“No!” cried Harry.  “You are all right again, Frank!  You are always right!  Don’t you mind me when I get cranky.  I’m a fundering thool—­I mean a thundering fool!  But I do hope Pierson is not working a jolly on you.”

“He may have tried to work a jolly on me, but he is not succeeding,” smiled Frank, whose face had cleared.  “And the quieter I keep the smaller will be the chance of success, if that is his little game.”

CHAPTER XXIV.

Gordon expresses himself.

At the first opportunity Frank had a talk with Burnham Putnam, who had charge of the freshman crew.  He told Put all that had been learned about the traitor, and Burn listened with interest and growing anger.

“Who do you think the traitor is?” he asked at last.

“Well, there is a doubt in my mind, and I do not want to accuse anybody.”

“We have conducted our work with great secrecy.”

“We have that.”

“And I have repeatedly cautioned the men about talking.”

“Yes.”

“I have warned them that it might mean the ruin of our plans.”

“You have.”

“And still everything we have done seems to be known.”

“That’s right.”

“The man who has spread this matter has the very best means for obtaining information, as he has made no mistake.”

“Well, what do you think?”

“The traitor may be the last man we would suspect.  He must have some cause for playing crooked, though.”

“That is the way I regarded it.”

Old Put thought the matter over for a few moments.  He finally said: 

“I don’t want to do any man injustice, but the turn affairs have taken leads me to think it would be a good plan to drop our spare men entirely and put full dependence on a settled crew.”

Frank was silent, and so Putnam asked: 

“What do you think of that?”

“I think it is a very good plan, and I approve of it.”

“Then it is settled.  They shall be dropped at once, although it seems that the mischief is done now.”

“There may be no mischief in it, for the sophs ridicule the innovations introduced, and they are surer than ever that they will have a soft thing of it.

“They have been fooled several times this fall.  I am sorry we shall not be able to spring our innovations as a surprise, but we may give them a warm time just the same.”

That day Putnam informed the spare men that he did not think they would be needed any more in training, but asked them to keep in condition till after the race, in case anything might happen that they were wanted.

Gordon was enraged immediately, for he had held on and worked through everything with the belief that he would finally be given a place on the crew.

“So I am dropped, am I?” he said, bitterly.  “Well, I rather think I understand how it comes about.”