the lips of Bart
Hodge. "Merriwell is a goner! It was most remarkable that Bascomb
caught hold of that vine and so escaped."

Fred Davis sprang to his feet, and rushed at Bascomb, who was cowering
and shivering in the midst of the boys.

"You killed him!" screamed the little plebe. "You're responsible for
his death! It was murder!"

"Thot's roight!" came from Barney Mulloy.

Bascomb cowered and retreated before Davis. All his bullying spirit
was gone, and he shivered when the little fellow declared it was murder.

"You shall be hanged!" wildly cried Fred, shaking his clinched hands in
Bascomb's face. "I will testify against you! You shall be arrested
and hanged!"

"Take him away, somebody!" muttered Bascomb, hoarsely.

"Touch me if you dare!" defied Davis, who seemed quite beside himself.
"I have been a coward long enough, and I am not afraid of you all now!
If I hadn't been a coward, I should have fought here to-night, instead
of Merriwell, and he would be alive now! Oh, I'll never forgive myself
for letting him fight in my place! But I'll do my best to avenge--I'll
swear he was murdered!"

"That's rot," said Rupert Reynolds, rather weakly. "It was a clean
case of accident."

"I am not sure about that," came significantly from the lips of Bart
Hodge. "We all heard Merriwell cry out that he had been blinded. That
meant something. There was foul play here, and the parties who were in
the dirty game must suffer for it."

"Faith, an' thot's roight, Bart, me b'y!" exclaimed Barney Mulloy.
"It's as clane a lad as iver brathed thot wint over Black Bluff to his
death th' noight, an' somebody will pay dear fer this pace av worruk."

Bascomb still remained silent, seeming incapable of offering any
defense.

"It is useless to waste any more time here," said Hodge, sharply.
"This awful business must be reported in camp. We must get boats from
the boathouse, and search for Merriwell's body."

He started away, and the boys began to follow him. Bascomb stood quite
still, and saw his late supporters, with the exception of Reynolds,
draw away and leave him, as if he were some creature to be avoided.

"Oh, that's the way!" he grated, bitterly. "They're afraid they will
be mixed in it some way, and so they sneak! I am left to face the
music alone!"

"Brace up, old man," urged Reynolds. "You may not be in such a very
bad box. I don't see how they can do anything but expel you from the
academy, and it