team low in the standing
of the clubs, but one of the most dangerous of all. It was a slow but
heavy-hitting aggregation, and at times more dreaded than were the
stronger clubs. The series was a critical one for the Bears as, after
that, they would return to the home grounds to play all the other
games, with the exception of two against the Blues.

McCarthy was happier and more interested than he had been since he
joined the Bears. Restlessly he awaited an opportunity to talk with
Betty Tabor. Since his interview with Helen Baldwin he had been
strangely jubilant for a young man who had just been discarded by the
girl to whom he was engaged. He wondered how much of the conversation
Betty Tabor had overheard, and worried about it. He wanted to explain
to her who Miss Baldwin was and how he had happened to be talking with
her, yet he knew it would seem presumptuous for him to broach the
subject. Why should Betty Tabor think enough of him to be jealous?
Yet, in spite of this, he decided that, at the first opportunity, he
would mention meeting Helen Baldwin.

He went to bed annoyed and with an odd sense of being wronged. He
determined to see the girl at breakfast and almost decided to confide
in her the secret of his past life. But he did not see her at
breakfast. After a restless night he was among the first in the dining
car and he loitered, but the girl, usually one of the earliest risers,
slept late, and when the train reached the city of the Travelers she
went with Manager Clancy and his wife in a taxicab, while McCarthy was
bundled with the other players into the big auto 'bus. He failed to
catch a glimpse of her during luncheon and was in a bad humor when the
team made an early start for the ball park.

The game was a runaway for the Bears. They piled up such a large score
during the early innings that Manager Clancy was able to take out
Morgan in the sixth and send Shelby, a second-string pitcher, to finish
the game, saving up more strength and skill to use at the finish.

It was a jubilant crowd of players that returned to the hotel after the
game. They sang and laughed and were happy again. They had won, and
during the afternoon the Panthers, overconfident, had suffered two
defeats by the Maroons, leaving the teams again practically tied for
the lead.

McCarthy spent the evening loitering around the hotel lobbies, still
hoping for an opportunity to see Miss Tabor, and she failed to appear
at din