“I don’t like either of them,” said Brady shortly. “I wouldn’t have much to do with them, Jim, if I were you. You tried to do the square, friendly thing by them before, and they acted as if they were afraid you were going to bite. Let them alone now. Be decent to them if they come around, but don’t go out of your way with them. By the way, did you hear from that tailor in New York? I told him to send you some samples.”
“Yes, I guess so,” said Jim, pulling a number of letters from his pocket. “I got quite a bunch of mail this morning. Registered letter from dad—my allowance, I suppose. He always sends the check in a registered letter, though it’s safe enough without it. He’s a crank about it. Another registered letter, too. Don’t know who else can be sending me money. And a lot of other stuff. I’ll open them now, and see what they’re all about.”
He was busy for several minutes.
“That’s certainly funny,” he said. “I must have been seeing double. I was sure there were two registered letters that I signed for. But I must have been mistaken. There’s only one here.”
“Left it behind, perhaps,” said Brady. “Maybe you dropped it on the floor back in your room. It’s safe enough if you did. I guess we won’t have any more robberies around these parts.”
Brady referred to the theft of some class funds from Jim’s room not long before. The money had been stolen at the instigation of a criminal enemy of Jim’s in such a way as to throw suspicion upon the sophomore pitcher, but Dick Merriwell’s cleverness had foiled the plot and uncovered the real culprit.
“I suppose I did,” said Phillips. “However, I might have been mistaken about the whole thing. I was in a great hurry. The postman was late and I was trying to get my bag packed to take out here—and I talked to Carpenter—all at the same time. I might have just dreamed the other registered letter.”
“Well, we’ll forget it now and think about baseball,” said Brady. “Here we are. I guess we’ll have to get dressed right away.”
The scene of the game was very different from that of most games in which Yale players took part. There were no great stands. Around the diamond a few circus seats had been put up for the ladies, who had turned out in great numbers to watch the play, but the men contented themselves with places on the ground.
The crowd itself, gathered by invitation of the members of the club, made a pretty spectacle; the men being dressed mostly in white flannels and other appropriate summer clothing, and the whole scene was one of great color and animation.