Frank Merriwell's Alarm Part 45

The old man was about to close the door, when, to the astonishment of the boys, a musical, girlish voice said:

"Let them stop here, Drew. I know one of the young gentlemen."

The bicyclists looked at each other inquiringly, wondering which one of them the owner of the voice could know. They all felt a thrill, for this added zest and romance to the little adventure.

"Am I dreaming?" whispered Bruce; "or did I hear the gentle ripple of a female voice?"

"Smoly hoke!" gasped Harry. "To find a girl in this spone lot--I mean lone spot! It is a marvel!"

"An' dat voice oh hers am lek honeydew from heabben, chilluns--'deed it am!" gurgled Toots, poetically.

The old man seemed astonished and in doubt.

"Do you mean it, my dear?" he asked. "It was on your account----"

"Never mind me, Drew," came back that musical voice. "It would be a shame to turn them away."

"But--but----"

"There are no buts about it!" cried the voice sharply, almost angrily.

"You have heard what I said! They may stop here."

"All right--all right, if you say so. There's nothing for them to eat, and so----"

"I'll cook something, for you have corn meal in the house. Young men who ride wheels have appet.i.tes that enable them to eat anything."

"All right--all right," repeated the old man, vaguely.

"Let them put their bicycles under the shed back of the house."

The old man came out, closing the door.

"It is my niece, young gentlemen," he explained. "She is very peculiar, and--well, when she says anything, that settles it, so you'll have to stay."

"Under the circ.u.mstances," said Frank, his natural delicacy influencing him, although he was rather curious to see the owner of that voice, "I am inclined to think we're intruding, and we had better go on."

For a moment the face of the old man expressed relief, and then that look vanished, while he shook his head.

"No," he said, "that will not do now. She has decided that you shall stop, and she will not leave any hair on my head if you go away. You must stop."

"She must be a gentle maiden!" murmured Bruce, with a faint smile.

The boys followed the old man around to a shed, under which they placed their wheels. The shed had sometimes been used to shelter horses, but no horse was there then.

"You mustn't mind my niece," said the old man, apologetically. "She has been spoiled, and she is determined to have her own way. She runs the ranch."

Again the boys looked at each other.

"I wonder which of us she knows," said Harry.

"It must be Merriwell," Diamond declared. "It could not be any one else. This is a joke on him."

Diamond's ideas of a joke were decidedly peculiar.

He seldom saw anything humorous in what pleased his companions, and he took delight in things which did not amuse them at all. He seldom laughed at anything.

Frank himself felt that he was the one the girl knew, if, indeed, she knew any of them, and he was wondering where he had met her. In the course of his wanderings over the world he had met many girls, not a few of whom he had forgotten entirely.

"If she is one of your old girls, I'm going to make a stagger at cutting you out, old fellow," chuckled Rattleton.

"Oh, I don't know!" smiled Frank. "You're not so warm!"

"Just now I don't see any steam coming out of your shoes," Harry shot back, quickly. "You're not the only good thing on the programme; you might be cut out."

"Land sakes, chilluns!" exclaimed Toots, with uplifted hands. "I nebber heard no such slanguage as dat--nebber!"

"Any of you fellows may have the girl, if you want her," said Jack. "I have not seen her, but I'm sure she is a terror, and I don't care for that kind."

They followed the old man toward the door, and entered the house.

A lamp had been lighted while they were disposing of their wheels, and the girl was standing where the unsatisfactory light showed her face as plainly as was possible.

She was strikingly handsome, with dark hair and eyes and full red lips. An expectant flush of color was in her cheeks.

As Frank entered, the girl extended her hand to him, saying:

"I am glad to see you again, Mr. Merriwell. Have you forgotten me?"

"Good gracious!" cried Merriwell. "It is Vida Milburn!"

She tossed her head, her hand dropping by her side.

"That is not complimentary to me!" she exclaimed. "It shows you remembered my half-sister far better than you did me."

"Your half-sister? Then you are not Vida!"

"No, thank you!"--with another haughty toss of the head.

"Then--then you must be--Isa Isban!"

"How remarkable that you should guess it," she said, with biting sarcasm.

"But--you--you must remember it has been some time since I saw you, and--and I saw Miss Melburn last."

"You saw me first, and you were so interested in me that you followed me from Reno to Carson City. After that you met my sister, and now you mistake me for her! I am extremely complimented, Mr. Merriwell! Never mind. You are not so many! Perhaps you will introduce your friends.

Some of them may have a better memory than you."

For once in his life, at least, Frank was "rattled." He introduced Browning as Rattling and Diamond as Brownton, while he completely forgot Harry's name.