"My uncle and I always use a code, or cipher, in sending messages," explained Billy, when he had finished telephoning. "It saves many a big cattle deal from falling through sometimes, for my uncle has many competitors who would do anything to learn his plans."
"You had better let the doctor attend to that cut on your head," suggested the proctor, and presently the school physician was called in to dress the wound.
"A nasty cut, but that's all," was his opinion. "No bones broken. You'll probably have a worse headache in the morning than you have now."
He proved a true prophet, and for three days Billy was laid up in bed, being delirious part of the time. Andy and Frank went in to see him, and during a lucid moment he begged them not to say anything about the lame man.
"Let everybody think it was just an ordinary thief who attacked me," said Billy. "I can best serve my uncle that way, and I have the papers he tried to get safely put away now. So don't say anything."
They promised, though wondering much, and so the attack on the Freshman passed as a bold, though ordinary, case of a criminal trying to rob a lone traveler after dark. The police could get no trace of him, which did not greatly surprise the Racer boys and their new chum.
Meanwhile the first ball game of the season was played and—lost by Riverview. The score was five to two.
"It was because Billy Chase wasn't in center field," declared Frank after the game, for Billy had been unable to play on account of the injury to his head. "If he'd been there the flies that Reynolds muffed would have been caught, and we could have stopped their winning streak."
"Well, we didn't play very hard ourselves, when it came to making runs," declared Jack Sanderson.
"No, we've got to do better," added Ward Platt, and the next practice was sharp, and full of vim, under the watchful eyes of the coach and captain.