“But der drinks were ordered, an’ dey’ll have ter be paid fer,” declared the man, in an ugly manner.
“Here is your pay,” said Frank, flinging down a piece of money. “Come, Miss Blaney; we’ll try to find your mother.”
They started to leave the room, but before they had crossed the floor three men appeared in the doorway. Mr. Gallagher was one of them, and he pointed at Frank, saying:
“Dere’s yer meat, gents!”
The others were Lester Vance and Reginald, the blackmailer!
“Those are the men who wanted me to decoy you into a dive!” whispered Daisy Blaney, in great alarm. “You are in a bad scrape, Frank Merriwell!”
Both the rascals uttered exclamations of satisfaction on seeing Frank.
“We’ve got him!” cried Vance, triumphantly. “Let’s fix him so he’ll not be pretty enough to play the hero on the stage again for a month!”
“Oh, we’ll fix him!” laughed the other man, showing his teeth.
“He’ll be easy,” sneered Gallagher. “He drinks sarsaparilla!”