CHAPTER XI
A STARTLING DISCOVERY
It was bright and early the next morning when the two friends salliedforth right after breakfast. The air had a tang and sting to it thatsent the blood coursing swiftly through their veins, and the deliciousbuckwheat cakes for which Mrs. Matson was famous formed no small elementin their general sense of well-being.
"Now for Talham Tabbs!" exclaimed Reggie. "I'll bet he'll be stumped atseeing me again. He thinks I'm hundreds of miles from here, if he thinksof me at all. I'm mighty curious to see how he'll carry things off."
"He seems to be an artist at carrying things off," laughed Joe, with asly poke in Reggie's ribs.
"You're right there," grinned Reggie, who could take a joke. "But youcan bet if I get that bunch of securities back, it'll have to be morethan an artist who'll get it away from me again. It'll have to be amagician, at the very least."
"I've been wondering what we'll do," he continued, "if the fellowrefuses to talk."
"I don't think he'll do that," answered Joe. "He'll probably realizethat the jig is up and make a clean breast of the whole thing. If hedoesn't I'll try my 'secret society' gag and see if it will work thesecond time. It worked like a charm once and may again."
They had to pass the hotel, and Sol Cramer, who was standing just insidethe door, motioned them to come in.
"Haven't a minute to stop, Sol," explained Joe, as they stepped inside."I'm going down to the jail with this friend of mine who has specialbusiness with that crazy man. We may stop for a minute on our way back.We'll have a little time to spare then. What's up?"
"I won't keep you long," said Sol, after acknowledging Joe's introductionof Reggie. "I just thought you might like to take a squint at the NewYork papers. They've just got in, and the sporting pages are full of thatdeal that puts you on the Giants."
Joe was getting used by this time to having his picture and his name inthe papers, but it was with an especial thrill that he noted how muchspace was bestowed on him and the flattering terms that the reportershad used in describing his prowess as a pitcher.
Flaring headlines headed each article in the various papers:
McRAE STRENGTHENS HIS PITCHING STAFF.
THE BIGGEST DEAL OF THE YEAR.
_Giants' Prospects Brighten.--Now for the Pennant!_
Below each headline was an extended story, sketching Joe's career fromthe time he had entered Yale up to the present, and all of them dwellingon his last year's work with St. Louis, and the splendid game he hadpitched against the Giants at the wind-up of the season. All agreed thatit was this game that had clinched McRae's determination to have Joe onhis team.
"You seem to be the whole cheese," remarked Sol, with a grin. "Just nowyou're the most distinguished citizen of Riverside."
"I'm afraid they're spreading it on too thick," said Joe, who knew howprecarious was a baseball reputation. "By the end of the year they maybe calling me a 'has-been' and roasting McRae for getting me on theteam."
"I'll take a chance on that," replied Sol confidently. "You've beengoing up the ladder steadily and you're bound to climb higher. A fellowwith your habits is good for ten or fifteen years yet in the bigleagues--maybe twice as long as that."
"That's what!" chimed in Reggie emphatically. "It's the old rounderswho trail along with drink and who gamble that go back to the bushes.If a man lives straight and cuts out the booze, he can last as long inbaseball as in anything else. Even after he gets a little too old forplaying, there are plenty of splendid jobs as managers."
"That's right, too," confirmed Sol. "Look at Griff and Clarkey and Jennand Connie. Why, those fellows are getting enormous salaries!"
"Well, that's looking a long way ahead," laughed Joe. "Just at presentmy job is to make good as pitcher for the Giants, and I've got my workcut out for me to do it. But we'll have to go now, Sol. Thank you forshowing me the papers."
"Save a copy of each of them for me," said Reggie. "I'll stop and getthem on my way back. I want to cut them out and send them to Mabel," heexplained to Joe, as he hurried away. "She's so interested in baseballnews, you know."
Joe knew, and he hoped that the interest had in it more of a personaltouch than her brother seemed to suspect.
A few minutes' brisk walk brought them to the jail, and Joe gave avigorous tug at the bell.
They cooled their heels for two minutes without any response, and Reggiebecame somewhat impatient.
"Your jailer doesn't seem to be an early riser," he remarked. "What'sthe matter with him?"
"Oh, Hank Bailey was never known to do anything in a hurry," chuckledJoe. "Besides, he hasn't any helper here except his wife, and I supposehe's busy in some other part of the jail."
Just then the door opened and Hank appeared. But it was a very differentHank from the boastful and self-confident individual of the day before.He nodded gloomily to Joe, and stared at his companion.
"What's the matter, Hank?" questioned Joe. "You look as though you hadlost the last friend you had on earth. Cheer up, the worst is yet tocome."
"The worst has come already," responded Hank gloomily.
"What do you mean?" demanded Joe, in quick alarm.
"That crazy man has skipped!" blurted out Hank desperately, with the airof a man who wants to tell the bad news quickly and have it over with.
"What?" shouted Joe and Reggie in chorus.
"That's what I said," asserted Hank doggedly.
"When did he escape?" cried Joe, his anger rising.
"How did you come to let him get away from you?" demanded Reggie.
"You don't suppose I let him go on purpose, do you?" snarled Hank,driven to bay. "He knocked me down and shut the cell door on me, andthat's the last I saw of him."
"Now look here, Hank," said Joe, who had gotten control of himself nowthat the first shock of surprise was over, "this is a serious thing.You've got to pull yourself together and think quick, talk quick, andact quick. Tell us now just what happened."
"It was this way," explained Hank, his sluggish nature spurred onsomewhat by Joe's sharp, decided tone. "He seemed all right when I wentthe rounds for the last time last night. Was just as gentle as a lamb.This morning, when I went in to take him his breakfast he was asleep, asfar as I could make out. I stooped over to put the tray on the bench,when he suddenly jumped up and fetched me a clip under the chin thatknocked me down, me not looking for anything of the kind. Before I couldget to my feet, he'd dashed out the cell and shut the door on me. Itshuts with a spring lock, and my keys were on the outside. Then he givesan awful laugh and runs down the corridor, and I suppose he let himselfout of the front door. I hammered on the cell door and yelled until mywife heard me and came and let me out."
"How long ago did all this happen?" asked Joe.
"About half an hour ago," answered Hank.
"I thought you had him strapped to the bed," said Reggie.
"So he was, but he had his watch and he broke the crystal and sawed awayat the straps until they broke. I've just been looking over them."
"But why haven't you given an alarm?" demanded Joe. "Don't you realizethat a dangerous lunatic is at large and may kill somebody any minute?"
"I was just getting ready to," answered Hank. "The truth is that I'm sodizzy and flabbergasted that I don't rightly know whether I'm on my heador my heels."
It was clear that it would not do to depend on the jailer, and Joe tookthe matter in his own hands.
"Come along, Reggie," he cried. "The first thing is to get downtown andgive the alarm. Then we'll set the telegraph and the telephone going andorganize a searching party. He can't have gotten so very far away, andthe chances are that we'll get him yet. Come along."
They hurried down to the office of the chief of police and told theirstory. The fire bell was rung, a thing that was done only in the caseof a fire or an escape from jail, to put the people on their guard. Thenews spread like wildfire through the town. From telephone headquartersthey called up every town within a radius of
twenty miles and describedthe fugitive. Joe hurriedly called a number of his friends together, andin a few minutes automobiles and sleighs were dashing along every roadthat led out from town. They inquired at every farmhouse, questionedevery passing traveler, fairly combed the surrounding country. All thatday and far into the night they worked like troopers, only to return atlast weary and defeated.
Talham Tabbs had vanished as completely as though the earth hadswallowed him up!