Frank Merriwell's Champions: or, All in the Game

“Frank Merriwell?” cried Kate Spencer, for it was Kent Spencer’s sister. “How can that be? How comes he here?”

“I don’t know yet, but he came just in time to save me from that Rolf Harlow, whom I fear and detest. He knocked Harlow down.”

“And Berlin Radford was holding me so I could not come to your assistance when you were crying for help. They knew Aunt Hannah had gone to the store, and they saw Uncle Tobias row away in his boat. That was how they dared do it.”

“Look!” gasped Elsie; “see how they are fighting now: It is dreadful!”

She covered her face with her hands, but the other girl continued to watch the fighting lads, her heart beating in sympathy for Frank Merriwell.

Radford was a savage fighter, and Merry found him even more formidable than Rolf Harlow. Radford was a member of the Alexandria Athletic Club, although he had been stopping in Blue Cove a few days.

Frank did not escape some punishment, but he skillfully managed to cause his enemies to interfere with each other to a certain extent, and when he did strike a blow they were certain to feel it.

Three times was Harlow sent to grass, and Radford was knocked down twice, the second blow causing blood to spurt from his nose, on which Merriwell’s hard fist had landed.

Still, encouraging each other, they pressed Frank hard. Finally, Radford got in a blow that brought Merriwell to his knees.

Elsie, who had uncovered her eyes, screamed with fear, and held her hands over her face once more.

Kate quivered with excitement and fear.

“Oh, the cowards!” she exclaimed. “He could whip either one of them alone!”

“And I can whip them both together!” panted Frank, who caught her words.

“On him – on him!” shouted Harlow. “Now is our time to do him up! We can finish him in a hurry!”

Both boys rushed at Frank. Radford was in advance. Merriwell ducked and arose. He had grasped Radford about the ankles, and he lifted the fellow into the air, flinging him clean over his head!

Radford fell and struck on his back, while Frank was barely in time to grapple with Harlow. Rolf’s rush swept Merriwell back, and both fell over Radford’s prostrate form.

Then the latter made a scramble, and the two pinned Frank to the ground!

They had him foul at last!

CHAPTER XIV – FRANK AND ELSIE

As well might they have tried to hold an eel. With a squirming twist, Frank managed to writhe from beneath them, somehow thumping their heads together till they were dazed by the stars that seemed to flash before their eyes. While they were in this condition, he got upon his feet, breathing heavily, but laughing as if it were a matter of sport.

Harlow and Radford sprang up quickly. They located Frank, and, though amazed by the manner in which he had escaped them, renewed the attack.

Now all three were fighting somewhat slower, as if the strain upon them was telling on their wind.

The struggle was still raging when a stout, motherly-looking woman, with a basket in her hand, came around the corner, and stopped, staring in amazement at the scene.

“Well, I never!” she exclaimed.

The girls heard her, saw her, flew to her.

“Oh, Mrs. Barnaby!” cried Elsie.

“Oh, Aunt Hannah!” exclaimed Kate.

“Stop them!” palpitated the girl with the blue eyes and golden hair.

“Drive away those horrid fellows who are trying to whip the one in the bicycle suit!” urged the other girl.

“What’s all the row about, anyhow?” asked the woman.

Then, hurriedly and brokenly, the two girls told her what had happened. Her kindly face grew stern and her eyes flashed as she listened.

“The rascals!” she exploded. “They oughter be hoss-whipped! I’d like to do it, too! Hey! you git out!”

She flourished her hands and swung the basket about, but the fighting lads did not heed her command.

Then Aunt Hannah hastened forward boldly and resolutely struck Rolf Harlow over the head with the basket.

Smash – spatter!

The basket contained eggs, and they were broken and smashed over Harlow’s head. Out flew the sticky, yellow mass, spattering all over Rolf.

A howl of astonishment and dismay broke from the lips of the rascal, and then, taking one look at the angry woman, he turned and fled, while Kate Spencer screamed with laughter.

Seeing he was deserted, Berlin Radford did not delay about following his friend, and the two were hard scrambling up the path, and uttering cries of impotent rage.

There was a hammock near, in which Elsie Bellwood had been reclining when Rolf Harlow came upon her and into it Kate Spencer dropped, holding her handkerchief to her face and laughing as if she would lose her breath.

“Oh, goodness!” she cried. “Oh, Aunt Hannah! didn’t you do it that time! Ha! ha! ha! How astonished and disgusted that chap looked! And what a spectacle he made as he stood there, with those broken eggs dripping down his face and neck! Oh! oh! oh! Brother Kent will die when I tell him about this!”

“The rascals!” burst forth the woman, as she stood with her smashed and dripping basket in her hand, regarding it in dismay. “All them good eggs broke to pieces, and I jest bought ’em over at the store! Who’s goin’ to pay for them eggs?”

“I will be happy to pay for them,” laughed Frank. “It was worth the price of a bushel of eggs to see Rolf Harlow after you struck him with the basket. I have to thank you for saving me the trouble of finishing both those chaps.”

Elsie ran to Frank.

“Oh, are you hurt much?” she fluttered. “I am afraid you are hurt!”

“Not a bit, dear little girl,” smiled Merry, tenderly. “They did thump me a few times, but all that thumping did not damage me at all.”

It was nearly ten minutes before Kate Spencer could stop laughing, and for an hour afterward she would break out occasionally when she remembered how Harlow had looked after being struck by the basket.

The whole affair was explained to Mrs. Barnaby, and Frank was introduced. He promised to send her over another basket of eggs from the store, which eased her feelings greatly.

“I’m glad to meet you, Mr. Merriwell, sir,” said the good woman. “Elsie has told us lots about ye, but I never expected to see you here.”

Frank explained how, by accident, he came to be there, telling of the treacherous work in which he had detected Harlow not long before.

“The fellow must have come directly here after returning to Blue Cove,” he said. “And that other chap was the spy.”

“That other chap has been stopping at the Cove a few days,” said Kate Spencer. “He thinks he is a masher, and he was determined to force his attentions upon me.”

After they had talked a short time, Mrs. Barnaby went into the house, and Kate, seeing Frank and Elsie wished to be alone, soon excused herself and left them seated in the hammock.

“Oh, Frank,” whispered Elsie, looking up at him with her innocent blue eyes, “I am so glad to see you again! I had begun to fear we’d never see each other any more.”

“And I had begun to fear so myself, dear little girl,” he confessed. “I did not know where you were, for you were sailing over the world with your father, and you did not have any permanent address.”

“You did not answer the last two letters I wrote you.”

“I answered every letter I received from you, Elsie. It must be they did not reach me.”

A look of relief added to the happiness of her sweet face.

“And I thought you were getting so far above the sea captain’s poor little daughter that you did not wish to answer. I heard that you were in college, and that you had become famous, and – and all that. Oh, Frank! you cannot know how I waited, and watched, and longed for an answer to my letters!”

“It was a shame, little girl! But you should have known me better than to think I would forget you. You should have known that, no matter what fortune might befall me, I could not forget you. I have thought of you a hundred – a thousand – a million times! I have longed to see you more than I can tell!”

His arm was about her waist, and he drew her close. Her golden head fell on his shoulder, and she smiled up into his eyes.

“How does it happen that I find you here?” he asked.

“Capt. Barnaby is one of father’s old sailor friends. He has told father many times that I could have a home with him, and at last, when I was tired of going to sea, father sent me here. Here I met Kate Spencer. Mrs. Barnaby is her own aunt.”

“And you are not going to sea any more?”

“No; I am tired of it. I have tried to induce father to leave the sea and settle down, but he always says: ‘After one more voyage.’ I’m afraid he’ll never give it up. He was rich once, you know, but he put all his money in ships, and his ships met with bad fortune, so he lost everything. It is his dream to wrest fortune from the sea once more.”

“I am glad you are going to sea no more, for now I shall know where to find you, and you will receive all my letters.”

“Oh, Frank!” she murmured; “I believe you are braver and nobler than you used to be – if possible.”

“And you, Elsie – why, I didn’t dream you could become prettier than you were, but you have!”

Light-hearted, whistling on his way, Frank returned to the hotel at Blue Cove.

Kent Spencer, who was seated in a bamboo chair on the veranda, smiled on him as he approached.

“Well, Mr. Merriwell,” he called, “I should say by your face that you have found the friend I told you about?”

Frank laughed and nodded, blushing a bit.

“You are right,” he confessed; “and it was the surprise of my life. But it was lucky I went over, for I was just in time to protect her from Rolf Harlow. By the way, have you seen Harlow within a short time?”

“I have,” nodded Spencer; “and I rather fancy I know the spy you saw with him. Something had happened to Harlow when he showed up at the hotel a short time ago, for his clothes were very wet, and he looked wretched and disgusted. A fellow by the name of Berlin Radford was with him.”

Frank laughed heartily.

“I’ll tell you what happened to Harlow,” he said, and then proceeded to describe the fight, and the climax when Mrs. Barnaby struck Rolf over the head with the basket of eggs.

Spencer joined in Frank’s merriment.

“He had washed the broken eggs from his clothes, and that is why they were so wet,” declared Kent.

“Where are those fellows now?”

“They’re gone.”

“Gone? Where?”

“I don’t know where, but they ordered a carriage as soon as they reached the hotel, and it did not take them long to pack up and get out. I am inclined to think they are gone for good.”

“Which may prove a lucky thing for them.”

“I rather fancy so, as I should have called Radford to account for annoying my sister. Wasn’t he the spy you caught?”

“He was,” nodded Frank.

“I fancied as much when I saw him with Harlow. You have done Blue Cove Academy a great service to-day, Mr. Merriwell. We did not suspect Harlow. As for Radford, he has been here but a few days. It must be that he is a member of the Alexandria Athletic Club, although we did not know it. I didn’t think those fellows up there would resort to such low tricks; but they are bound to beat us this year and win back the title of champions, which they lost last year. They have money, and I understand they are betting heavily that they will win.”

“I hope you will let our crew into this race,” said Frank. “It will add to the sport, even if you row Alexandria, which I think you had better do.”

“I will see that a meeting of the association is called immediately, and the matter shall be considered. I am for taking you in. If Alexandria kicks, let them stay out.”

Frank expressed his satisfaction if such arrangement could be made, and then went up to his room.

An hour later, the others of the Yale Combine arrived at the hotel, Diamond in the lead, and Hans Dunnerwust bringing up the rear, as usual.

At least a dozen of the Blue Cove Academy boys were on hand to greet the young bicyclists, who gave a cheer when they saw Frank come out of the hotel.

“Hurro!” shouted Barney. “Here we are Frankie, me b’y!”

“Yaw!” cried Hans; “here you vos, Vrankie, mein poy! You peen glat to seen us, ain’t id?”

“Gol darn my punkins!” drawled Ephraim Gallup; “but this here is a slick place, I snum!”

“Diamond tells us there is a chance for some sport here,” said Rattleton. “That’s what we’re looking for, you bet!”

Bruce groaned.

“I’m looking for quinine, blankets, hot water, pepper tea, any old thing to warm me up!” he said. “I feel another of those confounded Arkansas chills coming on.”

Then Frank introduced his friends to Kent Spencer, and there followed a general case of introducing. The Blue Cove lads seemed a rather pleasant set of fellows, reminding Frank and his friends of the Lake Lily boys.

Browning did not stop for introductions, but hustled into the hotel, and lost no time in beginning the battle to ward off a chill. Browning’s chills were unpleasant for him, but they were the subject of much joking on the part of his comrades.

Frank had been certain that the boys would be hungry when they arrived, and he had ordered a square meal served for them all, so that the table was ready for them shortly after they appeared and washed up in their rooms.

Browning was on the bed, covered with quilts and blankets, which he had pilfered from the beds of the other fellows, gulping down quinine in huge doses and groaning dismally.

“Aren’t you coming down to get something to eat, old fellow?” asked Hodge.

“Oh, yes, I’m cuc-cuc-cuc-coming down to eat!” chattered Bruce, sarcastically. “I’d enjoy eating, wouldn’t I?”

“We’ll have something good,” grinned Rattleton. “We’ll have posen frudding – I mean frozen pudding.”

“Boo!” gasped the big fellow. “Dud – dud-don’t speak of it!”

“And ice cream – good, cold ice cream.”

“Gug-gug-get out bub-bub-bub-before I tut-tut-throw you out!” roared Browning, in exasperation. “You are tut-tut-taking your life in your hand when you cuc-cuc-come around me talking about ice cuc-cuc-cuc – Confound it! get out!”

Then the laughing lads left him alone in his misery.

It was a jolly meal in the cool dining-room of the little hotel. The boys cracked jokes, told stories, laughed and enjoyed themselves fully.

In the midst of it all, Browning stalked into the room, bundled to his ears in blankets.

“Say,” he called, “is there any good, hot tea or coffee?”

“Plenty of it,” assured Merriwell.

“Gimme a cup – quick!”

Bruce found a seat at the table, and Frank ordered a cup of tea to be brought. Then, while Rattleton and Mulloy were condoling with Browning over his misfortune, Merriwell gave the waiter a tip to bring a cup of cracked ice with the tea, but to place it beside Frank’s plate.

The waiter obeyed the order, and soon the tea, boiling hot, was before Browning. Bruce was so eager to swallow something hot that he caught it up and gulped down nearly half of it. Then he uttered a roar of dismay.

“Confound it!” he cried, as soon as he could speak. “That tea has taken the skin off all the way down! I’m parboiled inside! Oh, great Cæsar!”

“You wanted it hot,” said Rattleton. “The waiter brought it hot, so you could cool it to suit yourself.”

“That ought to break up your chill,” laughed Frank.

Browning groaned.

“I wish I’d never seen Arkansas!” he declared. “We’d been all right if Merriwell hadn’t tried to carry out his scheme of riding through the eastern part of the State. I caught the ague in those howling swamps, and goodness knows when I’ll get rid of it!”

“Vot you vants to done,” said Hans, “is to froze dot ague oudt. Uf you sot yourselluf down mit an ice-houses in und stayed there elefen or nine hours, you shook all der ague away britty queek. Yaw!”

“Oh, yes!” grunted the afflicted lad. “That is a fine scheme! All you need is a pill box and a few brains to become a first-class doctor. I don’t think!”

He tried to cool his tea so that he could drink it. After a time, he was able to sip it. Then Frank caught Harry’s eye, and made a signal that Rattleton understood. Immediately Harry engaged Browning’s attention. Bruce sat the cup of tea down a moment, and Frank quickly exchanged it for the cup of cracked ice.

After a bit, the big fellow took the cup by the handle, and, feeling sure the tea must be cool enough for him to drink with impunity, lifted it and took a mouthful of the fine cracked ice.

If possible, that gave Bruce a greater shock than he had received from the scalding tea. Some of the ice slipped down his throat, and with a shout of rage, the big fellow sprang up from the table and rushed from the room, his blankets flopping about his heels.

And all those jolly, heartless jokers at the table shouted with laughter once more.

CHAPTER XV – A BOXING MATCH

That afternoon, the Yale lads were invited down to the combined clubhouse and boathouse of the Blue Cove boys. They went along in a body, Browning having recovered sufficiently to make one of the party.

The boathouse was built over the edge of the water, and a wing of it served as a clubroom. The regular eight-oar racing boat lay high and dry on her brackets, and the visitors inspected her with interest.

“What do you think of her, Merriwell?” asked Kent Spencer, rather anxiously.

“She’s all right,” nodded Frank. “It is plain she is a new boat, and made from an up-to-date model.”

“We bought her last season. She is the first really good boat we ever owned, and that is how we happened to win the championship from Alexandria. She cost us a pretty sum, but we more than made it up on the race.”

The final words were murmured into Frank’s ear, and Merriwell understood that, although betting on the races was forbidden, the Blue Cove lads had found a way to win some of the money Alexandria was so willing to stake on her crew.

“Our old boat was too wide in the waist,” Spencer explained. “She could not slip through the water as easily as this one. I presume this may be improved upon, but I can’t see how.”

“Nor can I,” confessed Frank. “If you do not win the race this season, it is certain the boat will not be the cause of your defeat.”

Besides the large boat, there was a four-oared shell, also new and handsome. This attracted no little attention and admiration from the Yale lads.

When the boats had been inspected, the visitors were invited into the clubroom, which they found comfortably furnished, with large windows, which could be opened to let the cool air sweep through the place. Everything about the place was clean and in perfect order.

“It is an ideal summer clubhouse,” declared Frank, as he looked about admiringly.

There were two large tables, upon which were papers and sporting magazines. About the tables were strong but cheap hardwood or rattan chairs. All around the room ran a stationary settee against the wall. On the walls were pictures, nearly all of a sporting character. There was a picture of a yacht race, besides imaginative pictures of a football match and a game of baseball. A prominent picture was that of a great single-scull rower. There were also pictures of bicycle races.

One thing Frank noticed with intense satisfaction. There were no pictures of professional sports and prize fighters.

“Now, fellows,” cried Jack Diamond, “what do you think of Virginia and Virginia boys?”

And from the Yale crowd came a shout of:

“They’re all right!”

The Blue Cove boys did what they could to make the visitors comfortable, and a general jolly afternoon was spent. For amusement, Hans and Ephraim were induced to don the gloves and have a bout.

“Vot you pet you don’d knocked me oudt der virst roundt in, Efy?” grinned the jolly Dutch lad. “You oxpect I peen a holy derror der cloves mit, eh?”

“Gol darned ef I know anything abaout ye!” answered the Vermonter, as he stuffed his long fingers down into the gloves. “All I want is plenty of room, an’ there ain’t enough in here, b’gosh!”

“Yaw, you gif me blenty uf rooms,” urged Hans. “Vy you don’d come der odder part uf der puilding indo, hey?”

“That’ll suit me. Come on.”

So out they went into the room where the boats were kept.

“You want to look out for the slip,” said Spencer. “You might fall into the water, and – ”

He did not say more, for he saw Frank violently shaking his head, and tumbled to the fact that Merriwell did not want the boxers warned against the opening by which a boat could be rowed into that very room.

Ephraim seemed to feel lively and belligerent as soon as he pulled on the gloves, for he pranced around Hans, making furious feints and chuckling:

“Oh, jeewhiskers! ain’t this goin’ to be a reg’lar darn picnic! We’ll have heaps of fun thumpin’ an’ punchin’ each other, Dutchy.”

“Yaw,” grinned Hans, but with a sudden expression of dubiousness, “it peen goin’ to be so much fun as nefer vas. Vot you pet on der game? Vot you pet you don’d lick me? I know I can let you done dot, und I pet von tollars on him. Uf you got der nerfe, you pet me dot.”

“Don’t talk about betting, but come an’ see me!” cried Ephraim, still prancing about and flourishing his arms.

“Oh, you peen in a pig hurry, don’d id,” cried Hans. “Vale, look avay oudt!”

Then he made a rush at Ephraim, who simply straightened out one of his long arms, permitting the Dutch boy to run against his glove.

With a terrific thump, Hans sat down on the floor.

“Yow!” he cried. “Oxcuse me for dot! I didn’t know you vas lookin’! Uf you hurted mein nose, I didn’t meant to done id.”

The witnesses laughed, and Hans got upon his feet.

“Come on!” invited Ephraim. “Come right at me!”

“I peen goin’ to done dot britty queek, you pets my poots!” declared Hans, as he bounced around the Yankee boy, keeping at a safe distance. “Der nexd dime you hit me, id vill pe mit you faces mein fist on. Yaw!”

“Brace up to him, ye Dutch chaze!” urged Barney, who began to itch all over at the sight of anything resembling a “scrap.” “Don’t let th’ long-legged farmer be afther froightenin’ yez.”

“Who vos frightened?” demanded Hans. “He don’d peen afraidt uf me. I vas goin’ to shown him a trick vot I nefer seen. Here id vas, py shimminy!”

Then he made another rush at Ephraim, who thrust out his fist once more, expecting the Dutch lad to run against it. But Hans had not forgotten what happened the first time, and he dodged under Ephraim’s glove, and gave the Yankee lad a terrific thump just below the belt.

With a howl, Ephraim doubled up like a jackknife, holding both hands to his abdomen and turning purple in the face.

“Yah!” shouted Hans, triumphantly. “Vot you toldt me a minute ago, ain’d id? I know I peen goin’ to done dot! Oh, I vas a holy derror somedimes!”

“Gol – darn – yeou!” gasped Ephraim. “Yeou hit – me – below – the – belt!”

“Yaw,” nodded Hans; “you pet I done dot. I known der blace vot takes uf you der vindt oudt, und I don’d haf a latter to climb higher up mit.”

Ephraim was mad. As soon as he could straighten up, he sailed into Hans in earnest, and the spectators shouted with delight at the spectacle.

To the surprise of all, the fat little Dutchman proved a rather stiff antagonist for the Vermonter. It made no difference to Hans where he struck Ephraim, and he managed to duck under the Yankee lad’s wicked blows.

In their excitement, the boxers did not observe that they were working toward the open slip, assisted by Frank and his friends, who pressed upon them from the opposite side.

Suddenly, as he was being pressed close, Hans dodged under Ephraim’s guard and clutched the country lad about the waist. Gallup wound his long arms around Hans’ neck, and they swayed and strained in each other’s grasp.

It was uncertain whether they staggered of their own accord or were given a slight push, but all at once they reeled and went over into the slip.

Them was a great splash as they struck the water, and they vanished from view, still locked in each other’s arms.

In a moment they came up, having broken apart.

“Hellup!” squawked Hans.

“Help!” howled Ephraim.

They splashed about wildly, clutched each other again, and sank once more, while the boys in the boat-house screamed with laughter.

“They are frightened enough to hang onto each other and drown right there,” said Frank. “We must help them out.”

So Merriwell and Rattleton each secured a boathook, and as soon as possible hooked it into the clothes of the boys, who were floundering about in the water.