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diff --git a/39020.txt b/39020.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a719edb --- /dev/null +++ b/39020.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5316 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bert Wilson's Fadeaway Ball, by J. W. Duffield + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Bert Wilson's Fadeaway Ball + +Author: J. W. Duffield + +Release Date: March 1, 2012 [EBook #39020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BERT WILSON'S FADEAWAY BALL *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Cummings, Rod Crawford and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + --A Table of Contents has been added by the transcriber for the + convenience of the reader; it was not present in the original. + + --Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. TOUCHING SECOND 1 + II. "MAKING THE TEAM" 16 + III. THE "INSIDE" GAME 33 + IV. THE TRIPLE PLAY 53 + V. WINNING HIS SPURS 65 + VI. THE FIRE 93 + VII. TAKING HIS MEDICINE 107 + VIII. SHOOTING THEM OVER 123 + IX. A GALLANT RESCUE 144 + X. A WILD RIDE 160 + XI. THE NINTH INNING 182 + + + + + BERT WILSON'S + Fadeaway Ball + + BY + + J. W. DUFFIELD + + AUTHOR OF "BERT WILSON AT THE WHEEL," + "BERT WILSON, MARATHON WINNER," + "BERT WILSON, WIRELESS OPERATOR." + + + + + Copyright, 1913, By + SULLY AND KLEINTEICH + + _All rights reserved._ + + Published and Printed, 1924, by + Western Printing & Lithographing Company + Racine, Wisconsin + Printed in U. S. A. + + + + +Bert Wilson's Fadeaway Ball + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TOUCHING SECOND + + +Crack!--and the ball soared into center field, while the batter, swift +as a flash, sped down to first. A tremendous roar went up from the +thirty thousand loyal "fans" who packed the grandstands and filled the +bleachers to overflowing. Staid citizens danced up and down like howling +dervishes, hats were tossed into the air or jovially crushed on their +owners' heads, and happy riot reigned everywhere. Pandemonium broke +loose. + +The fight for the pennant had been a bitter one all season. First one +team and then another had taken the lead, while the whole country had +been as excited as though the fate of an empire hung in the balance. +The third chief contender, fighting grimly to the last, had fallen +hopelessly behind, and the contest had narrowed down to a life-and-death +struggle between the Giants and the Cubs. The team from the Western city +had hung on doggedly and every battle had been fought "for blood." +Contesting every inch, they had at last drawn up on even terms with the +leaders, and to-day's game was to decide which club should be hailed as +champions of the National League and, later on, do battle with the +leaders of the American League for the proud title of Champions of the +World. + +The excitement was intense, and, to a foreigner, would have been +inconceivable. Men stood in line all the night before to make sure of +tickets when the gates should open in the morning. The newspapers +devoted columns of space to the gladiators of the opposing teams. +Delegations poured in on special trains from neighboring cities. The +surface cars and elevated trains, packed to the limit, rolled up to the +grounds and deposited their sweltering throngs. The lines of ticket +buyers extended for blocks, and the speculators did a rushing business. +Long before the hour set for the game to begin, the grounds were crowded +to suffocation, and thousands, unable to get in, were turned away from +the gates. + +The scene within was inspiring. A band played popular airs, while those +within hearing joined lustily in the chorus. The great field, gleaming +like green velvet beneath the afternoon sun, had been especially groomed +and rolled for this day of days. The base lines, freshly marked, stood +out in white and dazzling relief. All four sides of the huge enclosure +held their thousands of enthusiasts, and the host of special policemen +had their hands full to keep them from encroaching on the diamond. As +each white-uniformed athlete of the home team came from the club house +for preliminary practice, he was boisterously and affectionately +greeted. + +Nor did the gray-clad visitors come short of a cordial reception. The +great crowd hoped that the home team would win, but they were fair, and, +mingled with the good-natured chaffing, was a wholesome respect and +fear of their prowess. Above all they wanted a rattling game and a +hair-raising finish, with the Giants winning "by an eyelash." + +The bell rang. The Giants took their places in the field and the umpire +cried "Play ball!" The head of the Cubs' batting order came to the plate +and the game was on. From the start it was a battle "for keeps." Both +teams were "on their toes." It meant not only honor but lucre. The +winners would contest in the World's Series, and this meant thousands of +dollars for every player. Every point was bitterly fought, and plays were +made that under other circumstances would not even have been attempted. +For eight innings, Fortune divided her favors equally, and it looked as +though the game were destined to go into extra innings. + +The Cubs were easily disposed of in their half of the ninth, and the +Giants came to the bat. The crowd, which had been alternately on the +heights of hope or in the depths of despair, rose to their feet and +cheered them wildly. The batters were frantically besought to "hit it +on the seam," "give the ball a ride," "show them where you live." The +players responded nobly. By the time that two were out, a Giant was +perched on third and another on first. The shortstop, a sure hitter in a +pinch, strode to the plate. Now, indeed, excitement was at fever heat. A +safe hit into the outfield would bring the man on third to the plate +with the winning run. + +The visitors were plainly worried. The "Peerless Leader" came in from +first, ostensibly to advise the pitcher, but really to give him a +moment's rest before the final test. Hoots of derision showed the +spectators' appreciation of the trick. The pitcher glanced at the man +dancing about third, wound up deliberately and let the ball go with all +the force of his brawny arm. The batter caught it squarely "on the +trademark" and shot it like a rifle bullet into center field, while the +man on third tore down the line and came like a racehorse to the plate. +He crossed the rubber with the winning run, and thirty thousand men went +stark, raving mad. + +The man on first ran part way toward second, and then, seeing that his +comrade would certainly score, turned and scurried to the club house in +right field. The jubilant crowd began to invade the diamond. Suddenly +the second baseman of the visitors secured the ball, rushed to his base, +and then, surrounded by his teammates, ran toward the umpire, waving his +hands wildly. + +The crowd, at first bewildered, then angered, soon became panic-stricken. +Few of them understood the nature of the claim. They only felt that the +hard-won victory was being called in question, and a tidal wave of wrath +and resentment swept over the field. + +The point made by the quick-witted second baseman was simple, but +sufficiently important to engage the grave attention of the umpires. His +contention was that the man on first had not touched second base, and, +as he was legally compelled to leave first in order to make room for the +batter and had not touched second before the ball got there, he was +_forced out_, and therefore the run didn't count. The rules on this +point were clear and explicit. If the claim was granted, three men were +out, no run had come in and the score was still a tie at one to one. + +The final decision was held in suspense, and the throng passed out, more +like a funeral than a triumphal procession. Disputes were rife among +heated partisans, and in all the vast city that night and, in a lesser +degree, in every city from New York to San Francisco, the game was +fought over and over again. The unfortunate first baseman almost lost +his mind over the blunder. There was more pity than bitterness felt +toward him, however, as it was known that he had merely followed a +general custom that had been taken as a matter of course. + +Among the crowd that filed out of the gates were Bert Wilson and his +inseparable friends, Dick Trent and Tom Henderson. With them also was a +Mr. Hollis, a gentleman much older than they in years, but quite as +young in spirit. He had been in charge of the summer camp from which the +boys had recently returned, and the respect and confidence that his +sterling character evoked had become steadily stronger. They were all +very fond of the great national game, and had shared the enthusiasm over +the supposed victory of the home team. Now, from the reaction, their +ardor was correspondingly dampened. + +"There's no use talking," broke out Tom hotly, "it was a low down trick. +They couldn't beat us with the bat, so they try to do it on a quibble." + +"I don't know," said Dick, "it's about a stand off. We may have been a +little bit better off in brawn, but they had it on us in the matter of +brain. Whatever we may think of their sportsmanship, their wits were not +wool gathering." + +"And after all," chimed in Bert, "it is brain that counts to-day in +baseball as well as in everything else. More and more, the big leaguers +are putting a premium on quick thinking. The mere 'sand lot slugger' is +going to the rear, and the college man is coming to the front. It isn't +that the collegian is necessarily any brainier, but he has been taught +how to use his brains. This is simply a case where the husky hit of the +Giants' short-stop was wasted because of the nimble wit of the Cubs' +second baseman. It was hit against wit, and wit won out." + +"All the same," maintained Tom, "it was taking advantage of a +technicality. The same thing has been done a hundred times, and there +has never been a kick about it. Whenever a player has been sure that the +winning run has come in, he has considered it all over, and made a break +for the clubhouse. I don't think the question has ever been raised +before." + +"Yes it has," said Mr. Hollis. "That same quick thinker made a point of +it the other day in Pittsburgh, and that is all the more reason why the +home team ought to have been wide awake. But there is nothing to be +gained by post mortems, and anyway the thing isn't settled yet. It looks +rather bad for us now, but there will be a full discussion of the matter +and the umpires may find something in the rules that will cover the case +and give us the run. Even if they don't, it leaves it a tie, and the +game will have to be played over. We may win then and get the pennant +after all." + +"I hope so," said Tom, "but just at present I know how they felt in +Mudville: + + "'O somewhere birds are singing and somewhere children shout, + But there's no joy in Mudville--mighty Casey has struck out.'" + +A few days later when the point had been decided in favor of the Cubs +and the game played over, only to result in a conclusive victory for the +men from the shore of Lake Michigan, the chums met in Bert's rooms. + +"Well," said Dick, "I see that they put it over, all right. They've +copped the pennant and we are only an 'also ran.'" + +"Yes," replied Tom, "that hit by Tinker over Seymour's head did the +business. But there's no use crying over spilt milk. We'll stand them on +their heads next year and get even." + +"By the way, Bert," asked Dick, changing the subject, "have you heard +from your examinations yet? How did you make out?" + +"Fine," answered Bert. "I heard from the Dean this morning and he says +that I passed with something to spare. The chemical and electrical +marks were especially good. He says that the questions along those lines +were unusually severe, but they didn't strike me that way. I suppose +it's because I'm so interested in them that they come easy." + +"Good for you, old scout," cried Dick, delightedly. "I'm tickled to +death that the thing is settled. You'll find that we have one of the +finest scientific schools in the country. I've been there a year now, +and it's come to seem like home. I'll show you the ropes and we'll room +together. I only wish Tom here were coming along with us next week." + +"So do I," said Tom ruefully, "but Father seems to think I'd better +stick to my engineering course right here in New York. It isn't that he +thinks the course is any better than at your college, if as good. I +suppose the real reason is that he wants me to be where I can live at +home. I'm going to get Mr. Hollis to have a talk with him. Perhaps he +can show him that it would be a good thing for me to get away from home +and be thrown on my own responsibility. Dad's pretty stubborn when he +gets an idea in his head, but he thinks a lot of Mr. Hollis, and what he +says will go a long way with him." + +It was a wholesome group of young fellows that thus discussed their +future plans. They were the best type of manly, red-blooded American +youth, full of energy and ambition and alive to their finger tips. Tom +was of medium height, while Bert and Dick were fully six feet tall. All +were strongly built and looked as though they could give a good account +of themselves in any contest, whether of mind or body. A similarity of +tastes and habits had drawn them closely together, and among their +friends they were jokingly referred to as the "Three Guardsmen." They +were rarely apart, and now their plans for the coming school year were +destined to cement their friendship still more firmly. In reality with +them it was "one for all and all for one." + +All of them had chosen their life work along practical and scientific +lines. The literary professions did not tempt them strongly. Dick, who +was the elder, was preparing to become a mining engineer, and had +already spent a year at college with that end in view. Tom aimed at +civil engineering while Bert was strongly drawn toward electrical +science and research. This marvelous field had a fascination for him +that he could not resist. His insight was so clear, he leaped so +intuitively from cause to conclusion, that it was felt that it would be +almost a crime if he were not permitted to have every advantage that the +best scientific schools could give him. For a long time past he had been +studying nights, preparing for his entrance examinations, and now that +he had passed them triumphantly, nothing intervened between him and his +cherished ambition. + +Absorbed as he was in his studies, however, he spent enough time in +athletic sports to keep himself in superb physical condition. His was +the old Greek ideal of a "sound mind in a sound body." His favorite +sport was baseball, and, like most healthy young Americans, he was +intensely fond of the great game. In public school and high school he +had always "made the team." Although at times he had played every +position in the infield and outfield and behind the bat, he soon +gravitated towards the pitcher's box, and for the last three years had +played that position steadily. He was easily the best "flinger" in the +Inter-Scholastic League, and had received more than one invitation to +join some of the semi-professional teams that abound in the great city. +He elected, however, to remain purely and simply an amateur. Even when a +"big league" scout, who had watched him play, gave him a quiet tip that +his club would take him on the Spring training trip to Texas and pay all +his expenses, with a view to finding out whether he was really "major +league timber," the offer did not tempt him. He had no idea of making a +business of his chosen sport, but simply a pleasant though strenuous +recreation. With him, it was "sport for sport's sake"; the healthy zest +of struggle, the sheer physical delight in winning. + +And now, as they talked over the coming year, the athletic feature also +came to the fore. + +"I wonder if I'll have the slightest show to make the baseball team," +said Bert. "I suppose, as a newcomer I'll be a rank outsider." + +"Don't you believe that for a minute," replied Dick warmly. "Of course +there'll be lots of competition and a raft of material to pick from. I +suppose when the coach sends out the call for candidates in the Spring, +there'll be dozens of would-be players and a bunch too of have-beens +that will trot out on the diamond to be put through their paces. One +thing is certain, though, and that is that you'll get your chance. There +may be a whole lot of snobbery in college life--though there isn't +half as much as people think--but, out on the ball field, it's a pure +democracy. The only question there is whether you can deliver the goods. +If you can, they don't care whether you're a new man or an old-timer. +All they want is a winner." + +"Well," chimed in Tom, "they'll find that they have one in Bert. Just +show them a little of the 'big medicine' you had in that last game with +Newark High when you put out the side on three pitched balls. Gee, +I never saw a more disgusted bunch of ball tossers. Just when they +thought they had the game all sewed up and put away in their bat bag, +too." + +"That's all right," said Bert, "but you must remember that those high +school fellows were a different proposition from a bunch of seasoned old +college sluggers. When I come up against them, if I ever do, they'll +probably smash the back fences with the balls I feed to them." + +"Some of them certainly can slaughter a pitcher's curves," laughed Dick. +"Old Pendleton, for instance, would have the nerve to start a batting +rally against three-fingered Brown, and Harry Lord wouldn't be hypnotized +even if Matty glared at him." + +"I understand you did some fence breaking yourself last Spring on the +scrubs," said Tom. "Steve Thomas told me you were the heaviest batter in +college." + +"O, I don't know," returned Dick modestly, "I led them in three-base +hits and my batting average was .319, but Pendleton was ahead of me in +the matter of home runs. I hope to do better next Spring, though, as +Ainslee, the coach, gave me some valuable tips on hitting them out. At +first I swung too much and tried to knock the cover off the ball. The +result was that when I did hit the ball it certainly traveled some. But +many a time I missed them because I took too long a swing. Ainslee +showed me how to chop at the ball with a sharp, quick stroke that +caught it just before the curve began to break. Then all the power of my +arms and shoulders leaned up against the ball at just the right second. +Ainslee says that Home-Run Baker uses that method altogether, and you +know what kind of a hitter he is. I got it down pretty fine before the +season ended, and if I make the team next Spring----" + +"If you make it," said Bert incredulously. "As though it wasn't a dead +certainty." + +"Not a bit of it," protested Dick, seriously. "You never can tell from +year to year. You can't live on your reputation at college. There may be +a regular Hal Chase among the new recruits, and he may win the first +base position over me without half trying. It's a good thing it is so, +too, because we have to keep hustling all the time or see somebody else +step into our shoes. The result is that when the team is finally licked +into shape by the coaches, it represents the very best the college can +turn out. It's a fighting machine that never knows when it is whipped +and never quits trying until the last man is out in the ninth inning." + +"Yes," broke in Tom, "and that's what makes college baseball so much +more pleasing than the regular professional game. The fellows go at it +in such deadly earnest. It is the spirit of Napoleon's Marshal: 'The +Old Guard dies, but never surrenders.' The nine may be beaten, but not +disgraced, and, when the game is over, the winning team always knows +that it has been in a fight." + +"Well," said Bert, as the fellows rose to go, "if we do make the team, +it won't be through lack of trying if we fail to land the pennant." + +"No," laughed Dick. "Our epitaph at least will be that of the Texas +cowboy, + +"'He done his blamedest--angels can no more.'" + +A week later, the three friends--for Tom and Mr. Hollis had won his +father over--stood on the deck of a Sound steamer, saying goodby to +those who had come to see them off. Mr. Hollis wrung Bert's hand, just +as the last bell rang and he prepared to go down the gangway. + +"Good luck, Bert, and whatever else you do, don't forget to touch +second." + +He smiled at Bert's puzzled expression, and added: "I mean, my boy, be +thorough in all you do. End what you begin. Don't be satisfied with any +half-way work. Many a man has made a brilliant start, but a most dismal +finish. In work, in play, in the whole great game of life--touch +second." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"MAKING THE TEAM" + + +The Fall and Winter passed quickly. Bert and Dick roomed together in +one of the dormitories close to the main buildings, while Tom had his +quarters on the floor below. The feeling of strangeness, inevitable at +the start, soon wore off, and they quickly became a part of the swarming +life that made the college a little world of its own. + +Here, too, as in the greater world outside, Bert found all sorts and +conditions. There were the rich and the poor, the polished and the +uncouth, the lazy and the energetic, good fellows and bad. But the good +predominated. The great majority were fine, manly fellows, sound to the +core. Dick's wide acquaintanceship with them and his familiarity with +college customs were immensely helpful to Bert from the beginning, and +he was soon a general favorite. + +The football season had been a triumphant one, and another gridiron +championship had been added to the many that had preceded it. There had +been a surplus of good material left over from the year before, and the +time was so short that Bert had not tried for the team. At the outset, +too, his studies taxed him so heavily that he did not feel justified +in giving the necessary attention to the great game, that, in his +estimation, almost divided honors with baseball. He had done a little +playing with the scrubs, however, and on his class team, and the +qualities he displayed in "bucking the line" had marked him out to the +coaches, as a factor to be reckoned with in the following seasons. + +The Christmas holidays had come and gone almost before he knew it, and +when he returned for his second term, he buckled down to work with all +his might. His chosen field of electricity held constant surprises for +him, as it became more familiar. If he had any specialty, it was +wireless telegraphy. There was an irresistible attraction in the +mysterious force that bound the ends of the earth together by an +electric spark, that leaped over oceans with no conductor but the air, +that summoned help for sinking vessels when all other hope was gone. He +felt that the science was as yet only in its infancy, and that it +held untold possibilities for the future. The splendidly equipped +laboratories gave him every opportunity and encouragement for original +work, and his professors foresaw a brilliant future for the enthusiastic +young student. + +Spring came early that year. A soft wind blew up from the south, the sun +shone warmly on the tender grass, the sap stirred blindly in the trees. +It stirred also in the veins of the lusty college youth and called them +to the outdoor life. + +Going down the hall, one morning, to his recitation room, Bert came +across an eager group surrounding the bulletin board. He crowded nearer +and saw that it was the call of the coach to baseball candidates to +report on the following day. His heart leaped in response and the morrow +seemed long in coming. + +Dressed in the old baseball togs that had done yeoman service on many a +hard-fought field, he with Dick and Tom, who were quite as eager as +himself, reported for the tryout. Perhaps a hundred ambitious youngsters +were on hand, all aflame with desire to make the team and fight for the +glory of Alma Mater. It was apparent at a glance, however, that many had +ambition but nothing else. The qualities that had made them heroes on +some village nine were plainly inadequate, when it came to shaping up +for a college team. The hopes of many faded away when they saw the plays +made by the seasoned veterans, who nonchalantly "ate up" balls and did +stunts in practice that would have called out shouts of applause in a +regular game. But whether marked for acceptance or rejection, all were +as frolicsome as colts turned out to pasture. It was good to be young +and to be alive. + +The coach threaded his way through the groups with an eye that apparently +saw nothing, but, in reality, saw everything. He was a famous pitcher, +known from one end of the country to the other. Himself an old-time +graduate, he had the confidence of the faculty and the unbounded respect +and admiration of the students. He had been given full charge and was an +absolute autocrat. Whatever he said "went," and from his decision there +was no appeal. He played no favorites, was not identified with any +clique, and his sole desire was to duplicate the success of the preceding +season and turn out a winner. + +To do this, he realized, would be no easy task. While his two chief +rivals had maintained their strong teams almost intact, his own was +"shot to pieces." Three had graduated, and they were among his heaviest +hitters. Good old Pendleton, who had been a tower of strength at first +base, who could take them with equal ease to right or left and "dig them +out of the dirt," and whose hard slugging had many a time turned defeat +into victory, would be hard to replace. His pitching staff was none +too good. Winters lacked control, and Benson's arm was apt to give +out about the seventh inning. Hinsdale was a good backstop, but his +throwing to second was erratic. They had done too much stealing on him +last year. Barry would be sadly missed at third, and it would be mighty +hard to find a capable guardian for the "difficult corner." It was clear +that he faced a tough problem, and the only solution was to be found, if +at all, in the new material. + +As he glanced musingly around his eyes fell on Bert. They rested there. +He knew a thoroughbred when he saw one, and this was undeniably a +thoroughbred. The lithe form, supple as a leopard's, the fine play of +shoulder muscles that the uniform could not conceal, the graceful but +powerful swing, the snap with which the ball shot from his fingers as +though released by a spring--all these he noticed in one practised +glance. He sauntered over to where Bert was pitching. + +"Done much in the pitching line?" he asked carelessly. + +"A little," answered Bert modestly, "only on high school nines though." + +"What have you got in stock?" asked the coach. + +"Not much besides the old 'roundhouse' curve," replied Bert. "I don't +think so much of my incurve, though I'm trying to make it break a little +more sharply. I can do a little 'moist' flinging, too, though I haven't +practised that much." + +"Don't," said the coach. "Cut out the spitball. It's bound to hurt your +arm in the long run. Trot out your curve and let's have a look at it. +Easy now," he said as Bert wound up, "don't put too much speed in it. +You'll have plenty of chances to do that later on." + +The ball left Bert's hand with a jerk, and, just before it reached the +center of the plate, swept in a sharp, tremendous curve to the outside, +so that the catcher just touched it with the end of his fingers. + +"Not so bad," commented the coach carelessly, though his eyes lighted +up. "Here, Drake," he called to a burly veteran who was looking on with +interest, "take your wagon tongue and straighten out this youngster's +curves." + +The good-natured giant, thus addressed, picked up his bat and came to +the plate. + +"Get it over the plate now, kid, and I'll kill it," he grinned. + +A little flustered by this confidence, Bert sent one in waist high, just +cutting the corner. Drake swung at it and missed it by six inches. + +"One strike," laughed the coach, and Drake, looking a little sheepish, +set himself for the next. + +"Give him a fast one now, shoulder high," ordered the coach. Again the +ball sped toward the plate and Drake struck at it after it had passed +him and thudded into the catcher's glove. + +"Gee, I can't hit them if I can't see them," he protested, and the coach +chuckled. + +"No," he said, as Bert poised himself for a third pitch, "no more just +now. I don't want you to throw your arm out at practice. There are other +days coming, and you won't complain of lack of work. Come out again +to-morrow," and he walked away indifferently, while his heart was filled +with exultation. If he had not unearthed a natural-born pitcher, he knew +nothing about ball players. + +Drake was more demonstrative. While Bert was putting on his sweater, he +came up and clapped him on the shoulder. + +"Say, Freshie," he broke out, "that was a dandy ball you whiffed me +with. You certainly had me guessing. If that swift one you curled around +my neck had hit me, I would have been seeing stars and hearing the +birdies sing. And I nearly broke my back reaching for that curve. You've +surely got something on the ball." + +"Oh, you'd have got me all right, if I'd kept on," answered Bert. "That +was probably just a fluke, and I was lucky enough to get away with it." + +"Well, you can call it a fluke if you like," rejoined Drake, "but to me +it looked suspiciously like big league pitching. Go to it, my boy, and +I'll root for you to make the team." + +Bert flushed with pleasure at this generous meed of praise, doubly +grateful as coming from an upper class man and hero of the college +diamond. Dick coming up just then, they said good-by to Drake and +started toward their dormitory. + +"What's this I hear about you, Bert?" asked Dick; "you've certainly made +yourself solid with Ainslee. I accidentally heard him telling one of the +assistant coaches that, while of course he couldn't be sure until he'd +tried you out a little more, he thought he'd made a find." + +"One swallow doesn't make a summer," answered Bert. "I had Drake +buffaloed all right, but I only pitched two balls. He might knock me +all over the lot to-morrow." + +"Sufficient unto the day are the hits thereof," rejoined Dick; "the fact +is that he _didn't_ hit you, and he has the surest eye in college. If he +had fouled them, even, it would have been different, but Ainslee said he +missed them by a mile. And even at that you weren't at full speed, as he +told you not to cut loose to-day." + +"Well," said Bert, "if the lightning strikes my way, all right. But now +I've got to get busy on my 'Sci' work, or I'll surely flunk to-morrow." + +The next day Bert was conscious of sundry curious glances when he went +out for practice. News travels fast in a college community and Drake had +passed the word that Ainslee had uncovered a "phenom." But the coach had +other views and was in no mood to satisfy their curiosity. He had turned +the matter over in his mind the night before and resolved to bring Bert +along slowly. To begin with, while delighted at the boy's showing on +the first time out, he realized that this one test was by no means +conclusive. He was naturally cautious. He was "from Missouri" and had to +be "shown." A dozen questions had to be answered, and, until they were, +he couldn't reach any definite decision. Did the boy have stamina enough +to last a full game? Was that wonderful curve of his under full control? +Was his heart in the right place, or, under the tremendous strain of a +critical game, would he go to pieces? Above all, was he teachable, +willing to acknowledge that he did not "know it all," and eager to +profit by the instruction that would be handed out in the course of +the training season? If all these questions could be answered to his +satisfaction, he knew that the most important of all his problems--that +of the pitcher's box--was already solved, and that he could devote his +attention to the remaining positions on the team. + +Pursuing this plan of "hastening slowly," he cut out all "circus" +stunts in this second day's practice. Bert was instructed to take it +easy, and confine himself only to moderately fast straight balls, in +order to get the kinks out of his throwing arm. Curves were forbidden +until the newness wore off and his arm was better able to stand the +strain. The coach had seen too many promising young players ruined in +trying to rush the season, and he did not propose to take any such +chances with his new find. + +His keen eyes sparkled, as from his position behind the pitcher, he +noted the mastery that Bert had over the ball. He seemed to be able to +put it just where he wished. Whether the coach called for a high or a +low ball, straight over the center of the plate or just cutting the +corners, the ball obeyed almost as though it were a living thing. +Occasionally it swerved a little from the exact "groove" that it was +meant to follow, but in the main, as Ainslee afterward confided to his +assistant, "the ball was so tame that it ate out of his hand." + +He was far too cautious to say as much to Bert. Of all the dangers that +came to budding pitchers, the "swelled head" was the one he most hated +and detested. + +"Well," he said as he pretended to suppress a yawn, "your control is +fairly good for a beginner. Of course I don't know how it will be on +the curves, but we'll try them out too before long." + +"That," he went on warming to his subject, "is the one thing beyond all +others you want to work for. No matter how much speed you've got or how +wide your curve or how sharp your break, it doesn't amount to much, +unless you can put the ball where you want it to go. Of course, you +don't want to put every ball over the plate. You want to make them +'bite' at the wide ones. But when you are 'in the hole,' when there are +two strikes and three balls, the winning pitcher is the one that nine +times out of ten can cut the plate, and do it so surely that the umpire +will have no chance to call it a ball. One of the greatest pitchers I +ever knew was called the 'Curveless Wonder.' He didn't have either an +incurve or an outcurve that was worth mentioning. But he had terrific +speed, and such absolute ability to put the ball just where he wanted +it, that for years he stood right among the headliners in the major +leagues. Take my word for it, Wilson, a pitcher without control is like +the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. Don't forget that." + +The respect with which Bert listened was deepened by his knowledge that +Ainslee was himself famous, the country over, in this same matter of +control. A few more comments on minor points, and the coach walked away +to watch the practice of his infield candidates. + +Now that Pendleton had graduated, the logical successor of the great +first baseman seemed to be Dick Trent, who had held the same position on +the scrubs the year before, and who had pressed Pendleton hard for the +place. The first base tradition demands that it be occupied by a heavy +batter, and there was no doubt that in this particular Dick filled the +bill. His average had been well above the magic .300 figures that all +players covet, and now that he had conquered his propensity to excessive +swinging, he might fairly be expected to better these figures this year. +As a fielder, he was a sure catch on thrown balls either to right or +left, and his height and reach were a safe guarantee that not many wild +ones would get by him. He was lightning quick on double plays, and +always kept his head, even in the most exciting moments of the game. If +he had any weakness, it was, perhaps, that he did not cover quite as +deep a field as Pendleton used to, but that was something that careful +coaching could correct. None of the other candidates seemed at all above +the average, and, while yet keeping an open mind, the coach mentally +slated Dick for the initial bag. + +Second and short, as he said to himself with a sigh of relief, were +practically provided for. Sterling at the keystone bag and White at +shortfield were among the brightest stars of the college diamond, and +together with Barry and Pendleton had formed the famous "stonewall" +infield that last year had turned so many sizzling hits to outs. + +Barry--ah, there was a player! A perfect terror on hard hit balls, a +fielder of bunts that he had never seen excelled, even among professional +players. He remembered the screeching liner that he had leaped into the +air and pulled down with one hand, shooting it down to first for a double +play in the last game of the season. It had broken up a batting rally and +saved the game when it seemed lost beyond redemption. + +Well, there were as good fish in the sea as ever were caught, and no man +was so good but what another just as good could be found to take his +place. But where to find him? There was the rub. That cub trying out now +at third--what was his name?--he consulted the list in his hand--oh, +yes, Henderson--he rather fancied his style. He certainly handled +himself like a ball player. But there--you never could tell. He might +simply be another "false alarm." + +At this moment the batter sent a scorching grounder toward third, but a +little to the left of the base. Tom flung himself toward it, knocked +it down with his left hand, picked it up with the right and scarcely +waiting to get "set" shot it like a flash to first. The coach gasped at +the scintillating play, and White called out: + +"Classy stuff, kid, classy stuff. That one certainly had whiskers on +it." + +"Hey, there, Henderson," yelled the coach, "go easy there. Float them +down. Do you want to kill your arm with that kind of throwing?" + +But to himself he said: "By George, what a 'whip' that fellow's got. +That ball didn't rise three inches on the way to first. And it went into +Drake knee high. That youngster will certainly bear watching." + +And watch him he did with the eye of a hawk, not only that afternoon, +but for several weeks thereafter until the hope became a certainty that +he had found a worthy successor to the redoubtable Barry, and his +infield would be as much of a "stonewall" that season as the year +before. With Hodge in right, Flynn in center and Drake in left, his +outfield left nothing to be desired, either from a fielding or batting +point of view, and he could now devote himself entirely to the +development of his batteries. + +Under his masterly coaching, Bert advanced with great rapidity. He had +never imagined that there was so much in the game. He learned from this +past-master in the art how to keep the batter "hugging first"; the +surest way of handling bunts; the quick return of the ball for the +third strike before the unsuspecting batter can get "set," and a dozen +other features of "inside stuff" that in a close game might easily turn +the scale. Ainslee himself often toed the plate and told Bert to send +in the best he had. His arm had attained its full strength, under +systematic training, and he was allowed to use his curves, his drop, his +rise ball and the swift, straight one that, as Flynn once said, "looked +as big as a balloon when it left his hand, but the size of a pea when it +crossed the plate." + +One afternoon, when Ainslee had taken a hand in the batting practice, +Bert fed him an outcurve, and the coach smashed it to the back fence. +A straight high one that followed it met with no better fate. It was +evident that Ainslee had his "batting eye" with him that afternoon, and +could not be easily fooled. + +"Send in the next," he taunted, good-naturedly, "I don't think you can +outguess me to-day." + +A little nettled at his discomfiture, Bert wound up slowly. For some +time past he had been quietly trying out a new delivery that he had +stumbled upon almost by accident. He called it his "freak" ball. He had +thrown it one day to Dick, when, after the regular practice, they were +lazily tossing the ball to and fro. It had come in way below where +Dick's hands were waiting for it, and the latter was startled. It was a +"lulu," he said emphatically. It could not be classed with any of the +regulation curves. Bert had kept it under cover until he could get +perfect control of it. Now he had got it to the point where he could put +it just where he wanted it, and as he looked at the smiling face of the +coach he resolved to "uncork" it. + +He took a long swing and let it go. It came to the plate like a bullet, +hesitated, slowed, then dropped down and in, a foot below the wild lunge +that the coach made for it. His eyes bulged, and he almost dropped the +bat. + +"What was that?" he asked. "How did you do it? Put over another one." + +A second one proved just as puzzling, and the coach, throwing his bat +aside, came down to the pitcher's box. He was clearly excited. + +"Now, what was it?" he asked; "it wasn't an incurve, a drop, or a +straight, but a sort of combination of them all. It was a new one on me. +How do you hold your hand when you throw it?" + +"Why," replied Bert, "when I throw it, the palm is held toward the +ground instead of toward the sky, as it is when I pitch an outcurve. +The wrist is turned over and the hand held down with the thumb toward +the body, so that when the ball slips off the thumb with a twisting +motion it curves in toward the batter. I grip it in the same way as an +outcurve. Just as it twists off the thumb I give it a sharp snap of the +wrist. It spins up to the plate, goes dead, then curves sharply down and +in." + +"Well," said the coach, "it's certainly a dandy. We must develop it +thoroughly, but we'll do it on the quiet. I rather think we'll have a +surprise for 'our friends the enemy,' when the race begins. It's just as +well to have an ace up our sleeve. That ball is in a class by itself. It +just seems to melt while you are trying to locate it. If I were to give +it a name at all, I'd call it a 'fadeaway.'" + +And so Bert's new delivery was christened. As they walked back to the +college both were exultant. They would have been still more so, if at +that moment they had begun to realize the havoc and dismay that would be +spread among their opponents before the season ended by Bert's fadeaway +ball. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE "INSIDE" GAME + + +"Well, Tom, I see that you lead off in the batting order," said Bert, as +they sat in his rooms at the close of the day's work. + +"Yes," said Tom, "Ainslee seems to think that I am a good waiter, as +well as a pretty fair sprinter, and I suppose that is the reason he +selected me." + +"'They also serve who only stand and wait,'" recited Dick, who was +always ready with an apt quotation. + +"Well," laughed Bert, "I don't suppose the poet ever dreamed of that +application, but, all the same, it is one of the most important things +in the game to lead off with a man who has nerve and sense enough to +wait. In the first place, the pitcher is apt to be a little wild at the +start and finds it hard to locate the plate. I know it's an awful +temptation to swing at a good one, if it is sandwiched in between a +couple of wild ones, and, of course, you always stand the chance of +being called out on strikes. But at that stage of the game he is more +likely to put over four balls than three strikes, and if you do trot +down to first, you've got three chances of reaching home. A sacrifice +will take you down to second, and then with only one man out and two +good batters coming up, a single to the outfield brings you home." + +"Then, too, you went around the bases in fifteen seconds flat, the other +day," said Dick, "and that's some running. I noticed Ainslee timing you +with his split-second watch, and when he put it back in his pocket he +was smiling to himself." + +"Flynn comes second, I see," said Bert, consulting his list, "and that's +a good thing too. He is one of the best 'place' hitters on the team. He +has the faculty that made Billy Keeler famous, of 'hitting them where +they ain't.' He's a dandy too at laying down a bunt, just along the +third-base line. If any man can advance you to second, Flynn can." + +"Yes," said Tom, "with Drake up next, swinging that old wagon tongue of +his, and then Dick coming on as a clean-up hitter, it will have to be +pretty nifty pitching that will keep us from denting the home plate." + +"Last year the team had a general batting average of .267," chimed in +Dick. "If we can match that this year, I guess there'll be no complaint. +As a matter of fact, however, I'm a little dubious of doing that, +especially with old Pendleton off the team. But if we come short a +little there, I am counting on Bert holding down the batters on the +other nines enough to make up for it." + +"If I get a chance, I'll do my very best," said Bert, "but perhaps I +won't pitch in a regular game all season. You know how it is with a +Freshman. He may have to sit on the bench all the time, while the upper +class pitchers take their turn in the box. They've won their spurs and I +haven't. They've 'stood the gaff' under the strain of exciting games, +and pulled victories out of the fire. I might do it too, but nobody +knows that, and I probably would not be called on to go in the box, +except as a last resort. They may believe that I have the curve, but +they are not at all sure that I have the nerve. Winters and Benson are +going along now like a house afire, and if they are at top speed when +the season begins I'll see the pennant won or lost from my seat on the +bench." + +"Neither one of them has anything on you," maintained Tom stoutly. "Of +course they are, in a certain sense, veterans, and then, too, they have +the advantage of having faced before many of the players on the other +teams. That counts for a lot, but you must remember that Hinsdale has +caught for the last two years, and he knows these things as well as the +pitchers. He knows their weak and their strong points, the ones that +simply kill a low outcurve, but are as helpless as babies before a high +fast one. He could quickly put you on to the batters' weakness. But +outside of that you've got them faded. You have more speed than Winters +and more endurance than Benson. Neither one of them has a license to +beat you at any stage of the pitching game." + +"Perhaps it's your friendship rather than your judgment that's talking +now, Tom," smiled Bert. + +"No," said Dick, "it isn't. Tom's right. You've got everything that they +have, and then some. Winters' rise ball is certainly a peach, but it +hasn't the quick jump yours has just before it gets to the plate. My eye +isn't so bad, but in practice I bat under it every time. Even when I +don't miss it altogether, I hit it on the underside and raise a fly to +the fielders. It's almost impossible to line it out. And your fast high +one is so speedy that a fellow backs away from the plate when he sees it +coming. I don't know that your outcurve is any better than Benson's, but +you certainly have it under better control." + +"On the dead quiet," he went on, "I'm rather worried about Winters this +year, anyway. I think he's gone back. He's in with a fast bunch, and I +fear has been going the pace. His fine work in the box last year made +him a star and turned his head. It brought him a lot of popularity, and +I'm afraid he isn't the kind that can stand prosperity. He doesn't go at +his work in the right spirit this year. You all saw how he shirked the +other day when we were training for wind." + +They readily recalled the incident to which Dick alluded. The practice +had been strenuous that day, but the coach had been insistent. As a wind +up, he had called for a run around the track to perfect their wind and +endurance, as well as to get off some of the superfluous flesh that +still interfered with their development. The players were tired, but, as +the trainer didn't ask them to do what he was unwilling to do himself, +they lined up without protest and trotted behind him around the track. + +At one place, there was a break in the fence which had not yet been +repaired. Twice they made the circuit of the track, and some of them +were blowing hard, when the relentless leader started on the third +round. As they came abreast of the break, Winters, with a wink, slipped +out of the line and got behind the fence. Here he stayed, resting, while +the others jogged along. They made two circuits more, and when they came +to where he was, Winters, fresh as a daisy, and grinning broadly, +slipped into line again, and trotted along as though nothing had +happened. The joke seemed certainly on the coach, who hadn't once +turned his head, but pounded steadily along, in apparent unconsciousness +that one of his sheep had not been following his leader. At the bench, +after the sixth round, he slowed up. + +"Good work, boys," he said pleasantly, "that makes six full laps for all +of us except Winters. We'll wait here, while he takes his other two." + +The grin faded from Winters' face, to be replaced by a hot flush, as his +eyes fell before the steady look of the coach. There was no help for it, +however. He had been caught "red-handed," and with a sheepish glance at +his laughing comrades, he started on his lonely run around the course +while they stood and watched him. Twice he made the circuit and then +rejoined his companions. The coach said nothing more, as he felt that +the culprit had been punished enough, but the story was too good to +keep, and Winters was "joshed" unmercifully by his mates. The incident +deepened the general respect felt for the coach, and confirmed the +conviction that it was useless to try to fool him, as he had "eyes in +the back of his head." + +He certainly needed all his keenness, in order to accomplish the task he +had set himself. The time was wearing away rapidly, and before long he +would have to rejoin his own team for the championship season. There had +been a good deal of rain, and practice in the field had been impossible +for days at a time. + +To be sure he had the "cage" for use in rainy weather. This was a large +rectangular enclosure, perhaps twice as long as the distance from the +pitcher's box to home plate. The sides were made of rope that stopped +the batted balls. There was ample room for battery work, and here, in +bad weather, the pitchers and catchers toiled unceasingly, while the +other players cultivated their batting eye, and kept their arms limber +by tossing the ball about. But, at best, it was a makeshift, and did not +compare for a moment with work in the open air on the actual diamond. +And the days that now remained for that were distressingly few. + +So he drove them on without mercy. No galley slaves worked harder than +these college boys for their temporary master. He was bound that not an +ounce of superfluous flesh should remain on their bones at the beginning +of the season. Gradually his work began to tell. The soreness and +lameness of the first days disappeared. Arnica and witch hazel were no +longer at a premium. The waistbands went in and the chests stood out. +Their eyes grew bright, their features bronzed, their muscles toughened, +and before long they were like a string of greyhounds tugging at the +leash. + +He noted the change with satisfaction. Superb physical condition was the +first essential of a winning team. His problem, however, was far from +solved. It was only changed. He had made them athletes. Now he must make +them ball players. + +Individually they were that already, in the purely mechanical features +of the game. They were quick fielders, speedy runners and heavy batters. +But they might be all these, and yet not be a winning team. They needed +team work, the deft fitting in of each part with every other, the quick +thinking that, in a fraction of a second, might change defeat to +victory. + +His quick eye noticed, in the practice games, how far they came short of +his ideal. Flynn, the other day, when he caught that fly far out in +center, had hurled it into the plate when he had no earthly chance of +getting the runner. If he had tried for Ames, who was legging it to +third, it would have been an easy out. A moment later Ames counted on a +single. + +Then there was that bonehead play, when, with Hinsdale on third and +Hodge on first, he had given the signal for Hodge to make a break for +second, so as to draw a throw from the catcher and thus let Hinsdale get +in from third. Hodge had done his part all right, but Hinsdale had been +so slow in starting that the catcher was waiting for him with the ball, +when he was still twenty feet from the plate. + +He hated to think of that awful moment, when, with the bases full, White +had deliberately tried to steal second, where Dick was already roosting. +The crestfallen way in which White had come back to the bench, amid +ironical cheers and boisterous laughter, was sufficient guarantee that +that particular piece of foolishness would never be repeated. Luckily, +it had only been in a practice game. Had it happened in a regular +contest, a universal roar would have gone up from one end of the college +world to the other, and poor White would never have heard the last of +it. + +The coach was still sore from this special exhibition of "solid ivory," +when, after their bath and rubdown, he called the boys together. + +"Now, fellows," he said, "I am going to talk to you as though you were +human beings, and I want you to bring your feeble intelligence to bear, +while I try to get inside your brain pans. They say that Providence +watches over drunkards, fools and the Congress of the United States. I +hope it also includes this bunch of alleged ball players. If ever any +aggregation needed special oversight, this crowd of ping-pong players +needs it. Now, you candidates for the old ladies' home, listen to me." + +And listen they did, while he raked them fore and aft and rasped and +scorched them, until, when he finally let them go, their faces were +flaming. No one else in college could have talked to them that way and +"gotten away with it." But his word was law, his rule absolute, and, +behind his bitter tongue, they realized his passion for excellence, his +fierce desire of winning. It was sharp medicine, but it acted like a +tonic, and every man left the "dissecting room," as Tom called it, +determined from that time on he would play with his brains as well as +his muscles. + +As the three chums went toward their rooms, they were overtaken by +"Reddy," the trainer of the team. With the easy democracy of the ball +field, he fell into step and joined in the conversation. + +"Pretty hot stuff the old man gave you, just now," he said, with his +eyes twinkling. + +"Right you are," replied Bert, "but I guess we deserved it. I don't +wonder that he was on edge. It certainly was some pretty raw baseball he +saw played to-day." + +"Sure," assented Reddy, frankly. "It almost went the limit. And yet," he +went on consolingly, "it might have been worse. He only tried to steal +one base with a man already on it. Suppose he'd tried to steal three." + +The boys laughed. Reddy was a privileged character about the college. +The shock of fiery hair, from which he had gained his nickname, covered +a shrewd, if uneducated, mind. He had formerly been a big league star, +but had fractured an ankle in sliding to second. The accident had only +left a slight limp, but it had effectually destroyed his usefulness on +the diamond. As a trainer and rubber, however, he was a wonder, and for +many years he had been connected with the college in that capacity. It +was up to him to keep the men in first-class condition, and he prided +himself on his skill. No "charlie horse" could long withstand his +ministrations, and for strains and sprains of every kind he was famous +in the athletic world. His interest in and loyalty to the college was +almost as great as that of the students themselves. He was in the full +confidence of the coach, and was regarded by the latter as his right +hand. If one was the captain of the college craft, the other was the +first mate, and between them they made a strong combination. He was an +encyclopedia of information on the national game. He knew the batting +and fielding averages of all the stars for many years past, and his +shrewd comments on men and things made him a most interesting companion. +His knowledge of books might be limited, but his knowledge of the +world was immense. He had taken quite a fancy to Bert and shared the +conviction of the coach that he was going to be a tower of strength to +the team. He never missed an opportunity of giving him pointers, and +Bert had profited greatly by his advice and suggestion. Now, as they +walked, he freed his mind along the same lines followed by the coach a +little earlier. + +"That was the right dope that Ainslee gave you, even if it was mixed +with a little tabasco," he said. "It's the 'inside stuff' that counts. +I'd rather have a team of quick thinkers than the heaviest sluggers in +the league. + +"Why," he went on, warming to his subject, "look at the Phillies when Ed +Delehanty, the greatest natural hitter that ever lived, was in his +prime. Say, I saw that fellow once make four home runs in one game +against Terry of the Brooklyns. I don't suppose that a heavier batting +bunch ever existed than the one they had in the league for three +seasons, handrunning. Besides Ed himself, there was Flick and Lajoie, +and a lot of others of the same kind, every one of them fence-breakers. +You couldn't blame any pitcher for having palpitation of the heart when +he faced that gang. They were no slouches in the field, either. Now, +you'd naturally think that nobody would have a chance against them. +Every year the papers touted them to win the pennant, but every year, +just the same, they came in third or fourth at the end of the season. +Now, why was it they didn't cop the flag? I'll tell you why. It was +because every man was playing for himself. He was looking out for his +record. Every time a man came to the bat, he'd try to lose the ball +over the back fence. They wouldn't bunt, they wouldn't sacrifice, they +wouldn't do anything that might hurt that precious record of theirs. It +was every man for himself and no man for the team, and they didn't have +a manager at the head of them that was wise enough or strong enough to +make them do as they were told. + +"Now, on the other hand, look at the White Sox. Dandy fielders, but for +batting--why, if they fell in the river they wouldn't strike the water. +All around the league circuit, they were dubbed the 'Hitless Wonders.' +But they were quick as cats on their feet, and just as quick in knowing +what to do at any stage of the game. What hits they did get counted +double. They didn't get men on the bases as often as the Phillies, but +they got them home oftener, and that's what counts when the score is +added up. That sly old fox, Comiskey, didn't miss a point. It was a bunt +or a sacrifice or a long fly to the outfield or waiting for a base on +balls or anything else he wanted. The men forgot about themselves and +only thought of the team, and those same 'Hitless Wonders' won the +pennant in a walk. + +"Now, that's just the difference between dumb and brainy playing and +that's what makes Ainslee so hot when he sees a bonehead stunt like that +one this afternoon." + +"I suppose that you saw no end of that inside stuff pulled off while you +were in the big league," said Tom. "What do you think is the brightest +bit of thinking you ever saw on the ball field?" + +"Well," said Reddy musingly, "that's hard to tell. I've certainly seen +some stunts on the diamond that would make your hair curl. Some of them +went through, and others were good enough to go through, even if they +didn't. It often depends on the way the umpire looks at it. And very +often it gets by, because the umpire doesn't look at it at all. Many's +the time I've seen Mike Kelly of the old Chicagos--the receiving end of +the ten-thousand-dollar battery--cut the corners at third when the +umpire wasn't looking, and once I saw him come straight across the +diamond from second to the plate without even making a bluff of going to +third. Oh, he was a bird, was Mike. + +"I shall never forget one day when the Chicagos were behind until they +came to the plate for their ninth inning. They were a husky bunch of +swatters and never more dangerous than when they were behind. Well, +they made two runs in that inning, tieing the score and then putting +themselves one to the good. The Bostons came in for their last turn at +the bat and by the time two men were out they had the bases full. +One safe hit to the outfield was all they needed, and they sent a +pinch-hitter to the bat to bring in the fellows that were dancing about +on the bases. + +"It was a dreary, misty afternoon, and, from the grandstand you could +hardly see the fielders. Mike was playing right that day, and the man at +the bat sent a screaming liner out in his direction. He saw at a glance +that he couldn't possibly get his hands on it, but he turned around and +ran with the ball, and, at the last moment, jumped into the air and +apparently collared it. He waved his hands as a signal that he had it +and made off to the clubhouse. The umpire called the batter out and the +game was over. His own teammates hadn't tumbled to the trick, until Mike +told them that he hadn't come anywhere near the ball, and that at that +very moment it was somewhere out on the playing field. It came out +later, and there was some talk of protesting the game, but nothing ever +came of it. When it came to quick work, Mike was certainly 'all wool and +a yard wide.'" + +The boys did not express an opinion as to the moral quality of the +trick, and Reddy went on: + +"Perhaps the slickest thing I ever saw was one that Connie Mack put over +on old Cap Anson of the Chicagos, and, believe me, anybody who could +fool him was going some. His playing days are over now, and all you kids +know of him is by reputation, but, take him by and large, a better +player never pulled on a glove. Well, as I was saying, Anson was playing +one day in Pittsburgh and Mack was catching against him. It had been a +game of hammer and tongs right up to the last inning. The Chicagos, as +the visiting team, came to the bat first in the ninth inning. The +Pittsburghs were one ahead and all they needed to win was to hold the +Chicagos scoreless. Two were out and two on bases when old 'Pop' Anson +came to the bat. There wasn't a man in the league at that time that a +pitcher wouldn't rather have seen facing him than the 'Big Swede.' +However, there was no help for it, and the twirler put on extra steam +and managed to get two strikes on him. The old man set himself for the +third, with fierce determination to 'kill' the ball or die in the +attempt. Mack walked up to the pitcher and told him to send in a ball +next time, and then, the instant the ball was returned to him, to put +over a strike. The pitcher did as directed, and sent over a wide one. +Of course, Anson didn't offer to hit it, but Mack caught it. + +"'Third strike,' he said, throwing off his mask and shin-guards, as +though the game were over. + +"'Third strike nothing,' growled Anson. 'What's the matter with you, +anyway?' and the umpire also motioned Connie back to the plate. + +"'Why, wasn't that a strike?' said Mack, coming back to the plate. At the +same instant the pitcher sent a beauty right over the center of the +rubber. Mack caught it, and before Anson knew the ball had been pitched, +the umpire said, 'You're out.' + +"Holler? Say, you could have heard him from Pittsburgh to Chicago. It +went, though. You see, Anson, looking at Connie without his mask or +shin-guards, was figuring that he would have to get into all that +harness again, before the game went on. He took too much for granted, +and it doesn't pay to do that in baseball. I don't suppose he ever +forgave Connie for making him look like thirty cents before that holiday +crowd. And I don't suppose that Mack would have taken a thousand dollars +for the satisfaction it gave him to tally one on the old man. + +"You fellows wouldn't believe me, I suppose, if I told you I seen a dog +pull some of that inside stuff once? Sure, I ain't fooling, although of +course the pup didn't know he was doing it. It was in Detroit when a +big game was on and the home team was at the bat. They needed three runs +to win and there were two men on bases. The batter lined out a peach +between left and center. There were no automobiles in those days, but a +whole raft of carriages were down back of center field. A big coach dog +saw the ball coming and chased it, got it in his mouth and scooted down +under the bleachers, the left and center fielders yelling to him to drop +it and racing after him like mad. He was a good old rooter for the home +team, all right, though, and, by the time they got it away from him, the +whole bunch had crossed the plate and the game was won. The home team +boys found out whom he belonged to, and clubbed together and got him a +handsome collar. + +"Another funny thing I seen one time that makes me laugh whenever I +think of it," continued Reddy, "was when a high fly was hit to left +field with three men on bases. It ought to have been an easy out and +nine times out of ten would have been. But, as luck would have it, the +ball slipped through the fielder's fingers and went into the outside +upper pocket of his baseball shirt. He tried desperately to get it out, +but it was wedged in so tight he couldn't. All this time the men were +legging it around the bases. At last, Mitchell--that was the fellow's +name--ran in toward third and caught the batter, just as he was +rounding the base on his way to home. He grabbed him and hugged him +tight and they fell to the ground together. Say, you'd have died +laughing if you'd seen them two fellows wrestling, Mitchell trying to +force the other man's hand into his pocket so that the ball could touch +him, and the other fighting to keep his hand out. It was a hard thing +for the umpire to settle, but he finally let the run count on the ground +that Mitchell had no right to interfere with him. Poor old Mitchell was +certainly up against it that day, good and plenty." + +By this time they had reached the college dormitory, and the boys +reluctantly bade Reddy good-by. They had been immensely amused and +interested by his anecdotes, although they did not altogether agree with +his easy philosophy of life. To Reddy all was fair in love or war or +baseball, provided you could "put it over." + +"But it isn't," said Bert, as they went upstairs. "Strategy is one thing +and cheating is another. It's all right to take your opponent unawares +and take advantage of his carelessness or oversight. If he's slow and +you're quick, if he's asleep and you're awake, you've got a perfect +right to profit by it. Now take for instance that case of Mack and +Anson. Whether that was a strike or a ball was a thing to be decided +by the umpire alone, and Anson ought not to have paid any attention +to Mack's bluff. Then, too, because Mack usually put on his mask and +shin-guards before the ball was pitched, Anson had no right to assume +that he would _always_ do so. Mack acted perfectly within his rights, +and Anson was simply caught napping and had no kick coming. + +"But when you come to 'cutting the corners' and pretending that the ball +was caught when it wasn't, that isn't straight goods. It's 'slick,' all +right, but it is the slickness of the crooked gambler and the three-card +monte man. It's playing with marked cards and loaded dice, and I don't +care for any of it in mine." + +"Right you are, old fellow," said Tom, heartily, clapping him on the +back, "my sentiments to a dot. I want to win and hate to lose, but I'd +rather lose a game any day than lie or cheat about it." + +Which he was to prove sooner than he expected. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TRIPLE PLAY + + +The days flew rapidly by and the time drew near for the Spring trip. All +the members of the team were to get a thorough trying out in actual +games with the crack teams of various colleges before the regular +pennant race began. Then the "weeding out" process would have been +completed, and only those remain on the team who had stood the test +satisfactorily. The trip was to take about two weeks, and they were to +"swing around the circle" as far west as Cincinnati and as far south as +Washington. + +They did not expect much trouble in coming back with a clean score. As +one of the "Big Three," their team was rarely taken into camp by any of +the smaller colleges. They usually won, occasionally tied, but very +seldom lost. Yet, once in a while, their "well-laid schemes" "went +agley" and they met with a surprise party from some husky team that +faced them unafraid and refused to be cowed by their reputation. + +Bert's college was one of the largest and most important in the country. +The "Big Three" formed a triangular league by themselves alone. Each +played three games with each of the other two, and the winner of the +majority was entitled to claim the championship of the "Big Three." And +it was generally, though not officially, admitted, that the team capable +of such a feat was the greatest college baseball team in the whole +country. Their games were followed by the papers with the greatest +interest and fully reported. The "Blues," as Bert's college was usually +referred to on account of the college colors, had won the pennant the +year before from the "Grays" and the "Maroons," their traditional +opponents, after a heart-breaking struggle, and columns of newspaper +space had been devoted to the concluding game. This year, however, the +prediction had been freely made that history would not repeat itself. +Both the Grays and Maroons were composed of tried and tested veterans, +while, as we have seen, Ainslee had been compelled to fill several +important positions with new material. No matter how good this might +prove to be, it takes time and practice to weld it together in one smooth +machine, and it is seldom done in a single season. + +Moreover, the time was at hand when Ainslee would have to rejoin his own +team, and his keen eye still noted a number of rough places that needed +planing and polishing. For this reason he was all the more anxious to +secure good results during this trip. After it was over, he would have +to turn over the team to a manager and to Reddy, the assistant coach and +trainer. The manager would confine himself chiefly to the technical and +financial features, but it was arranged that Reddy should have full +charge of the team on the field. Ainslee reposed implicit confidence in +him because of his shrewd judgment, his knowledge of men, and his vast +baseball experience. + +West Point was to be their first stop, and it was a jolly crowd, full of +the joy and zest of living, that embarked on the steamer _Hendrik +Hudson_, and sailed up the lordly river, the finest in the world, as +most of the boys agreed, though some, who had traveled, were inclined to +favor the claims of the Rhine to that distinction. They were disposed to +envy the Dutch explorer, who, first among civilized men, had sailed up +the river that bore his name and feasted his eyes upon its incomparable +beauty; a delight that contrasted so strongly with the final scene when +he and his little son had been thrust by a mutinous crew into an open +boat on storm-tossed Arctic waters, and left to perish miserably. +The reward, as Dick cynically insisted, of most of the world's great +benefactors, who have been stoned, burned, or otherwise slain by their +fellows, while posterity, too late, has crowned them with laurels and +honored them with monuments. + +The game with Uncle Sam's cadets was a fight "for blood," as was +entirely appropriate for future soldiers. In the seventh, with the +cadets one run behind, one of them attempted to steal from second to +third. Hinsdale got the ball down to Tom like a shot, but, in the +mix-up, it was hard to tell whether the runner had made the base or not. +The umpire at first called it out, but the captain of the cadets kicked +so vigorously that the umpire asked Tom directly whether he had touched +him in time. + +For an instant Tom hesitated, but only for an instant. Then he +straightened up and answered frankly: + +"No, I didn't; he just beat me to it." + +It is only just to Tom's companions to say that, after the first minute +of disappointment, they felt that he could and should have done nothing +else. The standard of college honor is high, and when it came to a +direct issue, few, if any, of the boys would have acted differently. +Even Reddy, with his free and easy views on winning games "by hook or +crook," as long as you win them, felt a heightened respect for Tom, +although he shook his head dubiously when the man from third came home +on a sacrifice, tieing the score. + +The tie still persisted in the ninth, and the game went into extra +innings. In the tenth the Blues scored a run and the cadets made a +gallant effort to do the same, or even "go them one better." A man was +on second and another on third, when one of their huskiest batters came +to the plate. He caught the ball squarely "on the seam" and sent it +straight toward third, about two feet over Tom's head. He made a +tremendous jump, reached up his gloved hand and the ball stuck there. +That of course put out the batter. The man on third, thinking it was a +sure hit, was racing to the plate. As Tom came down, he landed right on +the bag, thus putting out the runner, who had turned and was desperately +trying to get back. In the meantime the man on second, who had taken a +big lead, had neared third. As he turned to go back to second, Tom +chased him and touched him just before he reached the bag. Three men +were out, the game was won, and Tom was generously cheered, even by +the enemy, while his comrades went wild. He had made a "triple play +unassisted," the dream of every player and one of the rarest feats ever +"pulled off" on the baseball diamond. + +During the trip, Winters and Benson occupied the pitcher's box more +often than Bert, and it was evident that, despite Bert's showing in the +early spring practice, both Ainslee and Reddy were more inclined to pin +their faith this season on their tested stars than on the new recruit. +They really believed that Bert had "more on the ball" than either of the +others, but were inclined to let him have a year on the bench before +putting him in for the "big" games. They knew the tremendous importance +of experience and they also knew how nerve-racking was the strain of +playing before a crowd of perhaps twenty-five thousand frenzied rooters. +Bert _might_ do this, but Winters and Benson had actually _done_ it, and +they could not leave this significant fact out of their calculations. So +they carried him along gradually, never letting up on their instruction +and advice and occasionally putting him in to pitch one or two innings +to relieve the older men after the game was pretty surely won. + +Bert was too sensible and sportsmanlike to resent this, and followed +with care and enthusiasm the training of his mentors. A better pair of +teachers could not have been found and Bert made rapid progress. +Something new was constantly coming up, and, as he confided to Dick, he +never dreamed there was such a variety of curves. There was "the hook," +"the knuckle," "the palm," "the high floater," "the thumb jump," "the +cross fire," and so many others that there seemed to be no end to them. +But though he sought to add them all to his repertory, he followed +Ainslee's earnest urging to perfect his wonderful fadeaway, and gave +more attention to that than to any other. + +"And to think," he said to Tom, one day, "it isn't so very long ago that +people didn't believe it was possible to throw a curve ball at all and +learned men wrote articles to show that it couldn't be done." + +"Yes," said Tom, "they remind me of the eminent scientist who wrote a +book proving, to his own satisfaction, at least, that a vessel couldn't +cross the Atlantic under steam. But the first copy of the book that +reached America was brought over by a steamer." + +"Yes," chimed in Dick, "they were like the farmer who had read the +description of a giraffe and thought it a fairy story. One day a circus +came to town with a giraffe as one of its attractions. The farmer walked +all around it, and then, turning to his friends, said stubbornly, 'There +ain't no such animal.'" + +Reddy joined in the laugh that followed and took up the conversation. +"Well," he said, while the others in the Pullman car in which they were +traveling drew around him, for they always liked to see him get started +on his recollections, "the honor of having discovered the curve rests +between Arthur Cummings and Bobby Mathews. It's never been clearly +settled which 'saw it first.' Before their time it used to be straight, +fast ones and a slow teaser that was thrown underhand. But even at that, +don't run away with the idea that those old fellows weren't some +pitchers. Of course, they were handicapped by the fact that at first +they had to keep on pitching until the player hit it. The four-ball +rule, and making a foul count for a hit, and all those modern things +that have been invented to help the pitcher, hadn't been thought of +then. Naturally, that made heavy batting games. Why, I know that the old +Niagara team of Buffalo won a game once by 201 to 11." + +"Yes," broke in Ainslee, "and the first college game in 1859 was won by +Amherst over Williams by a score of 66 to 32." + +"Gee," said Hinsdale, "the outfielders in those days must have had +something to do, chasing the ball." + +"They certainly did," agreed Reddy, "but, of course, that sort of thing +didn't last very long. The pitchers soon got the upper hand, and then, +good-by to the big scores. + +"I suppose," he went on, "that the real beginning of baseball, as we +know it to-day, goes back to the old 'Red Stockings' of Cincinnati, in +'69 and '70. There was a team for you. George and Harry Wright and +Barnes and Spalding, and a lot of others just as good, went over the +country like a prairie fire. There wasn't anybody that could stand up +against them. Why, they went all though one season without a single +defeat. It got to be after a while that the other teams felt about +them just as they say boxers used to feel when they stood up against +Sullivan. They were whipped before they put up their hands. The next +year they got their first defeat at the hands of the old Atlantics of +Brooklyn. I was a wee bit of a youngster then, but I saw that game +through a hole in the fence. Talk about excitement! At the end of the +ninth inning the score was tied, and the Atlantics were anxious to stop +right there. It was glory enough to tie the mighty Red Stockings--a +thing that had never been done before--without taking any further +chances. But Harry Wright, the captain, was stubborn--I guess he was +sorry enough for it afterwards--and the game went on, only to have the +Atlantics win in the eleventh by a score of 7 to 6. I've seen many a +game since, but never one to equal that. + +"Of course the game has kept on improving all the time. I ain't denying +that. There used to be a good deal of 'rough stuff' in the old days. The +gamblers started in to spoil it, and sometimes as much as $20,000 would +be in the mutual pools that used to be their way of betting. Then, too, +the players didn't use to get much pay and, with so much money up, it +was a big temptation to 'throw' games. It got to be so, after a while, +that you wouldn't know whether the game was on the level or not. The +only salvation of the game was to have some good strong men organize and +put it on a solid footing and weed out the grafters. They did this and +got a gang of them 'dead to rights' in the old Louisville team. They +expelled four of them and barred them from the game forever, and, +although they moved heaven and earth to get back, they never did. And +since that time the game has been as clean as a hound's tooth. As a +matter of fact, it's about the only game in America, except perhaps +football, that you can count on as being absolutely on the square. + +"It's a great sport, all right, and I don't wonder it is called the +national game. It's splendid exercise for every muscle of the body and +every faculty of the brain. Rich or poor, great or small, everybody with +a drop of sporting blood in his veins likes it, even if he can't play +it. At the Washington grounds a box seat is reserved for the President, +and I notice that no matter how heavy the 'cares of state,' he's usually +on hand and rooting for the home team. Why, I've heard that when the +committee went to notify Lincoln that he was nominated for President, he +was out at the ball ground, playing 'one old cat,' and the committee had +to wait until he'd had his turn at bat. It may not be true, but it's +good enough to be." + +"And not only is it our national game," put in Ainslee, "but other +countries are taking it up as well. They have dandy baseball teams in +Cuba and Japan, that would make our crack nines hustle to beat them, +and, in Canada, it is already more popular than cricket." + +"I've heard," said Tom, "that not long ago they made a cable connection +with some island way up in the Arctic Circle. The World's Series was +being played then, and the very first message that came over the cable +from the little bunch of Americans up there was: 'What's the score?'" + +"Yes," laughed Ainslee, "it gets in the blood, and with the real 'dyed +in the wool' fan it's the most important thing in the world. You've +heard perhaps of the pitcher who was so dangerously sick that he wasn't +expected to live. The family doctor stood at the bedside and took his +temperature. He shook his head gravely. + +"'It's 104,' he said. + +"'You're a liar,' said the pitcher, rousing himself, 'my average last +season was .232, and it would have been more if the umpire hadn't robbed +me.'" + +The train drew up at Washington just then, and the laughing crowd +hustled to get their traps together. Here they played the last game of +the season with the strong Georgetown University nine, and just "nosed +them out" in an exciting game that went eleven innings. While in the +city they visited the Washington Monument, that matchless shaft of stone +that dwarfs everything else in the National Capital. Of course the boys +wanted to try to catch a ball dropped from the top, but the coach would +not consent. + +"Only two or three men in the world have been able to do that," he said, +"and they took big chances. I've had too much trouble getting you +fellows in good condition, to take any needless risks." + +So the boys turned homeward, bronzed, trained, exultant over their +string of well-earned victories, and, in the approving phrase of Reddy, +"fit to fight for a man's life." Ainslee left them at New York to join +his team amid a chorus of cheers from the young athletes that he had +done so much to form. From now on, it was "up to them" to justify his +hopes and bring one more pennant to the dear old Alma Mater. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WINNING HIS SPURS + + +"Play ball!" shouted the umpire, and the buzz of conversation in the +grandstand ceased. All eyes were fastened on the two teams about to +enter on the first important game of the season, and people sat up +straight and forgot everything else, so great was their interest in the +forthcoming event. + +All the games that the Blues had played up to this time had been with +teams over which they felt reasonably sure of winning a victory, but the +nine they had to face to-day was a very different proposition. Most of +the young fellows composing it were older and had had more experience +than the Blues, and the latter knew that they would have to do their +very utmost to win, if win they did. The thing they most relied on, +however, was the fact that their pitcher was very good, and they +believed that he would probably win the day for them. + +Of course, they had a lot of confidence in themselves, too, but the +importance of a steady, efficient pitcher to any team can hardly be +exaggerated. It gives them a solid foundation on which to build up a +fast, winning team, and nobody realized this better than Mr. Ainslee, +their veteran coach. + +"Only give me one good pitcher," he was wont to say, "and I'll guarantee +to turn out a team that will win the college championship." + +The star on the college team this year, Winters, was, without doubt, an +exceptionally good pitcher. He had considerable speed and control, and +his curves could generally be counted on to elude the opposing batsmen. +He was the only son in a wealthy family, however, and, as a consequence, +had a very exaggerated idea of his own importance. He was inclined to +look down on the fellows who did not travel in what he called "his set," +and often went out of his way to make himself disagreeable to them. + +As Dick put it, "He liked to be the 'main squeeze,'" and he had been +much irritated over the way in which Bert had attracted the coach's +attention, and the consequent talk on the campus regarding the "new +pitcher." He and his friends made it a point to sneer at and discredit +these stories, however, and to disparage Bert on every possible +occasion. + +The veteran trainer had not forgotten, however, and moreover he was +worried in secret about Winters. It was, of course, his duty to see +that all the players attended strictly to business, and let no outside +interests interfere with their training. Of late, however, he had heard +from several sources that Winters had been seen in the town resorts at +various times when he was supposed to be in bed, and Reddy knew, none +better, what that meant. + +However, he hoped that the pitcher would not force him to an open +rebuke, and so had said nothing as yet. Nevertheless, as has been said, +he kept Bert in mind as a possible alternative, although he hoped that +he would not be forced to use him. + +"He's had too little experience yet," he mused. "If I should put him in +a game, he'd go up like a rocket, most likely. Them green pitchers can't +be relied upon, even if he did fool Ainslee," and the veteran, in spite +of his worry, was forced to smile over the memory of how Bert had struck +the great coach out in practice. + +Previous to the actual start of the game both teams had been warming up +on the field, and each had won murmurs of applause from the grandstands. +To the wise ones, however, it was apparent that the Blues were a trifle +shaky in fielding work, and many were seen to shake their heads +dubiously. + +"The youngsters will have to do some tall hustling if they expect to +win from the visitors," one gray-haired man was heard to say, "but they +say they have a crackerjack pitcher, that's one thing in their favor." + +"Yes, of course," agreed his friend, "but it's not only that; the other +fellows have had a whole lot more experience than our boys. And that +counts an awful lot when it comes to a pinch." + +"You're right, it does," acquiesced the other; "however, there's no +use crossing the bridge till we come to it. We'll hope for the best, +anyway." + +After a little more practice both teams retired to the clubhouse to make +their last preparations. Not many minutes later everything was in +readiness, and the teams trotted into their positions. Of course, the +visitors went to bat first, and then could be heard the umpire's raucous +cry of "Play ball!" that ushered in the game. + +A wave of handclapping and a storm of encouraging shouts and yells swept +over the grandstand, and then ensued a breathless silence. The first two +balls Winters pitched were wild, but then he steadied down, and struck +the first batter out. The second man up swung wildly, but after having +two strikes called, popped an easy fly toward first base that Dick +smothered "easier than rolling off a log," as he afterwards said. The +third man met with no better fate, and Winters struck him out with +apparent ease. + +As the fielders trotted in, the elderly gentleman who had entertained +such doubts before chuckled, "Well, now if our boys can only get in a +little stick work, and keep on holding them down like this, it looks as +though they might win, after all." + +Tom was the first man up at the bat for the Blues. But the pitcher +opposed to him had lots of "stuff" on his delivery, and the best Tom +could do was to lift an easy foul that dropped into the catcher's glove. + +The next man up was struck out, as was also the third, and the inning +ended without a run for either team. + +From his seat on the substitutes' bench, Bert had watched the game up to +this point with eager eyes, and had felt that he would almost have given +ten years of his life to take part in it. He knew there was practically +no chance of this, however, and so with a sigh of regret settled back to +watch the further progress of the game. + +The next two innings also passed without a run scored on either side, +and it became more and more evident as the game went on that this was to +be a pitchers' battle. + +The first man up at bat for the visitors at the beginning of the fourth +inning was considered their heaviest hitter, and as he walked up to +the plate he was swinging two bats, one of which he threw aside as he +stepped to the plate. From the way he crouched in readiness for the ball +it could be seen that he meant business, and the coach called Winters +over to him. + +"You want to be mighty careful what you feed this man," he whispered, +"and whatever you do, keep them low. He likes high balls, and if you +give him one up as high as his shoulder, he'll swat it, sure." + +"Oh, you can bet he won't get a hit off me," replied Winters, carelessly. +"I've got that team eating out of my hand." + +"Don't be too sure of that, my lad," warned the coach, but Winters only +smiled in a superior fashion and strolled back to the box. + +The first ball he pitched was an incurve, but it looked good to the +batter, and he swung at it viciously. He missed it clean, and the umpire +shouted, "One strike!" + +This made Winters a little careless, and the next ball he pitched was +just the one that the coach had warned him against. The batter took a +step forward, swung fiercely at the ball, and there was a sharp crack as +the ball and bat connected. The ball shot back with the speed of a +bullet, and the outfielders started in hopeless chase. Baird, the +batter, tore around the bases, and amid a veritable riot of cheering +from the visiting rooters and a glum silence from the home supporters, +charged across the sack for a home run! + +Too late now Winters thought of Reddy's warning, and wished he had given +it more heed. He knew that in so close a contest as this promised to be, +one run would probably be enough to win the game, and this knowledge +made him nervous. The breaks from training that he had been guilty of +lately began to tell, also, and he commenced to lose confidence, a fatal +thing in a pitcher. However, he managed to get through the inning +somehow, and walked to the bench with a crestfallen air. + +The coach forbore to reproach him just then, as he knew that it would +probably do more harm than good. However, he kept a sharp eye on him, +and inwardly was very much worried. He knew that Benson was not speedy +enough to stand much chance against as strong a team as they were now +playing, and though a great admirer of Bert, he did not know whether he +had the stamina to go a full game. He resolved to give Winters every +chance to recover himself, and prayed that he would be able to do so. + +The first man of the home team to go to bat struck out on the hot curves +served up to him, but Dick connected with the ball for a clean two-base +hit. A great cheer went up at this feat, but it was destined to have +little effect. The second man fouled out and the third raised an easy +fly to the pitcher's box, and so Dick's pretty drive did them no good. + +In the fifth inning Winters' pitching became more and more erratic, and +to Reddy's experienced eye it became evident that he would soon "blow +up." So he strolled over to the substitutes' bench and sat down beside +Bert. + +"How does your arm feel to-day, Wilson?" he inquired. "Do you feel as +though you could pitch if I happened to need you?" + +Bert's heart gave a great leap, but he managed to subdue his joy as he +realized the trainer's meaning, and answered, "Why, yes, I think I could +make out all right. Do you think you will need me?" + +"Well, there's just a chance that I may," replied Reddy, "and I want you +to be ready to jump out and warm up the minute I give you the signal." + +"I'll be ready, sir, I can promise you that," replied Bert, earnestly, +and the trainer appeared a little more hopeful as he turned away. + +"I can at least count on that young chap doing the best that is in him, +at any rate," he thought; "he certainly doesn't look like a quitter to +me." + +In their half of the fifth inning the home team was unable to make any +headway against the opposing pitcher's curves, which seemed to get +better and better as the game progressed. Dick felt, in some mysterious +way, that his team was losing heart, and his one hope was that the coach +would give Bert a chance to pitch. The boys, one after another, struck +out or lifted easy flies, and not one man reached first base. + +The visitors now came to bat again, and the first ball Winters pitched +was slammed out into left field for a two-base hit. The next batter up +stepped to the plate with a grin on his face, and one of his teammates +called, "Go to it, Bill. Eat 'em alive. We've got their goat now." + +The man thus adjured leaned back, and as Winters delivered a slow, easy +ball he swung viciously and sent a smoking grounder straight for the +pitcher's box. The ball passed Winters before he had time to stoop for +it, but White, the shortstop, made a pretty pick-up, and slammed the +ball to Dick at first. The ball arrived a second too late to put the +runner out, however, and in the meantime the first man had reached +third. Now was a crucial moment, and everything depended on the pitcher. +All eyes were fastened on him, but from something in his attitude Reddy +knew that he was on the verge of a breakdown. Nor was he mistaken in +this, for out of the next five balls Winters pitched, only one strike +was called. The rest were balls, and the umpire motioned to the batter +to take first base. Of course this advanced the man on first to second +base, thus leaving all the bases full and none out. + +As Winters was winding up preparatory to delivering one of his erstwhile +famous drops, Reddy motioned to Bert, and in a second the latter was up +and had shed his sweater. He trotted over to where Reddy was standing, +and said, "You wanted me, didn't you?" + +"Yes," replied Reddy, in a tense voice; "get Armstrong there"--motioning +toward the substitute catcher--"and warm up as quickly as you can. Take +it easy, though!" he commanded; "don't start in too hard! You might +throw your arm out on the first few balls. Just limber up gradually." + +"All right, sir," replied Bert, and called to Armstrong. + +In the meantime Winters had pitched two wild balls, and the visiting +rooters were yelling like maniacs. The third ball was an easy inshoot, +and the batter, making a nice calculation, landed it fair and square. It +flew over into left field, between the pitcher's box and third base, and +before it could be returned to the waiting catcher two runners had +crossed the plate. This made the score three to none in favor of the +visitors, with two men on base and none out. Matters looked hopeless +indeed for the home team, and one of the spectators groaned, "It's all +over now but the shouting, fellows. Winters is up higher than a kite, +and we've got nobody to put in his place. This game will just be a +slaughter from now on." + +"How about young Wilson?" asked his friend. "I heard the other day that +he had showed up pretty well in practice. It looks now as though Reddy +meant to put him in the box. See, he's warming up over there right now." + +"Ye gods and little fishes!" lamented the other. "Now we are cooked, for +fair. It was bad enough with Winters pitching, but now when they put +that greenhorn Freshie in, we'll just be a laughing stock, that's all. +Why doesn't the band play the funeral march?" + +"Aw, wait and see," said the other. "I don't suppose we've got the ghost +of a show, but Dick Trent was telling me of some pretty good stunts this +boy Wilson has pulled off before this. He was telling me about a race in +which Wilson drove a car across the tape a winner after a dickens of a +grilling race. Any fellow that's got nerve enough to drive a racing auto +ought to be able to hold his own at baseball or anything else. You just +sit tight and don't groan so much, and he may show us something yet." + +"Forget it, Bill, forget it," returned the other. "They've got our team +running, and they'll keep it running, take my word for it." + +"That's right," agreed another, "we might as well go home now as to +wait for the slaughter. This game is over, right now." + +"Hey, look at that!" yelled the first speaker, excitedly. "There goes +Wilson into the box. Three cheers for Wilson, fellows. Now! One! two! +three!" + +The cheers were given by the faithful fans, but they had given up hope. +It was indeed, as the rooter had said, however, and Bert was actually +being given an opportunity to pitch in a big game, when he had only been +with the team a few months! Many a pitcher has been a substitute until +his junior year, and never had a chance like this one. And, to tell +the truth, Reddy himself would have been the last one to put what he +considered an inexperienced pitcher into the box, if he had had any +alternative. Now, however, it was a case of having no choice, because he +knew that the game was irretrievably lost if Winters continued to pitch, +so he put Bert in as a forlorn hope, but without any real expectation +that he would win. + +As he noticed the confident way in which Bert walked to the box, however, +he plucked up courage a little, but immediately afterward shook his head. +"Pshaw," he thought, "they've got too big a lead on us. If Wilson can +only hold them down so that they don't make monkeys of us, it will be +more than I have a right to hope." + +For all Bert's nonchalant air, however, it must not be thought that he +was not excited or nervous. He had had comparatively little baseball +experience in such fast company as this. He had learned, however, +to keep a cool and level head in times of stress, and he knew that +everything depended on this. So he just gritted his teeth, and when he +motioned to the catcher to come up and arrange signals, the latter +hardly suspected what a turmoil was going on under Bert's cool exterior. + +"Just take it easy, kid," he advised. "Don't try to put too much stuff +on the ball at first, and pitch as though we were only practising back +of the clubhouse. Don't let those blamed rooters get you nervous, +either. Take your time before each ball, and we'll pull through all +right. Now, just get out there, and show them what you've got." + +Bert took his position in the box, and the umpire tossed him a brand new +ball. Remembering the catcher's advice, he wound up very deliberately, +and pitched a swift, straight one square over the middle of the plate. +The batsman had expected the "greenhorn" to try a fancy curve, and so +was not prepared for a ball of this kind. "One str-r-rike!" yelled the +umpire, and the catcher muttered approvingly to himself. The batter, +however, took a fresh grip on his bat, and resolved to "knock the cover +off" the next one. Bert delivered a wide out curve, and the batter swung +hard, but only touched the ball, for a foul, and had another strike +called on him. "Aw, that kid's running in luck," he thought. "But watch +me get to him this time." + +The next ball Bert pitched looked like an easy one, and the batter, +measuring its flight carefully with his eye, drew his bat back and swung +with all the weight of his body. Instead of sending the ball over the +fence, however, as he had confidently expected, the momentum of his +swing was spent against empty air, and so great was its force that the +bat flew out of his hand. "Three strikes," called the umpire, and amid a +riot of cheering from the home rooters the batter gazed stupidly about +him. + +"By the great horn spoon," he muttered, under his breath, "somebody must +have come along and stolen that ball just as I was going to hit it. I'll +swear that if it was in the air when I swung at it that I would have +landed it." + +As he walked to the bench the captain said, "What's the matter with you, +Al? Has the freshie got you buffaloed?" + +"Aw, nix on that, cap," replied the disgruntled batter. "Wait until you +get up there. Either that kid's having a streak of luck or else he's got +that ball hypnotized. That last one he pitched just saw my bat coming +and dodged under it. I think he's got 'em trained." + +"Why, you poor simp," laughed the captain; "just wait till I get up +there. Why, we all saw that last ball you bit on so nicely. It was a +cinch, wasn't it, boys?" + +It sure was, they all agreed, but the unfortunate object of these +pleasantries shook his head in a puzzled way, and stared at Bert. + +As it happened, the next batter was the same who had scored the home run +in the first part of the game, and he swaggered confidently to the +plate. + +Bert had overheard what the coach had told Winters in regard to this +batter, so he delivered a low ball, which the batter let pass. "One +ball," called the umpire, and the captain of the visitors' team +remarked, "I thought he couldn't last. That was just a streak of +'beginner's luck,' that's all." + +The next ball looked good to the batsman, and he lunged hard at the +white sphere. It was a tantalizing upshoot, however, and he raised an +easy fly to Dick at first. The man on second had become so absorbed in +watching Bert, that when Dick wheeled like lightning and snapped the +ball to second, he was almost caught napping, and barely got back in +time. + +The home rooters, who up to now had been rather listless in their +cheering, now started in with a rush, and a veritable storm of cheering +and singing shook the grandstand. The coach drew a deep breath, and +began to allow himself the luxury of a little hope. + +The third man up was the captain, who had boasted so of what he was +going to do to the "green" pitcher. As he rose to go to the plate he +remarked, "Watch me, now, Al, and I'll show you what it is like to swat +a ball over the fence." + +He selected a very heavy bat, and stepped jauntily to the plate. Bert +had been warned to do his best against this man, as he was popularly +known as the "pitcher's hoodoo." He resolved to use his "fadeaway" ball +for all it was worth, and shook his head at all the catcher's signals +until the latter signaled for the fadeaway. He then nodded his head, and +wound up very deliberately. Then he pitched what looked like a straight, +fast ball to the expectant batsman. The latter gripped his bat and put +all his strength into what he fondly hoped would be a "homer." His bat +whistled as it cut the air, but in some mysterious way failed to even +touch the ball, which landed with a loud "plunk!" in the catcher's mitt. +A roar of derisive laughter went up from the rooters, and the captain +looked rather foolish. "That's mighty queer," he thought, "there must +be something the matter with the balance of this bat. I guess I'll try +another." Accordingly, he took a fresh bat, and waited with renewed +confidence for the next ball. This time he swung more carefully, but +with no better result. "Two strikes!" barked the umpire, and the +frenzied rooters stood up on their seats and yelled themselves hoarse. +"Wilson! Wilson! Wilson!" they roared in unison, and Bert felt a great +surge of joy go through him. His arm felt in perfect condition, and he +knew that if called upon he could have pitched the whole game and not +have been overtired. He handled the ball carefully, and fitted it in +just the right position in his hand. He resolved to try the same ball +once more, as he thought the batter would probably think that he would +try something else. This he did, and although the batter felt sure that +he had this ball measured to the fraction of an inch, his vicious swing +encountered nothing more substantial than air. + +"Three strikes!" called the umpire, and amid a storm of cheering and +ridicule from the grandstand the discomfited batter slammed his bat down +and walked over to his teammates. + +It was now Al's turn to crow, and he did so unmercifully. "What's the +matter, cap?" he inquired, grinning wickedly. "That kid hasn't got your +goat, has he? Where's that homer over the fence that you were alluding +to a few minutes ago?" + +"Aw, shut up!" returned the captain, angrily. "That Freshie's got a +delivery that would fool Ty Cobb. There's no luck about that. It's just +dandy pitching." + +"I could have told you that," said the other, "but I thought I'd let you +find it out for yourself. That boy's a wonder." + +The home team trotted in from the field eagerly, and there was a look in +their eyes that Reddy was glad to see. "They've got some spirit and +confidence in them now," he thought. "I certainly think I've got a +kingpin pitcher at last. But I'd better not count my chickens before +they're hatched. He may go all to pieces in the next inning." + +As they came in, Dick and Tom slapped Bert on the back. "We knew you +could do it, old scout!" they exulted. "What will old Winters' pals have +to say after this?" + +Reddy said little, but scanned Bert's face carefully, and seemed +satisfied. "I guess you'll do, Wilson," he said. "We'll let you pitch +this game out, and see what you can do." + +Sterling was the first man up, and he walked to the plate with a resolve +to do or die written on his face. He planted his feet wide apart, and +connected with the first pitched ball for a hot grounder that got him +safely to first base. The rooters cheered frantically, and the cheering +grew when it was seen that Bert was the next batter. This was more in +recognition, however, of his good work in the box. Heavy hitting is not +expected of a pitcher, and nobody looked to see Bert do much in this +line. While he had been watching the game from the bench, he had studied +the opposing pitcher's delivery carefully, and had learned one or two +facts regarding it. He felt sure that if the pitcher delivered a certain +ball, he would be able to connect with it, but was disappointed at +first. Bert bit at a wide out curve, and fouled the next ball, which was +a fast, straight one. But as the pitcher wound up for the third one +Bert's heart leaped, for he saw that this was going to be the ball that +he had been hoping for. He grasped his bat near the end, for Bert was +what is known as a "free swinger," and crouched expectantly. The ball +came to him like a shot, but he swung his bat savagely and clipped the +ball with terrific force toward third base. Almost before the spectators +realized that the ball had been hit, Bert was racing toward first base, +and the man already on base was tearing up the sod toward second. + +The ball scorched right through the hands of the third baseman, and +crashed against the left field fence. The fielders scurried wildly after +it, but before they could return it to the infield, the man on first +base had scored, and Bert was on third. + +"We'll win yet! We'll win yet! We'll win yet!" croaked a rooter, too +hoarse to yell any longer. "What's the matter with Wilson?" and in one +vast roar came the answer, "HE'S ALL RIGHT!" + +The home team players were all dancing around excitedly, and they +pounded Hinsdale unmercifully on the back, for he was up next. "Bust a +hole through the fence, Hinsdale," they roared; "they're on the run now. +Go in and break a bat over the next ball!" + +"Hin" fairly ran to the plate in his eagerness, and, as he afterward +said, he felt as though he "couldn't miss if he tried." The first ball +over the plate he slammed viciously at the pitcher, who stopped the +ball, but fumbled it a few seconds, thus giving him a chance to get to +first. The pitcher then hurled the ball to the home plate, in the hope +of cutting off Bert from scoring, but was a fraction of a second too +late, and Bert raced in with one more run. + +The pitcher now tightened up, however, and put his whole soul into +stopping this winning streak, and it looked as though he had succeeded. +The next two batters struck out on six pitched balls, and the visiting +rooters had a chance to exercise their voices, which had had a rest for +some time. Drake was up next, and he knocked out a long fly that looked +good, but was pulled down by a fielder after a pretty run. This ended +the sixth inning, and the visitors were still one run ahead. + +As Bert was about to go onto the field, Reddy said, "Don't take it too +hard, Wilson. Don't mind if they do hit a ball sometimes. If you try to +strike each man out without fail, it makes too great a tax on your arm. +Let the fielders work once in a while." + +With these instructions in mind, Bert eased up a little in the next +inning, but the visitors had no chance to do any effective slugging. +Twice they got a man on first base, but each time Bert struck out the +following batter or only allowed him to hit the ball for an easy fly +that was smothered without any trouble. + +Consequently the visitors failed to score that inning, but they were +still one run ahead, and knew that if they could hold Bert's team down +they would win the game. + +The home team failed to "get to" the ball for anything that looked like +a run, and the seventh inning ended with no change in the score. + +"Well, Wilson, it's up to you to hold them down," said Reddy, as the +players started for their positions in the beginning of the eighth +inning. "Do you feel as though you could do it?" + +"Why, I'll do my best," replied Bert, modestly. "My arm feels stronger +than it did when I started, so I guess I'm good for some time yet, at +any rate." + +"All right, go in and win," replied Reddy, with a smile, and Bert needed +no urging. + +The first man to bat for the visitors was the one called Al, who had +first had a taste of Bert's "fadeaway." He swung viciously on the first +ball that Bert offered him, which happened to be a fast in-curve. By a +combination of luck and skill he managed to land the sphere for a safe +trip to first. The cover of the ball was found to be torn when it was +thrown back. Consequently, Bert had to pitch with a new ball, and failed +to get his customary control. Much to his disgust he pitched four balls +and two strikes, and the batter walked to first, forcing the man already +on first to second base. + +"Yah, yah!" yelled a visiting rooter. "It's all over. He's blowing up! +Pitcher's got a glass arm! Yah! Yah!" + +Others joined him in this cry, and Reddy looked worried. "That's enough +to rattle any green pitcher," he thought. "I only hope they don't know +what they're talking about, and I don't think they do. Wilson's a game +boy, or I'm very much mistaken." + +"Don't let 'em scare you, Bert," called Dick, from first base. "Let 'em +yell their heads off if they want to. Don't mind 'em." + +"No danger of that," returned Bert, confidently. "Just watch my smoke +for a few minutes, that's all." + +Bert struck out the next batter in three pitched balls, and the clamor +from the hostile rooters died down. The next batter was the captain, and +he was burning for revenge, but popped a high foul to Hinsdale, the +catcher, and retired, saying things not to be approved. The third man +was struck out after Bert had had two balls called on him, and this +ended the visitors' half of the eighth inning. + +The home team could make no better headway against the visitors' +pitching and team work, however, and the inning ended without a tally. +The score stood three to two in the visitors' favor, and things looked +rather dark for the home boys. + +At the beginning of the ninth the visitors sent a pinch hitter, named +Burroughs, to the plate to bat in place of Al, who by now had an almost +superstitious fear of Bert's delivery, and declared that "he couldn't +hit anything smaller than a football if that Freshie pitched it." + +Burroughs was hampered by no such feelings, however, and, after two +strikes had been called on him, he managed to connect with a fast, +straight ball and sent it soaring into the outfield. It looked like an +easy out, but at the last moment the fielder shifted his position a +little too much, and the ball dropped through his fingers. Before he +could get it in, the runner had reached third base, where he danced +excitedly and emitted whoops of joy. + +Bert felt a sinking sensation at his heart, as he realized how much +depended on him. The next man up made a clever bunt, and although he was +put out, Burroughs reached home ahead of the ball, bringing in another +run. + +He was rewarded with a storm of applause from the visiting rooters, and +it seemed as though all hope had departed for the home team. + +With the next batter Bert made unsparing use of his fadeaway, and struck +him out with little trouble. The third man shared the same fate, but it +seemed as though the game were irretrievably lost. A two-run lead in the +ninth inning seemed insurmountable, and Reddy muttered things under his +breath. When the boys came trooping over to the bench, he said, "What's +the matter with you fellows, anyway? What good does it do for Wilson to +hold the other team down, if you don't do any stick work to back him up? +Get in there now, and see if you can't knock out a few runs. A game is +never finished until the last half of the ninth inning, and you've got +a good chance yet. Go to it." + +Every chap on the team resolved to make a run or die in the attempt, and +Reddy could see that his speech had had some effect. + +Dick was the first batter up, and he selected a heavy "wagon tongue" and +stepped to the plate. The pitcher may have been a little careless, but +at any rate Dick got a ball just where he wanted it, and swung with +all his strength. The ball fairly whistled as it left the bat and +dashed along the ground just inside the right foul line. Dick sprinted +frantically around the bases, and got to third before he was stopped by +Tom, who had been waiting for him. "No further, old sock," said Tom, +excitedly. "That was a crackerjack hit, but you could never have got +home on it. Gee! if Hodge will only follow this up we've got a chance." + +Hodge was a good batter, and he waited stolidly until he got a ball that +suited him. Two strikes were called on him, and still he waited. Then +the pitcher sent him a long out curve, and Hodge connected with the ball +for a safe one-bag hit, while Dick raced home. It looked bright for the +home team now, but the next batter struck out, and although Hodge made a +daring slide to second, a splendid throw cut him off. + +Sterling was up next, and on the third pitched ball he managed to plant +a short drive in left field that got him safely to first base. Then it +was Bert's turn at the bat, and a great roar greeted him as he stepped +to the plate. + +"Win your own game, Wilson," someone shouted, and Bert resolved to do +so, if possible. + +He tried to figure out what the pitcher would be likely to offer him, +and decided that he would probably serve up a swift, straight one at +first. He set himself for this, but the pitcher had different ideas, +and sent over a slow drop that Bert swung at, a fraction of a second +too late. "Strike," called the umpire, and the hostile fans yelled +delightedly. The next one Bert drove out for what looked like a good +hit, but it turned out to be a foul. "Two strikes," barked the umpire, +and some of the people in the grandstand rose as if to leave, evidently +thinking that the game was practically over. + +Bert watched every motion of the pitcher as he wound up, and so was +pretty sure what kind of a ball was coming. The pitcher was noted for +his speed, and, almost at the moment the ball left his hand, Bert swung +his bat straight from the shoulder, with every ounce of strength he +possessed in back of it. There was a sharp crack as the bat met the +ball, and the sphere mounted upward and flew like a bullet for the +center field fence. + +As if by one impulse, every soul in the grandstand and bleachers rose to +his or her feet, and a perfect pandemonium of yells broke forth. The +fielders sprinted madly after the soaring ball, but they might have +saved themselves the trouble. It cleared the fence by a good ten feet, +and Bert cantered leisurely around the bases, and came across the home +plate with the winning run. + +Then a yelling, cheering mob swept down on the field, and enveloped the +players. In a moment Bert and some of the others were hoisted up on +broad shoulders, and carried around the field by a crowd of temporary +maniacs. It was some time before Bert could get away from his +enthusiastic admirers, and join the rest of his teammates. + +As he entered the dressing rooms, Reddy grasped his hand, and said, +"Wilson, you have done some great work to-day, and I want to congratulate +you. From now on you are one of the regular team pitchers." + +"Thank you, sir," replied Bert, "but I don't deserve any special credit. +We all did the best we could, and that was all anybody could do." + +So ended the first important game of the season, and Bert's position in +the college was established beyond all question. Winters' friends made +a few half-hearted efforts to detract from his popularity, but were met +with such a cold reception that they soon gave up the attempt, and Bert +was the undisputed star pitcher of the university team. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE FIRE + + +"Gee whiz! I'm glad I don't have to do this every day," said Tom, as he +stood, ruefully regarding his trunk, whose lid refused to close by +several inches. + +"I'm jiggered if I see why it should look like that. Even with the +fellows' things, it isn't half as full as it was when I came from home, +and it didn't cut up like that." + +The Easter holidays were approaching, and "the three guardsmen" had +received a most cordial invitation from Mr. Hollis to spend them with +him at his home. + +Feeling the strain of the baseball season, the fellows were only too +glad of a short breathing spell and had gratefully accepted the +invitation. They were looking forward with eager anticipation to the +visit. + +They would not need very much luggage for just a few days' stay, so, as +Tom owned a small steamer trunk, they had decided to make it serve for +all three. The fellows had brought their things in the night before and +left Tom to pack them. + +Tom had heard people say that packing a trunk was a work of time, and +had congratulated himself on the quickness and ease with which that +particular trunk was packed; but when he encountered the almost +human obstinacy with which that lid resisted his utmost efforts, he +acknowledged that it wasn't "such a cinch after all." + +After one more ineffectual effort to close it, he again eyed it +disgustedly. + +"I can't do a blamed thing with it," he growled, and then catching the +sound of voices in Dick's room overhead, he shouted: + +"Come on in here, fellows, and help me get this apology for a trunk +shut." + +When Dick and Bert reached him, Tom was stretched almost full length on +the trunk and raining disgusted blows in the region of the lock. + +He looked so absurdly funny that the fellows executed a war dance of +delight and roared with laughter, and then proceeded to drag Tom bodily +off the trunk. + +Landing him with scant ceremony on the floor, they proceeded to show the +discomfited Freshman that a trunk lid with any spirit could not consent +to close over an indiscriminate mixture of underwear, pajamas, suits of +clothes, collar boxes, and shoe and military brushes--most of these +latter standing upright on end. + +With the brushes lying flat, boxes stowed away in corners, and +clothing smoothly folded, the balky trunk lid closed, as Tom, grinning +sheepishly, declared, "meeker a hundred times than Moses." + +This disposed of, and dressed and ready at last, their thoughts and +conversation turned with one accord to the delightful fact that Mr. +Hollis was to send the old "Red Scout" to take them to his home. + +The very mention of the name "Red Scout" was sufficient to set all three +tongues going at once, as, during the half-hour before they could expect +the car, they recalled incidents of that most glorious and exciting +summer at the camp, when the "Red Scout" had been their unending source +of delight. + +"Do you remember," said Tom, "the first time we went out in her, when we +were so crazy with the delight of it that we forgot everything else, and +gave her the speed limit, and came near to having a once-for-all +smash-up?" + +They certainly did. "And," said Dick, "the day we gave poor old Biddy +Harrigan her first 'artymobile' ride. Didn't she look funny when the +wind spread out that gorgeous red feather?" + +They all laughed heartily at this recollection, but their faces grew +grave again as they recalled the time when, the brake failing to work, +they rushed over the bridge with only a few inches between them and +disaster. + +"That certainly was a close call," said Bert, "but not so close as the +race we had with the locomotive. I sure did think then that our time had +come." + +"But," Tom broke in, "'all's well that ends well,' and say, fellows, +_did_ it end well with us? Will you ever forget that wonderful race with +the 'Gray Ghost'? Great Scott! I can feel my heart thump again as it did +that final lap. And that last minute when the blessed old 'Red Scout' +poked her nose over the line--_ahead_!" and in his excitement Tom began +forging around the room at great speed, but made a rush for the window +at the sound of a familiar "toot, to-oo-t." + +"There she is," he announced joyfully, and, taking the stairs three +steps at a time, and crossing the campus in about as many seconds, they +gave three cheers for the old "Red Scout," which bore them away from +college scenes with its old-time lightning speed. + +Easter was late that year and spring had come early. There had been a +number of warm days, and already the springing grass had clothed the +earth in its Easter dress of soft, tender green. Tree buds were bursting +into leaf, and in many of the gardens that they passed crocuses were +lifting their little white heads above the ground. Robins flashed their +red and filled the air with music. Spring was everywhere! And, as the +warm, fragrant air swept their faces they thrilled with the very joy of +living, and almost wished the ride might last forever. + +At last, "There is Mr. Hollis' house, the large white one just before +us," said the chauffeur, and, so swiftly sped the "Red Scout" that +almost before the last word was spoken, they stopped and were cordially +welcomed by Mr. Hollis. + +As they entered the hall they stood still, looked, rubbed their +eyes and looked again. Then Tom said in a dazed way, "Pinch me, +Bert, I'm dreaming." For there in a row on either side of the hall +stood every last one of the fellows who had camped with them that +never-to-be-forgotten summer. Bob and Frank and Jim Dawson, Ben Cooper +and Dave and Charlie Adams, and--yes--peeping mischievously from behind +the door, Shorty, little Shorty! who now broke the spell with: + +"Hello, fellows. What's the matter? Hypnotized?" + +Then--well it was fortunate for Mr. Hollis that he was used to boys, and +so used also to noise; for such a shouting of greetings and babel of +questions rose, that nobody could hear anybody else speak. Little they +cared. They were all together once more, with days of pure pleasure in +prospect. Nothing else mattered; and Mr. Hollis, himself as much a boy +at heart as any one of them, enjoyed it all immensely. + +Glancing at the clock, he suddenly remembered that dinner would soon be +served, and drove the three latest arrivals off to their room to +prepare. + +Short as the ride had seemed to the happy automobilists, it had lasted +several hours. Though they had eaten some sandwiches on the way, they +were all in sympathy with Tom who, while they prepared for dinner +confided to his chums that he was a "regular wolf!" + +It goes without saying that they all did ample justice to that first +dinner, and that there never was a jollier or more care-free company. +None of the boys ever forgot the wonderful evening with Mr. Hollis. + +A man of large wealth and cultivated tastes, his home was filled with +objects of interest. He spared no pains to make his young guests feel at +home and gave them a delightful evening. + +The pleasant hours sped so rapidly that all were amazed when the silvery +chimes from the grandfather's clock in the living room rang out eleven +o'clock, and Mr. Hollis bade them all "good-night." + +They had not realized that they were tired until they reached their +rooms. Once there, however, they were glad to tumble into their +comfortable beds, and, after a unanimous vote that Mr. Hollis was a +brick, quiet reigned at last. + +To Bert in those quiet hours came a very vivid dream. He thought he was +wandering alone across a vast plain in perfect darkness at first, in +which he stumbled blindly forward. + +Suddenly there came a great flash of lightning which gleamed for a +moment and was gone. Instantly there came another and another, one so +closely following the other that there was an almost constant blinding +glare, while all the while the dreamer was conscious of a feeling of +apprehension, of impending danger. + +So intense did this feeling become and so painful, that at last the +dreamer awoke--to find that it was not all a dream! The room was no +longer dark and he saw a great light flashing outside his window pane. +Springing from bed it needed only one glance to show him that the wing +of the neighboring house only a few hundred feet away was in flames. + +Giving the alarm, and at the same time pulling on a few clothes, he +rushed out of the house and over to the burning building. So quick was +his action that he had entered into the burning house and shouted the +alarm of fire before Mr. Hollis and his guests realized what was +happening. Very soon all the inmates of Mr. Hollis' house and of the +neighboring houses rushed to the scene to do what they could, while +awaiting the arrival of the local fire engines. + +In the meantime Bert had stopped a screaming, hysterical maid as she was +rushing from the house and compelled her to show him where her mistress +slept. The poor lady's room was in the burning wing and Bert and Mr. +Hollis, who had now joined him, broke open the door. They found her +unconscious from smoke and, lifting her, carried her into the open air. + +Nothing could be learned from the maids. One had fainted and the other +was too hysterical from fright to speak coherently. One of the neighbors +told them that the owner was away on business and not expected home for +several days. He asked if the child were safe, and just at that moment +the little white-clad figure of a child about six years old appeared at +one of the upper gable windows. + +By this time, though the engines had arrived, and were playing streams +of water on the burning building, the fire had spread to the main house +and both the lower floors were fiercely burning. Entrance or escape by +the stairways was an impossibility, and the longest ladders reached +barely to the second story windows. The local fire company was not +supplied with nets. + +It seemed to all that the little child must perish, and, to add to the +horror of the scene, the child's mother had regained consciousness, and, +seeing her little one in such mortal danger, rushed frantically toward +the burning house. She was held back by tender but strong hands. She +could do nothing to help her child, but her entreaties to be allowed to +go to her were heart-breaking. + +All but one were filled with despair. Bert, scanning the building for +some means of rescue, saw that a large leader pipe ran down a corner of +the building from roof to ground, and was secured to the walls of the +house by broad, iron brackets. The space between it and the window where +the child stood seemed to be about three feet. If he could climb that +leader by means of those iron supports, he might be able to leap across +the intervening space and reach the window. + +All this passed through Bert's mind with lightning-like rapidity. He +knew that if he failed to reach the window--well, he would not consider +that. + +Coming to quick decision, he ran forward, dodged the detaining hands +stretched out, and before anyone had an inkling of his purpose, was +climbing the ladder from bracket to bracket. More than one called +frantically to come back, but with the thought of that despairing +mother, and with his eyes fixed on the little child in the window, he +went on steadily up, foot by foot, until, at last, he was on a level +with the window. Now he found that distance had deceived him and that +the window was fully five feet away instead of three. + +The crowd, standing breathless now, and still as death, saw him pause +and every heart ached with apprehension, fearing that he would be forced +to return and leave the little one to her awful fate. Eyes smarted with +the intensity with which they stared. Could he with almost nothing to +brace his feet upon, spring across that five feet of wall? He could not +even take a half-minute to think. The flames might at any second burst +through the floor into the room in which the little child had taken +refuge. He dared not look down, but in climbing he had noticed that the +flames, as the wind swayed them, were sweeping across the ladders. He +must decide. + +His resolve was taken, and he gathered his muscles together for the +spring. + +Now, Bert, you have need to call upon all your resources. Well for you +that your training on the diamond has limbered and strengthened your +muscles, steadied your nerves, quickened your eye, taught you lightning +perception and calculation and decision. You have need of them all now. +Courage, Bert! Ready, now! + +The frantic mother saw him gather himself together and spring to what +seemed to be certain death. His fingers grip the window sill, but, as +his weight drags upon them, they slip. Ah! he never can hold that smooth +surface--and many turn away their faces, unable to bear the sight. But +look! he is still there. His fingers desperately tighten their grip upon +the sill, and now he begins to draw himself up, slowly, reaching inside +the window for a firmer hold. He has his knee on the sill--and a great +shout goes up from the crowd as he drops inside the window beside the +child. + +But their relief was short-lived, for now the same thought seized +everyone. How was he to get back? He could not return the way he went +up, for, even unhampered by the child, he could not make the leap back +to the pipe. With anxious, despairing eyes, they watched the window from +which great clouds of smoke were pouring now, mingled with tiny tongues +of flame. + +It seemed an hour that they had waited, but it was only a few moments +before the brave fellow reappeared at the window, with the child wrapped +in a blanket, strapped firmly to his shoulders. Another moment and a +long woolen blanket dangled from the window sill, and with the agility +of a monkey Bert began to let himself down hand over hand. With beating +hearts into which hope had begun again to creep, the breathless people +watched him. + +But surely the flames, sweeping now up and out from the second story +window will shrivel that blanket and burn it through. But they do not, +for though they wrap themselves fiercely about it, they seem unable to +destroy it; and now his feet touch the topmost round of the ladder. +Another moment and his hands are upon it also. + +Now at last the crowd bursts into cheer upon cheer. Willing hands reach +up and seize the now almost exhausted young hero, and lift him and his +burden to the ground. + +The child, thanks to the blanket in which Bert had wrapped her, was +unhurt and in a moment was sobbing in her mother's arms, that happy +mother who, overcome with joy, could only strain her rescued treasure to +her heart with murmured words of love and thanksgiving. + +Bert's friends crowded around him with joyful congratulations, while Mr. +Hollis, filled with rejoicing at his young friend's wonderful escape +from death and with admiration for his fearless bravery, grasped him by +the hand, saying, "I'm proud of you, Bert, I'm proud of you! You're a +hero." + +Bert winced at that close grip and Mr. Hollis, looking down, saw that +the hands were badly burned and hurried him from the scene, the admiring +fellows closely following. + +The mother with her child had been taken away by kind and sympathetic +friends, but not before she had thanked Bert with full heart for giving +her child back to her. + +No king ever held higher court or with more devoted or admiring subjects +than did Bert while they waited at Mr. Hollis' home for the coming of a +doctor to dress his burns. Nothing was talked of but the exciting events +of the day and Bert's share in them. With faces still glowing with +excitement, they lived over again all the events of the early morning, +and Bert had to answer all sorts of questions as to "How he ever came to +think of that leader pipe?" "What he would have done if the blanket had +burned through?" and a dozen others. + +"Well," Shorty summed up, "Bert sure is a wonder," to which there was a +hearty assent. + +The arrival of the doctor put an end to all this to Bert's great relief, +for he was much too modest to enjoy being praised. + +The burns were found to be not very serious, but the pain added to the +great physical exertion and the intense nervous strain had brought poor +Bert almost to the breaking point, and the doctor ordered him to bed. + +Very gladly he settled down after so many hours of excitement with Mr. +Hollis' parting words in his ears, "If I had a son like you, Bert, I +should be very proud of him to-day." + +He was drifting happily into dreamland when Tom poked his head inside +the door and said, "You've got to answer one more question before you go +to sleep, old man. What charm did you work around that old blanket you +came down on from the window so that it would not burn?" + +"Made it soaking wet, bonehead," came the sleepy reply, and Tom +vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +TAKING HIS MEDICINE + + +The team had been tested almost to its limit this season, and the strain +was beginning to show. Each player was worked up to the highest possible +nervous tension, and no man can last long under such conditions. Even +with professional players this condition becomes very apparent in a +hard-fought series, and so was even more plainly seen among these +comparatively inexperienced contestants for the honor of their alma +mater. + +Another thing that tended strongly to demoralize them was the fact of +Bert's being unable to play. His burned hands, while rapidly mending, +were still unable to grip the ball. Of course, they knew that this was +merely a temporary calamity, but even to have the pitcher on whom they +had based their strongest hopes out of commission for almost two weeks +meant much to them. Winters and Benson, while undoubtedly good pitchers, +fell considerably short of the standard set by Bert, and all the players +realized this. + +Of course, it may be argued that they should not allow themselves to be +affected by anything of this kind, but no one who has not actually been +a ball player can fully realize what it means to a team, when they are +nearing the end of a neck and neck struggle, to be deprived of their +star pitcher. It must also be remembered that Bert, while not by any +means as good a batter as he was a pitcher, was nevertheless a strong +batsman, and had the happy faculty of "swatting them out" at the time +when they would do the most good. On this account, his loss was felt +more keenly than would have ordinarily been the case. + +Another thing, but one that was never openly alluded to, was the +knowledge that each boy had, that Winters was not the pitcher he had +been once upon a time. His breaks from training were becoming more and +more frequent, and all that the coach could say in the way of threat or +entreaty seemed to have no effect. Winters had gotten in with a fast +set, and no argument or persuasion could induce him to see the error of +his way. + +Reddy did not dare to remove him from the team, however, as that would +have left him only one pitcher of any value, namely, Benson, and nobody +knew better than the wily trainer that Benson could seldom be depended +on to pitch good ball during an entire game. + +Again and again Reddy had cursed the fate that deprived him of his star +pitcher at such a crucial time, but of course, as is usually the case, +that did little good. It was too late now to try to develop another +pitcher, even had he known of anyone capable of training for that +important post, which he did not. + +So he just set his jaw, and resolved to make the best of what he had. Up +to to-day, which was destined to see one of the season's most important +battles, he had managed, by dint of skillful coaching and substituting +at critical moments, to maintain the lead that the team had gained +largely through Bert's remarkable work in the box. + +He felt that if the team won to-day's game, they would have a comfortable +lead until Bert was able to resume his pitching. If, on the other hand, +they lost, he realized that they would have small chance of winning the +championship. No one would have suspected from his outward appearance +what thoughts were going on in his mind, but if they had, they would have +been astonished. To the players, and to everybody else, he presented such +a calm and composed exterior that the boys felt more confident the minute +they saw him. As the time for the game drew near, he gathered the boys +together in the clubhouse, and proceeded to make a little speech and give +them some valuable advice. + +They listened attentively, and went out on the diamond with a do-or-die +expression written on their faces. Needless to say, Bert was there, and +nobody felt worse than he over his misfortune. + +"Gee!" he exclaimed to Tom, ruefully, "this is certainly what you might +call tough luck. Here I am, with my arm feeling better than it ever did +before, and just on account of a few pesky burns I can't pitch." + +"It's tough, all right, and no mistake," sympathized Dick, "but never +mind. If Winters can only do half way decent pitching, we'll come +through all right." + +Bert said nothing, not wishing to discourage his friend, but to himself +he admitted that things had a rather bad aspect. The team they were to +play to-day was noted for its heavy batters, and he knew that it would +take a pitcher in the most perfect condition to stand the strain of nine +long innings against such sluggers. His thoughts were not of the +pleasantest, therefore, as he sat on the bench, nibbling a blade of +grass, and watched the practice of the two teams with critical eyes. + +Murray, reputed to be the heaviest hitter on the Maroon team, was +knocking out flies to his teammates, and Bert was forced to admire the +confident way in which he lined the ball out, without ever missing a +swing. + +His own team was playing with snap and ginger, though, and this fact +comforted Bert somewhat. + +"Well," he thought to himself, "the teams seem to be about equally +matched, and if nothing out of the ordinary happens, we ought to have a +good show to win. I only hope that all the rumors I've been hearing +about Winters lately are not true." + +As Bert had seen, both teams showed up well in the preliminary practice, +and each made several plays that evoked applause from the grandstands +and bleachers. + +Soon the umpire walked out on the field, adjusting his mask and +protecting pads, and the crowds settled down for a couple of hours of +what they realized would be intense excitement. + +"Battery for the Maroons, Moore and Hupfel!" shouted the umpire. "For +the Blues, Winters and Hinsdale!" + +As they were the visitors to-day, the Blues of course went to the bat +first. They were quickly retired by snappy work and took the field. +Winters seemed in fine form, and struck out the opposing batters in good +shape, only one getting a hit, and he was caught stealing. + +This ended the first inning, with no runs scored for either side, and +Reddy began to feel more confident. However, little could be prophesied +regarding the outcome at this early stage of the game, and Reddy walked +over to the bench and sat down beside Bert. + +"Well, my boy," he said, "if they don't get any more hits off us than +they did in that inning, we won't be so bad off, after all. Winters +seems to be in fine shape, don't you think?" + +"He certainly does," replied Bert, "he's holding them down in fine +style. You couldn't ask for better pitching than he's putting up." + +"Ye couldn't, fer a fact," said the trainer, and both settled back to +see what the Blues would accomplish in their turn at bat. + +Dick was next on the batting list, and he strode to the plate with his +usual jaunty step. He waited two balls before he got one to suit him, +but then landed out a hot grounder, and just managed to beat it to first +base. + +"That's good! that's good!" yelled Reddy, dancing about on one leg. "The +boys are beginning to get their batting caps on now, and it won't be +long before we have a string of runs longer than a Dachshund. Go to it, +Blues, go to it!" + +Poor Reddy! His high hopes were doomed to fall quickly. Hodge struck +out, and with lightning-like rapidity the catcher snapped the ball down +to second. For once, Dick was the fraction of a second too slow, and +the ball beat him to the base by a hair's breadth. + +"Two out!" yelled the umpire, and Reddy dropped into his seat with a +dismal groan. White, the strong hitting shortstop, was the next batsman, +but after knocking two high flies, he was struck out by a fast inshoot. + +However, Winters appeared to be pitching airtight ball, and while a few +feeble flies were garnered from his delivery, the fielders had no +difficulty in catching them. + +When the home team came to bat, their first man up, who happened to be +the catcher, cracked out a swift, low fly between Winters and Tom, and +tore around to second base before the ball came in from the field. + +To Reddy's keen eyes, studying carefully every phase and mood of game +and man, it was apparent that Winters' confidence was shaken a little by +this occurrence. His pitching to the next batter was wild, and he +finally gave the man a base on balls. Bert leaned forward intently, and +his eyes were fairly glued on the players. Oh, if he could only go +out there and pitch for the rest of the game! But he knew this was +impossible with his hands in the condition they were, and he uttered an +impatient exclamation. + +With two men on bases and none out, matters began to look doubtful for +the devoted Blues. The very first ball Winters pitched to the next +batter was hit for a long two-bagger, and the runner on second cantered +leisurely home. + +Now even the fans in the bleachers realized that something was amiss +with the pitcher of the Blues, and those opposed to them set up an +uproarious clapping and hooting in the hope of rattling him still +further. This was not wholly without effect, and Bert noted with +ever-growing anxiety that Winters appeared to be unable to stand quietly +in the box during the pauses in the game, but fidgeted around nervously, +at one time biting his nails, and at another, shifting constantly from +one foot to the other. A meaner nature than our hero might have been +glad to note the discomfiture of one whom he had every reason to +dislike, but Bert was not built after such a pattern. His one thought +was that the college would suffer heavily if this game were lost, and he +hardly gave a thought to his private grievances. The college was the +thing that counted. + +Winters, by a great effort, tightened up a little after this, and with +the help of snappy support retired the Maroons, but not before the +latter had garnered another precious run. + +The visiting team did nothing, however, for although they got a runner +to third at one time, he was put out by a quick throw from pitcher to +first. + +Thus ended the second inning, and to the casual observer it seemed as +though the teams were pretty evenly matched. To Reddy's practised eye, +however, it was apparent that the Blues had a little the edge on their +opponents, except in the matter of pitching. Here, indeed, it was hard +to tell who was the better pitcher, the Maroon boxman or Winters. Both +were pitching good ball, and Reddy realized that it would probably +narrow down to a question of which one had the greater staying power. + +"If only we had young Wilson pitching," he thought to himself, "I would +breathe a whole lot easier. However, there's no use crossing a bridge +till you come to it, and I may be having all my worriment for nothin'. +Somethin' tells me, though, that we're goin' to have trouble before +this game is over. May all the Saints grant that I'm wrong." + +For the next three innings, however, it appeared as though the trainer's +forebodings were without foundation. Both teams played with snap and +dash, and as yet only two runs had been scored. + +At the beginning of the sixth inning, Tom was slated as the first man +up, and he walked to the plate filled with a new idea Bert had given +him. "Wait until about the fourth ball that that fellow pitches," Bert +had told him, "and then bounce on it good and plenty. The first two or +three balls he pitches are full of steam, but then, if nobody has even +struck at them, he gets careless, and puts one over that you ought to be +able to land on without any trouble. You just try that and see what +happens." + +This Tom proceeded to do, and found that it was indeed as Bert had said. +The first ball pitched seemed good, but Tom let it go by, and had a +strike called on him. The next one was a ball, but the third one was a +hot curve that looked good, and ordinarily Tom would have taken a chance +and swung at it. Now, however, he was resolved to follow Bert's advice to +the letter, and so allowed the ball to pass him. "Gee, that guy's scared +stiff," someone yelled from the bleachers, and the crowd laughed. It +certainly did seem as though Tom had lost his nerve, and his teammates, +who were not in on the secret yet, looked puzzled. Tom paid no attention +to the shouts from the grandstand, and his well-known ability as a +"waiter" stood him in good stead. True to Bert's prediction, the pitcher +eased up a little when winding up for the next ball, and Tom saw that he +shared the general impression that he had lost his nerve. The ball proved +to be a straight, fast one, and Tom slugged it squarely with all the +strength in his body. Amid a hoarse roar from the watching thousands, he +tore around the bases and slid into third before he was stopped by White, +who was waiting for him. + +"Gee, Tom!" ejaculated the excited and delighted shortstop. "How in time +did you ever think of such a clever trick. You sure fooled that pitcher +at his own game." + +"It wasn't my idea, it was Bert's," said Tom, truthfully. + +"Whoever's it was, it was a crackerjack one, at any rate," said White, +jubilantly. "If Flynn can only get a hit now we'll have a run, and it +looks as though we would need all that we can get." + +Flynn, in accordance with instructions from Reddy, laid an easy bunt +down toward first base, and, although he was put out, Tom scurried over +the plate about two jumps in front of the ball, and the first run for +the Blues had been scored. + +The small band of loyal rooters for the Blues struck up one of the +familiar college songs, and things looked bright for their team. The +opposing pitcher was not to be fooled again, however, and while Drake +was waiting for a ball to suit him he was struck out, much to the +delight of the hostile fans. + +Thus at the end of the seventh inning the score stood two to one in +favor of the Maroons, and their pitcher was "as good as new," as he +himself put it. + +Now Dick went to bat, and waited, with no sign of the nervousness that +was beginning to be manifested by his teammates, for a ball that was to +his liking. He let the first one go past, but swung hard at the second, +and cracked out a hot liner right at the pitcher. Most pitchers would +have let a smoking fly like that pass them, for fear of injuring their +hands, but evidently this boxman was not lacking in nerve. The ball +cracked into his outstretched mitt with a report like a pistol shot, and +he held on to it. + +"Out!" shouted the umpire, and Dick, who had started to sprint to first, +walked to the bench with a disgusted air. + +"Hang it all, anyway," he exclaimed disgustedly, "who'd have thought he +would stop that one? I could just see myself resting peacefully at +second base, and then he has to go and do a thing like that. A mean +trick, I call it." + +Dick made a pretence of taking the matter in this light manner in order +to keep up the spirits of his teammates, but not by any means because he +felt happy about it. Quite the contrary. + +Hodge, the right fielder, came up next, but only succeeded in popping up +a feeble fly that the third baseman caught easily after a short run in. +White waited patiently for one to suit him, but while he was waiting, +three strikes were called on him, and he retired in a crestfallen +manner. + +In the meantime, Reddy had been talking to Winters. "How do you feel, +Winters?" he had inquired anxiously, "do you feel strong enough to hold +them down for the rest of this game?" + +"Aw, don't worry yourself about me," Winters had replied in a surly +voice. "I'm all right. I never felt better in my life," but something in +his voice belied his words. + +"All right," returned the trainer, "but remember this, my lad: if we put +Benson in now, we might be able to hold them down. I'm going to take +your say so, though, and let you pitch the next inning. If they get to +you, however, you'll have to take your medicine. It will be too late +then to put Benson in, and of course Wilson is in no shape to pitch. +Now, it's up to you." + +"That's all right," growled Winters. Then he suddenly flared up: "I +suppose if that blamed Freshie were in condition you'd have put him in +to pitch long ago, wouldn't you?" + +"That I would, my lad," returned Reddy, in an ominously quiet voice. +"Now, go in there and pitch, and don't give me any more back talk that +you'll be sorry for afterward." + +Winters seemed about to make some hot reply to this, but after a +moment's hesitation, thought better of it, and turned sullenly away, +putting on his glove as he walked slowly to his position. + +He vented his anger on the first few balls he pitched, and they went +over the plate with speed and to spare. This did not last long, however, +and after he had struck out one man his speed began to slacken. The +second man up landed a high fly into right field that Hodge, although he +made a brave try for it, was unable to get to in time. The runner raced +around to third before he was stopped by the warning cries of his +teammates. + +"We've got 'em going! We've got 'em going!" chanted the home rooters in +one mighty chorus, and Winters scowled at them viciously. + +The next five balls he pitched were "wild as they make 'em," and only +one strike was registered. In consequence the batter walked leisurely to +first, and as he neared Winters said, "Much obliged, old chap." If looks +could have killed, Winters would surely have been a murderer, but +fortunately it takes more than that to kill a ball player, and so the +game went on without interruption. + +The following batter made a clever sacrifice bunt, and the man on third +brought home a run, while the one on first reached second. + +"Gee, it's all over now, I'm afraid," groaned Bert to himself. "Winters +is up in the air sky high, and after their argument Reddy probably will +not put Benson in, because he's cold and it would do no good. We'll be +baked brown on both sides before this game is finished." + +And Bert was not far wrong. The Maroons landed on Winters "like a ton of +brick," as Tom afterward said, and proceeded to wipe up the field with +him. The game became a massacre, and when the home team was finally +retired the score stood six to one in their favor. + +When Winters came in from the field he was white and shaking, and Reddy +felt sorry for him. "Just the same," he reflected, "this will teach him +a lesson, maybe, and it may lead to his sticking more closely to +regulations and the training table. Midnight booze-fighting and good +ball playing don't mix very well." Reddy might have gone further, and +said that "booze fighting" did not mix very well with anything worth +while, and not have been far wrong. + +Actuated by these reflections, the trainer resolved to make Winters +pitch out the rest of the game, as it was hopelessly lost anyway, in the +hope of making him reform. + +The Blues were thoroughly demoralized by this time, and their +half-hearted attempts to score met with little success. Hinsdale, after +both the batsmen preceding him had been struck out, landed on the ball +for a long high fly into center, and got to second on it. He went no +further, however, as Tom lifted a high foul to the opposing catcher. Of +course this ended the game, as it would have been useless to finish the +ninth inning. + +The Maroon rooters rose in a body and rent the air with their songs and +college yells. The loyal Blues present did their best, but could not +make themselves heard amidst the general uproar. + +"The Blues haven't got a chance for the pennant now," exulted one rooter +to his friend. "They're on the downward road now, and will stay there +till the end of the season. You watch and see if they don't." + +But there was a Freshman pitcher on the bench that knew better. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SHOOTING THEM OVER + + +Bert and Dick and some of the other fellows were having a discussion. +They had been talking on various topics, and, as was usually the case, +the talk had drifted around to baseball. They had discussed the game pro +and con, when Dick said: + +"I wonder how fast a pitcher really can throw a ball, anyway. Of course, +there's no possibility of such a thing, but it certainly would be +interesting, if we could measure the speed of a pitched ball, and settle +the question once and for all." + +"That's easy," laughed Bert. "You just stand up there, Dick, and give me +a baseball and let me hit you with it. If it kills you, we will know it +was going pretty fast, but if it just cripples you, we will be forced to +the conclusion that the ball wasn't traveling so very fast, after all." + +"Yes, that certainly is a brilliant idea," snorted Dick, "and there is +only one thing that keeps me from doing it. If, as you say, it should +kill me, you fellows would have settled the question, all right, but +then it would be too late for me to share in the knowledge. Therefore, +I guess we'll leave the question open for the present." + +"Aw, gee, Dick," laughed one of the others, "you certainly have a mean +disposition. Here you are in college, and yet you evidently haven't +enough of the college spirit to make a sacrifice of yourself for the +general good. Besides, it doesn't show the scientific desire for +knowledge that we would like to see in you, does it, fellows?" appealing +to the laughing group. + +Everybody seemed to think the same thing, judging from the unanimous +chorus of assent to this speech, but, strange to say, Dick proved very +obstinate, and refused to offer his services in the capacity of official +tester. + +"But seriously, fellows," said one of the boys, John Bennett by name, "I +don't see why we couldn't do something of the kind. I shouldn't think it +would be so hopeless, after all." + +At first they thought he was joking, but when they realized that he was +in earnest, a chorus of ridicule arose. Bennett refused to be hooted +down, however, and finally managed to get a hearing. + +"You see, it's this way," he explained: "My father, as you all know, +manufactures guns and rifles of all descriptions. Now, some people with +a little more sense in their noodles than you poor boobs," with a +sarcastic inflection, "have asked what the speed of a rifle bullet was, +and what's more, have managed to find out. Going on the same principle, +I don't see why we couldn't find out the speed of a baseball." + +"How do they find that out?" asked one, unbelievingly, "a rifle bullet +has been known to go pretty fast at times, you know." + +"You don't mean it, do you?" asked Bennett, sarcastically. "I always +thought bullets crept along the ground something after the manner of +snails, or something equally fast, didn't you fellows?" + +"Go on, go on," they laughed, "if you've got an idea in what you call +your brain, for heaven's sake get it out before you forget it. Go on and +tell us how it is that they measure the speed of a bullet." + +"Well, it's this way," said Bennett, "they arrange an electric wire in +front of the muzzle of the gun, so that as the bullet comes out it is +bound to break it. Then, the object at which the gun is aimed is also +connected up by electricity. Observe, gentlemen, what happens when the +gun is discharged. The bullet, as it saunters from the gun, cuts the +electric wire, and by so doing registers the exact fraction of a second +that this happens. When it hits the target, a similar process takes +place, and then of course it is a simple matter to subtract the time +the bullet left the gun from the time it hit the target, and thus, +gentlemen, we arrive at the result, namely, the time it took the bullet +to go across the intervening distance. I trust, gentlemen (and others), +that I have made myself perfectly clear." + +"Aw," spoke up one of the fellows, popularly known as "Curley," "who +couldn't think of a simple thing like that. The only reason that I +didn't think of it right off was that it was too easy for me even to +consider." + +"Oh, sure, we all understand that perfectly," replied Bennett, "but, +seriously, fellows, if you would care to try the experiment, I am sure +that my father would help us all he could. It wouldn't be any trick at +all for him to rig up something on the same principle that would give us +an accurate idea of how fast Bert, for instance, could propel a baseball +through the surrounding atmosphere. Say the word, and I'll write to him +about it to-night. We ought to hear from him by the day after to-morrow, +at the latest." + +Bert saw that Bennett was in earnest, and so said: + +"It certainly would be very interesting, old man. I've often wondered +just what speed I was capable of, and I don't see why your plan +shouldn't be feasible. What do you think, Dick?" + +"I think it would be well worth the try, at all events," replied Dick, +"and say, fellows, while we were about it, Bennett's father might be +willing to show us over the factory and give us an idea of how the guns +are made. Do you think he would, old top?" addressing Bennett. + +"Surest thing you know," responded the latter, heartily. "I know he +would be glad to have you come, even if you are a bunch of bums," +smilingly. + +"All right, we'll consider that settled, then," said Bert. "You write to +him right away, and we'll try our little experiment as soon as possible. +Believe me, I'm anxious to try it. I sure would like to know." + +Thus the matter was settled, and after a little more talk and speculation +on the same subject, the boys dispersed to their rooms to prepare +recitations for the morrow. + +A day or so later, when some of them had forgotten about the proposed +test, Bennett came up to the group assembled in Bert's and Dick's room, +and said: + +"See here, fellows! What did I tell you? I just received this letter +from dad, and he says to go as far as we like. He says that he spoke of +the matter to the foreman of the testing department, and he thinks our +plan is feasible." + +"Gee, that's fine," exclaimed Tom, who was of the group. "How long did +he think it would be before he would be ready?" + +"Oh, pretty near any time that we could get to the factory. Of course, +it will take him a few days to rig up the apparatus, but he says he will +have it ready by next Saturday, and as that is a holiday for most of us, +I think it would be a good time to go. How would that suit you, Bert?" + +"First rate," replied Bert, "I'll take it as easy as I can this week in +the line of pitching, so that I will have full strength for the test. +I'll have to establish a record," laughingly. + +"I'll tell you what we can do," said Walter Harper, one of the "subs" on +the team, "let's get up a race between Bert's baseball and a bullet. I +think that Bert ought to beat a bullet easily." + +"Well," laughed Bert, "maybe I can't exactly beat a bullet, but I'll bet +my ball will have more curve on it than any bullet ever invented." + +"That reminds me of a story I heard the other day," spoke up one. "The +father of a friend of mine went out to hunt deer last fall. He had fair +luck, but everybody was talking about a deer that had been fooling all +the hunters for several seasons. It seems that this deer was such an +expert dodger, that when anyone started to shoot at him he would run +around in circles and thus avoid the bullet. Well, my friend's father +thought over the matter for a long time, and finally hit on a plan to +outwit the deer. Can you guess how he did it?" + +Many were the schemes offered by the ingenious listeners, but none of +them seemed satisfactory. Finally all gave up the problem, and begged +the story teller to give them the explanation. + +"Well," he said, "it's very simple, and I'm surprised and grieved that +none of you fatheads have thought of it. Why, he simply bent the barrel +of the gun around, so that when the bullet came out it chased the deer +around in circles, and killed him without any trouble. Now----" but here +he was interrupted by a storm of indignant hoots and hisses, and rushed +from the room amid a perfect shower of books of all descriptions. + +"Gee," said Tom, "I've heard some queer hunting stories, but that one +was the limit. Many a man has died for less." + +"Oh, well, he's more to be pitied than scorned," laughed Dick, and they +proceeded to discuss the details of Saturday's trip. + +"It will be no end of fun, I can promise you," said Bennett. "It's +really an education in itself to go through that factory and see the way +things are done. You can bet there's no time or effort wasted there. +Everything is figured down to the very last word for efficiency, and if +all the world were run on the same basis it would be a pretty fine place +to live in." + +"List to the philosopher, fellows," said Bert. "I'm afraid Bennett's +studies are going to his head, and he's actually beginning to believe +what the profs tell him." + +"That is indeed a sign of failing mental powers," laughed Tom. "I'm +afraid that if we don't do something for our poor friend, he will +degenerate until finally he becomes nothing but a 'greasy grind.' After +that, of course, he can sink no lower." + +"Aw, you fellows think you're funny, don't you," grunted Bennett, +disgustedly, "you're such boneheads that when somebody with real brains, +like myself, for instance, gets off a little gem of thought you are +absolutely incapable of appreciating it." + +"Fellows," said Bert, gravely, "we have made an important discovery. +Bennett has brains. We know this is so, because he himself admits it. +Well, well, who would have suspected it?" + +This sally was greeted with laughter, but, seeing that Bennett was +becoming a little angry, Bert changed the subject, and they were soon +deep in details of the forthcoming trip. Dick was delegated to buy the +tickets, and when all had paid in their money it was seen that +twenty-four were going. + +"That will just be a good crowd," said Bert. "We'll leave here on the +9:21 train, and that will take us to W---- at a little after ten. We can +look over the factory in the morning, and tell Mr. Bennett how to run +it,"--with a mischievous glance at Bennett, "and in the afternoon, +gentlemen, I will make my world renowned attempt to pitch a baseball +against time. Do you think that will suit your father, John?" + +"Sure, that will be all right," answered Bennett, and so the matter was +settled. + +The following Saturday turned out to be ideal, and everybody was in high +spirits when they gathered at the station. They had to wait ten or +fifteen minutes for the train, which had been delayed, but they found +plenty to do in the meantime. They sang, played leap frog, and in a +dozen other ways gave vent to their high spirits. Some of the passengers +envied their light hearts, and remembered the days when they, too, had +been full of life and fun, and the world had just been a place to be +merry in. + +The waiting passed like a flash, and before they knew it the train came +into sight around a curve. When it drew up they all made a rush to get +on, and before the train was finally started again had almost driven the +conductor frantic. + +"Byes will be byes, though," he grinned to himself, later on, "and be +the same token, Oi don't begrudge the youngsters any of their fun, even +if it did hold the thrain back a full three minutes. Have a good time +while yer living, says Oi, for yez'll be a long time dead." + +The train fairly flew along, as the engineer was making up for lost +time, and it was not long before the conductor sang out, "W----!" and +they had arrived. They all tumbled off, and Tom, to save time, went +through the car window. + +"Be gorry, yez are a wild bunch of youngsters," said the old conductor +to Bert. "But Oi remember when Oi was a lad Oi was the same way, so Oi +fergives yez the delays and worriments yez have caused me this day. Have +a good toime, and luck be wid yez." + +"Thanks," laughed Bert; "won't you come along?" + +"Thank ye kindly, but Oi guess Oi'll have to deny meself the pleasure, +me bye," grinned the conductor, and the train drew out of the station. + +"Gee," said Tom, as he gazed around, "I don't think we'll have much +trouble locating the factory, Bennett. It seems to be a rather +conspicuous part of the landscape." + +It was, indeed. The whole town was founded on the factory industry, +and practically every able-bodied man in the place worked there. The +factory was an immense six-story affair, with acres and acres of floor +space. All around it were streets lined with comfortable-looking +cottages, in which the workmen lived. Everything had a prosperous and +neat appearance, and the boys were agreeably surprised. Most of them had +expected to see a grimy manufacturing town, and were quite unprepared +for the clean community they saw spread out before them. + +Bennett headed them straight toward the factory, but as they went along +pointed out features of the town. + +"You see," he explained, "the whole town is practically part of the +factory. When that was established a few houses were built around it, +and as the factory grew, the town grew along with it, until now it is +what you see it. We have one of the biggest gun manufacturing plants in +the world here," he added, proudly. + +"It certainly is some class, John," admitted Bert; "it's bigger and +cleaner than I ever expected it would be." + +Soon they had reached the factory itself, and Bennett ushered them into +the office. There they were presented to a gray-haired man whom John +proudly introduced as his father, and they were made perfectly at home. + +After a little talk, Mr. Bennett pressed a button, and a capable looking +man appeared. + +"Sawkins," said Mr. Bennett, "here are the young men for whom we've been +turning the factory upside down the last few days. Just show them +around, will you, and explain things to them a little." + +"Certainly," acquiesced Sawkins, who was the foreman. "Step right this +way, gentlemen." + +The following two hours were probably among the most interesting any of +the boys had ever known. The foreman started at the beginning, showing +them the glowing molten metal in immense cauldrons. He was a man of +considerable education, and great mechanical ability. He explained every +process in words as free as possible of technicalities, and the young +fellows felt that they understood everything that he undertook to +explain. He showed them how the metal was cast, how the guns were bored +out, the delicate rifling cut in, and a thousand other details. His +listeners paid close attention to everything he said, and seeing this, +he took extra pains to make everything clear to them. As he said to Mr. +Bennett afterward, "It was a pleasure to talk to a bunch of men that +understood what was told them." + +Finally they came to the testing room, and this proved, if possible, +even more interesting than what had gone before. The foreman showed them +the various ranges, and some of the penetrating feats of which the +rifles were capable. It was almost unbelievable. + +"See this little toy?" he said, picking out a beautifully made gun from +a rack on the wall. "The projectile discharged from this arm will +penetrate over forty-five planks, each one seven-eighths of an inch +thick. And then, look at this,"--holding up an ax-head with three clean +holes bored through it--"here's what it can do to tempered steel. I +don't think it would be very healthy to stand in its way." + +"No, I guess it wouldn't," said Dick. "I'd prefer to be somewhere else +when one of those bullets was wandering around loose." + +Mr. Sawkins then showed them some photographs of bullets taken while in +flight. At first sight this seems an impossibility, but nevertheless it +is an accomplished fact. The method used is much the same as John +Bennett has described in the early part of this chapter. As the bullet +leaves the gun it cuts a wire, which in turn snaps the shutter of a +very high-speed camera. The lenses on a camera of this kind are very +expensive, a single lens sometimes costing five hundred dollars. + +Then the foreman showed them the apparatus that they had rigged up to +test the speed of Bert's pitching. After examining the ingenious +arrangement the boys were lavish in their praise. Mr. Sawkins made +light of this, but it was easy to see that he was pleased. + +"Oh, it's nothing much," he said. "I just fooled around a little bit, +and soon had this planned out. It was easy for me, because when I was a +little younger I used to do a little myself in the pitching line on our +local team, so I knew about what would be required." + +While they were discussing this, Mr. Bennett strolled in, and asked the +enthusiastic group what they thought of what they had seen so far. + +"Gee," said Tom, impulsively, "it certainly is the greatest ever, Mr. +Bennett. I never had any idea there was such an awful lot to know about +gun-making. On thinking it over," he added, laughing, "I don't think of +a single way that we could improve matters; do you, fellows?" + +"You are more modest than my son, then," said Mr. Bennett, and there was +a twinkle in his eye as he spoke. "Every time John comes here he has a +lot of ideas that he is sure will better anything we have here at +present. However, I have just been in this line for the last thirty +years or so, and so, of course, have lots to learn." + +"Aw, cut it out, Dad," grumbled the younger Bennett. "As far as I can +find out, you've never tried any of the things I've proposed, and so how +do you know how good or bad they are?" + +"Well, the only objection to your plans was that they would generally +have meant building a new factory to carry them out. Otherwise I have no +fault to find with them," returned Mr. Bennett. + +After a little further talk, Mr. Bennett insisted that the boys come +home to his house for luncheon. Needless to say, they had no very strong +objections to this, and were easily persuaded. + +The proprietor's home was a large, comfortable mansion, and the good +cheer offered within carried out the impression received without. There +was an abundance of good fare, and the young fellows rose from the table +at last with a satisfied air. + +Mr. Bennett had quite a long talk with Bert during the progress of the +meal, and seemed very much interested in him. It turned out that Mr. +Bennett was quite a baseball enthusiast himself, so he entered heartily +into Bert's enthusiasm over the game. + +"I used to be quite some player myself when I was your age," he told +Bert, "only I used to play a different position. I usually played +catcher, and was on my team at H----. In those days we never bothered +with catcher's mitts, however, and we catchers worked with bare hands. +Once I was catching in this manner, and a ball caught my thumb and half +tore it off. I was so excited at the time, though, that I never noticed +it, until one of my teammates noticed blood on the ball and called my +attention to it. After that, when my thumb healed, you may be sure I +caught with a glove. You can see the scar still," and he showed the boys +the scar of what had evidently been a nasty wound. + +"Well, boys," he said, at the conclusion of this narrative, "what do you +say if we go on back to the factory and make that test of young Wilson's +speed. I am very much interested, I assure you." + +Of course there were no objections raised to this, and after a pleasant +walk they arrived again at the factory. They proceeded directly to the +testing room, and Bert shed his coat and vest. + +"Come ahead, Dick; you catch for me until I warm up, will you?" he said, +and Dick ran to the requisite distance and donned a catcher's mitt that +he had brought along for the purpose. Bert pitched him a few easy balls, +and then began to work up a little speed. As he shot them to Dick with +ever-increasing pace, Mr. Bennett's face lighted up with interest, and +finally he said, "Say, just let me try catching a few, will you, Trent? +It's a long time since I've had a catcher's mitt on, but I'd like to +take a try at it just for the fun of the thing." + +"Certainly," responded Dick, promptly, and handed his glove to Mr. +Bennett. The latter donned it quickly, and punched it a few resounding +blows to "put a hole in it." "All right, my boy," he said, when the +glove was prepared to his satisfaction. "Shoot 'em over, and don't be +afraid to put some speed into 'em. You can't send them too fast to suit +me." + +Bert sent over a few easy ones at first, just to see how Mr. Bennett +would handle them. The latter caught the offerings in a practised +manner, and said, "Come on, young man, put some whiskers on the ball. +That wasn't the best you could do, was it?" + +Bert made no answer to this, but on his next pitch his arm swung around +like a flail, and the ball left his hand as though propelled by a +catapult. The factory owner managed to catch the ball, but he wrung his +hand. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, "that ball stung my hand pretty hard right +through the glove." + +Young Bennett laughed in unholy glee, and danced about first on one foot +and then on the other. "That's one on you, dad," he crowed; "but you +ought to feel lucky that you even caught the ball. If Bert wanted to, he +could pitch a ball that you couldn't even touch. Give him a fadeaway, +Bert." + +"Fadeaway, you say," grunted his father. "There never was a pitcher yet +that could pitch a ball that I couldn't even touch. Give me a sample of +this wonderful ball, Wilson." + +"All right, sir," said Bert, and grinned. He wound up in the old +familiar way that the boys knew so well, and shot over a ball that Mr. +Bennett figured was a "cinch." He held his glove in what he thought was +the proper place, but at the last moment the ball dropped abruptly and +swung under the glove, missing it by several inches. + +"Well, I'll be hanged," muttered Mr. Bennett, gazing stupidly at his +glove. He soon recovered himself, however, and handed the glove back to +Dick. "You've certainly got a wonderful ball there, Wilson," he said. +"You fooled me very neatly, and I have no excuse to offer." Which showed +the fellows that Mr. Bennett was a "good sport." + +Pretty soon Bert announced himself as ready for the speed test, and Mr. +Bennett led the way over to what looked like an empty hoop, but which, +upon closer inspection, was seen to be crossed and recrossed by a web of +fine, hairlike wires. + +"These wires are so connected," explained Mr. Bennett, "that no matter +where the ball goes, provided, of course, that it goes somewhere inside +the hoop, it will break a wire, and the exact second will be recorded. +Then, there is another hoop fifty feet away," pointing to a similar +contrivance nearer the other end of the testing room, "and all you have +to do, Wilson, is to pitch the ball through both hoops. That back hoop +is a good deal bigger than any catcher's glove, so you oughtn't to have +any difficulty doing it. Do you think you can manage that all right?" + +"Why, I guess I can do that," replied Bert, and took up his position +about eight or ten feet this side of the front hoop. Dick tossed him the +ball, and Bert fitted it carefully in his hand. Then he drew his arm +back as far as possible, and a second later the ball shot from his +fingers at a terrific pace. It struck almost the exact center of the +first hoop, parting the fragile wires as though they had been so many +cobwebs, and shot through the second hoop about a foot from its edge. + +"Good shot!" exclaimed Mr. Bennett, and he and the foreman hurried to +the recording instruments, and started figuring up the time. + +"Gee, Bert," said Tom, "I don't think I ever saw you pitch a faster +ball, even when the team has been in a tight place in the ninth inning. +I'd almost swear I saw it smoke as it went through the air." + +"Well, fast or slow, it was the best I could do, anyway," said Bert, "so +there's no use worrying about it." + +In a short time, Mr. Bennett and the foreman had arrived at a result, +and hurried over to where the boys were discussing the probable outcome +of the test. + +"You sent that ball at the rate of 114 feet a second, which is +equivalent to about eighty-three or eighty-four miles an hour!" he +exclaimed. "In other words, you could throw a ball after the Twentieth +Century express traveling at its average speed and overtake it. As you +probably know, any object traveling at a speed of a mile a minute +traverses eighty-eight feet in one second, and it is on this that we +have based our calculations." + +"Say, Bert, that certainly was going some," said Dick, proudly, and the +others were not far behind in congratulating our hero on his truly +astonishing performance. It is safe to say that few professional +pitchers could better Bert's record. + +After the excitement had died down somewhat, John Bennett proposed that +they have a shooting contest, and his idea met with instant approval. +John had had unlimited facilities for perfecting himself in this art +since a boy, however, and outclassed any of the others both at long and +short-distance shooting. + +When they had grown tired of this, it was growing late, and Bert +proposed that they return. Needless to say, nobody wanted to go, but +they had no choice, and so proceeded to take their leave. They all +thanked their host heartily, also the good-natured and obliging foreman. + +Mr. Bennett shook Bert's hand last of all, and as he ushered them to the +door, said, "I'm going to take a holiday and see the next big game in +which you pitch, Wilson. I'm quite anxious to see you in action." + +"We'll all be glad to see you, I'm sure," returned Bert, "and nothing +would give me greater pleasure than to show you over the college after +the game." + +"Much obliged," replied Mr. Bennett, and watched the laughing, singing +group until it was hidden by a turn in the road. + +The return journey seemed much longer than it had that morning, but they +arrived at last, and voted it one of the best days they had ever known. +The news of Bert's feat soon spread over the campus, and when it reached +Reddy's ears, he nodded his head sagely. + +"Just make believe I don't know a crack pitcher when I see one," he +grinned to himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A GALLANT RESCUE + + +"Say, fellows, what have you got on hand for to-day?" asked Tom, as he +burst into the "sanctum-sanctorum," as Bert and Dick called their room, +and sank into an easy chair. + +"Nothing," said Bert, turning from a not too promising survey of the +surrounding country, "absolutely and emphatically nothing! This promises +to be one of the slowest days in my short and brilliant career----" + +"Hear, hear!" cried Tom from the depths of his chair. "That's fine for a +starter, old top. Keep it up and perhaps you can actually persuade us +that you amount to something. It's rather a hopeless task, but it +wouldn't do any harm to try." + +"You're such a bonehead that you don't recognize real worth when you see +it," Bert retorted, good-naturedly. "There's another one," he added, +pointing to Dick, who was trying to figure out a calculus problem. "He +prefers grinding in calculus to listening to an interesting tale of my +trials and tribulations." + +"It isn't a question of preference, it's a case of dire necessity," Dick +sighed, despondently. "If only I hadn't cut class the other day I would +be all right, but as it is I'll have to cram to make up for it. Oh, if I +only had the fellow who invented calculus here, I'd----" and in the +absence of anything better Dick pulled his own mop of tangled hair and +applied himself furiously to the solving of what he called "an +unsolvable problem." + +"Poor old chap, never mind," consoled Tom. "When I come back to-night +with old Pete under my arm I'll tell you just how I caught him." + +"Do you mean to say that you are going fishing for old Pete to-day?" +Dick asked, forgetting all about calculus in his excitement. + +"Sure," Tom replied, placidly. "Didn't we agree that the first clear +Saturday we had off we'd take for our fishing trip?" + +"So we did, but that was so long ago that I'd clean forgotten it. Why +didn't you remind us of it sooner, Tom? You would have spared me a lot +of useless worry as to how I was going to spend a baseball-less day." + +"I didn't think of it myself until I came into the room," Tom admitted, +"but I suppose Dick can't go with us now. It's too bad he cut the other +day," he added, with a sly glance at the discarded calculus. + +"Don't let it worry you," Dick retorted. "Do you suppose that anything +in earth could keep me from hunting Old Pete to-day, now that you have +brought him so forcibly to my mind? Go on down and get your tackle, Tom. +Bert and I will join you in no time." + +"But, really, Dick," Tom protested, with mock severity, "don't you +realize that duty----" + +"Get out before I put you out," roared Dick, making a dash for Tom, who +promptly disappeared through the door. + +"Since you insist," laughed the fugitive through the keyhole, "meet me +on the campus in half an hour." + +"We'll be there with bells on," said Bert and Dick with one voice, and +at once began their preparations for the trip. + +As Dick put the calculus back on the shelf, he said, half +apologetically, "I'll see you to-night, old fellow." + + * * * * * + +Half an hour later, the trio were swinging rapidly down the road, +carrying their fishing poles and tackle. This was an outing that they +had planned for early in the season, but up to this time they had had no +opportunity to carry it out. Nearly every Saturday they had had extra +baseball practice, or something unexpected had come up, but now at last +they had their chance and were only too anxious to take advantage of +it. Besides them was Pete. + +Old Pete was a huge pickerel who was sly and wary beyond the general run +of fishes. Many a confident angler had come to the lake, absolutely +certain of his ability to land the big fellow, only to return, sheepish +and crestfallen, to acknowledge his defeat. + +So it was no wonder that our fellows were excited at the prospect of a +game of hide-and-seek with the biggest and most cunning of the pickerel +family. + +"Just think," Bert was saying, "what it will mean if we land him. Almost +all the other fellows in college have tried it without success, and if +we could manage to bring back Old Pete we would be popular heroes." + +"I know, but there's not much chance of that," Tom sighed. "If old Si +Perkins couldn't catch him napping, I'm afraid we can't." + +"Never say die, Tom," Dick said, gaily. "A day like this makes you feel +equal to anything." + +"So say I," Bert added, heartily. "Say, do you see that mill in front of +us? Well, that belongs to Herr Hoffmeyer, and it's one of the classiest +little mills I ever saw." + +"It sure is working some, but where do they get the power?" Dick asked. + +"Why, there's a dam right back of the mill. You can't see it from here, +but when we get a little nearer I'll point it out to you. See," he +added, as they neared the mill, "isn't that a great arrangement. +Alongside the mill there is a narrow, deep sluice. In this is arranged a +large paddle wheel and, as the water rushes through, it acts on the +paddles and turns the wheel. By a system of cogs the power is then +transmitted to the grinding stone." + +"That sure is fine," said Tom. "I don't know that I have ever had a +chance to see a working mill at such close range. Just look how the +water rushes through that sluice. I wouldn't like to get in the way." + +"Nor I," said Dick. "The current must be very strong the other side of +the dam." + +"You bet your life it is. If anybody should get caught in it, I wouldn't +give that," snapping his fingers, "for his chance of life." + +At this moment a bald-headed, red-faced man appeared at the door of +the mill. He regarded the boys with a broad smile on his face as he +carefully dusted his hands on his white apron. + +"Goot morning, young shentlemens," he said, affably. "Fine morning, fine +morning, fine morning," and after each repetition of this sentiment he +shook his head vigorously and his smile became broader. + +"It is, indeed, sir," Bert said. "We stopped for a moment to see your +mill in operation. It's a very fine mill," he added. + +"Yah, yah," the big miller assented, cheerfully, "it's a very goot mill. +For over five year now by me it has worked. Von't you step on the +insides for a minute, young shentlemens?" + +"Sure thing," said Tom. "Come on, fellows. It isn't often you get a +chance to see a real mill working. Old Pete can wait, I guess," and so, +led by the good-natured Herr Hoffmeyer, the trio entered the mill. + +For the better part of an hour they wandered around to their hearts' +content. The miller showed the working of the mill wheels, and led the +way into every nook and cranny, explaining as they went. + +At last, when they had seen everything there was to be seen, the boys +thanked their host heartily, and started on their way once more. Before +they rounded a bend in the road, they turned for a last look at the +mill. At the door stood their erstwhile host, honest, round face shining +like the moon, while the rays of the sun glanced off in little golden +darts from the smooth surface of his bald head. + +"Well, that was some adventure," Bert exclaimed. "I've always wanted to +see the inside of a mill, and now I've realized my heart's desire." + +"I like Herr Hoffmeyer, too," Tom said, "even if I did think he was a +trifle weak in the head at first. Isn't this the pickerel stream?" he +asked, a minute later. + +"Yes, but the fellows say that the big pickerel is further down the +stream. Come along." With these words, Bert led them down the bank until +they reached a shady spot, shaded by spreading trees, and carpeted with +green and velvety moss. + +"This place looks good to me," said Dick; "let's camp here." + +"I guess this ought to be about right," Bert agreed. + +In a few minutes the reels were fixed, the hooks were baited, and the +lines were lowered carefully into the clear depths of the stream. + +"This is what you might call comfort," said Tom, as he leaned lazily +against a convenient tree. + +"Bet your life," Bert agreed. + +"Now, if Pete will only consent to come along and get the hook, like any +other respectable, right-minded fish, my contentment would be absolute." + +"Huh," Tom grunted sarcastically. "He'd be likely to do that, wouldn't +he, especially if you keep up this gabfest?" + +"I guess a little polite conversation won't scare that wary old +reprobate. I imagine he's heard so much conversation that couldn't be +called exactly polite, especially when he calmly detaches the bait from +the hook without stopping to leave his card, that he wouldn't mind our +talk at all." + +"Shut up," said Tom, in a low voice, "I've got a bite, and the line's +pulling hard." + +Then, amid a breathless silence, Tom gave a quick, experienced pull to +the line, and landed--not the renowned old Pete, but a small-sized +sunfish, that wriggled and twisted desperately in its efforts to get +away. + +At this minute Bert happened to glance at Tom's face, and the look he +found there was so eloquent of absolute dismay and chagrin, that he +burst into a shout of uncontrollable laughter, in which Dick joined him. + +"That was sure one on you, old man," he said, when he had breath enough. + +"Humph," Tom grunted, disgustedly, "it sure was a sell. I thought I had +old Pete cinched that time. However," he added, "I don't see that you +fellows have much to say. You haven't even caught a sunfish." + +"Not so you could notice it," Dick agreed cheerfully. "There's plenty of +time yet, though, and all things come to him who waits. I'm right on the +job, when it comes to waiting." + +Bert, who had been thinking his own thoughts, suddenly broke into the +conversation with an irrelevant "Say, fellows, did you ever hear the +story of the man who went for a sail on a windy day----" + +"And a man coming out of the cabin asked him," Tom broke in, "if the +moon had come up yet, and he answered, 'No, but everything else has'? +Yes, we've heard that old chestnut cracked before." + +"Well, it just struck me," Bert mused, "that it fitted your case pretty +well." + +"I suppose it does, in a way," Tom admitted, "but you just wait and see +if I don't land that old rascal before night." + +"Go in and win, my boy, and take my blessing. It doesn't make much +difference who does the catching so long as he is caught," Dick said, +and once more leaned his broad back against the tree with a sigh of +content. + +But into Tom's head had come a scheme, and he determined to carry it out +at the very first opportunity. For a long time the trio sat on the +grassy bank, listening to the myriad indescribable sounds of spring. +They watched the gorgeous butterfly as it winged its lazily graceful way +from blossom to blossom, and heard the buzzing of the bee as it invaded +the heart of flowerland, and stole its nectar. The perfumed air, hot +from the touch of the sun, stole upon their senses, and made them +delightfully lazy. + +Suddenly, Bert gave a jerk to his line and landed a fair-sized pickerel. +Their luck had changed, and in a short time they had a very good mess of +fish. But the great pickerel seemed farther from showing himself than +ever. + +Tom landed the next fish, but, instead of taking it off the hook, he +threw the line, fish, and all back into the water. + +"What's that for?" Dick asked. "We have plenty of bait left, and there's +no use in wasting a perfectly good fish." + +"Wait," Tom remarked, laconically. + +They had not long to wait, however, for in a few minutes there was +another jerk on Tom's line. + +"Catch hold, fellows," Tom cried, "and help me pull. Gee, I can't hold +it, much less pull it in." + +Intensely excited, Dick added his strength to Tom's and pulled hard. + +"Pull, pull!" Tom cried, almost crazy with excitement. "We can't lose +him now. Come on! Come on!--now!" + +And with one concerted effort they pulled the line up, falling over one +another in their attempt to keep their balance. And there, at their +feet, was the largest pickerel they had ever seen--old Pete. Quick as a +flash, Tom landed on the prize, just in time to keep it from slipping +back into the water. + +"Look at him, look at him, fellows!" Tom shouted. "Here's old Pete, the +biggest pickerel in the world, the wary old codger that has defied every +fisherman for miles around, and has even eluded the deadly machinations +of Si Perkins. Don't stand there like wooden statues--come here and help +me unhook this old reprobate. Why don't you say something?" + +"For the very good reason," Bert answered, drily, "that you haven't +given us a chance. And for the second reason, I am so dazed I can't +realize our good fortune." + +"Our good fortune," Tom repeated, scornfully. "You mean my brains and +common sense. Who thought of putting that fish back into the water to +fool old Pete, I'd like to know?" + +"You did, and we are perfectly willing to give you all the credit," said +Bert. "The really important thing is that he's caught. I can hardly +believe it yet. Isn't he a beauty?" he added, enthusiastically. "Look at +the length of him, and the thickness---- Say, fellows, I bet we could +feed the whole college on him for a month." + +"I shouldn't wonder," Bert laughed. "I, for one, have never seen his +equal, and never expect to again." + +"What's that?" Tom demanded, sharply, as a cry of terror rent the air. +"Let's find out." + +"It sounded further down the stream, near the mill. Come on, fellows. +Hurry!" and Bert instinctively took command, as he always did in cases +of emergency. + +As the boys burst through the bushes further down, the cry came again, +a wild call for help, and they saw a white clad figure struggling +desperately against the force of the current. + +With a shout of encouragement Bert plunged into the water, and with long, +powerful strokes was nearing the spot where the girl had disappeared. +Once more the figure rose to the surface, but Bert knew it was for the +last time. The girl was terribly close to the sluice, and as Bert swam he +felt the tug of the current. + +Just as the girl was about to go under, Bert caught her dress and pulled +her to the surface. But how, how, could he swim with his burden against +the current to the bank, which seemed to him a hundred miles off! + +With resolute courage he mustered his strength and began the struggle +with that merciless current. One stroke, two, three,--surely he was +gaining, and a great wave of joy and hope welled up in his heart. He +_must_ make it, for not only was his life at stake, but the life of the +young girl dependent upon his success. But it became harder and harder +to make headway, and finally he realized that he was barely holding his +own--that he had to exert all his remaining strength to prevent them +both from being drawn through the sluice to a cruel death below. + +Desperately he strove to push against that mighty wall of water, that, +like some merciless giant, was forcing him and his helpless burden, inch +by inch, to destruction. In the agony of his soul a great cry of despair +broke from his lips. "It will all be over soon," he muttered. "I +wouldn't care so much for myself, but the girl," and he looked down at +the pale face and dark, tangled hair of the girl he was giving his life +to save. They were very, very close to the entrance of the sluice now, +and nearing it more swiftly every moment. But what was that black object +coming toward them so rapidly? + +"Bert, Bert, keep up your courage. I'm coming!" cried Dick's voice. +"I'll be with you in a minute. Just a minute, old fellow." + +Oh, could Dick reach them in time. Bert could only pray for strength to +hold on for a few minutes. He was very near them now, and shouting +encouragement at every stroke. Now he was beside them, and had taken the +girl from Bert's nerveless grasp. "Here, take this rope, old fellow," he +cried, "put it over your head, quick. That's the way. Now let the +fellows on shore pull you in." + +Bert wondered afterward why he had not felt any great exultation at +his sudden and almost miraculous deliverance. As it was, only a +great feeling of weariness settled down upon him, and he wanted to +sleep--sleep. Then the sky came down to meet the earth, and everything +went black before his eyes. + + * * * * * + +"Bert, dear old Bert, wake up. You're safe. You're safe. Don't you hear +me, old fellow?" a voice at a great distance was saying, and Bert opened +uncomprehending eyes on a strange world. + +"Hello, fellows," he said, with the ghost of his old smile. "Came pretty +near to 'shuffling off this mortal coil,' didn't I? Where is----" he +asked, looking around, inquiringly. + +"The girl you so bravely rescued?" came a sweet voice behind him. "And +who never, never can repay you for what you have done to-day if she +lives forever?" + +With the assistance of his friends Bert got to his feet and faced the +girl who had so nearly gone to her death with him. For the first time in +his life he felt embarrassed. + +"Please don't thank me," he said; "I'm repaid a thousandfold when I see +you standing there safe. It might so easily have been the other way," +and he shuddered at the thought. + +Before the girl could answer, another figure strode forth and grasped +our hero's hand in both of his. + +"Professor Davis," Bert exclaimed, as he recognized one of the college +professors. + +"Yes, it's Mr. Davis, Bert, and he owes you a debt of gratitude he can +never cancel. Bert, it was my daughter you rescued from a hideous death +to-day, and, dear boy, from this day, you can count on me for anything +in the world." + +"Thank you, Professor; I don't deserve all this----" + +"Yes, you do, my boy--every bit of it and more, and now," he added, +seeing that the strain was telling on Bert, "I think you, Dick, and Tom +had better get Bert home as quickly as you can. This daughter of mine +insisted on staying until you revived, but I guess she will excuse you, +now. I'd ask you to take supper with us to-night, but I know that what +you most need is rest. It is only a pleasure deferred, however." + +As they turned to go, the girl held out her hands to Tom and Dick, and +lastly to Bert. "I am very, very grateful," she said, softly. + +"And I am very, very grateful that I have been given a chance to serve +you," he answered, and watched her disappear with her father through the +bushes. + +Then he turned to Dick and Tom. "You fellows deserve more credit than I, +a thousand times more," he said, in a voice that was a trifle husky. + +"Huh," said Tom, "all that I did was to run to the nearest house for a +rope, and all Dick did was to hand you the rope, while Professor Davis +and I hauled you in." + +"Yes, that's all," Bert repeated, softly, "that's all." + +"Well, come on, Bert, it's time you got back to college. I guess you're +about all in," said Dick, putting his arm through Bert's and starting +off in the direction of the college. + +"Say, you forgot something," Tom said, suddenly. "You forgot all about +old Pete." + +"So we did," Dick exclaimed; "suppose you go and get the fish and poles, +if they are still there, and join us at the crossing." + +And they did meet at the crossing, and jogged along home, their bodies +tired, but their hearts at rest, while their friendship was welded still +more strongly by one other experience, shared in common. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A WILD RIDE + + +It was a rather gloomy morning on which the team started for the college +where they were to play one of the most important games of the series. +If they won, they would eliminate the Grays and have only to contend +with the Maroons; if they lost, all their splendid work of the season +might have gone for nought. + +They were a sober bunch, therefore, as they gathered at the railway +station to await their train. There was little of the usual joking +and horse play to be seen, but this may have been partly due to the +depressing state of the weather. As the train came in sight, however, +they chirked up somewhat at the thought of having something to occupy +their minds, and piled aboard their special car in a little more +cheerful mood. A dense, clammy fog hung low over the ground, and it +was impossible to see more than a hundred feet or so into it in any +direction. + +The town in which they were to play to-day was almost a hundred miles +distant, and so they had a considerable journey ahead of them. The +train was a little behind time, and was making extra speed in an effort +to catch up with its schedule. They had traversed several miles, and +were relieving the monotony of the journey with jokes and riddles. As +they passed over a particularly high trestle, and looked down into the +dizzy void below, Sterling, the second baseman, said: + +"Say, fellows, this trestle reminds me of a story I heard a little while +ago. If somebody would beg me to real hard, I might be induced to tell +it to you." + +"Go ahead!" "Shoot!" "Let's hear it!" came a chorus of supplication, and +Sterling said, "Well, if you insist, I suppose I will have to tell it to +you. The scene of this thrilling anecdote is laid in the Far West, when +it was much wilder and woollier than it is at present. It seems that two +horse thieves had been captured by a band of 'vigilantes,' and after a +trial notable for its brevity and lack of hampering formalities, they +were both sentenced to be hanged. It was in a country in which there +were no trees worthy of the name, and the only available place for the +execution within several miles was a high railroad bridge. To this, +accordingly, the 'vigilantes' conducted their prisoners, one of whom was +a Swede and the other of Irish persuasion. The two were forced to draw +lots to see which one should be hanged first, and, as it turned out, +the Swede drew the short straw, and so was pronounced the first victim +of justice. + +"The noose of a stout lariat was fastened around his neck, and when +everything was ready he was shoved off the bridge. As the strain of his +weight came on the rope, however, the knot of the noose became untied, +and the Swede fell to the rushing river below. He was not hurt much, and +those on the bridge saw him swim to the bank and scramble ashore. There +was no way of getting at him, so the lynchers had to satisfy themselves +with many and varied oaths. The Irishman, of course, had watched the +proceeding in a fascinated manner, and as the cowboys tied the rope +around his neck, he said, in an imploring voice, 'For Hivin's sake, +byes, tie the rope tight this time, for I can't swim a stroke.'" + +Hearty laughter greeted Sterling's narrative, and the boys felt in +better spirits after it. + +"That reminds me of a story I heard once," began Hinsdale. "It was when +I was on a visit to my uncle's ranch in Montana, and----" + +But he was interrupted by a crash that sounded as though the end of the +world had come, and the car in which they were riding reared up in the +air like a bucking horse. It rose almost to a perpendicular position, +and then crashed over on its side. It scraped along a few rods in this +position, and then came to a grinding halt. + +For a few seconds there was silence, and then a pandemonium of muffled +screams and cries broke forth. Bert's voice was the first to be heard in +their car, and it inquired, anxiously, "Where are you, Dick, Tom, and +the rest of you? Are you alive yet? Here, you, get off my neck, will +you, and give me a chance to breathe." + +There was a general scramble and struggle among the debris, and soon one +boy after another climbed and crawled through the broken windows until +finally they all stood accounted for. Many had painful scratches and +bruises, but none were hurt at all seriously. Reddy, the trainer, drew a +sigh of relief. "Thank Heaven for its mercies," said he, fervently, and +then, "Well, me lads, get a wiggle on, and we'll see if everybody else +has been as lucky as we have. From the looks of things up forward there, +it's more than I dare hope." + +The front part of the train, which had sustained the greatest shock of +the collision, was indeed a terrible spectacle. Running full speed, the +two trains had crashed into each other out of the fog before their +engineers had fairly realized that anything was amiss. The locomotives +were practically demolished, and one huge Mogul lay on its side beside +the roadbed, steam still hissing from its broken pipes. The other engine +still was on the rails, but its entire front had been demolished, and it +was a total wreck. The coaches immediately back of the locomotives had +been driven on by the momentum of the cars back of them, and had been +partly telescoped; that is, the cars in the rear had plowed half way +through before their progress was checked. To add to the horror of the +scene, thin red flames were licking up from the wreckage, probably +started by the coals from the engine. Many of the passengers were unable +to extricate themselves from the wreckage, being pinned down by beams and +other heavy articles. Their cries and supplications to be saved were +pitiful as they saw the hungry flames gathering headway and eating their +way toward them, and Reddy turned fiercely to the horror-stricken boys. +"Here, what are ye standing around for?" he snarled. "Git back to our car +and get out the axes and fire extinguishers there. You can get at them if +you try. Come on; hurry!" and the trainer sprinted back toward the rear +cars, followed in a body by the willing and eager boys. In less time +than it takes to tell it, they returned, some with axes and some with +extinguishers. The latter could make little progress against the flames, +however, which by now had gained considerable headway, so the boys, +assisted by such other of the passengers who were in a position to do +so, proceeded to chop and dig their way to the imprisoned unfortunates. +Person after person they dragged out in this manner, until they had +rescued all but one man. + +He was pinned down by a timber that had all the weight of one of the +heavy trucks on it, and it seemed impossible that they could get him out +before the fire got to him. Already they could feel its intense heat as +they chopped and pulled, wrenched and lifted, in a frenzy of haste. +Nearer and nearer crept the all-embracing fire, until eyebrows and hair +began to singe with the deadly heat, and they were forced to work in +relays, relieving each other every minute or so. + +"For God's sake, if you can't get me out of here before the fire reaches +me, kill me," pleaded the unfortunate prisoner, "don't let me roast here +by degrees!" + +"No danger of that," gasped Bert, as he swung a huge timber aside that +under ordinary circumstances he would have been unable even to move. +"We'll have you out in a jiffy, now." + +"Come on boys, we've got to move this truck," yelled Reddy. "Here, +everybody get hold on this side, and when I say pull, _pull_ for your +lives! Now! get hold! Ready?" + +"Yes!" they gasped between set teeth. + +"Pull!" fairly screamed Reddy, and every man and boy grasping the +obstinate mass of twisted metal put every ounce of strength in his body +into one supreme effort. The mass swayed, gave, and then toppled back +where it had been before! + +"Don't give up!" yelled Bert, frantically, as he saw some of the men +release their hold and turn away, evidently despairing of accomplishing +their object. "Try it again! For God's sake remember you're men, and try +again! It's a human life that's at stake!" + +Thus adjured, they returned to the task, and at the signal from Reddy, +wrenched and tore frantically at the inert mass that appeared to mock +their puny efforts. + +"Keep it up, keep it up!" gritted Reddy. Slowly but surely, every muscle +straining to its utmost and threatening to snap under the terrific +strain, they raised the heavy truck, and with one last mad heave and +pull sent it toppling down the railroad embankment. + +With a wild yell they fell upon the few light timbers lying between them +and the imprisoned man, and soon had him stretched out safely beside the +track. On examination it proved that he had an arm wrenched and several +minor injuries, but nothing fatal. + +"Nothing I can say will express half the gratitude I feel toward you +young men," he said, smiling weakly up into the faces of the boys +grouped about him, "you have saved me from a horrible death, and I will +never forget it." + +While waiting for the arrival of the wrecking crew and a doctor, the +rescued man had considerable further talk with the members of the team, +and they learned, much to their surprise, that he was an alumnus of +their college. Their pleasure at this discovery was very great, and that +of the stranger seemed little less. + +"The old college has done me a whole lot of good, all through my life," +he said, "but never as much as it did to-day, through her baseball team. +You will hear further from me, young men." + +"Oh, it was nothing much to do," deprecated Bert, "we did the only thing +there was to be done under the circumstances, and that was all there was +to it!" + +"Not a bit of it," insisted the gentleman. "Why, just take a look at +your faces. You are all as red as though you had been boiled, and your +eyebrows are singed. I declare, anybody looking at us would think that +you had had a good deal harder time of it than I had." + +And nothing the boys could say would induce him to alter his opinion of +their heroism in the slightest degree. + +Soon they heard a whistle far down the track, and shortly afterward the +wrecking train hove in view. It consisted, besides the locomotive and +tender, of a tool car, in which were stored all kinds of instruments, +jacks, etc., that could possibly be required, and a flat car on which a +sturdy swinging crane was mounted. The railroad company had also sent +several physicians, who were soon busily engaged in taking proper care +of the injured. + +In the meantime, the crew of the wrecking train, headed by a burly +foreman, got in strenuous action, and the boys marveled at the quick and +workmanlike manner in which they proceeded to clear the line. As is the +case with all wrecking crews, their orders were to clear the road for +traffic in the shortest time regardless of expense. The time lost in +trying to save, for instance, the remains of a locomotive or car for +future use, would have been much more valuable than either. + +A gang of Italians were set to work clearing off the lighter portion of +the wreckage, and the wrecking crew proper proceeded to get chains under +the locomotive that remained on the tracks. It was so twisted and bent +that not one of its wheels would even turn, so it was impossible to tow +it away. The only solution of the problem, then, was to lift it off +the track. After the crew had placed and fastened the chains to the +satisfaction of the foreman, who accompanied the process with a string +of weird oaths, the signal was given to the man operating the steam +crane to "hoist away." + +The strong engine attached to the massive steel crane began to whirr, +and slowly the great mass of the locomotive rose, inch by inch, into the +air. When the front part was entirely clear of the tracks, the operator +touched another lever, and the crane swung outward, carrying the huge +locomotive with it as a child might play with a toy. It was a revelation +of the unlimited might of that powerful monster, steam. + +Further and further swung the crane, until the locomotive was at right +angles to the track, with its nose overhanging the embankment. Then, +with the foreman carefully directing every movement with uplifted +hand and caustic voice, the locomotive was lowered gently down the +embankment, partly sliding and partly supported by the huge chain, every +link of which was almost a foot long. + +In speaking of this chain afterward one of the boys said he wished he +had stolen it so that he might wear it as a watch-chain. + +The engine finally came to rest at the foot of the incline, and the +chain was slackened and cast off. Then the crane took the next car in +hand, and went through much the same process with it. Car after car was +slid down the embankment, and in an incredibly short time the roadway +was cleared of wreckage. Then it was seen that several rails had been +ripped up, but these were quickly replaced by others from racks built +along the right of way, such as the reader has no doubt often seen. + +In a little over an hour from the time the wrecking crew came on the +scene the last bolt on the rail connecting plates had been tightened, +and the track was ready again for traffic. + +"Gee," exclaimed Tom, "that was quick work, for fair. Why, if anybody +had asked me, I would have said that no train would have been able to +use this roadway for at least a day. That crew knows its business, and +no mistake." + +"They sure do," agreed Dick, "they cleared things up in jig time. But it +only shows what can be done when you go about it in the right way." + +"I only wish we had had that crane when we were trying to lift the truck +up," said the trainer, who had sauntered up to the group. "It wouldn't +have been any trick at all with that little pocket instrument." + +"No," laughed Bert. "I think that in the future I will carry one around +with me in case of emergencies. You don't know when it might come in +handy." + +"Great head, great head," approved Dick, solemnly, and then they both +laughed heartily, and the others joined in. After their recent narrow +escape from death, life seemed a very pleasant and jolly thing. + +But suddenly Bert's face sobered. "How the dickens are we going to get +to the game in time?" he inquired. "The service is all tied up, and it +will be hours and hours before we can get there." + +This was indeed a problem, and there seemed to be no solution. There was +no other railroad running within twenty miles of this one, and while a +trolley line connecting the towns was building, it had not as yet been +completed. As Tom expressed it, "they were up against it good and +plenty." + +While they were discussing the problem, and someone had despairingly +suggested that they walk, Mr. Clarke, the gentleman whom the boys had +rescued from the wreck, strolled up, with his arm neatly done up in a +sling. His face looked pale and drawn, but aside from the wrenched arm +he appeared none the worse for his harrowing experience. + +When informed of the problem facing the team, he appeared nonplussed at +first, but then his face lightened up. + +"My home isn't more than a mile from here," he said, "and I have +recently bought a large seven-passenger automobile. You could all pack +into that without much trouble, and there is a fine macadam road leading +from within a few blocks of my house to the town for which you are +bound. But there," and his face clouded over, "I forgot. I discharged my +chauffeur the other day, and I have not had time as yet to engage +another. I don't know whom I could get to drive the car. I can't do it +on account of my broken arm." + +"Shucks, that's too bad," said Reddy, in a disappointed tone, "that +would be just the thing, if we only had someone to run it. That's what I +call tough luck. I guess there's no game for us to-day, boys, unless we +think of something else." + +But here Bert spoke up. "If Mr. Clarke wouldn't be afraid to trust the +car to me," he said, "I know how to drive, and I can promise we will +take the best care of it. I know that car fore and aft, from radiator to +taillight." + +"Why, certainly, go as far as you like," said Mr. Clarke, heartily. "If +you are sure you can handle it I will be only too glad to let you have +it. Nothing I can do will repay a thousandth part of what I owe you +boys." + +"You're sure you're capable of handling a car, are you, Wilson?" +inquired the trainer, with a searching look. "I don't want to take a +chance on getting mixed up in any more wrecks to-day. The one we've had +already will satisfy me for some time to come." + +"Watch me," was all Bert said, but Dick and Tom both chimed in +indignantly, "I guess you don't know whom we have with us," said Tom, +"why, Bert has forgotten more about automobiles than I ever knew, and +I'm no slouch at that game." + +"That's right," confirmed Dick. "Bert's some demon chauffeur, Reddy. +Believe me, we'll have to move some, too, if we expect to get to D---- +in time for the game. Why!" he exclaimed, glancing at his watch, "it's +after one now, and we're due to be at the grounds at 2:30. How far is +it, Mr. Clarke, from your house to D----?" + +Mr. Clarke calculated a moment, and then said, "Why, I guess it must be +from fifty to fifty-five miles. You'll have to burn up the road to get +there in anything like time," he said, and glanced quizzically at Bert. + +"That's easy," returned the latter, "a car like yours ought to be +capable of seventy miles an hour in a pinch." + +Mr. Clarke nodded his head. "More than that," he said, "but be careful +how you try any stunts like seventy miles an hour. I don't care about +the car, but I don't want the old college to be without a baseball team +owing to an automobile smashup." + +"Never fear," said Bert, confidently. "You may be sure I will take no +unnecessary chances. I don't feel as though I wanted to die yet awhile." + +"All right," said Mr. Clarke, and proceeded to give them directions on +the shortest way to reach his home. When he had finished, Reddy sang +out, "All right, boys, let's get a move on. Double quick now! We haven't +a minute to lose." + +Accordingly the whole team started off at a swinging trot, and it was +not long before Mr. Clarke's handsome residence came into view. Mr. +Clarke had given them a note, which they presented to his wife, who met +them at the door. She was much agitated at the news contained therein, +but, after a few anxious questions, proceeded to show them where the +machine was located, and gave them the key to the garage. They raced +down a long avenue of stately trees, and soon came to the commodious +stone garage. Reddy unlocked the doors, and swung them wide. + +"Gee, what a machine," breathed Bert, and stood a moment in mute +admiration. The automobile was of the very latest pattern, and was the +finest product of an eminent maker. The sun sparkled on its polished +enamel and brass work. But Bert had no eyes for these details. He raised +the hood and carefully inspected the engine. Then he peered into the +gasoline and oil tanks, and found both plentifully supplied. + +"All right," he announced, after this inspection. "Pile in someway, and +we'll get a move on. What time is it, Tom?" + +"Just twenty-five minutes of two," announced Tom, after consulting his +watch. "I hope we don't get arrested for speeding, that's all. This +reminds me of the old 'Red Scout' days, doesn't it you, Dick?" + +"It sure does," agreed the latter, with a reminiscent smile. "We'll have +to go mighty fast to break the records we made then, won't we, old +sock?" slapping Bert on the shoulder. + +"That's what," agreed Bert, as he cranked the motor. + +The big engine coughed once or twice, and then settled down into a +contented purring. Bert threw in the reverse and backed out of the +garage. He handled the big car with practised hands, and Reddy, who +had been watching him carefully, drew a sigh of relief. "I guess he +knows his business, all right," he reflected, and settled back on the +luxurious cushions of the tonneau. The car was packed pretty solidly, +you may be sure, and everyone seated on the cushions proper had somebody +else perched on his lap. This did not matter, however, and everybody was +too excited to feel uncomfortable. + +As they passed the porch, they stopped, and Mrs. Clarke, who had been +waiting to see them off, gave Bert directions on how to find the main +road. "Follow the road in front of the house due south for about half or +three-quarters of a mile," she said, "and then turn to your left on the +broad, macadam road that you will see at about this point. That will +take you without a break to D----. Be careful of that car, though," she +said to Bert, "I'm almost afraid of it, it's so very powerful." + +"It will need all its power to-day," said Bert, smiling, and they all +said good-bye to Mrs. Clarke. Then Bert slipped in the clutch, and the +big car glided smoothly out on the road in front of the house, and in a +very short time they came to the main road of which Mrs. Clarke had +spoken. + +"Now, Bert, let her rip," said Dick, who was in the seat beside our +hero. Bert did. + +Little by little he opened the throttle till the great machine was +rushing along the smooth road at terrific speed. Faster and faster they +flew. The wind whistled in their ears, and all who were not holding on +to their caps lost them. There was no time to stop for such a trivial +item, and indeed nobody even thought of such a thing. To get to the +game, that was the main thing. Also, the lust of speed had entered their +hearts, and while they felt horribly afraid at the frightful pace, there +was a certain mad pleasure in it, too. The speedometer needle crept up +and up, till it touched the sixty-mile-an-hour mark. Reddy wanted to +tell Bert to slacken speed, but feared that the boys would think he was +"scared," so said nothing. Bert's heart thrilled, and the blood pounded +madly through his veins. His very soul called for speed, speed! and he +gradually opened the throttle until it would go no further. The great +car responded nobly, and strained madly ahead. The whirring gears hummed +a strident tune, and the explosions from the now open muffler sounded in +an unbroken roar. The passengers in the machine grew dizzy, and some +were forced to close their eyes to protect them from the rushing, +tearing wind. The fields on both sides streaked away in back of them +like a vari-colored ribbon, and the gray road seemed leaping up to meet +them. The speedometer hand pointed to eighty miles an hour, and now +there was a long decline in front of them. The boys thought that then +Bert would surely reduce the power somewhat, but apparently no such +thought entered his mind. Down the long slope they swooped, and +then--What was that in front of them, that they were approaching at such +terrific speed? At a glance Bert saw that it consisted of two farm +wagons traveling along toward them at a snail's pace, their drivers +engaged in talk, and oblivious of the road in front of them. Bert +touched the siren lever, and a wild shriek burst from the tortured +siren. The drivers gave one startled glance at the flying demon +approaching them, and then started to draw up their horses to opposite +sides of the road. They seemed fairly to crawl and Bert felt an awful +contraction of his heart. What if they could not make it? He knew that +it would have been folly to apply the brakes at the terrific speed at +which they were traveling, and his only chance lay in going between the +two wagons. + +Slowly--slowly--the wagons drew over to the side of the road, and Bert +calculated the distance with straining eyes. His hands gripped the wheel +until his knuckles stood out white and tense. + +Now they were upon the wagons--and through! A vision of rearing horses, +excited, gesticulating drivers--and they were through, with a scant half +foot to spare on either side. + +A deep sigh went up from the passengers in the car, and tense muscles +were relaxed. Gradually, little by little, Bert reduced the speed until +they were traveling at a mere forty miles an hour, which seemed quiet, +safe and slow, after their recent hair-raising pace. Reddy pulled out +his handkerchief and mopped his forehead, which was beaded with +perspiration. + +"We looked death in the face that time," he declared, gravely. "I never +expected to get out of that corner alive. If we had hit one of those +wagons, it would have been all up with us. For heaven's sake, Wilson, +take it a little easier in the future, will you? I don't want to +decorate a marble slab in the morgue just yet awhile." + +Tom pulled out his watch, and found that it was after two o'clock. "We +can't be far from the town now," he declared. "I'll bet that's it, where +you see the steeple over there in the distance." + +"That's what it is," chimed in several of the others, who had been to +the town before; "we'll get there with time to spare." + +The intervening mile or so was covered in a jiffy, and the car entered +the town. Almost immediately they were recognized by some in the crowd, +and were greeted with cheers. A couple of young fellows whom they knew +jumped up on the running-board as Bert slowed down for them. + +"Gee," said one, "there's some class to you fellows, all right, all +right. It isn't every baseball team that can travel around the country +in a giddy buzz wagon like the one you have there. Who belongs to it, +anyway?" + +"Oh, it's too long a story to tell now," said the trainer. "We'll tell +you all about it after the game. It's about time we were starting in to +practise a little." + +They soon arrived at the grounds, and were greeted by an ovation. The +news of the wreck had just been telegraphed in, and the spectators had +been a sorely disappointed lot until the arrival of the car bearing the +Blues. The news had spread over the field, and some of the spectators +had started to leave, thinking that, of course, there would be no game. + +These soon returned, however, and settled down to see the struggle. + +It would seem as though the Blues would have little energy left after +such an exciting day as they had passed through, but such is the +wonderful elasticity and recuperative powers of youth, that they played +one of the snappiest games of the season, and after a hotly contested +fight won out by a score of four to two. + +As they returned to the clubhouse after the game, they were surprised +beyond measure to see Mr. Clarke waiting for them. He greeted them with +a smile, and shook hands all around with his uninjured arm. + +"I caught the first train that went through," he explained, "and got +here in time to see the last inning. You fellows put up a cracker-jack +game, and I think you are an honor to the old college. It was a wonder +you did not lose. After what you have been through to-day I should not +have been a bit surprised or disappointed." + +They thanked him for his kind speech, and then nothing would do but that +they must have supper with him at the most expensive hotel in town. +Needless to say, this meal was done ample justice, and when Mr. Clarke +informed them that he had hired rooms for them for the night the +announcement was greeted with a cheer. + +"I have telegraphed home, so nobody will be worried about you," he said. +"They know you're in safe hands," and his eyes twinkled. + +It was a tired lot of athletes that tumbled up to bed that night, +and soon they were sleeping the deep, dreamless sleep of healthy +exhaustion. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NINTH INNING + + +The morning of the all-important day on which the Blues and Maroons were +to lock horns in order that the pennant question might be finally +settled dawned gloriously. There was not a cloud in the sky and scarcely +a breath of wind stirring. A storm two days before had cooled the air +and settled the dust, and altogether a finer day for the deciding +struggle could not have been imagined. + +The game was to be played on the enemy's grounds, and that, of course, +gave them a great advantage. This was further increased by the fact that +it was Commencement Week, and from all parts of the country great +throngs of the old graduates had been pouring for days into the little +town that held so large a place in their memories and affections. They +could be depended on to a man to be present that afternoon, rooting with +all their might and yelling their heads off to encourage the home team. + +However, they would not have it all their own way in that matter, +although of course they would be in the majority. The train that +brought Bert and his comrades on the day before was packed with wildly +enthusiastic supporters, and a whole section of the grandstand would be +reserved for them. They had rehearsed their songs and cheers and were +ready to break loose at any time on the smallest provocation and "make +Rome howl." And, as is the way of college rooters, they had little doubt +that when they took the train for home they would carry their enemies' +scalps at their belts. They would have mobbed anybody for the mere +suggestion that their favorites could lose. + +They packed the hotel corridors with an exuberant and hilarious crowd +that night that "murdered sleep" for any one within earshot, and it was +in the "wee, sma' hours" when they at last sought their beds, to snatch +a few hours' sleep and dream of the great game on the morrow. Not so the +team themselves, however. They had been carried away to a secluded +suite, where after a good supper and a little quiet chat in which +baseball was not permitted to intrude, they were tucked away in their +beds by their careful trainer and by ten o'clock were sleeping soundly. + +At seven the next morning they were astir, and, after a substantial +breakfast, submitted themselves to "Reddy's" rubdown and massage, at the +conclusion of which their bodies were glowing, their eyes bright, and +they felt "fine as silk," in Reddy's phrase, and ready for anything. It +was like getting a string of thoroughbreds thoroughly groomed and +sending them to the post fit to race for a kingdom. To keep them from +dwelling on the game, Reddy took them for a quiet stroll in the country, +returning only in time for a leisurely though not hearty dinner, after +which they piled into their 'bus and started for the ball field. + +As they drove into the carriage gate at the lower end of the field they +fairly gasped at the sight that met their eyes. They had never played +before such a tremendous crowd as this. Grandstands and bleachers, the +whole four sides of the field were packed with tier upon tier of noisy +and jubilant rooters. Old "grads," pretty girls and their escorts waving +flags, singing songs, cheering their favorites, shouting their class +cries, made a picture that, once seen, could never be forgotten. + +"Some crowd, all right," said Dick to Bert, as they came out on the +field for preliminary practise. + +"Yes," said Bert, "and nine out of ten of them expect and hope to see us +lose. We must put a crimp in that expectation, from the stroke of the +gong." + +"And we will, too," asserted Tom, confidently, "they never saw the day +when they were a better team than ours, and it's up to our boys to prove +it to them, right off the reel." + +"How does your arm feel to-day?" asked Dick. "Can you mow them down in +the good old way, if you go in the box?" + +"Never felt better in my life," rejoined Bert. "I feel as though I could +pitch all day if necessary." + +"That sounds good," said Dick, throwing his arm over Bert's shoulder. +"If that's the way you feel, we've got the game sewed up already." + +"Don't be too sure, old man," laughed Bert. "You'd better 'knock wood.' +We've seen too many good things go wrong to be sure of anything in this +world of chance. By the way," he went on, "who is that fellow up near +our bench? There's something familiar about him. By George, it's +Ainslee," and they made a rush toward the stalwart figure that turned to +meet them with a smile of greeting. + +"In the name of all that's lucky," cried Dick, as he grasped his hand +and shook it warmly, "how did you manage to get here? I thought you were +with your team at Pittsburgh. There's no man on earth I'd rather see +here to-day." + +"Well," returned the coach, his face flushing with pleasure at the +cordial greeting, "I pitched yesterday, and as it will be two or three +days before my turn in the box comes round again, I made up my mind it +was worth an all-night's journey to come up here and see you whale the +life out of these fellows. Because of course that's what you're going to +do, isn't it? You wouldn't make me spend all that time and money for +nothing, would you?" he grinned. + +"You bet we won't," laughed Dick, "just watch our smoke." + +The presence of the coach was an inspiration, and they went on for +their fifteen minutes' practise with a vim and snap that sobered up the +over-confident rooters on the other side. Their playing fairly sparkled, +and some of the things put across made the spectators catch their +breath. + +Just in front of the grandstand, Bert and Winters tried out their +pitching arms. Commencing slowly, they gradually increased their pace, +until they were shooting them over with railroad speed. The trainer and +manager, reinforced by Mr. Ainslee, carefully watched every ball thrown, +so as to get a line on the comparative speed and control. While they +intended to use Bert, other things being equal, nobody knew better than +they that a baseball pitcher is as variable as a finely strung race +horse. One day he is invincible and has "everything" on the ball; the +next, a village nine might knock him all over the lot. + +But to-day seemed certainly Bert's day. He had "speed to burn." His +curves were breaking sharply enough to suit even Ainslee's critical eye, +and while Winters also was in fine fettle, his control was none too +good. Hinsdale was called into the conference. + +"How about it, Hin?" asked Ainslee. "How do they feel when they come +into the glove?" + +"Simply great," replied the catcher, "they almost knock me over, and his +change of pace is perfect." + +"That settles it," said Ainslee, and the others acquiesced. + +So that when at last the starting gong rang and a breathless silence +fell over the field, as Tom strode to the plate, Bert thrilled with the +knowledge that he had been selected to carry the "pitching burden," and +that upon him, more than any other member of the team, rested that day's +defeat or victory. + +The lanky, left-handed pitcher wound up deliberately and shot one over +the plate. Tom didn't move an eyelash. + +"Strike one!" called the umpire, and the home crowd cheered. + +The next one was a ball. + +"Good eye, old man!" yelled Dick from the bench. "You've got him +guessing." + +The next was a strike, and then two balls followed in rapid succession. +The pitcher measured the distance carefully, and sent one right over the +center of the rubber. Tom fouled it and grinned at the pitcher. A little +off his balance, he sent the next one in high, and Tom trotted down to +first, amid the wild yells of his college mates. + +Flynn came next with a pretty sacrifice that put Tom on second. Drake +sent a long fly that the center fielder managed to get under. But before +he could get set for the throw in, Tom, who had left second the instant +the catch was made, slid into third in a cloud of dust just before the +ball reached there. + +"He's got his speed with him to-day," muttered Ainslee, "now if Trent +can only bring him home." + +But Tom had other views. He had noticed that the pitcher took an +unusually long wind-up. Then too, being left-handed, he naturally faced +toward first instead of third, as he started to deliver the ball. Foot +by foot, Tom increased his lead off third, watching the pitcher +meanwhile, with the eye of a hawk. Two balls and one strike had been +called on Dick, when, just as the pitcher began his wind-up, Tom made a +dash for the plate and came down the line like a panic-stricken +jack-rabbit. + +Warned by the roar that went up from the excited crowd, the pitcher +stopped his wind-up, and hurriedly threw the ball to the catcher. But +the unexpectedness of the move rattled him and he threw low. There was a +mixup of legs and arms, as Tom threw himself to the ground twenty feet +from the plate and slid over the rubber, beating the ball by a hair. The +visiting crowd went wild, and generous applause came even from the home +rooters over the scintillating play, while his mates fairly smothered +him as he rose and trotted over to the bench. + +"He stole home," cried Reddy, whose face was as red as his hair with +excitement. "The nerve of him! He stole home!" + +It was one of the almost impossible plays that one may go all through +the baseball season without seeing. Not only did it make sure of one +precious run--and that run was destined to look as big as a mountain as +the game progressed--but it had a tendency to throw the opposing team +off its balance, while it correspondingly inspired and encouraged the +visitors. + +However, the pitcher pulled himself together, and although he passed +Dick to first by the four-ball route, he made Hodge send up a high foul +to the catcher and the side was out. + +The home crowd settled back with a sigh of relief. After all, only one +run had been scored, and the game was young. Wait till their heavy +artillery got into action and there would be a different story to tell. +They had expected that Winters, the veteran, would probably be the one +on whom the visitors would pin their hopes for the crucial game, and +there was a little rustle of surprise when they saw a newcomer move +toward the box. They took renewed hope when they learned that he was a +Freshman, and that this was his first season as a pitcher. No matter how +good he was, it stood to reason that when their sluggers got after him +they would quickly "have his number." + +"Well, Wilson," said Ainslee, as Bert drew on his glove, "the fellows +have given you a run to start with. You can't ask any more of them than +that. Take it easy, don't let them rattle you, and don't use your +fadeaway as long as your curves and fast straight ones are working +right. Save that for the pinches." + +"All right," answered Bert, "if the other fellows play the way Tom is +doing, I'll have nothing left to ask for in the matter of support, and +it's up to me to do the rest." + +For a moment as he faced the head of the enemy's batting order, and +realized all that depended on him, his head grew dizzy. The immense +throng of faces swam before his eyes and Dick's "Now, Bert, eat them +up," seemed to come from a mile away. The next instant his brain +cleared. He took a grip on himself. The crowd no longer wavered before +his eyes. He was as cold and hard as steel. + +"Come, Freshie," taunted Ellis, the big first baseman, as he shook his +bat, "don't cheat me out of my little three bagger. I'll make it a homer +if you don't hurry up." + +He jumped back as a swift, high one cut the plate right under his neck. + +"Strike," called the umpire. + +"Naughty, naughty," said Ellis, but his tone had lost some of its +jauntiness. + +The next was a wide outcurve away from the plate, but Ellis did not +"bite," and it went as a ball. + +Another teaser tempted him and he lifted a feeble foul to Hinsdale, who +smothered it easily. + +Hart, who followed, was an easy victim, raising a pop fly to Sterling at +second. Gunther, the clean-up hitter of the team, sent a grounder to +short that ordinarily would have been a sure out, but, just before +reaching White, it took an ugly bound and went out into right. Sterling, +who was backing up White, retrieved it quickly, but Gunther reached +first in safety. The crowd roared their delight. + +"Here's where we score," said one to his neighbor. "I knew it was only a +matter--Thunder! Look at that." + +"That" was a lightning snap throw from Bert to Dick that caught Gunther +five feet off first. The move had been so sudden and unexpected that +Dick had put the ball on him before the crowd fairly realized that it +had left the pitcher's hand. It was a capital bit of "inside stuff" that +brought the Blues to their feet in tempestuous cheering, as Bert walked +in to the bench. + +"O, I guess our Freshie is bad, all right," shouted one to Ellis, as he +walked to his position. + +"We'll get him yet," retorted the burly fielder. "He'll blow up when his +time comes." + +But the time was long in coming. In the next three innings, only nine +men faced him, and four of these "fanned." His "whip" was getting better +and better as the game progressed. His heart leaped with the sense of +mastery. There was something uncanny in the way the ball obeyed him. It +twisted, curved, rose and fell like a thing alive. A hush fell on the +crowd. All of them, friend and foe, felt that they were looking at a +game that would make baseball history. Ainslee's heart was beating as +though it would break through his ribs. Could he keep up that demon +pitching? Would the end come with a rush? Was it in human nature for a +mere boy before that tremendous crowd to stand the awful strain? He +looked the unspoken questions to Reddy, who stared back at him. + +"He'll do it, Mr. Ainslee, he'll do it. He's got them under his thumb. +They can't get to him. That ball fairly talks. He whispers to it and +tells it what to do." + +The other pitcher, too, was on his mettle. Since the first inning, no +one of his opponents had crossed the rubber. Only two hits had been +garnered off his curves and his drop ball was working beautifully. He +was determined to pitch his arm off before he would lower his colors to +this young cub, who threatened to dethrone him as the premier twirler of +the league. It looked like a pitchers' duel, with only one or two runs +deciding the final score. + +In the fifth, the "stonewall infield" cracked. Sterling, the "old +reliable," ran in for a bunt and got it easily, but threw the ball "a +mile" over Dick's head. By the time the ball was back in the diamond, +the batter was on third, and the crowd, scenting a chance to score, was +shouting like mad. The cheer leaders started a song that went booming +over the field and drowned the defiant cheer hurled at them in return. +The coachers danced up and down on the first and third base lines, and +tried to rattle Bert by jeers and taunts. + +"He's going up now," they yelled, "all aboard for the air ship. Get +after him, boys. It's all over but the shouting." + +But Bert had no idea of going up in the air. The sphere whistled as he +struck out Allen on three pitched balls. Halley sent up a sky scraper +that Sterling redeemed himself by getting under in fine style. Ellis +shot a hot liner straight to the box, that Bert knocked down with his +left hand, picked up with his right, and got his man at first. It was a +narrow escape from the tightest of tight places, and Ainslee and Reddy +breathed again, while the disgusted home rooters sat back and groaned. +To get a man on third with nobody out, and yet not be able to get him +home. Couldn't they melt that icicle in the pitcher's box? What license +did he have anyway to make such a show of them? + +The sixth inning passed without any sign of the icicle thawing, but +Ainslee detected with satisfaction that the strain was beginning to tell +on the big southpaw. He was getting noticeably wild and finding it +harder and harder to locate the plate. When he did get them over, the +batters stung them hard, and only superb support on the part of his +fielders had saved him from being scored upon. + +At the beginning of the seventh, the crowd, as it always does at that +stage, rose to its feet and stretched. + +"The lucky seventh," it shouted. "Here's where we win." + +They had scarcely settled down in their seats however, when Tom cracked +out a sharp single that went like a rifle shot between second and short. +Flynn sent him to second with an easy roller along the first base line. +The pitcher settled down and "whiffed" Drake, but Dick caught one right +on the end of the bat and sent it screaming out over the left fielder's +head. It was a clean home run, and Dick had followed Tom over the plate +before the ball had been returned to the infield. + +Now it was the Blues' turn to howl, and they did so until they were +hoarse, while the home rooters sat back and glowered and the majority +gave up the game as lost. With such pitching to contend against, three +runs seemed a sure winning lead. + +In the latter half of the inning, however, things changed as though by +magic. The uncertainty that makes the chief charm of the game asserted +itself. With everything going on merrily with the visitors, the goddess +of chance gave a twist to the kaleidoscope, and the whole scene took on +a different aspect. + +Gunther, who was still sore at the way Bert had showed him up at first, +sent up a "Texas leaguer" just back of short. White turned and ran for +it, while big Flynn came rushing in from center. They came together with +terrific force and rolled over and over, while the ball fell between +them. + +White rose dizzily to his feet, but Flynn lay there, still and crumpled. +His mates and some of the opposing team ran to him and bore him to the +bench. It was a clean knockout, and several minutes elapsed before he +regained consciousness and was assisted from the field, while Ames, a +substitute outfielder, took his place. Tom had regained the ball in the +meantime and held Gunther at second. The umpire called "play" and the +game went on. + +But a subtle something had come over the Blues. An accident at a critical +time like this was sure to be more or less demoralizing. Their nerves, +already stretched to the utmost tension, were not proof against the +sudden shock. Both the infield and outfield seemed to go to pieces all at +once. The enemy were quick to take advantage of the changed conditions. +Gunther took a long lead off second, and, at a signal from his captain, +started for third. Hinsdale made an awful throw that Tom only stopped by +a sideway leap, but not in time to get the runner. Menken sent a grounder +to White that ordinarily he would have "eaten up," but he fumbled it just +long enough to let the batter get to first, while Gunther cantered over +the plate for their first run of the game amid roars of delight from the +frantic rooters. It looked as though the long-expected break was coming +at last. + +The next man up struck out and the excitement quieted down somewhat, +only to be renewed with redoubled fervor a moment later, when Halley +caught a low outcurve just below the waist and laced it into center for +a clean double. Smart fielding kept the man on first from getting +further than third, but that seemed good enough. Only one man was out +and two were on bases, and one of their heaviest batters was coming up. +Bert looked him over carefully and then sent him deliberately four wide +balls. He planned to fill the bases and then make the next man hit into +a double play, thus retiring the side. + +It was good judgment and Ainslee noted it with approval. Many a time he +had done the same thing himself in a pinch and "gotten away with it." + +As Bert wound up, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Halley was +taking a long lead off second. Quick as lightning, he turned and shot +the ball to White, who ran from short to cover the base. The throw was +so true that he could easily have nailed Halley, as he frantically tried +to get back. But although White had pluckily insisted on being allowed +to play, his head was still spinning like a top from the recent +collision, and a groan went up from the "Blue" supporters as the ball +caromed off his glove and rolled out to center. The three men on bases +fairly burned up the base lines as they galloped around the bags, and +when Ames' hurried return of the ball went over Hinsdale's head to the +grand stand, all the bases were cleared, and the score stood four to +three in favor of the home team. It had all occurred so suddenly that +the visitors were in a daze, and the home nine itself could hardly +realize how quickly the tables had been turned. + +For a moment rage took possession of Bert. What was the matter with the +fellows anyway? Why were they playing like a bunch of "Rubes"? Did +they expect him to win the game all by himself? Was the victory to be +snatched away just as it was within sight? Were these jubilant, yelling +rooters, dancing about and hugging each other, to send him and his +comrades away, downcast and beaten? Were they to "laugh last" and +therefore "best"? And the fellows hundreds of miles away, gathered at +this moment around the bulletin board of the dear old college---- + +No! No! A thousand times, no! In a moment he was himself again--the same +old Bert, cool, careful, self-reliant. He stooped down and pretended to +tie his shoe lace, in order to give his comrades a moment to regain +their self-possession. Then he straightened up and shot a beauty right +over the plate. The batter, who had been ordered to wait and take +advantage of Bert's expected case of "rattles," let it go by. Two +perfect strikes followed and the batter was out. The next man up +dribbled a roller to the box and Bert threw him out easily. The inning +was over, and Bert had to take off his cap to the storm of cheers that +came from the "Blue" supporters as he walked to the bench. + +Ainslee scanned him carefully for any sign of collapse after this +"baptism of fire." Where were the fellow's nerves? Did he have any? Bert +met his glance with an easy smile, and the coach, reassured, heaved a +sigh of relief. No "yellow streak" there, but clear grit through and +through. + +"It's the good old fadeaway from now on, Wilson," he said as he clapped +him on the back, "usually I believe in letting them hit and remembering +that you have eight men behind you to help you out. But just now there's +a little touch of panic among the boys, and while that would soon wear +off, you only have two innings left. This game has got to be won in the +pitcher's box. Hold them down and we will bat out a victory yet." + +"All right," answered Bert; "I've only used the fadeaway once or twice +this game, and they've had no chance to size it up. I'll mix it in with +the others and try to keep them guessing." + +Drake and Dick made desperate attempts to overcome the one run advantage +in their half of the eighth. Each cracked out a hot single, but the +three that followed were unable to bring them home, despite the frantic +adjurations of their friends to "kill the ball." + +Only one more inning now, one last chance to win as a forlorn hope, or +fall fighting in the last ditch. + +A concerted effort was made to rattle Bert as he went into the box, but +for all the effect it had upon him, his would-be tormentors might as +well have been in Timbuctoo. He was thoroughly master of himself. The +ball came over the plate as though shot from a gatling gun for the first +batter, whose eye was good for curves, but who, twice before, had proved +easy prey for speedy ones. A high foul to the catcher disposed of him. +Allen, the next man up, set himself for a fast one, and was completely +fooled by the lazy floater that suddenly dropped a foot below his bat, +just as it reached the plate. A second and third attempt sent him +sheepishly back to the bench. + +"Gee, that was a new one on me," he muttered. "I never saw such a drop +in my life. It was just two jerks and a wiggle." + +His successor was as helpless as a baby before the magical delivery, and +amid a tempest of cheers, the Blues came in for their last turn at bat. +Sterling raised their hopes for a moment by a soaring fly to center. But +the fielder, running with the ball, made a beautiful catch, falling +as he did so, but coming up with the ball in his hand. Some of the +spectators started to leave, but stopped when White shot a scorcher so +hot that the second baseman could not handle it. Ames followed with a +screaming single to left that put White on third, which he reached by a +desperate slide. A moment later Ames was out stealing second, and with +two men out and hope nearly dead, Bert came to the plate. He caught the +first ball pitched on the end of his bat and sent it on a line between +right and center. And then he ran. + +How he ran! He rounded first like a frightened deer and tore toward +second. The wind whistled in his ears. His heart beat like a trip hammer. +He saw as in a dream the crowds, standing now, and shouting like fiends. +He heard Dick yelling: "Go it, Bert, go it, go it!" He caught a glimpse +of Tom running toward third base to coach him in. He passed second. The +ground slipped away beneath his feet. He was no longer running, he was +flying. The third baseman tried to block him, but he went into him like a +catapult and rolled him over and over. Now he was on the road to home. +But the ball was coming too. He knew it by the warning cry of Reddy, by +the startled urging of Tom, by the outstretched hands of the catcher. +With one tremendous effort he flung himself to the ground and made a +fallaway slide for the plate, just touching it with his finger tips, as +the ball thudded into the catcher's mitt. Two men in and the score five +to four, while the Blues' stand rocked with thunders of applause. + +"By George," cried Ainslee, "such running! It was only a two base hit, +and you stretched it into a homer." + +The next batter was out on a foul to left, and the home team came in +to do or die. If now they couldn't beat that wizard of the box, their +gallant fight had gone for nothing. They still had courage, but it was +the courage of despair. They were used to curves and rifle shots. They +might straighten out the one and shoot back the other, but that new +mysterious delivery, that snaky, tantalizing, impish fadeaway, had +robbed them of confidence. Still, "while there was life there was hope," +so---- + +Ainslee and Reddy were a little afraid that Bert's sprint might have +tired him and robbed him of his speed. But they might have spared their +fears. His wind was perfect and his splendid condition stood him in +good stead. He was a magnificent picture of young manhood, as for the +last time he faced his foes. His eyes shone, his nerves thrilled, his +muscles strained, his heart sang. His enemies he held in the hollow of +his hand. He toyed with them in that last inning as a cat plays with a +mouse. His fadeaway was working like a charm. No need now to spare +himself. Ellis went out on three pitched balls. Hart lifted a feeble +foul to Hinsdale. Gunther came up, and the excitement broke all bounds. + +The vast multitude was on its feet, shouting, urging, begging, pleading. +A hurricane of cheers and counter cheers swept over the field. Reddy was +jumping up and down, shouting encouragement to Bert, while Ainslee sat +perfectly still, pale as death and biting his lips till the blood came. +Bert cut loose savagely, and the ball whistled over the plate. Gunther +lunged at it. + +"One strike!" called the umpire. + +Gunther had been expecting the fadeaway that had been served to the two +before him, and was not prepared for the swift high one, just below the +shoulder. Bert had outguessed him. + +Hinsdale rolled the ball slowly back along the ground to the pitcher's +box. Bert stopped, picked it up leisurely, and then, swift as a flash, +snapped it over the left hand corner of the plate. Before the astonished +batsman knew it was coming, Hinsdale grabbed it for the second strike. + +"Fine work, Bert!" yelled Dick from first. "Great head." + +Gunther, chagrined and enraged, set himself fiercely for the next. Bert +wound up slowly. The tumult and the shouting died. A silence as of death +fell on the field. The suspense was fearful. Before Bert's eyes came up +the dear old college, the gray buildings and the shaded walks, the crowd +at this moment gathered there about the bulletin---- Then he let go. + +For forty feet the ball shot toward the plate in a line. Gunther gauged +it and drew back his bat. Then the ball hesitated, slowed, seemed to +reconsider, again leaped forward, and, eluding Gunther's despairing +swing, curved sharply down and in, and fell like a plummet in Hinsdale's +eager hands. + +"You're out," cried the umpire, tearing off his mask. The crowd surged +down over the field, and Bert was swallowed up in the frantic rush of +friends and comrades gone crazy with delight. And again he saw the dear +old college, the gray buildings and the shaded walks, the crowd at this +moment gathered there about the bulletin----. + + * * * * * + +Some days after his fadeaway had won the pennant--after the triumphal +journey back to the college, the uproarious reception, the bonfires, +the processions, the "war dance" on the campus--Bert sat in his +room, admiring the splendid souvenir presented to him by the college +enthusiasts. The identical ball that struck out Gunther had been encased +in a larger one of solid gold, on which was engraved his name, together +with the date and score of the famous game. Bert handled it caressingly. + +"Well, old fellow," he said, half aloud, "you stood by me nobly, but it +was a hard fight. I never expect to have a harder one." + +He would have been startled, had he known of the harder one just ahead. +That Spring he had fought for glory; before the Summer was over he would +fight for life. How gallant the fight he made, how desperate the chances +he took, and how great the victory he won, will be told in + +"BERT WILSON, WIRELESS OPERATOR." + + +THE END + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + --Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + + --Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected. + + --Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. + + --Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved. + + --The author's long dash style has been preserved. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Bert Wilson's Fadeaway Ball, by J. W. 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