boat and aloft at the white sail, which was now
swinging a little more widely with the land breeze.
"Oh, no," was the reply. "Couldn't make much outen my old fishing
job, so I took my little nest-egg outen the bank and put it in this
here boat."
"Going pirating?" inquired Jimmy.
"Not 'xactly that, kinder social piratin' maybe. I carry the city
swells that want to go fer a sail. It pays better nor lobsters."
"Just a different kind of lobster, eh?" broke in Lewis.
"I take parties out for sails at twenty-five cents the head,"
continued the captain, not noticing the interruption by Lewis, "but
it's been bad business these last two or three days, not a breeze
big enuff to blow a han'kerchief. So I was havin' a snooze when you
fellers give me such a start," and the old man grinned pleasantly.
"But it's breezin' up a bit now and maybe we can have a sail before
the sun goes down. Want to come?"
"You bet we do!" was the simultaneous response of the three, who had
scattered themselves comfortably around on the little deck forward
with their faces up to the blue sky.
"Hadn't you better go and git some clothes on your backs? You'll
freeze to death in them there skinny little bathing suits of yours."
"Oh, no, we'll be as warm as toast. See, our suits are nearly dry.
We've put in most of the time these last two weeks in these rigs and
we're used to it," said Frank.
The breeze was picking up every minute, and the captain, casting
an eye to the pier end without seeing any prospective passengers,
and apparently nothing loth to have back with him again the three
spirited youngsters, began to pull up his anchor and make ready. In
this the boys helped, and soon the sloop was heading off down the bay
careening to the freshening breeze.
"Gee whiz!" sighed Jimmy, prone on his back and stretched out like a
star-fish, arms and legs extended, "but this beats school all hollow."
"And what ye been doin' at school? Learnin' your lessons, I s'pose?"
said the captain, who had heard the remark. "S'pose your heads are
just crammed full of knowledge, eh?"
"Not exactly that," replied Frank, grinning. "There are a lot of
blank spaces in my cranium that haven't been touched yet. But Lewis
is fearfully educated."
"Yes," added Jimmy jokingly, "he's what they call a high-stand man."
"Wouldn't think it," said the old man, scrutinizing Lewis closely.
"I'd say he was a wide-stand man," still looking Lewis over
critically. Frank and Jimmy laughed heartily at this, and the
captain joined in when it was explained to him that this particular
kind of stand had nothing to do with the physique.
"I say, Captain," said Frank, coming down from the deck to where
Captain Brown sat at the tiller, "can't we do something to help you
run the ship?"
"She don't need no running mor'n she's doin' now. All you got to do
is just keep 'er steddy, same's I'm doin' now. You're not big enuff
to steer. I'm 'fraid she'd wallop ye all about in a heavy sea."
"Oh, I don't mean sailing her; I'm not much on that. But couldn't we
help with the passengers? Couldn't we put up the gangplank or put
it down or whatever you do with it?" continued Frank. "We are three
husky fellows, and we want to do something to keep in training."
"Trainin', what fer?" said the old man.
"Oh, just training for football. We want to be ready for the fall and
have our muscles hard and our wind good."
"Yes," broke in Lewis, "we are going to be on the football team this
fall up at Queen's School. Frank is going to be drop kicker, and
I----"
"Oh, ho," laughed Jimmy from his place up in the bow-sprit, where
he had just stretched himself full length, face downward, with his
legs coiled about the timber to keep himself from rolling into the
sea, "did you hear Lewis say 'we'? Lewis has to keep in condition, so
please, Captain, give him some heavy work to do; let him spank the
spinnaker and reef the anchor and splice the jib-boom."
"I could do any of them," said Lewis, throwing out his chest; and the
captain chuckled.
"I tell you," he said, "we can let Lewis dust the mains'l; that
would give him good exercise. But leavin' jokin' behind, ef ye want
somethin' to do, why don't you get a motor boat and take out people
for little runs among the islands here, same as I do? Lots o' people
want to go quicker nor I can go, but I wouldn't touch one of the
pesky things."
"By jiminy!" exclaimed Frank, "that's an idea!"
"Yes, and where's your motor boat coming from?" said Jimmy. "Motor
boats cost something, and I don't see any good, kind gentleman
coming around handing us one."
"We might hire one," said Lewis, "and pay the rent from our profits.
If we had luck we might be able to buy her by fall."
"Yes, and a house and lot and two yachts," said Jimmy, who was
skeptical about the plan.
"Guess I know where you boys might pick up one cheap," broke in the
captain, as he dexterously swung the boat over on the starboard tack
and headed her up the bay. "Old man Simpkins has a motor boat he
hasn't used for mor'n a year. It's layin' hitched up to his wharf
down Turner's Point way."
"Oh, I know who he is," said Frank. "Lives in that big house by the
pine grove a little way this side of the Point."
"That's the feller," said the captain. "Has a little girl, all kinder
crippled up with some disease or other. Comes down to sail with me
two or three times a week. Had a son at college who died of fever or
something. It was his boat. That's the reason the boat's never used,
I guess; old gentleman don't care for it no more."
"Great whippoorwills, but there's our chance!" said Frank. "Jimmy,
get over your pessimism and think up some scheme for renting that
boat. Why, man," as Jimmy just grinned, "there's millions in it.
We'll organize a company."
"I'll be with you on condition that you'll let me steer it," said
Jimmy. "You can be captain if you want to."
"All right, my son, you may, and I'll take care of the motor," said
Frank. "That's a job for the best man."
"And what am I to be?" said Lewis. "Can't I be skipper, or something
like that?"
"You'll be the ballast," said Jimmy, grinning from his perch on the
bow-sprit. He had turned over on his back now and was balancing
precariously, one toe hooked in a coil of rope at the foot of the
mast being his only anchorage from a bath in the cool green sea
racing along a couple of feet below him.
"We are talking as if we had the boat in commission already. But
'nothing venture, nothing have,' as the old saying goes. I'm going
down to-morrow to see Mr. Simpkins and try my powers of persuasion on
him."
"Beware of the dog," warned Jimmy.
"Dog or no dog, I'm going to try."
"What's this navigation company going to be called?" inquired Lewis.
"The name will be the 'Queen's Ferry,'" said Frank.
"Sounds like an old English romance, but it's good," commented Jimmy;
"the Queen's Ferry, Armstrong, Captain, Carroll, first mate----"
"I don't want to be first mate," corrected Lewis. "I want to be a
skipper."
"Well, if you want to have such a lively name go ahead and take it.
If skipper means anything speedy, you've got the most terrifically
misplaced confidence in yourself I ever saw,--but if you must, you
must, so you are to be the skipper."
"And James Turner will be first mate and helmsman," said Frank.
"Aye, aye, sir," came the response.
"Now, that being done, we've got to have an agent to drum up our
business, to see that the great and waiting public may know that
at last in Seawall there is a proper conveyance; a guide and
courier, a kind of advertising man who will present our magnificent
possibilities in transportation."
The three boys looked at each other.
"The Codfish!" they shouted in chorus.
"The Codfish is the man. And he's coming to visit me in a week,"
added Frank.
"Too long to wait," said Jimmy, shaking his head. "We are losing
profits every minute. Let's telegraph him to come now. 'Do it
now'--or before--is my motto."
"Good!" said Frank; "we'll telegraph to-night and offer him the job.
Let's see, this is Thursday; we ought to begin our trips Monday. Yes,
Monday's the best day to begin anything on. We might get started on
Saturday if the Codfish comes right away."
"Did you kids ever hear tell of countin' chickens before they was
hatched?" broke in the voice of Captain Silas. "You haint got the
boat yit," and the old man chuckled. "But that's the way youth do run
on. And then how about drivin' poor old Captain Silas Brown out of
bisness with one o' them fast motor boats?"
"Oh, Captain, do you think it would hurt your trade? We wouldn't do
it for the world. We'll give it up. I didn't think of that," cried
the generous boys in a breath.
"Go along with you, 'twon't hurt me. I was only jokin'. There'll be
more than we all can do and I'm a thinkin' you'll get tired of it
pretty quick. I'll help you all I can to git hold of the old boat,
but don't ever ask me to go to sea in one o' the consarned things.
'Member what happened to your old boat last year?"
The boys looked at each other.
"You bet we do!" they exclaimed in a breath.
"But there are to be no matches aboard any boats I command in the
future," cried Frank.
"Well, here we are back again," said the captain, as he brought the
_Seagull_, for such was her name, up into the wind. "I'll take you
off in my dinghy in a minnit."
"Thank you, Captain, for a fine sail and a brilliant idea, and we
won't bother you to take us off; we have our fins," said Frank. "See
you later," and one after the other the boys popped into the water
like so many porpoises, and, led by Frank, swimming a graceful and
easy overhand, they went ploughing up the beach in the direction of
the Armstrong cottage.
"Water rats, nuthin' but derned water rats," said the old man, as his
kindly eye followed the three swimmers pulling rapidly away towards
the shore.