“I’ve got to get on my feet somehow, Darrell. You know my dislike for Merriwell has led me into betting heavily against Fardale, and I have been soaked good and hard.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I know you did, but every time I thought I had a sure thing. With Merriwell off the team I should have been eager for Fardale to win. With him on it, I hated him so much that I was more than eager for the other side to win. Fardale secured victory after victory; but that simply made me all the more confident that the tide must turn and she must lose. What’s the result? I’m flat. Of course, I can get more money, but really, old man, I’m ashamed to call for it.”
Thinking of the money Chester had lost and had squandered in foolish ways, Hal did not wonder that he was ashamed. Truly, it was astonishing that a boy of Chester’s years could have so much money to fling about without thought or reason.
“That’s the explanation,” nodded Arlington. “I must get on my feet somehow.”
“I don’t see how you expect to do it by——”
“This time I’ll back Fardale.”
“Why, you can’t find any one to bet on New Era.”
“Oh, yes, I can! Those New Era fellows have sent some chaps into town looking for bets.”
“Why, great Scott! we downed the Trojans, and the Trojans buried New Era!”