on't work any more with this crowd!"

The boys sprang to their feet.

"What do you mean?" asked Gage, hoarsely, his face very pale.

"I mean that you are a sneak and a cheat!" said Frank, deliberately.
"I mean that you are too mean and contemptible for any honest fellow in
this academy to ever have anything to do with! I mean that you have
deliberately robbed your companions by means of crooked appliances made
for dishonest gamblers! That is exactly what I mean, Mr. Gage."

Leslie gasped, and managed to say:

"Be careful! You will have to prove every word, or----"

"I will prove it! I have been watching you, and I have seen you
repeatedly make the pass that restores cut cards to their original
position. I have seen you hold back at least three of the top cards in
dealing, and give them to Snell or take them yourself. Those cards
will be found to be skillfully marked, and that pack is short. Boys,
count those cards!"

The cards were counted, and the pack proved to be four cards short.

"Here is one of the gambler's appliances of which I spoke," said Frank,
thrusting his hand under Leslie's side of the table and wrenching away
something. "It is a table hold-out, and it contains the four missing
cards. This is the kind of a fellow you are playing cards with,
gentlemen."

The faces of the boys were black with anger, Wat Snell being excepted.
Seeing his opportunity, Snell quickly slipped away, and before he could
be stopped, had bolted from the boathouse.

Gage took advantage of the excitement to make a break for liberty, and
he, too, got away.

"What a howling shame!" said Harvey Dare, in disgust. "We'd tar and
feather them both. Anyway, they'll have to get out of the academy."

The boys who had put money into the game were given what they had
invested. The rest was turned over to Hodge. It made his losing
nearly square.

"This settles me," he said, grimly. "I am done playing. No more of
this business for me."

"Stick to that, and you will be all right," said Frank Merriwell, in a
low tone.

* * * * * *

Leslie Gage knew what must follow. The story was bound to spread among
the cadets, and he would find himself scorned and shunned. He
immediately ran away, and it was reported that he had gone to sea.

Wat Snell had not the nerve to run away, but he found himself the most
unpopular fellow at the academy, shunned by the cadets generally, and
regarded with c