“I think that’s the program just at present, but you never can tell. Something might come up that would make McRae change his mind five minutes before the game begins.”
“I’ll have an advantage over the other pitchers. They’ll only have one glove while I’ll have two.”
Mabel opened her eyes and was about to ask an explanation, but as Joe tapped his pocket, she remembered the glove that she had given him at Goldsboro and blushed in confusion.
She was never lovelier than when she blushed, and there is no knowing what would have happened right then and there, if Reggie had not come on the scene. Joe liked Reggie, but there were times when he certainly was a nuisance.
“Well, Joe, how are you feeling?” asked Reggie amiably, as they shook hands. “Not suffering from palpitation of the heart or anything like that, I suppose?”
To tell the truth, Joe’s heart was palpitating very strongly just at that moment. But it was not the thought of the big games that caused it. Perhaps Mabel could have guessed the reason more accurately than Reggie.
“I never felt better,” Joe replied.
“Going to put it all over the Chicagos, I hope,” continued Reggie.
“That’s what we’re figuring on,” answered Joe. “But those fellows are going great guns just now and it will be a man’s job to beat them. By the way,” he added, changing the subject, “have you found any trace of Tabbs?”
“Not a thing,” replied Reggie gloomily. “I guess I’ll have to charge that ten thousand up to experience. It’s coming near time to report to my father and I’d rather be shot than do it.”