“Look here, Sam, I dare say this Mr. York of yours is a fine chap and all that, but if you don’t stop talking about him I’ll throw a fit! I haven’t heard much else since yesterday but ‘Mr. York’!” “He thinks you’re a great little pitcher, Tom,” replied Sam, with a twinkle. Tom smiled. “Why? Because I have big ears?” “Big ears?” Sam looked puzzled. “He didn’t say anything about your ears.” “That was a joke,” explained Tom patiently. “There’s a saying that little pitchers have big ears, you know, and you said he said--Oh, shucks! Never mind, you’ll see it after a while.” “You ought to label your jokes,” replied the other gently. “How’s a fellow to know? How do you feel about school, Tom?” “Full of enthusiasm,” answered Tom. “I dearly love my school. Next Monday it’s back to the grind, eh? When are you going to call fall practice?” “As soon as possible, I guess. I’ve got to see Mr. Talbot pretty soon.” “Bat isn’t back yet, I think. He went out West about three weeks ago, he and Mr. George; Grand Canyon and all that. I suppose they’ll be back in a day or two, though. Excuse me a minute, Sam.” A customer had entered and Tom arose to wait on him. “I’ll see you later, Tom,” said Sam. “Guess I’ll go and call on Mr. Hall.” “All right. The directory’s in the booth back there.” Sam smiled gently and took his departure. Main Street had quite a busy look now. A few blocks further along, and on the opposite side, what Tom had called the “new building” reared its fourteen stories high above the older structures. It was there that Mr. Hall had his office, and Sam, as he approached, searched the signs on the lower windows. He didn’t see Mr. Hall’s name, however, and before he could begin on the next tier there was a collision and Sam, recovering his balance and murmuring an apology, looked up into the smiling face of a tall man of about thirty years of age. “No harm done,” said the man pleasantly. “My fault, too, I guess.” He stepped to the right and at the same instant Sam embarrassedly stepped to the left. “Beg pardon,” muttered Sam, and stepped further toward the curb. So did the tall man. Sam felt the blood creeping into his face. The man laughed. “Well, we’ll never get anywhere this way, will we?” he asked. “Now I tell you what we’ll do. You stand quite still”--the man held up an admonishing finger--“and I’ll carefully walk around you. Don’t move!” Sam, very red of face, obeyed silently and the tall man circled him to the left. “All right!” he said. “We’re off again!”