If those fellows were trying to pull anything——
So it happened that when the game ended in a smashing victory for the Giants Joe found himself near the clubhouse and allowed himself to be swept along by the rush of his team mates.
He made his way through to Jim, who was surrounded by a group of enthusiastic players, and thumped his chum heartily on the back.
“Pretty work, Jim,” he said. “Didn’t I tell the girls you had that little ball trained?”
“It did come right to papa, didn’t it?” Jim answered, with a grin, submitting to the rub-down gratefully. “But wait till the girls see your work,” he added. “That will be the whole show.”
“Maybe it will be an anticlimax,” protested Joe, at which Jim grunted disdainfully.
“Baseball Joe, an anticlimax!” he jeered, and Joe, smiling good-naturedly, passed on.
Robson and McRae promptly collared him and engaged him in earnest conversation and Jim, being unable to disentangle Joe from the society of the two older men, shouted an “I’ll see you later” to his chum and started across the field to the grandstand where the two girls and Reggie were waiting for him.
As he neared the trio he saw that they were talking excitedly and wondered idly what it was all about. The real thing that engaged his attention, though, was the fact that Clara looked amazingly sweet and animated and that the flush in her cheeks was the prettiest thing he had ever seen.