“Warm up,” he said.
The boy understood. He was to go into the box against Minneapolis.
His heart leaped and then sank. For a moment he grew pale, and then he asked for a ball. A moment later Dick and Bart were moving out to a place where the boy could warm up.
The spectators did not realize what it meant, for not one of them imagined that the slender boy would be sent against the heavy-batting leaguers.
Gamp came up and made a fierce try for a hit, which dropped the ball in the hands of an outfielder.
Browning seemed dispirited, for he fanned three times on the first three balls pitched.
Swiftwing fouled repeatedly and then struck out.
Again Merriwell’s men had been retired in order.
As the home team came in from the field something surprising happened.
Out from the dressing-rooms came a most fantastic figure. It was an old savage, dressed in the feathers and finery so loved by his people, and painted in the most hideous manner. Straight toward the home plate he advanced.