CHAPTER X.
HOW THE GAME OPENED.
Carsonville was emptying itself.
Every person in town, young and old, was a baseball enthusiast. The grand stand and bleachers of the club grounds were invariably crowded every Saturday. But on this one Saturday it seemed as though the town had gone crazy over the game.
So, after a fashion, it had. Despite its support of the Clippers, Carsonville turned out to see baseball, rather than to see the Clippers play. It loved the game for itself. Down underneath the surface, however, it cherished a warm dislike for the Clippers and their captain.
This dislike had been, perforce, hidden, for fear of antagonizing the autocrat of Carsonville. When the home team had been playing, all personalities had been forgotten in the game itself. On such occasions, even Bully Carson had become popular for the moment, if he won a game.
It was quite different on this Saturday, however. The Carsons had been defied, and when the crowd had streamed into the park, it forgot all about its fear of Colonel Carson’s power.
“I hope them Clippers get trounced! I hope Bully Carson gets knocked out of the box!” cried old Abner Powell, on whose forty acres the colonel held a heavy mortgage.
“So do I! Hurray for the Clippings!” yelled the teller of the Carsonville bank.
“Here’s where the colonel gets took down!” shouted the Carsons’ hired man.