"I didn't suppose you would care. You are too low and degraded to care. In the past I spared you when you should have been exposed and punished. Why? Because I hoped you would reform. Now I know there is no chance of that. For your own sake I spared you in the past; in the future, if my turn comes, for the sake of those with whom you will mingle and injure and disgrace, I shall have no mercy."
These words, for some reason, seemed to burn Harris like a hot iron. His eyes glowed evilly, and he quivered in every limb. He leaned toward Merriwell, panting:
"Your turn will not come! I might have let you go, but now----"
He glanced down at the knife in his hand.
Frank watched him closely, feeling all at once that the desperate wretch had formed a murderous resolve.
Harris was hesitating. It was plain he longed to strike, and still his blood was too cold to enable him to bring himself to that point without further provocation.
So he began to lash himself into fury, raving at Merriwell, striking Frank with his open hand, and repeating over and over how much he hated him. So savage did he become that Mazarin stopped his sobbing and stared at him in wonder.
"You ruined my college career!" panted Harris. "You made me an outcast! You are the cause of all of my ill-fortune! And now you threaten to drag me down still further. You never shall! I'll see to that now!"
He clutched Frank's shoulder and lifted the knife!
The word came from Mazarin's lips, and the little man's left hand shot out and caught Sport's wrist, checking the murderous stroke, if Harris really meant to deliver it.
The murderous-minded young villain tried to wrench away.
The small, soft hand held him fast, despite all his writhings.
Harris had wondered that Mazarin so easily choked Merriwell into helplessness, but, after twisting and pulling a few seconds and failing to break away, he began to understand the astonishing strength of those small hands.
"What's the matter with you?" he snarled. "Are you daffy?"
"You are, or you would not try that trick," shot back the little man. "Do you think I'm going to stand here and see you do murder? I guess not!"
"If you killed Merriwell, I should be an accomplice. I'm not taking such chances."