Loring was getting a great deal of enjoyment out of life those days. That discussion with Coach Connover had led to others. Steve, although he was perhaps never swayed by Loring’s views, seemed to find the boy’s theories and judgments interesting. It was at his suggestion that Loring’s chair was rolled to the end of the players’ bench of an afternoon, and frequently the coach slipped into the seat beside him and conversed. He was genuinely surprised when Loring confessed to having witnessed but four baseball games previous to this spring and to having obtained what knowledge of the game he possessed from the perusal of every book on the subject that he had been able to lay hands on and from watching the practice. In defense Loring said one day: “Of course, Mr. Connover, I understand that I don’t really know much about the game. A fellow can’t, I guess, unless he plays it. All I’ve got is a lot of theoretical stuff. It――it’s mighty good of you not to laugh at me, sir.” “Laugh at you? Nonsense, Deane. What you call theoretical stuff is perfectly sound, and I find it remarkable that you have absorbed so much of it without――how shall I put it?――without more incentive. Here you are, physically barred from playing, with a full knowledge of baseball, and all around us are fellows actually engaged in playing who don’t know the rules of the game, to say nothing of the strategy. No, you don’t owe any one an apology for being able to talk baseball intelligently, Deane, and if I don’t always agree with you it isn’t because your theories are wrong but because no theory――no baseball theory, at least――is always applicable in practice. A certain situation may call for one procedure to-day and a different procedure to-morrow, and that is largely because theories do not take into consideration the personal equation. I am not, of course, speaking now of the few hard and fast――er――tenets of the game; laws firmly established by experience; but of the more hypothetical theories that we call ‘inside stuff.’ Given a certain situation, Deane, the coach or the captain has to measure the book theory against all sorts of conditions; the opposing team’s reactions to certain moves, the abilities of his own players to perform those moves, many things. A play that might succeed in the early innings would fail in the later for any one of a number of reasons. Even weather is a factor, and as for psychology――” Steve sighed――“once a coach starts on psychology he’s lost!” “I’m afraid I don’t understand that,” said Loring.