“Put him in, and then have it said I gave Locke the hook without reason? Who could foresee the fellow was going to throw the game at the last minute? I know he threatened to blow up several times, but he always tightened. Two were gone when he let Murray steal home. Even then there’d been a chance, for I might have run in another man; but he followed his dumbness up with a fool heave to the left-field bleachers. There wasn’t a bit of sense in it, and, unless he was trying to pass over the game, I can’t understand why he did it.” “It was the silliest thing I ever saw a pitcher do,” asserted Franklin Parlmee. “I admit that it was crazy,” agreed Collier. “But he can pitch, and we need the best that’s in our twirling staff in order to keep first place this year. The loss of a single pitcher would be pretty sure to fix us now. You’ve got to use sober judgment, Carson, if you land the championship, and doing that means something to you, as well as myself. The old burg will support a winning team and make it a money-maker, but it hasn’t much stomach for losers.” “You can bank on it, Mr. Collier,” said Carson, “that I’m going to do my level best to land on top. I’m not in the game, any more than you are, for the fun there is in it. If you hadn’t reckoned I knew my business, I wouldn’t be where I am now.” “Surely not,” agreed the owner. “Kennedy did a good turn last season, and I’d not thought of displacing him if he’d shown an ability to keep the bunch united. Jealousy and cliques on a ball team always put it to the bad. It’s up to you to smooth things out, and I’m afraid you’re not succeeding. But for internal troubles, the Blue Stockings’ lead now would make it practically impossible for the Specters or any other team to head ’em.” Al Carson was not at all pleased by the criticism of his employer, but he had sufficient good sense to repress open resentment. He made the plea that he should be given time to “smooth out the wrinkles.” “If I’m going to be given full swing,” he said, “I think I should have it. I let Locke go the limit to-day because of criticism in my handling of him. Give me the proper rope, Mr. Collier, and I’ll deliver the goods; but no manager can do that unless he’s unhampered.” “It has never been my intention to interfere in a way to hamper you,” returned Collier a bit tartly. “Naturally, I presume I have the right to talk things over with you.” Half apologetically Carson hastened to state that it was not his intention to question that point. “Leave me to handle this grouchy man,” he promised, “and I’ll bring him into harness. I know we need him to do a certain amount of pitching, but he’s got to understand that there’s such a thing as discipline. He ought to know he can’t be sassy to his manager.” While this talk was in progress Lefty’s teammates, starting for their hotel in a motor bus, wondered what had become of him. It was Rufe Hyland who announced that he had seen Locke taking a trolley car all by himself.