“I hope to; but first he will have to put in some years at school.”
“That’s the place!” nodded Hodge. “He’ll get some of the kinks taken out of him there.”
“One thing fills me with extreme sadness,” said Ready. “That is that the first umpire did not receive his medicine from the crowd to-day.”
“That crowd was rooting for us before the game finished,” laughed Frank.
“And they seemed to feel bad because we lost,” said Rattleton. “We made some friends.”
“For the love of goodness, Merry!” exploded Ready; “is there no way we can get square? Can’t we tackle those fellows again and wipe up the earth with them?”
“We won games before we knew anything about Dick.”
But, strange to say, Frank seemed to feel that the presence of his young brother was needed in order for them to win.
“I’m not going to talk about it any more,” said Carson. “I am going to get out of this hotel and take a walk.”
The others seemed to feel like doing something of the sort, and they left the room in a body, descending to the office of the hotel, where Frank called for their mail. There happened to be letters for several of the party. Merry received one, which he opened and began to read at once.
As Frank was reading his letter he heard two men talking near at hand. One of them was saying:
“It would draw a big crowd, and there would be money in it. Why don’t you get Merriwell’s team for another game, Wilson?”
“What’s the use?” said a voice that Frank recognized as that of the manager of the Stars. “Those fellows put up the best game they are capable of to-day, and we’d simply beat them to death next time. I don’t want to play any poor games, as that will spoil baseball in this town. The Stars are drawing well now.”
“I know a man who says he’ll bet five hundred even that you can’t beat Merriwell again.”
“But Hazen has queered himself to-day. The crowd is onto him. It’s current to-night that he tried to bribe Merriwell, and that, failing in this, he bought Derring.”
“Bah! How did Derring know what his signs meant?”
“I have heard it said that Derring has been bought before.”
“Well, I know that he made some terrible decisions, and he would have been mobbed if Merriwell hadn’t protected him.”
“He’s stubborn, and he would not give in--that’s all. I don’t think he really meant to rob the other team.”