RATTLETON’S WARNING.
Hodge felt no little curiosity to know what those conditions were, but,
as Merriwell did not show an inclination to state them, he refrained
from asking questions.
Bart had begun to understand Frank very well, and he could tell when
Merry wished to talk and when he chose to be silent. With rare good
judgment, Hodge seldom attempted to induce Frank to talk when he showed
a disposition to be reticent.
Merriwell rolled down his sleeve and picked up his coat. He felt that
he had practiced quite enough for the time.
Just then Harry Rattleton entered the park and approached hurriedly,
his face betraying no small amount of excitement.
“I want to Merry you, see--I mean I want to see you, Merry,” he
spluttered.
“All right,” smiled Frank. “Here I am. Take a good look at me.”
“Want to tell you something.”
“I will listen.”
Harry cast a quick glance at Bart.
“Want to tell it to you privately,” he said.
Bart turned and strolled away, pulling on his coat.
“Fire away,” said Frank. “No one will hear you.”
Rattleton seemed troubled about beginning. He stammered some, and then
burst forth:
“Don’t you do it, Merry--don’t you do it! It’s a put up job! Don’t you
do it!”
“If you’ll tell me what it is,” smiled Frank, “I may be able to tell
you if there is any danger that I will do it.”
“They’re going to try to run you in.”
“How run me in? Arrest me?”
“No, no! Run you in captain of the nine.”
“Oh, is that what you are driving at?”
“Yes. I am dead on to the grooked came--I mean the crooked game!”
Harry was so excited that he twisted himself badly.
“What is the crooked game?” asked Frank. “You are talking in enigmas.”
“It’s a plot!”
“What kind of a plot?”
“A plot to put you in disgrace.”
“How?”
“Everybody most seems to think the team we have now stands no show of
winning the pennant.”
“Well?”
“That’s why they want to run you in captain.”
“Think so?”
“Know so. I’m willing to bet Phil Hardy paid that doctor something to
forbid him from playing. Hardy is a sharp one. He saw Yale stood no
show, and he was sick. He wanted to get out, and he took that way of
crawling.”
Frank shook his head.
“I don’t want to think that of Hardy,” he soberly said. “I don’t want
to think any man that much a sneak. No, Rattles, you are dead wrong
about Phil.”
“I’m red dight--I mean dead right!” excitedly declared Harry. “You have
too much confidence in human nature. You never will think a man crooked
till it is proven for you, and then you don’t like to believe it.”
“What’s the use?” said Frank, quietly. “I dislike to have my confidence
in human nature shattered--I refuse to have it shattered. I know there
is more good than bad in the world. The person who is forever looking
for the bad is the one who never sees the good, and he has no one but
himself to blame. I am no pessimist.”
“But you are a thundering fool sometimes!” blurted Rattleton. “I don’t
care a continental if you punch my head for saying so, but you are a
fool sometimes!”
Instead of showing anger at these plain words, Frank beamed in a sunny
manner, his red lips parting to show his gleaming white teeth.
“You are jolly original to-day, old man,” he said, merrily. “You
surprise me.”
“Oh, say!” snapped Harry. “There isn’t anything to laugh about. I am in
earnest. Now, look here, Frank, I want to tell you something. By chance
I heard some of your particular admirers talking about you.”
“Who were they?”
“Gordan, Gooch, Pooler, Paulding and Marline.”
“Marline’s all right.”
“I should think so!” burst forth Harry. “He’s the fellow who was going
to kill you!”
“In a fair duel.”
“Oh, he’s a bloodthirsty dog!”
“He has seemed friendly enough since our encounter.”
“Hasn’t dared be any other way. He was in the gang, and he doesn’t like
you any too much. He thinks you are holding your head too high, and
he’d like to see you taken down several pegs.”
“Well, what were they saying?”
“Saying Hardy got out because he saw Yale did not have a show this
season. Saying that you would be made captain, and that you’d get all
the blame for Yale’s hard luck. They laughed over it like fiends. Oh,
they were having a jolly time to think how it would pull you down.”
Frank’s lips closed and were pressed together. A hard, resolute look
settled on his face, and still he smiled. There was confidence in that
smile, and there was scorn in it.
“My enemies have thought the same thing about many things I have taken
part in,” he said, quietly.
“But this is different,” Rattleton declared. “I tell you this is a
plot, and I believe Phil Hardy is in it. He knew they would put you in
captain, and that is why he got out. There’s no more trouble with his
heart than there is with mine.”
“He has the doctor’s certified statement.”
“That’s nothing. Bet he had to pay for it.”
Still Frank refused to believe that. He had known Hardy but a short
time, but he believed the fellow on the level. Phil had played fast
ball on the team the season before, although he had not been friendly
with Merriwell, who was one of the regular pitchers. He had been chosen
to captain the nine, as well as manage it, and, with few exceptions,
the choice was considered a good one. It did not seem possible now
that because Yale had not turned out as strong a team as usual, Hardy
had weakened and resorted to a trick to get out of his position of
responsibility.
“You must remember, Rattles,” said Frank, “that he had a bad spell in
the game last Saturday.”
“Made it.”
“Then he is a corking actor.”
“He didn’t fool me.”
Still Frank refused to be convinced.
“There is little danger that I’ll be put in captain of the nine,” he
said.
“There is every danger of it. You are the very man who will be offered
the place.”
“But the committee will not accept my terms.”
“Your terms?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Why, you----”
“I shall have a proposal to make to them.”
Harry did not have such scruples about questioning Frank as troubled
Hodge. His curiosity was aroused.
“What sort of a proposal will you make?” he asked.
Frank did not answer the question, for, at that moment, another man
entered the park, saw Merriwell, and approached him swiftly.
“Hardy!” exclaimed Frank.
“Hardy!” cried Rattleton, softly. “He’s up to something now. Look out
for him, Merry! Don’t be trapped.”