“Clarence Carr,” he said readily. “He’s Archie Carr’s brother. He came in to see me the other night, and Kenny met him there. Nice chap, too. Crazy about football. He played at Brown. He and Jack seem to hit it off pretty well.” Dick took in the man with a swift, appraising glance. He remembered Archie Carr perfectly as a good football player and red-hot Yale man. There was absolutely no reason why he should question his brother’s loyalty and integrity, but still a tiny germ of doubt was generated in his mind at that moment—something which sprang into being quite without rhyme or reason, and which persisted in remaining despite its seeming absurdity and incongruity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXVIII IN DESPERATE STRAITS. Twenty-four hours later Dick Merriwell was confident that some malign influence was at work on Jack Kenny’s mind combating his own strenuous efforts to bring about concord between him and Don Tempest. Some one was doing his level best to keep the quarter back constantly stirred up in his ire against the captain of the varsity, so that it required every bit of Merriwell’s patience and perseverance to prevent an open break. He had arrived at this conclusion simply from a keen sense of observation. He knew Jack Kenny well enough to be perfectly sure that he was not the sort of fellow to harbor a grudge to the extent which he was fostering this one. He was a man who would be apt to flare up in a swift outburst of wrath, but it was not at all like him to develop this sullen, sneering, backbiting streak which had been apparent for the past few days. Some one must be egging him on; some one was deliberately encouraging him to combat Tempest at every possible point; and that person must be going about his underhand work with amazing skill and forethought. His method of procedure must be so insidious that Kenny himself had no idea he was being worked; for at no time did Dick question for an instant the quarter back’s loyalty to his team or to his college. Who this some one was, Merriwell had no idea. It must be a man who either had a personal grudge against Tempest himself, or else had some vital reason for bringing about an open rupture in the Yale team before the great contest of the season. Dick could not close his eyes to the fact that this last condition of affairs was in a fair way to be brought about unless something speedily intervened to prevent it. Little by little the fellows had been taking sides in the unfortunate disagreement between the captain and the quarter back. The strain of having to keep a constant watch on his tongue was beginning to tell on Tempest and showed in a loosening of the grip he had on the team and a resulting decrease in its efficiency.