Baseball Joe, Captain of the Team; or, Bitter Struggles on the Diamond
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CHAPTER XIX
THE WARNING BUZZ
"Matson has a swelled head," declared McCarney. "He thinks he's thewhole show. He's done us dirt, and now he's thrown you down. Are yougoing to stand for it?"
"No, I'm not!" snarled Iredell, now in the ugliest of moods. "I'll geteven with him if it's the last thing I do."
"That's the way I like to hear a man talk," said Lemblow. "I owe hima lot for the way he's treated me, and so does every man here. We allhate him like poison. Then why don't we do something? It ought to beeasy enough for the four of us to figure out some way to put the kiboshon him."
"It would be easy enough if he weren't so much in the limelight," saidHupft, uneasily. "If we put anything across on him, the whole countrywould be ringing with it. The League itself would spend any amount ofmoney to run us down."
"Bigger men than he is have got theirs," rejoined McCarney. "It alldepends on the way it's done. Now, a scheme has popped into my headwhile we've been talking. I don't know how good it is, but I think itmay work. If it goes through, we'll have our revenge. If it doesn'twe'll be no worse off and we can try something else. Now listen to me."
They put their heads together over the table, while McCarney in a lowvoice unfolded his scheme. That it was a black one was evident from theinvoluntary start the others gave when it was first broached. But asMcCarney went on to explain the impunity with which he figured it couldbe carried out and the completeness of their revenge if it succeeded,they gave their adhesion to it. Iredell was the most reluctant of thefour, but his drink-inflamed brain was not proof against the argumentsof the others, and he finally acquiesced and put up his share of theestimated expense.
The next day witnessed another battle royal between the Giants and thePirates. Jim pitched, and although his work was marked by some of theraggedness that Joe knew only too well the reason for, he held thePittsburghs fairly well, and the Giants batted out a victory by a scoreof 7 to 3.
"Sure of an even break, anyway, on the series," remarked Currycomplacently, after the game.
"Yes," replied Joe. "But that doesn't get us anywhere. That only showsthat we're as good as the other fellows. We want to prove that we'rebetter. To play for a draw is a confession of weakness. I want the nexttwo games just as hard as I wanted the first two. That's the spiritthat we've got to have, if we cop the flag."
But though Markwith twirled a good game the next day and was wellsupported, the best he could do was to carry the game into extrainnings, and the Pirates won in the eleventh.
"Beaten, but not disgraced," was Joe's laconic comment, as he andJim made their way to the hotel. "Let's hope we'll have better luckto-morrow."
"I've had a box sent up to your room, Mr. Matson," said the hotelclerk, as he handed the young captain his key. "It came in a littlewhile ago."
"Thanks," said Joe, and went upstairs with Jim to the room theyoccupied together.
In the corner was a wooden box, about two feet long, a foot wide, andof about the same depth. On the top was Joe's name and the addressneatly printed, but nothing else, except the tag of the expresscompany.
"Wonder what it is," remarked Joe, with some curiosity.
"It isn't very heavy," said Jim, as he lifted it and set it down again."Some flowers for you perhaps from an unknown admirer," he added, witha grin.
"It's nailed down pretty tightly," said Joe. "Got anything we can openit with?"
"Nothing here," answered Jim, as he searched about the room. "Guesswe'll have to phone down to the office and have them send us up achisel to pry the cover off."
"Oh, well, it will keep," said Joe. "I'm as hungry as a wolf, and Iwant to get my supper. We'll stop at the desk on our way back and getsomething from the clerk."
They had a hearty meal, over which they lingered long, discussing thegame of the afternoon. Then they stopped at the desk, secured a chisel,and returned with it to their room.
Jim switched on the electric light, while Joe lifted the box and placedit on a table, preparatory to opening it.
"What's that?" Jim exclaimed suddenly, turning from the switch.
"What's what?" queried Joe in his turn.
"That buzzing sound."
"You must be dreaming," scoffed Joe. "I didn't hear anything."
"It seemed to come from the box when you lifted it up," said Jim. "Liftit up again."
Joe did so, and this time both of them heard a faint buzzing, whirringsound that, without their exactly knowing why, sent a little thrillthrough them.
Again he lifted it with the same result.
The two young men looked at each other with speculation in their eyes.
"Lay off it, Joe," warned Jim, as a thought struck him. "Perhaps it'san infernal machine."
"Nonsense," laughed Joe, though the laugh was a little forced. "Who'dsend me anything like that?"
"There are plenty who might," affirmed Jim, earnestly. "Remember thosecrooks we saw at the game the other day! They hate you for exposingthem. I wouldn't put anything past them. They'd go to all lengths toinjure you."
Joe took out his flashlight and sent the intense beam all over thesides of the box. Suddenly he uttered an ejaculation, and pointed to anumber of small holes, not visible on a casual inspection.
"Look!" he cried. "Air holes! Jim, there's some living thing in thatbox!"