In truth Chester was in bad humor. Having pulled on his sweater, he refused to accompany the rest of the team to the gymnasium when they retired there to bathe and change their clothes. He watched for his sister and her companions as they came down from the grand stand, and joined them. “Well, what do you think?” he asked, with a sneering smile on his face. “Wasn’t that a fine game?” “Oh, Chester, I am awfully sorry!” exclaimed June. “It was too bad!” “Well, I am not sorry. I am glad of it! If those fellows had supported me right through the game the way they started off we might have won in a walk.” “Just what I said,” agreed Zona. “I knew I was right about it!” Seeing the mood her brother was in, June said nothing to arouse him further. As they left the grounds they found Mrs. Arlington’s carriage, with a driver on the seat, waiting outside. “Come, girls,” said June; “there is room for all of us.” Doris, however, who was on the verge of shedding tears over the game, was anxious to get away by herself, and declared she meant to make a short cut to Lakeside Academy. “I will go with you,” said Zona. And they started off while Chester was helping his sister into the carriage. Arlington did not permit them to go far alone, for he hastened to overtake them, expressing his desire to accompany them. “We don’t need any one,” said Doris, immediately feeling sorry she had not accepted June’s invitation. “You can’t be sure about that,” said Chet. “You have to go through the woods, and there are tramps in this vicinity.” “I am glad you’re going along with us,” said Zona. “I told the girls you were not being supported. They couldn’t seem to see it that way, but I knew it.” “Oh! June doesn’t know much about baseball, anyway,” said Chet. “She couldn’t tell whether I was getting proper support or not. But I think even Miss Templeton will acknowledge that Merriwell wasn’t supported. Look how those two chumps ran into each other and lost that fly.” “That was too bad,” confessed Doris, in a low tone. “I think Dick would have saved the game but for that.” Arlington laughed. “Why didn’t he leave me in the box?” he cried. “It would have been just as well, and it might have been better. I could have stopped that streak just as well as he did. After putting me in to pitch this kind of a game, it was up to him to let me finish it.” “Did he ask you to pitch?” inquired Doris. “Of course he did! I didn’t want to pitch that game. I knew what I was going against. He didn’t want to pitch it, either, and that’s why he put me in.” “You can’t mean that he was afraid to pitch this game?” Chet shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what you call it. If he wasn’t afraid, why didn’t he pitch it? He’s ready enough to pitch a game he thinks he can win.” “Now, that’s just what I said,” cried Zona. “I thought it strange he should put you in to pitch such a game, when he thinks himself the greatest pitcher in the school.”