“Dan and I came here for a purpose today,” he suddenly disclosed. “You may have heard the talk in Webster City about the Cubs causing trouble.”
“I did pick up a few rumors.”
“We’ve been accused of doing a lot of damage here,” Brad went on. “It’s not true.”
“I know that to be a fact.”
“You do?” Brad, in his eagerness, grasped the stranger’s arm. “Could you help us? That is, what I’m trying to ask—did you see anything that would help us? Do you know who really did the damage?”
“I do,” the man returned. “I saw the Cubs come here that first day with their basketball. You kids smashed a window.”
“That was all the damage we did though,” Dan declared. “We were accused of doing a great deal more.”
“The Cub honor is at stake,” Brad added. “We’ll do anything to prove our innocence! We think we know who did the damage, but we have no proof.”
The stranger gazed down into the tense, worried faces of the Cubs. His smile was reassuring.
“I have a soft spot in my heart for the Cubs,” he said. “I want to help the organization.”