f their lungs for him to "Knock the hide off the ball!" "Send it
over the back fence!" "Show 'em where the other side of the river is!"
and to "Wipe up the field with Hixley High!"

One ball was called, and then a strike. Then came another strike, and
things began to look gloomy for Colby Hall. But then Jack got a ball
exactly where he wanted it, and he swung at it with every ounce of
muscle he could command. Crack! went the bat, and the sphere went
sailing far down in left field.

"That's the way to do it! Run, boys, run!"

"Come on home, Jack!"

Fred, on third, was already streaking for home, and close behind him
came the player who had been on second. In the meanwhile, Jack raced
to first and around to second, and then came plowing up to third.

"Hold it, Rover! Hold it!"

"Come on in--don't wait! Come on in!"

Jack looked down into the field and saw that the fielder was just in
the act of picking up the ball. With a great bound, he started for the
home plate, and when ten feet from that place dropped to the ground
and slid in with the rapidity of lightning.

"He's safe! A home run!"

"That ties the score!"

"Now then, boys, go in and finish 'em up!"

The din and excitement was now tremendous. The score was indeed a tie.
Which club would win?

CHAPTER II

ABOUT THE ROVER BOYS

"Now then, fellows, don't forget to bring in the winning run!"

"Show Hixley High what we can do!"

And then came a rousing cheer from the Colby Hall cadets, and once
more they gave the well-known military academy refrain.

Any ordinary pitcher might have been nervous over the prospect ahead
of him; but Dink Wilsey was not one of that caliber, and he faced the
next batsman as coolly as he had all of the others. Two balls were
called, and then two strikes, and then two more balls, and the batsman
walked to first base.

"Hurrah! he's afraid to give him the kind we chew up."

"Maybe he'll let the next man walk, too!" cried another.

But this was not to be. The next cadet up went out on a foul, and the
inning came to a sudden end.

"A tie! A tie! The game is a tie!"

"Now for the winning run! Hixley High!"

"That's the stuff! Larsen to the bat! And, my, won't he wallop that
ball!"

Larsen was the Hixley High center fielder--a tall, sturdy youth with
blue eyes and light hair, of Norwegian descent. He came to the plate
with a "do-or-die" look on his face. He allowed two balls to pass him,
only one of which, ho