me."

Frank had seen the face of the driver as the carriage spun past, and he
added:

"Hartwick's companion is somebody I know. I did not obtain a fair look
at him, but--great Scott! it was the card sharp, Rolf Harlow!"

Harlow was a fellow who had entered Harvard, but had not completed his
second year there, leaving suddenly for reasons not generally known.

A Yale man by the name of Harris, familiarly known as "Sport," because
of his gambling inclinations, had known Harlow, and had introduced him
to a number of Yale students.

Harris and Harlow were both poker players, but they claimed that they
played the game "merely for amusement."

A number of Harris' acquaintances had been induced to enter into the
game, and there had been some very "hot sittings."

No one seemed to suspect that Harlow was crooked, for he almost always
lost, although he never lost large sums.

Harris won almost continually. He seemed to be the luckiest fellow in
the world in drawing cards. He would hold up one ace on a large jackpot
and catch two more aces and a small pair. It seemed the greatest kind of
"bull luck."

Harry Rattleton, Merriwell's roommate, was following the game. Frank
tried to induce him to keep away, but it was without avail.

Then Frank seemed to take an interest in the game, and it was not long
before he proved that Harlow was a card manipulator, and caught him at
one of his tricks.

That finished Harlow's career at plucking Yale "fruit," and the fellow
left New Haven suddenly.

Harris had remained under a cloud of suspicion since that time, as there
seemed very little doubt but he had been in league with Harlow, and they
had divided the plunder between them.

The proof had not been sufficient to incriminate Harris, but it had been
enough to make him unpopular and cause him to be shunned.

He had seemed to take this very meekly, but some of Merriwell's friends
declared that Harris had not forgotten or forgiven, and that he would
strike back at Frank if the opportunity ever presented.

Now Harlow was back in New Haven, and Hartwick, who had been forced to
leave college to escape expulsion, was also there.

That meant something.

"Hartwick, Harlow and Harris--the three hard tickets. They are birds of
a feather. All they need is Ditson to make a most delectable quartet!"

So muttered Frank Merriwell, as he gazed at the receding cloud of dust.

Frank began to realize that there was more trouble in store for