WINNING THE PENNANT--CONCLUSION
Belden had its own idea as to who was to be "downed," and almost the
whole school went to Rockledge with colors flying on the great day that
was to decide who should carry off the flag of the Monatook Lake League.
As the teams had each played a game on the other's grounds, it had been
left to the toss of a coin as to where the deciding game should take
place, and Rockledge had won.
This was a good omen in itself, and the Rockledge boys were chock-full
of confidence, as they slipped into their baseball suits in the
gymnasium before going on the field.
"We've just _got_ to win to-day, Fred," remarked Bobby. "It would never
do to lose with all our folks in the stand looking on."
"You bet we'll win," replied Fred emphatically. "If we don't, I'll hunt
up some hole, slip in and pull the hole in after me."
Mr. and Mrs. Blake had come down on this last day. Fred's father and
mother were also present, accompanied by Betty. And to give the boys a
pleasant surprise they had brought Scat Monroe and Pat Moriarty along
with them.
The weather had been a little threatening in the morning, but about noon
it cleared beautifully. A great crowd was present, for all the towns
near Monatook Lake had become interested in the pennant fight, and
people came in droves to see the deciding game.
Bobby and Fred went up in the stand for a little chat with their friends
and families before the game began.
"Oh, I'm so glad it's such a beautiful day!" exclaimed Betty gleefully.
"I was so afraid the rain would come down this morning."
"You wouldn't expect the rain to go up, would you?" asked her brother
airily.
"Smarty!" said Betty, and she made a little face at him.
"Fred had better behave himself or we'll say 'snowball' to him, won't
we, Betty?" laughed Bobby.
"I'm rooting for you boys to win to-day," remarked Pat, his freckled
face wreathed with smiles.
"We're going to fight like the mischief to do it," returned Bobby.
"Put the whitewash brush on them," said Scat.
"Perhaps that's asking a little too much," grinned Fred. "We'll be
satisfied with the big end of the score."
Their parents smiled on them fondly and urged them to do their best to
win for Rockledge, and the boys went down on the field with their hearts
full of determination.
But it was evident from the moment the first ball went over the plate
that it would be no easy task for either side to win. Each team was
screwed to the highest pitch and full of determination and enthusiasm.
Bobby started out like a winner. His arm had never felt better, and he
whipped the ball over the plate at a speed that delighted the
spectators--always excepting the Belden rooters--but that made Frank
Durrock a little anxious.
"Easy there, Bobby," he counseled from first base, when the first batter
had gone out on strikes. "The game's young yet, and you've a long way to
go."
Bobby realized the wisdom of this, and made the next batter pop up an
infield fly to Mouser at second. Then he mixed in a slow one that seemed
easy enough to hit as it came floating up to the plate, but which
resulted in an easy roller to the box which Bobby had plenty of time to
throw to first.
"That's what you call a change of pace, old scout," congratulated
Sparrow, as the nine came in from the field amid a general clapping of
hands at the promising beginning.
But Bobby was not to carry off the pitching honors of the game without a
struggle. Larry Cronk, the Belden pitcher, was in splendid form, and he
had had the benefit of being coached by his brother, who was a student
at Yale and a member of the Varsity team. The result of this training
was shown in a new "hop" ball that Larry sprung on them for the first
time. It came singing over the plate with a jump on it just before it
reached the batter that at first puzzled the Rockledge boys completely.
Two of them struck out and the third was an easy victim on a foul.
Now it was Belden's turn to howl. And howl they did.
"Bobby's got his work cut out for him to-day," remarked Sparrow to
Skeets, as they went out into the field.
"That's just the time Bobby's at his best," returned Skeets confidently.
"Bobby's got that fadeaway of his when it comes to the pinch," added
Mouser, "and I'll back that against Larry's hop any time."
Bobby was not daunted by this showing on the part of his opponent. But
he knew that he must not slow down for a second. He must put brains in
his work as well as muscle, must study and outguess the batters and give
them just what they did not want.
So he worked with exceeding care, mixing up his curves and his fast and
slow balls so skillfully that in the first four innings only two hits
were made off him, and one of them a scratch, and no one got as far as
second base. And in doing this he nursed his strength, so that he felt
almost as strong and fresh as at the beginning.
"Talk about a fox," chuckled Fred, "he isn't in it with Bobby."
Larry, too, had kept any one from denting the home plate, but he was so
exultant over the success of his new delivery that he relied upon it
almost entirely. And by and by the Rockledge boys began to find him more
easily than they did at first. They had not yet made more than one clean
hit, but the bat was beginning to meet the ball more solidly and it was
only a matter of a little time before they would be lining out base
hits, unless Larry changed his style and mixed in his other curves.
"We'll straighten them out in the next inning, see if we don't,"
remarked Spentz confidently.
And so they did. Spentz himself led off with a crashing three-bagger to
right. Fred brought him home with a sizzling single and stole second on
the next ball pitched. Larry tightened up then, and although a clever
sacrifice bunt put Fred on third, he was left there, as the next two
batters went out on strikes.
Belden's half had been scoreless, so that the end of the fifth inning
found Rockledge in the lead by one to none. And in such a close game as
this promised to be, that one run looked as big as a mountain.
But by the time Belden's sixth inning was over, the Rockledge rooters
were in a panic.
The trouble began when Frank Durrock, old reliable Frank, muffed an easy
fly that ordinarily he would have "eaten up." Not only did he drop the
ball, but he let it get so far away from him that the batter took a
chance of making second. Frank, in his haste to catch him, threw the
ball over Mouser's head into left field, and before it could be
recovered, the runner had made the circuit of the bases.
The error seemed to demoralize the whole team. Sparrow booted a
grounder, and by the time he had got through fumbling, it was too late
to throw to first. Spentz, in right, dropped a high fly and then threw
wildly to head off the runner, who was legging it for third. The ball
went ten feet over Sparrow's head and both boys scored, making the count
three to one in favor of the visitors. Rockledge had a bad case of
"rattles."
Bobby walked down to first as though he wanted to talk to Frank, but
really to give his mates time to recover.
"Play ball!" shouted the Belden rooters.
Bobby took his time in returning, and even when he was back in the box
found a shoe lace that needed tying. Not until he was fully ready did he
straighten up.
He put on all speed now and disposed of the next batters in order, two
on high fouls and one on strikes. He did not want to let any balls go
far out, in the present nervous conditions of his mates.
As for them, they were full of rage and self-reproach.
"Three runs without a single hit!" groaned Frank.
"Never mind, fellows!" cried Bobby cheerily. "Go right in now and get
them back again. Knock the cover off the ball."
But this was more easily said than done. Once in that inning and again
in the seventh and eighth, they got men on the bases, but they could not
bring them in. In the eighth inning a rattling double play brought
groans from the Rockledge rooters, as they saw a promising rally nipped
in the bud.
Bobby had been mowing the Belden boys down almost as fast as they came
to the plate. He had brought out his fadeaway now and mixed it in so
well with the others that the batters never had a chance. His mates had
recovered their nerve and were backing him up splendidly. Nevertheless
the fact still faced them that their rivals were two runs ahead.
In the ninth inning, after disposing of Belden, Rockledge went in to do
or die. Yells of encouragement came from their partisans as they made
their last stand.
"Go to it, boys!"
"You can beat them yet!"
"Never say die!"
"Rockledge! Rockledge! Rockledge!"
But the shouts turned to groans, when Willis, who was playing center
field in place of Bronson, put up a skyscraper which Cronk gobbled up
without moving in his tracks. Barry sent a hot grounder to short which
was fielded cleverly and sent to first ahead of the batter. There was a
movement in the stand, as the spectators got ready to leave.
But they stopped short when Spentz sent a screaming hit to center for a
clean single. Frank followed with a grasser between short and second
that gave him first and sent Spentz to third. Larry faltered and gave
Fred his base on balls. The bases were full when Bobby came to the bat.
Larry eyed him narrowly and wound a fast one about his neck, at which
Bobby refused to bite. The next was right in the groove, and Bobby
caught it square on the end of his bat and sent it whistling over the
head of the first baseman. It rolled clear to the right field fence, and
before it could be recovered, the Rockledge runners had gone round the
bases like so many jack rabbits, and had jumped on the home plate, while
Bobby pulled up at second.
The game was over, the game was won and the Rockledge boys were the
champions of the Monatook Lake League!
Bobby's comrades rushed upon him, mauling and pounding him; the shouting
crowd swooped out from the stand and surrounded him.
"Champions!" "Champions!" "Champions!" they yelled, until their throats
were husky and their lungs were sore.
It was a long time before Bobby could get through the crowd to where his
visitors awaited him. There Betty cried one minute and laughed the next,
in her happy excitement. Mrs. Blake's eyes, too, were moist as she
hugged her boy, and Mr. Blake cleared his throat as he put his hand on
Bobby and told him he was proud of him.
Fred, too, came in for his share of well-earned praise and the boys were
happy beyond words. And Scat and Pat were almost as delighted as though
they had won the game themselves.
Finally, when matters were somewhat quieted down, some one asked the
boys about their plans for the summer vacation. How full that summer
proved to be of stirring and exciting adventure will be told in the next
volume of this series.
But just now all their thoughts were of the present. Their school term
was over. There had been some unpleasant features, but in the main their
experiences had been happy ones.
"We did it, Bobby!" exclaimed Fred joyfully, for perhaps the twentieth
time.
"We got there," agreed Bobby; "but it was a mighty hard fight."
"That's what makes it all the more worth winning," Fred declared.
"Yes," said Bobby, "I guess the things that come easy aren't worth much.
That's what makes us feel so good about being champions. For there
wasn't anything easy about winning the pennant of the Monatook Lake
League."
THE END
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOBBY BLAKE SERIES
BY FRANK A. WARNER
BOOKS FOR BOYS FROM EIGHT TO TWELVE YEARS OLD
[Illustration: "Bobby Blake at Rockledge School" book cover]
True stories of life at a modern American boarding school. Bobby attends
this institution of learning with his particular chum and the boys have
no end of good times. The tales of outdoor life, especially the exciting
times they have when engaged in sports against rival schools, are
written in a manner so true, so realistic, that the reader, too, is
bound to share with these boys their thrills and pleasures.
1 BOBBY BLAKE AT ROCKLEDGE SCHOOL.
2 BOBBY BLAKE AT BASS COVE.
3 BOBBY BLAKE ON A CRUISE.
4 BOBBY BLAKE AND HIS SCHOOL CHUMS.
5 BOBBY BLAKE AT SNOWTOP CAMP.
6 BOBBY BLAKE ON THE SCHOOL NINE.
7 BOBBY BLAKE ON A RANCH.
8 BOBBY BLAKE ON AN AUTO TOUR.
9 BOBBY BLAKE ON THE SCHOOL ELEVEN.
10 BOBBY BLAKE ON A PLANTATION.
11 BOBBY BLAKE IN THE FROZEN NORTH.
12 BOBBY BLAKE ON MYSTERY MOUNTAIN.
PUBLISHERS
BARSE & CO.
NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BOY SCOUT LIFE SERIES
Published with the approval of
The Boy Scouts of America
[Illustration: "The Boy Scout Fire Fighters" book cover]
In the boys' world of story books, none better than those about boy
scouts arrest and grip attention. In a most alluring way, the stories in
the BOY SCOUT LIFE SERIES tell of the glorious good times and wonderful
adventures of boy scouts.
All the books were written by authors possessed of an intimate knowledge
of this greatest of all movements organized for the welfare of boys, and
are published with the approval of the National Headquarters of the Boy
Scouts of America.
The Chief Scout Librarian, Mr. F. K. Mathiews, writes concerning them:
"It is a bully bunch of books. I hope you will sell 100,000 copies of
each one, for these stories are the sort that will help instead of hurt
our movement."
THE BOY SCOUT FIRE FIGHTERS--CRUMP
THE BOY SCOUTS OF THE LIGHTHOUSE TROOP--McCLANE
THE BOY SCOUT TRAIL BLAZERS--CHELEY
THE BOY SCOUT TREASURE HUNTERS--LERRIGO
BOY SCOUTS AFLOAT--WALDEN
BOY SCOUTS COURAGEOUS--MATHIEWS
BOY SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE--LERRIGO
BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL--GARTH
THE BOY SCOUTS IN AFRICA--CORCORAN
THE BOY SCOUTS OF ROUND TABLE PATROL--LERRIGO
PUBLISHERS
BARSE & CO.
NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J.
End of Project Gutenberg's Bobby Blake on the School Nine, by Frank A. Warner