Over the Line Part 22

"I wonder what they can be going to do with us?" grinned McCabe, to Judd. "Say, ... do I look like a defeated general?"

"Never give up the s.h.i.+p!" kidded Judd, then to the three fellows who were holding him down: "What's the idea of tyin' my feet?"

"General's orders, sir, General's orders!"

Benz strode up.

"Escort or carry the prisoners down to the old bridge. Forward march, men!"

It did not take long to reach the bridge.

Bartz ran up to Benz. "What are you going to do?" he asked, suspiciously. "Surely you're not thinking of ducking 'em this time of year!"

"No, ... only scare 'em! We'll hold 'em over the rail an' make believe we're going to drop 'em. Savvy?"

"I getcha. I thought that's what you were up to all the time,"

apologized Bartz, then in a louder voice; "Which one first, general?"

"Rube!" Benz shouted, sternly. "Here's where he shows the yellow streak," he said to himself. "Before all these fellows, too! ...

Rube, you being the main offender, you must pay the penalty with your life. Carry him up to the rail, men!"

The fellows obeyed, soberly.

"You're not goin' to throw me in with my feet tied, are you?" asked Judd, calmly, without an effort to struggle. It was quite dark save for the reflection cast by the moon.

"We sure are!" Benz winked at the crowd that stood just behind, watching proceedings. "Any word you wish to leave for friends or relatives? Any directions as to how you want your earthly goods disposed of?"

"No, I reckon I'm ready to die now. The sooner the better," replied Judd, undaunted.

Benz hesitated. His bluff was not having the desired effect. "Why don't he beg for mercy?" Benz asked himself. "Isn't that guy afraid of anything?"

Then Benz did a daring thing. Without stopping to think of the consequences he seized Judd's shackled feet and lifted them over the low rail. A dozen hands a.s.sisted in hoisting Judd's big body up and over. Here was the critical moment. Would he beg now? If not, the fellows must pull him back and acknowledge that he was real stuff.

"How about it, Rube?" asked Benz, watching Judd's face closely, as he helped hold him, suspended, over the river. Not a muscle in Judd's body so much as quivered.

"You might untie my legs,..." he said again, quietly. "I never tried to swim that way."

Splas.h.!.+ It was done! Judd had dropped, how, no one knew, ... except Benz. There were wild cries and shouts; fellows crossed on both sides of the river to try and get trace of him. It was so dark no one saw him reappear, if he did reappear; after he struck the water. Benz, his teeth chattering with fright, ran back and forth upon the bridge not knowing what to do.

"He's drowned!" shouted McCabe, "No man can swim with his feet tied in that river! Benz, your practical joke worked this time!"

"The falls!" somebody shrieked. "They're just a little below that bend. He'll go over them and into the mill pond sure!"

Fellows began running along the river bank below the bend.

"If we only had a lantern!" another cried, frantically.

Several commenced calling Judd's name in the hope that he might hear and answer them.

"I can never go back to college after this!" Benz breathed, hysterically. "He's drowned and of course, I'll be blamed, ... but no!

No one can prove that I let him drop! We'll all be held to account; ... Oh why, _why_ did I do it?"

It was one o'clock and still no signs of Judd. Cateye was growing anxious. He got up, slipped on a bathrobe, and hobbling over to a chair, sat by the window looking out upon the campus.

"Judd said that he and Benz had almost clashed. I wonder if something has happened to one or both?" Cateye shuddered nervously at the thought.

Suddenly he glimpsed a lone figure running swiftly across the campus, rapidly nearing the dormitory. It was so dark that Cateye could not make out who it was but the very fact that the person was running coupled with the time of night, signified that something unusual had happened.

Whoever it was, was climbing the stairs at a terrific rate. Cateye grasped his crutch and hobbled toward the door. As he did so the door flung open with a bang.

"Cateye!"

"Judd! ... Why! You're soaked to the skin and blue with cold! What on earth has happened?"

"I reckon they tried to drown me," replied Judd, stepping in and closing the door. "But I fooled 'em! It was a narrow squeak though.

If I hadn't struck a big rock I'd have gone over the falls!"

"But I thought you could swim, Judd?"

"Hump! Me swim? With my feet tied? Say, it was enough to keep my head above water in that current!"

"Your feet tied!" exclaimed Cateye, "You don't mean to tell me the fellows ...!"

"Yep, ... nope,... It was Benz! ... Benz, that's who 'twas!" Judd was quite excited now and s.h.i.+vering with cold. He tried to remove his dripping s.h.i.+rt.

"Let me help you!" Cateye ripped the s.h.i.+rt off. "But surely Benz wouldn't do that! He wouldn't dare for one thing, ... and he isn't quite a fool!"

"You'd hardly think it of _it_, would you?" Judd grinned, water trickling down his forehead. "If I hadn't hit that rock....! Somehow I made a grab as I went by an' caught it. Then I hung for dear life with one hand an' untied my feet with the other. You know, Cateye, I always did grip pretty hard. But just the same I thought that current would rip my arm right off at the shoulder before I got my feet loose!

After I'd got free I hung on for a few minutes more till the fellows went on down the river searchin' for me. Then I struck out for sh.o.r.e an' believe me, I hit the high spots comin' home!"

"And doesn't anyone know but what you're drowned?"

"Only you, ... an' I!"

"Good! We'll teach the guys a lesson. Here, let me give you a good rub down. Darn this injured knee, anyhow. Just when a fellow needs help the most I can't be of much a.s.sistance. Now listen, you lay low when the bunch comes back. Get under the bed or somewhere. I'll pretend I don't know where you are. We'll teach them to play any more practical jokes!"

Judd grinned. "That 'ud kind of be turnin' the tables, eh?"

"Kind of, you bet! I hear somebody coming upstairs now! Take this alcohol bottle and rub yourself good to keep from catching cold. Get into the closet out of sight. Quick!"

Cateye waited until the footsteps reached the head of the stairs, then flung open the door and limped into the hall on his crutch. He met face to face with Benz.

"Rather late turning in, aren't you? Say, ... do you know where Judd is? I'm getting rather anxious. It's two o'clock and after, ... and he never kept very late hours!"

Benz's face was a pale white; his lips were trembling; he seemed near collapse.

"He's, ... he's, ... I think he's drowned!"