“We’ll do it,” said Walter confidently.
The confidence in a measure was shattered when the following Saturday it was found that Dan’s arm had not entirely recovered. The departure of Gus Kiggins had been variously interpreted by the school, a few siding with him after he was gone, thereby displaying the fact that a school world is not unlike the great world outside. However, while the great majority of the boys were not sorrowing over the departure of the bully, nevertheless the prevailing feeling of anxiety concerning the pitcher for the school nine, in case Dan was unable to play, was great. Indeed, when the game came and those in attendance saw that Dan was not in the box, there were many to prophesy that the high school would win.
At the end of the fourth inning the score was six to five against the Tait School. A great cheer arose when, in the following inning, Dan became the pitcher.
“Saving him,” explained Carlton excitedly to Ben White, who was seated next him in the cheering section.
Whether Dan had been “saved” for this need or not, when he replaced Matteson, who had been called in from center field to do his best in the pitcher’s box, the scoring of the high-school nine abruptly stopped and as the Tait School nine scored four more runs the game was won by a score of nine to six.
The return games in due course were also won by safe margins, but as the nine of the Military Academy had also won from one of the two schools and also had defeated the Tait School, the last-named nine was still tied for first place in the league. Indeed, as the series progressed it became manifest that in reality the nines from the Military Academy and the Tait School far outclassed their rivals. The test between these two nines was to occur in the final game. If the academy should win, it could claim the championship by a game.
The excitement in the Tait School never had run higher than on that June day when the entire student body in a special train started for the academy grounds. Cheer leaders, leaders of the school songs, and various other functionaries had been selected, new cheers and new songs had been carefully rehearsed, and if loyal support would aid Dan and his fellow players, then the Tait School nine ought to win.
But the students of the Military Academy were equally well prepared to support their players, and song had been prepared to meet song and cheer to respond to cheer.
On the grounds were the students of the two other schools in the league, both hopeless now of victory, but warm in their support of the rival nines that were to play that day and about equally divided in their allegiance.
The scene was unlike any which Dan had ever beheld when he, with his companions, at last began their preliminary practice on the diamond. The stands were bright with color, and automobiles and carriages were several deep around the field. The sky was cloudless and the weather was intensely warm—a day when the players might do their best, but also one in which the endurance of both the nines would be severely tested.