AN ANGRY MOB.
The ball went out to Swiftwing, who was compelled to run hard, coming
straight in. It seemed that the ball would strike the ground before
the redskin could get his hands on it, but John sprinted hard and
made a forward dive as he ran.
The ball struck in the hands of the fielder when it was not over six
inches from the ground. Swiftwing held it.
Teller and Skew were racing round the bases, having been coached to
go along. Teller had reached third and was going home, while Skew had
passed over to second.
Instead of trying to head off Skew by throwing to third, Swiftwing
threw to second. Rattleton took the throw, while Skew reached third.
Then Rattleton threw to first.
Frank called the umpire and asked him to announce the batter and two
runners ahead of him out.
“What’s the matter with you?” demanded the umpire, as if greatly
amazed. “There is nobody out.”
“What?” exclaimed Merry, astounded. “Why, the three men are out, and
you know it!”
“Tell me how?”
“O’Grady is out on Swiftwing’s catch of his long drive, and the other
men are out for having been caught off their bases on a ball that was
caught before it touched the ground.”
“Look here!” cried the umpire, “whom do you take me for? I know
something about this game, and I have a good pair of eyes. Your
Indian didn’t catch that ball.”
“He didn’t?”
“No!”
“Why not?”
“Because he picked it up just after it struck the ground. I saw him
do it.”
The words of the umpire caused great excitement on Merriwell’s team;
but the players kept away and let Frank settle the matter, having
been taught to do so.
The crowd had quieted down enough to hear something of what was being
said, and great surprise was manifested by the decision.
“It’s an outrage!” exclaimed more than one.
The spectators were angry. A short time before they had been roaring
and “rooting” for the home team, but the rank work of the umpire had
turned all their sympathy to Merriwell’s team.
“That man is out on first!” shouted an excited spectator, as he stood
up and made furious gestures.
“He’s out! he’s out!”
“Both of those runners are out!” yelled another man. “They ran on a
fly ball that was caught. Come in, Merriwell!”
Then the crowd began to yell:
“Out! out! out!”
“Play ball!” snarled the umpire. “I have given my decision!”
“But you’ll have to change it,” asserted Frank.
“Never!”
“You know you are wrong, and everybody in that crowd knows it. You
have turned the crowd against you by your work.”
“You shut up and play ball!” came savagely from the umpire. “If you
don’t, I’ll declare the game forfeited.”
“Go ahead and declare it,” said Merry. “You cannot drive us that way.”
“Will you play ball, or not?”
“Put that umpire out!” roared the crowd. “He’s robbing you,
Merriwell!”
“Hear that,” said Frank. “You can see what is thought of your work.”
“I don’t care!”
“Then your decision stands?”
“It does.”
“Come in, boys!” cried Merry. “We go to bat or leave the field.”
He made a gesture, and every man came trotting in from the field.
“Hooray!” cried the crowd. “That’s the talk! That’s right! that’s
right!”
Then they cheered loudly.
The captain of the Stars ran out to the umpire, but Frank gave that
individual no further attention. When the shouting lulled, the umpire
loudly cried:
“I will give Merriwell just one minute to put his men back on the
field. If he does not do it in that time I shall declare the game in
favor of the Omaha Stars.”
“You’re a thundering big stiff!” bellowed a man on the bleachers.
“He’s a robber--that’s what he is!” cried another man shrilly.
“Robber! robber! robber!” shrilled a lot of small boys.
“I propose we give him what he deserves!” came from the man with the
hoarse voice. “Come on!”
Over the rail he leaped, and then there was an upheaval of the angry
multitude, men following the leader like a flock of sheep. On to the
diamond rushed a mad mob that quickly surrounded the umpire.
Now, that umpire had not expected anything of the sort and he was
frightened, for he saw he was in danger of rough treatment. He could
not get away, and heavy hands were placed upon him.
“Thump him!”
“Kick him!”
“Tar and feather him!”
“Black his eyes!”
“Soak him!”
The man was in danger of being treated roughly.
Into that angry mob plunged Frank Merriwell, flung men aside, and
forced his way to the side of the cheating umpire.
“Stop!” rang out Frank’s clear voice, as he faced the furious mob.
“This is what kills baseball!”
“An umpire like that kills it!”
“Kill the umpire!”
“He ought to be lynched!”
“Perhaps he ought to be lynched,” said Merry; “but we didn’t come
here to take part in this kind of a game, and I don’t believe Mr.
Dorrity, captain of the Stars, wants to steal this game from us. We
play honest baseball, or not at all. All we ask of anybody is what we
deserve.”
“You’re not getting it from this whelp!”
“I know we are not, but I don’t want this game to end in a riot, and
you shall not mob the umpire.”
“Let’s do it, anyhow! He deserves it!” came from one man.
Frank’s team had been forcing its way to Merry’s side, and now, at
a sign, they closed round him and infolded the treacherous umpire.
“We are not anxious enough for this game to have it go out that the
umpire was mobbed,” said Merry. “We shall protect him.”
“Well, what do you think of that?” exclaimed the hoarse-voiced man.
“This Merriwell takes the cake!” said another man. “Instead of
protecting that cheat, I’d hit him over the head with a club, if I
were Merriwell!”
“The roaster ought to be soaked with a bat!”
“Are you going to let him rob you of the game, Merriwell?”
“I don’t think Mr. Dorrity will do that,” said Frank.
Dorrity had been trying to reach the umpire, and he finally succeeded.
“You’ll have to change that decision, Derring,” he said. “The crowd
won’t stand for it.”
“I gave it just as I saw it,” said Derring. “I can’t change it.”
“Then we’ll have to put in another umpire.”
“You have no right to put me out. An umpire is in for a game.”
“Not if he’s a barefaced robber!” cried somebody. “Put him out!”
“Put him out! put him out!” roared the crowd.
“Where is Chop Morrisy?” cried the captain of the Stars.
“Here,” answered a voice.
“Morrisy, we’ll have to ask you to finish umpiring this game. Won’t
you do it for us?”
“I’d rather not.”
“But you will?”
Morrisy hesitated, but finally consented.
“Get out, Derring!” cried the crowd. “Go off and die! Go bag your
head!”
Derring was fierce, and he snarled:
“I declare the game forfeited to the Omaha Stars by a score of nine
to nothing!”
“And we refuse to accept the forfeit,” said Dorrity promptly. “You
are no longer umpire, so you cannot declare it.”
“Off the field with him, boys,” said Frank.
Packed close about Derring, Merry’s men pushed through the mob and
hustled the cheating rascal off to the bleachers. As he climbed over
the rail the mob howled in derision at him.
Then the field was cleared, and Dorrity announced that the game would
go on.