the Shortstop (1992) (10 page)

Mittie-Maru watched them with bright, sharp eyes, and laughed whe
n
Chase broke into embarrassed speech again.

" - finest time I ever had. I tol
d
Mittie about it, how they sold me a lot of old maid's things. I sent som
e
of them to my mother. And I asked Mittie if he could use a pin-cushio
n
or two. I've been hunting Mittie all morning. Found him fishing dow
n
here. He's got the cutest little den in a kiln at the old brickyard below.

He lives there. It's the cosiest place "

Mittie had administered to Chase a series of violent kicks, the last o
f
which had brought him to his senses.

" Chase, you peached on me. You give me away, an' you said yo
u
wouldn't!"

" Oh! Mittie, I 'm sorry - I didn't think," cried Chase in contrition.

" Is it true? " asked Marjory, with grave eyes.

" Sure. An' I don't mind yer knowin'. Really I don't, if you'll promise no
t
to tell a soul."

" I promise. Will you let me come to see you? "

" I'd be tickled to death. You an' Chase come to call on me. I'll ketch yo
u
a mess of fish. Won't thet be fine?"

Marjory's long lashes fell. The sound of a bell came ringing through the grove.

" That's for me. I must be going. Good-bye."

Chase and Mittie watched the slight blue-clad figure flit along the path
,
in and out among the trees, to disappear in the green.

" An I promised to go to Sunday school again," muttered Mittie-Maru.

Chapter
IX.

ON THE ROAD
.

AT six o'clock on the twelfth of June the Findlay baseball club, fifteen strong, was assembled at the railroad station to begin a two weeks' trip on the road. Having taken three games from Columbus, and being now but a few points behind that team, they were an exceedingly lively company of young men. They were so exuberant with joy that they made life a burden for everybody, particularly for Mac. The little manager had trouble enough at home, but it was on the road that he got his gray hairs. " Shure, Cas, you ain't after takin' thet dog again?" asked Mac.

Castorious had a vicious-looking beast, all head and jaws, under his arm. "Dog!" roared Cas, insulted. "This 's a blooded bull-terrier pup. Course I'm going to take him. We can't win the pennant without Algy."

" Algy? Is thet his name? " burst out Mac, who had already exhausted hi
s
138.
p
atience. " Thet's a fine name for a mongrel brute. He 's uglier than a mud fence."

As Mac concluded, a rat ran across the platform. Algy saw it, and with a howl wriggled out of his master's arms and gave chase. The platform was crowded with people, of whom ladies made up the greater part. Algy chased the rat from under the trucks and between the trunks right into the crowd. Instantly a scene of great excitement prevailed. Women screamed and rushed frantically into each others' arms; some fell over their grips; several climbed upon trunks; all of them evinced a terror that must have had its origin in the movements of the escaping rat, not the pursuing pup. And the course of both animals could be marked by a zigzag line of violent commotion in the crowd.

Presently a woman shrieked and seemed to sit down upon a moving object only to slip to the floor. Algy appeared then with the rat between his jaws. " It was a cinch he'd get it," yelled Cas. He gathered up the pup and hid him under his coat.

"Line up! Line up!" shouted Mac, as the train whistled.

The players stepped into a compact, wedge-shaped formation; and when the train stopped in the station they moved in orderly mass through the jostling mob. Ball players value a rest to tired legs too much to risk standing up, and even in the most crowded stations always board the train first.

"Through to the Pullman!" yelled Mac.

Chase was in the seventh heaven of delight. He had long been looking forward to what the players called " on the road." and the luxurious Pullman suited his dreams of travel. He and Winters took a seat opposite a very stout old lady who gazed somewhat sourly at them. Havil and Thatcher were on the other side of the aisle; Cas had a seat in the forward end; Mac was behind; and the others were scattered about. There were some half-dozen passengers besides, notable among whom was a very tall, thin, bald-headed man sitting in front of Havil. Chase knew his fellow-players too wel
l
-by this time to expect them to settle down calmly. "On the road" was luxury for ball players. Fast trains, the best hotels, all expenses paid, -these for a winning baseball team were things to appreciate. Chase settled back in the soft cushioned seat to watch, to see, to enjoy every move and word of his companions.

" Where will we sleep?" he asked Winters. "Never on a sleeper?"

Chase smiled and shook his head. Then Enoch began to elaborate on the beds that were let down from the ceiling of the car, and how difficult they were to get into and out of, especially the latter in case of fire, which broke out very frequently on Pullmans.

" An' if anybody yells 'Fire!' you skedaddle to the fire-escape," conclude
d
Enoch.

"Fire-escape? On a train? Where is it?" queried Chase, wonderingly.

" Don't you know where the fire-escape is?" asked Enoch, in innocent surprise. His round owl eyes regarded Chase in
a
most kindly light. "Well, you ask the porter. He'll take an' show you."

Straightway Chase forgot it in the interest of other things. The train wa
s
now in smooth, rapid motion; the fields and groves and farms flashed by.

He saw the conductor enter the car and stand by Cas. Cas looked up
,
and then went on calmly reading his paper.

"Tickets," said the conductor, sharply. Cas paid not the slightes
t
attention to him.

"Tickets," repeated the conductor, getting red in the face. He tapped Ca
s
not lightly on the shoulder.

" Wha-at ? " demanded Cas.

" Your ticket! I don't wish to be kept waiting. Produce your ticket. "

" I don't need a ticket to ride on this bum road."

The conductor looked apoplectic. He reached up to grasp the bell-cord. "

Your ticket, or I 'll stop the train and put you off."

" Put me off! I'd like to have a tintype of your whole crew trying to put m
e
off this train."

Mac came into the car, and divining how matters stood, hurried forward to produce his party ticket. The conductor, still in high dudgeon, passed on down the aisle.

" Good-evenin', Mr. Conductor, this 's fine weather for travellin'," said Enoch, in his soft voice. The conductor glanced keenly at him, but evidently disarmed by the placid round face and kind round eyes, replied in gracious affirmation.

Enoch whispered in Chase's ear, " Wait till the crew finds Cas's bulldog Don't miss thet ! "

Some thirty miles out of Findlay the train stopped at a junction. A number of farmers were lounging round the small station. Enoch raised the window and called one of them.

" Hey! What's the name of this place? " he asked of the one who ap!proached, an angular, stolid rustic in overalls and top boots.

"Brookville, mister," was the civil reply. ' " Brookville ! Wal, I swan! You don't say ! Fellow named Perkins live here?"

" Yep. Hiram Perkins."

" Hiram -Hiram Perkins, my ole friend." Enoch's round face beamed with an expression of benign gratitude, as if he would, were it possible, reward the fellow for his information. "Tell Hiram his ole friend Si Hayrick was passin' through an' sends regards. Wal, how 's things? Ploughin' all done? You don't say! An' corn all planted? Do tell! An' the ham-trees grown' all right? "

" Whet?" questioned the farmer, plainly mystified, leaning forward.

" How 's yer ham-trees? "

"Never heerd of sich."

" Wal, dog-gone me! Why, over in Indianer our ham-trees is sproutin' powerful. An' how about bee's knees? Got any bee's knees this Spring?"

The rustic stretched his long neck. Then as the train started off Enoch put his head out of the window and called: " Rubber-neck! Rubber-neck! "

The stout lady in the opposite seat plainly sniffed her disgust at these proceedings on the part of a grown man. His innocent round stare in no wis
e
deceived her. She gave him one withering glance, adjusted he
r
eye-glass, and went on reading. Several times following that, she raise
d
a hand to her face, as if to brush off a fly. But there was no fly. Sh
e
became restless, laid aside her magazine, and rang for the porter.

" Porter, close the window above. Cinders are flying in on me."

"Window 's closed, ma'am," returned the porter.

"Something is most annoying. I am being stung in the face by somethin
g
sharp," she declared testily.

" Beggin' yo pahdon, ma'am, yo sho is mistaken. There's no flies o
r
muskeeters in my car."

"Don't I know when I'm stung?"

The porter, tired and crushed, wearily went his way. The stout lad
y
fumed and fussed, and fanned herself with a magazine. Chase kne
w
what was going on and was at great pains to contain himself. Enoch'
s
solemn owl face was blank, and Havil, who was shooting shot an
d
causing the lady's distress, bent a pale, minis!
t
erial countenance over his paper. Chase watched him closely, saw hi
m
raise his head at intervals when he turned a leaf of his paper, but coul
d
see no movement of his lips. He became aware, presently, when Havi
l
changed his position, that the attack was now to be directed upon th
e
bald-headed man in the forward seat.

That individual three times caressed the white spot on his head, an
d
then looking in the air all about him, rang for the porter.

" Porter, drive the flies out of the car."

"They ain't no flies, suh."

" Don't talk back to me. I'm from Georgia. Blacks don't talk back to m
e
where I live."

"Yo mought be from a hotter place than Georgia, suh, fer all I care,"
r
eplied the porter, turning at the last, like a trodden worm.

" I am annoyed, annoyed. Something has been dropping on my head.

Maybe it 's water. It comes dot, dot, like that."

" Spect yo'se dotty, suh ! " said th
e
negro, moving off. "An' yo sho ain't the only dotty passenger this trip."

The bald-headed man resumed his seat. Unfortunately he was so tall that his head reached above the seat, affording a most alluring target for Havil. Chase, watching closely, saw the muscle along Havil's jaw contract, and then he heard a tiny thump as the shot struck much harder than usual. The gentleman from Georgia jumped up, purple in the face, and trembled so that his newspaper rustled in his hand.

"You hit me with something," he shouted, looking at Thatcher, for the reason, no doubt, that no one could associate Havil's sanctimonious expression with an untoward act.

Thatcher looked up in great astonishment from the book in which he had been deeply interested. The by-play had passed unnoticed so far as he was concerned. Besides, he was ignorant of Havil's genius in the shot-shooting line, and he was a quiet fellow, anyway, but quick in temper.

"No, I didn't," he replied.

The Southerner repeated his accusation.

"No, I didn't, but I will jolt you one," returned Thatcher, with some heat.

" Gentlemen, this is unseemly, especially in the presence of ladies," interposed Havil, rising with the dignity of one whose calling he appeared to represent.

" Most unseemly! My dear sir, calm yourself. No one is throwing things at you. It is only your imagination. I have heard of such cases, and fortunately my study of medicine enables me to explain. Sometimes on a heated car a person's blood will rise to the brain and, probably because of the motion, beat so as to produce the effect of being lightly struck. This is most often the case in persons whose hirsute decoration is slightly worn off - er, in the middle, you know."

The gentleman from the South sputtered in impotent rage and stamped off toward the smoking-car.

" Dinner served in the dining-car ahead," called out a white-clad waiter; and this announcement hurried off th
e
passengers, leaving the car to the players, who had dined before boarding the train.