“If he writes the agent you can make up your mind he hasn’t,” said Nick, as the party came to a pause on a corner, where, as a rule, they were accustomed to separating, each one heading for his own home.
“Wait a little, boys. I think I see Josh coming away back there,” remarked Jack, when one of the others made some remark about “seeing you later, fellows!”
“Looks like he was in a big hurry, too?” suggested Nick.
“Well, he is half running, to be sure,” admitted George.
“And there he goes waving his hand to us,” mentioned Herb. “I guess Josh wants us to wait up for him here. Perhaps he’s got something to tell us.”
“Or it may be he just wants to wring the hand of our friend Buster, and tell him, with tears in his eyes, how delighted he was to have him save the day for our team,” and Jack, as he said this, winked at George; for it was a notorious fact that Josh and the fat boy were forever playing pranks on each other, and often saying disagreeable things; that, however, ended in nothing harder than a little froth and bubble, since it was only surface and make-believe animosity after all.
“Don’t you believe it,” declared the hero of the late game, shaking his head in an aggressive way. “Josh was the next batter up, and I just know he thinks I swatted that ball to cheat him out of the glory. For he had his mind made up to send the horsehide over the fence for a home run.”
“Well,” laughed Jack, “never wait to see what the next batter is going to do. When the chance comes you just poke that ball out into deep center, and then roll down to first as fast as you can. Then perhaps he’ll bring you home with his big hit. But Josh is getting here, and we’ll soon know now what ails him.”
“Don’t you go to borrowing trouble too soon?” warned Herb. “I know Josh pretty well, and how he likes to joke. He’s a false alarm, that’s what.”
“But he looks serious enough right now,” said George, with whom the runner was to keep company on this new cruise they had planned; and who, therefore, felt an especial interest in Josh.