CHAPTER XIX

FRANK’S FAITH UNSHAKEN.

Before Merriwell or Starbright could make a move, the stranger leaped forward again, his hand having plunged into a pocket and come out. He gave it a flirt, and something struck the Chinaman fairly in the eyes.

With a cry of pain, the Celestial clapped his hands to his eyes and reeled backward. Quick as a flash, the stranger shot past him and was gone.

This had happened so swiftly that Merriwell and Starbright could do nothing. When they rushed out of the room the stranger had vanished and the Chinaman was groaning and jabbering with pain.

“What’s the matter?” asked Frank. “What did he do?”

“Puttee out eyles! Yi! yi! Oh, glivee watal quickee! Oh! oh!”

They dragged the Chinaman into the room and Merry soon had some water on his face.

“Red pepper!” cried Frank, as he detected the powder on the clothes of the Chinaman. “That man threw it in his eyes!”

“Yi! yi! yi!” yelled the Celestial. “Oh, eyles burnee likee led-hot fial! Oh, pooal John go to die velly quickee! Hi-yi!”

The yells of the frightened fellow soon brought people to investigate, and Merry explained what had happened.

The Chinaman belonged in the kitchen. How he came to be on that floor was a mystery, and he would not tell. All he seemed able to do was to howl with pain.

When the Celestial had been removed and the excitement was over, Merry flung himself on a chair, laughing outright.

“I fail to see what you are laughing about,” cried Starbright, who was striding up and down the floor.

“Well, if things to laugh about have not happened this night, they never did!” declared Frank.

“Then you see things in quite a different light from what I do.”

“It all depends on the mood a man is in how he looks at things, my boy,” said Merry. “In certain moods a tragedy may seem like a comedy.”

“Look here, Merriwell,” said Dick, stopping where he could face Frank squarely. “I want to know what you think about this matter now.”

“What matter?”

“This Inza Burrage business.”

Frank stopped laughing.

“Do you think just the same thing that you did?” persisted Dick. “Have you not changed your mind in the least?”

“Why, I have seen nothing to cause me to change my mind.”

“You haven’t?”

“No.”

“Not even after this fellow came here and refused to state his name or make any explanation?”

“Not even after that.”

“Well, you are queerly constructed. You trust her still?”

“Fully!”

“Do you think that man just the sort of a companion for Inza?”

“I don’t know.”

“He is a comrade of gamblers, the possessor of stolen property, a creature without a name!”

Frank was silent.

“Perhaps,” Dick went on, “he is a gambler himself. It is likely he may be, else why should he have a friend who was a gambler?”

Still Merry did not speak.

“It would not surprise me to learn that he is an escaped convict or a criminal wanted for some great offense.”

Merry’s lips tightened.

“How do you know he is not, Frank?” Dick demanded.

“Because he was with Inza!” Frank exclaimed. “That is quite enough to satisfy me, Starbright. I would trust her with my life, and nothing can shake my confidence in her.”

“Nothing?”

“No! It is useless to talk!”

“You would refuse to believe if I placed proof before you!”

“You’ll never be able to place such proofs before me.”

“We’ll see! That creature with his sorcerer’s stick has aroused me. I swear I’ll not leave New York till I find out his name and all about him!”

Dick was in earnest.

“When you find out, if you do, you may discover that you made a fool of yourself,” said Merry quietly, as he rose. “I think he told about all he knew concerning the mystic stick. I also think the Chinaman outside the door was listening to what passed in here. That being the case, it’s likely he belongs to the secret order. His companions notified him, and he was trying to keep track of the stick. If so, it is pretty certain he knows it has passed from my hands to another, and will so report it. I am glad of that, for I do not care to be tracked about by a lot of crazy Chinks who may take a notion at any time to knife a man in the back.”

Starbright scarcely seemed to hear Merriwell’s words. He had turned now and was pacing the floor, a dark look on his face.

After watching his companion a few moments, Merry sat down at the little table and began to write some letters.

When Jack Diamond came in it was nearly eleven o’clock, and both Dick and Frank were there, Starbright having taken a room in the hotel.

Diamond was in a gay humor, though he retained his air of politeness and dignity. He told stories and cracked jokes, being joined by Merry, who did not seem to have a care in the world.

“Everything is attended to,” Jack asserted. “To-morrow I shall slip down to old Virginia. Gentlemen, that is the State for you! It’s an honor to have been born in Virginia and of good parents. I am not sure I’ve always been an honor to my parents or to my State, but I mean to be in the future.”

Frank smiled.

“I see you are feeling like yourself once more, Jack,” he said.

“But our mutual friend Starbright seems off his feed,” observed the Southerner. “What ails him?”

There was a knock on the door, and Frank cried:

“Come in.”

A boy entered with a card, which he gave to Merry. When he saw the name on it, Frank leaped to his feet, uttering an exclamation of surprise.

“Inza?” he gasped. “Here at this hour! What does it mean?”

Then, turning to the boy, he inquired:

“Who accompanied the lady?”

“She is alone,” was the surprising answer. “She came in a cab and asked to see you without a moment’s delay.”

“Something is wrong!” declared Frank, getting his hat and overcoat. Then he hastened down to the ladies’ parlor, where Inza was waiting for him.

Inza was pale and somewhat agitated when Frank reached her.

“What is it, Inza?” Merry asked.

“Oh, Frank!” she said, “I am afraid something terrible has happened to—to Walter!”

“Walter?”

“Yes; you know—he is——”

“The gentleman who was with you?”

“Yes.”

“What makes you think anything has happened to him?”

“After he came here and found you had picked up the stick he returned to the house with it in his possession. Then he told me he was going to see that crazy doctor about the stick, and he promised to return by ten o’clock. It is now long past eleven, and he has not returned. I knew it would not do to let father know about it. Father had retired for the night, so I slipped out of the house without his knowledge, and here I am. I came to you because I thought you would know what to do.”

Her words had conjured strange, gruesome visions before Merriwell’s vision. Frank had heard from the man’s lips the story that revealed the peril of any one who might possess the little black stick. Was it not possible that, for all of his trick in dodging the Chinaman at the door, he had been tracked down by members of the secret order and slain? Was it not possible the stranger might be dead somewhere in the dark streets of New York with the strangler’s cord about his neck?

Inza saw Merry’s lips tighten and she gave a little cry of fear.

“You are afraid!” she said, clutching Frank’s arm. “Oh, why did he ever meddle with that terrible thing! What if he has been killed!”

A pain shot through Frank’s heart, for her words and her agitation plainly showed that she loved the stranger. Could it be possible that Starbright was right?

“No! no!” Merry cried in his heart. “I will not believe it yet—I will not!”

“You must help me save him, if we can!” panted Inza. “I know the address of the crazy doctor, and we will go there. Perhaps he is there! Perhaps we shall find him unharmed!”

More than ever did she betray that she loved this mysterious man, and Frank could not hold back the words which forced themselves from his lips:

“You care for him very much—you love him?”

“Yes! yes! yes!” she cried. “And you must help me find and save him, Frank!”

Starbright was right! The face of Frank Merriwell was pale as death, and he stood for a moment like a man turned to stone. With a great effort he flung off the spell that seemed to have seized upon him.

“I’ll help you!” he promised. “Inza, I—I’ll do—anything—for you!”

As they left the parlor they found Jack Diamond and Dick Starbright waiting outside.

“Is there anything we can do?” asked the Virginian.

“Yes,” said Frank instantly; “you can come along, both of you, for you may be needed. Is the cab at the door, Inza?”

“Yes.”

Two minutes later all four were in that cab, and soon it was rattling swiftly toward a street and number Inza had given.

As they rolled along Frank explained to Diamond and Starbright what had brought Inza to the hotel. Diamond had known nothing of the affair till now, and it was necessary to make an explanation to him. This took up most of the time until the cab had rumbled down into a dingy and dirty street not far from Bleecker. At last it turned a corner and stopped.

As the door was opened and Frank jumped out there came a sudden cry of fire and out from a dark doorway plunged two figures. They were Chinamen, and they fled across the street. Near at hand was a Chinese laundry. From somewhere over the laundry came the muffled cries of fire.

“This is the place!” panted Inza, pointing. “See—there is the doctor’s sign! His office is up there somewhere! Ah! Look! look! It’s all afire inside! Walter—he is in there! Save him! save him!”

Behind the curtains which had been drawn at the upper windows there was a hideous red glare.

“Fire!” shouted Diamond.

“Come on!” rang out Frank’s voice. “Take care of her, somebody! The other one come with me!”

Merry had decided that the doctor’s office must be on the first floor above the laundry, but there he found himself in a dark corridor and he could not seem to tell from what direction the cries came. He paused a moment to try to locate them, and then felt his way forward with his hands.

“Where are you?” he shouted, at the top of his voice.

Smoke was beginning to creep into the corridor. Then he saw a gleam of light through a crack, and, a moment later, he found a door. From beyond that door came the cries.

Merry tried to open it, but it was locked. Then he backed off and flung his shoulder against it with all the force he could muster. There was a splintering crash, and he reeled headlong into the room where the fire was raging.

The place was filled with smoke, through which the flames looked yellow and tigerish. Immediately Merry dropped on his knees to get beneath the mass of smoke, which filled the room.

“Help!”

Through the haze he saw two forms stretched prostrate on the floor, and he crawled toward them.

“He is there!” he told himself. “She loves him!”

Two men lay on the floor, bound hand and foot. One had been struck over the head and was bleeding and unconscious. The other did not seem to be injured, and he it was who had uttered the cries.

It was the man Inza called “Walter.” Without doubt the other man was the crazy doctor.

“You!” cried Frank, looking into the eyes of the man. “She brought me here to rescue you!”

“Well, you’re just in time, Merriwell,” said the other. “You’ll have to hustle to do the little job, for that fire is spreading nicely.”

Frank was appalled by one mad thought which clutched him. He might rescue the old doctor and leave this fellow for the time. Of course, if he got out safely with the doctor he could come back for the other man. Why should he not do this? He was in no way bound to save the fellow whom Inza loved.

Yes he was! He had given her his word, and Frank Merriwell never broke his word, no matter what the result.

Then Merry caught up the stranger and staggered to his feet, starting for the door, which was not easy to find again. He succeeded, however, and ran full into Starbright, who had followed him.

“Here, Dick!” cried Merry, coughing and choking. “This is the man we came to save, but there is another in here. You take this chap and I’ll go back for the other.”

Starbright relieved Merry of his burden, but he cried:

“Be careful, Merriwell! Be sure to get out of that place! This old building is a tinder-box, and it is going to burn flat in a hurry!”

Merriwell had not waited to listen, but he groped his way back to the spot where the unconscious man lay on the floor.

“What if I do not get out!” he thought, as he lifted the limp body. “I have saved him for her, and she will be happy!”

But he found his way out and staggered down the stairs, being met by Diamond, who had found his way into the place to follow and help Frank get out.

“Well, this is what I call being in the nick of time!” observed the Virginian, with satisfaction. “I hope you’ve not left anybody behind?”

“Not unless there were families in the place.”

“There are none,” assured Jack. “Man told me outside. Upper part is used by some kind of a medicine company.”

When they reached the street they found a fire-engine had just arrived on the scene.

Inza was discovered bending over the stranger, who seemed pretty well used up. As they drew near they saw Starbright standing a few feet away, staring at Inza, a strange look of shame on his face. And they heard Inza sobbing:

“Oh, Walter, my brother! I thought you could not escape!”

“Her brother!” gasped Frank, astounded. “Why, it’s Walter Burrage, who disappeared years ago and was supposed dead. I knew the fellow at Fardale!”

In a moment everything was explained, save the strange manner in which Inza had declined to introduce Walter to Frank and Starbright, and the man’s own reticence in regard to his name.

Starbright came over to Frank.

“He’s her brother!” he said. “Merriwell, I’m going to shoot myself! There will be one fool less in the world!”

* * * * *

Of course Starbright did not shoot himself, but he was thoroughly ashamed. But Inza never knew from the lips of Frank Merriwell that the handsome freshman had ever suspected her.

Walter Burrage had entered the army after leaving Fardale, and had become entangled in an affair that threatened to send one of the higher officers to prison for a long term. Burrage was in full possession of evidence that would have brought about this result, therefore he was implicated, disgraced, and given a chance to escape, being compelled to promise that he would never return to the United States.

The disgrace had affected Bernard Burrage so that he gave out the impression that his son was dead, and Walter was never mentioned by either himself or Inza.

But Walter broke his pledge and came to the United States to find the old doctor who would pay a high price for the queer stick. He made his father and sister promise not to let anybody know his true name.

Walter had been tracked by members of the secret order, and while he was negotiating with the doctor the trailers came in upon them, captured them both, secured the stick, bound them, set fire to the place, and fled.

The old doctor died in the hospital the following day from the wound on his head, given him when he was struck down by the Chinamen.