a swift
ball directly over the center of the plate and catching Rollins napping.

"Well, well," cried Chub merrily. "Only one more, Kirb. They can't touch
you, old man!"

But that wasn't quite so, for Mullins, the head of the rival batting
list, touched him for two bases. O'Meara came up plainly resolved to do
as well if not better, but only brought the first half to a close by
popping up a high foul which Thurlow had no trouble with.

As the teams changed places the cheering broke out simultaneously from
both sides of the diamond, and flags waved tumultuously.

"Who's at bat?" asked Chub as he trotted to the bench.

"Carpenter," said the scorer. "No, I mean Porter."

"All right, Roy," said Chub.

"Take it easy," counselled Mr. Cobb. "All you want is to reach first.
We'll get you on from there."

"What's he like?" asked Roy of Chub as he stooped to select his bat.

"Oh, kind of hard. Look out for slow balls; he's full of 'em and works
'em on you when you're least expecting 'em. You can hit him."

"Hope so," answered Roy as he selected his stick and walked to the
plate. As he faced the Hammond pitcher, who grinned at him in probable
recollection of the camp adventure, the Ferry Hill supporters started a
cheer.

"Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Porter!"

Roy felt a little warming tingle in the region of his heart. Then he was
swinging his bat back, for Rollins had undoubled and shot the ball
forward. Chub staggered back out of its way.

"Ball!" droned the umpire.

Then came what was seemingly a straight delivery and Roy swung at it.
But it went down so suddenly when a few feet from the plate that his bat
traveled several inches above it and threw Roy off his balance. Hammond
jeered and laughed.

"Don't try to slug, Roy!" called Chub. "Easy does it!"

And so it proved. Rollins sent a "teaser," one of his puzzling slow
ones, but Roy had the good fortune to guess it before it reached the
plate. He met it with an easy swing and made for first. Third baseman
smothered it as it arose from the ground for the first bound and threw
swiftly. But Roy was like a streak when it came to running bases, and
this fact, coupled with the fact that first baseman had to step wide of
the bag to get the throw, made him safe. Chub raced over to coach and
seized the moment while the pitcher was returning to his box to whisper
instructions.

"Don't wait for a hit; steal on the first ball."

Cole appeared at the