Again the crowd went wild. “What’s his name? He’s a wonder. Where did he learn to play first base?” and such expressions were heard on all sides as he walked to the bench. After that it was easy. The team simply had the confidence, more of it than they ever had before. Armour on the other hand was now nervous. Miner didn’t let them have another hit and the Lowell boys pounded out five more runs, so that the final score stood 9 to 4 in favor of the champions. [Illustration: “Again the crowd went wild.”] After the game Hal’s team mates crowded around him. They were wild with joy. In the dressing room they kept on cheering him. “Had a first baseman all the time,” said Hughie, “and didn’t notice it.” “Told him the first day I saw him he would make a first baseman,” said Honus, “made a pretty good guess, didn’t I, Hal?” “I guess it was an accident,” said Hal, at the same time knowing that he had found his place. “Accident nothing,” chimed in Robb and Everson in chorus. Just then in walked good old Fred Penny. They were busy for a few seconds shaking hands with the old boy. Penny had come over to the game with a lot of other old Lowell graduates. “I want to see Case,” said Penny. “I want to ask him where he learned to play first base.” Then when they introduced him to Hal, he said: “I’d just like to have been the office boy for about six months around the place where they teach that kind of baseball.” “Well,” said Hal, “I suppose after this, I’ll have to give up the pitching business. I’m willing to tackle this first-base job on one condition, Penny, and that is that you come down to Lowell for a week and teach me a little of what you know about playing that position.” “That’s a go,” said Penny. “I feel like getting into practice myself to get a little of the stiffness out of my arms and legs.” That evening they all went to the theater as the guests of the Armour boys, and after the show took the sleeper at midnight for home. Hal and Hans therefore didn’t get a chance to see much of the city, not as much as they would have liked to. When they got home next morning before breakfast the whole student body was down to meet them. Tim Murnin hadn’t let any grass grow under his feet in getting the news back to college. His story had appeared in an extra issue of the _Lowell Reporter_, the college paper, and they all knew about Hal’s performance. They had plenty of cheers for the team in general, but for the moment at least Hal was the only Great One, and he took his honors as modestly as he could. CHAPTER XIII HANS TAKES A TRIP