“Say, that was great!” cried Tom, venturing to laugh, now that there was no danger of being caught. “You should have been along, Sid. Pitchfork got his to-night, all right. I’ll never forget the blank look on his face.”
“I either,” agreed Phil. “That was a smoker as was a smoker. I hope none of us are caught. The twins and Bricktop outdid themselves this trip.”
Sid began to show some signs of interest, and the trick was told of in detail to him. Of course a faculty inquiry followed, but the hose and air pump had been taken from the school laboratory, and there were no clues to the perpetrators. Professor Tines was furious, and demanded that the guilty ones be dismissed.
“Willingly, my dear professor,” agreed the venerable Dr. Churchill, “if I can only find them,” and there was a twinkle in his deep-set eyes, which he took care that Mr. Tines did not see.
Baseball practice went on for several days. One afternoon, as the lads were dispersing, Ed Kerr was seen coming over the diamond, holding in his hand a letter.
“We can’t play Fairview Saturday,” he announced.
“Why not?” asked Tom quickly.
“They say they’re not quite ready to open their season,” went on the manager. “They ask me to put the opening game off a week.”
“Are you going to do it?” inquired several.
“Well, what do you fellows say?” asked the manager.