without ever encountering misfortune and he
cannot sympathize with those who have to struggle hard to keep their
heads above the surface. Besides that, it stiffens and braces the right
sort of a fellow to overcome misfortune and rise in the world through
his own efforts. I know, Morgan, for I've seen my share of bad luck."

The flickering gaslight revealed the fact that a bit of color came into
Morgan's cheeks.

"I--I suppose that's right," he confessed. "But I never dreamed I'd come
to--this! It was the suddenness of the fall that took the sand out of
me, too. I ought to be ashamed--I am ashamed--for I actually thought of
suicide! You see, Merry, no one but Dick here knew I had gone to the
bottom like this. I've been writing home, telling all about my good
fortune and success. The thought of any one ever finding out what a
wretched failure I had made was more than I could endure. I tell you,
Merriwell, this town is a bad place for a fellow who happens to fall in
with the swift set. It was a fast bunch I dropped into, and I--well, I
made a confounded fool of myself. Result, I blew all my money, acquired
a taste for champagne, went broke, and I've been drinking beer and
whisky since to keep my courage up. Might as well make a clean breast of
it. Dick's been staking me lately, and I've been trying to hit it lucky
with the ponies in order to get a start. To-day I decided that luck had
set in to run against me for fair, and I felt like ending it by cashing
in my chips for good."

Morgan seemed to feel a little better after making this confession.

"Glad I had a streak of luck that brought me along at this point,"
smiled Frank. "You're going to get such foolish thoughts out of your
head right away. What you need is a change of air and scene. I can make
use of you."

"You can?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Let's sit down a moment. I'll tell you about it."

There was one broken chair in the room. This Morgan hastily placed for
Merriwell, after which he and Starbright sat on the bed.

Frank made plain the events which had brought him to New York in
connection with the Central Sonora railroad scheme.

"Now that the business is practically settled, I have a little scheme
that I propose to carry out," he said. "I am going to organize an
athletic team, made up of my friends and comrades and make a tour."

"Great!" cried Starbright.

"It's a splendid scheme," nodded Morgan. "Can you get the fellows
together?"

"I think so.