Page:Lefty o' the Bush.djvu/51

 false alarm is unmasking himself in the first inning. The home crowd is getting hot now, and they'll demand that the fellow be benched directly. We've got other pitchers, you know."

"Other pitchers! Don't call this one a pitcher! He's a—a—"

"A flash in the pan," laughed King. "It's a good thing he has betrayed himself right off the reel, for that will give us all the more time to recover from the shock. There, there goes the second batter to first. Now hear the crowd rub it into the poor dub. Oh, say! they're soaking him. There'll be a riot if he isn't sent to the stable pretty quick. Listen to that! I knew it!"

The exasperated Kingsbridgers were howling for the removal of Locke, the cry to take him out immediately swelling into a roar from all sides of the field. Forgetting the cautioning words of her companion, Miss Harting again sprang to her feet.

"Take him out!" she cried; but her voice was drowned in the mighty volume of sound.

"Steady, Janet," said Bent, taking hold of her arm with one hand and gently drawing her back to the seat. "This racket is making the nags nervous, and I'd hate to spill you out, after promising your grudging father to look after you and