“By Jove!” whispered Wolfe, in Ditson’s ear. “We’d better let up on this. The only way to satisfy him is to show him Merriwell alive and in good health.”
“And that may not satisfy him,” murmured Dunc. “They say the thing that threw him into a fit was the sight of Merriwell this morning. Mike’s the last person I’d ever fancied would get this way. I didn’t suppose he had any nerves. He’s literally gone to pieces.”
They soothed him by changing the subject of their conversation. By the time he was dressed and ready to go out he again seemed in his normal condition.
On their way to a restaurant they met Merriwell, who, with several friends, was coming from the gymnasium.
At sight of Dick, Lynch turned ghastly pale and trembled. Not a word came from his lips, but he turned his head away and walked on with averted eyes.
“Merriwell is looking pretty healthy for a dead man,” observed Wolfe, winking at Ditson.
“Stop!” cried Mike, with a snarl. “Don’t try any more of that! I won’t have it. I know he’s dead, and that ends it.”
His companions looked at each other in wonderment, deciding that, although Lynch seemingly had recovered, he was a subject for the care of a physician.
But even the doctor who attended Lynch could not quite understand the condition of the fellow’s mind. In everything else Mike seemed rational, but the mere mentioning of Merriwell’s name in his hearing threw him into a state of excitement that bordered on frenzy. At sight of Dick, whom he occasionally encountered, he invariably turned pale and averted his eyes. Some of the fellow’s friends insisted that he ought to go home and take a rest, but this caused Lynch to grin and declare that he was in “the finest condition ever.” He simply refused to acknowledge that Dick Merriwell was not dead.
Ditson and Du Boise raised money to settle for Brad Buckhart’s boat and felt that they were getting out of the affair very cheaply. Of course Dick was told of Mike Lynch’s singular mental delusion, but he, like nearly every one else, believed Lynch would get over it in time.