CHAPTER V.
DACE PERRY'S CRAFTINESS.
The captain of the cross-country team was a shining example of whatwrong bringing-up can do for some boys. His doting mother had spoiledhim, and his father, a wealthy Denver mining-man, had for years beentoo busy accumulating money to pay any attention to him. When his wifedied, the elder Perry suddenly realized that he had an unmanageable sonon his hands.
While his mother lived, Perry had gone the pace. He was only sixteenwhen she died, but for more than a year he had been traveling in fastcompany, drinking and gambling, and doing his best to make, what he waspleased to call, a "thoroughbred" out of himself. His doting mother hadbeen lenient and easily deceived. She had stood between Perry and hisfather, and when the latter occasionally refused to supply the boy withmoney she would give it to him out of her own allowance.
With the passing of Mrs. Perry all this was changed. Mr. Perry, inorder to get Dace away from dissipated Denver companions, shipped himoff to Phoenix and left him there in charge of a friend who happenedto be the principal of the Phoenix High School. This was a changefor the better in some ways. Dace had naturally a splendid physique,and he had an overweening pride in becoming first in high-schoolathletics, no matter how he might stand in his studies. He cut out the"budge," as he would have called liquor, because it interfered withhis physical development; also he cut out smoking for the same reason.But he continued to gamble, and the poor old professor was as easilyhoodwinked as Mrs. Perry had been.
Perry, Sr., kept his son rigidly to a small allowance. As a resultDace was always head over heels in debt, for, although an inveterategambler, he was not much more than an amateur at the game, thoughlearning the tricks of the trade fast enough.
When Matt came to the school he aroused Perry's instant and unreasoningdislike. From the best athlete among the seniors Perry was relegatedto the position of second best; and this, for one of his spoileddisposition and arrogant ways, constituted an offense not to beforgiven. Now, for the first time, the strained relations existingbetween Matt and Perry had come to an open break.
Baffled in his plot to give Matt a thrashing, Perry trotted sullenlyand silently back toward the bridge across the canal. Before the bridgewas reached his spirits had brightened a little, for his crafty mindhad found something in the present situation that pleased him.
"See here, fellows," said Perry abruptly, coming to a halt andgathering his followers around him, "you all saw Matt King throw thatstone at Clip, didn't you?"
"It wasn't him," piped Tubbits Drake; "it was Nutmegs, although itlooked mighty like King did it."
"I say it was King," scowled Perry.
"Oh, well," grumbled Tubbits, "if you say it was King, all right."
Tubbits was an impecunious brother. He was always trying to borrowtwo-bits--in other words, a quarter--from his large and select listof acquaintances, and the habit had resulted in the nickname of"Two-bits," later shortened to "Tubbits."
"I say it," went on Perry, "and you've all got to swear to it. Savvy?If any one says anything different, I'll punch his head. Chums are likethose French guys in the 'Three Musketeers'--one for all, and all forone. What one chum does, the other has to stand for. King and Nutmegsare chums, see? So, even if King didn't really throw that rock, he'llhave to take the consequences on Chub's account. Clip _thinks_ King didit, and there's been trouble. Just let Clip keep on thinking the wayhe does."
"Sure," said Ratty Spangler. "If anybody wants to know about who shiedthe rock, we'll all say it was the tenderfoot."
"That's all," responded Perry curtly, and trotted on to the bridge.
Just as Perry had imagined would be the case when he brought aboutthis peculiar understanding concerning the one who threw the stone,Tom Clipperton was on the other side of the canal, waiting for histeam-mates to come up with him. Clipperton's scanty running-garb waswet through, but that was a mere trifle and didn't bother him. He hadbound a handkerchief about his injured forehead, and was thinkingmoodily of the easy way in which he had been handled by Matt. Perrywent up to him and dropped a friendly hand on his shoulder.
"How're you coming, Clip?" he asked.
Clipperton grunted petulantly, shook off the hand and started along theroad. Perry, used to his moods, fell in at his side and caught stepwith him.
"It was a low-down trick, Clip," said Perry, with feigned sympathy,"but just about what any one could expect from a fellow like King."
"He threw the rock," snarled Clipperton, hate throbbing in his voice."I didn't see the rock in his hand. When it hit me his hand was in theair. Did any of the rest of you see him?"
"We all saw him make that pass at you!" averred Ratty Spangler. "Didn'twe, fellers?"
"We did!" all the rest answered as one.
The breath came sharp through Clipperton's lips. "He'll pay for it," hehissed. "You watch my smoke and see."
"That's the talk!" encouraged Perry craftily. "That tenderfoot oughtto be kicked out of the school--he ain't fit for decent fellows toassociate with. If that old one-legged freak hadn't pulled a gun on us,Clip, we'd have settled with King for what he did to you right there.How are you going to get even with him?"
"I know how," growled Clipperton. "I'll meet him again. I'll meet himas many times as I have to until I do him up."
"You're too headstrong, Clip," returned Perry, "if you don't mind mysaying so. That's no way to make a saw-off with Matt King. Be sly. Goafter him in a way he don't expect. That's your cue if you want to get_him_--just take it from me."
Clipperton turned a half-distrustful look on Perry.
"I'm no coward," he muttered. "Man to man. That's the way to settleeverything."
"Sure, when you're dealing with a fellow of the right sort. But what'sMatt King? Why, Clip, he was afraid of you from the start, and that'sthe reason he tried to get in his work at long range with the stone."
"D'you think that?" demanded Clipperton huskily.
"No think about it; it's a lead-pipe cinch. When you balance accountswith a fellow like that go after him in his own way."
"What would you do?"
"You're a crack shot, Clip," observed Perry. "I know that because I sawyou making bull's-eyes in the shooting-gallery the other day."
Clipperton looked startled.
"What's my shooting got to do with it?"
"Well," went on Perry, "have you got a gun, or can you get one?"
Tubbits and Ratty Spangler grew morbidly apprehensive.
"Looky here, Dace," demurred Tubbits, "don't let Clip go and doanything rash."
"Don't be a fool," snapped Perry. "I reckon I've got some sense left.Old Peg-leg drew a cannon on us, but I'm too well up in law to adviseClip to pull a gun on anybody--even Matt King." His voice grew friendlyand confidential as he went on talking with Clipperton. "Can you get apistol and stuff it in your pocket when you come to the try-out thisafternoon, Clip?"
"Yes," was the reply. "What do you want me to do with it?"
Perry turned to the boys behind.
"Jog along, you fellows," said he; "Clip and I have got business totalk over. And mind," he added, as Tubbits, Spangler and the rest movedoff ahead, "keep mum about what you've already heard."
"Mum it is," said the cross-country squad obediently, and drew awayfrom the plotters.
"Matt King had better take to the cliffs and the cactus," remarkedRatty Spangler, with a chuckle. "Ginger, there's going to be doings atthe try-out this afternoon. What do you s'pose they want with a gun,Tubbits?"
The uncertainty was just desperate enough to fill Ratty with delightfulanticipations. He hoped in his little soul that Perry and Clip wouldn'tgo far enough to involve the rest of the cross-country team, but hewanted them to be sure and go as far as they could.
"Blamed if I know," answered Tubbits. "I'm shyer of guns than I am ofrattlesnakes. When that old skeezicks of a Perkins shook that piece ofhardware at us a while ago, I thought I'd throw a fit. Why, the mouthof it looked as big as the Hoosac Tunnel to me. No, thankee, n
o guns inmine."
"We could jerk him up for that," asserted Ratty. "Say, if we'd have himarrested----"
"Arrest nothin'!" snorted Tubbits. "We'd look pretty small hauling oldPerkins up before a judge and then telling why we'd gone back alongthe canal with Perry. Some things are well enough to leave alone--andthat's one of them."
The boys were well into town by then, and the party separated, eachgoing his different way and wondering what was to happen during theafternoon.