he Rube, as if glorying in comparison, she
nestled her curly black head on his shoulder. He gently tried to move
her; but it was not possible. Nan knew how to meet the ridicule of half
a dozen old lovers. One by one they buried themselves in newspapers,
and finally McCall, for once utterly beaten, showed a white feather,
and sank back out of sight behind his seat.

The boys did not recover from that shock until late in the afternoon.
As it was a physical impossibility for Nan to rest her head all day
upon her husband's broad shoulder, the boys toward dinner time came out
of their jealous trance. I heard them plotting something. When dinner
was called, about half of my party, including the bride and groom, went
at once into the dining-car. Time there flew by swiftly. And later,
when we were once more in our Pullman, and I had gotten interested in a
game of cards with Milly and Stringer and his wife, the Rube came
marching up to me with a very red face.

"Con, I reckon some of the boys have stolen my--our grips," said he.

"What?" I asked, blankly.

He explained that during his absence in the dining-car someone had
entered his stateroom and stolen his grip and Nan's. I hastened at
once to aid the Rube in his search. The boys swore by everything under
and beyond the sun they had not seen the grips; they appeared very much
grieved at the loss and pretended to help in searching the Pullman. At
last, with the assistance of a porter, we discovered the missing grips
in an upper berth. The Rube carried them off to his stateroom and we
knew soon from his uncomplimentary remarks that the contents of the
suitcases had been mixed and manhandled. But he did not hunt for the
jokers.

We arrived at Toronto before daylight next morning, and remained in the
Pullman until seven o'clock. When we got out, it was discovered that
the Rube and Nan had stolen a march upon us. We traced them to the
hotel, and found them at breakfast. After breakfast we formed a merry
sight-seeing party and rode all over the city.

That afternoon, when Raddy let Toronto down with three hits and the
boys played a magnificent game behind him, and we won 7 to 2, I knew at
last and for certain that the Worcester team had come into its own
again. Then next day Cairns won a close, exciting game, and following
that, on the third day, the matchless Rube toyed with the Torontos.
Eleven straight games won! I was in the clouds, and never had I seen
so b