A groan went up from the Scout supporters. Their chances of victory looked slim indeed now.
"Wake up! You"re in a trance!" scoffed Jared, grinning at Rob. "Get out of the straw."
"The straw in the red barn!" suddenly flashed Rob, in a low, but far-reaching voice. It was pregnant with meaning and Jared turned white as death. He fumbled the ball with trembling fingers.
"W-w-what do you mean?" he managed to gasp.
"Play ball!" yelled the crowd impatiently.
Jared, his fright still on him, pitched. He made a wild fling. Rob trotted to first base. Merritt boomeranged to second.
Simon Jeffords got his base on b.a.l.l.s, advancing Rob to second and Merritt to third. Everybody began to sit up and take renewed notice. A home run now would add four to the Scout score. Could they get it? Jared had shown that he could hold them down. Could he still keep up his gait?
And now out strolled Tubby Hopkins. He paused first to insert a huge chunk of chewing gum in his capacious cheek and then, not noticing in the least the laughter and joking that greeted his appearance, he lounged to his place, his jaws moving rhythmically.
"It"s up to you, Tubby. Bring home the bacon!" some one yelled.
"He"s got the bacon with him," shouted some other humorist.
Jared fixed his eyes quizzically on Tubby.
"Like a bottle of anti-fat, kid?" he sneered; and then, "Oh, what I won"t do to you! How do you like "em?"
Tubby stopped chewing an instant. His large eyes opened wide as if he had just heard Jared"s voice.
"Oh, I like "em Panama fashion, if you"ve got any of those about you to-day," he said with a cherubic smile.
Zang! came the ball. It was as swift as any that Jared had yet thrown. He would have liked to see it knock the disconcerting fat youth on the head.
But it did no such thing. With an agility unsuspected except by those who knew him, Tubby swung viciously at the spheroid.
"Bin-go!" yelled the rooters.
Off into left field a hot liner whizzed its way.
"Go on!" shrieked the Eagles and their supporters, dancing up and down in excitement.
Off darted Merritt from third. He shot across the home plate an instant later and scored amidst loud cheering. Hot after him flashed Rob, with Simon close behind. Excitement rose to a point where it was almost unbearable.
Tubby had shot like a stone from a sling the instant he made his. .h.i.t. And now more like a steam roller the fat youth cavorted over the bases while the crowd went crazy. Pandemonium reigned.
"Home! Home! Home!" shrieked the raucous crowd in a frenzy.
Boys hugged each other and the Scouts danced up and down.
Tubby, with amazing speed, his short fat legs working like piston rods, flashed by first, second and third bases. The next instant a yell went up that split the air. A rotund form sky-hooted across the home plate and then, tripping up, went rolling like a tub of b.u.t.ter into the arms of Rob and his team-mates. Tubby had made one of the most sensational plays ever seen on the Hampton field, and foes as well as friends generously applauded the fat boy. But he paid no attention to the plaudits.
"Great Scotland! I"ve lost my gum," were his first words on being helped to his feet. "Anybody got a chew?"
"A barrel full, if you want them!" yelled the delighted Scouts, dancing about the boy who had hit out a home run with bases full.
The next batter, Walter Lonsdale, struck out. Then the town team went to bat for its last chance. The score now stood thus:
Eagles: seven. Hamptons: six
Rob resumed his place in the pitcher"s box. Higgins struck out. But Jared got his base on b.a.l.l.s. Maybe Rob was overconfident. Conners came next.
Two strikes had been called on him, when Rob, like a flash, hurled the ball to first. With neatness and expedition Jared was put out.
Incidentally, Conners had been so rattled by Rob"s pitching that, when the latter threw to first, Conners frantically struck at an imaginary ball, causing a roar of laughter. This disconcerted him so badly that he missed the next ball and struck out.
The Scouts had indeed s.n.a.t.c.hed victory from the jaws of defeat. The game was theirs but by so narrow a margin that they hardly liked to think about it.
In an instant the crowd broke all boundaries and surged about the victorious Eagles.
"Three cheers for Home-run Tubby!" yelled somebody.
In a flash the fat youth was hoisted on half a dozen shoulders. Then began a triumphal march around the field to the music of Andy Bowles"
bugle, which he had suddenly produced from some mysterious hiding place.
"You see, I knew that I"d need it," he explained afterward.
Rob, arm in arm with Merritt, brought up the rear of the tumultuous riot of enthusiasts. Suddenly Rob"s eye caught sight of a figure in the uniform of the Hampton"s players sneaking up behind a corner of the grand-stand which it was evident the crowd must pa.s.s in their march of victory. It was Jared Applegate. With him was the same young man the boys had seen in the barn the week before, as well as two other youths of bad character in the village, Hodge Berry and Maxwell Ramsay.
"What mischief is Jared up to?" breathed Rob, clutching Merritt"s arm.
"I don"t know, but he looks as sneaky as a pole cat. Let"s watch him."
The two scouts followed, at a slight distance, the group of which Jared was the center. They saw the boys that they were watching sneak in behind the grand-stand, while Jared stooped and picked up a heavy stone. As the crowd, with Tubby"s rubicund countenance shining above their heads, came swinging around the corner on their way off the ball field, Rob gave a sharp exclamation and sprang forward.
Like a flash he gripped Jared"s arm just as it was about to launch the stone at Tubby"s head.
"You--you rascal!" he managed to exclaim, forcing Jared"s arm down with a firm wrist hold.
The next instant Hodge Berry and Max Ramsay, both of whom had played in the Hampton team, sprang at Rob furiously.
"You"re going to get a licking you won"t forget in a hurry," they cried.
The crowd had swung on, not noticing the dramatic scene that was occurring so close to them. Rob dropped Jared"s wrist and turned to face his opponents.
Something in his face made them halt an instant, and in that brief s.p.a.ce of time Merritt was at his side. The strange youth who had said nothing so far now started to speak, but Rob checked him.
Utterly ignoring the others, he addressed himself to Jared.
"Well, what do you want?" he demanded.
"I want to get square with you," replied Jared in a furious tone. He appeared almost beside himself with rage.
"Humph! and so you"ve brought a bunch of your amiable friends along to help you in case it proved too big a job to tackle alone."