“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” he exclaimed.
“I hope you don’t disapprove,” Dick said quickly.
“Disapprove! No, of course not. It will make the game all the more interesting. I never did like that fellow, Morrison, and he can’t pitch for sour apples. But I must get up and tell the boys about this. We’ll have to get in all the practice we can to-night. I don’t feel quite so cocksure of winning as I did a few moments ago.”
He stood up quickly and started for the door, the Yale man at his side. In the hall he took his hat from the butler, and then stopped suddenly and looked at Dick.
“I reckon my wife must be right,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “She says I haven’t got an idea in my head but baseball. Here I’m running off without ever asking you what I could do for you. You must have had a reason for coming.”
Merriwell smiled.
“I did have a favor to ask,” he said. “I am very anxious to go through the mine with three friends, if it’s possible.”
“Why, certainly,” the older man returned briskly. “Delighted to have you. Come up to the offices to-morrow about nine, and you’ll find me there. Will that time suit you?”
“Perfectly,” Dick answered. “And I’m sorry to have taken so much of your time to-night.”
The mine owner laughed.