BART'S MEANNESS
Not to be caught by any mischance, Hal brought Bart along with the
team. Word had been passed among the Baxter contingent that the two
stars of the first game would join the nine at Winthrop, and when they
reached the town, the students inquired anxiously for them.
But no one could give them any information. Much worried, Hal took his
team to the ball park, where they put in a good practice in order to
acquaint themselves with the diamond.
When the Landon supporters arrived, they rejoiced to learn that Fred
and Bronson were missing, declaring the game was as good as won.
Indeed, their prophecy seemed true, for as the time for the game
approached and the two boys failed to appear, the members of the Baxter
nine grew more and more nervous.
Vainly Hal and Sandow tried to rally them, but their words showed their
own anxiety, and, therefore failed.
Alone of all the team or supporters, Bart was happy. His mother had
brought a party of girls from out of town to see the game, and the
bully realized that if his pitching were not successful, he could lay
the defeat to his team mates' nervousness over the absence of Fred and
Bronson.
Meanwhile, unconscious of the worry they were causing, and exhausted by
the excitement of the identification and the long night journey, the
two boys were sleeping soundly.
Of a sudden, however, Fred woke up. Noting the bright daylight, he
aroused his companion.
"See what time it is; quick!" he exclaimed.
Sleepily, Bronson fumbled in his clothes, at last finding his watch.
"My eye! It's one fifteen!" he gasped.
"And the game begins at two," cried Fred. "Hal must be worried to
death. Quick! into your clothes. We'll get a bite to eat and hike out
to the park."
Into their clothes the boys literally flew, but as both realized the
necessity of a good meal, they did not hurry their dinner unduly,
setting out for the diamond at ten minutes before two in a carriage
which Bronson insisted upon hiring.
The seats were filled with followers of the rival nines, cheering,
tooting horns and singing, and the players were warming up when Fred
and Bronson rushed into the dressing-room.
Seizing their suits, which Hal had brought, they trotted onto the field
just as the two captains were tossing for innings.
As the Baxter students caught sight of the yellow head and the tall
form, they rose to their feet.
"Here they are! Here they are!" they roared.
Instantly the eyes of the teams and of all the Landon and Winthrop
spectators were focused upon the two late arrivals. The Baxter players
rushed toward them, howling with joy.
"Can I have time to warm up my pitcher?" asked Hal of the Landon
captain.
"No. You've got Montgomery ready," returned Mitchell.
But Hal did not propose to use the bully if he could help it.
"Hey, Bronson, are you fit to go right in?" asked his captain.
"I'd rather limber up a minute or two."
"Well, you can pass a couple of the Landon boys. That'll give you eight
balls," exclaimed Sandow. "You can hold 'em safe easy enough."
The tone in which the big first baseman spoke was none too pleasant,
for he thought Mitchell's refusal unsportsmanlike. But the Baxter
boys had their revenge in the flush the taunt brought to the Landon
captain's face.
As in the first game, Hal won the toss, and again chose the field.
"Shall you use me?" asked Bart of his captain, as his team mates
started for their positions.
"Not if Bronson goes right," replied Hal.
"Then I'm going up to sit with my friends. You can put in Holcomb or
Sandow, if Clothespin blows up," retorted the bully.
"I'd rather you'd stay on the field," declared his captain.
"But I'd rather be with my friends." And, turning on his heel, Bart
crossed the diamond, joining his mother and guests in the grand stand.
"Aren't you going to play?" exclaimed one of the girls.
"No; Markham's gang runs the team."
"But they shouldn't allow their jealousy to keep a good player like you
out of the deciding game," declared another member of the party.
"If you knew Markham, you'd understand," returned the bully, rejoicing
at the utterly false impression he had given of his rival.
Further effort to prejudice his friends was forgotten in the yell that
arose from the Landon stand.
"We've got him going! We've got him going!" howled the students.
Acting on Sandow's suggestion, Bronson had passed both the first and
second Landon batters, pitching balls that were impossible to hit, to
limber up.
But when the spectators saw the second player trot to first base, they
believed the wonder pitcher was having an off day, while the Baxter
supporters criticized Hal for sending Bronson to the box without
preliminary work.
As neither Sandow or Hal had taken the former's remark seriously, the
captain ran to Bronson.
"Hadn't I better let Holcomb work while you warm up for next inning?"
he asked anxiously.
"I'm warmed up, _now_," replied the pitcher. "Don't worry about me. I'm
going to cut loose. There's no other game to hold back for."
"All right; cut loose," grinned Hal, running back to his position in
center field.
"That captain must be crazy," declared the girl who had sympathized
with Bart, as Clothespin continued in the box.
"I told you Bronson was Markham's friend," sneered the bully, while
from the Landon side came blatant toots of glee.
But their joy was short lived.
With terrific speed, Bronson shot three strikes across the plate. Then
he served the next two batters in the same way.
Believing their star had found himself, the Baxter students taunted
their rivals by singing, "We were only teasing you."
But Bronson's work had more than retired the side. Mitchell, the Landon
pitcher as well as captain, had remembered Sandow's words, and as he
saw the boy settle down and throw nine strikes in as many balls, he
realized his team would have no easy battle. Consequently, he was so
nervous that he could not control his throws, and before Baxter was
retired three runs had crossed the plate.
In the next seven innings, Bronson struck out nine men, holding the
others to hits to the infield, never allowing a Landon man to get
beyond second base, while Baxter brought in one more run, made by Taffy.
As their side went to bat in the ninth, the Landon followers implored
them to hit out a victory.
"Strike 'em out, one, two, three!" yelled the Baxter students at
Bronson.
And as he retired the first man up, they howled with glee, which turned
to pandemonium as the second batter struck out.
Desperate, Mitchell ordered his player to strike at anything.
Crack! went his bat on the first ball pitched. With terrific force, the
ball sped straight for the pitcher's box.
"Let it go! Let it go!" yelled Fred at Bronson, while Hal ran in to
back up his second baseman.
In silence, the crowd held its breath.
That the yellow-haired boy would be able to stop, much less hold, the
ball seemed nigh impossible.
"Don't try for it. Let Hal take it!" cautioned Sandow.
But the second baseman never heard him.
With a "thwack" that resounded over the diamond, the ball struck the
pit in Fred's glove. But so tremendous was its force that the ball
raised the boy off his feet, and as he struck the ground again he
tripped and fell.
Madly the batter raced to first, while Hal came on to field the ball.
But before he reached his prostrate team mate, Fred held up his hand
with the ball firmly clutched in his mitt--and Baxter had won the
championship--4 to 0.
Hastening to their train that they might return to Baxter in time to
prepare the bonfire and arrange for the dance with which the winning of
the pennant was always celebrated, the students gave full vent to their
joy.
Winthrop being only about twenty miles from Baxter, Margie and Dorothy
had driven over to the game for the purpose of bringing Fred and
Bronson back with them.
Being too happy to hurry, it was dusk when they reached home, and by
the time they had finished supper the celebration was in full swing.
But Fred insisted he must see his mother before going to the campus,
promising to join Margie and the others at the dance.
In delight Mrs. Markham listened to the account of the trip to
Manchester and the winning of the game, and so long did they talk that
it was almost eleven before Fred reached the school building where the
dance was being held.
Margie was on the lookout for him, and as they entered, Bart and
several of the girls who had been with his party at the game were
standing near the door.
"There comes that crackerjack second baseman. I want to meet him
awfully," gushed one of the young women.
"Oh, do bring him over, Bart," pleaded the others.
Because of a lull in the music, many of the students and older people
who were in the vicinity, chanced to hear the remarks, and, knowing
Bart's hatred of his rival, listened eagerly for his response.
Aware of this attention, the bully surveyed Fred insolently, then
turned to the girls.
"I'm very careful whom I introduce to my friends. Knowing what I do of
the Markhams, I do not think you would care for this chap," he drawled.