“Well, it’s—it’s—— Oh, hang it, you know why they won’t, Chip, without my going into details.”
“Whom do you mean by ‘they,’ Red?”
“The Ophir fellows—and the Gold Hillers, too. Lenning has proved that he isn’t square. I guess that’s enough to make every one give him the cold shoulder.”
“If you’re going to dig into a fellow’s past, Clan, and judge him by what he was rather than by what he is now, of course I haven’t got anything to say. But I don’t call that being square, either.”
“We were off a bit when we accused Lenning of helping Shoup run away with the bullion,” put in Ballard, “but we haven’t had much proof, as yet, that Lenning has squared away and intends to do the right thing from now on.”
“We’re going to give him a chance, fellows,” Merry cried, “and we’ll begin by selecting him for this pick-up nine.”
“There’ll be objections——”
“All right,” cut in Merry impatiently, “if the objections come I’ll try and meet them. Put down Jode Lenning’s name first, Red.”
Clancy secured pencil and paper and, not without some reluctance, wrote as his chum directed.
“Where will Lenning play?” queried Ballard, striving to make the most of what he considered an unwise selection.