THE STRANGE HISTORY OF RALPH
"If you don't mind, Frank, I'd like to go out of my way a few
steps, so as to stop at the post-office. There's a late mail comes
in after the last delivery by carrier," observed Ralph, after they
had reached town.
"Why, certainly," returned the other, quickly, as he glanced at
Ralph, who smiled half sadly and nodded.
"I keep hoping to hear something from your Uncle Jim. It may come
any day now, unless the very worst has happened, and they're all
lost over in that big wild country," said Ralph, drawing a long
breath.
"When did you hear from him last?" asked his friend, as they
turned the corner into the main street of Columbia.
"A month ago. You know, from England they had gone to India. He
wrote me from there that he had just missed Mr. Arnold Musgrove
and his widowed sister, Mrs. John Langworthy, who had sailed for
China."
"Yes, I remember all that. The lady has always been a very great
traveler, and something of an explorer. You told me she was
intending to do something that few strong men had ever attempted,"
remarked Frank, wonderfully interested in all that pertained to
the strange history of this boy friend.
Ralph had been brought up as the son of the Wests, living in the
village of Paulding. Then there had come a letter by mail,
accompanying bank notes to the extent of fifty dollars, and
telling him that a friend, knowing of his great ambition to get an
education above what the little country school could afford,
wished him to accept this gift, which would be duplicated every
month.
Ralph, with the assistance of his good friend, Frank, had learned
that the money came through a lawyer in New York, really an uncle
of young Allen. Then, later on, it was found that Ralph was only
an adopted son of the Wests, who had taken him from a poorhouse.
By degrees, it came out that the man who had left this sum with
the lawyer, Mr. Arnold Musgrove, must be an uncle of the boy, who
was, in all probability, a son of the rich widow.
Judge Jim had immediately set out for Europe, to confront
Musgrove, and tell the lady that her child was not dead, as she
believed, but could be restored to her. And, as Ralph had just
said, the legal gentleman soon found that he was going to have the
time of his life overtaking the energetic couple.
"Well," remarked Ralph, in answer to the inquiry of his chum, "she
and her brother actually started with a caravan overland across
China, skirting Thibet, and aiming to head northeast, so as to
pass through a portion of Siberia, and after that reach Russia.
They have been gone a long time now, and I wonder if I will ever
see her face. Sometimes it seems too good to be true."
There was no letter at the post-office for Ralph. He was getting
used to this daily disappointment. Still, Frank could see the look
of pain that flashed across Ralph's fine face, though he tried to
conceal it with a little laugh.
Arrived at his boarding place, the boys entered. It did not take
Ralph long to take a bath, and get into his ordinary clothes,
after which they hurried to the Allen home, where Frank followed
suit.
Although Frank said nothing more about the strange actions of
Minnie, it was very plain to his friend that he felt the snub
deeply.
"If I thought he wouldn't be mad with me, I'd be tempted to try
and find out from Minnie what she meant," Ralph was saying to
himself, as he sat opposite his chum at the table, and noticed the
little frown that occasionally came upon the open countenance of
the one he had in mind.
But he knew Frank's ways, and that the other would not like any
meddling in his own private affairs.
"Better let him settle it in his own fashion," was the conclusion
Ralph reached. "But if Lef Seller has had anything to do with it,
I'm sorry for him, that's all. Once Frank makes up his mind that
these pranks of Lef have reached a limit, he's going to give him
an _awful_ licking; and I know it."
Frank had been watching his sister Helen at supper. He knew that
there was something worrying her, too, and the strange thought
came that perhaps it might be along the same lines as his own
vexation.
"I wonder, now, could that be possible?" was the question that
kept confronting him.
Having once given way to this suspicion, he could not refrain from
trying to find out the truth. Helen had gone upstairs, on some
small excuse. He was surprised to find her in her room, and with
traces of tears in her beautiful eyes.
"Why, what's the matter, sister mine? Has anyone been abusing you?
I wonder if I could guess. Is it about Minnie?" he asked, gently,
for Frank was very fond of his only sister, but two years younger
than himself.
She looked at him in surprise.
"Why, Frank, however did you guess?" she exclaimed.
"Because," he replied, steadily, "she gave me the cut direct when
Ralph and myself were heading home from the athletic field this
evening. She and Dottie Warren were in the carriage, and Minnie
looked right through me when I bowed. Whew! it gave me a shock, I
tell you."
"The mean thing, to carry it to you! I suppose I've said something
or other to give her offense, although I tried in vain to remember
any cause; but since she chooses to include all my family in her
resentment, I'm not going to do the least thing in the way of an
apology," exclaimed Helen, warmly.
"I'm of the impression that it's me who's to blame, though I don't
know what I've done," said Frank, immediately. "If I did, I'd
apologize decently, and have it over with, whether she accepted it
or not. But Ralph suggests that perhaps it's the work of some
outsider, who wants to make trouble between Minnie and the
Allens."
"Oh, how mean! And from the way you talk, I can imagine who it is
you have in mind. That wouldn't be the first time Lef Seller has
been guilty of meddling!" exclaimed the girl, indignantly.
"It was Ralph who said that. He heard Lef laugh when she cut me,
as if it tickled him. If I could only get proof that he's been
telling yarns about me, I'd soon settle old scores with him. But
you won't try to make up, will you Helen?"
"Certainly not! I'm the innocent party. Minnie chose to give me to
understand that she'd prefer to go out with Dottie this afternoon.
I just turned away and came straight home. I think she called out
after me, but I wouldn't turn my head an inch. I shall decline to
ever speak to her again until the time comes when she apologizes.
There!" and Helen stamped her little foot on the floor, for
emphasis.
Frank sighed, and went back to the library, where Ralph was
chatting with Mr. Allen, always deeply interested in the strange
life story of the boy from Paulding.
Three times that evening Frank went to the telephone and held a
little confab with some unknown parties. Each time when he came
back he would be smiling in a way that mystified his friend, who
wondered what the particular business could be that took up so
much of his time.
But then, a captain of a school football eleven, on the eve of a
great struggle, must have no end of difficulties to straighten
out; and doubtless Frank found much to talk about with the various
members of his team.
Helen had come down again, and showed nothing of the dreadful
shock her feelings had sustained when her one particular chum so
basely deserted her.
She sang for Ralph, and the three of them also joined their voices
in many of the school songs dear to the heart of all Columbia
students.
"Ten o'clock, and time I was getting away to my little den,"
remarked Ralph, at last; for even the best of evenings must come
to an end.
"Wait just a few minutes," said Frank, mysteriously.
"What's all this? You're up to something or other," laughed the
other.
"I'm waiting, that's all," returned Frank, calmly.
"Waiting for what?"
"To hear the signal--there it is!" as three distinct knocks
sounded on the outside of the house.
"Why, whatever does it mean, Frank," asked the visitor, as he
arose to get his cap: for they were again in the little den Frank
called his sanctum, where he kept all his beloved traps connected
with the sports he delighted in, most of them decorating the
walls.
"They're all on deck, thank goodness! And now it's safe for you to
go home," was the rather startling remark of the other.
Ralph looked at the speaker a moment, and then, as a light dawned
upon his comprehension, he burst out into a genuine, hearty,
boyish laugh.
"Say, you don't mean to tell me you've gone and got a bodyguard to
escort me to my own dear little home, do you, Frank? Well, of all
the pranks, this certainly takes the cake! What do you think, that
they're already getting down to their fine little work, and mean
to kidnap me?" he exclaimed, greatly amused.
"No, but I know that crowd better than you do. When two sneaks
like Tony Gilpin and Asa Barnes make up their minds to gather a
bunch of skunks after their own stripe, and waylay a fellow they
hate, they lose no time about it. There's only one more day
between now and Saturday, when we play Clifford; and I saw them
turning to notice whether we kept on together. They know you are
here, sure."
"But I might slip out the back way, and give them the merry ha!
ha!" suggested Ralph; "though I hate to crawl that way from such
cowards, not one of them willing to face me outright."
"But that isn't it. We have talked it over, and come to the
conclusion that half of the fun would be lost unless those whelps
were treated to a dose of their own medicine. They need a good
sound licking, and I give you my word for it, they're due for one
if they try to tackle you on the road home to-night," and Frank,
as he spoke, brought his fist down sharply on his knee.
"Who did you invite to the party?" inquired Ralph, still laughing
at the absurdity of his requiring a bodyguard.
"Let me see," replied Frank. "There's Lanky Wallace, for one;
Buster Billings, for the second, and Paul Bird, for the third."
"Three good men, and true. I see that I'll be well protected on my
journey of half a dozen blocks!" cried Ralph.
"Oh, that's only a beginning. Each one of them agreed to get two
other fellows belonging to the team, if possible; for they want
all the practice they can get. So there will be nine in the bunch
that follows after you; ten, counting myself!"
"Oh, splash! That's an army! Why so many, Frank, when I'd be
willing to go anywhere with just you along for company," demanded
the other.
"Thanks for the compliment; but, you see, everybody wanted to go,
and bring others, and so I had to let 'em have their way. Now,
you'll probably never see a sign of our crowd as you walk along,
whistling and seeming to be unsuspicious. But at the first sign of
trouble, lift your sweet voice and sing out the rallying cry we
all know, 'Columbiad!' That will fetch us on the jump, Ralph. Hold
them off as best you can for a dozen seconds, and then prepare to
laugh."
"All right, seeing that it's your joke. Honestly, I don't think
they'll pay any attention to poor me; but since Coach Willoughby
believes I ought to play with the regulars, and any hurt to one is
an injury to all, I'll accept the guard of honor; only _please_
don't tell anyone about it to-morrow, unless you want me to be the
butt of ridicule for the whole school."
"Wait and see," was all Frank would say; and with this Ralph had
to be content.
The two friends separated at the door. Frank rather ostentatiously
bade his visitor good-night, and Ralph sauntered down the walk to
the gate, as the door closed.
Although he looked around once or twice, and thought he caught a
fleeting glimpse of several flitting figures, Ralph walked bravely
on his way, whistling merrily, as though he had not a care or
trouble in the wide world.
When he had gone a couple of blocks, he came to a portion of the
road when the shadows were densest. Here the trees grew close to
the thoroughfare, and this fact made it a splendid hiding place
for anyone so inclined. There was a legend told of a peddler who
had, once upon a time, been set upon by tramps at this point, and
robbed and beaten, so that he died of his hurts.
Even bold people were wont to hurry their steps a trifle when
passing this ill-omened place. Ralph, however, kept on at his
customary pace, still whistling one of the songs he had so lately
sung with Frank and Helen Allen.
Just as he was half-way past the shadowy spot, he heard a sudden
shrill sound, not unlike a referee's whistle on the football
gridiron. Dark figures immediately sprang up close by, and the
rush of many feet told that the danger anticipated by Frank was
about to materialize.
Ralph at once threw himself into a position of self defense, and
at the same time shouted out the call for assistance so well known
to all the sons of Columbia High.