“That’s fine,” said Sam with satisfaction. “I’m glad he asked you over.”
“Why?”
“Because he and Dolph Jones room together, you see, and Dolph’s captain, as you know. It doesn’t do a fellow any harm to know the captain if he wants to make the team.” Sam grunted as he pulled his shirt over his head. “Of course,” he went on as his head reappeared to sight, “I don’t mean there’s any favoritism here; only that, all other things being equal, you know, being a friend of Dolph’s might help a little. Even a baseball captain’s human. See you later, Jack.”
Sam scurried toward the shower baths, leaving his room-mate to finish his undressing leisurely and thoughtfully. He was quite as anxious to get on the baseball team as Sam was to have him, but, he reflected with a rueful smile, with all his inexperience behind him he doubted if even a personal acquaintance with Captain Dolph Jones would place him there. Still, if hard work could do the trick——
He picked up his own towel, draped it about him and strode across the locker room as resolutely as though baseball practice and not a hot and cold shower bath awaited him.
[CHAPTER III]
SAM IS MISSING
Number 4, North Dormitory, was a revelation to Jack. The room he shared with Sam Phillips in South was comfortable enough and not at all badly furnished, but Sam “didn’t go in much for fancy gimcracks,” to use his own expression. The room occupied by Ted Warner and his chum Dolph Jones was carpeted with a dark red Oriental rug, and all the furniture, even the wide study desk in the middle, was of black oak. Most of the chairs held leather cushions that you sank into as softly as into a feather bed. The drop-light was covered by a big opal glass shade that threw the light downward and left the upper part of the room in a pleasant twilight, through which the dozens of pictures and schoolboy trophies on the walls peered dimly and interestingly to the callers.
Jack was properly introduced to Dolph Jones—a ceremony he considered rather unnecessary, since he and Dolph in the rôles of candidate and captain had already spoken to each other on the baseball diamond more than once—and then sat comfortable and silent in one of the big leather cushioned chairs while Dolph and Ted and Sam drew up around the light and discussed the matter of the batting order for Saturday’s game. Both Dolph and Ted were seniors, and, save in the matter of complexion, looked to Jack very much alike. Later, however, he realized that the resemblance was due more to the fact that they were each of the same type than to any real likeness of feature. Dolph was seventeen and Ted Warner eighteen, but there was scarcely a fraction of an inch difference in heights, and each was tall, well-built and lean, with the leanness of the boy who keeps himself in perfect physical condition. Dolph was dark of hair and eyes, while Ted was decidedly light, his hair being pale brown and his eyes something between blue and gray. On the nine Dolph, who was captain, caught, and Ted played first base.