the dozen treated him, if not as an equal, at least as one who had a right to be alive and move about upon the same earth with them. the kingston basket-ball team played many games, and grew in speed and team-play till they were looked upon as a terror by the rest of the interscholastic league. finally, indeed, they landed the championship of the various basket-ball teams of the academies. but just before they played their last triumphant game in the league, and when they were feeling their oats and acting as rambunctious and as bumptious as a crowd of almost undefeated boys sometimes chooses to be, they received a challenge that caused them to laugh long and loud. at first it looked like a huge joke for the high-and-mighty kingston basket-ball team to be challenged by a team from the palatine deaf-and-dumb institute; then it began to look like an insult, and they were angry at such treatment of such great men as they admitted themselves to be. it occurred to sawed-off, however, that before they sent back an indignant refusal to play, they might as well look up the record of the deaf-and-dumb basket-ball men. after a little investigation, to their surprise, they found that these men were astoundingly clever players, and had won game after game from the best teams. so they accepted the challenge in lordly manner, and in due time the palatiners appeared upon the floor of the kingston gymnasium. a large audience had gathered and was seated in the gallery where the running-track ran. among the spectators was that girl to whom both reddy and heady were devoted, the girl who could not decide between them, she liked both of them so immensely, especially as she herself was the champion basket-ball player among the girls at her seminary. each of the twins resolved that he would not only outdo all the rest of the players upon the gymnasium floor, but also his bitter rival, his brother. there was something uncanny, at first, in the playing of the palatines, all of whom were deaf-mutes, except the captain, who was neither deaf nor dumb, but understood and talked the sign language. the game opened with the usual face-off. the referee called the two centers to the middle of the floor, and then tossed the ball high in the air between them. they leaped as far as they could; but sawed-offs enormous height carried him far beyond the other man, and, giving the ball a smart slap, he sent it directly into the clutch of reddy, who had run on and was waiting to receive it half over his shoulder. finding himself covered by the opposing forward, he passed the ball quickly under the other mans arm across to heady, who had run down the other side of the floor. heady received the ball without obstruction, and by a quick overhead fling landed it in the high basket, and scored the first point, while applause and wonderment were loud in the gallery. the kingstonians played like one manif you can imagine one man with twenty arms and legs. sawed-off made such high leaps, and covered so well, and sent the ball so well through the forwards, and supported them so well; the twin forwards dodged and ran and passed and dribbled the ball with such dash; and the guards were so alert in the protection of their goal and in obstructing the throwing of the other forwards, that three goals and the score of six were rolled up in an amazingly short time. sawed-off was in so many places at once, and kept all four limbs going so violently, that the spectators began to cheer him on as granddaddy longlegs. a loud laugh was raised on one occasion, when the palatine captain got the ball, and, holding it high in the air to make a try for goal from the field, found himself covered by the towering sawed-off; he curved the ball downward, where one of the twins leaped for it in front; then he wriggled and writhed with it till it was between his legs. but there the other twin was, and with a quick, wringing clutch that nearly tied the opposing captain into a bow-knot, he had the ball away from him. at the end of the three goals the kingstonians began to whisper to themselves that they had what they were pleased to call a cinch; they alluded to the palatines as easy fruit, and began to make a number of fresh and grand-stand plays. the inevitable and proper result of this funny business was that they began to grow careless. the deaf-mutes, unusually alert in other ways on account of the loss of hearing and speech, were quick to see the opportunity, and to play with unexpected carefulness and dash. the swelled heads of the kingstonians were reduced to normal size when the palatines quickly scored two goals. it began to look as if they would add a third score when the desperate reddy, seeing one of the palatine forwards about to make a try for goal, made a leaping tackle that destroyed the mans aim and almost upset him. reddy was just secretly congratulating himself upon his breach of etiquette when the shrill whistle of the referee brought dismay to his heart. his act was declared a foul, and the palatines were given a free throw. their left-forward was allowed to take his stand fifteen feet from the basket and have an unobstructed try at it. the throw was successful, and the score now stood 6 to 5 in favor of kingston. the game went rapidly on, and at one stage the ball was declared held by the referee, and it was faced off well toward the palatine goal. sawed-off made a particularly high leap in the air and an unusually fierce whack at the ball. to his chagrin, it went up into the gallery and struck the girl to whom the twins were so devoted, smack upon her pretty snub nose. though the blow was hard enough to bring tears to her bright eyes, she smiled, and with a laugh and a blush picked up the ball and dropped it over the rail. the twins both made a dash to receive this gift from her pretty hands, and in consequence bumped into each other and fell apart. the ball which they had robbed each other of fell into the clutch of pretty, who made the girl a graceful bow that quite won her heart. pretty was, by the way, always cutting the other fellows out. this was the only grudge they ever had against him. the twins were now more rattled than ever; and heady determined to do or die. he saw one of the palatines running forward and looking backward to receive the ball on a long pass, and he gave him a vicious body-check. he knew it was a foul at the time, but he thought the referee was not looking. his punishment was fittingly double, for not only did the referee see and declare the foul, but the big palatine came with such impetus that he knocked heady galley-west. heady went scraping along a row of single sticks and wooden dumb-bells, making a noise like the rattle of a board along a picket fence. then he tumbled in a heap, with the palatine man on top of him. as the palatine man got up, he dislodged a number of indian clubs, which fairly pelted the prostrate heady. this foul gave the palatines another free throw, and made the score a tie. xiii the twins were now so angry and ashamed of themselves that they played worse than ever. everything seemed to go wrong with them. their passes were blocked; their tries for goal failed; the palatines would not even help them out with a foul