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 from old Cope to save the youngster for Bancroft."

"But you're manager, ain't ye?" rasped Riley. "Are you goin' to run the team or let an old Reuben like him do it? What did they hire ye for?"

"An inquiry I have put to Cope already."

"Y'u're s'posed to know your business. When a game's goin' to the bad, whether you're playin' with Bancroft or any other team, it's up to you to save it, if ye can, by changin' pitchers. As I said, Locke's the only man you can depend on to win games, so you'll have to use him."

"If I should tell them so," said Hutchinson, "I'd mighty soon get orders to go out after other pitchers."

"Where are ye goin' to get them—now? It's too late; they've all been gobbled up—all the good ones. And even if you should happen to know of one that was all right, you wouldn't have to sign him. You could try plenty of 'em no better'n Deever and Skillings, able all the time to explain, if the town kicked, that good pitchers couldn't be had. What d'ye say?"

"I'm not saying a word," replied Hutchinson, with another glance in Dyke's direction.

In a way, although it was far from satisfactory,