“It was his own fault,” Brad shrugged. “Mr. Veeley warned him.”
The Purple Five and their rooters took defeat with poor grace. There were mutterings of “We were robbed!” and remarks that the referee had been unfair.
“Maybe you want to call off the other two games,” Brad suggested quietly to Pat.
“No such thing,” the other boy retorted. “Next time we’ll lick you so you’ll never forget it. Besides, we need the cash.”
“What d’you mean?” Brad demanded, already guessing the answer.
“The gate,” Pat explained with an impudent grin. “You Cubs took in a lot of dough tonight. Well, we want our share. Half of it belongs to us.”
CHAPTER 13
HALLOWEEN PRANKS
Word spread around the gymnasium of Pat’s outrageous demand. Brad and Dan brought Mr. Hatfield, fully expecting him to reject the request.
“Pat, you feel you should have half the money?” the Cub leader questioned him.
“Sure.” The captain of the Purple Five eyed the group of Cubs defiantly. However, his gaze wavered under the level scrutiny of Mr. Hatfield. “We earned it, didn’t we? What’s more, we’d have won the game, if we hadn’t been cheated.”