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CHAPTER IX – A DISCUSSION ABOUT GIRLS
Diamond could not resist Ephraim’s heartiness, and his face cleared despite himself. The Yankee boy was so good-natured and ready to meet him more than half-way that he was conscience-stricken.
“I am a fool!” he muttered; “and I’m the only one to blame. It is in my nature, and I don’t seem to be able to help it.”
“It’s all right now, old fellow!” laughed Frank, as he passed an arm around Jack’s shoulders in a most friendly way. “I hardly thought you would go back on me and spoil my scheme.”
Having watched all this, Rattleton edged a bit nearer Bruce Browning, who was stretched flat on his back, and had seemed to take no more than a slight interest in what was going on.
“Isn’t it strange how much Merry will stand from Jack?” said Harry, cautiously. “Diamond has been growling and kicking and making things as unpleasant as possible for some time, and yet I swear Frank seems to think more of him than ever before. The more I know Frank Merriwell the less I know him!”
Browning grunted.
“You’re not the only one; there are others,” he said.
“Say, fellows,” called Hodge, “there goes a party of pretty girls into the surf.”
“Begorra!” exclaimed Barney. “It’s nivver a bit ye’ll miss seein’ them at all, at all.”
“Dot peen so,” nodded Hans. “Partly alvays seen all der britty girls dere vas, you pet my poots!”
Four girl bathers had come down to the beach, without seeing the little party of lads lolling beneath the wide-spreading tree. There were four of them, and they all were dressed in tasty and modest bathing suits.
“One of them is Inza Burrage,” said Frank, whose eyes never failed to recognize the girl he admired so much.
“And the one standing with her near the edge of the water is the young lady to whom she introduced us last night, Frank.”
“Miss Random.”
“Yes.”
“She is a charming girl.”
“That’s right,” agreed Hodge, his admiration showing in his eyes; “but I don’t suppose you think her quite as charming as Inza?”
“Oh, I don’t know! There is a great difference between them. Miss Random is more quiet and less bubbling and full of spirits. She has blue eyes that are soft as the California skies, and she is very gentle and ladylike. Although Inza has developed into a young lady, she still has many of her girlish ways. She is quick and impulsive, easy to take offense and ready to forgive. It is hard to compare two girls who are so dissimilar.”
“Of course I know which one you admire most,” said Bart, with something like the ghost of a smile on his dark face; “and I am quite willing that you should. There is something about Effie Random’s blue eyes and subdued manner that captivates me.”
“Here! here! here!” cried Frank, laughingly. “Is it possible you are falling in love again, Hodge? Be careful! You know what sort of scrapes your love affairs get you into.”
Bart flushed.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, sharply. “I don’t propose to make a fool of myself again. I have done that enough. I’ll not get so much stuck on any girl that she’ll be able to make me do anything dishonorable.”
“I don’t believe you will again, old man. I think you have learned your lesson, and learned it well.”
Browning had slowly rolled over on his side, so he could watch the girl bathers without lifting his head to do so.
“I don’t know,” he said, slowly, in his peculiar lazy manner. “I was not introduced to Miss Random, but I have seen her in her street dress, and now I see her in bathing costume. I don’t know; I don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?” asked Rattleton.
“Don’t know but she could tempt me to do almost anything. She is out of sight!”
“There is one thing she could not induce you to do.”
“Name it.”
“Hurry.”
“Well, she could induce me to try, and that’s a great deal.”
“Begorra! it’s nayther av you chaps nade worry about her,” put in Barney. “It’s nivver a bit she’ll throuble her purty head over yez. She’s lookin’ fer bigger fish, me b’ys.”
“I suppose you know all about it?” grunted Bruce, sarcastically.
“Ah, Oi know a thing ur two,” returned the Irish lad, serenely, quite unruffled by Browning’s manner. “Santa Barbara has a distinguished visitor, av ye’ll plaze remimber, an’ all th’ girruls are afther castin’ shape’s-oies at him.”
“Do you mean Lord Stanford?”
“Av course.”
“It is not possible Miss Random has been attracted by that whiskey-drinking wreck of the English peerage!”
“Whoy not?”
“Miss Burrage is friendly with Miss Random, and she would tell her all about Lord Stanford.”
“She has thot, but it’s quare fools some av th’ American girruls do be whin they see a furriner wid some sort av a toitle. It’s crazy they git intirely, an’ divvil a bit do they look at th’ man at all, at all. It’s th’ toitle they’re thinkin’ av. They’re riddy to take any koind av an old thing, av it has a toitle hung to it.”
“I don’t believe Effie Random is that sort of a girl,” warmly declared Hodge. “She seems to have more sense than that.”
“It’s not always their since ye can measure by th’ looks av their face, me b’y.”
“I think you are insinuating things about Miss Random without having the least reason for doing so, and I don’t like it,” came warmly from Bart’s lips.
“Oll roight, me laddybuck,” nodded Barney. “It’s nivver another worrud will Oi say at all, at all.”
“I am sure Barney did not mean any harm,” smiled Frank. “It’s a mistake to take too seriously anything he says.”
The Irish boy opened his lips, as if to say something, but quickly closed them again.
“Why is Stanford hanging around here so long, anyway?” asked Jack, who had grown interested in the conversation. “After we took Inza away from him, the fellow seemed to throw up the sponge, and I thought he would get out in a hurry.”
“That’s right, but he seems very much fascinated with Santa Barbara and the young ladies here.”
“Dot shows he haf a leedle sense,” cut in Hans. “Sandy Parpery peen a tandy blace, und der girls here – um-um-er-um! – dey vos pirds!”
“California is full of pretty girls, anyway,” declared Rattleton.
“By gum! that’s jest so!” Ephraim cried. “There’s only one place I know of where there’s more pritty gals.”
“Where is that?”
“Up in Varmont, b’gosh! Never see no gals as could hold a candle tew the Varmont gals, b’ginger!”
“That’s right,” laughed Frank; “stand by the girls of your own State. I don’t blame you. I never was in Vermont in my life, but I’ll wager there are as pretty girls in that State as can be found anywhere.”
“There are different types of beauty in different parts of the country,” said Diamond. “To a Virginian, Virginia girls are the handsomest on the face of the earth; but I presume it is because there is something distinctive in the type they represent, and, by familiarity with it, we have come to consider it superior to anything else.”
“Begorra!” broke forth Barney; “it’s no tuype Oi care fer, but Oi’ve thraveled th’ whole worruld over, an’ Oi swear it’s nivver a bit av use to look fer purtier girruls thin can be found in ould Oireland.”
“It’s not girls we were to discuss,” said Diamond. “Merriwell spoke of some kind of a scheme.”
“And came near forgetting it. Never mind the girls now, fellows. Gather around me, and I will lay before you my plan for a trip that is bound to be full of sport and adventure. I know you will be stuck on the scheme.”
He sat down on the ground, and the boys settled themselves in positions to listen.
“My scheme,” said Frank, smiling at the interest he saw expressed on the eager faces about him, “is to form an athletic combine and take in everything in the way of sports that we can strike on our way back East.”
There was a stir among the listening lads, all of whom were greatly interested in athletics and outdoor sports.
“We can begin right here in Santa Barbara day after to-morrow,” Merriwell continued, “for you know we have decided to wait over and attend the athletic tournament which is to take place here on that day.”
“Yes,” said Harry, hastily; “but we would not be allowed to pate tark – I mean take part in it.”
“Why not?”
“Why, isn’t it for Californians exclusively?”
“Not at all. California seldom does anything for Californians exclusively. They are the most liberal, broad-minded people in the world, and they like to interest outsiders in their doings. This tournament is open to all non-professional athletes who may wish to enter it.”
The interest of the listening boys grew deeper.
“And you think it would be a good plan for some of us to take a hand in it, eh?” said Diamond, his face brightening.
“Yes.”
“Is that your scheme?”
“Part of it.”
“I fail to understand how it would be affected by my departure.”
“Wait; you have not heard all I have to say.”
“I beg your pardon. Go on.”
“In this crowd right here are fellows who can take part in almost any kind of an athletic contest.”
“That’s right.”
“We could form a club, and be prepared for anything we ran up against. Do you tumble?”
“You are right; but what would we run up against?”
“Plenty of hot times, if we looked for them. We could make a trip back East, taking time for it, as there is time to spare before college begins in September.”
“That’s so,” grunted Browning. “We’d want to take lots of time. I don’t see the good of hustling back East, anyway.”
“Nor I,” said Harry. “I agreed to spend some time in Bar Harbor this season, but I don’t suppose it will kill any one if I fail to get there.”
“Bar Harbor is a long distance from Santa Barbara,” laughed Frank. “Forget it. If my scheme pans out, you’ll have more fun than you could get out of Bar Harbor, with its dances and its tennis parties. Dancing and tennis are well enough, but here are other things more interesting.”
“Golf, for instance,” grinned Rattleton. “They say tennis won’t be in it at Bar Harbor this summer. Golf is bound to be all the rage.”
“Let it rage. It’s better than tennis in some respects, but there is not quite enough excitement about it for the average American lad. Baseball and football are the things to make the blood tingle.”
“You bet!” cried several of the boys in chorus.
“If my plan is adopted,” said Frank, “we can travel back East by easy stages, stopping wherever we hear there is anything going on in which we are interested, and getting into all sorts of sports and games. How does it strike you, fellows?”
“Pully,” shouted Hans. “Uf I peen aple to get me some footraces indo, I pet you your life I vos goin’ to make der natifs hustle.”
The Dutch boy’s one pet hallucination was that he was a great sprinter. He cherished the delusion with tender fondness, and nothing could convince him it was a delusion.
“Begorra it’s a great skame, Frankie,” cried Barney. “It’s a roight jolly ould toime we’ll hiv.”
“Gol darned ef we won’t,” nodded Ephraim, bobbing his head up and down with his long supple neck.
The others, with the exception of Jack and Bruce, expressed themselves as greatly pleased with the idea. Browning grunted and groaned:
“Merry, you’re always getting up something to make a fellow work. Now our trip across the continent is over, I have been contemplating the joys of a lazy trip back home in a parlor car. Here you come with a scheme that knocks the wind out of my sails.”
Diamond was silent.
Frank knew that Bruce did not mean more than half he said, and so he simply smiled on the big fellow. To Jack he said:
“You haven’t said what you think about it.”
“I was wondering.”
“What about?”
“About your statement that it would spoil your plan if I left the party.”
“It would.”
“I don’t see how. There would still be eight of you.”
“But eight is not nine, and it takes nine men to play a game of baseball.”
“Baseball! That’s right! Why, we have enough here for a ball team.”
“That is it, exactly,” smiled Frank. “This is the season when baseball flourishes, and we will be sure to strike some games on our way back East. If there are nine of us, we’ll have a ball team of our own.”
“Mah gracious,” broke in Toots. “Dat am de stuff. If dar am anyfing I leks teh do it am teh play baseball – yes, sar.”
Diamond was satisfied, and he immediately proposed that they organize an athletic club without delay.
CHAPTER X – THE YALE COMBINE
“This is as good a place as we can find to do the business,” declared Diamond. “And the first business is to appoint a temporary chairman, who will call the meeting to order.”
“I nominate Mr. Diamond,” smiled Frank.
Without loss of time, Jack was appointed temporary chairman, and he brought the meeting to order, compelling Bruce to sit up and pay attention to the business in hand, which caused the lazy fellow to grumble somewhat.
“Gentlemen,” said Jack, “the first business before this meeting is to appoint a president and permanent chairman. How shall he be appointed, by hand-vote or written ballot?”
“I brobose he vos abbointed by acclimatation,” put in Hans, which caused the boys to laugh.
It was decided to nominate a candidate and elect him by show of hands. Rattleton nominated Frank Merriwell for the office of president and permanent chairman, and the question was quickly put.
With the exception of Frank, every boy present held up both hands.
“Mr. Merriwell is elected,” said Jack, soberly, “and I now surrender the chair to him.”
Frank made a little speech, expressing his thanks, and then asked the views of the boys as to the proper name for the club. Several names were suggested, in all of which Frank’s name was included. He was not satisfied with any of them.
“What do you think would be a good name?” asked Hodge.
“Well, we have come across the continent representing Yale, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t go back carrying the Yale banner to victory wherever we can. Four of us are from Yale, and Hodge contemplates entering the college, while Toots has worn a Yale sweater during our tour. That leaves Ephraim, Barney and Hans. I wonder if they object to the use of the word Yale in the name of our club?”
“Gosh, no.”
“Nivver a bit av it.”
“Vot you took us for?”
“Then that point is settled. Of course we have no authority from Yale to use the name, but if we give a good account of ourselves in the contests in which we may participate, I hardly think that need trouble us. I propose the name, ‘The Yale Combine.’ How does that strike you?”
“Good!” cried Rattleton, with enthusiasm.
“Good! good!” echoed the others.
“Is it your pleasure that our club be called the Yale Combine?”
“Yes! yes! yes!”
“Then I declare that name formally adopted. Now I wish some assistant officers – a vice, a secretary and a treasurer. How shall they be elected?”
“I motion they be elected by written ballot,” proposed Hodge.
“Sicond th’ motion,” said Barney, promptly.
“The motion is made and seconded that the assistant officers be elected by written ballot. If that be your minds make it manifest by a show of hands.”
Up went the hands of all.
“It is a vote. Please prepare your ballots for vice.”
“Hold on a jiffy, Mr. President,” said Ephraim, awkwardly, grinning a little. “I want to wag my jaw a bit before we begin tew vote.”
“Mr. Gallup may speak.”
“I ain’t got much tew say; but it kinder seems tew me that as long as this is ter be called the Yale Combine it’s jest abaout the right thing that the officers should all be fellers who b’long ter Yale Collige. That would make the thing seem a site more reg’ler, an’ I don’t s’pose anybuddy will object to it.”
Hodge frowned a bit and looked disappointed, for he had desired a position of some importance, but he raised no objection to Ephraim’s proposal.
“If you think that is best,” said Frank, “it is very easy to elect my assistants from the three Yale men of the party.”
Then they balloted for vice. Diamond had five votes, Browning two, and Dunnerwust one.
“Holdt on!” cried the Dutch boy. “Vot somepody done dot for, aindt id? Some feller peen goin’ to had a coot time mit me – I don’d think! I know a choke ven I seen him, but dees vas peesness. Id was a plamed fool dot chokes apoudt peesness! Yaw! You vos velcome mein obinion to.”
Hans was red in the face and greatly excited, causing no small amount of merriment.
Merriwell declared Diamond elected vice.
When the vote for secretary was counted, Rattleton had seven and Gallup one. If possible, Ephraim was more excited than Hans had been.
“I know I’m gol darn green,” he said; “an’ I don’t seem to git over it, though I have traviled araound some; but I tumble when folks go to pokin’ fun at me, b’gosh!”
Hans chuckled:
“Dot peen a coot von on you, Efy! Haw! haw!”
“Oh, haw! haw!” mocked the Vermonter. “I don’t see where the fun comes in!”
Rattleton was pronounced secretary.
For treasurer Browning had seven votes and Toots one.
The colored boy laughed as if he considered it a good joke.
When the officers were elected, Frank said:
“To raise funds to carry this club through I propose to sell my yacht, for which I have no further use. Yesterday I received an offer of nine hundred dollars for her, and I hope the gentleman who wants her will add another hundred to-day. That is what I paid for her, and I got a bargain. She is easily worth fourteen hundred, and I could get something near that out of her if I had time to look for a customer.”
“And you propose to put that money into the running of this club?”
“Why not? Prof. Scotch knew I would need money, and he provided a sum for my use. He will expect me to use it as I see fit.”
“I don’t suppose anybody here will raise an objection,” laughed Rattleton.
“That point is settled. Now for the matter of getting into the tournament here. I have been invited to take part.”
“So soon?”
“Yes. Miss Random introduced me to her brother, Wallace, who is a prominent member of the Santa Barbara Athletic Club. He is a great sprinter, and expects to carry off the honors in the hurdle race. He had heard that I am interested in athletics, and he urged me to enter for some of the contests. As he is a member of the committee on arrangements, his invitation goes.”
“It would give him a black eye if you should go into the races in which he will take part and beat him out,” said Browning.
“Merry can do it, too,” nodded Diamond.
“That is not a sure thing, by any means,” smiled Frank. “I never knew a fellow who was so good at anything that he would not run up against some other fellow that was a little better. They say Random is a dandy.”
“He will have to be to get away from you, old man,” said Hodge.
“Boys,” cried Harry, enthusiastically, “we won’t do a thing but have a glorious time on our way back East!”
Browning groaned.
“I did think you would be satisfied to drag me into a bicycle tour across the continent,” he said; “but this is something a great deal worse. The next thing I know, you’ll be getting me into a six-days’ running match, or something of the sort.”
“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!”
