Although he struck on the back of his neck and his shoulder blades, he came up in a moment, rising to his feet, as if wholly unharmed.
Seeing this, Manton uttered a curse of anger and dismay.
“The devil protects the fellow!” he hissed. “His neck should have been broken.”
The judges and others gathered around Frank, all seeming to feel sure he must be injured. He finally convinced them that he was not. Then one of them told the people in the stand, and there was a cheer. This cheer became a roar when, selecting another pole, Frank prepared to vault.
At his first attempt he cleared the bar, tieing Frost. Next time he disturbed it; but he tried again and flung himself over it a full foot higher than Frost had done.
It was the best vault made.
Frank won, and Manton lost a snug little sum of money.
But that was not all Manton lost. Investigation revealed the fact that Merriwell’s pole had been tampered with and weakened in such a manner that it could not fail to break. This discovery stirred up the Eagle Heights people, and a rigid inquiry followed. Fuller did some detective work, with the result that he finally got hold of the chap who had tampered with Merriwell’s pole. This rascal was badly frightened, and he made a confession, in which he told how he had been given fifty dollars by Hobart Manton to do the job.
Manton was expelled in disgrace from the Eagle Heights A.A., and his membership in the A.A.U. of the U.S. was annulled. His days as an amateur athlete in good standing were ended.