“From thy manner I should infer that thou art well acquainted with him—not.”
“The inference would be correct.”
“Me curiosity is awakened. Prithee let him enter, and banish me not from thy presence. He may be some bold bad man who is seeking to do thee harm, in which case it behooves thee to have a faithful friend at hand.”
“Say, Jack, let up on that kind of chatter! It becomes tiresome after a while.”
Then Frank turned to the bell-boy and directed that Mr. Hazard be brought up.
Merriwell and his friends had reached New York on their triumphal baseball tour, and they were stopping at the Herald Square Hotel.
The arrival of Frank Merriwell had been noted by the newspapers, several of which had contained lengthy interviews with him. In these interviews Merry had stated that his ball-team would disband in New York, as the end of the season was reached and they had no desire to play longer. For himself, he declared that he had no intention of becoming a professional ball-player, although he had received offers from both the big leagues. The rumor that he would sign or had signed with New York for the coming season was entirely groundless. He had watched with great interest the manner in which New York had worked a remarkable young college pitcher during the season just closing, and had decided that it would take a man with an arm of iron to withstand the strain and remain in form. Besides that, he had not the least desire to become a professional, finding far more satisfaction and pleasure in purely amateur sport.
The interviewers had not failed to ask questions concerning Dick Merriwell, who had received no small amount of advertising. Dick was spoken of as a “Boy Wonder,” with astonishing speed and bewildering curves, who had shown himself capable of pitching against some of the fastest teams in the country and winning his games with good support. It was said that his jump ball fooled the surest batter, and that it might in time become quite as well known as Frank Merriwell’s double-shoot. The romantic story of Merriwell’s discovery of his brother was also told.
As a result, large crowds of curiosity-seekers hung around the hotel, seeking to catch a glimpse of Frank or Dick, not a little to the annoyance of both.
“He’ll turn out to be another chap who wants to see you just a moment for nothing in particular,” said Ready. “You should have demanded his business.”