But Frank was on his feet, ready to meet their assailants, and, a moment after, a savage battle was taking place there on the shore. “Get away, girls—get away quick!” urged Frank. “If people come and find you here, your names will be drawn into this affair.” The girls heeded the warning and ran away swiftly. “Take that, you cur!” cried Hodge, striking Wallace fairly in the mouth. “You will find all the fight you want here.” “Back to back, Bart!” hissed Merry. “It’s not the first time we have fought that way!” Back to back they placed themselves, and they fought fiercely. Parker Flynn was there, and he was eager to get at Merry. He held a large stone in one hand, and he watched his chance to strike Frank with it. “I’ll crack his skull if I hit him right!” grated the fellow. “In a fight like this it would not count against me, for it would not be possible to tell who did the job.” Frank was watching Flynn, for he knew the fellow was desperate, and would hesitate at nothing. Woodock considered himself something of a fighter, and he did make it hot for Merriwell for a few moments; but Frank got in a blow that dazed the fellow and made him wary. Hodge found Wallace not eager to follow him up, and this caused him to break away from the back-to-back program for a moment and leap toward Walter. Smack!—Hodge landed with his left, and Wallace was stretched on the sand. Then Hodge sprang back to defend Frank’s rear. Flynn fancied he saw his opportunity, and he made a rush to get at Frank from behind. As Hodge whirled into his position, the stone in Flynn’s hand came down on his head. Without a cry or a moan, Bart dropped and lay still. “The wrong one!” gasped Flynn, dropping the stone. “I’ve finished him, too!” Then he wheeled suddenly and took to his heels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER VI A NIGHT OF ANXIETY. Wallace and Woodock both heard Flynn say, “I have finished him!” and they saw Bart stretched on the ground. When the ruffian took to his heels they did not waste much time in following his example, and the trio soon disappeared from view. Finding himself alone with Hodge, Frank quickly knelt at the side of his fallen friend. “Bart!” he anxiously exclaimed; “are you hurt much? Speak—answer me!” But Hodge did not speak, and his face looked pale and ghastly in the white moonlight that streamed across the water. A sudden fear seized Merriwell, for he, also, had heard the words of the ruffian, Flynn. Was Hodge dead? Frank looked for a wound, but could find none. He would not have been surprised had he found the stones of the beach red with the blood of his friend. Then he felt for Bart’s heart, but it seemed that there was not so much as a fluttering beneath his hand, and his fear turned to horror. “He has killed Hodge!” The words came in a hoarse gasp from Merry’s lips. And then, suddenly, he reproached himself.