But in the sixth the visitors retaliated with a vengeance. Three men hit safely in succession. Then, for the first time, Yale showed symptoms of going to pieces, for a couple of errors followed, and the Manhattanites had tallied three times when the smoke cleared away.
“I told you what would happen!” exclaimed Bill Toleman. “It’s all off now. Kates is useless from this time on. Look at him! See him crawling in to the bench like a yellow dog with its tail between its legs.”
“Evidently you love Kates,” snickered Dagett.
“Well, if I can’t pitch better than he can, I’ll eat my boots. Has any one seen me asking Merriwell or Jones or Robinson for a chance to pitch on their great team? I fought against them at the outset, and I’ve taken my medicine. I haven’t squealed. I hate a squealer. That’s why I’m disgusted with Mike Lynch. I’m not saying that he isn’t sincere now, but I do say that he has squealed. After blowing and bleating around about Merriwell, and making so much talk, he suddenly threw up the sponge. I swear I didn’t know he was a quitter, but I know it now. He has disgusted me more than any chap I know of. I’d like to see him kicked out of college.”
“There are others,” whispered Bern. “Oh, if I could only get hold of that confession! If I knew how to put my hands on it! Do you suppose Merriwell carries it round in his pocket all the time?”
“I don’t know,” muttered Dunc, absent-mindedly.
“Well, I’ve got an idea that he may keep it somewhere in his room,” said Wolfe. “I’d like to get into his room and make a search. I’d dig it out if it was there.”
“Better forget it,” said Duncan. “That blamed old confession got us into a nasty scrape. I’m worried.”
“But I thought you said Shea would get out of town all right.”
“I’m in hopes he will, but you never can tell what will happen.”
“Of course he would. That would be the easiest way for him to get a light sentence. He’d say he was paid to do the job by a couple of Yale men. He’d ring us in as sure as fate.”
“Cully? Oh, he’s sneaked already. He’s gone. He didn’t wait until morning.”
Having obtained the lead, Manhattan seemed determined to hold the home team down. Hogan pitched as if everything he held dear depended on the result. Nevertheless, Yale was warmed up, and the visiting twirler had his troubles. But the Blue could not push a runner past third. Fast fielding behind Hogan terminated the sixth inning, with the score three to two, in favor of Manhattan College.