"Sure as shooting!" affirmed Joe. "Listen! I heard Bill Sykes telling one of the fellows about it. Those fellows who did this dirty work did intend to give away the old signals, but they got a tip that they were suspected. They guessed you'd call in the old ones and get new ones. So two of them hid in a closet in the gymnasium the day your coach went over the new signals, and they heard every word he said. They copied the new signals and--wait! What's your hurry?" But Garry had already bolted from the room and was going down the stairs four steps at a time. CHAPTER XXIV Startling News Garry Grayson's head was in a whirl as he ran along. Surprise was one element in his perturbation. Anger at the scoundrelism that dogged his steps was another. Chagrin was there, too, at the narrow escape from being outwitted by the conspirators. He and his mates had been chuckling about the way Wimbledon would be flabbergasted when it tried to use the stolen signals, only to find that they were not being employed by Lenox at all. Now the laugh was on Lenox. It would have run its head right into the trap and gone down to certain defeat had it not been for Joe Brench's scorn of underhand methods. As fast as his legs could carry him, Garry ran for Mr. Phillips's house. Luckily the coach was at home, and Garry was ushered into his study. Mr. Phillips looked up in surprise and some alarm as the boy came in, flushed and breathless. "What's up, Grayson?" he asked quickly. "Enough," answered Garry, as he took the chair Mr. Phillips indicated. "Wimbledon has our signals--the new ones--and is planning to use them this afternoon!" Mr. Phillips was shaken out of his usual calm. "What?" he exclaimed. "Are you sure? Don't you mean the old ones?" "No, the new ones," repeated Garry. "The ones we've been practicing on the last two weeks. There's no mistake, Mr. Phillips. I got it straight only a few minutes ago." He then narrated his interview with Joe Brench. The coach listened intently, putting in a question here and there. "Of all the undiluted rascality!" he exclaimed, rising and pacing the floor. "Who would have believed that those fellows would go as far as that? It seems incredible. Why didn't I have the gymnasium searched before I gave you the new set of signals? "Oh, well," he went on, "what's done is done. We're lucky, anyway, to get the tip even at this late hour. Now let me think." He bowed his head on his hands for a few minutes while Garry watched him anxiously. "There's just one thing to do," pronounced Mr. Phillips at last. "We'll go back to the old signals." Garry started. "I suppose that is the only thing to do," he assented dubiously. "But of course we've been trying to forget those for the last two weeks, and we've got no time now to practice the old ones again. I'm afraid the fellows will get all mixed up."