“Look here, Mr. Arlington, if you had not given me the cold cash to bet on our team, I’d be dead certain you threw me down. Where did you go when the first half was over? You vanished, and you were not seen again by me. Then Merriwell switched the team round and walked into us.”
It was plain Arlington did not care to reveal how he and Warne had been trapped by Dick. He hesitated a little, and then told an improbable story about being called away by one of the professors.
“You see, I’ve been in a little trouble here,” he said, “and they have been investigating the affair. I was wanted just about then to answer some questions, and I had to go.”
“Fishy!” exclaimed Kennedy suspiciously. “It was a queer time for the faculty to be carrying on an investigation.”
“Oh, they do queer things around that old academy. I tried to get away and hurry back, but they wouldn’t let me. I thought the game was Uniontown’s, anyhow, and so I didn’t worry about it.”
Brad Buckhart could hear some of this, and now he was grinding his strong teeth together.
“A fine chap to have on the athletic committee!” he hissed. “He ought to be lynched!”
“There is just one thing led me into this deal,” Chester explained to his companion. “That is my hatred for Dick Merriwell. If he were not captain of our team, you’d never catch me betting against it. If he were off the team, I’d work for it as hard as I could. But I am going to down him if it takes a leg! I’ll stop at nothing to do it! I have the athletic committee just where I want them. Some of them have played right into my hands, and they don’t dare do anything but what I tell them to do. In short, I am the whole committee.”
“Very interesting information,” commented Dick, in a low whisper.
Arlington was smoking a cigarette. Kennedy had lighted a cigar. Both had ordered drinks, but had not touched the stuff brought them.