Challenge at Second Base Read Online Free PDF Page A

upon them.
     For a moment Stan wasn’t sure whether they came from the water about them or the heavy clouds swirling overhead.
    Again lightening pierced the sky for a moment and then abruptly vanished. Again thunder rumbled.
    The boys hung on for dear life to the sides of the boat. Ahead of them the shoreline seemed to be rising and falling. Trees
     leaned under the power of the wind. Leaves brokeloose from their branches, flew swiftly and crazily through the air. Birds swooped low and high, carried every which way by
     the wind. The drops fell thicker, and now Stan knew they were falling from those black clouds.
    The boat lifted on the crest of a wave, then came down
smack!
The bow pierced the water, and gallons of the churning whiteness spilled into the boat, covering the boys’ feet.
    Phil hung desperately onto the wheel to keep the boat from getting out of his control. It was up to him now. It was a fight
     between him and the mad waters of the lake.
    For a while the gap between the boat and the shore seemed to remain the same. Then slowly it closed, and Stan saw several
     men appear on the dock. They were waiting to help pull in the boat and secure it.
    Finally the boat rocked close to the dock. The boys tossed out the rope. The men caughtit, pulled the boat in against a pair of rubber tires, and secured it. The last
puff-puff
of the motor died away as Phil turned it off.
    “Thanks, guys,” he said gratefully. “We’d have a real damaged boat if it weren’t for you.”
    “We were ready to call the Coast Guard,” one of the men replied, grinning.
    Hardly five minutes had passed when a car drove up, stopped with a sudden jerk, and three anxious-looking people jumped out.
    “Stan! Phil! Are you all right?”
    The boys grinned at Mom, Dad, and Dottie, who stared at them white-faced.
    “All right?” echoed Phil innocently. “Why? Is something wrong?”
    Dottie’s green eyes flared. “Don’t be smart, Philip Andrew Martin! We saw that storm coming, and we knew you were out on the
     lake. You and Stan — all of you! Ofcourse, if we knew you were such a hot-shot pilot —”
    “He is!” Stan cried out seriously. “He saved our lives!”
    Dottie smiled. Her eyes softened.
    “I’m not so sure about that,” said Phil humbly.
    “Well, I am!” said Stan.
    “So are we,” said Larry earnestly. “If it wasn’t for Phil, we might have all drowned.”
    “Drowned? With your life jackets on?” Phil chuckled. Even with his face streaming wet from the rain, you could see it color
     a little. “Look, the four of us don’t mind,” he went on, pointing at himself and his three companions. “But don’t you folks
     care about getting wet?”
    “Yes, we do!” Dad yelled, and led the race to the car and its shelter from the storm.

10
    O n Thursday, July 21, Stan watched the start of the Clippers-Falcons game from the bench. Some of the boys sitting beside him,
     especially Larry’s brother Ray, Ronnie Woods, and Mose Finn, chattered without letting up a minute. They seemed satisfied
     just wearing the Falcons’ uniform. Fuzzy Collins was more quiet, like Stan.
    “Come on, you guys,” said Mose. “Where’s that chatter?”
    This nudged Stan and Fuzzy into some yelling, but not for long.
    Stan didn’t know about Fuzzy, nor did hecare very much. He had his own self to worry about.
    He didn’t like warming the bench three or four innings a game. Of course he knew all fifteen players couldn’t play at the
     same time, although the better ones did play every inning.
    “Got to keep in the better players so no team could shellac us,” Coach Bennett once said.
    Not playing regularly proved he wasn’t one of the better ones. That was what griped him, and made him feel the way he did
     now. The season was almost half over, and he wasn’t a bit better now than he had been at the beginning.
    Phil was right. Don’t get to love the game very much. You might get awfully discouraged.
    I’m awfully discouraged now,