"Business?" said Frank, questioningly. "I thought this was a case of sport?"
"It is. You mustn't be so quick to catch up a word."
The table was cleared, and the boys gathered round it, Hodge producing a pack of cards, the seal of which had not been broken.
"You'll notice that those papers are all right," he said, significantly. "Nobody's had a chance to tamper with them."
"What do you play?" asked Frank, to whose face a strange look had come on sight of the cards.
"Oh, we play most anything—euchre, seven up, poker——"
"Poker?"
"Yes; just a light game—penny ante—to make it interesting. You know there's no interest in poker unless there's some risk."
The strange look grew on Frank Merriwell's face. He seemed in doubt, as if hesitating over something.
"I—I think I will go back to the room," he said.