Ralph Henry Barbour

“ After he had grown accustomed to the change of territory, Jack did well enough there, the only thing that bothered him being the disconcerting proximity of Farmer Finkler’s stone wall, which lay close at his left. Once or twice a long fly from Mr. Shay’s bat sent him almost up to the wall, and any player knows how difficult it is to keep one’s mind on the ball when one is expecting at any instant to collide with such an unyielding obstacle as a wall or fence. ”

“ You can’t pitch your school nine to victory over its rival without being placed on a pedestal, you see. If Sam liked Kansas and said so, why, Kansas must be a pretty good sort, after all. Doubtless the wild and woolly West wasn’t so wild and woolly as it was painted in the story books. Secretly Jack was at first a trifle angry and later not a little amused over the attitude of the school toward him. But at no time did he lose either his temper or his sense of humor; a fact which proves him at the outset an extremely level-headed, sensible chap! ”

“ But the trouble is, Sam, that when you’re in a hurry and you’ve got a long throw you can’t always put the ball just where you want it.”
“No, but the oftener you do the better chance you stand of making the team. That’s the point, Jack. Every fielder slips up sometimes, but it’s the fellow that slips up oftenest that sits on the bench when the real games come along. When you throw in to the plate—which isn’t very often, of course, since you’ll usually throw to an infielder—just glue your eye to the catcher’s left and put your mind on getting the ball there. ”

“ Gathering Farmer Finkler’s apples is no longer the pleasant, casual recreation it used to be. If your soul cries for apples now you put on all your old clothes, bundle up your legs in leg-guards, arm yourself with a baseball bat and [11] say your prayers as you creep silently over the wall.” Sam shook his head regretfully. “No, erring isn’t what it used to be. You have to work for your apples these days!” ”

“ If the Boarders were to win the game it must be through tight fielding and an equal dexterity with the bat. Dolph, pretty sore over the trick that had been sprung on him, determined grimly that his team should win in spite of the handicap. And for a time it really looked as though the Boarders might come through victorious, for Morris, working finely with Dolph, struck out Tyler Wicks, amidst the cheers and jeers of the [49] Boarders; disposed of Ducky Drake in the same manner, and threw Coolidge out at first. ”

“ You’ve got the making of a good player, I think, Jack, and I want to see you get a place on the team. You bat mighty well for a chap who hasn’t played much, and if you can do a little better at that and play a good, steady, reliable game in the outfield, why, I don’t see why Shay shouldn’t take you on. Anyhow, you can be pretty sure of a place on the second team, for you can bat all around Cook. Just you buckle down for the next two weeks and work hard, you wild Westerner, and you’ll make good. ”

“ But Sam answered seriously.
“Jack,” he said, “if that stone wall could be moved it wouldn’t be where it is. Benny has been trying to buy or lease that piece of meadow from old Finkler for years, but the cranky old hayseed won’t listen to him. The fact of the matter is, Jack, that old Fink doesn’t like us; hates us like pizen, to be strictly truthful.” ”

“ Finkler’s meadow juts in, cutting the playground down to a width scarcely more than half of that of the campus itself. The restrictions of the athletic field had long been a matter for dissatisfaction amongst the students of Maple Ridge. There wasn’t room for a running-track, the gridiron filled almost every foot of field, and as a baseball ground the place was decidedly unsatisfactory, since a very long hit to right field invariably went over the stone wall into Finkler’s meadow, necessitating a ground rule to the effect that over the wall was good for but two bases. ”

“ He tried to push Chester aside.
“That’s no use, Sammy,” said Chester. “I’ve locked it.”
Sam scowled. “You think you’re going to keep me here?” he demanded truculently.
“Until the game’s over, Sammy,” said Prince. “We hate to do it, but we have to. You know yourself it isn’t fair to make us hit your pitching, Sammy. With you out of the game the thing is sort of evened up. We stand some slight chance of winning. You’ll be nice and comfortable here. Dinner’s almost ready, and after the game’s over Chesty will take you back in the runabout. ”

“ Each school struggled hard every year to wrest from the other the football, baseball and hockey supremacy, but the best of feeling always prevailed. Some of the other schools thereabouts, notably Dixon, poked sly fun at the brotherly attitude displayed by the rivals and told funny stories about them, one being that when in their football contests it became necessary for a Chase man to tackle a Maple Ridge player, or vice versa, the tackler invariably apologized profusely beforehand for the liberty he was about to take! ”

“ Even if he managed to get away he would miss most of the game, for it was a good mile and a half back to Maple Ridge. He wondered what Perkins would do were he to open the brougham door and make a run for it. Of course the stableman had not the least right in the world to stop him, but there was something in Perkins’s face that told Sam that Perkins wasn’t greatly concerned about the rights of the matter. In short, Perkins looked like a man who would do as he was told, no matter what the consequences. ”

“ The difficulty was that Jack had three good players in front of him, all hard to displace. There was Tyler Wicks in left field, and Tyler was a very good man, not brilliant, but steady and dependable. In right field Watkins was almost as good, though more valuable as a batter than a fielder. In centre Truesdale was all that could be desired. As for the other substitutes, Jack was already on an even footing with them; in fact, he stood a little better in the estimation of Mr. Shay and Dolph than any of them, possibly excepting Joe Williams. ”

“ Besides, a utility man, which he was fast becoming, was quite as likely as not to adorn the bench when the important games came along. But Jack worked away cheerfully enough, and did what he was told to the best of his ability. Only to Sam did he voice his regret.
“I’d rather he’d left me in left field, Sam. Then I might have got into a part of a game now and then. As it is, with Wicks ahead of me, and Watkins and Williams and Truesdale, why, I don’t see where I come in!”
“Don’t you? I do. Shay’s going to use you for a substitute outfielder, Jack, and a pinch-hitter. ”

“ Ted smiled, and then went to the rescue.
“Cook’s had more experience, Sammy, and in a Boarders and Towners game it’s a good idea to play fellows who have been through it before. You see, Borden,” he added, turning to Jack, “everything goes in these games, and [31] it isn’t so much science that wins as it is keeping your head. When you go to bat you’ll have thirty or forty idiots standing around and yelling like Indians and doing everything they can to rattle you. Still, Dolph, you might put Borden in for part of the game. I dare say it’s a good experience for a fellow. ”

“ Then he sprang up the ladder and joined the boys on the barn roof. Sure enough, the flames were pouring through venomously. Doubtless a stray spark had found lodgment there and had eaten its way through to the hay inside. Mr. Talcott watched a moment. Then he shook his head.
“All down from here, fellows,” he said. “We can’t stop that.”
“With a hose, sir, we might hold it,” said Joe Cassart.
“We haven’t one long enough. Get down the ladder in a hurry, boys; the hay is probably on fire underneath us this minute.”
When they reached the ground Mr. Finkler was acting like a madman. ”

“ And all this time Maple Ridge was doing her best to slip in a run to tie the score, and always fate was against her. Clifford grew stronger as the game progressed and in the seventh and eighth innings not a Maple Ridge player saw first. The gloom thickened fast. In the first of the ninth Chase was all for starting a batting rally and the coaches made more noise than two steam calliopes, but Sam was still going strong. The first man was an easy out, Smythe [209] to Ted, the second flied out to Truesdale and the third never left the plate, falling victim to Sam’s elusive slants. ”

“ You can hold them down the rest of the game.”
But Morris shook his head doubtfully.
“I don’t know, Ted. My arm’s getting pretty lame. I haven’t pitched more than five innings for a long time, you see.”
“You’re up, Ted,” said Dolph. “Try a bunt if he gives you a chance, and when you get to second run on anything. We’ve got to get those fellows going. They’ll make all sorts of errors if we can only start them.”
Ted went to bat amidst the frenzied tooting of the cornet, the wild beating of the drum and the mingled strains of rattles, harmonicas and other instruments. ”

“ How do you suppose they get hay to the horses?” he asked disgustedly.
“Probably shove it down through chutes from above, sir,” suggested Jack. “Give me a leg-up, Sam, and I’ll have a peek through the window.”
Sam obeyed.
“All dark the other side, sir,” Jack reported. He pulled his elbow back and sent it crashing against the window. There was a shower of glass and Jack pressed his face to the opening. “The horses are there, sir. I can see them; hear them, too; the poor things are frightened to death.”
“What’s under the window?” asked Mr. Talcott. ”

“ Balls are expensive, too, and after the game Chester remarked gloomily that if Finkler would only sell his meadow it would pay them to buy it and quarry it for baseballs.
“It’s a nuisance,” agreed Dolph weariedly. “I think we ought to insist on Benny supplying the school with a decent field. There’s a perfectly good piece of land across the road there. Why doesn’t he buy that?”
“Can’t be did,” answered Gus Turnbull. “That land belongs to some one out west, and he won’t sell. ”

“ Only thing is, though, that in another year or two we won’t have any Track Team at all; fellows will get tired of always being licked.”
“Benny ought to do something,” said Dolph vaguely.
“I’d like to do something to old Finkler!” growled Walker savagely. “Stubborn old mule!”
“Think of his giving Borden a ride, though!” marveled Prentiss. “That’s the wildest yarn I ever heard. You don’t suppose he dreamed it, do you?”
“Who? Jack Borden? No, he didn’t dream it. Well, I’m off to practice. The Peace Embassy is dissolved, fellows.” ”

“ There was no way to get out of the room save by the window, and by the time he had made his rope of the mattress ticking Perkins would be back. He viewed the door darkly. If only it opened outward instead of into the room he might batter it down with the bed slat!
He went to the window again and looked out. To climb down was impossible, since there was nothing to put hand or foot on. By chance he looked along the wall to the left. Not three feet away was another window! If he could reach that, gain the next room and so get out into the hall, he was sure he could win to freedom! ”

“ So the Towners took heart and shouted and sang and made all the hubbub possible.
“Play ball!” commanded Mr. Shay. “One and three, Phillips.”
Back of first base Mort Prince was leaping and waving his arms in his rôle of coacher, while across the field at third Dick Furst was doing all he could to worry Sam. Tyler Wicks was on third, Coolidge on second and Gus Turnbull on first. Sam looked over the field, smiled pleasantly at Turnbull, who returned the smile in a rather sickly way, and then gave his attention to Joe Williams at bat. Dolph crouched and gave the signal. ”

“ I’ve got to change before dinner, you know.”
“It won’t take more than five minutes to change nags,” replied Chester carelessly. “Here’s the trolley road,” he added, as they turned the corner, “and I hope we don’t meet a car because Judy hates them like poison.”
“What do you drive such a fool horse for?” asked Sam uneasily as he peered forward up the tree-lined avenue. “Think I want to have my neck broken?”
“You won’t,” laughed Chester. “There isn’t a car in sight and we’re only two blocks from home. Easy, girl, easy! She wants her dinner, I guess.” ”

“ Dolph was saying, referring as he spoke to a paper in his hand. “Truesdale, Jones, Grady, Warner, Cook, Smythe, Cassart, Watkins and Phillips. What do you think?”
“I’d have Harry Smythe bat first,” said Sam. “He’s a heap better on the bases than Truesdale.”
“He’s faster,” said Ted, “but he takes risks at the wrong times. Truesdale can draw a pass three times out of five, too. Then, with Dolph up next he’s pretty sure of second on a sacrifice.”
“All right,” agreed Sam. “I see, though, you’ve got Cook down for left field. Why don’t you give Jack here a chance? He’s every bit as good as Cook.” ”