“Oh, hire a hall,” snapped Everett. “Even if the umpire decides against the catch it was only an error and you ought to have been out anyway.”
“You can’t crawl out of it that way,” said McRae to the umpire. “A play is a play and you’ve got to settle it one way or the other, even if you settle it wrong.”
The umpire hesitated, wiped his brow and finally decided that the ball was caught. That put Larry out, and he retreated, growling, to the bench, while Everett grinned his satisfaction.
“That’s all right, Ump,” said the latter. “But how about Curry? Mackay put the ball on him all right and that makes three out.”
“Say, what do you want, the earth?” queried McRae. “He didn’t put the ball on him. He didn’t have the ball to put. It was in his pocket all the time.”
“Of course I put the ball on him,” declared Mackay. “I must have. When I fell on him I hit him everywhere at once.” 130
The umpire finally decided that Mackay had not put the ball on Curry, and the red-headed right-fielder chuckled at the thought of the run he had scored.
“That makes it horse and horse,” said the umpire. “Get back to your places.”
If he thought he was at the end of his troubles he was mistaken, for Everett suddenly cried out:
“Look here. You said that Mackay caught that ball, didn’t you?”