A TROUBLED MIND.
Ephraim found that Casper Silence was very much in earnest. There was no
bluff about the man's proposal to bet ten thousand dollars, and Gallup
was not the sort of chap to back down after making such talk.
Naturally the cashier at the bank looked surprised when Gallup asked for
a bank check in exchange for his own check, drawn for the full amount of
his deposit. Mr. Casin, however, did not ask questions, but made out the
bank check and passed it to Ephraim.
In the presence of witnesses this check was placed in the hands of Fred
Priley to cover the ten thousand dollars posted by Silence.
Casper Silence took pains to examine the bank check, over which he
nodded and smiled, returning it to Priley.
"That's all right, I fancy," he said. "It ought to be as good as gold
coin."
Then he turned to Ephraim with pretended admiration.
"Young man, you've got genuine sporting blood," he said. "You've got
nerve. I can't help admiring your nerve, although I fear your judgment
is rather poor. I hope you won't feel the loss of that little sum, in
case you do lose it, which you certainly will."
"Oh, I guess I could stand it," retorted the Vermonter.
"I presume you could, Mr. Gallup. You're young and energetic, and you
may live long enough to accumulate ten thousand more dollars."
"Don't yeou fret abaout me!" snapped Gallup, in exasperation.
"You quite misunderstand," smiled Silence. "I'm not fretting about you
in the least. Far from it. I was seeking to give you a little
compliment. Better tell your friends of the great Merriwell baseball
team to do their level best to-morrow. Better tell them what it means to
you if your team loses."
"I won't tell them nuthin' of the sort!" growled Gallup. "I don't
propose to say a hanged word abaout it, and yeou'll obleege me if you
keep your mouth shet, too! If Mr. Merriwell found it aout, he'd be hot
under the collar and give me a good dressing daown."
"Oh, very well," agreed Silence, "I'll say nothing. It's a small matter
to me."
Silence, Bearover, and Priley bade Gallup good day and left for Priley's
Hotel. Ephraim watched the proprietor of the Rovers as the man sauntered
away.
"Yeou're a gol-dinged gambler, that's what yeou be!" muttered the
Vermonter. "Yeou're a man that's allus lookin' for suckers, and yeou
think yeou've ketched one naow. Waal, mebbe yeou have, but we'll see
abaout that. I kinder guess yeou're due to bunt up ag'inst a red-hot
surprise to-morrer. You won't feel so fine and sarcastic arter that
game."
Nevertheless Gallup was troubled by an unpleasant feeling that he had
been reckless and imprudent to an almost reprehensible degree. Like many
another man, he had attempted to call a bluff only to find that the
other chap was not bluffing.
With his hands thrust deep into his pockets, the down-easter stood on
the sidewalk and stared after Silence until the man turned a corner and
disappeared. He saw the baseball proprietor laughing as he talked to his
companions, every gesture and every expression indicating that Silence
was absolutely confident he would win the bet.
"A man is a blamed fool to have anything to do with critters of his
caliber," was Ephraim's decision. "I feel like I'd kinder lowered myself
somehow. Thutteration! what if we should lose that game?"
A cold chill ran over him.
"Of course it's possible," he said, "but I don't 'low it's probable.
Even Frank Merriwell can be beat sometimes. My jinks! wouldn't it be
awful if things should go wrong! Whew!"
He fished out his handkerchief and mopped his face with it.
At last Gallup was beginning faintly to realize the extent of his folly.
Although he continued strolling around the town, he found no further
pleasure in the sights of Wellsburg. In vain he sought to turn his mind
from the thoughts of the coming contest between the Merries and the
Rovers and the possibility of defeat for Frank's team. Never before had
he been troubled by such doubts, and fears. Finally he sought the
Franklin Square Hotel, in the lobby of which he was sitting in moody
meditation when Frank and Barney appeared.
"Is it a trance you're in, Oi dunno?" cried Mulloy, as he gave Gallup a
sharp nudge. "Wake up, me bhoy!"
"Eh?" grunted Gallup, looking up and starting to his feet. "Why, hanged
if I noticed yer when yeou come in!"
"Your mind seemed to be far away," observed Merry. "You actually looked
troubled and careworn. What's the matter, Eph?"
"Not a thing--not a blamed thing," declared Gallup, forcing a sickly
smile to his face.
"What were you thinking about so glumly?"
"Oh, nuthin'. I was jest kinder meditatin' on the fact that most folks
are 'tarnal fools, and I guess I'm abaout the biggest fool I know."
"That's hardly like you. You're not usually troubled with such
thoughts."
"He's gitting older and wiser, Frankie," chuckled Mulloy. "Oi think he's
becomin' acquainted wid himself."
"Yeou ain't gut nuthin' to say!" snapped Eph. "Yeou wanted to make a bet
with Mr. Silent, didn't ye?"
"Oi did," nodded Barney. "Av it hadn't been for Frankie to kape me
sinsible, Oi'd cracked up me money on the shpot. It's Frankie whot's got
the livel head, Gallup. The rest av us are chumps, begobs!"
"I guess, by gum, that's correct!" nodded Eph. "The older I git, the
bigger chump I become."
"What's it all about?" laughed Merry.
"Oh, nothing, nothing," again asserted the Vermonter. "I was jest kinder
meditatin' on some of my foolish breaks. I don't believe I know enough
to paound sand."
"I can't understand what's made you so pessimistic concerning yourself.
A man who can make ten thousand dollars of his own accord at your age
and salt it away where it's safe has no right to be ashamed of himself."
"Who knows whether it's safe or not?" muttered Eph.
"It's pretty safe in the Wellsburg Bank, old man. You needn't worry
about that. I think I'll find Toots and have the horses hitched up.
We'll strike out for Bloomfield right away."
Mulloy lingered with Gallup as Frank turned away.
"Whativer is atin' yez, Ephie?" demanded Barney. "Phwoy don't yez spake
up and tell the truth?"
"Haow do yeou know I ain't told the truth?" asked Gallup, with mingled
offense and shame.
"Oi've bunked with yez for a year. Oi've known yez under all sorts of
circumstances, me laddie buck, and I can tell when you're spakin' the
whole truth and whin you're tryin' to hide something. Oi'm yer fri'nd,
Eph, and ye know it. Phwoy don't ye spake out and make a clane breast av
it? Phwat's the mather?"
"I don't like to have nobody stomp on my co't tail," mumbled the
Vermonter. "When a man rubs me the wrong way it kinder riles me, and I'm
pretty apt to resent it. Yeou'd made a bet with old Silence if Frank
hadn't happened araound, wouldn't ye?"
"Oi would," confessed Barney. "Oi'd been just chump enough to go him for
any owld sum up to foive hundrid dollars. All the same, Ephie, thot was
foolishness on my part."
"What's a feller goin' to do when one of these top-lofty critters comes
araound a-rubbin' it into him?" demanded Gallup. "Nobody likes to have
'em a-sneerin' and a-chucklin'. I like to shet them kind of folks up and
shet 'em up good and hard. I've seen old Silence sence we left the
bank."
"Phwat?" gasped Mulloy, a sudden light breaking upon him. "Ye don't mane
it, Ephie? Begorra, ye've been bettin' on the game!"
"That's jest what I have," nodded Gallup grimly. "Arter yeou and Frank
went off and I went to roamin' araound I run up ag'inst the big bear.
He give me a cigar, and we went into Priley's Hotel. He wanted me to
have a drink with him, but I didn't take nuthin' intoxicatin'. Silence
was there, with a whole lot of them baseball fellers. They was makin' a
lot of talk abaout haow they'd trim us to-morrer. They gut my blood to
b'iling, and I told 'em a few things. That critter, Silence, begun to
give me the laugh. He said us fellers made a lot of talk, but we didn't
have sand to back it up. Dod bim him! I guess I showed him I had sand!"
"Ephie," said the young Irishman soberly, "you and Oi are a little too
suddin in making back talk to thim kind av crathers. Shtill Oi can't
blame yez, my bhoy."
"Don't yeou tell Frank nuthin' abaout it, Barney," entreated Gallup. "I
wouldn't have him find aout for anything."
"Thot's the bad part av it, Gallup--thot's kaping a secret from Frankie.
It's doing something we know he wouldn't countenance."
"I guess that's what made me feel so rotten mean abaout it."
"How much did yez bet wid him? Did yez put up a hundrid?"
"More'n that."
"Two hundrid?"
"More'n that."
"Begobs, ye did plunge, my bhoy! Well, it won't break yez av we should
happen to lose."
"I dunno abaout that," half groaned Gallup.
Barney looked puzzled and somewhat excited.
"How much did yez bet, Ephy?" he asked. "Tell me the truth, old mon.
Spake up."
"'Sh!" hissed Gallup. "Don't say another word! Here comes Frank!"
Merriwell rejoined them.
"We'll start right away, boys," he said. "Toots will have the team round
in less than five minutes."