g. As he selected his bat he
glanced toward the stand and grew hot with rage at seeing Baldwin
laughing until red in the face and slapping Ed Edwards on the back.
The gambler's usually stony face wore a smile of relief. McCarthy
walked to the plate, pushed the first ball pitched down the third-base
line and outsprinted the ball to first. Norton strove to bring him
home, but his long-line drive went straight to the left fielder, and
when Holleran struck out it seemed as if the chance to score was lost
for that inning. McCarthy stood still, a few feet off first base, and,
as Randall wound up to pitch, he started at top speed for second base.
Jackson, catching for the Jackrabbits, saw him, grabbed the ball and
leaped into position to throw. Like a flash McCarthy stopped and
danced a step or two back toward first base, as if daring the catcher
to throw the ball. Jackson pretended to throw to first, and, as
McCarthy edged a step closer the base the catcher saw there was no
chance to catch him, and slowly relaxing from throwing position, he
took a step forward and started to toss the ball back to his pitcher.
In that instant McCarthy acted. He leaped forward, and, before Jackson
could recover and spring back into throwing position, the fleet Bear
was nearing second base, making a beautifully executed delayed steal.
Jackson threw, although it was too late. The ball, hurled over
hastily, broke through the second baseman's hands and rolled twenty
feet toward center field. McCarthy turned second at full speed and
raced for third, while Reilly tore after the ball, and, picking it up,
made a fast, low throw toward third. Again the ball escaped the
baseman, and McCarthy, without the loss of a stride, turned third base
and raced home, sliding under Jackson as he reached for the high-thrown
ball.

The game had settled down to a desperate series of attacks by the
Bears, and a stubborn defense on the part of the Jackrabbits. In the
sixth and again in the seventh the Bears forced the attack, but each
time they fell short of scoring, and the eighth inning came with the
score 3 to 1 against them. Lucas, who was catching in Kennedy's place,
opened that inning, and the Bears' hope arose when he, the weakest
hitter on the team, was hit by a pitched ball. Smith drove a hard
bounder toward first, but O'Meara knocked down the ball and reached the
base in time to retire the big, lumbering pitcher, letting Lucas reach
second. Jacobs