The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-28
and Mr.. and Mrs. Fred Warner. of DAN
LIKELY TO RIVAL TENNIS.



You must come out with me to see the
pelote basque. 1t is a better game than
racquets even. think it is the finest ball
game in the world"
The speaker was an old Carthusian, who
had played for the honor of the Charter
house, and therefore the writer knew that
his praise was not lightly spoken, and went
The scene was an asphalted court in Paris,
seventy-one yards long and about twenty
yards in breadth, bounded by walls of
thirty-three and eighteen feet in height at
top and bottom of IT, and down the sides
were grand stands for the spectators. There
were 1000 lookers-on good half hour be-
fore the game began, and there would have
been 500 more If room could have been found
for them.
A bell rang, and slowly, in Indian file,
| the six pelotari marched into the center
of the court and bowed. AS they did so
shout OF greeting burst from the 2,OoO peo-
| pie present.
The six pelotari. three of them with blue
sashes and fiat basque caps OF blue, and
| three of them with red ones, took up their
| positions. Each man in his suit of white
| looked, as he was, a perfect athlete per-
| fectly in training, and there was 1.-the,
panther-like spring in each mans step that
| spoke Of great reserve force and unusual
| muscle. The players put on each man his
chistera, a glove ending in elongated
| open trough of curved basket work, and
| looking like a cornucopia sectionally split,
| settled himself in his light canvas shoes,
"Ninguno, alguien' dove alb, cried, or
| rather droned the basque scorer at the foot
| OF the wall. and by the lower wall at the
| other end OF the court which marked the
! limit two zeros, one in red and one in
blue, were hung up on board for those
| whose knowledge of the language was de-
| fective.
And then the game began. The rules are
| like those of fives, but basque pelote Is like
| no other thing on EARTH and the skill and
| strength displayed by the six players are
nothing short of marvellous. One man
| serves a racquet ball of lawn tennis size
| against the thirty-foot wall. and it whizzes
| with such force from his glove of basket
work that the rebound takes IL the full sew
| enty yards, and often hard against the
| lower wall and half way back again. An
opponent catches the ball in his chistera
and hurls IL back against the wall; Ii is
| retaken by one of the other side, either on
| the volley or on the bound, and so on until
| a red or blue CARRIED player misses, when
/ the other size scores one, the scorer chants
| his plant of numerals in basque and the
| scoring board is changed. Service. which
carries much the same advantage with it
| as In fives or racquets, goes with the point,
and the side which first scores sixty is the
winner.
No one who has not seen the game can
| realize the extraordinary accuracy with
which the ball is caught, returned against
! the wall, caught by the other side, re-
| turned and caught again. The six men
seem to be In every place at once ana
| explains the wild excitement of the look
ers-op.
During a recent match one of the red
| capped team smashed the ball hard above
| the metal line which, three feet from the
| ground, marked the depth limit. 1t whizzed
as a very hard played tennis service might
the "e wall, and There's another point to to
| red" said everybody. There was flash
| of blue and white, a jar as basket work
struck kid-covered india rubber, and crack
| the ball was back upon the wall again.
| Most of the men and every woman in the
| enormous crowd of onlookers rose to their
feet and shouted.
''Chiquito, ChiQuto! Bravo, bravor was
| the general cry. There was a whirr of
dainty handkerchiefs and fans, ladies threw
| kisses to the player who had run up forty
| yards at his full speed, and after saving
the ball, had landed, with a sickening crash
and feet which shot straight out from I'M
| der him, upon his back; and when the red
man failed to take the ball which Chiquito
| had admirably placed, the melancholy sing
| song or the scorer marking eight blue
points to seven red ones was drowned in
| the clatter of money. as the enthusiasts
pelted the pelotaro, who stood and rubbed
| his head, a little dizzy from his fall, with
| two and five-franc pieces. This rain of
| money, as one man or another made mas
| ter stroke, increased the tremendous en-
| thusiasm in the crowd, and as the game
| ers and spectators rose to fever-pitch, not
only money, but fans, flowers, handker-
chiefs, and now and then rings, brooches
| and crayat pins even for the Infection
4
the asphalt.
1T is strange" the writer whispered to
| his racquet-playing friend, how hysterical
| these Frenchwomen get" But he stopped
| short there, for an American girl who sat
| behind him had just thrown down a fan of
| tortoiseshell, and an Englishman followed
| suit with five-franc piece.
| As the game went on and point by point
| the scores crept up towards the 60, the
| players became drenched with perspration
| and maddened with excitement. They did
| not run, they SKINNED across the court,
/ and not five minutes passed without a
nasty fall although none of them seemed
| to hurt themselves. The differences in the
mode of playing of the six pelotari were in
| teresting, too. Pedrito and Ayestarran,
| two popular players, were mathematically
sure. Munita, the champion of the reds,
| set his teeth hard and played with vicious.
| low aimed strokes most difficult to take.
| His face and play had something diabolical
| In them, and almost at each stroke he
made woman scream, and for Chi
| quito, fair-haired boy of twenty looking
like a freshman who had just got his Blue,
his dash and briIliancy wonderful.
| He was not perhaps as accurate or as I'M
| falling as the others, but he was every
| where at once, quivering with the excite
| ment of the game from head to foot and
| If he could not reach a ball himself his
| shrek of "Alza mutillai'' (pick it up boys)
| rang out though his life and happiness
| depended on the stroke After two hours
| hard play the game ended in favor of Chi
Quito's team.