“Right you are,” exclaimed Chip. “But in a case of this kind, rumor is apt to hit pretty close to the mark, Billy Mac. Is there a good diamond here?”
“You bet!” cried Billy enthusiastically. “Almost as good as the Fardale grounds, Chip. It’s laid out down below the milldam, by the river, with concrete stands and all that. Colonel Carson certainly does things up brown!”
“That’s what he wants,” agreed Chip. “It’ll help his reputation with the league magnates. But if he builds his reputation on secret chicanery and dirty work, he isn’t going to get very far, and, judging from your own case, it looks as though Colonel Carson had a tricky streak right through him.”
He could not help feeling sorry for Billy Mac, even while admiring his sturdy pluck. To throw up school, athletics, and everything else in order to take up a hopeless undertaking was a stiff proposition. And Billy’s task looked hopeless.
His salary as clerk in the Carsonville general store would certainly be small. It would take him a long time to get together a thousand dollars, to add to the thousand his mother already possessed. Yet it had been the only chance, and Billy Mac had plunged desperately at it without a squeal for help.
Merriwell knew better than to offer financial assistance, though he knew that his father would be glad to help the McQuades. He had seen enough of Billy’s mother to guess at her pride, and, as though Billy had read his secret thought, he turned to Merriwell.
“Don’t say anything to mother about my telling you this,” he said quietly. “It may come out other ways, or she may tell you herself----”
“I understand,” interrupted Chip. “She wouldn’t like to think that her guests had been bothered with family troubles. She’s a mighty fine mother to have, Billy.”
“You bet your boots!” and the other’s eyes lighted up. “She didn’t want me to quit Fardale, of course. But it was the only chance there was, and she had to give in at last.”
“Well, the place isn’t lost yet, so brace up,” advised Merriwell.
By the time they had finished this heart-to-heart talk, they were at the outskirts of the town, and nearing the McQuade home. Billy pointed out a large white house set in from the road as the Carson residence.