Dick Merriwell's Pranks Part 26

"I thought her different from other girls," he muttered, as he paced the floor of his room; "but she's just like them all-false, fickle, and giddy. She pretended to like me, but out of sight is out of mind with her. She flirted with that confounded Turk-yes, she did! That's what got her into trouble. Her brother is just as foolish as she is. He encouraged her. I suppose they think me nothing but a rough Texan, good enough to fight for them and get them out of their troubles, but not good for anything else. Well, if I take a fancy, I can show them I'm not half as rough as they think.

"I imagine I can make a respectable appearance in refined society if I choose to try. Perhaps my family is just as good as the Budthornes. I'd rather confess to hailing from Texas than to admit that I was from Chicago. Chicago! Why, a decent white man will turn to a smoked ham in that town in less than three days! As for wild and woolly places, I declare Chicago lays way over Texas. A man is liable to be held up anywhere in Chicago in broad daylight. If he's sandbagged and robbed, and makes a complaint to the police, he stands a fine prospect of being locked up as a vagrant. No one from Chicago can get chesty with me."

He was perfectly serious, little realizing the humor of his observations and att.i.tude. Although naturally broad-minded and manly, he had been "rubbed the wrong way of the fur" by Nadia's action, and, for the time, at least, he was almost childish in his resentment.

The fact that he had this weakness, however, made his other manly qualities stand out even more clearly.

"I'll show her how much I care!" he continued. "I'll just hold my head up and keep out of her way. Let her go it! Let her flirt with Turks! If she does, she'll be sorry!"

He paused. The picture of Nadia making eyes at a handsome Turkish gentleman rose before him. He fancied he was willing she should do anything she wished, but now, all at once, he realized that she could hurt him very much in case she disdained him and turned her attention in other directions.

He had been bluffing when he ran away from her, and he knew it now. As a rule he was able and willing to back up any bluff he made, but now his reason told him he would weaken immediately in case this bluff was called.

What if Nadia became offended by his ungentlemanly behavior in running away from her when she called to him and tried to overtake him? What if that one bad break of his should cause her in future to regard him with indifference or aversion?

"Oh, ginger!" he exclaimed. "I couldn't stand that! It would drive me to suicide! I'm a chump, and I can't help it! d.i.c.k is with her. Perhaps she'll get smitten on him!"

This thought added to his agitation.

"How can she help it?" he muttered, again fiercely pacing the floor.

"d.i.c.k is the sort of fellow all the girls care for. He's far superior to me, and I don't see how she came to be interested the least bit in me in the first place. Of course, there is June Arlington and Doris Templeton-but they're on the other side of the Atlantic, and I don't believe there ever yet was a pretty girl who did not believe she could cut out another girl if she really tried.

"Perhaps that's what Nadia is trying to do! Perhaps she's playing a clever game by pretending to have any interest in me and seeming indifferent to d.i.c.k. A girl best attracts a fellow by seeming indifferent to him. The girl who pursues a chap is bound to lose him, nine times out of ten. It's the fellow who wants to do the pursuing. He loves the chase and the zest of it. Some girls know this, and they play the timid deer to perfection. Nadia Budthorne is right clever, and I'll wager something this little game is no secret to her.

"I've hit it at last! I've known all along that she really cared for d.i.c.k, and now I've been fool enough to help her in her play. Say, I ought to be shot! I know d.i.c.k is on the level, but how is he going to resist a clever girl like her? He might, if June Arlington were near; but June is far away, and, in my estimation, Nadia lays away over June any old time. Oh, you poor fool!"

He clenched his fist and struck himself on the side of the head.

Thus it happened that Professor Gunn and Dunbar Budthorne found the Texan in anything but a happy frame of mind when they returned to the hotel.

They were agitated over the disappearance of d.i.c.k and Nadia, for whom they had searched and inquired ere leaving the bazaars. When they did return to the hotel it was with the expectation and hope that they might find the boy and girl there.

"They will turn up all right," declared Brad. "d.i.c.k will take care of her, never fear."

And now for the first time in his life he grew violently jealous of his bosom comrade.

"If he plays me double I'll never again have the least confidence in human nature!" he mentally cried.

But when an hour pa.s.sed and the missing boy and girl failed to return to the hotel Buckhart began to share the alarm of the professor and Budthorne.

"If anything happens to that boy I'll never forgive myself!" said the old pedagogue.

"We must look for them," said Dunbar. "You know what took place at the railway station. What if some of Hafsa Pasha's tools found d.i.c.k and Nadia alone and unprotected?"

Suddenly Brad Buckhart rea.s.sumed his Western manners.

"Whoop!" he cried. "Let's amble forth on the warpath! Let's take to the trail and go out for scalps! I'm ready, and you know I can sc.r.a.p some, if I don't s.h.i.+ne resplendent at a soiree. I'm in right good humor for a scrimmage."

Together they left the hotel and started to return to the bazaar; but they had not proceeded far when they were stopped by the appearance of an open carriage, in which were d.i.c.k and Ras al Had.

d.i.c.k called to them, and the carriage stopped. Young Merriwell sprang down.

Budthorne, pale and shaking with apprehension, rushed forward and clutched him, demanding to know what had become of Nadia.

d.i.c.k told the whole story in as few words as possible.

As he listened Brad Buckhart grew ashen. He realized that d.i.c.k and Nadia had become separated from the professor and Budthorne through their efforts to follow and overtake him. By running away in such a childish manner he had led them into all that trouble, the end of which had been the disappearance of the girl.

"Fool! fool!" he groaned. "I am to blame for it all!"

CHAPTER XIV-d.i.c.k DISOBEYS

Late that day, as the grateful shadows of approaching night were settling over Damascus, Ras al Had came quietly to the hotel, and was highly satisfied to find d.i.c.k Merriwell there. He drew the boy aside, saying he wished to speak with him in private.

"I have found one of the dogs who betrayed me," said the old sheik.

"Would you behold him? Would you hear what he has to say?"

"Yes, yes."

"Do you trust me now?"

"Of course I do!"

"Do you trust me completely?"

"Yes."

"Then tell your friends not to worry about you, even though you leave them and do not return with the pa.s.sing of another day. If you ask questions now I shall know you do not trust me, even though you say so."

d.i.c.k asked no questions.

Thus far everything possible had been done for Nadia. Her disappearance had been reported, and they had received the a.s.surance that an earnest effort would be made to find her and return her in safety to her friends. d.i.c.k had made a formal complaint of the a.s.sault, and was informed that the whole matter should be investigated and the guilty parties punished.

They all knew, however, that they were not liable to receive anything more than promises from the Turkish authorities. This being the case, they were compelled to rely mainly on the American consul and the promise of Ras al Had, the sheik.

It is probable that d.i.c.k Merriwell was the only one who really placed any confidence in the old Arab.

Brad Buckhart was immovable in his conviction that the sheik was concerned in the dastardly work.

Knowing Brad would raise a disturbance, d.i.c.k told the professor that he might be gone for twenty-four hours. Immediately Zenas made an effort to exercise his authority over the boy.

"You shall not go, Richard!" he exclaimed. "I forbid it!"

"I am sorry you forbid it, professor, for you know I dislike to disobey you."