“Now they’ll pound him out!” exclaimed the man with the dog. “See if they don’t!”
Dick, however, was scarcely breathing harder than usual. His training had made him hard as iron, and he could stand the strain of severe and sudden exertion without showing it.
Hodge knew his business pretty well, and he found difficulty in adjusting the body-protector, which made time for Dick to fully recover, in case he needed it.
The best batters of the Mysteries were up against the boy, Mason leading off. The young pitcher sent the first ball over with a jump, and Mason missed it.
“One strike!”
Then followed a high in shoot, but Hock had his eyes open, and let it pass. The third one was too high, which made the second ball.
It seemed that Dick followed this with another high one, but the ball took a sharp drop and fell across the shoulders of the batter.
“Two strikes!”
Immediately Mason objected, but the umpire silenced him instantly. Still keeping the ball high, the boy used an in shoot, but it was not over.
“Three balls!”