Part 24 (1/2)

A large number of new pa.s.sengers 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 p.r.o.nounced.

”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.”

CHAPTER XX

IN MIKADO LAND

But if Braxton sensed the slight feeling of antipathy which Joe felt for him, he gave no sign of it, and Joe himself, who wanted to be strictly just, took pains to conceal it.

Braxton had a fund of anecdotes that made him good company, and the friends.h.i.+p that Reggie felt for him made him often a member of Joe's party.

”Fine fellow, that Mr. Matson of yours,” he remarked one afternoon, when he and Reggie and Mabel were sitting together under an awning, which the growing heat of every day, as the vessel made its way deeper into the tropics, made very grateful for its shade and coolness.

”Indeed he is,” remarked Mabel, warmly, to whom praise of Joe was always sweet.

”He's a ripper, don't you know,” agreed Reggie.

”Not only as a man but as a player,” continued Braxton. ”Hughson used to be king pin once, but I think it can be fairly said that Matson has taken his place as the star pitcher of America. Hughson's arm will probably never be entirely well again.”

”Joe thinks that Hughson is a prince,” remarked Mabel. ”He says he stands head and shoulders above everybody else.”

”He used to,” admitted Braxton. ”For ten years there was n.o.body to be compared with him. But now it's Matson's turn to wear the crown.”

”Have you ever seen Joe pitch?” asked Mabel.

”I should say I have,” replied Braxton. ”And it's always been a treat to see the way he did his work. I saw him at the Polo Grounds when in that last, heartbreaking game he won the champions.h.i.+p for the Giants. And I saw him, too, in that last game of the World's Series, when it seemed as though only a miracle could save the day. That triple play was the most wonderful thing I ever beheld. The way he nailed that ball and shot it over to Denton was a thing the fans will talk over for many years to come.”

”Wasn't it great?” cried Mabel, enthusiastically, at the same time privately resolving to tell all this to Joe and show him how unjust he was in feeling the way he did toward this generous admirer.

”The fact is,” continued Braxton, ”that Matson's in a cla.s.s by himself.

He's the big cog in the Giant machinery. It's a pity they don't appreciate him more.”

”Why, they do appreciate him!” cried Mabel, her eyes opening wide with wonder. ”Mr. McRae thinks nothing's too good for him.”

”Nothing's too good except money,” suggested Braxton.