“There’s the money,” he said. “I know this sounds like a wild yarn, but, on my honor, it’s true. I’d never have gone into the thing at all, if I’d any idea that Parker was going to try to work such a trick. He said that Phillips wasn’t as good as he tried to make out, and that it would be easy to prove it. I was willing to stand for that, though I see now that even that was dirty business, but I never supposed that Parker would go as far as he did.”
“Will you come with me and repeat this story before Parker?” asked Dick Merriwell. “I believe every word you’ve told us, Shesgren, unlikely as it seems, and I think, what’s more, that I’ll be able to prove enough of it to make Parker confess the rest.”
“I’ll do anything you want,” said Shesgren furiously. “I hate that fellow Parker, and I’d do anything I could to make trouble for him.”
“I don’t blame you much for feeling that way,” said Dick, smiling, “but I guess that Parker will find himself needing sympathy before long.”
“He won’t get it from me,” said Bill Brady spitefully; and they all laughed. The big catcher’s remark relieved the tension.
Dick Merriwell, as he led the way to Parker’s room, realized fully that the hardest part of his fight to clear Jim Phillips was still before him. If Parker refused to confess, and could induce his accomplice, Carpenter, to stand by him, it would be hard, indeed, to prove that Jim was all right. Against the positive statements of both Carpenter and Parker, Shesgren’s unsupported word wouldn’t count for much. But the universal coach was used to fighting against odds, and he felt that he was really more than a match for Parker.
Parker greeted them with a satirical smile, and invited them to sit down.
“I am honored by this visit,” he said, looking at them. “Any friends of yours, Mr. Merriwell, are welcome, of course. Have you come to talk over the football season?”
“No use, Parker,” said Dick quietly, but dangerously. “I know the whole story. And I’m not any the more inclined to be easy on you because you were trying to reach me, and were quite ready to ruin a friend of mine as a means of hurting me. Shesgren has told me everything.”
“Indeed?” said Parker. “I don’t know what he’s told you, of course, but I suppose it must be something very interesting. I’d like to hear it.”