FRIENDS OR FOES.
Thump--bang! thump--bang!
"Open this door!"
Thumpety--thump--bang! bang; bang!
"Open this door, or I will dake it brown--I mean I will break it down!"
Harry was excited.
"Hold on a moment, can't you?" cried the laughing voice of Frank from
within the room.
Harry was pressing against the door with one hand, having rained the
heavy blows upon it with the other hand, which was clinched in a most
threatening manner.
The door flew open with a suddenness that precipitated Rattleton into
the room with a headlong rush and plunged him plump into the stomach of
a young man who happened to be in the way.
"Ugh!"
"Wow!"
Bump! bump!--both went down, clasped in each other's arms.
Two other lads stood staring at the fallen ones. They were Frank
Merriwell and Fred Flemming.
Tom Thornton was the unfortunate who stood in the way of Rattleton's
headlong rush.
And Harry, quite unintentionally, had struck Thornton a smart blow with
his clinched fist.
At that moment it did look as if the excited lad had rushed into the
room with the premeditated purpose of hitting Tom.
"Here! here!--break away!" cried Merriwell, sharply.
"Not much!" panted Tom, in excitement and anger. "Think I'm going to let
him go, so he can hit me again?"
"Catch hold, Flemming," ordered Frank--"catch hold of your friend, and
we'll part them."
He grasped Rattleton by the collar as he spoke, but Fred made no move to
pull Thornton away.
Seeing this, Merriwell obtained a firm hold on the collars of both Harry
and Tom, and, with a surprising display of strength, wrenched them
apart, yanked them to their feet, and held them at arm's length.
"Steady, now!" he cried, as they seemed to betray a desire to get at
each other. "Quit it!"
"He struck me!" cried Thornton.
"It was antirely excidental--no, entirely accidental," declared Harry,
flourishing his arms.
Tom dodged.
"Well, you act as if you are trying to bring about another accident," he
said. "I know you hit me intentionally, and I'll make you pay for it,
too!"
"Bah! you can't make me pay for anything!" flung back Harry, his anger
aroused by Thornton's words.
"Do you think you can run around punching fellows in this way without
getting it back? You'll find you are mistaken!"
"You were in my way when I came in."
"I didn't have time to get out of your way."
"Well, what's all this about anyway?" demanded Frank. "Are you fellows
trying to settle some sort of a score?"
"It looks to me," said Flemming, stiffly, "as if Mr. Rattleton took
advantage of our presence in this room to strike Thornton."
"Well, what are you chaps here for, anyway?" demanded Harry. "That is
what I would like to know. We don't run in your class, and so----"
"Hold up, old man," interrupted Merriwell, promptly. "Mr. Flemming and
Mr. Thornton called to see me about a personal matter."
"I thought so," declared Rattleton, "and I decided you would get the
worst end of it, as they were two to your one--and the door was locked.
If they are here to do you, count me into it. I'll take care of this
fellow Thornton while you polish off Flemming."
"We did not come here to fight," said Fred, haughtily.
"Didn't?" exclaimed Harry, in surprise. "Then what sort of a game are
you up to, for I know it is something crooked?"
Flemming tossed his head.
"Mr. Rattleton," he said, "your language is very offensive to me."
"Had to glear it--I mean glad to hear it," shot back Rattleton, rudely.
"I didn't want you to misunderstand me."
"Mr. Merriwell," said Fred, turning to Frank, "I think we had better go.
Our business was with you, and Mr. Rattleton seems determined to raise a
quarrel with us. As you know, we did not come here to quarrel, and,
regarding Mr. Rattleton as your friend, we will endeavor to overlook his
behavior and insulting language."
"But we cannot forget it," added Thornton, giving Harry a fierce look.
"It will be remembered."
"I am sure I don't want you to forget it," flung back Rattleton.
"Come, Tom," urged Flemming, "we will go. Good-day, Mr. Merriwell."
Frank released Thornton, who followed Flemming from the room, simply
pausing at the door to say:
"Good-by, Mr. Merriwell."
"Good-by," smiled Frank.
And then, when the door had closed behind them, Frank dropped into a
chair and laughed softly but heartily.
"Well, I fail to fee anything sunny about it--I mean I fail to see
anything funny about it," growled Rattleton, prancing fiercely up and
down the room. "If you'll tell me where the laugh comes in, I'll
snicker, just to keep you company."
"The whole thing is very funny," laughed Merriwell. "Why, you were eager
to hammer Thornton, and the fellow was afraid you would, for all the
bluff he put up."
"It would have given me great satisfaction to thump him," confessed
Harry; "for I know it is exactly what he deserves. What were they up to,
anyway? That's what puzzles me. I expected to find that they had done
you up."
"Oh, nothing of the sort!"
"But they were up to some crooked game--I know it. I thought they had
fastened the door, so that they could do the job without being
interrupted."
"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Frank. "That explains why you looked as if you
were literally thirsting for gore when you lunged into the room and
grappled with Thornton."
"Did I hit him?"
"You had your fist clinched, and you may have given him a slight rap in
your excitement."
"Well, I did not give him that rap intentionally; if I had, he'd found
something entirely different. By jingoes! I may get the chance to show
him the difference some time!"
"You'd better drop it, old man."
"Eh? Drop it?"
"That's what I said, Harry, and that is what I meant, my boy."
"But why? I don't think I understand you. Those fellows are your
enemies, and that makes them mine."
"They have been my enemies, but we have had a peace conference."
"The dickens!"
"And we buried the hatchet."
"Well, I didn't suppose you could be fooled so easy! I knew they were up
to some sort of a game--I knew it."
"Well, what sort of a game do you think it was?"
"They're trying to fool you--trying to make you think they are ready to
bury the hatchet, while they are still waiting to hit you behind your
back whenever they can. That's the kind of chaps they are. They can't
fool me, if they can you. If they can lull you into carelessness till
their opportunity comes, they will drive the knife into you, and sink it
deep. Don't mink I'm thisted--I mean don't think I'm twisted. I am dead
certain of the sort of cattle I'm talking about. You will be playing
right into their hands if you get the idea that they have let up on you
in the least. When they get a good chance, you'll get it in the neck."
"Well, Harry, you may be right; but I have reasons to believe that
Flemming is anxious to call a truce just at present. He made a serious
mistake when he tried to enlist David Scott against me. Scott found out
all of Flemming's plots and secured enough evidence of the fellow's
rascality to cause his expulsion from Yale if it were made public."
"Well, it should be made public immediately."
"Oh, I don't know about that! Expulsion from college might mean the ruin
of Flemming's future."
"If he keeps on, he'll do that, whether he is expelled or not."
"If he does it himself, I shall not have it on my conscience. If I were
to bring about his expulsion, and he went to the dogs, I might blame
myself for it, thinking he would have done differently had he remained
here. Do you catch on?"
"I catch on that you are dead easy with your enemies till they force you
to down them for good."
"But when they do compel me to down them----"
"I will acknowledge that you always do a good job," said Rattleton, with
an approving grin.
"Mr. Scott believed that I should be severe with Flemming and Thornton,"
admitted Frank; "but I knew that Thornton was dragged into the business
by Flemming, without having any real heart for what he was doing. If I
were to expose Flemming, it would implicate Thornton, and that seemed
too much of a retaliation. I thought the whole matter over carefully,
and decided to give the fellows a chance. Then Mr. Scott went to them
and nearly frightened the life out of them by saying he meant to expose
them to the faculty. That brought them to their knees immediately."
Rattleton expressed his satisfaction by a vigorous pantomime.
"Finally," continued Frank, "when they had begged and promised, Mr.
Scott agreed to let up on them if they would come to me, offer
apologies, and give me their pledge to let me alone in the future."
"And that is how they happened to be here to-day?"
"Yes."
"Why was the door locked?"
"I locked it to prevent any of the fellows from dropping in on us while
we were talking the matter over."
"Well, Jones told me he had seen those chaps come in here, and I decided
they were looking for bother, so I made a hustle to get here. When I
found the door locked, I was sure they had you in a corner, and so I
threatened to break it down if it was not opened without delay."
"And, when it was opened, you came in like a raging lion."
"Well, I was ready for any scrim of a shortage--I mean any sort of a
scrimmage."
"You showed your readiness," laughed Frank. "I have the word of those
fellows that they will let me quite alone if I drop the past."
"I wouldn't believe either of them under oath!"
"You are a doubter anyway. We'll wait and see what will occur."