Jack Rangers Western Trip | Page 3

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