With Mask and Mitt

rdor of both the brothers. Clarence Moon had apparently learned wisdom from experience, for he had much less to say about the exalted state in which he lived at home, and in general bor

ossett the absentee, neither of whom was likely t

rom the value of habits of industry. They are rough diamonds which Young America is too prone to throw aside for the flashing brilliants of smartness and wit. But the truth must be spoken. Smith's industry earned no apparent dividends. With the gift of great perseverance, nature had also bestowed on him a very thick head, through which ideas soaked but slowly. He r

nto the habit of doing his afternoon study in Rob's room. At the head of the st

soon as they were out of hearing. "I

ayner doesn't have many callers. Eddy

Eddy, a

met him once ove

ind in a freak like Pay

ldn't make anything of him for a long time; but when once you'v

e like him. Give me the Pecks every t

g

quick, elastic footsteps, acc

," obser

lbury game!" exclaimed Patterson. "If I could play footb

a winning nine, my

ll that's in you. But in baseball it's different. Everybody has to stand around waiting and watching and quivering while one man does the work. When you pitch a hard baseball game, every ball's got to

nd things. That's where the fun comes in, and the skill. When you know you can handle a

uch baseball as you do. Honestly, now, do

times when Patterson

eeks instead of the days, you'll see a gain yourself. You may never be able to do the things with a ba

tterson, with a grin of incr

e batsman doesn't do to it, that shows that you are a pitcher. Suppose Carle has ten chances and t

cage and put 'em where you say; it's a different thing to face a batt

en, sharply, as he opened his books. There was good promise in Patt

id Patterson, returning again to the topic from whic

o legs; and Eddy is cracked on trees and birds. Payner spent all his half-holidays last fall, when he ought to have been at

g

tle sniff, midway betwe

rday afternoons like the rest of us. Why, he's got on

claimed the bewi

, sniggered covertly into its pages. Opposite him sat Patterson, awed into silence by the pon

ens that Payner had just received from Florida. It was lectur

at lecture to night. It's on the Gra

e picked up a card to which was[Pg 81] pinned a beetle with

y over and get a seat. You won't mind, wi

you!" s

u latch the doo

Eddy, passing on

irely satisfied with Eddy's an

" he called once more, pausing

. It seemed hardly necessary that the injunction should be so

ack to his room, found his brother, and sent him over to the lecture to make sure of Payner's presence there. With great foresight, the Pecks had invented a device suited to just such an emergency as the present. They had prepared a little wooden plug which would almost fill the socket into which the door-latch springs, leaving but a thin edge to catch the latch. This slight hold of the latch would be sufficient to keep the door shut, but quite incapable of resisting pressure. As the locks of all the rooms were uniform, the plug which had been made to fit the Pecks' door could b

They dragged the chief articles of furniture around the desk; piled the bedding on the heap, and wet it down with a dash of water; smashed the lamp-shade in trying to make it sit securely on top, and filled the f

oor. The twins listened through the crack[Pg 84] of their door, and trembled with excitement and eagerness, lashed by guilty consciences and yet de

dormitory on which had been written opposite No. 7, D. and D. Peck, now bore the legend The D—D Pecks. It was P

ssed, jumped into bed and thrust his feet down into t

d Duncan, turning

in the bed!" gasped Dona

s, and displayed a long, serpent-like

g

ieked Donald, dan

ly. "It's the season for eels.

the neck of each was attached a ribbon of paper bearing in neat