"That's all right," he said. "But he never touched me with the ball. And that umpire was a boob not to give me the run."
"What were you fellows talking about so earnestly?" asked Burkett, with some curiosity.
"Oh, jug-handled things like baseball contracts," responded Iredell.
"They're the bunk all right," declared Burkett, emphatically.
"What's the use of quarreling with your bread and butter?" asked Joe good-naturedly.
"What's the use of bread and butter, if you can have cake and ought to have it?" Iredell came back at him.
"Cake is good," agreed Joe, "but the point is that if a man has agreed to take bread and butter, it's up to him to stand by his agreement. A man's word is the best thing he has, and if he is a man he'll hold to it."
"You seem to be taking a lot for granted, Joe," said Burkett, a little stiffly. "Who is talking of breaking his word? We've got a right to talk about our contracts, haven't we, when we think the owners are getting the best end of the deal?"
"Sure thing," said Joe genially. "It's every man's privilege to kick, but the time to kick is before one makes an agreement, not when kicking won't do any good."
"Maybe it can do some good," said Curry significantly.
"How so?" asked Joe innocently. "No other club in the American or National League would take us if we broke away from the Giants."
"There are other leagues," remarked Iredell.
"Surely. The minors," replied Joe, again purposely misunderstanding. "But who wants to be a busher?"
"There's the All-Star League that's just forming," suggested Burkett, with a swift look at his two companions.
"'All-Star,'" repeated Joe, a little contemptuously. "That sounds good, but where are they going to get the stars?"
"They're getting them all right," said Iredell. "The papers are full of the names of players who have jumped or are going to jump."
"You don't mean players," said Joe. "You mean traitors."
"'Traitors' is a pretty hard word," objected Curry.
"It's the only word," returned Joe stiffly.
"You can't call a man a traitor who simply tries to better himself," remarked Burkett defensively.
"Benedict Arnold tried to better himself," returned Joe. "But it didn't get him very far. The fellows that jumped, in the old Brotherhood days, thought they were going to better themselves, but they simply got in bad with the public and nearly ruined the game. This new league will promise all sorts of things, but how do you know it will keep them? What faith can you put in men who try to induce other men to be crooked?"
