CHAPTER XVI
DICK SCORES A DEFEAT
"Well, what do you know about that!" ejaculated Fudge awedly. He andLanny were approaching the athletic field at a little after two onSaturday. Ahead of them, as they turned the corner, was a group of somefifty or sixty persons, mostly boys and young men, and they were quiteevidently waiting for the gate to open.
"And it isn't half-past two yet," said Lanny. "Looks as if we were goingto have an audience, after all, Fudge."
"Bet you they don't know they have to pay a quarter," responded theother pessimistically.
"Then they're blind, because there's a notice right beside the gatethere."
"Someone ought to find Tim and get him here," said Fudge anxiously."They might change their minds and go away again!"
"What time is he supposed to get here?"
"I don't know. Half-past, I suppose." They passed through a smaller gatewhich led to the dressing-room and found Dick and Gordon already onhand. Fudge told his fears to Dick, and Dick reassured him by agreeingto take the gate himself until young Mr. Turner appeared. Five minuteslater the first two or three rows of the grandstand were occupied, andspectators were still dribbling through the gate and depositing quartersin Dick's hand. Tim Turner arrived breathless soon after and relievedDick. Some thirty Rutter's Point residents accompanied their team andstill further swelled the audience, and by three o'clock Dick estimatedthat fully a hundred and sixty persons had paid admission. That was muchbetter than anyone had dared hope, and Lanny, making a lightningcalculation, confided to Gordon that there'd be thirty dollars coming tothe club after Rutter's Point had received the twenty-five per cent.agreed on.
"If we can do that often enough," said Lanny delightedly, "we'll havemore than enough for----"
"S-sh!" cautioned Gordon.
"He's over there talking to Billings. Who is the kid with him?"
"That's young Townsend, the fellow he's coaching. It's about time tostart, isn't it? There come three more, Lanny."
"Every little quarter helps," replied Lanny. "I hope Tim Turner doesn'tabscond with the cash! Someone ought to stand over him with a bat! Oh,Fudge!"
"What's wanted?" asked Fudge, joining them.
"We wanted to tell you that if Tim runs off with the money you will haveto make good."
Fudge grinned. "He's awfully excited," he said. "He's got both pocketsfull of silver, and sounds like a treasury when he moves. He's terriblyworried because he gave one fellow too much change. He says he knowshim, though, and is going to get it back!"
"Come on," said Gordon. "On the run, fellows. You're in right field,Shores. Throw out another ball, Jack, will you? Here you are, Harry!"
A minute later Captain Billings faced Tom Haley, and the game began.
The batting list of the visiting team had been changed in two instances,Jensen replacing Morris Brent in left field, and Mason pitching insteadof Porter. Melville, or "Mel," Mason was a big youth of eighteen atleast, with a quiet, self-constrained manner that impressed Dick andfilled him with forebodings of defeat. Clearfield was minus the servicesof Jack Tappen, Mr. Daniel Shores making his first appearance in apurple uniform and holding down Jack's place in right field. The umpirewas Mr. Cochran, physical director at the Young Men's ChristianAssociation, and a great favorite among the boys.
Rutter's Point failed to do anything in the first inning. Tom Haleyallowed only one player to reach first, and he got no farther. WhenClearfield came to the bat, with Harry Bryan up, the audience proved itsloyalty to the home team by loud and prolonged cheering. It was verysoon evidenced that "Mel" Mason was in a different class from BedePorter as a pitcher. Who he was or where he came from neither Dick norGordon had learned; but, to use Fudge's admiring and slightly resentfulexpression, he was "some pitchist!" He had plenty of speed when he caredto use it, but his favorite offering was a slow ball that was probablypatterned on the "floater" of a famous league pitcher. The Clearfieldbatters hit under it or over it with discouraging regularity, and Harry,Will, and Gordon went out in order in the last of the first inning, onlyWill managing to hit into fair territory. Harry and Gordon fanned.
For three innings the contest was a pitchers' battle. Tom was inexcellent shape, and, although he secured fewer strike-outs than hisrival, managed to hold his own with the assistance of sharp fielding byhis team-mates. If there were those among the spectators who had come toscoff at the kind of ball they were to see they must have beensurprised, for both teams played a practically errorless game until thebeginning of the fourth. And even after that, if there were frequentmiscues, there was enough excitement and suspense to make up for them.
It was Jensen, the chap who had taken Morris' place, who started thingsgoing in the fourth. Loring Townsend had flied out to Pete Robey, makingthe first out. With two strikes and one ball on him, Jensen reached foran out-shoot, found it on the end of his bat, and deposited it neatlybehind Gordon and close to the foul-line. Chase, the Point shortstop,tried twice to bunt, and then hit sharply past Pete, and Jensen went tothird. House was over-anxious and went out on strikes, and Chase got tosecond. Then Leary waited and got his base. With the bags all occupiedand two men down, it was up to "Pink" Northrop to come to the rescuewith a hit. The Point coachers were jumping and shouting like mad, andTom might have been excused for some unsteadiness at that juncture. ButTom settled down, followed Lanny's signals closely, and at last, afterworking two strikes over on Northrop, caused that youth to hit weakly tothird. Will Scott almost overthrew the base in his eagerness, but Gordonpulled the ball down in time and the crisis was over.
Gordon went out, shortstop to first; Way lifted a high one to secondbaseman, and Pete Robey faced Mason with little expectation of faringany better. But Mason let up for a minute, probably arguing that withtwo gone he could afford to take things easy, and Pete shot a hot linerat third baseman. Caspar Billings got his hands on it, but it trickledpast him, and Pete was safe. That doubtful error--Dick charitably scoredit as a hit--seemed the signal for the Point to go up in the air. Masonwhipped a quick throw to first which would have caught Pete flat-footedoff the bag had Loring Townsend been ready for it. He wasn't, however,and the ball went past him to the fence, and Pete, finding his feetquickly, shot to second and then on to third, beating out the throw by afraction of an inch and causing dissatisfaction among the Pointers overMr. Cochran's decision. Lanny, impatiently waiting at the plate, swungtwice in his eagerness to score the runner, and then waited while Masonteased him with wide ones. With two strikes and two balls against him,Lanny out-guessed the pitcher, and swung against the next one. Shortstopknocked it down but couldn't find it again in time to throw either tothe plate or to first, and Clearfield, amidst the excited whooping ofthe audience, scored her first tally.
Lanny went down to second on the first pitch, and, although Houghtonthrew quickly and well to that bag, Lanny beat him by a yard. DannyShores, who was at bat, had swung and was one strike to the bad whenMason grimly turned his attention to him again. Quite a few of Danny'sfriends from the factory were on hand to see him perform, and when,after the third delivery, he caught the ball squarely on the nose andsent it streaking just over second baseman's head, they shoutedthemselves hoarse in Danny's honor. On the bench, Jack Tappen looked abit glum. He had visions of being displaced by Mr. Shores. Lanny came inwithout hurrying much, and Danny reposed on first. Fudge tried to do hisshare of a hit-and-run play, but he swung far wide of the deceptivedrop, and Danny was caught at second and the inning was over, withClearfield two runs to the good.
Enthusiasm reigned among the spectators on the stand, and they "rooted"valiantly for Clearfield throughout the rest of the game. In the fifththe Point got two men on bases, and was in good position to score, therebeing but one out, when Pete Robey pulled down a liner that had beendistinctly labeled "two bases," raced to second ahead of the runner, andthen completed the double by making a fine throw to Gordon. Mason struckout Tom easily in the last of the fifth, passed Harry Bryan, fanned WillScott, and then, with Gor
don at bat, caught Harry off first.
Every play was loudly applauded, and the audience was by this timeperched on the edges of the seats. Again in their half of the sixthRutter's Point found Tom for two hits, and again sharp fielding kept herfrom crossing the plate. It was evident, though, that Tom was less of apuzzle now than in the earlier innings, and it seemed only a matter oftime when the Pointers would bunch their hits and Dick would have tocredit them with a run or two. You are not to suppose that Dick wasdoing nothing but keeping the score. He was managing that game from thebench as scientifically as if he had played the game all his short life.Every batsman got his orders from Dick before he stepped to the plate,and every coacher was instructed before he went to the box. And, besidesthat, Dick was teaching Harold Townsend how to score a ball game. Inspite of his indifference two days before, Harold had appeared with abrand-new, black-covered score-book and a fountain pen. Dick had toldhim to put the pen in his pocket, and had supplied him with a pencilinstead. Harold seated himself by Dick and watched and learned. He mademore mistakes than enough, and his score when finished was a veritablehodge-podge of misinformation, but he seemed to get a lot of excitementand fun out of it, and he really did learn a good deal for a boy who hadtheretofore scored an out by placing a huge X opposite the batsman and arun by marking up an equally enormous I. When he began to memorize thesymbols for struck out, base on balls, hit by pitched ball, and so on,he discovered that scoring was not the simple task he had thought it.About the sixth inning he gave up trying to keep a detailed score, andcontented himself with disposing of the batsmen with his X's and I's.But by that time the excitement had grown so intense that it would haverequired a person with a much cooler head than Harold's to keep his mindon scoring.
Clearfield went to bat in the sixth with the grim determination to addanother brace of runs to her score and place the game safely away. Dickrealized that Tom was weakening, and that before long the visitors wouldfind him for some real hits, and before that occurred he wantedClearfield to have a sufficient lead to place her out of danger. Gordonhad his instructions to reach first at any cost. Then Way, who was aclever bunter, was to sacrifice him to second. Either Pete or Lanny wasto supply the hit to score Gordon. But plans don't always carry through.Dick's didn't on this occasion. Gordon hit squarely into Mason's hands,and the pitcher tossed the ball nonchalantly to first for the out. Waybunted down the first-base line, and managed to beat out the throw. Peteflied to center field, and Way was held on first. With two down theinning should have been as good as over, but Fate took a hand andprolonged it until the bases were filled, and Dick, watching intentlyfrom the bench, dared to hope that Fudge might for once do theimpossible. Mason had passed Lanny on purpose, forcing Way to second.Then Danny Shores had come through with a mild wallop down third-baseline. Caspar had only to touch the base to retire the side, but his witsmust have been wool-gathering, for, after gathering in the ball on thebound five feet away from the bag, he paid no attention to Way, dashingpast him hardly out of arm's length, but hurled the ball across tofirst. Perhaps Loring Townsend was too surprised to realize what wasrequired of him. At all events, the ball dropped out of his glove, andMr. Cochran, who had already motioned Danny out, had to reverse hisdecision.
And so the stage was set when Fudge seized his favorite bat and manfullystalked to the plate, resolved to do or die. Fudge was right in themidst of a baseball romance at that time, and only the night before,writing with his foolscap propped up on his knees in bed, he haddescribed how his hero, despised and ridiculed by his school-mates, hadgone to the bat in the last of the ninth and, even while the crowdsturned disappointedly away from the field, had out-guessed the marvelouspitcher of the rival school and with one mighty stroke of his faithfulbat had turned defeat into victory by driving out a home-run and scoringthe men on bases. Fudge recalled that as he gripped his bat and facedMason, trying hard to appear nonchalant and undismayed. He wonderedwhether things ever happened in real life as they did in stories.Somehow that brilliant deed of his hero seemed horribly improbableto-day. Fudge determined to tone it down a little that evening. Atwo-bagger would answer the purpose just as well, and would certainlysound more plausible.
Dick's voice from the bench reached him as Mason, after glancing overthe bases, wound up. "Make him pitch to you, Fudge! It only takes one!"Back and forth from behind first and third the cries of Harry Bryan andGordon rattled. Fudge gripped his bat tighter yet and glued his eyes tothe upraised hands of Mel Mason. Then the ball, a particularly dirtyone, streaked toward him; Fudge's heart beat loudly and he steppednimbly out of the way, only to hear the fell verdict: "Strike!"
Fudge looked reproachfully at Mr. Cochran, sighed, and again faced thepitcher. That ball had come well across the inner corner of the plate,and Fudge determined that Mason shouldn't fool him a second time withthat particular kind of a delivery. So when the next ball shot forwardapparently coming the same way Fudge held his ground scornfully andprepared to swing his bat. But the next instant he had forgotten allabout swinging and was sitting on the ground with both hands clasped tohis ribs and an expression of pained surprise on his face. When he hadregained his breath and the use of his legs, Fudge thought that the joyof his team-mates was very ill-considered. It seemed nothing to themthat he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of an infuriatedbaseball; they only shouted and jumped about because a run had beenforced in!
Fudge walked painfully to first, reflecting how differently his herowould have performed. There was something distinctly humiliating toFudge in gaining his base in such a manner, and so deeply did he feelthe humiliation that he quite forgot to heed the warnings of Gordon,coaching behind the base, and was surprised to have Loring Townsend,without any provocation, punch him forcibly in exactly the spot thatMason's in-shoot had collided with. That was too much for Fudge. Thepain brought tears to his eyes and wrath to his heart. He sprang uponthe first baseman with clenched fists, and only Gordon's promptinterference prevented trouble. Gordon haled Fudge away, patientlyexplaining that Loring had tagged him with the ball while he had beenapparently fast asleep a yard off the base. The explanation, however,was not entirely satisfactory to Fudge.
"What of it? He didn't have to punch me in the ribs as hard as he knewhow, did he?" demanded Fudge angrily. "What kind of a way is that toplay ball?"
"Shut up, Fudge!" said Gordon exasperatedly. "Why the dickens weren'tyou watching the pitcher? What's the good of getting hit if you get putout the next minute?"
"Good of it!" exclaimed Fudge. "Good of it! There isn't any good of it!I just wish he'd lammed you in the ribs the way he did me! Good of it!"And Fudge, still muttering, wandered disgustedly out to center field,one hand pressed to his side.
The seventh inning passed uneventfully. Tom had small difficulty withthe last three men on the Point batting-list, and Mason disposed of TomHaley and Harry Bryan with five balls apiece, and caused Will Scott topop up a foul to first baseman. So the eighth inning started and Dickbegan to breathe easier, and the Clearfield sympathizers were jubilant.After all, three runs was a good lead, and even if the Point got tobatting Tom in the next two innings, surely Clearfield could stop themshort of three tallies. Thus argued Dick, and said as much to Harold,who, to-day, at least, was divided in his sympathies. Harold, havingpredicted great things of Mason, was a bit disgruntled with that youth,and expressed the wish once that Clearfield would wallop him out of thebox. But when Dick voiced his belief that the game was pretty safeHarold took exception.
"You wait," he said darkly. "Here comes Loring up. He hasn't doneanything yet, and he's just bound to. And if he gets on Gil Chase willsend him home. You wait!"
Loring Townsend let two balls go by, failed to size up the thirddelivery as a strike, and swung unsuccessfully at the next. With thescore two and two, Tom sped a straight one over and Loring met it withhis bat and set out for first. He didn't run very fast, though, for thehit was a weak one and was bounding straight at Will Scott at third. ButWill made a mess of that play. He got the b
all, dropped it, found itagain and threw hurriedly across the diamond. Gordon leaped into theair, just managed to tip the ball with his fingers, and then dashed offon a chase for it as it rolled toward the fence. When the shouting haddied away, Loring was on second, Al Jensen was swinging his bat eagerlyand impatiently, and Harold had dropped his score-book between his feetand didn't know it!
That was a disastrous inning for Clearfield. Tom managed to strike outJensen after that player had knocked six fouls into various parts of thefield, and managed, too, to hold Loring on second. But when Gil Chasegot the signal from first and trickled the ball into the pitcher's boxwhile Loring sped to third, Tom, with plenty of time to make the out atfirst, tossed the ball six feet over Gordon's head and Loring slid homewith the first run for the Point, while Chase got to second.
Then Tom had his troubles. His misplay had taken his nerve, and for awhile he went thoroughly to pieces. Eight batsmen faced him in thatinning, and four hits, for a total of six bases, and five runs were madeoff him before he finally managed to strike out Mason. When that inningwas over the game had a different complexion. Instead of being threeruns ahead, with the prospect of winning a shut-out, Clearfield was twotallies behind, and defeat stared her in the face.
The home team returned determinedly to the fray, but Mason wasimpregnable. In the last of the eighth not a man saw first and only fourplayers faced him. In the first of the ninth, Rutter's Point againstarted things with a whoop when Caspar Billings, first up, singled intoleft field, took second on Townsend's sacrifice, and was advanced tothird when Jensen hit past Will Scott. Then Jensen was caught off firstand House flied out to Shores.
I would like to tell how Clearfield went to bat in the last half of thatfinal inning and pounded Mason for enough hits to win the game. But asthis isn't one of Fudge's romances I can't do anything of the sort. As amatter of regrettable fact, Clearfield stood up to the plate and watchedMason's "floaters" waft past them and listened to the fateful voice ofthe umpire calling strikes. Mason ended the day in a blaze of glory,striking out three men in order and sending his team off the fieldvictors by the score of 5 to 3.
Harold Townsend, slapping his score-book shut, grinned at Dick as thelast man went out. "What did I tell you?" he asked gleefully. "Say, youfellows can't play ball for shucks, Lovering!"
Dick smiled imperturbably. He had the ability to smile in the face ofdisaster, had Dick.
"We'll try you again some day," he answered. "Good-bye, Harold. See youMonday."
"I may not be home," replied Harold airily.
But when Dick was accompanying his team-mates toward the dressing-room aminute or two later, he felt a hand on his arm and looked around to findthat Harold had followed him.
"Say, Lovering, I--I'm sorry your team got beaten. And thanks forshowing me about scoring, you know."
The Lucky Seventh Page 16
