I----"

"Tom, if you are going to talk that way, I'll really have to leave
you, don't you know," cried William Philander. "I am not going to
stand for it any longer. I have told you at least a hundred times----"

"No, not a hundred times, not more than sixty-eight times at the
most," interrupted Tom.

"Well, I've told you enough times, anyway, Tom. So if you----"

"Don't say another word, or you'll make me weep," said Tom, and drew
down his face soberly. "Why, my dear fellow, I wouldn't hurt your
feelings, not for the world and a big red apple thrown in. But what I
was going to say was this: Are you going to play on our baseball team
this Spring? Somebody said you were going to pitch for us," and Tom
looked very much in earnest.

"Me pitch for you?" queried William Philander. "Why, who told you such
a story as that?"

"It's all over college, Tubbs, all over college. You must be
practicing pitching in private."

"But I don't know a thing about pitching. In fact, I don't know much
about baseball," pleaded the dudish student."

"Oh, come now, Tubbs-- you can't fool me. Most likely you have been
practicing in private, and when you come out on the diamond you will
astonish everybody. Well, I am glad to know that Brill College is