meet!"

The girls were all on the _qui vive_ with excitement in their anticipation
of the delightful trip that lay before them, and there were no pauses in
their conversation on the way to the hotel.

Here they were introduced to the other members of the party, which by this
time had increased to large proportions, for beside the ladies who had
accompanied the players across the continent, many others had followed the
same plan as Mabel and Clara and joined their friends in San Francisco.
Altogether, there were more than a hundred of the tourists, of whom
perhaps a third were women.

All were out for a good time, and the atmosphere of good will and jollity
was infectious. There was an utter absence of snobbery and affectation,
and the boys were delighted to see how quickly the girls fell into the
spirit of the gathering and with their own fun and high spirits added more
than their quota to the general hilarity.

That night there was a big banquet given to the tourists by the railroad
officials who had had the party in charge from the beginning and by some
of the leading citizens of San Francisco. It was a jolly occasion, where
for once in affairs of the kind the "flowing bowl" was notable for its
absence. The stalwart, clear-eyed athletes who, with their friends, were
the guests of the occasion, had no use for the cup that both cheers and
inebriates.

A striking feature of the table decorations was a cake weighing one
hundred and twenty-five pounds, on whose summit was a bat and ball, and
whose frosted slopes were accurate representations of the Polo Grounds and
the baseball park at Chicago. It is needless to say how pronounced a hit
this made with the "fans" of both sexes. It was a great send-off to the
globe-encircling baseball teams.

The next day, Joe and Jim took the girls down to the pier to see the ship
on which they were to sail. It was a splendid craft of twenty thousand
tons and sumptuously fitted up. The girls exclaimed at the beauty of her
lines and the superb decoration of the cabins and saloons.

"The _Empress of Japan_!" read Clara, as she scanned the name on the
steamer's stern.

"Most fittingly named," said Jim gallantly, "since she carries two
queens."

"What a pretty compliment," said Clara, as she flashed a radiant look at
Jim.

"I'm afraid," said Mabel, "that Jim's been practising on some of the nice
girls in the party."

"Have I, Joe?" appealed the accused one. "Haven't I been an anc