"Well, I am not going to kick. I have the ring, and his knife did not end my life, as it would if I had not dodged. He slit open my sleeve from the shoulder to the elbow, and brought the blood."
"Oh, you"re a lucky dog," laughed Bart. "You are sure to come out on top every time."
Wat Snell found it convenient to take a vacation, but he returned to the academy later, although he found himself regarded with scorn by all save a certain few of his own sort.
Had Frank seen fit, he could have had Wat expelled; but it seemed that, if the fellow had any sense of shame, the way he was treated by the other cadets was quite punishment enough.
Sometimes Frank and Bart would get out the drawing the latter boy had made from the lines on the ring, and they would study over it a long time, but they always found it baffling, and they finally gave up in despair.
Still Frank clung to both ring and chart, hoping they would some day prove valuable to him.
CHAPTER x.x.xVII.
"BABY."
A year had pa.s.sed since Frank entered Fardale Military Academy--a year crowded with events and adventures such as made its memory both pleasant and painful.
The time of the June encampment had again arrived.
Frank was no longer a plebe, and the glistening chevrons on his sleeves told that the first year in the academy had not been wasted. He was now Cadet Corporal Merriwell.
The graduates had departed, and the furlough men were away at their homes.
A new squad of plebes had been admitted to the school, and the yearlings, mad with joy at being released from plebedom themselves, were trying every scheme their fertile brains could devise for making miserable the lives of their successors.
During the first two weeks that the plebes had been in the academy the opportunities for hazing them had been few; but immediately on getting into camp the mischievous lads who had suffered the year before, not a few of whom had sworn that nothing in the wide world--nothing, nothing, nothing!--could tempt them to molest a fourth-cla.s.s man, lost no time in "getting after" the "new stiffs," as the plebes were sometimes called at Fardale.
The yearlings were eager to find f.a.gs among the plebes, and they generally succeeded in inducing the new boys to bring buckets of water, sweep the tent floors, make beds, clean up, and do all sorts of work which the older cadets should have done themselves and were supposed to do.
While the penalty for exacting the performance of any menial or degrading task, as well as for hazing, was court-martial and possible dismissal, the yearling generally succeeded in getting the work done without giving orders or making demands, so the plebes could not say they had been coerced into doing those things against their will.
Each yearling sought to have a particular f.a.g to attend to him and his wishes, and no cadet could demand service of another fellow"s f.a.g without danger of bringing about trouble.
At first, Frank had resolved to astonish his companions by attending to his own duties entirely by himself, and having no f.a.g; but it was shortly after the new boys came to Fardale that he saw something that made him change his mind.
Among the plebes was a rather timid-looking, red-cheeked lad, who seemed even further out of his element than did his awkward companions.
He was shy and retiring, blushed easily, and, at times, had trouble in finding his voice.
Such a fellow was certain to attract attention at any school, and he was soon singled out as a particular object for chaffing by the yearlings.
He blushed to the roots of his hair on being called "Baby," "Mamma"s Boy," "Little Tootsy-Wootsy," and other names of the sort applied to him by the cadets.
His real name was Fred Davis, and of the nicknames given him Baby seemed to stick the best, so it was not long before he came to be known by that almost altogether, the officers and instructors being the only ones who did not use it in addressing him.
At the outset Fred was unfortunate in being singled out for guying by Hugh Bas...o...b.. who was a bully by nature, and whose ideas of fun were likely to be of a vicious order.
Bas...o...b..saw he could plague Davis, and he kept at the little fellow, piling it on unmercifully. In fact, he seemed to take a strong dislike to the boy with the pink cheeks, whom he derisively designated as "the dolly boy," and he lost no opportunity to humiliate Davis.
It happened that, on a certain occasion, Bas...o...b..desired that Fred should lie for him, but, to his surprise, the timid plebe absolutely and firmly declined to lie.
"I--I can"t do it, sir," stammered the little fellow. "I"d do it if I could, but I can"t."
"Why not, pray?" fiercely demanded Bas...o...b.. towering above the shrinking lad and scowling blackly. "That"s what I want to know--why not?"
"Because I promised mother I would not lie, and she--she has confidence in me."
"Oh, she--she has!" mocked Bas...o...b.. "You make me sick--you do! I never took any stock in mamma boys. Now you"re going to do as I want you to, or I"ll make it hot for you."
"I shall not lie, sir."
"All right; wait till you get into camp. Oh, we won"t do a thing to you!"
From that time Bas...o...b..did his best to set his companions against Davis, a fact which Frank soon noted.
Knowing that Bas...o...b..was at heart a bully, Frank immediately saw that Davis would have a hard life during his first months in the academy.
Frank"s sympathy went out to the little fellow, who had been so tenderly reared that he knew very little of the harsh ways of the world outside his own home. He resolved that the little plebe should be given a fair show.
Somehow Frank divined that Bas...o...b..intended to secure Davis for his f.a.g, and he resolved to balk the bully in this. So it came about that, on the day that the plebes marched into camp, with their bundles under their arms, Merriwell found an opportunity to take Davis into his tent and instruct him in cleaning shoes and setting things to order.
Fred attended to these things cheerfully, never dreaming that they were not a part of his regular duties. When he had finished, Merriwell said:
"That is very satisfactory, Mr. Davis. Immediately after tattoo you may come round and be shown how to make up beds. In the meantime, if any one else should require you to perform service of a similar nature in any tent other than your own, you may inform them that you have already received instructions from me, and that the state of your health will prevent you from doing too much labor of the kind. Do you understand?"
"I think so, sir."
"Very good. You may go."
Frank"s duties kept him very busy during the most of the day. He had little time to look after Davis, and he scarcely gave his f.a.g a thought till after supper, when the dusk of evening was settling over the cove, and the "plebe hotels" had been surrounded at various points by mischievous yearlings. Then he took a fancy to stroll around and see how Baby was getting along.
On his way down the street he pa.s.sed the tent occupied by Bas...o...b.. He might have walked on, but the low, fierce voice of the big cadet caught his ear, and he distinctly heard these words:
"What"s that? You refuse to bring water for me? Have done this kind of work already for Merriwell? So Corporal Merriwell has been compelling a plebe to perform menial services? Well, that might cost him those pretty stripes on his sleeves! What do I care for him! I want you to bring that water, and you will bring it."
"But he told me not to do work of this kind for anybody else but myself," came the faltering voice of Fred Davis.
"Oh, he did? Well, that"s interesting! I suppose by that he means to lay claim to you. I wonder what Lieutenant Gordan would say if he knew what one of his particular pets has been up to! We"ll see who is best man in this affair. Bring that water!"
"I--I don"t want to, sir."
"Well, it doesn"t make any difference about that; you"ll bring it, whether you want to or not. If you don"t, I will----"
"What will you do in that case, Bas...o...b.." quietly asked Frank, as he stepped lightly and quickly into the tent, and confronted the big cadet, who was towering over Fred Davis in a threatening att.i.tude.
Bas...o...b..recoiled, with a muttered exclamation of dismay.