"There is good sense in that, Billy boy," said Charlie King, who had joined the party while the discussion was going on. "There is plausibility in it, too, for I remember seeing Ben go into that office and make some inquiries, as we were going to the grounds, day before yesterday, to practice."
Meanwhile, Mr. Heaton was trying to comfort the young ladies in Judge Morris's family, but his well-meant efforts were discouragingly received by the fair champions of the Catalpa club. Miss Alice was perfectly certain, she averred, that Ben Burton had purposely "thrown" the game. She had watched him narrowly, and had been, at times, half inclined to send down word to Mr. Boyne, or to the captain, rather (and this was said with a blush), that Burton was playing false. The players could not see it, but she could, and she knew him so well that she could not keep her eyes off him while he was playing, whether it was in the field, at the bat, or base-running.
Later in the evening, Albert came in with two or three of the Catalpa men, bearing the doleful news from Tom Selby. "Didn't I tell you so?" demanded Alice, with animation. "Didn't I tell you, Larry Boyne, to beware of that young man?"
"You did indeed, Miss Howell," replied Larry, with mock dejection. "And we would have looked out for him, as you suggested, if we had had any tangible suspicion, or any proof whatsoever, that he was 'crooked.' But how could we make a stand against one of our own number, merely on so vague a hint as that which we had?"
"If I were a member of the Catalpa club," said the girl, with spirit, "I would not have so evil a young man as Ben Burton in it, evidence or no evidence."
"Miss Alice is right," said Neddie Ellis, "I always did dislike Ben Burton, and I would have voted against him, if it had not been that he was such a good man at short stop that I couldn't think of putting my little prejudices against what seemed to be the good of the nine."
Once more it was agreed that it was useless to discuss the matter until the party had reached home, when the charges against Burton, and the evidence, if there were any, would be brought up in due form.
By the time the players and their friends had embarked on the west-bound train, next day, they had recovered somewhat their usual high spirits. The buoyancy of youth and the natural hopefulness of healthy young fellows like these came to their relief, and the gay, chattering party that took possession of one end of a railway car, that morning, could hardly have been compared with the depressed and angry knot of youngsters that had discussed defeat and treachery, the night before. If they had been sold out, they argued to themselves, and had still fairly held their own against the famed Calumets, what was not possible for the team when purged of an unworthy member?
So they neared home with hearts lightened of a grievous burden and were once more cheered with the reflection that they had achieved one notable victory, at least, since their departure for Chicago, although a defeat counterbalanced that triumph.