"I don"t want any bread----" began Mark, looking at her thoughtfully.
"Perhaps not," she put in, with a peal of laughter. "If you saw the bread I make, you"d be still more emphatic. It"s like the fruit of the tree of knowledge--"Whoso eateth thereof shall surely die.""
"I see you read the Bible," said Mark, laughing. "But to get back where I was. I"ll let the tailor make my clothes, also. What I need most just now are tricks to play on the yearlings."
"Do you?" inquired Grace. "I can tell you of lots of tricks the cadets have played. But that"s the first time I ever heard of a plebe playing tricks on yearlings. It"s usually the other way."
"Variety is the spice of life," said Mark. "The yearlings have tried rather contemptible tricks on me once or twice, very contemptible! I could tell you what several of those cadets who were with you did to me last night, and I think you"d be angry. Anyway, I"m going to make them miserable in return."
"I helped the yearlings get up a beautiful joke last year," said Grace, looking at Mark in ill-concealed admiration. "Wicks Merritt was the ringleader. He wrote to me, by the way, and told me to be very nice to you now that you"d saved my life--just as if he thought I wouldn"t!
Anyway, I got them some powder to use for the scheme."
"Powder!" echoed Mark. "How did you get powder?"
"They couldn"t manage to run off with any around here, so I got George to buy some. George is our butler. You"ll see George when you come over to visit me, which I hope you will."
"I thought you lived across the river, beyond cadet limits," put in Mark.
"So I do, but the cadets come, all the same, lots of them."
"So will I, then!" laughed the other. "But you haven"t told me what you did with the powder."
"Do you see that big gun over there?" she answered, indicating Trophy Point. "Well, they stood that upon end and fired it off late one night.
Wasn"t that a fine joke?"
"Ye-es," said Mark, very slowly. "Ye-es, it was."
He was staring at the girl, a look as of an inspiration on his face.
"They stood that gun up on end and fired it off late one night," he repeated, scarcely heeding what he was saying, so rapt was he in his thought.
"Yes," said Grace, gazing at him curiously, and meeting his eyes. "Yes.
Why?"
Mark studied her look for a moment; he saw mischief and fun dancing in it, and, in a moment more, he had made up his mind.
"Tell me, Miss Fuller," he said, speaking very low. "Would you--would you like to have "George" buy some more powder?"
"More powder!" she echoed. "What do you----"
And then she caught the gleam in her escort"s eye.
"Are you--do you mean you want to do it?" she cried.
"Yes," said Mark, simply. "Will you help?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Do you mean it?"
"I"ll give you my hand on it," responded Grace.
Mark took it.
"When?" asked she.
And Mark answered, with a laugh, almost a shout of triumph.
"To-night!" he said. "To-night! Ye G.o.ds!"
CHAPTER IV.
A SURPRISE FOR THE SEVEN.
Six disconsolate plebes sat on a bench at the extreme northern end of Professor"s Row late that afternoon, gazing unappreciatively at the magnificent view of the upper Hudson. Those plebes had been cudgeling their stupid heads ever since dinner time to no purpose.
"Durnation!" growled one of them. "I dunno what we air goin" to do. Mark won"t let us blow up the durnation ole building. He won"t let me hold up the crowd, cuz they"d expel me. He don"t want to kidnap Bull, cuz Bull would tell. I dunno what!"
"B"gee!" added another. "I wish he"d come help us think instead of chasing around town with girls. He"s been with her all afternoon----"
"Here they come now!" interrupted Texas, pointing down the street.
"Yea, by Zeus!" a.s.sented the Parson. "And our friend is much smitten already."
"Who wouldn"t be?" laughed Dewey. "Isn"t she a beauty, though? B"gee, I wish he"d bring her over and introduce her."
"Reckon she ain"t a-hankerin" after plebes," drawled Sleepy, who, as usual, had half the bench for his tired form to cover.
This observation put a damper on Dewey"s enthusiasm. It was true, and, besides that, it came from the silent member of the firm.
"She"s beautiful, all the same," he vowed, as the two drew nearer still.
"And, b"gee, she seems to be lively, too."
"If I mistake not," put in the Parson, gravely, "our friend is vastly excited over something."
This last observation seemed to be correct. The two were laughing; in fact, their faces seemed to express about as much glee as they could very well express, and once Mark was seen to slap his knee excitedly.
The six were carried away by curiosity, which curiosity changed suddenly to the wildest alarm. For when the two were just opposite, what must Mark do but turn and lead the girl over to his friends?
The effect upon the latter was amusing. Chauncey made a wild grab for his collar to see if it were straight; Sleepy sat up and rubbed his eyes; the Parson cleared his throat--"ahem!" Indian gave vent to a startled "Bless my soul!" Dewey exclaimed "b"gee!" and poor Texas turned pale and trembled in his bold cowboy legs.
A moment later the vision in white was upon them.
"Miss Fuller," said Mark, "allow me to present my friends," etc., etc.
The Parson inclined his head gravely, with dignity becoming the immortal discoverer of a cyathophylloid coral in a sandstone of Tertiary origin; Chauncey put on his best Fifth Avenue salute; Indian gasped and hunted in vain for his hat; the "farmer" swept the ground with his; Dewey looked all broke up and Texas hid behind everybody.