"That's the stuff, Colby! Two out! Hold 'em down!"

"Knock it out! Bring Durrick in!"

The next player up was a tall, lanky chap named Wilks. He swung savagely at the sphere as if intending to knock it over the back fence.

"If he ever connects with it it will be a homer with three runs in,"

thought Gif.

Two strikes were called, and then three b.a.l.l.s. Then Jack took a sudden brace and sent in a swift high one. Wilks leaped for it, and the crack of the bat could be heard all over the grounds.

It looked like a safe hit to center field, but as the crack of the bat sounded on the air Jack Rover was seen to leap high up with hand out-stretched. The next instant he came down with the sphere safe within his grasp.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JACK ROVER LEAPED HIGH UP AND CAUGHT THE BALL.]

"Fly ball! Batter out!"

Longley Academy had played its first inning without scoring.

CHAPTER X

A GLORIOUS VICTORY

"Good for Jack Rover!"

"That was some stop, all right!"

"Maybe it didn't sting his hand!"

So the cries ran on, and when the Colby Hall nine came in from the field the young pitcher was wildly applauded.

In the meantime, however, Gif ran to him anxiously.

"It was the best ever, Jack, but did it hurt your hand--I mean enough to stop your pitching?"

"It's not going to stop my pitching, Gif," answered the young pitcher.

His hand stung as if burnt by fire, but he was not going to admit it.

"Oh, wasn't that a glorious play!" burst out Ruth Stevenson, and her glowing face showed her pleasure.

"I hope Jack wasn't hurt," answered the young captain's sister solicitously.

There was another cheering when Dan Soppinger stepped to the plate with his bat in hand. Dan had two strikes called on him, and then sent a fly to left field which was gathered in with ease.

"One out! Keep it up, Longley!"

"Don't let 'em see first!"

Gif was the next player up, and by hard work he managed to rap out a single between short and second, which carried him to first in safety.

But the next two players failed to connect with the sphere, and the goose egg went up on the board for the cadets.

After that there was a good deal of seesawing for four innings, and without any results so far as scoring was concerned. Longley made four hits, and so did the Colby boys. But no runner got further than second base.

Of course the catching of the red-hot liner had done Jack's pitching hand no good. It was a little swollen in the palm, and this prevented the fingers from working quite as freely as would otherwise have been the case.

"Now listen, Jack," said Gif, taking him to one side after Jack had pitched through the fifth inning. "If your hand hurts you, say so, and I'll put another fellow in the box."

"Never mind my hand, Gif, as long as I can treat them to goose eggs,"

answered the young pitcher.

"But I don't want you to ruin your hand."

"That's all right. When I feel I can't do any more pitching I'll let you know."

In the sixth inning there came a break. But this could not be called Jack's fault. The first Longley player up, a chap named Mason, managed to dribble the ball toward third, and before either the baseman or the shortstop could send it over he had reached first. Then, on a wild throw to second, the runner not only covered that bag, but went on and slid in to third.

"Now we've got 'em a-going, fellows!" was the Longley yell.

"Right you are!"

"n.o.body out, and a man on third! This is the time we wipe up the diamond with them! Everybody on the job!"

The next player went out on a pop fly. Then came Tommy Flanders, who did his best to line out a single. This was stopped by the second baseman, who, however, threw the ball to the home plate, thus cutting off the possibility of a run.

"Hurrah! Two men on base, and only one out!"

"Here is where Longley does some big scoring!"

"Jack, are you sure you can hold 'em?" Gif questioned anxiously, as he came up to the pitcher.

"I'll do it or die in the attempt," was the answer, and Jack gritted his teeth.

It was certainly a trying situation, but the young pitcher refused to allow his nerves to get the better of him. He gave a signal to the backstop, and then sent in an outcurve, which the batter swung at in vain. Then he sent in a straight ball, following this by another outcurve, and almost before he knew it the batter was struck out.

"Hurrah!" came from Spouter Powell. "That's the way to do it! Two men out! Now for the third man!"

The Longley player to come up was one of their best batsmen, and Jack realized that to give him anything like a good ball to hit would be fatal, so he fed the man nothing but those which were high and wide. As a consequence the fellow had two strikes called on him and four b.a.l.l.s, and took his base, moving Flanders to second.

"Hurrah! Three men on base!" was the Longley yell. "Now, then, Simmons, bring 'em all in!"

Simmons came forward with a do-or-die expression on his face. He had one strike called on him, and then knocked a low one toward centerfield. At once he started for first, while the fellow on third dashed forward for the home plate. The ball was gathered in as quickly as possible, and the runner from first to second was put out. But the runner from third had come in just before.

"Hurrah! That's one run, anyhow!" shouted the Longley supporters.

"I told you we could do it," said Tommy Flanders. He was glad of the run, yet tremendously chagrined to think that he had not been permitted to score.