Page:Stanwood Pier--Crashaw brothers.djvu/206

186 there so firmly, so confidently. He gave Edward a smile and a nod, which Edward returned; then instantly the faces of the two became serious, intent, watchful. The pitcher deliberated; somehow he felt that he was facing a dangerous man.

He sent one of his sharp inshoots against which Edward had been warned. It came at Edward shoulder high; Edward leaned backward, without stepping away from it, and let  it pass: “Ball one!” called the umpire.

He might have allowed it to hit him; but he had thought quickly when he dodged; his  business was to drive in a run that would tie  the score.

He stepped forward at the second ball and hit hard; it curved out over third base beyond the foul line, a long but unlucky hit,  for being a foul it counted as a strike. Still, it gave Edward confidence to have met the  ball so squarely and to have driven it on such  a long low line.

“Guess my eye is all right,” he muttered to himself.