Dick’s nerve seemed unshaken, as he again walked on the field to resume pitching. The Yale men broke into wild cheering for the boy, which was taken up all around the field.
“That’s ernough to make a feller strike out,” said Gallup.
Instead of striking out, however, he put up an easy fly that was gathered in by Browning.
The owner of the dog did not return to the vicinity of the Yale crowd on the bleachers. He had lost his money, and he did not wish to give the winners a chance to laugh at him.
In this inning Dick Merriwell had proved himself a marvel for a boy of his years; but the game was young, and Morgan’s team felt confident of falling on the lad before long and striking a winning streak.
Morgan was on his mettle when he again walked out to pitch.
“I must win this game!” he mentally exclaimed. “It will be awful to lose the game, with a boy like that pitching against me!”
With the head of the batting-list up, it looked as if there was something doing for the Merries. It looked more so when Ready reached first on a safe hit, and Morgan set his teeth.
Carson did not attempt to sacrifice, Merriwell having given the “hit and run” signal. He drove the ball hotly along the ground between Skelding and Mason. Gene got his hand on the ball, but it carromed off. Fortunately for him, it went straight into the hands of Mason, who picked it up and threw like a flash to second.
The ball reached Packard before Ready got down, and he lined it to first, completing a pretty double play.