“It’ll be the score and not your bones that’ll tell the story,” jibed Slim.
“Scots wha’ hae with Wallace bled,
Scots wha’ Bruce has often led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory,”
chanted Tom Eldridge.
“And it’s going to be victory,” affirmed Teddy, “The other fellows will be the dead ones.”
But the “other fellows” had views of their own on that subject, and from the time the first ball was pitched the Rally Hall boys knew that they had their work cut out for them.
Ned was in the box at the start, and Fred, who was ready to take his place if needed, played right field.
The pitchers on both sides were in good form, and for the first three innings neither side scored a run, although a two-base hit by Melvin and a daring steal had gotten him as far as third. Two were out at the time, however, and Ward made the third out on a high fly to left.
The pitcher on the Mount Vernon team was a big, sandy-haired, freckle-faced youth who did not look at all like a student, and the boys noticed that when his nine was at the bat, he sat apart from the others, almost as though he were a stranger. Slim Haley had a suspicion, and strolled over to have a chat with him, while he was resting.
“Mount Vernon is a pretty good school,” said Slim, trying to start a conversation.
“Yep,” said the other shortly.