Arlington did not permit them to go far alone, for he hastened to overtake them, expressing his desire to accompany them.
“We don’t need any one,” said Doris, immediately feeling sorry she had not accepted June’s invitation.
“You can’t be sure about that,” said Chet. “You have to go through the woods, and there are tramps in this vicinity.”
“I am glad you’re going along with us,” said Zona. “I told the girls you were not being supported. They couldn’t seem to see it that way, but I knew it.”
“Oh! June doesn’t know much about baseball, anyway,” said Chet. “She couldn’t tell whether I was getting proper support or not. But I think even Miss Templeton will acknowledge that Merriwell wasn’t supported. Look how those two chumps ran into each other and lost that fly.”
“That was too bad,” confessed Doris, in a low tone. “I think Dick would have saved the game but for that.”
Arlington laughed.
“Why didn’t he leave me in the box?” he cried. “It would have been just as well, and it might have been better. I could have stopped that streak just as well as he did. After putting me in to pitch this kind of a game, it was up to him to let me finish it.”
“Did he ask you to pitch?” inquired Doris.
“Of course he did! I didn’t want to pitch that game. I knew what I was going against. He didn’t want to pitch it, either, and that’s why he put me in.”