"How do you know it is right?" asked Emery. "What do you know about Merriwell?"
"I know he has been abroad, and I have it straight that he spent considerable time at Oxford."
"That's nothing. Any lubber might watch the work at Oxford, but what would that amount to?"
"Merriwell is no lubber, as you fellows should know by this time."
"We don't seem to know much of anything about him. Who are his parents? What about them?"
"I hear his father was drowned in bed," murmured Tad Horner.
"By Jawve!" exclaimed Willis Paulding. "How could that happen?"
"There was a hole in the mattress, and he fell through into the spring," gravely assured Tad.
Willis nearly lost his breath.
"That's all wrong," said Browning. "It's true Merriwell is no lubber. Why should he be? His father was a skipper."