CHAPTER XX
THE PACKAGE OF MYSTERY
"A living thing!" exclaimed Jim, in wonderment.
"Yes," replied Joe, whose quick mind had already reached a conclusion."And I can make a guess at what it is. It's a rattlesnake!"
"What?" cried Jim, aghast. "Oh, no, Joe, you must be dreaming. No onewould send you a thing like that."
"Well, I'll bet that somebody has," said Joe, grimly. "That wouldexplain the buzz we heard just now. It was the whirr of the snake'srattles. We disturbed him when we lifted the box, and he's given uswarning that he's on the job. Lucky we didn't open the box while it wason the floor. See here."
He lifted the box and let it fall with a sharp jolt on the table. Thistime there was no mistaking the angry rattle that issued from the box.They had heard it more than once when they had occasionally come acrossone of the deadly reptiles while out hunting. It was one of the soundsthat once clearly heard could never be mistaken for anything else. Evennow, with the box closed, it sent a thrill of horror through them.
Their faces were pale as they looked at each other and realized whatmight have been the fate of one or both of them but for that ominouswarning.
"You see the dope?" questioned Joe, with an angry note in his voice. "Iwould be curious to see what had been sent to me, and would open thebox probably with my face close above it. Then something would strikeme like a bolt of lightning, and it would be good-night. I would havebeen out of the game with neatness and dispatch."
"The scoundrel!" ejaculated Jim, fiercely. "Oh, if I only had my handson whoever did it!"
"I'd like to have a hand in settling that little matter, too," saidJoe, with a blaze in his eyes that boded ill for the miscreant if heshould ever be discovered. "But that can wait. The first thing to do isto put this rattler beyond the power of doing mischief."
Jim's eyes searched the room for some weapon.
"No," said Joe, "there's a safer way than that. That ugly head mustnever be thrust alive out of that box. Just turn on the water in thebathtub."
They had a private bath adjoining their room, and Jim turned on thetap. When the tub was half full, Joe brought in the box and put itin the tub, placing sufficient weight upon it to keep it beneath thesurface of the water.
"Those air holes will do the business, I think," said Joe. "In a fewminutes the box will be full of water. We'll leave it there a littlewhile, and then we'll open the box and see if we guessed right."
At the expiration of twenty minutes, they drained the water out of thetub. Then Joe got the chisel, and with considerable effort forced openthe cover of the box.
"You see," he said.
Jim saw and shuddered.
Lying in the water that was still seeping out through the air holes wasa rattlesnake all of four feet long.
They viewed the creature with a feeling of loathing. But still deeperwas the feeling they had against the scoundrels who had chosen thatcowardly way of attempting to injure Joe. The snake, after all, wasjust the instrument. Infinitely worse were the rascals who had employedit as their weapon.
"We've had some pretty narrow escapes," said Joe. "And this is one ofthem. If you hadn't happened to hear that buzz, I might be a dead manthis minute."
"It's too horrible for words!" exclaimed Jim, "It seems incrediblethat any one could plan such a thing for their worst enemy. Who do youthink did it?"
"One guess is as good as another," replied Joe. "But if you ask me, Ishould say that the man or men who did it sat in the grandstand on thefirst day we played in this city."
"Lemblow, Hupft and McCarney," said Jim. "One or perhaps all of them.Well, why not? Lemblow tried deliberately to harm us both last yearwhen he pushed that pile of lumber over from the scaffold above us. Wecame within an ace of being killed. If he were ready to harm us then,why shouldn't he be again, especially as he hates us worse now than hedid before?"
"The box was certainly sent from somewhere in this city," said Joe,examining the cover carefully. "There's nothing to indicate that itcame by railroad. And there are plenty of rattlesnakes in this part ofPennsylvania. Some of the stores exhibit them as curiosities."
"It's up to us to put the police on the trail right away," suggestedJim.
"I don't know about giving this thing publicity," mused Joethoughtfully. "In the first place, it would create a sensation. Itwould be featured on the first page of every newspaper in the country.And you can see in a minute how it might react against baseball. Thepublic would begin to figure that gamblers were trying to put theGiants out of the race. They haven't forgotten the Black Sox scandalthat came near to ruining the game. We've got to think of the gamefirst of all. You remember what hard work we had to save the Leaguelast year, and how we had to forego punishing the scoundrels in orderto keep every inkling of the gamblers' scheme from the public. Baseballhas to be above suspicion."
"Then do you mean to say that whoever did this is to get away scotfree?" demanded Jim, hotly.
"No," said Joe, grimly, "I don't mean that. When the season closes,I'm going to make a quiet investigation of my own. And if I find thevillains I'll thrash them within an inch of their lives and make themwish they had never been born. But they won't tell why I did it, and Icertainly won't. At any cost, this thing must be kept from the public.The good of the game comes before everything else."