Part 15

And, besides, just at present, Kid was much too busy. That substitute batter had insisted on prolonging the agony. With two strikes on him he refused to acknowledge himself beaten. Anxious to bring the game to an end, Waters put one over “in the groove.” _Whack!_ Out into right field sped the ball, high and far. Around the bases raced the batsman. Day, scenting victory at the eleventh hour, arose to their feet and shrieked their triumph. But they were reckoning without their host. Far out in the field a pair of small legs were streaking over the sod. A glance over his shoulder, and Kid paused and wheeled. Up went his hands. What was a catch like that to the fellow who had batted “Toots” Morgan for a home run? Down came the ball, hesitantly at first, then with a rush. Straining eyes watched as it thumped into Kid’s big glove. Then a roar of joy went up from House. Kid had caught it! The game was over! House had won!

Two minutes later, with Ben proudly bearing the Junior Four Trophy and striding ahead, the victorious team marched back to the school, cheering and shouting. And close at Ben’s elbow marched Kid, his hands still tingling from the ball.

“_Io Triumphus!_” he chanted.

THE END

Transcriber’s Notes:

――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).

――Except for the frontispiece, illustrations have been moved to follow the text that they illustrate.

――Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.

――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.

――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.