“If Bradlaugh——”
Merry never finished what he was about to say, for, at that precise moment, Bleeker and Hotchkiss sprang into fierce action.
“Run!” shouted Bleeker, as he raced over the rocks; “run—for your lives!”
Over his shoulder Frank saw a hissing, sputtering object in the air, coming toward the point where he, and Clancy, and Bleeker, and Hotchkiss had been standing. Hotchkiss was already bounding after Bleeker, and in less than half a second Merry and Clancy were also hustling like mad to get out of the way.
The hissing object struck ground, and in a moment there was an explosion, and a little cloud of débris was flung high in the air.
[CHAPTER XXVII.]
THE BOY WHO DIDN’T CARE.
It was Lenning, of course, who had lighted the fuse and hurled that infernal machine in the direction of Merriwell and those he had been talking with. The hot-headed recklessness of the act made Merriwell gasp. Had Bleeker not seen the hissing bomb in the air, and shouted his warning, what would have happened?
A wave of indignation and anger rushed over Merriwell. He was running at top speed at the moment of the explosion, and he continued to run while the booming echoes reverberated among the hills—but he changed his course.
Lenning and his friends were clustered together in a compact group, staring sullenly at the place where the dynamite had “let go.” All at once they saw Merriwell, eyes flashing and face like a thundercloud, bearing down on them.