“Of course he will!”
“They’ll have to take him back!”
“Look here, old man,” said Parker to Frank, “we stick by you, and we’ve got to do what we can to see you back onto the team. Here is my hand.”
He grasped Frank’s hand and shook it. The others crowded about and shook hands with Merry, also. Every man of them expressed his confidence in Frank and admiration for him. It stirred Merriwell and touched his heart.
“Boys,” he said, with genuine feeling, “it’s worth being kicked off the eleven just to find out how stanch my real friends are!”
CHAPTER XV.
WHAT THE COLLEGE THOUGHT.
Rattleton and Diamond came up and joined the crowd. They had heard of Frank being dropped from the team, but neither of them would take any stock in it till they heard it from Merry’s lips. Rattleton was wildly excited.
“Who’s been telling this lundering barn about you?” he cried. “No, I mean who has been telling this blundering yarn? Of course, it is a wretched lie! They say Lorrimer has laid you off.”
“Well, it strikes me that the yarn is true,” said Frank.