"Bless my soul--NO!" almost shouted the colonel. "I nearly got
tangled up in my friend Courtney's terminal hotel scheme--and I'm
scared yet."

"Courtney?" repeated Johnny. "That's the name they gave me at
Mallard & Tyne's office this afternoon. They told me that he has
tied up the only available block the railroad company overlooked."

"Tied it up!" exploded the colonel. "Bless my soul, it has him tied
up! Courtney's company blew so high that none of the pieces has come
down yet. Meantime his enthusiasm is likely to cost him a round two
and a quarter million dollars."

He must have had a high fever," commented Johnny. "How could a man
be so forgetful of that much money?"

"He thought his friends were game," explained the colonel; "and, in
spite of his long and sucessful business experience, he over-looked
the difference between a promise and a promissory note. He nailed
his stock subscribers down with hasty conversation only, and then
rushed off and grabbed the six collected parcels of that block, for
fear it might get away before he had his company legally organized."

"And now he can't unspike it," guessed Johnny smilingly. "Watch out,
Colonel!"

There was a lively scramble in the two boxes as the first foul tip
of the season whizzed directly at them. Gamble, who had captained
his village nine, had that ball out of the air and was bowing