He thought they had bitterly resented his arrival, and they had; yet here was each one warmly praising his work. And in the next breath they were fighting among themselves. Truly these young men were puzzles to Chase. He gave up trying to understand them.

A loud uproar caused him to turn. The players were holding their sides with laughter, and Cas was doing a Highland fling in the middle of the floor. Mac looked rather white and sick. This struck Chase as remarkable after the decisive victory, and he asked the nearest player what was wrong.

"Oh! nuthin' much ! Mac only swallowed his cigar stub! " It was true, as could be plainly seen from Mac's expression. When the noise subsided he said:

"Shure, I did. Was it any wonder? Seein' this dead bunch come back to life was enough to make me swallow my umbrella. Boys," here a smile lighted up his smug face, "now we've got thet hole plugged at short the pennant is ours. We've got 'em skinned to a frazzle! "

Chapter VII.

MITTIE-MARU.

CHASE, you hung bells on 'em yes-tiddy."

Among the many greetings Chase received from the youngsters swarming out to the grounds to see their heroes whip Wheeling, this one struck him as most original and amusing. It was given him by Mittie-Maru, the diminutive hunchback who had constituted himself mascot of the team. Chase had heard of the boy, and had seen him on the day before but not to take any particular notice.

" Let me carry yer bat."

Chase looked down upon a sad and strange little figure. Mittie-Maru did not much exceed a yard in height; he was all misshapen and twisted, with a large head, which was set deep into the hump on his shoulders. He was only a boy, yet he had an almost useless body aid the face of an old man.

Chase hurriedly lifted his gaze, thinking with a pang of self-reproach how trifling was his crooked eye compared to the hideous deformity of this lad.

"Three straight from Wheelin' is all we want," went on Mittie-Maru.

"We'll skin the coal diggers all right, all right. An' we 'll be out in front trailin' a merry 'Ha ! Ha!' fer Columbus. They're leadin' now, an' of all the swelled bunches I ever seen! Put it to us fer three straight when they was here last. But we got a bad start. There I got sick an' couldn't report, an' somehow the team can't win without me. Yestiddy was my first day fer - I don't know how long,-since Columbus trimmed us."

" What was the matter with you?" asked Chase.

"Aw! Nuthin'. Jest didn't feel good," replied the boy. "But I got out yestiddy, an' see what you done to Kenton! Say, Chase, you takes mighty long steps. It ain't much wonder you can cover ground."

Chase modified his pace to suit that of his companion, and he wanted to take the bat, but Mittie-Maru carried it with such pride and conscious superiority over the envious small boys who trooped along with them that Chase could not bring himself to ask for it. As they entered the grounds and approached the door of the club-house Mac came out. He wore a troubled look.

"Howdy, Mittie ; howdy, Chase," he said, in a loud voice. Then as he hurried by he whispered close to Chase's ear, " Look out for yourself!"

This surprised Chase so that he hesitated. Mittie-Maru reached the dressing room first and turning to Chase he said; " Somethin' doin', all right, all right ! " This was soon manifest, for as Chase crossed the threshold a chorus of yells met him.

" Here he is - now say it to his face !"

" Salver! "

" Jollier ! "

"You mushy soft-soaper!"

Then terms of opprobrium fell about his ears so thickly that he could scarcely distinguish them. And he certainly could not understand why they were made. He went to his locker, opened it, took out his uniform, and began to undress. Mittie-Maru came and sat beside him.