“A very pretty little game!” he commented, sarcastically; “but it is all up now. It didn’t work.”
“It was no game!” snarled the man called Reginald by the woman. “You can’t get out of it so easy!”
“You will be lucky if you get out of it short of six years,” said Hodge. “The law is rather severe on blackmailers.”
“And on thieves,” put in Ephraim, who had learned of Lester Vance’s crooked work. “They make a purty good pair, by gum!”
“Vance,” said Merriwell, “you were foolish not to take my advice and get as far away from us as possible.”
Vance muttered something.
“But you were doubly foolish,” Merry went on, “to come here in such a slim disguise to aid in this miserable attempt to blackmail me. I have been an actor too long not to tumble to false whiskers when I see them.”
“Take my advice, Merriwell,” cried Hodge, “land that snake in prison! You can afford the time to get such a rascal out of the way.”
Vance was very pale, and showed agitation and fear.
“That’s right, by gum!” nodded Ephraim. “He is a snake, an’ I’d shove him naow.”