CHAPTER XI
"LAMBDA CHI!"
Ditson had fawned around Browning a great deal since entering college,with the result that the king of the sophomores came to entertain afeeling of absolute disgust for the fellow. The very sight of Ditsonmade the "king" feel as if he would enjoy giving him a good "polishingoff."
But Bruce was no bully, although he was a leader of the sophomores. Hehad proved his ability to fight when it was necessary, but no one couldsay that he ever showed any inclination to do bodily harm to one who wasweak and peaceable.
During his freshman year Browning had originated any number of wildprojects for sport, and he had always succeeded in carrying them throughsuccessfully. Thus it came about that he was called the "king," and hiscompanions continued to call him that when he became a sophomore.
But now there was a man in college who had fairly outwitted Browning onseveral occasions, and so it came about that the king was arousedagainst Frank Merriwell.
Browning keenly felt the sting of being beaten at his own game, and hewas obliged to confess to himself that Merriwell had accomplished thetrick.
But our hero was not inclined to let Bruce alone. He did not wait forthe king to become aggressive; he set about keeping Bruce in hot water,and he succeeded very well.
The other freshmen, stimulated by the example of one who was distinctlya leader among them, carried on such an energetic campaign against thesophomores that the latter found themselves almost continually on thedefensive.
Such a thing had never before been known at Yale and the sophs werehighly indignant. They informed the freshmen that they were altogethertoo fresh. They said the freshmen were breaking a time-honored custom,and it must be stopped.
But the triumphant freshmen kept right on, laughing in the faces oftheir angry foes.
It was expected that Browning would not delay about getting back atMerriwell and his friends, and the admirers of the king were surprisedwhen he seemed to remain inactive.
Then it came out that Bruce was in training, and it was said that he wasputting himself in condition to give Merriwell the worst licking of hislife.
Frank heard about it, but he did not seem disturbed in the least.Whenever any one spoke to him about it he merely smiled.
Among the freshmen there were some who believed Merriwell able to holdhis own against Browning. They were Harry Rattleton, Jack Diamond andone or two more.
Diamond and Merriwell were not friendly, but they had ceased to be openenemies. For the time being the hatchet was buried, and there was peacebetween them.
But the two did not become friends. Merriwell continued to assert thatDiamond had sand, and Diamond was ready to back his judgment in sayingthat Merriwell was a match for any man in Yale.
Morey's was a sophomore resort. Juniors and seniors patronized theplace, but a freshman was not allowed there unless invited to accompanysome of the regular frequenters of the place.
Ditson was ambitious. He was not satisfied to associate with those ofhis own class, but he wanted it thought he was such a fine fellow thatthe sophomores picked him up for his company.
Thus it happened that he had succeeded in getting into Morey's severaltimes, but he was killing his own chances of ever having any popularity,although he did not know it.
Browning was angry when he saw the fellow come in. He called one of thesophs over and said:
"Say, what are you bringing it in here again for, my boy? It's been heretoo many times already."
"Who--Ditson?"
"Sure."
"We're working him."
"Working him? He's working you--for the drinks."
"That's all right. He's telling us what he knows about Merriwell. Ifthere is anything in that fellow's history that we can use as a sorespot, we may be able to suppress him."
"All right," scowled Browning. "Go ahead and pump the crooked sneak, butdon't swallow his lies. I don't believe he knows anything at all aboutMerriwell."
A few minutes later the soph returned and said:
"I don't think he knows much about him, myself, but he says he's down atBilly's now--or was an hour ago. We might get a chance to Lambda Chi hima little."
Browning seemed to arouse himself.
"That's right," he agreed. "We'll go down to Billy's."
The party filed out of Morey's and Browning took the lead. Ditson wentalong with them as if he was a sophomore. He seemed to feel himselfhighly honored, but Browning had hard work to choke back his absolutecontempt for the fellow.
As they went along, it was arranged that Ditson should go into Billy'sand see if Merriwell was there. One of the sophomores should accompanyhim. If Merriwell was there and he should come out alone or in companywith one or two others, he was to be captured. Browning had a plan thatshould be carried out if the capture was made.
Ditson seemed to think he was doing something very smart and cunning inbetraying a fellow freshman into the hands of the sophomores. He fanciedhe was making himself solid with Browning's crowd.
Billy's was reached, and one of the sophs went in with Ditson, while theothers kept out of sight nearby.
After a little the soph came out and reported that Merriwell andRattleton were in there. He had treated the house, but Merriwell hadabsolutely declined to take anything.
"Oh, yes," nodded Browning. "They say he never drinks. That's how hekeeps himself in such fine condition all the time. He will not smoke,either, and he takes his exercise regularly. He is really a remarkablefreshie."
Arrangements were then made that a cab should be brought to the cornernear Billy's, where the driver should remain, apparently waiting forsomebody.
It was known to be quite useless to attempt to decoy Merriwell out, sodependence must be placed on chance. If he came out with no more thanone or two companions his name was "mud," according to the assembledsophs.
Arrangements were made to bind handkerchiefs over their faces to theeyes, so they would be partly disguised. Some of them turned their coatswrong side out, and some resorted to other means of disguisingthemselves.
Then they waited patiently.
It was not so very long before Ditson came out in a breathless hurry. Hesignaled, and they called him. As he hastened up he panted:
"Merriwell is coming right out, fellows! Be ready for him!"
The sophomores knew which way Frank was likely to go after leavingBilly's, and they lay in wait at a convenient spot.
"Is he alone?" eagerly asked Puss Parker.
"No."
"Who is with him?"
"Rattleton."
"Any others?"
"Not likely."
"Good! Take a tumble to yourself and skip."
Ditson did so.
"Now, fellows," hurriedly said Browning, "be ready for a struggle.Remember that Merriwell is a scrapper and he is likely to resist. Wemust take him completely by surprise. Get back and lay quiet till I givethe signal."
They did as directed, and as they were in a dark corner, there was notmuch danger that they would be seen till they were ready to light ontheir game.
Footsteps were heard.
"Here he comes!"
Browning peered out, and two figures were seen approaching.
"How many?" anxiously whispered Tad Horner, quivering with anxiety.
"Two. They are easy. Ready for the rush."
The sophomores crouched like savage warriors in ambush.
Merriwell's peculiar, pleasant laugh was heard as the two unsuspectingfreshmen approached.
Rattleton was talking, and, as usual, he was twisting his expression inhis haste to say the things which flashed through his head.
"It doesn't make a dit of bifference if we haven't proved anythingagainst him, I say Ditson can't be trusted. He's got a mooked crug--Imean a crooked mug."
"Oh, don't be too hard on the fellow till you know something for sure,"advised Merriwell. "I will confess that I do not like him, but--"
There was a sudden rush of dark figures out of the shadow
s, and the twofreshmen were clutched. Coats were flung over their heads and they werecrashed to the ground.
Although taken by surprise, both lads struggled.
In the suddenness of the rush Browning had made a mistake and flunghimself on Rattleton, while he had intended to grasp Merriwell. The coatbeing cast over the head of the lad prevented him from discovering hismistake.
Punch Swallows and Andy Emery were devoting themselves to Merriwell, andit was their first impression that they had tackled Rattleton.
For an instant it seemed that the trick had worked to perfection, andthe freshmen had been made captives easily.
Then came a surprise.
Swallows and Emery were unable to hold their man down. He tore off thesmothering coat and rose with them, despite all they could do. Theycried out for help:
"Give us a hand, fellows! He's like an eel! Quick!"
Some of the sophs had been unable to render much assistance, and theynow did their best to aid Swallows and Emery. In their haste to dosomething they seemed to get in the way of each other.
"Well, I don't know--I don't know!" laughed a familiar voice, and thefreshman gave Swallows a snap that lifted him off his feet and cast himinto the stomach of another fellow, who received such a blow fromPunch's head that the wind was knocked out of him in a moment.
"We'll have to see about this," said the freshman as he cracked Emery onthe jaw and broke his hold.
"Great smoke! It's Merriwell!" gurgled Emery as he reeled back.
"Onto him, fellows!" urged a soph, and Frank suddenly found six or sevenof the crowd were at him.
Just how he did it no one could tell, but he broke straight through thecrowd and in another moment was rushing back toward Billy's, shouting:
"Lambda Chi! Lambda Chi!"
It was useless to try to follow him, as all quickly saw.
In the meantime Rattleton had been cornered, and the disappointed sophsresolved to escape with him. They lifted him and made a rush for thecab. He was bundled in, and away went the cab.
Frank rushed into Billy's and gave the alarm. He was out again in avery few seconds, with a crowd of excited freshmen at his heels; butwhen they came to look for the sophomores and Rattleton they foundnothing.
"Confound it!" exclaimed Frank in dismay. "How could they get him awayso quick? I can't understand it."
The freshmen searched, but they found nothing to reward them. Rattletonwas in the toils of the enemy, and the would-be rescuers were given noopportunity to rescue him.
Then Merriwell blamed himself for leaving his roommate at all. ButBilly's had been so near and his chance with his many assailants hadseemed so slim that he had done what seemed the right thing to do on thespur of the moment. He had not fancied that the sophomores would be ableto get Harry away before he could arouse the freshmen and bring them tothe rescue.
"Poor Harry! I wonder what they will do with him?" Frank speculated.
"Oh, they won't do a thing with him!" gurgled Bandy Robinson.
"How did it happen, anyway?" asked Roland Ditson, who had joined thefreshmen after the affair was over.
He tried to appear innocent and filled with wonder and curiosity, buthis unpopularity was apparent from the fact that nobody paid enoughattention to him to answer his question.
Frank, however, found it necessary to tell his companions all about theassault, and Ditson pretended to listen with interest, as if he hadknown nothing of the affair.
The freshmen went back to Billy's and held a council. It was decided todivide into squads and make an attempt to find out where Harry had beentaken.
This was done, but it proved without result, and not far from midnightall the freshmen who had been there at the time of the capture, and manyothers, were again gathered at Billy's. They were quite excited over theaffair, and it seemed that the beer they had absorbed had gone to theheads of some of them.
In the midst of an excited discussion the door burst open, and a mostgrotesque-looking figure staggered into the room. It was a person whowas stripped to the waist and painted and adorned like a redskin, hisface striped with red and white and yellow, his hair stuck full offeathers, and his body decorated with what seemed to be tattooing.
"Bive me a gear--I mean give me a beer!" gasped that fantasticindividual. "I am nearly dead!"
"It's Rattleton!" shouted the freshmen.
They crowded around him.
"Well, say, you are a bird!" cried Lucy Little, whose right name wasLewis Little.
"A regular bird of paradise," chuckled Bandy Robinson.
"Where are those fellows?" demanded Frank Merriwell. "Where did theyleave you? Tell me, old man."
"At the door," faintly replied Rattleton as he reached for a mug of beerwhich some one held toward him. "They took me right up to the door andmade me come in here."
"Out!" shouted Frank--"out and after them! Capture one of them ifpossible! We want to even this thing up."
Out they rushed, but once more the crafty sophomores had vanished, andnot one of them was to be found.
The freshmen went back and listened to Harry's story. He told how he hadbeen blindfolded and taken somewhere, he did not know where. There theyhad kept him while his friends were searching. When there was no dangerthat the freshmen would discover them, they set out to have fun withRattleton.
"Say, Merry, old man," said Harry, "I know Browning was the leader ofthis job, although he was disguised. They seemed to feel pretty badbecause you got away. They got twisted--took me for you at first, and bythe time they discovered their mistake you were knocking them aroundlike tenpins. One chap insists you broke his jaw."
"Well, I am glad I did that much. I didn't mean to leave you, Harry.Billy's was so near I thought I could get the boys out and rescue youbefore they could carry you off. I couldn't rescue you alone, so I ranhere to stir up the fellows."
"That was right. I was glad you got away. They were laying for you. Theytold me so."
"Well, come back, and we'll wash this stuff off you."
"I don't know as you can do it."
"Eh? Why not?"
"They said it was put on to stay a while. They told me we were so fondof playing the noble red man's part that they would fix me so I couldplay it for a week or two. Some of them advised me to use sand to scrubmyself with if I hoped to get the paint off."
"Oh, that must be all a bluff. It will come off easy enough if a littlecocoa butter is used on it. Here, somebody run out to a drug store andget some cocoa butter."
After they had worked about fifteen minutes they looked at each otherin dismay, for they had scarcely been able to start the paint, and itbecome plain that cocoa butter, soap and water would not take it off.
"Didn't I tell you?" murmured Harry, sorrowfully. "I'm done for! I'llnever be able to get it off! I'll have to go out West and live with theSioux! If I do I'll take along the scalps of a few sophomores!"
They continued to work on him for nearly an hour, but were unable to getoff more than a certain portion of the paint. Harry was stillgrotesquely decorated when the boys arrived at the conclusion thatfurther scrubbing with the materials at hand was useless.
Then Frank went out and rang up a druggist who had gone to bed, for itwas after midnight. He told the man the sort of scrape his friend was inand offered the druggist inducements to give him something to remove thepaint.
The druggist said it could not be paint, but must be some sort ofstaining, and he gave Frank a preparation.
Frank went back and tried the stuff on Harry. It removed a certainamount of the stain, but did not remove it all.
At last, being thoroughly worn out, Rattleton said:
"I'll give it up for to-night, fellows. Perhaps I'll be able to get therest off in the morning. I'll poultice my face and neck. But you'llhave to watch out, Frank. They say they will use you worse than thiswhen they get hold of you."
For the time the sophomores seemed to have the best of the game.