"That caused me to look still further," he went on, "and I soon found another sheet upon another tree. This is what I read:
""Conundrum. Why is King Browning a great electrician? Because all his clothes are charged."
"By that time I felt like murdering somebody. I did take a morning walk, but it was in search of more stuff of the same order. I found it everywhere in the vicinity of the college, and some of the stuff was simply awful. It made me shudder. I knew who was back of it all.
Merriwell put up the job."
"But you outwitted him by getting around in time to tear down everything he had put up. You matched him that time."
"By accident. But I must more than match him. He must be suppressed."
"That"s right! that"s right!" cried the boys in chorus.
"I know he put the advertis.e.m.e.nt for black and white cats and yellow dogs in the papers. My name was signed to it, and more than two hundred black and white cats and yellow dogs were brought me by parties anxious to sell them at any price. One time there were seven women with cats in my room, when two men came up leading dogs. The first woman had managed to get into the room, and while I was arguing with her, trying to convince her that I did not want her blamed old cat, the others found their way in. They opened on me altogether. Hartwick shut himself in the clothespress, and I could hear him laughing and gasping for breath. I was nearly crazy when the men sauntered in with the dogs in tow. Oh, say!"
Browning fell over limply in his chair, as if the memory of what followed was too much for him.
"You have had a real warm time of it," grinned Swallows.
"Warm! Warm! My boy, it was warm! Two of the women were showing me their cats. The dogs saw the cats; the cats saw the dogs. One of the cats made a flying leap for a dog. The other fled, and the other dog pursued. The seven women shrieked all together, and the two men swore and tried to catch the dogs. The other cats escaped from the baskets in which they were confined. Warm! Say!"
The king of the soph.o.m.ores mopped his face with his handkerchief. He seemed on the verge of utter collapse.
The listening lads could not entirely restrain their laughter. The picture Browning presented and the incident he was relating were altogether too ludicrous.
"Talk about rackets!" he wearily continued; "we had one then and there.
The cats yowled and the dogs howled. The women fell over each other and screamed blue murder. The men chased the dogs and roared blue blazes.
And the wind blew hard!
"One of the cats alighted on an old lady"s head. The cat"s mistress grabbed her and took her away. The cat had socked her claws into the old lady"s wig, and it came off, leaving her almost as bare as a billiard ball. Oh, marmer!
"Two of the cats fell to tearing the fur out of each other. Some of them walked on the ceiling, like flies, in their endeavors to get away from the dogs. One of them pounced on a dog"s back and rode him around the room, as if she were a circus performer. The other dog chased a cat under the bed, and they were having it there. Oh, they didn"t do a thing--not a thing!
"After a while one of the men captured one of the dogs and dragged him toward the door. The other man saw him and made a rush for him. "Drop that dawg!" he yelled. "It"s my dawg!" the other man yelled back. And then the other man howled, "You"re another. It"s my dawg!"
"Right away after that there was trouble between the owners of the dogs.
They tried to hurt each other, and they succeeded very well. One of them had both eyes blacked, while the other lost two teeth, had his lips split and his nose knocked out of plumb. But they smashed the stuffing out of the furniture while they were doing it.
"I climbed up on something in one corner and did my best to cheer them on. I sincerely hoped both would be killed. The dogs seemed to feel it their duty to enter into the spirit of the occasion, and they chewed each other more or less.
"Then the police came in. I came near landing in the station house, along with the two men who were fighting, but they concluded not to pinch me. The women departed after having once more expressed their opinion all around concerning me.
"When they were gone Hartwick came out of the clothespress. We sat down amid the ruins and said over some words that will not bear repet.i.tion.
"That"s the whole of the cat-and-dog story. I"ve never been able to prove that Merriwell put the advertis.e.m.e.nt into the paper, but it is all settled in my mind. It was directly after this that I went into training."
Some of the sophs laughed and some showed indignation.
"It was a very nawsty thing to do," declared Paulding.
"I can"t help laughing over it." chuckled Tad Horner. "But of course you ought to get back at Merriwell."
"Well, I shall do my best."
"I don"t think you need to train to do that trick," said Punch Swallows. "A man who can knock out Kid Lajoie ought to polish off a freshman in a minute."
"You haven"t seen Merriwell fight?"
"No."
"I have."
"He is clever?"
"He is a corker. Of course I believe I can do him, but I want to do him easy, and that is why I am training."
Another party of soph.o.m.ores came in.
"It is Harrison and his crowd," said Parker, "and I"m blowed if they haven"t got Roll Ditson with them! That cad of a freshman has succeeded in getting in here again."
"Ditson hates Merriwell, don"t yer know," said Paulding. "He pretends to be friendly with Merry, but he"s ready to do him any time."
CHAPTER XI
"LAMBDA CHI!"
Ditson had fawned around Browning a great deal since entering college, with the result that the king of the soph.o.m.ores came to entertain a feeling of absolute disgust for the fellow. The very sight of Ditson made the "king" feel as if he would enjoy giving him a good "polishing off."
But Bruce was no bully, although he was a leader of the soph.o.m.ores. He had proved his ability to fight when it was necessary, but no one could say that he ever showed any inclination to do bodily harm to one who was weak and peaceable.
During his freshman year Browning had originated any number of wild projects for sport, and he had always succeeded in carrying them through successfully. Thus it came about that he was called the "king," and his companions continued to call him that when he became a soph.o.m.ore.
But now there was a man in college who had fairly outwitted Browning on several occasions, and so it came about that the king was aroused against Frank Merriwell.
Browning keenly felt the sting of being beaten at his own game, and he was obliged to confess to himself that Merriwell had accomplished the trick.
But our hero was not inclined to let Bruce alone. He did not wait for the king to become aggressive; he set about keeping Bruce in hot water, and he succeeded very well.
The other freshmen, stimulated by the example of one who was distinctly a leader among them, carried on such an energetic campaign against the soph.o.m.ores that the latter found themselves almost continually on the defensive.
Such a thing had never before been known at Yale and the sophs were highly indignant. They informed the freshmen that they were altogether too fresh. They said the freshmen were breaking a time-honored custom, and it must be stopped.
But the triumphant freshmen kept right on, laughing in the faces of their angry foes.
It was expected that Browning would not delay about getting back at Merriwell and his friends, and the admirers of the king were surprised when he seemed to remain inactive.