Baseball Joe Around the World Part 19

"Of course I put the ball on him," declared Mackay. "I must have. When I fell on him I hit him everywhere at once."

The umpire finally decided that Mackay had not put the ball on Curry, and the red-headed right-fielder chuckled at the thought of the run he had scored.

"That makes it horse and horse," said the umpire. "Get back to your places."

If he thought he was at the end of his troubles he was mistaken, for Everett suddenly cried out:

"Look here. You said that Mackay caught that ball, didn't you?"

"That's what I said," snorted the umpire.

"Well, then," crowed Everett triumphantly, "why didn't Curry go back to third and touch the bag before he lit out for home? He has to do that on a caught fly ball, hasn't he?"

The umpire looked fairly stumped. Here was something on which the rules were explicit. It was certain that Curry should have returned to the base and it was equally certain that he hadn't. Mackay had caught him half-way between third and home.

But McRae was equal to the occasion.

"Suppose he did have to," he cried. "You said that Mackay hadn't touched him and he's free to go back yet."

"And I'm free to touch him with the ball," Mackay came back at him.

"But the ball isn't in play," put in Robbie, adding his mite to the general confusion. "You called time when you came in to settle this."

"Who wouldn't be an umpire?" laughed Jim to Joe, as he saw the look of despair on that worried individual's face.

"The most glorious mixup I ever saw on the ball field," answered Joe.

"'How happy he could be with either were 'tother dear charmer away,'"

chuckled Jim, pointing to the two pugnacious disputants on either side of the umpire.

"Curry's out--Curry isn't out. Love me--love me not," responded Joe.

By this time the crowd had got over their laugh and impatiently demanded action. The umpire cut the Gordian knot by sending Curry back to third, where he and Mackay chaffed each other and the game went on.

It was not much of a game after that, however, as the laughable incident had put all the players in a more or less frivolous mood. It finally ended in a score of six to three in favor of the All-Americans, and the teams made a break for the showers.

"The last game we play on American soil for many moons," remarked Joe, as, having bathed and dressed, the two young athletes strolled toward their hotel.

"And every one of them a victory," observed Jim. "Not a single mark on the wrong side of the ledger!"

"That game at Denver was the closest call we had," said Joe. "The trip so far has been a big money-maker, too. McRae was telling me yesterday that we'd already topped ninety-five thousand, and there was ten thousand in that crowd to-day if there was a penny."

"I guess Mac won't have any trouble in buying steams.h.i.+p tickets," laughed Jim. "By the way, we haven't had a look at the old boat yet. Let's go down to-morrow and inspect her."

"Why not make it the day after to-morrow?" suggested Joe. "The girls will be here by that time and we'll take them with us."

"That will suit me, Joe."

"I've been thinking of something, Jim," went on the crack pitcher, after a pause. "It won't be long now before we leave America. What do you say if we do a little shopping, and buy some things for ourselves and for the girls?"

"Say, that's queer! I was thinking the same thing." Jim paused for a moment. "Won't it be fine to have the others with us again?"

"Yes; I'll be very glad to see Mabel, and glad to see Clara, too. I suppose you've been getting letters pretty regularly, eh, Jim?"

"I don't believe I've been getting any more letters than you have, Joe,"

returned the other.

"Well, you're welcome to them, Jim. I wish you luck!" said Joe, and placed a hand on his chum's shoulder. For a moment they looked into each other's eyes, and each understood perfectly what was pa.s.sing in the other's mind.

But Jim just then did not feel he could say too much.

"I'll be glad to see Reggie again, too," remarked Joe, after a moment of silence. "He's something of a queer stick, but pretty good at that."

"Oh, he's all right, Joe," answered Jim. "As he grows older and sees more of the seamy side of life, he'll get some of that nonsense knocked out of him."

They ate their supper that night with a sense of relaxation to which they had long been strangers. For the first time since they had gone to the training camp at Texas in the spring, they were out of harness. There had been the fierce, tense race for the pennant that had strained them to the utmost.

Then, with only a few days intervening, had come the still more exciting battle for the champions.h.i.+p of the world. They had won and won gloriously, but even then they had not felt wholly free, for the long trip across the continent which they had just finished was then before them, and although this struggle had been less close and important, it had still kept them on edge and in training.

But now their strenuous year had ended. Before them lay a glorious trip around the world, a voyage over summer seas, a pilgrimage through lands of mystery and romance, the fulfillment of cherished dreams, and with them were to go the two charming girls who represented to them all that was worth while in life and who even now were hurrying toward them as fast as steam could bring them.

"This is the end of a perfect day," hummed Jim, as he sat back and lighted a cigar.

"You're wrong there, Jim," replied Joe, with a smile. "The perfect day will be to-morrow."

"Right you are!"

Yet little did Baseball Joe and his chum dream of the many adventures and perils which lay ahead of them.

CHAPTER XVI

PUTTING THEM OVER

As the two baseball players sauntered down the corridor after supper they chanced upon Iredell. He was sitting at a reading table, intent upon a letter which had attached to it what looked like an official doc.u.ment of some kind.

It was a chance for which Joe had been looking, and he gave Jim a sign to go on while he himself dropped into a seat beside the famous shortstop.

"How are you, Dell, old boy?" he said, genially.

"Able to sit up and take nourishment," replied the other, at the same time thrusting the doc.u.ment into his pocket with what seemed like unnecessary haste.

"Most of the boys are that way," laughed Joe. "There are just two things that every ball player is ready to do, take nourishment and nag the umpire."

Iredell laughed as he bit off the end of a cigar.