“Sure thing,” grunted Browning.
“This getting you out to practise was nothing but a trick. It was done to prevent the meeting from taking place. Now we can’t hold it. You have gone onto the field, and that ruins our plan. If you had stayed away, we’d shown those chumps something to-night that would have opened their eyes.”
“You let your knife—I mean, you bet your life!” exclaimed Rattleton.
“They would have been forced to take you back. Now they can do just as they darn please, and they’ll use you dirty! You have been fooled, Merriwell!”
“Well,” said Frank quietly, “it may be that you are right, Hodge; but I do not like to think there is a personal feeling against me by the men who are handling the team.”
“Oh, you don’t like to think anything bad against anybody!”
“I’d rather not.”
“Bah! Come out of it! You were not given a chance on the regulars to-day, and that shows how you are to be treated right along. Quit it! Don’t go near the field again. That’s the right thing to do.”
“On the contrary, it is the wrong thing to do. If I were to do that, the blame of the whole affair might be thrown on me. It might be said that I was used on the scrub just to give a substitute a fair trial on the regulars. It might be said that they intended to take me back immediately. If I were to stay away, and Yale should lose the game, I might blame myself.”
“All right!” said Hodge. “I’ve said my say, now you may do as you like. But you have been fooled!”