t was out in the Western League,
and they were having a close game of ball. It was in the ninth inning,
with two men out and one run needed to win.

"The man at the bat, one of the best sluggers on the team, soaked the
ball good and plenty on a line to centre field. It hit a rabbit, who was
browsing near the centre field fence. Of course it scared him, and he
came streaking in and reached second base just before the batter.

"Down the line went the rabbit toward third, with the batter legging it
right after him. The rabbit touched third and then, frightened at the
crowd in the bleachers just behind third, it turned around and scooted
for the home plate. It crossed the plate with the batter right at its
heels, just as the ball was thrown in. But although the batter touched
the plate just before the ball got there, the umpire called him out."

"I don't see why," interrupted Teddy.

"Of course there was a big kick about it," said Slim smoothly, "but the
decision went, just the same. The umpire said the rabbit paced the
runner and made him run faster than he otherwise would, and so he got to
the plate before the ball."

There was a dead silence, while the boys watched Slim, as though they
expected the fate of Ananias to overtake him.

Fred coughed significantly.

"You see," said Slim mournfully, to Granger, "he doesn't believe it
either. You've poisoned his mind against me. You've taken away my
reputation. Why, if you don't believe it," he went on, in pretended
indignation, "I can take you out there and show you the very grounds
where the thing happened! I can show you the very base that the rabbit
touched! I can show you the bleachers where the crowd sat that
frightened the rabbit! If the rabbit's alive still, perhaps I can show
you the rabbit! If----"

"That'll do," said Melvin solemnly. "The court finds you guilty, and
condemns you to twenty years of truth-telling."

"That's a cruel and unusual punishment," put in Billy Burton, "and the
Constitution forbids that kind."

"I'm only making the punishment fit the crime," answered Melvin. "I'm
ashamed of you, Slim. Now you go way back and sit down, while I
introduce the rest of these infants."

The remaining "infants," so disrespectfully alluded to, were duly made
known to the boys in a similar jovial way. There was Ned Wayland, who
was introduced as the heaviest batter on the baseball team, and Tom
Eldridge, who had kicked the deciding goal in their last game of