Frank strode forward quickly and grasped the bewhiskered man by the shoulder, saying: “Let me have a fair look at you, sir.” The fellow turned with a snarl, striking hard at Merriwell’s face. Frank ducked, thus avoiding the blow. A second later, he caught hold of the fellow’s whiskers, gave a yank, and off they came in his hand. They were false! The man’s face was revealed. “Lester Vance!” cried Frank, triumphantly. It was a complete unmasking. The face of the rascally actor who had been “released,” on account of his crooked work in Atchison, was exposed by the sudden tearing away of the false beard. “Great gosh!” gurgled Ephraim. Hodge said nothing, but he glared at Vance with a look of deepest hatred. Vance himself seemed stricken dumb. The woman dropped down on a chair, and her “husband” stood and uttered some words which would not look well in print. Frank Merriwell laughed chillingly. “A very pretty little game!” he commented, sarcastically; “but it is all up now. It didn’t work.” “It was no game!” snarled the man called Reginald by the woman. “You can’t get out of it so easy!” “You will be lucky if you get out of it short of six years,” said Hodge. “The law is rather severe on blackmailers.” “And on thieves,” put in Ephraim, who had learned of Lester Vance’s crooked work. “They make a purty good pair, by gum!” “Vance,” said Merriwell, “you were foolish not to take my advice and get as far away from us as possible.” Vance muttered something. “But you were doubly foolish,” Merry went on, “to come here in such a slim disguise to aid in this miserable attempt to blackmail me. I have been an actor too long not to tumble to false whiskers when I see them.” “Take my advice, Merriwell,” cried Hodge, “land that snake in prison! You can afford the time to get such a rascal out of the way.” Vance was very pale, and showed agitation and fear. “That’s right, by gum!” nodded Ephraim. “He is a snake, an’ I’d shove him naow.” Vance exchanged looks with the other rascal. It was plain both men were confounded by the turn affairs had taken. But the one who claimed to be the woman’s husband had obtained another revolver, and, of a sudden, he pointed it at Frank Merriwell, crying: “At least, I’ll shoot the villain who has trifled with my wife!” Not one of the young actors was near enough to prevent him from shooting if he wished, but Merry instantly faced him, looking straight into his eyes over the top of the revolver, and calmly saying: “You are a good bluffer, sir, but you haven’t the least idea of shooting anybody.” And then he walked straight up to the man, took hold of his hand and pushed the revolver aside. “Give it to him!” exclaimed Gallup. “I don’t want no darn fool p’intin’ pistols at me, by thutteration!”