For a moment there was some embarra.s.sment, as Sam was not in the habit of mingling with this crowd of boys. He had his own friends, not very many, to tell the truth, but he was usually with them. The lads did not know exactly how to take his request, but Joe came to the rescue.

"Sure you can come in," he said heartily. "We're just seeing who can put the most b.a.l.l.s in the basket."

"What good do you think that does?" asked Sam.

"Well, doesn't it help a fellow to get a straight aim?" asked Tom, half defiantly.

"Oh, I don't know," was the rather sneering answer. "It might, if you kept at it long enough."

"Let's see you try it," suggested Rodney Burke, who did not hold Sam in much awe.

Carelessly the Silver Star pitcher accepted a ball that Joe obligingly held out. He threw quickly and the ball landed squarely in the basket.

Then he did the trick again, and there was a little murmur of applause, for only a few of the boys had "two straight" to their credit.

"Joe did three straight a while ago," said Tom proudly. "He and I are playing off a tie."

Sam did not answer but threw again, and the ball went wide of the basket by two feet at least. Rodney laughed.

"You're not such a much, even if you are the pitcher," he declared.

"Who asked you anything about it?" demanded Sam savagely.

He darted a look of anger at the lad, but as Rodney was well built and had a reputation for "sc.r.a.ppiness" Sam concluded not to tackle him just then.

"I'll show you how to throw!" he exclaimed the next moment, and two b.a.l.l.s went squarely in the basket. "Now, let's see you and Matson play it off," commanded Sam to Tom as though he was in the habit of having his wishes complied with.

Whether it was nervousness or not, or whether he wanted to see his chum do well when Sam was present, was not made manifest, but Tom did not come up to his previous record, and Joe easily won. In fact Joe made a much better score than Sam, and there were several curious glances directed at the pitcher.

"Don't you want to try it some more?" asked Rodney Burke, and there was mockery in his voice.

"No!" half-growled Sam. "I've got to save my arm for the next game.

We're going to win that sure. So long," and with that he turned and strode away.

"As cheerful as a bear with a sore nose," remarked Rodney.

Ordinarily but little importance would have been attached to the coming game with the Denville Whizzers, but on account of two previous defeats, Darrell Blackney and George Rankin had several conferences concerning it. The captain and manager were plainly worried.

"Do you wish you had some one else to put in the box?" asked Rankin.

"Well, not exactly," was the answer. "I haven't lost faith in Sam, but I do wish we could depend more on him. He'll pitch fine for several innings and then go to pieces. He tries to use too much speed and too many varieties of curves, I think."

"By the way, what do you think of young Matson?" asked the captain.

"I think a good deal of him. He doesn't amount to much as yet, but he's in earnest and he's got grit. In time I think he'll make a player."

"He wants to pitch."

"I know he does, but it's out of the question yet. Have you any line on him?"

"Not yet," answered Rankin, "but I'll keep my eyes open. He's a good fielder all right, now that he isn't so nervous. He wants to play his head off. But Sam--well, we can't do any better right away, and--well, I guess we'll win this game."

"We've got to!" insisted the manager earnestly, "if we want the people of Riverside to support us. They won't come to see a losing home team all the while."

The game with the Whizzers was to take place on their grounds, and early on that morning the Silver Stars, some subst.i.tutes, and a crowd of "rooters" got ready for the trip. Denville was about seven miles from Riverside, back from the stream, and could be reached by trolley. A special car had been engaged for the team.

The game started off well, and the Silver Stars got three runs in their half of the first inning. The home team was blanked and for a time it looked as if there would be an easy victory for the visitors.

Sam was pitching in good form, and had struck several men out. For three innings the home team did not get a run, and there was only one to their credit in the fourth. There was gloom and despair among their supporters while the "rooters" of the visiting team were happy singing songs and yelling.

Joe played well and had two outs to his credit on long flies, with no errors to mar his record. But he noticed that as the home team came to the bat in their half of the fifth, in which the Silver Stars had made two runs, that Darrell and the captain were in earnest consultation with Sam. They seemed to be remonstrating with him, and Joe heard the manager say:

"Take it easy now; we have the game on ice."

"Oh, I know how to play ball," retorted the pitcher.

Then began a series of happenings. With a lead of four runs when the last half of the fifth started it would have seemed that the Stars might have won out. But Sam fell a prey to the applause of the crowd and began to do "grandstand" work. He contorted his body unnecessarily in winding up for a delivery. He hopped about before pitching the ball and he failed to study the batters, though he had had plenty of chance to do so.

The result was that he went to pieces through sheer weariness and began giving b.a.l.l.s. Then the home team, realizing what was happening, began to pound him, and to steal bases. In their half of the fifth the home team made six runs, putting them two ahead.

"We've got to stop that!" said Darrell, with a shake of his head.

"We sure have," agreed the captain.

There was somewhat of a brace on the part of the Stars and they made one run in their part of the sixth. But the Whizzers kept pace with them.

The seventh inning resulted in one run for the visitors and none for the home team and that made only a lead of one for the home nine.

Joe brought in a run in the eighth, but as if it had been prearranged the home team duplicated so the score at the beginning of the ninth stood eight to nine in favor of the home team.

"We need two runs to win, if we can serve them goose eggs for lunch,"

said the Silver Star captain grimly. "Go to it, boys; beat 'em out."

"Sure we will," said Sam airily, and he brought in one of the needed two runs. Darrell contributed the other, and when the visiting team took the field they were one ahead.

"Don't let a man get to first!" cried Captain Rankin.

But it was not to be. Sam gave the first man his base on b.a.l.l.s and there was a groan of anguish from his fellows and the Riverside crowd. Then the second man whacked out what appeared to be a pretty three bagger, scoring the runner from first. The batter slipped on his way from second to third, however, and was put out when Joe made a magnificent throw in from deep centre.

With one out Sam gathered himself together and struck out the next man.

Then came to the bat the mightiest walloper of the rival team.

"Wait for a good one. Make him give you what you want," advised the coacher to the batter.

And the latter did wait, for when he got what he wanted he "slammed it"

away out in centre field.

"A home run! A home run!" yelled the frantic crowd.

"And win the game!" shouted a score of the players' friends. "Come on, baby-mine!"