te of your rattles!"

"Then--after all--it's not so terrible?" Ken asked, breathlessly.

"Why, boy, it's all right. We can lose a game, and to lose one like
that--it's as good as winnin'. Say! I'm a liar if I didn't see 'em
Place hitters turnin' gray-headed! Listen! That game over there was
tough on all the kids, you most of all, of course. But you all stood
the gaff. You've fought out a grillin' big game away from home. That's
over. You'll never go through that again. But it was the makin' of
you.... Here, look this over! Mebbe it'll cheer you up."

He took something from Raymond and tossed it upon the bed. It looked
like a round, red, woolly bundle. Ken unfolded it, to disclose a
beautiful sweater, with a great white "W" in the centre.

"The boys all got 'em this mornin'," added Worry.

It was then that the tragedy of the Place game lost its hold on Ken,
and retreated until it stood only dimly in outline.

"I'll--I'll be down to lunch," said Ken, irrelevantly.

His smiling friends took the hint and left the room.

Ken hugged the sweater while reading the _Times-Star's_ account of the
game. Whoever the writer was, Ken loved him. Then he hid his face in
the pillow, and though he denied to himself that he was crying, when he
arose it was certain that the pillow was wet.

An hour later Ken presented himself at lunch, once more his old amiable
self. The boys freely discussed baseball--in fact, for weeks they had
breathed and dreamed baseball--but Ken noted, for the first time, where
superiority was now added to the old confidence. The Wayne varsity had
found itself. It outclassed Herne; it was faster than Place; it stood
in line for championship honors.

"Peg, you needn't put on your uniform to-day," said the coach.
"You rest up. But go over to Murray and have your arm rubbed.
Is it sore or stiff?"

"Not at all. I could work again to-day," replied Ken.

That afternoon, alone in his room, he worked out his pitching plan
for Saturday's game. It did not differ materially from former plans.
But for a working basis he had self-acquired knowledge of the Place
hitters. It had been purchased at dear cost. He feared none of them
except Prince. He decided to use a high curve ball over the plate
and let Prince hit, trusting to luck and the players behind him. Ken
remembered how the Place men had rapped hard balls at Raymond. Most
of them were right-field hitters. Ken decided to ask Homans to play
Reddy Ray in right fiel