DEADLY PERIL.
Frank squirmed, and Harris laughed.
"That hits you hard," said the fellow. "We'll soon put you out of
business as a professional magician."
"You shall pay dearly for every bit of property you destroy!" vowed
Frank.
"That's all right. You'll not worry anybody by talking like that.
You'll have to catch your hare, and we'll be far away from here
to-morrow."
"I was too easy with you in the past, Harris," said Frank. "I can see
that now."
"Oh, yes, you were easy with me!" snarled the fellow. "You didn't do a
thing but disgrace me in college! You----"
"I simply exposed your tricks when you were fleecing my friends by
playing crooked at poker. You brought it on yourself."
"It's a lie! I didn't play crooked. I----"
"You acted as the decoy to draw them into the game, while Rolf Harlow
robbed them with his slick tricks. You can't deny that. You deserved
worse than you received."
"That's what you think. Anyhow, I'll have my revenge now. Go ahead,
Mazarin; smash up the stuff."
"He may shout."
"If he does, it will be his last chirp, for I swear I'll use the knife
on him!"
Frank fully believed the fellow would do just as he threatened. Besides
that, it was extremely doubtful if anyone could hear him in case he
shouted, as the theater was a detached building, in which there were no
offices or stores.
So Merriwell was forced to sit there, bound and helpless, and witness
the destruction of his property, the intricate and costly apparatus for
performing his wonderful feats of magic.
With savage frenzy the little man battered and hammered and smashed the
apparatus which had cost many hundreds of dollars. He laughed while he
was doing it.
Harris lighted a cigarette and sat astride a chair near Frank, whom he
continued to taunt.
"This is the finish of the career of Merriwell, the wonderful
magician," he sneered. "He'll never be heard of again. Smash the
stuff, Mazarin, old man! That's the way to do it! How do you like it,
Merriwell? Doesn't it make you feel real happy to see him break up the
furniture? Ha! ha! ha!"
Now, not a word came from Frank, but his jaws were set and his eyes
gleaming. It was plain enough that he had vowed within his heart that
some day he would square the account with his enemies.
Piece after piece of the apparatus was destroyed by the vengeful little
man, while Harris sat and smoked, puffing the vile-smelling stuff into
the face of the helpless youth.
Since starting out to fill Zolverein's engagements on the road,
Frank had been remarkably successful, but he could not go on without
the apparatus, and it would take a long time for him to replace the
articles thus maliciously ruined. Some of them he knew he would never
be able to replace.
With the wrecking of his property one of his dearest dreams vanished.
He had thought it possible that he might make enough money during
vacations to carry him through Yale, so he could complete his course in
college, which he had been forced to leave because of financial losses.
He knew this was purely a speculation, as it was not certain he would
continue to do a good business, especially when he got off Zolverein's
route; but that had been his dream, and now it was over.
Surely fate was giving him some hard blows, but still he did not quail,
and he was ready, like a man, to meet whatever came.
He had tasted of the glamour of the footlights, and there was bitter
with the sweet. He had learned that the life of the traveling showman
is far from being as pleasant and easy as it seems.
But Frank had not started out in the world looking for soft snaps. He
was prepared to meet adversity when it came and not be crushed. He felt
that the young man who is looking for a soft snap very seldom amounts
to anything in the world, while the one who is ready to work and push
and struggle and strive with all his strength, asking no favors of
anybody, is the one who is pretty sure to succeed in the end.
Whenever fate landed a knockout blow on Frank he refused to be knocked
out, but invariably came up smiling at the call of "time."
It was plain that his enemies believed they would floor him this time
and leave him stranded.
Harris was watching Frank's face by the light of the lamp.
"Oh, this is better than a circus!" chuckled the fellow, evilly. "Every
blow reaches you, and I am settling my score."
"Instead of settling it," said Merry, grimly, "you are running up a big
account that I shall call for you to settle in the future."
"You'll have a fine time collecting."
"But I always collect once I start out to do so."
"Bah! Your threats make me laugh!"
"Because I was easy with you in the past, you fancy I may be if my
chance comes in the future. You are wrong!"
"All bluff!"
"Time will show that I am not bluffing now. I have given you more
chances than you deserved. I shall give you no more. When next my turn
comes, I shall have no mercy."
Somehow Harris shivered a bit despite himself, for he knew that Frank
Merriwell was not given to idle words. True, Frank had been easy with
his enemies at college, but he must have changed since leaving Yale
and going out into the world to fight the great battle of life. He had
seen that the world gave him no favors, and now it was likely he would
retort in the same manner.
"Perhaps I may have no mercy now," said Harris. "You are in my power,
and I can do with you as I choose. I am a stranger in this town. No
one knows I am here. What if you were found in this old building with
your throat cut? How could the deed be traced to me? Better spare your
threats, Merriwell, for if I really thought there was danger that you
would bother me in the future, I swear I'd finish you here and now!"
Mazarin had finished his work of destruction. All the costly apparatus
was broken and ruined, and the little man was standing amid the
shattered wreck, wringing his hands and sobbing like a child that is
filled with remorse after shattering a toy in a fit of anger.
"All done!" he moaned; "all done!"
Harris looked around, annoyed.
"What's the matter with you?" he fiercely demanded. "What are you
whimpering about?"
"I have broken everything!"
"Well, now is your time to laugh."
"Now is my time to cry! All those things should have been mine."
"But were not."
"No one can ever replace them."
"And that knocks out Mr. Frank Merriwell. Wasn't that what you were
after?"
"But to have to smash all those beautiful things! I have broken my own
heart!"
"You're a fool!"
Harris turned from his repentant companion, his disgust and anger
redoubled.
Frank, for all of the bitter rage in his heart, could see that Mazarin
was not entirely bad. The little man's conscience was troubling him now.
"I hate fools!" grated Harris. "I hate sentiment! A man with sentiment
is a fool! You're a fool, Merriwell; you always were sentimental."
"As far as you are concerned," spoke the captive, "I shall put
sentiment behind me in the future. I am satisfied that you are
irreclaimably bad, and you have the best chance in the world of ending
your career on the gallows."
"I don't care what you think."
"I didn't suppose you would care. You are too low and degraded to
care. In the past I spared you when you should have been exposed and
punished. Why? Because I hoped you would reform. Now I know there is
no chance of that. For your own sake I spared you in the past; in the
future, if my turn comes, for the sake of those with whom you will
mingle and injure and disgrace, I shall have no mercy."
These words, for some reason, seemed to burn Harris like a hot iron.
His eyes glowed evilly, and he quivered in every limb. He leaned toward
Merriwell, panting:
"Your turn will not come! I might have let you go, but now----"
He glanced down at the knife in his hand.
Frank watched him closely, feeling all at once that the desperate
wretch had formed a murderous resolve.
Harris was hesitating. It was plain he longed to strike, and still his
blood was too cold to enable him to bring himself to that point without
further provocation.
So he began to lash himself into fury, raving at Merriwell, striking
Frank with his open hand, and repeating over and over how much he hated
him. So savage did he become that Mazarin stopped his sobbing and
stared at him in wonder.
"You ruined my college career!" panted Harris. "You made me an outcast!
You are the cause of all of my ill-fortune! And now you threaten to
drag me down still further. You never shall! I'll see to that now!"
He clutched Frank's shoulder and lifted the knife!