Dick settled his right foot on the ground with a jerking movement and delivered a sharp inshoot.
Almost before the ball left Merriwell’s hands Gibbs fell back a little from the plate, and he, like Dustan, met it fairly and squarely.
It was a single to right field, and Dustan, having a good lead off second, literally flew over third on his way toward the home plate.
Dave Flint secured the ball and did his best to stop a score. On that throw to the plate Gibbs took second.
Dustan made a beautiful slide and was safe.
How the Franklin crowd did cheer! This was the sort of work to delight them. Only two men had faced Merriwell. Only two balls had been pitched, yet two clean hits and a score was the result.
“Got ’em on the run! Got ’em on the run!” cried Madison. “Keep it going, Gannon! We might as well make a hundred in the first inning!”
To confess the truth, Dick had been surprised by the manner in which the visitors started off. He knew Gannon was a clever hitter, and there seemed every prospect that another score, at least, would be made by the enemy before Fardale could check them.
“It’s all right, Merriwell!” declared big Bob Singleton. “Accidents will happen!”
“Bet they don’t know ’ow they did hit!” said Billy Bradley.