Walpole scudded down to first. Those watching Mason declared at first that he could not touch the ball. Then they changed their minds.
“He’ll reach it!” cried some of the Yale men.
“But he can’t handle it!” asserted others.
The suspense was great. At the last moment it seemed the ball would go beyond Mason’s reach, but he made a great leap into the air for it, and it stuck in his hands.
“He’s got it!”
“No—he’s lost it!”
The ball struck Hock’s hands, but did not strike them fairly, and away it flew.
Down came Mason, but he made a dive in the direction the ball had taken, while Walpole raced on to second base. The ball had disappeared into a tiny hollow, and Hock could not see it at once. He was almost blind from disappointment over his failure to catch it, and that added to his trouble in seeing it.
Walpole raced to third.