Jack Rangers Western Trip | Page 5

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withdrawn.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.