Hal hustled along with the rest. On the way he caught up with and passed Jenkins and Everson, together as usual. They did not see him, but he heard Jenkins say: “He looks more like a fielder than a pitcher,” and he thought they meant him. Later, as he walked along to his boarding house with Hans, they talked about the game, and the part each of them had taken in it, and Hans said, “I think you would make a good first baseman,” but Hal, who thought he had come out of his pitching test pretty well said, “But you see they don’t need a first baseman (they all have their bad days like Dill and Ross to-day), and they may need a good pitcher any time.” CHAPTER VII HAL AND CROSSLEY There were quite a number of disappointed candidates the day the Varsity list was posted. The disappointment was felt most by the boys who had an idea that they were the real thing as pitchers. A pitcher can rarely do anything but pitch, and a large percentage of boys who think they have the pitching ability do not make good when put to the real test. And so when they picked out the candidates for the Varsity that year, a great number of fellows who had high hopes missed even the second squad and finally landed on the freshman team. Among the fellows who had hopes of making the team was Edward Crossley. He had reported as a pitcher and had been given a good many try-outs in the batting practice, and at first Hughie was attracted by his work and had one or two talks with him about his experience. Hughie’s first impression was that Crossley could be developed into a substitute or extra pitcher as he was strong and could throw a swift ball. He also seemed to be able to serve up curves fairly well. But Hughie had to change his mind about Crossley. He was too erratic. The trouble with Crossley was that he was a spoiled son of a very rich man. He had the most luxurious rooms of any of the fellows at Lowell. He had a servant and an automobile. He had lots of money to spend and he didn’t hesitate to “blow it” as the boys say. He was a good fellow with the boys whom he chose to make his friends and he liked and was liked by those with whom he came in contact as long as no one tried to do things different from the way he wanted them done. Crossley had been brought up to think that every thing he wanted he could have. The fault was largely with his parents. They gave him everything he asked for and denied him nothing. Once in a while his parents would try to curb his desire for one thing or another, and then Crossley would pout and his parents gave in. This gave Crossley a very wrong idea of the world in general. But he was to find that there were other people in the world besides himself and that they had ideas of their own and that many of them were just as selfish in their ideas as he was. When he met this kind of a fellow he got furiously angry.