"It's too late!" he hotly declared. "I am going to see the thing
through!"

And so the meshes of the snare closed around him.

CHAPTER X.

DOWNWARD.

In vain Gage and Snell tried to get hold of some IOU's with Frank
Merriwell's name on them. Frank's money was exhausted, and he stopped
playing suddenly. Gage offered to loan him money, but he had not
forgotten the past, and not a cent of Gage's cash would he touch.

Then Snell tried it, but was no more successful.

This made them both angry.

"Confound the fellow!" said Gage, fiercely. "We've got him badly
tangled; but he seems to have taken the alarm, and I'm afraid he will
break away."

"We must not let him do so," said Snell. "If we lose our fish now,
we'll never land him."

"What can be done?"

"That is for us to study out."

And so they set about plotting and trying to devise still other schemes
to disgrace Frank, and drive him from the academy.

In the meantime, a feeling of revulsion had seized Frank Merriwell. Of
a sudden he had perceived whither he was drifting. He realized what
false steps he had already taken, and he was heartily ashamed of
himself.

Among his treasures was a medal of honor presented to him by Congress
for twice saving the life of Inza Burrage, a pretty girl who lived in
Fardale, and whose brother, Walter, was a cadet at the academy. Once
he had fought a mad dog with no weapon but a clasp-knife, and kept the
creature from biting Inza, and once he had saved her from death beneath
the wheels of the afternoon express, which flew through Fardale village
without stopping.

Coming across this medal where he kept it choicely deposited, it
suddenly brought to him an overwhelming feeling of self-abasement and
shame.

What would Inza Burrage think of him if she knew of his weakness--knew
that he was playing cards for money, and making associates of such
fellows as Gage and Snell?

It was true that she did not know either Gage or Snell for what they
really were at heart, but Frank did, and there really seemed no excuse
for him.

He tried to excuse himself by saying he had been led into temptation
through Hodge, but, in another instant he felt meaner than before.

"You ought to be ashamed, Merriwell!" he told himself. "You have all
the influence in the world over Hodge, if you use your power
skillfully, and, instead of trying to shoulder the blame on him, you
should be disgusted with yourself for making no attempt