CHAPTER II
LANGRIDGE HAS A TUMBLE
Out into the corridor went the three lads with the old sofa. It was noeasy task, but they managed to get it out of the east dormitory, wherethey had roomed for a year, and then they began the journey across astretch of grass to the west building.
The appearance of the three boys, carrying a dilapidated sofa, astenderly as though it were some rare and fragile object, attracted theattention of a crowd of students. The lads swarmed over to surround themovers.
"Well, would you look at that!" exclaimed Holman, otherwise known as"Holly," Cross. "Have you had a fire, Tom?"
"No; they've been to an auction sale of antiques, and this is the bedon which Louis XIV slept the night before he ate the Welsh rarebit,"declared Ed Kerr, the champion catcher on the 'varsity nine. "Why don'tyou label it, Phil, so a fellow would know what it is?"
"You get out of the way!" exclaimed Tom good-naturedly.
"This side up, with care. Store in a cool, dry place, and waterfrequently," quoted Billy Housenlager, who rejoiced in the title ofDutch. "Here, let me see if I can jump over it while it is in motion,"he added, for he was full of "horseplay," and always anxious to trysomething new. He took a running start, and was about to leap full uponthe sofa, when, at a signal from Phil, the three chums set the splicedpiece of furniture on the grass.
"What's the matter?" asked Dutch indignantly. "Can't you give a fellow achance to practice jumping? I can beat Grasshopper Backus, now."
"You can not!" exclaimed the owner of the title. "I'm sure to make thetrack team this term, and then you'll see what----"
"Say," put in another student, "my uncle says that when he was here heused to jump----"
"Drown him!"
"Stuff grass in his mouth!"
"Make him eat the horsehair in the sofa!"
"Swallow it!"
"Chew it up!"
These were some of the cries of derision that greeted Ford Fenton'smention of his uncle. The gentleman had once been a coach at Randall,and a very good one, too, but his nephew was doing much to spoil hisreputation.
For, at every chance he got, and at times when there was no opportunitybut such as he made, Ford would quote his aforesaid uncle, upon any andall subjects, to the no small disapproval of his college mates. So theyhad gotten into the habit of "rigging" him every time he mentioned hisrelative.
"I don't care," Ford said, when the chorus of exclamations had ceased."My uncle----"
But he got no further, for the students made a rush for him and buriedhim out of sight in a pile of wriggling arms and legs.
"First down; ten yards to gain!" yelled some one.
"Come on, now's our chance," said Tom. "First thing we know they'll dothat to our sofa, and then it will be all up with the poor old thing.Let's move on."
Once more the chums took up their burden, and walked toward the westdormitory. By this time the throng had done with punishing poor Fenton,and once more turned its attention to the movers.
"Going to split it up for firewood?" called Ed Kerr.
"No; it's full of germs, and they're going to dig 'em out and use 'emin the biology class," suggested Dan Woodhouse, who was more commonlycalled Kindlings.
"Maybe they're going to make a folding bed of it," came from BricktopMolloy. "Come on, fellows, let's investigate."
The crowd of fun-loving students hurried after the three lads carryingthe sofa.
"They're coming!" exclaimed Tom.
"Let's drop the sofa and cut for it?" proposed Sid. "They'll make arough house if they catch us."
"I'm not going to desert the sofa!" exclaimed Tom.
"Nor I. I'll stick by you--'I will stand at thy right hand, and guardthe bridge with thee,'" quoted Phil. "But if we put a little more speedon we can get to the dormitory, and that will be sanctuary, I guess.Come on; run, fellows!"
It was awkward work, running and carrying a clumsy sofa, but theymanaged it. Holly Cross caught up to them as they were at the door ofthe building.
"Ah, let's have the old ark," he pleaded. "We'll make a bonfire of it,and circle about it to-night, after we haze some freshies. Give us theold relic, Tom."
"Not on your life!" exclaimed the crack pitcher of the 'varsity nine."This is our choicest possession, Holly. It goes wherever we go."
"Well, it won't go much longer," observed Holly. "One of its legs iscoming off."
Almost as he spoke one of the sofa legs, probably jarred loose by theunaccustomed rapid rate of progress, fell to the dormitory steps.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" exclaimed Phil. "It's beginning to fall apart,Tom."
"Never mind, you can nail it on. Sid, you carry the leg. The stairs areso narrow that only two of us can manage the sofa. Phil and I will dothat, and you come in back to catch me, in case I fall."
Seeing that there was no chance to get the sofa away from its owners, tomake a college holiday with it, Holly Cross and his friends turned backto look for another source of sport. Sid picked up the leg, and then,with Phil mounting the stairs backward, carrying one end, and Tomadvancing and holding the other, the task was begun. Up the stairs theywent, and when they were half way there appeared at the head of theflight two lads. They were both well dressed in expensive clothes, andthere was about them that indefinable air of "sportiness" which is soeasily recognizable but hard to acquire.
"Hello, what's this?" asked the foremost of the two, as he looked downon the approaching cavalcade and the sofa. "Here, what do you fellowsmean by blocking up the stairway? Don't you know that no tradesmen areallowed in this entrance?"
"Who are you talking to?" demanded Phil, not seeing who was speaking.
"It's Langridge," explained Tom, as he looked up and saw his formerenemy and rival.
"Oh, it's Parsons, Henderson and Clinton," went on Fred Langridge, as herecognized some fellow students. Then, without apologizing for hisformer words, he went on: "I say, you fellows will have to back down andlet me and Gerhart past. We are in a hurry."
"So are we," said Tom shortly. "I guess you can wait until we come up."
"No, I can't!" exclaimed Langridge. "You back up! You have no right toblock up the stairs this way!"
"Well, I guess we have," put in Sid. "We're moving some of our things toour new room."
Langridge, followed by the other well-dressed lad, came down a fewsteps. He saw the old sofa, and exclaimed:
"What! Do you mean to say that you fellows are moving that fuzzy-wuzzypiece of architecture into this dormitory? I'll not stand for it! I'llcomplain to the proctor! Why, it's full of disease germs!"
"Yes, and you're full of prune juice!" cried Phil Clinton, unable tostand the arrogant words and manner of Langridge.
"Don't get gay with me!" exclaimed Tom's former rival.
"I'll lay you five to three that you can't jump over their heads andclear the sofa," put in the other student, whom Langridge had calledGerhart. "Do any of you fellows want to bet?" he asked rathersneeringly, as he looked down at Tom, Phil and Sid.
"I guess not," answered Tom, good-naturedly enough.
"Ah, you're not sports, I see," rejoined Gerhart. "I thought you saidthis was a sporty college, Langridge?"
"So it is, when you strike the right crowd, and not a lot of greasydigs," was the answer. "I say, are you chaps going to move back and letme and Gerhart pass?" he went on.
"No, we're not," replied Phil shortly. "You can wait until we get up. Goon back now, Langridge, and we'll soon have this out of the way."
"Burning it up would be the best method of getting it out of the way,"declared Langridge, still with that sneer in his voice. "I never sawsuch a disgraceful piece of furniture. What do you fellows want with it?Surely you're not going to put it in your room."
"That's just what we are going to do," declared Sid. "We wouldn't partwith this for a good bit, would we, fellows?"
"Nope," chorused Phil and Tom.
"Did it come over in the _Mayflower_?" asked Gerhart. "I'm willing tobet ten to one tha
t if you think it's an antique that you're stuck. Howabout it?"
"You're quite a sport, aren't you, freshie?" asked Phil suddenly, for heknew that the new student must belong to the first-year class.
"Of course I'm a sport, but if you go to calling names I'll show youthat I'm something else!" exclaimed the other fiercely. "If you want todo a little something in the boxing line----"
"Dry up!" hastily advised Langridge in a whisper. "You're a freshman,and you know it. They're sophomores, and so am I. Don't get gay."
"Well, they needn't insult a gentleman."
"Tell us when one's around, and we'll be on our good behavior," spokePhil with a laugh.
"Come, now, are you fellows going to back down and let us pass?" askedLangridge hastily.
"Like the old guard, we die, but never surrender," spoke Tom. "We're notgoing to back down, Langridge. It's easier for you to go back than forus."
"Well, I'm not going to do it. You have no right to move your stuff inhere, anyhow. The rooms are furnished."
"We want our old chair and sofa," explained Sid.
"I should think you'd be ashamed to bring such truck into a decentcollege," expostulated Langridge. "It looks as if it had been through afire in a second-hand store."
"That'll do you," remarked Phil. "This is our sofa, and we'll do as weplease with it."
"You won't block up my way, that's one thing you won't do," declaredLangridge fiercely. "I'm going down. Look out! If I upset you fellows itwon't be my fault."
He started down the stairs, and managed to squeeze past Phil, who,though he did not like Langridge, moved as far to one side as possiblein the narrow passage. As Langridge passed the sofa he struck it with alittle cane he carried. A cloud of dust arose.
"Whew!" exclaimed the sporty lad. "Smell the germs! Wow! Get me somedisinfectant, Gerhart."
Whether it was the action of Langridge in hitting the sofa that causedTom to stagger, or whether Phil was unsteady on his feet and pushed onthe sofa, did not develop. At any rate, just as Langridge came oppositeto Tom on the stairs, the former pitcher was jostled against his rival.Langridge stumbled, tried to save himself by clutching at Tom and thenat the sofa. He missed both, and, with a loud exclamation, plunged downhead first, bringing up with a resounding thud at the bottom.