There was not one of the juniors who would not have relished a dive if he had had his eyes open and had been dressed for the occasion, but it is quite another thing to stand bound and blindfolded above a rushing current and leap out into the darkness.
At last it was decided that Rattleton should go over first. The seniors talked in low tones and acted generally as if they were greatly excited by the seriousness of the occasion.
Even Frank, who was perfectly cool through it all, wondered if everything was so arranged that no accident could occur, and he felt a little sorry for Rattleton, who was so excitable that the sudden shock of jumping and landing in the water might produce unpleasant results.
With it all the seniors were very slow in their procedure and every minute of suspense made it harder for the waiting neophytes.
At last Baker, in a low tone, reminded Rattleton of his promise to obey orders, and then told him to jump.
Frank, of course, could not see a thing, but he heard a little grating sound as Rattleton's feet left the planks. An instant later there was a loud splash in the water.
"Pull him in quick!" exclaimed the voice of Rowe, "we don't want him to catch cold. Hurry it up!"
"There, he's coming to the surface!" said another voice.
This remark was followed instantly by a loud coughing and sniffing.
"Poor Harry's got his mouth full of water," thought Frank. "I'll look out for that when I go over."
With a great bustling about and a lot of excited exclamations the seniors pulled Rattleton up and started him off as fast as he could go toward the college.
CHAPTER XX
THE LAST STAGE
It was Diamond's turn next, and he went off the edge as promptly as Rattleton had. The same sort of action followed his jump, and Frank was surprised that Diamond appeared to have swallowed as much water as Harry had.
"I should have thought Diamond would keep his mouth closed," thought Frank.
Hodge's turn came next, and he, too, left the bridge promptly.
Henderson weakened when the command came to him. Instead of jumping he drew back with a little gasp.
"Jump, neophyte!" exclaimed Baker, in a low but stern voice. "It's too late for you to hope for any special consideration now. What others have done you must do, too!"
"Great Scott!" muttered Henderson.
Frank heard his steps wavering upon the planks, and then, with a little quivering cry, the frightened neophyte jumped over. The splash that followed his jump was very loud, and it was followed by a lot more of splashing.
"Thunder and Mars!" cried Baker, "the rope's broken."
"Do you suppose he can swim?" inquired the voice of Rowe, anxiously.
"How can he with his hands tied?"
"Then he'll drown."
"We mustn't let him!"
"Did one of you bring along that boat hook that I told you to bring?"
"Yes, here it is."
"Catch it into his clothes before he floats too far."
"Whew! how fast the tide runs!"
"Have you got him?"
"Yes. No! the hook's got loose."
"Try again, then, quick!"
"Good Lord! suppose he's become unconscious from fear, there'd be no saving him then."
Frank ached to have his bandage removed and his hands unbound so that he could go to the help of his companion.
"When it comes my turn to conduct an initiation I'll bet I'll fix things so that there won't be any such accident as this," he thought. "It's outrageous to put an unoffending fellow like Henderson through this sort of trial and then let a slip occur."
It was a great temptation to Frank then to forcibly release his hands and jump into the water after Henderson, but he reflected that after all there were plenty of seniors present who had courage and who knew the water well.
He decided that it was best to leave the matter in their hands, but he listened anxiously for some sound of Henderson's voice to assure him that all was well.
He did not hear Henderson's voice, but he did hear a great many more exclamations of anxiety and doubt as the seniors seemed at last to get the big hook securely fastened in the neophyte's clothing.
Then there was a lot of tugging and hauling, and after a time the sound of retreating footsteps.
"I guess Henderson will come out of it all right," thought Frank, "for it seems that he can walk."
"It's nearly time to close the draw," said Baker, hastily. "Now, Neophyte Merriwell, it's your turn. Remember your instructions, and when I give the word, jump."
Frank shrugged his shoulders. It was a slight action, but the seniors could see it, for a big electric lamp upon one of the bridge pillars lighted the scene brilliantly. It was very evident that Merriwell's nerve had not been shaken.
"Be ready to pull him out at once, boys, and don't let the rope slip this time!" said Baker. "One – two – "
Baker spoke very slowly, and although he appeared to be perfectly unmoved, Frank's heart nevertheless was beating fast He wondered how far he would fall before he struck the water.
He dreaded the chill that would come upon him suddenly, but he had no fear of the result, and he was fully determined that he would do his share in this as promptly and boldly as any man who had ever been initiated.
"Three!" said Baker. "Jump!"
Frank leaped at once, far out from the bridge. He had his lips tightly closed, and he held his breath to avoid taking in a lot of water.
To his immense surprise he did not touch the water at all. He could not have fallen two feet before he was caught in strong arms and lifted back to the bridge.
Nevertheless he heard a loud splash and a voice saying:
"Pull him out at once."
"Oh, come off, Rowe!" exclaimed Baker, in a loud tone of voice, "have you forgotten that there's nobody to follow Merriwell?"
"Yes, that's so," was the reply, "I'd clean forgotten that."
"Well, I'll be hanged!" exclaimed Frank, "if this isn't a worse shock than jumping into the river itself. Was that the way you treated the rest of them?"
"Give him a black mark for talking," said Baker, with a hearty laugh.
Frank said "Humph!" but nothing else as the students hurried him across the bridge back to land.
He was immensely amused by the experience, and on the way to the society rooms he thought it all out, and came to a conclusion on the matter that was very nearly correct.
At high tide the water in the Quinnepiac River comes almost to a level with the bridge.
The boys always arrange their initiations in such a way that the bridge test shall take place at high tide, and they choose an hour when no trains are due to pass.
Then a small fee persuades the bridge keeper to open the draw. A big, flat-bottomed boat is procured and made fast to the bridge just in front of the open edge.
Half a dozen of the students get into this boat; some of them receive the leaping neophyte in their arms and clap their hands over his mouth so that he shall not cry out.
At the same time other students topple a big log into the water so as to make a splash.
The rest of the farce is carried on as described, with the result of making the waiting neophytes believe that their companion has had a cold plunge into the river.
Time was when the students made the neophytes really jump into the water, but it was found that many a student whose nerve was supposed to be perfectly good, suffered such a shock from sudden contact with the water that he became seriously ill, so that test was modified in the manner described.
The last stage of the initiation that can be described was one of the most ridiculous.
Frank was still blindfolded and bound. He was led, he knew not where, but at last halted within a doorway. There his hands were untied and he was told to kneel.
He did so, and found that he was at the foot of a flight of stairs.
"You are now going to ascend," said Baker, solemnly, "to the mystic regions of Pi Gamma. It is becoming that a neophyte should enter there in a modest attitude, therefore you will go on your hands and knees until commanded to rise. Proceed."
Frank immediately began to climb the steps upon his hands and knees. The moment he began to move his ears were fairly deafened with a hideous uproar.
It seemed as if a tribe of demons had been let loose around him. There was an infernal clatter, made, as he afterward learned, by beating upon tin pans and shaking large squares of sheet iron.
There was a chorus of savage yells and shrieking. The air was foul with the odor of firecrackers that were exploded close to his ears. Every kind of barbaric noise that student ingenuity can invent was brought into play.
"By the bones of Cæsar!" thought Frank. "If I hadn't been pretty well seasoned by adventures before this, I believe I should be scared."
As it was, far from being scared, he shook with laughter as he slowly and patiently climbed up the stairs. It seemed as if they would never end.
It was a winding stairway, and went from the ground clear to the top of the high building.
Later he learned that this was a back stairway built expressly for the students, whose society rooms were in the top of the building.
It seemed to him as if he had climbed higher than the top of the Washington monument when at last he found no steps in front of him, and the diabolical racket ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
He was told to rise, and he did so with a sigh of relief. He was then led two or three paces and ordered to sit down.
He did so, and felt that he was in something like a swing. There were chains at each side of him, holding the seat. He was told to grasp these chains tightly, and hang on, lest he be dropped the entire distance to the ground.
"That would be a pretty long fall," thought Frank, who at the moment really believed that there was a well beneath him that extended clear to the bottom of the building; so he gripped the chains and heard the voice of Baker crying:
"All ready, send him up."
"I'd like to know how much farther up I can go," thought Frank.
He heard the creaking of a windlass and knew that he was rising. As he went up his seat swung back and forth a little, making him feel all the more how important it was that he should hang on securely.
This journey was as long, and in one sense as trying as the climb upstairs had been. There was no noise in connection with it, except the constant creaking of the windlass.
Blindfolded as he was, it really seemed as if he had been hauled up at least a hundred feet when at last the creaking ceased and he was lifted from his seat.
Then he was laid upon an inclined plane, feet downward. It seemed steep, too, and when his fingers accidentally touched the little rail at the side he noticed that it was well greased.
He did not need to be told then what was to happen, for he knew that he would be sent whizzing down this plane to land – somewhere.
"Is the tank all ready?" asked somebody, who was holding Frank by the shoulders and thus keeping him from sliding down.
"Yes," came a muffled voice that seemed far, far below. "Let him go!"
The hands on Frank's shoulders were released, and he promptly began to rush down the plane.
In less than a second his feet had come in contact with a mattress, and as the force of his fall brought him to an upright position, a glass of water was flung into his face.
At the same instant the bandage was torn from his eyes, the hood raised, and he found himself standing in a well-lighted room surrounded by a group of laughing and interested seniors.
He turned with an expression of the utmost amazement to the plane down which he had slid. He saw that the distance up which he had been slowly raised by the windlass was less than ten feet.
CHAPTER XXI
MAKING THINGS INTERESTING FOR MILLER
"It's funny," remarked Frank, with a smile, "how far a man seems to be going when his eyes are shut."
There was a chorus of laughter at this, in which Rattleton and the other neophytes, who were present, joined.
Order was quickly restored by Baker, the president, who announced that there was yet one more step in the initiation to be taken. What this step was cannot be described here.
It must be remembered that the order of Pi Gamma is a secret society, and every member of it is sworn to keep its secrets sacredly. Among the things that they are not allowed to tell are the very tests which have already been narrated, but such secrets are really common property in New Haven.
So much of the initiations are conducted upon the public streets and in a public manner that there has been no violation of the rules of the order in telling of Frank Merriwell's experience.
What followed in the rooms of the society, however, must be omitted out of respect to the serious character of the proceedings and the fact that the members of the order regard them all as of considerable importance.
It is proper to say that no further tests were required of the candidates; they had passed their week's ordeal successfully, and the other proceedings were conducted with their eyes open.
The end of it all was conducted with vociferous cheering on the part of the old members of Pi Gamma, and each of the new members came in for a lot of hearty handshaking and congratulations. Then the whole affair wound up with a supper in the society's largest room.
At this there were not only the seniors who had initiated the first block of juniors, but also a number of graduates who had paid a visit to New Haven for the sole purpose of taking some part in an initiation ceremony.
Two or three college instructors, who had been members during their student days, were present, and no one there appeared to enjoy the occasion more than did Prof. Adler, the one who had warned the boys that they must conduct their initiation more quietly as long as it took place in a college room.
On such an occasion as that the students and professors are pretty much on the same terms. The professors, to be sure, are addressed by their titles, and spoken to respectfully, but there is none of the restraint of the classroom, and no fear whatever that any of the professors present will report unpleasant things to other members of the faculty.
The supper was a good one, and naturally enough it was thoroughly enjoyed by the new members, the more so as a part of their trial during the week of initiation was the fact that they had been compelled to limit their eating to the plainest articles of food.
All pies and cakes had been forbidden, and in fact nothing that could be called a luxury was allowed to pass their lips. Those who smoked had been deprived of that habit also.
Now the seniors who had been the most severe in compelling an obedience to these rules fairly overloaded their new associates with attention.
They made a point of heaping the junior's plates with more good things than they could possibly eat, and a plentiful supply of cigars and tobacco was placed before them.
After the eating was finished speeches were in order. Pres. Baker called upon one after another of the older members, and eventually each one of the new members had to make remarks.
Prof. Adler spoke briefly but with undoubted sincerity of the pleasure it gave him to be associated with the students' society in this way, declaring it as his belief that they were helpful to the college and that it was a mistake to try to suppress them.
This from a member of the faculty was especially interesting to the boys, and it brought out thunders of applause.
The younger members got through their speeches very well, being greeted with loud cheers whether they said anything of consequence or not.
As was to be expected, Rattleton twisted his words hind side forward a good many times, and at last sat down, blushing and feeling that he had never made such a fool of himself.
The older members apparently thought differently, for they applauded long and heartily until the abashed student had to rise and bow.
Frank spoke easily and quietly. He made no attempt at oratorical effects, but declared that he felt it an honor to be a member of Pi Gamma, and assured them that he should look forward to the time when he could get even for the miseries he had endured for a week in inflicting the same tortures upon another fellow.
This was the spirit that the members appreciated best, and of course they cheered tremendously.
The most effective part of Frank's speech, however, and the one that created the greatest interest, was not applauded at all.
"Perhaps you don't all know it," he said, "but some of you will remember that there was an incident connected with my initiation that was not on the programme."
The room became very quiet. All the seniors had been informed of Miller's attempt to do Frank an injury, and the only ones there who did not know it were the graduates and a few members of the faculty.
"I think my friends know me well enough," Frank continued, "to believe me when I say that I haven't the slightest desire to be revenged upon the man who put me in such danger of my life. It was a low-down, dastardly trick and the work of a coward."
There was a low murmur of assent at this.
"A man who would do such a thing as that," Frank went on, "is really unworthy the contempt of a Yale student and so from one standpoint it might be well enough to let the matter drop.
"On the other hand, we are bound to consider the possibility of such a thing happening again. If the man who did the trick escapes without any sort of punishment, he may attempt it again, or he may boast of it to some companion as cowardly and mean as himself, and the result may be that at some future time a student may be treated in a similar way and not have the luck to come out of it as well as I did."
Frank paused a moment, for the deathly silence with which his hearers listened was a little embarrassing.
"I have said that I didn't care for revenge," he said, in a moment, "but now that I am a full-fledged member of Pi Gamma, I feel that I have a right to look at it as an offense against the society rather than against me as an individual."
"Right!" exclaimed one of the seniors, in a low tone. Others nodded approval.
"I think it would be dignified and proper," Frank continued, "for the society to take some kind of action on the matter, and if it is allowable I should like to make a suggestion."
"Go ahead," said Baker, promptly; "there is no member from whom a suggestion on this matter would be more fitting. What do you think we should do?"
"I'm not thinking," Frank answered, "of passing any vote to do one thing or another, but it strikes me that in a perfectly harmless way we can take the law into our own hands a bit and fix Miller, for there's no doubt that he was the guilty one, so that he will never molest a student again as long as he lives.
"You see," and he smiled good-humoredly, "I'm fresh from my experience with the tortures of Pi Gamma."
All the listeners smiled broadly.
"It is one thing," he added, "to endure these tortures with a feeling that you are in the hands of your friends, but quite another, I should think, to go through such an ordeal with a feeling that the fiends and demons surrounding you are hostile.
"I can tell you frankly that for my own part, during the worst parts of the initiation, I felt always that you were friends of mine and that I was perfectly safe to trust myself in your hands no matter what extravagant things you seemed to be doing.
"I think that if Miller should be put through some such proceeding it would – well, it would likely tear what little nerve he has into tatters."
Frank hesitated a moment and then sat down. The room was perfectly still while the members of the order looked at one another doubtfully.
"I don't quite see," remarked Baker, presently, "how the society of Pi Gamma can put a man who is not a student through an initiation."
"Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that," responded Frank, hastily, but without rising. "I was only thinking that the society has such means for terrifying a man that it ought to be easy for us to devise a plan for giving Miller a good scare."
"Yes, that's the scheme!" exclaimed Rowe, earnestly. "I wouldn't favor putting him through anything like the farce with which we treat neophytes, but it does seem to me that we might give him a dose in earnest somehow."
Other members gave their assent to this suggestion and then somebody asked:
"But what can you do about it if you can't find Miller?"
"That's a damper!" responded Rowe, gloomily. "I understand that he's skipped."
"He's come back," said another senior.
"So?"
All eyes were turned upon the speaker.
"I saw him in his shop on my way to the rooms this evening," said the senior.
"Then he's got over his scare. Probably he may have heard that Merriwell wasn't seriously injured and so thinks the thing's blown over."
"We'll show him the contrary!" growled Baker.
"But how shall we do it?"
After a moment of thought Baker rose and said:
"I think as Merriwell has suggested that it is just as well that the society should not pass any vote on this matter, but with your permission I'll appoint a committee to take the matter in charge.
"They can meet after the ceremonies of this evening are over and decide what to do about it. It is probably too late to undertake anything to-night."
"Miller keeps open until after midnight," somebody suggested.
"Yes, but it's after midnight now and we don't want to act without being thoroughly prepared. Unless there is some objection I will appoint the five new members with Rowe and myself to act as a committee to consider this matter and take such steps as we think best."
There was no objection to this and so the matter was considered settled, but the interest of the students in it was so great that they had little desire to talk of other matters, and before long the meeting adjourned for the night and the members of the committee assembled in one of the smaller rooms to lay plans for Miller's punishment.