Lester Chadwick

“ All eyes turned instinctively upward, and there, perched on the ledge of what had once been the clock tower of the factory, high above the roaring, crackling flames, stood a man, wildly waving his arms and crying:
"Help! Help! Save me!"
"Look! A man! He'll be burned to death!" yelled a score of persons as they saw the danger.
"That's about right, unless he gets down pretty soon," shouted Tom into Joe's ear. "Why doesn't he go down?" ”

“ 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. ”

“ You think you might pitch on my team? I guess nixy! We want some fellow who can deliver the goods."
"Joe can!" exclaimed Tom eagerly.
"Aw, forget it!" sneered Hiram. "Why, you'd be knocked out of the box first inning with some of the teams we play. You pitch! Ha! Ha! That's pretty rich. I'll have to tell the fellows about this!"
"I didn't ask you to let me pitch," said Joe quietly though an angry spot burned in either cheek.
"No, and you'd better not!" snapped Hiram. "You pitch! Ha! Ha! It makes me laugh," and with a sneering look at Joe the bully strode off, chuckling unpleasantly. ”

“ The snow battle began. Joe and his lads had boxes and baskets of snowballs piled where they could easily get them. They took them with them, up to the very walls of the fort, certain boys being designated as ammunition carriers.
The fight was fast and furious. The air was thick with flying balls; and the yells, shouts, cries, and laughter of the lads could be heard afar.
Up to the fort swarmed Joe and his mates, only to be driven back by a withering fire. Then they came once more to the attack, pouring in a destructive rain of white balls on the defenders of the snow fort. ”

“ The young pitcher told of the finding of the telegram, and its result.
"But, hang it all, that's no evidence!" burst out Tom.
"The doctor thinks so," replied Joe grimly.
"Some one who has a grudge against you—Say!" exclaimed Teeter with a sudden change of manner. "I'll bet it was Luke or Hiram who did it—pulled the statue down and then tried to blame it on you."
"Sure!" chorused Tom and Peaches.
"Wait!" cried Joe. "It's bad enough for me to be suspected of knowing something that I don't, but we can't go to accusing even Hiram or Luke on mere guesswork. It won't do." ”

“ Then Joe got ready to throw up the cord.
"He can't do it! He'll never be able to get that ball up to the man. It will fall short or go into the flames," said Luke Fodick.
"He can't, eh?" asked Tom, who came back, helping to pull the long rope. "You don't know how Joe Matson can throw. Just watch him."
And, amid a silence that was painfully tense, the young pitcher got ready to deliver a ball on which more depended than on any other he had ever thrown in all his life. ”

“ At the same moment Tom had done the same to his tormentor, discovering Luke Fodick under the black mask.
"Oh, so it's your crowd, is it Hiram?" asked Joe.
"Yes, and by Jove, you'll suffer for this! Why aren't you sports enough to take your initiation as the others do?"
"Because we don't choose to," replied our hero.
"Then I'll make you!" cried Hiram, doubling up his fists and leaping at Joe. "Come on, Luke, give 'em what's coming to 'em!"
"Two can play at that game," spoke Joe coolly. He noted that the room had been roughly fitted up as a sort of society meeting chamber. ”

“ These cries came from Luke, Hiram and a few of their cronies.
"There seems to be a division of opinion," began the chairman. "I think we had better vote on it."
"There are a lot of fellows here who have no right to vote!" cried Hiram.
"That won't do, Shell," said Dr. Rudden sternly. "This is a matter that concerns the entire school—to have a winning nine. Every student is entitled to vote."
"Hurrah!" yelled Tom. "This is a victory all right. The end of Hiram, Luke and Company has come."
"You'll pitch on the school team, Joe!" called Peaches in our hero's ear. ”

“ When Old Sixteen gets to spouting Latin or Greek he doesn't know whether he's on his head or his feet, and as for a hat—say, forget it and come on. He'll never mention it again. Peaches knows how to handle him. Peaches is the best Latin lad in the whole school, and once Sixteen finds some one who will listen to his new theory about conjugating irregular verbs, he'll talk until midnight. Come on!"
"Poor Peaches!" murmured Tom Davis.
"Never mind, Sister," spoke George Bland, as he linked his arm in that of Joe, "Peaches seen his duty and he done it nobly, as the novels say. ”

“ Behind Peaches came Teeter, George Bland and several of the subs.
"What—what do you mean?" stammered Hiram.
"I mean that it's either you or us," went on Peaches.
"Either you get out as manager or we get out as players," added Teeter. "We're tired of playing on a nine that can't win a game. We can play ball, and we know it. But not with you, Hiram. What's it going to be—you or us?" ”

“ Swarm the walls!" yelled Joe.
He and his lads scrambled up, their pockets filled with balls. Down upon the hapless foe they threw them, and in another moment the fort would have been theirs.
"Repel boarders! Repel boarders!" sang out Hiram. "Come on, fellows, give 'em an extra dose!"
Joe saw the bully, and Luke, his crony, rush to a corner of the fort and take something from a wooden box. The next instant several lads uttered cries of real pain, as they felt the missiles of almost solid ice hit them. Joe undestood at once. ”

“ You're finding his curves if he has any!" cried Hiram. "Swat It!"
"Sure!" assented Luke.
With all his might he hit at the next ball, only to fan the air.
"Strike three—batter's out!" called the umpire amid a tense silence. Luke had done what he was seldom guilty of; he had struck out, and to a pitcher whom he not only hated but despised. Joe's great work had enabled the scrub to retire the school team without a run—a thing that had not been done at Excelsior in many years.
"Wow! That's the stuff!" yelled Tom, as he raced in from first. "I knew you could do it, Joe."
"Great work, old man!" ”

“ Rudden, the coach, sometimes took a hand in the baseball affairs and occasionally he had been known to over-ride the judgment of Hiram and Luke, insisting that some player whom they had not picked be allowed to show what he could do on the first team. So there were many hearts that beat high with hope, and among them was Joe's. And there were hearts that were a bit anxious—to wit, members of the first team who were not quite sure of themselves. ”

“ Joe's was far in advance of the snowball of Peaches, however, and went higher.
As the balls descended and went out of sight, there suddenly arose from the other side of the trees a series of expostulating yells.
"Stop it! Stop that, I say! How dare you throw snowballs at me? I shall report you at once! Who are you? Don't you dare to run!"
"We—we hit some one," faltered Peaches, his fair complexion blushing a bright red. ”

“ We're willing to let you continue as manager, Hiram, and have Luke for captain, only we fellows want to have more of a say in how the team is run."
"Why, you fellows haven't any rights!" cried Hiram. "A lot of you are only probationary members, anyhow, and can't vote."
"They don't need to vote," declared Teeter. "It isn't a question of voting. We're students at Excelsior—all of us—and we have a right to say what we think. We think things ought to be done differently." ”

“ No, that's not enough," insisted the manager. "You don't know how to play your own men."
"I know as much as you do about it!" fired back Luke. Of late the bully and his crony had not agreed overwell.
"No, you don't!" reaffirmed Hiram. "I tell you what you ought to do. You ought to get rid of Peaches, Teeter and George Bland."
"Why, they're three of the best players on the nine."
"No, they're not, and besides they're too friendly with Joe Matson and Sister Davis. They don't half play. They make errors on purpose, just to make the school team have a bad reputation." ”

“ 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 pitcher.
"Yes, that certainly held us down," went on Dalton. "We couldn't seem to find you. I'll need some new pitchers next season, I guess, for you certainly batted Ted and Sam all over. But I'm not kicking. How are you fixed for next year, Joe? ”

“ Do we have to hustle and scramble to conceal our refreshments? Answer—we do not. What do we do?"
"Answer," broke in Peaches. "We merely slip our pie or sandwiches or whatever it happens to be, inside our 'books,' and go right on studying. Catch on?"
"I should say we did!" exclaimed Joe. "That's great!"
"But what about the bottles of strawberry pop?" asked Tom. "We can't hide them in the fake books."
"No, I've another scheme for that," went on Teeter. "Show 'em, Peaches."
Thereupon Peaches proceeded to extract the corks from the bottles of liquid refreshment. ”

“ As a matter of fact, those three balls were the first Joe had thrown that day, but he did not think it wise to say so, for Hiram had mean ways about him, and none of the pupils at Excelsior Hall cared to rouse his anger unnecessarily.
"Well, I guess we've all had our turns," spoke George Bland, after Hiram had thrown a few more balls so carelessly as to miss the barrel entirely.
"I haven't," piped up Tommy Burton, one of the youngest lads. "Hiram took my snowballs."
"Aw, what of it, kid?" sneered the bully. "There's lots more snow. Make yourself another set and see what you can do." ”

“ 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 might slip very easily from him now, unless something was done. ”

“ You can change your batting order if you like."
"We don't have to," responded Ward. "But go ahead, we'll allow it."
"Thanks—for nothing!" exclaimed Hiram sarcastically, and Luke held his place at home plate.
The situation was now rather tense. There were two men out, a man was on third and the captain of the school team himself was at bat. It was up to Luke to bring in his man and save his side from a goose egg in the first inning. Luke fairly glared at Joe, as if daring our hero to strike him out, and Joe was no less determined to do that feat if possible. ”

“ If It does, Hiram won't have so much to say as he does now."
"I hope to gracious you can work something. It's rotten the way things are now, and it is our own fault, too. But I'm afraid it's too late to change. No, you can figure that the nine is already made up between Hiram and Luke—that is, all but pitcher."
"Then I think Joe has a chance!" exclaimed Tom. "I'm not going to give up until the last minute. I'm working hard for him, but don't say anything to him about it. I want to surprise him." ”

“ Joe rejoined. "There can only be one first team in a school, and I don't want to disrupt things or play second fiddle. If I can't get on the nine I'll have to stay off, that's all. But it's going to be mighty tough to sit still and watch the other fellows play, and all the while just itching to get hold of the ball—mighty tough," and Joe gazed abstractedly about the room.
"I wish I could help you, old man, but I can't," said Tom. "I suppose this clash with Hiram had to come but I do wish it had held off until after the season opened. ”

“ There now extended from the tower to the ground a slanting pathway of rope, such as is sometimes seen leading down into a stone quarry. It was high enough above the flames to enable a man to swing himself along above them, though doubtless he would have to pass over a zone of fierce heat.
"All ready! Come on down!" yelled Joe, and the man on the tower lost no time in obeying.
He let go the rope as his feet touched the earth and then with a groan he collapsed. The crowd closed in around him, and two minutes later the tower, with a crash, toppled into the midst of the seething furnace of fire. ”

“ What hosts of pretty girls! Men and women, too; old graduates, students from both schools, many from other schools in the league, for this was the wind-up of the season.
Out on the diamond trotted the Morningside nine, to be greeted with a roar of cheers. They began practice at once, and it was noticed that Sam Morton was "warming up."
"They're going to use two pitchers all right," observed Tommy Barton. "Guess they heard that Joe was going to be on deck again."
A noisy welcome awaited the Excelsior nine as they trotted out, and they, too, began batting and catching practice. ”

“ I'm trying to do anything to better the team. We ought to have won that game to-day, and you know it."
"I know that I played my best!" shouted Jake, "and if you accuse me of—"
"Nobody's accusing you," put in Peaches.
Several lads were on their feet, all seeking to be heard. Teeter was vainly rapping with his gavel. It looked for a few moments as if there would be several fights, for lads were shaking their fists in each other's faces.
"Why don't you give Hiram a show?" demanded Jake. "Let him know this meeting is being held. ”

“ If we had two good men as a battery there would have been a different story to-day."
"What's that?" quickly demanded Hiram, turning around, for Peaches had unconsciously spoken louder than he intended.
"I said I agreed with you," spoke the lad diplomatically, "that if we'd had some changes the result would have been different to-day," but he did not mention the changes.
"Well, it's all over," remarked Joe to Tom, as they descended from the grandstand. "Let's get back home. Jove! But it's too bad to start the season with a defeat."
"Somebody had to lose," replied Tom philosophically. ”