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218 might dirty his hands or make them callous. When he ran his motor boat he always wore gloves.

"It's an awful shame they put Gus Plum on the nine," said Nat Poole to Merwell. "You ought to have that position—you can cover first base better than he can."

"I know it—but it's all the work of Porter, Lawrence, and that crowd," growled Link Merwell. "As long as Plum will only toady to them they are willing to do anything for him. It makes me sick." And he began to puff away vigorously on a cigarette he was smoking.

"Well, maybe, if they play Rockville or some other club, they'll lose," said Poole. "Then they'll be sorry they didn't put on some better players."

The baseball club soon got more challenges than they had expected. One came from Rockville Military Academy, for a series of three games, to be played during June, and two others from clubs belonging to Oakdale. The latter were for single games, and, after some consultation, all of the challenges were accepted.

The games with the Oakdale clubs were played on the outskirts of the town, where a field had been inclosed and a grand stand erected. The first was with an aggregation known as the Comets, and resulted in a tie—8 to 8.