Captain Alan Douglas

“ Then Matt Tubbs was observed to say something to the next batter, Poole.
Elmer smiled broadly at Mark, and nodded. It was just as though he had remarked the words: "It's all off, Mark, they've finally caught on to the fact that we've switched our signals. And now to play a different brand of ball!"
That was exactly what the Fairfield players had decided. When such batters made guys of themselves trying to meet balls that never came where they expected to find them, the truth could not long remain hidden. ”

“ Lil Artha, the long-legged first baseman of the Hickory Ridge nine, put this question to his mates as the big carry-all containing the team, with several substitutes, came in view of the fine field at Basking Ridge on the afternoon when the great game was to be decided.
No one tried to answer.
The reason was plain, for they were utterly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the immense crowd that had assembled to see the anticipated spirited contest between the rival teams of Boy Scouts.
In every direction were great masses of people, all decked out in their holiday attire. ”

“ Elmer just toyed with Mulligan, and after feeding him two swift curves with which he could not connect, he gave him one of those lovely slow balls. Now Mulligan was a crafty chap, and he saw what was coming. Thinking to have the laugh on Elmer, he declined to strike; and was already grinning with joy over his smartness, when the ball seemed to receive a new impetus somehow, and went jumping by.
"Batter's out!" declared the umpire; at which Mulligan dashed his bat down, and walked away, also shaking his head.
The crowd yelled like mad. This was work well worth coming miles to see. ”

“ For Matt says he and his team are going to challenge the Hickory Ridge scouts to a big game."
"Hear, hear!" shouted Lil Artha, executing a regular hoedown to prove how joyful the news made him. "Why, fellows, d'ye know I'm just wild to get in the game again against a club that really counts. All we've done this summer has been to mow down the little chaps around the Ridge, and it was too easy. Matt will put a team in the field worth beating, and we all know what a player he is himself when he wants to do the right thing. So I say bully, bully all around!" ”

“ We all know that much, Elmer; but the signs, what do they say? If it pours down rain the game's all off, and that means bad luck to our fellows," Red went on, being addicted to a belief in all sorts of signs and tokens; just as the boy from South Carolina, Chatz Maxfield, was a believer in ghosts, and charms, and the hind foot of a rabbit killed in a graveyard at midnight by the light of the full moon. ”

“ The tall captain of the Hickory Ridge nine stood at the plate in what some people considered a careless attitude.
"Why, he doesn't seem to care whether he hits the ball or not," they declared. "I think Matt Tubbs ought to have a snap with that bean pole!"
But every batter has his favorite way of waiting for the ball. Some swing their bats nervously, and often fail to recover in time; others stand there like statues, with every nerve contracted, and their eyes fixed on the pitcher. ”

“ While the shouts of the multitude were still ringing out, Elmer made straight for the rival pitcher, and thrust out his hand.
"Bully for you, Matt," he said. "It was so even that one little thing settled it—that home run hit. And if you haven't won this game, Matt, it's plain to be seen you've won another that counts for much more. I say good luck [136] to the scouts of Fairfield. They're going to make things hum around here, I guess."
"That's nice of you, Elmer," returned Matt, quietly, yet with a gleam of satisfaction in his eye. "Somebody's got to lose, and next time it may be you fellers. ”

“ Turning in at the entrance to the grounds they passed along a drive where one could see the fancy fruit trees of which the owner was so proud.
"Looks like they were picking those splendid peaches, from the way the leaves lie on the ground," remarked Elmer, as he pointed to a couple of trees on which there still remained a few splendidly colored and wonderfully large specimens of the delicious fruit.
"Um! makes a fellow's mouth water just to see 'em," declared Mark. "And there's Bruno chained up to his kennel back by the barns. What a big dog he is—a Siberian wolf hound the colonel calls him. ”

“ The crowd numbered several hundreds, and they were [70] as ready to applaud any clever work on the part of the scrub players as Lil Artha's team. And with such a host of pretty high-school girls present every fellow strove to do his best in order to merit the hand clapping that followed every bit of fine play.
For five innings the score stood at nothing to nothing. Elmer was equal to each and every crisis, and somehow the boys back of him did not seem able to solve the puzzling delivery of Johnny Kline any better than the scrub team did that of the scout pitcher. ”

“ Now, altogether, and send one out in center for a homer!"
Jack did his best, just as Elmer knew he was bound to. He believed he saw the pitcher signal that he meant to cut the middle of the plate with the next; when in reality it was intended to be a wide one. And so he too perished, amid the cheers of Hickory Ridge, and the groans of Fairfield. ”

“ I guess we don't need to worry, since we've got plenty of good material handy in case of accidents."
"But Toby isn't going to fail us," asserted Elmer. "He's too good a scout not to know his duty in this crisis. For we've just got to beat that Fairfield crowd this time, or we'll never hear the end of it."
"Don't worry, fellows; if we play like we did to-day we'll have their number, all right. Wait till you see how Elmer teases their heavy batters with that drop of his! There'll be need of a lot of dope after the game, for the arms that swing nearly out of joint swiping the air. ”

“ The Menhaden make their appearance in the spring with the arrival of the shad, alewife, blue-fish, and weak-fish. They swim in schools close to the surface and crowd together, but if alarmed sink to the bottom. They are phosphorescent at night, fond of inlets and bays and [170] shoal waters protected from wind. Their food seems to consist of organic matter and vegetation contained in stagnant water. They have many enemies; whales, sharks, sword-fish, bass, cod, weak-fish, blue-fish, bonito, dolphins destroy them in vast quantities. They are largely used as fertilizers by the coast farmers. ”

“ Garrabrant, the efficient scout master, who fortunately was enabled to accompany the boys on this trip. "I was just going to say something along those same lines myself when you took the words out of my mouth. Hickory Ridge is watching you to-day, fellows; and Hickory Ridge expects every one of her sons to do his duty. Nobody can do more."
"Well, here we are, safe and sound," remarked Ty, as the vehicles came to a stop in the midst of the tremendous throng.
"Wow! listen to that, would you?" said Toby, as cheers started that seemed to rock the very earth. ”

“ The crowd sat up and began to figure on a run, as there was only one man out, and almost any kind of a fly would allow Wagner to come in.
But they counted without their host. Cobb failed to do anything, also going out on the three-strike route. And Poole shot one straight for Red at short, who gathered it up in fine shape, getting the ball to first ahead of the runner.
A sigh went up from the great crowd. With the Fairfield rooters it signified despair; while those who were backing the other team expressed their relief that Elmer had managed to get out of a hole successfully. ”

“ Like most men behind the bat, accustomed to seeing all manner of balls coming toward men throughout the whole game, Ballinger was a fairly good man with the stick. He believed he could pick out a good one, and do something worth while.
His best was a high fly that Ty gathered in away out in deep center; but after the ball settled in his hands McDowd managed to make third, again by a slide, at which he seemed particularly clever.
It was now up to Matt Tubbs. Adopting the tactics of his rival when Lil Artha was at bat, Elmer sought to pass the hard-hitting pitcher of the Fairfields. ”

“ That's the point, you see."
"Oh, well, I hope you find out sooner or later," remarked Elmer, who knew from previous experience how such little things worried his chum, and would have liked very well to have influenced Mark to cross it off entirely. "Now, let's talk about other things—that coming great game with Fairfield, for instance, and what chances we have with our poor pitching staff."
"Rats!" cried Mark. "When everyone believes that you're stronger than ever this year, and that break of yours works like a charm. ”

“ Most of the fellows are going to come out, and perhaps we can get a scrub team to bat against us," and waving his hand once more Mark hurried off.
Elmer looked after him. There was the light of a sincere affection in his eyes, as he shook his head while muttering to himself:
"No wonder Colonel Hitchins knew that cap was no indication of guilt, once he looked in the face of my chum. [39] There isn't the faintest streak of double dealing about Mark Cummings, and his face shows it. ”

“ And the way Matt Tubbs led his gang has been the main cause. It was a rule or ruin policy. If they couldn't win a baseball game squarely they'd start a little riot, and have the umpire give it to 'em, nine to nothing."
"Well, I rather think that's all in the past," said Elmer. "If Matt does half he declares he means to do, it's going [23] to be the biggest thing that ever happened for the boys of Fairfield and Cramertown. And something more, fellows. I just rather guess we'd better be brushing up all we know of the great American national game of baseball. ”

“ Shucks!"
"Don't suppose Toby would pose it over again, do you?" suggested Larry Billings, who was passing a ball with Matty Eggleston, the leader of the Beaver Patrol, and one of the reliables in the nine.
"Well, hardly," Lil Artha replied. "I reckon Toby got enough of hanging that time to last him right along. Is he here this afternoon?"
"Sure he is, and as chipper as ever. Only grins when anybody tries to josh him about flying. Nothing ever feases that feller. He comes up again after every knockdown, as fresh as a daisy. ”

“ No crooked work will go when a fellow has faithfully promised to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful to others, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient to his superiors, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent."
"You're right, it won't, Elmer," assented Mark, positively. "And yet if Matt has changed right-about face, so that he can live up to that agreement I'm ready to believe the world is coming to an end."
"Me, too!" echoed Lil Artha, who had had several [24] personal conflicts with the bully of Fairfield, and distrusted him exceedingly. ”

“ Even Mark allowed that he had it down just as pat as the older style.
"And just as you said, Elmer," he admitted, "if those fellows over at Fairfield believe they're onto our signs, they're going to make a heap of trouble for themselves, believe me. I can see a fellow whacking away at a wide bender that he expects is going to be a swift one over the rubber. The only trouble will be for me to keep a straight face through the circus." ”

“ In midsummer they haunt the bottoms of lakes, deep pools, among rocks and roots. As the cold weather comes on in the autumn they frequent the clear water of streams. They seldom exceed two or three pounds in weight. They feed daintily, taking their prey from the surface—flies, water bugs, and little fishes. They are favorites with the fishermen; the most successful angler is the one who baits his hook with the prey, or imitation thereof, which at that time particularly hits their fancy. ”

“ All Basking Ridge's local police force was on the spot, but half a dozen good-natured officers are next to useless when up against thousands; in contests of this sort dependence [120] must be placed on the spirit of fair play that is generally a part of baseball crowds, especially in smaller towns, where the players are known.
"The game is called; now for it!" yelled the nearest spectators, as they saw the umpire pick up his mask and step forward to announce the batteries, while the Hickory Ridge players started for their positions. ”

“ He hoped the big dog would recognize him as a friend before attempting to jump at him; for Elmer knew that Siberian wolf hounds are not the easiest animals in the world to handle when met in the dark. ”

“ The King-fish is thoroughly game; he seizes the bait eagerly and then goes to the bottom, following up this movement with long runs from right to left; it is really remarkable what a determined resistance the little King-fish will make. In size he varies from one to six pounds, the average being two or three pounds. The time to fish for them is when the tide is running in. King-fish can be caught along the south side of Long Island, off the Jersey coast at Atlantic City, Long Branch, and Barnegat Inlet, and further south they are very common. ”

“ We, the newly organized Boy Scouts of Fairfield and Cramertown, having made up a team composed wholly of the members of our organization, do hereby challenge you to a game of ball on the afternoon of Monday the twentieth of August, to settle the question of championship on the diamond between our different organizations. No one not a scout in good standing to participate in this match game. ”