Both boys held up a right hand promptly.
“I never blab anything, even in my sleep, Jack,” said Steve; “and until you give permission never a single word will I pass along.”
“Same here,” chirped Toby; “I’ll put a padlock on my lips right away, and wild horses couldn’t force me to leak. Now tell us what makes you suspect poor old Fred of such a horrible crime?”
“I’ve tried to make myself believe it impossible,” Jack commenced; “and yet all the while I could see that Fred has changed in the last ten days, changed in lots of ways. There’s something been bothering him, that’s plain.”
“Stop a minute, will you, Jack, and let me say something,” interrupted Toby. “I wouldn’t mention it even to you fellows only for this thing coming up. I chance to know why Fred has been looking worried of late. Shall I tell you, in hopes that it might ease your mind, Jack?”
“Go on, Toby,” urged Steve. “We ought to get at the bottom of this thing before it’s too late, and the mischief done. Any player can throw a game, if he’s so minded, and the opportunity comes to him, and mebbe not even be suspected; but as a rule, baseball players are far too honorable to attempt such tricks.”
“It’s a secret over at our house,” Toby went on to say. “My mother happens to know that Doctor Cooper told Mrs. Badger she could be a well woman again if only she went to a hospital in the city, and submitted to an operation at the hands of a noted surgeon he recommended. But they are poor, you know, boys, and it’s next to impossible for them to ever think of raising the three hundred dollars the operation would cost. She told my mother Fred was making himself fairly sick over his inability to do something to earn that big sum. So you see the poor chap has had plenty of reason for looking glum lately.”
“I knew nothing about Fred’s mother being sick,” Jack admitted; “and I’m sorry to learn it now; but don’t you see, your explanation only seems to make matters all the blacker for him, Toby?”
“Why, how can that be, Jack?”
“Only this, that while Fred might never be bribed to listen to any scheme to throw the game in favor of Harmony, on his own account, the tempting bait of three hundred dollars might win him over now, because of his love for his mother.”