Something like a grating imprecation escaped Harlow"s lips, and it seemed that he would leap for Frank"s throat.
But the revolver was still in Merriwell"s hand, and, somehow, its muzzle wandered around, and stopped when it covered Rolf.
The accused lad literally gnashed his teeth.
The others were aghast for a moment, and then Kent Spencer seriously said:
"Look here, sir, you will have to prove that charge. Otherwise, you will find you have made a big mistake in accusing a gentleman of being a blackguard."
"I can prove it without a struggle," a.s.sured Frank.
"How?"
"In several ways. To begin with, I am a student at Yale myself. It was in New Haven I first met this crook. I exposed him when he was bleeding some of my friends by playing poker with them and using marked cards."
"A lie!" Harlow almost screamed; "a vile lie!"
"It is the truth," a.s.serted Jack Diamond. "I was in that game. Harlow beat me, and he would have beaten me worse but for Mr. Merriwell."
"Mr. Who?" Spencer shouted.
"Merriwell."
"Who is Mr. Merriwell?"
"That is Mr. Merriwell right there," said Jack, nodding toward Frank.
"Frank Merriwell-Frank Merriwell, the ball player and all-around athlete?" questioned Spencer, excitedly.
"That"s who he is," a.s.sured the Virginian.
"Then Mr. Harlow should be very well acquainted with him," said the stroke of the crew, "for he has said that Frank Merriwell is his particular friend."
"Yes," spoke up another, "he referred us to Frank Merriwell when he applied for the position to coach our crew."
"My eyes! what a crust!" shouted Diamond. "I never heard of such cheek!
He referred you to Merry because he thought you could not reach him by letter as he knew Merry was somewhere out West on a bicycle tour."
"All of us had heard of Mr. Merriwell," said Spencer. "We saw his name in the papers often. A sporting magazine spoke of him as the destined leader in baseball and football at Yale. Besides that, I know a person who is personally acquainted with him. Naturally, when Mr. Harlow declared that Frank Merriwell was a particular friend of his we were inclined to regard him with favor, and I am greatly astonished to discover that he has been deceiving us."
Harlow looked disgusted.
"I presume you are ready to take the word of these strangers against me!" he exclaimed. "I didn"t think that of you, but--"
"If this is Frank Merriwell, why shouldn"t we take his word?"
"How do you know he is Frank Merriwell?" demanded Rolf.
"I can prove that with ease," smiled Frank, thrusting his hand into his pocket and pulling forth some letters. "Here is some of my correspondence, here is my card, and here is my name and address on this key check. If you want further proof, gentlemen, I can show you my name marked upon my clothes."
"That is quite enough," a.s.sured Spencer. "We are satisfied that you are what you represent yourself to be. And now will you be good enough to tell us the meaning of this struggle here on the bank?"
"With pleasure," bowed Frank. "My friend here, Jack Diamond, a Virginian born and bred, asked me to leave the road over yonder and come here, where he could show me a pretty view of the Potomac. We locked our bicycles to a tree, where it was not likely they would be seen, and came this way. As we approached, we saw this chap in flannels standing on the bank and shouting his orders to your crew. Curiosity brought us nearer, and then we heard him talking with another chap who was hidden in the bushes where he could watch your work. From what we overheard--"
It was getting too hot for Harlow, and he interrupted Frank.
"It is plain to me," he cried, "that you are ready to take the word of a stranger instead of mine, and that is too much for me to stand. That being the case, I"ll leave you with your new friends."
He was about to hurry from the spot, but Frank checked him.
"Hold on, Harlow," he said, suavely. "I have your revolver, you know."
"Then give it to me!"
"Come take it."
Although thus invited, Rolf did not hasten to obey, for the muzzle of the weapon was looking straight at him.
"I thought you would wait a while," nodded Frank. "You shall have the gun directly."
Then he continued his story:
"From what we overheard, we learned that your coach and the spy in the bushes were in league with each other. Evidently, the spy belongs to a rival crew, and he was watching to get points from your work."
Exclamations of anger broke from the rowers, and it was plain they were greatly incensed.
Harlow fidgeted uneasily. A short time before, he had been very popular among these fellows, but now they regarded him with distrust and positive contempt.
All through Frank Merriwell! How he hated Merriwell!
"It was one of the A. A. C. fellows!" cried a red-headed fellow, whose name was Fred Dobbs. "I thought I recognized him from the river."
It was plain that Spencer was loath to believe such a thing about any person.
"Why should Mr. Harlow betray us?" he asked, in an undecided way.
"That"s it!" cried Rolf, catching at this as a drowning person might catch at a floating chip. "Why should I do such a thing?"
"He"ll do anything for money!" scornfully exclaimed Jack Diamond.
"And the Alexandria fellows have money to burn," came from Fred Dobbs.
"They are furious because we won the championship of the Potomac last year, and they mean to win it back this year by fair means or foul. I can understand why they should buy up our coach."
"But Harlow has seemed to work for our interest thus far," said another.
"Surely we have improved under his coaching."
"If you hadn"t you would not have confidence in him as a coach, would you?" asked Jack.