A STRANGE MESSAGE FROM HOME.
"Well," cried Neddie Ellis, cheerily, as the nine filed into Captain
Hiram Porter's room, which had been used as a rallying-place, as it
was the largest assigned to any member of the club, "well, we have one
more chance at the Calumets, and there is hope while there's life. Hey,
Larry?"
Larry did not immediately reply. He was regarding Ben Burton with
suspicion. That individual had received a telegram from the hands of
a messenger, as he came into the house, which, having read, he tore
into very small pieces and threw away with a disturbed expression of
countenance. Ben's eyes were now fixed on Hiram, who, on coming into
the room, had noticed on the mantel-piece a telegram addressed to
himself. Ben Burton's face grew white as his captain, tearing open the
envelope, read the despatch with astonishment and wrath depicted on his
usually pleasant visage.
"Read her out, Captain," cried "The Lily." "Read her out and let us
divide the bad news with you. I'm sure it's bad news, isn't it, Neddie?"
Without stopping to consider whether it were discreet or not to divulge
the message that was causing him so much perturbation, Hiram, casting a
sharp glance at Ben Burton, said, "It is bad news, boys, for it accuses
one of our number of treachery. It is from Tom Selby, and it reads
thus:--
"'_Look out for Ben Burton; he has sold the game._'"
"It's an infernal lie!" shouted Ben, passionately, and very red in the
face, and shaky in the limbs. "What does Tom Selby know about the game,
and how could I sell the game in Catalpa? I'll thrash Tom Selby as
quick as I get home; see if I don't!"
"No you won't," said Albert Heaton, who entered the room at this
moment. "No you won't. Hear this, Mr. Burton. It's a despatch from Dr.
Selby, dated at Catalpa, 5:20 P.M. You see they had then got
the news that the game was lost:--
"'_I am afraid you did not get Tom's despatch to the captain, for
we hear that the game is gone. Hunt up despatch to Hiram, sent to
lodgings._'"
"What's that despatch you've got there Hi? Is it Tom's?"
"Yes," answered the captain. "It is from Tom. Read it."
[Illustration: "READ HER OUT, CAPTAIN," CRIED "THE LILY."--Page 167.]
Albert read the despatch deliberately and said: "I see it all now. My
despatch was sent to Judge Morris's office, where I found it when I
stopped in there on my way back from seeing the ladies on board of a
street-car for the north side. Your despatch should have been sent to
the ball grounds, and the idiots here have kept it until it was too
late. Oh, this is too bad!" and Albert fairly groaned.
"They couldn't tell what was in the despatch, Al," said Larry,
soothingly. "There's no use crying over spilt milk. But what I should
like is an explanation from Mr. Burton."
All eyes were now turned on Burton, who defiantly faced his accusers.
He was evidently determined to brave out the charge made against him
from Catalpa. His cheek grew red and pale by turns, and he failed to
keep the serenity that he attempted.
"See him shake," said "The Lily," with bitter contempt. "Did any man
ever shake like that when he was innocent. Oh, no, Bennie did not play
a muffing game, this afternoon, for nothing!"
"I tell you that's a lie?" roared Ben, furious with rage. "Any man who
says I threw the game is a slanderer and I'll fight him. Any man would
show feeling and shake, as you call it, Bill Van Orman, if accused of
doing such a mean thing as selling out his club, and you know it."
More in sorrow than in anger, Captain Hiram ordered the boys to drop
the matter for the present. It could not be determined, in the absence
of specific testimony, what amount of truth would be found in the
startling charge made against a member of the club. They must wait
until they reached home, he said, before it would be worth while to
take any steps in the matter. Meantime, he would advise (but not order)
that the members of the club drop the business and say nothing about
it, especially not to any outsider.
It was good advice that the captain gave, and the members of the club
all followed it so far as speaking of the matter to outsiders was
concerned. It was asking too much that they should not talk it over
among themselves. By common consent, however, Ben Burton was avoided by
all hands. He stood about the house until after supper, then, without
leaving any word as to his intentions, he quietly disappeared and was
seen no more.
"What a wretched streak of luck!" murmured Larry Boyne to Neddie Ellis.
"If that despatch had been sent to Al Heaton, or to Hiram at the ball
grounds, all would have been well. We could have withdrawn Ben Burton
and put Will Sprague, or Al Heaton, in his place, before the game
began. Oh, why did Tom do such a foolish thing as to send the message
here?"
"Tom is an idiot!" said Neddie, indignantly. "He's a feather-head;
always was, and always will be! Let's look at that despatch again,
captain."
Critical examination of the message showed that it was received in
Chicago at half-past one o'clock. It had left Catalpa at half-past
eleven o'clock in the forenoon.
"Two hours to send that little message!" almost shrieked Neddie Ellis.
"It's that giddy, flirting girl that works the telegraph office in
Catalpa! That's what's the matter with the message. Now you just
remember that, boys."
"Softly! softly! Neddie," said Larry. "You mustn't accuse the operator.
Perhaps the line was down, or somebody else blundered. At any rate, the
mischief is done. We'll wait until we get home before we try to find
out what it all means."
"Aha!" cried "The Lily," as if he had seen a sudden burst of light.
"Now we know why Ben was late in the field. Don't you remember he stole
out after we had got through practicing, this noon, and was gone half
an hour, or so? Where was he? Why, he looked as if he had been stealing
sheep when he came back. I'll tell you where he had been. He had been
to the telegraph office on the corner below the grounds, telegraphing
to some confederate in Catalpa."
"Smart boy, Bill; but why should he go to the next block below the
grounds when there is an office in the building? And how could his
telegram to his confederate, if he has one, get back here in Tom
Selby's message?"
"That's more than I know, Cap, but I should say that he wouldn't dare
to send any crooked message from the ball grounds, where he is known."
"There is good sense in that, Billy boy," said Charlie King, who
had joined the party while the discussion was going on. "There is
plausibility in it, too, for I remember seeing Ben go into that office
and make some inquiries, as we were going to the grounds, day before
yesterday, to practice."
Meanwhile, Mr. Heaton was trying to comfort the young ladies in Judge
Morris's family, but his well-meant efforts were discouragingly
received by the fair champions of the Catalpa club. Miss Alice was
perfectly certain, she averred, that Ben Burton had purposely "thrown"
the game. She had watched him narrowly, and had been, at times, half
inclined to send down word to Mr. Boyne, or to the captain, rather (and
this was said with a blush), that Burton was playing false. The players
could not see it, but she could, and she knew him so well that she
could not keep her eyes off him while he was playing, whether it was in
the field, at the bat, or base-running.
Later in the evening, Albert came in with two or three of the Catalpa
men, bearing the doleful news from Tom Selby. "Didn't I tell you so?"
demanded Alice, with animation. "Didn't I tell you, Larry Boyne, to
beware of that young man?"
"You did indeed, Miss Howell," replied Larry, with mock dejection. "And
we would have looked out for him, as you suggested, if we had had any
tangible suspicion, or any proof whatsoever, that he was 'crooked.' But
how could we make a stand against one of our own number, merely on so
vague a hint as that which we had?"
"If _I_ were a member of the Catalpa club," said the girl, with spirit,
"I would not have so evil a young man as Ben Burton in it, evidence or
no evidence."
"Miss Alice is right," said Neddie Ellis, "I always did dislike Ben
Burton, and I would have voted against him, if it had not been that he
was such a good man at short stop that I couldn't think of putting my
little prejudices against what seemed to be the good of the nine."
Once more it was agreed that it was useless to discuss the matter until
the party had reached home, when the charges against Burton, and the
evidence, if there were any, would be brought up in due form.
By the time the players and their friends had embarked on the
west-bound train, next day, they had recovered somewhat their usual
high spirits. The buoyancy of youth and the natural hopefulness of
healthy young fellows like these came to their relief, and the gay,
chattering party that took possession of one end of a railway car, that
morning, could hardly have been compared with the depressed and angry
knot of youngsters that had discussed defeat and treachery, the night
before. If they had been sold out, they argued to themselves, and had
still fairly held their own against the famed Calumets, what was not
possible for the team when purged of an unworthy member?
So they neared home with hearts lightened of a grievous burden and
were once more cheered with the reflection that they had achieved one
notable victory, at least, since their departure for Chicago, although
a defeat counterbalanced that triumph.
And when the train drew up before the Catalpa depot, the returning
adventurers were gladdened by the sight of innumerable flags flying
over the town in the distance. They were to be received with
congratulations, after all, not as humiliated captives.
"That is because we come home neck and neck, I s'pose," said "The
Lily," as the notes of a brass band startled his ample ear.
"It's because we are not so badly off as we might be, Billy boy,"
replied Larry Boyne.