"She doesn't know what has happened to me," he said. "Cassie has a good heart, and I hope she will get free from that dreadful habit. Here is their route."
It was written across the top of the sheet, and gave the towns the company expected to play in for the next five days.
Looking it over, Frank found they would play that night in a place seventy-five miles away.
"How surprised they would be if I should turn up there to-night!" he laughed. "And I might as well do that as anything else."
Then he thought that he would not leave Hans and Ephraim behind, and it would cost money to take them along.
"Never mind," he muttered. "I've made four hundred dollars in the time I've been out for myself, and I shall look out for the boys. We'll all go over to Blueburg."
He looked up the railroad time-table, and found he could reach the place by taking a train at one o'clock. So he told Ephraim and Hans to pack up and get ready to leave right after dinner.
Of course they wondered where he was going, but his manner betrayed no intention of saying anything about that, and so even Hans had sense enough not to ask questions.
That afternoon they took the train, which was an accommodation and stopped at every little shanty station.
The monotonous scenery of that portion of the country did not interest Merriwell, so he busied himself with paper and pencil as the train crept snaillike along.