It was arranged that Mr. Blake should take the boys to school when the time came, but there was still a fortnight before the term opened at Rockledge. Bobby and Fred had more preparations to make than you would believe, and early on Monday morning Fred came over to the Blake house and the chums went down behind the garden to have a serious talk.
"Say! there's fifty boys in that school," Fred said. "There's another school right across Monatook Lake. They call it Belden School. There's all sorts of games between the two schools, you know, and we want to be in them, Bobby."
"What do you mean—games?" asked Bobby.
"Why, baseball, and football, and hockey on the ice in winter, and skating matches, and boating in the fall and spring—rowing, you know. Lots of games. And we want to be in them, don't we?"
"Sure," admitted his chum.
"It's going to cost money," said Fred, decidedly. "We'll have to get bats, and good horse-hide balls, and a catcher's mask and glove, and a pad, and all that. We want to get on one of the ball teams. You know I can catch, and you've got a dandy curve, Bobby, and a fade-away that beats anything I've ever seen."
"Yes. I'd like to play ball," admitted Bobby, rather timidly. "But will they let us—we being new boys?"
"We'll make them," said the scheming Fred. "If we show them we have the things I said—mitt, and bats, and all—they'll be glad to have us play, don't you see?"
"But we haven't them," suddenly said Bobby.
"No. But we must have them."