“And all you want to know,” said Melvin, with a smile.
“Yes, all I want to know,” repeated Sands.
Melvin passed to another topic: “Phil would like to try for the nine. Is there any chance for him?”
“None at all,” replied Sands, promptly.
“That’s a fine way to choose a team!” retorted Melvin. “You haven’t tried him and yet you say he has no show. We searched high and low for football material,—fairly scoured the school, and here you are deciding offhand against a fellow whose playing you’ve never seen. No wonder the nine gets beaten.”
Sands’s face reddened: “I didn’t say I wouldn’t try him. I’ll try anything that offers. I only said that he hadn’t any chance.”
“Have you seen him play?”
“Yes; he can throw pretty well and field fairly, but he isn’t old enough or big enough or strong enough or experienced enough for the school nine.”
“Well, he’ll grow, won’t he?” persisted Dick. “Just give him a chance to work up.”
“I’ll give him just the chance I give any one else and no more,” replied Sands, decisively. “Every man who makes the nine this year has got to earn his place, and the fact that Phil is your chum and a friend of mine will simply make me harder on him. When I say he hasn’t a chance, I mean that he cannot meet the standard. He may try as hard as he wants to.”