Lester Chadwick

“ The local player at third had been watching eagerly the outcome of the supposed throw to first and was caught completely unawares.
Down came Denton’s hand, clapping the ball on his back, while the victim stood dazed as though in a trance.
It was the prettiest kind of “inside work,” and even the home crowd went into convulsions of laughter as the trapped player came sheepishly in from third to the bench.
McRae was beaming, and Robbie’s rubicund face became several degrees redder under the strain of his emotion. ”

“ With a quick wrench he tore off his coat.
“You’d better be careful,” said Braxton—no longer the suave and polished trickster, but pale as chalk and trembling like a leaf. “This is assault and battery, and you’ll answer to the law.”
“Put up your hands,” said Joe curtly. “You’re as big a man as I am, but you’ve got to prove which is the better one. And you, Jim, keep your eye on Fleming and stand by to see fair play.”
Even a rat will fight when cornered and Braxton, seeing no alternative, threw off his coat and made a desperate rush at Joe. ”

“ Then, as they realized what it meant, they set up a wild whoop which made the other members of the team, scattered about the lobby, come running, followed a scene of mad hilarity, during which no one seemed to know what he said or did.
That night the cable carried the news to New York, and from there to every city in the United States. It sounded the death knell of the All-Star League, and it went to pieces like a house of cards. The American public will stand for much, but for nothing so gross and contemptible as that had been. ”

“ Jim took up his station in the doorway, and in the insufficient light the rascals could not see whether he had a weapon or not.
“What do you mean by this?” blustered Fleming, in a voice that he tried to make brave, but that quavered despite himself.
“It means,” said Joe grimly, “that one of you men is in for the licking of his life. Don’t tremble so, Fleming,” he added contemptuously. “I’ve already thrashed you once and I don’t care to soil my hands with you again. But I’ve been aching for months to get my fingers on the man that made me out a liar and a contract-breaker. ”

“ Joe met him with a clip to the jaw that shook him from head to foot. Then he sailed in and gave the scoundrel what he had promised—the thrashing of his life.
Braxton tried foul tactics, butted and kicked and tried to gouge and bite, but Joe’s powerful arms worked like windmills, his fists ripping savagely into Braxton’s face and chest. ”

“ All over the United States he had been pictured as a contract-breaker. He could see the incredulity of his friends turning gradually to contempt. He fancied he could hear them saying:
“So Joe has fallen for that game, has he? Well, they say that every man has his price. No doubt Joe’s price was high, but they found out what it was and bought him.” ”

“ It is to be feared that Mrs. Matson’s eyes had been so riveted on Joe alone, in that memorable Series when he had pitched his team to victory, that she had not picked up many points about the game in general. But anything that concerned her darling boy concerned her as well, and she let her sewing lie unheeded in her lap as Joe read the story from beginning to end.
“Seems to be straight goods,” remarked Jim, as Joe threw the paper aside.
“They’ve got the money all right,” rejoined Joe. “They’ve got two or three millionaires who are willing to take a chance and put up the coin.” ”

“ Then, leaving the delighted girls for a few minutes, the boys hunted up McRae. They found him glum and anxious, talking earnestly with Robbie in the lobby of the hotel. One glance at the young 245 men’s faces made the pair jump wonderingly to their feet.
“For the love of Pete, let’s have it, Joe!” cried McRae. “What’s happened?”
“Plenty!” exulted Joe. “We’ve put the All-Star League out of business!”
“What!” cried McRae, as he snatched the paper that Joe held out to him and devoured its contents, while Robbie peered eagerly over his shoulder. ”

“ Inspired by their reception and put upon their mettle by the great outpouring of spectators, the teams themselves played like demons. One might almost have thought that they were fighting for the pennant.
They were so evenly matched that first one and then the other was on top, and by the time they reached Melbourne the Giants were only one game in the lead of the total that had been played since the trip began.
Melbourne itself with its romantic history and magic growth proved very attractive. But Joe was destined to remember it for very different reasons. ”

“ It was a tip, too, to the All-Americans, who, when they played the Waseda team a little later, went in with determination to win the game from the start and trimmed their opponents handsomely.
“Those Japs are the goods all right,” conceded McRae, when at last they were ready to embark for Hongkong.
“You’re right they are,” agreed Robbie.
“We call ourselves the world’s champions,” 174 grinned Jim. “But, after all, we’re only champions of the United States. The time may come when there will be a real World’s Series and then the pennant will mean something more than it does now.” ”

“ Sixty-five thousand dollars was a staggering amount of money, a fortune, in fact, in that quiet town, and yet there was not one of that little family who didn’t rejoice that Joe had turned the offer down.
“You did the right thing, Joe,” said his father heartily; “and the fact that lots of people would call you foolish doesn’t change things in the least. A man who sells himself for a hundred thousand dollars is just as contemptible as one who sells himself for a dollar. ”

“ It was maddening to the onlookers to see the distance increase between the giant ship and that bobbing, lonely speck far out in the waste of waters.
With all the celerity possible the great steamer swung round in a circle and bore down upon the 151 struggling swimmer, while at the same time preparations were made to lower a boat as soon as they should be near enough.
“They’re going to save him!” cried Mabel, half-sobbing in her excitement. “Oh, Joe, they’re going to save him after all!” ”

“ If ever a man had earned a rest it was Joe, and, as we have seen, he was taking it now in his home town. Jim Barclay, a fine young Princeton man and second-string pitcher on the Giants, had come with him, not so much, it is to be suspected, because of his fondness for Joe, though that was great, as to be near Clara, Joe’s charming sister, who had been working all sorts of havoc with poor Jim’s heart. ”

“ We’re the ones that the public come to see, but it’s the bosses that get all the money.”
“Lay off on that ‘poor, down-trodden slave’ talk, Nick,” said Joe earnestly. “You know as well as I do that there are mighty few fellows who get as well paid for six months’ work as we ball players do. But, leave that out of the question for a minute—don’t you suppose the backers of this new league are just as eager to make money 43 out of us as anybody else? Do you think they’re in the game for the sport of it? And don’t you know that the coming of a new league just now is likely to wreck the game? ”

“ Iredell came back at him.
“Cake is good,” agreed Joe, “but the point is that if a man has agreed to take bread and butter, it’s up to him to stand by his agreement. A man’s word is the best thing he has, and if he is a man he’ll hold to it.”
“You seem to be taking a lot for granted, Joe,” said Burkett, a little stiffly. “Who is talking of breaking his word? We’ve got a right to talk about our contracts, haven’t we, when we think the owners are getting the best end of the deal?” ”

“ The game at Dublin, which commenced auspiciously for the Giants, was turned into a rout by a rally of the All-Americans in the ninth. A rain of bingles came from their bats and they won easily with six runs to spare.
“Got it in the neck that time, old man,” said Joe to Jim, after the game. “But we can’t always win. What do you say to getting a buzz wagon and taking a little spin out into the country? The girls will be getting ready for that reception at the Viceroy’s castle, and they’ll be too busy dolling up to care what becomes of us.” ”

“ Robbie, who had come up just in time to hear Joe’s last words, gave him a resounding thump on the back.
“That’s the way to talk, Joe, old boy!” he cried. “I’ve been telling Mac all along that no matter who else weakens he could bet his last dollar on you.”
“Not that I needed any bracing up,” declared McRae. “I know a man when I see one, and I count on you to the limit. I didn’t send that telegram because I had any doubt, but I knew that they’d make a break for you first of all and I didn’t want you to be taken by surprise. ”

“ It would be a remarkable thing to go around the world and win every game.”
“Yet it might be done,” broke in Jim.
“I suppose there’ll be quite a party going along with the teams, just for the sake of the trip,” observed Joe.
“You’ve said it,” replied Hughson. “At least half of the men will have their wives along, and then there’s a whole bunch of fans who have been meaning to go round the world anyway who will think this a good chance to mix baseball and globe trotting. Altogether I shouldn’t wonder if there would be about a hundred in the party. ”

“ They had a sumptuous dinner on the veranda of the Cliff House, where they had a full view of the famous harbor and watched the seals sporting on the rocks.
The commerce of the port was in full swing, and out through the Golden Gate passed great fleets with their precious argosies bound for the Orient, for immobile China, for restless and awakened Japan, for the islands of the sea, for the lands of the lotus and the palm, of minaret and mosque and pagoda, for all the realms of 144 mystery and romance that lie beneath the Southern Cross. ”

“ The wrestler sauntered away from the plate with the same bland smile on his yellow face while the crowd cheered him. He had turned the tables, and the laugh was on Joe and his fellow players.
“But why,” asked Jim, after the game had resulted in a victory for the visitors by a one-sided score, and he was walking back with Joe to the hotel, “did he make such a miserable flunk at the first two balls? Was he kidding us?”
“Not at all,” grinned Joe. “It’s because the Chinamen are the greatest imitators on earth. He saw that Larry missed the first two and so he did the same. ”

“ The 141 fellows that jumped, in the old Brotherhood days, thought they were going to better themselves, but they simply got in bad with the public and nearly ruined the game. This new league will promise all sorts of things, but how do you know it will keep them? What faith can you put in men who try to induce other men to be crooked?”
“Well, you know, with most men business is business, as they put it.”
“I admit business is business. But so far as I am concerned, it is no business at all if it isn’t on the level,” answered Joe earnestly. ”

“ I tell you, there’s brains behind this new league and that’s what’s worrying me. I don’t know whether it’s Fleming——”
“No,” interrupted Joe, smiling contemptuously, as he thought of the dissipated young fellow whom he had thrashed so soundly. “It isn’t Fleming. He’s got money enough, but there’s a vacuum where his brains ought to be.”
“Then it’s his partners,” deduced McRae. “And their brains with his money make a strong combination.”
“Well,” comforted Joe, “there’s one good thing about this trip, anyway. You’ve got the Giants out of reach of their schemes.” ”

“ I should think this country had had baseball enough for one season.”
“Not when the Giants and an All-American team are the players,” replied Joe. “The people will come out in crowds—they’ll fairly beg us to take their money.”
“And it will be worth taking,” chimed in Jim. “Do you know how much money the teams took in before they reached the coast on their last World’s Trip? Ninety-seven thousand dollars. Count them, ladies and gentlemen—ninety-seven thousand dollars in good American dollars!” ”

“ If the new league started in with unknown players, it wouldn’t take in enough money to pay the batboys. The consequence is that it tries to get the players who are already under contract by making them big offers, and that leads to all sorts of dishonesty. You take a man who is making three thousand a year and offer him six 6 if he’ll break his contract, and it’s a big temptation.”
“They’ll be after you, Joe, sure as shooting,” remarked Jim. “It would be a big feather in their cap to start off with copping the greatest pitcher in the game. They’d be willing to offer you a fortune to get you. ”

“ But the horrified onlookers saw something else, that ominous, awful fin, that came rushing on like a relentless fate toward its intended prey.
Some of the women were sobbing, others almost fainting, while the men, pale and with gritted teeth, groaned at their helplessness.
It was a question now of which would reach the luckless man first, the boat or the shark. The boat was nearer and the men were rowing like demons, but the shark was swifter, coming on like an express train. ”

“ That skunk thought that I had seen him, and slipped into the saloon to get out of sight. Probably he went out through a rear door and has been following us ever since.”
“But why——” began Joe.
“Why?” repeated Jim. “Why does a crazy man do crazy things? Just because he is crazy. He doesn’t have to have a reason. If he thinks you’ve injured him he’s just as bitter as though you really had. Hughson’s tip was a good one, Joe. The fellow’s deadly dangerous. It’s only luck that he isn’t a murderer this minute.” ”