The Rover Boys Under Canvas | Page 3

came
from Andy Rover, who sat on the substitutes' bench.
The second ball delivered was a fairly good one, although rather low.

Jack swung at it, and high into the air spun the sphere, well back of the
catcher's head.
"Foul!"
"Run, Billy, you can catch it!"
Flinging off his mask, the Hixley High catcher rushed back toward
where the ball was coming down. But it was too far away for him, and
it struck slantingly on one of the back posts, rolling off toward the
grandstand.
"Line it out, Jack! Don't be fooling with fouls!" yelled Fred Rover.
"Show 'em where the river is!" added Randy Rover.
The next ball to come in was a wide out-curve, and again Jack let it
pass him.
"Ball two!" shouted the umpire.
"That's the way to do it, Jack! Make 'em give you what you want!"
With two balls against him, the noted pitcher for the high school
exercised a little more care in his next delivery. He sent in a straight,
swift one, directly over the outer point of the plate. It was not exactly
what Jack desired, but it was good enough, and he swung at it with all
his strength. Crack! And the ball went sailing directly over the head of
the shortstop and into the field beyond.
"Run, Jack! Run! It's good for a two-bagger!"
"Leg it, Dan! Leg it for home!"
"Send the ball in, Wiffles! Don't let 'em get home!"
These and a hundred other cries rang out as nearly every spectator
sprang to his or her feet in the excitement. Dan Soppinger, half way to
third when Jack made the hit, had now touched that bag and was

tearing for the home plate.
In the meantime Jack, running like a deer, had passed first and was
making for second. The shortstop had made a high but ineffectual jump
for the ball, and now he and the fielder behind him were both after the
sphere. There was a short mix-up, and then the fielder sent the ball with
unerring aim toward the catcher at the home plate.
"Slide, Dan, slide!"
And then Dan Soppinger, running as he had never run before, dropped
down and slid to the plate amid a whirl of dust, followed instantly by
the ball, which landed with a thud in the catcher's mitt.
"He's safe! He's safe!"
"And look! Jack Rover is going to make third!"
Realizing that it was too late to catch the man at the plate, the catcher
threw the ball down to second. But Jack Rover had already started for
third, and now he streaked along with all his might, arriving at that bag
just an instant before the ball followed him.
"That's the way to do it, boy! Keep it up!"
"Oh, he made three bases!" cried one of the girls in the grandstand.
"Isn't that just lovely?"
"I told you he'd do it, Ruth," said another of the girls.
"I wish my cousin Dick was coming up," remarked one of the girls.
"I'm sure he would be able to help them out."
"Never mind, May. He'll be coming up pretty soon," answered Ruth
Stevenson.
The next cadet to the bat was Walt Baxter. Walt was a good all-around
player, but just at present he was not in the best of condition, having
suffered from a touch of the grippe early in the season.

"Bang out a homer, Walt!" sang out Andy Rover.
"Never mind that, Walt. Make a safe hit and bring Jack in," said Gif
Garrison.
"I'll do my best," answered Walt Baxter. But it was plainly to be seen
that his recent illness had rendered him somewhat nervous. He had a
ball and a strike called on him, and then got another strike through a
little foul that passed over one of the coaches' heads. Then Dink Wilsey
passed him a slow, tantalizing ball. Walt connected with it but sent up
only a pop fly, which the third baseman gathered in with ease.
"Hurrah! that's the way to hold 'em down," came the cry from one of
the high-school boys.
"Gee, old man, it's too bad you didn't have a chance to bring that run
in," remarked Gif Garrison to Jack Rover, as the latter walked in from
third base.
"Well, anyway, I brought Dan in," returned Jack, as cheerfully as he
could.
"Yes; but if you had got in that would have tied the score," went on the
manager. "However, the game isn't over yet."
"Over! Why, we've just begun to play!" returned Jack, with a grin.
"That's the talk!" cried Andy Rover. "Colby Hall forever! Now then,
boys, all together!" he yelled, turning to the grandstand. And a moment
later there boomed out this refrain:
"Who are we? Can't you see? Colby Hall! Dum! Dum!