"What's the matter?" returned Diamond, feeling a little impatient and provoked, for his mind was full of Frank's trouble, and he could not think of talking of anything else.
"It's about Merriwell," whispered Jones, "and I want you and Rattleton and Browning and Page to come here."
He withdrew to one side, and Diamond, with a mystified expression, touched Rattleton on the shoulder and beckoned him to follow.
"What's up, Dismal?" said Rattleton.
"Get the other fellows," replied Jones.
The others were soon drawn from the group of excited students, and then Dismal said:
"I've got the key to this whole thing, and if you fellows will help turn it, we'll get Merriwell out of this scrape in less than no time."
The boys were too astonished to reply, and Dismal went on:
"Yesterday," he said, "a fellow came to me and after a lot of hemming and hawing and beating about the bush, told me that he could put me onto a way to pass Babbitt's examination perfectly; he also said that I could give the same tip to my friends.
"I'm not letting any tips on examinations go by, you can bet on that, and so I made him tell me what the racket was. He said he had got hold of two copies of Babbitt's paper."