Page:Baseball Joe on the School Nine.djvu/14

 "Oh, I'm not such a wonder," remarked our hero modestly, as he advanced to the line. In his hand he held three very hard and smooth snowballs, which he spent some time in making in anticipation of his turn to throw. "I haven't had much practice lately," he went on, "though I used to throw pretty straight when the baseball season was on."

Joe carefully measured with his eye the distance to the barrel. Then he swung his arm around a few times to "limber up."

"That fellow used to pitch on some nine, I'll wager," said Teeter in a whisper to Peaches.

"Yes, I heard something about him being a star on some small country team," was the retort. "But let's watch him."

Joe threw. The ball left his hand with tremendous speed and, an instant later, had struck the head of the barrel with a resounding "ping!"

"In the centre! In the centre!" yelled Peaches with enthusiasm as he capered about.

"A mighty good shot!" complimented Teeter, doing his particular toe stunt.

"Not exactly in the centre," admitted Joe. "Here goes for another."

Once more he threw, and again the snowball