"Oh, I'm so glad that you've got here at last!" exclaimed Clara, as she placed an affectionate hand on Mabel's shoulder.

"And you may be sure that I'm glad that I am here," was the happy response. "I declare, this place almost feels like home to me."

"Well, you know, we want it to feel like home to you, Mabel," answered Joe's sister, and looked so knowingly at the visitor that Mabel suddenly began to blush.

In the meantime, Joe had taken Reggie to the room which the young man was to occupy during his stay. Joe carried both of the bags, which were rather heavy, for the fashionable young man was in the habit of taking a good share of his wardrobe along whenever he left home.

"Some weight to one of these bags, Reggie," remarked Joe good-naturedly, as he deposited the big Gladstone on the floor with a thud. "You must have about three hundred and fifteen new neckties in there."

"Bah Jove, that's a good joke, Joe, don't you know!" drawled Reggie. "But you're wrong, my boy; I haven't more than ten neckties with me on this trip."

"Say, I'm glad to know you've got so many. Maybe I'll want to borrow one,"

went on Joe, continuing his joke.

"Of course you can have one of my neckties if you want it, Joe," returned the fashionable young man quickly. "I've got a beautiful lavender one that ought to just suit you. And then there is a fancy striped one, red and green and gold, which is the most stunning thing, don't you know, you ever saw. I purchased it at a fashionable shop on Fifth Avenue the last time I was in New York. If you wore that tie, Joe, you would certainly make a hit."

"Well, you see, I'm not so much of a hitter as I am of a pitcher,"

returned Joe; "so I guess I'd better not rob you of that tie. Come to think of it, I got several new ties myself last Christmas and on my birthday. I think they'll see me through very nicely. But I'm much obliged just the same. And now, Reggie, make yourself thoroughly at home."

"Oh, I'll be sure to do that," returned Mabel's brother. "You're a fine fellow, Joe; and I often wonder how it was I quarreled with you the first time we met."

"We'll forget about that," answered Joe shortly.

Naturally the men returned to the living room first, and while they were waiting impatiently for the girls to rejoin them, Joe caught sight of a letter resting against the clock on the mantelpiece.

He took it up and saw that it was addressed to himself, and that it bore the postmark of New York. He recognized the handwriting at once.

"It's from McRae," he said. "The second message I've received from the old boy to-day, counting the telegram this morning. Excuse me, fellows, while I look it over."

He tore it open hastily and read with glowing interest and excitement.

"The World Tour's a go!" he cried, handing the letter over to Jim. "Mac's got it all settled at last. When we said good-bye to him in New York it was all up in the air. But trust Mac to hustle--he's got enough promises to make up the two teams and now he's calling on us, Jim, to keep our word and go with the party. We're all to meet in Chicago for the start on the nineteenth of the month."

"Gee!" exclaimed Jim. "That doesn't give us very much time. Let's see," as he s.n.a.t.c.hed up a newspaper and scanned the top line. "To-day's the sixteenth. We'll have to get a wiggle on."

"Bah Jove," lisped Reggie. "It's bally short notice, don't you know? How long will you fellows be gone?"

"Just about six months," said Joe, his face lengthening as he reflected on what it meant to be all that time away from Mabel.

"What's all this pow-wow about?" came a merry voice from the door, as the girls tripped in, their arms about each other's waist.

"I'm glad we girls aren't as talkative as you men," said Clara, mischievously.

"When we do talk we at least say something," added Mabel. "What is it, Joe?"

"I'm afraid it's rather bad news in a way," said Joe. "I've just got a letter from McRae in which he tells me that he's completed all arrangements for a baseball tour around the world. You know, Mabel, that I spoke to you about it just before we left New York. But it was only a vague idea then and something of the kind is talked about at the end of every baseball season. Usually though, it only ends in talk, and the teams make a barnstorming trip to San Francisco or to Cuba. But this time it seems to have gone through all right. And now Mac is calling upon Jim and me to go along."

"My word!" broke in Reggie, "anyone would think it was a bally funeral to hear you talk and see your face. I should think you'd be no-end pleased to have a chance to go."

To tell the truth, neither Joe nor Jim seemed elated at the prospect.

Joe's eyes sought Mabel, while Jim's rested on Clara, and neither one of those young ladies was so obtuse as not to know what the young men were thinking.

"When do you have to go?" asked Clara, soberly.

"We have to be in Chicago by the nineteenth," answered Joe, "and we'll have to leave here the day before. To-day's the sixteenth and you can see for yourself how much time that gives us to stay in Riverside."

"No rest for the wicked," said Reggie, jocularly. "'Pon honor, you boys have earned a rest after the work you did against the Red Sox."

Clara was very far from her vivacious self as she thought of the coming separation, but Joe was surprised and the least bit hurt to see how lightly Mabel seemed to regard it.

"It's too bad, of course," she said, cheerfully, "but we'll have to make the best of these two days at least. It's a pity, though, that it wasn't November nineteenth instead of October."

"We could have started a bit later if it were only for the foreign trip,"

explained Jim, "but we're going to play a series of exhibition games between here and the Coast, and we've got to take advantage of what good weather there is left. If we can only get to the Rockies before it's too cold to play, we'll be all right, because in California they're able to play all the year round."

"My word!" exclaimed Reggie, "I don't see why they don't cut out the exhibition games altogether. I should think this country had had baseball enough for one season."

"Not when the Giants and an All-American team are the players," replied Joe. "The people will come out in crowds--they'll fairly beg us to take their money."

"And it will be worth taking," chimed in Jim. "Do you know how much money the teams took in before they reached the coast on their last World's Trip? Ninety-seven thousand dollars. Count them, ladies and gentlemen--ninety-seven thousand dollars in good American dollars!" he added grandly.

"That sounds like a lot of money," said Reggie, thoughtfully.

"And they'll need every cent of it too," said Joe. "It's the only way a trip of that kind can be carried on. The teams travel in first-cla.s.s style, have the finest quarters on the ship, and stay at the best hotels.

In the games abroad there won't be money enough taken in, probably, to cover expenses. Then the money we've taken in from the exhibition games will come in handy."

"How many men are going in the two teams?" inquired Clara.

"I imagine each team will carry about fourteen men," replied Joe. "That will give them three pitchers, two catchers, an extra infielder and outfielder, beside the other members of the team. That ought to be enough to allow for sickness or accident."

"How much do you fellows expect to get out of it for yourselves?" asked Reggie.

"That's just a matter of guess work," Joe replied. "I understand that what is left after all expenses are paid will be divided equally among the players. On the last World's Trip I think it amounted to about a thousand dollars apiece. But then again, it may not be a thousand cents. All we really know is that we'll have a chance to see the world in first-cla.s.s style without its actually costing us a dollar."

"Oh, you lucky men!" said Clara, with a sigh. "You can go trotting all over the world, while we poor girls have to stay at home and look for an occasional letter from your highnesses--that is, if you deign to write to us at all."

"I'll guarantee to keep the postman busy," said Jim, fervently.

"Same here," said Joe, emphatically, as his eyes met Mabel's.

"Do you know just what route you'll follow?" Reggie asked.

"Our first stop will be at Hawaii," replied Joe, consulting his letter.

"So that the first game we play outside of the States will still be under the American flag. We'll see Old Glory again, too, when we strike the Philippines. But that will come a little later. After we leave Hawaii, we won't see dry land again until we get to j.a.pan."

"I fancy we'll get some good games there, too," broke in Jim. "Those little j.a.ps have gone in for the game with a vengeance. Do you remember the time when their Waseda and Keio University teams came over to this country? They gave our Princeton and Yale fellows all they could do to beat them."

"Yes," said Joe, "they're nifty players when it comes to fielding and they're fleet as jack rabbits on the bases--but they're a little light at the bat. When it comes to playing before their home crowds they'll be a pretty stiff proposition."