A great crowd was coming up the road, in the van of which could be seen
the boys in gray from the Limerock City. The Rockland rooters had not
been frightened away by the report that Woods and Makune would play with
Camden. They were coming in a body to whoop and yell and growl for their
team--yes, to fight for it, if necessary.

They poured into the ground. All the available standing room was taken,
and the crowd overflowed so that it encroached upon the field. The
Camdens came in and let their opponents have the field for practice.

"Fellows," smiled Frank, as he joined his friends, "this is going to be
a hot afternoon."

"All of that," nodded Hodge. "It's plain there is an intense feeling of
rivalry between these two towns."

"Say, fellows," put in Jack Diamond, "I haven't stopped wondering yet."

"What about?" asked Frank.

"This part of the country. You told me we would have sport down here,
but I never expected anything like this. Why, there's rivers of sporting
blood in this section! How do they get together such ball teams? Camden
must pay Mower big money, or he would be in one of the big leagues. They
must have coughed liberally to Woods and Makune, for either of those two
fellows could get into a big league. Rockland has a full-salaried team,
and they say she pays her men two hundred and fifty dollars a week all
told. That's more money than the New England League pays."

"They don't go into anything halfway down here," smiled Merry. "I fancy
the ball team is a good thing for Camden. It advertises the town, as all
the games are reported in the Boston dailies, and it attracts summer
visitors. A good percentage of the spectators here now are summer
people."

The Rockland team began practice. They appeared more like professionals,
taken as a whole, than the Camdens, nearly all of whom seemed college
lads.

Practice was over in a short time, and then the home team prepared to go
to bat first, and the umpire took his position and called "play."

Although the Rockland "rooters" were on hand to shout for their team,
the fact that Camden had Woods and Makune made them cautious about
offering bets. In fact, two of Rockland's principal "sports" were
seeking to put money on Camden, but could not find takers without giving
odds.

Dayguild, Rockland's champion pitcher, the man held in reserve for
Camden, was sent into the box. He had seemed to hoodoo Camden, and
Rocklandites hoped he would keep up the good work.