colded and his father threatened. It was no new
experience. Nevertheless, he finished the neglected work in silence, and
in silence he ate his supper.

It had begun to dawn on him that he was spoiling things for himself. He
wasn't getting any fun out of scouting. He had been banished from
baseball. If Ted Carter stayed behind the bat, and if he didn't get
another chance to play--

"It's coming to me," he said, and his eyes blinked.

The time he had ruined Andy's fire Mr. Wall had said, "What do you think
a scout should do--the square thing?" He was confronted with the same
question now. What should he do--the square thing?

All of Sunday he wrestled with the problem. Monday afternoon he went to
the field early. He was the first boy there. He sat under the tree; and
when he saw Ted coming, he stood up slowly and went forward to meet the
captain.

"Say, Ted, any chance for me to get back?"

Ted glanced at him sharply. "Get back for what?"

"To play ball."

The captain tossed him the mitt. "Sure. Here comes Don. Catch him. No
curves--he worked nine innings Saturday. Just a little warm-up."

It was an awkward moment for Tim. He was not used to knuckling under. He
swallowed a lump in his throat; but Don acted as though there had never
been a change in the team. Slowly his restraint wore away. The other
players took him back without question; nobody mentioned Saturday's
disastrous game.

Tim went home from the practice whistling shrilly. There was a patrol
meeting at Don's house that night. He arrived on time. The others talked
eagerly of the first aid contest that was scheduled for Friday night. For
once he listened without trying to break into the conversation and
monopolize it, and gradually a little frown of worry wrinkled his
forehead.

The dining-room table was pushed up against the wall.

"No fooling tonight, fellows," said Don. "Let's see how much work we can
do."

Tim worked as faithfully as any of the others. In a corner Don and Ritter
practiced with splints, and over by the bay window Wally and Alex did
their bandaging. He and Andy and Bobbie had the center of the floor for
artificial respiration, stretcher work, and fireman's lift.

He worked feverishly. Something whispered to him, "Why didn't you work
hard before? You're too late now." Presently it was nine o'clock and the
work was over.

"How does it look?" Don asked eagerly.

"All right here," said Wally.

Tim and Andy were silent. Don's