human
It's too bad, of course, she said, cheerfully,
gpt
We could have started a bit later if it were only for the foreign trip, explained Jim,
human
My word! exclaimed Reggie,
gpt
I don't see why they don't cut out the exhibition games altogether. I should think this country had had baseball enough for one season.
human
Not when the Giants and an All-American team are the players, replied Joe.
gpt
The people will come out in crowds--they'll fairly beg us to take their money.
human
And it will be worth taking, chimed in Jim.
gpt
Do you know how much money the teams took in before they reached the coast on their last World's Trip? Ninety-seven thousand dollars. Count them, ladies and gentlemen--ninety-seven thousand dollars in good American dollars!
human
That sounds like a lot of money,
gpt
And they'll need every cent of it too, said Joe.
human
It's the only way a trip of that kind can be carried on. The teams travel in first-class style, have the finest quarters on the ship, and stay at the best hotels. In the games abroad there won't be money enough taken in, probably, to cover expenses. Then the money we've taken in from the exhibition games will come in handy.
gpt
How many men are going in the two teams?
human
I imagine each team will carry about fourteen men, replied Joe.
gpt
That will give them three pitchers, two catchers, an extra infielder and outfielder, beside the other members of the team. That ought to be enough to allow for sickness or accident.
human
How much do you fellows expect to get out of it for yourselves?
gpt
That's just a matter of guess work, Joe replied.
human
I understand that what is left after all expenses are paid will be divided equally among the players. On the last World's Trip I think it amounted to about a thousand dollars apiece. But then again, it may not be a thousand cents. All we really know is that we'll have a chance to see the world in first-class style without its actually costing us a dollar.
gpt
Oh, you lucky men! said Clara, with a sigh.
human
You can go trotting all over the world, while we poor girls have to stay at home and look for an occasional letter from your highnesses--that is, if you deign to write to us at all.
gpt
I'll guarantee to keep the postman busy,
human
Same here,
gpt
Do you know just what route you'll follow?
human
Our first stop will be at Hawaii, replied Joe, consulting his letter.
gpt
So that the first game we play outside of the States will still be under the American flag. We'll see Old Glory again, too, when we strike the Philippines. But that will come a little later. After we leave Hawaii, we won't see dry land again until we get to Japan.
human
I fancy we'll get some good games there, too, broke in Jim.
gpt
Those little Japs have gone in for the game with a vengeance. Do you remember the time when their Waseda and Keio University teams came over to this country? They gave our Princeton and Yale fellows all they could do to beat them.
human
Yes, said Joe,
gpt
Do you take in China at all?
human
We'll probably stop at Shanghai and Hongkong, replied Joe.
gpt
I don't imagine the Chinks can scrape up any kind of a baseball team, but there are big foreign colonies at both of those places and they'll turn out in force to see players from the States. Then after touching at Manila, we'll go to Australia, taking in all the big towns like Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. While of course the Australians are crazy about cricket, like all Englishmen, they're keen for every kind of athletic sport, and we're sure of big crowds there. After that we sail for Ceylon and from there to Egypt.
human
I'd like to see Egypt better than any other place, broke in Clara.
gpt
I've always been crazy to go there.
human
It's full of curiosities, remarked Jim.
gpt
There's the Sphinx, for instance--a woman who hasn't said a word for five thousand years.
human
Don't mix your Greek fable and your Egyptian facts, Jim,
gpt
Huh?
human
Fact. Since this trip's been in the wind, I've been reading up. Those Egyptian sphinxes--those that haven't a ram's or a hawk's head--have a man's, not a woman's, head.
gpt
That's why they've been able to keep still so long, then!
human
You mean thing!
gpt
Don't lay that up against me, he begged, penitently,
human
Oh, the horrid thing!
gpt
I'm doing the best I can, said Jim, plaintively.
human
I can't send you one of the pyramids.
gpt
That's the last we'll see of Africa, went on Joe.
human
After that, we set sail for Italy and land at Naples. Then we work our way up through Rome, Florence, Milan, Monte Carlo, Marseilles, Paris and London. We'll stay about a month in Great Britain, visiting Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin. Then we'll make tracks for home, and maybe we won't be glad to get here!