“Buckhart, the regular Yale catcher, is here with me. Two others of my party are Tommy Tucker, who once played short on the Yale varsity, and Bouncer Bigelow, who isn’t much at baseball, but might fill right field on a pinch—though I hope I won’t have to use him. Chester Arlington, an old Fardale schoolmate, is stopping here, along with his mother and sister. To my surprise and delight, this very morning I ran across old Greg McGregor, a Yale grad who once played on the varsity nine, and McGregor tells me that Blessed Jones, another Yale man, will be down from Denver this afternoon. They’re out here on some sort of a business deal.
“There are seven men of the nine, if we count Bigelow in. Jimmy Lozier and Duncan Ross, two Columbia men, are here at the Springs, stopping at the Alta Vista. We sat out in the moonlight last night and talked baseball and college athletics for two hours. The fever is still burning in their veins, and they would jump at the chance to get into a game.
“So you see, Loring, old man, I’m confident that I can get a team together. I hope to find another man, so that I can keep Bigelow on the bench in case of accident. I didn’t jump into this blindly; I had it all figured out in advance.”
“Well, it seems that you can scrape up a team; but, oh, my boy! what chance do you fancy you will have against the Outlaws? They will make a holy show of you.”
“Perhaps so,” nodded Dick; “but you never can tell. We’re not going into this thing for money. In fact, I’ve agreed to donate my share of the gate receipts to the Collins’ Home for Consumptives. It’s sport we’re after, Loring.”
“There isn’t much sport in being wiped all over the map. However, if you fancy it, that’s your funeral, not mine. I’ll do what I can for you.”
“Harrison has agreed to pepper the town with paper advertising his own team. I’m to look after the rest of the advertising.”
“Leave that to me also, Merriwell. If I can get the park for you, I’ll see that everybody at the Springs knows there’s going to be a game to-morrow.”
“Thank you, Loring. You’re putting yourself to too much trouble.”
“Not at all. I couldn’t put myself to too much trouble to oblige the brother of Frank Merriwell.”