“What’s the matter with half a dozen, while we are at it?” laughed the second baseman.

“All right.  As many as you please,” returned Bob.

But it was not to be.  With all her efforts, Brill managed, during this inning, to get no further than third.  Tom came in for a try at the bat, but the best he could do was to send up a little pop fly that the rival pitcher gathered in with ease.  Then Roxley came in once more, and added another run to her credit.

“Hurrah for Roxley!  That makes it two to nothing!”

There were looks of grim determination on the faces of the Brill players when they went to the plate for the third time.  The first man up was struck out, but the second sent a clean drive to left field that was good for two bases.  Then came a sacrifice hit by Spud, that advanced the runner to third, and on another one-base hit, this run came in amid a wild cheering by the Brill followers.

“Hurrah!  One run in!  Now, boys, you’ve broken the ice, keep it up!” And then the horns and rattles of the Brillites sounded as loudly as had those of the Roxley followers a short while before.

But, alas! for the hopes of our friends!  The only other run made that inning was a third by Roxley!

During the fourth inning, Roxley added another run to her score.  Brill did nothing, so that the score now stood 4 to 1 in favor of Roxley.  The fifth inning was a stand-off, neither side scoring.  Then came the sixth, in which Frank Holden, the first baseman, distinguished himself by rapping out a three-bagger, coming in a few seconds later on a hit by the man following him.

“Up-hill work, and no mistake!” said the Brill captain, when the team had come in for the seventh inning.

“See here, Bob, if you think you would rather try some of the other pitchers——­” began Tom.

“Nothing of the sort, old man.  You are doing very well.  I don’t consider four runs against two any great lead.  And you haven’t walked as many men as their pitcher.”

The seventh inning brought no change in the score.  But in the eighth, Roxley added another run, bringing her total up to five.

“Looks kind of bad,” said Sam, to another substitute on the bench.  “Five to two, and the ninth inning.  We’ve got to play some if we want to beat them.”

“Sam, I want you!” cried Bob, coming up.  “Felder has twisted his foot, and you will have to take his place in left field,”

“Am I to bat in his place?” questioned the youngest Rover.

“Yes.”

“All right.  I’ll do the best I can.”

There was silence around the grounds when the Brill team came to the bat.  With the score 5 to 2 in favor of Roxley, it looked rather dubious for the visitors.  Some of the onlookers, thinking the game practically over, started towards the gates, and the carriages and automobiles.  The first man up was the captain, and he walked to the plate with a “do or die” look on his face.