THE LEAP INTO THE RIVER.
"That's the right kind of talk anyway!" said Rowe, "and it's just what
we might have expected from you, but really, Merriwell, this was the
last thing on the programme for to-night, and even if that scoundrel
hadn't pushed you in front of the car we should have made you go to bed
at this time."
"Well, I'm bound to obey you in any case," said Frank, "but speaking of
that, am I at liberty to talk?"
"Of course, for you're in the presence of members of the Pi Gamma in
good standing."
Rowe grinned when he said this, for he thought of the black-mark
nonsense and realized that Frank took it in earnest. He added:
"Out of consideration for this accident, Merriwell, I shall ask the
president to score off the black marks already entered against you and
let you begin with a clean record."
"Well, I can't object to that," said Frank, "for I must say it struck me
that some of those marks were chucked on rather harshly."
"You'd better not make any criticisms of the way this society is run,"
declared Rowe, sternly.
"That's so; I take that all back, but what I wanted to say was that it
seemed to me as if somebody had interfered with the game."
"That was it exactly, Merriwell, and it was something that we shall have
to take a hand in before long."
"How did it happen?"
The others told Frank what they had seen. He listened thoughtfully and
remarked:
"Some fellow evidently had a grudge against me."
"It looks that way," responded Rowe.
"Who do you suppose it could be?"
Before Frank could answer there was a knock at the door and Baker
hurried in.
"Ah!" he said, in a tone of relief, "I see you've got through all right.
There was something I meant to tell you, Rowe, and I forgot all about
it."
"What was it?" asked Rowe.
"Why," answered Baker, "Browning came in, you remember, just before we
started in on Merriwell's essay?"
"Yes. I wondered what he wanted."
"Well, he came in to say how he had heard that Miller, the cigar dealer,
had it in for Frank, and that we'd better look out lest Miller take
advantage of the initiation to put up some dirty job. Of course I meant
to tell you about it before you took the neophyte to the street, but
Prof. Adler's interruption drove it clean out of my mind. I didn't think
of it until I was half through with Rattleton, who was the neophyte in
my party.
"I see you've got through to-night all right, but it'll be just as well
to look out----"
Baker stopped, for there was something in the expression of the faces
before him that aroused his curiosity.
"What's the matter?" he asked, suddenly.
They told him and he listened with growing indignation.
"It must have been Miller!" he exclaimed, at last. "Didn't any of you
fellows recognize him?"
Now that Miller's name was mentioned the students thought that they did
recognize him, but they could not be sure of it.
"We must find out about it!" said Baker, earnestly. "This thing has not
only endangered a student's life, but it has put all secret societies at
Yale in danger of their existence.
"If Frank had been seriously hurt the faculty would surely hear of it
and nothing would convince them that we weren't to blame for it. Miller
must be prevented from doing anything of this kind again."
"Probably he won't try it again," Frank remarked, "for if he saw how
successful his trick was, he must be convinced at this minute that I was
maimed for life, if not killed."
"Merriwell insists on going on with the initiation," said Rowe, "and I
have told him that, under the circumstances, we would erase all the
black marks against him."
"That's right," responded Baker, solemnly. "I think we'd better go on
with the initiation just as usual, and meantime some of us will look up
Miller and see what we can do about him."
"I rather wish," suggested Frank, "that you could wait on that until the
initiation is over, so that I can take a hand in it."
"It won't do to lose any time," returned Baker. "You go to bed,
Merriwell, for you'll probably find that you need rest; the rest of us
will go and have an interview with Miller."
As Frank was bound to obey, he made no further objection to this plan,
and accordingly went to his room. Baker and Rowe and the others
proceeded to the little shop where Miller did a cigar business.
They found it closed. Usually it was open until after midnight. By
patient inquiry they learned where Miller lived and they went there.
Miller was not at home.
The students rather wished that they could report the matter to the
police, but that would have brought the Pi Gamma affairs into public
notice and so they decided not to do so.
It might be said right here that during the rest of the week of
initiation they made vain efforts to get track of Miller. He had
disappeared.
An assistant was in charge of the shop, who pretended to be very much
mystified at his employer's absence. Whether he was telling the truth or
not could not be proved.
The main fact was clear; Miller had played his trick so successfully on
Frank that he was afraid of the consequences and was keeping out of
sight.
Frank was a little lame on the following day, but not sufficiently so to
be kept from going about as usual. The initiation, therefore, proceeded
during the week according to regular custom.
During the daytime Frank attended lectures and recitations with
regularity, and as he afterward said, did rather more studying than at
any other week during his college career.
Every evening there was a meeting of the "Pigs" in the room of some
senior member, where exercises of a more or less ridiculous nature,
similar to those already described, were had. Usually, too, there was an
excursion upon the street, but in these instances the neophyte was not
blindfolded.
Frank had had to do numberless small errands, and one evening was
devoted almost wholly to sending him from house to house to ask for a
piece of cake or a slice of bread.
His mentors always stood near to see that he followed out the
instructions literally, and in every case he complied.
Rattleton and Diamond suffered more from the experiences of these
evenings than they had on the occasion when their nerves were tested by
being driven blindfolded through the streets.
Diamond lost his temper several times and flatly refused to go on with
the initiation, whereupon the seniors would give him a host of black
marks.
He took the black marks as seriously as Frank did, and always became
very penitent.
"I suppose I can do what other fellows have had to do," he grumbled,
"but I can't see any sense in such tomfoolery."
Then the seniors would discuss the matter gravely, and decide that as
Diamond was a well-meaning fellow, they would let the black marks go
this time, so that he could start over with a clean score.
Before the week was over Frank began to see through the black-mark
farce, and he realized that it was a part of the scheme to make a
neophyte get as many black marks against himself as possible, and then
as a special favor allow him to start over again; nevertheless, he
continued to obey instructions as carefully as possible.
The most trying experience he had in this line was when the seniors
arranged matters with several young ladies who were acquaintances of
Frank's, so that they should meet him one after another, speak to him,
and try to engage him in conversation.
On each of these occasions a senior member of the order happened to be
near, and Frank was compelled to put his hand to his lips and shake his
head at every pretty girl who spoke to him.
Some of the girls understood the situation, and others were mystified.
The result was, therefore, that as every one of them appeared to be
indignant and offended, Frank accumulated a lot of trouble which it took
him several calls later to overcome in the way of making apologies and
explanations.
He never complained, however, and at last the final night of the
initiation arrived.
Up to this time not one of the neophytes had been near the society's
rooms. These were known to be on the top floor of a high building not
far from the college. No student not a member was ever admitted to them,
and what there was there was one of the mysteries of the society.
On this evening Frank and the other neophytes were again blindfolded and
dressed in long gowns that had hoods attached to them.
The hood was pulled over the neophyte's face. His hands were then bound
behind his back, and half a dozen mentors accompanied him on his trip.
On this occasion each of the mentors had a long horsewhip. They walked
at some distance from him and guided him in the way he should go by
touching his face on either side with the end of the whip; when Frank
felt the lash brush his right cheek he turned to the right, and _vice
versa_.
The mentors, as before, left him alone sometimes for half an hour at a
stretch. On each of these occasions he had no idea where he was or what
was being done.
As a matter of fact, warned by their previous experience, the mentors
kept within sight, but no effort was made to do Frank an injury.
The object of the long waits was to try the neophyte's nerves as much as
possible, so that he should be in proper condition for the final test.
The most trying of these consisted of the jumping from the bridge.
After having been driven this way and that until his head was completely
turned, Frank knew that he was approaching the railroad tracks, for he
heard the sounds of passing engines.
Presently two of the members stepped beside him in order to prevent him
from stumbling, for he was now upon the sleepers themselves.
They walked beside him thus for some distance until at length the
neophyte knew that he was on a bridge; he remembered the place then, or
thought he did.
Several railroads that pass through New Haven enter the street by
crossing the Quinnepiac River on a drawbridge.
Frank was certain that he was on this bridge, and for that matter his
guess was a correct one.
The students conducted him to the middle of the bridge, and after
halting him, told him to move forward very cautiously by shuffling his
feet along on the boards.
He did so, and presently was aware that his toes were projecting over
the edge of the bridge; that meant that the draw was open.
Just below him he could hear the gurgling of the water as it flowed past
the piles.
He stood there in silence for a few minutes, and then another party
approached, bringing with them Rattleton, Diamond, Henderson and Hodge.
The five neophytes were then together.
A whispered consultation took place among the seniors. Apparently they
were trying to prevent the neophytes from hearing them, but as a matter
of fact the neophytes heard every word, which was exactly what the
seniors intended.
The discussion was as to whether the tide had risen far enough, whether
the ropes were all right and would hold, and whether any of the
neophytes were too nervous to risk the plunge.
Of course the waiting neophytes understood it all. They realized that
they would be ordered to jump into the water. It was not a pleasant
thought.
There was not one of the juniors who would not have relished a dive if
he had had his eyes open and had been dressed for the occasion, but it
is quite another thing to stand bound and blindfolded above a rushing
current and leap out into the darkness.
At last it was decided that Rattleton should go over first. The seniors
talked in low tones and acted generally as if they were greatly excited
by the seriousness of the occasion.
Even Frank, who was perfectly cool through it all, wondered if
everything was so arranged that no accident could occur, and he felt a
little sorry for Rattleton, who was so excitable that the sudden shock
of jumping and landing in the water might produce unpleasant results.
With it all the seniors were very slow in their procedure and every
minute of suspense made it harder for the waiting neophytes.
At last Baker, in a low tone, reminded Rattleton of his promise to obey
orders, and then told him to jump.
Frank, of course, could not see a thing, but he heard a little grating
sound as Rattleton's feet left the planks. An instant later there was a
loud splash in the water.
"Pull him in quick!" exclaimed the voice of Rowe, "we don't want him to
catch cold. Hurry it up!"
"There, he's coming to the surface!" said another voice.
This remark was followed instantly by a loud coughing and sniffing.
"Poor Harry's got his mouth full of water," thought Frank. "I'll look
out for that when I go over."
With a great bustling about and a lot of excited exclamations the
seniors pulled Rattleton up and started him off as fast as he could go
toward the college.