“Old Sam is doing fine!” cried Tom.
“Yes, he seems to have good control,” commented Joe.
“But he lacks speed,” said Rodney Burke.
“Oh, cheese it! Do you want to give all our secrets away to these fellows?” asked Tom in a low voice, indicating the many Resolute sympathizers who were all about.
“Well, it’s true,” murmured Rodney, and Joe felt a sudden wild hope come into his heart.
The game went on enthusiastically, if not correctly from a professional or college baseball standpoint. Many errors were made and several rules were unconsciously violated. The young umpire’s decisions might have been questioned several times, and on numerous occasions the game was stopped while the respective captains, and some of the players, argued among themselves, or with the umpire. But the disputes were finally settled, though there was a growing spirit of dissatisfaction on both sides.
“Play ball!” yelled the umpire, at the conclusion of an argument in the fifth inning.
It was then that the Resolutes did some heavy stick work, and tallied three runs to the enthusiastic delight of the team and its supporters.
“We’ve got to do better than this,” murmured Darrell to Captain Rankin and Sam when they took the field at the end of that inning, and a big circle stared at them from the score board as the result of their efforts.