Alibi Ike | Page 3

was four treys against him. Carey'd looked
at Ike's discards and then he says:
"This lucky bum busted two pair."
"No, no, I didn't," says Ike.
"Yes, yes, you did," says Carey, and showed us the two fours. "What
do you know about that? " says Ike. "I'd of swore one was a five spot."
Well, we hadn't had no pay day yet, and after a wile everybody except
Ike was goin' shy. I could see him gettin' restless and I was wonderin'
how he'd make the get-away. He tried two or three times. "I got to buy
some collars before supper," he says.
"No hurry," says Smitty. "The stores here keeps open all night in
April."

After a minute he opened up again.
"My uncle out in Nebraska ain't expected to live," he says. "I ought to
send a telegram."
"Would that save him?" says Carey.
"No, it sure wouldn't," says Ike, "but I ought to leave my old man know
where I'm at."
"When did you hear about your uncle?" says Carey.
"Just this mornin'," says Ike.
"Who told you? "ast Carey.
"I got a wire from my old man," says Ike.
"Well," says Carey, "your old man knows you're still here yet this
afternoon if you was here this mornin'. Trains leavin' Cincinnati in the
middle o' the day don't carry no ball clubs."
"Yes," says Ike, "that's true. But he don't know where I'm goin' to be
next week."
"Ain't he got no schedule?" ast Carey.
"I sent him one openin' day," says Ike, "but it takes mail a long time to
get to Idaho."
"I thought your old man lived in Kansas City," says Carey.
"He does when he's home," says Ike.
"But now," says Carey, "I s'pose he's went to Idaho so as he can be near
your sick uncle in Nebraska."
"He's visitin' my other uncle in Idaho."

"Then how does he keep posted about your sick uncle?" ast Carey.
"He don't," says Ike. "He don't even know my other uncle's sick. That's
why I ought to wire and tell him."
"Good night!" says Carey.
"What town in Idaho is your old man at?" I says.
Ike thought it over.
"No town at all," he says. "But he's near a town."
"Near what town?" I says.
"Yuma," says Ike.
Well, by this time he'd lost two or three pots and he was desperate. We
was playin' just as fast as we could, because we seen we couldn't hold
him much longer. But he was tryin' so hard to frame an escape that he
couldn't pay no attention to the cards, and it looked like we'd get his
whole pile away from him if we could make him stick.
The telephone saved him. The minute it begun to ring, five of us
jumped for it. But Ike was there first.
"Yes," he says, answerin' it. "This is him. I'll come right down."
And he slammed up the receiver and beat it out o' the door without
even sayin' good-by.
"Smitty'd ought to locked the door," says Carey.
"What did he win?" ast Carey.
We figured it up--sixty-odd bucks.
"And the next time we ask him to play," says Carey, "his fingers will be
so stiff he can't hold the cards."

Well, we set round a wile talkin' it over, and pretty soon the telephone
rung again. Smitty answered it. It was a friend of his'n from Hamilton
and he wanted to know why Smitty didn't hurry down. He was the one
that had called before and Ike had told him he was Smitty.
"Ike'd ought to split with Smitty's friend," says Carey.
"No," I says, "he'll need all he won. It costs money to buy collars and to
send telegrams from Cincinnati to your old man in Texas and keep him
posted on the health o' your uncle in Cedar Rapids, D. C."

III
And you ought to heard him out there on that field! They wasn't a day
when he didn't pull six or seven, and it didn't make no difference
whether he was goin' good or bad. If he popped up in the pinch he
should of made a base hit and the reason he didn't was so-and-so. And
if he cracked one for three bases he ought to had a home run, only the
ball wasn't lively, or the wind brought it back, or he tripped on a lump
o' dirt, roundin' first base.
They was one afternoon in New York when he beat all records. Big
Marquard was workin' against us and he was good.
In the first innin' Ike hit one clear over that right field stand, but it was
a few feet foul. Then he got another foul and then the count come to
two and two. Then Rube slipped