“You fairly lifted the crowd off its feet with that home run,” put in Sam. “Even the professor was yelling like a senior.” “Was I?” the question came from Amos Strong himself, who stood behind Sam. “Well, I fancy the game was worth it,” he added, but looked rather sheepish for a second. The Roosevelts insisted upon giving Mark a supper that night (since he had refused to accept part of the gate money for his services), and a good time was had until late in the evening. Frank accompanied Mark, and during that festive hour the lads made several warm friends. “But the Cubans played a good game,” observed Darry, to Sam, while they and Hockley and the professor were waiting for Mark and Frank to return. “It was nip-and-tuck from start to finish.” “That hit by Mark was a fluke,” grumbled Hockley. “I’ll bet a thousand dollars he can’t do it again.” “Perhaps it was a fluke,” returned Sam, dryly. “But, just the same, Glummy, you’ll never have such a fluke happen to you;” and then Sam turned his back on the bully. Hockley sauntered off to his sleeping apartment all out of sorts both with himself and everybody around him. “After this they’ll be more stuck on themselves than ever,” he growled. “And they won’t want anything to do with me. But never mind, I’ll fix them yet, see if I don’t!” CHAPTER XV HOCKLEY TAKES A BATH AND GIVES ONE On the following day Professor Strong and the boys received a call from Isabel Valois and her father, the latter having just returned home from a business trip. Señor Valois was delighted to meet the professor once more, and an interview pleasing to both ensued, lasting an hour. In the meantime pretty Isabel talked to the boys and especially to Mark. “It was splendid, that baseball hit!” cried the girl, enthusiastically. “I hated to see our Cuban club lose but I couldn’t help admire the beautiful way in which you played.” And Mark blushed like a girl and could hardly stammer out his thanks for her kind words. Señor Valois was telling the professor of his various plantations when another visitor was announced. This proved to be January Jones, who had been waiting patiently to see Amos Strong about the position which had been more than half promised. As a result of this visit January was given work as overseer’s assistant on a Valois’s plantation ten miles out of Havana. This proved to be just what the darkey wanted and he was correspondingly happy. Matanzas lies east of Havana about sixty miles and Cardenas is about twenty miles further. As said before, both are seaports, the first named lying almost due south from Key West. The railroad from Havana runs direct to Matanzas, but to get to Cardenas one must journey first to the little inland town of Jovellanos. The trip eastward was begun bright and early on the following week and proved full of interest. The cars were crowded and the boys noticed that many of the travelers seemed well-to-do.