Frank Merriwells Nobility | Page 4

drew a weapon.
M. Rouen Montfort paused and stared at Frank Merriwell, beginning to understand that he was not dealing with an ordinary youth.
"Fool!" he panted. "You geeve me ze eensult I will haf your life!"
"You have already insulted me, my friends and everything American. It's your turn to take a little of the medicine."
"Eef we were een France--"
"Which we are not. We are still in America, the land of the free. But I don't care to have a quarrel with you. Bruce put the fellow down. If he minds his business in the future, don't throw him overboard."
"All right," grunted the big fellow; "but I was just going to drop him in the wet."
He put the man down, and the fellow seemed undecided what to do.
Harry Rattleton laughed.
"Now wake a talk--no, I mean take a walk," he cried. "It will be a good thing for your health."
"Come, Maurel," said the master, with an attempt at dignity; "come away from ze fellows!"
Maurel was glad enough to do so. He had thought to frighten the youths without the least trouble, but had been handled with such ease that even after it was all over he wondered how it could have happened.
M. Montfort walked away with great dignity, and Maurel followed, talking savagely and swiftly in French.
"Well, it wasn't very hard to settle them," grinned Browning.
"But we have not settled them," declared Frank. "There will be further trouble with M. Rouen Montfort and his man Maurel."
CHAPTER III.
A FRESH YOUNG MAN.
Frank and his three friends bad a stateroom together. The tutor was given a room with other parties.
The weather for the first two days was fine, and the young collegians enjoyed every minute, not one of them having a touch of sea-sickness till the third day.
Then Rattleton was seized, and he lay in his bunk, groaning and dismal, even though he tried to be cheerful at times.
Browning enjoyed everything, even Rattleton's misery, for he could be lazy to his heart's content.
They had enlivened the times by singing songs, those of a nautical flavor, such as "Larboard Watch" and "A Life on the Ocean Wave," having the preference.
Now it happened that the Frenchman occupied a room adjoining, and he was very much annoyed by their singing. He pounded on the partition, and expressed his feelings in very lurid language, but that amused them, and they sang the louder.
"M. Montfort seems to get very agitated," said Frank, laughing.
"But I hardly think there is any danger that he will do more than hammer on the partition," grunted Bruce. "He's kept away from us since he found he could not frighten anybody."
"He's a bluffer," was Diamond's opinion.
"He's a great fellow to play cards," said Merry. "But he seems to ply for something more than amusement."
"How's that?" asked Jack, interested.
"I've noticed that he never cares for whist or any game where there are no stakes. He gets into a game only when there's something to be won."
"Well, it seems to me that he's struck a poor crowd on this boat if he's looking for suckers. He should have shipped on an ocean liner. What does he play?"
"He seems to have taken a great fancy to draw poker. 'Pocaire' is what he calls it. He pretended at first that he didn't know much of anything about the game, but, if I am not mistaken, he's an old stager at it. I watched the party playing in the smoking-room last night."
"Who played?" asked Bruce.
"The Frenchman, a rather sporty young fellow named Bloodgood, a small, bespectacled man, well fitted with the name of Slush, and an Englishman by the name of Hazleton."
"That's the crowd that played in the Frenchman's stateroom to-day," groaned Rattleton from his berth.
"Played in the stateroom?" exclaimed Frank. "I wonder why they didn't play in the smoking-room?"
"Don't know," said Harry; "but I fancy there was a rather big game on, and you know the Frenchman has the biggest stateroom on the boat, so there was plenty of room for them. They could play there without interruption."
"There seems to be something mysterious about that Frenchman," said Frank.
"I think there's something mysterious about several passengers on this boat," grunted Browning. "I haven't seen much of this young fellow Bloodgood, but he strikes me as a mystery."
"Why?"
"Well he seems to have money to burn, and I don't understand why such a fellow did not take passage on a regular liner."
"As far as that goes," smiled Merry, "I presume some people might think it rather singular that we did not cross the pond in a regular liner; but then they might suppose it was a case of economy with us."
While they were talking there came a rap on their door which Frank threw open.
Just outside stood a young man with a flushed face and distressed appearance. He was dressed in a plaid suit,