Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-10-14
: inner IN the Game
Of Hearts
Ry HAROLD, SINCLAIRE


'N%AH AshA't wv 6eN"N'
tween die yellow Feet and the Black
Rags. and the other between M'isie
lut4sliliu aud Bessie Houston. In the
nrsi game Il pennant vas in question +,
in tic latter the happiness OF two,
if nOt three lives.
Ralph Thurston. the star twirler OF
the Black Flags, was In the box, for
tie Yellow Feet had the first half,
and two pairs of eyes were fastened
on his flushed face.
Realizing that he must put all
thoughts of these two out OF his
mind, Thurston put several quick. hot
ones over the plate, following with a
low ~grounder, and had his mar out
without q strike. The next W were
easy. and the Yellow Feet were re-
tired In one, two, three order. The
Black Flags, however, failed to con-
meet with any of Compton's balls, and
he was congratulated by his team
as he, too, registered the same o
This followed for three innings; nos
a strike was called on either side, al
though there were several balls, and
then Thurston went into the box for
the first of the fourth inning. AS he
ran down field he caught sight of Nal
sizes waving handkerchief, and imme-
diateiy the old problem confronted
him. 1t ~unsteadied his arm so that
when the catcher signaled for an out
curve he sent over a straight one.
The nan at bat found this soft and
he sent it soaring down past center,
easily reaching second before the ball
was captured
After this followed a series of blum
ders by him that made the captain and
manager ave
All the while the real cause Of this
disturbance lay in his pocket. 1t con-
sisted Of two notes, one signed Maisie,
the other Bessie. Each girl invited
him to spend the evening in her com
pany.
Finally the first half of the ninth
In favor of the visitors Instead of
the usual cheering and applause which
had greeted Thurston as he ran to the
box, there came a dead silence o
expressive than any demonstration.
He gritted his teeth, clenched his
fists until the fingers bit into the
palms of his hands, then began pitch
ing with all his old-time vigor. AS
in the first inning, he put the men
out In one, two, three order, and the
grand stand went wild with joy. The
Yellow Feet were not worried, how
ever, and indi~fferently trotted out in
to the field. A sheer disfgured Comp
tons face as he swung his ARM, but
it changed to something else when
Gryce, the captain of the Black Flags,
struck out a home run. This ratified
the man in the box, for he let the
next man get to second on a line
drive that easily passed left field, and
the third took his base on balls. Thurs
ton then came to bat. His two-bag-
ger brought in another run and put
a man on second. The next man
hunted, and three bases were filled.
The score was now A to 8, with all
bases filed. The manager, Gordon,
was the next man at bat, but he
famed out, as did the next. Then
came Burchell, who always managed
q %two-bagger. His ball ros grace
fully, scared out and over the head
of right field, and the men began eat
ing up the ground to get home. Just
as the man from third began to slide,
the ball fell into the glove Of the
right fielder, and the pennant be-
longed to the Yellow Feet.
Sullenly Thurston changed to his
street clothes, then wrote his resig-
nation. The manager took it, saying
tartly:
"All right. if you feel that way"
II guess all Of you feel that my
Thurston said sourly, as he slouched
out of the club house, hands deep in
his pockets, head bent down. Just as
he emerged an automobile dashed by.
In 1t were several Of the cheering
Yellow Feet and Maisie. In the sec
ond of passing she tossed her head,
looking at him with unbared con-
tempt
Don't run over me, Ralph" and
starting, he saw Bessie smiling up
at him, although her eyes were red
with tears of disappointment
"Bess," Ralph said, catching her
hand and gripping 1t hard, "rm a
piker; I went up in the air on this
game, honest"
Everyone does that sometimes"
she said softly.
7 say, Bess," he asked sheepishly,
II wonder If you'd be afraid Of me
in another kind Of gamer and Bes-
sic understood. She answered, as they
walked slowly towards the street cars:
Not yet, Ralph; I'll root for you
always"