“Guess we won’t know it until just before the game, will we, Ted?” asked Smythe with a yawn. He had not gone to sleep until after three in the morning and was feeling the effects of his dissipation.
“I suppose not,” replied Ted. “Who’s got a ball?”
Midget made a convulsive sound, threw himself back until his feet were in air and produced one from his trousers pocket after much struggling. “Take mine,” he said breathlessly.
Harry shook his head. “Not much. I’m going to sleep.”
“I will,” said Will Watkins. The two moved over to the gravel and began throwing the ball back and forth.
“Who wants some tennis?” asked Gus Turnbull.
But Ted overheard and interposed sternly. “You’ll do nothing of the kind, you idiots. Shay told us to keep quiet this morning. You’ll be all done up if you play tennis in this heat.”
“Well, gee,” grumbled Gus. “I can’t sit around like this all the morning.”
“It’s too hot to read,” grunted Gus. The others laughed. Wicks sat up and fished in his pocket for his knife.
“I’ll amuse you, Gus,” he said. “Crawl over here and we’ll play stick-knife.”
“Stick-knife!” jeered Gus. “Why not jack-stones?” But nevertheless he joined Tyler and the two were soon hard at it. One by one the fellows left and the group lessened until only the players, Jack and Steve Walker remained.
“Think you’ll play?” asked Walker, lowering his voice.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t believe so,” he replied. “Not start the game, that is.”
“Nothing; just scorched it a bit last night.”
But Jack didn’t disturb the handkerchief around it. Instead he thrust it into his pocket, where he had been keeping it most of the time. “There isn’t anything to see,” he answered. “It’s just――sort of red.”
Walker eyed him narrowly and shrugged his shoulders. “Better get it attended to if you expect to play,” he said. “Too bad it isn’t the other hand. Then you could have padded your glove a bit. How’d you do it?”
“Took hold of a piece of hot iron,” replied Jack.
“Guess you dropped it in a hurry,” said Walker with a grin. “Say, Borden, I think we were pretty good to that old rascal last night. Seems to me after what we did for him he ought to come off his high horse and be decent about that piece of land we want.”
“I think so, too, but Sam says he’s more likely to prosecute us for trespassing!”