The general crowd shouted with satisfaction.
“Dade,” said Ready, “you’re a lucky dog. I had decided to make a home run at the very start, but I changed my mind. That’s what saved you.”
Again Morgan smiled. He knew Carson well, and he started with a high in shoot, at which Berlin fanned. Then followed a high one, which pulled the youth from Colorado, and the second strike was called.
Having this advantage, Morgan deliberately wasted two balls.
Carson waited for a good one, which he fancied he had finally found. He hit the ball hard on the ground, and it went straight at Mason. Just as it reached Hock it took a bad bound, and Mason did not get his hands on it fairly.
Carson was sprinting to first with all the speed he could muster, which led Mason to snatch up the ball and throw quicker than he had intended.
The throw was high for even tall Dick Starbright to reach, and Berlin continued on to second, which he safely reached.
“Well, well, well!” cried Ready, as he capered down toward third. “You’ll have to get a step-ladder, Starbright, old boy. The gentleman from South Carolina is wilder than mountain scenery.”
“Don’t mind that, Hock,” said Morgan, who was captain of the team. “Get it down next time.”
Mason took such things hard, and Morgan knew it would not do to “jump on him.”