Frank Merriwell's Catch — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TIP TOP WEEKLY. _ ai Then followed an exhibition of um- piring such as no one present had ever witnessed before. Frank was all over the diamond, and he always seemed on ex- actly the best spot to see any play to ad- vantage. How he covered so much ground was a mystery, but he did it without seeming to exert himself remarkably, and he kept the game hustling from the very start. Newport scored twice in their half of the first inning, and were prevented from making a third tally by a beautiful throw from deep left to the plate. Then Newport went into the field. They filled the box with Burton, of Corinna, a Colby man and a puzzling ‘‘south-paw’’ pitcher. Burton’s greatest fault was his slow delivery, but, being in good form, he more than made up for it by his tricks in ‘‘working the batter. ”’ Newport had vot beaten the Institute team in two.years, and the M. C. I.’s fancied they hada snap. They had been against Burton before and hit him pretty hard, and they believed they could do it again. But Burton, who was a determined chap with a bulldog disposition to never give up, was there to redeem himself that day. He proceeded to strike out the first two men with great ease, and then he caused the third man to pop up a light fly that he gathered himself without get- ting out of his tracks. The Institute boys laughed at this. ‘Well fall on him and hammer him outof the box the next inning,’’ they said. | But they did not, for neither side scored. in the following inning. There were, however, three close plays, one at second, one at third, and one at the home plate. Frank Merriwell was on hand to witness every play from the most advantageous point, and his decisions could not be disputed with reason. Both players and spectators began to see that the umpiring was making it a remarkably lively and interesting game at the very start off. : In the fourth inning the M. C. I. team tied the score, and in the fifth it took a lead of three. Newport had not been able to score thus far after the first, and the Institute Read About. West Point’s Fat Boy “Indian,” in The Half-Holiday. lads declared it was ‘‘al]l over but the shouting.’’ That did not disturb Burton, . who continued to work in the same cool, deliberate manner. In the seventh inning Newport got a tally but M. C. I. made two more giving — them a lead of four. In the eighth Newport cut it down by two in their half and then Burton ‘‘pitched for his life.’’ In vain the In- stitute lads tried to get a safe hit off him. One man fanned and the others were ‘‘killed at first.”’ As both of these decisions were close a M. C. I. player started a vigorous kick on the last one but Frank who had made every ruling promptly and firmly, quickly closed the kicker up. . Then came the ‘‘fatal ninth.’? New- port needed two to tie and three to win. If they made three and whitewashed their opponents the game was theirs. They started in by getting two men out in a hurry, and the boys from Pittsfield were laughing over the ‘‘snap.’? Then a weak hit landed a runneron first. The next man was not a heavy hitter, and so, instead of trying to stop the runner, the pitcher attempted to end it by striking the batter out. That gave the man on first a chance to steal second without danger, and he didso. Then the batter rapped out a light one that was fumbled, and crossed first ahead of the ball. Burton came to the plate. He had been hitting poorly, but now there was a look of grim determination on his dark face. | ‘Get Old South-paw, Winnie,’’ called one of the players to the pitcher. The twirler grinned and nodded. He was confident, for he had been fooling | Burton all day on a slow drop. ‘To start off, he sent a straight whistler over the plate so near to the batter that Burton was forced to jump back. Then the pitcher fancied he had his man unnerved. The spectators were shouting and cheer- ing, trying to rattle both pitcher and | batter. The second ball was a slow drop. Bur- ton waited for it, got under it, hit it, lifted it into the air with awful force. Away it flew over the ground and down aniong the cottages, and, when last seen, it was bounding merrily among the trees, ECOMIELMOO SS (SO)