become a friend of his!"

"I'm not a friend of his!"

Pike laughed sneeringly.

"What do you call it? If I say a word against Frank Merriwell you want
to eat me up. It's come to that! You were ready to fight him any minute,
at first; now you're ready to lick the polish off his shoes, just like
the rest of those fellows."

"Nothing of the kind!" Badger hotly declared.

"Well, you're going to pitch for his picked team Saturday!"

"Kirk asked me to."

"And Merriwell sent him?"

"Yes!"

"And they have become such friends that they're almost chums. The
fellows are beginning to say that Dunstan Kirk manages the Yale
ball-team, and Frank Merriwell manages Dunstan Kirk. They are about
right, I guess!"

"I allow that I'm no nearer being Merriwell's chum than I ever was. We
could never be chums. But I'm not going to forget what he did for me on
the _Crested Foam_. He saved my life, then, Pike!"

"And proposes to wind you round his fingers and drag you at his heels to
make you pay for it!"

"So, when he sent me that invitation, and I talked it over with Kirk, I
thought I ought to accept it."

"Don't you know that Hodge will refuse to catch?"

"Don't talk about him!" Badger hissed.

"He has already said that he will not catch for such a scoundrel as
you!"

"Did he say that?"

"He says you will lose them the game; that it's an outrage to put you
into the box, and he won't be a party to it. He says you can't pitch."

"Can't I? He says that, does he?"

"He says that if Frank Merriwell takes up with you, he will never speak
to him again. Anyhow, what good will it do you to pitch for Merriwell?
You'll be no nearer getting a show on the regular nine."

Badger shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and showed his broad
white teeth unpleasantly. Pike was again walking up and down the room.

"I'd almost be willing to become a member of Merriwell's flock just to
spite Bart Hodge. My hands just naturally go up, and I want to fight
whenever I see him. That's whatever!"

"Oh, you two will be as chummy as the Siamese twins in less than a
month."

"Never! I hate him too badly."

"That's the way you were talking of Merriwell a month ago. You will come
round to it!"

"Not on your life! Hodge is a different sort of fellow from Merriwell, I
allow."

"And you are going to accept that invitation?"

"I told you, Pike, that I have already accepted it. I'm not Merriwell's
friend, and I despise Bart Hodge; but I'm no