He withdrew to the window to read the colonel’s letter. When he had finished, he turned back to Darrel, with a low whistle, which proved that there must have been something surprising in the letter, after all.
CHAPTER XXXI.
HATCHING A PLOT.
“You know what there is in this letter, Curly?” Frank asked.
“Pretty nearly,” was the reply. “Uncle Alvah is afraid, from something he has heard, that you’re going to have Jode Lenning in your team. If that is your plan, he sincerely hopes you’ll reconsider; for the move would arouse resentment in Gold Hill, and might lead to the canceling of the game. You know, of course, that Lenning’s past record is all against him, that he’s a vicious young scamp, and so forth, and so forth. Isn’t that about what the colonel wrote to you, Chip?”
“Just about,” Frank answered glumly.
“I heard, although I don’t know how straight I got it, that some of the Ophir chaps refused to play with Jode, and that he’s out of the game for good. Is that right?”
“There were objections when I tried to get Lenning on our nine, and Blunt and Handy aired their grievance right in front of Lenning. That fixed it. Lenning couldn’t go on when he saw how those two felt about it.”
“What’s the matter with Blunt and Handy?” demanded Darrel, his voice quivering with anger. “Are they so all-fired righteous that they can’t associate with a fellow who’s trying to live down his past?”
Darrel’s attitude set Merriwell to wondering. He had suffered at his half brother’s hands more than any one else, and yet here he was, apparently championing his cause and taking his part.