id of Phil, for he lacks the
heart to stand punishment. If they get to hitting him--well, Eliot
will have to try Grant."

"Grant's no pitcher," said Roy.

"I don't know about that. He hasn't had any experience, that's true;
but Springer himself has said that Rod's got the makings of one.
Wasn't that a corking catch he made?"

"It was lucky for Springer."

Larkins was now up, and he proceeded to wallop the second ball pitched
to him, driving it humming down the third-base line for two sacks,
which caused the horns and cowbells to break into a tumultuous uproar.
Sanger followed, and he straightened out a bender into a whistling line
drive to the left of Chipper Cooper; whereupon Cooper made up for his
error in the first inning by forking the sphere with his gloved hand
and snapping it to Nelson, who leaped on to second and caught Larkins
lunging hopelessly back for the sack.

The horns and cowbells were suddenly silent, while the sympathizers
with the crimson frantically cheered this beautiful double play.

"Great, Chipper--simply great!" cried Springer as soon as he could get
his breath.

"Oh, pretty good, pretty good," returned the little fellow, with mock
modesty. "A trifling improvement on my last performance, I'll admit."

Tom Cline likewise hit the ball hard, but he lifted it into the waiting
hands of Ben Stone, who scarcely moved a step from his position in
center field.

"Some people have great luck," cried Newt Copley, with his eyes on the
Oakdale pitcher, who was walking toward the bench. "Wait till the
streak breaks, and then we'll see the airship go up."

Ben Stone got the first clean hit off Sanger, driving the ball zipping
through the infield. Eliot, who followed, signaled that he would bunt,
and Stone was well on his way toward second when the Oakdale captain
lay a dead one down a few feet in front of the pan. Roger came near
turning his attempted sacrifice into a hit, but Sanger managed to get
the ball and whip it to first in time to catch the runner by a margin
of the closest sort.

"That's playing the game, all right," cried Nelson from the coaching
line. "Here's where we score."

"In your mind," derided Copley.

Sile Crane, trying hard to bring Stone home, made four fouls in
succession, and then struck out.

"Two men, cap," grinned Copley. "Old Stoney will expire at the second
station. Here's the cowboy; take his pelt, hide, horns and hoofs."

When Sanger had fooled Grant tw