“Why don’t you let Sloan go to second,” he asked, “and put Whiteback at third? You want a good man on second.” “That might do,” answered Joe, “if Sloan can play second. Ever try it, Sloan?” “I’ve played second a little,” Wayne answered. “I’ll be glad to try it again if you like.” “Sure,” agreed Hoffman, swinging his mask, “that’s the best way out of it. Beat it down there, Sloan, and I’ll slip you a few throws. You and Vic ought to work together finely.” “All right,” said Captain Taylor, “we’ll try it that way. Billy White, you take third, will you? It’s just like Tad to fall down a shaft right in the middle of the season,” he ended grumblingly. “Yes,” said Jim drily, “he never did have any consideration for folks. Thoughtless, I call him.” Joe grinned. “Oh, well, I suppose he didn’t mean to do it,” he answered. “I must drop around this evening and see how he is. All right, fellows! Let’s get at it!” So that is how Wayne became a second instead of a third baseman. After two or three days in the position he decided, and all who watched him in action decided, that second was where he belonged. He took throws from the plate nicely and developed an almost uncanny ability to outguess the base-runner, and the way he blocked him off was good to see. He had to guard against over-throwing to first for a while, for the distance was strange, but it didn’t take him long to learn to snap instead of speeding them to Wheelock. The best thing of all, however, was the way in which he and Vic Despaigne fitted into each other. As Gas Hoffman had predicted, they worked together nicely and double plays began to be so frequent as to scarcely merit remark. At third, White got along very well, although he was scarcely as dependable as Wayne had been. He got better as the season progressed, however, and by the first of July the Chenango infield was about as good as they make them for amateur teams. Up to that time the club had played seven games, of which it had won three, lost three, and tied one. The Fourth of July contest was with the Toonalta A. A., and, since Toonalta had beaten Joe’s charges the year before and the year before that, Chenango was very anxious to score a victory. The game was to be played at Medfield, a fact calculated to favour the home team, and Joe and most of the others were quite hopeful. But Joe didn’t allow that to keep him from putting the nine through some very strenuous practice during the week preceding the contest. CHAPTER XII MEDFIELD CELEBRATES