The time came for them to go out onto the field. Old Joe had been silently smoking in the dressing-room, but, at the last moment before going out, he spoke to Dick.
“Play heap smart to-day,” he said. “Show what um can do. You give um big s’prise.”
“I do not feel like playing baseball,” confessed the boy. “I cannot forget Pleasant Valley and home.”
“Great warrior him forgit ev’rything. You got Injun heart. No forget it.”
Then he touched the boy in a queer way with his hand, and Dick straightened up, saying:
“I’ll not forget it, Joe. I’ll try not to make you ashamed of me, see if I don’t.”
“Much good!” grunted Crowfoot.
“You are to sit on the bench with us,” said Dick. “Frank said you were.”
“Joe him be there.”