Making the Nine

TWO days of uneasiness and discussion, and the momentous Saturday was at hand. The indifference which Melvin felt at the beginning of the season, when the responsibilities of th...

“I am in despair about little Eddy,” said he. “It seems as though I could not endure that miserable, white, vacant face in my room another day. He has done no work worthy of the...

The clerk filled the glasses to the accompaniment of remarks on the ball games. Sam knew his business; agreeable conversation was served gratis at the counter with all soda orde...

“WE certainly ought to hear to-night,” said Melvin on Monday, as, with Phil and Dickinson, he hung round the office, waiting for the mail to be distributed. “If the letters arri...

“No, sir,” replied John; “no vacation for me. Now that I’ve got into the grinding habit, you can bet I’m not going to slacken up. Do you know what I’ve been doing all winter?”

BY following Lincoln Street and the path through the Seminary yard, Dick covered two sides of a triangle much more quickly than the pedestrian could the third side, the direct r...

“Yes,” replied Varrell, “a purse out of his clothes in the gymnasium locker. He dressed early for ball practice, and tucked his key under the locker door. When he came back, the...

VARRELL took to the management of the team with a quietness and assurance that put hope into the hearts of the small but determined band which represented the great West. The fe...

“I am sure he is,” said Wrenn. “You can look right across from this room to his windows in Sibley. His shades were down close all last evening, and he doesn’t usually lower them...

“ONE strike!” called the umpire. Phil gripped the bat and waited. It was the first practice game, the scrub against the school. Phil had been put at left-field on the scrub; and...

“WHO did it, Dick?” asked Phil, later in the day, when the flag had been taken down, good-bys said, and the dormitories, emptied of those who were fortunate enough to be within...

MR. GRAHAM was at home again, to the relief of both school authorities and boys. He, of course, heard the tale of the robbery of the safe immediately after his arrival, and went...

THE story, or a distorted version of it, was soon out. The housekeeper hinted at strange doings at the office, and straightway rumor flew that the big vault had been rifled of a...

AS Dickinson foresaw, Melvin yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon him, and resigned himself to the thankless task of managing the track team. The election was held a wee...

AND now for the finish of the game. When Dick and Varrell made their hurried exit from the field, the sixth inning was just under way, each team beginning over again at the head...

“I don’t like the way things are going this year,” Melvin was saying. “There’s too much confidence. If the track team wins, it will be just as expected, with no credit to any on...

THE poker incident caused repeated discussions between the classmates. Melvin was sure Tommy’s method was wrong, though he could not suggest a satisfactory substitute except to...

DICKINSON was in his room. He had just returned, also planning for a long pull at his books, the usual evening routine for him. Melvin banged at the door, then jerked it open wi...

“HOW they do yell! Where’s your patriotism, Phil, to be hanging round in this gloomy crowd when all your friends are howling their heads off outside? Don’t you know Yale won the...

FOR an hour or two after the meeting was over the elated middlers made a good deal of noise with their yells and their cheering, to which no one objected except those who happen...

FOR weeks Phil sat on the bench, a perpetual substitute, getting plenty of practice on practice days in all sorts of positions where he was useful, but always seeing others go i...

LITTLEFIELD crept into Melvin’s bed that night with a sense of security that he had not felt for weeks, and was soon in a deep, restful sleep. Melvin undressed in his own room,...

“HERE I am,” said Varrell, opening the door of Melvin’s room just as the clock struck seven. “You don’t deserve to see me, but I’m here. Assault me like that again, and I’ll swe...

Without waiting for a reply, Tompkins pounced upon the book. It was the fourth time in the last ten days that he had demanded the use of this particular book, while on two other...

DICK sat with his sullen prisoner in the Principal’s outer office, while Varrell and Eddy were closeted with Mr. Graham in the smaller room adjoining. The door between was left...

MR. GRAHAM was not in Seaton when the incident occurred. He had just risen from a rather serious attack of pneumonia and by the doctor’s order was spending several weeks in the...

THE Christmas holidays were over. Varrell limped no more, and Dickinson, who had long since discarded his cane, walked with quick, elastic step as of old, apparently completely...