But Dick shook his head.
“I know all that you would say, Merry,” he declared. “It’s all true. The stuff is my one temptation and my curse. If I take this drink, I may go straight to the dogs, but what of that! It will help me to forget that I have been fooled by a pair of black eyes, and that I betrayed the best friend a chap ever had. Down it goes!”
Frank would not release the arm of the reckless freshman.
“Not yet,” he said firmly. “You shall not take that stuff till I know why you are so determined to drink it.”
“Because I am a fool and a traitor!”
“We’re all fools in one way or another, but traitors we are not.”
“You know I’m a sneak, Frank Merriwell!” hoarsely said Dick. “I don’t see how you can still entertain one friendly feeling toward me. If I received what I deserve at your hands, they’d take me away from here in an ambulance!”
“If you had not told me that no liquor had passed your lips, I should think you jagged already,” asserted Frank. “You are talking like a few mixed drinks.”
“I’m talking just what I think. My eyes are open at last.”
“Well, if getting your eyes open has this effect on you, it will be a good idea to shut them again.”