Frank Merriwell's Son Part 55

"Better put a baby in my place, Frank." he said dolefully. "Any blamed fool could do better'n I'm doing to-day. I guess I've lost the game."

"The game isn't over yet," said Frank grimly. "We'll play it out."

The Rovers secured no more runs in that inning. Nevertheless, Bender had no difficulty in blanking the Merries in the first of the eighth.

In the last of the eighth just three men faced Merriwell. He struck them all out.

"It's all over!" cried Mike McCann, with a grin, as the Rovers again took the field. "This finishes it!"

Frank was the first man up.

In spite of Bender's skill Merriwell cracked out a clean single. Badger followed with a bunt that advanced Merry to second. Buck was thrown out at first.

Diamond tried hard for a hit, with Frank leading off second ready to do his best to score.

Jack finally drove a grounder into the hands of McCann, who whistled it over for a put-out.

"Two gone!" shouted the captain of the Rovers. "Only one more to git, Bender, me boy!"

A few of the disappointed spectators began to leave the field.

The first two b.a.l.l.s pitched by Bender were strikes, Browning touching neither of them. Then the pitcher tried some wide ones on the big first baseman of the Merries. Bruce had a good eye, and he let the wide ones pa.s.s.

Two b.a.l.l.s were called. Bender attempted to curve one over, but missed the plate by fully six inches.

"Three b.a.l.l.s!" came from Carker.

"Smash it if he puts one over!" called Frank.

Browning gripped his bat and stood ready.

The crowd was silent and breathless.

Bender tried to put a speedy ball across Bruce's shoulders, but it was far too high.

"Four b.a.l.l.s--take your base!" cried Carker.

"The best thing you could have done, Mitt," laughed McCann. "Here comes the tall jay, and he never made a hit in his life."

Ephraim Gallup's hands were trembling as he picked up a bat and walked out. His legs were weak, and there was a mist before his eyes.

"I'll never touch it!" he whispered to himself. "There's too much depending on it; I can't do it!"

As if from a great distance he seemed to hear Frank Merriwell crying:

"Just a little single, Ephraim! You never failed in a pinch in all your life! You can't fail now!"

Those words seemed to brush the mist from Gallup's eyes, and something like confidence crept back into his heavy heart.

Nevertheless he merely fouled Bender's first shoot.

"One strike!"

The next ball was far too high, but Gallup swung at it and missed.

"Two strikes!"

"All over! all over!" whooped McCann.

The spectators in the stand and on the bleachers were standing.

"I knowed I couldn't do it!" thought Gallup.

Once more he heard Frank calling to him.

"For Teresa and the baby!" cried Merriwell. "Lace it out, Gallup! Get against it!"

For Teresa and the baby! Those words rang through Ephraim's brain. Was it possible he was going to prove himself a miserable failure under such circ.u.mstances? With only himself to consider he might fail, but he had believed himself capable of great things for the sake of Teresa and the baby. He was capable of great things! He knew it now, and suddenly his hands were steady as iron. There was not the slightest quiver of his nerves. His eyes were clear, and his face wore a look of confidence as he watched Bender prepare to deliver the ball.

The pitcher started the ball wide, but, with a sudden break it took an inshoot across the plate.

Gallup knew he was going to hit the ball when he swung at it. He hit it fairly and squarely with all the strength and skill that he possessed.

It brought a wild roar from the crowd as the ball went sailing out on a line about fifteen feet from the ground.

Apparently Grifford would have little trouble in catching the ball. He changed his position a foot or two and prepared to take it. Just before it reached him he made a sudden backward move and then leaped desperately into the air, thrusting up his hand.

Instead of dropping, as Grifford had expected, the ball held up in a marvelous manner and pa.s.sed fully two feet beyond his reach as he made that leap. It finally touched the ground and went bounding away, with Grifford rus.h.i.+ng after it as fast as he could race over the turf.

The white chalk of the base lines seemed to spin out beneath Gallup's feet like a thread as he literally flew over the ground. He heard a sound like the roaring of many waters. It was the joyous shouting of the great crowd as Merriwell crossed the plate and Diamond came speeding in from third.

Gallup did not realize that these two runs put the Merries in the lead.

He was determined to score if possible. As he came up from second he saw Hans Dunnerwurst dancing like a clown and furiously waving his arms, while he yelled:

"Ephie, you vos a tandy! Ephie, you vos a peach! Ephie, I luf you! Dot score vill git you, und don'd n.o.body forgit him! Mine cootness, dot vos der most peautiful home run you efer saw in my life!"

A homer it was, for Gallup reached the pan ahead of the ball, which Grifford had returned to the diamond.

Frank seized Ephraim by the hand as he came over the plate. The rest of the team rushed at the Vermonter, hammering him joyously over the head and shoulders, much to the agitation of Teresa, who feared her husband had done some terrible thing and that his friends were beating him on that account.

Bender looked sick and weary as Carson seized a bat and rushed out to the plate. The pitcher delivered an easy one, which Berlin drove into left field. Roach took the ball on the run, and this made the third out.

Casper Silence was like a caged tiger as the Rovers gathered at the bench.

"Get in here and win this game, you slobs!" he hissed. "If you don't, this team disbands to-night!"

Against Frank Merriwell's pitching there was no chance for them, however. As in the previous inning, only three men faced Merry, and all three struck out.

Gallup overtook Frank ere the excited crowd that rushed onto the field could reach Merry.