The Lucky Seventh

by Ralph Henry Barbour

  CHAPTER XII

  A REVERSED DECISION

  Two days later the Clearfield Baseball Club met at the railroad stationshortly after dinner time and boarded the train for Lesterville. OnlyHarry Bryan was missing. A press of business had developed at thegrocery store and Mr. Bryan had, to Harry's sorrow, set his foot down ona Saturday holiday. A small youth named Tim Turner, a youthful crony ofFudge's, was drafted to play in right field and Jack Tappen was moved tosecond in Harry's place.

  None of the fellows was very hopeful of beating Lesterville, for theneighboring mill town had maintained for several years a nine whichaveraged fully two years older than Clearfield. But, as Dick pointedout, the game would be fine practice, even if they were beaten. "Wereally need," said Dick, "to run up against a spanking good nine and seehow the game is played."

  Some of the fellows hooted at that, but Dick only smiled. "That's allright," he replied. "I'll wager that you'll learn one or two tricksto-day worth knowing."

  "What's their pitcher like?" inquired Fudge anxiously.

  "They have two of them, Fudge, and they're both pretty good."

  "They won't be hard for Fudge," said Pete Robey. "Fudge will eat 'emalive!"

  "Bet you I make as many hits as you do," responded Fudge eagerly. "Comeon, now! Wh-wh-what do you say?"

  But Pete only grinned and shook his head. You couldn't start an argumentwith Pete.

  On the way to Lesterville Dick exhibited a list of games which he hadalready arranged. Rutter's Point was to play a return contest on theHigh School field a week from to-day, Logan was to visit Clearfield thefollowing Wednesday and Corwin was to come a week later. "We have nextWednesday open," explained Dick, "and a week from Saturday. I don'tbelieve we'll be able to find a game for Wednesday, but I've writtenShirley at Springdale to get up a team to play us that Saturday. I'vetold him we'd go over there."

  "Fine!" exclaimed Tom Haley. "I'd love to have another chance at thosefellows!"

  "Well, I suppose it won't be quite the same team that we played lastmonth," said Dick. "I dare say some of their fellows have gone away forthe summer. But that gives us three games anyhow, and perhaps four. AndI heard of a team over at Locust Valley which may like to play us."

  "All those games are at home, too," reflected Lanny. "How about tryingthat scheme to charge admission, Dick?"

  "No harm in trying it," returned the manager thoughtfully. "Whether itwill go or not we'll have to see. We could get a few notices printed andstick them around in the windows down town. And I guess the paper willannounce the games if we ask."

  "A lot of folks will pay a quarter to see a good game," said JackTappen.

  "Would you?" challenged Gordon.

  "Sure," laughed Jack, "if I had the quarter!"

  "Not if he could find a crack in the fence," said Fudge.

  "Look here," announced Will Scott, "someone said they were surveying theathletic field, Dick. Suppose they start to work there in a day or two.We couldn't play those games, could we?"

  "In that case we'll play the teams on their own grounds."

  "It makes it pretty expensive," objected Way. "I'm nearly broke now. IfI lose my return ticket someone will have to pay my fare back."

  "Oh, the walking's good," replied Tom carelessly.

  "Another thing," said Lanny. "If we play away from home we can't makeany money."

  At that most of the fellows observed each other with questioning andsomewhat dismayed glances. Dick, studying his list, replied:

  "That doesn't make much difference, does it? None of those places arefar away and it won't break us to pay trolley fares. After all, we don'tneed the money as far as I see."

  "Don't we!" exploded Jack. "We need it like anything!"

  Curtis Wayland kicked him on the ankle and Jack subsided.

  "What for?" asked Dick, mildly surprised. "We've got four balls thathaven't been used and three that are still good. We've got bats andgloves and a mask and about everything else. I thought we were in thisfor the fun of it. What do we want to make money for?"

  But Jack only mumbled, while the others regarded him with threateninglooks. Will Scott changed the subject gracefully.

  "You fellows don't want to forget that there's a meeting to-night aboutthe new field. You'd better all show up. We want to get as many there aspossible."

  "Thought it was just a meeting of the committee," said Gordon.

  "No, it's public. We want to find out what the fellows think about itbefore we go ahead and do anything."

  "I don't see that there's more than one thing we can think about it,"observed Tom. "The old field's going and we've got to have another.That's dead simple."

  "Yes, but we may have to rent ground," replied Way. "And we want to knowhow far out of town fellows are willing to go. And how much we ought topay."

  "And whether to get a place on the town side or across the river.There's a field over toward the Point, right near the car line, thatmight do."

  "That's a long way from school, though," objected Fudge.

  "Any place we find is going to be a long way," replied Will. "Thereisn't any place in town big enough to play baseball on. As a matter offact, the whole thing is a good deal of a puzzle. It's going to cost usa lot of money, any way you look at it. We've got to have a new trackand we've got to fence the field in and move the grandstand to it. It'sgoing to cost like sixty. I wish old man Brent had to make us a presentof the old field or lose his money."

  "Stingy old codger," muttered Fudge.

  "There's no sense in blaming Mr. Brent, Fudge," said Dick. "We ought tobe grateful to him for letting us have the field as long as he has. Whatwe'll have to do is get subscriptions from the graduates and anyone elsewe can. The next station is ours, fellows. Get your bags together."

  Lesterville was an unlovely town filled with smoking chimneys and thebusy whirr of looms. A muddy canal intersected it and on either sideimmense brick mill buildings ran for the better part of a mile. But theboys didn't tarry long in the town. A green trolley car bore themswiftly away from the belching chimneys and the hot, weary lookingstreets and out to the edge of the country. The ball ground wassurrounded by a sagging fence and was ridiculously small. A long hitdown the right or left foul line was certain to go over the fence, whileeven a good clout into center was likely to disappear through some holein the rotting boards. A few unsheltered seats were clustered close tothe first base line and these were already occupied when the Clearfieldteam arrived. The dressing-room was a ten-foot square space, unroofed,thrown together behind the stand. As the fellows changed into their togsthe spectators on the top row of seats looked down upon them and offeredsarcastic advice and rude comments. Fudge in particular aroused theirhumor and he was pestered so that he got his playing shirt on wrong sideto.

  The Lesterville nine was a pretty husky aggregation. Most of them weremill employees and their average age must have been fully eighteen. Theaudience was particularly partisan and offensive, and Dick, settlinghimself on the visitors' bench in the broiling sun and opening hisscore-book, reflected that it was perhaps well that there was nolikelihood of Clearfield going home with the ball. He fancied that thehundred or so local sympathizers would make it quite uncomfortable forthe visiting team if it won!

  There's no necessity of following Clearfield's fortunes that afternoonin detail. The contest was fairly featureless up to the eighth inning.The visitors could do nothing with Moriarity, the Lesterville pitcher,only three hits, one of them distinctly scratchy, accruing to theirscore and bringing in but one tally. On the other hand the home teamshowed itself very capable with the stick and Tom Haley's best offeringswere not puzzling after the second inning.

  A slight attack of stage-fright in that round on the part of Clearfieldaided the home players. Almost every member of the visitors' infieldmanaged to make an error, while Tom's wild throw to first in the thirdallowed Lesterville to add two runs to her already swelling score. Whenthe eighth inning began Lesterville had nine runs to Clearfield's one,and there
seemed no reason to suppose that the final tally would be anymore complimentary to Clearfield.

  Dick had predicted that his charges would learn some new tricks and hisprediction was verified. Clearfield was the innocent victim of severalplays quite outside her ken. Unfortunately, most of them were the sortshe didn't care to emulate. For instance, when Curtis Wayland tried tosteal second on Jack Tappen's lucky grounder into short right he failedfor the simple reason that second baseman and shortstop occupied thebase line and Way had to crawl around them to touch the bag.Unfortunately, by that time right fielder had sped the ball toshortstop, and the umpire, a young gentleman whose impartiality had allalong been in grave doubt, ruled Way out. Of course Clearfieldprotested. Way lost his head and threatened bodily injury to the secondbaseman, who topped him by six inches, and some dozen or so Lestervilleyouths flocked to the scene. Gordon, however, lugged Way, protestingbitterly, from the field and then quietly asked the umpire to reversehis decision. But the umpire wouldn't even listen and there was nothingfor the visitors to do but swallow their indignation and accept theruling. Again, earlier in the contest, the Lesterville pitcher objectedto having a new ball thrown to him after Lanny had fouled a soiled oneinto the street, and turning, threw the new one far into center field.The center fielder refused to go after it and the umpire yielded,throwing out another old ball.

  Still, Lesterville did show some playing that the visitors opened theireyes at. Such base-running Gordon's team had never witnessed. Onered-headed youth named Myers never failed to steal second yards ahead ofthe ball and on one occasion stole all the way around the bases,reaching home on Tom's wind-up and subsequent hurried and wild pitch.The Lesterville fellows were born ball players and had graduated fromthe back lots outside the factories. They knew every trick of the gameand used them all.

  When Clearfield went to bat in the eighth it was Jack's turn with thestick and Jack connected with a straight one and slammed it far out intoleft field, where it banged against the fence and rolled away from thefielder while Jack reached second with time to spare. Tim Turner fanned,Pete Robey worked a pass and Lanny hit into what should have been aneasy double. But the Lesterville second baseman fumbled the ball and thebases were full. Unfortunately, with one out, it was Fudge's turn at batand Tom Haley followed Fudge. It looked to the visitors on the benchvery much like another shut-out. But Fudge, perhaps still smarting underthe gibes that had been thrown at him all the afternoon, surprisedhimself and everyone else by hitting cleanly between first and second.Two runs came in, Lanny reached third and Fudge stood panting on first.Tom Haley went out on strikes and Will Scott came to bat. Fudge stolewithout challenge. Will fouled off three and had two balls to hiscredit. Then something that looked good came his way and he swung at itmightily. The ball streaked far out into center field and the basesemptied. Will got to second safely, heard the frantic cries of thecoachers and sprinted for third. Then in came the ball to shortstop, andthat youth turned quickly and pegged to third. The sphere went fullyfour feet above third baseman's head and Will legged it home while histeam-mates on the bench shouted and cavorted and Dick, being unable tojump around, beat the ground with a crutch!

  Nine to seven looked a heap better than nine to one, and there was stillbut one man out. Clearfield had ecstatic visions of a victory. But theLesterville pitcher settled down and disposed of Gordon with fivepitched balls and made Way pop up an easy fly to right fielder, and theeighth inning was over for the visitors.

  Lesterville came back in her half with vigor and poor Tom was keptdodging liners that soon filled the bases. But the home team had astreak of bad luck in that inning. The runner from third was struck by astreaking liner that was meant for left field, and, fortunately for theopponents, the ball, after colliding sharply with the base-runner's leg,rolled toward the pitcher's box and Tom scooped it up and got it tofirst ahead of the batsman, who, counting on a two-base hit, had made aslow start. Lesterville resented her ill-fortune and, with two gone, thenext batsman sent a long fly into left field that barely escaped goingover the fence and had Way chasing around like a chicken with its headoff while two tallies were added to Lesterville's nine. A moment laterTom secured his fifth strike-out of the contest and the teams changedsides.

  There was still a chance to win, declared Dick, and Jack was instructedto lay down a bunt along third base line. Jack followed instructionsdeftly and to the letter. The ball trickled a scant ten feet and,although third baseman came in for it and both catcher and pitcher didtheir best, Jack was easily safe. Young Turner, instructed to sacrificeJack to second, did his best but struck out miserably for the fourthtime. Pete got the signal for a hit-and-run play and swung at the thirdball. He missed it, but the Lesterville catcher, who so far had beenpegging the ball to second with deadly aim, threw low and before theshortstop had secured the ball Jack was sprawled in the dust with onefoot on the bag.

  Pete, with two strikes against him, was wary. Twice he spoiled good onesby fouling and then he was caught napping and retired to the bench withtrailing bat. With two down the game looked to be over. But Lannyevidently thought otherwise, for he hit the first delivery squarely onthe nose and Jack leaped away for third. The ball sped high towardcenter and although second baseman made a gallant attempt to get it, itwent over his head. Jack turned third and streaked for the plate. Thecenter fielder, however, had come in fast and now the ball was flying tothe catcher. Lanny sped to second on the throw-in. Ten feet away fromthe home plate Jack hurled himself feet-foremost through a cloud ofdust, rolled over the base and out of the way just as the ball settledinto the catcher's mitt. The umpire spread his hands wide to signifythat the runner was safe, but the catcher turned fiercely on him.

  "He never touched it!" he bawled. "Look at where he went!" He indicateda mark far back of the plate.

  "Who didn't touch it?" demanded Jack, scandalized and indignant. "Irolled over it!"

  Players ran up excitedly. The umpire hesitated, glanced from thebelligerent catcher to the astounded Jack, shook his head and said:"He's out!"

  "_What!_" shrieked Jack.

  "Sure you're out," said the pitcher with a grin. "You didn't go anywherenear the plate. Beat it, kid!"

  Gordon grabbed Jack's arm and hustled him toward the bench, pursued bythe laughter of the Lesterville players and the gibes of the spectators,crowding off the stand. At second Lanny got to his feet and trampedmorosely in to the bench.

  "I was all over the plate!" Jack was declaring fiercely. "He's arobber!"

  "Of course you were," agreed Gordon soothingly. "He knows it, but he'sscared of the bunch. Never mind, it's all in the day's work, Jack."

  "I tell you I was safe!" sputtered Jack. "What do you want to quit for?Why don't you make them play it out?"

  "No good, Jack. Shut up and change your things. We've got to hustle forthe train."

  Just then the Lesterville captain walked up to Gordon. "Say," he said,"we'll play you fellows again some time if you like. You put up a goodgame, all right, Merrick."

  "Thanks, I dare say we can get together again," replied Gordon notoverly enthusiastic. "I'll let you know."

  "Next time we'll have a decent umpire," cried Jack, pausing on his wayto the dressing shed. "That man's a thief!"

  "Aw, don't be a baby," growled the opposing captain. "You were out allright enough. I saw the play, didn't I?"

  "I don't care whether you did or not. I was perfectly safe. I crossedthe plate before the ball ever got to him!"

  "What if you did, kid? You didn't touch it. That ump is all right. Thetrouble is you can't take a beating. Chase yourself."

  Jack was fighting mad then and pushed his way back, but Gordon and someof the others seized him, while the stragglers from the audienceclustered around, eager for trouble.

  "Jack, you get out of here," directed Dick sternly.

  "Like fun I will! That big chump can't tell me----"

  "Just one more word and you'll be suspended!" Dick spoke very quietly.Jack stared open-mouthed, his gaze traveling fro
m the derisive face ofthe Lesterville captain to the stern countenance of the Clearfieldmanager. Gordon and Lanny still held him firmly. He swallowed hard,rewarded Dick with a baleful glare and said:

  "Go ahead and suspend! You're a peach of a manager, anyhow, to standaround and let those robbers swipe the game on us! You----"

  But Gordon and Lanny hustled him promptly through the throng at that,the crowd dissolved and the field emptied. In spite of Jack's protestthe game was recorded: Lesterville, 11; Clearfield, 7.