BRAXTON JOINS THE PARTY
The passengers crowded around Joe in wild delight and exhilaration,
reaching for his hand, pounding him on the back, vociferous in their
praise and congratulations, until he was almost ready to pray to be
rescued from his friends.
Mabel, starry-eyed, slipped a hand within his arm and the pressure was
eloquent. Jim almost wrenched his arm from the shoulder, and Clara hugged
her brother openly.
Naturally, Joe's great feat appealed especially to the baseball players of
the party. They felt that he had honored the craft to which they belonged.
He had justified his reputation as the star pitcher of the country, and
they felt that they shared in the reflected glory.
"Great Scott, Joe!" beamed Larry. "You put it all over his sharklet that
time."
"Straight over the plate!" chuckled Burkett.
"Against the rules, though," grinned Denton. "You know that the 'bean
ball' is barred."
The rescued man had now been brought on board. He had been too excited and
confused to understand how he had been snatched from the jaws of
death--and such a death!
He proved to be a member of the crew, a Lascar, whose knowledge of the
English language was limited, and whose ignorance of the great national
game was fathomless.
But when he had recovered and had learned the name of his rescuer, he
sought Joe out and thanked him in accents that were none the less sincere
because broken and imperfect, and from that time on throughout the trip he
was almost doglike in his devotion.
A few days more and the ship reached Hawaii, that far-flung outpost of
Uncle Sam's dominions, which breaks the long ocean journey between America
and Japan.
The hearts of the tourists leaped as the ship drew near the harbor and
they caught sight of the Stars and Stripes, floating proudly in the
breeze.
"I never knew how I loved that flag before," cried Mabel
enthusiastically.
"The most beautiful flag that floats," chimed in Clara.
"The flag that stands for liberty everywhere," remarked Jim.
"Yes," was Joe's tribute. "The flag that when it has gone up anywhere has
never been pulled down."
As the ship drew near the shore the beauty of the island paradise brought
exclamations of delight from the passengers who thronged the steamer's
rails.
The harbor was a scene of busy life and animation. The instant the ship
dropped anchor she was surrounded by native boats, paddled by Hawaiian
youngsters, who indulged in exhibitions of diving and swimming that were a
revelation of skill.
"They've got it all over the fishes when it comes to swimming," remarked
Jim with a grin. "Cough up all your spare coin, Joe, and see these little
beggars dive for it."
They tossed coin after coin into the transparent waters and swiftly as
each piece sank, the young swimmer was swifter. Every one was caught
before it reached bottom, and came up clutched in some dusky hand or
shining between ivory teeth.
"I'll be bankrupt if this keeps up long," laughed Joe.
"Yes," said Jim. "You'll wish you'd joined the All-Star League and copped
that twenty thousand."
"How do they ever do it?" marveled Clara.
"In the blood I suppose," replied Joe. "Their folks throw them into the
water when they're babies, and like puppies, they have to swim or drown."
"They're more at home in the water than they are on land," remarked Jim.
"Those fellows will swim out in the ocean and stay there all day long."
"I should think they'd be afraid of sharks," remarked Mabel, with a
shudder, as she thought of the recent incident in which that hideous brute
had figured.
"Sharks are easy meat for them," replied Jim. "You ought to pity the
sharks instead of wasting it on these fellows. Give them a knife, and the
shark hasn't a Chinaman's chance."
"Not even a knife," chimed in Joe. "A stick sharpened at both ends is
enough."
"A stick?" exclaimed Mabel, wonderingly.
"Sure thing," replied Joe. "They simply wait until the shark turns over to
grab them and then thrust it right into the open jaws. You've no idea how
effective that can be."
"It's a case of misplaced confidence," laughed Jim. "The poor trustful
shark lets his jaws come together with a snap, or rather he thinks he
does, and instead of a nice juicy human, those guileless jaws of his close
on the two ends of the pointed stick and stay there. He can't close his
mouth and he drowns."
"Poor thing," murmured Clara involuntarily, while the boys put up a shout.
"I don't care," she added, flushing. "I'm always sorry for the
underdog----"
"That's why she's taken such a fancy to you, Jim, old man," laughed Joe.
"Well, as long as pity is akin to----" began Joe, when Mabel, tired with
laughing, interrupted him:
"But suppose the stick should break," she said.
"Then there would be just one less native," answered Jim, solemnly. "By
the way, Joe," he added, "speaking of sharks--what's the difference
between a dog and a shark?"
"Give it up," replied Joe promptly.
"Because," chuckled Jim, "a dog's bark is worse than his bite, but a
shark's bite is--is--worse than his--er----"
"Go ahead," said Joe bitterly, while the girls giggled. "Perpetrate it.
What shark has a bark?"
"A dog-faced shark," crowed Jim triumphantly.
"Of all the idiots," lisped Reggie, joining them at the rail. "'Pon honor,
you know, I never heard such bally nonsense."
The gibe that followed this remark was cut short by the approach of the
lighter on which the passengers were to be carried to the shore.
They were to spend two days in Hawaii while the steamer discharged its
cargo, but they would have gladly made it two weeks or two months.
Only one game was played, and that was between the Giant and the
All-American teams. There was no native talent which was quite strong
enough to stand a chance against the seasoned veterans, although Hawaii
boasts of many ball teams.
There was a big crowd present, made up chiefly of government officials and
representatives of foreign commercial houses from all over the world who
had established branches on the island.
The contests between the two teams had been waxing hotter and hotter,
despite the fact that there was nothing at stake except the pleasure of
winning.
But this was enough for these high-strung athletes, to whom the cry "play
ball" was like a bugle call. The fight was close from start to finish, and
resulted in a victory for the All-Americans by a score of three to two.
"That makes it 'even Stephen,'" chortled Brennan to his friend and rival,
McRae. "We've won just as many games as you have, now."
"It's hoss and hoss," admitted McRae. "But just wait; what we'll do to you
fellows before we get to the end of the trip will be a crime."
The time that still remained before the steamer resumed its journey was
one of unalloyed delight. The scenery was wonderful and the weather
superb.
Jim and Joe hired a touring car and with Joe at the wheel--it is
unnecessary to state who sat beside him--they visited all the most
picturesque and romantic spots in that glorious bit of Nature's
handiwork.
"Do you remember our last ride in an automobile, Mabel?" asked Joe with a
smile, as she snuggled into the seat beside him.
"Indeed I do," replied Mabel. "It was the day that horrid Fleming carried
me off and you chased us."
"I caught you all right, anyway," Joe replied.
"Yes," said Mabel saucily. "Only to spend all your spare moments afterward
in regretting it."
Joe's reproachful denial both in words and looks was eloquent.
They visited the famous volcano with its crater Kilaeua, and watched in
awe and wonder the great sea of flame that surged hideously and writhed
like a chain of fiery serpents.
They saw the famous battlefield where Kamehameha, "the Napoleon of the
Pacific," had won the great victory that made him undisputed ruler of the
island. They saw the steep precipice where the three thousand Aohu,
fighting to the last gasp, had made their final stand, and had at last
been driven over the cliff to the death awaiting them below.
It was with a feeling of genuine regret that they finally bade farewell to
the enchanting island and again took ship to pursue their journey.
A large number of new passengers had come on board at Honolulu, and among
them was a man who soon attached himself to the baseball party. He was
tall and distinguished in appearance, smooth and plausible in his
conversation, and seemed to be thoroughly versed in the great national
game.
His ingratiating manners soon made him a favorite with the women of the
party also, and he spared no pains to deepen this impression.
Reggie liked him immensely, largely, no doubt, owing to the hints that
Braxton, which was the stranger's name, had dropped of having aristocratic
connections. He had traveled widely, and the names of distinguished
personages fell from his lips with ease and familiarity.
"How do you like the new fan, Joe?" Jim asked, a day or two later.
"I can't say that I'm stuck on him much," responded Joe. "He seems to be
pretty well up in baseball dope, and that in itself I suppose ought to be
a recommendation, to a ball player especially, but somehow or other, he
doesn't hit me very hard."
"I think he's very handsome," remarked Mabel, with a mischievous glance at
Joe, and that young man's instinctive dislike of the newcomer became
immediately more pronounced.
"He seems very friendly and pleasant," put in Clara. "Why don't you like
him, Joe?"
"How can I tell?" replied her brother. "I simply know I don't."