FAILURE AND DISGRACE.
The pole-vaulting contest came late in the afternoon, and Denton Frost
set a stint at the very outset that appalled the greater part of the
contestants.
Man after man failed to come anywhere near the mark he had made.
Frank Merriwell’s turn came at last.
He had his own pole, which no one else was allowed to use.
Farley Fisher had joined Hobart Manton, Frost remaining with the other
contestants.
“Look here, Fisher,” said Manton, in a low tone; “you want to keep your
eyes open now. You’re going to see something.”
“What do you think I’m going to see?” inquired Fisher. “Do you fancy
Merriwell is going to win? Why, I’ve heard you bet a dollar or two
to-day that he would not defeat Frost.”
“So I did, and he won’t. You haven’t any use for Merriwell, have you?”
“Not a bit.”
“Well, you know I haven’t. Watch him—watch him close!”
Frank was about to make his first attempt. The crossbar was placed and,
gripping his pole, he started.
Up, up into the air he swung. It was a beautiful sight. The crowd was
breathless.
At the proper moment Frank lifted himself higher on the pole to fling
his body over the bar.
As he did this the pole suddenly broke beneath him.
Cries of terror came from the spectators as they saw him falling from
that height, for it seemed that he was destined to strike on his head
and shoulders and sustain serious, if not fatal, injuries.
One thing Frank had learned while practicing the Japanese art of
self-defense was to fall in such a manner as to sustain the least
injury. Usually a person who finds himself falling becomes rigid and
stiff, so that when he strikes he is jarred in every part of his body.
The Japanese fall limply, with their muscles relaxed. In this manner
Frank fell.
Although he struck on the back of his neck and his shoulder blades, he
came up in a moment, rising to his feet, as if wholly unharmed.
Seeing this, Manton uttered a curse of anger and dismay.
“The devil protects the fellow!” he hissed. “His neck should have been
broken.”
The judges and others gathered around Frank, all seeming to feel sure
he must be injured. He finally convinced them that he was not. Then one
of them told the people in the stand, and there was a cheer. This cheer
became a roar when, selecting another pole, Frank prepared to vault.
At his first attempt he cleared the bar, tieing Frost. Next time he
disturbed it; but he tried again and flung himself over it a full foot
higher than Frost had done.
It was the best vault made.
Frank won, and Manton lost a snug little sum of money.
But that was not all Manton lost. Investigation revealed the fact that
Merriwell’s pole had been tampered with and weakened in such a manner
that it could not fail to break. This discovery stirred up the Eagle
Heights people, and a rigid inquiry followed. Fuller did some detective
work, with the result that he finally got hold of the chap who had
tampered with Merriwell’s pole. This rascal was badly frightened, and
he made a confession, in which he told how he had been given fifty
dollars by Hobart Manton to do the job.
Manton was expelled in disgrace from the Eagle Heights A.A., and his
membership in the A.A.U. of the U.S. was annulled. His days as an
amateur athlete in good standing were ended.