A BITTER ENEMY
The breathing of the three chums was distinctly audible in the silence
that followed. Varied thoughts rushed through their minds, but all
centered around the idea that there was a traitor in college--some one
who would go to extreme lengths to see the football eleven lose. That
this person was Garvey Gerhart was the belief of Tom, Phil and Sid. The
quarter-back was the first to break the silence that was becoming
strained.
"The cowardly sneak!" he burst out. "He ought to be tarred and feathered
and ridden around the campus on a rail. The dirty cad!" Phil clenched
his fists. "And I'm going to do it, too!" he added fiercely.
"Do what?" asked Tom.
"I'm going to tell what we discovered. I'm going to let Holly Cross and
Mr. Lighton know. It was Gerhart who stole the copy of the signals. He
sneaked in here when we were out and found them, though how he knew
enough to look behind the picture is more than I understand. Probably
he wanted to see if the girl's name was on the back, and saw the paper
by accident. Anyhow, he took it, and he lost the charm at the same time,
though he didn't notice it. Then he went and bargained to sell the
signals to Stoddard, of Boxer Hall. That was when we saw them talking
together down by the bridge."
"But Stoddard didn't take his offer," interposed Tom.
"No; Stoddard isn't that kind of a chap," went on Phil. "He let Mr.
Lighton know anonymously. But what Stoddard did doesn't lessen Gerhart's
guilt. He wanted to throw the team, and only for the fact that he made
his offer to an honest chap we would have lost the game. I'd--I'd like
to smash him into jelly!" and Phil fairly shook in righteous anger, for
the team was very dear to his heart. He felt everything that affected
the eleven more, perhaps, than any other lad in Randall College, not
even excepting the captain, Holly Cross. So it is no wonder that Phil
raged. He started from the room.
"Where are you going?" asked Sid, interposing his bulky frame between
Phil and the door.
"I'm going to tell the coach and Holly Cross what I've discovered. I'm
going to show them this charm. I'm going to propose that we tar and
feather Gerhart and ride him out of college to the tune of the 'Rogues'
March.'"
"No, you're not," spoke Sid very quietly.
Phil looked at him for a moment. Then he burst out with: "What do you
mean? Don't you want me to tell? I'm going to, I say!"
"No, you're not," repeated Sid, and he did not raise his voice. "You're
going to sit right down," and he gently shoved Phil toward the yawning
easy chair. Puzzled by his chum's action, Phil backed up, and before he
knew it he had flopped down upon the cushions, raising an unusual cloud
of dust.
"Say, Henderson, what's the matter with you?" he cried, as he struggled
to get up. "Are you crazy? Don't interfere with me again! I'm going to
inform on the dirty, sneaking cad who wanted to see his own college
beaten!"
Sid put a hand on his chum's shoulder and pushed him back into the
chair.
"You're going to do nothing of the sort, my son," went on the big first
baseman slowly. "Tom, lock the door and put the key in your pocket."
Tom as though acting under the influence of some hypnotic spell, obeyed.
"Are you both crazy?" burst out Phil. "I tell you the whole college must
know what a white-livered hound we've got here!"
"That's just what they mustn't know," said Sid quietly. "Now listen to
me," he went on more sternly. "In the first place, you don't know that
Gerhart is guilty."
"Don't know? Of course I know it!" almost shouted Phil. "Haven't I got
the evidence?" and he held out the charm.
"Easy," cautioned Sid. "I grant that; I even grant that the charm is
Gerhart's; but does that prove he took the signals?"
"It proves that he was in the room," declared Phil.
"Yes, I admit that. I saw him in here once myself--just before that
accident to my hand. But that doesn't prove anything."
"He was in here some other time then, when none of us was here. He must
have taken the picture down, else the charm would never have been caught
in the frame and remained there."
"Granted; but you are still far from making out a case, Phil."
"Don't you believe he did it?" asked the quarter-back.
"I do, when it comes to that, but we've got to offer more evidence than
our own beliefs when it comes to convincing other people. Besides, I
don't see what need there is of proving your case."
"Don't you think the college ought to know what sort of a coward and
sneak we've got at Randall?"
"No," said Sid decidedly, "I don't. That's just the point. That's just
why I don't want you to go and tell Holly what we've found. I think
Gerhart took those signals," he continued, "and I believe that when we
saw him talking to Stoddard he was trying to dispose of them to him.
But just because I feel morally certain of it doesn't justify me in
spreading the news broadcast. Besides, do we want every one to know what
a cad we have here? I take the opposite view from you. I think we ought
not to wash our soiled linen in public. The more we can hush this thing
up the better. I wouldn't let it get beyond us three. It ought to stop
right here. We would be the laughingstock of Fairview and Boxer Hall if
it got out. To think that the Randall spirit was capable of falling so
low that there was a traitor among us! I'm glad Stoddard kept still.
Evidently he didn't tell a soul, but warned Lighton privately, and the
team has kept quiet about it.
"Now," continued Sid earnestly, "do you want to go and publish it? Do
you want to let every one see our shame? I don't believe you do, Phil."
Phil was silent for several seconds. He was struggling with some
emotion. Tom stood with his back to the door, though it was locked. Sid
stood before his chum, looking anxiously at him as he sat in the big
chair. Then, with a long breath, Phil said:
"I guess you're right, Sid. I--I didn't look at it that way. I'll keep
still."
"I thought you would," spoke Sid significantly.
Phil put the charm in his pocket. The strain was over. They all seemed
relieved. But Phil, so much was his heart bound up in the eleven, could
not forget the great affront that had been planned against it. Two days
later, meeting Gerhart alone on the campus, he approached him, and
showing the freshman the watch-charm, exclaimed:
"Take care, you dirty coward! We know where you lost this!"
Gerhart started, turned first pale and then red. He soon recovered
himself, and answered:
"I don't know what you mean."
"Yes, you do," snapped Phil. "You stole my signals!"
"That's a lie," said Gerhart coolly, and he walked on.
But if Phil could have seen him a little later, when he joined Langridge,
the quarter-back would have wondered at the rage and fear shown by the
freshman.
"Clinton knows! He found my charm! I was afraid I'd lost it in his
room," said Gerhart.
"Well?" asked Langridge.
"One of us has got to leave Randall!" exclaimed Gerhart savagely. "It's
he or I; and it will be he, if I can accomplish it!"