“Because it would have been a bad one,” answered Jerry. “It would only have made matters worse. I want to play on the varsity nine and so do you and Bob, and——”
“Yes, and if we let this sneak Frank have his way we’ll never get on,” interrupted Ned. “If you’d let me mix it up with him it would take some of the starch and pig-headedness out of him, and he’d have to let us play.”
“No,” and Jerry shook his head, “that would only make matters worse. He’d be more set in his ways than ever. You leave it to me.”
“What are you going to do?” Bob wanted to know. “It doesn’t seem that there’s anything to do.”
“All we can do for a while is to wait,” Jerry said. “You see Bart and Bill, who used to be as much against us as Frank is, are friendly with us now. And we’ve won over a good many others of Frank’s cronies. Not that we ever did anything that they shouldn’t be friendly with us, but it just happened so. It was all because Professor Snodgrass made the mistake of telling too much about us in advance. I can see that. He didn’t exactly boast of what we’d done, but it sounded so to some of the boys, and we’ve got to live down that reputation.
“We’re doing it, too, and I wouldn’t have the dear old professor know, for the world, what a pickle he innocently got us into. We’ll just wait, and it will come around all right, I’m sure.”
“Well, I’m not!” exclaimed Ned, who was in an angry mood. “I’m for giving Frank a good walloping, and bringing him to his senses.”
“How is it he has such a control where the varsity nine is concerned?” asked Bob.
“Well, as I get the story,” said Jerry, “Frank put the nine on its feet. When he came here Boxwood Hall wasn’t much of anywhere as regards baseball. Now Frank is a good player—a crackerjack! I’ll give him credit for that, pig-headed as he is. He’s a natural born player and manager, and he took hold of the nine and pulled it out of the mud. He helped with money, too, bought new uniforms and all that. Naturally, he was made captain and manager, and, in a way, coach too.”
“Why didn’t they make him the whole team while they were about it?” asked Ned, sarcastically.