g players get a line on their
best tricks, and prepare to meet them later on.

No one had any doubts concerning who was slated to occupy the box. It
was bound to be the same batteries as in the last game, Hendrix and
Chase for Harmony, Donohue and Mullane for Chester. If for any reason
either of these star pitchers should be so unfortunate as to get a
"lacing," then possibly one of the substitutes might be introduced so as
to save the day; but there was a slim chance of any such thing coming to
pass.

Jack had no reason to feel discouraged. To be sure, he had passed
through quite a strenuous week, and been worried over a number of his
leading players; but after all, things had turned out very well. Now
that the great day had arrived, he believed every fellow on the nine was
feeling first class.

There was Donohue, for instance, who had been on the verge of throwing
up his job as pitcher because he believed he would be over in Harmony
when the day arrived, living there for good; but Jack had fixed all
that, so that he was now firmly settled as a citizen of Chester, and
could put his whole heart into his work in the box.

Joel Jackman had come close to drowning, but it was Jack who had been
instrumental in rescuing him when he caught that cramp in the cold water
of the lake; and, so far as appearances went, Joel was feeling as he
declared, "just prime." He ran after the loftiest flies that were
knocked his way as though he had the speed of the wind; yes, and not
once was he guilty of a flagrant muff, though some of those balls called
for an exhibition of agility and skill bordering on genius.

Lastly, there was Fred Badger, who had also given Jack many a heartache
since the last tie game with Harmony; but Fred was jumping around his
favorite third sack, smothering every grounder that sped his way, and
pegging to first with a promptness and accuracy that made some of the
Harmony fans shiver as they thought of how easily their fastest runner
would be caught miles from the base by such wonderful playing as that,
provided Fred could do as well in the real game.

The time was close at hand for the umpire to call play, and of course
there was an eagerness as well as a tinge of anxiety running through the
crowds of spectators. In a hotly contested game such as was very likely
to develop, often a little thing will seem like a mountain; and upon a
mere trifle the fate of the contest may in the end depend. Should any
one of