“I’d be willing to take my oath, Merriwell,” he said bitterly, “that those villains have stolen the very plot of my play; or, if they haven’t, they’ve got something which follows as close on the lines of ‘Jarvis, of Yale,’ as they dared, and still be within the law. They open Friday, you see. I did not intend having my first night until next Monday, until we got the Concert Hall to-day, so they thought they’d get ahead of me. Great Scott, man! If they put their play on first, there wouldn’t be a handful come to my opening. It would be the greatest frost you ever saw.” “But you’re all right,” Dick said eagerly. “You open Thursday. They’ll be the ones to get the frost.” “I’m not so sure about that,” Demarest said, in a worried tone. “People seeing a college play billed at the Arcadian for Friday are not likely to go to such a hole as the Concert Hall the night before for practically the same thing. They’ll think that I am the one who is copying their play, and Ralph Bryton will do his best to have that impression circulated. He hates me like poison and has been the one more responsible than any one else for the trust turning me down.” Suddenly the actor gave a start. “The paper!” he cried. “I never thought! They’ll get theirs out ahead of ours, and there won’t be a square foot of boarding left by the time mine are printed in the morning.” “But they don’t know about what you’ve done to-day,” Dick objected. “They don’t know you’ve hired the Concert Hall. “They’ll find out quick enough when they go to Lawford in the morning,” Demarest said despairingly. “He’ll tell them about my bills. The printer won’t have them ready until ten o’clock, and they’ll pay Lawford a bonus to put theirs up instead of mine. I know them and their tricks. And if the town isn’t well papered, we might as well give up on the spot.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVII THE POWER OF PERSUASION. It seemed as if this final catastrophe was the last straw which broke the camel’s back. Austin Demarest had held out bravely against the many blows which fickle fortune had showered upon him. He had deliberately placed himself in opposition to a great power, and, with smiling face and never-failing courage, had resolutely held out against their machinations.