Frank Merriwell's danger

by Burt L. Standish

Looking from the windows, the freshmen saw two great gleaming balls of fire advancing from opposite directions. These were locomotive headlights carried in advance of the two bodies of sophomores. They were symbolic of Diogenes searching for an honest man. With the aid of these lanterns the sophomores sought out the freshmen in their studies and conferred upon them the glorious election to the soph. societies.

It was an old custom, and had been some years in disuse because of the opposition of the faculty. On the year of which I write, it was revived again in defiance of all authorities, although the faculty had given warning that it would not be tolerated.

The freshmen had been notified to get away from the big dormitories, which the societies dared not approach, and assemble on York Street. Certain ones had been given the tip to make Mrs. Henderson’s their headquarters for the occasion. Some had taken heed to the tip, but many, fearful of the consequence and not feeling certain of the intention of the sophomores, had remained away.

It was a dangerous thing to do, for the leaders of the movement stood in great danger of expulsion from college if they were found out.

“Here they come, boys!” cried one of the freshmen in the windows. “They are both singing, and there is going to be a fight between them!”

“That’s where you show your freshness, young fellow,” said Jack Diamond. “They all belong to the same class, and you couldn’t make them fight.”

“Put out the lights, freshies!” yelled a score of voices from the street.

Both societies gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Henderson “ranch.” It was seen that they were disguised in various ways. Some wore long dusters and high, pointed hats of white, while others wore black gowns and high black hats. There were sixty of them in all, and they made the night hideous with their wild cries. However, there was no scuffling between them, and everything indicated a friendly rivalry.

Soon the doors were opened, and the sixty sophomores came rushing into the house. They had captured a bass drum somehow, and they beat it all the way from the sidewalk up the stairs.

The committee were in advance, and they singled out their freshmen, giving them the notification in a certain manner that was both mysterious and formal. When it was all over few of the freshmen selected knew of anybody else who had been thus honored.