The Rival Pitchers: A Story of College BaseballChadwick, Lester
General
The Rival Pitchers: A Story of College Baseball
Chadwick, Lester
Baseball stories; College sports -- Juvenile fiction
Several other freshmen who had been caught by the sophomores, but who
managed to escape, came straggling in, filled with excitement, and the
dinner was soon under way, with many a toast imbibed in cider, ginger
ale or water, to the confusion of the sophomores and the success of the
freshmen.
"We fooled 'em good and proper!" cried Sid, who had been elected
toastmaster. "We put 'em to rout, and now let us eat, drink and make a
big noise!"
Which they proceeded to do, undisturbed by any further attack of their
traditional enemies.
Tom's arm pained him so before the dinner was over that he whispered to
Phil that he was going to leave. The big center fielder agreed to
accompany Tom back to college, and without saying anything to the others
to break up the fun, they slipped quietly away. Dr. Marshall, of the
faculty, who was a physician as well as an instructor in physics and
chemistry, looked critically at Tom's arm when Phil insisted that his
chum get medical aid.
"You say you got that in a fall?" asked Dr. Marshall, examining Tom's
elbow, which was red and much swollen.
"In a sort of a fall--yes, sir."
"Humph! It was a queer fall that caused that," said the physician. "More
like a blow or a kick, I should say. You haven't been trying to ride a
horse, have you?"
"No, sir."
"Ha--hum!" ejaculated the doctor, but he asked no more questions, for
he had been a college lad in his day and he knew the ethics of such
matters. "You can't play ball for a couple of weeks," he went on, "and
you'll have to carry that arm in a sling part of the time."
"Can't I pitch on the scrub?" asked Tom in dismay.
"Not unless you want to have an operation later," replied Dr. Marshall
grimly.
Tom sighed, but said no more.
Healthy blood in healthy bodies has a marvelous way of recuperating
one from injuries, and in a little over a week Tom's arm was so much
improved that the doctor allowed him to dispense with the sling. In the
middle of the second week Tom started in on light practice at pitching,
his place meanwhile on the scrub having been filled by another player.
"Now go slow, young man," advised Dr. Marshall as Tom one day sought and
obtained permission to take part in a game against the 'varsity nine.
"You're only human, you know, but"--he added to himself as Tom hurried
away--"you're like a young colt. A fine physique! I wish I were young
again," and the good doctor sighed for the lost days of his youth.
In the meanwhile Tom had said nothing to Langridge. He reasoned it all
out--that the 'varsity pitcher might have been captured as he was, and,
in breaking loose, he might have mistaken Tom for one of the sophomores.
Nor did Tom communicate in any way his suspicions to his chums. He
knew if he began asking questions intended to disclose whether or not
Langridge had been among those captured some one would want to know his
object.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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