ons were seated in the carriage, and the horse
was covered with sweat.

"Why are those fools driving like that?" muttered Merriwell. "Are they
drunk, or is it a matter of life or death?"

"Get out of the road!"

The command was hoarsely shouted, and Frank reined aside, having no
desire to get in the way of the reckless driver.

Once more the boy on the horse turned to look back.

"Drunk, sure enough," he decided. "And they are two young fellows, too.
Students on a tear, perhaps."

The occupants of the carriage had been drinking heavily, but they were
not so drunk that they did not recognize the boy in advance when he
turned in the saddle the second time.

"Hey, Rolf!" exclaimed the one who was not driving. "It's Merriwell!"

"That's what it is!" cried the driver. "I haven't seen him for some
time, but I know his face too well to ever forget it!"

"He's out on his new horse."

"Sure."

"Run him down! run him down! Throw him off! Now's our chance!"

The driver was just intoxicated enough to be utterly reckless of
consequences, and he snarled:

"Hang me if I don't do it!"

And then, when they were very near the boy and the horse, he suddenly
reined toward Frank with the intention of running into Merriwell's
mount.

In another moment there might have been a grand smash there on the road,
but Frank had caught the words "Run him down!" and he gave Nemo a light
cut with the whip, at the same time pulling him still farther into the
ditch.

Nemo was not used to the whip, and he leaped like a flash. Such a spring
would have unseated any but a most expert rider, but the boy in the
saddle seemed to move as a part of the horse. Into the ditch they went,
and past them spun the carriage containing the two reckless young men.

The carriage came very near upsetting. It careened and spun along on two
wheels, threatening to hurl its occupants into the ditch, for the driver
had reined the horse back toward the middle of the road. Both clung on
for life.

"Don't blame me!" muttered Merriwell, through his teeth. "You were
looking for a smash."

But the carriage did not go over; it righted at last. One of the young
men looked back and shook his fist at the boy on the horse, and then
away they went in a cloud of dust.

"If that was not Evan Hartwick, I am greatly mistaken!" exclaimed Frank,
as he reined Nemo back into the road. "So he is back here as soon as
this? I know what that means. He is looking for revenge on