The five boys found Arries, the Freshman captain sitting on a bench on the campus, digging away at mathematics.
“Hello,” he said, responding to their greetings. “Glad to meet you all. I’ve seen you around.”
“We came about the baseball team,” said Larry, after waiting for some of the others to act as spokesman. “We wanted to offer our services. How is the team?”
“Well,” replied Arries gravely, as he laid down his book, “we have a catcher, big Winans; and one of our infielders once stopped a ball. There is a tradition that one of the outfielders once caught a fly. They made me captain because I’m so near sighted I can’t see the ball until the catcher holds it up close to my eyes.”
The boys laughed at the captain’s fantastic description of his team.
“We wondered if you could use us,” said Larry. “Katsura is a good pitcher, good enough for the Varsity team. All of us have played more or less ball, and we want to play if you need us.”
“Need you?” exclaimed Arries, arising and shaking their hands. “Why we need everything excepting a catcher. Winans is the only one on the team who can catch the ferry. We played the Juniors and were lucky to escape alive. They licked us 26 to 2, and it would have been worse if darkness hadn’t interfered.”
“When do we play the Sophs?” inquired Hagstrom. “We ought to be practicing for that, oughtn’t we?”
“I believe the game is in two weeks,” said Arries. “Haven’t paid much attention to it since the late unpleasantness with the Juniors. Fact is, no one else has. It discouraged us.”
“But you are captain,” protested Larry. “Why don’t you call the team together and we’ll practice.”