CHAPTER XXXVI.
A FRIEND WORTH HAVING.
They arrived at Merry Home in time to wash up and sit down to dinnerwith the rest of Frank's jolly house party.
"It peen some red-hot paseball practice we put into us this afternoon,Frankie," said Dunnerwurst. "Py Chorge! Der game vill play us to-morrowon."
"We'll have to play the game to win, boys," said Merry. "This Roverbaseball team is no ordinary wandering aggregation. It's composed ofprofessionals with records."
He then told them about the players who made up the Rovers. There weremany exclamations of surprise, for these men were known by reputation tonearly all of Frank's friends.
"Waugh!" cried Badger. "It's a whole lot plain We're going to have a hotrustle to-morrow. I'm seething to get into that game. That's whatever!"
"It'll seem like old times," rumbled Browning.
"I hope you're not worried about the game, Frank?" questioned Diamond."We've been practicing team work for a week, and we ought to do a goodturn at it."
"Oh, I'm not worrying," smiled Merry. "We can't win every game we play.There's something in being good losers."
Hodge frowned.
"Never heard you talk like that before, Frank," he said. "Seems to meyou think we're going to lose."
"Dot game vill nefer lose us der vorld in!" cried Dunnerwurst. "How cootit dood it? Vill der ball not pitch you to-morrow, Frankie? Vid you derbox in, der game vos as good as skinched. Yah!"
Ephraim Gallup had little to say, and his appetite seemed unusuallypoor. Teresa noticed this, and she began to worry about it.
"You must be seek, Ephraim," she whispered. "You do not eat enough tokeep the bird alive."
"I'm allus that way jest before a baseball game," he declared. "Don'tyeou mind it, Teresa. Don't yeou pay no 'tention to me. I'm all right."
After dinner, however, she drew him aside and persisted in questioninghim.
"There ees sometheeng on your mind," she said. "You cannot fool yourTeresa."
"Oh, fudge!" exclaimed Gallup. "There ain't nuthin' on my mind. I ain'tgut mind enough for that. I'm too big a dratted fool, Teresa."
"I nevaire hear you talk that way before. Ees eet the babee? That mustbe the trouble, Ephraim--you worree about the babee."
"Thutteration! I don't believe I've thought of the baby in twenty-fourhours."
"Oo, how could you be so cruel not to theenk of the babee?" murmured hiswife. "I theenk of eet efry hour. I hope you are not going to be seek,Ephraim."
"Bless ye, Teresa, I couldn't get sick if I wanted to. Jest yeou let mealone, and I'll be all right. Guess I've gut a case of fan-tods."
"What ees them fan-tods? Ees eet the same as the malaria I hear you saythey have sometimes een the United States?"
"Nope. The fan-tods are something like the blues. A feller gits themwhen he realizes he's one of the biggest chumps walkin' raound on twolaigs."
She could get nothing more out of him, and finally she sought herfriend, Juanita Garcia, to whom she confided her fears that Ephraim wason the verge of a sick spell.
Gallup wandered off by himself and strolled around the grounds, with hishead down and his hands in his pockets, occasionally muttering andgrowling in a disgusted manner.
Barney Mulloy found an opportunity to follow Ephraim.
"Come on, Eph," he said, slipping an arm through Gallup's, "let's youand Oi go for a warruk. You nade it, my bhoy--you nade it."
"If yeou'll jest take me daown to the lake and kick me in, I'll be muchobleeged to ye, Barney," said the Vermonter.
"It's moighty bad you're faling, Oi dunno?"
"By gum! I oughter feel bad. Yeou heard Frank talking about jest sechgol-dinged chumps as I be. He made me so tarnal disgusted with myselfthat I wanted to find a hole and crawl into it. The trouble was that Ididn't know where I could find a hole small enough."
"It's a livel head Frankie has, Ephie."
"You bet your boots!"
"Whin he got through talkin' Oi was ashamed to think Oi'd ever evencontimplated makin' a bet."
"And I was the blamed idiot that done the betting, Barney! I thought Iwas kinder showin' my nerve. Naow I know I didn't show much of anythingbut foolishness. Barney, I'm married. I've got one of the finest littlewomen that ever stood in shoe leather. And the kid--by gum! the kid's aripper! Together me and yeou have made a pretty good thing in thatrailroad business. I was brung up on a farm in Vermont. It was called apretty good farm, too. My old man was reckoned well off in thatcommunity, but his whole farm wasn't wuth more'n half what I've made inthe last year. It took him years of hard diggin' and scratchin' to gitthat place and clear it of debt. Daown in them parts a man that's wuthten thousand dollars is reckoned slappin' rich. They make every centcaount there, Barney. If them folks want anything that costs a dime andthey kin git along any way without it, they git along without it andsave the dime. That's what they call New England thrift. My dad had toscratch gravel pretty hard to send me to school. I helped aout somemyself, but I'd never gut my schoolin' if he hadn't pinched and savedfor me. Naow here I be, wuth more money in my own right than he's everbeen able to scratch together in his life, and I'm jest darned foolenough to resk that money on a game of baseball. I kinder cal'late we'regoin' to win that game, but it's jest as Frank says--we may lose it. Ifwe do, where'll I be?"
"Howld on, Ephie--howld on!" exclaimed the young Irishman. "Tell mesomething, my bhoy."
"What is it?"
"How much did yez bet on thot game?"
"If I tell ye, I want yer to promise never to say nuthin' abaout it toFrank. If I win that bet, I'm goin' to give every cent of my winnings tosome charitable institution. I mean it, by ginger! If I win that bet,yeou'll never ketch me in a scrape like this ag'in if I live to be fourthousand years old."
"Thot's a good resolution to make, Ephie. Ye know you can trust me.Oi'll say nivver a worrud about it to Frankie. How much did yer bet?"
"Ten thousand dollars."
Mulloy came near falling in his tracks. He caught Gallup by the arm andheld on to support himself.
"Tin thousand?" he gasped. "Tin thousand dollars? Ye don't mane it!"
"That's jest what I bet. Dad bim me for a fool!"
"Howly saints! It's crazy ye were, Ephie!"
"Call me anything yeou want to."
Barney was completely overcome. He realized that Gallup had spoken thetruth, and now he understood why his old comrade had appeared so worriedand broken up.
"Oi don't blame yez for wearing a face a yarrud long, Ephie," he said."Tell me how it happened, me bhoy."
Gallup related the particulars. As he told how Silence had sneered andmocked, the young Irishman began to grow warm.
"It's roight Frankie is about betting," said Mulloy; "but divvil a bitdifferent could Oi have done mesilf, Ephraim. It's wake and feeblecrathers we are. Gallup, me bhoy, Oi'm your side parthner. We're goingto do our bist to win thot game to-morrow. But if we lose, so help me,Oi'll nivver spake to yez again unless we take half the money Oi have inthe Wellsburg Bank! Oi'll divvy with ye to me last cint. Now do braceup, Ephraim. It's not broke ye'll be. Ye'll have plenty av time to thinkwhat a thunderin' fool ye've made av yersilf. But let's not cry over itnow."
"I couldn't take half of your money, Barney. That wouldn't be right. No,sir, I'll never do that."
Gallup clenched his fist and pushed it up under Ephraim's nose.
"Ye'll take it or Oi'll knock the stuffin' out av yez!" he said. "Ye'lltake it or ye'll have a doctor to bind up yer wounds. Thot's sittled.Come, now, let's go back to the house and make belave we're happy.To-morrow we'll play baseball loike the divvil himsilf!"