noon
Again and again and again he pitched the last ball , to feel his heart stop beating , to see the big captain lunge at the ball , to watch it line and rise and soar . But gradually exhaustion subdued his mental strife , and he wandered in mind and drifted into sleep . When he woke it was with a cold , unhappy shrinking from the day . His clock told the noon hour ; he had slept long . Outside the June sunlight turned the maple leaves to gold . Was it possible , Ken wondered dully , for the sun ever to shine again ? Then Scotty came bustling in .