CHAPTER XVIII. HAVENER'S DISCOVERY.
That night, after the show, Frank had reached the office of the hotel when a man appeared and said:
"I want to see the feller that threw me out of the hall to-night.
"Won't somebody jest p'int him out to me?"
"Skip, Merriwell," advised Sargent. "He's come loaded for you, and there will be a hot time if he sees you."
But Frank did not skip.
"I am the one who threw you out of the hall, sir," he said, stepping forward.
Bill Dyer looked him over from his head to his feet.
"Waal," he said, slowly, "I'll be hanged ef I kin tell how ye done it so easy! You done it, all the same, an' done it well! I thought you was a dood, but I reckon there's some purty good stuff in ye. I'd like to shake hands with ye."
He extended his hand, which Frank accepted. The man attempted to give Merry a squeeze that would make him cringe, but Frank squeezed back in earnest, looking him straight in the eyes and smiling sweetly.
"Yes, you're all right," nodded Dyer. "I shan't monkey with you any more, an' the feller who paid me ten dollars to break up the show when you was on the stage is out that much money. That's about the way I figger it."
Frank was interested now.
"Did somebody hire you to break up the show?" he asked.
"Sure thing."
"What sort of a fellow—how did he look?"
Dyer gave a rather incoherent description, but Frank immediately decided it must have been Harris.
"Do you know where that fellow can be found?"
"I reckon."
"I'll give you ten dollars to take me to him."
"Done!"
"All I want you to do is wait till I can swear out a warrant for his arrest and find a man to serve it."
Frank hustled. In a short time he had a warrant for Sport Harris, and he obtained the services of a deputy sheriff to serve it. Then Dyer took them straight to the house where Harris was stopping. The fellow was there, and he was taken into custody by the officer, who gave him no chance to escape and lodged him in the "cooler."
Of course Harris was furious.
"I was a fool to get a drunken lout to do my work!" he snarled. "I should have pasted you with good ripe eggs. But I'll get at you yet!"
"You'll rest in jail a while."
"Oh, I don't know! You can't afford the time to prosecute me."
"I don't have to afford it. Dyer is ready to swear you hired him to do what he did, and there are a dozen citizens who will push you."
It was not difficult to find citizens of the place who were willing to take the case up, so Merriwell was not detained, for when Harris was released he was promptly rearrested on another warrant.
The new company went on its way, and it did seem that success was smiling on the organization now that Frank Merriwell had become manager of it. Although they were barnstorming and playing in out-of-the-way places, they seemed to have struck a good streak of business.
But there was a shadow hanging over the company. Havener was changed. He had grown sullen and touchy, and he treated Cassie with a mingling of cold contempt and burning love that was bewildering to the girl. He scarcely ever spoke to Merriwell, unless absolutely forced to do so.
Then the story got out that Havener had purchased a revolver. One night he sat in the office of a wretched little hotel and talked queerly. He said life had been an utter failure with him, and he was sick of it. He said that the world was full of deception and all women were liars. He had been fooled once by a woman, and he didn't mean to be fooled again.
"Havener is ill," declared those who heard his queer talk. "He's in need of a tonic."
The next morning Frank Merriwell rose early and went out to take a walk. He was surprised when he came downstairs to find Cassie Lee dressed and prepared to go out also.
"Why, what does this mean?" he asked. "I thought you always stayed in bed as late as possible?"
"Used to," she laughed. "Don't now. Had to have something for a stimulant when I knocked off the other thing, so I've been going in for fresh air, morning walks, exercise and all that. I find it's doing me good, too."
"Of course it is! Nine actresses out of ten get too little good open-air exercise. If you're for a walk, come with me."
"All right. That will be jolly."
Away they went together.
And they were not the only ones who had risen early that morning. Roscoe Havener, unable to sleep, was up ahead of them and out of the hotel. He tramped fiercely out of the town to a little valley through which ran a brook. There was some timber about, and he sat down beside a brook. After a time he took out his revolver and looked it over. It was loaded.
"I can get out of the whole business here and now," he muttered. "A single shot planted in the right place will do it. If I hold on, I shall kill Cassie and Merriwell sure as fate!"
He heard voices and drew back a little, still remaining seated on the ground.
Two persons came down the road past him and stopped by the little bridge. They were Cassie and Frank. His eyes blazed, and the revolver trembled in his hands. He half lifted it, thinking:
"I can get them both before I empty every chamber!"
Cassie was speaking.
"I owe it all to you, Frank," she was saying, and Havener heard her plainly. "I am sure I am getting rid of the awful habit now. You know I can play without using morphine at all, and it all comes because you encouraged me to pray. I didn't think it would do any good for a girl like me to pray, but it has."
"If I have helped you, Cassie, I am thankful. I discovered your secret by accident, and I have kept it faithfully, though I fear Havener suspects all is not right because there is a secret between us."
"I will tell him all at once. He is changed lately, but I love him just the same. He will be all right when he knows the truth. You know I told you I would never, never marry him till I got rid of the habit. It is you, Frank, who have made it possible for me to become his wife."
Havener rose to his feet as quietly as he could, drawing back and hiding himself by the bushes. He stole away from the spot, quivering in every limb.
"And I thought of committing suicide!" he whispered, as he hastened away. "I thought of committing murder! What a fool I have been! Thank God the discovery of my folly came in time! Thank God! thank God!"
Then he threw the loaded revolver as far from him as possible.