"Huh!" remarked Ted Teall, captain of the South Grammars, to one of his lieutenants. "We are the only school nine in town now without a uniform. When we get on the field to play we'll look like a lot of rag-pickers, won't we?"
"I know where they got 'em," choked Hi at last. "Their principal, Old Dut Jones, wouldn't see his boys look too badly compared with us, so he bought 'em as good uniforms as he could afford. It's a shame. That's what it is."
If Captain Dick and his baseball players walked rather proudly onto the field, it may have been partly due to the fact that they now knew that their uniforms were anything but "cheap." In point of fact, their uniforms had cost more than twice as much as those worn by Hi Martin's players.
"How did they get such uniforms?" That was the question that passed from lip to lip.
The answer was very simple, though as yet none of the onlookers knew what it was.
Not until one minute past four did the Central Grammar players know anything about the uniforms. Old Dut had dismissed the rest of the school, detaining Dick's players.
"Young men, we shall now hasten up to Exhibition Hall," announced the principal. He marched them up there, where they found the smiling Mr. Brown, backed by an assistant. Several boxes, opened, lay upon the floor.
"Now, young men," called Mr. Brown jovially, "let us see how quickly you can take your baseball uniforms and get into them."
"But what——-" began Dick, then paused in absolute bewilderment.
"It's all right," Mr. Brown cheerily assured the dazed boys.
"The uniforms are all paid for—-won't cost you a cent."