The Pilot turned his back, swung off one foot on to the other and
discharged his ball.

"Strike!" called the umpire.

"You bet!" said Hi, with emphasis, but his face was a picture of
amazement and dawning delight.

Again The Pilot went through the manoeuvre in his box and again the
umpire called:

"Strike!"

Hi stopped the ball without holding it and set himself for the third.
Once more that disconcerting swing and the whip-like action of the arm,
and for the third time the umpire called:

"Strike! Striker out!"

"That's the hole," yelled Hi.

The Porcupines were amazed. Hi looked at the ball in his hand, then at
the slight figure of The Pilot.

"I say! where do you get it?"

"What?" asked Moore innocently.

"The gait!"

"The what?"

"The gait! the speed, you know!"

"Oh! I used to play in Princeton a little."

"Did, eh? What the blank blank did you quit for?"

He evidently regarded the exchange of the profession of baseball for the
study of theology as a serious error in judgment, and in this opinion
every inning of the game confirmed him. At the bat The Pilot did not
shine, but he made up for light hitting by his base-running. He was
fleet as a deer, and he knew the game thoroughly. He was keen, eager,
intense in play, and before the innings were half over he was recognized
as the best all-round man on the field. In the pitcher's box he puzzled
the Porcupines till they grew desperate and hit wildly and blindly,
amid the jeers of the spectators. The bewilderment of the Porcupines was
equaled only by the enthusiasm of Hi and his nine, and when the game was
over the score stood 37 to 7 in favor of the Home team. They carried The
Pilot off the field.

From that day Moore was another man. He had won the unqualified respect
of Hi Kendal and most of the others, for he could beat them at their own
game and still be modest about it. Once more his enthusiasm came back
and his brightness and his courage. The Duke was not present to witness
his triumph, and, besides, he rather despised the game. Bruce was there,
however, but took no part in the general acclaim; indeed, he seemed
rather disgusted with Moore's sudden leap into favor. Certainly his
hostility to The Pilot and to all that he stood for was none the less
open and bitter.

The hostility was more than usually marked at the service held on the
Sunday following. It was, perhaps, thrown into stronger relief by the
open and delighted approval of Hi,