CHAPTER XVI.
MERRIWELL’S NINE LEADS.
“Costigan will get it!” cried several voices, as the stocky left fielder raced back after the ball.
“He can’t reach it!” cried others.
“Gamp ought to be out there now,” shouted somebody.
The coachers yelled and motioned for the runners to keep right on, for it was plain that the ball was going over Costigan’s head.
Thornton dashed over second and made for third. He was running fast, but Hodge seemed to fly.
“Watch Hodge cover ground,” called Frank in Capt. Hardy’s ear. “How is that for running?”
Hardy did not say a word, but he was astonished, for he did not dream Hodge could run so fast. Frank Merriwell was a swift man on the bases, but it seemed that Bart Hodge was getting along quite as fast as Frank could.
Costigan strained every nerve to get under the ball, and made a flying leap into the air for it, but it was just beyond his reach, and he did not even touch it.
“Gamp would have caught it,” somebody declared.
While the left fielder was chasing the ball, which went bounding along the ground, the runners were making a streak round the diamond. When Thornton passed over third, Hodge was halfway between second and third. When Thornton crossed the plate, Hodge was close at his heels, and both men scored.
“Th-th-th-thutteration!” shouted Joe Gamp, in delight. “Ain’t this a ju-ju-jolly time! A-haw! a-haw! a-haw!”
Capt. Hardy looked disgusted. Was it possible Frank Merriwell’s remarkable “scrub” team was going to holdthe regular’s good play? It would be a standing joke in the college.
“Come, Haggerty!” he cried, sharply; “you’ll have to brace up. We’re out here for practice, and not to fool away our time.”
Haggerty flushed, but said nothing. He had not thought of fooling, and he did not relish being called down in such a manner.
Ned Noon was the most disgusted man on the field. Beneath his breath he muttered bitterly.
“Such beastly luck!” he muttered. “Think of Hodge getting a home run the first time up! It is frightful! I must do something to attract attention to me.”
He wondered what he could do, but resolved to watch his opportunity. Unfortunately for Noon, Haggerty was a trifle rattled, and that made him wild.
Fales was the next batter up. Haggerty was so wild that Fales might have obtained four balls, but he struck at two poor ones. Then, with the score standing two strikes and three balls, Fales struck again at an inshoot and missed.
Right there was where Noon’s hard luck came in, for Haggerty had crossed signals with him. Noon had expected an outdrop, but it was a high inshoot. Ned made a desperate attempt to stop it, but simply got his hands on it, and it went caroming off to one side, while Fales ran for first and made the bag all right.
“Look here, Noon,” came sharply from Capt. Hardy’s lips, when Ned had recovered the ball and thrown it in, “you must get a brace on. What are you under the bat for?”
“It wasn’t my fault,” declared Ned. “Haggerty crossed signs with me.”
That made Capt. Hardy angry with Haggerty, and he called him in to the bench, sending Walbert out.
Walbert had not warmed up, and what he had seen made him feel a trifle nervous. This was not like a practice game. It seemed to be a game for blood.
The spectators realized that the fate of more than one player depended on their work in that game. Capt. Hardy was merciless, and he would not hesitate to lop off the head of any man he considered weak. He had no favorites, and he was fearless in the way he handled the team. His power was great, as he was manager, as well as captain.
Rattleton followed Fales. He popped up an easy one to shortstop who got under it and dropped it purposely, trying to draw Fales off first to make a double. But Fales knew that trick, and he hugged the bag.
Rattleton was out.
Diamond came next. He hit a hot one straight at Walling, the third baseman, and it was gathered in, putting the side out.
But at the end of the first inning, the score stood 2 to 0 in favor of the “scrubs.”
“Now, I do hope they’ll get on to Merriwell,” muttered Sydney Gooch, who was looking very serious. “This is not the kind of fun I came out to see.”
“Same here,” admitted Bink Stubbs. “But it can’t continue. Merriwell’s gang has had a streak.”
The first man up for the regulars got a fine safe hit.
Both Gooch and Stubbs brightened.
“Ah! what did I tell you!” said Harris. “I knew it would come. Now, if the others will keep it up.”
He did not know that Frank had given the batter a good one, hoping he would get a single. Frank wanted Hodge to have a chance to show his throwing.
Merry was sure the runner would be sent down to second for a steal if he was given a show. He did not pretend to hold the fellow close to the bag, believing it a good planto let him get a start, for it would make Bart’s throwing show up all the better if the man should be caught.
Diamond knew what was coming, for he understood that Merry was working to show Bart up, and he hugged close to second.
As Merry had anticipated, the batter made a false swing when the ball was pitched, hoping to bother Bart, while the runner scooted for second.
Hodge gathered in the ball, and then, without stirring from his tracks, sent it shooting down toward second like a bullet.
It was a low throw, and it seemed that it must strike the ground before it got to second; but there was force behind that ball, and it did not fall.
“Slide! slide!” yelled the coachers.
The runner slid.
Diamond came in just right to take the ball about two feet from the ground, and then he “nailed” it on to the back of the sliding base-runner, catching him at least two feet from the bag.
“Man is out,” announced the umpire.
Frank laughed, and the spectators applauded.
“Good boy, Hodge!” cried Danny Griswold, to the surprise of Frank. “That was a beautiful throw.”
“Oh, those things will happen now and then,” sneered Ned Noon. “He might throw wild next time.”
This did not come with good grace from Ned’s lips, as he and Bart were rivals, but he was so overflowing with spleen that he could not hold it back.
“It was a good throw,” nodded Capt. Hardy. “I didn’t think he had a chance to catch the man after the start Merriwell gave him. If Hodge can keep up the work he has been doing——”
He did not finish, but there was a deep significance in the hiatus.
The next batter obtained a single, and again a man was given a chance to play off first by Merriwell, who seemed remarkably careless.
Down he went for second on the first pitched ball.
“He’ll make it?”
“Hodge can’t stop him!”
“He’s a runner!”
“See him scoot!”
“He’s fairly flying.”
Hodge did not seem to get excited in the least, but he made a quick, sharp throw for second.
Again Diamond came in and took it on the run. Again the runner slid. Again Jack bored the ball into his back. And again——
“Man is out!” cried the umpire.
“Hodge is all right!” said several voices. “He is a corker to throw!”
Bart was arousing admiration by his cool, steady work. Ned Noon saw this, and ground his teeth in fury.
It was Noon’s turn to come to bat. He advanced, resolved to do something or drop dead in the attempt.
A gleam entered Frank Merriwell’s eyes. He gathered himself. Two men had been allowed to hit; but if Ned Noon got a hit he would earn it. Then Merriwell sent them over with all kinds of twists and curves. Ned was fooled. He fanned three times, flung his bat to the ground and uttered a curse.
The regulars had failed to score in their half of the second inning.