TED TEALL FACES THE STORM

The game had gone into the third inning, with the Centrals retired from the bat and the Souths now in from the field.

In the second inning Greg, backed splendidly by Tom and Dick, had scored a run for his side—–­the only run listed as yet.

In this third inning, with South Grammar now at the bat, two men were out, and one on second when Ted Teall stepped to the plate.

“Put a real slam over on ’em, Ted!” shouted a South fan.

“Drive a ball over into Stayton and then fill up the score card while the Centrals are looking for it!” advised another Teall partisan.

“Centrals?” jeered another boy from the South.  Grammar.  “Centrals?  Show ’em they’re just plain hello-girls!”

Ted grinned broadly at this “hello-girls” nickname.  Just then another fan from the southern part of Gridley piped up: 

“Ted, eat ’em.  They’re only nine pieces of blue cheese!”

That was going too far, and it was time for Central Grammar to take notice effectively.

“Bang!” roared one half of the Central fans.

“Ow-ow-ow!” yelled the other half of the Central boosters, leaping up into the air.

Even Ted Teall had to laugh at this mortifying reminder of his terror when he had struck the torpedo ball.  The next instant his face went deep red, for everyone on the field appeared to be laughing and jeering at him.

“Confound Prescott and his tricks!” muttered Teall under his breath.  “It’ll take a lot of thinking for me to get even with that trick.”

Whizz-zz! went the ball by Ted’s body, just below shoulder-high.

“Strike one!” called the umpire sharply.

“Centrals will get me rattled with that bang-ow-ow! of theirs every time they spring it on me,” thought Ted savagely.

“Strike two!”

Again Ted had failed to realize that the ball was coming.  In his anger be wondered whether he’d rather throw his bat at the umpire or at smiling Dick Prescott.

“Strike three!” called the umpire’s steady voice.  “Side out.”

Then Ted, in sheer exasperation, did hurl his bat a score of feet away.

“Bang!” came in a volley of Central voices.

“Ow-ow-ow!” wailed the other half of Old Dut’s boys while the North Grammars joined in.

“Go it, you boobs!” muttered Ted, shaking his fist at the spectators.

“Hurrah!” cheered Spoff Henderson from the subs’ bench.  “We know how to stop Ted Teall’s mouth now!”

Teall happened to hear the remark.

“Oh, you fellows are a lot of boobies!” sputtered Ted wrathfully.

“Anyway,” Toby Ross leered back at him, “we’re not so young that we yell when we hit a ball by mistake.”

In the fourth and fifth innings the Central Grammars, though they booked some base hits, did not succeed in getting any runs through.  However, they succeeded in preventing Teall’s nine from scoring, which kept the score still at one to nothing.  In the first half of the sixth Harry Hazelton was brought home from third by a good one by Dan.  Then the side went out.  In this inning Teall again had a chance at bat.  Before batting he stalked over to where a lot of his schoolfellows were grouped and muttered: