[Illustration: CRACK! CAME A REPORT THAT SOUNDED OVER THE WHOLE FIELD.] THE CRIMSON BANNER A Story of College Baseball BY WILLIAM D. MOFFAT Author of “A Schoolboy’s Honor,” “The County Pennant,” “Dirkman’s Luck,” etc. _ILLUSTRATED_ THE GOLDSMITH PUBLISHING CO. CLEVELAND MADE IN U. S. A. Copyright, 1907, by CHATTERTON-PECK COMPANY PRESS OF THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. CLEVELAND CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. A SINGULAR LETTER 9 II. SHALL WE JOIN THE LEAGUE? 17 III. THE NEW PRESIDENT 26 IV. LEN HOWARD AGAIN 34 V. UNEXPECTED NEWS 42 VI. AN INTERCEPTED LETTER 52 VII. OPEN ENEMIES 63 VIII. CHOOSING THE NINE 70 IX. A COUNCIL OF WAR 80 X. A NIGHT EXPEDITION 88 XI. A STARTLING DÉNOUEMENT 93 XII. A PRISONER 105 XIII. BEFORE THE FACULTY 112 XIV. THE PENALTY 121 XV. A VISIT TO PROFESSOR FULLER 130 XVI. SERVING OUR TERM 140 XVII. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR 148 XVIII. THE FIRST GAME 160 XIX. FRED HARRISON 170 XX. CAUGHT IN THE ACT 177 XXI. A TERRIBLE CONFESSION 183 XXII. AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND 194 XXIII. RENEWED HOPES 203 XXIV. A TURN OF LUCK 211 XXV. THE SECOND GAME 220 XXVI. GENEROUS HOSTS 231 XXVII. OUR RECEPTION AT BERKELEY 239 XXVIII. THE THIRD GAME 246 XXIX. THE RETURN TO BELMONT 256 XXX. BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL 262 XXXI. GOOD NEWS 268 XXXII. THE FINAL GAME 277 THE CRIMSON BANNER CHAPTER I A SINGULAR LETTER One pleasant evening during the first week in April I left my room in Colver Hall, and started across the campus of Belmont College toward the main street of the town. As I approached the gateway at the entrance to the grounds, I noticed several of the boys sitting upon and around the two large cannons that stood on either side of the gateway, mounted upon their old fashioned iron carriages.