But Merriwell, by then, was out of earshot. The call for the second half was ringing down the field. Lenning hesitated, as though inclined to follow Merriwell; then, tossing his hands with a desperate gesture, he whirled and ran to take his place with the rest of the Gold Hill team.
When Frank had worked his way past the lower end of the grand stand, he half started toward the dressing rooms. But he checked the move, for Guffey, as he could see, was traveling north across the sandy stretch of ground on that side of the club premises.
Lenning had misstated the case. The Gold Hill coach may have been having “a spell with his head,” but he was not bound for the dressing rooms to lie down. On the contrary, he was striding briskly off into the open, apparently bent on getting as far away from the football field as possible.
Merriwell chuckled grimly. He had thought that a maneuver of this kind would be attempted.
What he had said about the half dollar had certainly worked upon Guffey’s suspicions; and then, the suspicions must have been intensified when Guffey saw Frank talking with Hawkins, the deputy sheriff.
Undoubtedly the Gold Hill coach thought that a plan was forming to put him under arrest for stealing the thirty dollars. In order to avoid such a result, Guffey’s best plan, of course, was to get himself out of the way. This, very likely, was what he was attempting to do.
Guffey, casting a hurried look behind him, saw Merriwell. He began to run.
“Hold up, Guffey!” Merry shouted. “Don’t be in a rush.”
But Guffey was attending to a matter of pressing importance. If overtaken, a jail would yawn to receive him; on the other hand, if he succeeded in making his escape from Merriwell, he would perhaps receive the benefit of a doubt in the matter of that thirty dollars. Instead of halting, he increased his pace to the limit.
There must have been some exciting work going forward on the football field. The roar of the spectators mounted high, and never for a moment were grand stand and bleachers entirely quiet. The noise lessened as Merriwell and Guffey drew farther and farther away.