em to approach.

It was Bascomb.

"I have dodged searching parties all night, and I am not going to run
any----"

Thus far did Bascomb get, and then he saw Merriwell. He stopped, and
his jaw fell, while he shuddered, showing the strongest symptoms of
terror. His eyes bulged from their sockets, and the expression on his
face was one of unutterable horror.

"Bascomb!" cried Frank. "I am glad I have found you!"

He stepped toward the big fellow, but Bascomb leaped to his feet,
shrieking:

"Don't touch me! You are dead--dead! Go away!"

And then, before another word could be said, before anybody could do a
thing to prevent it, Bascomb turned and fled through the woods--fled as
if pursued by fiends, shrieking forth his terror.

"After him!" cried Frank. "Don't let him get away! He is so scared
that he will surely do himself injury if he escapes."

The pursuit began, and Merriwell soon found that Fred Davis was rather
fleet of foot. In fact, Fred was able to keep near to Frank's side.

It was a wild chase through the strip of woods. Impelled by terror,
Bascomb ran as he had never run before. Under ordinary circumstances,
Frank could have overtaken him easily, but this was far from an
ordinary case.

At length, however, Frank and Fred began to gain on the fugitive.

Casting wild glances over his shoulder, Bascomb discovered this, and
his terror knew no bounds. He had been running parallel with the
river, but he suddenly changed his course and made straight for it.

"He is going to try to drown himself!" cried Frank.

Then an accident happened to Merriwell. He tripped in some underbrush,
and fell heavily to the ground. When he got upon his feet, he saw
Bascomb leap from quite a high bank into a deep part of the river.

Fred Davis was not far from Bascomb's heels, and he was stripping off
his coat when the big fellow plunged into the water. The coat was
flung aside in an instant, and then Frank saw Fred boldly plunge into
the water after Bascomb.

"By Jove!" exclaimed Merriwell; "the little fellow has courage, after
all!"

He hurried forward, and when he reached the bank, he saw a struggle
taking place in the river.

Bascomb did not want to be rescued. Made crazy by the horrors he had
experienced through the night, and by the sight of Merriwell, whom he
believed a ghost, he was determined to drown himself in the river.

Three times Davis struck at Bascomb's temple with his clinched fist,
a