"I shall, all the same," persisted Reid.
"And I shall do the same thing," said Gus Wade. "I’d give a hundred dollars this minute, if I had it, if I had never put my name to your old paper!"
"I’d give two hundred!" cried Mart.
Zeb saw that Watson was frightened, as well as Reid and Wade, and, for the first time, he began to fear that the charges against Merriwell might result in injury to the ones who had made them. He tried to think of the proper course to pursue, but he was bewildered and uncertain until Reid said:
"Wish I could get my hands on that old paper. I’d soon fix it so it would not serve as evidence against me."
A light that was new came to Fletcher’s crooked eye.
"Look here, fellows!" he said, "don’t you worry about this matter any more."
"How are we going to help it?" questioned Wade.
"Just don’t. It will be all right, I promise you that. I’ve got a scheme of fixing it."
"What is the scheme?"