to memorize. By the beginning of the third inning ten Farview players had come to the plate, and at least ten times Nate had refused Laurie's signal. Of course Laurie had known that Nate was right and that he was wrong, but it had all been mighty confusing and disconcerting. Added to that was the continuing dread of throwing badly to second. He could peg the ball to first unerringly enough, or to third, but the long heave across the width of the diamond terrorized him. Once when he should have thrown to Lew Cooper that fear of misfortune held his hand, and Hillman's had groaned as a Farview runner slid unchallenged to the bag. Save for that occasion a throw to second had not been called for, and the test was still ahead of him. For the rest, Laurie had done well enough. He had dropped the delivery more times than he cared to recall, but had escaped without penalty. Once the ball had got past him entirely and bounded against the back-stop, but, fortunately, the bases had been empty. During the first of the third he and Nate had come to understand each other better, and constant reiteration by Cas had finally impressed Laurie with the foibles of the
