The Rover Boys Under Canvas | Page 5

balls, and the batsman
walked to first base.
"Hurrah! he's afraid to give him the kind we chew up."
"Maybe he'll let the next man walk, too!" cried another.
But this was not to be. The next cadet up went out on a foul, and the
inning came to a sudden end.
"A tie! A tie! The game is a tie!"
"Now for the winning run! Hixley High!"
"That's the stuff! Larsen to the bat! And, my, won't he wallop that
ball!"

Larsen was the Hixley High center fielder--a tall, sturdy youth with
blue eyes and light hair, of Norwegian descent. He came to the plate
with a "do-or-die" look on his face. He allowed two balls to pass him,
only one of which, however, was called a strike. Then he made a sweep
for the next ball, sending it out in a red-hot liner toward Jack.
Many a young ball player would have stepped out of the way with such
a red-hot variety of baseball coming his way. But not so Jack Rover.
Like a flash his hands went out and he caught the ball firmly, although
the impact of the sphere whirled him half way around.
"Gee, look at that!"
"I wouldn't have caught that ball for a thousand dollars!"
A great shout of approval rang out, and during this Gif hurried over to
Jack's side.
"How about it--did it hurt you any?" he questioned quickly.
"It stung me a little, that's all," was Jack's reply. His hands burnt like
fire, but he did not intend to let anybody know it.
"One down! Now for the other two!" came the cry.
"Not much! Here is where we score!"
But alas for the hopes of Hixley High! The next man up went out on
strikes, and the fellow to follow knocked a foul which was easily
gathered in by the third baseman.
"Now here is where we bring home the bacon!" cried Ned Lowe, one of
the Colby Hall fans.
Andy Rover had been burning to distinguish himself, and now his
chance came. First to the bat, he made a very neat base hit. Then,
however, came an out, and the Colby Hall boys were, for a moment,
downcast. But they quickly recovered when the next player made a
single and Andy slid around safely to third.

"Now then, a hit! Just a neat little hit!" came the entreating cry.
"Oh, if only they do get it!" murmured Ruth Stevenson. "I wish Jack
was at the bat."
"It's my cousin Dick!" cried May Powell, and she was right--Spouter
Powell was up.
Spouter was not a particularly strong ball player, but he had one feature
which was in his favor--he knew how to keep cool, and that helped
greatly in this heart-breaking emergency. He waited calmly until two
strikes and two balls had been called, and then he struck a low one,
sending it just inside the first-base line. It slipped past the baseman, and
as Spouter's feet crossed the bag, Fred Rover slid in safely to the home
plate.
"Hurrah! Hurrah! Colby Hall wins!"
Then followed a wild cheering and yelling, in the midst of which the
crowds on the bleachers and the grandstand broke forth to mingle with
the players on the ball field. Of course, the Hixley High students were
much crestfallen, yet they tried to take their defeat in good part.
"Three cheers for Hixley High!" shouted Gif Garrison, and they were
given with a will. Then followed a cheer from the high-school students
for those of the military academy, and then the crowd started to
disperse.
"Oh, boys! some celebration to-night, what?" cried Randy Rover, and
in the exuberance of his spirits he turned several handsprings on the
grass.
"You bet we'll celebrate!" exclaimed his cousin Fred.
"Say! we ought to shoot off the old cannon for this," burst out Andy
Rover. He referred to an ancient fieldpiece located on the front lawn of
the school.

"Too dangerous," interposed his cousin Jack. "That old cannon is too
rusty, and it would fly into a million pieces."
"Yes, but we might----"
Boom!
It was a loud explosion coming from a considerable distance. The
cadets, as well as all the others gathered on the ball field, looked at
each other in surprise.
"What could that have been?" questioned Fred Rover.
"Sounds like a big cannon going off," answered Walt Baxter.
Boom! Boom!
Two more explosions rent the air, both much louder than the first. The
very ground seemed to be shaken by the concussion.
"Say, that sounds like a warship!"
"No warships around here," was the answer.
"Maybe it's a German Zeppelin!"
"Gee! do you suppose the Germans have come over here to bombard
us?"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several more explosions came now close upon the others, each
explosion heavier