ng
the dime in the air, deftly caught it, and slid out of the room.

Joe looked after him. He was entering on a new life, and many emotions
were in conflict within him. True, he had been at hotels before, for he
had traveled much when he was in the Central League. But this time it
was different. It seemed a new world to him--a new and big world--a much
more important world.

And he was to be a part of it. That was what counted most. He was in a
Big League--a place of which he had often dreamed, but to which he had
only aspired in his dreams. Now it was a reality.

Joe unpacked his grip. His trunk check he had given to the clerk, who
said he would send to the railroad station for the baggage. Then Joe
changed his collar, put on a fresh tie, and went down in the elevator.
He wanted to be among the players who were to be his companions for the
coming months.

Joe liked Rad Chase at once. In a way he was like Charlie Hall, but
rather older, and with more knowledge of the world.

"Do you play cards?" was Rad's question, after the formalities of
introduction, Joe's roommate having come in shortly after our hero went
down.

"Well, I can make a stab at whist, but I'm no wonder," confessed Joe.

"Do you play Canfield solitaire?"

"Never heard of it."

"Shake hands!" cried Rad, and he seemed relieved.

"Why?" asked Joe.

"Well, the fellow I roomed with last year was a fiend at Canfield
solitaire. He'd sit up until all hours of the morning, trying to make
himself believe he wasn't cheating, and I lost ten pounds from not
getting my proper sleep."

"Well, I'll promise not to keep you awake that way," said Joe with a
laugh.

"Do you snore?" Rad wanted next to know.

"I never heard myself."

Rad laughed.

"I guess you'll do," he said. "We'll hit it off all right."

Joe soon fell easily into the life at the big hotel. He met all the
other players, and while some regarded him with jealous eyes, most of
them welcomed him in their midst. Truth to tell, the St. Louis team was
in a bad way, and the players, tired of being so far down on the list,
were willing to make any sacrifices of professional feeling in order to
be in line for honors, and a share in the pennant money, providing it
could be brought to pass that they reached the top of the list.

Joe spent a week at the hotel while Manager Watson was arranging matters
for the trip South. One or two players had not yet arrived, "dickers"
being under way for their