Read Ebook: Frank Merriwell's brother by Standish Burt L Owen Robert Emmett Illustrator

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Ebook has 618 lines and 64757 words, and 13 pages

FRANK MERRIWELL'S BROTHER.

A WARM RECEPTION.

When Frank Merriwell, in a great hurry, flung open the door of his room and sprang in, he was little prepared for the reception that followed.

From all sides they leaped upon him, clutched him, surrounded him, hemmed him in. There were exactly thirteen of them, and he was alone and unarmed.

Never before had Merriwell quailed in the face of odds, but now he took one look at them and then flung up his hands, crying:

"I surrender!"

They clutched those uplifted hands and dragged them down. They grasped him about the body, around the neck, anywhere, everywhere. Howls of joy arose.

"We've got you!" they yelled.

Then they wrenched at his hands, one after another, as if trying to tear his arms from their sockets. Then they thumped him on the back, the shoulders, and the chest.

On the outskirts of the attacking mob one wild-eyed fellow fought like a demon to get at Merry.

"Got my vay oud of!" he roared, as he butted into the mob. "Break away! Let me got ad him!"

"Git aout!" cried another, a tall, lank chap, as he put his foot against the fat stomach of the one who was fighting to reach Merry. "Go lay daown, gol ding ye!"

"Give me a cloob!" roared one with a strong brogue of the Ould Sod. "It's mesilf that'll be afther makin' a way here!"

Then he wedged his shoulder into the crowd and flung the others aside till he could get in and grasp Merry's hand.

"Ye spalpane!" he shouted. "It's a soight fer sore oies ye are! Begorra, Oi'm ready to die wid joy!"

"Barney Mulloy!" laughed Frank, as he wrung the hand of the honest Irish youth. "I'm delighted!"

"Let me git in there!" rasped the tall, lank fellow. "If ye don't make way fer me, I'll bet a darn good squash somebody gits bumped!"

Then he succeeded in getting hold of Merry's free hand.

"Oh, say!" he cried; "I'm jest reddy to lay right daown and die frum satisfaction."

"Ephraim Gallup!" burst from Merry.

"Right off the farm, b'gosh!" chuckled Ephraim.

"Vy don't you both gone und died alretty!" squawked the one who had been kicked, as he came charging in and drove against Mulloy and Gallup. "Id vould peen a goot thing der coundry vor. Yaw! I vandt to shook Vrank Merrivell by my handt! Got avay!"

"And Hans Dunnerwurst!" exclaimed Merriwell, as he grasped the outstretched, pudgy hand of the fat young Dutchman.

"Dot vos me," nodded Hans, in delight. "How you peen, Vrankie, ain't id? You vos glatness to seen me. Yaw!"

"You fellows give me that fired teeling--I mean that tired feeling!" declared a handsome, curly-haired youth, as he thrust Mulloy, Gallup, and Dunnerwurst aside. "Why don't you let somebody else have a show? I want to fake his shin--I mean shake his fin!"

"It's Harry Rattleton!" Frank ejaculated, as he returned the hearty hand-grip of the curly-haired youth. "Dear old Harry!"

There were tears in Rattleton's eyes, and his honest face showed the deep emotion he felt and tried to hide.

Fighting, squealing, kicking at each other, two little fellows now plunged against Rattleton. One was red-headed and freckle-faced, while the other had a snub nose and a cherublike face. But they seemed trying to scratch out each other's eyes.

"Me first!" yelled the cherub.

"I guess nit!" shrieked the one with freckles.

"Here! here! that will do!" smiled Merry, as he grasped them and pulled them apart. "It seems to me you chaps are old enough to quit fighting like kids."

Then they both turned and seized his hands, which they wrung with all the strength at their command, yelling:

"How are you, Merry? We're glad you see us!"

"The same Stubbs and the same Griswold," nodded Frank.

"The same Merriwell!" they returned, in unison. "Only more famous!"

"I reckon it's my turn to shake Mr. Merriwell's paw," said a strong, hearty voice, as a big, broad-shouldered youth put Bink and Danny aside. "That's whatever!"

"Badger, too!" Frank cried, as his hand met that of the Westerner. "This is untold pleasure!"

"You bet it is!" nodded Buck.

"I trust you'll not overlook me, Merriwell," said a pleasant, soft, well-modulated voice, as a handsome, fine-faced youth stepped in, with an agreeable smile and a white hand outheld.

"Jack Diamond, by all that's good!" Merriwell gasped, as he took that hand. "Back from Europe?"

"Yes, Merriwell; back in time to see you win your final honors."

The handsome Virginian looked handsomer than ever.

Greg Carker, Bert Dashleigh, Jim Hooker, Ralph Bingham, and Oll Packard were the others who had crowded about Merry when he entered the room, and they were filled with great joy because of his pleasure in meeting those old friends of other days.

"You'll have to have us arrested for breaking and entering, Merry," said Carker. "I knew these fellows were going to be here, and we planned this little surprise. I swiped your duplicate door-key so that I could admit them to this room."

"I'll forgive you, Carker, if you do not let the earthquake rumble."

"I think," said Greg, "that I'll keep the earthquake suppressed till commencement is over."

"Do," urged Frank.

Oliver Packard did not have much to say. He had been accepted as one of Merry's friends, for all of his vicious brother, Roland, the twin who looked--or had looked in the past--exactly like him. Oliver had all the fine instincts of a gentleman, and the conduct of Roland had worn upon him and given him lines of care. It was now known among the students that, since his final defeat by Merriwell, Roland was fast becoming an inebriate, and it was said that he would not be able to finish his medical course. Of course, this worried Oliver, but he tried to hide his own troubles.

Hooker, once an outcast, was another who had received a warm hand-grasp from Merriwell and had felt in his heart that he was most fortunate to be there.

Ralph Bingham, the big sophomore, had taken part in the struggle, his heart throbbing with satisfaction.

"There are others coming," he now declared. "All the rest of the flock will be here right away."

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