“Ah, that’s it, eh? You’re one o’ them gentlemen amachoors, are you? Well, Joe, here, was one o’ them things himself till I found him. ’Twas me that rescued him from a life of crime.” Joe Casey turned a tanned countenance and grinned along the bench. “When you found me, Jimmy,” he said, “I was playin’ with a bunch that knew baseball, take it from me. That team could give us two runs an inning and beat us without trying.” “Yah!” said Jimmy disdainfully. “Listen to him, fellers! When I first set my eyes on that guy he was playing toss with a bunch of these here Willie Boys, and all dolled up in fancy togs like a moving-picture hero! Wore a silk shirt, he did! And every time he steps gracefully to the box a lot of his sissy friends waves little pink flags and cheers right out loud for him! Say, believe me, fellers, it was killing!” “That’s all right,” responded Casey, with a laugh. “That same bunch of Willie Boys could play ball some! We were the champs three years running, old scout!” “I know, but them girls’ schools is easy to beat,” replied Jimmy, with a wink at Wayne. The others on the bench laughed and Jimmy pulled himself to his feet. “Kid,” he said, “if you want a try-out you’ve got to make the boss think you’re good. Tell him you fielded for a thousand and batted for seven hundred. He won’t believe you, but he might be curious to see how you stack up. And keep after him, laddie.” “Thank you,” answered Wayne. “I mean to.” CHAPTER XX JUNE GOES TO WORK But Wayne did not approach Manager Milburn that day. Somehow the occasion failed to present itself, and, while determined to overcome the other’s resistance by perseverance, he did not want to start out by making a nuisance of himself. Save that he became slightly acquainted with several other members of the Harrisville Club that morning, he could not be said to have made much progress. He wanted very much to see that final game with Doncaster in the afternoon, but it meant the price of two dinners approximately, since it didn’t even occur to him to go without June. He had to be satisfied with reading about it in the late edition of the evening paper and was vastly disappointed when he learned that the Billies had fallen on Joe Casey in the eighth and driven him to cover, scoring four hits and two runs and securing a lead that the home team had been unable to overcome. Herring had finished in the box for Harrisville and had held the opponent safe, but the damage had been done by that time and the final score read 7 to 6. Doncaster had, consequently, split even on the series and incidentally reduced Harrisville’s lead in the league standing to eight games. Damascus had won again that day from Utica and slipped into second place. Wayne concluded that it would be well to wait until Harrisville had won her next game before presenting himself again to Mr. Milburn.