red Daddy in Grace's ear. Then he gave Bob
a signal to run on the first pitch.

Grace tried to bunt the first ball, but he missed it. His attempt,
however, was so violent that he fell over in front of the catcher, who
could not recover in time to throw, and Bob got to second base. At
this juncture, the Madden's Hill band of loyal supporters opened up
with a mingling of shrill yells and whistles and jangling of tin cans
filled with pebbles. Grace hit the next ball into second base and,
while he was being thrown out, Bob raced to third. With Sam Wickhart
up it looked good for a score, and the crowd yelled louder. Sam was
awkward yet efficient, and he batted a long fly to right field. The
fielder muffed the ball. Bob scored, Sam reached second base, and the
crowd yelled still louder. Then Lane struck out and Mohler hit to
shortstop, retiring the side.

Natchez scored a run on a hit, a base on balls, and another error by
Grace. Every time a ball went toward Grace at short Daddy groaned. In
their half of the inning Madden's Hill made two runs, increasing the
score 3 to 2.

The Madden's Hill boys began to show the strain of such a close
contest. If Daddy had voiced aloud his fear it would have been:
"They'll blow up in a minnit!" Frank Price alone was slow and cool,
and he pitched in masterly style. Natchez could not beat him. On the
other hand, Madden's Hill hit Muck Harris hard, but superb fielding
kept runners off the bases. As Daddy's team became more tense and
excited Bo Stranathan's players grew steadier and more arrogantly
confident. Daddy saw it with distress, and he could not realize just
where Natchez had license for such confidence. Daddy watched the game
with the eyes of a hawk.

As the Natchez players trooped in for their sixth inning at bat, Daddy
observed a marked change in their demeanor. Suddenly they seemed to
have been let loose; they were like a band of Indians. Daddy saw
everything. He did not miss seeing Umpire Gale take a ball from his
pocket and toss it to Frank, and Daddy wondered if that was the ball
which had been in the play. Straightway, however, he forgot that in
the interest of the game.

Bo Stranathan bawled: "Wull, Injuns, hyar's were we do 'em. We've
jest ben loafin' along. Git ready to tear the air, you rooters!"

Kelly hit a wonderfully swift ball through the infield. Bo batted out
a single. Malloy got up in the way of one of Frank's pitches, and was
passed