The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-08-15

NU/WS/M
chuckle. Brockett smiled frankly and
evidently with self-confdence and
full renewal of courage.
Not exactly, Ramon he replied.
I'm going to stuff it with something
valuable, though. Watch and see"
Deity the boy extracted some fold
ed letters from the inner pockets of
his clothing. AS deity he crumpled
them, wound them round the rubber
center Of the ball and pressed them
into spheroid shape. Some of the yarn
from the bail was then wound round
the bundle, and then came the work
of resewing the cover. This was q
long and tedious task, but was COM
pleted in perhaps forty minutes, when
the ball, to all outward appearances,
was again nothing but a worn and
battered veteran of big league bat
ties.
That ball." said Crockett, survey
ing his handiwork with justifiable
pride, contains the entire packet OF
letters to Gomez Esteral, and the en-
veIOpes now contain sundry wholly
harmless le~tter-sheets I happened to
have in my pockets. | think that the
inside Of a league ball IS about tho
last place they would think to look
for important papers,
Pretty old ball. commented So
lano. Had a rubber center instead
of a cork core. But what good is the
ball going to do us? If We never get
through to Gomez Esteral what dit
ference docs it make whether the dis
patches are in q ball or in an aero
~plane?"
Brockett smiled s~erenely. 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 T|orrejOn's bandits cor
tainly loved baseball, and evidently
played it TO the best of their ability
and as often as time and place al
lowed. The clearing in which the
camp dS DIlNitA HuQ IL IlEt ttt-
mond laid out at its northern edo,
while the southern borders showed
much evidence Of the tramping feet
of the outfielders. Sentinels guard
ed the boundaries of the camp with
hawklike gaze; some twenty Of the
bandits frolicked back and forth upon
the sward, waiting for the practice 70
begin, and the rest of the operate
looking brigands, with their leader,
lounged around the c~atcher's position.
Juan Torrejon greeted his prisoners
with great courtesy, and asked IL
they had slept and breakfasted Won.
Answered in the affirmative as 10
both queries, a look Of genuine pleas-
ure seemed to cross his swarthy coun.
tenance, and he expressed his salts.
faction at their words.
IF it pleases you, caballeros," 10
went on, will you inspect the bats
and balls? Our equipment is doubt.
less crude and poor, but In those
~troublous times 1t Is not easy TO OBJ.
tain first-class material. What branch
of the profession will you deign to in
struct Us In as a beginning?"
IF agreeable to you, Captain Tor
rejon," said Solano, my friend viii
bat up some flies, to see how your
felders handle them"
"Bueno, muy bueno," Torrejon APP
proved. Il fear you will find them
but feeble in pursuit of the BALI"
Feeble they were. They tried hard,
these bandit Mexicans, but only the
easiest kind of fly balls rested secure
ly in their grip. After about a dozen
balls had been dropped, Solanc, with
a gesture Of i%mpatience, set OF at q
3og-trot, crossed the field and took up
a position among the farthest Mex
leans. not far from the edge Of the
! clearing.