Page:Lefty o' the Bush.djvu/45

 first one or two you put across. Keep it close, and take a chance. Don't use a bender till you have to. Now, do steady down, son."

Locke's only reply was a nod. His lips were pressed together, and his face was gray. He could hear the crowd growling everywhere save in the section occupied by the laughing, scoffing Bancrofters; try as he might, he could not deafen his ears to those unpleasant sounds.

"Play ball!" yelled a coacher.

"Play ball, and stop chewin' the rag," roared a man from the third-base bleachers. "I come here to see a game."

"Don't look like you'd see much of a one to-day," said another man. "I'd like to git my money back now."

Hinkey tossed the ball to Locke. The youngster was deliberate enough in his movements, but still, seeking to put a straight one over on the inside, he compelled the second batter to make a hasty get-away. Oulds popped up from behind the batsman, ready to throw, but Harney had taken no chances.

"Don't have to do it with this duck pitchin',' laughed the captain of the Bullies. "He'll walk us all. It's a shame."

Now not a few of the local players were be