Luckily the chums happened to know that Reggie was staying with some friends in Ridersville, a little town not far from Riverside, while he looked after some business for his father. Reggie had given them not only the address of his friends but the telephone number as well, and the latter had stuck in Joe’s head.
So now, more with the idea of pacifying McRae and Jim than from any hope of help from Reggie, Joe called the number, raging inwardly at the delay. Mabel, his little Mabel, was ill, perhaps seriously ill, and these two stood in the way of his going to her! What was a game, anyway, compared to the fact that his bride needed him? At that, it did not follow that the game would be lost even if he, Joe, were unable to pitch. What was the matter with Jim, with Bradley, with Markwith? But in his heart he knew that it was his, Joe’s, mighty batting arm as much as his prowess in the box that McRae was counting on to turn the tide against the Bostons.
“It isn’t so much what Reggie can tell us as what he can find out for us,” he heard Jim saying. “He’s only a stone’s throw from Riverside.”
Just then the telephone rang.
“Here’s your party,” came from the operator.
Joe’s tall form straightened and his expression became more tense. It was not long before he had Reggie on the line.
“This you, Reggie? Joe speaking. Joe Matson—Joe—J-O-E—Baseball Joe, get me? Yes, that’s right. Say, Reggie, how is Mabel? Have you heard anything of her lately? What’s that? Speak a little louder, will you? I can’t hear you.”
Both McRae and Jim leaned closer as Joe tried to make meaning of the sentences that floated so faintly over the wire, yet unmistakably uttered in Reggie’s familiar drawl.
“What’s that?” Joe cried. “Say that over again, Reggie, and say it slow. You saw her? When? A week ago? Was she well then, perfectly well?... Yes, I got a telegram saying she’s very ill, calling me to Riverside.... Yes, it’s the big game with Boston to-day.... I can’t help it. Mabel needs me.... What’s that you say?”
Reggie’s drawl was hardly noticeable. The urbane, bland Reggie was very much agitated. He spoke so quickly that Joe had hard work to follow him. McRae and Jim, of course, had to guess at the conversation from Joe’s part in it.