led the bases, and then Jack Danby was up again.

Lawrence was no poor player. He had a head as well as a good pitching
arm, and he set a trap for Jack. His first three balls were
curves--and called balls. Jack waited. Twice before, in the same
situation, Lawrence had had to pitch him a ball he could hit and he had
swung at it. And now Lawrence expected him to do the same thing, and
sent up a floater that looked good for a home run. But Jack only
smiled, and the ball broke away from the plate.

It was the fourth ball, and it forced in the first run of the game.
Moreover, Lawrence, fooled and outguessed, went up in the air, and the
Crows made six runs in that one inning, and five more for good measure
in the eighth, while Jack shut out the Raccoons.

The Crows, thanks to Jack, also won in the races and jumping contests,
so it was a great day for them.

CHAPTER V

TOM BINNS' BAD LUCK

Jack Danby and Tom Binns, Second Class Scouts, were ready now to become
First Class Scouts, and so to earn the right to wear the full Scout
badge, and compete for all the medals and special badges of merit for
which Scouts are eligible. They had passed all the tests save one.
They had proved their efficiency in signaling, in scout and camp craft,
in the tying of knots, had given evidence of their ability to save
those who were drowning and give first aid to the injured, and they had
only to make a hike of seven miles, alone or together, to receive the
coveted promotion.

They determined, with Scout-Master Durland's permission, to make this
hike together the Saturday afternoon following the Field Day that had
brought so much glory to Jack Danby and his Patrol, the Crows.
Although Tom Binns had been a Scout longer than Jack, Jack had been a
Tenderfoot Scout for only thirty days, the shortest time in which a
Scout can pass out of the Tenderfoot class, and he was fully as good a
Scout now as many of the older ones who had had the right to wear the
First Class Scout's badge for a long time.

"Gee, Jack, I wonder if we'll ever get to be Patrol Leaders and
Scout-Masters?" asked Tom Binns, as they met after work that Saturday,
and prepared to start on their hike.

"Why not, Tom? Everyone has to make a start. And Mr. Durland wasn't a
Scout when he was our age, because there weren't any Boy Scouts then."

"I suppose it's a lot of responsibility, but then that's a good thing,
too."

"You bet it is! That's one of the things