“I couldn’t think of leaving you penniless,” declared the Westerner, with a wave of his hand.
“They’re onto you!” cried Dashleigh, laughing.
There was a rap at the door, and Frank called “Come in.” The door opened, and a young man with a splendid figure entered the room with some hesitation.
“Hello, Knight!” cried Merry. “Come right in. You’re welcome.”
“There,” said Ready to Starbright and Dashleigh, “comes the handicap that will make you look like thirty cents in the little affair we have been discussing. Think of dragging around a coxswain like that! Haven’t you a small man in your whole class that can steer a boat?”
“Shut up, please!” warned Dick, in a low tone. “Knight is sensitive, and he’ll think you’re making some observation about his face.”
For Earl Knight had a terrible bluish scar that ran the whole length of his left cheek from temple to chin. Otherwise he was quite a good-looking fellow. But that scar was enough to attract and fascinate any one who saw it for the first time, and it caused strangers to stare at Knight wherever he went, so that in time he became very sensitive about his misfortune.
This scar had made Knight very retiring when he first entered college, but he was a fine, strong, athletic-looking fellow, and his classmates finally drew him out and induced him to take part in athletics.
When it came to rowing, it was found that Knight had once been a coxswain on a high-school crew, or something of the sort, and some combination of circumstances gave him the stern of the freshman boat.
It was not long before the discovery was made that Knight knew his business. He could steer a boat, and he could keep a crew in trim at those times when they were not beneath the eye of a coach. He had an encouraging way of calling a man down pleasantly and putting new life and effort into him, instead of getting him mad and sulky, which is an art in itself.