“Oh, I know that.”
“It’s a pity he had to faint,” went on Coulter. “You would have won that contest beyond the shadow of a doubt.”
“Oh, I know that,” answered Reff Ritter, listlessly. He hardly heard what was said—his mind was in the bedroom where Jack lay. He wanted to go up—to learn the actual truth—but he did not dare.
“Shall we go back to the gym.?” asked Paxton.
“No, I—er—I think I’ll go up to my room,” answered Ritter, and started for the doorway before anybody could stop him. The others had never seen him act so strangely, and they looked at each other in surprise.
Ritter gained the hallway just as Billy Sabine was coming down the stairs. Sabine was greatly excited.
“What’s the news?” asked the bully.
“Ruddy took an overdose of headache powders,” was the reply. “The doctor is working over him, but they all think he is going to die.”
“Die!” gasped Reff Ritter, hoarsely. Then he staggered backward, clutched at the stair-rail, and sank heavily on a nearby seat.