“They are being driven hard at a time when they should be handled with the utmost care,” declared Merry. “It will make men slow to overwork them, just as it will make spirited horses slow.”
“But undertraining is worse.”
“That’s all right, and it’s true enough. Still, if we are going into the fight in the best shape, we should be handled with the utmost care just now. I believe I have been doing too much lately, and I do not feel at my very best.”
That was enough to cause one member of the group to prick up his ears. Frank had not thought he had an enemy in the bunch around him, but there was one present who quickly found an opportunity to slip away, his heart filled with satisfaction. It is astonishing how soon the report spread over the field that Merriwell had said the men were being overworked. His actual words were twisted and distorted, and they were made to seem even more than they actually did. The word was being passed around in a very short time that he had criticized the management of the eleven in the plainest language.
All unconscious of this, Frank continued to talk with his friends. He pointed out Harvard’s weak points, and told how he believed the crimson might be defeated. He also spoke of Yale’s strength in certain lines, but, outside of his remark about overtraining, he did not mention any special weakness. Observing this, one of the party made bold to ask him pointblank where the blue was weak.
Frank smiled, as he slowly replied:
“If we have a weakness in our play, and I don’t say that we have, the man who talks about it is a chump. In the past, we’ve managed to get the report abroad that we were weak just where we were strongest. This year such a piece of strategy has been neglected till it is too late for such a misleading yarn to do us much good.”
“Would you dare bet even money that Yale wins?” was fired at him.
“I am not a betting man,” he answered. “I never bet from choice, although I don’t like to have a fellow flourish a roll under my nose and tell me I haven’t sand enough to cover it. However, if I bet, I shall back Yale, not from principle or sentiment, but because I believe she will win.”
“Harvard says we haven’t a chance. You know there are Harvard men who are saying Yale has seen her day.”