“And I’ll furnish the paper,” laughed Dick, stepping into his own room and returning in a moment with a sheet. “Here it is.” “That’s bub-bub-bub-bub-business!” chattered Jolliby. “We’ll gug-gug-gug-get rid of one crook! If we could catch old Hammerswell the same way it would be a mighty gug-gug-good thing for baseball in these parts!” Fernald seemed undecided. He took a cigarette case from his pocket and extracted a cigarette, which he slowly rolled between his fingers. All the while he was thinking, but in vain he sought some loophole of escape. He had fallen into the trap, and the only way out of it was to assent to the demand made upon him. “I want to tell you people one thing,” he finally observed, having struck a match and lighted the cigarette. “No man up to date has ever played me a trick like this and not lived to repent it. This fool boy will repent it, too.” “Listen to the wind,” chuckled Brad. “How it blows!” Without another word Fernald sat down and wrote the resignation demanded by Blackington. “There,” he said, having signed his name, “now go ahead and blow on me, the whole of you. I want to tell you something more. You’ve put me in a bad hole. I have a few friends here who will stick by me. Some of them are bad men to have for enemies. I will find out who goes from this room and tells what has happened here. From the moment he opens his mouth to blow on me, the man who does so will be in constant danger. Night and day, asleep or awake, he’ll be in danger.” “Better keep your threats to yourself, Fernald,” advised Blackington. “If anything serious should happen your words will be remembered and will rise to accuse you.” Fernald laughed disdainfully as he turned toward the door. “If any of you think I’m disposed of in this manner he will live to discover the mistake,” declared the man, pausing with his hand on the knob. “You will still find me and my influence effectual in baseball in this league. Good night!” “Well,” said Brad, when the rascal had departed, “this is the first time any galoot ever tried to buy me. I sure reckon he didn’t know who he was dealing with. Chip, you followed instructions a whole lot clever. I didn’t expect you’d be able to get hold of Mr. Blackington, but I’m right glad you did. Only for the fact that Mr. Blackington heard the whole thing, Fernald would have made a fight before resigning as manager.” “He forced me to resign some time ago,” said Blackington; “but the tables were turned on him to-night. I may not be reappointed as manager of the Rockford team. In fact, I am not anxious for the position, as it entails no end of worry and work. Nevertheless, it’s pretty certain that whoever is now appointed to fill the place will be an honest man, and baseball will be benefited by it. With a man like Henry Duncan in Benton Hammerswell’s place at Maplewood the patrons of this league would get a chance to see honest games.”