"No," returned Frank firmly; "I'll furnish the umpire. I did not seek this game. You came to Bloomfield looking for it, and if you're not satisfied with the arrangements I'll make, you can easily cancel the engagement."
"I don't want to cancel it. All I want is an umpire who'll give both teams a fair show. Now I understand they have such a man here in Wellsburg—a chap who is capable of handling a game right up to the mark. His name is Bowers."
Merriwell laughed.
"I happen to know this Bowers," he said. "I've seen him work, and the recollection is hardly a pleasant one. He does know the game, but he can be influenced. That's putting it in a mild fashion. I have reasons to believe that Bowers deliberately tried to give my Farnham Hall team the short end of a game played here in this city. No, sir, I'll not accept Bill Bowers."
"Well, we can find some one else."
"Don't put yourself to the trouble. I've told you I would supply the man, and I've guaranteed his honesty. If you don't like that, you're at liberty to cancel."
"Why not have two umpires? We'll furnish one, and you may furnish the other."
Under most circumstances Frank would have accepted this proposition without demur. Just now he had a feeling that Silence was determined to obtain some advantage in the umpire. He knew Greg Carker to be honest from his head to his feet, and therefore he resolved not to yield a point to the proprietor of the Rovers.
"There'll be only one umpire, Mr. Silence," he said. "It's useless to argue over that point."
Casper Silence frowned.