“Is that right?” asked Parker.  “Heard anything new?”

“Why, they say this Merriwell has the genuine Oxford system.”

“Where’d he get it?”

“He has been abroad.  It is even reported that he has studied at Oxford.  He has watched the work of the Oxford coach, and he is working the freshmen eight on the same lines.”

“That’s right—­that’s right,” nodded Hartwick, and the boys winked at each other.

“How do you know it is right?” asked Emery.  “What do you know about Merriwell?”

“I know he has been abroad, and I have it straight that he spent considerable time at Oxford.”

“That’s nothing.  Any lubber might watch the work at Oxford, but what would that amount to?”

“Merriwell is no lubber, as you fellows should know by this time.”

“We don’t seem to know much of anything about him.  Who are his parents?  What about them?”

“I hear his father was drowned in bed,” murmured Tad Horner.

“By Jawve!” exclaimed Willis Paulding.  “How could that happen?”

“There was a hole in the mattress, and he fell through into the spring,” gravely assured Tad.

Willis nearly lost his breath.

“That’s all wrong,” said Browning.  “It’s true Merriwell is no lubber.  Why should he be?  His father was a skipper.”

“What!  A sea captain?” asked Hartwick.

“No, a bank cashier.  He skipped to Canada.”

“Wow!” whooped Tad Horner.  “How that hurt!  Don’t do it again!”

“You fellows have things twisted,” asserted Parker, with apparent seriousness.  “I have private advices that Merriwell’s father is a poor dentist.”

“A poor dentist, eh?”

“Yes, rather poor, but he manages to pull out.”

Tad Horner fell off the back of his chair and struck sprawling on the floor.

“Water!” he gasped.

“You wouldn’t know it if you saw it,” grinned Parker.

“Without a doubt and without any fooling, Merriwell’s father is dead,” said Hod Chadwick.

“Do you know this for a fact?” asked Swallows.

“Yes.  It is said that he died on the field.”

“Then he was a soldier?”

“No; a baseball umpire.”

“This is a very dry crowd,” laughed Browning.

“I should think you would say something,” hinted Chadwick.

“It isn’t in the house.  We’ll go down to Morey’s after supper settles and I’ll blow.”

“To fizz?”

“Not this evening.  Ale is good enough for this crowd.”

“Oh, I don’t suppose we can kick at that.  But we were speaking about Merriwell and the freshman crew.  How are we to escape death at their hands?”

“Have another cigarette all around,” invited Parker as he passed them.

“That’s too slow, but I’ll take a cigarette just the same.”

Hartwick got up and walked about in a corner, showing nervousness.  They urged him to sit down and take things easy.  He felt like making a break and getting out, but he knew they would roar with laughter if he did.