“Ain’t nothing busted,” he said, almost regretfully, it seemed. “But you kids are too gay, runnin’ around the country in them duds. It’s goin’ to be stopped.” “Don’t let our clothes worry you,” retorted Merry. “You know where to find me if you want damages. Come along, Billy.” He promptly turned his back. Billy threw a dubious look at the man, then followed slowly. Once more the deep voice reached Merriwell. “You’ll be sorry for this, mind my words! You ain’t a-going to talk to me that way and get off with it, you young scoundrel!” Chip Merriwell’s cheeks flamed a little, but he kept a firm grip on himself and walked on. After a moment he turned to see the man climb into his buggy and give the horse a savage cut with the whip. “The brute!” he murmured indignantly. “What that horse needs is a kind word, instead of the lash. More than likely that fellow had him whipped into such a temper that he would have shied at a dead leaf.” Billy nodded. To his surprise, Merry saw that his friend’s usually clear, frank features were overcast and troubled. “What’s the matter, old man? You seemed to know that fellow.” “I do.” Billy cast a worried look at the rig, now disappearing around the curve of the road. “Here’s a go!” he muttered gloomily. “I guess we’re all in for it now, Chip.” “Why? That man isn’t the sheriff, is he?” asked Merriwell, with a laugh. “No. He’s a whole lot worse. That chap is Colonel Carson, who owns most of Carsonville, and he’ll make the old burg plenty hot for us now, believe me!” CHAPTER II. WHY BILLY LEFT SCHOOL. Chip Merriwell looked curiously at his friend and host. “Has this Colonel Carson anything to do with your leaving Fardale--or, rather, with your writing that you would not be back?” “Yes,” Billy said, in a low voice. “Let’s walk along, Chip, and I’ll tell you about it. It might as well come out now as any time, I s’pose.” It was Merry’s second day in Carsonville. Billy McQuade, or, as he was more generally known, “Billy Mac,” was a plebe at Fardale Academy. During the preceding summer he had shown remarkable ability as backstop on the scrub nine, and it was reported that he was in line to catch for the regular team during the coming season. Billy Mac was also good at first, however, so that Fardale had been in no little doubt. Shortly before the spring vacation began, Billy had been called home to Carsonville. His father was dead, and his mother had merely written that she needed Billy’s presence to settle up some portions of the estate. Then had come a letter from Billy himself--a heartbroken letter, stating that he would be unable to return to Fardale. He assigned no definite cause, and the reason remained pretty much a mystery. It was a most disconcerting mystery, also. Owen Clancy, Chip Merriwell’s regular backstop, was somewhere off in the Southwest. It had been pretty generally settled that Billy Mac would don the mask this season, and his sudden withdrawal was a body blow to Fardale hopes.