The boys came trooping back for the final stretch of the year. The baseball candidate went to work out-of-doors. As the field was still soft, the out-fielders had for the first time the chief attention of coach and captain; and Phil was sent chasing flies and long hits with the rest. He fared as well as the others perhaps, though his “eye” was not yet to be trusted, and he was nervous with an intense desire to do well. They all came up for batting practice later on, and Phil found the pitcher rather an easy mark after facing Rowley. He cracked out several easy chances in what seemed to him a thorough sort of way, but, to his disappointment, neither Sands nor Coach Lyford appeared to notice them.
That same day Melvin and Varrell walked down from their first out-door practice together.
“How about the safe robbery, Wrenn?” said Melvin, peering laughingly into his companion’s face. “It seems to me I haven’t heard much about that of late. Given it up as a bad job, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t,” replied Varrell, composedly. “I’m just waiting.”
“It’s easy enough to wait; I could do that myself. I thought you were going to do something.”
“I have done one thing,” rejoined the imperturbable Wrenn.
“What?”
“I’ve proved that the passage door can be opened by prying with the ice-chipper.”
“How?”