CHAPTER XXVI.
FIGHTING A GANG.
“Merriwell won the game.”
That was the report brought back to New Haven by the victors, and Frank was more of a hero than ever.
There was one man who came back with a heart overflowing with bitterness. Pink Pooler had made bets right and left that Yale would not win the pennant that season. He had offered all sorts of odds, and he felt that he would be in a bad hole if Yale did win.
Yale played Harvard on Yale field to follow the Princeton game. Now that the blue had won over the orange and black there were enough fellows with money to bet that Yale would down Harvard.
Pooler had received a “straight tip” that Harvard was coming with a powerful team, and he raked every dollar he could raise to back her as a winner.
Pooler firmly believed Yale had won the Princeton game by a fluke. Harvard must come out ahead in the game on the following Saturday. If not by fair means—well, there would be a way to fix it!
Much talk was made about Merriwell’s double-shoot. Hodge was enthusiastic over it. He declared Merry would paralyze the Harvard men with that curve.
Frank retired Hal Faunce from the team. He put Puss Parker in right, and placed Bruce Browning on first. Then he pulled in Joe Costigan from left field and restored him to third base, the position he had played the previous season.