"You've done well, boys, in beating Bass Lake," he said. "But of course you've heard that Wimbledon won again yesterday, leaving you still neck and neck, each having three victories and one defeat. So your game with Wimbledon will decide the championship, as no other team has as good a record. "We'll lick 'em!" cried the irrepressible Rooster. "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" called a voice, and there was a general laugh. Mr. Phillips smiled. "I'd rather hear a crow than a groan," he said. "I want you to go into that fight determined on victory, as long as that doesn't breed over-confidence. Now what I called you together for to-day is something out of the ordinary. We're going to change our signals for the Wimbledon game." There was a general gasp of astonishment. The boys looked at each other in consternation. "Take it all back," whispered Rooster to Garry. "Wimbledon will tie us up in knots." "No," smiled Mr. Phillips, reading aright the glances interchanged. "I haven't taken leave of my senses. I know what a serious thing it is to adopt an entirely new system just a little while before an important game. But I am also sure that it would be a much more serious thing if we didn't. In a choice between two evils, I've had to take the lesser." Garry, of course, with his advance information, had not been taken by surprise like the others. But he was sorely regretful, just the same. He had been hoping that Mr. Phillips on reflection would see his way clear to retain the old signals. That he had not done so showed that the danger, whatever it was, was still imminent. "Now," went on the coach, "I've worked out the new system, and we'll run off the plays under them this afternoon. I think you'll catch on readily, but it will need incessant practice to get them into your minds so that your response will be automatic. And I want to warn you boys against saying a word to anybody about the change. That is vital. Don't even speak to any one in your own families about it, as some one of them might inadvertently mention it, and I wouldn't for the world have it get abroad. Now listen to me while I go over them." For the next half hour the coach discussed and illustrated the new system, going over each play again and again until he was sure the boys understood. "That will do for theory," he said at last. "Now we'll go out on the field and put them into practice." The teams swarmed out after the coach and silence reigned in the gymnasium. Not for long, however. Slowly, very slowly, the door of an old closet, used by the janitor to store odds and ends, was pushed open. A face appeared at the opening, and shifty eyes glanced about the deserted room. "All clear," came in a whisper. Two boys emerged from the closet and slipped up the stairs into a corridor of the school and thence through the front door into the street. They were Aleck Anderson and Bixby! CHAPTER XXI Temptation