CHAPTER XIX

ALMOST SCARED TO DEATH

While the Gee Eyes were having their sport with Carl Sultzer quite another scene was being enacted some distance away, in the vicinity of the trolley tracks.

Little Frank Bond, a pale and highly sensitive youth who had come to Oak Hall two weeks before, was being initiated into the mysteries of the D. D. A. Club by Plum, Poole, Jasniff, and several of their cronies.

Frank did not care for clubs, being a lad of a retiring disposition. But he had been "talked into it" by Plum, who thought he saw some keen sport in scaring the little fellow half to death.

"You must join by all means," said the bully of the school. "Why, life at Oak Hall won't be worth living unless you're a member of the D. D. A. Club." And very foolishly Frank agreed to submit to an initiation.

"We'll scare him out of his seven senses," chuckled Plum. "It will be a barrel of fun."

"What will you do?" questioned the others of the club.

When the bully of Oak Hall unfolded his plan several demurred, stating it would be rather severe on a lad of Frank's temperament. But they were overruled, and in the end the so-styled initiation was carried out as the bully planned it.

After a good deal of ceremony, which was great fun and rather enjoyed by the small boy, Frank was blindfolded and marched out in the direction of the trolley tracks. The club members took to a side road, where there was a single track running to a town several miles distant. On this track was a new turnout, which had been put down only a short while before.

"Where are we going?" asked Frank, timidly, as the others hurried him along.

"To the trolley tracks," was the answer. "We want to test your nerve."

"How?"

"Oh, we'll put you on the tracks and let the trolley run over you," answered Plum, brutally.

"Oh, please don't put me on the tracks!" cried Frank. "I--I know you don't want to hurt me, but a trolley car might come along, and I might get struck."

"Oh, it's all right," said Jasniff. "If you're ground up we'll pick up the pieces and give you a decent burial."

This sort of talk was kept up until the trolley line was reached, and the effect was to completely unnerve the young victim. He was allowed to see the single track and then blindfolded once more, and his hands were tied behind his back.

"Now put him on the tracks," commanded Plum, roughly.

"And don't forget to chain him fast," added Jasniff, rattling a dog chain he had brought along.

"Oh, we'll chain him good and hard," said Nat Poole.

"No! no! Please don't!" cried Frank, and now he tried to break away from his tormentors. A struggle ensued, but in the end he was subdued and dragged along the track to where was located the turnout just mentioned. Here he was thrown on his back, and his hands were fastened down to one of the rails.

"Don't! Let me go! Please let me go!" he shrieked. "I don't want to be tied to the track! I don't want to join the club! If a trolley should come along I'd surely be hurt! Let me go!" And he started to struggle again.

"See here, aren't we going a little too far?" whispered one of the students.

"He's too sensitive for this sort of sport," added another.

"Oh, pshaw! it's all right," interrupted Plum. "The little beggar won't be hurt in the least."

"But he'll be scared to death."

"Well, that's the fun of it," came from Jasniff.

In the meantime Frank Bond continued to cry out to be released. He was so frightened now that he know not what to do. He struggled madly to break his bonds.

"I'm going to let him go," began one boy, a lad named Messmer.

"Don't you touch him," answered Plum, roughly. "It's only fun."

"But, Gus----"

"Here comes the trolley!" shouted Jasniff. "Now, Bond, take it easy when they run over you!"

"Don't throw the trolley off the track," added Plum, brutally.

The trolley came along swiftly in the semi-darkness, and as it approached Frank Bond let out a piercing scream for help. He was now completely beside himself with fear.

"Don't, don't! Help!" he screamed. "Save me! Save me!" And then he began to foam at the mouth.

With a rush and a roar the trolley car came on. The poor boy on the turnout track thought sure it was going to run over him and struggled madly to get free. Then, just as the trolley swept beside him, he broke his bonds, leaped to his feet, and stepped blindly toward the car. His arm struck the back platform and he was hurled backward. Then the trolley, with its gleaming headlight, swept on its way, the motorman taking no notice of what had happened.

"He's hurt!" was the cry from Messmer.

"It's the little beggar's own fault," said Gus Plum, but his voice trembled as he spoke.

"Oh, I am killed! I am killed!" cried Frank, struggling to his feet and throwing the bandage from his eyes. He was foaming at the mouth, and bleeding both at the head and on the hand. "Don't let the trolley go over me again! Save me! Save me!" And then, with a bound, he turned and disappeared into the bushes and trees which lined the trolley road at this point.

"He has gone mad!" whispered one of the boys, hoarsely.

"As mad as a March hare," was the comment of another of the students. "Come back, Frank! It's all right!" he called out.

"The little fool!" muttered Jasniff. "He wouldn't have been hurt at all if he had remained quiet." He raised his voice: "Come back here, Bond, it's all over!"

"I said he couldn't stand it," said Messmer. "It was a shame to go so far."

"Oh, don't preach to me," returned Jasniff. "Bond, are you coming back?" he cried, in a louder tone.

The only reply was a distant scream, so cold and uncanny it made all of the students shiver. Then came other screams, gradually growing fainter and fainter.

"He is going deeper and deeper into the woods!"

"Say, we'll have to get him out of that!"

"He has gone crazy, just as sure as fate," said Messmer. "Come, we must bring him back and do what we can for him."

The wood was a long one and some distance from the trolley turnout was another road, leading down to the main line. Dave and his chums were coming along this road when Ben came to a sudden halt.

"Listen!"

"What did you hear, Ben?"

Before Ben could answer Dave's question a blood-curdling scream rent the air. It was followed by another and then another.

"My gracious! is that a ghost?" queried Sam Day.

"It's somebody in trouble perhaps," came from Roger.

"Of dot peen a ghost I dink I go me pack to der Hall alretty now!" said Carl Sultzer, in alarm.

"There are no ghosts," said Dave. "All so-called ghosts are make-believes--humbugs, in fact."

"Which puts me in mind of a story," said Shadow, as the crowd came to a halt, listening to a repetition of the cries. "A lot of college students wanted to play a joke on their professor, so they put together the body of one bug, the wings of another, the legs of another, and the horns of another. Then they went to the old professor and said: 'Here is a wonderful new bug we have found. What family does it belong to?' The old professor looked the thing over for a minute. 'A well-known family,' he said. 'A very large family.' 'What?' asked the students, all ready to laugh at the old fellow. 'The family of humbugs,' answered the professor."

"That's all right," said Roger, laughing, while the others joined in.

"Say, vot has dot hum-pug to to mit dot ghost?" asked Carl, innocently. He had been the only one unable to appreciate the joke.

"Nothing, but--listen!"

Buster Beggs broke off short, as another scream rent the air. Then the members of the Gee Eyes saw a wild-looking youth rush across the road and disappear among the trees beyond.

"Did you see that?"

"It was a boy!"

"He acted as if he was crazy!"

"Yes, and do you know who it was?" demanded Dave. "It was little Frank Bond!"

"So it was," added Roger. "Boys, what can this mean?"

"He must be in trouble," said Buster Beggs.

"Perhaps some wild animal scared him," was Ben's comment. "But what can he be doing out here alone this time of night?"

"Bond! Bond!" cried Roger. "Come back here! What's the matter?"

But the only answer that came back was another scream, as the half-crazed lad plunged deeper and deeper into the wood. Soon he was completely out of hearing.

"I don't like this," was Dave's comment.

"Listen, I hear somebody else coming," said Ben, and soon they heard Plum and his crowd approaching through the woods. They were hunting in several directions for Frank Bond.

"Hullo!" cried Roger to the other crowd, and soon the D. D. A. members and the Gee Eyes confronted each other.

"What brings you out here?" demanded Plum, suspiciously.

"We might ask the same question of you?" returned Dave, coldly.

"Oh, I say, Porter, have you seen anything of little Frank Bond?" asked Messmer, stepping forward.

"Yes, we saw him a minute ago. He ran across this road as if he was crazy. What's the trouble?"

"Don't say a word!" burst out Jasniff, confronting his fellow club member.

"Bond got scared and ran away from us," went on Messmer, ignoring Nick Jasniff completely. "Did he--er--did he look hurt, or--er--crazy?"

"He looked both," put in Roger. "What have you been doing, hazing him?"

"That's our affair," broke in Plum, warningly.

"Look here, Plum, and you too, Jasniff, I won't stand for any more of your talk!" cried Messmer, wrathfully. "You went too far, and I said so from the start." He turned again to Dave and Roger. "We were initiating Bond into our club. We had him down to the trolley track and--well, he got badly scared and bumped into a trolley that was passing. Then all at once he seemed to go crazy and ran off into the woods. We don't know how badly he is hurt or where he has gone to."

"If that's the case, one thing is certain," said Dave. "We must find him, and do it as soon as possible."