Page:Baseball Joe on the School Nine.djvu/65

 of the Star games. Get over there and sting some in to me. Wait until I get my glove on," and he adjusted his mitt.

"Jove! This is like old times!" exclaimed Joe, as he lovingly fingered the horsehide—dirty and stained as it was from many a clouting and drive into the tall grass and daisies. "I wish we could go and see a game, even if we couldn't play."

"Same here," came from Tom, as he crouched to receive the ball his chum was about to deliver. Joe wound up and sent in a "hot" one. It landed squarely in Tom's glove for the first-baseman (a position he sometimes had played on the Stars) was not a half bad catcher.

"How was that?" asked Joe.

"Pretty good. Not quite over the plate, but you can get 'em there. Let 'em come about so," and Tom indicated a stone that would serve for home.

"Watch this," requested Joe as he wound up again and let drive.

"A beaut!" cried Tom. "Give me some more that way, and you'll have the man out."

"Say, what are you fellows doing?" demanded a voice, and the two chums looked up to see Hiram Shell gazing at them with mingled expressions on his fleshy face.