ers of the great Oakdale baseball team,
I observe," said Rackliff

The local crowd "rooted" hard

RIVAL PITCHERS OF OAKDALE

CHAPTER I.

THE BOY WHO WANTED TO PITCH.

During the noon intermission of a sunny April day a small group of boys
assembled near the steps of Oakdale Academy to talk baseball; for the
opening of the season was at hand, and the germ of the game had already
begun to make itself felt in their blood. Roger Eliot, the grave,
reliable, steady-headed captain of the nine, who had scored such a
pronounced success as captain of the eleven the previous autumn, was
the central figure of that gathering. Chipper Cooper, Ben Stone,
Sleuth Piper, Chub Tuttle, Sile Crane and Roy Hooker formed the
remainder of the assemblage.

"The field will be good and dry to-night, fellows," said Roger, "and we
ought to get in some much-needed practice for that game with Barville.
I want every fellow to come out, sure."

"Ho!" gurgled Chub Tuttle, cracking a peanut and dexterously nipping
the double kernel into his mouth. "We'll be there, though I don't
believe we need much practice to beat that Barville bunch. We ate 'em
up last year."

"We!" said Sleuth Piper reprovingly. "If my memory serves me, you
warmed the bench in both those games."

"That wasn't my fault," retorted Tuttle cheerfully. "I was ready and
prepared to play. I was on hand to step in as a pinch hitter, or to
fill any sort of a gap at a moment's notice."

"A pinch hitter!" whooped little Chipper Cooper. "Now, you would have
cut a lot of ice as a pindi hitter, wouldn't you? You never made a hit
in a game in all your life, Chub, and you know you were subbing simply
because Roy got on his ear and wouldn't play. We had to have some one
for a spare man."

"I would have played," cut in Hooker sharply, somewhat resentfully, "if
I'd been given a square deal. I wanted a chance to try my hand at some
of the pitching; but, after that first game, Ames, the biggest mule who
ever captained a team, wouldn't give me another show. I wasn't going
to play right field or sit around on the bench as a spare man."

Hooker had a thin, sharp face, with eyes set a trifle too close
together, and an undershot jaw, which gave him a somewhat pugnacious
appearance. He was a chap who thought very well indeed of himself and
his accomplishments, and held a somewhat slighting estimation of
others. In connection with baseball, he had always entertained an
o