Frank Armstrong, Drop Kicker

by Matthew M. Colton

  CHAPTER XXIII.

  END OF GAMMA TAU.

  The next morning the School was startled by the announcement thatDixon, Bronson and Whitlock were not to be found. During the night,either separately or together, they had packed their suit-cases anddeparted, leaving instructions for the forwarding of the remainder oftheir goods. Murphy, the night operator, reported later that they hadbeen seen boarding the early morning train for Milton. Dixon, alone,left word behind him. The note was directed to the manager of theQueen's Baseball Association and contained his resignation as captainof the nine.

  "It was just as well he went," said Jimmy, when he heard the news,"or there would have been the biggest scrap on that this School eversaw. After what he did to Frank last night, he was going to get theworst licking that a kid ever got," and Jimmy flexed his arms andclenched his fists.

  "I think I'd have taken a hand at him, myself!" said Frank.

  "Me, too," said the Codfish. "If ever I'd have laid this on him,"indicating his right fist, "he would go home in an ambulance."

  "Or you would have, eh, scrappy old Codfish?" said Lewis. "I don'tknow but I'd have had a shy at him, myself."

  Dixon's departure cleared the atmosphere of the School at once. Youmay be sure that no time was lost in carrying Bronson's confession toDoctor Hobart, and that stern old man, quick to repair the wrong hehad done to Jimmy and Frank, called them to his office.

  "Young gentlemen," he said, "I have an apology to make to you. I seeI was wrong and I am glad that I was wrong. You are reinstated inall the privileges of the School. I hope you will pardon an old manfor leaning too strongly on circumstantial evidence, furthered byuntruthful testimony."

  It was a joyful crowd that met that afternoon on the diamond. Byunanimous consent of the School nine, Frank Armstrong was electedacting-captain to fill out the remainder of the term, and whenpractice began every boy who could get there was on the bleachersto watch. Jimmy took his place behind the bat and caught and threwwith his old-time ability. Frank pitched wonderful ball and threw thespectators into an enthusiasm of cheering when he struck out batsmanafter batsman of the Second nine as they faced him.

  After the Chapel exercises next morning, Dr. Hobart announced to thewhole School there assembled, that he had visited the punishmentfor the misdoings in the bell tower upon the wrong boys, and thenpublicly expressed his sorrow that he had made a mistake. "The realperpetrators, with one exception," he added, "have left School, andthat one exception has not yet been dealt with. I have further to saythat the Society of Gamma Tau, which has been responsible for thisand other disturbances, is from this day forth abolished and any boyin the future, either offering an election to or accepting one fromthis Society, should any attempt be made to carry it on in secret,will be summarily dismissed from Queen's School."

  To the surprise of every one, the abolition of Gamma Tau was nottaken seriously to heart by the School. Its domination had for someyears become irksome, and even the members of it, with the exceptionof a few of its leaders, among whom was Howard Hotchkiss, admittedthat it was a good thing for the School to have it done away with.

  Whether the killing of the Society by Dr. Hobart's edict had anythingto do with it or not, or whether it was the snap that Frank and Jimmyput into the team, none could say, but it was certain that for onecause or another the School rallied around the nine like one man.From a disorganized body the nine was brought into playing form inremarkably short time, and in the last of the preliminary games ofthe season won over the strong Butler Academy by six runs to one.

  Jimmy and Frank worked like Trojans, in these last days of the term,to get the team into shape for the Warwick game. And the Schoolwas back of them. By presence and by voice every one helped at thepractice. Finally, at the end of examinations, the day of the greatcontest came around. Warwick, with a nine strong and experienced,came down to Queen's confident of wiping out the stain of defeat ofthe previous June. Robinson, the left tackle of the Warwick eleven,was captain of the nine and played first base. He had heard, as hadevery one in Warwick, of the resignation of Dixon as captain and theincident helped to further their belief that Queen's would be, as hesaid, "easy picking." Down with the Warwick team came a great crowdof heelers to see the "funeral," as one of them expressed it.

  The "funeral" did not come to pass in just the way that Warwick hadexpected. For three innings it was nip and tuck between the two nineswithout a run being scored on either side. Frank was in great form,and, while he used few curves, he was able to put the ball exactlywhere Jimmy wanted it; and between the two of them they had theWarwick batters swinging wildly at balls which they could not hit.

  In the fifth inning, through a hit and an error by the Queen's rightfielder, Warwick scored a run, and in the sixth added two more. Thiswas the signal for great yelling in the Warwick sections of thestand, but Queen's came back with two earned runs in the seventh.Jimmy's two-base hit started the trouble.

  Frank's great pitching, when the bases were full with only one out,cut Warwick out of what looked like a certain score in the eighthinning, but the Queen's batters could do nothing against Warwick inthis inning. The game came to the ninth without further runs, andQueen's still one behind. Warwick tried desperately to get a runneracross, and with their fastest man on third, when hits were notforthcoming, tried to work the squeeze play. Frank and Jimmy nippedthe runner neatly at the plate. Opinions were freely expressed thatQueen's would not score, but when Taylor, the Queen's first baseman,came up and singled, the Queen's heelers let loose a howl of joy.Their glee was cut short when Taylor, in trying to steal second, wasthrown out.

  With one gone, Frank came to the bat.

  "You are due for a hit," said Jimmy, as he left the bench. "Get onand I'll bring you in."

  Frank clenched his bat and faced the Warwick pitcher withdetermination in his eye. Up to the present time he had done nothingin the way of hitting, and the Warwick pitcher held him rathercheaply. Twice he sent the ball across the plate for strikes, andtwice the ball went wide.

  "Give him a good one," howled a Warwick boy; "let him hit it if hecan. He couldn't hit a barn!"

  Straight over the plate came the next ball, and Frank met it with ashort powerful swing. Away flew the ball over the third baseman'shead, struck the ground in short left field, and, with a spin onit, rolled on and on over the close-cropped grass. The left fielderchased it desperately, but before he got his hands on it, Frank hadturned second. The left fielder slammed it straight and hard, andFrank dived for the last fifteen feet, beating the ball to third onlyby inches. As he stood on the bag and dusted himself with his cap,Jimmy sauntered easily to the plate.

  "Come on," said Jimmy to the Warwick pitcher, when the yelling haddied down; "come on, and I'll do it again just like that," and hegrinned at the worried boy in the box. The ball flew wide.

  "Don't lose your nerve," taunted Jimmy; "put it over."

  Again the Warwickian tied himself up into a knot and again flew theball. It was to Jimmy's liking. He swung a full swing with all theforce of his sturdy young body behind it, and, in the language ofthe diamond, hit it "right on the nose." Just what happened to thatball no one knows to this day. It rose on its long flight betweenthird and short stop, carried over the head of the left fielderlike a golf ball cleanly hit, struck far beyond him and rolled downamong the alder bushes which fringed the river. The fielder toreafter it, disappeared from view, and, after a minute or two, cameback holding up both hands. They were empty. But it would have madeno difference whether he had had the ball at that time or not, forJimmy had completed the circuit of the bases, and the bat boy waspicking up the scattered bats and mitts by Queen's bench. Queen's hadwon the game! It was a glorious finish to a season that had begunin anything but glory, and then and there, before the Queen's teamleft the bench, after a rousing cheer had been given for the defeatedWarwicks, Frank Armstrong was elected captain for the following year,while the Queen's stands yelled their approval.

  "It was worth all our trouble for
that last inning, wasn't it?" saidJimmy.

  And Frank, grinning happily, admitted that it was.

  The further doings of Frank Armstrong and his friends at Queen'sSchool will be told in the next volume of this series, entitled"FRANK ARMSTRONG, CAPTAIN OF THE NINE."

  THE END.

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  Transcriber's Notes:

  Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.

  pg. 231, "euphoneous" changed to "euphonious" (the euphonious name) pg. 261, "preceptibly" changed to "perceptibly" (stiffened perceptibly)