Frank Merriwell's Backers; Or, The Pride of His Friends

by Burt L. Standish

  CHAPTER XXXII.

  DEAD OR LIVING.

  Frank's feelings on listening to this talk, the greater part of which hewas able to hear very well, may be imagined far more easily thandescribed. At last he was in full possession of the facts relating tothe abduction of June Arlington, and a greater piece of villainy hadnever come to his knowledge. From the first he had regarded Eliot Dodgeas a scoundrel of the worst type; but he had not gaged the man as onewho would enter into such a desperate scheme as this.

  Merry had also learned that Ben File was dead, and, therefore, he wasreleased from his promise to bring back Cimarron Bill.

  Immediately his one thought turned to June and to the devising of somemethod of discovering her whereabouts and going to her rescue. Later hecould think of other things; but not until this great object had beenaccomplished.

  The voices of the men ran on in the little room, though words grewfewer, and Merry knew the demand for the ransom money was being written.

  For a moment he thought of the satisfaction it would give him to exposethe rascally lawyer and bring him to the end of his tether. Then he sawHandsome Charley speaking quietly in the ear of a man, afterwardpassing on to another and yet another. There was something in Charley'smanner that seemed very significant.

  "There's trouble brewing for Bill," Frank decided. "It's coming as sureas fate."

  He felt for his own weapons, making sure they were where he could drawthem and use them without delay; but Frank did not propose to becomeinvolved in the affair unless circumstances made it impossible to keepout.

  Again he listened at the crack in the partition, hoping that some wordpassed between Dodge and Bill would tell him where June was hidden. Inthis Merry was disappointed. True, Dodge asked about the girl and Billassured him that she was perfectly safe and unharmed, but that was all.

  The dance was over and another was in progress when Bill and Eliot Dodgecame from that back room. Handsome Charley and his satellites werewatching these two men. But they were permitted to pass to the door,where Bill shook hands with Dodge, who hurried forth into the night.

  "How is that, Bill?" demanded Charley, hastily approaching. "I opine youagreed that you an' your friend would sure drink with me arter yourbusiness was over. I notices that he has hiked."

  Bill turned.

  "Count me in, Charley," he said easily. "Mr.--ah--Lewis, he didn't hevtime. My neck is again a whole lot dry, and I'll be pleased to irrigatewith you."

  So they stood up to the bar, and Frank saw a number of men drawing nearfrom different directions, all coming forward quietly.

  Charley openly expressed his disapproval of the conduct of Eliot Dodge.

  "He certain was most onmannerly, Bill," he declared.

  "Forget it," advised Bill curtly.

  And this was not at all agreeable to the other.

  "Mebbe I can't do that none," said Charley; "but I'll tell ye, Bill,what will help a whole lot."

  "Go ahead," said Bill.

  "You has right up-stairs in this same ranch a young lady what ishandsome enough to make any gent fergit a wrong, an' her I most mightilywants to bring down yere."

  Frank heard the words distinctly, and they gave him a start. HandsomeCharley was speaking of June Arlington; there could be no doubt of that.He said June was "up-stairs in that same ranch." At last Frank hadreceived the clue he was seeking.

  More than Merry saw trouble was brewing between Charley and Bill, andnow the attention of almost every person in the room was directed towardthem.

  Bill's face grew grim, and again his eyes narrowed and glittered.

  "See yere," he said harshly, "I allows we has settled the p'int inregard to her, an' so you lets it drop, Charley."

  Frank knew that pistols would be out in a few seconds more. He did notwait for the men to draw and begin to shoot.

  There was no flight of stairs in the room where the dance was takingplace, and, therefore, he immediately decided that the stairs might befound in the back room, where the interview between Bill and Eliot Dodgehad taken place. The door leading into that room was closed, but Frankslipped quickly to it, and it readily opened before his hand.

  He found himself in a bare room, having but little furniture, a table, abed, some chairs, and, as Frank had believed likely, a steep flight ofstairs ran railless up one side of the room, disappearing at a darklanding above.

  In a twinkling Merry was bounding lightly up those stairs, the sounds ofloud and angry voices coming from the dance-room, where the music anddancing had now stopped.

  Frank knew that whatever he did must be done in a hurry, for, allowingthat in the trouble in the dance-room, Handsome Charley should comeforth triumphant it was likely that June would be sought by some ofthose ruffians.

  The thought of this spurred Merry on. He pictured to himself the terrorof the poor girl seized by those men and dragged into the presence ofthe mob below.

  "They shall not touch her!" he muttered. "If I can reach her, they shallnot touch her!"

  Then he found himself, in the gloom of the landing, against a heavydoor. He sought to open it, but it was locked.

  From below came the sound of a shot. Then there were shouts and othershots.

  "The devils have broken loose!" exclaimed Merry, and he wondered how itfared with Bill.

  In vain he felt for the fastenings of the door. His heart smote him withthe fear that it would withstand any attack he might direct upon it.

  Then he found a match and struck it. The light showed him something thatmade his heart leap with satisfaction.

  Across the face of the door, lying in iron slots, was an iron bar thatheld it fast.

  The match was dropped in a twinkling, and Frank's fingers lifted the barfrom the slots and its socket. Then he easily opened the door.

  At that instant it seemed as if pandemonium broke loose below. There wasa perfect fusillade of shots, hoarse shouts from men and wild shrieksfrom women. There was likewise a terrible crash, as if some part of thebuilding had been ripped down.

  "June!" called Frank. "June! June!"

  The room in which he found himself was dark and silent.

  "June! June! I am a friend! Answer me!"

  Still silence.

  Again he brought forth and struck a match. It flared up in his fingers,and he lifted it above his head, looking all around.

  Stretched on the floor in a huddled heap in one corner was the body of agirl. The glance he had obtained convinced him that it was June beyondquestion.

  Frank sprang forward, again speaking her name and assuring her that hewas a friend.

  In the darkness he found her with his hands. She did not move when hetouched her, and his fingers ran to her face. It was cold as marble tothe touch, and a great horror filled his soul.

  "Merciful God!" he groaned, starting back a little. "They have killedher. The devils!"

  The shock was so great that he remained quite still on his knees for afew moments.

  He was aroused by the sound of heavy feet upon the stairs.

  Frank sprang up and dashed across the room to the door.

  The door leading into the dance-room had been left wide open below. Hesaw that a number of men had entered the back room, and already two orthree were on the stairs. Handsome Charley was at their head.

  Frank was trapped!

  At once he realized that Cimarron Bill was, beyond a doubt, lying in apool of his own blood in the dance-room. At last the most desperate anddangerous man-killer of the Southwest had met his master.

  Merry had little time, however, to think of anything like this. His ownlife was in the utmost peril. He drew his revolver, and, with the utmostcoolness, put a bullet through Handsome Charley's right shoulder.

  With a cry, the man fell back into the arms of the one directly behindhim, and that fellow was upset, so that all were swept in a great crashto the foot of the stairs.

  "Perhaps that will hold you for a while!" muttered Frank, as he pickedup the iron bar and promptly closed the do
or at the head of the stairs.

  He had seized the bar because he thought it might be a good weapon ofdefense in case his revolvers should be emptied and he remained incondition to fight. Now he thought of something else, and decided thatthe bar might do for a prop at the door.

  "There ought to be some other way out of this room," he muttered. "Isn'tthere even a window?"

  Again he struck a match, looking around with the aid of its light.

  At the end of the long room in which he found himself he fancied he mustfind a window. Toward this end of the room he hurried, and another matchdisclosed to him a window that was hidden by heavy planking. Plainly theplanks had been spiked over the window after it was decided to hold Junea prisoner in that room.

  Down dropped the match, and instantly Frank attacked the planks with theiron bar.

  Fortune must have favored him, for had it been light he could not havebeen more successful. Every stroke was effective, and he began rippingoff the planks.

  There was wild excitement below, and Merry prayed for a little time. Hisheart was filled with a hope that Handsome Charley's fate would be awarning to others, so they would not be eager to rush up the stairs tothe door.

  In just about one minute he had torn the planks from the window.

  Once more he heard men ascending the stairs. Instantly he dashed acrossthe floor, finding the door in the darkness.

  "Halt!" he cried savagely, from behind the closed door. "Halt, or Ifire!"

  Then he sought to prop the door with the iron bar, pressing it down insuch a position that it might hold for some moments against an ordinaryattack upon it.

  "I'll shoot the first man who tries to open this door!" he shouted.

  But he did not remain there to await an effort to open the door. Insteadhe quickly found the girl in the corner, lifted her limp body, andsought the window once more.

  Reaching the window, Frank promptly kicked out sash and glass with twomovements of his foot.

  Bang! bang! bang!--sounded heavy blows on the door behind him, but theiron bar was holding well.

  Merry swung his leg over the window-ledge. Desperate as he was, he meantto venture a leap from the window to the ground with the girl in hisarms.

  But just then, pausing to look down, he was amazed and delighted to seebelow him his four friends, who were on the point of entering thebuilding, led by Bart Hodge. Instantly Frank hailed them.

  "Catch her!" he cried, swinging the girl out over the window-ledge, sothat they could see her below.

  Immediately Bart and Ephraim extended their arms and stood ready.

  "Let her come!" shouted Hodge.

  Frank dropped the girl, and the two young men clutched at her as shefell directly into their arms.

  At that moment the door behind Merry flew open with a slam and theruffians came bursting into the room.

  One of them held a lighted lamp.

  The fellow in advance saw Frank in the window and flung up his hand.There was a loud report and a burst of smoke. When the smoke cleared thewindow was empty, Frank having disappeared.

  "Nailed him!" shouted the ruffian who had fired. "Nailed him for sure!"

  He rushed forward to the window and looked down, expecting to discoverthe body of his victim stretched on the ground. But in this he wasdisappointed, for neither Frank nor his friends were beneath thewindow. Into the darkness of the crooked street some dusky figures werevanishing.

  Frank had leaped from the window, being untouched by the bullet thatfanned his cheek in passing. He struck on his feet, but plunged forwardon his hands and knees. In a moment he was jerked erect by some one whoobserved:

  "Methinks your parachute must be out of order. You descended withexceeding great violence. What think you if we make haste to depart?"

  "Jack!" exclaimed Frank.

  "The same," was the assurance, as Ready clutched his arm and started himon the run. "Dear me! I know this strenuous life will yet bring me to mydeath!"

  Ahead of them Frank saw some figures moving hastily away.

  "The girl----"

  "They've got her," assured Jack. "Old Joe is with them. We'll talk itover later."

  So they ran, well knowing the whole of Sunk Hole would be looking forthem within thirty minutes. It did not take them long to come up withBart, Ephraim, and old Joe.

  Behind them there sounded shouts and commands, and it was well the wholeof Sunk Hole had been at the dance, else the place must have beenaroused so that they would have run into some of its inhabitants. Hereand there amid the buildings they dodged until they arrived at the edgeof the collection and struck out for the side of the valley, Crowfootleading.

  It was necessary to trust everything to the old Indian. Without him theycould not have known with any certainty that they were taking the propercourse to enable them to get out of the valley.

  The girl was passed from one to another as they ran. They did not wastetheir breath in words.

  The old Indian ran with an ease that was astonishing, considering hisyears.

  Looking back, they could see torches moving swiftly here and therethrough the town, telling that the search for them was being carried on.

  Soon they came to a steep gully that led upward, and the ascent was verydifficult, even at first. It grew more and more difficult as theyascended, and it became necessary for them to work slowly in thedarkness, the girl being passed upward from time to time, as one afteranother took turns at creeping ahead.

  Joe did not seem to have much trouble, but he did not bother with thegirl. Finally he said:

  "Here come bad palefaces! Make some big hurry!"

  It was true that a party of men were running toward the gully. Theirtorches danced and flared, showing them with some distinctness.

  To the right and left in other parts of the valley were clusters oftorches.

  "Heap try to stop us," exclaimed Crowfoot. "One way to go up there,'nother way down there, this be 'nother way. They know all. That how umcome here so fast."

  By the time the men with the torches reached the foot of the gully Frankand his comrades were so far above that they were not betrayed by thetorchlight. But one of the ruffians bade the others listen, and at thatvery moment Ephraim Gallup dislodged a stone that went clattering andrattling downward with a great racket.

  Instantly a wild yell broke from the lips of the ruffians below.

  "Here they are!" they shouted. "They're up here!"

  Then one of them began to blaze away with his pistols, and the bulletswhistled and zipped unpleasantly close to the party above.

  Bart Hodge stooped and found some rocks as large as ducks' eggs in thehollow of the gully. He knew it would expose their position if he shouldanswer the fire with his revolvers, and so he simply hurled those rockswith all the accuracy and skill that had made him noted on the baseballdiamond as a wonderful thrower to second base.

  The first rock struck a fellow on the wrist and broke it. The third hitanother man on the shoulder, and not many of the six Bart threw failedto take effect.

  Astonishing though it seemed, this method of retorting to the shootingproved most effective, and the ruffians scattered to get out of the way,swearing horribly.

  The fugitives continued till the top of the gully was reached and theystruck something like a natural path that soon took them where theycould no longer see the valley nor hear their enemies.

  Knowing they would be followed still farther, they halted not for amoment until their horses were reached. Then they paused only to makeready and swing into the saddle.

  Even as June was passed up to Frank she sighed and seemed to come alittle to herself. And as they rode into the dusk of the night sherecovered consciousness, the cool breeze fanning her face. She wonderedand shuddered until she heard the voice of Frank Merriwell reassuringher, and then she was certain that it was all a dream. In her prisonroom she had listened with shaking soul to the sounds from below, shehad crept to the barred door and heard Cimarron Bill and Eliot Dodgetalking below, and th
e horror of knowing the rascally lawyer was in theplot that had brought about her abduction and detention in that den hadbeen a fearful shock to her. When the quarreling and the shooting began,she was filled with mortal dread. She heard some one on the stairs andfumbling at her door, and then, kneeling in a corner of the room, allthe world slipped away from her, and she remembered nothing more untilshe awoke in the arms of her brave rescuer, Frank Merriwell.

  CHAPTER XXXIII.

  THE RETURN TO HOLBROOK.

  Haggard from worriment and need of sleep, her face seeming drawn andold, her eyes feeling like coals in her throbbing head, Mrs. Arlingtonwelcomed Eliot Dodge, who came into the room, looking dejected yetseeming to appear hopeful.

  "June! June, my child?" cried the tortured mother. "Have you no news ofher?"

  "Nothing but--this," said Dodge, pulling out an unsealed letter.

  Then he briefly told of being held up by three ruffians, who had givenhim the letter.

  Mrs. Arlington read it, and fell half-fainting on the couch, while Dodgebent over her with protestations of sympathy.

  "My poor girl!" gasped the miserable woman. "And she is in the power ofsuch monsters! The ransom money must be paid! She must be saved atonce!"

  "Is there no way to avoid paying the money?" said Dodge. "Is it notpossible she may be saved in some other manner?"

  "I think it is," said a clear voice, as the door was thrust open andFrank Merriwell, covered from head to heel with the dust of the desert,escorted the rescued girl into the room. "Mrs. Arlington, I havebrought you your daughter."

  With a scream of joy, Mrs. Arlington leaped up and June ran into herarms.

  Eliot Dodge seemed to turn green. He stood and stared at the girl in asort of blank stupor, failing to observe that just behind FrankMerriwell, who still wore the clothes taken from the intoxicatedMexican, there was the officer newly appointed to fill the place leftvacant by the death of Ben File.

  "June! June! June!" cried Mrs. Arlington, her face flushed withgladness. "Is it you, my poor girl! I can scarcely believe it! How doesit happen? Tell me how you come to be here!"

  "I am here, mother, because I was rescued from those horrible ruffiansby that brave gentleman whom you have so greatly wronged, FrankMerriwell. He risked his life for me. I will tell you all, butfirst--first I must tell you that you have trusted a snake. I mean thatmonster there!"

  She pointed her finger at Dodge, who started and looked startled, butpretended the utmost amazement.

  "He is the villain who planned it all!" declared June. "I know, for Iheard them talk it over. But he shall not escape!"

  "I hardly think so," said Frank. "Officer, he is a desperate man. Becareful of him."

  "This is an outrage!" declared Dodge, as the new city marshal graspedhim. "I'll not permit it! I----"

  Frank clutched him on the other side, and, a moment later, the officerhad ironed his prisoner.

  Mrs. Arlington would have interfered, but Merry declared he had swornout the warrant for Dodge's arrest, and she saw it was useless.

  "Madam," said Frank, "I will leave you alone with your daughter. Whenshe has told you all, you will be ready, I am confident, to prosecuteEliot Dodge. I shall then withdraw my charge and permit you to have himarrested. In the meantime I bid you good day. I shall be in this hotelfor the next day or so."

  He bowed gracefully to both Mrs. Arlington and June and left the room.

  * * * * *

  When there was plenty of time, Frank and his friends talked it over. Hetold them of his experience in the dance-room, and they told him howthey had lingered near, ready to rush to his rescue. When they heard thesounds of the quarrel between Cimarron Bill and Handsome Charley theyhurried to the door, but there they halted, for they looked in and sawnothing of Frank. Thus it was that they beheld the shooting of Bill ashe tried to draw on Charley. He was shot down from behind by Charley'stools, and they fired several bullets into his body as he lay welteringon the floor.

  Frank shook his head as he heard this account of Bill's end.

  "He was a bad man, a very bad man," he said; "but somehow I'm sorrythat he met his end that way. They had to shoot him from the rear. Notone of them dared pull on him face to face."

  Frank received a brief letter from Mrs. Arlington, thanking him for whathe had done for her daughter. Not one word did she say of her ownmalevolence toward him, not one word of the manner in which she hadwronged him. And the doctor, who brought the letter, told Merry that shewas in such a precarious condition that she could not write more, norcould she be seen by any one but June.

  Frank smiled grimly, disdainfully, over the letter, then deliberatelytore it into shreds.

  But he had proved his manhood, and June Arlington, for all of hermother, found time to see him a few moments before he left town. Afterthat brief time with June he rode light-heartedly away, his friendsgalloping at his side and listening to the cowboy song that came fromhis lips.

  * * * * *

  Transcriber's note:

  Because of extensive use of dialect, all apparent errors within dialoguehave been assumed intentional and retained.

  Page 5, "Merriell's" changed to "Merriwell's" (Frank Merriwell's RoughDeal)

  Page 24, changed erroneous period to comma ("I have no desire orintention of irking you up, sir," he said.)

  Page 27, "referrring" changed to "referring" (Certain papers referringto the Queen Mystery and San Pablo Mines, which I own.)

  Page 93, added missing opening quote ("I think I'll finish you!")

  Page 213, "Cimaroon" changed to "Cimarron" (Cimarron Bill watched histool depart, smiling darkly and muttering to himself)

  Page 216, removed extraneous quote after "hurriedly" ("Oh, velly good,velly good!" answered the Celestial hurriedly, backing off a little, hisface yellowish white.)

  Page 217, "cant" changed to "can't" ("I can't beat him at his owngame.")

  Page 300, changed single quote to double quote at end of sentence ("Inthe first place," Frank distinctly heard Dodge say, "Ben File is dead.")

  Page 318, "Merriwel" changed to "Merriwell" (He stood and stared at thegirl in a sort of blank stupor, failing to observe that just behindFrank Merriwell, who still wore the clothes taken from the intoxicatedMexican, there was the officer newly appointed to fill the place leftvacant by the death of Ben File.)