The High School Left End | Page 9

excuse for insulting me."
"Are you going to heed me when I tell you to print nothing about my
father's disappearance?" insisted young Dodge.
"That is something over which you really have no control," Dick
replied slowly, though not offensively. "I take all my orders from my
employers."
"You young mucker!" cried Bert, in exasperation. "You print anything
about our family misfortunes, and I'll thrash you until you can't see."
"I won't answer that," Dick replied, "Until you make the attempt. But,
see here, Dodge, you should try to keep cool, and as close to the line of
gentlemanly speech and conduct as possible."
"A nice one you are, to lecture me on that subject," jeered Bert Dodge.
"You---only a mucker! The son of-----"
"Stop!" roared Dick, his face reddening. He advanced, his fists
clenched. "If you're going to say anything against my father or mother,
Bert Dodge, then stop before you say it! Before I break your neck!"
"Stop, both of you," interjected Hemingway, springing between the
white-faced High School boys. "No blows are going to be struck while
members of the police department are around. Dodge, of course, you're
upset and nervous, but you're not acting the way a gentleman should,

even under such circumstances."
"Then drive that fellow away from here!" commanded Bert.
"I can't," confessed the officer. "He is breaking no law, and has as
much right to be here as we have."
"Oh, he objects to my saying anything against his father or mother, but
he's out tonight to throw all manner of slime on my father's name,"
contended Bert Dodge. His voice broke under the stress of his pent-up
emotion.
"You're wrong there, Dodge!" Dick broke in, forcing himself to speak
calmly. "I'm here to gather the facts on a matter of news, but I am not
out to throw any insinuations over your father, or anyone whose good
name is naturally precious to you. Sometimes a reporter---even an
amateur one---has to do things that are unpleasant, but they're all in the
line of duty."
"'The Blade' won't print a line about this matter," raged Bert
tremulously. "Mr. Ripley is my father's friend, and his lawyer, too. Mr.
Ripley will go to your editor, and let him know what is going to happen
if that scurrilous sheet-----"
Here Bert checked himself, for Dick had begun to smile coldly.
"Confound you!" roared Bert Dodge. He leaped forward, intent on
striking the young junior down. But Officer Hemingway pushed Dodge
back forcefully.
"Come, come, now, Dodge, we won't have any of that," warned the
officer. "And, if you want my opinion, you're not playing the part of a
gentleman just now. Prescott understands your state of mind, however.
He knows you're so upset, your mind so unhinged by the family trouble
that you're doing and saying things that you'll be ashamed of by
daylight."
"I suppose, next, you'll be inviting this reported fellow to go on the boat

with us when it comes," sneered Bert Dodge.
"That would be for the chief to say. Reporters are, usually, allowed to
go with the police. Come, come, Dodge," urged Hemingway, laying a
kindly hand on the young man's shoulder, "calm down and understand
that Prescott is not offering to make any trouble, and that he has been
very patient with a young fellow who finds himself in a heap of
trouble."
"I can cut this short," offered Dick quietly. "I don't believe it would be
worth my while, Mr. Hemingway, to ask the chief's permission to go on
the boat with you. 'The Blade' can find out, later, whether you discover
anything on the river."
"Where are you going, now?" demanded Bert unreasonably, as Prescott
turned away.
"Back to the horse and buggy," Dick replied coolly.
"Then I'm going with you, and see you start back to town," asserted
Bert Dodge.
Hemingway did not interfere, but, leaving his brother policeman at the
river's edge, accompanied young Dodge. In a few minutes they arrived
at the spot in the lane where Dick had tied the horse. Here they found
Dave Darrin seated in the buggy. Dave glanced unconcernedly at them
all, nodding to Hemingway way, who returned the salutation.
"Now, I'll watch you start away from here," snapped Bert.
"All right, then," smiled Dick, climbing in, after unhitching, and
picking up the reins. "I won't keep you long."
With that, and a parting word to the policeman, Dick Prescott drove
away.
"I saw Hemingway coming, and knew you wouldn't need me," Dave
explained with a laugh. "So, to save Bert a double attack of nerves, I

slipped off in the darkness, and came here. But what on earth ails
Dodge, anyway?"
"Why, for one thing, he's worried to death about the disappearance of
his father," replied Dick Prescott.
"I've seen people awfully