“Don’t let them shut us out!” he entreated. “It will be a disgrace!” “I thought so a while ago,” said Wolfers, in a low tone; “but it will be no disgrace to be whitewashed while batting against a fellow like that Merriwell. I didn’t think he could pitch at all. He’s the best man I ever saw toe the rubber! I’m going to tell him so after the game. Why, Lawrence, we’ve got a team of hitters. Every man is a sticker. Do you realize that we haven’t secured a single safe hit to-day?” “I realize it!” groaned Lawrence. Nor did they secure one. For Merry it was a “no-hit, no-run” game. Although he struck out but one man in the ninth, the other two batted easy bounders into the diamond and were thrown out at first. The game ended one to nothing in favor of the Merries. Bob Wolfers was the first to reach Frank and grasp his hand. “Boy, you’re all right!” he cried. “If I’ve said anything unpleasant, I apologize. You’re a gentleman, too! As a pitcher, you’ve got any youngster living skinned a mile!” The Elks remembered what had followed the first game, when the Merries were defeated, and they did not fail to cheer for the winners. “Sa-a-ay, Mr. Merriwell—sa-a-a-ay!” Frank looked round. Spud Bailey and a dozen other youngsters had managed to crowd as near him as possible. Freckles was with them, hanging back a little. “Dese are me frien’s,” said Spud, with a wave of his hand. “I tole ’em wot you could do, an’ now dey know it. Dey t’ink you’re de goods. Permit me ter introduce ’em.” “With pleasure,” smiled Frank. And he made every one of them—even Freckles—as proud as a peacock by shaking hands as they were presented by Spud. In after years they would boast of the day when they shook hands with Frank Merriwell, the greatest pitcher “wot ever was.” THE END A Merriwell book, full of thrilling drama, love and adventure will next be published by the MERRIWELL SERIES, No. 124—under the title of “Dick Merriwell’s Cleverness,” by Burt L. Standish. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected. ○ Unbalanced quotation marks were left as the author intended. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). End of Project Gutenberg's Frank Merriwell's Endurance, by Burt L. Standish