“Just think of my nerve,” he confided to me. “Here I was re-engaging those two fellows, with only about forty dollars in the treasury. I hardly dared look them in the face. If the college doesn’t back us up handsomely, the nine will have to go into pawn before the first month has passed.” “Nonsense; don’t fret about that,” I answered. “We had to have the men, and the college knows it. The money will come fast enough. Have you started that subscription list yet?” “Indeed I have,” was Tony’s prompt response. “I could hardly wait till this morning to begin canvassing. I was up about half past seven, posting those bulletins, and then I set out at once for victims. There weren’t many fellows up at that hour, but I saw one lone creature making his way across the campus, and I swooped down on him like a wolf, subscription list in one hand and pencil in the other. Well, who do you think it was? Nobody but Reddy Weezner. You know what an old skinflint he is. How was that for a tough nut to begin with. You ought to have seen his face when he heard my errand. He turned fairly green. You see he hadn’t had his breakfast, and I suppose he felt kind o’ weak to run up against a subscription fiend. I determined to hang to him, however, and get some money out of the encounter. And what do you think? I made him shell out!” “Do you mean to say that Reddy Weezner contributed something?” I exclaimed in amused astonishment. “Yes, sir,” answered Tony in high glee. “The first time on record. Reddy Weezner contributed, and what is more astonishing, he gave _three dollars_. Think of that! I suppose if he had eaten his breakfast he might have had the courage to refuse, but he didn’t stand any show with me at that hour of the morning. Oh, Reddy Weezner is all right. He may be a hard nut to crack, but when he does crack he cracks wide open. But it was fun to see him totter off when I got through with him. I suppose he will kick himself for a month for his generosity.” “How does your list stand?” I asked. “Very well, considering the short time I’ve been at work on it. I’ve collected thirty dollars, and I’m not more than a quarter through the list. You go on into the club house and get ready for practice, and I’ll strike the crowd while the fellows are in the humor.” It was with a feeling of genuine affection that I unwrapped my old baseball suit which I had brought down with me from my trunk, where it had lain through the winter, and arranged my things in my locker preparatory to a new season. Of the old nine that had assembled in the club house in the previous year, only two besides myself now remained, but these were my best friends――Dick Palmer and Ray Wendell. Other than those, I saw about me only faces of new men, some of whom I felt sure would be improvements on our last year’s team.