As for Lefty, after that first awful moment of sinking which had followed the fatal crack of leather meeting wood, he brought himself together with a jerk, and whirled round. Rufe Hyland, in right field, had not wasted an instant. Covering the ground with tremendous strides, he scooped the ball cleanly, spun around, and threw even while still in motion. It was meant to be a straight throw to the plate, but in a second Lefty saw that the fielder’s forced turn had lost him every particle of body motion which might have helped out his arm, and knew the sphere would fall short. Like a flash, the southpaw darted to one side, leaped into the air, and forked the ball with one hand. As he did so, Hagin, running like a racehorse, flung himself feet foremost to the ground, and slid over the plate. Siegrist had raced down to second, and crossed the sack at full speed. When he saw Lefty intercept the ball and whirl toward third, he sought to turn back. Locke whipped the sphere straight into the hands of Pink Dalton, who was covering the second anchorage; and the latter, after jabbing it on to the lunging German, snapped it to first with a lightninglike motion, not even taking the time to straighten up. It was one of the most surprising double plays ever seen on the New Grounds. Fargo, having rounded the sack and seen the ball speeding apparently toward the plate, naturally did not halt until he was nearly halfway to the second hassock. Even then he might have got back safely had it not been for the extraordinary accuracy of Dalton’s throw. As it was, the finish of the play was close. The keen-eyed umpire declared Fargo out. The applause of the Hornets’ rooters suddenly ceased. It was followed by the cheers of their rivals. The home team had made a run, to be sure, but this abrupt and unexpected ending of the inning rather took the wind out of their sails. They gave vent to their annoyance by heaping abuse on the umpire. As Lefty walked to the bench his eyes sought the face of his manager questioningly. He felt no doubt that only for the success of this last play he would have been taken out of the game at once. Only one hit had been made off him, to be sure, but he knew that a pitcher is frequently removed when the game is going wrong through no fault of his own. Jack Kennedy showed no such intention, however. “That was a heady play of yours, Lefty,” he said. “I saw the ball would fall short the minute it left Hyland’s hand. If you hadn’t had your thinker working, we’d likely have had more than one tally to buck against.” “It was Dalton who put a kibosh on them,” Locke returned. “That was some throw of his to first.” “Sure. But you used your nut and made it possible. One minute, Grant. You’d better――”