Frank Merriwell's Return to Yale Part 30

He knew when this minute had arrived, not by any expression upon their faces, but by the fact that the Princeton anchor hastily caught his end of the rope in a knot in order to hold the advantage that had been gained.

Then Frank said in a tone that could not have been heard by any of the spectators:

"Now, boys!"

On that instant the three Yale men who had been lying almost on their backs, sat up, made a quick grab at the rope a few inches in front of where they had been holding it before, and then strained back suddenly, and with all the force that they could muster.

The Princeton anchor, who had supposed that the Yale men were exhausted also, was taken completely by surprise.

He had knotted his rope and could not pay it out as the opposing tug came; the result was that while there was yet a full minute to spare, the Princeton team stood up suddenly, pulled squarely off the cleats by the victorious sons of Yale.

The shouting changed on the instant; there had been a wild, triumphant howling on the Princeton side because the ribbon had gone fully fifteen inches beyond the chalk mark.

Now it traveled so rapidly toward the Yale side that there was no measuring the distance; that did not matter anyway, for when a team is pulled squarely off the cleats, the tug is done.

Frank, therefore, had the double satisfaction of seeing his college win the general trophy and of meeting successfully a serious emergency that had occurred in the special sport which he had undertaken to manage.

It was a great evening for Yale, and one that all men who were students in the college at that time will never forget.

"I tell you, I wouldn't have missed it for a good deal," said Rattleton, when they were on their way to Yale, the day following.

"It's too bad Browning was hurt," answered Frank.

"It's not serious," said the big fellow. "It will soon be all right, so the doctor says." And this proved to be true. Inside of ten days his wrist was as well as ever.

"Another contest is on hand," said Rattleton, one morning to Frank. "Do you know we are up for admission to the Pi Gamma Society?"

"Yes," answered Frank.

"We'll catch it hot soon--when they initiate us."

"Oh, I reckon we can stand it," came from Frank, with a quiet smile.

He did not dream of all that was in store for them.

CHAPTER XVI.

BLACK MARKS.

There were about twenty students in a room that would comfortably hold six; four of them, looking very solemn, were arranged along one side of the room with their backs to the wall; the others were seated on such chairs as there were or upon the floor.

The study table in the middle of the room had been cleared of books, and a covering of newspapers had been put on top of it.

The air was thick with smoke from pipes, cigars and cigarettes. The four who stood with their backs against the wall were not adding anything to the fumes; they were the only ones present who were not smoking.

Every window was down and the transom was closed. It is the theory among students that the smoker can stand a thick atmosphere, but that if one is not smoking it soon becomes very disagreeable to him.

One would have said that this theory was correct if he had taken but a glance into the room, for the four solemn persons looked far from well, while the others were evidently enjoying themselves to the utmost.

Each one of the others had something in his hand besides his pipe or cigar; two or three had brooms, some horsewhips, some baseball bats, some canes, others umbrellas, and so on. The one who was apparently the leader had an iron poker.

"Who is the next neophyte who wishes to become acquainted with the mysteries of Pi Gamma?" he asked.

"It's Merriwell's turn next," answered one of the others.

"Very well, then, fetch him in."

At the mention of Merriwell's name the four solemn students against the wall glanced at each other.

"Hi, there! Hi, there!" called several voices. "No talking to each other!"

All the other students turned furiously upon the solemn four and glared fiercely. One of the four opened his lips as if to say something, then thought better of it, and shut them again.

"If you want to make a link in the mystic chain of the Pi Gamma,"

exclaimed the leader, sternly, "you'd better keep your mouth shut!"

The student thus addressed looked as if he was aching to say that he had not said anything, but his eyes simply wavered and otherwise he remained perfectly still.

"I guess they'll behave themselves," declared the leader. "Go out and bring in Merriwell."

Frank was about to take his first step in the long and trying initiation into the secret society known as the Pi Gamma. These are the two Greek letters standing for P and G, respectively.

What they mean is known only to the members of the order, but the society is generally known by an abbreviation of its initials.

In this way, with the characteristic humor of college students, the order of Pi Gamma is generally known as the "Pig." So, too, members of the order are sometimes referred to as "Pigs."

No one is supposed to take any offense at this, for, on the contrary, it is a mark of honor to be a member of the order, and if a man can say after he has graduated that he belonged to the "Pig," he makes it known that his social standing was very high.

No one can become a member of this society until he has reached the junior year; then students are elected from the junior cla.s.s by the members of the senior cla.s.s in blocks of five. The initiation of each block of five covers a period of one week.

The juniors elected at the same time with Frank were Harry Rattleton, Jack Diamond, Bartley Hodge, and John Henderson. It was these four who formed the quartet of silent students with their backs to the wall.

They had received their notification of election on the evening before, and with it certain instructions. From that moment until the end of the initiation the neophyte was forbidden to laugh, or to speak aloud unless addressed by a "Pig" in good standing or a member of the faculty.

If he was spoken to by one of his companions, not a member of the order, the neophyte was not to answer.

He was to attend strictly to all his college duties, and whenever he set foot upon the campus, he was to run at full speed and not stop running until he had left the college grounds.

He was to do without question anything commanded of him by any member of the Pi Gamma during the week.

In Frank's case this last rule had been put to the test at once by commanding him to go to a well-known store in the city and buy one match and one toothpick and bring the articles to the student who asked for them. Frank had complied promptly.

He went into this thing, as he did into everything, in a good-natured but businesslike way.

He knew that it was the custom for students to be put in embarra.s.sing situations during the initiation, and he made up his mind to stand his share of it without grumbling.