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Hitting a Teacher
“Look out now, fellows; here goes for a high one!”“Aw come off; you can’t throw high without dislocating your arm, Peaches. Don’t try it.”“You get off the earth; I can so, Teeter. Watch me.”“Let Joe Matson have a try. He can throw higher than you can, Peaches,” and the lad who had last spoken grasped the arm of a tall boy, with a very fair complexion which had gained him the nickname of “Peaches and Cream,” though it was usually...
Planning a Battle
Professor Elias Rodd was rather elderly, and, as he never took much exercise, his sprinting abilities were not pronounced. So it took him about a minute and a half to cross the campus to where the little group of lads awaited him—anxious waiting it was too, on the part of Joe and Peaches. And in that minute and a half, before the excitement begins, I want to take the opportunity to tell you something about Joe Matson, and his chum...
An Angry Bully
“Well, why don’t one of you fellows open the door?” demanded Peaches in a hoarse whisper from his point of vantage under the table. “If it’s one of the ‘profs.’ or a monitor, he’ll get wise if you wait all this while.”It might be explained that there was a rule at Excelsior Hall against students visiting in their classmates’ rooms at certain hours of the day, unless permission had been secured from the professor or monitor in charge of the...
Joe Learns Something
Joe Matson had been in fights before. Some had been forced upon him, and he accepted the challenges for sufficient reasons, and had given a good account of himself in the battles. Other fistic encounters had been of his own seeking and for excellent reasons he had generally come out ahead.The prospective fight with the bully was very sudden. Joe had seen what he considered a mean trick on Hiram’s part and had thrown on the impulse of the moment....
The Tables Turned
“Well, Joe, what do you think about it?” Tom Davis glanced at his chum across the room as he asked this question. It was several hours after the snow battle, and the two lads were studying, or making a pretense at it.“Think about what, Tom?”“Oh, you know what I mean—what happened to-day, and how it’s going to affect your chances for the nine. They look rather slim, don’t they?”“Well, Tom, I don’t mind admitting that they do. I didn’t know...
The Bully Sneers
“Well, you ought to get out a patent on this,” remarked Joe, when they resumed the eating of the pie and the drinking of the pop, following the withdrawal of the professor.“You sure had,” agreed Tom. “Let Joe give you some points. His father has taken out several patents.”“Oh, I guess we’ll make it free for all—any fellow is welcome to the idea,” replied Teeter. “So your dad’s an inventor, eh, Matson?”“Yes, harvester machinery—his latest was a corn reaper and...
A Clash with Luke
For several minutes Joe stood staring after the baseball manager. The young pitcher’s arm hung listlessly at his side. There was a look on his face that would have been sad, had Joe been that kind of a lad—showing his feelings needlessly. But our hero was full of spunk and grit, and, though Hiram’s unnecessarily cruel words hurt him grievously, Joe shut his teeth with a firmer grip, squared his shoulders, drew himself up, and then he smiled at Tom.“Well,...
“Who Will Pitch?”
For a moment there was silence—a sort of awed silence—and Teeter uttered a faint cheer.“That’s the way to talk!” he exclaimed.“You’re all right!” declared Peaches.Luke turned and glared at them. Afterward several lads said the bully’s toady looked dazed, as if he did not understand what had happened.“He’ll go tell Hiram now, and he’ll be laying for you, Joe,” was Tom’s opinion.“Let him. I’m ready to meet that bully whenever he is, and I’m not afraid, either.”“That’s the way to...
Tom’s Plan Fails
“The meeting will come to order!” called Hiram. “I’ll cuff some of you fellows over the head if you don’t sit down.”It was rather an unparliamentary way of doing things, but it proved effective, and at length quiet reigned. As Peaches had said, Hiram began by stating what they were there for, and by announcing that the make-up of the nine was in order.Some unimportant business was disposed of, there were remarks from several lads about what the season might...
The Banner Parade
Instantly following Hiram’s words a hub-bub burst out in the gymnasium. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, and the crowd of boys split up into two factions.There were those who were with Joe and Tom in their contention, and who thought that they had not been given a fair opportunity. Among these were, of course, the lads who had not hitherto belonged to the athletic committee, and who had been induced by Tom to put in their applications.On the...
Joe Hopes and Fears
Around the Morningside diamond marched the singing, cheering and yelling lads. The Blue Banner fluttered in the Spring breeze, and not a student in the crowd but either hoped it would stay in the possession of the present owners, or would come to his school, the desires varying according to the allegiance of the wisher.It was a gala occasion for the town of Morningside, this Blue Banner parade, and the people turned out in great numbers to watch the lads....
On the Scrub
“It doesn’t take Peaches long to make up his mind,” remarked Tom.“No, he’s always right on the job,” agreed Teeter.“It’s mighty good of him—and all of you—to go to all this trouble and fuss on my account,” added Joe. “I appreciate it, too.”“Nonsense!” exclaimed Teeter, as he balanced himself on his toes to see if it was safe to indulge in any more cheese and ginger snaps. “We’re glad to do it. I only hope you do make the team,...
Joe’s Great Work
“Let her go, Doctor!”“Make him hit it, Professor!”“Strike him out!”“Give him an old Greek curve!”These were some of the cries that reached Dr. Fillmore as he stood in Joe’s place in the pitching box. The president of the faculty smiled pleasantly. He was used to this mild “joshing,” which was always indulged in by the lads of Excelsior on the occasion of the opening of the season. Not that it was at all offensive; in fact, it rather showed the...
The Game at Morningside
Interest, especially for Joe, centered in what Frank Brown, the school pitcher, might do. So, as a matter of fact, was the attention of nearly all the players and spectators on him. For, to a large extent, the victories of the Excelsior team would depend on what their battery could do. Of course it was up to the other players to lend them support, but it was pretty well established that if the pitcher and catcher did well, support would...
A Strange Discovery
“Three cheers for Excelsior Hall!” cried Captain Elmer Dalton of the Morningside team. “All ready boys, with a will!”The cheers were deafening and perhaps they were all the more hearty because it was the winning nine and its supporters who were giving them.The crowd swarmed over the diamond, players and spectators mingling. Everybody was talking at once, the losing side and their supporters trying to explain how the defeat had come about, and the victors exulting in their victory.“I don’t...
A Hot Meeting
“The meeting will come to order!”Teeter was in the chair, looking over a talking, shifting, excited crowd of lads gathered in the school gymnasium. He had assumed the office, and no one had disputed him.“The meeting will come to order!” he cried again.“Order! Order!” begged George Bland and Peaches. “We can’t do anything like this.”“What are we going to do?” asked Tommy Barton.“Try and fix things so we can win ball games,” answered Tom Davis.Joe did not say much. He...
The Initiation
For a moment after the unexpected support of Teeter’s ultimatum to Hiram there was a tense silence. The lads who had come in with the bully—his supporting army so to speak—remained grouped around him and Luke. On the other side stood Teeter, Peaches, Tom, Joe and their friends, and a number of the better players of the school nine. Included among them were a number of the substitutes.Hiram Shell looked around him. He must have been aware that his power...
“Fire!”
“Where are you fellows taking us?” demanded Joe, as they walked softly down the corridor.“Toot-Toot!” was all the answer he received.“Say, we don’t mind having fun,” added Tom, “but if you fellows are going to cut up any, we want to know it.”“Toot-Toot!” came again in imitation of a whistle. It was evident that this was a sort of signal or watchword among the members of the Order of Choo-Choo.“These aren’t Peaches, Teeter, and our fellows,” spoke Joe into Tom’s...
A Thrilling Rescue
“What’s that?” asked half a dozen of the white-robed lads.“Fire, somewhere,” answered Hiram, pausing in his rush toward Joe.“Come on, this can wait,” added one of his companions. “We’re through with this initiation, anyhow.”“But I’m not through with him,” snapped the bully with a glance of anger at the young pitcher. “I’ll settle with him later.”“Fire! Fire!”Again the cries rang out on the night air.“The school must be on fire!” yelled Luke Fodick. “Come on, fellows!”“Fire! Fire!”Many voices now took...
The Warning
Joe hesitated a moment. Everything would depend on his one throw, because there was no chance to get another ball of cord, and if this one went wide it would fall into the fire and be rendered useless.The fire was increasing, for all the chemicals in the tank on the wagon had been used, and no fresh supply was available. Below the tower on which the man stood, the flames raged and crackled. Even the tower itself was ablaze a...
Bad News
Attention was divided, on the part of the crowd, between the man who had been rescued, and the fire. The old factory was now burning fiercely and it was useless to try to save the structure. In fact, nearly everyone was glad that it had been destroyed, for it would harbor no more tramps. So the man who had been so thrillingly rescued was the greater attraction.Fortunately there was a doctor in the throng, and he gave Mr. Benjamin some...
Bitter Defeat
Joe’s first act, after receiving the bad news from home, was to sit down and write his father a letter full of vain regrets, of self-accusation, upbraiding himself for having been so stupid as not to have thought of telegraphing. He hastened to post this, going out himself though barely over his cold.“I’m not going to take any more chances,” he remarked to Tom. “Maybe that other letter wasn’t mailed by the janitor, or it would have gotten to dad...
Hiram is Out
There was an ominous silence over the gathering in the gymnasium. It was entirely different from the former meeting which started in such a hub-bub, and which created such a stir. This time it meant “business,” as Peaches said.Hiram called the session, but refused to preside. He wanted to be able to say what he thought from the floor, and from the manner in which he and Luke and one or two of their friends conferred before the session opened,...
Two of a Kind
“There is another resignation to act on,” said Dr. Rudden, after a pause, and, somehow he did not seem half as worried over it as Luke had hoped he would be. “What shall we do with it?”“Take it!” exclaimed Tom, and it was accepted with a promptness that startled the former captain.“The action taken to-night makes it necessary to elect a new manager and a captain,” went on the professor. “Perhaps the manager should be elected first. Whom will you...
By a Close Margin
“Whew!” whistled Captain Elmer Dalton of the Morningside nine, as he greeted some of the lads against whom his team was to play, “you fellows have been making a lot of changes, haven’t you?” and he looked at the several new members of the school team, including Joe and Tom.“Yes, a bit of house cleaning,” replied Ward Gerard. “I am captain now. Hiram and Luke got out.”“Yes, I heard there was some sort of a row.”“Oh, I suppose it’s all...
The Overturned Statue
“Three cheers for the Excelsiors!” cried the visiting captain, swinging his hat around in the air as a signal to his crowd, after the excitement had somewhat calmed. “Three good cheers, boys! They beat us fair and square! Three big cheers!”And how they rang out! And how also rang out the return cheers, which Joe and his mates rendered. Never had applause sounded sweeter in the ears of our hero, for it seemed that the school nine had now begun...
On Probation
Joe did not get to chapel that morning. He was all ready to go with Tom and the others after making a hasty toilet, when a messenger came to the door.“Dr. Fillmore wants to see you in his office, Joe,” said the messenger—a nice lad who did this work to help pay for his tuition.“Wants to see me—what for?” demanded our hero. “Are you sure that’s right, Georgie?”“Sure, and a teacher’s there with him. I’m not sure but I think...
Luke’s Confession
The anticipation of Teeter, Peaches and the others that there would be a sensation in chapel that morning was borne out. Never, in all their experience, had the boys recalled Dr. Fillmore being more bitter in his denunciation of what he characterized as “sensational vandalism.”He liked boys to have good, clean healthy fun, he said, and an occasional prank was not out of order, but this pulling the statue from its base passed all bounds. More and more bitter the...
A Glorious Victory
It was the morning of the day of the big game—the final contest between Morningside and Excelsior for the possession of the Blue Banner. So far the two nines were tied as regards their percentage of victories, and the banner would go to whoever won the diamond battle on this occasion.Dr. Fillmore, after hearing Luke’s confession, had sent a messenger to Joe’s room with instructions to see if our hero and Tom were asleep. The apartment was in darkness and...
Good News—Conclusion
There were the usual cheers first by the victors and then by the vanquished, and it would be hard to say which were the heartiest. For Morningside was a good loser and next to a well-beaten rival, she loved a staunch victorious one.“You fellows certainly did us up good and proper—the worst beating we ever got,” admitted Captain Dalton to Ward.“That’s what we came here for,” was the reply. “It was Joe’s twirling that did it.”“Get out!” cried the modest...
