Tip Top Weekly No. 80: Frank Merriwell as 'Anchor' — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a8 FRANK MERRIWELL AS ANCHOR. probably a dodge to throw us off our guard.’’ It seemed to be so, for the Princeton men gave one sudden yank at the rope, and then lay still. The yank did not stir the ribbon, and it did not call out any answering pulls from the Yale men. Many of the spectators wondered at this, and began to set up shouts to Merriwell to order a pull. He remained perfectly quiet, paying no attention to the shouts around him, ap- parently not hearing them. In fact, he was not more than half conscious that there was anybody in the room except the three men directly in front of him and the four adversaries on the opposite team. A full minute passed, during which there was some pulling by each side, and still the ribbon remained squarely over the chalk mark. The spectators left their seats, so great was their excitement, and in spite of the efforts of the policemen who were sta- tioned in the hall, crowded down upon the floor until they were within a few feet of the opposing teams. - Old men in the crowd who had grad- uated from college before Frank and his companions were born, were quite as ex- cited as the younger men. ‘fDon’t let it be a draw, Merriwell,” shouted one white-whiskered man, waving his hat frantically. ‘‘Princeton! Princeton!’ came in a big chorts from the other side of the room, as the Princeton team lay closer to the floor and pulled at the rope with might and main. The muscles of their arms and shoul]- ders stood out like whipcords and the | perspiration started from their brows. They were doing their best, to say the least, to prevent a draw. It was a splendid tug; the ribbon at last began to move. It took its course slowly and by little starts and uate to- ward the Princeton side. | The palms of the Yale men fairly - burned as the cord slipped by. It was not much, but as before, aninch at the end of four minutes would be as good as a yard. Frank’s face was set in an expression of intense determination, and the per- spiration stood out upon his brow, too, although he was exerting httle force. - Inch by inch he was paying out the rope from his belt, a thing that had to be done in order to prevent his crew from being pulled to their feet. Frank was waiting his opportunity; it came as he had foreseen, just at the in- stant when the Princeton men had ex- erted all the force of which they were capable. He knew when this minute had ar- rived, not by any expression upon their faces, but by the fact that the Princeton anchor hastily caught his end of the rope in a knot in order to hold the advantage that had been gained. Then Frank said in a tone that could not have been heard by any of the spec- tators : ‘*Now, boys!’ On that instant the three Yale men who had been lying almost on their backs, sat up, made a quick grab at the rope a few inches in front of where they had been holding it before, and then strained back suddenly, and with all the force that they could muster. The Princeton anchor, who had sup- posed that the Yale men were exhausted also, was taken. completely by surprise. He had knotted his rope and could not pay it out as the opposing tug came; the result was that while. there was yet a full minute to spare, the Princeton team stood up suddenly, pulled squarely off the cleats by the victorious sons of Yale. The shouting changed on the instant; there had been a wild, triumphant howl- ing on the Princeton side because the rib- bon had gone fully fifteen inches beyond the chalk mark. Now it travelled so rapidly toward the Yale side that there was no measuring the distance; that did not matter any- way, for when ateam is pulled. squarely off the cleats, the tug is done. Frank, therefore, had the double satis. faction of seeing his college win the gen- eral trophy and of meeting successfully a serious emergency that had occurred. in the special sport which he had under- taken to manage. It was a great evening for Yale, and one that all men who were students in the college at that time will never forget. [rare END. | COMICLOO® SS (C(O) an