t neatly.

But Ted Teall could not let the occasion go by without some nonsense.

"Whack!" shouted Teall. "Woof! Did you hear it strike? And
it hurt, too. Who has the arnica bottle?"

There was laughter, but Dick ignored it, sending in a neat drive
over the plate. Greg caught it and sent the ball back.

As it once more reached Dick's hand Umpire Tozier shouted:

"Ready! Play ball!"

Greg Holmes signaled what he wanted. Dick gave the ball a twist,
and the game was on.

Chapter V

NORTH GRAMMARS PLAY REAL BALL

"Say, dress a kid up swell, and send him on the street---did you
ever know him to be any good?" demanded Ted Teall scornfully of
those who stood near him. "Well, that's what ails the Centrals.
They're wearing a bale of glad dry goods and they can't keep
their eyes off their togs long enough to find the ball."

Dick and Dave heard this as they went to grass at the end of the
third inning.

So far, though the Centrals had made some bases, none of their
players had succeeded in scoring at the plate. One of Hi Martin's
players had scored a run in the first inning and another in the
third.

"Teall is a torment, isn't he?" whispered Dick.

"He is now," muttered Dave. "He won't be after this game is finished."

"Why not?"

"I'm going to trim some of the funny talk out of him after the game."

"Don't do anything foolish, Dave," urged Dick.

"That won't be foolish. It's necessary."

"Don't do it, Dave, or even think of it. You'll give the Centrals
the name of not being able to stand defeat."

Then Dick ran over to the box to begin pitching for the fourth
inning. His arm had not given out. Prescott had been doing some
pretty good pitching, and Greg had backed him up well. But the
North Grammars had a few batsmen who seemed to guess the ball
in advance.

"Hey, Mr. Umpire," shouted a boyish onlooker, as Dick faced the
plate, ball in hand, "better call the game and let the Centrals
play some weak primary school team."

Even at this cheap witticism there was considerable laughter.
It made Dick's face flush.

"I'll show 'em whether we can play or not," he muttered to himself,
as he caught the signal from Greg. "We've got to start, too,
for we've got to match those two runs and then pick up this game
for our own."

Hi Martin was again at the plate. He swung his bat idly, grinning
mockingly at Prescott.

"I'll let you off without trying, if you'll give me second base,"
offered Hi tantalizi