Charles Franks

[Illustration: THE THREE RIFLES SOUNDED AS ONE.]

JACK RANGER'S WESTERN TRIP

Or

From Boarding School to Ranch and Range

BY

CLARENCE YOUNG

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. FUN AT WASHINGTON HALL II. JACK IN TROUBLE III. A THREATENING LETTER IV. A LESSON IN CHEMISTRY V. TURNING THE TABLES VI. A PLAN THAT FAILED VII. FOILING A PLOT VIII. THE BURGLAR SCARE IX. NAT'S INVITATION X. A MEETING WITH CHOWDEN XI. A GRAND WIND-UP XII. HO! FOR THE WEST XIII. AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE XIV. PROFESSOR PUNJAB'S TRICK XV. SHOOTING AN OIL WELL XVI. MR. POST'S ADVENTURE XVII. THE WILD STEER XVIII. THE OLD STOCKMAN XIX. A THIEF IN THE NIGHT XX. A STRANGE SEANCE XXI. FINDING ORION TEVIS XXII. JACK HEARS OF HIS FATHER XXIII. ON THE RANCH XXIV. THE OLD MAN XXV. THE COWBOY'S TRICK XXVI. JACK'S WILD RIDE XXVII. THE CATTLE STAMPEDE XXVIII. HUNTING MOUNTAIN LIONS XXIX. LOST ON THE MOUNTAIN XXX. A VIEW OF GOLDEN GLOW XXXI. JACK AND NAT PRISONERS XXXII. THE ESCAPE XXXIII. DOWN THE SLUICEWAY XXXIV. JACK'S GREAT FIND XXXV. THE ROUND-UP—CONCLUSION

CHAPTER I

FUN AT WASHINGTON HALL

"Now then, are you all ready?" inquired a voice in a hoarse whisper.

"Galloping grasshoppers! We're as ready as we ever will be, Jack
Ranger!" replied one from a crowd of boys gathered on the campus of
Washington Hall that evening in June.

"Nat Anderson, if you speak again, above a whisper," said Jack
Ranger, the leader, sternly, "you will have to play 'Marching Through
Georgia' as a solo on a fine tooth comb seven times without
stopping!"

"Sneezing snakes! 'Nuff said!" exclaimed Nat, this time in the required whisper. "Playing combs always makes my lips tickle."

"Now then, is every one ready?" asked Jack again. "If you are, come on, for it's getting late and we'll have to do this job quick and be back before Dr. Mead thinks it is time to send Martin the monitor after us. Forward march!"

Then the crowd of boys, from the boarding school of Dr. Henry Mead, known as Washington Hall, but sometimes called Lakeside Academy, from the fact that it was on Rudmore Lake, in the town of Rudmore, started forth on mischief bent.

It was Jack Ranger's idea,—any one could have told that. For Jack was always up to some trick or other. Most of the tricks were harmless, and ended in good-natured fun, for Jack was one of the best-hearted lads in the world. This time he had promised his chums at the academy something new, though the term, which was within a month of closing, had been anything but lacking in excitement.

"Fred Kaler, have you got your mouth organ with you?" asked Jack, turning to a lad just behind him.

"He always has his mouth-organ, or how could he speak?" asked an athletic looking lad walking beside Jack.

"That's a poor joke, Sam Palmer," commented Jack, and he ducked just in time to avoid a playful fist Sam shot out.

"Want me to play?" asked Fred.

"Play? You couldn't play in a hundred years," broke in Nat Anderson,
Jack's best chum. "But make a noise like music."

"Play yourself, if you're so smart!" retorted Fred.

"Simultaneous Smithereens!" cried Nat, using one of his characteristic expressions. "Don't get mad. Go ahead and play."

"Yes, liven things up a bit," went on Jack. "Give us a good marching tune. We're far enough off now so none at the Hall can hear us."

Fred blew a lively air and the score of boys behind him began to march in step.

"What is it this time?" asked Sam in a low tone, of Jack. "You haven't let on a word."

"We're going to administer a deserved rebuke to a certain character in this town," Jack answered. "You've heard of Old Smelts, haven't you?"

"That fellow who's always beating his wife and hitting his little girl?"

"That's the old chap. Well, I heard he just got out of the lock-up for being too free with his fists on the little girl. Now if there's anything that makes me mad it's to see a kid hurt, girl or boy, it doesn't matter. I've got a surprise in store for Mr. Smelts."

"What is it?"

"You've heard of the Klu-Klux-Klan, I suppose?"

"You mean that southern society that made such a stir during the
Civil War?"

"That's the one. We're going to be Klu-Klux-Klaners to-night."

"But we haven't got any uniforms."

"You'll find them in yonder wood!" exclaimed Jack in tragic tones, and he pointed to a clump of trees just ahead.

"What's this, amateur theatricals?" asked Nat, catching the last words.

"Maybe," replied Jack. "Now Fred you can pay off your orchestra," he added. "I want to do a little monologue."

The boys crowded around Jack, and he told them what he had related to
Sam.

"I have provided the necessary uniforms to enable us to take the part of Klu-Klux-Klaners," he said. "Old Smelts is a southerner and knows the significance of the thing. We'll throw a good scare into him, and maybe he'll let his wife and daughter alone. Now we're to put on the sheets and the tall white helmets, and you leave the rest to me. Do just as I do when we get to Smelts's house."

"Hemispheres and hot handkerchiefs!" exclaimed Nat. "This is going some!"

Jack went to the foot of a big hollow tree, from which he pulled a large bundle. This he opened and showed a number of ghostly uniforms. He distributed these among the boys, who at once donned them, making a weird looking band in the little glade.

"Every one stand still until I put the finishing touches on," commanded Jack.

With a bottle of phosphorous he outlined waving flame lines around the holes cut for eyes, nose, and mouth on each white-shrouded figure,

"Now we're ready," announced the leader. "Smelts's house is just beyond this wood. Follow me, and, Fred, when you see me put my hand on my head that means I want slow tremulous music, like they have in the theater when, the heroine is dying."

"Your wishes shall be obeyed," spoke Fred, in hollow tones, whereat the others laughed.

"Silence!" commanded Jack.

It was a good thing those in charge of Washington Hall could not see the pupils just then. If they had the prank would have cost the participators dear. But, after all, as Jack said, it was in a good cause. On they went until their leader held up a warning hand.

"Arrange yourselves in a circle about me," he whispered. "I am going to beard the lion in his den."

He walked up to a small cottage that stood some distance from any other dwellings on a lonely street in the village, and knocked loudly.

"Who's there?" came a voice, in answer, a few seconds later from an upper window.

"Tobias Smelts, come forth!" called Jack in deep tones. "We would hold speech with thee!"

The boys could see a man thrust his head further out of the casement.

"Come forth and linger not!" called Jack.

"Oh! Oh! It's the Klu-Kluxers! It's the Klan! They're after me!" exclaimed Smelts. "Oh, what shall I do?"

"Come forth if ye would not have us drag ye out!" cried Jack. "We have business with thee!"

"What'll I do?" wailed Tobias.

"Better go 'fore they come in here after ye," a woman's voice could be heard to say. "Remember what they did to Pete Baker in South Caroliny!"

The head was drawn in, with many a groan.

"Get ready, he's coming," whispered Jack.

A few minutes later a very much frightened man, clad in his shirt and trousers came out on the front steps, around which the boys in their ghostly disguise were gathered.

"Advance!" commanded Jack, and Tobias, his knees trembling, walked on until he stood in the midst of the frolicking students.

"Bind him to the stake!" commanded the leader.

A small, pointed stake had been prepared and with a hammer it was driven into the ground. Then the man was fastened to it with several coils of clothes line.

"Now the faggots!" said Jack, and the boys dropped some pieces of wood at the victims feet. A second later Jack had emptied the phial of phosphorous over the wood, and the lurid light shone forth.

"They're burning me alive!" yelled Tobias. "Save me!"

"This is the fate dealt out to all who beat their wives and children!" chanted Jack. At the same time he raised his hand to his head and Fred played tremulous music on the harmonica, lending a weirdness to the scene.

"Please don't kill me, good Mr. Klu-Klux-Klan men," begged Tobias.
"I'll never do it again. I promise you I never will!"

"Do you promise by the great seal of the United States?" inquired
Jack, in sepulchral accents.

"Yes, Oh yes; I'll promise anything!"

"'Tis well! This was but the first trial by fire. The next time will be more severe!" and with that Jack kicked aside the phosphorous covered sticks and signaled to those holding the ends of the ropes to loosen them.

Tremblingly Tobias crawled into the house.

"Be ye dead, Tobias?" asked his frightened wife, yet she was not a little gratified that her husband had made the promise the mysterious visitors exacted.

"Jest about," was the answer. "Oh, this is a terrible night!"

"Hence, my brave men," spoke Jack solemnly. "We have work elsewhere. But remember, Tobias Smelts, if thou dost so much as raise a finger to a woman or child we shall hear of it through our ghostly messengers and will visit thee again."

"I'll be good! Oh, I'll be good!" promised Tobias.

Then at a nod from Jack the white-robed figures filed away into the darkness, Fred playing a dirge.

"Say, that was the best sport yet," said Sam, when they were at a safe distance.

"Yes, and it was a good thing," said Jack. "That old codger'll not beat his wife any more, I reckon."

And it might be said in passing that he did not for a while. The visit of the masquerading Klu-Klux-Klan was a most effective remedy, and the whole village wondered what had cured Tobias temporarily at least, of his bad habit.

"Say, but you're all right," remarked Bob Movel to Jack, as the boys rid themselves of the costumes in the woods a little later.

"Towering tadpoles! I should say he was!" exclaimed Nat. "What will you do next?"

"I guess we'd better be getting back to the Hall," said Jack.
"Professor Grimm might take a notion to sit up late and spot us."

While the boys were slipping quietly back to their rooms, having enjoyed a night's fun, which also had its useful side, we may take this opportunity of introducing them more formally to the reader.

Those who read the first volume of this series, entitled "Jack Ranger's Schooldays; Or, The Rivals of Washington Hall," need not be told how it was that our hero and his friends came to be at that seat of learning. Jack was a bright American lad, who lived with his three maiden aunts, Josephine, Mary and Angeline Stebbins, in the village of Denton. Jack was to inherit some money when he became of age, but the conditions under which it was to come, as well as the secret of who his father was, bothered him not a little.

In the first volume of the series I told of his life in Denton, and the lively times he and Nat Anderson had before they were sent to the Academy. There things were even more lively, and there occurs a sort of sequel to a strange occurrence that happened in Jack's town.

At Denton, one night, Jack saw a man rob a jewelry store, but the only thing he took, as it developed, was a strange ring. It was one with a big moss agate, with the outline of a pine tree on it, and a lot of emeralds and rubies set around its center. This ring belonged to Jack's aunts, who had sent it to the jeweler's and when Jack told his relatives of the theft, and described the appearance of the man, they were much excited. However, they would tell him nothing.

At the academy, after many other adventures, including aiding and abetting the fighting of a mock duel between Professor Garlach, the German teacher, and Professor Socrat, the French instructor, Jack made the acquaintance of one John Smith, a half-breed Indian who had come to the academy for instruction. John had considerable Indian blood in his veins, as he proved on more than one occasion. Nevertheless, he and Jack Ranger became great chums.

One day John Smith disappeared. His friends found that his room had been entered at the school, and there were evidences of a hurried search having been made. Nat discovered, in John's absence, a curious ring under a steam radiator. It was the exact counterpart of the one the burglar stole in Denton. Jack was much puzzled at this, and more, when it developed that John had been kidnapped by some mysterious men. At last the semi-Indian lad was saved by Jack and Nat.

John Smith told Jack as much of the secret as he knew. It appeared that his father had given him the ring just before his death, and told him if he was ever poor or in trouble to take it to a man named Orion Tevis, and state who the bearer was.

Some time before that, the elder Smith had been in Oregon and Tevis came to him to get him to be a guide to a wild forest country in the far north. There he had bought five thousand acres of valuable land. Some schemers had stolen the papers connected with it and were making for the place, to take possession first, as that would give them a sort of title.

Tevis was too sick to make the journey himself, and got Smith to go with some of his own companions. John's father took a man named Clark and one called Roberts with him. Mr. Roberts, or Robert Ranger, which was his real name, was Jack's father. Because of some strange circumstances he had not seen his son in many years.

Roberts, for so he was known many years, Clark, and Smith succeeded in claiming the land for Tevis. He gave them each ten thousand dollars for their work and had three rings made as mementoes. They were like the one stolen from the jewelry store.

In addition Tevis said that at any time the men or their relatives needed his help they could have it.

Clark, later, was killed, John Smith's father retired on his little fortune and Jack's father got into trouble. It seemed that the land schemers offered him a large sum to help them contest Tevis's title. He refused, but learned that, if they could get him into court, they could throw the timber claim into litigation, and force Tevis to pay a large sum to compromise. Rather than do this Roberts told Smith he would become a wanderer over the earth.

Mr. Ranger sent his money to his sisters, Jack's aunts, for the use of his son, and then disappeared. He knew that if he could evade legal service for eleven years he would be free, and that was why he never sought to see his boy or sisters.

The Indian student believed that the man who stole Jack's aunts' ring, and those men who made an unsuccessful attempt to get his, thought they could, by use of the emblems send two boys, pretending to be Jack and John to Tevis, and get a lot of money from him.

John Smith's only knowledge of Tevis was that his address could be secured from the Capital Bank, at Denver, Colorado, and that he was somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, in retirement. Jack having heard this story, resolved that he and John Smith, would, some day, go in search of Mr. Ranger. However, Jack's aunts said he must finish his term at the academy, and this time was nearly up.

The students returning from their adventure were now approaching Washington Hall, and walking quietly along. Jack and John Smith were in the lead, and the others were strung out behind them.

Suddenly around a bend in the road there swung a big touring automobile. No lights were on it, and only for the subdued roar of the motor the car's approach would not have been noticed. As it was, Jack did not see it until it was almost upon him.

"Look out!" cried John Smith suddenly.

At the same time he sprang forward and pushed Jack to one side. To do this he had to get almost in the path of the car, and was struck by one of the projecting springs. He was knocked to one side, but not before he had pushed Jack out of harm's way, the latter being hit only a glancing blow.

"Why don't you look where you're going?" called an angry voice, as the car sped on.

"Are you hurt, John?" cried Jack, springing to pick up his friend.

"No, only bruised. They have nerve to go running without lights and then ask us where we're going. I wonder who they were."

"I have an idea." said Jack. "That voice sounded like Adrian
Bagot's."

"What, that sporty new student?"

"That's who."

"Well, he'd better go a bit slow, I'm thinking."

CHAPTER II

JACK IN TROUBLE

The boys crowded around Jack and John, anxious to know if they were hurt. All were loud in their indignation when they learned what had happened.

"Let's pay that snob back!" suggested Dick Balmore.

"Make him sleep with you one night," suggested Fred, for Dick was so tall and thin that he had been christened "Bony" by his chums.

"Dry up!" exclaimed Dick. "I'd rather be thin than a wandering minstrel like you."

"Easy now!" suggested Jack. "No noise, we are too near quarters.
Ouch! I think I've sprained my ankle, or that auto did it for me."

He tried to walk but had to limp, and was forced to accept the aid of
Sam and John, on whose arms he leaned. In this manner he entered the
Hall just as the monitor was closing up for the night. The other boys
slipped to their rooms, but Jack had to be helped upstairs.

As the trio were passing through the corridors they met Professor Grimm. Now, Mr. Grimm was an old enemy of Jack's, since Jack had once caught him smoking, a violation of the school rules.

"Ha! More skylarking!" the instructor exclaimed. "What does this mean, Ranger?"

"I sprained my ankle," replied our hero.

"What are you doing out at this hour? And what are the others doing?"

"We had permission to go to the village," replied Jack, truthfully enough, for Dr. Mead had allowed the boys to go; though the object of the trip, of course, had not been disclosed to the master.

"Go to your rooms," commanded Professor Grimm. "I will look into this."

"I wish he hadn't seen us," said Jack, when his two chums had taken him to his dormitory.

"Why?" asked Sam. "Where's the harm?"

"I have a sort of queer feeling that something is going to happen," Jack replied. "I want to finish out the term with a good record, for my aunts' sakes. If there are any pranks played tonight, Grimm will be sure to suspect me."

"Don't cross a bridge until it trips you up," said Sam. "Now, let's have a look at that ankle."

They found it was not as bad as Jack had feared.

"I've got a bottle of arnica somewhere," he said. "I think I'll put some on."

His chums found the bottle, and were rubbing the swelling with the medicine when there came a knock at the door.

"Who's there?" asked Jack.

"Professor Grimm," was the reply. "I want to see if you are really in your room."

Sam opened the door and the cross-grained professor entered.

"So you're not fooling this time, eh?" he sneered, as he smelled the arnica and saw the swelling on Jack's ankle. "It's a good thing you were not."

"Nice old party, isn't he?" murmured Sam, when the teacher had withdrawn. "Well, I think I'll say good-night, Jack. Hope you sleep good. Say, but that Klu-Klux business was the limit!" and chuckling over the night's fun, he went to bed, leaving Jack and the Indian student together.

"A few weeks more and we'll not have to sneak around this way to have a little fun," said Jack. "Vacation will soon be here. I hope I can carry out a plan I have in mind, John."

"What is it, Jack?"

"I want to go out west and search for my father. I ought to be with him in his trouble. Besides, the time must be almost up, so he could come back to civilization again."

"I hope you do find him," said the semi-Indian.

"I wish you could help me, John."

"I wish so, too. Perhaps I can. But you'd better get to bed now. We don't want Grimm coming around again."

Jack fell asleep dreaming he was crawling through a deep canyon after his father, who was being carried away captive in a birch bark canoe by Indians. But in spite of this he slept so soundly that he did not hear a number of unusual noises under his window. Perhaps it was as well for his peace of mind that he did not.

It was about half past seven o'clock the next morning when Jack awoke with a start.

"I wonder what's the matter," he said to himself. "It seems as if something had happened. Oh, I know, I haven't heard the morning bell."

It was the custom at the academy to awaken the students by ringing the big bell in the tower every morning, and Jack had come to depend on it as a sort of alarm clock.

"I wonder what's the matter," he went on. "Can Martin have forgotten to sound the tocsin? It's the first time he ever slipped up."

A little later there came the sound of persons moving in the hall, and then voices could be heard calling one to the other.

He got out of bed, finding that his ankle was much better and looked from the window. There was nothing out of the ordinary to be seen. He turned toward his door, just as a loud knock came on the portal.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Martin, the monitor," was the reply. "Dr. Mead wants to see you at once in the office."

"Trouble! I knew it!" exclaimed Jack to himself. "Well, I wonder what it is now. Hope word of that Klu-Klux-Klan business hasn't reached here already. But I'm not afraid of that. Even Dr. Mead will admit we acted from a right motive. All right, Martin," he called. "I'll be there as soon as I dress. Anything special?"

"I'm afraid it is," replied the monitor, as he hurried down the hall.

Jack made a hasty toilet and then went to the office of the head of the academy. He found a number of the teachers gathered there, including Professor Grimm, who looked more angry than usual. The latter was speaking as Jack entered:

"This positively has to stop, Dr. Mead," he said. "I will put up with this no longer. Either Ranger or I must leave."

"What have I done now?" asked Jack.

"Something more serious than usual, Ranger, if it turns out that you are guilty," answered Dr. Mead.

"Of course he's guilty," burst out Mr. Grimm. "Haven't I proof?"

"Last night," said Dr. Mead, speaking slowly and sternly, "the big bell was taken from the tower. It was carried and placed in front of Professor Grimm's room, and tied to his door so that when he opened it the bell was pulled into his room. In this way some valuable sea shells he had on the floor were broken."

"What makes you think I did it?" asked Jack. "I was laid up with a sprained ankle."

"That's just how I know it was you and some of your chums," cried Professor Grimm. "Tied on the bell, where it had been used, so the sharp edge would not cut one's fingers, was this rag. There it is. Smell of it. What does it smell like?" and he thrust it under Jack's nose.

"Why—why—it smells like arnica," replied our hero, wondering what was coming next.

"Arnica! Yes, I guess it does. What was it you were pretending to put on your ankle last night, Ranger? Arnica, wasn't it? Of course it was. I've caught you this time! The evidence is all against you! You didn't think you dropped that rag, and that the arnica would figure in the evidence. Dr. Grimm, I repeat, Ranger must leave or I shall!"

CHAPTER III

A THREATENING LETTER

For a few seconds there was a silence following Professor Grimm's ultimatum. Jack was so surprised he did not know what reply to make. The suddenness of the accusation, with the experience of the night before, and the upset over his sprained ankle, combined to make him hesitate before he made answer.

"What have you to say, Ranger?" asked Dr. Mead, in a sterner voice than he had ever before used toward Jack. "I know you will tell the truth, for I have never yet known you to lie. But I must tell you that if I find that you are guilty it will go hard with you this time. I have put up with a good deal from the students, but this is too much."

"I—I don't know what to say, sir," replied Jack, in a sort of daze.
"I'm not guilty, I can assure you of that!"

"It's one thing to say so and another to prove it," snapped Professor
Grimm. "The evidence is all against you."

"It's all circumstantial," interrupted Jack.

"But rather conclusive," went on the irate professor. He detailed how he had seen Jack and his friends out late, how he had come upon them using arnica, and mentioned some of their pranks in the past, including the mock duel arranged between Professor Socrat the French teacher and Professor Garlach, the German instructor.

"I admit I have played pranks in the past," said Jack frankly, "but I'm not guilty this time. All I ask is a chance to prove that I had no hand in this."

"You don't deserve a chance!" exclaimed Mr. Grimm.

"That's hardly fair," spoke Jack indignantly.

"Don't talk back to me!" burst out the angry teacher.

"I think your request is a fair one, Ranger," went on Dr. Mead. "I will give you twenty-four hours in which to prove that you had no hand in this. That is all now; you may go."

Dr. Mead was a man of few words, but Jack knew he would be absolutely fair. So, bowing to the head of the school, and without a glance at his accuser, Jack left the office.

"Whew!" exclaimed the youth, as he got outside. "I seem to be up against it harder than ever. Twenty-four hours to prove something that may take a week. Well, I've got to get busy, that's all."

"Hello!" exclaimed a voice as Jack was walking along the corridor toward his room. "Whasmatternow? Betcher Ic'nguess!" and the voice evolved itself into a good-natured looking lad, who stretched a big wad of gum from his mouth, and slowly got it back again by the simple but effective process of winding it about his tongue.

"Hello, Budge Rankin!" exclaimed Jack, as he saw the queer, bright lad who had lived near him in Denton, and for whom Jack had secured the place of second janitor at the school. "So you think you know what the trouble is?"

"Betcherlife," replied Budge, who had a habit of running his words together, a habit which his gum-chewing did not tend to relieve.

"What is it?"

"Accused you takin' that bell," went on Budge more slowly. "Hu!
Wanterbe a detective?"

"How did you know it?" asked Jack, a little surprised at Budge's remark.

"Easy. Heard 'em talk. Transom open," was his answer.

"What do you mean about me turning detective?"

"Lookerthis," Budge said, quickly holding out a small object to Jack.
"Found it in Grimm's room, 'sIsweptout."

"You found it in Mr. Grimm's room as you swept it out?" inquired
Jack, not certain he had heard aright.

"'Smatter!" exclaimed Budge, that being his short-hand way of stating that was what was the matter.

"A spark plug from an automobile," mused Jack. "Well, that doesn't seem to give me much of a clue."

"Gotermobe?" asked Budge.

"No, of course I haven't an automobile," replied Jack.

"Knowoas?"

"Do I know who has? Why—By Jove! I believe I see what you mean. Say, it's lucky you found this. I'll turn detective for awhile now. I wonder how this got into Grimm's room."

"Rolled under door, I guess," replied Budge, speaking more rationally as he threw away his cud of gum. "From hall, maybe."

"That's it!" exclaimed Jack. "I see it now. Thanks Budge. I hope I succeed. I'm much obliged to you."

"'Sallright!" exclaimed Budge, as he hurried away to attend to some of his duties.

When Jack got back to his room he found quite a gathering of his chums there.

"In for it on account of that Klu-Klux business?" asked Sam Chalmers.

"Not exactly that," answered Jack, "though if I'd stayed at home It wouldn't have happened."

"Ha-ha-ha-has it g-g-gg-got anything t-t-t—" began Will Slade.

"Whistle it!" exclaimed Bony Balmore.

"Sing it!" came from Fred Kaler. "Here I'll help you out," and he began to play on his harmonica.

"Whole-wheat-whangdoodles!" cried Nat Anderson, "but tell us, Jack.
Don't keep us in suspense."

"It's the bell," said Jack. "I'm accused of taking it down and putting it in Grimm's room. They found a rag with arnica on it near the ding-dong, and Old Grimm jumped to the wrong conclusion, basing his belief on what he saw here last night in the first-aid-to-the- injured line. I've got until to-morrow to prove that I didn't do it."

"We can prove it easily enough," said Sam.

"Not so easily as you think," spoke Jack. "Grimm saw us out late, you remember, and if all of you joined in saying it wasn't I who did it, they wouldn't believe you. I guess they want to make an example of someone. No sir, I'm going to do some sleuthing on my own hook. I've got a good line and a bit of evidence to start with. I'm pretty sure I can make some folks around here sit up and take notice about this time to-morrow."

"Good for you, Jack!" exclaimed Dick. "If you want any help call on us!"

"Thanks," replied Jack. "Now I guess we'd better get ready for breakfast."

His chums left him to complete his dressing, and, when they were gone, Jack carefully laid aside the spark plug Budge had given him.

"First link," he said.

During the noon intermission Jack had a short but earnest talk with Socker, the school janitor. The latter nodded his head vigorously several times during the conversation.

"I'll get it for you," he said as he and Jack parted.

At the close of school that afternoon the janitor went to Jack's room with a large bundle.

"Any trouble?" asked our hero.

"Not a bit," replied Socker. "He was out and I found it rolled up in a corner, just where he had thrown it. He hasn't even cleaned it."

"So much the better," said Jack, as he gave Socker a small sum of money. "I'll keep quiet about this, don't worry."

"I hope you will," the janitor went on. "It's against the rules for me to do what I did, but I want to oblige you, and have you come out all right."

"Which I think I will," Jack added.

When he was alone he opened the bundle Socker had brought. It was a linen duster, and, as Jack saw several brown spots on it he uttered an exclamation of satisfaction.

With his knife he scraped some substance from the garment, and placed the particles in a test tube. Then, taking this with him, he went to the laboratory, where he remained for some time.

Late that afternoon Jack, who had avoided his chums, took a walk around the campus. As he came near a small building, where some of the students kept their motor cycles, one or two small automobile runabouts, and a few of the more well-to-do, their ponies, Jack assumed a slow and halting gait. He seemed to be limping from the effects of his sprained ankle.

"I wonder if he's around," he muttered to himself. "Socker said he was going to take a spin this afternoon, and it's about time for him to start, by all accounts."

As Jack neared the entrance to the combined garage and stable he saw a group of students approaching from an opposite direction. His limp became more decided than before.

"He's there!" he said softly to himself.

"Hello, Ranger!" exclaimed a number, as Jack passed them. He knew them fairly well, but was not intimate with them as they belonged to the "fast set," a good-enough crowd, but lads who had more spending money than was good for them.

"Hello!" called Jack in reply.

"What's the matter?" came several inquiries as the students noticed
Jack's limp.

"Turned on my ankle," was the reply. "A bit stiff yet."

The crowd had nearly passed by this time, and, owing to the fact that Jack had the middle of the sidewalk, and did not turn to one side, the little group separated. Some went on one side, and some on the other. Just as Jack came opposite a tall, elaborately dressed youth, he seemed to stumble. To save himself from falling Jack threw out his hand and caught the tall student on the wrist. As he did so the well- dressed youth uttered a cry.

"Clumsy! You hurt my sore wrist!"

"I beg your pardon!" exclaimed Jack, struggling to recover his balance, but still keeping his hold of the other's hand. "Awfully careless of me!"

There was quite a little jostling among the students, several trying to help Jack recover his balance. Then Jack straightened up.

"I'm all right now," he said. "I bore down on it a little too hard."

He limped on, thrusting one hand hurriedly into his pocket. As he did so, the tall student cried.

"There! I've lost the rag off my sore wrist! I sprained it cranking my auto yesterday."

Several of his companions began a search for it, but as Jack hurried on, as fast as he could, while still pretending to limp painfully he said to himself:

"I guess you'll look a long while, Adrian Bagot, before you find that rag. Maybe I can get even with you for running me down last night," and Jack pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket and smelled of it.

"That's the evidence!" he exclaimed, as he turned down a side street.

Whether it was this change, or whether it was because his ankle suddenly healed, was not in evidence, but Jack began to walk with scarcely the semblance of a halt in his step as soon as he was out of sight of the students.

The lad hurried back to his room. There he spent a busy half hour, poring over some books on chemistry. He got several test tubes, and his apartment took on the appearance of a laboratory, while many strange smells filled the air.

While Jack was engaged in pouring the contents of one test tube into another there came a knock at his door.

"Who's there?" he called.

"It's me, Sam," was the reply.

"Say, Sam, excuse me, but I can't let you in," Jack answered. "I'm working on something that I can't leave. I may have a surprise for you in the morning."

"All right," Sam answered. "Here's some mail, that's all. I'll shove it under the door."

There was a rustling of paper and several letters came beneath the portal. Jack laid aside his test tube and gathered them up. One was from his aunts at home, another from Judge Bennetty regarding the payment of certain bills Jack had contracted, while the third was in unfamiliar handwriting.

"I wonder who that's from," said Jack. "The best way to find out is to open it."

He ripped the envelope down, and, as he did so, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. Picking the missive up, Jack read:

"It's a long lane that has no turns. I'll get even with you for having me suspended and sent away from the Hall. My time will come yet.

"Jerry Chowden."

"Jerry Chowden," murmured Jack. "So he's trying to scare me, eh? Well
I guess he'll find I don't scare."

Jack slowly folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope. He glanced at the postmark, and saw it was stamped "Chicago."

"Wonder how he got out there," he mused. "Well, I'm glad he's far away," and he gave little more thought to the matter of the bully, a nephew of Professor Grimm's, whose vain attempt to cast disgrace on Jack, in the matter of painting a pipe on the professor's portrait, had rebounded on his own head. He had been suspended for two months for the escapade, which Jack was accused of, but which our hero managed to prove himself innocent of, and, since leaving the Hall, nothing had been heard of him.

"Maybe I'll meet him if I get out west on that strange hunt of mine," thought Jack, as he went on with his chemical tests.

He worked far into the night, and when he put out his light he said to himself:

"I think I've got things just where I want them."

CHAPTER IV

A LESSON IN CHEMISTRY

Jack was awakened next morning by a knock on his door.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Martin, the monitor," was the reply. "Dr, Mead wishes to see you at once."

"Great Scott! I've overslept!" exclaimed Jack, as he jumped out of bed and saw it was after eight o'clock. "No wonder, being up half the night. Tell Dr. Mead I'm sorry and I'll be right down," he went on.

Jack almost made a record for dressing, and went to Dr. Mead's office, where he found the same gathering that had confronted him the previous morning.

"Well, Ranger," began the head of the school, "the time you asked for has expired. Have you anything to say?"

"I have, sir," replied Jack. "But first I would like to request that this hearing be adjourned to the laboratory. I also request that Sam Chalmers, Dick Balmore, Fred Kaler, Budge Rankin and Adrian Bagot be summoned."

"Do you accuse all of them?" asked Dr. Mead, in some astonishment.

"I accuse no one," Jack replied. "I want to make a demonstration, and let the facts speak for themselves."

"This is all nonsense!" exclaimed Professor Grimm. "This boy is guilty and he knows it. He is only seeking to delay matters. I demand his expulsion!"

"I think it only fair to grant his request," said Dr. Mead.
"Professor Gales, will you kindly summon the students mentioned.
Professor Hall, please see that the laboratory is opened."

In a few minutes Jack was leading the way to the latter room. He carried several bundles, while Socker, the janitor, bore a rack of test tubes he had taken from Jack's room. The lads mentioned attended, wondering what had happened.

"What's this all about?" demanded Adrian, haughtily. "I haven't had my breakfast yet."

"The time was up an hour ago," said Dr. Mead sharply, glancing at the new student, who seemed disposed to take life as easily as possible.

"May I speak?" asked Jack, of Dr. Mead.

"Since you are the accused it is but fair that you be given a chance to clear yourself," was the reply. "But as you have given a certain publicity to this matter, I shall tell these other students what it is all about."

Dr. Mead then explained the charge against Jack. There was an uneasy movement among the other boys, and Adrian Bagot was seen to shift about. He even started to walk around as though to leave the room, but the monitor stood at the door and Adrian did not want to make any confusion by forcing past him. So young Bagot remained in the laboratory.

"When Professor Grimm accused me of playing this trick I denied it, as I am innocent," Jack said, when Dr. Mead had finished and looked at him as if inviting him to speak. "Perhaps if the matter has been made public the fellows who took the bell would have come forward and admitted it. As it is I asked twenty-four hours to prove that I did not do it. I believe I have succeeded.

"In the first place," Jack went on, "I wish to exhibit this garment," and he held up to view a long linen coat, commonly called a duster. "You will observe," he went on, "that there are several brown lines on it. I have measured these and they are exactly the shape and size that would be made by the sharp rim of a bell, if it was rested on the garment when some one was wearing it."

"You will have to have better evidence than that," sneered Professor
Grimm.

"I think I will have," announced Jack quietly. "Of course those marks might have been made by any sharp, rusty object. Now the bell metal rusts scarcely at all, but the iron clapper of a bell does. The rust from that runs down inside a bell, and gets on the edges. I took some iron rust from the clapper of the stolen bell and placed it in a test tube. I assumed, for the purpose of experimenting, that I did not know that it was iron rust, but only suspected it. I applied the proper chemical tests, and I got the results that showed me there was iron present in the test tube. Here, I will show you."

Jack mixed a few chemicals and soon the brown mixture in the tube turned red.

"That is from the bell clapper," the young chemist went on. "Here is a solution made from scraping the lines on the duster. I will apply the test and see what happens."

While the others looked on anxiously Jack dropped some of the mixture into the second tube. In an instant it turned red.

"There!" exclaimed Jack, holding up the two tubes, side by side. "The same color coming in both mixtures from the same strength of chemicals that I used, shows that the iron rust on the duster and that on the bell clapper are the same."

"What does that prove, except that you might have worn the duster?" asked Dr. Mead.

"That is all, as yet," Jack admitted. "But I will prove that the duster is not mine, and that I never wore it. I have something else here," he went on.

From among a pile of things on the laboratory table Jack took a white object, with brown spots. Walking rapidly across the room he handed it to Adrian.

"The rag off my sprained wrist!" exclaimed the sporty student. "Where did—"

Then he stopped, seeming to realize he had said too much.

"I will ask Professor Grimm to smell of that," Jack continued, thrusting the rag under the teacher's nose.

"Arnica!" exclaimed the instructor. "The same that you used, and which enabled me to discover it was you who played the trick."

"It is arnica," Jack admitted, "but it happens I was not the only one who used it that night. I have also to show this article, which was picked up in your room, Professor Grimm," and Jack extended the spark plug Budge had given him.

"Ha! What is that?" asked Mr. Grimm.

"It is some part of an automobile," Dr. Mead said. "Who, of our students, has one. Ah! I begin to see," he added.

"Adrian Bagot, I will return your duster to you," Jack went on, walking forward and passing the rust-stained automobile garment to young Bagot. "I had to borrow it from your room, but I am through with it now. You may also have your spark plug, and this rag I had to take from your wrist rather unceremoniously last night."

"You're a thief!" burst out Adrian, but Jack stopped him with a gesture.

"I'll not take that from you or any one else," exclaimed Jack. "Dr.
Mead," he went on, "I ask that you inquire of my friends, Sam
Chalmers, Dick Balmore and Fred Kaler when they last saw Adrian in
his auto."

"When did you?" Dr. Mead asked the boys.

"The night the bell was stolen," answered Sam, and the others agreed with his testimony. Jack told the story of the collision and how his ankle was injured.