time."

There was a hush. Involuntarily, the Barville crowd ceased its uproar.
Grant, taking Roger's signal, nodded and twisted the ball into the
locking grip of two fingers and a thumb. His arm swung back and
whipped forward, a white streak shooting with a twisting motion from
those fingers. It seemed like another swift one, shoulder high, and,
with confidence strong in his heart, the red-headed batter sought to
meet it.

For the third time the ball took a most amazing shoot toward the
ground, and again Copley did not even graze it. The umpire shouted,
"You're out!" but the roar from Oakdale's side of the field drowned his
voice.

CHAPTER XII.

WON IN THE NINTH.

The cheer captain was leading them with wildly waving arms. "Grant!"
they thundered. "Rah! rah! rah! Grant! Grant! Grant!"

"That sure was some lucky," said Rod, walking toward the bench.

"Lucky!" rejoiced Cooper, jogging at his side. "It was ball playing!
It was pitching!"

"You pulled me through by that catch and double play," said the young
Texan modestly. "That put me on my pins. I'm sorry Phil got his."

Springer looked disconsolate enough as Rod took a seat beside him on
the bench. "Don't worry, old partner," begged Rodney. "It happens to
every pitcher sometimes. The best of them get it occasionally.
Perhaps I won't last."

"If you don't," returned Springer, "the game is a goner. There's no
one else to put in. I gave it away when I lost my control. Queer I
couldn't get the ball over."

"I saw that we couldn't keep you in any longer, Phil," said Eliot. "I
had to take you out."

"Oh, that's all right," muttered the unhappy fellow. "That's baseball."

With the score tied, Barville showed a disposition to fight grimly for
the game. Piper fell a victim to the wiles of Sanger; Nelson's
scorching grounder was scooped by Roberts; and away out in left garden
Dingley made a brilliant running catch of Barker's splendid long drive.
The sixth inning opened with the two teams on even terms and Grant
pitching for Oakdale.

Rodney's most effective ball was his drop, but Eliot, knowing it would
be poor judgment if the pitcher should use that particular ball too
often, called for it only in emergencies. The emergency rose when,
with only one man out, Sanger singled and stole second, Nelson dropping
Roger's throw. With Sanger playing well off the sack, there was a
chance for him to score if Cline banged out a long safety, s