“If they didn’t improve, they wouldn’t keep me as coach,” returned the other; “but I’ll knock the stuffing out of them at the last moment by advising the removal of a good man and the substitution of a poor one. I want them to have enough confidence in me by that time so they will do exactly as I say.”
Two other lads, in bicycle suits, unseen by the treacherous coach and the spy in the bushes, having left their wheels near the highway that ran some distance from the river, had come down and stopped near enough to hear all this conversation.
They were Diamond and Frank.
Diamond had brought Merriwell to that point in order to show him the pretty view of the Potomac River, and not till they had advanced more than two-thirds the distance from the road did they hear the shouted cries of the coach, and see him standing on the bluff.
The curiosity of the boys was aroused, and they came forward quietly to see what was taking place.
The coach, and the spy in the bushes, were so absorbed in the movements of the crew that neither saw Merriwell and Diamond, and so, without thinking of playing eavesdroppers, the Yale lads heard something that was not intended for their ears.
Jack clutched Frank’s arm.
“What do you think of that?” he hissed, his dark face growing still darker.
“Think,” said Frank, scornfully. “I think that coach should be ducked in the river!”
“And I think the spy should be ducked with him!” came fiercely from the lips of the young Virginian.