Frank Merriwell Down South Part 51

The singing ceased after a time, but they were still guided by the sound of wrangling voices.

"They are quarreling!" exclaimed Frank, softly.

"This is tut-tut-terrible!" stuttered the professor.

Suddenly the sound of a pistol shot came over the rushes, followed by a feminine shriek of pain or terror!

CHAPTER x.x.x.

FRANK'S SHOT.

Frank and his two companions were profoundly astonished. As soon as he could recover, Frank asked:

"Did you hear that?"

"Av course we hearrud it!" returned Barney, excitedly.

"It sounded very much like the voice of a woman or girl," said Professor Scotch, who was so amazed that he forgot for the moment that he was scared.

"That's what it was," declared Frank; "and it means that our aid is needed in that quarter at once."

"Be careful! be cautious!" warned the professor. "There's no telling what kind of a gang we may run into."

"To thunder with thot!" grated Barney Mulloy, quivering with eagerness.

"There's a female in nade av hilp."

"Go ahead!" directed Frank, giving utterance to his old maxim.

The professor was too agitated to handle a paddle, so the task of propelling the canoe fell to the boys, who sent it skimming over the water, Frank watching out for snags.

In a moment the water course swept round to the left, and they soon saw the light of a fire gleaming through the rushes.

The sounds of a conflict continued, telling them that the quarrel was still on, and aiding them in forming their course.

In a moment they came in full view of the camp-fire, by the light of which they saw several struggling, swaying figures.

Frank's keen eyes seemed to take in everything at one sweeping glance.

Six men and a girl were revealed by the light of the fire. Five of the men were engaged in a fierce battle, while the sixth was bound, in a standing position, to the trunk of a tree.

The girl, with her hands bound behind her back, was standing near the man who was tied to the tree, and the firelight fell fairly on the faces of man and girl.

A low exclamation of the utmost astonishment broke from Frank's lips.

"It can't be--it is an impossibility!" he said.

"Pwhat is it, me b'y?" quickly demanded Barney.

"The man--the girl! Look, Barney! do you know them?"

"Oi dunno."

"Well, I know! There is no mistake. That is Captain Justin Bellwood, whose vessel was lost in the storm off Fardale coast! I am certain of it!"

"An' th' girrul is----"

"Elsie Bellwood, his daughter!"

"Th' wan you saved from th' foire, Frankie?"

"As sure as fate!"

"It can't be possible!" fluttered Professor Scotch. "Captain Bellwood has a new vessel, and he would not be here. You must be mistaken, Frank."

"Not on your life! That is Captain Bellwood and his daughter. There is no mistake, professor."

"But how----"

"There has been some kind of trouble, and they are captives--that is plain enough. Those men are sailors--Captain Bellwood's sailors! It's likely there has been a mutiny. We must save them."

"How can it be done?"

"We must land while those ruffians are fighting. We are well armed. If we can get ash.o.r.e, we'll set the captain free, and I fancy we'll be able to hold our own with those ruffians, desperate wretches though they are."

"Wait!" advised the timid professor. "Perhaps they will kill each other, and then our part will be easy."

Frank was not for waiting, but, at that moment, something happened that caused him to change his plan immediately.

The fighting ruffians were using knives in a deadly way, and one man, bleeding from many wounds, fell exhausted to the ground. Another, who seemed to be this one's comrade, tore himself from the other three, leaped to the girl, caught her in his arms, and held her in front of him, so that her body shielded his. Then, pointing a revolver over her shoulder, he snarled:

"Come on, and I'll bore the three of ye! You can't shoot me, Gage, unless you kill ther gal!"

The youngest one of the party, a mere boy, but a fellow with the air of a desperado, stepped to the front, saying swiftly:

"If you don't drop that girl, Jaggers, you'll leave your carca.s.s in this swamp! That is business, my hearty."

Frank clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from uttering a great shout of amazement. The next moment he panted:

"This is fate! Look, Barney! by the eternal skies, that is Leslie Gage, my worst enemy at Fardale Academy, and the fellow who ran away to keep from being expelled. It was reported that he had gone to sea."

"Ye're roight, Frankie," agreed the no less excited Irish lad. "It's thot skunk, an' no mistake!"

"It is Leslie Gage," agreed the professor. "He was ever a bad boy, but I did not think he would come to this."

"An' Oi always thought he would come to some bad ind. It wur thot spalpane thot troied to run Frank through with a sharpened foil wan toime whin they wur fencing. He had black murder in his hearrut thin, an' it's not loikely th' whilp has grown inny betther since."