"All right," a.s.sented Tom, and he started off on a run to the dressing rooms. It was only just in time, too, for at that moment Darrell came hastening up to him.

"Why haven't you got your suit on?" the manager asked. "You'll probably play some innings anyhow, and I don't want any delay."

"All right--right away," Tom a.s.sured him. "I'm on the job."

"Who do you think will win?" asked a youth sitting next to Joe on the gra.s.s.

"Oh, I don't know," began Joe slowly. "I haven't seen either team play."

"Oh, then you're a stranger here?"

"Yes, just moved in."

"I saw you with Tom Davis. You must be that Matson lad he told me lived back of him."

"I am, and I hope Tom's side wins."

"That's the stuff! So do I. But those Resolutes have a good nine."

"Aw, go on!" broke in a lad back of Joe. "They haven't any good batters at all."

"What's the matter with Hank Armstrong?" demanded some one.

"Well, he's pretty good, but Ford Lantry or Seth Potter on our team can bat all around him."

"How about their pitcher?" asked Joe.

"Well, he's pretty good," admitted the lad who had first addressed Joe.

"But he can't come up to Sam Morton when Sam is at his best," said some one else, joining in the conversation.

"Yes--_when_ he's at his best," repeated another lad. "Those Resolutes have it in for us, but we're going to wipe up the ground with them to-day all right."

"Like fun!" exploded a Resolute sympathizer. "I'll bet you----"

"Play ball!" broke in the voice of the umpire, and the clanging of the gong warned the players and others to clear the field.

"We're last at the bat," said Tom, "and that means a whole lot."

"Yes," a.s.sented Joe, and then the Silver Star pitcher took his place in the box and exchanged a few preliminary b.a.l.l.s with the catcher, Bart Ferguson.

"Play ball!" yelled the young umpire again, selecting some pebbles with which to keep score.

Hank Armstrong, the st.u.r.dy left fielder of the Resolutes, was the first at the bat for his side, and with a vicious swing he hit the first ball which Sam pitched to him. Squarely on the bat he caught it with a resounding ping!

Away it sailed straight over Sam's head and over the head of the second baseman. Farther and farther it went, until the centre fielder began running back to get it.

"Oh, wow! Pretty one! Pretty one!"

"Go on! Go on!"

"Make a three bagger of it!"

"Run, you beggar!"

These and many other cries speeded Armstrong on. He was running fast and reached second well in advance of the ball. But he dared not go on to third.

"Hum, if they hit Sam like that too often he won't last very long,"

commented Tom.

"Oh, that was a fluke," declared Rodney Burke, who sat behind Joe.

There was a surprised and disconcerted look on Sam's face as he gazed at the next batter. No sooner had the ball left Sam's hand, that Armstrong was away for third like a shot, for he was a notorious base stealer.

Bart threw to third, but the ball went too high and the baseman jumped for it in vain. Armstrong came in with the first run.

"Begins to look bad!" yelled Tom in Joe's ear, for the cheers and exultant yells of the Resolute crowd made ordinary talking impossible.

But that was all the visiting team got that inning, for Sam struck out two men, and the third fouled to Bart.

"Now we'll see what our fellows can do," commented Tom.

Seth Potter, the left fielder, was first up, and he had two strikes and three b.a.l.l.s called on him in short order. Then he got under a pretty one and made first.

"Watch out now, and run down when he throws!" cried Darrell, who was coaching.

Seth did run, but was caught at second. Jed McGraw, the centre fielder, was next up and knocked a safety, getting to first.

Then came Ford Lantry, who played right field, and he knocked a pretty three-bagger which brought in McGraw and the run. At that the Silver Star crowd went wild with joy, but it was all they had to crow over as the next two men struck out and Lantry died on third.

The next two innings were marked by goose eggs for both sides, and in the fourth inning the Silver Stars brought in two runs, while their opponents could not seem to connect with the ball.

"Old Sam is doing fine!" cried Tom.

"Yes, he seems to have good control," commented Joe.

"But he lacks speed," said Rodney Burke.

"Oh, cheese it! Do you want to give all our secrets away to these fellows?" asked Tom in a low voice, indicating the many Resolute sympathizers who were all about.

"Well, it's true," murmured Rodney, and Joe felt a sudden wild hope come into his heart.

The game went on enthusiastically, if not correctly from a professional or college baseball standpoint. Many errors were made and several rules were unconsciously violated. The young umpire's decisions might have been questioned several times, and on numerous occasions the game was stopped while the respective captains, and some of the players, argued among themselves, or with the umpire. But the disputes were finally settled, though there was a growing spirit of dissatisfaction on both sides.

"Play ball!" yelled the umpire, at the conclusion of an argument in the fifth inning.

It was then that the Resolutes did some heavy stick work, and tallied three runs to the enthusiastic delight of the team and its supporters.

"We've got to do better than this," murmured Darrell to Captain Rankin and Sam when they took the field at the end of that inning, and a big circle stared at them from the score board as the result of their efforts.