Page:Ralph Paine--The Steam-Shovel Man.djvu/223

 "Perhaps you can persuade him to file a formal application," said Major Glendinning.

Six weeks later a holiday crowd assembled in the base-ball park at Cristobal to see an important game of the Isthmian League series. These hundreds of cheerful, hearty Americans stood for something more than a keen interest in the most popular sport of their nation. They showed that the pestilential tropics had been conquered, that the northern races could live and work and play in health and comfort where once the fever-laden Chagres River had slain its thousands.

When the bow-legged captain of the Cristobal nine, "Bucky" Harrison, led his men across the diamond for preliminary practice, the grandstand greeted the pitcher with particular applause. He was tall and rugged and of a pleasant countenance, and one might have heard the on-lookers remarking:

"That is young Goodwin. Cristobal expects to win the championship with him."

"He is in the commissary and doing very well, I understand."

"His father has a position in the same