Frank Merriwell's Alarm Part 12

"Mah gracious!" gurgled Toots, holding fast to his scalp with both hands. "We's gwan teh git it fo' suah, chilluns! De fus' fing we know we won't no nuffin'!"

"We must get out of this somehow," muttered Bruce.

"That's right," nodded Jack. "Merriwell has taken care of himself, and left us to take care of ourselves."

He spoke in a manner that showed he felt that Frank had done them a great wrong.

"It's a good thing he got away as he did," a.s.serted Harry. "Now we know we have a friend who is not a captive like ourselves, and we know he knows the fix we are in. You may be sure he will do what he can for us."

"He'll do what he can for himself. How can he do anything for us?"

"He'll find a way."

"I doubt it."

"You have become a great doubter and kicker of late, Diamond. It is certain the loss of that Mormon girl who married the other fellow has soured you, for you were not this way before. Why don't you try to forget her?"

"I wish you might forget her! You make me sick talking about her so much! I don't like it at all!"

"If you don't like it lump it."

Jack and Harry glared at each other as if they were on the point of coming to blows, and this gave Browning an idea. He saw the Indians had noticed there was a disagreement between the boys, and he leaned forward, saying in a low tone:

"Keep at it, fellows--keep at it! I have a scheme. Pretend you are fighting, and they will let you get on your feet. When I cry ready we'll all make a jump for our wheels, catch them up, place them in the form of a square, and stand within the square. The redskins are afraid of the wheels--think them 'bad medicine.' They won't dare touch us."

Browning had made his idea clear with surprising swiftness, and the other boys were astonished, for they had come to believe that the big fellow never had an original idea in his head.

Both Jack and Harry were taken by the scheme, and Diamond quickly said:

"It's a go. Keep on with the quarrel, Rattleton."

Harry did so, and in a very few seconds they were at it in a manner that seemed intensely in earnest. Their voices rose higher and higher, and they scowled fiercely, flourishing their clinched hands in the air and shaking them under each other's nose.

Browning got into the game by making a bluff at stopping the quarrel, which seemed to be quite ineffectual. He seemed to try to force himself between them, but Rattleton hit him a hard crack on the jaw with his fist, with which he was threatening Diamond.

"Scissors!" gurgled Bruce, as he keeled over on his back, holding both hands to his jaw. "What do you take me for--a punching bag?"

"You have received what peacemakers usually get," said Harry, as he continued to threaten Diamond.

The Indians looked on complacently, their appearance seeming to indicate that they were mildly interested, but did not care a continental if the two white boys hammered each other.

Jack scrambled to his feet and dared Harry to get up. Harry declared he would not take a dare, and he got up. Then Bruce and Toots lost no time in doing likewise, and, just when it seemed that the apparently angry lads were going to begin hammering each other Browning cried:

"Ready!"

Immediately the boys made a leap for the bicycles, caught them up, formed a square with them, and stood behind the machines, like soldiers within a fort.

The Indians uttered shouts of astonishment, and the four boys found themselves looking into the muzzles of the guns in the hands of the savages.

"What white boys mean to do?" harshly demanded Black Feather. "No can run away."

"Heap shoot um!" howled Blue Wolf, who seemed eager to slaughter the captives. "Then no can run away."

"Hold on!" ordered Browning, with a calm wave of his hand. "We want to parley."

"Want to pow-wow?" asked Black Feather.

"That's it."

"No pow-wow with white boys. White boys Injuns' prisoners. No pow-wow with prisoners."

"No!" shouted Blue Wolf. "Shoot um! shoot um!"

"Land ob ma.s.sy!" gurgled Toots. "Dey am gwan teh shoot!"

"Black Feather," said Browning, with a.s.sumed a.s.surance and dignity, "it will not be a healthy thing for your men to shoot us."

"How? how?"

"Do you see that we are protected by the 'bad medicine' machines? If you were to do us harm now, these machines would utterly destroy you and every one of your party. The moment you fired at us these machines would be like so many demons let loose, and as they are not made of flesh and blood, they could not be harmed. Not one of your party could escape them."

The light of the fire showed that the Indians looked at each other with mingled incredulity and fear.

"Wow!" muttered Rattleton. "Is this Browning I hear? How did you happen to think of such a bluff?"

"Have to think in a case like this," returned the big fellow, guardedly. "I think only when it is absolutely necessary. This is one of those occasions."

The Indians got together and held a consultation.

"Can't we make a run for it now?" asked Diamond, eagerly.

"We can," nodded Bruce, "but we won't run far. They'd be able to drop us before we could get out of the light of the fire."

"What can we do?"

"Why, we'll have to----"

Browning was interrupted by a clatter of hoofs, which caused him to turn toward the East. The Indians heard the sound, and they turned also.

Then wild yells of terror rent the air.

CHAPTER VII.

ESCAPE.