Hodge might have had a flock around him, but he was so dark and stern that they seemed a little afraid of him. When they gathered near, he did not seem to mind them. There was only one girl among them all for Bart, and he was impatiently waiting the time when she would be at liberty to give him some of her attention.
Doctor Lincoln seemed very happy. His heavy face wore a smile, but Bart fancied the wild light lurked in his eyes. The doctor found Hodge and drew him aside.
“I have been listening to the talk,” he said. “I have heard these young people speaking of Merriwell as such a wonder. And Starbright--they seem to think he is very strong.”
“I presume so--in a way. He is big, and, of course, he must have a certain amount of strength. But he is not what I rate as truly strong.”
“Not at all. Do you think he could lift that stone out there in the grove?”
“Perhaps he might, but I doubt it. I am certain Merriwell could not lift it.”
“Don’t be too certain. Frank Merriwell is far stronger than he looks. I fancy, if put to the test, he’d be able to show himself even stronger than Starbright.”
“Do you think that?” exclaimed the doctor, in apparent surprise. “Well, you know them both, and you may be right. But how I could astonish them. They do not know that I am the strongest man in the world, do they?”
Somehow, this answer seemed to arouse the man’s suspicions.
“Have you betrayed my secret?” he whispered rather fiercely. “You promised that you would not. Have you told them that I am the strongest man in the world?”
The man seemed to draw a breath of relief.
“I was afraid you had done so,” he said. “You must keep my secret. You must not breathe it to a soul. I don’t know why I trusted you. It was foolish of me.”
“You took me by surprise,” declared the strange doctor. “You were watching me there in the grove. Why were you watching me? Answer that question.”
“Did it? Then you were not spying upon me?”
“I thought perhaps you might have been. I have kept the great secret until the time comes to divulge it, which I shall do in a most sensational manner. I have not yet decided how it is to be, but I shall do something to rival the act of Samson when he pulled down the temple upon his enemies. I have enemies. You may not know it, but it is true. I have secret enemies, and they would rob me of my strength if they knew I possessed it. That is why I wish to keep it a secret until the time comes. Then I shall call them all out in a body and topple some massive building down upon them. That will obliterate them, and they will give me no more trouble.”