"Then I won't pitch," snarled Bart.
At this second defiance, Hal was silent a moment.
"Who's throwing the school now?" he flashed. "You seem to think you're running this team, but you're not. You'll either report for practice at the grounds this afternoon at three o'clock, or you'll not pitch a single ball for Baxter this season. Now leave the gymnasium, so I can enroll the rest of the candidates."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll put you out!" retorted the captain, stepping down from the chair on which he had been standing and forcing his way through the excited throng of students.
CHAPTER XVII
THE PITCHING FIND
Instinctively Bart's intimates gathered about him, while Sandow and the other boys, who had no liking for the rich bully, rallied around Hal.
Noting that the captain had the support of an overwhelming majority of the students, Taffy seized Bart's arm.
"Don't make a fool of yourself," he counseled. "Hal's entirely within his right as captain. If you don't go peacefully, he won't let you play this year. Don't let your personal enmity lay you open to the charge of throwing Baxter."