"MAN OVERBOARD"
Baseball Joe found Jim waiting for him near the clerk's desk.
"Been having quite a confab," remarked the latter.
"Yes," replied Joe carelessly. "Burkett and Red came along and we had a
fanfest."
The next day was the first of their real vacation, and they spent the
morning strolling about the city and marveling at the quick recovery it
had made from the earthquake. They had a sumptuous dinner on the veranda
of the Cliff House, where they had a full view of the famous harbor and
watched the seals sporting on the rocks.
The commerce of the port was in full swing, and out through the Golden
Gate passed great fleets with their precious argosies bound for the
Orient, for immobile China, for restless and awakened Japan, for the
islands of the sea, for the lands of the lotus and the palm, of minaret
and mosque and pagoda, for all the realms of mystery and romance that lie
beneath the Southern Cross.
It would have been a wrench to tear themselves away had it been any other
day than this, but to-day was the one to which they had looked eagerly
forward through all the month of exhibition playing, since they had left
the quiet home at Riverside, and they kept looking at their watches to see
if it were not time to go to the train and meet the girls.
They were at the station long before the appointed time, and when at last
the Overland Flyer drew in they scanned each Pullman anxiously to catch a
sight of two charming faces.
They were not kept long in suspense, for down the steps of the second car
tripped Clara and Mabel, looking more wonderfully alluring than ever,
although a month before neither Jim nor Joe would have admitted that such
a thing were possible.
Reggie, too, was there, dressed "to the limit" as usual, and with his
supposed English accent twice as pronounced as ever.
But Reggie for the moment did not count, compared with the lovely charges
whom he had brought across the continent. Of course, the boys felt
grateful to him, but their eyes and their thoughts were fastened on his
two charming companions.
"I'm awfully glad you've got here at last," cried Joe, as he rushed up to
Mabel and caught her by both hands. He would have liked very much to have
kissed her, but did not dare do it in such a public place.
"Oh, what a grand trip we've had!" declared Clara, as she shook hands
first with Jim and then with her brother. "I never had any idea our
country was so big and so magnificent."
"That's just what Joe and I were remarking on our trip across the
Rockies," answered Jim. He could not take his eyes from the face of his
chum's sister. Clara looked the picture of health, showing that the trip
from her little home town had done her a world of good.
But if Clara looked good, Mabel looked even better--at least in the eyes
of Joe. He could not keep his gaze from her face. And she was certainly
just as glad to see him.
"Ye-es, it was quite a trip, don't you know," remarked Reggie. "I met
several bally good chaps on the way, so the time passed quickly enough.
But I'm glad to be here, and hope that before long we'll be on
shipboard."
"Oh, I'm so excited to think that I'm going to take a real ocean trip!"
burst out Clara. "Just to think of it--a girl like me going around the
world! I never dreamed I'd get that far."
"And just think of the many queer sights we'll see!" broke in Mabel. "And
the queer people we'll meet!"
The girls were all on the _qui vive_ with excitement in their anticipation
of the delightful trip that lay before them, and there were no pauses in
their conversation on the way to the hotel.
Here they were introduced to the other members of the party, which by this
time had increased to large proportions, for beside the ladies who had
accompanied the players across the continent, many others had followed the
same plan as Mabel and Clara and joined their friends in San Francisco.
Altogether, there were more than a hundred of the tourists, of whom
perhaps a third were women.
All were out for a good time, and the atmosphere of good will and jollity
was infectious. There was an utter absence of snobbery and affectation,
and the boys were delighted to see how quickly the girls fell into the
spirit of the gathering and with their own fun and high spirits added more
than their quota to the general hilarity.
That night there was a big banquet given to the tourists by the railroad
officials who had had the party in charge from the beginning and by some
of the leading citizens of San Francisco. It was a jolly occasion, where
for once in affairs of the kind the "flowing bowl" was notable for its
absence. The stalwart, clear-eyed athletes who, with their friends, were
the guests of the occasion, had no use for the cup that both cheers and
inebriates.
A striking feature of the table decorations was a cake weighing one
hundred and twenty-five pounds, on whose summit was a bat and ball, and
whose frosted slopes were accurate representations of the Polo Grounds and
the baseball park at Chicago. It is needless to say how pronounced a hit
this made with the "fans" of both sexes. It was a great send-off to the
globe-encircling baseball teams.
The next day, Joe and Jim took the girls down to the pier to see the ship
on which they were to sail. It was a splendid craft of twenty thousand
tons and sumptuously fitted up. The girls exclaimed at the beauty of her
lines and the superb decoration of the cabins and saloons.
"The _Empress of Japan_!" read Clara, as she scanned the name on the
steamer's stern.
"Most fittingly named," said Jim gallantly, "since she carries two
queens."
"What a pretty compliment," said Clara, as she flashed a radiant look at
Jim.
"I'm afraid," said Mabel, "that Jim's been practising on some of the nice
girls in the party."
"Have I, Joe?" appealed the accused one. "Haven't I been an anchorite, a
senobite, an archimandrite----"
"Goodness, I thought you were bad," laughed Clara. "But now I know you're
worse."
"Keep it up, old man, as long as the 'ites' hold out," said Joe. "I guess
there are plenty more in the dictionary. But honest, girls, Jim hasn't
looked twice at any girl since he came away from Riverside."
"I've looked more than twice at one girl since yesterday," Jim was
beginning, but Clara, flushing rosily, thought it was high time to change
the subject.
The next day, with all the party safely on board, the ship weighed anchor,
threaded its way through the crowded commerce of the bay and then,
dropping its tug, turned its prow definitely toward the east and breasted
the billows of the Pacific.
"The last we'll see of Old Glory for many months," remarked Joe, as,
standing at the rail, they watched the Stars and Stripes floating out from
the flag-pole on the top of the government station.
"Not so long as that," corrected Jim. "We will still be on the soil of
God's country when we reach Hawaii seven days from now."
The first two days of the voyage passed delightfully. The girls proved
good sailors, and had the laugh on many of the so-called stronger sex,
who were conspicuous by their absence from the table during that period.
On the afternoon of the third day out, Joe and Mabel were pacing the deck
with Jim and Clara at a discreet distance behind them. It was astonishing
how willing each pair was not to intrude upon the other.
Suddenly there was a tumult of excited exclamations near the stern of the
vessel, and then above it rose a shout that is never heard at sea without
a chill of terror.
"Man overboard!"