that additional two hundred and
fifty shares of preferred, with its one hundred and twenty-five of
common, myself."

Sam once more paused and glanced over the subscription list. As it
stood now, aside from Princeman, there were two members, Westlake and
Stevens, with whom, if he could get either one of them to do so, he
could pool his common stock. If he allowed Westlake to take up this
additional two hundred and fifty shares, Westlake was the only string
to his bow.

"No, thanks," said Sam. "I prefer to keep them myself. It seems to me
to be a very fair and equitable division just as it is."

In the end it stood just that way.

CHAPTER XV

THE HERO OF THE HOUR

On that very same afternoon, the youth and beauty, also the age and
wisdom, of both Hollis Creek and Meadow Brook, gathered around the ball
field of the former resort, to watch the Titanic struggle for victory
between the two picked nines. As Sam took his place behind the bat for
the first man up, who was Hollis, he felt his first touch of
self-confidence anent the strictly amusement features of summer
resorting. In all the other athletic pursuits he had been backward,
but here, as he smacked his fist in his glove, he felt at home.

The only thing he did not like about it, as Princeman wound himself up
to deliver the first ball, was that Princeman had the position of
glory. On that gentleman the spotlight burned brightly all the time,
and if they won, he would be the hero of the hour; the modest, reliable
catcher would scarcely be thought of except by the men who knew the
finer points of the game, and it was not the men whom he had in mind.
Honestly and sincerely, he desired to shine before Miss Josephine
Stevens. She was over there at the edge of the field under an oak tree.

Before her, cavorting for her amusement, were not only Princeman and
himself, but Billy Westlake and Hollis, each of them alert for action
at this moment; for now Princeman, with a mighty twirl upon his great
toe, released the ball. It never reached Sam Turner's hands; instead
it bounced off the bat with a "crack!" and sailed right down through
Billy Westlake, who, at second, made a frantic grab for it, and then it
spun out between center and right field, losing itself in the bushes,
while Hollis, amid the frantic cheers of the audience, which consisted
of Miss Josephine Stevens and several unconsidered other spectators,
tore around the circuit. His colleagues st