Murray advanced to the plate, and with evident determination to hit. After trying to connect with three sharp curves, Murray slung away his bat and yielded up his place to Green. Frank saw the wiry pitcher pull down his cap and dust his hands, and the quiet confidence of the man went far to show that he was no amateur. Grimly resolving to fan him, Chip wound up for the double shoot, and the ball hummed down. Green did not attempt to strike. Then a swift look of astonishment overspread his lean brown face. Merry had changed from his right to his left hand! “Great Scott!” gasped Green. “It’s impossible!” “Go on and knock it over the fence,” chuckled Billy Mac. Green tried to, but the double shoot fooled him completely. With a smile, Frank delivered a sharp out with his left hand, and Green reached for it in vain. “We’ve got ’em!” whooped Clancy as he ran in. “One, two, three!” “Easy money,” cried Billy, and Chip touched his cap to the yelling grand stand as the Fardale cheer ripped out. Fardale’s hopes received an abrupt shock, however. Smiling a little, but saying nothing, Green put over nine pitched balls, and retired Lowe, O’Day, and Kess! “He can’t pitch anything but strikes!” gasped Clancy. “Don’d you see dot sbeed!” muttered Villum. “Dot pall a pullet vos, so hellup me!” “We’re up against something pretty hard, fellows,” said Chip, as they went out. “Everybody pull together, now, and we’ll win.” His confidence had been sorely shaken, however. Smith strode out and landed on Frank’s first ball for a foul that went up over the grand stand. Twice more he fouled, but the double shoot retired him finally. “They’re all bad actors,” cried Lowe from third. “Let ’em hit it, Chip!” Olcott, the new Clipper catcher, was a short man, with tremendously wide shoulders. Chip tried him with a low fadeaway, but Olcott chortled with glee and fell on it. The ball rose and began to travel for the right-field fence. O’Day raced back, then stopped short. The crowd hooted, for the ball seemed certain to go far beyond him. The fans had forgotten the wind, however, and, when the sphere came down it nestled into O’Day’s glove, and stuck there. Johnson fanned, and the Fardales went to bat. That is, they went to bat technically. Clancy was the first up, and although usually a slugger, he was retired on three pitched balls. Merry took his place, with the bleachers screaming for a hit. Green studied him a moment, then changed his position abruptly. He used something that he had hitherto held in reserve--a remarkable spit ball. Frank guessed it, but could not hit. Again Green used the same thing, and again Merry missed it. He touched the third one for a high foul, however, that cleared the grand stand. With a new ball thrown out to him, Green deliberately put over three balls that were wide of the plate. “Put it over!” snapped Chip. “You’re scared to put it over, Green!”