The third man was easy, and he fanned, also, making three in succession.
"Say," he observed, "I'll go you two to one that Merriwell is on the 'Varsity team before the end of next season."
"If he is alive he may be," returned the king, grimly.
Our hero's pitching was a surprise to his friends, for until that day he had not seemed to let himself out. Even then he did not appear to be doing his best work, and one who watched him in a friendly way fancied he might do still better if forced to make the effort.
Walter Gordon was filled with disgust and dismay.
"He's having great luck," muttered Gordon. "Why, I don't see how I missed a ball I struck at. Every one was a dead easy thing, and I should have killed any of them."
He squirmed as he heard Burn Putnam--familiarly called Old Put--the manager of the team, compliment Merriwell on his skillful work.
"I fancy I'll be able to use you more than I thought I should at first, Merriwell," said Putnam. "We can tell more about that in the future."
"I've got to strike that fellow out," thought Gordon as he went into the box.
But he did not. Merriwell came first to bat in the second inning, and he sent a safe single into right field, deliberately placing it, as was evident to every ball player present.
Gordon turned green with anger, and then he became nervous. To add to his nervousness, Merriwell obtained a lead from first and stole second on his delivery, getting it easily.
But that was not the end of Gordon's woes, for Merriwell seemed in a reckless mood, and he made for third on the next pitch, getting it on a beautiful slide, although the catcher made an attempt to throw him out.
The catcher came down scowling, and Gordon went to meet him, asking as he did so:
"What's the matter with you? You ought to have stopped him at second and held him there."
"I ought to have stopped him!" came derisively from the disgusted backstop. "I came down to ask you if this was the way you were going to pitch in a regular game. Why, that fellow is getting a long start on your delivery, and he does it every time. You've got to stop that kind of business."
For some moments they talked, and then Gordon sulkily walked back to the box. He tried to catch Frank playing off third, but simply wasted time. Then he made a snap delivery and hit the batter, who went down to first.