oped to get in with Merriwell, and he fancied Merriwell would think
him a fine fellow for blowing."

"Well?"

"Well, he made a mistake in Frank Merriwell, for Merriwell despised him
all the more, although he did nothing to injure Ditson. He does not
recognize Ditson at all, and now Ditson is more eager than before to do
Merriwell an injury."

"All the same, Ditson can't be trusted."

"Not unless he is so deep in the game that it means ruin for him to
blow. Then he is caught. As I said in the first place, he is a good man
to do the dirty work that we do not want to touch."

"I think Harris is right," nodded Harlow, "and you may get a chance to
even up with Ditson by throwing him down when we have fixed Merriwell
nicely."

"But you want to remember you are going up against a bad man in Frank
Merriwell," warned Sport. "I do not care to be forced out of Yale."

"Of course not," said Hartwick and Harlow.

"You fellows have not so much to look out for. You can do things that
would be beyond me."

"We made a bluff at doing something to-day," growled Hartwick. "We were
out for a drive, and we came upon Merriwell. He was on his new horse,
and we tried to run him down, but he got out of the way."

"I don't know but it is a good thing he did," confessed Harlow. "If we
had struck him there'd been a general smashup. I was driving, and we
were making the old nag hit a hot pace. We came near going bottom up as
it was."

"You must have been badly rattled," exclaimed Harris.

"Oh, I don't know," laughed Hartwick, harshly. "We've been up against it
for the past three days. Eh, Harlow?"

"That's what," nodded the card sharp. "Hartwick is a hard man to follow.
He can kill more stuff than anybody I ever saw."

"Well," said Harris, "I have asked Ditson to come in here this evening.
I took a chance on it, for I thought we could get rid of him easily
enough if we didn't want him. He is liable to be along at any moment."

Harlow looked at a handsome watch.

"A quarter to ten," he said. "He ought to be around soon if he is coming
at all."

"He will be. Where'd you get that ticker, old man?"

"Oh, I took it off a sucker in a game. I'll have to soak it if I don't
strike some sort of graft pretty soon. I'm getting down to hard pan."

"I suppose you are all right, Hartwick?" questioned Harris. "You can
call on your old man and make him give up any time."

"Well, I guess not! I haven't been able to get a dollar out of the old