Buckhart stood on guard while Dick watched those within the little back room of the old saloon. The broken pane enabled Dick to hear the conversation of the fine pair inside. “It was hard luck!” said Arlington. “Hard luck?” exclaimed Kennedy. “Is that what you call it? Hang it! you told me it was certain Uniontown would win!” “That’s right!” “But Fardale pulled out and won the game. I dropped three hundred dollars.” “And I dropped every blooming cent I have made playing cards in a week, besides what money my mother left me when she went away. I have been skinning a sucker, and all I have left to show for it is his I O U’s.” “You said you had fixed it so it was a sure thing.” “And so I did. Didn’t Uniontown have a walkover in the first half?” “Look here, Mr. Arlington, if you had not given me the cold cash to bet on our team, I’d be dead certain you threw me down. Where did you go when the first half was over? You vanished, and you were not seen again by me. Then Merriwell switched the team round and walked into us.” It was plain Arlington did not care to reveal how he and Warne had been trapped by Dick. He hesitated a little, and then told an improbable story about being called away by one of the professors. “You see, I’ve been in a little trouble here,” he said, “and they have been investigating the affair. I was wanted just about then to answer some questions, and I had to go.” “Fishy!” exclaimed Kennedy suspiciously. “It was a queer time for the faculty to be carrying on an investigation.” “Oh, they do queer things around that old academy. I tried to get away and hurry back, but they wouldn’t let me. I thought the game was Uniontown’s, anyhow, and so I didn’t worry about it.” Brad Buckhart could hear some of this, and now he was grinding his strong teeth together. “A fine chap to have on the athletic committee!” he hissed. “He ought to be lynched!” “There is just one thing led me into this deal,” Chester explained to his companion. “That is my hatred for Dick Merriwell. If he were not captain of our team, you’d never catch me betting against it. If he were off the team, I’d work for it as hard as I could. But I am going to down him if it takes a leg! I’ll stop at nothing to do it! I have the athletic committee just where I want them. Some of them have played right into my hands, and they don’t dare do anything but what I tell them to do. In short, I am the whole committee.” “Very interesting information,” commented Dick, in a low whisper. Arlington was smoking a cigarette. Kennedy had lighted a cigar. Both had ordered drinks, but had not touched the stuff brought them. “If I hadn’t been called away,” Chester went on, “the result of the game would have been different. Merriwell could not have changed the team round again had I remained on the field.” At this moment, as Dick peered through the broken shutter, the door of the room was thrown open and Joe Savage appeared in the doorway. Savage was pale and excited.