the trick. It is a good
thing to know, but it should be used on no one but a ruffian."

"It's surprising to me how soft you're getting. This Merriwell is
dangerous in many directions, and his career would have been stopped
short if you had broken his wrist. He has shown that he is a baseball
pitcher, but no man can pitch with a broken wrist. He is one of the best
freshmen half-backs ever seen at Yale, according to the general
acknowledgment. And now he is pulling an oar and coaching the freshmen
crew at the same time--something never attempted before--something said
to be impossible. Where would he be if you had broken his wrist?"

"He could coach the freshmen just the same, and the very fact that he
can do all these things makes me well satisfied that I did not fix him
so he couldn't."

"Wait! wait! What if the freshmen beat us out at Lake Saltonstall? What
if they come out ahead of us?"

"They won't."

"I know the fellows are saying they will not, but I tell you this
Merriwell is full of tricks, and there is no telling what he may do with
the fresh crew. He is working them secretly, and our spies report that
he seems to know his business."

"Well, if he makes them winners he will deserve the credit he will
receive. But he can't do it. No man can coach a crew and pull an oar at
the same time. The very fact that he is attempting such a thing shows he
isn't in the game."

"Don't be so sure. They say he has a substitute who takes his place in
the boat sometimes, and that gives him a chance to see just how the crew
is working."

"Rats! Who ever heard of such a thing! Merriwell is all right, but he
doesn't know anything about rowing. He may think he knows, but he is
fooling himself."

"Well, we will have to wait and see about that."

"I really believe you are afraid of Merriwell. Why--ha! ha! ha!--you are
the only one who has an idea the freshmen will be in the race at all."

"I know it, but few have had any idea that the freshmen could do any of
the things they have done. They have fooled us right along, and--"

"Oh, say! Give me a cigarette and let's drop it. From the way you talk I
should say you would make a good sporting editor for a Sunday-school
paper."

"That's all right," muttered Hartwick, sulkily, as he tossed Bruce a
package of Turkish cigarettes. "Wait and see if I am not right."

After this Bruce went about telling all the sophomores what Hartwick
thought, and urging them to "jolly him" whene