“No,” agreed Joe, “it isn’t. But I don’t see just what we can do about it. The chances are ten to one against his being found. Even if he were, nobody could be found probably who saw him actually throw the bottle. We didn’t ourselves, though we feel absolutely certain that he did. He could explain his leaving by saying that he was taken ill and had to leave. Then, too, if he were arrested, we’d have to stay here and prosecute him, and we can’t stay away from the team. Besides the whole thing would get in the papers, and Mabel and Clara and all the folks would have heart failure about it. No, I guess we’ll have to keep quiet about it.”
“I suppose we will,” admitted Jim reluctantly. “But some day this scoundrel who’s hounding you will be caught in the open. And I’m still hoping for that five minutes!”
[CHAPTER XX]
SPEEDING UP
St. Louis was in good form on the following day, and a perfect deluge of hits came from their bats. The Giants, too, had a good hitting day, and the fans who like to see free batting had their desire satisfied to the full. And their pleasure was all the greater because the home team had the best of the duel, and came out on top by a score of 17 to 12.
Jim was in the box on the next day, and by superb pitching had the St. Louis sluggers hitting like a kindergarten team. They simply could not solve him. His team mates had scarcely anything to do, and only by the narrowest of margins did he miss turning the Cardinals back without a hit. One hit narrowly escaped the fingers of the second baseman, as he leaped in the air for it. But it did escape him, and counted for the only hit made by the St. Louis in the game. It was a magnificent exhibition and wound up a disastrous trip in a blaze of glory.
Still it could not be denied that the trip had put a big dent in the Giants’ aspirations for the pennant. Instead of the twelve games out of sixteen that McRae had asked for, they had only turned in six victories. It was the most miserable record that the Giants had made for years.
“And we call ourselves a good road team!” snorted Curry in disgust, as they settled down in the Pullman for the long ride back from St. Louis to New York. “A bunch of school girls could have done better work.”