CHAPTER XXIII
TAKING THE LEAD
Baseball Joe wasted little time in reaching the end of the pier. Hehailed a cab at the first thoroughfare he came to and was soon once moreat the hotel.
He found his party ready to start and wondering where he had gone.
"Where on earth have you been, Joe?" asked Mabel. "We were beginning toget worried about you."
"Oh, I was just called away by a telephone message," Joe parried.
He had no desire to let the women of the little group know that he wasbeing made the victim of any hostile machinations. They would havemagnified the danger and worried without ceasing.
"Well, it's all right as long as you are here now," Mabel said brightly,flashing Joe one of the dazzling smiles that always made his heart beatmore quickly.
There had been a tenderer note in her voice ever since he had rescuedher from the reckless ride on which Fleming had taken her. She blushedwhen she remembered how she had taken refuge in his arms in her firstparoxysms of relief. It had been instinctive, and she had fled to themas naturally as she would have gone to those of her brother in similarcircumstances. How strongly those arms had held her and how absolutelysafe they had made her feel!
Barclay had been looking curiously at Joe ever since the latter hadreturned. He had been more alarmed than he would have cared to confessby his unexplained absence. Knowing his chum so well, he could see thateven now he was laboring under repressed excitement. But his chancefor an explanation did not come until some time later. It was onlyafter they had bestowed their charges in their Pullman car and had saidgood-night and had gone forward to the car in which the Giants werequartered, that Jim was able to relieve his impatience.
"Come on now, old man, and tell me all about it," he demanded.
"All about what?"
"You know well enough. Quit your stalling and come across with thestory. Where did you go? Who called you up? Get it off your chest."
Joe readily complied. There was very little he ever kept from Jim, andjust now he felt especially the need of a confidant.
Jim listened with growing excitement and indignation.
"The hounds!" he exclaimed hotly.
"That doesn't begin to express it," said Joe. "It was about as dirtya piece of business as I ever heard of. It's worthy of a reptile likeFleming."
"I'd like to have him here this minute," cried Jim. "I'd repeat the doseyou gave him yesterday."
"What puzzles me is as to who was in cahoots with him," mused Joe. "Hecouldn't have put a thing like that through alone. Think of the wiresthat had to be pulled to carry out the plan."
"I suppose the big fellow that Anderson heard talking with Fleming wasat the bottom of that," conjectured Jim. "It surely was smooth work."
"Oh, it was all prearranged carefully enough," agreed Joe. "There wasn'tanything left to chance."
"It was pretty slick, using McRae's name to get you there, too,"commented Jim. "They knew you'd do anything he asked that wasreasonable. What beats me is how they could counterfeit his voice sothat you were taken in by it."
"Well, you know how it is," Joe replied. "When any one at the telephonegives you his name you take it for granted. It sounded a little strange,but it was a pretty good imitation at that. Probably they've rung insome actor who's accustomed to mimic voices. He could easily have hungaround the hotel and listened to Mac talking, till he got a pretty goodline on his voice. Where I blame myself is that I hadn't kept Anderson'swarning in mind. But I was thinking of other things----"
"Yes," interrupted Jim dryly. "You'd just been walking with a charmingyoung lady. I understand."
He grinned quizzically, and Joe made a friendly thrust toward him whichhe adroitly ducked.
"Well, 'all's well that ends well,'" Joe quoted.
"If it _is_ ended," said Jim seriously. "They may cook up somethingelse, now that this has failed."
"I guess they've shot their bolt," replied Joe lightly. "This willprobably discourage them, and they'll give it up. But it gives me thecold shivers to think how nearly they put this scheme of theirs across."
"It was just touch and go," agreed Jim. "You did some mighty quickthinking, old man," he added admiringly.
"It was a case of must," answered Joe. "I just had to think quickly, orit would have been all up."
"By the way, are you going to say anything to McRae about this?"
"What's the use?" returned Joe. "There's nothing he could do. It wouldonly worry him and make him hopping mad, and he's got enough on his mindas it is. Besides, I couldn't tell him the whole story without bringingMabel's name into it, and I'd rather cut off my hand than do that."
Just at that moment McRae came through the car. He was in high spirits,and greeted them cordially as he sat down by them.
"Wouldn't you boys better have your berths made up?" he inquired. "It'sgetting pretty late and I want you to be in good shape for to-morrow.We'll want that game badly, too. It isn't enough to have evened up. Wewant to jump right out into the lead."
"I suppose you're going to pitch Markwith to-morrow," said Joe, afterhaving signaled the porter and told him to prepare the berths.
"I'm not sure yet," answered McRae thoughtfully. "He certainly pitchedpretty good ball in those last three innings to-day, and I'll see how hewarms up to-morrow before the game. But just at this present moment I'minclined to pitch Barclay."
Jim's heart began to thump. He had not expected to figure in the Series,except perhaps as a relief pitcher. It was his first year in the bigleague and though he had shown some "crackerjack stuff," he was notsupposed to be seasoned enough to work a full game at such a criticaltime.
To tell the truth, he would not have had a chance of taking part ifit had not been for the accident to Hughson. McRae was famous for theway he stuck to his veterans, and though he believed in "young blood,"he always took a long time in developing his new pitchers before hewould trust them in a game on which a great deal depended. Sometimeshe kept them on the bench for a year or two, absorbing "inside stuff"and watching the older players before he considered them ripe for "akilling."
But he was hard put to it now to handle his crippled staff to the bestadvantage. He did not dare to use Joe too often for fear of hurtinghis effectiveness by overwork. Markwith was brilliant but unreliable.Sometimes he would pitch superbly for the better part of a game. Thenall too often there would be a fatal inning when he would lose his"stuff" entirely, and before he could be replaced the game would havegone to pieces.
"I may pitch Jim to-morrow," McRae went on reflectively. "If he wins,we will have the edge on the Sox, and I can take a chance on Red forFriday's game. Then I'll have you, Joe, to put the kibosh on them in thefinal game on Saturday.
"But if Jim loses to-morrow the Sox will have three games tucked awayand only need one more. In that case, Joe, I'm going to pitch youFriday to even up and Saturday to win. Think you can stand two games insuccession and win out?"
"I'd work my head off to do it," replied Joe earnestly.
"It'll put a big strain on your head and arm too," said the manager,"but you'll have all winter to rest up in afterwards, and we may have tochance it."
He chatted with them a minute or two longer, and then, as the berth hadbeen made up, he left them.
"Gee whiz, Joe!" ejaculated Jim, as he crept into the upper berth, histeeth chattering in his excitement. "To think of me pitching a game inthe World Series before that whale of a crowd at the Polo Grounds!"
"It's the chance of your life, Jim," responded Joe. "You're made as apitcher if you win. And you will win, too. I'm sure of it. You had thosefellows right on your staff in that inning or two you pitched at Boston."
"Well, here's hoping," murmured Jim, getting in between the sheets. "IfI don't, it won't be for lack of trying."
It was, indeed, a "whale of a crowd" that greeted the Giants on theirvictorious return. All New York was jubilant, and comments were rifeeverywhere on the gameness of their pets in the fight they were makingaga
inst accident and hard luck.
The team was cheered singly and collectively as they came on the fieldand scattered for preliminary practice. McRae and Robson paid especialattention to the warming up of the pitchers, for up to the last minutethe manager was undecided as to whom he should play.
Both Jim and Markwith seemed to have plenty of "smoke" as they senttheir slants and benders over. But the older pitcher was inclined tobe wild, while Jim's control was all that could be asked. So with manyinner quakings McRae finally decided that Jim should do the twirling.
The crowd was somewhat startled when they saw the young "second string"pitcher going on the mound. They were well aware of McRae's predilectionfor his old players, and they wondered at his willingness to-day to takea chance.
But whatever may have been their misgivings, there was nothing but theheartiest applause for the youngster. If generous rooting and backingwould help him to win, he should have them.
There was a host of Princeton men there, too, and they gave the oldcollege yell that Jim had heard so often when as an undergraduate he hadtwirled for the Orange and Black.
But, perhaps, if the truth were told, Jim's greatest incentive came fromthe fact that Clara was watching him from a box in the upper stand, herpretty face flushed and her bright eyes sparkling. It was astonishinghow much that young woman's approbation had come to mean to Jim in theshort time he had known her.
He was a little nervous at the start, and Cooper, the first man up, drewa base on balls. He was nipped a moment later, however, in an attempt tosteal, and with the bases again empty Jim fanned Berry and made Loomischop a grounder to Larry that resulted in an easy out at first.
"Bully for you, old man!" cried Joe, encouragingly. "You got throughthat inning finely. The first is usually the hardest because you'refinding your bearings. Besides, you've got rid of the head of theirbatting order."
Fraser was in the box for the Red Sox, and it looked at the start asthough he were going to prove fully as good as in the first game. Forfour innings he turned back the New Yorks, who seemed to have lost allthe hitting ability they had shown the day before.
"What's the matter with the boys?" growled McRae, uneasily. "It wouldhelp Barclay a lot if they handed him something to go on."
The New Yorks gave him that lead in the fifth. Denton and Willissingled, and Denton scored when Cooper, the right fielder, lost Becker'sfly in the sun and it went for a double. Becker was forced at third onIredell's bouncer to Girdner, and both Willis and Iredell scored whenBerry made a wild throw of a sharp hit by Curry.
This ended the scoring for the inning, but those three runs, in thewords of Robson, looked very "juicy."
The lead, of course, was very gratifying to Jim. It seemed to puthim on "easy street." But at the same time it was dangerous, becauseit was calculated to give him, perhaps, too much confidence. Andover-confidence was a perilous thing to indulge in when the Bostonshappened to be one's opponents.
Jim waked up to this fact in the very next inning, when Waltersstraightened out one of his incurves with a mighty wallop to the fenceon which he easily circled the bases. Two more hits sandwiched in witha pass yielded one more run, and McRae began to look uneasy. A rattlingdouble play got Jim out of what had begun to look like a bad hole, andthe rally was choked off then and there.
It had been a bad inning for him, but Jim was a thoroughbred, and hebraced.
In the next three innings they only garnered four more hits, and ofthese only two were "Simon pure." Loomis got a hit past Denton when thelatter was running to cover the base. Then Stock chopped one to the boxthat took a puzzling bound and went for a single. Girdner lined out ascorcher to center in the eighth and Walters sent one to the same placein the final frame. But this was the sum total of their endeavors andthe Giants had no need of playing out their half of the ninth.
It was a very creditable victory for the "kid" pitcher of the Giants.Once more the New Yorks had the upper hand in the desperate fight forthe Series. Jim had won his spurs and could count hereafter on takinghis regular turn in the box.
The roars of the crowd were like music in Jim's ears. Still moregrateful were the praise and congratulations from his comrades on theteam. But, perhaps, he treasured more than all the shy tribute that camethat evening from the lips of a remarkably pretty girl.
"You were just splendid to-day, Mr. Barclay," said Clara, her eyesshining brightly. "Just splendid!"