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A Hot Game
“Come on, Sam, get a move on. I thought you’d be out on the diamond long ago. What’s the matter?”“Oh, I had to help dad put in some fence posts. I’m through now, Darrell, and I’ll be right with you.”“Setting fence posts; eh?” and Darrell Blackney, the young manager of the Silver Star baseball nine of Riverside looked critically at Sam Morton, the team’s pitcher. “Well, Sam, I hope it didn’t make you stiff so that you can’t put some...
Tieing the Score
Ping! The ball came in between Joe’s palms with a vicious thud, but there it stuck, and a moment later the newcomer had tossed it back over the fence with certain and strong aim.“I guess some one will pick it up,” he said.“Sure,” assented Tom. “Say, that was a good stop all right. Have you played ball before?”“Oh, just a little,” was the modest and rather quiet answer. In fact Joe Matson was rather a quiet youth, too quiet, his...
Mrs. Matson is Worried
“What do you mean by that?” demanded the lad whom Sam had struck.“That’s what I mean by it. I mean you can’t insult me!”“I can’t, eh? Well, I can whip you all right,” and with those words Sam was nearly knocked off his feet by a return blow.“Here, cut that out!” yelled Darrell.“Aw, what’s eating you?” demanded another of the Resolute crowd. “If you fellows are looking for a fight you can have it; eh boys?”“Sure thing!” came in a...
A Row with Sam
“What are you thinking about, Joe?”It was his sister Clara who asked the question, and she had noticed that her brother was rather dreaming over his books than studying. It was the Monday night after the Saturday when the memorable game with the Resolutes had taken place.“Oh, nothing much,” and Joe roused himself from a reverie and began to pour over his books.“Well, for ‘nothing much’ I should say that it was a pretty deep subject,” went on Clara with...
Joe Helps the Manager
“Well now, I’m real sorry,” said Mrs. Holdney when, a little later, Joe dismounted at her door, and held out the letter for her husband. “Rufus isn’t home. You can leave the letter for him, though.”“No, I have to have an answer,” replied Joe. “I think perhaps I’d better wait.”“Well, maybe you had, though I don’t know when Rufus will be back. Is it anything of importance?”“I guess it must be,” spoke the lad, for, though he did not know...
Joe Has Hopes
“Yes, here’s the very thing, I guess!” said Joe, after rummaging about in his leather tool case. He produced a short but heavy bolt with a nut.“It isn’t exactly the same thing,” remarked Darrell, after looking at it carefully, “but it will do, if it’s long enough. Would you mind holding Prince’s head while I try it? He might start up, just as I got the shaft in place, and hurt my fingers, if he didn’t make me drop the...
Laughed at
“What’s that in your pocket, Joe?”“Which pocket?”“Your coat. I declare, you’ve got something in both pockets,” and Clara approached her brother as if with the intention of making a personal inspection of two big bulges on either side of his coat. “What are they?” she persisted, as Joe backed away. Brother and sister had just gotten up from the breakfast table, and were about to start to school.“Oh, never mind!” exclaimed Joe hastily, as he looked for his cap. “Got...
A Mean Protest
Finally Sam ceased his laughter, straightened up and prepared to ride out of the fairgrounds on his wheel.“I was just going past,” he said, in needless explanation, “when I heard something banging against the fence. First I thought it might be one of the cattle left over from the last show, but when I saw it was you, Matson—Oh, my! It’s too rich! I’ll have to tell the boys.”“Look here!” exclaimed Joe, who disliked as much as any one being...
Joe in the Game
There was a period of silence following Sam’s unfair protest. Then could be heard a low murmur from some of his mates.“Oh, what’s eating him, anyhow?”“What’s he got against Matson?”“Something has Sam by the ear all right.”“Yes, guess he didn’t like the way the scrub batted him around.”These were some of the comments made, not loud enough for Sam to hear, for he was a power in the nine, and none of the lads wanted to get on bad terms...
A Tight Contest
“Strike one!” yelled the young umpire, as the ball landed with a resounding thud in Bart Ferguson’s big mitt.“That’s the stuff!” called several in the crowd.“Send back the Reds with a whitewash brush,” added another enthusiast.“I guess Sam’s in form to-day,” remarked Tom Davis to Rodney Burke near whom he sat. Tom was not playing, for Darrell was holding down the initial bag.“Wait a bit and see what happens along about the seventh inning,” said Rodney. “Sam generally falls down...
Joe’s Run
“Water here! Bring some water!” yelled Smart, who was holding down second base for the Reds. “He’s fainted I guess.”There was a rush of players toward Joe, and Darrell was the first to reach him.“What’s the matter, old man?” he asked sympathetically.“I’m afraid I spiked him,” answered Smart, ruefully. “I jumped for the ball, and came down on his hand I guess.”“Too bad,” murmured Darrell.They turned Joe over, for he was lying on his face, and saw his left hand...
Discontent
“Leg it, Joe! Leg it!”“Keep on! Keep on!”“He can’t get you in time!”“A home run! A homer, old man!”“Keep a-going! Keep a-going!”These and other frantic appeals and bits of advice were hurled at Joe as he dashed madly on. He had a glimpse of the centre fielder racing madly after the ball, and then he felt for the first time that he really had a chance to make a home run. Still he knew that the ball travels fast when...
Scientific Practice
There was a period of silence following Sam’s offer of his resignation, and no one seemed to know just what to say. Several of the lads glanced at Joe, as if expecting him to say something in his own defense. In fact the young centre fielder was about to speak but he did not get the chance, for Sam exclaimed again:“Well, do you want my resignation, Darrell?”“You know I don’t!” declared the manager.“Then things have got to be changed!”“Look here!”...
A Kettle of Apple Sauce
“Well, Joe, are you all ready?” It was Tom Davis, and he had called at Joe’s house on his way from school, as Tom had to remain in physics class to finish an experiment, and Joe had gone on ahead.“I sure am, Tom. Where are we going to practice? Over on the fairgrounds?”“No, that’s too far. We’ll go down in the vacant lots back of Mrs. Peterkin’s house. There’s a high fence back of her house and that will be...
Joe Overhears Something
“Are you the boys who threw the baseball through my kitchen window into my kettle of apple sauce?” demanded Mrs. Peterkin, as she confronted the two culprits.“I threw it,” admitted Joe.“But we didn’t know it went into the apple sauce,” added Tom.“Nor through the window,” spoke Joe for want of something better to say. “It was a wild throw.”“Humph!” exclaimed the irate lady. “I don’t know what kind of a throw it was but I know I was wild when...
Mr. Matson is Alarmed
Joe Matson did not know what to do. He wanted to rush away from where he was concealed, get home as quickly as possible, and tell his father what he had overheard. While Mr. Matson’s name had not been mentioned, knowing, as Joe did, that his parent was engaged on some patents, seeing Mr. Benjamin, manager of the Harvester works, and having heard the conversation between him and Mr. Holdney, the lad was almost certain that some danger threatened his...
A Throwing Contest
“Ha!” exclaimed Mr. Benjamin. “There’s that same lad again!”“What lad?” quickly demanded Mr. Holdney. “Oh, the one who sent us out this rig. I wonder——”“Did you want to see any one around the works?” interrupted Mr. Benjamin. “I don’t want to seem impolite, after the service you rendered, but we don’t allow loiterers here.”A number of thoughts passed rapidly through Joe’s mind. He realized that his father might come out at any moment and be seen by the manager carrying...
Another Defeat
For a moment there was some embarrassment, as Sam was not in the habit of mingling with this crowd of boys. He had his own friends, not very many, to tell the truth, but he was usually with them. The lads did not know exactly how to take his request, but Joe came to the rescue.“Sure you can come in,” he said heartily. “We’re just seeing who can put the most balls in the basket.”“What good do you think that...
Joe is Watched
There was an uproar in an instant. Players started for Sam and the unoffending lad whom he had struck. There were savage yells, calling for vengeance. Even Sam’s mates, used as they were to his fits of temper, were not prepared for this. The Whizzer players were wild to get at him, but, instinctively Darrell, Joe, Rankin, and some of the others of the Silver Stars formed a protecting cordon about their pitcher.“Are you crazy, Sam? What in the world...
“Would You Like to Pitch?”
“Come now, fellows, let’s get into practice. Are all the scrub here?”Darrell Blackney looked around over the diamond, where about twenty lads were assembled one fine afternoon.“I don’t know about the scrub, but all our fellows are on hand,” replied Rankin. “Is it all arranged about the game Saturday?”“Yes, we’re to play the Fayetteville Academy lads on their grounds.”“A trip out of town, eh? That’s two in two weeks.”“Well it gives our fellows experience in playing on some other diamond...
To the Rescue
Joe Matson felt as though he was walking in the air when he went home that afternoon following the scrub game. That his ambition was about to be realized, and so soon after joining the team, was almost unbelievable.“Why, what’s the matter, Joe?” asked Clara, as her brother fairly pranced into the house, caught her around the waist and swung her in the start of a waltz.“Matter? Plenty’s the matter! I’m going to pitch on the Stars Saturday. Hurray!”“My! Any...
A Delayed Pitcher
The motorman was grinding away at the brakes but the heavy car continued to slide on, for the hill was steep. The horse lay quiet now, for a man had managed to get to him and sit on his head, so the animal could not kick and thresh about with the consequent danger of getting his legs under the trolley. The car would pass the horse and the wagon by a good margin, but the boy, leaning far over, was...
Joe in the Box
“Well, when are you fellows going to start?” asked Tony Johnson, captain of the Academy nine, as he ceased his catching practice with Ed. Wilson, the pitcher. “The game ought to have been called ten minutes ago.”“Our pitcher isn’t here,” said Darrell anxiously. “We’re expecting him every minute. If you could wait a little longer——”“Haven’t you any one else you can put in?” asked Ferd Backus, the manager. “I saw some one practicing a while ago.”“He isn’t our regular pitcher,”...
Sam Arrives
Whether the Stars were determined to show their opponents what they could do when they tried or whether it was because they wanted to show their confidence in Joe, or even whether it was due to a slump in the playing of the Academy team, was not made manifest, but at any rate in their half of the sixth inning our friends gathered in four runs, making the score ten to three in their favor.“Oh, it’s a walk-over,” boasted Tom...
Joe Foils the Plotters
There was a carriage waiting just outside the ball grounds, a carriage drawn by one horse. A man whom Joe had never seen before, so far as he knew, held the reins.“There’s the man who wants you,” explained the lad who had acted as messenger.“Who is he?” asked the young pitcher quickly. “I don’t know him. Where did he come from? Where did you meet him?”“I guess he’ll tell you all you want to know,” said the lad. “All I...
Sam Resigns
“Those desperate men! You must have them arrested at once!” exclaimed Mrs. Matson when Joe, a little later, had reached home, having left the horse and carriage at the local livery stable to be claimed. “You ought to go to the police at once, John! Why think of what might have happened to Joe,” for the boy had told the whole story.“Oh, it wasn’t so bad,” said Joe who, now that the excitement was over, and he had so completely...
Bad News
Joe was plainly nervous. Being called on so suddenly had its effect as did the unexpected action of Sam in resigning because Joe had supplanted him. But the young pitcher knew that he must pull himself together.The game was slipping away from the Stars and the crowd of shouters that accompanied the Blues would redouble their efforts to get Joe’s “goat” as soon as he got in the box.He had a foretaste of what they would do when he got...
The Fight
There was a moment of silence following Joe’s remark about being made regular pitcher. Then Clara laughed and it was almost a laugh of relief, for she had been under quite a strain since she came in and heard the bad news.“Oh, you silly boy!” cried Clara. “Just as if your being made pitcher was going to help. I suppose you’ll turn all your salary in to help out now; won’t you?” but there was no sting intended in her...
The Challenge
The fight was over. Sam arose and started away. Joe called after him:“Won’t you shake hands? I’m sorry this happened, but can’t we be friends after this?”“No!” snarled Sam. “I don’t want anything to do with you.”There was nothing more to be said, and Joe walked away. He was somewhat stiff and sore, for a number of Sam’s blows had landed with telling effect. One in particular, on the muscles of his right forearm, made that member a bit stiff...
The Winning Throw—Conclusion
For a moment Tom stood there a bit embarrassed, for he saw that something unusual had happened.“I—I hope I’m not intruding,” he stammered. “I didn’t think—I came right in as I always do. Has anything——”“It’s all right!” exclaimed Joe quickly. “We just got word that dad has lost his patent case.”“Gee! That’s too bad!” exclaimed Tom, who knew something of the affair. “What are you going to do?”“I’m going to pitch against the Resolutes, the first thing I do!” cried...
