“I’ll defeat him all right if he jumps,” assured Necker. “But he’ll be too clever to let me show him up. He had better stick to his baseball. That’s what he was cut out for. I’m sorry you fell down when you tackled him, Manton.” “I tell you he is a bad man at anything,” said Fisher. “I didn’t think it a while ago, but I believe it now. He’s a chap with supreme confidence in himself.” “Sort of a swell head, eh? Goes round with his chest out and a chip on his shoulder?” “That’s what makes me all the sorer on him. He doesn’t go round that way. He’s too quiet and modest. Never’d know he considered himself anything in particular. Of course, that’s all a bluff. I’ll guarantee he’s all swelled up inside, even if he doesn’t show it.” “I’m growing more and more interested,” smiled Necker. “If he can be induced to enter the jumping contest I’ll make him look like a yellow dog with a tin can tied to its tail, I promise you.” “And I’m ready to do the same thing to him at the pole vault,” said Frost. “And I’m going to push up against him in another way if I find an opportunity,” growled Manton, clenching his fist and looking at it earnestly. “It seems to me,” said Fisher, “that Mr. Merriwell will have his hands full of business if he lingers around here.” CHAPTER V. THE SECRET. Frank was a bit disappointed by the failure of his friends to reach the Elm Tree Inn that noon. Grafter lunched with Merry and Hodge. They chatted pleasantly throughout the meal. The shot putter noted everything that Frank ate. “Do you conform to a rigid diet?” he asked. “Not exactly, although I do not eat the things I know are not good for me.” “Can you outline a diet that is proper for all athletes in training?” “I might outline one that would be proper for most athletes, yet not for all. I have found by experience that human stomachs vary, and it is an old saw that ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison.’ Still there are some rules that apply to every one. Certain things must not be touched by the fellow who proposes to become an athlete.” “For instance?” “Tobacco, liquor, coffee.” “Don’t you think a man may take a small drink with beneficial effect at times?” “Never when in health.” “When not in health——” “He’s not fit to take part in athletic contests. Liquor may be used as a medicine when prescribed by a doctor who knows his business.” “How about the theory that liquor in moderate quantity is a food? You know that’s the assertion of the most advanced doctors of the present day.” Frank nodded and smiled. “It may be a food,” he admitted; “but it is a most dangerous one. The person who uses it as a food must acquire an appetite for it. Half a pint of liquor a day might not seem to harm a strong and rugged man until he acquired the appetite and desire for it. In the end it might ruin him. It is something that cannot be tampered with. It should be let alone by all healthy persons.”