CHAPTER V
A GERMAN-FRENCH ALLIANCE
"Oh, fellows, please let go! Don't throw me in the lake! I--I can'tswim!"
It was Will's final appeal.
"Well, it's time you learned," exclaimed Snaith with a laugh. "Come onnow, boys, take it on the run!"
But at that moment Jack Ranger fairly leaped from behind the clump oftrees where he and Nat Anderson stood, and running after the three meanlads who were carrying the struggling Will, our hero planted himself infront of them.
"Here--drop him!" he cried, barring their way.
Surprise at Jack's sudden appearance, no less than at his words andbearing, brought the hazers to a stop.
"What--what's that you said?" asked Snaith, as if disbelieving theevidence of his ears.
"I said to drop this, and let Williams go."
"What for?" demanded Pud.
"For several reasons. He can't swim, and he has a nervous dread of thewater, as I happen to know. Besides, it's too chilly to throw any onein the lake now."
"Are those all your reasons?" asked Snaith with a sneer.
"No!" cried Jack. "If you want another, it's because I tell you tostop!"
"S'posing we don't?"
"Then I'll make you."
"Oh, you will, eh? Well, I guess we three can take care of you, allright, even if you are Jack Ranger."
Snaith had a tight hold on Will's arm. The timid lad had been set downby his captors, but they still had hold of him.
"Please let me go," pleaded Williams.
"We will--after you've had your dip in the lake," said Glen.
"Yes, come on," added Snaith. "Get out of the way, Ranger, if you don'twant to get bumped."
"You let Williams go!" demanded Jack, still barring the way.
"We'll not! Stand aside or I'll hit you!" snapped Snaith.
He and his cronies again picked Williams up, and were advancing with himtoward the lake. Snaith had one hand free, and as he approached Jack,who had not moved, the bully struck out at him. The blow landed lightlyon Jack's chest, but the next instant his fist shot out, catchingSnaith under the ear, and the bully suddenly toppled over backward,measuring his length on the ground.
"JACK'S FIST SHOT OUT, CATCHING SNAITH UNDER THE EAR."]
He was up again in a second, however, and spluttered out:
"Wha--what do you mean? I'll fix you for this! I'll make you pay forthat, Jack Ranger!"
"Whenever you like," replied Jack coolly, as he stood waiting theattack.
"Come on, fellows, let's do him up!" cried Pud. "We're three to one, andI owe him something on my own account."
"Shall we let the freshman go?" asked Glen.
"Sure!" exclaimed Snaith. "We can catch him again. We'll do up Rangernow!"
The bully and his cronies advanced toward Jack. Will, hardlyunderstanding that he was released, stood still, though Jack called tohim:
"Better run, youngster. I can look out for myself."
"Oh, you can, eh?" sneered Snaith. "Well, I guess you'll have your handsfull. Come on, now, fellows! Give it to him!"
The three advanced with the intention of administering a sound drubbingto our hero, and it is more than likely that they would have succeeded,for Jack could not tackle three at once very well. But somethinghappened.
This "something" was a lad who came bounding up from the rear, with aroar like a small, maddened bull, and then with a cry Nat Andersonflung himself on the back of Pud Armstrong.
"Flabgastered punching-bags!" he cried. "Three to one, eh? Well, I guessnot! Acrimonious Abercrombie! But I'll take a hand in this game!"
"Here! Quit that! Let me go! Stop! That's no way to fight! Get off myback!" yelled the startled Pud.
"I'm not fighting yet," said Nat coolly, as he skillfully locked hislegs in those of Pud and sent him to the ground with a wrestler's trick."I'm only getting ready to wallop you!"
Snaith, who had rushed at Jack with raised fists, was met by anotherleft-hander that again sent him to the ground. And then, to the surpriseof the rescuers, no less than that of the would-be hazers, Will, who hadseemed so timid in the hands of his captors, rushed at Glen Forker, andbefore that bully could get out of the way, had dealt him a blow on thechest.
"There!" cried Will. "I guess we're three to three now!"
"Good for you, youngster!" cried Jack heartily. "You've got more spunkthan I gave you credit for. Hit him again!"
"Now, Pud, if you'll get up, you and I will have our innings," announcedNat to the lad he had thrown. "Suffering snufflebugs! but I guess thegame isn't so one-sided now."
But, though Pud got up, he evinced no desire to come to close quarterswith Nat. Instead, he sneaked to one side, muttering:
"You wait--that's all! You just wait!"
"Well, I'm a pretty good waiter. I used to work in a hash foundry and abeanery," said Nat with a smile.
Snaith, too, seemed to have had enough, for he sat on the ground rubbinga lump on his head, while as for Glen, he was in full retreat.
"I hope I didn't hurt you, Snaith," said Jack politely.
"Don't you speak to me!" snarled the bully.
"All right," said Jack. "I'll not."
"I'll get square with you for this," went on Snaith as he arose andbegan to retreat, followed by Pud. "You wait!"
"That's what Pud said," interjected Nat. "It's getting tiresome."
The two bullies hurried off in the direction taken by Glen, leavingJack, Nat and Will masters of the field.
"I--I'm ever so much obliged to you," said Will to Jack after a pause.
"That's all right. Glad I happened along."
"I--I don't mind being hazed," went on the timid lad. "I expected it,but I have a weak heart, and the doctor said a sudden shock would bebad for me. I'm very much afraid of water, and I can't swim, or Iwouldn't have minded being thrown into the lake. I--I hope you don'tthink I'm a coward."
"Not a bit of it."
"And I--I hope the fellows won't make fun of me."
"They won't," said Jack very positively, for, somehow, his heart wentout to the queer lad. "If they do, just send them to me. As for Snaithand his crowd, I guess they won't bother you after this. Say, but youwent right up to Glen, all right."
"I took boxing lessons--once," went on Will timidly. "I'm not afraid ina fair fight."
"Glad to hear it, but I fancy they'll not bother you any more. Do youknow Nat Anderson?" and Jack nodded at his chum.
"I'm glad to meet you," spoke Will, holding out his hand.
"Same here," responded Nat. "Unified uppercuts! but you went at Glengood and proper!"
"You mustn't mind Nat's queer expressions," said Jack with a smile, ashe saw Will looking in rather a puzzled way at Nat. "They werevaccinated in him, and he can't get rid of them."
"You get out!" exclaimed Jack's chum.
"Going anywhere in particular?" asked Jack of Will, as he straightenedout a cuff that had become disarranged in the scrimmage.
"No, I guess not."
"Then come on and take a walk with us."
The lad appeared to hesitate. Then he said slowly.
"No--no, thank you. I--I don't believe I will. I think I'll go back tomy room."
He turned aside and walked away.
Jack and Nat stared after him in silence.
"Well, he certainly is a queer case," remarked Nat in a low voice. "Idon't know what to make of him."
"I, either," admitted Jack. "He showed some spunk when he went at Glen,but now it appears to have oozed away."
The two chums continued their walk, discussing the recent happening.
"Do you know, I think something is about due to happen, fellows,"announced Fred Kaler that night, when he and some of Jack's and Nat'schums were in the latters' room.
"Why, what's up, you animated jewsharp?" asked Nat.
"I don't know, but it's been so quiet in the sacred precincts of ourschool lately that it's about time for something to arrive. Do you knowthat Socrat and Garlach hav
en't spoken to each other this term yet?"
"What's the trouble now?" asked Jack, for the French and Germanteachers, with the characteristics of their race, were generally atswords' points for some reason or other.
"Why, you know their classrooms are next to each other, and one day, thefirst week of the term, Professor Socrat, in giving the French lesson,touched on history, and gave an instance of where frog-eaters with asmall army had downed the troops from der Vaterland. He spoke so loudthat Professor Garlach heard him, his German blood boiled over, andsince then neither has spoken to the other."
"Well, that often happens," remarked Nat.
"Sure," added Bony Balmore, cracking his finger knuckles by way ofpractice.
"Yes," admitted Fred, as he took out his mouth-organ, preparatory torendering a tune, "but this time it has lasted longer than usual, andit's about time something was done about it."
Fred began softly to play "On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away."
"Cheese it," advised Nat. "Martin will hear."
"He's gone to the village on an errand for the doctor," said Fred as hecontinued to play. Then he stopped long enough to remark: "I'd like tohear from our fellow member, Jack Ranger."
"That's it," exclaimed Sam Chalmers. "I wonder Jack hasn't suggestedsomething before this."
"Say!" exclaimed Jack, "have I got to do everything around this school?Why don't some of the rest of you think up something? I haven't anymonopoly."
"No, but you've got the nerve," said Bony. "Say, Jack, can't you thinkof some scheme for getting Garlach and Socrat to speak? Once they are ontalking terms we can have some fun."
Jack seemed lost in thought. Then he began to pace the room.
"Our noble leader has his thinking apparatus in working order,"announced Nat.
"Hum!" mused Jack. "You say the trouble occurred over something inhistory, eh?"
"Sure," replied Fred.
"Then I guess I've got it!" cried Jack. "Wait a minute, now, until Iwork out all the details."
He sat down to the table, took out pencil and paper, and began to write.The others watched him interestedly.
"Here we are!" Jack cried at length. "Now to carry out the scheme andbring about a German-French alliance!"
"What are you going to do?" asked Nat.
"Here are two notes," said Jack, holding aloft two envelopes.
"We'll take your word for it," remarked Bob Movel.
"One is addressed to Professor Garlach," went on Jack, "and in it he isadvised that if he proceeds in the proper manner he can obtaininformation of a certain incident in history, not generally known, butin which is related how Frederic II, with a small squad of Germans, puta whole army of French to flight. It is even more wonderful than theincident which Professor Socrat related to his class, and if he speaksloudly enough in the classroom, Professor Socrat can't help but hearit."
"What are you going to do with the note?" asked Fred.
"Send it to Garlach."
"And then?"
"Ah, yes--then," said Jack. "Well, what will happen next will surprisesome folks, I think. The information which Garlach will be sure to wantto obtain can only be had by going to a certain hollow tree, on theshore of the lake, and he must go there just at midnight."
"Well?" asked Dick Balmore as Jack paused, while the silence in the roomwas broken by Bony's performance on his finger battery.
"Well," repeated Jack, "what happens then will be continued in our next,as the novelists say. Now come on and help me fix it up," and hemotioned for his chums to draw more closely around the table, while heimparted something to them in guarded whispers.