“Now, Bob, lam it out for all you are worth!” shouted one of his admirers.

The first ball sent in was too low, and Bob let it pass him; but the second was just where he wanted it.  The bat swung around like lightning, and, following a loud crack, the sphere sailed off towards left field.

“Run, Bob, run!” yelled a great number of his friends, and the captain let go all the speed that was in him.  When the ball finally reached the diamond, it found Bob safe on third.

“That’s the way to open up!  Now, then, bring him in!”

This was not so easy.  The batter up tried a sacrifice hit, but the ball rolled down well towards the pitcher, who landed it at first in a twinkling.  Bob attempted to get home, but then thought better of it, and slid back to third.  The next batter up was Sam.  He had with him his favorite ash stick, and, as he stepped behind the plate, he gritted his teeth and eyed the pitcher closely.

Carson had been practicing on what he called a fadeaway ball, and now he thought this would be just the right thing to offer Sam.  He wound up with a great flourish, and sent the sphere in.

Sam was on his guard, and calculated just right.  His bat came around in a clean sweep, and on the instant the ball was flying down towards deep center.

“My! look at that!”

“Run, Rover, run!”

No sooner had the ball connected with the bat, than Bob, at third, was on his way home.  He reached the plate before Sam touched first.  Then Sam, skirting the initial bag, tore straight for second, and then for third.  In the meantime, the fielder was still running after the ball.  As Sam started for home, the fielder managed to capture the sphere, and threw it with all his skill to the second baseman.

“Run, Sam, run!” yelled Tom, fairly dancing up and down in his anxiety.  “Leg it, old man, leg it!”

And certainly Sam did “leg it” as he never had before.  Straight for the home plate he came, and slid in amid a cloud of dust, just before the ball came up from the field.

“Hurrah! hurrah! a home run!”

“Now, boys, we’ve started the ball rolling,” cried out Bob.  “Remember, only one more run ties the score.”

CHAPTER VIII

 How the game ended

The next batter up was plainly nervous.  He had two strikes called on him, and then he knocked a small foul, which was quickly gathered in by the third baseman.  Then Tom came to the bat, and was lucky enough to make a clean one-base hit.  After that, came several base hits in rapid succession.  These brought in not only Tom, but also the man behind him.  Then came a bad fumble on the part of the Roxley shortstop, and, as a result, another run was put up to the credit of Brill.

“Seven runs.  That’s going some!”

“I guess this is Brill’s game, after all.”