But then, he must make allowances. If matters were as desperate as he suspected, poor Fred must by now be feeling the effect of having allowed his chance for securing all that money, so badly needed in order to help his mother, slip through his fingers. Now that all the excitement had died away, and he found himself face to face with the old question, with the prospect of seeing his mother’s tired looks again reproaching him, Fred must be wondering whether he had after all chosen wisely in letting honor take the place of duty.
So Jack commenced to chatter about the game, and how proud Chester folks would be of the young athletes who represented the town that day.
“It’s pretty evident, you must see, Fred,” he continued, after thus arousing the other’s interest, “that our big task of getting subscriptions toward building or renting a building for a club-house and gymnasium has been helped mightily by the clever work done this day. I heard of three influential gentlemen who had declared they were willing to take a hand, just because such determined and hard-playing boys stood in need of such an institution.”
“Yes, Chester has been away behind the times in looking after the morals and requirements of her young people,” admitted Fred. “There’s Marshall with its fine Y. M. C. A. building and gym., and even Harmony has a pretty good institution where the young fellows can belong, and spend many a winter’s evening in athletic stunts calculated to build up their bodies, and make them more healthy.”
“Well, believe me, the day is about to dawn when Chester will be put on the map for the same stuff,” asserted Jack, not boastingly, but with full confidence; “and these splendid baseball matches we’re pulling off nowadays are bound to help to bring that same event to pass. Men who had almost forgotten that they used to handle a bat in their kid days have had their old enthusiasm for the national sport of America revived. Depend upon it, Fred, in good time we’ll be playing football, hockey, basketball, and every sort of thing that goes to make up the life of a healthy boy.”
In this fashion did the pair talk as they hurried along. The drops were beginning to come down faster now, showing that when the game was called, it had been a very wise move, for many people must otherwise have been caught in the rain.
Fred seemed to be fairly cheerful at the time Jack shook his hand again, and once more congratulated him on his fine work for the team. Looking back after they had parted, Jack saw the boy stop at his door and hesitate about entering, which seemed to be a strange thing for a member of the gallant baseball team that had covered themselves with glory on that particular day to do.
But then Jack could guess how possibly Fred might be feeling his heart reproach him again because he had chosen his course along the line of honor. He must get a grip on himself before he could pass in and see that weary look on her face. Jack shook his head as he hurried on to his own house. He felt that possibly the crisis in Fred’s young life had, after all, only been postponed, and not altogether passed. That terrible temptation might come to him again, more powerful than ever; and in the game at Harmony, if a choice were given him, would he be just as able to resist selling himself as he had on this wonderful day?