"I could have fanned them without any curves," he told Rad afterward.
"Well, it's good you didn't take any chances," his chum said. "You never can tell."
Again came a contest with Reedville, but Joe was not called on. Toe Barter, who had gained his nickname from the queer habit he had of digging a hole for his left foot, before delivering the ball, opened the contest, and did so well that he was kept in until the game was "in the refrigerator." Then Joe was given his chance, but there was little incentive to try, with the Cardinals so far ahead.
Nevertheless, our hero did his best, and to his delight, he knocked a two-bagger, sliding to second amid a cloud of dust, to be decided safe by the umpire, though there was a howl of protest from the "fans."
The Cardinals won handily, and as Joe was walking to the club house with Rad, eagerly talking about the game, he saw, just ahead of him in the crowd of spectators a figure, at the sight of which he started.
"That looks like Shalleg," he said, half aloud.
"What's that?" asked Rad.
"Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw someone I knew. That is, I don't exactly know him, but——"
At that moment the man at whose back Joe had been looking turned suddenly, and, to our hero's surprise, it was Shalleg. The man, with an impudent grin on his face, spoke to a companion loudly enough for Joe to hear.
"There's the fellow who wouldn't help me out!" Shalleg exclaimed. "He turned me down cold. Look at him."