Dick Merriwell's Trap: or, The Chap Who Bungled. Standish Burt L.
steadily. He noted that she was perfectly cool and self-possessed, for all of the recent adventure through which she had passed, and that, to a large extent, she was lacking in the frivolity and giggling giddiness that marred the natural charm of many girls near her age.
“If I had the money with me,” said June to Sammy, “I would pay you for your wheel right here; but I haven’t that much, and, besides, I think it possible you will get a far better machine if you permit my father to select it for you.”
“Oh, I’m willing to do that!” exclaimed the boy; “and I thank you for – ”
“I am the one to thank you,” said June. “You happened along at just the right time to aid in stopping that runaway.”
This made the boy feel very good, while some of the fellows who stood near grew jealous and tried to sneer.
June shook hands with Sammy, promising he should hear from Mr. Arlington within a week, and then she turned back into the hotel, telling Dick she wished to speak with him. The moment she entered the hotel the other boys surrounded Sammy. One of them, a raw-boned, freckled chap with dirty teeth, gave Sammy “the laugh.”
“You’re a soft mark!” he said. “Why, if you’d raised a big fuss you might have frightened her into paying for your bike right off – that is, if her father is the big gun she says he is.”
“Go on, Spike Hanlon!” exclaimed Sammy. “What do you take me for? I ain’t built that way!”
“Because you’re easy. Mebbe you’ll get another bicycle, and, then again, mebbe you won’t! Soon as she gits outer town she’ll never bother about it no more. You let her soft-soap you and fool you jest because she shook hands with ye! Yah!”
“Now, close your face!” exclaimed Sammy, flushing hotly and showing anger for the first time. “If you say anything more about her I’ll soak you in the mouth!”
Which demonstrated that Sam had temper and could be aroused to anger, for all that he had taken the smashing of his wheel so mildly.
At once the boys began to take sides. The majority were with Sammy, but two fellows sidled over and joined Spike Hanlon.
“You hit me,” said Hanlon, “and I’ll break your head with a rock! That’s what I’ll do, softie! I’m glad your old wheel was smashed. I’m glad of it, and I’ll bet you a hundred dollars you never get another one! Yah, yah! Thought you was big because you beat Art Merritt and got a fine bike, didn’t ye! Well, now you ain’t no better off than any of us! You ain’t so well off, for my brother’s got your old wheel, and he lets me ride it when I want to! Yah! yah! yah!”
But Hanlon had carefully placed himself at a distance by walking away in a sidelong fashion, and he took to his heels, whooping and laughing scornfully as Sammy made a move as if to rush at him.
“Don’t you mind, Sammy,” said one of the friends who had sided with him. “Spike’s jealous. He’s been so ever since you won your bike. And I think you’ll get a new wheel all right.”
“I know it!” said Sam, with the utmost confidence. “That girl’s all right, and I’d bet my life she’d have the wheel sent to me! Then won’t Spike feel sick!”
CHAPTER V – DICK KEEPS THE LOCKET
Up one flight in the hotel was a window in the hall at the front of the house. Dick and June passed by this window, which, although closed, did not prevent them from hearing the words of the boys below, and June laughed when Sammy declared he would soak Spike Hanlon in the mouth if Spike said anything more about her.
“That’s the kind of champion to have!” exclaimed Dick.
“They are going to fight!” exclaimed June. “That freckled boy is big and strong.”
“But I’ll bet anything Sammy does him if they come to a genuine scrap,” said Dick. “But don’t worry; there’ll be no fight. The most of the boys are on Sammy’s side, and the other fellow doesn’t want to mix in.”
They heard Spike’s taunts just before he retreated, and June muttered:
“Just you wait and see what kind of a wheel he’ll have! I’ll make father buy him the very best in the market.”
“Then that other boy will turn green with jealousy,” laughed Dick. “It will be a great triumph for Sammy.”
“He deserves it.”
“I agree with you. He is a most remarkable fellow, and I like him. Evidently he’s a poor boy. But he didn’t whimper when his wheel was smashed, and that is why I say he is remarkable. Most boys would have put up a terrible outcry over it.”
“It is strange that my brother should have been hurt so badly just from falling backward out of the carriage when the horse started,” said June.
“Is it a fact that he is badly hurt?” asked Dick.
“I fear so. The doctor told me that, at least, we had not better think of returning to Fardale before to-morrow. He said he would be able to say positively to-morrow whether Chester is badly hurt or not. He is coming back with another doctor in a short time, and they will make a more complete examination.”
“For your sake,” said Dick sincerely, “I am very sorry that your brother was hurt.”
Dick spoke with perfect truthfulness, and she understood him. It is not likely that he would have felt keen regret on Chester’s account alone, but his interest in June made it possible for him to be sorry, as the affair had caused her distress.
She thanked him, but she did not misinterpret his words in the least. She understood that her brother and Dick Merriwell were persistent and unrelenting enemies.
“I was so glad to see you win the game to-day,” she said, seeming to wish to change the subject.
“Yes, the boys did splendidly.”
“They did very well, but you – you were the one who really won the game.”
“In football every man is dependent on the others engaged in the game. Without their assistance he would be powerless to win.”
“Oh, if you put it that way, of course no fellow could stand up alone against eleven others and win a game. But that does not alter the fact that you were the one who won the game to-day. And I thought you badly hurt that time when I – when I made a sensation by running on to the field,” she finished, her face getting very red.
She was confused, and Dick’s heart beat a bit faster now. But she quickly found a way to make it appear that it was not purely from agitation over Dick that she hurried on to the gridiron.
“I was so afraid that meant failure for the team! When I saw you down and feared you would have to leave the field, I knew Fardale was in a bad scrape. Without a captain, she would have been defeated quickly.”
Dick knew well enough that it was more than fear for the result of the game that had caused her to rush pale and trembling across the field and kneel to lift his head while he lay helpless on the ground; but he pretended disappointment now, seeking to draw her out.
“I’m very sorry,” he said, watching her closely; “I fancied you were anxious on my account. I presume it was conceited of me to have such a thought.”
She looked him straight in the eyes.
“Doubtless my conduct was such that it gave you cause to think so,” she nodded, perfectly at ease.
“Your conduct – and your words,” he returned.
She remembered with some dismay that she had been greatly excited as she lifted his head and knelt on the ground. She could not recall the words she had uttered at the time, but she knew she had called him “Dick,” and she entreated the doctor to tell her he was not badly hurt. Still June retained her self-possession, although she did not repress an added bit of color that again rose to her cheeks.
“I believe you were shamming, sir!” she asserted, severely. “You seemed almost unconscious, yet you pretend