ONE TO NOTHING.
“But we gave ’em an awful fright,” laughed Ready, his apple cheeks
glowing.
“I was a fool to try to make third on that!” growled Hodge. “Somebody
ought to shoot me!”
“It is taking chances that win games,” said Merry. “If you had
reached that bag, we’d all have thought it clever work.”
Frank went into the box again. His arm was feeling bad, but he wished
to pitch as much of the game as possible, and he had no thought of
giving up for some time.
“Everybody hit him before,” said Dorrity. “Let’s make ’em good this
time.”
Hanson was the first man up, and he was breathing heavily. Frank
gave him no time to rest, but sent one straight over. Hanson hit it
and sent it sailing out for a short hit over the infield. Every one
thought it was a hit.
Dick Merriwell raced back after the ball, looking over his shoulder
to see it coming down. As it dropped, he jumped forward, caught it
with his right hand, dropped it, but caught it with his left before
it could fall to the ground.
As the boy turned, with the ball in his hands, the crowd rose up and
gave him a cheer.
“Did you ever see anything like that?” roared the man with the hoarse
voice.
“Never in my life!” shrieked one with a shrill voice.
“Kid, you’re all right!” came from various quarters.
“Who is that boy?” was the question that passed from lip to lip.
At length somebody found out the truth, and then men and women were
saying:
“Why, he’s Frank Merriwell’s brother! No wonder he can play ball!”
But Dick paid no attention to the crowd. His mind was on the game and
nothing else.
“A base-hit spoiled!” muttered Hanson, as he came in to the bench.
“He tumbled into that! Couldn’t do it again in a thousand years!”
“Of course not,” agreed Dorrity.
Jack was the next man to step up to the plate. By a strange chance,
he hit a ball that was almost the exact duplicate of the one batted
by Hanson.
“He won’t get that!”
But Dick raced for the ball as fast as he could, and when it came
down he clutched it and held on, though he struck his toe against
something and fell headlong. The boy dropped on his stomach, holding
the ball clear of the ground with both hands.
“Batter is out!” announced the umpire.
The grand stand and bleachers rose up and roared and roared. Never
before on those grounds had two such sensational catches been made in
succession.
It was some time before the admiring crowd grew quiet, and then Jack
Ready was heard saying:
“It was nothing but an accident, my good people; but he has a way of
making those accidents just as regularly as he eats his meals.”
“Why, he’s a corker!” howled the man with the hoarse voice. “He’s the
best short-stop I ever saw.”
“Thanks, silver-throated sir,” said Ready, doffing his cap. “He is
too modest to speak for himself. I am a trifle shy, but not quite as
shy as he is.”
“What do you think of that?” growled Hazen, his red face redder than
usual.
“I don’t know how it happened,” said Derring.
Wescott joined them and he said:
“The boy is a wonder! There is no doubt about it. If he keeps on
he’ll be playing in one of the big leagues before he is out of his
teens.”
“But, of course, he can’t hit any,” said Derring.
“I don’t know whether he can or not. We’ll wait and see.”
Maloney was the next man, and Frank smilingly gave him one over the
heart of the plate. Maloney cracked it straight out to Gamp, who
gathered it in, and the Merries came trotting in to the bench.
“Talk about support!” laughed Merry. “Why, you’re all marvels to-day!”
“The tender youth killed two hits in that inning,” said Ready.
Old Joe simply grunted at Dick, saying:
“Much good! Do him some more.”
Frank came to bat first, and Batch resolved to strike Merry out.
This, however, was not an easy thing to do, and Frank found the ball
for a safe single past second.
“Now, we’re off!” cried Carson. “We have started the ball. We’ll keep
it up.”
Browning came up to strike. As he did so, Frank touched his cap
twice. Bruce opened and closed his fingers on the bat-handle twice,
and thus a signal passed between them, which meant that Merry would
try to steal second on the second ball pitched.
The first one was wide, and the umpire called it a ball. The next
was fairly over, but Bruce swung with the deliberate intention of
missing it and bewildering the catcher. He swung hard and reeled back
a little, dropping his bat.
Merry was streaking it to second, and the catcher was baffled so
that he could not get the throw away in time to catch him. This was
team-work, and it counted in giving Merry second.
Now Browning was ready to nail the ball, and he hit the very next one
pitched. The ball went past Batch like a streak and out over second.
Frank dusted to third and Ready sent him home.
The center-fielder had stopped the ball and thrown to second. The
baseman there whirled and drove the ball to the plate, but he was a
moment too late, and Frank had scored.
Browning took second on the throw to the plate.
“Now, we’re in the game!” cried Ready. “That’s the kind of work! Keep
it up!”
The crowd cheered and cheered.
Swiftwing was the next batter, and he drove the ball hard. It looked
like a hit, and Browning went for third. When it was too late, Ready
saw the ball would be caught. He tried to turn Bruce back, but
O’Grady got the ball and threw it to second, thus making a double
play.
Batch had a return of confidence when he saw Rattleton face him, and
he proceeded to strike Harry out in short order. But the Merries had
the lead.
Could they hold it?
Again Frank went into the box, and again his support was of the
finest order. He did not strike out a man, but the first three men up
went out in order, two flying to the outfield and one being thrown
out at first by Dick.
Dick was the first one to come to bat in the last of the third.
Batch thought the boy must be easy, and he put a swift one right over.
Dick met it, and the ball went out for a pretty single. On first,
Dick touched his cap once as Ready stood up to the plate. In return,
Ready opened and closed his hands once on the handle of the bat.
Then, when the first ball was pitched, Dick went down to second with
such speed that the spectators gasped. Hanson threw to stop the boy,
but Dick was there a long time in advance of the ball.
“Pretty stealing!” cried Ready.
“Ugh!” grunted Old Joe. “When Injun him steal, white man say bad
stealing. Heap different in baseball.”
Ready did his best to get a hit, but Batch struck him out.
Carson was anxious for a hit. In fact, he was too anxious. He swung
at two that would have been balls, and two strikes were called.
Getting a good lead, Dick stole third on the next pitched ball, while
Carson struck out.
Hodge was determined to bring the boy home. He picked out a pretty
one and hit it hard. The ball went on a line into the hands of
Dorrity, and Dick was left on third.
The spectators realized by this time that they were seeing a game of
baseball that was the genuine thing.
For the fourth time, Frank went into the box. He tried a drop to
start with, and Teller led off with a hit. That drop hurt Frank’s
wrist, and he decided that he could not use it any more.
Skew got a good one and dropped out a scratch hit that advanced
Teller to second. Then O’Grady came up and smashed a hot one at Dick.
The boy managed to handle it, but saw he could not get either Teller
or Skew, which led him to throw to first. O’Grady was out, but the
Stars had a man on second and third.
Hanson had fire in his eye when he came to the plate. He got a good
one and sent a long fly into right field. Teller held third till the
fly was caught. The instant it dropped into the hands of Carson he
scooted for home.
Carson threw to second, but Rattleton found it useless to throw home,
and Skew was too near third. The Stars had tied the score.
Two men were out, and Skew was on third. With Jack up, it seemed
possible that another run would come in, which would put the Stars in
the lead.
Had Frank been able to throw the double-shoot the scoring would have
stopped beyond a doubt; but his wrist was so bad that he could not
get the full effect of ordinary curves.
Merry was cautious, and Jack waited till three balls were called.
Then Frank put one right over, and the batter lifted it.
Swiftwing had a long run for the ball, but he made his legs fly, and
he took it as it came down. The inning was over, but the score was
tied--one to one.