beat except on
the ball field. Every one of us is certain that Edwards has bribed
Williams and that he has lined up this big politician, Barney Baldwin,
and now they've dished up this story about McCarthy to try to drive him
out of the game. Are you game to stand what the crowd will do to you
to-day, Kohinoor?"

"I'll play," replied McCarthy grimly.

"Better stuff your ears with cotton if we're losing," advised the
manager. "This crowd will turn on you in a second and accuse you of
more than the paper did, if you make an error or two. It will be worse
if you stay out of the game. Then they'll think the story is true and
that I've laid you off for throwing games. I have a plan. I'm going
to act as if I believe McCarthy is trying to throw games."

"Thanks," said McCarthy, gripping the manager's hand gratefully, just
as a knock sounded on the door and Technicalities Feehan entered.

"I regret exceedingly my absence when you wanted me, Mr. Clancy," he
said. "I have just returned and have been reading this absurd article
reflecting upon the integrity of Mr. McCarthy."

"What do you think of it?" asked Swanson.

"Absurd. The figures prove directly the contrary. Let me read to you
some of my recent calculations"----

"Never mind--never mind," protested Clancy. "Save them for the paper.
What I wanted to find out is who is this fellow Barney Baldwin?"

"Baldwin," said Feehan calmly, "is a politician, accused of much
crooked work. I do not know that he ever has been convicted"----

"Meantime," remarked Feehan calmly, "I shall attempt to discover the
relations existing between Mr. Edwards, the gamester, and this person
who wrote this attack. I shall have some statistics to show the
editor"----

"Never mind the statistics," said Clancy, cutting off Feehan before he
could bestride his hobby, "I want you to find out who was back of the
fellow who wrote that article; whether anyone bribed him to do it. I'm
beginning to think we are dealing with bigger men than Ed Edwards.

"Now see here, fellows," he added frowning worriedly, "we're up against
the toughest proposition we ever tackled, but we can beat it. The best
way to beat them is to pretend we don't suspect a thing and let them
work out their own schemes"----"Hello, come in," he called in response
to a rap on the door. "Oh, it's you, Bannard! How are you? I'm just
having a little talk with the boys. How are things to-day?"

He feigned an indifferent