"Wot kind of a ball's that?" panted Tom, as he showed his head with a bruise as large as a goose-egg.
"T-t-t-t-ta-ta-tay-tay-tay-tay——" began Mohler, in great excitement, but as he could not finish what he wanted to say no one caught his meaning.
Daddy's watchful eye had never left that wonderful, infernal little yarn ball. Daddy was crushed under defeat, but his baseball brains still continued to work. He saw Umpire Gale leisurely step into the pitcher's box, and leisurely pick up the ball and start to make a motion to put it in his pocket.
Suddenly fire flashed all over Daddy.
"Hyar! Don't hide that ball!" he yelled, in his piercing tenor.
He jumped up quickly, forgetting his crutch, and fell headlong. Lane and Sam got him upright and handed the crutch to him. Daddy began to hobble out to the pitcher's box.
"Don't you hide that ball. See! I've got my eye on this game. That ball was in play, an' you can't use the other."
Umpire Gale looked sheepish, and his eyes did not meet Daddy's. Then Bo came trotting up.
"What's wrong, boss?" he asked.
"Aw, nuthin'. You're tryin' to switch balls on me. That's all. You can't pull off any stunts on Madden's Hill."