"Well, then, don't make a row. Maybe he made a mistake."
"He'd hardly unlock our door by mistake," declared Joe.
"No, that's so. Did you see him in here?"
"No, but I heard someone."
"Well, it wouldn't be safe to make any cracks. Better not make a row, as long as nothing is gone."
Joe decided to accept this advice, and went back to bed, after taking the precaution to put a chair-back under the knob, as well as locking it. It was some time before he got to sleep, however. But Rad was evidently not worried, for he was soon in peaceful slumber.
Rad's theory that Wessel had gone out in the middle of the night to get a train was not borne out by the facts, for it became known in the morning that he had, as Joe suspected, "jumped" his board bill.
"And he called himself a ball player!" exclaimed Mr. Watson in disgust. "I'd like to meet with him again!"
"Maybe you will," ventured Joe, but he did not know how soon his prediction was to come to pass.
"Well, boys, we'll see how we shape up," said the manager, a little later that morning when the members of the team, with their uniforms on, had assembled at the ball park. "Get out there and warm up. Riordan, bat some fungoes for the boys. McCann, knock the grounders. Boswell, you catch for—let's see—I guess I'll wish you on to Matson. We'll see what sort of an arm he's got."