Page:Stanwood Pier--Crashaw brothers.djvu/208

188 Edward’s heart was thumping; oh, if he should strike out! Was he going to be a quitter again! He clenched his teeth, he swallowed hard, he watched Jackson with  sharpened and unwinking eyes.

The ball came low; he stepped forward, and then let it pass without swinging his bat.

“Ball three!” cried the umpire, and St. Timothy’s shouted.

“Good waiting, Edward!” called Payne from the first-base coaching line, where he  was shifting from one foot to the other in excitement.

“Good boy, Edward!” called Bell from the third-base coaching line, where he was  pacing back and forth in agitation.

Two strikes and three balls: it was a trying moment for every one. Jackson deliberated, shook his head at some signal from his catcher,  settled himself twice into position.

Edward was thinking quickly, trying to imagine what was passing through Jackson’s  mind. With two strikes called on him. Jackson would not intentionally give him his base