THE
The Original
© Gilbert Patten
WNU Service
SYNOPSIS
When Bart Hodge, a vain youth of sixteen,
alights from a train at Fardale, he stumbles
over a half-blind dog and in a rage kicks
the animal. The dog's owner, Tad Jones, a
small, shabby boy who supports his wid-
owed mother, denounces him. This nettles
Bart and he slaps Tad. Frank Merriwell,
an orphan of Hodge's age, prevents him
from further molesting Tad. Although the
two do not come to blows, Hodge sneeringly
says they will have to settle their differ.
ences later. He and Merriwell had come to
Fardale to attend Fardale academy. While
Hodge consults Joe Bemis, truck driver for
John Snodd, about his baggage, Merriwell,
accompanied by Tad and his dog, Shag,
start walking to Snodd's place. Presently
the Snodd truck, with Hodge driving, rum-
bles down the road and kills Tad's dog.
Occupying a room next to Merriwell's in the
Snodd home is Barney Mulloy, who dislikes
Hodge. They become good friends. Merri.
well offers to help Mulloy get into one of
the academy dormitories by appealing to
Professor Scotch, a friend of Merriwell's
Uncle Asher. As they leave the house that
evening Hodge is talking to Inza Burrage, a
friend of Belinda Snodd. Later they meet
Tad, who now has another dog. That night
Bart Hodge crashes a party given by Be
linda Snodd. Hodge sings and the lovely
Inza Burrage plays the piano. When Mer-
riwell, seated on the porch with Mulloy,
sings a comic song, Hodge rushes out, accus-
ing him of insulting Inza. She steps between
them, telling Hodge that Merriwell is too
cheap to deserve his notice. Next day Mer-
riwell and Mulloy rush to a grove on John
Snodd’s farm to warn a picnic party that a
large dog which Silas Gleason gave Tad is
mad and running amuck. Hodge tries to con-
vince Inza that this is just a trick of Merri.
well's. Inza, attempting to escape the mad-
dened animal, injures her ankle. Hodge flees
in terror. Merriwell single-handed holds off
the mad dog and saves Inza. John Snodd
shoots the animal.
CHAPTER III—Continued
a —
“You'll find it's not so easy to
duck one of them babies, Frankie.
You'll have to face the music.”
‘““Not I. I don’t like the tune.”
“But how'll you get away from
it? Tell me that, now.”
“You've got to help me, Barney.
Send him away.”
“But what can I tell him?”
“Oh, tell him something! Tell him
anything! Tell him I'm sick! Tell
him I'm dying! Tell him I'm dead!
I don’t care what you tell him. Just
keep that reporter away from me,
Barney. Stand between us with a
flaming sword—or a brick.”
“Why, I believe the lad’s fright-
ened!’ said Mulloy. “Such mod-
esty’'s as rare as a Scotchman's
treat.” But he promised to do the
best he could, and departed.
Quite a while later, he came back,
chuckling. *It took a great amount
of convincing,” he stated, ‘for such
a skeptical fish I never tried me
arts on before.”
“Then you got rid of him?" said
Frank, breathing easier.
“I did—by following your instruc-
tions, my boy. 1 told him you were
dead.”
*“Wha-a-at?”
him. Would you believe it, he
seemed to doubt me? So I modified
it a bit.
couldn't be interrupted.”
Merriwell stared, his jaw sagging.
“And when I saw he wasn’t satis-
fied with that,” Barney went on, “I
played me last card.
were dangerously sick and confined
to your bed.”
Frank
chair.
i
i
but in reverse order.
take that last one?”
“I'm doubtful,” confessed Mulloy,
“but it was my limit and I stuck
to it.
talked to everybody
Hodge, and he'd talked to him if he
could have found him.”
“Then Hodge hasn't shown up
yet?”
spare time.
recreation.
They were admitted by a tidy col-
ored maid, who took them to the
professor’s study immediately.
Horace Scotch was not the sort
of man Barney had expected to
meet. As plump as a partridge, he
had the twinkling eyes and cheery
face of a jolly boy, though his hair
that bordered a spreading bald spot
was turning gray and he was ap-
proaching sixty. The way he shook
hands with Mulloy made the Irish
lad his friend at once.
“I took Frank's word for you, my
boy,”” he said, ‘*but I thought it best
for us to get acquainted right away.
Frank's uncle and I went to the
same college—Yale. Yale!" he re-
peated with pride. “I still think it's
the best university in this country
for a young man to graduate from."
He appeared to take Barney's
measure with his eyes, and then he
glanced at a little clock on the man-
tel above the fireplace.
‘So I've talked to the dean,” he
went on, ““and we've found a way to
take you into the school in spite of
its crowded condition.”
“Oh, thank you, Professor!”
gulped Mulloy, flushed with relief.
“But,” said Professor Scotch,
“both you and Frank will have to
be discommoded a little. You will
have to occupy a room with a third
It was his hobby and
_ d _—
“We've Found a Way to Take
You Into the School.”
boy, and the quarters will
large enough for more than two.
The other boy is due here now.”
door-bell rang again.
“That must be he,”
fessor.
It was. The colored maid ushered
Bart Hodge into the study!
said the pro-
CHAPTER IV
The effect on the three boys might
have been made by a sudden
stiffened with a jerk, Merri-
widened sharply and
narrowed in a moment, Hodge
turned pale. For the length of a
breath the ticking of the little clock
like the swift strokes of a tiny ham-
went for a quiet stroll by himself
after the dog was killed.”
Merriwell had ceased to laugh.
“It’s strange,” he said. “I wonder
what's become of him.”
“If that’s something that's wWorry-
ing you you're nuts,” said Barney.
“If 1 never see him again it'll be
too soon.”
Frank was thinking, now, of his
ments before he had slowly turned
and walked away from the scene of
the encounter with the dog. But it
would do no good to tell Mulloy he
had seen something tragic and pa-
thetic in Bart's face. The Irish boy
would not understand that.
Hodge was still absent when
Frank and Barney left the house, as
four o'clock approached, to keep the
appointment with Professor Scotch.
Class hours were over then, and
the school grounds presented a
lively and pleasant scene. Boys
were moving about everywhere or
gathered in groups under the trees
and before the buildings. All the
tennis courts were in use. The foot-
ball squad was streaming out of the
gymnasium, in the distance, to jog
to the field for a period of practice.
The sound of youthful ‘voices was
in the air.
“If I'm not cheated out of my part
in this,” said Mulloy, his eyes shin-
ing, "it's you I'll owe it to, Frank.”
Professor Scotch, who had been
with the school a long time, had the
distinction of living in a small white
cottage on the grounds. There were
flower beds and shrubs around the
cottage, all of which were cared for
by the professor's own hands in his
|
The professor smiled and rubbed
his hands together softly: “You're
Bartley Hodge?’ he said to the lad
who had just come into his study.
Bart breathed again. “Yes, sir.
Dean Graves sent me to see you.”
“Well, sit down, Hodge,” invit-
ed the smiling man. “It was my
suggestion. I had to talk with him
opened. He said you would be
greatly disappointed unless a way
could be found to take you into the
school.”
“That's right, Professor,” said
Bart. Outwardly he had recovered
his composure, but he was still hid-
denly disturbed. “I had no idea
trouble
about it.”
“We've never been so overcrowd-
ed, my boy, and I believe you were
very late in seeking enrollment.”
“Let me explain that, sir,” Hodge
requested hastily. “It was be-
cause there was some uncertainty
about—about what I would do. But
just as soon as that was settled
my mother got some very important
persons to write letters"
“I know, 1 know. I've seen them.
But letters don’t make any more
room in the dormitories, and it's a
rule here that all students must re-
side in our dormitories, where they
will be under proper supervision.
Perhaps you know that this was
formerly a private military school.
Well, the rule worked so well then
that it was retained when the
change vas made to the present
“Yes, gir.”
“The founders of this academy
were very wise,” continued Profes-
sor Scotch. “They sought to protect
the students, as far as possible,
from undesirable outside influences.
With that in mind, they chose this
location and bought up or put under
certain restrictions a great tract of
land all around here. That's why
we are not today surrounded by
shops and stores and movie thea-
ters and dance halls, and all the
harmful distractions such a settle-
ment would bring.”
‘Yes, sir,” said Bart again.
But he was giving little attention
to what the professor was saying.
His mind was busy with a specula-
tion. Why had the dean sent him
here at a time when, as he prob-
ably knew, Merriwell and Mulloy
would be present? He told himself
there was something queer about it
and that he didn't like it. He felt
as if something unpleasant were
about to blow up right in his face.
Horace Scotch rattled on cheer-
fully about the advantages at Far-
dale academy, the most of which
would have been rated as disadvan-
tages by Hodge. After a long speech
which he seemed to enjoy much
more than anybody else, he came
to what Bart was wondering about.
“We have found we can take all
three of you boys in,” he stated,
was intended
accommodate no more than two.”
It was out at last. Hodge swal-
lowed nothing at all, but it felt like a
dry lump as big as a golf ball. He
had been keeping his eyes off Frank
and Barney, but now he shot them a
look. The Irish boy met it with a
sneer and Merriwell seemed to be
trying to hide a grin. Fine fellows!
Wrath struck at the pit of Bart's
stomach. He would tell them where
they got off.
to
arrangement, but it's the best we
can do.”
Then Hodge got it. It was a trap.
They were sure he would refuse,
and that would let him out. He
would be told so at once. Just in
time, he held back the words that
were boiling to his lips. And he got
a good grip on himself before he
spoke again.
“Why, that's fine, sir,” he made
With that, he shut his mouth hard
to keep from saying too much.
Once more Horace Scotch rubbed
his hands together, and beamed.
“Then it seems to be all nicely
settled,” he said.
Still taking pains not to make a
false step, Bart ventured:
pose these—these other fellows have
agreed to it already, Professor
Scotch?”
“Oh, I'd barely mentioned it to
them when you rang, Hodge, but
I'm sure they'll be satisfied, condi-
“How about Mulloy?” Bart
challenged.
“l can stand it if you can, me
lad,”” was the reply.
Frank put in quickly:
right with me, of course.”
“Now that's the kind of talk I ex-
pected from you boys,” said the
professor happily. “It's the right
spirit. The way to get along in this
world is to make the best of things
when you can’t have the best of
things. Now there's only one more
hurdle to jump.”
“So there's another catch in it,”
thought Hodge, on guard again.
“You'll have to pass a special
examination,” Horace Scotch ex-
plained. “It's required of all late
arrivals.” He stood up. “Ten o'clock
it,
“l don't like the number,” said
Barney. ‘It never brought me a
bit of luck.”
Still beaming, the professor shook
hands with them and expressed con-
fidence that luck would be with
them.
Outside, when they reached the
end of the walk to the cottage door,
Hodge halted and looked Merriwell
and Mulloy up and down. ‘Maybe
you two slick workers will have
more luck in Room 13 than you did
with the gag you just tried to pull
on me,” he said.
“Now what do you mean by
that?’ asked Frank in surprise.
“Don’t play dumb, Merriwell. You
thought you had it all planted to
throw me, but I was onto you. I'd
had to walk the plank if I'd re-
fused to room with you two birds.
A fine little frame-up!”
That stirred something hot in
Frank. “Are you insinuating that
Professor Scotch would come in on
anything like that, Hodge?"
wouldn't see through it.
the way he did.
you thought.”
shook his head.
too bad you're built that way.”
“And now,” said Bart,
there's another dead-fall set for me
in Room 13.”
Barney pulled at Frank's elbow.
“Let's go,” he said. “What's the
idea, wasting your breath on this bi-
ped?"
“Oh, go on, both of you!” blazed
Hodge. ‘But remember this: if they
do pack the three of us into one
room you'll have a sweet time with
me as a roommate.”
“Happy days are here again,”
grinned the Irish boy as Bart went
striding off alone.
The boys took the last hurdle, as
Professor Scotch had called it, in
full stride. All three of them were
passed by the board of examina-
tions. That placed them, automati-
cally, on the roster of students, and
they were told that they could move
into a room allotted to them in
Union hall, the old vine-covered
brick building that had housed the
plebes in the days when Fardale
had been a military school.
Hodge still hugged the belief that
he had dodged a trap. He had
scented the thing just in time to
Mulloy know he was wise. Maybe
they had already played their last
card, but, anyhow, he had shown
them he was too clever to be caught
napping.
He was feeling much better when
ing after the test was over. A jubi-
his mouth and there was a gleam
in his eyes.
“By the way, Merriwell,"” he said,
“how do you like the new suit I'm
wearing?”
“Why,” answered Frank,
prised, “I hadn't noticed it."
“Well, look it over,” Bart invited.
“Would you say it's O. K.?”
“It looks well on you.”
“But it's really on you, you know.
You'll get the bill from the Varsity
Clothing store, in the village. Of
course you haven't forgotten as soon
as this that you ruined a suit of
mine by feeding the coat to one
of Tad Jones’ pet dogs?”
Now Merry smiled a trifle. “You
don’t lose any time about collecting
your debts, do you, Hodge?"
“Not when guys like you owe me.
I made this collection yesterday. Of
course I had to take it off the pile,
but then it could be worse. For-
got to call your attention to it when
we were having our pleasant little
chat after visiting old Scotch, but
I hope you don't mind the over-
sight.”
“Not at all,” said Frank.
all right.”
sur-
“It's
1450
| \ ITH Winter almost
March blizzards to the con-
| trary notwithstanding, you find
yourself eyeing
a little more than casually.
deed you probably already have
your needle threaded, just waiting
for some nice Spring patterns to
make your acquaintance.
here they are, ee quick tricks,
each pleasantly
choice, each designed to
some wardrobe happy. Which
you prefer?
Fitted Bodice.
Look your Sunday best in
graceful afternoon frock with
snug and softly shirred waist]
The skirt flares slightly
front and emphasizes the sli
Neate
And
nw agrees 8am
awailing
make
ao
of the silhouette,
shoulder and short,
~gdetails the
Coming anc
er patterns
make your
and ever
the pattern
work with,
pleasing.
Trim Morning Frock.
Don't be caught
house without
ward. You
crisp and
at your
as pie,
youthful, his model di
with all fi
an appearant
through the
flares a bit
waistline, and
in contrast, adds a note of
ness. Just nine pieces inc
the belt and pockets. Tr
ted swiss or a printed per
For the Full Figure.
This charming frock
more than a house frock—you'll
find it flattering enough and
iressy enough to wear
out the day. The slim, st
lines make every provisior
comfort. The skirt
in rayon or silk will
informal afternoons
ble delight, and
is a particular joy to
So
arounac
fresh
SDeNSes
nieves
ale,
i
i
and pleated, and the neck
Furthermore you can make this
dress, of a rayon print or gay
percale, in a brief afternoon or
TH/S FUNNY
WORLD Zl
Zz
bucks. A mere bag o' shells.”
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Approximately 600,000,000,000 gal-
lons of water are required annually
to quench the thirst of the iron
horse and for other purposes in con-
nection with the eperation of the
railroad systems of this country, ac-
cording to the Association of Ameri-
can Railroads.
This huge quantity of water would
be sufficient to fill a channel 100
yards wide and 9 feet deep, extend-
ing from New York to San Francis-
co and return. If spread over the
ground to a depth of one foot and
frozen, it would provide a skating
rink nearly 54 miles square.
It would meet the needs of the in-
habitants of New York for two
years, or a city the size of Wash-
ington for 17 years.
In volume and weight, the quan-
tity of water used by the railroads
each year is greater than all other
materials combined.
In order to provide the kind of
water necessary to meet their
needs, the Fuiijvads 3 of he Satin
spend approxima O00,
each year. The cost of replacing
tained by the railroads would be in
excess of $400,000,000,
poses. By the chemical treatment
harmful ingredients which cause
rust and scale to form on the inside
of locomotive boilers, the railroads
have brought about increased safety
and efficiency in operation as well
as a saving of millions of dollars
annually.
While remarkable results have
been achieved, the railroads are
participating in a series of scientific
studies to determine what further
improvements can be made in their
Post Graduate
Joan—Have you ever had a les-
Jim-—Yes, 1 don't write to girls
any more.
Terms to Suit
Gent—Is it true that my son has
owed you for a suit for three
Tailor—Yes. Do you wish to pay
Gent—No-—1 would like a suit
on the same terms,
They Don't
Customer—I want a writing pad.
How much do they run?
Storekeeper — Run? Why they
are stationery.
Likely
Daughter—Daddy, what is your
birthstone?
Dad—A grindstone, I think.
Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets are an
effective laxative. Sugar coated.
Children like them. Buy now!—Adv.
By Labor
He who would eat the kernel
must crack the shell. —~Plautus,
resulting in a pretty,
runaround model at far less than
you usually spend.
The Patterns.
Pattern 1450 is designed for
sizes 12 to 20 (32 to 38 bust). Size
14 (32) requires 3% yards of 3¢
inch material with
Fourteen inch zipper required for
front closing.
Pattern 13
sizes 14 to 44 (32
186 (34) requi
fabric;
short sleeves,
yards braic
quired for trimming.
Pattern 1444
sizes 36 to 52. Size 38 requires 4%
yards of 35 or 390 inch material;
2 yard required for revers facing
Bow requires 1; yard
is
in contrast.
ribbon.
Send your order to The Sewing
Circle Pattern Dept., 247 W
“ortv-third Yeo ri
cents
street, New
rt 7
palierns, iv
L rae 2 BAYER
ASPIRIN tablets
end drink a full
glass of water. Re-
pest treatment in 3
2.u throat is sore
from the cold, crush
and stir 3 BAYER
ASPIRIN tablets in
15 glass of water,
Gargle twice. This
eases throst rawness
and soremems simost
instantly,
AN
hy 4
All it usually costs to relieve the
misery of a cold today—is 3¢ to 5¢
~ relief for the period of your cold
15¢ to 25¢. Hence no family need
neglect even minor head colds.
Here is what to do: Take two
BAYER tablets when you feel a
cold coming on — with a full glass
of water. Then repeat, if necessary,
according to directions in each
package. Relief comes rapidly.
The Bayer method of relieving
colds is the way many doctors ap-
prove. You take Bayer Aspirin for
relief — then if you are not im-
Proved promptly, you call the
amily doctor.
Sentinels
of Héalth