“So would I,” added Hiram. “I wish I could get him off the nine, and out of the school.”
“I’ll help you,” proposed Sam eagerly; and then the two, who were very much of a kind when it came to disliking our hero, walked off, whispering together.
“Play ball!” came the distant cry of the umpire, and the great Excelsior-Morningside game was about to start. But the plotters did not turn back to watch it.
[CHAPTER XXV]
BY A CLOSE MARGIN
“Whew!” whistled Captain Elmer Dalton of the Morningside nine, as he greeted some of the lads against whom his team was to play, “you fellows have been making a lot of changes, haven’t you?” and he looked at the several new members of the school team, including Joe and Tom.
“Yes, a bit of house cleaning,” replied Ward Gerard. “I am captain now. Hiram and Luke got out.”
“Yes, I heard there was some sort of a row.”