RETURNING THE MONEY.
Chester found Sparkfair chatting with June.
“If you don’t mind, sis,” he laughed, “I’ll relieve you of this noisy
insect. I’ll take him away and give your ears a rest.”
“You’re wonderfully cocksure about that,” said Dale. “Perhaps I’ll
decline to be torn away. This is the first time I’ve been able to find
June when she didn’t have Dick Merriwell hanging around her. If I leave
her for ten seconds, he’ll swoop down on her again. I don’t know where
he is this minute, but I’ll wager he’s watching his opportunity.”
“Perhaps he is with another girl now,” laughed Chester.
“I don’t believe it possible,” said Spark. “There are no other girls for
him while June is near.”
“I’d like to see you just a minute or two on a matter of some
importance,” said Chet. “June will wait for you.”
“Will you, June?” asked Spark anxiously.
“Oh, yes,” she laughed, “I’ll wait.”
When Arlington had drawn Sparkfair aside, he drew from his pocket a wad
of money and began counting it.
“A fellow you know,” he murmured, “sent this money back to you by me.”
“Eh?” exclaimed Spark. “What is it, stage money?”
“Oh, no, it’s the real stuff. Here, I believe that is an even hundred.
Take it.”
“You’ll have to enlighten me still further,” muttered Dale, as Arlington
thrust the money into his grasp. “You have me a bit twisted, Chet.”
“It’s yours.”
“Impossible! I haven’t had so much money of my own for months.”
“Tut! tut!” remonstrated Arlington. “I happen to know a thing or two.
That’s the money you paid a fellow by the name of Hanks in order to keep
his mouth closed.”
Sparkfair could not help looking startled.
“Hanks!” he exclaimed. “What do you know about him?”
“I know a great deal about him,” laughed Chet, “and I reckon he knows a
few things about me. That’s the very money you coughed up to him. He
decided to leave it with me before taking his departure from Meadwold.”
“Is he gone?” asked Spark anxiously.
“Gone. Skidooed. Faded away. Vamosed, as they say in the West. You’ll
see no more of him this evening, at least.”
“For which relief I must confess I’m truly thankful,” said Spark. “But
you’ve got me guessing, Chester. What do you know about any deal between
Hanks and myself?”
Arlington was enjoying the mystification of his companion.
“I know Hanks is a crook and a card sharp,” he answered. “I know he has
been cheating you at poker.”
“Hush!” said Dale. “Don’t speak so loud. If Merriwell should find it
out——”
“Oh, I won’t blow on you, old fellow,” laughed Chester. “I’ve been there
myself too many times. I can sympathize with you, my boy. I know how it
feels to be skinned by a cheating poker player, but I haven’t
experienced anything like that for some time. After passing through a
few experiences, I decided to do the skinning myself. With that object
in view I learned all the crooked tricks of the game, and since then
I’ve had the satisfaction of stabbing several gentlemen who were trying
to knife me. It’s disreputable business, Sparkfair. A man who gambles at
cards will learn to cheat sooner or later. He has to do it or remain a
sucker for the sharks to skin. You found out Jim Hanks was skinning you.
It made you hot when you realized how you had been robbed. You had even
put up your watch and some other valuables to raise money. Hanks had
loaned you the money you wanted, and then won it back from you. When you
found out he was dishonest, you boiled with indignation.”
“Boiled, sizzled, steamed, blew up,” said Dale.
“Precisely. You made up your mind that the valuables he had secured from
you were still rightfully your property. You slipped into his room to
see if you couldn’t find them. You didn’t find them, and this made you
still hotter. You decided to take a few trinkets of his and hold them
until he coughed up your own property. Unfortunately, Hank and a couple
of friends dropped on you before you could get out of his room. They
caught you with the goods. Now, Mr. Hanks has been blackmailing you. For
some reason he’s short of money of late, and, therefore, he chased you
down here, thinking it possible you might not return to college after
that cinnamon-bear escapade, and feeling determined to get a last crack
at you. He squeezed a hundred dollars out of you this evening under
threat of exposing you before the company here. I’ve recovered that
hundred, and you have it in your hand. That’s all.”
“No, it isn’t all,” said Dale. “How the dickens do you happen to know so
much about this business?”
“I won’t keep you guessing any longer,” said Chet, and he told Sparkfair
how it was he happened to know so much.
“But how did you get the money from him? How did you force him to give
it up?”
“That was easy,” chuckled Chester. “Hanksy thinks himself clever at
poker, but he has lots of tricks to learn. I’ve played the game from
Fardale to Mexico. I’ve been up against all kinds of crooks, and I’ve
learned some tricks never dreamed of by Hanksy. It didn’t hurt my
conscience a bit to work some of those tricks on him this evening. I
inveigled him into a little three-cornered game, Fred Harmford serving
as the dummy most of the time. Most of the fighting was between Hanks
and myself. Harmford broke about even. I had luck at the very start, for
the first deal gave me a top hand over a full house by Hanks. This
enabled me hastily to relieve him of about half the money you had handed
over to him a short time before. That made him ugly.
“He was bound to get at me somehow, but he overstepped himself by
stealing the six spot of spades from the discards. The stolen card gave
him a straight flush against four eights held by me. But you see, Steele
and Randall had dropped in on us, and I was able to prove that Hanks
stole the card. That was his finish. He had bet his last red cent, and a
few moments ago he was quietly escorted outside by Steele. He didn’t
make any fuss about it, for he was afraid to do so. He’s gone,
Sparkfair. You have the hush money he squeezed out of you, and you
needn’t worry about being bothered by him again to-night. There’s June
still waiting for you, and the orchestra is starting another waltz. So
long, old chap. Enjoy yourself.”
Refusing to hear any words of thanks, Arlington turned away, and Dale
hastened back to June.