"Well, fellows," remarked Bob Somers, one day, as they lounged about in the grateful shade of the big elm tree on the campus, "it certainly paid us to stand up for ourselves."
"Sure as doughnuts, those no-trespassing signs are going to come down," chirped Tom Clifton. "Yesterday, five to three, against the Hilltons! That's not so bad, is it?"
Dave Brandon, leaning comfortably against the trunk, and reading a book of Bryant's poems, smiled.
"How different the situation is from the time when Brown's friends were gently urging us to leave the ball field," he laughed. "Now everything is lovely."
"The Stars far outclass any of the school teams we've met," observed Charlie Blake. "So do the Goose Hill and Willingtons. The fight we had against those clubs must have done us an awful lot of good, eh, Bob?"
"You bet it did," responded the captain. "It made most of the other nines seem easy. Now that our batting average is getting higher and higher I guess it's about time to accept Brown's standing defi and play the 'Hopes' a series."
"So say we all," remarked Dick Travers.
"I certainly laughed when the 'Hopes' played the Stars and Tony Tippen pitched a no-hit game," said "Jack Frost." "It took that fire-eater, Owen Lawrence, down just a trifle, I can tell you. I just couldn't help rubbing it in a little bit."
"And I fairly hammered it in," gurgled Tom. "Lawrence will play against us as hard as he ever did in his life. Fired any more of Benny Wilkins' articles, Dave?"
"No! I can't understand why he didn't give me a couple this morning," answered the editor. "The thirty-seventh showed a lot of improvement. I suppose I'll have to accept something before long, because he's sold more papers than any other boy in school."