Obed had one eye rolled up toward first, and, as soon as Crockett was well down toward second, which had been covered by Darrell, the fat boy picked up the ball and gave it a snap toward the base without rising to his feet.
Crockett was trapped and would have been in a bad place, but the ball struck on the end of Hal’s fingers and bounded off.
The runner laughed with derisive relief as he reached the bag.
“Why didn’t you take your time, Tubbs?” demanded Darrell. “You had an hour. You snapped that ball so quick I wasn’t ready for the throw.”
Not a word did Obediah retort, but the look on his face expressed a great deal.
Dustan now came up and attempted to sacrifice Crockett to third. In trying to do this the batter made a little slow bunt that rolled along the first base line.
Singleton ran in for the ball, but fancied it would roll foul and paused, letting Dustan go to first. The ball struck a slight rise and rolled over the chalk mark into the diamond, where it finally stopped.
It was a fair hit.
“Well! well! well!” laughed Roberts. “We’re doing it this time!”
“Talk about ’orseshoes!” exclaimed Billy Bradley. “You must ’ave your pockets full!”