Dick nodded comprehendingly. This was several days after the visit of Uncle Ezra Larabee, and the time had been devoted to getting the Kentfield team in shape for the final contest. It was an important one, for, as I have said, it would carry with it the championship of the Military League.
The game had run along with nothing remarkable to distinguish it, and was now at the beginning of the ninth inning. Blue Hill had six runs to Kentfield's seven, and if Dick could strike this last man out the game would be ended in favor of the Kentfield nine, since they would not play out their half of the ninth. Blue Hill had two out, but Lem Gordon, the cadet at the bat, was a doughty hitter. Had he gone in earlier in that inning there might have been a different story to tell.
"Strike two!" called the umpire, and a wave of cheering seemed to roll over the grandstand—cheers in which the shrill voices of girls could be heard.
"Oh, I do hope Dick strikes him out!" exclaimed Mabel Hanford, one of a party of pretty girls in the main stand. "Isn't he fine?"
"Who—Dick or Lem?" asked Nellie Fordice.
"Dick, of course, though Lem is very nice, and he's a dandy dancer."
"So is Dick," declared Nettie French. "Oh girls! are you going to the graduation ball?"
"If we're asked," answered Mildred Adams.
"Oh, let's watch the game," suggested Mabel, and the four girls, with whom Dick and his chums were on friendly terms, gave their attention to the contest.