"Lucky stabs!" said Merritt cheerfully. "They can't keep that up.
We'll drive him to the woods next time."

But they did keep it up; moreover, they became more brilliant as the
game progressed. What with Hathaway's heady pitching we soon disposed
of them when at the bat; our turns, however, owing to the wonderful
fielding of these backwoodsmen, were also fruitless.

Merritt, with his mind ever on the slice of gate money coming if we
won, began to fidget and fume and find fault.

"You're a swell lot of champions, now, ain't you?" he observed between
innings.

All baseball players like to bat, and nothing pleases them so much as
base hits; on the other hand, nothing is quite so painful as to send
out hard liners only to see them caught. And it seemed as if every man
on our team connected with that lanky twirler's fast high ball and hit
with the force that made the bat spring only to have one of these rubes
get his big hands upon it.

Considering that we were in no angelic frame of mind before the game
started, and in view of Merritt's persistently increasing ill humor,
this failure of ours to hit a ball safely gradually worked us into a
kind of frenzy. From indifference we passed to determination, and from
that to sheer passionate purpose.

Luck appeared to be turning in the sixth inning. With one out, Lake hit
a beauty to right. Doran beat an infield grounder and reached first.
Hathaway struck out.

With Browning up and me next, the situation looked rather precarious
for the Canadians.

"Say, Deerfoot," whispered Merritt, "dump one down the third-base line.
He's playin' deep. It's a pipe. Then the bases will be full an'
Reddy'll clean up."

In a stage like that Browning was a man absolutely to depend upon. He
placed a slow bunt in the grass toward third and sprinted for first.
The third baseman fielded the ball, but, being confused, did not know
where to throw it.

"Stick it in your basket," yelled Merritt, in a delight that showed how
hard he was pulling for the gate money, and his beaming smile as he
turned to me was inspiring. "Now, Reddy, it's up to you! I'm not
worrying about what's happened so far. I know, with you at bat in a
pinch, it's all off!"

Merritt's compliment was pleasing, but it did not augment my purpose,
for that already had reached the highest mark. Love of hitting, if no
other thing, gave me the thrilling fire to arise to the opportunity.
Selecting my light bat, I went up