A week later the last of the ice had disappeared, the boards about the
rinks had been stored for another season and the tennis courts lay
exposed where the ring of skates had sounded on the winter air. Mild
weather came with a jump and almost before one knew it baseballs had
made their appearance and spring was at hand.
But meanwhile the Junior Four had held meetings in the harness
room――sometimes with the window wide open and the warm breath of an
early spring day creeping in to them――and settled the matter of the
trophy. First of all, an estimate had been received from a manufacturer
in New York. The trophy was to be eight inches in height, of solid
silver, to rest on a little ebony base, and to cost sixteen dollars. At
first this had seemed a prohibitive price.
“We can never get that much money,” exclaimed Nan in despair. “Why, I
haven’t saved anything yet! I had a quarter, but I――I bought some of
Kid’s tablets with it.”
“So did I,” said Small.
“Same here!” laughed Bert.
Lanny only scowled. Kid smiled sweetly.
“I guess by the time we have to pay the money,” he said nonchalantly,
“we’ll have enough. Anyhow, just as a starter――――”
He reached into his pocket and handed a slip of paper to Nan. She read
it to herself and then aloud for the benefit of the others: “Received
from Kid Fairchild ten dollars for the Junior Four Fund. Bert Bryant,
Treasurer.”
“Do you really mean it, Kid?” Nan demanded delightedly. “Are you really
going to give ten dollars?”
“I’ve already given it,” replied Kid carelessly. “Bert’s got it――unless
he’s lost it.” Kid’s voice had an anxious tone toward the end, but Bert
shook his head.
“I’ve got it,” he said. “And I’ve saved seventy-five cents myself. So
all we need now is four dollars and a quarter. We can get that all
right. I dare say this fellow won’t get the mug made for a month or
so.”
“Of course we can!” declared Nan delightedly. “Only――only it doesn’t
seem quite fair for Kid to give so much, does it?”
“He’d better pay his debts with it,” growled Lanny.
“Well, he will have his name first on the cup,” said Small. “That ought
to be worth something.”
“Will this man who makes it put the names on?” Nan inquired. Bert shook
his head.
“I suppose he would if we wanted him to, but I think we’d better have
it done here. Besides, we don’t know yet whose name will come next to
Kid’s. And we haven’t settled on――on the inscription.”
“We’ll do that now, then,” said Nan. “Who has a pencil?”
Only Small possessed such a thing and it was so dull that Nan had to
gnaw the point of it before it would write. Much discussion ensued and
it was some time before an inscription satisfactory to everyone had
been evolved. The final draft read as follows:
JUNIOR FOUR BASEBALL TROPHY
PRESENTED TO MOUNT PLEASANT ACADEMY TO BE
CONTESTED FOR BY HOUSE AND DAY TEAMS
THE GIFT OF――
“Then will come our names,” said Bert.
“You mean your names,” amended Nan sadly.
“Yours too,” replied Bert stoutly. “Don’t you say so, fellows?”
They did say so, emphatically, and Nan was so pleased that she blushed
very prettily and declared that she wouldn’t think of such a thing!
It was the second week in April when the trophy actually arrived. It
was all they had hoped for and more. I fancy the maker had improved
somewhat on Small’s design, but no one hinted at such a thing and
Small was decidedly proud. The trophy was urn-shaped, with two
square-shouldered handles, and held on one side in relief a wreath of
laurel leaves enclosing crossed bats and a ball. The other side had
been left bare for the inscription. There was a little polished ebony
base for it to stand on and a purple canton flannel bag to keep it in.
Everyone was greatly pleased with it and it was passed from hand to
hand and admired and set up on the grain-chest and re-admired until Nan
grew fearful that they would wear it out!
“It’s just superb!” she declared ecstatically. “That’s what it is, it’s
just superb!”
“Dandy!” agreed Lanny. “And, say, look inside, fellows; it’s gold
inside!”
“Just gold-washed, I suppose,” said Bert. “Pretty, though, isn’t it?”
“I tell you what it is,” said Kid suddenly, “we’ve got to win that
ourselves, fellows. We mustn’t let the day fellows get it, must we?”
“I should say not!” exclaimed Bert in horror.
“Why, the very idea!” ejaculated Nan.
“Well, what’s to keep them from getting it?” asked Small uneasily.
“They beat us last year, didn’t they?”
“Did they, Nan?” asked Bert.
Nan nodded. “Terribly!” she sighed.
“Then we’ll just have to get busy and practice,” said Kid. “Gee, we
can’t let those dubs get it!”
“Never!” cried Lanny. “Let’s see Ben and tell him about it.”
“Maybe we’d better show it to them now,” suggested Bert. “Maybe if they
saw it they’d work harder.”
“No, let’s wait until we’ve had the inscription put on it,” said Lanny.
“Then we’ll have the Doctor or Mr. Crane announce it, eh?”
“We could have the inscription put on any time now, couldn’t we?” Nan
asked. “We know what it’s to be and how the names are going and all.”
“That’s right,” agreed Bert. “The sooner the better. We’ll take it to
that jeweler chap in Whittier; he’s the best, they say; and he ought to
be able to do it in a couple of days. Then we’ll give it to the Doctor
and ask him to show it in class and make the announcement.”
“Then the day fellows will know about it, too,” objected Kid. “And
they’ll be as anxious to get it as our fellows, and――――”
“It wouldn’t be fair to show it to House alone,” said Bert firmly. “I
know I suggested it, but I didn’t think. After all, we’re presenting it
to the school and not to the house.”
“I guess that’s so,” Kid murmured. “I wish, though, that Ben would
hurry up and start practice.”
“He’s going to start Monday,” replied Lanny. “He told me so yesterday.
After that if we don’t win this it’s up to us, fellows.”
“Don’t you worry,” said Kid. “We’re going to win it. You just wait and
see!”
Baseball practice didn’t start the following Monday for the reason that
it began to rain on Sunday and kept it up for three days. By Tuesday
afternoon disconsolate fellows were wondering how there could possibly
be any more moisture left in the sky. Kid was exceeding wroth and
said so many unkind things about the climate that it is really quite
possible that the rain kept up just for revenge.
“If only we had a baseball cage indoors somewhere!” sighed Ben Holden,
who was captain of the House Nine. It was Tuesday afternoon and Ben was
in Stanley’s room.
“There wouldn’t be room for one anywhere,” said Stanley. “I should
think, though, that the battery might practice in the gymnasium.”
“We tried that year before last. If you have the lights on you can’t
judge the balls at all and if you don’t have them on you can’t see.
Besides, George heaved a ball through a window and the Doc made us
stop practicing in there. Last year the day fellows held pitching and
batting practice in the old freight shed down at the station two weeks
before we could get out to do anything. And I suppose they’re at it
again this year.”
“I don’t believe so. I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“You wouldn’t. They don’t tell much.” He turned disgustedly to the
window and looked out at the sodden, dripping world. “Even if it stops
raining to-night it will be too wet to practice to-morrow.”
“We’ll put on rubbers,” responded Stanley cheerfully. “It will be a
heap better than staying indoors. Let’s see that batting list again,
Ben.”
“I haven’t got it here, but I remember it. Steve first, then you, then
me, then Cupples, Crandall, Gardner, Perkins, Waters and Grey.”
“It sounds pretty weak in the middle, Ben.”
“I know, but what can you do? Besides, Cupples isn’t so bad with
the bat sometimes. And this new fellow, Bryant, may turn out to be
something and I can use him in place of Gardner. Who are those fellows
coming up the road?”
“Lanny and Bert and Kid. They’ve been to the village. They look about
half drowned, don’t they? I don’t think it’s raining as hard as it was,
though.”
“It’s raining hard enough,” growled Ben. “Got anything to read? I’m
down to hard-pan.”
“I don’t believe so. I’m reading ‘Kidnapped’ for about the sixth time.
Maybe Kid’s got something, though.” He walked around to his roommate’s
side of the table and examined the dozen or so volumes there. “Hm;
‘Masterman Ready,’ ‘Aid to the Composition of English,’ ‘Student’s
Dictionary,’ ‘Holy Bible,’ ‘Two Years Before the Mast’――ever read that?”
“Ages ago. What’s the big book?”
“This?” Stanley pulled it out and looked at the title. “It’s somebody’s
botany; Kid had an idea last fall that he wanted to study botany,
and――hello!” Something had fallen from the pages of the big book
and Stanley picked it up and unfolded it. “‘Hairbreadth Harry, the
Gentleman Scout,’” he read. “Well, what do you think of that young
rascal? Supposing someone had found that!”
“Let’s see it,” said Ben. “Hm; looks rather good. Mind if I borrow it?”
“Help yourself,” laughed Stanley, “only don’t say you got it from me if
it gets pinched!”
“I won’t. I guess it will help to keep me going until supper time.
Well, so long. Tell Kid I borrowed this.”
Stanley replied that he would, but he promptly forgot all about it, and
when, ten minutes later, Kid came in to change his wet shoes for dry
ones Stanley was deep in “Kidnapped.”
The next morning in class Doctor Merton made the announcement regarding
the Junior Four Baseball Trophy. The house fellows had heard rumors
about the cup, but to the rest it was news, and when the Doctor drew
the silver trophy from its purple bag and set it on the corner of
his desk there were murmured exclamations of admiration followed by
a hearty clapping of hands. Bert and Lanny and Small strove to look
unconscious when their names were given as being donors, but Kid beamed
and winked when the fellows turned to regard him. As they passed out
the fellows stopped at the desk to examine the trophy. The inscription
had been neatly engraved and read as follows:
JUNIOR FOUR BASEBALL TROPHY
PRESENTED TO MOUNT PLEASANT ACADEMY TO BE
CONTESTED FOR BY HOUSE AND DAY TEAMS
THE GIFT OF
JAMES FAIRCHILD
ALBERT PAYSON BRYANT
LANSING STONE GREY
THOMAS KIRKWOOD FRYE
NANCY MERTON
The trophy created a sensation and was the subject of conversation for
the rest of the day. Will Turner, captain and first baseman of the Day
Team, declared that it was as good as won.
“Huh,” said Sam Perkins, who had overheard him, “when you fellows get
even one leg of that you’ll know it! That little cup has our name all
over it!”
Ben Holden was delighted and told the juniors that they were bricks,
that he was proud of them and that the cup would look fine on the hall
mantel. “But I don’t see how you fellows ever got enough money together
to buy a thing like that!”
“Kid gave most――――” began Bert. But Kid interrupted.
“We worked hard and saved our money,” said Kid. “And it’s nobody’s
business who gave most, Bert. We all gave.”
“Well, it’s dandy, Kid. I never saw a handsomer one. Where’d you get
it?”
“New York. Small designed it, though, didn’t you, Small?”
Small nodded in embarrassment. Ben told him he was a smart kid.
“And now what we’ve got to do,” continued Ben resolutely, “is to work
hard and win it! Practice begins at three-thirty sharp this afternoon.
Every fellow put rubbers on, for the ground’s sopping wet. And every
fellow come out. No excuses accepted to-day!”
But Ben needn’t have feared for a full attendance, for the Junior Four
Trophy had awakened an earnest enthusiasm in house and day pupils alike
and at the appointed time every fellow in school was on the field.
There were two diamonds and so both teams were able to practice at
once, and, save that the outfielders were forced to intermingle, there
was plenty of room for each. With only twenty-four candidates to pick
from, Mt. Pleasant Academy was handicapped when it came to contesting
with other schools and so only a few outside games were scheduled
each year. The big game was played just before graduation day with
Maplewood School, which had only a few more pupils than Mt. Pleasant
but which usually managed to win. There were, besides, games with the
neighboring high school teams in June. But the early season was sacred
to intrascholastic contests in which day students and house students
fought for supremacy. When all was said the games between House and
Day aroused more interest than the contests with outside nines. When
the question of the school championship had been settled then the best
players of House and Day forgot their recent rivalry and combined to
form the school team.
Of course with twelve players only neither House nor Day could put
two full teams on the diamond, but they managed to get along pretty
well in spite of that fact. One year Day Team had played a game with
Whittier High School and House had protested. The ruling was then made
that neither team was to take part in any contest outside the series.
As a consequence, when House and Day met for the first game each nine
was decidedly green and inexperienced, but that fact only added to the
interest and suspense.
To-day the practice was short, for the field was like a quagmire and
the players’ rubbers, which Ben had insisted on their wearing, were
continually coming off in the mud. There was some batting practice and
a little throwing to bases, and both George Waters and Sam Perkins,
first and second choice pitchers respectively, limbered up their arms a
little, but it was no day for hard work and Ben soon called a halt. But
even as it was there were several sore backs that evening, and Sewall
Crandall proudly displayed a badly swollen finger, the first honorable
scar of the season.
Kid had given ten dollars to the trophy fund and had sent two dollars
to the Tinkham Chemical Company――after several reminders――in payment
for the celebrated throat tablets. After which he had had a little over
six dollars left. During the term of his punishment he had been unable
to get rid of much of this balance, although he had sent fifty cents
of it away by mail in the purchase of what an enticing advertisement
had called “The Magician’s Cabinet of Magic.” The cabinet consisted
of a small paper box containing a pack of cards and scant directions
for performing tricks with them. Kid had promptly written to the
advertiser and explained his opinion of the cabinet, but that had
ended the matter. But once released from bounds Kid had succeeded in
squandering three of his remaining six dollars in the village. And
now, during the first week of baseball practice, Kid went bankrupt in
the purchase of a wonderful fielder’s glove and a bat. The bat had the
name of a celebrated member of the baseball profession printed on it
in large letters, but Kid couldn’t see that it enabled him to hit the
ball any more frequently than before. Kid was a substitute outfielder,
and, save that he couldn’t begin to get the ball further than a baseman
when throwing it in after a catch, he performed remarkably well. He
really had an eye like a hawk’s when it came to judging flies and he
was fairly certain of holding them if they struck his glove. On the
whole, Kid bade fair to become in time a very useful member of baseball
society at Mt. Pleasant. Of the other juniors Bert was a substitute
outfielder also, Lanny played in center and Small was a substitute
infielder with few chances to play. The great trouble with Small was
that when a ball came his way he was too apt to turn his back to it――if
he didn’t absolutely run away from it!――and stop it by allowing it to
bounce off some portion of his anatomy.
Small was also official scorer, and he was much more of a success on
the bench with the score-book on his knee than in the field. However,
we can’t all be Wagners or Doyles!
April ran its course, half smiles and half tears, and the merry month
of May came in, and with it the first game in the House vs. Day
series. By this time George Waters’ pitching arm was in fair shape,
Ben Holden’s fingers had become hardened against foul-tips and Harold
Cupples, on third, had learned to throw across the diamond without
missing Stanley Pierce, at first, by more than six feet. The first
contest was played on the first Saturday afternoon in May, and, since
the batting order for that game remained practically unchanged during
the succeeding contests, I will give it here.
HOUSE TEAM. DAY TEAM.
Lovell, 2b. White, c.
Pierce, 1b. Turner, 1b.
Holden, c. O’Connell, c.f.
Cupples, 3b. Briggs, r.f.
Crandall, s.s. Grimshaw, 2b.
Gardner, l.f. Spooner, 3b.
Perkins, r.f. Tucker, s.s.
Waters, p. Sibley, l.f.
Grey, c.f. Morgan, p.