"All right; I'll see if I can get off," returned Joe. "When are you coming back?"
"Not until this evening," answered Fred.
Permission to go was readily obtained, and the chums set off about ten o'clock in the morning. They were to obtain their dinners at a farmhouse on the way.
"We might have gone on our bicycles," said Fred, as they walked along. "But mine is out of repair."
"And I need a new front tire," came from Joe. "Oh, I'd just as soon walk," he added. "I've got tired of wheeling."
"Everything is baseball nowadays," laughed Fred. "By the way, have you noticed how Si Voup and some of those other fellows keep watching us all the time?"
"Yes, I have noticed that, Fred. They seem to be afraid we'll play some sort of a trick on them."
"Perhaps they are up to some trick themselves."
"Well, I am going to keep my eyes wide open the minute I get on the ball field. I am sure we can trust that new umpire and as for the rest, why we have got to look out for ourselves, that's all."
"Right you are."