ioned Randy.

"No. They tell me that last game we had over here was too much for
Flanders and he has given up the nine entirely. I think they'll put in
that new left-hander that they tried at the end of that game," answered
Jack. And in this surmise he was correct.

When the first man came to the bat it was easy to be seen that both nines
were on their mettle. It was a Colby Hall player who had the stick, and
the left-handed twirler for Longley Academy struck him out in
one-two-three order.

"Hurrah! That's the way to do it!" yelled one of the Longley students.
"Now make it three straight!"

"Gee! that was Nevins, one of our best batters," whispered Randy to his
cousin Mary.

"Never mind that, Colby Hall!" shouted Jack. "You've got to encourage 'em
a little bit!" and at this there was a smile.

The next man to the bat got a hit and on a wild pitch managed to reach
third. But that was all that could be done, and Colby Hall retired
without scoring.

During their half of the inning Longley Academy managed to make two runs,
and this was increased by two more at the end of the fourth inning. In
the meantime the best Colby Hall could do was to get two hits and bring
in one run.

"Hurrah! Four to one in favor of Longley!" shouted one of the students
from that academy.

"You've got to tighten up, boys!" called out Fred to the members of his
school team. "Tighten up and show 'em what you can do!"

The fifth inning passed without a run, and so did the sixth. Then in the
seventh Colby Hall managed to pass the home plate twice while Longley
Academy scored once. This made the score, Longley Academy 5, Colby Hall
3.

"Oh, Jack, it looks as if Colby Hall might be beaten!" said Ruth
anxiously.

"I think they might have a better fellow than Brassy Bangs on third," put
in Fred. "He could have put out that last runner with ease. That run
wasn't deserved at all." And a number of others who heard this remark
agreed with the young captain of Company C.

In the eighth inning Colby Hall made one more run. Then Longley Academy
came once more to the bat, and with two men on first and second and two
out, the batsman knocked a high fly to center field.

"Scoop it in, Halliday!"

"It's a dead easy fly!"

"They won't get any runs this inning!"

So the shouts from the Colby Hall boys went on.

In the meanwhile Paul Halliday stepped back a few paces and got directly
under the descending sphere. Down it came, striking his finge