Dick knew Mrs. Arlington had arrived in Fardale, and after her arrival
he waited in daily expectancy of hearing something from June. He learned
that the injury to Chester Arlington was so serious that he might be
confined to his bed for two or three weeks. And he also found out that
Hal Darrell visited the hotel daily.
Ostensibly Hal went to see Chester, but Dick felt that the real reason
of his going was to see June. And Dick was startled to feel a sensation
of keen jealousy in his heart. He tried bravely to put it aside, telling
himself that June was his friend and nothing more; but it was obstinate
and declined to be crushed in such a manner, not a little to his
annoyance.
On Saturday morning Dick received a brief note from June, and it fairly
staggered him. This was what she said:
"_Mr. Richard Merriwell_: Kindly return my locket at once by the
messenger who brings you this. I insist on it, and you will do
so if you are a gentleman. --_June Arlington_."
A second time had this happened. Once before June had sent for her
locket and Dick had returned it as requested. Then, when he sought to
call for an explanation, he was snubbed at the door. He puzzled over
this second note, being astonished by it. For had not June urged him to
promise not to give up the locket on any condition?
"Is she so changeable?" he muttered, in great disappointment. "I could
not have thought it of her! She doesn't seem that way."
He could not express his feeling of disappointment at June. She had
seemed like an unusually sensible girl, who would not whiffle round with
every shifting wind.
He understood that, without doubt, strong pressure had been brought to
bear on June by her mother and brother. She had been commanded to send
again for her locket. Chester Arlington was determined that Dick should
not keep it, and he would rejoice if it were sent back to his sister.
But had June been influenced so that she really wished the locket
returned? Rather had she not been compelled to write the request while
she did not wish Dick to comply with it?
He started at this thought, and, of a sudden, he found a way to excuse
June. She could not refuse to obey the command of her mother, and she
had written for the locket because Mrs. Arlington commanded it. That was
the explanation. The messenger was waiting outside the door. Dick
turned, walked to the door, and said:
"There is no answer."
"But the lady what give me the note said there would be one," declared
the boy. "She said I was to bring back somethin' you'd give me."
"Did she?"
"Yep. An' said I was to be careful not to lose it."
"What sort of a lady gave you this note?"
"Oh, she was pritty swell, you bet! She wore good togs, but she had gray
hair, and she looked me over through a glass with a handle what she held
up to her eye, and she says, says she, 'Boy, are you honest?' and I
says, 'I am, though I know I'll never grow up to be a great politician
or a millionaire if I stay so.' She didn't seem to like that much, but
she finally give me the paper what I brought to you, sayin' as how I was
to bring back the thing what you would give me."
"Well, there is nothing for you to take back," said Dick. "But here is a
quarter for you. Just say to the lady that the article is so precious
that I will bring it in person, as I dare not trust it out of my hands."
"All right. Thankee," said the boy, and he hurried away.
A feeling of satisfaction had come to Dick.
"I was right," he exclaimed, with a short laugh. "It is the work of
June's mother. But how can I get out of giving up the locket and the
picture? June told me to keep it, but if her mother demands it of me
I'll be placed in an awkward position."
He was soon given other things to think of, however. The Franklin team
arrived in town before noon, and Buckhart, who was at the station to see
them, came hustling back to the academy and sought Dick, whom he found
in the gym.
"There's no mistake about it," said the Westerner excitedly. "One of
their players is Plover, the chap who was barred from the Exeter team
because he was a professional. Why, he's nineteen years old, and he's
played the game for three or four years. He got into some kind of a mess
at Exeter and left school to avoid a disgrace. He's one of the
'ringers.'"
"How do you know this?" asked Dick. "You do not know Plover personally,
do you?"
"No, but there was a chap at the station who knew him and spoke to him."
"Well?"
"Plover didn't seem to like it much. He pretended not to know the fellow
who spoke to him."
"Who was the fellow?"
"Clerk in Peabody's store, a fellow who hasn't been here very long."
"I'll have to see him at once," said Dick.
"I had a talk with him, you bet your boots!"
"Did you?"
"Sure thing, pardner. Said he knew Plover all right, and that the fellow
couldn't fool him. Said Plover was a chap who played baseball summers
for money, raced for money, had been pulled up for some sort of
crookedness in a running-race, had coached football-teams for money; in
short, he made his living by just such things."
"Well, he is a fine fellow for Franklin to run up against us!" exclaimed
Dick. "Come, Brad, we'll look up the manager of that team without
delay."
But the manager of the visiting team had not come to Fardale with his
players, as they learned on hurrying to the hotel and making inquiries.
"He didn't dare come!" muttered Buckhart in Dick's ears. "He was afraid
you'd get after him before the game. That's why the onery galoot stayed
away."
Dick's face wore a grim expression as he called for Captain Hickman.
Hickman and two other Franklin fellows were found in a room. The captain
of the team rose and held out his hand to Dick, crying:
"How are you, Merriwell, old man! Glad to see you again! Of course,
we'll have to trounce you this afternoon, but that is no reason why we
shouldn't be friends before the game--and afterward."
"No, that is no reason," admitted Dick. "As for trouncing us, that
remains to be seen; but I am sure you ought to do it with the kind of
team you have brought!"
"Oh, yes! we've got a corker this year," laughed Hickman.
"But aren't you out of your class a bit?" asked Dick, while Brad stood
by the door, grimly waiting the clash of words he expected would come
and eying the two chaps with Hickman, to have their measure in case
there was an encounter.
"Do you fancy your team so very weak?" asked Hickman jokingly. "Why, you
seem to be doing very well."
"We are strong enough for a school team made up of amateurs, but we may
not be able to cope with professionals."
"And 'ringers,'" put in Brad.
Hickman pretended to be surprised and astonished.
"Professionals?" he exclaimed. "Ringers? Why, what do you mean? It can't
be that you accuse us of having such men on our team?"
"I have information that leads me to believe you have," said Dick
grimly.
"It's not true!" retorted the captain of the Franklin team hotly.
"It's a lie!" said a yellow-haired chap, rising behind Hickman, and
stepping forward.
"That's exactly what it is!" agreed the third fellow, as he also rose
and joined the others.
"Here's where we get into a scrimmage!" thought Buckhart, with a glow of
genuine satisfaction. "Here is where we wipe the floor with three young
gents from Franklin!"
But Dick was not there to get into a row.
"Such information reached me a few days ago," said Dick, "and I wrote at
once to Mr. Rankin, your manager."
"Well, you heard from him, didn't you?"
"Yes; he answered that the report was untrue."
"Well, that should have satisfied you," said Hickman. "What more do you
want?"
"To-day," said Dick calmly, "I have been told that on your team there is
a regular professional by the name of Plover."
"Plover?"
"Yes."
"There is no man by that name on the team," said Hickman. "So you see
that you have been led astray in this matter."
"Of course it is possible," admitted Dick, "But we have not forgotten
last year, Mr. Hickman."
"Last year?" said Hickman uneasily. "What do you mean by that?"
"You should remember very well."
"Why not----"
"Yes, your little trick you played on us. I believe a fellow by the name
of Jabez Lynch played with you, and he was a Fardale man at the time. He
wore a nose-guard and head-harness that so disguised him he was not
recognized; but he did a piece of dirty work that exposed him before the
game was over. You remember, Captain Hickman."
Hickman forced a short laugh.
"That was a joke, Merriwell."
"A joke!" exclaimed Dick, his eyes flashing. "Is that what you call it?
It was no joke, Mr. Hickman, and you know very well that it came very
near ending all athletic relations between our teams and our schools."
"If that is what he considers as a joke," put in Brad; "mebbe he allows
it's a joke to spring a lot of 'ringers' on us!"
"Who are you?" savagely asked the captain of the visiting team, glaring
at Brad. "What right have you to dip into this matter?"
"Who am I? Well, I'm Brad Buckhart, the unbranded maverick of the Rio
Pecos! I'm playing with Fardale, and I allow that I can dip in some. If
any of you gents think not, I'm willing to argue it with you any old way
you say. You hear me chirp!"
"Have you come to raise a fuss, Mr. Merriwell?" cried Hickman.
"I have come to warn you," said Dick, with unabated grimness.
"Warn us--of what?"
"That you are making a grave mistake."
"Are you going to squeal? Are you going to back out?"
"We shall play you this afternoon if your team is made up entirely of
professionals."
"Then what----"
"I wish to notify you, Mr. Hickman, that a thorough investigation will
be made. If we learn that you have professionals on your team, Fardale
will sever relations with you. There will be no further contests between
us."
Hickman snapped his fingers.
"Do as you like," he said. "We'll have the pleasure of wiping you up in
the last encounter, anyway."
"Will you?" cried Dick. "Not much! Fardale will defeat you to-day, for
all of tricks and crookedness!"
"Whoop-ee!" exploded Buckhart. "You bet your boots she will!"
Then both boys turned on their heels and left the room.
Dick and Brad were descending the stairs to leave the hotel when
something struck Dick's shoulder with a little tinkle and fell on the
steps before him.
Dick picked it up, and glanced upward. He fancied he saw a face
disappear above, and there was a rustling sound that died away almost
immediately. In his hand Dick held a bit of paper that was twisted about
an old-fashioned copper coin. He untwisted the paper and saw there was
some writing upon it.
"I shall try to be at the game. See me a moment if possible.
Have something to say to you. --_June_."
"What is it, pard?" asked Brad.
"Nothing much," smiled Dick, folding the paper and carefully putting it
in his pocket, along with the coin.
The smile left his face, as at the very door, when he was passing out,
he encountered Mrs. Arlington, who had just alighted from a carriage and
was coming in. She saw him, and a haughty look of anger and accusation
settled on her cold face.
"So you decided to come!" she said freezingly. "It is well that you did.
I have consulted a lawyer, and I have about concluded to have you
arrested."
"To have me arrested?" said Dick, in surprise.
"Exactly."
"What for?"
"Theft!"
Dick's face flamed crimson, while a gurgle of incredulity and
astonishment came from Brad's throat.
"Theft, madam?" said Dick warmly. "Such a thing is ridiculous!"
"Outrageous!" came from Brad.
"I sent for a piece of property belonging to my daughter and you
declined to return it," said the woman, with a crushing air of
superiority.
"So it was you who sent for it?" came quickly from Dick. "I am glad to
know that."
"My daughter wrote the note, which I sent by a messenger. Your refusal
to return the locket makes you a thief. But I presume you have come to
your senses and decided to give it up, in which case I shall not proceed
against you."
Dick was boiling with anger, and he longed to tell the woman just what
he thought; but he could not forget that she was June's mother, which
held him in check.
"I did not call to return the locket, madam," he said. "I had another
matter that brought me here."
"Indeed?" said the woman, annoyed and surprised. "You will find it best
to attend to this matter without delay if you wish to escape the
unpleasantness of being arrested. To a boy of your callous nature I do
not suppose arrest would seem like a disgrace, but you may fear
imprisonment."
Dick could not find words to retort to this insult, but he knew he could
not restrain his outraged feelings much longer, for which reason he
sought to pass the woman at once and get away from her. But Mrs.
Arlington had not played all her cards. She was holding one in reserve.
"I think you were somehow concerned in stopping a horse that had become
frightened in a neighboring town, and I also think my daughter was in
the carriage," she said, in the same haughty, freezing manner. "Much to
my regret, I have learned that my son failed to pay you for your act, as
he promised to do; but you know he was injured by falling from the
carriage, which explains his failure. I have been told that he said he
would give you a hundred dollars to stop the horse. I always take pains
to have my son keep his word, and I shall do so in this case. When you
call with the locket you shall have the hundred dollars, just as he
promised."
Dick knew she felt sure the promise of that money would cause him to
hasten to bring the locket, and it but added to his outraged sense of
fairness. Surely she was the most overbearing, haughty, cold-blooded
woman he had ever met! But she was June's mother!
"Madam," he said, "if you imagine for a moment that I stopped that horse
because a hundred dollars was offered to any one who would do so, you
have made a great mistake. I did so because your daughter was in peril.
Nothing could induce me to accept money from your son, from you, or from
any one on earth for such an act!"
He managed to pass her, but Buckhart paused to say:
"Well, I should opine not! Why, confound it! I told you once that this
yere pard of mine has money enough to buy up your old husband's
railroads and run 'em! Money! Why, when he comes of age he'll have it to
burn in an open grate instead of coal! Money! Don't insult him by----"
"Brad!" said Dick sharply; "that will do! Come!"
"All right," said Buckhart, regretfully following young Merriwell. "But
I wasn't half done with her. I was just getting round to say over my
opinion of her, and I reckon I'd sure rumpled her fur some."
"Never mind," said Dick. "We've got other things to think of besides
that woman."
"Don't you worry none whatever about arrest," said the Texan. "She'll
not be that big a fool."
"I hope not," said Dick.
As Dick said, he had other things to occupy his mind. He was bound to
win the game that afternoon and teach Franklin a lesson.
Midday had passed and Dick was entering the gymnasium to prepare for the
game when a boy on a bicycle hailed him. He stopped, frowning a little
as the boy came up swiftly, for he half-fancied it was some one sent by
Mrs. Arlington. As the lad drew near, however, Dick suddenly recognized
him. It was Sammy--Sammy of Hudsonville, on a brand-new wheel! Sammy was
laughing as he jumped off.
"I wanted you to see the wheel Mr. Arlington sent me in place of the old
one," he said. "I've ridden over here on it to thank Miss Arlington and
to see the football-game. I'm going to root for you in the game. Say,
ain't this wheel a peach?"
"It is very handsome," said Dick. "It seems to be quite as good as your
other one."
"Oh, it's better! A machinist over in our town says it's the best he
ever saw, and he knows a good one when he sees it."
"I congratulate you, Sammy," said Dick. "I'm very glad you got the wheel
all right and like it."
"Oh, I like it! Say, you're going to do them Franklin fellows, ain't
you? They beat our team, and they think they are the real stuff. I'd
give anything to see you do 'em up."
"All right," smiled Dick. "Keep your eyes open this afternoon, Sammy."