d the plate.

"That one slipped," said Hooker. "I got more of a twist on it than I
intended."

Phil picked up the bat, which he had dropped, and resumed his position.
Three times Roy pitched wildly, and then when he finally got the ball
over, Springer met it for a clean single, and trotted to first.

"Now play the game, fellows," called Eliot, from behind the pan.

Hooker's small eyes glittered as Rodney Grant stepped to the plate.
Like a flash he pitched, again using an in-shoot.

Grant stepped back, held his bat loosely and bunted. As bat and ball
met, the Texan's fingers seemed to release the club, and it fell to the
ground almost as soon as the ball. Like a jack-rabbit he was off,
shooting down the line toward first, while Springer, who had known by
the signal just what was coming, romped easily to second.

Hooker had not intended for Grant to bunt that ball, having tried to
send it high and close; and now in his haste to secure the sphere, he
stumbled over it, and ere he could recover and throw, the speedy boy
from the Lone Star State was so near first that Eliot shouted, "Hold
it!"

His face flushed, his under jaw outshot a bit further than usual, Roy
returned to the box, ignoring Chipper Cooper, who was cackling with
apparent great delight.

Tuttle waddled toward the pan, bat in hand.

"I'll strike him out easy enough," thought Roy. Instead of that, he
pitched four wide ones, all of which were declared balls by Sage, who
had been requested to umpire; and Chub jogged to first, complaining
that Hooker had been afraid to let him hit.

Then came Stone, who let a wide one pass, but reached a bit for the
next, caught it about six inches from the end of his bat, and laced it
fairly over the centerfield fence, a feat rarely performed on those
grounds.

"My arm isn't in shape yet," said Hooker, trying to remain deaf to the
laughter of the boys, as the runners trotted over the sacks and came
home. "I won't pitch any more to-day, Eliot."

CHAPTER III.

TWO OF A KIND.

Sitting alone on the bleachers, Roy Hooker sourly watched the
continuation of practice. He saw Springer take a turn at pitching, to
be followed finally by Rodney Grant, who laughingly warned the boys
that he intended to strike them all out.

Rodney Grant was a somewhat peculiar character, who, coming unannounced
to Oakdale, had at first been greatly misunderstood by the boys there,
not a few of whom had fancied him an impostor a