To this end, it was necessary that his team should win games. The Clippers did so. But—and this point Merry dragged by sheer force from the reluctant Billy—it was whispered that Colonel Carson did not care much how they won, so long as they did win.
“I don’t believe in repeating calumnies,” went on Billy, “whether you like a man, or don’t. I believe that Colonel Carson is a scoundrel and a liar where my family is concerned, but I don’t like to repeat things that have no foundation.”
“Right you are,” exclaimed Chip. “But in a case of this kind, rumor is apt to hit pretty close to the mark, Billy Mac. Is there a good diamond here?”
“You bet!” cried Billy enthusiastically. “Almost as good as the Fardale grounds, Chip. It’s laid out down below the milldam, by the river, with concrete stands and all that. Colonel Carson certainly does things up brown!”
“That’s what he wants,” agreed Chip. “It’ll help his reputation with the league magnates. But if he builds his reputation on secret chicanery and dirty work, he isn’t going to get very far, and, judging from your own case, it looks as though Colonel Carson had a tricky streak right through him.”
He could not help feeling sorry for Billy Mac, even while admiring his sturdy pluck. To throw up school, athletics, and everything else in order to take up a hopeless undertaking was a stiff proposition. And Billy’s task looked hopeless.
His salary as clerk in the Carsonville general store would certainly be small. It would take him a long time to get together a thousand dollars, to add to the thousand his mother already possessed. Yet it had been the only chance, and Billy Mac had plunged desperately at it without a squeal for help.
Merriwell knew better than to offer financial assistance, though he knew that his father would be glad to help the McQuades. He had seen enough of Billy’s mother to guess at her pride, and, as though Billy had read his secret thought, he turned to Merriwell.
“Don’t say anything to mother about my telling you this,” he said quietly. “It may come out other ways, or she may tell you herself——”
“I understand,” interrupted Chip. “She wouldn’t like to think that her guests had been bothered with family troubles. She’s a mighty fine mother to have, Billy.”