Jack Ranger's Gun Club; Or, From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail, Page 3

  CHAPTER II

  THE NEW BOY

  "There goes Dock!"

  "Pull him out!"

  "Yes, before he gets under the float!"

  "He can't swim! He's too exhausted!"

  These were some of the expressions the excited lads shouted as theysurged forward to look at the spot where Dock had disappeared. A stringof bubbles and some swirling eddies were all that marked the place.

  The float began to tilt with the weight of so many boys on one edge.

  "Stand back!" cried Jack Ranger. "Stand back, or we'll all be in thelake!"

  They heeded his words, and moved toward the middle of the platform.

  "Some one ought to go in after him," said Pud Armstrong, his teethfairly chattering from fright and nervousness. "I--I can't swim."

  "Look out!" cried Jack. "I'm going in!"

  He began pulling off the sweater which some of the lads had helped puton him, when he stepped from the shell all perspiration.

  He poised for an instant on the edge of the float, looking down into thedark waters, beneath which Dock had disappeared, and then dived in.

  "Get one of the boats out. Maybe he won't come up near the float,"ordered Sam Chalmers, and several lads hurriedly shoved out into thelake a broad barge, which could safely be used by Jack in getting Dockout of the water, if he was fortunate enough to find the youth.

  "Queer he doesn't come up," spoke Glen in a whisper.

  "Who--Dock or Jack?" asked Bony, cracking his finger knuckles in doublerelays.

  "Dock."

  "He's too exhausted," replied Bony. "Can't swim. But Jack'll get him."

  How long it seemed since Jack had dived down! The swirl he made hadsubsided, and the water was almost calm again. Anxiously the lads on thefloat and shore watched to see him reappear. Would he come up alone, orwould he bring Dock with him?

  "Maybe Jack hit his head on something," suggested Nat.

  "Jack knows how to dive, and it's deep here," said Sam. "I guess he'llcome up all right, but----"

  He did not finish the sentence. At that moment there was a disturbancebeneath the surface of the lake. A head bobbed up.

  "There's Jack!" cried Bony delightedly.

  A white arm shot up and began sweeping the water.

  "He's got him!" yelled Nat. "He's got Dock!"

  Sure enough, Jack had come to the surface, encircling in his left armthe unconscious form of Dock Snaith, while with his sturdy right he wasswimming slowly toward the float.

  "The boat! the boat! It's nearer!" cried Sam, for Jack had come up atsome distance from the little pier and closer to the rowboat which hadput out from shore.

  Jack heard and understood. Turning, he began swimming toward the craft,and the lads in it rowed toward him. A few seconds later Jack hadclutched the gunwale, holding Dock's head out of water.

  Several eager hands reached down to grasp our hero.

  "Take--take him first," he said pantingly. "I'm--I'm all right."

  Dock was hauled into the boat.

  "Now row ashore. I'll swim it," went on Jack. "Get the water out of himas soon as you can. He--he was right on the bottom. Struck--struck onthe--on the float, I guess."

  "We'll take you in," cried Bob Movel.

  "Sure! There's lots of room," added Fred Kaler.

  "No. Get Dock on shore," ordered Jack, and they obeyed.

  Relieved of his burden, and having recovered his wind, Jack swam slowlyto the float. The boat reached it some time ahead of him, and Dock waslifted out, while, under the direction of Sam Chalmers, the studentsadministered first aid to the drowned.

  Dock was turned over on his face, a roll of coats having been placedunder his stomach to aid in forcing the water out of him. There was noneed to remove his clothing, as he and Jack were clad only in rowingtrunks and light shirts.

  "Now turn him over on his back and hold out his tongue, fellows,"directed Sam, and this was done, the tongue being held by Nat Anderson,who used his handkerchief to prevent it slipping away. This was done sothat it might not fall back into the throat and prevent Dock frombreathing.

  "Now work his arms! Over his head! Press up his diaphragm and startartificial respiration," went on Sam, and under the ministrations of thelads, Dock soon began to breathe again.

  He sighed, took in a long breath naturally, opened his eyes, and gaspedfeebly.

  "He's all right now," said Sam in a relieved tone. "How do you feel,Dock?"

  "All--right--I--guess. My head----"

  He closed his eyes again. Sam passed his hand over the prostrate lad'sskull.

  "He's got a nasty cut there," he said, as he felt of a big lump, "but Iguess it's not serious. We must get him up to the school."

  "Come on, let's carry him," suggested Nat.

  "Never mind--here comes Hexter!" cried Bony.

  As he spoke the chug-chugging of an automobile was heard, and a touringcar came along the road down to the float. It was a machine kept atWashington Hall, and used by the teachers, and, occasionally, whenHexter, the chauffeur, would allow it, by the students.

  "Dr. Mead sent me down to see what the matter was," said Hexter as hestopped the car. "He saw a crowd on the float and thought somethingmight have happened."

  "There has," replied Sam. "Here, Hexter, help us get Dock into the car,and then throw on all the speed you've got, if you have to blow out aspark-plug."

  "Is he--is he dead?" asked Hexter quickly.

  "No; only stunned. Lively, now!"

  Hexter aided the boys in lifting Dock into the machine, and then he madespeed to the school, where the injured lad was cared for by Dr. HenryMead, the master of Washington Hall.

  "Well, that was an exciting finish to the race," remarked Jack as hewalked up from the float to the shore, surrounded by some of his chums,after Dock had been taken away.

  "He oughtn't to try to row," said Fred Kaler. "He hasn't got the stayingpowers."

  "Well, he didn't have to-day," observed Jack; "but if he would onlytrain, he'd make a good oarsman. He's got lots of muscle. I hope heisn't hurt much."

  "He'll be all right in a few days," was Nat's opinion. "Say, Jack, butyou're shivering."

  "Yes, that water's a little cooler than it was Fourth of July."

  "Here, put a couple of sweaters on," went on Nat, and soon Jack waswarmly wrapped up.

  "Now run up and change your duds," advised Bony, and Jack broke into adog-trot, his friends trailing along behind him and discussing the raceand the accident.

  While they are thus engaged I will take the opportunity to tell you alittle something about Jack Ranger and his friends, so that you who havenot previously read of him may feel better acquainted with our hero.

  The first volume of this series was called "Jack Ranger's Schooldays,"and in it there was related some of the fun Jack and his special friend,Nat Anderson, had in their native town of Denton. So exciting were someof their escapades that it was decided to send them off toboarding-school, and Washington Hall, sometimes called Lakeside Academy,from the fact that it was located on the shore of Lake Rudmore, wasselected. There Jack made friends with most of the students, includingsome who have already been mentioned in this present tale. He incurredthe enmity of a bully, Jerry Chowden, who, however, was not now at theacademy, as you will presently learn.

  Jack's home was with three maiden aunts, the Misses Angelina, Josephineand Mary Stebbins, who took good care of him. In the first volume therewas related something of a certain mystery concerning Jack's father,Robert Ranger, and how he had to go into hiding in the West because ofcomplications over a land deal.

  In the second volume of the series, "Jack Ranger's Western Trip," wasrelated what happened to Jack, Nat Anderson, and a half-breed Indian,John Smith, whose acquaintance Jack had made at Washington Hall, whenthey went West in search of Mr. Ranger.

  They journeyed to a ranch, owned by Nat's uncle, and they had manyexciting times, not a few of which were caused by a certain faker, whosereal name was Hemp Smith, but who assumed t
he title MarinelloBooghoobally, and various other appellations as suited his fancy.

  Mr. Ranger was located, but only after the boys had suffered manyhardships and gone through not a few perils, and Jack was happy to beable to bring his father back East, there being no longer any reason forMr. Ranger remaining in exile.

  "Jack Ranger's School Victories," was the title of the third volume, andin that was told of Jack's successes on track, gridiron and diamond.Hemp Smith and Jerry Chowden made trouble for him, but he bested them.He had plenty of fun, for which two teachers at the school, ProfessorSocrat, an instructor in French, and Professor Garlach, a Germanauthority, furnished an excuse.

  But Jack's activities did not all center about the school. There wastold in the fourth volume, "Jack Ranger's Ocean Cruise," what happenedto him and his chums when they went camping one summer. Jack, NatAnderson, Sam Chalmers, Bony Balmore, and an odd character, BudgeRankin, who chewed gum and ran his words together, went off to live inthe woods, near the seacoast, for a few weeks.

  There they fell in with a scoundrel named Jonas Lavine, who was aided inhis plots by Jerry Chowden and Hemp Smith.

  Jack and his chums stumbled upon a printing plant, maintained in a caveby Lavine and his confederates, where bogus bonds were made. Before theyhad time to inform the authorities Jack and Nat were captured by Lavineand sent to sea in a ship in charge of Captain Reeger, a tool ofLavine.

  Jack learned that Captain Reeger wanted to be freed from the toils ofLavine, and our hero agreed to assist him, in return for which thecaptain said he would aid Jack.

  Jack and Nat managed to get out of the cabin in which they wereconfined. As they were about to escape from the _Polly Ann_ a terriblestorm came up, and the ship was wrecked. But not before Jerry Chowdenhad boarded her, to help in keeping Jack and Nat captives.

  They had many hardships, afloat on a raft in a fog, and saved JerryChowden from drowning. Finally they were rescued, and Lavine and hisconfederates were arrested, Captain Reeger being exonerated. JerryChowden fled to the West, fearing arrest should he remain in the East.Jack and his chums were reunited, and they again enjoyed life under thecanvas, until it was time to resume their studies at Washington Hall,where the opening of this story finds them.

  As Jack and his chums walked up the gravel path to the dormitories,where our hero intended to get into dry clothes, the group of youthschatting eagerly of the events which had just taken place passed a ladstanding beneath a clump of trees. The latter, instead of coming to jointhe throng, turned away.

  "Who's that?" asked Jack of Bony Balmore. "I don't remember to have seenhim before."

  "He's a new boy," replied Bony, cracking three finger knuckles in hisabsent-minded way.

  "What's his name?"

  "Will Williams."

  "Looks like a nice sort of chap," added Nat.

  "But his face is sad," said Jack slowly. "I wonder why he should be sadwhen he's at such a jolly place as Washington Hall?"

  "Maybe he's lonesome," suggested Fred Kaler.

  "Give him a tune on your mouth-organ, and he'll be more so," spoke BobMovel, but he took good care to get beyond the reach of Fred's fist, atthis insult to his musical abilities.

  "Let's make friends with him," went on Jack. "Hey, Williams, come onover and get acquainted," he called.

  But the new boy, instead of answering, or turning to join the happycrowd of students, kept on walking away.

  "That's funny," said Jack, with a puzzled look at his chums. "Fellows,there's something wrong about that boy. I can tell by his face, and I'mgoing to find out what it is."

  "You'd better get dry first," suggested Nat.

  "I will, but later I'm going to make that lad's acquaintance. He looksas if he needed a friend."