“Yes,” said Parker, with a laugh. “But what are you going to do about that? You told me that if I’d managed to keep him away from that Cambridge game they’d never have let up until they found out the truth. Wouldn’t that go just as much for anything you tried?”
“Suppose there wasn’t any way for them to find out?” said Foote.
Foote got up and walked around the room. A new idea had just come to him, one that seemed to promise absolute success, with no risk at all for himself. He was debating with himself as to whether he should tell Parker about it or not. He decided that he would not. It was too dangerous. He was inclined to distrust Parker. Moreover, he did not know how readily Parker would enter into this particular plan that he was evolving. It was a plan so devilish and so filled with danger for its intended victim that he was inclined to think he had better carry it out by himself, which he could easily do, since he needed no help.
“I’ve got the plan we need,” he told Parker finally. “I’m not going to tell you what it is, but it’s a good one—take that from me. Mr. Jim Phillips won’t be able to pitch against Harvard on Saturday, and he’ll never be able to prove, either, that it wasn’t his own fault that he was away. Whether it will hurt Merriwell or not I don’t know. The thing to do now, as far as I can see, is to put Phillips out of the running. We can settle Merriwell’s hash some other time.”
“I want to know what you’re going to do,” said Parker sullenly. “We’re working together here, and you expect to get a lot out of me. I don’t like going into things in this blind fashion.”
“Stay out, then,” snarled Foote. “I’ll tell you this much: Phillips will go to the station to-morrow night to start for New York. But he won’t get there with the rest of the team.”
Parker’s most insistent urgings couldn’t make Foote tell him anything more. But Parker was determined to find out, if it was at all possible, and he treasured the hint as to the station. It was all he could do.
CHAPTER XXI
LOCKED IN A FREIGHT CAR.
Fate played into Foote’s hands the next afternoon, when he had planned to resort to his last ruse against Jim Phillips. His plan was one, he was convinced, that would, if he could only work it out, make his victory complete. But the problems involved in actually accomplishing his purpose were numerous and varied. However, Jim himself, with no intention of doing anything of the sort, paved the way for his enemy. He had felt a little sluggish on the day after the commencement game with Harvard, the natural result, as Dick Merriwell told him, of the excitement of the game, and the universal coach had advised him to get out on the water.