“What about your pitching?” asked Sid.
“Well, I’ll have to give my arm a rest, Mr. Lighton says, so this comes in the nature of a special providence. It isn’t so bad as it looked at first.”
But, in spite of his philosophy, there were dark days for Tom. It was hard to be deprived of the chance to play on the scrub and he missed the daily recitations. His arm, too, began to trouble him, and he was obliged to go to a doctor for treatment, though the medical man said all it needed was a little massage and rest. Tom, in his eagerness to excel, had overworked the muscles.
Meanwhile the ’varsity nine was kept busy at practice or with league and other games. Word came that both the Boxer and Fairview nines had greatly improved, chiefly by shifting their players about, and the Randall coach and captain wore serious looks as they “sized up” the work of the Randall team.
There came a contest with Fairview Institute on the Randall diamond. It was a “hot” game and Fairview won.
There was anguish of heart among the Randall students and it was not assuaged when, the next week, Boxer, playing on the Randall grounds, took away a game with them, the score being 8 to 2.
“Two drubbings in two successive weeks,” exclaimed Kindlings. “What are we going to do?”
“One thing we’ve got to do is to improve in pitching,” declared the coach, and when some one brought word of this to Tom his heart, that had been heavy during the two weeks of suspension, grew lighter.
“Maybe I’ll get a chance,” he said to Sid. “It would make up for everything if I did.”
“No one wants to see you in the box any more than I do, old chap,” spoke Sid fervently.