The Boys of Columbia High on the River/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI
TO EVEN UP OLD SCORES
"Lie still, boy!"
"Give him a tap if he kicks, Joey!"
Frank heard these words in the greatest astonishment. Even when some one had thrust that stick and upset him, he had certainly no other idea than that the unseen enemy must be one of the Lef Seller crowd, with whom he had had so much trouble in the past.
Both voices were strange to him! More than this, he realized that he had been pounced on by two full grown men, and not boys.
"What do you mean by this?" he demanded indignantly.
He was greeted by a scornful laugh.
"What do we mean, eh, Martin? Are we playing tag, and is this feller it now? Or do we want to whisper a few words in his ear about something that has bothered us considerable of late? Hey, Martin, which is it?" mocked one of the fellows.
Frank was quick to discern facts. He knew instinctively that these two men were either hoboes or rogues of some sort. The look on their faces stamped them as belonging to that great class which seems to consider organized society as legitimate prey.
But why should they attempt to interfere with him. It was a puzzle indeed, since he would not be apt to prove a profitable customer, if their motive were robbery.
"Let me up, now! I don't know either of you, and want to go about my own affairs. My father is a business man in Columbia, and if you did anything to injure me it would be the worst day's work you ever knew."
Frank was not boasting, but considered that he ought to let them know he had connection with a family that had more or less influence. He was not surprised, however, to hear the fellow called Joey laugh harshly.
"Ain't you never seen us before? Take another look, and guess again!" and he thrust his leering face close down near Frank's.
Then something seemed to strike the prostrate boy as though he had received a blow. Could it be possible that these two rascally men were the ones who had been in that stolen buggy at the time he and Lanky stopped them on the road to ask for a ride?
He had only a fleeting glimpse of the fellows at that time, for they ran off too rapidly to allow a closer acquaintance. Chief Hogg had hunted for them high and low, but so far as Frank knew had not been successful in finding them.
He did not utter a word to indicate that he had guessed the truth; but those beady eyes of Joey were upon him, and the man could see that something had come to the boy.
"Is your name Frank Allen?" demanded the other, harshly.
At first Frank was tempted to remain silent. He would not deny the fact, but he did not feel like admitting it. Then he realized that even his hesitation would tell the story.
"Yes, it is," he said, firmly and defiantly; "now, are you going to let me up?"
"Got that cord, Joey?" asked the man called Martin, quietly.
Frank felt a thrill of alarm. What could these men mean to do with him? He did not fancy their looks in the least, for they seemed bold and reckless. Could it be possible that they felt hard toward him because of what he had done? The loss of the jewelry must have been a bitter blow to them, hunted as they were, without anything to pay for the game.
"What do you mean to do?" he demanded, beginning to struggle again.
"Lie still if you don't want to get hurted!" roared Joey, making as if to dash his fist in the boy's face, only Martin caught him in time.
Frank, seeing the uselessness of struggling against fate allowed them to bind his hands behind his back. Indeed, he even smiled scornfully, as though after all this might be but a minor matter to him.
"I warn you that you're going to get yourselves in a peck of trouble because of this little fun you're having with me. It's going to be the worst thing you ever tried, fellows," he said deliberately.
Martin laughed as if rather tickled at his assurance; but Joey was of a more inflammable nature, and muttered something under his breath that might have been a dire threat.
"Get up, now, Frank. Pick that wheel out of the mud, partner. We'd better vamose from here before somebody moseys along and sees us," remarked Martin.
So they entered the dense woods, Frank being urged along with sundry shoves at such times as he seemed to show an inclination to loiter.
"Reckon you've remembered seein' us two before, eh, Frank? We watched you in that race to-day, and even brushed elbows with your fine old police captain, without him suspectin' we was the coves he wanted. And in a tavern we heard as how 'twas you as had brought in that boodle taken from the store up country."
Joey growled again worse than ever, when his companion mentioned these facts.
"Say, that was a nice cute trick you played on us poor fellers that night, Frank. We've been gruntin' about it ever since; and when we see you go past up the road we just made up our minds that if you came back we'd gobble you. We don't feel none too friendly for you, boy, and that's a fact. What d'ye suppose we aim to do with you, hey?" demanded Martin, a little savagely.
"I'm sure I don't know. Try to frighten me, perhaps, and then let me go," was Frank's answer.
But though he tried to appear unconcerned, Frank was quivering with anxiety concerning the possible motives of these men. He believed that they would not hesitate over committing any crime, once their ugly natures had been fully aroused.
"See here," he said, hoping to convince them that they had nothing to gain by injuring him, and much to lose, "don't you think you've carried this far enough. I'm not the one to be easily frightened; and what good can it do you to make me a prisoner in this way? I'd only be a burden when you have to skip out lively, after the alarm is given, and the search begins."
"That don't skeer us at all, boy. Me and my pard we just wanter know where you put that boodle you got from us? Tell us how we can lay our grip on that again, and we'll be glad to let you loose," replied Martin.
Frank was worried. Could it be possible they expected that he had taken all that stolen stuff to his own home, to have his father keep it until the same was claimed by the storekeeper up at Fordham?
"Why, didn't you know that the police took charge of that jewelry, to hold it until the man proved property? That's the truth, every word of it. You can't mean to say you dreamed I had it all this while? Why, that's silly," he remarked.
"Is it? Well, perhaps it might be better for you if you had kept your fingers on the stuff, then," remarked Martin, significantly.
Frank relapsed into silence. He wanted to think over the situation and see if he could form any plan that offered a solution to the puzzle of how he was going to get away from this dangerous couple.
All this while they had been going deeper into the big woods, which stretched off toward the south-west for a good two miles. The men walked as though they had some idea of where they were going. From this Frank judged that they had found some sort of hiding-place back here.
He had often run through these woods when out with the boys playing "hare and hounds." But never had he dreamed of passing through the place under such humiliating conditions as now surrounded him.
Again and again did Frank twist his head to look around. Seeing this, Martin finally commented upon it.
"Don't need to break your neck alookin' for help, Frank. There ain't a blessed soul in these here woods but us. We've got a sorter plan arranged, and you're going to help us get them sparklers back, or we'll know the reason why. It's got to be did, even if we break into headquarters and tie up the man in charge, to open the safe. That's our stuff, and we mean to have it, hear?"
Frank did not think it good policy to tell either of his captors that they were even then in direct line with the trail usually followed by runners in making the big circuit of ten miles about Columbia. Nor was he so unwise as to remark that a paper chase was on the lists for that very afternoon!
That was the one hope that struggled in the breast of the boy. If he could only work it so that a rescue could be accomplished by his friends when they came along! He had labored mentally that morning to carry his crew to victory when disaster hung over their heads; and he now exerted himself to discover some plan looking to the outwitting of these scoundrels.
Presently his vigilance was rewarded. He discovered upon the ground some small pieces of white paper! This proved that the hares had already been along through this very section, leaving a trail as they ran, which the main body of hounds was expected to follow as swiftly as possible.
All this while Frank had been working at the cords that bound his wrists together. They had been clumsily tied, and he found that he could move his hands a little. By slow degrees he was stretching the bonds. Presently he expected to be able to draw his hands through, and that would mean liberty, so far as being able to use his arms went.
What should he do then? Ought he to take to his heels and run to the best of his ability? Under ordinary conditions he believed he would have had no trouble in distancing both of these heavier men; but just now he had a bruised leg, the result of his recent fall, and he feared he could not do himself justice.
"Hey! hold on there, he's squirmin' loose, Martin! Grip him!" suddenly called the one called Joey, as he happened to fall back a little to the rear.
Frank knew now that his course had been decided for him. If he meant to do anything there was no time to lose. And so he instantly gave his hands a wrench that slipped them both out of the encircling cord. At the same instant he dodged, in the hope of avoiding the fling of the two aroused men.