``Don't
give the umpire a chanst to roast us now. Slam
the first ball!''
The aggressive captain lined the ball at Bo
Stranathan. The Natchez shortstop had a fine
opportunity to make the catch, but he made an
inglorious muff. Tay Tay hurried to bat. Umpire
Gale called the first pitch a strike. Tay
slammed down his club. ``T-t-t-t-to-to-twasn't
over,'' he cried. ``T-t-t-tay----''
``Shut up,'' yelled Daddy. ``We want to git
this game over today.''
Tay Tay was fat and he was also strong, so that
when beef and muscle both went hard against the
ball it traveled. It looked as if it were going a
mile straight up. All the infielders ran to get
under it. They got into a tangle, into which the
ball descended. No one caught it, and thereupon
the Natchez players began to rail at one another.
Bo stormed at them, and they talked back to him.
Then when Tom Lindsay hit a little slow grounder
into the infield it seemed that a just retribution
had overtaken the great Natchez team.
Ordinarily this grounder of Tom's would have
been easy for a novice to field. But this peculiar
grounder, after it has hit the ground once, seemed
to wake up and feel lively. It lost its leisurely
action and began to have celerity. When it reached
Dundon it had the strange, jerky speed so
characteristic of the grounders that had confused the
Madden's Hill team.
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