picious, and believing that he had stilled his own
band of teasing torments, picked up his bat and went to the plate.

"Put it over the robbers, Ted!" came from Hi Martin's crowd.
"Don't be afraid of the Centrals---the fellows who stole their
uniforms from a lunatic in the woods."

Dick heard the senseless taunt and understood it. But it didn't
anger or confuse him. Instead, the ball left his hand with surer
guidance.

But a crowd of Central fans also heard, and imagined that the
yell came from one of the groups of Souths.

"Bang! bang!" yelled a lot of Central Grammar boys with enthusiasm.

"Ow-ow-ow! Ow-ow-ow!" came the response.

"Strike one!" called the umpire. Ted, his face crimson and his
eyes flashing fire, threw his bat from him.

"Teall, pick up your bat," ordered the umpire. "If you do that
again I'll order you from the game."

"I don't care if you do!" trembled on Ted's lips, but he caught
the words in time. He gulped, swallowed hard, hesitated, then
went tremulously to pick up his stick. However, his grit was
gone for the day. He struck out and retired.

"Ow-ow-ow!" yelled a few of the Central fans in the eighth, and
Dave Darrin struck a two bagger, bringing Prescott in safe from
second, scoring a third run and landing Darrin on second. Had
not Ross struck out immediately afterward there would have been
other runs scored. The count was now three to nothing in favor
of the Central Grammars.

"Prescott's fellows are playing some ball," declared Bill Rodgers.

"Hub! You mean that the Souths don't know how to play," sneered
Hi Martin.

"Teall's fellows are playing well," argued Rodgers. "If you watch,
you'll see that the luck of the Centrals depends a lot on the
way they run the bases. Whew! They go like greased lightning
when they're sprinting around the diamond."

"Well, why shouldn't they run?" demanded Hi. "Prescott and his
fellows have been running every day since the snow went away."

"I wish our Norths had been running all the time, too," sighed
Bill.

The Souths were playing desperately well in the field. Dick's
side came in for the ninth, but did not succeed in getting another
run.

"Now, watch 'em closely, fellows," counseled Dick, as, from the
benches, he started his men out to the field. "The Souths are
mad and game, and they may get runs enough in this last half to
beat us. Play, all the time, as if you didn't know what it was
to be tired. Keep after 'em!"

Dick struck the f