ball squad go by itself."

"All right, then," cried three or four. The fourteen of the squad
marched away, unhampered by any followers.

Once outside the town and halted under a grove of trees, Dick
turned to his teammates.

"Fellows," he said quietly, "I believe some of you have been anxious
to know what the man on the clubhouse steps said."

"It's coming, at last!" gasped Tom Reade. "Well, let us hear
what the man on the clubhouse steps said. It must be one of the
choice pieces of wisdom of all the ages."

"It is," Dick replied quietly.

"Then let us hear shouted Dave.

"Not now," Prescott answered, shaking his head solemnly. "But,
fellows, you win to-morrow's game and you shall all hear just
what the man on the clubhouse steps said."

"Win?" retorted Tom Reade. "Dick Prescott, with a bribe like
that before us, we're bound to win! We couldn't do anything else."

Then they went further into the woods. Dick had brought his players
here in search of peace, quiet and nerve rest. Had he had even
one prophetic glimpse of what was ahead of some of them that afternoon
it would have been far better to have remained in town.