"Now, mark ye well, the amount of his salary had not a whit to do with it, and he entertained absolutely no ambish to become a baseball pitcher. He was compelled to leave his partners up there running the mine, and to rely upon their honesty to give him a square deal. You have been told how he promulgates around over every new place he visits and stares strangers out of countenance. Whether or not he's otherwise wrong in his garret, he's certainly 'off' on that stunt. That's how I'm able to keep him on the parole of this club of mine." "In short, he's a sort of monomaniac?" "Perhaps that's it." Lefty did a bit of thinking. "You've been touring the smaller cities and the towns in which an independent ball team would be most likely to draw. In the large cities of a Big League circuit there are thousands upon thousands of persons Jones has never met. He could work a whole season in such a circuit and continue to see hosts of strangers every time he visited any one of the cities included. Under such circumstances he would have the same incentive that he has now. If he can be induced to make the change, I'll take a chance on him, and I'll see that you are well paid to use your persuasive powers to lead him to accept my proposition." "But you stated that you had no legal authority to make such a deal." "I haven't; but I am willing to take a chance, with the understanding that the matter is to be kept quiet until I shall be able to put through an arrangement that will make it impossible for any manager in organized ball to steal him away." Wiley shook his head. "I couldn't get along without him, Lefty; he's the mainsheet of the Wind Jammers. It would be like chucking the sextant and the compass overboard. We'd be adrift without any instrument to give us our position or anything to lay a course by." "If you don't sell him to me, some manager is going to take him from you without handing you as much as a lonesome dollar in return. You can't dodge the Big League scouts; it's a wonder you've dodged them as long as you have. They're bound to spot Jones and gobble him up. Do you prefer to sell him or to have him snatched?" "What will you give for him?" "Now you're talking business. If I can put through the deal I'm figuring on, I'll give you five hundred dollars, which, considering the conditions, is more than a generous price." "Five hundred dollars! Is there that much money to be found in one lump anywhere in the world?"