CHAPTER XXI.
GAMMA'S DESPERATE TACTICS.
Queen's School took the disbarment of Frank Armstrong and JimmyTurner from athletics as a serious blow to their chances in baseballand on the track. Even the Gamma Tau boys, who bore no particularlykindly feeling toward these two, missed their strengtheningpresence--or at least they seemed to. There were some who, whateverthey might have said before the School, inwardly rejoiced that "thesedisturbers of the peace" had been neatly shelved by Old Pop-Eye.Chip Dixon was among the latter. He could never repress a smilewhen he met Frank or Jimmy. And Jimmy ached to take him in hand andshow him something that might not have been good for Dixon. But theopportunity did not come and peace was preserved.
Hockey came and went, and the School team, captained by Dixon andfilled up with his followers from Gamma, lost miserably to Warwick.Jimmy and Frank watched the game from the side of the improvised rinkon the Wampaug.
"There are better players among the Freshmen," said Jimmycontemptuously, "but they have no chance. I could pick up a teamamong the class teams that would beat the School team at hockey to afrazzle."
And Jimmy spoke the plain truth. Chip had followed his usual methodof picking out his team from his Society, and he had no eyes fortheir faults. But the School was fretting under the burden of GammaTau and of Dixon himself. How much longer he was going to be allowedto boss everything was a matter of speculation in many a room afterbooks were laid aside.
"Thank goodness, it is his last year!" said Lewis one night, whenthe possibility of the continuance of Dixon as a dictator was beingdiscussed.
"Yes, but there is Howard Hotchkiss coming along. He is sure to bethe next boss." Hotchkiss was in the third class. He was not anathlete, but a masterful fellow who could be depended upon to keepthe prestige of the School in the hands of Gamma and not let it getaway for a moment.
"The threatening storm against the Gamma is growing every day," saidDavid, "and when it comes, there is bound to be fun. Two of theeditors on the _Mirror_, Pickering and Westover, refused the lastelections and they are hot for an opposition society."
"Will it come, do you think?" inquired Frank.
"I wouldn't be surprised to see the sentiment of the class blaze outinto action at any moment. Only to-night Pickering suggested a classmeeting for a conference on a new society. He has been talking itover with a lot of his friends, and he feels pretty sure we could putsomething through if we all got behind it. The only trouble is thatthere are so many toadies to the old Society of the Gamma who sayone thing and do another. Most of them grab for a chance to get intoGamma like a drowning man grabs at a straw."
"I'm for a new society," said Frank, "which will have its electionson merit, and which will make no distinctions between athletes, goodstudents, or good fellows who are neither athletes or brilliant attheir studies."
"Oh, ho, I think I have heard you say that the Gamma could bereformed!" said the Codfish derisively.
"That was before I knew much about it. They are so hardened and setin their own notions that the only way to reform them is with a goodbig club."
A few days later the subject of a new society came up again, and onthe night of a certain day in May about a dozen of the prominent boysin the class met in Frank's room to talk it over together. Before theboys separated, it had been agreed to call a meeting of the class inthe big room of the Library, where the whole matter was to come up.There was to be a general debate on the subject, and Armstrong, asbefitted his position as an athlete in the class, was to make theprincipal speech. In the room were, of course, several friends ofGamma Tau, and it was not long before the information had penetratedto Dixon and other leaders of the old Society.
"Going to form a new society, are they? Well, we'll see about that!The School isn't big enough for what it has now in the way ofsocieties. We'll pack that meeting full of our own men of the classand block everything they try. We'll see what they can do to oldGamma!"
Meanwhile, the Queen's baseball team continued to lose steadily.With Frank out of the game, there was no pitcher who could do evenpassable work. Dixon, in desperation, gave up his position behindthe bat to the substitute catcher, a fellow named Watson, and wentinto the box himself. But he only lasted for one game, the game withPorter School, in which the latter fairly buried Queen's under thescore of 14 to 3! It was then that resentment began to show itself ineven the mildest of the students. The feeling was particularly strongin the second class, of which our friends were members. David Powerswrote an article on the situation for the _Mirror_, but the articlenever appeared in that paper, for the Chief Editor of the paper,under whose eye the article fell, was a Gamma boy, and he thought ittoo outspoken. David Powers promptly resigned from the paper, andthe reason of his resignation soon became known to the class and theschool at large. The incident strengthened the determination of everyone to have a fight with Gamma to the death, and particularly rousedour friends in Honeywell.
Affairs came rapidly to a climax. David and the Codfish put theirheads together and prepared a poster calling on the class to meet inthe Library room set aside for meetings of the class by the Schoolauthorities. The School woke up one morning in the latter part of Mayto find the posters boldly displayed on tree trunks and on variousconspicuous points about the School. The announcement of the meetingwas ripped down by the Gamma boys, who well knew what was going on,but the poster had had its effect and every one was on tip-toe.
At last the eventful day arrived. The Codfish and David, with thehelp of Lewis and Jimmy, had spent many hours on the constitution ofthe society. Fifteen boys were to be chosen from the Second Classand they were to be selected on merit. Two members of the teachingstaff were to be taken into the society as honorary members and theywere to be consulted in the elections. David, who had spent days onthe work, had searched the constitutions of all the school societieshe could get hold of and had, with his associates, selected the bestfrom them and rejected what seemed not suitable for the new society.The draft of the constitution was to be presented that night beforethe class meeting in the Library, where discussion would be open.Frank, who was looked upon as a popular leader, had been chosen, aswe have said, to present the whole matter at the meeting.
"If I'm going to do this stunt," said Frank, after the boys hadreturned to their room after supper that evening, "you've all got toclear out and let me have a little time to myself. I've got to thinkwhat I'm to say."
"All right, Napoleon," said the Codfish, "we'll skip and let youcompose yourself. If any big thoughts stick, look us up," and hescampered out of the door, eager to talk the coming great event overwith others of his class.
Frank was left alone, and he set himself to work up a speech thatshould present the matter to his classmates. He was before his littledesk in Honeywell thinking hard and chewing the end of a lead pencilas an aid, when there came a rap on the half-open door.
Frank turned around and saw a small boy standing just outside thedoor.
"Hello, son, what is it?" he said, turning again to the matter beforehim.
"Please, are you Frank Armstrong?"
"I'm that chap," said Frank, scratching away with his pencil.
"Well, please," said the boy, "there's a man wants to see you."
"That's nice; where is he?"
"Down at the baseball field."
"Down at the baseball field!" echoed Frank. "Why doesn't he comeup here? I haven't time to go down to the baseball field to see aman. I've got important business on to-night. Tell him I'll see himto-morrow. I haven't time to see him to-night, unless he comes uphere."
"Oh," said the boy, "he said this was very important for you; that hehad some news to tell you about the trouble in the bell tower."
Frank gave a long whistle and stood up, interested at once. He lookedat the clock over the mantel. It was half past seven and the meetingwas set for eight o'clock.
"He said he could tell you who did the mischief in the bell tower andprove it to you," continued the boy, "but that he coul
dn't come up toyour room."
"I've half a mind to go and see this strange man who knows so much.I can be back in half an hour or less," he said half to himself.Then to the boy, "All right, kid, I'll go along with you, for thatbusiness of the bell tower is something I'd like to get to thebottom of myself." Then aside, "I'll pick up Jimmy and the Codfishand we'll see what he knows."
"The man said you must come alone, for he doesn't want to be seen byany one at the School except yourself."
"More mystery. All right, kid, tell him I'll be along in a minute andI'll be alone."
The boy waited to hear no more, but darted out of the door and wasoff like a flash. Frank followed more leisurely after folding David'sdraft of the constitution and putting it in his inside coat pocket,along with some of the scribbled notes of his speech. "I can thinkof what I'm going to say as I go along," he thought, "and no time islost. I wonder why this fellow is so secret about the appointment."
He picked up his cap from the desk, tripped gayly down the steps andout into the yard. None of his friends happened to be in view, and hehurried on in the gathering twilight across the yard, down past theend of Warren Hall, and down the pitch of the hill to the playgroundbelow. Over in the distance the baseball stand loomed darkly. But onthe open field there was still plenty of light. He headed directlyfor the baseball stand, whistling brightly. "What on earth can thisman have to tell me?" he said over and over to himself. "Well, I'llknow presently."
He had now come to the outfield of the baseball diamond. Peeringahead into the shadow cast by the stand, he thought he saw a figuremoving. Advancing to the diamond itself he spoke out loudly:
"Hullo, any one here want to see me?"
A figure slouched out of the shadow and approached Frank to within adistance of ten or fifteen feet. "You are Frank Armstrong?" said avoice that Frank had never heard before.
"Yes," answered Frank. "What is all this about? If you have anythingto tell me, tell it to me quick, for I've got to get back."
"It's pretty important news for you, kid," said the man, coming astep or two closer. "I happen to know all about that affair, who didit, and why it was done, and I've got the proofs for you. Look atthat paper," he added, drawing a folded sheet of white paper from hispocket and handing it to Frank. Frank reached for the paper, took it,and bent his head in the dim light to read the writing. As he did so,the strange man sprang upon him, threw an arm around his neck andheld him as securely as in a vise. The attack had been so sudden thatFrank was powerless to make the faintest resistance. And even had hehad the chance, he would have been helpless in that fierce clasp.
"Hey, Bill," called his captor, "come over here and help me truss himup. We've got him, all right."
There was a sound of feet running across the grass, and in an instanttwo more men appeared from the shadow of the baseball stand. Eachseized an arm of the captured boy, and the man who had made the firstattack released his hold on Frank's neck.
"What's this all about?" said Frank huskily. The stranger had nearlychoked the wind out of him in the tight grasp in which he had heldhim until help arrived. "I have no money."
"We don't want your money, kid," said one of the men. "We just wantyou, and everything will be easy for you if you come along withoutkicking."
"Come along where?"
"Never mind, that's our little secret."
Frank opened his mouth to yell for help, but a big hand immediatelyclosed over it and shut off his cry. "Come, none of that!"
"Put that towel over his mouth!" said one of his captors. A towelwas whipped out by one of them and in a jiffy he was effectuallyprevented from making any outcry, and it had been so placed that hecould not see. "Now, come along, young fellow, we're not going to eatyou."
Two of the men linked their arms in his, and, preceded by the third,they set out at a rapid pace toward the path that ran down alongthe river edge. Frank tried to hang back, but he was firmly urgedforward, and, seeing the uselessness of resistance in the face ofsuch overwhelming odds, he gave up and went along quietly, waiting achance to escape by some stratagem.
After a walk of a few minutes, Frank's captors halted and turnedtoward the river. Frank felt the cold chills race up and down hisspine as he stood, held firmly between the two. "What does itall mean?" he thought to himself. The man who had preceded themdisappeared for a moment in the alder bushes which fringed the bank.In a moment his voice sounded from below: "The boat's here; hurry itup and let's get it finished."
Half walking and half sliding, they reached the water's edge. Withoutany ceremony Frank was forced into the boat, the others followed, andone of the men, after pushing off, began to row rapidly. Two or threehundred yards down stream he beached the boat, sprang out and heldher, while the others, still grasping Frank, scrambled out awkwardly.The boat was pulled up a little and then, in the same order as theprocession had started, it continued on what seemed to be an old roadovergrown with grass. Five minutes of twisting and turning throughtrees and tangled shrubbery, during which time Frank, by moving hisface muscles, had uncovered one eye, brought them to a house, but itwas shrouded in the deepest gloom. No lights shone from its windowsand no sounds of life came from within. All was dreary and desolate,and a chill struck to Frank's heart as he suddenly recognized theplace. It was the Jackson house on the back road to Hamilton, and itwas reported to be haunted. Some deed of blood had been done thereyears before and the house since that time had been vacant. Afternightfall few ventured that way. Queer lights were said to have beenseen about the house at night. The road was little traveled by manor beast at any hour. Through a broken gate hanging crazily by onehinge the procession passed, and up the overgrown walk to the door.Halting here, the leader fumbled in his pocket and produced a key,which he inserted in the lock of the door. There was a grinding soundas the bolt shot back.
"Here's where you stay for a few hours, young fellow," said one ofhis captors. "Nice comfortable shack. You'll have lots of visitors inthere and you needn't be a bit lonesome."
Frank fought hard against his imprisonment. He struggled andscratched and kicked with all his might, and braced against the doorjamb. But he was soon overpowered and pushed within. The door wasjerked back quickly and Frank was alone in the haunted house. Turnedby the key on the outside, the lock shot squeaking back into itssocket. Just then the clock on the Queen's School tower boomed thehour of eight!