“Then he’s such a chump that he isn’t fit to manage a tennis tournament!” squealed Bink Stubbs.
“No matter what may happen to me,” said Merry, “I shall pray for the success of Yale, and nothing can hurt me worse than her defeat on Thanksgiving day. If she wins, fellows, we’ll have a glorious Thanksgiving. Good night, my friends—good night!”
He pulled down the window and was gone, but they lingered to give him another rousing cheer, and long after that groups of men could be seen on the campus, discussing and denouncing the action of Lorrimer.
CHAPTER XVI.
LORRIMER’S MISTAKE.
If possible, Frank’s speech from the window of his room had made him more popular than ever. He had not uttered a single word in bitterness, and no honest student could doubt but he told the truth when he said that, no matter what happened to himself, he should pray for the success of Yale. He was utterly unselfish in his love for Old Eli.
The feeling against Lorrimer was not lessened by Frank’s words, however; if anything, it was intensified. That Frank had told the plain, unvarnished truth about the Yale men being overtrained scores of men attested. Lorrimer was a hard master. His heart was set on the success of the blue, but his judgment was at fault. He was a person who did not take criticism kindly. The following morning the newspapers of Boston and New York came out with the report that Frank Merriwell had been dropped from the Yale eleven. Various causes were assigned, but in no instance did a paper hit the truth. Some said he was suffering from injuries, others claimed that he was in wretched condition, and yet others averred that the whole case was one of spite.
There was rejoicing in Cambridge, for, of all men on the Yale eleven, Merriwell had been most feared. Harvard remembered the old days when the skill and courage of the Yale full-back had been the chief cause of their defeat. It had seemed in the past that Merriwell was the mascot of the Yale men. The odds against Yale went up with a bound.
By this time Steve Lorrimer had begun to discover how popular Frank Merriwell was. He had known of the demonstration beneath Frank’s window on the previous night, but he regarded it as an outbreak headed by a few of Merry’s particular friends. Now, to his surprise, he found that he was regarded with scorn and anger by men who did not venture to say anything openly to him. He received black looks from all sides, and he heard mutterings of anger and disapproval. Of course, he pretended not to notice anything like this.
Frank was alone in his room, plugging, when Lorrimer rapped on the door.