"That's fair," said more than one.
But Lawrence, who had expected to catch a sucker, was not at all pleased.
"What salaries do you propose to pay us, Mr. Merriwell?" he asked. "How are you going to settle that?"
"When you started out with Mr. Haley," said Frank, "you were playing to cities and large towns. You have come down from that to barnstorming in small places. The expenses of the show have been reduced, but the revenue cannot be a fourth as much. I have thought the thing over some, and have decided to offer you all exactly two-thirds as much a week as Mr. Haley agreed to pay you originally. You will bring copies of your contracts made with him to me, and we will make out new contracts. That is, we'll do so if you accept my offer."
Now there was an animated discussion of Frank's proposal, everyone taking part. While it was going on, Merry was asking Havener some questions.
"What pieces have you in your repertory?" asked Frank.
"Why, we have the parts of all the pieces Haley obtained."
"How many can we play if we come to an agreement?"
"About three of them, I think."