CHAPTER III.
THE BLOW.
There was a sudden hush. The students saw that Diamond was reallyrevengeful, and his words seemed to indicate that he intended to reportany one whose identity he discovered.
The Virginian was pale and he trembled with anger.
"You don't mean to say that you will blow, do you?" asked one.
"That's exactly what I do mean, sir!" came resolutely from the lips ofthe infuriated freshman. "I am a gentleman and the son of a gentleman,and I'll never stand it to be treated like a cur. Hazing is said to beno longer tolerated here, and an investigation is certain to follow myreport of this affair."
A little fellow stepped out.
"You claim to be a gentleman," he said, distinctly, "but you will proveyourself a cad if you peach."
"I had rather be a cad than a ruffian, sir!"
"If you were a gentleman you would take your medicine like a gentleman.You'd never squeal."
"You fellows are the ones who are squealing now, for you see you havebeen imposing on the wrong man."
"Man!" shot back the little fellow, contemptuously. "There's not muchman about a chap that blows when he is hazed a little."
"A little! a little! Is this what you call a little?"
"Oh, this is nothing. Think of what the poor freshies used to go throughin the old days of Delta Kappa and Signa Epsilon. Why, sometimes afellow would be roasted so his skin would smell like burned steak for aweek."
"That was when he was burned at the stake," said a chap in thebackground, and there was a universal dismal groan.
"This is some of the Delta Kappa machinery here," the little fellowexplained. "Sometimes some of the fellows come here to have a cold botand hot lob. You freshies walked right in on us to-night, and we gaveyou a pleasant reception. Now, if you blow I'll guarantee you'll neverbecome a soph. The fellows will do you, and do you dirty, before yourfirst year is up."
"Such threats do not frighten me," haughtily flung back the lad fromVirginia. "I know this was a put-up job, and Bruce Browning was in it.He got us to come here. Frank Merriwell knew something about it, or he'dnever been so ready to come. And I know you, too, Tad Horner."
The little fellow fell back a step, and then, with a sudden angryimpulse, he tore off his mask, showing a flushed, chubby, boyish face,from which a pair of great blue eyes flashed at Diamond.
"Well, I am Tad Horner!" he cried, "and I'm not ashamed of it! If youwant to throw me down, go ahead. It will be a low, dirty trick, and willshow the kind of big stuff you are!"
The masked lads were surprised, for Tad had never exhibited such spiritbefore. He had always seemed like a mild, shy, mother-boy sort of chap.He had been hazed and had cried; but he wouldn't beg and he neversquealed. After that Browning had taken him under his wing, had foughthis battles, and had stood by him through the freshman year. Anybody whowas looking for trouble could find it by imposing on Horner; andBrowning, for all of his laziness, could fight like a tiger when he wasaroused.
Some of the students clapped their hands in approbation of Tad's plainwords, and there was a general stir. One fellow proposed that everybodyunmask, so that all would be on a level with Horner, but the littlefellow quickly cried:
"Don't do it! You'd all be spotted, and the faculty would know who toinvestigate if anything should happen to Diamond. If I'm fired, I wantyou fellows to settle with him for me."
"We'll do it--we'll do it, Tad!" cried more than twenty voices.
Diamond showed his white, even teeth and laughed shortly.
"Perhaps you think that will scare me," he sneered. "If so, you willfind I am not bluffed so easily."
"We are not trying to scare you," declared another of the maskedstudents, "but you'll find we are in earnest if you blow."
"Well, you will find I am in earnest, and I do not care for you all."
The boys began to despair, for they saw that Diamond was determined andobstinate, and it would be no easy thing to induce him to abandon hisintention of reporting the hazing. If he did so, Browning and Hornerwould find themselves in deep trouble, and others might become involvedduring the investigation. It was not probable that the consequenceswould be serious for Merriwell, who would be able to prove his innocencein the matter.
What could be done?
The boys fell to discussing the matter in little groups, and not a fewexpressed regret that Tad Horner had unmasked, as an alibi could havebeen arranged for him if he had not done so. Now he would be too proudto permit them to try anything of the sort, and he would tell the truthabout his connection with the affair if the truth were demanded of him.
"We're in a bad box," said one fellow in one of the little groups."Diamond is mad enough to do as he threatens."
"Sure," nodded another. "And that breaks up this joint. No more littlelunches here--no more games of penny ante."
"It's a howling shame!" exploded a third. "It makes me feel grouchy."
"I move we strangle Diamond," suggested the first speaker.
"It seems that that is the only way to keep his tongue still," dolefullygroaned a tall chap. "This is a big horse on us."
"That's what," sighed a boy with a face like a girl's. "The wholebusiness puts me in a blue funk."
Then they stood and stared silently at each other through the eyeholesin their masks, and not one of them was able to propose anythingpracticable.
The rest of the assembled sophomores seemed in quite as bad a plight,and some of them were inclined to indulge in profanity, which, althoughit relieved their feelings for the moment, did not suggest any way outof the scrape.
At this point Merriwell spoke up, addressing Diamond.
"Look here, old man," he said in a friendly way, "you've only taken thesame dose they gave me. It's nothing when you get used to it."
Diamond gave him a contemptuous look, but did not speak.
"Now, I don't propose to make a fuss about this little joke," Frank wenton. "What's the use? I'm not half killed."
"Perhaps you think you can hoodwink me!" cried Diamond. "Well, youcannot! You were in the game all the time. That's why you were so readyto meet me in a duel--that's why you came here."
"I assure you on my word of honor that you are wrong."
"Your word of honor!"
"Yes, my word of honor," he calmly returned. "See--look at my clothes.You can tell that I have been through the mill."
"You may have had them fixed that way on purpose to fool me."
"Oh, you must know better than that! Be reasonable, Diamond."
The Virginian made a savage gesture.
"If you are so pleased to be made a laughingstock of it's nothing tome," he flashed. "Keep still if you want to. I'm going to tell all Iknow."
"That would make a very large book--full of nice clean, blank pages,"said some one in the background.
Frank's manner suddenly changed.
"Look here, Diamond," he said, "you won't tell a thing."
The Southerner caught his breath and his eyes stared.
"Eh?" he muttered, surprised at the other's manner. "I won't?"
"Not on your life."
"Why not?"
"Because it will mean expulsion for you as well as myself if you do."
Every one was listening. They gathered about the two freshmen, wonderingnot a little at Merriwell's words and manner.
"Expulsion for me?" slowly repeated Diamond. "How is that?"
"It's straight goods."
"Explain it."
"Well, I will. We came here to fight a duel, didn't we?"
"Yes, sir."
"You admit that?"
"I do, sir."
"That is all that's needed."
"How? Why? I don't understand."
"Duels are not countenanced in the North, and nothing would cause afellow to be fired from Yale quicker than the knowledge that he had hadanything to do with one while here. Do you twig?"
There was a moment of silence and then a stir. A deep sigh of reliefcame fro
m the masked lads, and some of them showed an inclination tocheer Merriwell.
Diamond seemed nonplused for the moment. He glared at Frank, his handsclinched and his face pale.
At last he slowly said:
"A duel is something no gentleman can blow about, so if you are agentleman you will have to remain silent, sir."
"That's the way you Southerners look at it, but yon will excuse usNortherners if we do not see it in the same light. A hazing is somethingwe do not blow about, but you seem determined to let out everything, forall that it would be a dirty thing to do. In order to even the matter,these fellows are sure to tell that you came here to fight a duel withdeadly weapons, and you'll find yourself rusticating in Virginiadirectly."
"'Way down in ole Virginny," softly warbled one of the delightedsophomores. "That's the stuff, Merry, old boy!"
Diamond trembled with intense anger. He tried to speak, but his voicewas so hoarse that his words were unintelligible. A blue line seemed toform around his mouth.
"Merriwell's got him!" Bruce Brown lazily whispered in Tad Horner's ear."See him squirm!"
Tad was relieved, although he endeavored not to show it; but a satisfiedsmile crept over his rosy face, and he felt like giving Frank Merriwellthe "glad hand."
Diamond's anger got the best of him. He strode forward, looked straightinto Frank's eyes, and panted:
"I hate you, sir! I could kill you!"
And then, before he realized what he was doing, he struck Merriwell asharp blow on the cheek with his open hand.