“Just give me time to show you that I’m all right,” Dade begged. “I’m going to play fair hereafter. By that I don’t mean that I’ve any notion of joining your flock.”
“What I meant was that I can’t expect to become your warm friend and supporter right off. I shall retain the privilege of kicking against things you do, and of working against you in an honorable manner. But I have cut loose from everything else. I’ll prove it in time; and as for that game this afternoon, I’ll promise you that you won’t have a man on your team who will fight harder to win.”
“You’re a star in athletics, Morgan. For that reason alone I have put you on various teams. But I have never trusted you, and I do not trust you now. So you may look out, for I shall be watching you.”
Dade was rather pale as he went down from Vanderbilt. He realized that he had never been in quite so close and ticklish a place. One false step might hurl him out of Yale in disgrace.
“You bet I’ll play fair this afternoon,” he thought. “It stands me in hand to play fair just now, and I’m the boy to do it when it’s necessary. But I wonder how Santenel got out and what’s become of him? He’ll hang round New Haven, no doubt.”
So strong was this feeling on Dade that he almost expected to see Santenel crouching over the fire in the grate when he returned to his room, but the hypnotist was not there.
Hodge passed Morgan on the stairs as the latter was descending, and entered Frank’s room with a displeased look.
“I wouldn’t trust that fellow an inch!” he growled.
“I’m not trusting him,” said Frank. “I’m merely watching him.”
“Of course. I’ve protested so much that you’re not likely to listen to anything I say,” Hodge grumbled. “But I wouldn’t even permit the scoundrel to come into these rooms. He’d do anything. When I come in here and know that he has just left you I find myself looking round in search of an infernal machine or something of the kind. That fellow has no more honor than a rattlesnake.”
“I’m not trusting him,” Frank repeated quietly.
“Yet you will let him play on that opposition team this afternoon. You haven’t said so to me, but I know that you will do it, simply because he is a good player.”
“I have no right to say who shall be on the other team. Then, I’ve another reason, Bart,” Frank explained. “I can watch him better while he is there than if he were somewhere else. I am sure he will not try to do anything risky, for he knows that he dare not. I’ve told him just how the land lays, and, understanding that, he will hold himself in. I shall take steps which I hope will bring about the recapture of Santenel. Dirk is working on the case. The police officials feel chagrined, and they will do all they can.”