Page:Baseball Joe on the School Nine.djvu/17

 it wise to say so, for Hiram had mean ways about him, and none of the pupils at Excelsior Hall cared to rouse his anger unnecessarily.

"Well, I guess we've all had our turns," spoke George Bland, after Hiram had thrown a few more balls so carelessly as to miss the barrel entirely.

"I haven't," piped up Tommy Burton, one of the youngest lads. "Hiram took my snowballs."

"Aw, what of it, kid?" sneered the bully. "There's lots more snow. Make yourself another set and see what you can do."

But Tommy was bashful, and the attention he had thus drawn upon himself made him blush. He was a timid lad and he shrank away now, evidently fearing Shell.

"Never mind," spoke Peaches kindly, "we'll have another contest soon and you can be in it."

"Let's see who can throw the farthest," suggested Hiram. His great strength gave him a decided advantage in this, as he very well knew.

The other boys also knew this, but did not like to refuse to enter the lists with him, so the long-distance throwing was started. Hiram did throw hard and far, but he met his match in Joe Matson, and the bully evidently did not like it. He sneered