At that spot there was a small hole in the fence, and by a rare freak of fortune the ball had passed through this opening. Jolliby peered through a crack and could see the sphere outside the fence at a little distance, lying on the ground. He thrust his long arm through the hole and found himself barely able to touch the ball with the ends of his fingers. In trying to get hold of it he pushed it farther away.
Thus, while Chip was vainly seeking to stretch his arm far enough to get the ball, the Rivermouth runner came home with the tying score.
The spectators of both sides were shaking with excitement. The eighth inning ended with a score of one to one. In the ninth Rivermouth apparently started off with grim determination to win the game then and there. Two hits and a bad error filled the bags, with only one man out.
Chester Arlington, who had been watching the game with intense interest, now nodded and smiled.
“She’s over!” he declared. “The jig is up! Rivermouth wins right here!”
For the first time during the game Dick began to pitch with his right hand. Regardless of his right side, he used speed and curves. The next batter fanned twice in his eagerness to get a hit.
“Steady, old man!” cautioned the Rivermouth captain. “We have this thing clinched.”
Then the batter hit the ball a savage crack, and it shot on a dead line, so that it seemed certain to pass over Obediah Tubbs at least eight feet from the ground and somewhat to one side of the fat boy.
Obediah made a marvelous leap into the air.
Spat!