“Where did you get that yarn?” asked Ed Wilson.
“It’s true,” declared the boy. “The whole town’s hunting for him. He ran into Mrs. Bilkins’ house and snatched the baby from the cradle. The man was bareheaded and didn’t have any coat. Mrs. Bilkins ran after him, screaming, but she couldn’t catch him and——”
But the rest of the lad’s story fell on deaf ears. Joe and Tom and the others had already slipped into their coats, and now they poured pell-mell out of the door, each of them eager to be first on the scene and rescue the kidnapped baby before the madman could do it harm.
They all knew and liked Bilkins, who was a bright young fellow employed in the Harvester works. Three years before he had married and brought his bride to a pretty little cottage at the southern edge of the town. Their one baby was now nearly a year old and of course the young parents were wrapt up in him.
Joe and his sister Clara had often spent a pleasant evening at the Bilkins home, and the heart of the young pitcher was hot within him as he raced in that direction, while his sympathy gave wings to his feet.
A light snow had fallen and this would have been of some assistance in tracing the marauder, but so many people had by this time joined in the hunt that many trails led in as many different directions.
Joe and Tom were circling wildly around, like hounds trying to pick up a lost scent, when a little fellow ran up to them.
“I saw him!” he cried, “a big, tall man carrying a baby! He was going down to the lumber yard.”
Like a flash Joe turned and headed the crowd that rushed in the direction pointed out.
And while he is thus racing along, it may be well, for the benefit of those who are not yet acquainted with this clever young pitcher, to mention the previous books of this series in which “Baseball Joe,” as he was affectionately known, has taken a leading part.