Lakeville was in gala attire. Cherry-and-black pennants and bunting adorned the store windows, and beyond the casement of the town’s principal haberdasher the appropriate colors were massed in a display of neckties and mufflers. Here and there the rival hues of gray-and-gold were shown, but it was not until the arrival of the Alton rooters that Lakeville became noticeably leavened with the brighter tints. Leonard encountered Billy Wells and Sam Butler just outside the hotel, but neither of them had seen Gordon Renneker lately, and Leonard went on up the busy street on his quest. He discovered Slim and three others admiring the contents of a bake shop window and bore Slim away with him. “We’ve got to find Renneker,” he announced anxiously. “I don’t see why,” objected Slim. “I’m going to be just as happy, General, if I never set eyes on him again.” “Dry up and come on. Mr. Cade wants him right off.” “Mr. Cade has strange fancies,” murmured Slim, but he accelerated his steps. “Been over to the school grounds?” “No, I haven’t had time. Isn’t that--no, it isn’t. It did look like him, back-to.” “It looks like him front-to,” replied Slim, “except that this guy is about forty-five and has different features and has lost some of his hair and wears glasses--” “Oh, for the love of mud, shut up, Slim! And do look around, can’t you? I tell you this is important.” “I do wish I could feel it so,” said Slim exasperatingly, “but I just can’t get up any enthusiasm for the chase. Besides, it’s getting perilously close to chow time, and we’re going in the wrong direction and--” “There he is!” Leonard left Slim abruptly and darted across the street, narrowly escaping the ignominy of being run down by a rattling flivver adorned with cherry-and-black pennants. Gordon Renneker had just emerged from a doorway above which hung a black-and-gold sign announcing “Olympic Lunch Room--Good Eats,” and still held in one hand the larger part of a cheese sandwich. “Say, what the--” Renneker stared in amazement from Leonard to the sandwich now lying in unappetizing fragments on the sidewalk. “Awfully sorry,” panted Leonard, “but you’re wanted at the hotel right away. Room 17.” “I’m wanted? What for?” Leonard saw suspicion creeping into Renneker’s eyes. “Mr. Cade and Mr. Fadden,” he answered quickly and glibly. “They told me to tell you they wanted to see you about the game right away.” “Flattering,” said Renneker. “Oh, all right. Wait till I get another sandwich--” “You mustn’t,” declared Leonard. “It’s almost lunch time, and they’re waiting for you, and they’ll be mad if you don’t come quick!” He pulled Renneker away from the lunch room doorway and guided him rapidly toward the hotel. From across the street a perplexed and insulted Slim watched them disappear. “Abandoned!” he muttered. “Adrift in a strange and cruel city! Heaven help me!” CHAPTER XXIII “FIFTY-FIFTY!”