New Ulm review., 1912-10-30
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chuckle. Brockett smiled frankly and
evidently with self-confidence and
full renewal of courage.
mot exactly. Ramon" he replied.
I'm going to stuff 1t with something
valuable, though. Watch and see."
Deity the boy extracted some fold
ed letters from the inner pockets Of
his clothing. As deftly he crumpled
them, wound them round the rubber
center Of the ball and pressed them
into spheroid shape. Some Of the yarn
from the ball was then wound round
the bundle, and then came the work
Of resewing tho cover. This was Q
long and tedious task, but was COM
pleted in perhaps forty minutes. whom
the ball. to all outward appearances.
was again nothing but worn and
battered veteran of big league bat
Ties.
That ball." said Brockett, survey
Ing his handiwork with justihable
pride. contains the entire packet OF
letters to Gomez Esteral, and the en-.
velopes now contain sundry wholly
harmless letter-sheets I happened to
have in my pockets. think that tho
inside Of league ball is about the
last place they would think to look
for important papers,"
Pretty old ball." commented So
lano. Had rubber center instead
Of a cork core. But what good is the
ball going to do us? II we never get
through to Gomez Esteral what dit.
ference does 1t make whether the dis
patches are In ball or In an aero.
plane?"
Brockett smiled serenely. "Quit
worrying. Ramon, quit worrying. Now,
then, come closer-still closer-where
there won't be any chance of sharp
Mexican ears getting wise. New,
then, listen to mel"
Captain Juan Torrejon's bandits Ger.
tainly loved baseball, and evidently
played 1t to the best of their ability
and as often as time and place al
lowed. The clearing in which the
camp was pitched had rude dia-
mond laid out at its northern edge,
while the southern borders showed
much evidence of the tramping feet
of the outfielders. Sentinels guard.
ed the boundaries Of the camp with
gaze; some twenty Of the
bandits frolicked back and forth upon
the sward. waiting for the practice to
begin, and the rest of the operatic-
looking brigands, with their leader,
lounged around the catcher's position.
Juan Torrejon greeted his prisoners
with great courtesy. and asked II
they had slept and breakfasted we'll.
Answered In the Affirmative ~ to
both queries, . look Of genuine pleas.
ure seemed to cross his swarthy coun-
and he expressed his salts
faction at their words.
III It pleases you. caballeros." ho
went on, will you inspect the bats
md balls? Our equipment 10 doubt.
less crude and poor. but In these
Eroublous times It 10 not easy to OBJ
AIN nrst-class material. What branch
II the profession will you dsisn to IN
Itruct us In 20 . besinning?"
III agreeable to you. Captain Tor.
rsjon." said Solano, my friend win
bat up some dies. to see how your
lelders handle thsm."
"Bueno. muy bueno." Torre3on ap-
proved. II fear you will ind them
but feeble In pursuit of the bau!"
Feeble they were. They tried hard,
hese bandit Mexicans, but only the
easiest kind Of fly balls rested secure
y In their grip. After about . dozen
'alls had been dropped. solano. with
! gesture Of impatience. set OF ut q
og-trot, crossed the field and took mp
! position among the faTthest Mex.
cans, not far from the edSo e tAo i