FRIENDS.
The crack of the revolver and the fall of the tiger seemed to break the
spell that had held and made cowards of the throng. A dozen men leaped
toward the girls. But Merriwell reached them first. He lifted Elsie, who
had merely fallen in a faint, as he saw; and, passing her to a student
whom he recognized, he bent anxiously over Inza.
There was a bruise and a fleck of blood on the upper part of her face.
"Inza!" he said, lifting her tenderly and seeking to arouse her. "Are
you much hurt, Inza?"
The words and tone seemed to call her back from the land of death. She
moaned feebly, and tried to put up a hand. Half-lifting her in his arms,
he looked around.
"Is there a surgeon here!" he called.
Elsie came back to consciousness with a shiver, and heard him call. Her
face had been very white, but it became pale as death. The sight of
Inza's bruised face and limp form upheld by Merriwell seemed to blur her
brain again. She caught at the arm of the student who was holding her,
and by a great effort kept her senses.
"Is she dead, Frank?" she whispered.
"No!" he answered. "I don't know how much she may be hurt, though."
The tiger had ceased to struggle, the crowds were writhing, a babel of
sound that was confused and confusing filled the air. The circus
procession had come to a halt, with the exception of the forward band,
which was blaring away far down the street.
A doctor came out of the crowd. Other doctors proffered their services,
for Inza was not the only one who had been knocked over by the rush of
the horses. The injured tiger-keeper was picked up and bundled into an
ambulance.
"Right across here!" said the doctor who had answered Merriwell's call.
Then he led the way into an apothecary's.
"Nothing serious!" he announced, a minute later, when he had made his
examination. "The young lady will be all right in a day or two."
He spoke of Inza, and both Merry and Elsie sent up fervent sighs of
relief.
* * * * *
Coming softly into the room which Elsie Bellwood occupied, Inza Burrage
saw Elsie in tears.
"What is it, dear?" Inza asked, going up and putting her arms about
Elsie's neck.
Except for a telltale bit of courtplaster, Inza showed no sign of the
dangerous and exciting experiences through which she had that day
passed.
"Don't! don't!" Elsie pleaded, with a little shiver. "If you knew what
was in my heart you wouldn't speak to me, Inza Burrage!"
"Why, dear? Why wouldn't I speak to you--you who have proved yourself
the most heroic and courageous girl in all New Haven?"
"It wasn't courage half so much as it was fright. And if you knew the
thoughts I had!"
Inza kissed her.
"What?"
Elsie turned on her a horrified face.
"Inza, when I saw you knocked down by that horse, the awful wish came
into my heart that you might be killed. And even when I saw the tiger
about to leap on you, I couldn't drive that thought away. I have been
hating you in a way that I never thought I could hate anybody! You see,
I began to fear that you were trying to come between me and Frank; and
if you had been--killed--there--would--have--been--an--end--of--that!"
"But you rushed between me and the tiger. And you fought the beast with
that goad. You, a girl, standing between me and such a terror as that!
Frank has told me all about it--about how brave you were! It was
beautiful!"
"When I felt how wicked my thoughts was, there came an awful revulsion
of feeling; and then I rushed into the street, not caring if I was
killed, if I could only save you. I felt that the sacrifice of my life,
even, if it were necessary, was demanded to pay for those dreadful
thoughts. I knew the danger, Inza, but that hideous thought made me
brave."
"You are naturally brave, Elsie! I feel that I owe my life to you."
"And I wished you dead!" said Elsie self-reproachfully. "I can never
forget it. Wished you dead when you were knocked down and when the tiger
threatened you. Inza, it was something awful!"
"It was because you love Frank!"
"And you love Frank! You have confessed as much."
"Perhaps I do. I hardly know myself. But you have shown to-day that you
are much more worthy of him than I am. Don't worry about any of those
troubles any more."
She straightened up, with the look of a renouncing queen, while her dark
eyes shone like stars.
"Elsie, I will go away from here if it is necessary. I will not disturb
you and Frank."
"I take back all I said the other day!" Elsie quivered. "I retract every
word. They were selfish, jealous, hateful words. They led me to
murderous thoughts--for those thoughts about you to-day were really
murderous. You shall not go away! Not unless I go away, too!"
"Then we can be friends, dear!" said Inza, laying a hand softly on the
golden head. "That is what we will try to be, if you will, in spite of
everything."
"Yes," Elsie assented, "though I am not worthy to be your friend."
"Then we will be friends, dear!"
"We are friends!" Elsie exclaimed impulsively, drawing the hand down and
kissing it.