Ready gasped and dropped with a crash upon a chair.
“Fan me!” he said faintly. “Merriwell takes his place at the head of the class. I think I’ll have to touch him for the cold cash.”
“Why is it,” questioned Carker, “that people always speak of money as cold cash?”
“I suppose,” said Merry, laughing softly, “it’s because so many human beings have a way of freezing to it.”
“What—again?” howled Ready, popping bolt upright and staring at Frank. “How do you dare, sir! In my presence, too! I am the only one who has a right to do such things. But, really and truly, I’ve got to borrow some spondulicks before I leave for vacation. Got a bill from my tailor. He wrote on the bottom: ‘Dear sir, if you pay the enclosed bill, you will oblige me; if you don’t, I shall oblige you.’ Now, wouldn’t that bump you!”
“Don’t talk of tailors!” grumbled Browning. “You’ve got a regular hand-me-down suit on.”
“Bah!” retorted Jack instantly. “That suit of yours reminds me of an unripe watermelon.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s so different. One isn’t fit to cut, and the other isn’t cut to fit. Refuse me! Wouldn’t let me have a small loan, eh? Well, you shall repent in sackcloth and ashes. Yea, verily!”
Carker began whistling mournfully to himself.