Page:Lefty o' the Bush.djvu/278

 CHAPTER XLII

A SUDDEN SHIFT

He hoped Cope would not yield. Perhaps the damage was done already, but he would try to redeem himself if they did not bench him.

Hutchinson was saying:

"What's the use to keep him in, man alive? He's lost the game already."

"If he's lost the game," returned the obstinate grocer, "what's the use to take him out? I don't see no sense in that. Let him pitch some more. He braced up t'other time; mebbe he will ag'in."

Speechless with exasperation, Hutchinson turned back and reseated himself on the bench. Seeing this, and understanding that Locke would continue yet a while on the firing line, Stark ran to him, grasped him with both hands, and spoke in swift, yet steady, tones:

"Pull yourself together, Lefty; you've got to do it, and you can. Bangs is easy, and that man Murtel can't hit a balloon. Put the ball over, and