Halliday, Griswold and Puss Parker came up in a bunch.
“I tell you it is a practical joke!” Parker was saying. “Somebody has put up this job. I won’t believe Merriwell is going to leave college.”
“He’s forced to leave,” said Halliday. “I saw the letter from his guardian in which Scotch confesses that he has squandered every dollar of Merry’s fortune.”
“In some kind of a wild-cat mining scheme. That is, the most of it was sunk in that, although old Scotch confesses that he tried to retrieve by plunging in stocks.”
“Well, I’m sorry for Merriwell,” sighed Griswold.
“Really, my deah boys, I don’t know that I am sorry, don’t yer ’now,” broke in a voice, and Willis Paulding, a pronounced Anglomaniac, joined the group.
“Oh, you’re not?” snarled Lewis Little, who had the reputation of never speaking an angry word or doing an angry act.
“No, really, I am not,” said Paulding. “Mr. Merriwell flew altogether too high, don’t yer ’now. This will take him down considerable.”
“And this will take you down a trifle!” grated Little, as he struck Paulding with all his strength, knocking him down instantly.