CHAPTER VII
THE ABDUCTION OF "BONES"
"What's that?" demanded Buster Billings, who happened to benearby.
"Goodness, they are saying poor Bones Shadduck has beenkidnapped!" exclaimed a shuddering girl, and the news was flashedall through the several groups.
The singing for the evening was done. The Columbia High SchoolGlee Club had never before been so well attended. Time was when itconsisted of a baker's dozen of students, but there were anunusually large number of good voices in the various classes thisyear.
Frank was, of course, much worried by the news.
"Are you sure, Lanky? Perhaps he's just stepped out to saunteraround with one of the girls, like some of the others have done,"he observed.
"Well, we thought of that, and hunted high and low. Why, evenAllie Sawyer, who generally takes up so much of his time, hasn'tseen him for ten minutes."
"So long as that?" answered Frank, with a smile; "but we must getbusy, and learn if any one saw Bones go out."
"I did!" spoke up a girl just then.
"When was this?" asked Frank, turning on her quickly.
"Not more than seven or eight minutes ago. I was standing in thedoorway, and had to move aside for him. And he spoke to me, too,"came the reply. "And what did he say?" continued the other.
"Why, you know Bones has a dog?"
"Yes, a bulldog named Kaiser."
"He brought him along to the hall to-night," continued the girl.
"That's a fact, Frank; for the ugly brute came near taking a hunkout of my leg when, by the merest chance in the world, I happenedto rub up against him!" declared Tom Budd, the boy gymnast, whowas constantly doing stunts, as though possessed of an insatiabledesire to stand on his head, walk on his hands, or throwsomersaults.
"The dog was howling, oh, so mournfully," continued the girl. "Iheard him, and it really got on my nerves. Well, I guess it actedthe same way with Bones, for he said that he was going out andremonstrate with Kaiser."
Frank and Lanky exchanged glances.
"Told you so!" declared the latter, triumphantly.
"Well, it certainly looks as though there might be something init. Bones must have forgotten the warning, in his sudden desire tostop the howling of the dog. He went out, and as he hasn't comeback, we'd better be looking after him. Come along, some of youfellows. If they've carried him off, it's up to us to rescue ourright guard!"
There was an immediate rush made for the door of the hall.Dyckman's was situated just on the outskirts of the town. It hadonce been some sort of church, and was now used for a variety ofpurposes connected with the life of the community, from politicalmeetings to dancing classes.
As the stream of boys poured out of the building, the howling ofthe bulldog nearby became more furious than ever. It immediatelyattracted the attention of the observant Frank.
"Hark!" he said, holding up his hand to indicate that silencewould be necessary if they hoped to succeed in accomplishinganything worth while.
"What is it?" demanded Lanky, eagerly; "do you see Bones, or didyou hear him shout for help?"
"Neither. I was thinking of his dog," was the reply.
"What of old Kaiser, Frank? How does he come in this game?" askedBuster.
"You can tell from the way he's acting that Bones has never beennear him. More than that, I believe the smart dog knows thatsomething has happened to his master, for he's just wild to getfree!" declared Frank.
"Sure as you live! Just listen to him growl and bark. I neverheard a bulldog do that before!" cried Ralph.
"Oh, Kaiser is only a half-breed mongrel, but looks like a full-bloodedbull. But an idea just occurred to me, fellows."
"Then let's have it, Frank. We're short of ideas at present, justas we are of a bully good football player needed in to-morrow'sgame. What is it?" asked Molly Manners, unduly excited by thesestrange occurrences.
"Perhaps the dog might lead us to where Bones is!" said Frank.
"Say, now, that's just a crackerjack suggestion. Of course, hewill, if someone could only hold him in by his leash!" exclaimedLanky, with the light of anticipation shining on his face.
"Come on, let's try it!" shouted another fellow.
"But who's going to unfasten Kaiser, and hold him?" asked Frank,always practical, even at such moments as this.
"Here's Buster, he knows the dog better than anyone else," saidJack Eastwick, pushing the fat boy forward.
"Oh, yes, I've had an intimate acquaintance with him. He's tastedof me three different times," declared the unwilling candidate forhonors.
"Still, he knows you?" said Jack, in a wheedling voice.
"Sure, and I think he likes me, which shows Kaiser has good taste.But I'm willing to be the victim, if you'll all promise to seethat my remains are gathered up and given a fitting burial.Everyone who likes a good show, this way, now. The only andoriginal dog-tamer is about to give an exhibition of how not to doit."
Kaiser was acting in a very ugly way, as they approached the spotwhere he had been tied up by his master, upon reaching the hall.He jumped up and out in a furious manner, always in the onedirection, Frank noticed.
"You see, fellows, he pays no attention to us. His growls are forsomeone else, and he is trying to break loose, in order that hemay chase after them. I shouldn't be surprised if we had somesuccess, after all. Do it, Buster. The whole world is looking toyou now as the hero of the occasion."
Buster gave Frank a plaintive look, as he bent down, and began tospeak soothingly to the furious dog.
"Listen to his soft soap talk, would you!"
"Buster knows how to lay it on; he's kissed the blarney stone!"
"Pat him, why don't you, old fellow; he likes the taste of you allright!"
But to none of these suggestions did Buster pay the least heed. Hewas working with the end of the rope all the time he talked sosoothingly to the brute. Frank suspected what might happen if thissuddenly came free when the dog was making one of his franticplunges. Consequently, he made sure to be ready to seize hold, soas to assist the fat boy.
It was just as he thought. Only for the quick clutch he made, thedog must have sped away like the wind, and they would have been asbadly off as before. But with the weight of the two boys on therope, even the powerful Kaiser was not able to go faster than thecrowd could follow.
"Ralph, keep close beside me!" called out Frank, who did not wanta second disaster to overtake them while trying to remedy thefirst.
It was really a curious sight to see that crowd of boys rushingover the territory adjoining Dyckman's Hall, following the pairwho pooled their strength in order to restrain the wildly eagerdog.
Frank quickly took note of a certain fact.
"We're heading for the water, fellows!" he exclaimed, as well ashe was able, while being tugged along by the erratic rushes ofKaiser.
Nearly everyone knew what he meant. It was that the abductors ofBones meant to duck him in the river, and treat him so harshly thathe would be in no condition to play in the morrow's game.
Still, that did not surprise anyone. They might easily haveexpected just such an ending to the affair, knowing as they didwhat conscienceless scamps were in all probability engineering thekidnapping affair.
The dog had led them in almost a bee line for the river. Severalhundred yards had already been covered, without the least signbeing seen of those whom they fully believed must be aheadsomewhere.
"Ain't this fierce?" gasped Buster, as he held on to the ropewith a desperate clutch; indeed, but for the sustaining hand ofthe more agile Frank, the fat boy must have fallen flat on hisface more than once as he tripped over obstacles in the way.
"Kaiser'll eat 'em alive if he gets half a chance! Listen to himgrowl, will you? Don't let him loose, Frank, on your life, orhe'll just murder some of them!" exclaimed Jack Eastwick, who wasrunning alongside the two who gripped the leash.
"If Buster ever falls flat I'll never be able to hold on alone. Beready, somebody, to take hold!" was what Fra
nk cried in return, ashe was dragged along by the furious rush of the dog, more eagernow than before.
But no one appeared to be particularly anxious to extend a helpinghand. The appearance of Kaiser was not at all reassuring, andnone of the boys fancied being "liked," as Buster admitted he was.
"Listen!" called Molly Manners, suddenly.
Everyone strained his ears. It required some effort to catch anysound from beyond. Kaiser was making such terrible noises as heran, and the rush of many feet over the ground rather deadenedanything else. Still, between times they caught what seemed to beboisterous laughter, accompanied by a loud splashing, as ofsomebody being cast into the river, to be hauled out again, onlyto have the operation repeated.
"They're ducking Bones, that's what!" coughed Buster, in realindignation.
Just then he struck some sort of obstacle that caused him to fallflat on his stomach with a fierce grunt. Of course, the rope wastorn from his hands. And as the shock was too much for Frank tostand, he, too, was compelled to release his clutch in order tosave himself from a bad tumble.
There was a furious burst of savage satisfaction from the tuggingdog at the end of the leash, and then he vanished from theirsight, running like mad!
Boys of Columbia High on the Gridiron : or, the Struggle for the Silver Cup Page 7