omehow I don't exactly like the looks of yonder bank of clouds that
keeps hanging low-down close to the horizon in the southwest. We get
most of our big storms from that quarter, don't forget."

A burst of derisive boyish laughter greeted this remark from the fellow
named Oliver, who apparently was a bit of a pessimist, one of those who,
while admitting that a day might be nearly perfect, chose to remember it
was apt to be a weather-breeder, and bound to be followed by stormy
times.

"Listen to the old croaker, will you?" one Chester rooter called out.
"How anybody could pick a flaw with this splendid day beats me all
hollow. Why, it was made on purpose for Chester to lick that boasting
Harmony team, and send them back home like dogs, with their tails
between their legs. Hurrah for Chester! Give the boys a cheer, fellows,
because there they come on the field."

There was a wild burst of shouts from a myriad of boyish throats, and
school flags, as well as other kinds, were waved from the grand-stand
where most of the town girls sat, until the whole wooden affair seemed a
riot of color in motion.

The boys set to work passing the ball, and calling to one another as
though they were full of business and confidence. Those in the audience
who knew considerable about games felt that at least none of the home
team suffered from stage fright. It looked promising. Evidently Jack
Winters had managed to instill his nine with a fair degree of his own
bubbling animation. They certainly looked fit to do their best in honor
of their native town.

There were hosts of the Harmony folks over. They had come, and still
arrived, in all sorts of conveyances, from private cars to stages and
carryalls; and from the great row they kicked up with their calls and
school cries, one might think it was an open-and-shut thing Chester was
fated to get a terrible drubbing on that decisive day.

There were thousands on the field. Every seat in the grand-stand, as
well as the commodious bleachers, was occupied, and countless numbers
who would have willingly paid for a chance to take things comfortable,
found it necessary to stand.

Chester had reason to feel proud of her awakening; and since it seemed
an assured fact that her boys could do things worth while, there was
reason to hope the town on Lake Constance would never again allow
herself to sink back into her former condition of somnolence. So long as
Jack Winters lived there, it might be und