CHAPTER X.
DOWNWARD.
In vain Gage and Snell tried to get hold of some IOU's with Frank Merriwell's name on them.

Frank's money was exhausted, and he stopped playing suddenly.

Gage offered to loan him money, but he had not forgotten the past, and not a cent of Gage's cash would he touch.
Then Snell tried it, but was no more successful.
This made them both angry.
"Confound the fellow!" said Gage, fiercely.

"We've got him badly tangled; but he seems to have taken the alarm, and I'm afraid he will break away." "We must not let him do so," said Snell.

"If we lose our fish now, we'll never land him." "What can be done ?" "That is for us to study out." And so they set about plotting and trying to devise still other schemes to disgrace Frank, and drive him from the academy.
In the meantime, a feeling of revulsion had seized Frank Merriwell.