The colonel, erect and soldierly, was pacing slowly back and forth at the trailside. It was a fair inference, from the way he bore himself, that there was something on his mind.
Since Frank had heard of the way the old colonel had been treating Jode Lenning, following Jode’s wretched conduct in the gulch, his estimate of the colonel had gone down several degrees. A man might be eccentric, Frank reasoned, without displaying such glaring partiality or such weak-kneed injustice.
“Good evening, colonel,” said Frank, coming to a halt near the trail.
The other, busy with his reflections, had not noticed the lad’s approach. “That you, Merriwell?” he asked, turning.
“Yes, sir. I was told that you want to talk with me.”
“So I do; I have come out here for that especial purpose. Suppose we walk a little way along the trail?”
Frank fell in at the colonel’s side and walked with him a stone’s throw up the road. When they halted, the colonel sat down on a bowlder and lighted a cigar. The flare of the match, falling over his rugged face, revealed a sternness and a settled purpose that rather startled the youngster at his side. Colonel Hawtrey, in spite of the way he was treating Jode, was no weakling.
“To-morrow, Merriwell,” went on Hawtrey, “is the day of the big game. Several hundred from Gold Hill will move on Ophir to root for the home team. I hope everybody keeps his temper and that there will be no disgraceful clashes. To-morrow afternoon, I sincerely trust, we are going to bury our animosities in friendly rivalry. The old feud between the two athletic organizations, let us hope, is going to be wiped out forever.”
“You will find, colonel,” said Frank, “that Ophir will do her full part.”
“Glad to hear that. I will personally stand sponsor for Gold Hill. The news comes to us that your team is in a bad way, and that last week Saturday the first game after your return to town from camp was a big disappointment to you. Handy, your captain, got rattled and began interfering with the quarter back, and Mayburn, your center, put up a miserable article of play. Is that right?”