The game began, and for three innings Yale had the advantage. The "sons of Old Eli" were jubilant, and they made the air ring with their cheers and songs.
At the end of the third inning it was seen that Harvard must make a change if it had any hope of winning. Yedding, the great Cambridge pitcher, was "rocky." He could not find the plate, and he was "hammered" when he did "get 'em over."
Some Yale man with an inclination to rhyme had
composed some doggerel verse, which about twenty lads were singing to some sort of mongrel tune.
"Poor Harvard she can talk—
(That's all!)
At other things she'll balk;
We'll beat her in a walk—
Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!
"Poor Harvard's lost her grip—
(That's so!)
She's let the pennant slip,
We've done her up this trip—
Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!"
"It is altogether too early in the game to crow," declared Frank Merriwell. "Several things may happen before the ninth inning is over."
"Oh, we've got the game nailed solid now!" declared Bruce Browning, in a satisfied way. "Robinson will be able to get his shirts out of soak."
In the fourth inning Harvard sent a new pitcher into the box. It was Coulter, who, as a freshman, had pitched against Merriwell.
Coulter was nervous and rather wild at first, but he puzzled the Yale men, who could not hit him when he did get them over the plate.