“I try to call the attention of the umpire.” “What if the umpire will not punish them?” “Well, as a last resort, I give the boys instructions to make the game hot in the same fashion as the other fellows.” “As a last resort! That’s it! Do you think I’m a fellow to choose to do a dishonest thing?” “I know you would not choose it because your inclination was that way.” “But, in a case like this, I would choose it as a last resort. It was the last resort! It was the only way to keep Arlington from winning.” “Then, Brad, if a man robs your chicken-coops persistently, you know he robs it, yet you cannot get proof to punish him by the aid of the law, you think it just that you should turn about and rob his chicken-coops, thus making yourself a hen-thief, just to get square with him?” Buckhart was staggered for a moment, but he recovered quickly. “Oh, that doesn’t apply! That is a different degree of retaliation.” “Then your application does not fit a football-game. Brad, you know it is not right to meet dishonesty with dishonesty. That is not the way to combat it.” “It’s about the only way to combat it successfully.” “I don’t know about that.” “You’ll find it is.” “I don’t believe any fellow can afford it, Brad.” “Afford it?” “Yes.” “Why, what——” “Every little dishonest thing a chap does weakens his moral nature. It is not often a burglar becomes a burglar at a single step. He descends to that level by degrees. He does some little crooked act in the first place; then he does something worse, and step by step he goes down the hill, until at last he is a thorough criminal.” “Great goodness!” exploded Brad. “You didn’t fancy I was taking my first step in crime, did you?” “No; but I knew it was not right, even to defeat an enemy. I knew you would regret it afterward.” “Not by a blamed sight! You were plumb wrong there, Dick!” Dick shook his head. “I was right,” he said, with positive assurance. “I sought to save you from the secret shame you must have felt in future when you thought of it.” “Secret shame. How do you know I——” “I’ll tell you how I know. Any fellow is liable to slip once. I did, Brad.” “You?” gasped the Texan incredulously. “What are you giving me?” “Straight goods, old man. Once on a time I did a mean and dishonest thing.” “I can’t believe it!” “It is true. I did it impulsively, and no one but myself ever knew about it. It was not anything of great importance, but, when my blood had cooled and I came to realize just what I had done, I felt like a criminal. I suffered such intense shame and anguish as I have never known at any other time. I resolved to make reparation, but circumstances placed it beyond my power to do so, and to this day I have the unpleasant memory of wronging a fellow being. It taught me my lesson, Brad. It does not pay for a fellow to stoop to anything of the sort, no matter how petty.”