RECKLESS DARING.
“In!”
Browning growled the word.
“Chuck him!”
Rattleton hissed the exclamation.
“Lively!”
Merriwell gave the command.
Flop--thump! The half-smothered proctor was flung into the cab.
“After him!”
The words came from Frank.
In went Browning on top of the proctor. Diamond followed him with
alacrity, and Griswold scrambled in instantly, then Rattleton forced
himself in without delay.
Slam--the door shut.
The policeman had seen something of the struggle, and he broke into a
run.
“Hold on there!” he cried.
“Can’t stop!” panted Frank.
A spring took Merriwell up beside the driver. Before that person could
say a word he had snatched the reins and whip.
Crack!--the whip fell on the backs of the astonished horses.
Unfortunately, the animals were headed toward the approaching officer.
They leaped forward.
“Stop!” cried the policeman, springing from the sidewalk to the street.
“Couldn’t think of it!” flung back Merry. “Get out of the road!”
The officer waved his club, and then, seeing the horses were snorting
beneath the blows of the whip and badly frightened, he attempted to
catch them by the bits. He made a miscalculation, slipped and fell.
Frank Merriwell’s heart leaped into his mouth, for it seemed that the
wheels of the cab must go over the policeman. With all his skill it did
not seem possible Merry could avoid the man’s fallen body.
He reined sharply to the right, hearing a cry of horror break from the
lips of the driver. He bent to the left and looked down, although he
was nearly flung from the seat.
What Frank saw brought a prayer of thankfulness and relief from his
pale lips.
The policeman was not slow to realize his peril, and he rolled over
once, getting far enough out of the way so that the wheels did not pass
over him, although they brushed his clothes.
“All right!” laughed Frank, with a great burst of relief. “Close call,
old chap; but a miss is as good as a mile.”
It was one of the desperate adventures of Frank’s life, as he well
knew, for to be caught and stopped then meant certain disgrace and
expulsion for all connected with the affair. Frank had realized this as
soon as the policeman started toward them, and for that reason he had
made the hustle of his life to get away with the kidnaped proctor.
On leaped the horses.
The driver began to demur.
“What in blazes does this mean?” he demanded. “Why are you snatching
the reins from my hands? I can drive me own cab.”
“Steady, my friend,” said Frank. “I haven’t a doubt of it, but the
case was desperate. Keep cool and it will be all right. Just give me
the pleasure of driving, and it will be an extra ten dollars in your
pocket.”
Ten dollars! That meant something to the driver, but still he was
afraid, as well as angry.
“I don’t care about gettin’ into no scrape with the cops,” he said.
“What kind of business are you chaps up to?”
“It’s all right, don’t let that worry you. If that cop doesn’t catch
us, you won’t get into any trouble. Listen! There goes his call for
aid!”
“Are you a student?” asked the driver.
“Sure.”
“Hazin’ some feller, I reckon?”
“You are a good guesser, old man.”
The driver was relieved. If it was no more than a case of hazing, it
was not so very serious. More than once his cab had been hired to
assist students in some hazing scheme.
“But I’ll take the reins,” he said, as he took them from Frank’s hand;
“and I want to warn you not ter snatch ’em from me again. If you
do--well, something will hit you hard. As it was, I came near throwin’
you off. Would, too, if I hadn’t been so scared for fear you’d run down
the cop.”
“Then it was a good thing for me you were scared,” laughed Frank, who
seemed remarkably at his ease now that the danger of the moment was
over.
He turned to look back.
“Cop is running after us,” he said. “Turn to the right at the next
corner. Hope he won’t stir up any chap who will try to stop us. We
can’t afford to be stopped now.”
“You student chaps are a fast gang,” said the driver, and Frank could
not tell if the man’s voice expressed admiration or contempt.
“Oh, I don’t know!” said Merry, easily. “I presume we are pretty rapid.”
The cab was rattling over the stones at such a pace that talking was
not easy, so they dropped it here for a time. Few words passed between
them save when Frank gave the driver directions.
It seemed possible the policeman had been injured somewhat by his fall,
for he did not pursue them far, for they did not encounter another
officer.
Finally they approached the river and the railroads which cross the
drawbridge.
Frank had been there before, and he remembered his experience on that
occasion with some amusement.
“The water is warmer now than it was then,” he thought; “and we’ll give
the proctor what I did not get--a genuine ducking.”
He told the driver to stop, paid him well, as agreed, and then sprang
down and opened the door for the others to get out.
Diamond, Rattleton and Griswold sprang out hastily, and then Browning
passed out the captive, being himself the last to step to the ground.
“Shall I wait for you, young gentlemen?” asked the driver, with great
politeness, as he was feeling in a softened mood since receiving his
money.
“No,” answered Frank. “We shall not want you again.”
Although he was ready to wait if wanted, it seemed to afford the driver
some relief to be able to depart at once.
“Them chaps may be initiatin’ the chap they’ve caught to some secret
order, or they may be hazin’ him,” muttered the driver, when he was on
his way from the vicinity. “Either thing is bad enough, and I don’t
want to be mixed in it. Nobody can tell what’ll happen.”
It is true that a few accidents have happened to students in New
Haven. Sometimes those students were being hazed, sometimes they were
being initiated into a secret order. In the old days of the freshmen
societies, Sigma Ep, Gamma Nu and Delta Kappa, there were far more
accidents than happen now that the faculty stand by the decree that
abolished everything in the form of a recognized society for freshmen.
The “old grad.” mourns the death of the old customs and tells with
pride of the “hot times” that took place in the “good old days.” He
insists that Yale society is degenerating and becoming insipid. In his
time there were a hundred pitched battles where now there is one mild
skirmish. In those days freshmen fought freshmen for the possession
of a new arrival, and when the “candidate” was captured he was run
through a wild and horrible initiation ceremony that left his nerves
in a shattered condition and his entire system in a state of collapse.
Sometimes the reckless freshmen carried this too far, with the result
that the candidate received an injury of more or less seriousness. One
or two injured victims “peached” on the whole business, and the outside
world was shocked and horrified. It seemed to the ignorant that a state
of semi-barbarism existed there at Yale, and the effect of this belief
was felt by those who had the best interest of the college at heart.
Then the freshmen societies were abolished. There even has been talk of
abolishing the sophomore societies, but it is not at all probable that
this will happen.
Of the leading junior and senior societies little is actually known,
save that they exist and have quaint, curious and handsome society
houses. A member never talks about the society to which he belongs. The
pin which he wears in its proper place tells that he is a member, and
no more than that can he reveal to an outsider. This badge is supposed
never to leave his person, even during a bath, at which time he must
hold it in his mouth. If you ask him questions, he will receive them in
absolute silence.
These societies have never brought censure on the college by
carelessness or recklessness. Of them all Skull and Bones is the
richest and most respected. Every year it takes in fifteen men from
the incoming senior class, and he is not a Yale man who would prefer
any scholarship honors or prizes to membership in “Old Bonesy.” The
ones chosen for membership stand head and shoulders above the rest of
the class in distinction, literary, scholastic, athletic, social or
otherwise.
The other two top-notch societies are Scroll and Key and Wolf’s Head.
“Keys” is rated next to “Bones,” and Wolf’s Head comes third in order.
Instances are not unknown where a man unnoticed by “Bones” or “Keys”
has refused to join Wolf’s Head.
It was generally believed in Yale that Merriwell was sure of making
“Bones.”
When the daring kidnapers had removed their captive from the cab and
the driver had driven away, Frank produced a stout piece of rope. This
was small, but seemed strong enough to support the weight of a man.
“Here,” whispered Frank, motioning to Harry, “tie it about his waist,
and make it fast. Be sure of that.”
Rattleton obeyed hurriedly.
“Now, fellows,” came in a whisper from Merriwell, “we have no time
to waste. He must be nearly smothered. We’ll souse him, release the
blanket and get away. We can do it here in the darkness without the
least danger that he will recognize us.”
There was a sudden movement beneath the blanket, which was fiercely
flung aside, and the hoarse voice of the proctor uttered a cry for help.
Swift though the movements of the proctor were, Frank Merriwell was
quite as quick. He caught the blanket and again drew it about the head
of the man, hissing:
“Tie his hands, fellows! Make them fast this time!”
The proctor’s cry had been cut short and smothered. He had a short
battle, but his spirit seemed broken, and he easily succumbed, his
hands being tied behind his back.
“Wheejiz!” panted Harry, looking round fearfully. “S’pose anybody heard
him?”
“Not likely,” said Diamond.
“Can’t tell,” admitted Frank.
“Let’s get the job over in a hurry,” urged Griswold, who seemed to be
growing nervous and apprehensive.
Then they made the proctor march blindly onto the bridge. Frank held
fast to the rope that was tied about the man’s waist.
They came to a halt at last. On the bridge below a light gleamed
brightly. They were in the shadow.
“Are you ready, fellows?” asked Browning, as he took hold of the
captive.
“Get onto the line here,” ordered Merriwell, and Diamond, Rattleton and
Griswold took hold at once.
The water gurgled below with a sound similar to that once heard by
Frank in the throat of a drowning man. Somehow a cold chill crept over
Merry, and of a sudden he felt like backing out. It was true that he
had no love for the proctor, who was something of a sneak and therefore
cordially disliked by most of the students, but Frank believed in
giving a man a fair opportunity to fight for himself, and Rudge had
been given no such opportunity this night.
But for the fact that it would have seemed cowardly to back out at
this stage of the game, Frank would have abandoned the whole project
then and there. He was a person who seldom felt presentiments, but now
a warning of coming evil seemed to oppress him. All his life he had
observed that first impulses and first impressions were best, and now
it seemed that something bade him stop at this point and wash his hands
of the affair.
Frank refused to heed this warning.
“Come,” whispered Diamond, “what are you waiting for, Merry?”
“Nothing.”
Again the water gurgled chokingly. The shadow was deep down there below
the bridge. Distant lights made glimmering streaks like wavering pencil
marks upon the bosom of the river.
Frank looked down. For a single instant his imagination pictured a dark
form floating on the water.
“We can’t stay here long,” said Bruce. “It must be near time for a
train.”
“Ready!”
The word came from Merriwell’s throat, but it was husky, and he choked
a bit. He was angry at himself and gave himself a savage shake.
The captive seemed to realize that something unpleasant was before him,
and he shrank back.
“In with him!”
Bruce lifted the proctor in his strong arms and dropped him into the
river.
“Hold fast!”
Splash!--the man struck the water.
“Ha! ha!” laughed Danny Griswold. “Bet that was a shock for his nerves!”
Somehow his laughter sounded hollow and ghastly.
“Pull in!”
Just as the word was given Danny Griswold uttered a low cry of warning:
“Look, fellows! Somebody is coming toward the bridge! See--right over
there!”
They looked in the direction indicated, and dark forms were seen
approaching.
“It won’t do to be caught!” cried Frank. “Pull in lively, fellows! We
must have Rudge out in a minute!”
Pull they did in the greatest haste. The proctor was lifted from the
water, and then----
Snap--splash!
The rope seemed to part, and down went the boys who were pulling. There
was a splash as the body of the helpless proctor fell back into the
river!
Frank started to scramble up, but some one caught hold of him and
dragged him back in an effort to rise first.
“Let go!” he grated. “The proctor is in the river, and he will drown if
some one does not pull him out in a hurry!”
“Right!” came from Rattleton. “Oh, murder! what an awful scrape! What
if Rudge should drown?”
“We would be murderers!” quavered Griswold.
“Those fellows are coming!” sibilated Diamond, as he got upon his feet.
“Jove, fellows, they are police! We are pinched if we do not run for
it!”
“Can’t run!” came firmly from Frank, as he also scrambled to his feet.
“Got to get Rudge out of the river at any cost!”
“It means disgrace, expulsion, shame if we are caught!” fluttered
Diamond.
“It means murder if we do not save the proctor!” came back from Frank,
as he tore off his coat.
“What are you going to do?” hoarsely demanded Browning.
“Pull Rudge out or go to the bottom with him!” was the retort.
“Stop!” Bruce caught Frank by the shoulder. “You are mad!”
“Let go, Bruce Browning!” said Frank, swiftly. “You are my friend, and
you will have no one but yourself to blame for what follows if you do
not let go!”
“I’m not going to see you drown yourself, Merriwell! Go slow!”
“This is no time to go slow. Last warning, Browning! Let go!”
Bruce did not obey.
Smack! Frank Merriwell’s fist struck Browning fairly between the eyes.
The big fellow was not prepared for the blow, and it dropped him
instantly.
Then Frank turned and plunged headlong from the bridge into the dark
Quinnepiac River!