HOW THE PLOT WAS FOILED.
It was in Dick Merriwell’s rooms that night that Jim and Bill Brady
learned the story of what had happened that afternoon. They heard from
the universal coach of Canfield’s belated discovery of the blank
examination paper marked with Gray’s name. The professor, it was
explained, had reported all the men in the course as having passed
without having marked a single paper, and Gray had, therefore, received
his diploma. But later, when Canfield had gone over the books that
contained the answers to his questions, he had discovered the blank
pages in Gray’s, and had been furious. He told the dean that he regarded
the thing as a personal insult to himself, and had demanded instant
action. The dean had had no other course than to yield to the request,
and had hastily summoned Gray, at the same time sending word to Dick
Merriwell.
Gray had been unable to deny that the writing on the cover of the book
was his. But he insisted that he had answered every question, although
he could not say how nearly correct his answers had been. The evidence
was all against him, however, and it had seemed to be convincing.
Certainly the book contained nothing but blank pages now.
It was Dick Merriwell who had made the astonishing, but simple,
discovery that had offered a solution. Examining the book closely, he
suddenly pointed out to the dean that the cover had been changed. It was
a simple exercise book that was used, with blue paper covers, and Dick
showed that there were marks on the inside pages of other staples that
had been torn out.
“Canfield said that no one could have meddled with the books,” said the
universal coach then, as he went on with his explanation, “and suggested
that we ought to find the pages that had been torn out. He said that the
books had all been put in his room in Dwight Hall, and that the place
had been locked up as soon as he left it yesterday afternoon, and not
opened again until this morning. But I was able to prove that some one
had tampered with the book, because of one thing he had overlooked. He
hadn’t washed his hands.”
“Finger prints?” exclaimed Brady and Jim Phillips, together, deeply
interested.
“Exactly,” said Dick. “The hands of the man who made the change were
dirty, and his finger tips left marks all over the white and blue paper.
We got a man from police headquarters who understood the science of
those things, and he took an impression of Gray’s fingers. That showed
at once that he wasn’t the one who had handled the book, for the marks
were entirely different. Then we went at the problem of trying to find
other traces, and we found marks on other objects in the room that
showed plainly that some outsider had been in there.
“Fortunately, the room had been closely watched, and Canfield could tell
us every one who had been in there, or, rather, every one who had had
any business to be in there. We got finger-print impressions from all of
them, and they didn’t fit the one who had handled the book at all. Both
Canfield and the dean accepted that as conclusive evidence that Gray was
all right, and the charge against him won’t even have to be made public.
He had to miss pitching that game, but he certainly made up for that
when he did have a chance.”
“But how about the one who really did it?” exclaimed Brady. “Have you
caught him? Do you know who it is?”
“No,” said Dick, more vindictively than any of them had ever heard him
speak before. “But he’s left evidence that will convict him as surely as
if he had been seen. There’s only one man with fingers that could have
made the prints we found—and we’ve got impressions of those that will
last forever.”
“All you’ve got to do, then,” said Jim, “is to find the man who fits
those prints?”
“Yes,” said Dick, a little dryly, “that’s all. But that’s quite enough,
you know. It’s probably some Yale man, but we can’t take the finger
prints of every man in Yale. We’ve got to keep our eyes mighty wide open
for the next day or two, and trust to the idea that the man, whoever he
is, won’t be satisfied to admit himself beaten. If we keep quiet about
this, and don’t tell him we’re on the track, he’s likely to give himself
away sooner or later. Those people usually do.”
“Well, we’ll have to hope for the best,” said Brady. “But this chap,
whoever he is, seems to be cleverer than some of those who have tried to
make trouble for us in the past. That’s the reason I’m inclined to leave
Parker out of this. He wasn’t clever at all; he left a trail a mile
broad behind him when he tried to make trouble. This chap hasn’t been
able to accomplish anything, but he hasn’t made it at all easy for us to
find him out. It’s one thing to block one of their games, and that’s
necessary, of course. But it’s another thing, and certainly quite as
important, to make it impossible for them to try something else. This
chap’s free to do anything that comes into his head now.”
“That’s perfectly true,” said Dick Merriwell, “but I don’t believe that
he’ll be able to do much. We’re all on our guard now, and it ought to be
possible to defeat any plans that he evolves. Keep your eyes open, of
course, and if you see anything suspicious, let me know about it right
away. We go to New York to-morrow night, as usual, to sleep there the
night before the game.
“I don’t need to say what an important game this is. It settles the
championship, and they’ve got Briggs ready to come back at us and try to
beat us. I know that we know more about his pitching than we did last
week, but you want to remember that he also knows a good deal more about
our batters, and the style they have. That will help him, and so will
the seasoning of a really important game. He’d never had that before,
but he did surprisingly well, in view of that. In fact, I was surprised
when we won that game, after Jim’s rough experience. We want him to be
ready to pitch the game of his life on Saturday, with nothing to worry
him and disturb him.”
“I’m ready to do my best,” said Jim. “I never felt better in my life
than I do right now, and this afternoon, when I let out some steam with
Taylor, my curves were breaking better than they have all season. I
seemed to be able to put the ball just where I wanted it every time.”
“How about the captaincy next year?” said Brady. “I suppose it’s pretty
well settled that Jim here is to get it? Carter isn’t going to run, and
Jackson’s got the football job. I can’t think of any one else who’s in
line for it.”
“You’re too modest, Bill,” said Jim, with a laugh. “What’s the matter
with your being captain yourself? You’d make a better one than I ever
would.”
But Brady only laughed.
“Me?” he said. “I’m not gunning for any trouble of that sort. It’s too
much like work. I’d rather play under some one else and watch them
struggling with all the worries of that job. Look at old Sherman. He
worries about the team the whole time. I bet he’s lost ten pounds, and
he’s been lying awake nights, planning out ways to make the team
better.”
“Sherman’s a good captain,” said Dick Merriwell. “I’ll be well pleased
if Phillips is elected, but I don’t take sides in that sort of thing.
It’s for the team to choose the captain, and for me, after he’s chosen,
to work with him to turn out the best possible team for Yale. That’s
what Parker couldn’t seem to understand.”
“There’s a lot of things he hasn’t understood yet,” said Bill Brady
grimly. “But I guess he’ll find them out before he’s much older, and I
think he’s just about enough of a man to come out and admit that he’s
been wrong when it’s brought home to him. He’s got a wrong start, but he
isn’t such a bad fellow when you get right down to cases with him. It’s
more a case of being foolish than anything else with him.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Dick. “I’m glad to hear you say that. He’s
done good work for Yale already, and I hope he’ll do a lot more before
he gets through. He’s the sort that ought to turn into a useful citizen,
and a credit to the college.”
“We ought to get along without all this trouble between Yale men,” said
Jim Phillips. “I hate to see it. It’s bad for the college, and it never
does any one any good. I’m not looking for trouble here, and I’m going
to do all I can to keep out of it hereafter.”
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