“What good do you think that does?” asked Sam.
“Well, doesn’t it help a fellow to get a straight aim?” asked Tom, half defiantly.
“Oh, I don’t know,” was the rather sneering answer. “It might, if you kept at it long enough.”
“Let’s see you try it,” suggested Rodney Burke, who did not hold Sam in much awe.
Carelessly the Silver Star pitcher accepted a ball that Joe obligingly held out. He threw quickly and the ball landed squarely in the basket. Then he did the trick again, and there was a little murmur of applause, for only a few of the boys had “two straight” to their credit.
“Joe did three straight a while ago,” said Tom proudly. “He and I are playing off a tie.”
Sam did not answer but threw again, and the ball went wide of the basket by two feet at least. Rodney laughed.
“You’re not such a much, even if you are the pitcher,” he declared.
“Who asked you anything about it?” demanded Sam savagely.
He darted a look of anger at the lad, but as Rodney was well built and had a reputation for “scrappiness” Sam concluded not to tackle him just then.