The coachers were so astounded that they forgot to shout for the runner to slide, and Varney, who had seen Bart fall when he went after the ball, believed there was no need of taking a chance of hurting himself by sliding.
Wintz, Yale’s second baseman, came running toward the bag to cut Varney off. He acted as if he expected to take a throw, but Varney laughed aloud.
“Can’t fool me that way,” he said. “The trick is stale.”
But, a moment later he nearly fainted, for something shot before him and struck with a plunk in Wintz’s hands. Then the second baseman touched the runner, while Varney was still four feet from the bag.
Varney stopped on second and turned quickly. He was in time to see Wintz snap the ball to Walbert and hear the umpire cry:
“Runner is out!”
Varney was dazed.
“Who threw that ball?” he gasped.
“The man behind the bat, of course,” laughed Wintz.
“I know better!” cried Varney. “He couldn’t do it! He was down! It passed him. Some outsider threw it in. It is a blocked ball.”