"A true artist, eh?" says Alex, kinda thoughtful. "That makes it all the better! Bring him up for dinner to-morrow night and let me study him. In a week I'll collect that little bet from you and then I'll be ready to take on the next case." "You certainly stand well with yourself, don't you?" I sneers. "Well, lemme give you a little tip. Don't try to get that bird to give up baseball, because they ain't a Chinaman's chance of that! The only chance you got is to put him over as a ball player, and if _you_ can do _that_, I can sell electric fans to the Esquimaux!" "Bring him up to-morrow night," says Alex, grinnin' like a wolf. "This looks like a cinch to me!" I went to Hector in the clubhouse the next afternoon. He had had a hard day playin' the White Sox--from the bench. "Where are you goin' to-night?" I asks him. He flushes up a bit. "Well, Mac," he says, "I have finally found a joint where they know how to cook 'em without abusin' 'em and I was figurin' on goin' there first, so--" "Cook what?" I butts in. "Alligator pears!" he says. "Y'know they is a lot of nourishment in them babies when they're properly prepared and--" "You'll be around at that beanery _to-morrow_ night!" I shuts him off. "To-night you're comin' up and have dinner with me." He gets one shade redder. "Why," he stammers, "Ahumph! That--er--that's terrible fine of you, Mac, but on the level, I--y'know this place is the only one in New York where they can cook them things and I'm a hound after them! I--" "Come on!" I says. "We're gonna give the subway a play. The wife's expectin' you and I got a friend that's crazy to meet you. Are you gonna throw me down?" He backs away and ruffles his hair. "Mac," he says, "I'll have dinner with you to-night on one condition!" "Shoot!" I says. "Well, Mac," he tells me, "they ain't no doubt in my mind that your wife is some cook, but if I'm gonna eat this stuff--I--well, I demand the privilege of cookin' it!" "Where d'ye get that stuff?" I says. "Why--" "Lemme do this, Mac," he says, "and you'll never regret it. I can hang it on any chef in New York for money and you'll eat the greatest meal you ever got outside of in your life!" Well, this was new stuff to me, but I figured I was gonna get five hundred bucks outa it by way of Alex, so I fell. "All right!" I says. "Come up and cook your head off. I'm game! But if you're as good a cook as you are a ball player, I can see where me and the wife suspends friendly relations for about a year!" Alex is already on hand when we get to the house and I introduced him to Hector. "Howdy!" he says. "I seen you pitch the other day and I must say it was a treat! The support they give you was brutal or you'd of shut them other fellers out with ease." "You know it!" says Hector. "If they's any one thing I can do, it's play baseball. That's my dish!" The wife horns in.