“it’s merry’s game, all right!”
“i’m not so sure of that, fellows,” said merry, as he entered the dressing room and heard lowe’s remark; “i’d say that it’s villum’s game. didn’t he get the run that tied, and get it without assistance?”
a roar of laughter went up. as merry went to his locker, however, he was approached by colonel gunn’s orderly, who shoved hastily through the crowd.
“come outside, mr. merriwell!” cried the cadet. “the constable wants you!”
“tell him i’ll be dressed in a minute,” returned chip.
“no, get a move on right now!” insisted the other excitedly. “colonel gunn is waiting, too.”
“that’s a horse of another color, then,” said chip, and made haste outside.
he found the constable, who greeted him eagerly.
“say, merriwell, come along over to the riding hall. colonel gunn’s gone over, and said to bring you along.”
“me? what for?”
merry had forgotten all about the affairs of randall in the excitement.
[304]
“why, they found that feller carson, and he seems to be drunk, or hurt, or something,” explained the constable hurriedly, as they started out. “one o’ the boys phoned over to the grand stand just before the game ended.”
“that’s bad,” commented merry. “you don’t know any more?”
the constable did not, except that he had seen colonel carson slinking away from the grounds in woeful plight. it was said that the colonel had lost a large sum of money on the game.
with the orderly, they hastened to the riding hall. grouped in the rear, they found a small crowd of cadets, in the midst of whom stood colonel gunn and randall, while a motionless figure could be made out on the ground.
“ha—merriwell!” cried the principal, who had recovered his momentarily lost ponderous manner. “here is the—ah—individual of whom we were in search. he appears to have been in this posture for some little time.”
merry and the constable pushed through, to see bully carson lying on the ground. he was motionless, and was breathing stertorously. although his one good eye did not open, he seemed dimly conscious that others were around him.
“go ’way!” he muttered thickly. “go ’way!”
“he don’t look drunk, exactly,” observed the constable, “and he ain’t hurt.”
“no, he does not—ah—appear to be under the[305] influence of liquor. perhaps he is merely—ah—reposing in the arms of morpheus.”
“no, murphy was lookin’ for him to-day,” rejoined the constable, referring to his assistant. colonel gunn’s lips twitched.
“see if you can resuscitate him, merriwell. the sooner we could—ah—relieve randall of the unfortunate difficulties surrounding him, the better.”
merry knelt over bully and raised his head, shaking his shoulders in no very gentle fashion. bully grunted and opened his eyes in a dazed manner. at the same instant a small, very much flustered man pushed through the group.
“hello, here’s hostetter now,” announced the constable. “colonel gunn, this is him.”
“i heard that carson had been found,” exclaimed hostetter. “nothing has happened to him, i trust?”
bully answered for himself. sitting up suddenly and pushing merry away, he glanced around with dull and yet frightened eyes.
“who’s that?” he muttered thickly. “where’s hostetter?”
“right here, old man,” cried the little laundryman fervently. “have you managed to locate my pocketbook? you know you said this morning that you might be able to get a clew.”
“nothin’ doin’,” said bully thickly. “i must[306] ’a’ been asleep—it was that there glass o’ water, i’ll bet a dollar!”
he tried to get to his feet, chip assisting him, but stumbled and fell back. as he did so, a long black object fell from his pocket. hostetter pounced on it with a shrill yell.
“my wallet! how——”
as he examined it feverishly, bully once more came to life. he clapped a hand to his pocket, then staggered up.
“where’s my wallet!” he growled, clutching for support.
“your wallet!” cried merry. “you mean hostetter’s wallet. where’d you get it, eh? are you the one that stole it?”
bully seemed to shrink suddenly into himself, muttering and mumbling.
“who says i stole it?” he grunted defiantly, only half conscious yet. he gave a lurch and caught at merriwell for support. “hostetter—durned little fool——”
“what do you mean?” exclaimed merriwell sharply. bully tried to rouse himself. “here, one of you fellows get a bucket of water, will you?”
“lemme go,” grunted bully, trying to reel away. “i got to place bet—thousand-dollar bet—little fool hostetter handed me his money——”
“that’s a lie!” snapped hostetter suddenly. “i believe you stole that money, carson!”
[307]
“i believe so, too,” said merry dryly. “constable, you’d better get ready to take charge of him when—ah, here’s the water now!”
one of the grinning cadets arrived with a pail of water. bully had already relapsed into slumber, and merry took the water and soused it over his head.
a second later bully was on his feet, shaking his head and bellowing in fury.
“that’s enough out o’ you,” said the constable, tapping him on the shoulder. “i guess you can come along to the lockup, my man.”
bully let out a yell of fear.
“what fur!” he wailed, as the constable gripped him firmly. “i ain’t done nothin’! take your hands off’n me!”
“for the theft of mr. hostetter’s pocketbook,” said colonel gunn, in his most military voice, facing the astounded bully. “you, sir, have been—ah—apprehended with the stolen property on your person. while still in a condition of semi-coma, you made certain admissions which most undoubtedly will—ah—be put to service in the cause of justice.”
“i’ll give it back!” wailed bully. “it was only a joke—i didn’t mean——”
“constable, remove the—ah—prisoner!”
the constable did so. the last that was seen of bully carson, he was trailing along and tearfully[308] expostulating. colonel gunn turned to randall.
“i congratulate you, mr. randall, on being thus—ah—exonerated of all the faint suspicion which—ah—clung to your footsteps, in a manner of speaking. you will kindly report at my office monday morning to state why you should not be punished for leaving your room and the school grounds without permission last evening. gentlemen, i bid you good day! oh—one moment, merriwell! that—ah—that was the most remarkable, i think i may say the most spectacular, game of baseball i ever witnessed. sir, i heartily congratulate you on your playing!”
and with a stiff bow, colonel gunn beckoned his orderly and strode away.
merry looked after him, then turned to randall with a smile, his hand out.
“it’s all right, old man!” he said. “come along over to the gym while i get into my clothes, will you? i’ve got something i want to say.”
randall gave him a half-frightened look, but merely nodded assent. the two walked to the gym together, and more than one cadet looked after them significantly, with the remark that randall had been fetched around, after all.
“what do you suppose was the trouble with bully?” queried chip, as they entered the gymnasium building. “it looked to me rather as if he had been drugged, bob!”
[309]
randall flushed.
“maybe he had,” he said bitterly. “i knew that he was pretty bad, but i never suspected that he could stoop to being a thief.”
“i guess there are a whole lot of things about your cousin that you never suspected,” returned merry dryly.
they found the dressing room almost deserted, the members of the team having disappeared long since. merry had his shower and rubdown, and returned to his locker where randall was waiting.
“that was a great finish to-day, chip,” said the southerner, rather awkwardly. “and your pitching showed me a whole lot i had never even guessed. if i had been in your place, they’d have pounded me off the mound in two innings, chip.”
“not much,” said chip. “luck broke with us, that was all. by the way, their pitcher was southpaw diggs, bob. some credit in beating him, eh? i was almost gone in the seventh, for a fact.”
“diggs!” bob gasped. “i guess you had mighty little luck in that game, chip, and a whole lot of good playing! i heard a fellow near us saying that he thought the first baseman was a semipro player from buffalo.”
“likely enough,” said chip thoughtfully. “i wouldn’t be surprised if colonel carson had got professionals all the way through, because he expected to clear up a big wad. it must have cost[310] him a lot, even besides what he lost! well, that only goes to show that a fellow gets exactly what he gives, bob. your attitude toward the world will be bound to be reflected back at you from the world.”
“i suppose that’s about right,” and randall’s handsome face clouded.
“by the way,” said chip suddenly, “i may leave fardale almost any time now, old man. i had a notion of having a team meeting to-night or monday, and putting it up to them about electing you captain——”
“hold on a minute, chip,” broke in randall, his eyes fixing those of merry in a peculiar fashion. “did you and carson drink those glasses of water i had poured out?”
“eh?” merry’s thoughts went back swiftly to the scene in bob’s room. “why, yes!”
“then that’s what’s the matter with bully,” and randall faced merry, white-faced but firm. “i had doped one glass of water, hoping to put you out of the game for the afternoon. he got it by mistake. i pretended to be placated by your words this morning, chip, and—well, i began to see differently later, that’s all. now go ahead and do anything you want to—i’m glad that i’ve made a clean breast of it.”
“so am i,” said chip quietly. “as i was saying, i hope you’ll be elected the captain, to succeed me when i leave, bob.”
