_Author of_ “Frank Merriwell’s School Days,” “Frank Merriwell’s Chums,” “Frank Merriwell’s Foes,” “Frank Merriwell’s Trip West,” “Frank Merriwell Down South,” “Frank Merriwell’s Hunting Tour,” “Frank Merriwell’s Bravery,” “Frank Merriwell in Europe,” etc. [Illustration] STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS 238 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK CITY [Illustration] Copyright, 1904 By STREET & SMITH Frank Merriwell’s Danger FRANK MERRIWELL’S DANGER. CHAPTER I. OUT FOR A CRUISE. Spring! All through the long winter the only green thing to be seen on the Yale campus was the festive freshman, but now, on this mild, sunny April day, which was a promise of June soon to come, a few blades of grass were struggling to appear. It was a day to bring everybody out. For the first time one could realize that winter was really a thing of the past. At noon the campus swarmed and the fence was lined with roosters. The juniors came out and smoked their big English pipes, and did their best to imitate the graveness and dignity of the seniors. The sophomores loaded their line of fence, joking, laughing and guying the freshmen. And the freshmen gamboled like young colts just turned out to pasture, betraying their absolute “newness” by every word and act. Big Bruce Browning smoked in lazy abandon, leaning against a post, feeling far too tired to climb to a seat upon the top rail. Bink Stubbs was whittling with a brand-new knife, while Danny Griswold whistled a rollicking tune. Dismal Jones actually wore an expression on his face that was as near perfect satisfaction and happiness as anyone had ever seen on his long countenance. “Lucy” Little, with a necktie “loud enough to jar the bricks out of South Middle,” was doing his best to see how many packages of cigarettes he could smoke in five minutes. Everywhere the talk was baseball. Who would make the team? Would it be as strong as the year before? and would they win out from Harvard? It was pretty certain Harvard would have an exceptionally strong team. The material to choose from was better than ever before, and Harvard was “making a brace” in all directions. Yale had won the last football game from Harvard more by the wonderful work of one man than by the superior strength of her eleven, and the Cambridge lads were thirsting for revenge. The man who seemed to stand head and shoulders above all others in Yale sports and athletics was Frank Merriwell. But Merriwell had become a “greasy grind” during the winter, and there were those who prophesied that he was satisfied with his fame, and would retire on his laurels. It was even reported that he was ambitious to be valedictorian, and it was known that he could go to either Bones or Keys, as he might choose, which was a most remarkable state of affairs, as there were hundreds of good men and true, with hearts full of ambition, who could not reach either.