"Why, Miss Adams," he gasped. "I----"
His words stuck in his throat. His surprise changed to the wildest dismay and consternation. For he felt a pair of sinewy arms flung about his ankles, binding his feet together as in a vise. He had only one free arm, the other being bound to his chest with the bandages of the surgeon; the free arm was seized by the wrist with a grip that almost crushed it. And to his mouth another pair of hands were pressed, making outcry impossible as it would have been futile anyway.
Mark was as motionless and helpless as if he had been turned to stone!
The swift emotions that surged through his excited brain defy description. He saw the plot in an instant, apprehended it in all its fiendish heartlessness; and he knew that he was ruined. He could not see behind him; he could not identify his a.s.sailants; but he was sure they were cadets, Bull and his crowd leagued with this wretched girl to play upon his kind-heartedness.
And that girl! Oh, what a figure she was! She made no attempt to hide herself, however much Bull Harris might. She stood before her helpless victim"s eyes a perfect figure of vengeance and triumph.
There is a famous painting by Sichel of the Grecian sorceress, Medea.
The woman is standing clad in white that contrasts with her jet black hair. In one hand, half hidden, she clutches a shining dagger; her mouth is set in a firm, determined way, and her eyes are dark and gleaming.
Imagine that figure in the moment of victory, every feature convulsed with joy, with hatred gratified, and that is the girl Mary Adams. She was dancing about Mark in fury, flinging her hands in his face, taunting him, jeering at him, threatening him so as to frighten even the desperate cadets.
They, meanwhile, were working quickly; they bound his legs together, his arms to his side. They forced a gag into his mouth, and then lastly shut off his view of the wildly shrieking girl by tying a handkerchief about his eyes. And then they tumbled him to the ground and turned away and left him.
Mary Adams stayed behind them a moment to vent her fury upon the helpless prisoner.
"Satisfied!" she cried. "How do you like it? I told you I would have revenge. I told you I hated you! And now, and now it is mine! You are mine, too! Do you hear me? I can do what I please with you!"
Mark could not see her, but he felt a stinging pain in his cheek and he felt the warm blood flow.
The girl"s sharp heel had cut his flesh. And a moment later he heard a low voice mutter:
"Come away, you fool! Come on."
They dragged her reluctantly with them. Mark heard the steps recede into the distance, heard the silence settling down about the place. They had left him alone, deserted and helpless, lost in the midst of the woods, left him to die for all he knew, certainly to be missed, to be expelled, to be ruined.
And the poor fellow groaned within him as he realized the triumph of his enemies.
CHAPTER x.x.xII.
TRIUMPH--CONCLUSION.
Texas made his way back to camp in silence. Texas felt it was none of his business, and yet he could not help trying to guess the errand upon which those two had gone. It was certainly a mystery. Texas reached the camp without succeeding in forming the least guess.
He raced past the same sentry in the same style as usual. He entered his tent and found the other two sleeping soundly, having not the least suspicion of the night"s occurrences.
"I reckon," he mused, reflectively, "there ain"t much use o" my sittin"
round. I"ll go to bed."
With which resolution he undressed and lay down to sleep.
After such an exciting and lively half hour as the one Texas had just spent, one does not usually drop off to sleep very easily. It was fortunate that Texas did not; wide-awake as he was, he had a cooler and steadier head to think when the hour of trial came. For the "hour of trial" was coming very soon now.
Bull Harris and his cowardly allies first took the precaution to calm the angry girl, and then set out on a run for camp. Their hearts were beating high with hope and triumph. Their time had come at last; their enemy was theirs, and theirs without any blame falling on them. It was a great day for the vengeful Bull.
They pa.s.sed their sentry ally in safety and vanished in their tents. In a minute more they were all safely in bed, as Texas was, and then the time had come.
Texas, lying in his silent tent, was just beginning to doze, when suddenly came a wild yell that shook the air, that made the hills to echo. It rang through the sleeping camp, and it was followed by a series of shouts.
"Help! help! help!"
The place was in an uproar in an instant; and Texas was almost paralyzed with horror. An alarm! The camp awake! Inspection! And Mark, his Mark, his friend and hero, absent!
He sprang to his feet with a hoa.r.s.e cry; at the same moment the other two plebes sat up and stared about them wildly.
"What"s that?" cried one.
"Mark"s gone!" fairly shrieked Texas.
"Mark gone! How?"
"He"s out of bounds! Great Heavens, he went to see Mary Adams! And he"ll be found out!"
The two crowded about him, their faces pale with fright, their eyes staring.
Mark gone! Mark, their leader! What on earth would they do?
The Texan"s wild exclamation had been heard in the Company B tent to the rear, and its occupants had rushed in regardless of rules, of discovery, of everything. An alarm! An inspection! And Mark beyond limits!
Things were happening with incredible swiftness outside. The shouts had been echoed by excited inquiries from awakened cadets, by the cries of sentries for the corporal of the guard, and by the quick, sharp commands of officers.
Lieutenant Allen, the "tac" in command, had sprung up from his bed at the very first cry. And in half a minute more, dressed and with lighted lantern in hand, he was rushing down the company street.
"What"s the matter?" he cried.
No one knew. He saw cadets gathered in almost every tent door, staring out anxiously. Thus he did not notice the state of affairs in Mark"s tent, where six horrified, frightened plebes were huddled, gasping.
Night alarms had been getting too frequent at Camp McPherson that year, and had excited the ire of the authorities. The lieutenant meant to find out the authors of this one, if such a thing were within the realms of possibility.
First he thought of sounding the "long roll," the fire or mutiny signal, summoning the cadets out on the street for roll call. Then it occurred to him that an inspection of the tents might do better. Another "tac,"
Lieutenant Ross, had joined him at this moment. And without a moment"s delay, the two set to work. And Lieutenant Allen started with Company A, the very street in which Mark Mallory"s tent stood!
A thousand wild plans had occurred to the six, to Texas in particular.
He might "hold up" the tac, prevent the inspection! Or dress up as Mark and have himself reported! Great Heavens! he must do something!
The officer began at the head of the street. It was the work of but one second to glance into each tent. It would take but five seconds more to reach Mark"s, to note the fact that there were but three in that tent, and that Cadet Mallory was absent out of camp, out of limits!
Texas turned to his comrades as the officer drew near. There were tears in Texas" eyes, and his voice was choked.
"You fellows," he said, to the three from the B tent, "you--you"d better go back, or you"ll get soaked, too."
Nearer still came the officer. One tent more! The three had turned to go--and then suddenly Texas uttered a cry of joy and staggered back against the tent wall! An instant later he leaped forward, seized Dewey, one of the three, by the shoulders and fairly flung him to the ground.
"Lie there! Lie there!" he gasped, hoa.r.s.ely. "Durnation!"