ed a roll of bills.

"Two to one on Camden!" he shouted in a high-keyed voice.

All heads turned his way. For a moment nobody spoke. Percy mistook the
silence. He struck a theatric attitude.

[Illustration]

"Three to one! Are you afraid to support your home team?"

A girl giggled. Two or three boys hooted. Then a short, dark, thick-set
man in the second row whirled about and answered the challenger.

"No," he said, deliberately. "We're not afraid to support our nine. If
we were, it wouldn't be playing here to-day. We expect it to do its
best. If it wins, it wins. If it loses, it loses. And that's all there
is to it. Whatever dollars we have to put into baseball will go to meet
the regular expenses of the team. We haven't any money to fool away in
betting; and we don't care for any more second-hand talk from a
half-baked youngster like you! You get me?"

The crowd applauded uproariously. Pursued by the jeers and catcalls of
the small fry, Percy sat down, his face, if possible, redder than
before.

Spurling caught an errorless game. It was Lane's bat in the last half of
the ninth that finally drove in the winning run for Camden. Five to
four.

The crowd streamed noisily off the grounds. A knot of the younger
element tried to heckle Percy, but he strode loftily by them, puffing
his inevitable cigarette. Jim and Budge went to the hotel with the
Camden team to change their suits.

Beverage was jubilant over the victory.

"It's a mean thing to say," he remarked; "but I'm glad that power-boat
didn't get here. We owe the game to you two fellows. How much shall we
pay you?"

"Nothing," answered Jim. "We're paid already. We've enjoyed winning as
much as you have."

"Well, if you ever come to Camden, remember that you own the town."

The boys decided to stop over for the early-evening celebration. The
Vinalhavens were good losers, and the excursion steamer was not to start
back until nine o'clock, so the town promised to be lively enough for
the next few hours.

Before it had grown very dark the streets began to blaze with fireworks.
Percy's remarks of the afternoon still rankled in the minds of the
junior portion of the residents, and, as he sauntered to and fro, he
became the butt of many pointed jests. He ignored them all. Such
trivialities were beneath the notice of a scion of the house of
Whittington.

It was his air of haughty superiority that got him into trouble. Tempted
beyond endurance by his cool,