By Dan Beard
Fig. 280.
Hands Up.
The blank side-wall of a brick house and a bit of hard, flat ground form an
ideal field for Hand Up. With a sharp stick trace three sides of a square on the
hard ground in front of the wall, and let the wall form the fourth side and
complete the square. These are the boundary lines. Make another line on the
wall, three feet from the ground, and a taw line, nine feet from the wall, on
the ground, and you are ready to choose up for sides or toss for "first
hand up." You may have one on a side, or as many as you choose; there is no
limit.
First Hand Up takes a small rubber town-ball or a baseball and drops it in
the square at the taw line, so that it will bound, or bounce, as the boys would
say. As the ball rises from the earth the player strikes it with the flat of his
hand, sending the ball against the wall, above the three-foot line, with
sufficient force to cause it to rebound and fall outside the taw line. The next
player uses his hand as a bat, and sends the ball back against the house in the
same manner. He must hit the ball on the first bound or before it has touched
the earth. The next player is ready to take his turn and strikes the ball on the
rebound, and so the game proceeds, until someone misses, or sends the ball below
the three-foot mark or outside the boundaries.
If it is the first striker who misses or sends the ball out of the boundaries
on the ground or side of the house, then he loses his inning, and the boy on the
other side drops the ball and strikes it as already described.
If it is a player on "outs" that makes a miss, then the
"inners" count one for each miss or foul. A foul is when the ball goes
below the three-foot tin, on the house or rebounds outside the boundaries.
The Outs cannot count when the Ins miss, but they take the place of the Ins
and the Ins are out. After the first hand up or play it is unnecessary that the
ball should rebound beyond the taw line. Fifteen points make a game. In England
the boys have the same game under the name of Fives.
OHB