"But the Bird boys won the prize of a silver cup!"

"What if they did? It was by a hair's breadth, Mr. Smarty!"

"And their monoplane was proven to be faster than the big biplane you
built, Puss Carberry!"

"Oh! was it? Don't you be too sure of that, Larry!"

"Didn't it land on the summit of Old Thunder Top ahead of you and Sandy,
in the race that afternoon? Tell me that!" and Larry Geohegan bristled
up to the recognized bully of Bloomsbury, while a dozen fellows
clustered around on the deck of the big power boat, listening eagerly to
this war of words.

They were on their way home from a very exciting game of baseball that
had been played at Cranford, across the lake. And after ten innings of
hot work the nine from Bloomsbury had won. But not until they had
changed pitchers, upon tying the score in the ninth, after coming up
from behind.

Puss and Larry both wore the uniform of the home players, and there were
others on the boat who also belonged to the team. In fact, the staunch
vessel had been placed at the disposal of the baseball club for this
day, by Commodore Elliott, the rich owner.

Larry had never been one of the adherents whom Puss could call upon to
back him up when he tried conclusions with a hostile faction; in fact,
Larry had always been an admirer of Frank Bird, who was recognized as