CHAPTER XVI A TENSE MOMENT
When a mysterious stranger takes up his abode in any community, there issure to be a difference of opinion regarding his true nature. To some heis certain to be a romantic figure, to others an evil menace. It was sowith the "Prince." There were those who said he was a famous youngchemist working out a formula that was to be of vast benefit to all theworld. There were others--and this was strange--many others who said, "Heis an industrial spy! Colonel Chamberlain will find this out too late!"
But what is an industrial spy? Probably there was not one person in tenwho could have told. And always the thing we do not understand is the onewe fear most.
Having heard all this, Johnny, on the day following his visit to the"Prince," buckled up his courage and walked into Colonel Chamberlain'soffice.
"Hello, Johnny!" the Colonel greeted him. "What's troubling you? Lostlast week's game? Well, you can't win 'em all. You'll win next time."
"We sure will," Johnny agreed, "but it's not that.
"Colonel--" Johnny was sitting on the edge of his chair. "ColonelChamberlain, what is an industrial spy?"
"An industrial spy?" The Colonel sat up. "He's a man paid by one nationto steal industrial secrets from another nation--new inventions, newprocesses, new chemical inventions.
"But," he added quickly, "if you think our J., the one you call 'Prince,'is an industrial spy, think again. He's not!"
"I--I'm glad." Johnny settled back in his place.
"But see here!" He was on his feet now. "Look at this, and this, andthis." He was dragging things from a paper bag.
"What's it all about?" The Colonel smiled.
"I'll tell--tell you all about it." Johnny seemed out of breath.
When he got going, however, the things he said, the proof he gave for allthe things he believed, left the good Colonel staring.
"If all you say is true--and of course it is--" the Colonel said slowly,"something should be done about it."
He went into a brown study. He drummed the desk with his pencil.
"Tell you what," he said at last, "Rome was not built in a day. Let's notbe in a hurry. The evidence you already possess convinces you and me. Butwould it convince everyone? We'll just wait a bit and see if we cannotgather more. If those two men return they will do something else. We'llbe prepared to trap them. Let's see if we can't worry along until twoweeks from--let's see--" he consulted his calendar. "Yes sir! That's thevery day!"
Johnny knew he was speaking now of something strange and quite unknown tohim.
"Yes sir!" the Colonel repeated, "You see if we can't wait to spring thisthing two weeks from next Saturday, after the game, the last of theseason. And Johnny--" he leaned forward to whisper in the boy's ear. "Ithink at that time I can tell you J.'s secret. Or--wait! Betterstill--I'll have him tell it."
"That," said Johnny in a tone that carried conviction, "will be swell!"
A moment later he found himself once more in the street. His preciouspaper bag of "evidence" was securely tucked under his arm.
After taking a dozen steps he paused to look back. Strangely enough, inhis mind's eye he saw at that moment not a brick building, but anairplane landing. From the airplane two persons stepped. One slim anddark with a dyed face, and the other was Colonel Chamberlain. Then hisown words to the aviator on that night several days ago, came back tohim: "Looks like a jail delivery."
"But it couldn't have been Colonel Chamberlain!" he told himself stoutlynow. "Or, if it was, it surely was all right." He was determined not tolose faith in a friend. "'Thine own friend and thy father's friendforsake not,'" he whispered.
Saturday afternoon came. The day was bright and clear. A brisk breezefrom the west was blowing loose papers across the diamond. "Good!" Johnnyexulted to himself. "There'll be no soaring airplane today. But that uglypair will be up to something!" His brow wrinkled. Once again he murmured,"I wonder why."
The fame of the "Prince" had traveled far. The fact that he would onceagain appear had been highly advertised. There is nothing like a firstclass mystery to draw a crowd. The crowd was there for sure. Thebleachers were packed and all available space overflowing long before thegame was scheduled to start.
The umpire had taken his place, the mysterious pitcher was moving towardthe box. Johnny was staring dreamily at nothing at all, when Goggles,with a strange look on his face, came sidling up to him.
"Jo--Johnny!" He stared through his thick glasses. He fairly stammered inhis excitement. "Johnny, you didn't see tho--those men who ca--came backto g--get something out of that bun--bungalow. Wan--want to see them?Well, th--there they are! Right over there, close to Big Tim Murphy!"
"Big Tim!" Johnny's blood ran cold. Big Tim had once been the promoter ofa Sunday baseball league. Could it be that Big Tim was trying to get theball park, that these two were his aids?
It flashed through Johnny's mind that he might be behind the group whowere seeking to get control of their ball ground. "Can it be that Big Timhas hired these men to annoy our pitcher?" he asked himself. He hated tothink this. Big Tim was not like Big Bill Tyson. He had very little moneyand he surely was not soft and flabby. Big Tim worked. "Must give him thebenefit of the doubt," he decided.
That the strangers sitting close to Big Tim were here for no good purposebecame apparent at once. Hardly had the "Prince" taken his place thanthey began to razz him.
If the "Prince" heard them, he made no sign. The throng that gatheredthat day had never seen better pitching than came from his supple armduring the first four innings of that game.
For all this, the mysterious pair became more and more personal andcutting in their shouts at that silent figure on the mound.
"They should be put off the grounds!" Goggles fumed.
"Ought to mob 'em!" Johnny agreed.
The affair came to a sudden climax as, at the end of the fourth inningthe "Prince" on his way to the bench passed close to the strangers. Thenit was that the larger of the two, leaning far forward, called him aname. He spoke low. It was not a pretty name. Few heard it. Johnny heard.The pitcher too must have heard, for his lips turned blue and twitched ina manner painful to behold. He did not speak. He marched straight on.
Big Tim Murphy must have heard, for, slowly lifting his great bulk fromhis bleacher seat, he stood towering above the two strangers.
"Look a-here!" His tone was like the low rumble of a lion. "You've saidenough. Fact is, you've said a few words too much." He cleared histhroat. "I've been watchin' these boys with their ball game. They'reputtin' on a good, clean, honest show."
Johnny felt a sudden ache in his throat. Big Tim was championing theircause! Big Tim!
"As for that pitcher," Tim went on, "I don't know him--reckon there ain'tmany here that does. But I been watchin'. He ain't done nothin' to you.Not a thing! Not here. If he's done things in other places, then you gothere to settle 'em. You can't spoil these boys' baseball game."
"_You_ don't look like a Sunday School scholar!" the larger man sneered.
"All right--" Tim's voice boomed. "Just for that, you'll apologize!"
He took a step forward. "You called that pitcher a name that in this townmeans an apology or a fight! You'll beg that pitcher's pardon. You've gotthree minutes to do it. An' if you don't, I'll pop your heads togethertill they crack like pumpkins bustin' on the frozen ground!"
"He'll do it too!" Goggles whispered to Johnny.
"But two of them!" Johnny whispered.
"Don't matter. He'll do it."
Tim had dragged a huge watch from his pocket. The men were silent. Thewhole throng was still. The chirping notes of a robin in a distant appletree could be heard distinctly. So a moment passed.
Big Tim did not move a muscle; just stood there watching the second handgo around. So another moment passed.
"All--all right." The larger of the two strangers wet his lips. "Allright, you win. Call that fellow over. I'll tell him."
"Hey!" Tim r
oared, "You pitcher! Come over here! This fellow's gotsomethin' to say to you!"
The "Prince" came. The little ceremony was soon over. Then the game wasresumed.
"Big Tim," Johnny whispered, "Even Big Tim is with us! What a wonderfultown this is!" Then a thought struck him with the force of a blow. "Ifonly I had the thought-camera I could take a picture of what's in thosefellow's minds." He was away like the wind.
He was back in fifteen minutes, but the place where the strangers hadbeen was vacant. "Gone!" he murmured as a wave of keen disappointmentswept over him.
They were gone. But were they through? He doubted that. What would theydo next? And why? There came no answer.
That was a red letter day for old Hillcrest. The gate receipts werewonderful. Never in the town's history had there been so many paidadmissions to a ball game. This crowd had come to see a mysterious youthpitch a ball game. They were not disappointed. The "Prince" lasted thewhole nine innings. After the episode of Big Tim Murphy and thestrangers, he pitched like one inspired. In the remaining innings onlysix men got on base and none came home. The score at the end stood 12 to1. Again the Hillcrest rooters went wild. Once more Johnny sighed deeplyas he murmured, "Only one more game, and the pennant will be won."
That game was still nearly two weeks off. When that game was played theHillcrest team would be back from their airplane cruise.
"Will it be a triumphant return?" he asked himself. "Will they bring homethe money needed to make the ball field truly our own?" He thought of theshort dark man who had seemed so determined that Irons O should not be asuccess. He thought of the two strangers, of the Chinaman Tao Sing, andof the Federal agents. "In that time," he told himself, "anything mayhappen, just anything at all." And, as you shall see, many things didhappen.