His Pledge 150
XVIII. Hendrix Again in the Box 159
XIX. The Lucky Seventh 168
XX. After the Great Victory--Conclusion 177

JACK WINTERS' BASEBALL TEAM

CHAPTER I

THREE BOYS OF CHESTER

"No use talking, Toby, there's something on Jack's mind of late, and
it's beginning to bother him a lot, I think!"

"Well, Steve, you certainly give me the creeps, that's what you do, with
your mysterious hints of all sorts of trouble hanging over our heads,
just as they say the famous sword of that old worthy, Damocles, used to
hang by a single hair, ready to fall. Look here, do you realize, Steve,
what it would mean if Jack went and got himself rattled _just
now_?"

"Huh! guess I do that, Toby, when, for one thing, we're scheduled to go
up against that terrible Harmony nine day after tomorrow."

"And if Jack is getting cold feet already, on account of something or
other, I can see our finish now, Steve."

"Still, we beat them in that first great game, don't let's forget that,
Toby, and take what consolation we can from the fact."

"Oh! rats! we know how that came about. They'd never been beaten the
entire season by any team in the county, and had grown a bit careless.
Because they had a clean record they believed they could just about wipe
up the ground with poor old Chester, a slow town that up to this year
had never done anything worth while in connection with boys' outdoor
sports."

"That's right, Toby. Never will I forget how humiliated I felt when they
struck town on that glorious day. They came in a lot of cars and
motor-trucks, with the Harmony Band playing, 'Lo, the Conquering Hero
Comes,' and with whoops and toots galore from the crowds of faithful
rooters. Why, bless you, they felt so confident of winning that they
even left their star battery at home to rest up, and used the second
string slab-team. But, oh! my eye! it was a saddened lot of Harmony
fellows that wended their way back home, everybody trying to explain
what had struck them to the tune of eleven to five. Wow!"

"Great Caesar! Steve, but didn't old Chester go crazy that same night,
though, with the bonfires making the sky look red, and the boys yelling
through the main streets in a serpentine procession, carrying Jack on
their shoulders? The campus in front of the high school was packed solid
when Professor Yardl