Everett T. Tomlinson

“ When a half-dozen fellows are all bunched on the track and everyone is putting out every ounce of strength he’s got and the tape isn’t more than ten yards away and the fellows are all yelling like mad and you can feel that the sprinter from the High School or the Military Academy is right on your heels, even when you don’t, for the life of you, dare to look behind you—why, I’m telling you, Dan Richards, there are mighty few things in life to be compared with it! ”

“ Dan knew that if he had displayed no ability in the pitcher’s box, Gus would have ignored him. Among the few words Mr. Borden had spoken to Dan was one warning which had not been forgotten. “Don’t forget,” Mr. Borden had said, “that no man ever does well without somebody being envious of him. The true man understands that and does not let the petty jealousy of others trouble him.”
Dan recalled the words now and the recollection helped him. He was in deep trouble as he thought of Walter. The boy, somehow, had come under the influence of Gus, until his life was poisoned. ”

“ The smoking potatoes, the fish browned and hot, the various tempting viands which Grandmother Sprague had provided made a great display, and for a time conversation ceased, as both boys did full justice to the repast. Overhead the spreading branches of the huge chestnut trees provided ample shade. Before them were the waters of the pond shining and shimmering under the rays of the noontide heat. On the opposite shore men busy in the fields could be seen and over all was the glory of the perfect summer day.
“This is the way to live, Dan!” said Walter at last. “Why don’t more people try it?” ”

“ Plainly impressed by what Walter said, Ned looked at Dan with renewed interest. He noted the long arm, the wiry form, the evident power and endurance, and his enthusiasm at once was aroused. “I’m glad you’re here, Dan,” he said simply. “Of course there isn’t much baseball in the fall—everything goes to football then. But we have some interform games; they’re mostly to keep up the spirit of the thing and try out the new fellows. ”

“ Deliberately he studied the batter, then drew back his arm and swiftly sent in the ball. Whether the speed of the little sphere or its puzzling curve misled the player or not Dan did not know, but it struck the batter full in the shoulder.
A shout arose from the spectators as the player, rubbing the wounded spot, started toward first base. “Up in the air!” “Got him going!” “Wild as a hawk!” were among the gleeful calls from the friends of the Military Academy. An expression of anxiety appeared on the faces of the supporters and even on those of the members of the nine of the Tait School. ”

“ Gus’s face flushed an angry red as he spoke directly to Dan, while Walter was looking in wonder first at one boy and then at the other.
“The little fellow has a right to protect himself,” said Dan quietly.
“‘Protect himself’!” said Gus scornfully. “There isn’t any place in the Tait School for a telltale.”
“How much of a place is there for a coward who picks out some little chap who can’t defend himself and spends his time picking on him?” ”

“ Now if you feel better we can try the fishing again,” said Walter, as he and his friend returned to the shaded place where the table had been set.
“I’m afraid there isn’t much use in trolling now,” said Dan, as he looked over the still and shining waters of the pond.
“Why not?”
“It’s too warm and still. The pickerel make for the cooler places when the sun is as warm as it is now.”
“Then we can go to those ‘cooler places’ if that is where the fish go, can’t we? A fellow ought to use his head when he’s fishing, just the same as he does when he’s playing ball.” ”

“ The sight had suggested the scene which a game would present. Dan thought he could see the excited spectators and even hear their shouts of approval. Was it possible that he could be the pitcher—the central figure in the nine toward which the eyes of all would be turned? For the first time the country boy had a feeling of depression. He had never been put to the test of facing experienced batters. It was true he had been phenomenally successful against the Benson and other local nines. But they were as inexperienced as he. Then he recalled the quiet and confident words of Moulton. ”

“ The boys laughed at Walter’s retort and as they looked at Gus it was plain that their sympathies were not with him. Several glanced slyly at Dan, but to all appearances he was the least-moved boy in the group.
“There isn’t a mucker in the Tait School,” said Gus savagely, “or at least there hasn’t been up to to-day. Every fellow pays his way like a man and he has something behind him too!”
“What do you mean?” asked Walter tauntingly, aroused still more by the manifest sympathy of his companions. “How far back does a fellow have to go not to be a mucker? ”

“ The present visit and sneering words of Gus were somewhat unexpected and Dan suspected that there was more behind them than he was able to see at the present time. His voice did not betray his anger at the contemptuous question of his visitor and without further conversation he quietly prepared to leave the room.
“Where you going, Dan?” said Walter.
“Don’t hinder little Carlton’s nurse,” laughed Gus. “The poor child may need his bottle. He wants somebody to play with him. Don’t you know that good little boys die young?” ”

“ He had been out of school several years, and the work which he had tried to do alone and even that in which Moulton had directed him had left him poorly prepared. But there was in the country boy a spirit of determination that counted for much. Mr. Hale, one of the teachers, had apparently taken a special interest in the new boy. “Remember, Richards,” he said to Dan one day, “ninety per cent of success means work. Indeed, that is about all there is of it anyway. Genius is said to be a capacity for work, and not much else. [195] The great man is the man who can do more than others. ”

“ Walter hastily added as he saw a look of surprise on Dan’s face. “It isn’t that. Only when I hear so much about saving the birds, I can’t help thinking of the poor little grubs and bugs his birdship doesn’t have any mercy for. See? Why don’t we try to save the bugs and worms as well as the birds?”
“If you lived on a farm you’d know the reason why.”
“What is it?”
“They kill the crops.”
“So we kill them because they affect our pockets. Is that it?”
“I guess it is.”
[42]
“Then it isn’t wrong to kill things that take what we want. It’s only wrong to kill what doesn’t interfere with our plans.” ”

“ If a boy goes to school and doesn’t use his opportunities, the fact that he has attended or even been graduated from a certain institution doesn’t make him an educated man, does it? Education is like the water in a trough—if a horse doesn’t drink it, it doesn’t make any difference how many times he has been led to it or what a fine trough the water is in. ”

“ When you struck out Hodge and Smith and Gus Kiggins, our three heaviest hitters, twice in succession they all said you were surely the real thing.”
“Did Gus Kiggins say so?”
“Not exactly,” laughed Walter. “His nose is out of joint. You wouldn’t exactly expect him to be happy over such a thing.”
“No,” assented Dan.
“He’ll be all right though, he’ll have to be. He isn’t very popular with the fellows anyhow.”
“He can play ball.”
“Yes, he’s a good player all right enough, but he’s a dirty player. He was center on the football team last fall, but Samson wouldn’t let him hold down the place.” ”

“ It is true! I simply can’t understand how any fellow can be such a fool as to throw over a chance to go to the Tait School, especially when the chances are that he’ll be the pitcher on the school nine. And, Dan,” Walter continued eagerly, “there hasn’t been a pitcher on the Tait School team who hasn’t been a varsity pitcher after he entered college. There’s Moulton, for example—oh, I’m not going to say anything more about it. If you could only see the Tait School just once you’d be perfectly willing for your old normal school to go to the hayseeds where it belongs. ”

“ As Dan was silent, Mr. Borden went on. “Let me say right here, Dan, that I am more than satisfied with my part. I know Walter and I think I know you. If at any time you want to leave him and room with some other boy, I shall not object. I don’t believe there is a better investment than putting money into men. If I could only buy for Walter what he needs I should not stop at the expense. ”

“ So he can pick out a lawyer or a business man before a word is spoken. I suppose a fellow that comes from the country does carry around with him a few of the marks of his trade the same as everyone does, but if I lived where Dan does I wouldn’t think of apologizing. I’d be proud of it. Gus, does a man that makes his living sticking hogs come to look like his trade the same as a preacher or a lawyer or a business man?”
A shout of laughter caused Ned to look about him in pretended astonishment. Gus Kiggins settled back in his seat, his face glowering with anger. ”

“ It’s a little bit rough, you know, to be waked up by an earthquake.”
“He stands about as much chance of being pitcher as I do of being King of Timbuctoo or of Oshkosh,” sniffed Walter.
“He doesn’t have a ghost of a show if Richards can do again what he did to-day,—strike out the three heaviest hitters on the nine,” laughed Ned.
“Yes, and strike out each of them twice in succession,” added Walter.
“Good work, old man!” said Hodge affectionately patting Dan on the shoulder. “We’ll leave you here. Look out for Gus. If he meets you alone some dark night he may pitch into you.” ”

“ The departure of Gus Kiggins had been variously interpreted by the school, a few siding with him after he was gone, thereby [304] displaying the fact that a school world is not unlike the great world outside. However, while the great majority of the boys were not sorrowing over the departure of the bully, nevertheless the prevailing feeling of anxiety concerning the pitcher for the school nine, in case Dan was unable to play, was great. Indeed, when the game came and those in attendance saw that Dan was not in the box, there were many to prophesy that the high school would win. ”

“ Why, Dan, it’s the chance of a lifetime. You’ve never been out of Rodman except to go over to Benson or to Simpson’s Corners to play ball. You don’t know anything of what the world is like.” Unaware of the dull flush that spread over Dan’s cheeks as he spoke, Walter continued eagerly: “Why, man alive, the Tait School is the greatest school in the United [108] States! There isn’t another that can hold a candle to it! Why, our nine whipped the freshman nine of every one of the big colleges. We’ve had more men enter college without conditions in the last five years than any other prep school. ”

“ That’s it exactly. I’ve a funny idea that when a fellow shirks or dodges his work he’s really the fellow to suffer. He doesn’t cheat the teacher half so much as he cheats himself. He’s just subtracting that much power from himself, that’s all.”
“Dan, you’re a funny chap.”
“I know it, but I don’t believe I’m half so ‘funny’ as the fellow is who throws away such chances as he has here in the Tait School.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised if you were right. I wish I were like you, Dan. It’s easy for some fellows. ”

“ The tanned cheeks, the firmer muscles, the keen appetite, that made Grandfather Sprague shake his head as the cook’s johnny-cakes disappeared twice a day almost as silently as the dew from the shaded lawn, were an annual delight to Mrs. Borden. ”

“ Certainly everything was unlike the plainness of his own little home on the farm near Rodman. The thought increased Dan’s feeling of depression. He had a vision of his brother Tom, who by this time had ended his chores and doubtless was sitting with his mother on the piazza, talking with her over their loneliness. He fancied he almost could hear his mother in her calm way, which was deceptive to many by its very calmness, say to Tom that she was glad Dan had such a good opportunity to secure an education. ”

“ A NEW PITCHER Unaware of the expression on the face of Gus Kiggins, Walter said to Dan as the latter joined the group, “Didn’t I tell you? You’re all right, Dan.” Then, turning to his companions, he continued: “I always keep my eyes open for the nine. You fellows seem to think the eleven is the only team in school, but when I can find a pitcher for the nine, such as I have in Dan Richards, I’m telling you that you’ll forget there is such a game as football when you see what the baseball nine will do for us.” ”

“ If you fellows want to put somebody in my place at short, I’ll agree to it. I’ll agree to anything that you may suggest. From now on, I want to be fair.”
“Don’t say any more, Walter,” interrupted Dan.
“Let him say it,” protested Ned. “It’ll do him good. When a fellow has let himself be made a fool of by such a chap as Gus Kiggins, he can’t do any more——”
“That’s right. He’s said enough. We all understand.”
“Do you call it off, Dan?” demanded Hodge. ”

“ Sometime, maybe, you’ll know enough to know that the cat which a monkey uses to pull his chestnuts out of the fire gets his paws burned. It [259] would serve you right if I told the whole school about the dirty trick you and Gus planned to play on Dan. Now that you have a dose of your own medicine, you sit up here and whine and cry like a spanked baby.”
“Come on, Ned, it’s time for the game,” broke in Dan as he grasped his friend by the arm. “Walter,” he added, “you heard what Ned said, that if you feel up to the mark a little later, you are to come on down and he’ll put you into the game. ”

“ Almost on a straight line the ball sped on, rolling swiftly when at last it struck the ground, while both the left-fielder and the center-fielder of the academy ran in swift pursuit. Pandemonium almost seemed to break loose among the boys of the Tait School. They rose from their seats and swung their caps, dancing up and down in their excitement as they shouted and cheered wildly. The excitement became still greater when Gus turned third base and followed Ned toward the home-plate. ”

“ Borden. “That is a good record.”
“But Dan is more than a good ball-player,” asserted Walter. “He is a hard worker and he has the best head on him I ever saw. He never loses his head in a game, he doesn’t dispute the umpire or yell at the fellows——”
“Do you ever do that, Walter?” broke in Mr. Borden.
“I’m afraid I do,” admitted Walter shamefacedly.
“All boys shout, I hear them every day,” spoke up Mrs. Borden. “I am sure Walter does no more than other boys of his age.” ”

“ Ned had been cordial, but his keen interest in the possibility of the nine securing a good pitcher doubtless accounted for that. Chesty had spoken frankly and without a suspicion that his words had been overheard. And Dan, in his quiet way, was suffering. His life had not been like that of the boys in the Tait School. He almost wished that he had not yielded to Mr. Borden’s persuasive words. At the normal school there were many who came from homes like his own. Several boys from Rodman had worked their way through that school. ”

“ His words were overheard by the Benson player who had been the cause of the interruption. Stopping abruptly, he glared at Walter a moment and then said: “I guess if the pitcher didn’t do any better than your short-stop does, it wouldn’t take long to wind up this game.”
“Don’t say anything, Walter,” said Dan as he came to the side of his friend and quietly took his arm. “When a fellow is in the game he wants to work the muscles in his arms and legs and back, but there are some other muscles he doesn’t want to let get into the game at all.” ”

“ He’s a born ball-player and he had the finest assortment of curves that the Tait School ever saw. He pitched a one-hit game against the Yale freshman team in June. Never made a hit, never got a ball outside the diamond until the ninth inning, and that was a scratch. The third-baseman of the freshman team let the ball hit his bat. I don’t believe he ever struck at it at all. If you can come anywhere near ‘Red’ you can own the whole school.”
Dan listened as Ned rattled on in his noisy boyish way, but he seldom replied except to certain direct questions. ”