. The only place I ever heard of
him playing ball was in Cognito."

"Suppress the comedy and ease us the legit," pleaded Riley, who wrote
theatricals when he was not inventing English in the interest of
baseball. "I can't find any record that will fit him."

"Boys," said the veteran manager, growing serious, "I don't know a
thing more about him than you do. I don't know where he ever played;
it never was in organized ball, or I would know where he comes from and
who he is. He strolled in here last night, told me he could play ball
and wanted a chance to show me that he could."

"That was considerable demonstration to-day," commented Rice. "How do
you know he's square?"

"By looking at him," replied Clancy steadily. "If I needed any more
evidence, he was offered $500 to sign a Panther contract after to-day's
game and told them he'd stick to me--and we haven't even talked about
salary."

"What'll we call him?" asked one reporter.

"Say," replied Clancy, enthusiastically, "I dreamed last night that I
had found a pot of gold wrapped up in a million-dollar bill, with a
diamond as big as my hand on top of it. Call him Kohinoor."

So Kohinoor McCarthy sprang into fame in a day as the mystery of the
league.

CHAPTER III

_Hope for the Bears_

The Bears were joyous again. They scuffled, joked, laughed and romped
joyously as the team gathered in the railway station to make a hurried
departure for the city of the Pilgrims on the evening after the final
game of the series with the Panthers. Three victories out of four
games played with the Panthers instead of the dreaded three defeats had
lifted the Bears back practically to even terms with their rivals. All
they had hoped for after the injury of Carson was to divide the series
with the Panthers, and it was due to the sudden appearance of Kohinoor
McCarthy that the victories were made possible.

All the notoriety that suddenly was thrust upon McCarthy had failed to
affect him, although Manager Clancy watched his "find" anxiously, and
pleaded with the newspaper men not to spoil him. No trace of the
dreaded affliction known as "swelled head" had revealed itself, and
because McCarthy was able to laugh over the wild stories printed
concerning him, Clancy breathed more easily.

During the celebration McCarthy, who had made it possible, stood apart
from the others, feeling a little lonely. McCarthy stood watching
them, smiling at their antics with a feel