a strategic fashion, so that possibly no one was
the wiser for their having been behind the bushes, unless Brother Lu
chanced to take a notion to peep from behind some fluttering white
dimity curtain.

"Well, what does it all mean, do you know, Hugh?" finally burst out
Thad, after they had gone far enough away to make it safe to talk
in ordinary tones.

"I think I have guessed why he seemed so tickled after reading the
article which we figured would give him such a bad scare," said
Hugh, with a grim smile. "The fact of the matter is he hoodwinked
me when he told such whopping yarns about the terrible sheriff of
the oil regions. There may be such a chap, all right, but his name
isn't Hastings by a long shot. He just invented that name, you see;
and when he read Jim's article about his being up here, he tumbled
to the game."

"Oh! it's rotten luck!" groaned Thad; "after all that beautiful
strategy we've fallen down flat. No use talking, Hugh. Jim, that
fellow is a sticker, and it begins to look as if he couldn't be
budged or pried loose with a crowbar. But I'm not the one to give
a thing up because I've failed once or twice; just wait till I get
my third wind, and I'll settle Brother Lu's hash for him!"

So they wandered back to town, sadder but wiser from their new
experience.

CHAPTER XII

SCRANTON FANS HAVE A PAINFUL SHOCK

The nine from Mechanicsburg showed up that afternoon on time. They
were a husky-looking lot of young chaps, accustomed to hard toil
in the mills, and with muscles that far outclassed the high-school
boys. But, as every one knows, it requires something more than mere
brawn to win baseball games; often a club that seems to be weak
develops an astonishing amount of skill with bat and ball, and easily
walks off with the victory.

Mechanicsburg was "out for blood" from the very start. They depended
a great deal on their slugging abilities, and declared that no pitcher
the Scranton players might offer could resist their terrific onslaught.

When the first inning was over at last it began to look as if their
boast might be made good, for the score stood five to one. Frazer
was in the box for Scranton, Hugh not wishing to use his star pitcher
unless it was absolutely necessary. He was a bit afraid that something
might happen to Tyree that would put him on the bench and thus they
would be terribly handicapped in their first game with Allandale
on the following Saturday.

Now