Still, as the game progressed and Maplewood held a fair lead, it seemed that the trickery and ruffianism at the beginning had accomplished Hammerswell’s dishonest design. In the eighth inning, however, by a bunching of hits, the islanders drew close to Maplewood. When they were retired they were only one score behind the home team, Maplewood having made seven runs and Fairhaven six. Cole seemed to rise to the occasion. Again his pitching was of the highest order, and not a Maplewood man reached first. In the first of the ninth inning Fairhaven succeeded in getting one man round the bases and tying the score. It was necessary to play an extra inning, and the tenth opened amid the greatest excitement on the part of the witnesses. Fairhaven didn’t score in her half. After striking out two men, Cole put a swift one over and it was driven to the fence. It looked like a home run, but by an amazing throw Jolliby caught the runner at the plate, and the tenth ended with the score still tied. Then Dick called his players close around him for an instant and tried to fill them with his own indomitable spirit. The result was electrifying. Batter after batter fell on Raymer’s curves, and before the hitting terminated and Fairhaven was retired three runs had been secured. As Jack Cole entered the box Dick paused before him a moment, placing both hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes, and said: “Now is your opportunity to prove what you can do. You won’t fail. This is your day, Cole, and you’re a winner.” Somehow those words filled Cole with confidence he had never felt before. Although he was not aware of it, he had deserved a little of Dick Merriwell’s praise. Again his pitching was marvelous. The best hitters of the opposing team went down before him in order, and as he struck out the third man, Brick McLane and the stonecutters who accompanied him gave a yell that might have been heard a mile away. Trickery and ruffianism had met well-merited defeat. Hammerswell’s behavior had won him nothing but the scorn and contempt of all honest persons who knew him. After the game it was learned that Fairhaven was tied with Rockford for first place in the Trolley League. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVI THE RETURN OF GRIMES. The night was still and muggy. It was the night of the day scheduled for the first Maplewood-Fairhaven game, but because of the fog the Maplewood team had been unable to reach the island. Long after most of the guests at the Maple Heights Hotel had retired, a solitary man paced up and down on the lawn in front of the building. There was no moon, and the stars, which occasionally peeped through openings in the hazy clouds, gave forth a faint nebulous light by which objects near at hand could be seen only with indistinctness.