The next evening they were at it again. Sidney was able to pitch an out-curve and a drop and had besides what he called his “slow ball.” The latter, however, didn’t differ much, so far as Tom could see, from any other ball. Besides, Sidney’s slow ball was an uncertain affair since it didn’t always materialise when he expected it to. Of course Sidney was willing and even eager to show Tom what he knew, but, unfortunately, Sidney didn’t know a great deal about the art of pitching a baseball, and what he did know he found it very difficult to expound. He showed Tom how to hold his fingers around the ball to deliver an out-curve, but as the “snap” and the “follow-through” have an immense effect on the ball’s flight, Tom’s efforts weren’t very successful. Still, he did manage, after awhile, to impart an out-curve to the ball and got so he could do it perhaps four times out of ten. The other times the ball generally went wild. Sidney tried to tell him about the motion of his arm and letting the ball slide off the tips of the first two fingers, but Sidney wasn’t very clear in his own head as to the philosophy of it, and so made a poor teacher. When Tom’s arm was tired, Sidney took his place and practised his slow ball with no great success and afterward tried to fathom the intricacies of the in-curve. This, though, was too much for him. “I’m going to get Thorny Brooks to show me how to do it,” he said finally. “He’s got a dandy in-shoot. You ought to see him pitch, Tom.” “I’d like to,” Tom answered. “Maybe some day when you’re playing a game I’ll get out and see it. I wish I could play, Sid.” “I know. It’s too bad you can’t. You’d make a good player, I’ll bet. You can field and bat better than two or three fellows on the team right now. I don’t suppose Cummings and Wright would let you off in the afternoon, would they?” “Then I wouldn’t be there at all,” laughed Tom. “When do you fellows play your first game?” “About two weeks from now. First games don’t amount to much, though; they’re only practices. You wait till we tackle Lynton High or Petersburg. Then you’ll see real games!” They went back through the twilight, passing the ball between them as they walked, Sidney progressing backward and having several narrow escapes from colliding with poles, hydrants, and pedestrians. Afterward they sat on the front steps until the chill of evening drove them upstairs to Sidney’s room. Then they “wirelessed,” taking turns at examining each other on the Continental code with tablet and pencil and then ticking off on the practice key: