FRANK IS WARNED
All over the room ran the mice, and all about darted the frightened
girls. The boys were, at first, too surprised to know what to do, but, at
a rallying cry from someone, they started after the mice. However, they
had no weapons to kill the rodents with, and had to be content with
taking kicks at them as they darted past, seeking means of escape.
"Couldn't have worked better!" exclaimed Bart, as he and his chums
watched the scene from where they were hidden.
"I hope none of the girls faint," said Fenn.
"Oh, Stumpy's getting worried about Jennie, I s'pose," remarked Ned.
"No danger of any of 'em fainting," said Bart. "They're too much afraid a
mouse would bite 'em."
So it seemed, for the girls contented themselves with screaming and
getting up on whatever offered in the way of chairs or benches.
Meanwhile the mice, bewildered by the lights, the noise and the strange
place, were running about, squealing as loudly as they could. Every time
one of the frightened creatures came near a girl, or a group of them, the
cries of the damsels drowned the squeaks of the rodents.
The boys of the Upside Down Club were at their wits' ends, for they could
wage no effectual warfare against the mice. One or two of the committee
of arrangements scurried around until they secured brooms, but by this
time the mice had hidden in corners, whence they scurried out
occasionally, to the great fright of the girls.
The dance had come to a sudden end, for the girls, even after comparative
quiet was restored, refused to venture on the floor. Even Alice, who was
braver than most girls, stayed in a corner.
"Who did it?"
"Where did they come from?"
"How did it happen?"
These and many more questions were heard on every side. The paper bags
from which the mice had burst were still in the center of the floor. Some
of the first-year boys picked them up. From them dropped slips of paper
on which were printed:
_COMPLIMENTS OF THE DAREWELL BASEBALL NINE_.
"I thought so!" exclaimed Walter Powell, the chairman of the arrangement
committee of the dance. "The Darewell Chums had a hand in this. We must
find 'em, fellows!"
"Come on!" exclaimed Ned to his companions in the ventilator space. "We'd
better skip. They may find us."
They went out as they had come in, and soon were on their way home.
"Talk about getting even," remarked Fenn. "I guess we did it all right!"
"I caught all the mice in our house," said Ned. "Dad says he wishes I'd
take the job steady, though he didn't know why I was doing it."
"Alice tried to find out one night what I was going to do with the cheese
I got to bait the trap with," Bart remarked. "I guess she knows now."
Meanwhile the boys of the Upside Down Club, much chagrined at the
unexpected ending of their entertainment, were trying to induce the girls
to go on dancing. They said all the mice had gone, which was probably
true, but they couldn't get the young ladies to believe it.
"I'm going home!" declared Jennie Smith, and several other girls decided
to go with her.
The boys made an ineffectual search for those who had played the trick.
They soon discovered that the bags had been thrown through the
ventilator, but, by the time a committee of investigation had gone to the
loft, the four chums were far away.
"We'll not say anything about this at school, Monday," Ned remarked
as the chums prepared to separate that night. "Let it come from the
other fellows."
"Oh, it will be town talk by to-morrow," declared Frank, as he started
off down the road toward his uncle's house.
Mr. Dent's residence was about a mile outside of Darewell. The road
leading to it was well lighted up to within half a mile of the Dent
place, and then the lamps were few and far apart. Frank hurried on,
thinking of many things besides the trick of the mice, for he had a real
trouble, and one he had not yet shared with his chums. It was bothering
him, and had been for some time. He wished he had someone he could take
into his confidence.
As he neared his uncle's house he noticed there was a light in the
sitting room. This was unusual, as his uncle and aunt were in the habit
of going to bed early. They left no light for Frank, who had a key to the
front door, and who carried matches to light the lamp always left on a
table for him.
"I wonder if any one is sick?" the boy thought, as he approached
the house.
He turned up a side path, as he wanted to get a drink at the well before
going to bed, and the water in the house was not likely to be fresh. As
he advanced cautiously through the darkness he heard voices, coming,
evidently, from the direction of the front porch. Frank halted, and, as
he did so, he heard his uncle's tones. Mr. Dent was saying:
"Of course it's too bad, but if he's violent, there's only one
thing to do."
"That's all," the voice of a man replied. "We will have to keep him in
the sanitarium for a while yet. I am just as sorry about it as you are.
But we must not let the boy know. It might have a bad effect on him."
Frank started. All his troubles seemed to come freshly to his mind. He
knew the man talking to his uncle had something to do with them, and he
resolved to find out more about the matter. He remained silent, hoping to
hear additional talk, but the two had concluded their conversation, and
the stranger could be heard walking down the gravel path toward the front
gate. That was what the light had meant. Mr. Dent had received a visitor,
and Frank determined to find out who it was.
"Well, I'll see you again when necessary," the stranger called to Mr.
Dent. "Good-night."
"Good-night," replied Frank's uncle, as he went into the house and
shut the door.
Frank waited until the stranger was out on the path in front of the
house. Then, keeping as much as possible in the shadows, the boy
followed. He stole along, walking on the sod to deaden his footsteps, and
soon found himself on the main highway. Just ahead of him he could see
the figure of the man. He tried to see if he knew the stranger, but it
was too dark.
"But I'll find out where you go," Frank declared to himself, "I'll get on
the track of this mystery sooner or later, and I guess I've got a good
start now."
All unconscious of being followed, the man hurried on. He seemed to know
his way, for, though it was dark, and the path was uneven, he kept on at
a good pace.
Frank was drawing closer, in the eagerness of his pursuit. He was not as
careful as he had been to walk on the sod, and, after he had gone about
half a mile, the boy suddenly stepped on a loose stone which made him
slip. The sound was heard by the stranger, who was about one hundred feet
in advance, and he turned quickly.
"Who's there?" he asked sharply.
Frank did not answer.
"Who's there?" the man inquired again, and there was menace in his tones.
Frank crouched down to get in the shadow of a big tree.
"I know someone is following me," the man went on, in a sharp voice.
"Whoever it is I warn him he had better come no further. If it's money
you're after I'll tell you I am armed, and I'll not hesitate to shoot. If
it's a beggar I have nothing for you. If it is anyone else I warn him I
will stand no trifling. I will say nothing to you, and if you follow me
you do so at your peril. Be warned in time and go back. You must not
meddle in this affair, whoever you are. I shall protect myself if I am
attacked!"
The voice ceased, and there sounded a click in the darkness, that might
indicate the man had cocked his revolver. Frank did not move. He hardly
breathed. He did not know what to do, for he had not counted on being
discovered.
"Remember! Follow me at your peril!" the man exclaimed again. Then,
turning quickly he ran ahead in the darkness, and was soon lost to sight.