"Mean?" snorted Joe. "It means a stab in the back. It means that those skunks are trying to do by lying what they couldn't do by bribery. It means that while we're thousands of miles away they are trying to gull the public and get other ball players to jump their contracts by a barefaced lie like this. I wish I had hold of the fellow who's doing this--I'd make him sweat for it!"

"Of course it's a lie," a.s.sented Jim, "and a lie out of whole cloth. But what beats me is why they should do it? It's bound to be a boomerang."

They sat down side by side and read the paper together, and the more they read the more bewildered they became.

For the story was circ.u.mstantial. It went into minute details. It embraced interviews with the backers of the new league, who confirmed it without hesitation. One of the paragraphs read as follows:

"Nothing in years has created such a sensation in the world of sport as the news just made public that Matson, the star pitcher of the Giants, had jumped the fold and landed in the All-Star League. It was known that overtures were made to this great pitcher at the end of his last season, when his magnificent work created a record in the National League that will probably never be surpa.s.sed. It was understood, however, that these offers, though coupled with a tremendous bonus and salary, had been definitely rejected. For that reason the news that he has reconsidered and jumped to the All-Stars comes like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. The major leaguers are in consternation, while the new league naturally is jubilant at this acquisition to their ranks. Matson is a popular idol among his fellow players and it is believed that many stars who have been wavering in their allegiance to the old leagues will follow his example."

The rest of the page was devoted to a recital of Joe's achievements in pitching the Giants to the Championship of the National League and, later, to the Championship of the World.

The two friends stared at each other in amazement and rage, and just then McRae and Robbie, together with a group of other players, came hurrying up, holding other papers which, though in different words, told substantially the same story.

There was a babel of excited questions and exclamations, and Joe felt a sharp pang go through him, as for the first time in his experience with the manager of the Giants, he saw in McRae's eyes a shadow of distrust.

"Isn't this the limit?" asked McRae, as he crushed the paper in his hand, threw it to the floor and trampled on it in disgust and anger.

"It sure is," replied Joe. "I've had lies told about me before but never one that touched me on the raw like this."

"It's a burning outrage," cried Denton indignantly.

"What they expect to make out of it is beyond me," declared Robbie. "They ought to know that they can't get away with it."

"But in the meantime it will have done its work," Willis pointed out.

"What if it is contradicted later on? By that time they'll have a dozen stars signed and they should worry. As long as it's believed that Joe has jumped, it's just as good for them as though he had."

"That's the worst of it," agreed Joe bitterly. "Of course I'll send a cable contradicting it, but the lie has got a head start and a lot of damage has been done. What do you suppose my friends in America are thinking about me just now?"

"Don't worry about that, Joe," comforted Jim. "Your real friends won't believe it, and for the rest it doesn't matter. n.o.body that really knows you believes you would jump your contract."

"Whoever got that story up was foxy, though," commented Mylert, the burly catcher of the Giants. "There are no 'ifs or ands' about it like most phony stories where the fellow's trying to hedge in case someone comes back at him. It sounds like straight goods. It's the most truthful looking lie I ever saw."

"But it's a lie just the same!" cried Joe desperately. "All you fellows know I wouldn't throw the Giants down, don't you?" he asked, as his eyes swept the circle of fellow players who were gathered around him.

There was a murmur of a.s.sent, but it was not as hearty as Joe could have wished. If there was not distrust, there was at least bewilderment, for the story bore all the earmarks of truth.

"You know it, don't you, Mac?" repeated Joe, this time addressing directly the Giant leader.

For a fraction of a second McRae hesitated. Then he threw doubt to the winds and gripped Joe's hand with a heartiness that warmed the latter's heart.

"Of course, I know it, Joe!" he exclaimed emphatically. "I don't deny that for a moment the paper had me going. But in my heart I know it's a lie. So just send your cable and then let's forget it. Those fellows are just making a rope to hang themselves with. We'll make it warm for them when we get back to the States."

"You ought to sue the papers for libel," growled Robbie.

"There won't be any suing," said Joe heatedly. "Just let me have five minutes alone with the fellow that started this and that's all I'll ask."

He hurried down with Jim to the cable office and a few minutes later this message buzzed its way across the seas:

"Report that I have signed with the All-Star League absolutely false.

Will give a thousand dollars to charity if anyone can produce contract.

"JOSEPH MATSON."

"That ought to hold them for a while," commented Jim.

"It ought," said Joe gloomily. "But you know the old saying that 'a lie will go round the world while truth is getting its boots on.'"

Still he felt better, and by the time he got back to the hotel and met the girls, he had so far regained his usual poise that he could tell them all about it with some measure of self-control.

"Why, Joe! how could they dare do such a thing as that?" exclaimed Mabel, her eyes flashing fire.

"It's about the meanest thing I ever heard of!" cried his sister.

"They ought to be sued for libel, don't you know," broke in Reggie. "If you sued them, Joe, you might get quite heavy damages."

"It's a pity you can't put somebody in jail for it," was Mabel's further comment.

"Yes, that's what ought to happen!" cried Clara.

Both of the girls were wild with indignation. Although Mabel at one time, influenced by the arguments of Braxton that Joe was not really bound by a one-sided contract, had spoken to him about it in a guarded way, Joe had shown her so clearly his moral obligation that he had convinced her absolutely. And now she was angry clear through at the blow in the dark that had been launched against him.

"Who could have done such a contemptible thing?" she cried.

"It must have been that horrid Westland!" exclaimed Clara.

"Maybe," agreed her brother. "I rather hope it was."

"Why?" asked Jim curiously.

"Because," gritted Joe through his teeth, "he's a big fellow and I won't be ashamed to hit him."

CHAPTER XXV

THE COBRA IN THE ROOM

Ceylon was a land of wonders to the tourists. Here they were in the very heart of the Orient. Rare flowers and strange plants grew in glorious profusion, the air was odorous with a thousand scents, and it was hard for them to realize that at that very moment America might be suffering from zero weather or swept by blizzards. Here life moved along serenely and dreamily, lulled by the sound of birds and drone of locusts, wrapped in the warm folds of eternal summer.

"It's an earthly Eden!" murmured Clara, as she and Jim walked along one of the main streets of Colombo, followed at a little distance by Joe and Mabel.

"Yes," replied Jim with a laugh, "and not even the snake is missing."

He pointed to a group of natives and Europeans on the other side of the street who were gathered about a snake charmer.

"Ugh, the horrid things!" exclaimed Clara with a shudder.