The members of the baseball squad were
not by any means the only ones on tenterhooks. Every boy in the
upper grades of the school was waiting impatiently to learn who
would be the winners of the championship.
Somewhat to the astonishment of the Central Grammar boys Captain
Dick, on Wednesday afternoon, gave his team only a brief half
hour of diamond practice. Thursday afternoon they didn't play
at all. Instead, the nine and its subs. went off on a tramp
through the woods.
"What we want to-morrow above all," Dick explained, as he marshaled
his forces, "is steady nerves. There's nothing like a good walk
in the cool and shady spots for tuning up a schoolboy's nerves
for an ordeal. A walk is good whether you're facing an exam.
or a championship game."
"May the rest of us go with you!" called one of the Central boys
outside the squad.
"We can't stop you," Dick replied, "but we'd rather you let the
ball squad go by itself."
"All right, then," cried three or four. The fourteen of the squad
marched away, unhampered by any followers.
Once outside the town and halted under a grove of trees, Dick
turned to his teammates.
"Fellows," he said quietly, "I believe some of you have been anxious
to know what the man on the clubhouse steps said.
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