JIM PUTS ONE OVER
As soon as Jim felt the bat connect with the ball he started down the
base line at top speed, and top speed with Jim meant covering ground
fast. Every bit of energy in him was concentrated on beating that
ball to first base, and no sprinter could have made the distance more
quickly. He was two-thirds of the way to first when Miles recovered the
ball and straightened up for the throw. Fifteen feet from the bag Jim
leaped through the air in a headlong dive for the sack, reaching it in
a cloud of dust. A fraction of a second later he heard the smack of the
ball in the first baseman’s glove, but it came too late. The umpire
declared Jim safe, and he got to his feet, slapping clouds of dust from
his uniform.
Miles really should have thrown the ball to second and tried to cut off
Allen; but, as it was, the latter reached the second hassock safely,
and a moment later stole third. Things now began to look brighter
for the home team, especially as Mylert, who was always a dependable
slugger, was next at bat.
Miles wound up and delivered a slow, elusive curve that would have
fooled most batters. But Mylert judged it to a nicety and poled a safe
one-base hit into right field. Allen and Jim sprinted around, the
former crossing home plate with the tying run.
By this time the Pittsburgh fielder had recovered the ball. He shot it
to third base, in the hope of catching Jim there. But the Giant pitcher
had already reached this base and was making for home, covering ground
like a frightened jack-rabbit. The grandstand and bleachers rose to
their feet _en masse_ and a roar of excited shouting swept over the
field.
It looked as though Jim had ventured too much and would surely be
thrown out at the home plate. But he ran as he had never run before,
and slid for the bag like a human catapult. The ball actually reached
the catcher ahead of him, but such was the force of the slide that when
the catcher tried to touch him out, the ball was knocked from his hand
and bounded over the grass several feet away. Jim was safe, and the
score stood 2 to 1 in favor of the Giants!
At that the rooters went wild, and for five minutes the racket startled
even the hardened residents of that neighborhood. Jim was surrounded
by his team mates and pounded and thumped enthusiastically. But there
was little time for this now as the game was not yet finished, and was
far from being a certainty, as the Pittsburghs still had an inning at
bat.
Mylert was still at first base, and Curry came to the bat next. He did
his best, but hit into a fast double play, which cut short the Giant
rally.
Now it was up to Jim to retain the one-run lead that he and his team
mates had acquired. The Pittsburghs were wild at having the game
snatched from their grasp so near the end, and went to the bat with
determination writ large on their features.
Now everything depended on Jim. His support could not be relied on.
He knew that if the ball were once delivered into the hands of either
Hupft or McCarney they would manage in some way to mishandle it and
let in a run or two. He realized that the only sure thing was to keep
the opposing batsmen from even hitting the ball, and to this end he
summoned all his resource and skill.
His arm still felt strong, and his control was little short of
marvelous. The first man to face him was struck out on three pitched
balls, the second fouled weakly to Mylert and was put out easily.
The third man lifted a high fly toward third base. This ball really
belonged to McCarney, but in an instant Jim resolved to take no
chances. He started running for the ball at the same instant as
McCarney.
“It’s my ball! Keep away!” shouted McCarney.
Jim paid no heed. He grabbed the ball as it descended and at the same
instant collided with McCarney. The third baseman was hurled sprawling
several feet away, but Jim kept his feet, although he was badly shaken.
But the batter was out, and the Giants had won the game.
“Confound you!” growled McCarney, as he struggled to his feet. “What do
you mean by taking that play out of my hands? I’ll get you for this,
you see if I don’t!”
“You know blamed well why I took it,” retorted Jim. “I took it because
I couldn’t trust you to make a straight play on it. And if you want to
make a fuss about it I’ll tell the whole world the same thing.”
“Aw, you’ve got me wrong,” protested McCarney, his threat changing to a
whine. “I’ve just been running in a streak of bad luck lately, and here
you and your pal try to hang it on me that I’m throwing the games. Lay
off, can’t you?”
Jim did not even take the trouble to answer this, but made the best of
his way to the clubhouse. A mob of cheering fans was pouring down on
to the field by this time, and he had to hurry his pace in order to
escape their attentions.
In the clubhouse there was a hot discussion going on over the merits of
Jim’s play. The general attitude was that “all’s well that ends well,”
though some thought that Jim should have left the play to McCarney.
However, the wiser ones had been suspicious of the new players of late,
and could guess pretty accurately the motives that had impelled Jim to
act as he did. But above all else was rejoicing that they had won the
game, and Jim was the hero of the hour.
The one thought uppermost in the pitcher’s mind was to be off in search
of his missing friend, and he was impatient of delay. As soon as
possible he slipped out of the clubhouse and set off on his difficult
quest.
In this he had little to guide him, and he had no other plan save to
watch for McCarney and shadow him, as Joe had done the day before. But
this was not so simple a matter now, for the recreant third baseman had
been rendered wary by Joe’s discovery of the gamblers’ house, and when
he came out of the clubhouse he glanced cautiously in every direction
before he started off at a brisk walk in the direction of the nearest
subway station.
The streets were so crowded, however, that Jim managed to escape
detection, and in the subway boarded the same train as McCarney. The
latter took a seat inside and Jim stuck to the platform, where he could
keep an eye on his quarry without much likelihood of being seen himself.
At Ninety-sixth Street McCarney changed to an express, and Jim did
likewise. They were whisked rapidly downtown. McCarney got off at
Fourteenth Street, with Jim still on his trail.
From that point McCarney strode rapidly westward, and more than once
Jim escaped detection by a miracle, as McCarney continually cast
suspicious glances behind him. Eventually he reached the street where
the gamblers’ house was located, and turned down it. Jim waited at the
corner, as the street was deserted and McCarney would be almost certain
to see him if he turned the corner.
From his post of vantage he saw McCarney ascend the steps of the house
and ring the bell. The door was opened a few inches and the ball player
held a short conversation with some unseen person inside, after which
he descended the steps and walked rapidly toward the corner where Jim
was observing his actions.
The latter had only time to dodge into a convenient hallway when
McCarney passed the corner, apparently on his way back to the subway
station. Jim gave him plenty of time to get well out of the way before
he stepped into the street again. He had no definite plan in mind as
yet, except to get inside the house someway and aid his friend to
escape, provided he was there. But how to get in was the knotty problem.
He sauntered down the street and past the house, examining it from the
corners of his eyes without seeming to take undue interest in it, as
he did not know who might be on the lookout. He walked on to the next
corner and stood there a few minutes, trying to think of a feasible
plan. He then started back to have another look at the place, and had
reached a point about opposite when a big automobile came sweeping
around the corner and drew up at the curb only a few feet from where he
was standing.
The car was filled with a crowd of rough looking men. Almost before
he could realize what was happening, Jim was surrounded and attacked
by these fellows. He fought desperately, but the odds were too great,
and he was carried, still struggling, to the waiting automobile. Here
he was pinned to the floor, a gag was stuffed into his mouth, and his
hands and feet were securely tied.
It was hardly two minutes from the time that the car drew up before it
was again on its way, and the dexterity of Jim’s captors spoke of much
practice in similar episodes. The gamblers, finding that the removal
of Joe from the team was not sufficient to cause its defeat, had not
hesitated to go further and abduct the only other pitching ace the team
possessed, thus making it practically impossible for it to win the
pennant.
Meanwhile McRae, not knowing of this fresh disaster, was hiring
detectives to find Joe and trying to plan a series of games in which he
might employ Jim to the best advantage in the event that Joe was not
found.
He called at Jim’s hotel that evening to talk over matters with him,
and when told that Jim had not been there since leaving for the ball
field, he became wildly excited. He hunted up Robson, and together
they held a conference. In the end McRae called up the head of the
most famous detective agency in the country and, after swearing him to
secrecy, commissioned him to hunt for the missing ball players.
“Well, we’ve done all that we can do just now, and we might as well
get a night’s sleep,” said Robson. “Don’t forget that both Matson and
Barclay are resourceful lads and know how to handle themselves. I
wouldn’t be surprised to see them both turn up in time for to-morrow’s
game.”
“If they don’t we’ll lose,” predicted McRae gloomily. “The team can’t
pull together when things like this are going on. It’s getting so
that nobody trusts anybody else on the team, and I never yet saw an
aggregation of ball players win a pennant under those conditions.”
The game next day proved the truth of this assertion. Both Joe and
Jim were still missing, and while Bradley pitched a game that would
ordinarily have been good enough to win, his team mates failed to
support him in their usual masterly style, and the game was a walkover
for their opponents, the score being 7 to 0 against them. Suspicion was
rife on the team and the outlook for winning the pennant seemed gloomy
indeed.