“And he doesn’t want us to play,” remarked Ned, bitterly.
“It doesn’t seem so,” agreed Jerry. “But we’ll wait.”
“It’s a funny state of affairs,” remarked Bob, “where one fellow can run the whole varsity nine and say who shall and who sha’n’t play.”
“Yes, it is,” admitted the tall chum. “But in this case it has worked out well, for Boxwood Hall won the championship last year, which it never did before, and defeated the military academy two out of the three games which are an annual feature. So that’s why the fellows let Frank have his way. They knew he made the nine, and he’s making good with it yet. It isn’t that we can play better than the fellows on it, it’s just that I want to be on the varsity.”
“And we’ve just got to wait until Frank either changes his mind, or until we can show that we can play so much better than some of the regulars that there’ll be a demand that we go in,” finished Jerry. “Now let’s go for a ride and forget our troubles.”
Ned was still bitter against Frank, though, and did not see why the three chums could not be put on the varsity.
As the three were riding off, Professor Snodgrass, equipped with his net and specimen box, hailed them.
“My first butterfly hunt of the season!” he called to the boys. “I’m after some _Argynnis cybele_ specimens, which appear with the first violets.”
“Come with us,” said Jerry. “Do you want to go to any particular place?”
“No, only to the nearest patch of woods where violets may be found. I haven’t any good specimens of the _Argynnis_, and I am anxious to secure some,” the little scientist explained as he entered the automobile.
“What does it look like?” asked Jerry. “We don’t want you to be making stabs at colored leaves, which you’ll do if we let Bob do the looking.”
“I can tell a butterfly as well as you!” retorted the stout youth.
“The _Argynnis cybele_,” said Professor Snodgrass, “is sometimes called the great spangled Fritillary. In color it is a sort of light brownish yellow, with brown and yellow spots, and the under sides of the wings are heavily silvered. The caterpillars hibernate as soon as hatched, and live that way all winter. In the spring they feed up, and turn into butterflies about the time the first violets appear. I hope we shall get some to-day.”