"He's dropped it!"
"Come in! Come in! You've got dead loads of time!"
"Get the ball!" screamed Joe and some others. "Throw up the ball!" And now Paul Shale ran toward the spot where the ball lay. De Vere turned around, stared blankly in one direction and another, and fell flat upon the ball and rolled over. Then Paul Shale came up, snatched the leather sphere from the grass and sent it to the home plate with unerring accuracy. But it was too late—the three runs were in.
"Oh, what baby play!"
"That gives Brookside three runs!"
"Hullo, butter-fingers! You had better go home to your mammy!"
"Give him a crab-net to catch with!"
"He did it on purpose! Send him off the field!"
By this time Joe was approaching Augustus De Vere.
"Why didn't you hang on to that ball, Gus?" he demanded.