“If those fellows got the money,” queried Merriwell, “why in thunder were they here, trying to get some more?”
“Probably two hundred wasn’t enough.”
“Don’t forget, Chip,” spoke up Ballard, “what Dolliver said. He told us, you know, that Shoup flashed a roll ‘big enough to choke a dog.’”
“That’s right,” said Frank. “They certainly had money, and yet they came here and made a play for more. I’ll be hanged if I can understand it.”
“The Gold Hill crowd was camped right in this place, a couple of weeks ago,” went on Bleeker, “and Jode got mad at Hotch and me and made us leave the camp. I’m on top myself, just now, and am back in the athletic club, and have been elected to Jode’s place as captain of the football team. It did me good to turn on the skunk and order him off, just as he had done to me. He was backward about going, too, and said he and Shoup would have to have something to eat. We gave them some provisions, and then drove them away. They made their threats that they’d get even with us, and, as I said, last night, one of our canoes was stolen. That’s how they got even, I reckon. This is the only stretch of water in this section, where a canoe can be used, so if we hunt long enough we’re bound to get back our lost property.”
“Lenning is getting pretty mild in the way he settles his scores,” remarked Ballard. “When he’s worked up, he can be rather desperate.”
“I’m betting,” said Bleeker, “that with Shoup to nag him on, he’ll go farther than he ever went before. That Shoup is a hard case.”
“Only thing in the way of that theory,” chimed in Clancy, “is that Lenning lacks nerve. He’s got a white feather in every pocket, and he shows it every time any one gives him a chance.”
“I wouldn’t come down too hard on Jode Lenning,” suggested Merriwell. “Dad has told me, a good many times, that he never saw a fellow so tough there wasn’t some good in him.”
“Lenning’s the exception,” declared Bleeker. “He’s a schemer, through and through, and he’d be out-and-out bad if he had the courage.”