. Drive to Dublin as if the ghost of the
last of the O'Brians were at your back!"

And Mike did.

The two baseball players found the girls impatiently awaiting them, and
wondering rather petulantly what had become of them. Joe seized Mabel in
his arms and whirled her about the room like a dancing dervish, paying no
heed to her laughing protests.

Jim would have liked to do the same to Joe's sister, but did not quite
dare to--yet.

"Are you boys crazy?" demanded Mabel, as soon as she could get her
breath.

"Yes," said Joe promptly. "You'll be, too, when you see this."

He flourished the paper before their faces and in disjointed sentences,
frequently broken by interruptions, told them of all that had happened
since they had left them after the game.

No need of telling how they felt when the boys had finished. There was no
happier party that night in all Ireland.

Then, leaving the delighted girls for a few minutes, the boys hunted up
McRae. They found him glum and anxious, talking earnestly with Robbie in
the lobby of the hotel. One glance at the young men's faces made the pair
jump wonderingly to their feet.

"For the love of Pete, let's have it, Joe!" cried McRae. "What's
happened?"

"Plenty!" exulted Joe. "We've put the All-Star League out of business!"

"What!" cried McRae, as he snatched the paper that Joe held out to him and
devoured its contents, while Robbie peered eagerly over his shoulder.

Then, as they realized what it meant, they set up a wild whoop which made
the other members of the team, scattered about the lobby, come running,
followed a scene of mad hilarity, during which no one seemed to know what
he said or did.

That night the cable carried the news to New York, and from there to every
city in the United States. It sounded the death knell of the All-Star
League, and it went to pieces like a house of cards. The American public
will stand for much, but for nothing so gross and contemptible as that had
been.

The trip wound up in a blaze of glory with the Giants just one game to the
good in the hot series of games that had been played. They had a swift and
joyous journey home, and when they separated on the dock in New York,
McRae's hearty grip of Baseball Joe's hand fairly made the latter wince.

"Good-bye, old man," he said. "You've stood by me like a brick. You'll be
on hand when the bell rings."

"Joe will hear other bells before that," grinned Jim, as he looked at
Mabel, who f