“It’s my only way to get rid of Merriwell’s spook,” he muttered. “My grandmother used to say that a silver bullet would always lay a spook. Unless I get rid of this one it will drive me crazy. I’ll find an opportunity to do the job to-morrow.”
During the game between Yale and Cornell, Dick Merriwell sat on the Yale bench. He did so at the request of Keene, who had been sent in to pitch. Wilbur believed the presence of the lad who had coached him would serve to steady his nerves and carry him through the critical points of the game.
Keene astonished and delighted the Yale crowd, pitching a masterly game from start to finish. Had he failed in any inning, Yale would have been defeated, for the score was running close and Cornell had a team that would not be likely to yield any advantage it might secure.
Mike Lynch sat on the bleachers with several of his classmates. Having discovered Dick on the Yale bench, Mike stared at him through inning after inning, paying very little attention to the conversation of his companions or the excited cheering of the great crowd.
Ditson nudged Bern Wolfe and called his attention to Lynch.
“Mighty queer about Mike,” he whispered. “I was talking with the doctor to-day. He seems to think Mike has received some severe shock from which he will not recover unless he gets a counter shock. Just look at him, Bern. See his eyes. See him glare. Why, he looks absolutely dangerous to-day.”
“It isn’t right for him to stay in college,” muttered Wolfe. “He ought to get away and take a rest.”
In the seventh inning Lynch rose from his seat and announced that he was going to leave the field. Although his friends felt that some one should accompany him, the game was at such an exciting point that not one of them wished to miss any of it. Therefore Mike was permitted to depart alone.
Instead of leaving the field, Lynch descended from the bleachers, followed the walk round toward the locker house, and let himself in by the gate onto the field. He was wearing a light overcoat, although the day was very warm. Beneath that coat there was a strange bulge over his hip pocket.