“It seems to me that these ‘entertainments,’ as they’re called, are planned solely to cover Merriwell with glory. That’s the thing I don’t like. He proposed them, of course. Some way, he always proposes everything, and then the rest fall in like a flock of sheep following their leader. We’re not celebrating Merriwell’s victories, but the victories of Yale. Yet the fellows are already calling them ‘Frank Merriwell’s Entertainments.’”

“You’re warm!”

“I’m hot as a cake of ice!”

“I think I’ve seen you in that frame of mind before!” commented Dade, with the utmost coolness.

“Another thing I don’t like, and which I should think you wouldn’t like, is the way he has of pushing Starbright forward. He seems determined to make Starbright the king of the freshmen.”

Dade’s face darkened, and Pike saw that he had struck a vulnerable spot. Yet Dade only said coldly:

“I don’t need to be told that!”

“And you haven’t anything to say about it?”

“I’ve had a good deal to say about it, at one time and another.”

“You’re the real king of the freshmen, Morgan, and you know it. All your friends know it. It’s for the freshmen to say who shall be their leader. Yet here comes a senior to dictate who the freshman leader shall be!”