Frank Merriwell's Races Part 59

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

KIDNAPED.

"We'll down Harvard in everything at the tournament," was the angry resolve of the disappointed Yale crowd, who returned to New Haven to find no band and no great gathering of cheering students awaiting them at the station.

Among them all, not excepting Hugh Heffiner himself, no one felt worse about the defeat than did Frank Merriwell. In his heart, he blamed himself for not going to the manager of the Yale team and offering his services in case of emergency. He knew it was possible he might not have been able to save the game, but still the possibility that he might have done so bore heavily upon him.

But Frank did not dream that his enemies would make capital out of the fact that he had not taken any part in the game. He did not know they were saying he had kept among the spectators where he could not be found when things seemed to turn against Yale.

"Merriwell didn't dare pitch any part of that game," they were saying.

"He was afraid, and he knew it would dim his glory if Harvard won. He has his record, and you won't see him pitching out any games in order to pull Yale out of a hole."

But Yates had ruined his chance of running in the mile race at the tournament by getting full on the train. Directly after the next meeting of the committee of arrangements, Frank was notified that he had been chosen to represent Yale.

Each night Frank took a run out into the country. He was determined to put himself in the very best condition possible.

This practice of Merriwell's was generally known, and he was watched with interest by friends and foes.

The time for the tournament drew near. Arrangements for all the contests had been completed. The end of the spring terms had come. Commencement was over, and another cla.s.s had been showered with sheepskins.

In all the doings of this busy time of the college year Merriwell took little part, as he was putting himself in shape to do his best at the tournament, and the time he had to spare from "grinding" was given to hard physical work.

Then he went down to a summer cottage on the sound. The cottage was located near Southport, and there he continued his training, taking long runs into the country.

The day before the great tournament came at last. That afternoon Frank took his last run in training. He waited till near evening, and then jogged gently out along the country road.

It was dusk when he turned back toward the cottage where he knew Bruce Browning, Rattleton and Diamond were loafing on the veranda and awaiting his reappearance.

As he was pa.s.sing through a small patch of woods, a cord that was strung across the road, about six inches from the ground, tripped him, and he fell heavily.

Frank was stunned by the shock. Before he could recover, dark forms rushed out and flung themselves upon him.

Frank realized that he had been attacked, and he tried to make a fight of it, but the shock of the fall had taken away his strength, and then he found there were three against him.

"Work lively!" growled a hoa.r.s.e voice. "He's worse than a tiger in a sc.r.a.p!"

His hands were twisted about behind his back and held there, while a cord was bound about them. In a remarkably brief s.p.a.ce of time he was rendered helpless.

Then Frank's feet were bound, and he was forced to submit to the tying of a blindfold over his eyes. Before this was accomplished, however, he saw the three men through the gloom, and discovered that all wore masks to hide their faces.

When Frank was blindfolded, the man who had given all the commands, and who seemed to be the leader, said:

"Bring out the team."

Frank's ears told him that one of the men went away, and soon, by the sound, the boy decided that a team was being brought from some place in the woods, where it had been concealed.

"What sort of a job is this?" thought the captive lad. "It seems to be a case of real highwaymen right here in Connecticut. And still they do not seem like highwaymen, for then they would have robbed me and let me go. They are up to something else."

He soon found that his captors meant to remove him from the spot, for he was lifted from the ground and tossed into the bottom of the wagon, like a sack of grain. Then the men climbed in, the horses were whipped up, and away they all went.

After a drive of at least two hours, during which Frank had several times asked where they were taking him, and had been repeatedly cautioned to "shut up," the team came to a halt.

Frank was glad of it, for much of the distance had been made over rough roads, and he had been several times menaced in order to keep him quiet, and once choked into silence by two of the men, who sat upon him while they pa.s.sed another team.

Frank was taken from the wagon, his feet were set at liberty, and he was marched into some sort of a building.

"There," said the hoa.r.s.e voice of the leader. "He's safe and solid here."

Through the blindfold there was a glow of light, and then the cloth was removed from his eyes.

Frank found himself in a rough room, to which there seemed to be no windows and but one door. In the room there was a table, a broken chair, and a rude sort of bed.

One of the two men who had brought him into the room coolly sat down astride the chair, and stared at Frank, his eyes gleaming by the flaring light of the tallow-dip that burned on the table.

"Set down," invited the man, making a motion toward the bed. "We offer our visitors the upholstered furniture out of courtesy. Make yourself at home."

"Don't care if I do," returned the boy, with equal coolness, "but in order for me to be thoroughly comfortable, it will be necessary for me to have my hands free."

"Sorry I can't accommodate ye just now, but I want to have a talk with yer first. Set down."

Frank obeyed.

"Well," he observed, "I suppose I might as well, as long as I do not seem to have much to say about it; but I'd like to know what this little game is."

"Thought you'd be kinder curious," said the man, with a hoa.r.s.e laugh.

"Well, ye see, it's this way. We've heard so much about you that we thought we'd kinder like the pleasure of your company for a day or two, and so we brought you over here."

A day or two! Frank gasped for breath, as a sudden light dawned upon him.

If he were held there for a single day he would not appear at Madison Square Garden to take part in the tournament!

"This is the work of my enemies!" he mentally cried. "They have hired these ruffians to kidnap and hold me till the tournament is over!

Caesar's ghost! I never dreamed such a thing could be done in this quiet part of the New England States!"

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

THE TOURNAMENT.

The interior of Madison Square Garden was decorated with the colors of a dozen colleges, and was aglow with hundreds of bright lights. The rows of seats, tier upon tier, were packed with people. The private boxes were all taken. A band was playing a lively air, and the tournament was on. Down in the great cleared s.p.a.ce young men from the various prominent colleges of the country were struggling for victory in the athletic feats on the programme. At times some well-known amateur contestant was greeted by cheers as he appeared or accomplished a feat that was plainly remarkable. The favorites were greeted by the yells of the colleges which they represented, as they were seen preparing for some difficult attempt.

It was a scene of the greatest excitement and enthusiasm. Pretty girls were there in large numbers, their faces glowing with admiration for the young men who were struggling like gladiators down in the modern arena.