Locke was for open work and defiance of Weegman, but Kennedy argued against it.

“You want to get the jump on that snake,” said the old man, digging a package of contract forms for players out of his traveling bag. “He won’t be looking for you to get into action so sudden, and you’ll gain a lap before he knows it. When it comes to fighting a polecat, a wise man takes precautions. Weegman’s gone to send word to his pals of the slick job he’s put over, and he’ll be coming back to bother us pretty soon. We don’t want to be here when he comes.”

So, for the purpose of conducting their private business, another room was engaged, and an arrangement made whereby no person, no matter how insistent he might be, should be told where to find them. Then a telegraph messenger boy was summoned to that room, and telegrams were sent to the still loyal Blue Stockings players, stating that contracts were being mailed for their signatures. Then the contracts were filled out, sealed, and dropped into the mail chute.A square meal was ordered and served in the private room, and for nearly three hours Lefty and Jack talked. They had many things to tell each other, but their principal topic was the filling of the frightful gaps made in the team by the Federal raids, and both agreed that the time had come when the close-fisted financial policy of the Blue Stockings must be abandoned; players fully as good as the ones lost, or better, if possible, must be obtained at any cost. Various team combinations that seemed to balance to a nicety were made up on paper, but how to get the men coveted was the problem.

“We’ve got two catchers left,” said Kennedy, “but the best of the pair ain’t in the same class as the man we’ve lost. We’ve got to have a backstop as good as Nelson. And when it comes to pitchers–say, son, is it possible there ain’t any show at all of your coming back?”

“I wish I could answer that,” confessed Locke. “At any rate, we’ve got to have two more first-string men. If this Mysterious Jones I told you of is anywhere near as good as he looked to–”

“Not one chance in a hundred that he’s good enough to carry a regular share of the pitching the first season, no matter what he might develop into with experience. The Wolves have been hurt least by the Feds, and you might pick something worth while off Ben Frazer if you paid his price. Last fall he offered to trade me that youngster, Keeper, for Dayly, and since then he’s bought Red Callahan from Brennan. That’ll put Keeper on the bench. You know what Keeper is, and I’ve always regretted letting Frazer get him off me for five thousand, but it was Collier’s idea. The boy’d look well on our third cushion about now. But don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s pitchers we’ve got to have.”

Locke took the five-fifty train for New York, leaving Weegman, whom he had succeeded in avoiding, frothing around the Grand in search of him. Kennedy knew how to reach Frazer by wire, and he had received a reply to his telegram that the manager of the Wolves would meet Lefty at the Great Eastern the following night. Between Kennedy and Frazer there had always existed a bond of understanding and friendship.

Despite the burden he had assumed, the new manager of the Blue Stockings slept well. It was this faculty of getting sleep and recuperation under any circumstances that had enabled him to become known as the “Iron Man.”

At breakfast the following morning he received a slight shock. Three tables in front of him, with his back turned, sat a man with fine shoulders, a bull neck, and a bullet head. Mit Skullen was traveling eastward by the same train. Lefty cut his breakfast short and left the diner without having been observed.

“If he should see me, he’d probably take the first opportunity to wire back to Weegman,” thought Locke, “and I’m going to follow old Jack’s advice about leaving Weegman in the dark for a while.”

There was a possibility, of course, that Skullen would come wandering through the train and discover him, but, to his satisfaction, nothing of the kind happened. All the long forenoon he was whirled through a snow-covered country without being annoyed by the appearance of Garrity’s henchman, and he had plenty of time to meditate on the situation and the plans laid by himself and Kennedy.

But it was necessary to eat again, and shortly before Albany was reached he returned to the diner, hoping Skullen had already had lunch. The man was not there when he sat down, but he had scarcely given his order when the fellow’s hand dropped on his shoulder.

“Hully smokes!” exclaimed Mit, staring down, wide-eyed, at the southpaw. “What’s this mean? I can hardly believe me lamps. You must have left Indianap’ same time I did, and Weeg asked me twice if I’d seen anything of you.”“Weegman?” said Lefty, startled, but outwardly serene. “Is he on this train?”

“Nix. Last I know, he was tearing up the Grand looking for you. How’s it happened you skipped without dropping him word?”

“I’m going to see my folks, who live in Jersey,” Locke answered, truthfully enough.

“But you’ll stop in the big town to-night? Where do you hang out?”

“Usually at the Prince Arthur.” This was likewise true, although the southpaw had now no intention of putting up there on this occasion.

Mit looked at his watch. “We must be pulling into Albany,” he said. “I want to get a paper. See you later.”

“Go ahead and shoot your telegram to Weegman,” thought Locke. “Any message sent me at the Prince Arthur is liable to remain unopened for some time.”

He had finished his lunch and was back in the Pullman when Skullen found him again. The man planted himself at Lefty’s side and passed over a newspaper, grinning as he pointed out an item on the sporting page:

Even though it was rumored that old Jack Kennedy was to be let out, the selection of Locke as his successor is a surprise. As a pitcher Locke has had an amazingly successful career and has made an enviable reputation, but he has had no managerial experience, having come to the Big League directly from the bushes. Whether or not he has the stuff of which capable managers are made is a matter of uncertainty; but, with the Blue Stockings badly chewed to pieces by the Feds, Collier might have been expected, had he decided to drop Kennedy, to replace the veteran with a man of some practical knowledge in that line. The policy of the Stockings for the last year or two has been rather queer, to say the least, and the effect upon the team can be seen in its present rating.