“Yes, sir.”
“It’s a go!” cried McGann. “Let’s make out the agreement and sign it right here. I’m afraid you’ll change your mind.”
“Don’t worry in the least,” said Frank. “Go ahead and write the agreement.”
The manager of the Outcasts brought forth a large notebook. On one of the pages he wrote in the briefest manner possible the agreement, to which he signed his name. Frank read it over and promptly added his signature. Then Grafter and Hodge signed as witnesses, and the affair was settled.
Grafter was relieved, and he betrayed it.
“I was afraid you two would blow up over it,” he confessed. “I want to see the game pulled off. I believe it’s going to be the hottest kind of a tussle.”
“Then there is another reason,” said McGann. “But I fancy your old man would be far better off if no game took place.”
Then it came out that, at the advice of Wallace, old man Grafter had bet that the Merriwells could defeat the Outcasts. He had done this without knowing what team he was backing, which demonstrated his implicit confidence in the judgment of his son.
“That’s how I happened to bring Mr. McGann to you,” laughed Grafter the younger. “Now I hope you can show the old man that my confidence in you was not misplaced.”