"Go ahead," sighed Grace, "if you have to go to hospital I"ll come over and nurse you."
Mark took his departure soon after that; he set out for camp, revolving in his mind all sorts of impracticable schemes for outwitting the first cla.s.smen that night. His thoughts were interrupted by hearing his name.
He looked up; a cadet was addressing him.
"Mr. Mallory," he said, "good-afternoon. My name is Harden. Mr. Wright has asked me to be his second."
Mark bowed.
"Also to say that if you will be outside of your tent, dressed, at two to-morrow morning he will have a boat ready to take us to a quiet place."
Mark bowed again.
"Bring one second with you," the cadet continued, "Mr. Wright will have but one. And keep this very secret; tell no one, for the cadets will surely stop us if they learn. Mr. Wright has great doubts of our success anyway."
"I shall do my best," answered Mark. "I am as anxious to succeed as he.
And I"m much obliged to you for your trouble."
Mark turned away and entered his tent.
"There"ll be fun to-night," he muttered; "plenty of fun to-night."
There was.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A FIGHT, AND OTHER THINGS.
"Are you ready in there? S-sh!"
"Yes, I"ll be out in a moment."
"Two o"clock and all"s we-ell!"
The first speaker was Harden, the first cla.s.sman, the second was Mark, and the third the sentry, calling the hour.
The moonlight, clear and white, shone down on the glistening, snowy tents; the camp was almost as bright as day. Two figures who stood crouching in the company street were plainly visible, dressed in old contraband "cit"s clothing" for disguise. And presently two more appeared, similarly clad, Mark and his old friend, the learned and pugilistic Parson.
The four said not a word, but stole silently down the street to the park that bounded the camp on the east, the river side, the beat of sentry No. 4. One of them gave a low whistle, a signal to the sentry to face about so that he might not "see any one cross his beat." The four sped across the line and were lost a moment later in the shadow of the woods.
The sound of their whistle had an echo, though they did not know it. It came from another tent and was the signal for a strange scene, one that probably that camp had never before witnessed. In an instant, it seemed, the white ground was alive with dark figures and black hurrying shadows.
One-third of the whole cadet corps, all the first cla.s.s, in fact, were about to engage in the perilous task of dodging camp!
There was no delay, no hesitation; the whole crowd fell in under one leader, stole down the street, signaled the sentry; and then came a dash and a tramp of feet that almost shook the ground. The cla.s.s was gone.
Gone to stop that fight or die!
One hates to tax a reader"s credulity. To say that that sleepy moonlit camp was once more a witness of the same unusual scene not half a minute later seems beyond the possibility of belief. Yet so it was. There was no signal this time; they simply met, five of them, all plebes, two from an A Company and three from a B Company tent just in the rear. They, too, fell in under a leader, a leader who punctuated his orders with a whispered "Wow!" And they, too, crossed the sentry post and vanished in the woods.
There was some one to trail the trailers!
We shall skip forward to those in advance. The four would-be duelists had no idea of their detection. They thought that their early start had done the work. They climbed down the bank of the river, pa.s.sed the riding hall, and came out on the railroad track below, just at the mouth of the tunnel.
"The boat is down near Highland Falls," said Harden, briefly; and then there was silence again. Wright had not said one word since the start.
They set out down the track. They stole by the little station, with its single light and its half-sleeping telegraph operator. And then--hark!
What was that?
Tramp, tramp! The four turned in amazement. Great heavens, they were followed! Clearly visible in the moonlight, their white trousers glittering, the company was marching steadily behind them. They were in line and had a captain. At concealment there was no attempt; they seemed to say, every one of them. "Well, here we are. Now what are you going to do about it?" And the four stared at each other in amazement.
"Shall we resort to flight?" inquired the learned Parson.
"They"re too many; they"d catch us," said Harden, emphatically. "I don"t know just what to do. I rather think we"re outwitted. I--what"s that?"
"Ding! dong! Woow-oo!"
"A train!" exclaimed Mark. "That"ll scatter "em. But it"ll do us no good."
A moment later there was a glare of light in the tunnel, light that shone upon the figures on the track; and then the heavy train shot out and came rushing down upon them. The cadets scattered of course; and in the temporary confusion Mark saw a golden chance. It was a slow train; he could see. A freight! And a moment later as the engine rushed past them, he shouted to the other three:
"Catch it! Catch it as it pa.s.ses!"
It was all done so quickly they had scarcely time to think. They saw the last car whirl past the cadets; they saw the company reforming to march.
And a moment later all four of them leaped toward the train and flung themselves aboard the last platform of the way car.
It was going faster than they had thought; the sudden jerk they got nearly tore their arms from their sockets, and the Parson"s loose joints cracked ominously. But they hung on, all of them, with a grip like death. And they had the intense satisfaction of hearing a yell of rage from the cadets in the rear, and of seeing, as they clambered up and looked behind them, the whole crowd break into a run and set out in furious, though vain pursuit.
"That settles it," said Mark, joyfully. "We"re safe! now then."
But his words were just a trifle premature. The cadets were fast being left behind, running though they were; but there was a new danger hitherto unthought of. The car they were on was the caboose. The door was flung open; a rough figure strode out.
"Hey, there, git off o" that! What the divil are yez doin" there?"
The four stared at each other in consternation. Here was a rub! They looked for all the world like tramps, to be kicked off unceremoniously into the hands of the enemy again. But before the man could move Harden thrust his hand into his pocket.
"Here," he said. "Take that, and shut up."
The man gazed at them dubiously. They might be burglars, robbers--but then it was good money, and n.o.body the wiser. That was none of his business anyhow. He muttered an apology and slammed the door again, while the four sighed with relief.
"I wonder what next," said Mark.
There was nothing more; the long train rumbled on down the river bank and the party waited in silence until Harden gave the signal. Then they made more or less ungraceful and uncomfortable leaps from the platform, sprang down the bank into the rushes, and a moment or so later were on their way across the river in a rowboat.
"Which means," whispered the Parson to Mark, "that we"ll have our fight after all."
Mark had thought of that. He was already calculating the chances. Wright had a great, powerful frame, with ma.s.sive, bull shoulders and a face that showed no end of grit. That much Mark could see. He knew, too, that the man was a gymnast of three years" practice under a master as skilled as Uncle Sam could find; that every muscle had been worked and trained, that he was lithe and quick and active, skilled with foil and bayonet and broadsword, a perfect horseman, and the captain of West Point"s crack eleven besides. Mark thought of all this; and then he clinched his own broad hands and gritted his teeth and waited.