“Of course you do, but you’ve got to know how to hold the ball, haven’t you? This tells you how to do that, all right, only it isn’t very plain. I thought if you’d read what it said, I’d try and do it. You see, when I try to read and fix my fingers at the same time, I always lose my place and get all mixed up.” So Sidney good-naturedly found the instructions for pitching an out-curve and read them off while Tom, frowning intently, curved his fingers about the ball. “‘Grasp the ball firmly,’” recited Sidney, “‘between the thumb and the first two fingers.’” [Illustration: “‘Grasp the ball firmly,’” recited Sidney, “‘between the thumb and the first two fingers’”] “Uh-uh,” grunted Tom. “‘Hold the third and four fingers back toward the palm.’” “All right.” “‘Bring the hand up over the shoulder in the usual manner----’” “What’s the usual manner?” demanded Tom. “Why, I suppose just as if you were going to throw the ball straight. ‘The back of the hand being turned away from you.’” “Yes.” “‘In delivering the ball, bring the back of the hand underneath as the arm is dropped, letting the ball roll off the surface of the confining fingers, which imparts to it the rotary motion necessary to make it curve to the pitcher’s left.’ That sounds crazy to me!” “Me too. But here goes!” The ball shot away and the boys watched it eagerly. There was undoubtedly a slight tendency toward an out-curve, but certainly not enough to fool the stupidest batsman. But Tom was pleased. “That’s the idea, all right,” he declared jubilantly. “Now we’ll try it again.” Sidney obligingly recovered the ball, which, luckily, had struck the fence instead of going through any of the numerous holes in it. He tossed it to Tom, and Tom again carefully and thoughtfully arranged his fingers about it, poised it over his shoulder, and swept it forward. But this time something was very wrong, for the ball swooped down to earth some fifteen feet distant, struck an empty tin can, and bounded off into the street. “I’ll chase it!” said Tom. “No, you stay there,” laughed Sidney, “and study about it. I’ll get it.” “What I’d like to know,” said Tom, when Sidney was back once more, “is what makes it curve.” “Why, it curves because you hold it so it will!” “But why should it? Just because I hold it with two fingers instead of three or four, why should it curve to the left?” “Because when you let go of it you--wait a minute!” Sidney found his place in the book. “Because you ‘impart to it the rotary motion necessary to make it curve to the pitcher’s left.’” “Well, but _why_?” “Oh, shut up,” sighed Sidney. “You’re too inquisitive. It--it just does, I suppose.” “Nothing ‘just does’ without a reason,” replied Tom seriously. “And I’m going to find out why. Seems to me if I knew why a ball curves one time and doesn’t curve another, I’d get the hang of it better. Read that stuff again, Sid.”