"Hey, Charley, get a wiggle on an' come over here! W'at yer t'ink! Ther cop has nabbed that feller we've been readin' about--Frank Merriwell!" "Aw! w'at yer givin' us!" flung back the other. "This ain't no fust of April!" "It's dead straight, Charley! Frank Merriwell is right here in ther Thorndike, an' Old Briggs has pinched him. Don't yer want ter see him?" "Don't I?" gasped the one across the street, as he bolted from the sidewalk. "I'd rudder see Frank Merriwell than have a season ticket to der ball games!" And he could not get over quick enough. By the time the officer was ready to bring Frank out of the hotel, all the men and boys outside knew who had been arrested, and the excitement was great. The crowd grew swiftly, and everybody was eager to get a look at the Yale athlete of whom they had heard such wonderful stories. The young men of the town were no less excited than the boys. There was scarcely one of them who did not know something about Frank Merriwell and his record, and, even before they could find out why he had been arrested, they denounced the arrest as an outrage. Another policeman came along and attempted to clear the sidewalk in front of the hotel, but the crowd did not want to disperse. The officer who had arrested Frank came out with Merriwell at his side, a hand on his arm. "There he is!" was the cry that went up. "That is Frank Merriwell!" Jack Diamond, who walked beside Frank, was amazed at the crowd and to hear them call Frank's name. "They know you, Merriwell," he said. "It seems so," said Frank, with a faint smile. "It's a shame!" cried one of the young men. "What's he arrested for?" "Don't know," admitted another; "but I'll bet my clothes he is all right! Frank Merriwell is on the level!" "That's so!" shouted twenty voices. The crowd followed the officer and his prisoner. Somebody proposed a cheer for Frank Merriwell, and it seemed that every human being in that following crowd cheered as loudly as he could. Then somebody proposed three groans for Old Briggs, the officer, and the crowd groaned in a most dismal manner. Some of the small boys grew so excited that they kept yelling at Briggs to let Frank go. But they were scarcely less excited than the lads of eighteen or twenty. A dozen of them got together and actually talked of taking Briggs' prisoner from him. In their enthusiasm they might have tried it, but for the coolness of one or two among them. "It's a blamed shame to have this thing happen in Rockland!" declared one fellow. "What will Merriwell think of us? He will be dead sore on this town." "He isn't a fool," said a cooler head. "If he is all right, it isn't likely that any harm will come to him. He can't blame Briggs for doing his duty if there is a warrant for his arrest." So Frank was marched away to the lockup, but his arrest had created more excitement in the city than any other event since the opening game of baseball in the Knox County League, July Fourth.