“Well, s’posin’ I am? Who is there in the world that deserves it more than that young couple? We know them both. Joe’s one of the finest lads that ever wore shoe leather, and Mabel’s a peach, an’ each one of them thinks that the sun rises and sets in the other. You were young yourself once, John.”
“And I’m not so old now,” rejoined McRae. “Go ahead and get the transportation. We’ll give Joe a little surprise party.”
“That’ll be fine!” exclaimed Robbie, highly gratified. “And say, John, I was just thinkin’——”
“For the love of Pete!” broke in McRae, “that confounded thinking of yours is getting me scared. What do you want me to do now? Give the whole team a lay-off from training?”
“Not at all, not at all!” protested Robbie. “But—but there’s Jim Barclay now, just married, you know, at the end of last season to Joe’s sister, an’ there’s the two little women, Mrs. Joe and Mrs. Jim, both in the one house visitin’ Joe’s folks. I was just thinkin’——”
“Yes, just thinking!” exclaimed McRae with sarcasm, though there was a twinkle in his eye.
“Just thinkin’,” went on Robbie, “of Joe breakin’ in there to surprise them an’ of the kind of heart-warming welcome he’d get from Mrs. Joe, an’ of course from Mrs. Jim, too, seein’ she’s Joe’s sister, an’ then how Mrs. Jim would go peekin’ around Joe to see if he didn’t have Jim concealed about him anywhere and then the look in her pretty eyes when she saw that there was no Jim at all, at all——”
“I suppose all this is for the good of the Giants, too?” remarked McRae, trying to frown but not succeeding very well.
“Sure thing!” maintained Robbie stoutly. “Don’t you remember, John, how Jim was in the doleful dumps last year an’ losin’ more games than he won, an’ how you gave him a few days off to go down to Riverside, an’ how he came back an’ trimmed the other teams as fast as they came on?”
“Robbie, you old stiff, you’ve got me going!” exclaimed McRae. “Stop that blarneying old tongue of yours or you’ll be selling me the Brooklyn Bridge. I suppose we might as well do the thing up brown while we’re about it. And I feel so good about Joe’s arm that I’m willing to do most anything. I’ll make just this one condition. Jim is going to pitch this afternoon and I’m going to watch every move. If I find that he’s right up to the mark and doesn’t need any further training, he can go along with Joe. If I think he needs more training, he stays here and gets it. That’s all.”