gn it, and yet you admit that the name at the bottom is your own
signature. How do you explain it?"

"I don't pretend to explain it," replied Joe. "There's crooked work
somewhere that I've got to ferret out. Somehow or other my name, written
by me, has gotten on the bottom of that contract. But I never put it
there. Some rascal has, and when I find him, as I will, may Heaven have
mercy on him, for I won't!"

CHAPTER XXVIII

WHIRLWIND PITCHING

"A fellow who would do a thing like that is taking long chances," said
McRae doubtfully.

"And how could he do it?" put in Robbie. "The name would have to be cut
from one piece of paper and pasted on another, wouldn't it?"

"Even admitting that they might get your name from a check or letter, I
don't see how a thing like that could stand inspection for a minute,"
chimed in Willis. "Even if it were so well done that an eye couldn't
detect it, a microscope would give it away."

"And you can bet that the reporters who hunted up this thing haven't
overlooked any bets," said Brennan. "They knew that the signature was the
nub of the whole thing and if there was anything phony about the paper
they'd have got next at once."

"It's a horrible mixup!" cried Joe, who felt that he was being enmeshed in
a net of circumstantial evidence which he might find it impossible to
break. "Let me read the story first from end to end. Then, perhaps, I'll
find some clue that will solve the mystery."

He plunged at once into the reading, but the more he read the worse the
matter looked.

He found that a nation-wide interest had been excited by his denial and
his challenge. The officers of the All-Star League had been besieged by
reporters, who had made it clear to them that they must prove their
statement that Matson had signed with them or else stand convicted before
the American public, on whose favor they depended for support in the
coming season, of being slanderers and liars.

Mr. Beckworth Fleming, the president of the All-Star League, had shown a
little hesitation in responding to these demands. This, perhaps, was
natural enough, since no business organization cares to have the terms of
its contracts blazoned forth to the world, perhaps to the benefit of its
rivals. Still, under all the circumstances, Mr. Fleming had finally
decided to permit a photographic copy to be made of the contract in order
to establish the good faith of the new league. This had been done and
facsimiles