Frank Merriwell's Athletes: or, The Boys Who Won

“Now we have you worked down so you are in good condition, we mean to keep you so,” declared Merriwell. “It will be – ”

At this moment a shrill scream startled the boys and drew their attention toward the water, where the girls had been bathing in the surf.

They had been so absorbed in the business at hand that Inza Burrage and her companions were quite forgotten till that cry of fear and distress brought them to their feet.

“What’s the matter?” gasped Browning, struggling up.

“The surf! There must be an undertow! One of the girls is drowning!” cried Diamond.

Both Hodge and Merriwell were already racing toward the beach.

As they ran, Frank and Bart saw two of the girls struggling in the water.

“It’s Inza!” panted Frank.

“And Effie Random!” added Bart.

“Inza can swim.”

“She is trying to save Miss Random.”

“That’s right! Miss Random is frantic with fear – she is dragging Inza down!”

“There they go under!”

“They’ll both be drowned!”

“Run, Frank – run!”

Run both lads did as if their own lives depended on their efforts. The others came stringing along behind them.

As they ran the two boys threw off the light blazers which they had been wearing. Neither had on a vest, and both were lightly dressed for warm weather.

“Oh, if I had time to get rid of my shoes!” thought Frank.

But he knew seconds were precious, and he would not stop to get rid of his shoes.

He reached the water slightly in advance of Hodge.

Two of the girls had waded out and were standing on the beach, wringing their hands and sobbing.

Several times the girls who were struggling in the water disappeared beneath the surface, but they came up each time, and it was seen that one of them was doing her best to support the other, who seemed frantic with fear.

“Save them! save them!” cried the girls on the shore, as Merriwell and Hodge plunged into the water.

It is not likely that either Frank or Bart heard this appeal.

The knowledge that Inza Burrage was in danger nerved Frank Merriwell to do his very utmost.

“I will save her or drown with her!” he thought.

Straight through the surf he dashed, hurled himself headlong through the crest of a big roller, and began to swim.

Hodge did the same trick with equal skill.

It seemed that the struggles of the two girls were growing weaker, and once they were beneath the surface so long that Frank feared they would not come up again.

They did come up, however, and Inza’s white face was turned for a moment toward the two lads who were swimming to their rescue.

There was something in that look of appeal that smote Merriwell to the heart and made him frantic to reach her. He tore at the water with his powerful arms, and even the strongest roller did not bear him back or seem to check him in the least.

To him it did not seem that he was making any progress at all, and he was furious at the slowness with which he got along. He felt as if weights of lead were attached to his feet.

“Oh, this infernal water!” he panted. “It drags at me! I never swam so slowly in all my life! If they go down again – Where are they?”

The girls had disappeared.

In a moment, however, they arose into view on the crest of a swell, still struggling.

“Hold on, Inza!” cried Frank. “Bear up a little longer!”

She answered with an inarticulate cry that seemed full of despair and turned Frank’s blood cold.

“Have I saved her from that English puppy for this!” he gasped. “Is it possible that she is to die now? Oh, no, no!”

Then Frank Merriwell prayed as he swam. He asked God to give him power to reach her and give her strength to bear up till he could get to her.

He remembered how he had first met her at a picnic at Fardale, and how pretty she had looked in her short pink dress. He remembered how on that very day, by a wonderful display of nerve and strength, he had saved her from being bitten by a mad dog. And after that – oh, she had thought him such a hero! She had worshiped him as her ideal of all that was brave and noble. All that seemed years and years ago.

And now – could he save her again? or was she to perish before he could reach her?

Nearer and nearer he swam.

Close behind Frank, Hodge was exerting every muscle.

“We’ll get to them, Merry!” he called, encouragingly. “We’ll pull them out all right. We are sure to – They’ve gone down again!”

It was true!

“Merciful heavens!” came huskily from Frank’s lips. “I fear this is the last time!”

He swam on – he reached the spot where the girls had last been seen.

Where were they?

He looked around for them, but could see nothing of them.

“Gone!” he groaned, his lips turning a blue-white. “My Heaven, they are both drowned!”

Hodge was at hand, swimming about and looking around. Now his face was ashen white. He tried to speak, but his voice died away in a husky whisper.

The agony of soul that Frank experienced at that moment was such as he had never before known. It seemed as if he turned to be a very old man in a fraction of time.

“Poor Inza!” he gasped.

A cry came from Hodge!

“Look there!”

Something floated on the surface of the water for a moment, and then it disappeared.

Frank dived.

Down beneath the surface he went, where the water was green and shot through with streaks of sunshine. He kept his eyes open and looked about him.

Just ahead of him something was slowly sinking toward the bottom, making faint struggling movements.

The sunlight that came down through the green waves showed the white face of a girl upturned for a moment, the eyes wide open and staring.

Frank plunged at the object with remarkable speed, and he felt a wild thrill of hope as his arm closed around the waist of a girl.

That clutch seemed to arouse her, and, in a moment, she had fastened her hands about his neck.

It was the clutch of a drowning person, and the girl seemed to possess the strength of Samson.

Frank tried to break away, but she held fast to him.

Down they went toward the bottom.

“I must break her hold!” thought the youth. “If I do not, she will drown us both! It is the only chance!”

He understood how desperate the situation was, and prepared to make a last mad effort.

Then the girl folded him in her arms and drew him close to her with a frantic clutch that caused him to gasp, and the salt sea water poured down his throat.

He found he could not well exert his strength, as the girl held him in a position so that he could not get hold of her hands.

“It means death!” was his thought, as they sank still more swiftly. “Poor Inza! We will die together!”

CHAPTER XI – THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE

It was growing dark down there beneath the waves. The golden sunlight had turned to a bluish gloom that lay dense beneath the boy and girl, who were slowly sinking into that mysterious region.

Those dark depths were suggestive of rest and peace. They seemed most inviting and alluring to the lad who was wearied and exhausted by his struggles to save the girl who was so dear to him.

Frank felt like ceasing to struggle – like giving over all effort and floating gently down into those cool depths, where he could rest.

Inza was with him, and they would rest down there together, still locked in each other’s arms.

To his mind came a picture of them as they would look in the cool blue shadows, undisturbed by anything that was occurring in all the wide, wide world. He saw their pale faces and their closed eyes, and he fancied Inza’s dark hair floating gently at the soft throb of the ocean. Oh, it was sweet as a dream!

Then he seemed to see the fishes that would come to look at them with wonder. He saw the fishes swimming about, darting over them and playing around the spot where they rested.

Then came another and a horrible thought.

The fishes would nibble at their flesh – would feast off their bodies. Inza’s beautiful face would be disfigured.

It was that thought that brought him to himself.

With a last mad burst of strength he broke the girl’s hold, and then they went mounting toward the surface.

Up, up, up from the dark blue shadows, which now seemed filled with horrible shapes, they mounted. Out from those shadows reached long, crooked arms with hands that tried to clutch them and drag them down again.

For the first time in his life Frank felt like shrieking with fear. A great horror was on him, and it made him frantic.

He saw bubble eyes that peered and glared at him from all sides, and shapeless forms hovered all around.

With all his strength he strove to reach the surface.

Up from the blue depths into the yellow sunlight he mounted, still clinging to the girl. Up from the yellow sunlight till their heads arose above the waves with a sudden splurge.

Frank coughed and strangled, ejecting salt water from his mouth.

He held the helpless, unstruggling girl in his arms, but he gave her little attention till he had raised not a little of the salt water that seemed to have gone down his throat.

Then Frank turned on his back, with the head of the girl resting on his breast and shoulder, and floated thus.

Frank had always been a marvelous swimmer, and he could float like a cork. Now he sought to rest on the surface of the swells till he could recover enough strength to swim.

The surface of the ocean was rolling gently in huge billows, which lifted and lowered them with a soothing motion and seemed to be sweeping them farther and farther from the shore.

But Frank felt a thrill of joy. He had reached Inza at last by a mighty struggle, and he was certain he would be able to save her, now he had broken her hold and escaped from the fascination of the blue depths beneath.

The sun shone down on the heaving sea as it always seems to shine along the coast of Southern California. The sky was blue and clear. A white-winged gull soared above them, having shot upward from the water as they reached the surface.

Frank watched that gull, and it seemed to fascinate him. It looked so white and pure and gentle as it hung there with outspread wings, wheeling slowly, and mounting higher and higher.

Somehow it seemed to Frank that the white bird had arisen from the head of the girl as it appeared above the water.

It was as if her pure white soul had been released and was soaring above them, pausing to look back lingeringly and pityingly before taking its flight to heaven.

Frank could see several figures running along the beach toward the cove where boats were to be found, and he knew some of the fellows were hastening to come to his assistance.

He looked at the face of the girl he had saved. It was quite pale, but a tinge of color began to show in her cheeks. All her curls were gone, and her light, fluffy hair was watersoaked; but still she was exceedingly pretty in a cool, icy way. To Frank at that moment, she seemed far prettier than when he had first met her.

And Merry’s heart was so overflowing with joy at the knowledge of having saved her that he kissed her repeatedly.

Suddenly Inza’s blue eyes opened and she looked at him in a dazed and bewildered manner.

Something like a faint smile fluttered across her face, and more color came to her cheeks.

“Where – where – what – ” she vaguely began.

“Don’t be excited, dearest,” urged Frank. “If you get excited and struggle, I may not be able to save you. If you keep still, I may be able to keep our heads above the surface till a boat reaches us.”

He was treading water as he spoke.

The girl seemed too weak to make much of a struggle, and he was relieved to see that she lay quite still.

“Oh, I thought I was drowning – I was sure!” she said, presently. “I was frantic, and then all my senses left me.”

“It was a good thing they did, for you did not swallow much water while you were beneath the surface.”

“Then I did go under?”

“Yes.”

“I knew it – I knew I would.”

He felt her trembling in his grasp, and he quickly said:

“You are all right now.”

“Oh, but I must get up – up out of this water! I am so far down in it! Lift me up farther!”

“No!” he said, sternly; “you must remain as far down in the water as possible, for I shall not be able to save you if you don’t. Try to lie on your back, and tip your head far back. In that way you might float alone, and you would be all right as long as your nose remained above the surface so you could breathe. The trouble always is with those who drown in water like this that they try to climb up out of the water, instead of sinking as far down in it as possible, and keeping perfectly still, and their efforts send them under the surface.”

She understood him, and she murmured:

“Hold fast to me, and I will trust everything to you. You are such a brave and noble fellow!”

Inza suddenly remembered that Effie Random had been in the water, too, and she excitedly asked:

“Where is Effie now? Did I – did I do it?”

“Do what?”

“Drown her. She said I would drown both of us if I did not keep still, but every time I kept still a moment the water went over us, and that made me frantic. Oh, I do hope she did not drown! She is such a splendid girl, and I think so much of her!”

“She is all right,” assured Frank. “Mr. Hodge aided her in swimming to the shore.”

The calmness with which he talked to the girl seemed to give her confidence in his power to save her, and she trusted him completely.

Farther and farther from the shore they were carried.

Soon Frank saw a boat put out and pull toward them.

He felt that the boat was coming none too soon, for he had been weakened by his immersion beneath the surface, and he found that the effort of keeping upon the surface and holding the girl up was telling on him, despite his wonderful power of endurance.

Already he had begun to fear that he would give out, but the girl suspected nothing of the sort, for he seemed calm and confident.

“I shall owe you my life, Frank,” she said.

“We will talk of that later,” said Frank, by way of saying something in an unconcerned manner, although it seemed that the effort to speak deprived him of strength.

He looked longingly toward the boat. Two pairs of oars were being used, and the rowers were making the small craft jump with each stroke. The oars flashed in the sunshine when the wet blades came up dripping, and the bodies of the rowers swayed and bent. In the stern somebody waved a cap at Frank and uttered a shout of encouragement.

“Hurry! hurry! hurry!”

It was with the greatest difficulty that Merriwell kept from uttering the words in a wild cry that would have betrayed his failing strength. He choked it back, however, and smiled encouragingly at Inza.

“They are coming,” he said. “In a few minutes we’ll be in a boat and quite safe.”

“I don’t care,” she returned, in a significant manner. “They need not hurry.”

“If she only knew!” thought Frank.

Once he went down, and the water filled his nostrils so that he strangled a little. Inza gave a cry of alarm, and, fearing she would get excited and struggle, he forced a short laugh.

Nearer and nearer came the boat. He could hear the rump-thump, rump-thump of the oars in the rowlocks.

“Howld on, Frankie, me b’y!” came the cheery call of Barney Mulloy. “We’ll be wid yez in a minute.”

Rump-thump, rump-thump – would the boat never reach them?

How heavy Inza was! And it seemed that a great weight was dragging at Frank’s feet – a weight he could not cast off.

“Hurry, Barney – hurry!” he tried to cry; but the words died in a hoarse gasp in his throat, causing the girl to turn her head to look at him.

“What is the matter?” she asked, in sudden alarm.

“Nothing,” he declared, faintly – “nothing at all.”

“Oh, I know there is! You are giving out!”

Then he saw she was liable to grasp him about the neck, which would be sure to sink them both, in which case he was certain they would never rise again.

“Don’t do it – if you wish to live, Inza,” he pleaded. “I can hold you a little longer if you do not touch me; but we shall go down if you grasp me.”

She was filled with fear, but something in his words and manner caused her to obey him fully.

Suddenly there was a wild shout of alarm from the boat, and Frank saw Barney making frantic gestures, while he urged the rowers to greater exertions.

Merriwell wondered what it meant. He saw Barney swing his arm and point away toward the channel.

As they arose to the crest of a swell, Frank saw something that sent his heart into his throat.

At a distance the sharp back fin of a shark cut the crest of the water for a single instant and then disappeared.

A shark was coming!

“What – what is it?” asked Inza, who had been startled by Barney’s cries. “Why are they shouting thus?”

“They are doing it to encourage us,” said Frank, believing he was fully justified in the falsehood.

“You are sure?”

“Why, of course!”

Rump-thump, rump-thump went the oars! jump, jump plunged the boat as it sped to the rescue.

The rowers were straining every nerve. They were Bruce Browning and Ephraim Gallup, and for once in his life, at least, the big collegian was doing his very utmost. Nothing but an effort to save his own life or that of Frank could have made him work thus.

It seemed that the shark was approaching with the speed of an express train. Fortunately the boat was far nearer, and so it came up first.

Even as the boat shot alongside the youth and maiden, with Bruce and Ephraim backing water to check its headway, there was a flash of a dark body in the water, a flashlike turn, the showing of a white belly, and Barney had dragged Inza into the boat just in time.

Yes, he had dragged Inza in; but Frank – where was he?

He had disappeared!

CHAPTER XII – FRANK IS TROUBLED

Shuddering with horror as he held the dripping girl in his arms, Barney Mulloy looked over the side of the boat, expecting to see the water dyed with a crimson stain.

Browning gave a shout:

“Here he is!”

Frank’s head appeared on the other side of the boat.

He had dived just in time to avoid the shark when it turned.

The moment he came up on the other side of the boat Browning and Gallup dropped the oars and grasped him.

They had him in the boat a second later.

The shark had lost its prey.

Frank sank down in the bottom of the boat, utterly helpless and without strength.

Barney placed Inza on the rear seat.

“Begorra!” he gasped, wiping great drops of perspiration from his face; “thot wur a close shave, but we did it, me b’ys!”

Ephraim Gallup, despite the exertion of rowing, was pale as a ghost, and Browning was seen to shiver.

“Darn my pertaturs!” muttered the Vermonter. “It’s a wonder we did do it, b’gosh!”

“A wonder!” came from Browning! “It is a miracle!”

“Be me soul, we did it, though! Cheer, b’ys – cheer!”

Then, standing upright in the boat, they waved their caps and gave a wild cheer of joy.

Away on the beach the cheer was answered by another and another and yet another.

Merriwell opened his eyes, and something like a faint smile came to his drawn face.

“It’s all right, boys!” he said. “You did a good job!”

“An’ it’s yersilf that did another, Frankie,” declared Barney. “But fer yez th’ young lady would be at th’ botthom of the say now.”

They rowed back, carrying the rescued youth and maiden.

Inza remained in an exhausted condition, but Frank began to recover soon after being drawn into the boat.

A large crowd had gathered on the beach, for the four girls were not the only bathers, and nearly a hundred people had come to the beach for pleasure that afternoon.

When Frank and Inza came ashore the crowd cheered again, and the boys who belonged to Merriwell’s party rushed to embrace him.

Toots was so overjoyed that he fell on his knees and hugged Frank’s legs, laughing and crying in a hysterical manner.

“Oh, Marser Frank!” he said; “I done fought yo’ was a goner one time fo’ suah! I nebber suspected to see yo’ no moah, Marser Frank! Bress de good Lawd – bress His name!”

Frank was hugged and his hand was shaken till he began to push them off, laughing and remonstrating.

And the strangers who were looking on turned and said to one another:

“Who is he? See how much they think of him!”

Wallace Random, a handsome young fellow of nineteen, who had been on hand to receive his sister, as he was near the beach when she went into the water, hastened to Frank.

“Mr. Merriwell,” he said, earnestly, as he grasped Frank’s hand, “I am proud to know you. Your friend has saved my sister’s life in the same noble manner. You are both heroes.”

The girls had come to the beach in carriages, and Inza was soon placed in one, bundled about with a wrap and whirled away.

Frank looked for Inza as soon as he could escape from the ones who were offering their praise and congratulations, but he was told she had gone with Miss Random.

“I shall see her to-night,” he said. “There is a dance at the hotel, and she has promised to give me the first waltz.”

He made haste to escape to his room at the hotel, whither he was followed by the boys, where Toots rubbed him down and they all talked over the adventure and rescue.

Frank confessed that he was on the verge of giving out when the boat reached them, and he had just strength enough to dive and escape the shark, that had seemed to snap at Inza’s feet as she was pulled out of the water.

“I don’t think I could have held out a minute more,” he said; “and I should have gone down again immediately if Bruce and Ephraim had not grabbed me when I came up after diving under the boat. I used my last bit of strength to get to the surface that time.”

“When you dived,” said Hodge, “Effie arose close to me. I saw in an instant that she was ready to give out, and I helped her to get ashore. I could not have done that, but she was able to swim a little after a few minutes. She was almost frantic, and kept saying over and over that she had been forced to break Inza’s hold to save herself. She laughed and cried and then swooned for a moment when the boat reached you and you were pulled in.”

Later in the afternoon Frank called on Inza, having been sent for by Mr. Burrage.

Inza’s father, who was weak and ill, wrung the lad’s hand.

“My dear boy!” he cried; “how noble you are! I wished to see you, for I have heard all about your brave deed.”

After a few further words, Frank left his card for Inza, who was confined to her room, and returned to the hotel.

The boys found time to talk over their combination, when they had grown tired of discussing the rescue of the two girls. All were elated by the prospect of great sport on their trip back East.

While they were sitting on the veranda of the hotel chatting about athletic sports, Wallace Random appeared. Once more he shook Frank’s hand, expressing his appreciation of Merriwell’s brave act, and then he was introduced all around to the boys.

“Mr. Random,” said Frank, “we have organized an athletic club, and I shall be pleased to accept your invitation to take part in the contests day after to-morrow.”

“I am glad to know that,” smiled Random. “We hope to make the affair a big success. Entrances for the various contests may be made now or to-morrow, if that serves you better.”

“Perhaps it would be better to wait till to-morrow, as we can have time to decide who will take part and what sports they will choose. As yet we have not arranged matters fully, as the first meeting of our club was interrupted when we hastened to save your sister and Miss Burrage. That meeting broke up without adjournment.”

“Suit yourselves,” laughed Wallace, “but you must remember that we have some hot lads down here, and we do not propose to let anybody from the East carry off honors if we can prevent it.”

“I rather fancy you will find some hot stuff among the members of our club,” said Frank, quietly. “We will represent Yale College, and it is seldom ‘Old Eli’ gets left at anything.”

“I understand you are something of a runner and hurdle-racer,” Random said.

“There are others,” was the answer. “I am not the only one.”

“But I have heard that you are pretty good.”