lt confident I could make it a dead sure thing for Barville. I was
not off my base, either, and it would have worked out charmingly if
that big duffer, Lander, hadn't dipped in and messed it for us."

"I'm still in the dark."

"Don't you remember that when I got back I asked you about Eliot's
signals to the pitcher?"

"Yes."

"I thought I knew them, but I wanted to be dead sure; for I'd made
arrangements with Copley to tip off certain Barville batters who could
be trusted to the kind of balls that would be pitched. This was to be
done in case the necessity arose, which it did when Oakdale took the
lead and Springer seemed to be going well, with every prospect of
holding them down. Then I proceeded to get down close to the ropes
back of first base, where, by watching, I could come pretty near
catching Eliot's signs. Sometimes I couldn't see them distinctly, but
almost always I could. I was tipping off the Barville batters when
they proceeded to fall on Springer and pound him beautifully. They did
so because they knew just the kind of a ball he was going to pitch."

"Great Caesar!" muttered Roy, who was again standing. "You did that?
How----"

"Oh, I'm surprised at your dullness," laughed Rackliff. "You heard me
coaching. You heard me calling out for the batters to 'get into it,'
'hit it out,' 'drop on it,' 'give it a rise,' and so forth."

"Yes."

"Yes; well, there you are. When I said 'get into it,' it meant that
Springer would pitch an in-shoot. 'Hit it out,' meant that he would
use an outcurve, and----"

"Holy smoke!" gasped Hooker. "It's a wonder nobody got on. Do you
suppose Lander----"

"Nit. That big bonehead didn't tumble. He was simply sore because I
was a student at Oakdale and seemed to be rooting for Barville. All
the same, he stuck to me like a leech, and I had to quit or get into a
nasty fight with him. I couldn't afford to have my face beaten up,
even to win ten dollars. By Jove! I've simply got to have a whiff."

In silence Hooker watched the shifty, scheming, treacherous city youth
turn and search on the drive outside the door, recover the cigarette
stub he had tossed away, relight it, and inhale the smoke with a relish
that told of a habit fixed beyond breaking. Thus watching and thinking
of the fellow's qualmless treachery to his own school team, Roy felt
the first sensation of revulsion toward Rackliff.

CHAPTER XIV.

JEALOUSY.

At the close of the game the