Drinks were ordered and brought, Frank refusing to take anything. Lawrence proposed a toast, and they drank.
“How did you get hold of Merriwell?” he asked of Riddle. “Why, how do you happen to be here, anyway?”
“Business,” was the laconic answer.
“But it’s strange I didn’t hear you were here.”
“Came a short time ago. Dropped into the office and heard a Yankee and a Dutchman talking about Frank Merriwell being Haley’s new advance man. They didn’t know me, so I pumped them. Got a description of Merriwell and found out lots of particulars about him. When he came into the office, I thought it must be him, and I made a crack at him. Hit him, all right. Pretended I had known him at college. That went, but I might have saved my breath. Didn’t get a thing out of him.”
Riddle showed his disgust, but he was good-natured about it. Then he complimented Merry on keeping still. Frank laughingly assured him it had required no effort at all, which caused Lawrence to “jolly” Riddle unmercifully.
Frank got away in a few minutes, leaving Lawrence and Riddle together. He went to his room, taking a railroad map with him, and there studied over the route he was to follow, making himself familiar with the names of the towns, distances to be “jumped,” time of trains, population of the different places, and many other things he considered worth knowing.
Thus Merry was starting out, as he started on everything he undertook, by learning everything possible that might assist him in any way.
He looked over the different notices, given him by Manager Haley, so that he might become familiar with them and know just what kind of stuff he was working onto the newspapers.
Those notices were a disappointment to Merry. They seemed too conventional, too tame, too much like other notices of traveling shows, too plainly reading advertisements.