The following Monday the second team faced the first and wallowed through five innings of horrible baseball. Mr. Wadleigh smiled through it all, but none of his charges labored under the mistaken assumption that his smile denoted approval. About every second nine player made at least one error that afternoon. Burden, playing third base through three of the chapters, made four! Jones, who succeeded him, did a little better, although he managed to make himself accountable for one of the nine runs accumulated by the enemy. The one thing that kept the first from piling up twice nine runs was their inability to run bases. They had no difficulty in hitting Frost and Purdy, but, once on first, they didn’t seem to know what to do. Purdy caught runners off five times, and in the fourth inning Leland and Raiford couldn’t decide which of them was entitled to possession of second base, and pending a decision Carr tagged them both and then, to make certain, threw to third. Twice, too, headless running spelled disaster for the first, once when Al Greene sought to score from third on a bunt to pitcher and once when Pat Tyson, a slow runner, tried to stretch his single into a double and was caught ten feet from second. Neither of the second team’s pitchers showed anything that day but willingness. Frost, a left-hander, went well for one inning and then became wild, allowing four hits, passing one man and landing the sphere against Cobham’s ribs. Purdy, who took over the job with two on bases, retired the side without further damage, but Billy only possessed a couple of good curves and a slow ball and after the first team batters got acquainted with him in the fourth inning he was hit hard. Tusks tried out most of his talent before the fifth inning was over, and both Clif and Tom saw service. Tom played second base for half an inning and Clif center field. Tom made a good stop of a hard bounder and then fumbled it long enough to let the runner reach first safely. Clif had no chances. Neither of the two reached the plate with a bat. Afterwards, in the gymnasium, Mr. Wadleigh astounded all hands by smilingly remarking that although they needed practice they had the making of a fine team. At first they suspected him of bitter sarcasm, but later they agreed that he had meant just what he had said, and they hoped hard that he was right! CHAPTER VI PSYCHOLOGY