“Try swinging slower. I watched you yesterday. You start your bat away around behind you and then swing like lightning. Maybe if you’ll take a short swing and a slow one, just meet the ball, as they say, you might do better.” “Just meeting the ball doesn’t get you hits, though,” demurred the other. “That’s where you’re wrong, old man. Even if you only hold your bat out still, a hard-pitched ball will bound off it away across the infield. I think it’s a mistake to try to slug at first; before――well, before you’ve got where you’re certain, if you see what I mean!” “You mean that I ought to get so I can hit the ball before I――before I hit it!” laughed Joe. “Before you try to knock the cover off it, yes. Between you and me, that’s the reason a lot of chaps don’t hit better than they do,” continued Jack. “They want to make home-runs or three-baggers, and they don’t stop to think that a short hit that gets you to first is a lot better than a home-run that doesn’t happen!” “You talk like one of those little blue books,” jeered Joe. “‘How to Become a Ball-Player’ or ‘The Art of Batting’!” “I’m telling you what I’ve learned,” replied Jack unruffledly. “I’m not much of a player myself, but I’ve kept my eyes open. Look here, Joey, I’ll tell you what we might do, you and I, and it wouldn’t hurt either of us a mite. Let’s go down to the cage at recess every noon and practise. We’ll keep a bat and ball at school and I’ll pitch to you and you bat, and you can pitch to me and I’ll bat. I don’t mean really pitch, of course, because I can’t do it; nor you, either; but just serve ’em up, you know, and let the other fellow see how many he can hit. Bet you anything you like if we do that long enough we can get so we can connect with anything! It’s the eye that does the trick, Joey. It’s getting the eye trained so that, no matter where the ball comes, you can put the bat in front of it. Want to try it?” “I’ll try anything,” responded Joe. “Still, it seems to me all that batting practice I had in the cage before we went outdoors didn’t do me much good.” “This’ll be different. You know the way you do when you take a tennis racket and try to keep the ball bouncing against a wall or a floor? Well, that’s the same idea. It teaches you quickness and sureness, doesn’t it?” “I guess so. All right, we’ll have a go at it tomorrow. Have you a bat at home?” “Yes, and some old balls. I’ll bring them down tomorrow and we’ll try the scheme. We’ve got to do something to beat Handsome Frank, that’s certain!” “You do hate him, don’t you?” laughed Joe. “No, I don’t hate him one mite,” replied Jack seriously. “I even have a sort of sneaking liking for the chump. But I do love to take him down a notch or two whenever I can. Besides, I want that bat-case!” CHAPTER XIII THE FIRST GAME