A pass in the last half of the twelfth put a Broadmoor runner on first. A strike-out followed and then Cobham’s throw to Captain Leland, covering second, was just wide enough to allow the runner to slide into the bag. The incident perhaps unsteadied Ogden, for he slid his next offering along the groove and it found the bat in front of it. The ball went toward center field and fell in No Man’s Land. Al Greene ran in and Tom ran out, and the ball landed between them, a half-dozen strides from Al. The runner, chancing a double play for the sake of a winning tally, had sped away from second while the ball was still in air, and when Greene scooped the ball from the ground was already rounding third. Al performed a bit of quick reasoning then that cost his team the game. He decided that the runner was bluffing and had no real intention of going on to the plate. If so a fast throw to third might catch him before he could double back. So Al threw to Tyson. It was a good heave and reached Pat on a straight, fast bound, and had the runner meant to play safe and wait on third for a hit to get home on he might have been tagged out. But by the time Tyson had the ball in his hands the runner, who had not even hesitated at the corner sack, was hitting the home-stretch. Pat’s peg was a bit high, and by the time Cobham had caught, taken one stride and swept his hand down the runner was scraping a dusty shoe across the rubber and Broadmoor was shouting jubilantly. Disappointment lasted but a short time, however, for, all in all, Wyndham had played a better game from every angle than she had played all season. Manager Longwell exhibited the score book, and that told the tale. Al Greene was disconsolate for a space, but found comfort in the fact that the error column held no figures opposite his name. Fortunately, perhaps, errors of judgment do not find their way into the box scores. CHAPTER XV WATTLES IS CARELESS The Broadmoor game brought the first week of June to an end. Extremely warm weather held New England, and warm weather, as usual, produced a let-up of scholastic ambition in many cases. Tom, for one, found studying more difficult than ever, and for the third time that year received a grave warning from Mr. Wyatt, the English teacher. Remembering only too well what had occurred on one previous occasion, Tom braced up for several days and, with many protests and groans, labored back into Alick’s good graces. But it required the assistance and encouragement of Clif and Loring to get him there, and it was the Triumvirate rather than Tom who succeeded. With final examinations impending, it was no time, as Loring pointed out, to get penalized.