Page 96

ROUND UP

Well, of course Johnny didn't lose no time getting to Dave with the bad news, and Dave and Kid Farrell rushed to the sapper's room. They threatened him and they coaxed him. They promised him he could eat all he wanted. They swore that anybody who tried to play jokes on him would either be fined or fired off the club. They reminded him that it cost a lot of money to go from Florida to Yuma, and he would have to pay his own way. They offered him a new contract with a five-hundred-dollar raise if he would stay. They argued and pleaded with him from four in the afternoon till midnight. When they finally quit, they were just where they'd been when they started. He was through.
" All right! " Dave hollered. " Be through and go to hell ! If you ain't out of here by tomorrow noon, I'll have you chased out ! And don't forget that you'll never pitch in organized baseball agaln ! "
" That suits me," says Kane, and went to bed.
When Johnny Abbott woke up about seven the next morning, Hurry was putting his extra collar and comb in the leaky suitcase. He said :
" I'm going to grab the eleven-something train for Jacksonville. I got money enough to take me from here to New Orleans and I know a fella there that will see me the rest of the way-if I .^,a,n find him and he ain't broke."
Well, Johnny couldn't stand for that and he got up and dressed and was starting out to borrow two hundred dollars from me to lend to Kane, when the phone rang loud and long. Kane took off the receiver, listened a second, and then said " Uh-huh " and hung up.
" Who was it? " asked Johnny.
" Nobody," says Kane. " Just one of Bull Wade's gags."
" What did he say? " Johnny asked him.
" It was a gal, probably the telephone operator," said Kane.
" She said the hotel was on fire and not to get excited, but that we
better move out."
" You fool! " yelled Johnny and run to the phone.
They was no gag about it. The hotel had really caught fire in the basement and everybody was being warned to take the air. Johnny tossed some of his stuff in a bag and started out, telling Kane to follow him quick. Hurry got out in the hall and then remembered that he had left his gal's picture on the dresser and went back after it. Just as he turned towards the door again, in dashed