On this occasion each of the mentors had a long horsewhip. They walked at some distance from him and guided him in the way he should go by touching his face on either side with the end of the whip; when Frank felt the lash brush his right cheek he turned to the right, and vice versa.
The mentors, as before, left him alone sometimes for half an hour at a stretch. On each of these occasions he had no idea where he was or what was being done.
As a matter of fact, warned by their previous experience, the mentors kept within sight, but no effort was made to do Frank an injury.
The object of the long waits was to try the neophyte's nerves as much as possible, so that he should be in proper condition for the final test. The most trying of these consisted of the jumping from the bridge.
After having been driven this way and that until his head was completely turned, Frank knew that he was approaching the railroad tracks, for he heard the sounds of passing engines.
Presently two of the members stepped beside him in order to prevent him from stumbling, for he was now upon the sleepers themselves.
They walked beside him thus for some distance until at length the neophyte knew that he was on a bridge; he remembered the place then, or thought he did.
Several railroads that pass through New Haven enter the street by crossing the Quinnepiac River on a drawbridge.
Frank was certain that he was on this bridge, and for that matter his guess was a correct one.
The students conducted him to the middle of the bridge, and after halting him, told him to move forward very cautiously by shuffling his feet along on the boards.