of the giant oak with the spreading branches.




CHAPTER VII

STRANGE FRUIT FOR A TREE TO BEAR



"Oh! girls, you just ought to have seen Fred Badger run with the ball
then! They all chased after him, but he dodged them like everything.
If the boys win that game from Marshall I'm sure Fred's going to have
a lot to do with it!"

Joel chuckled at hearing one girl say that, for he recognized the
voice of pretty little Mollie Skinner, on whom it was said the Fred
mentioned was rather sweet, since he always accompanied her to choir
meeting, and when they had a dance out in the country, she invariably
went with Fred. "Well, I don't know what Fred Badger has got over
Steve Mullane, or Jack Winters, or even Joel Jackman," said another
voice, rather cynically, as though the speaker did not wholly
subscribe to Mollie's view that Fred stood out as a shining mark above
the rest of the bunch of struggling players.

Joel chuckled again. It tickled him to be mentioned at all by one of
the fair watchers in the tree, even though with such a doubtful
compliment as "even Joel Jackman!" would imply.