"That ball was all right." The umpire promptly informed Wilson that he was talking too much with his mouth.
"I'll get him the next time!" thought the lank pitcher of the Hartfords.
"He fooled me that time, but he can't do it again!" But Badger did it again.

Again the sophomores began to yell.

Jack Ready tossed the ball back.
Badger began to look and to feel confident, a thing that Merriwell, who was closely watching him, did not like.

This time the Westerner, after almost bending himself double, gave his arm an eccentric movement and shot in another curve.

Wilson struck at it desperately, and fanned out.
"He can't keep it up!" yelled a Hartford man, who had been wildly hunting for bets a short time before, and who felt the need of whistling to keep his courage up.
Barrows, the center-fielder, came to the bat next.