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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40668 ***
+
+[Illustration: "Smash and hammer; hammer and smash!"]
+
+
+
+
+ A Quarter-Back's Pluck
+
+ A Story of College Football
+
+ BY
+ LESTER CHADWICK
+
+ AUTHOR OF "THE RIVAL PITCHERS," ETC.
+
+
+ ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+ NEW YORK
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+ BOOKS BY LESTER CHADWICK
+
+ =THE COLLEGE SPORTS SERIES=
+
+ 12mo. Illustrated
+
+ THE RIVAL PITCHERS
+ A Story of College Baseball
+
+ A QUARTER-BACK'S PLUCK
+ A Story of College Football
+
+ (Other volumes in preparation)
+
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY NEW YORK
+
+
+ Copyright, 1910, by
+ CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
+
+
+ A QUARTER-BACK'S PLUCK
+
+
+ Printed in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                        PAGE
+      I  MOVING DAY                                1
+     II  LANGRIDGE HAS A TUMBLE                   10
+    III  PHIL GETS BAD NEWS                       20
+     IV  FOOTBALL PRACTICE                        31
+      V  A CLASH                                  43
+     VI  PROFESSOR TINES OBJECTS                  52
+    VII  THE FIRST LINE-UP                        61
+   VIII  LANGRIDGE AND GERHART PLOT               70
+     IX  SOME GIRLS                               77
+      X  A BOTTLE OF LINIMENT                     91
+     XI  IN WHICH SOM EONE BECOMES A VICTIM      100
+    XII  THE FIRST GAME                          106
+   XIII  SMASHING THE LINE                       117
+    XIV  "GIRLS ARE QUEER"                       123
+     XV  PHIL SAVES WALLOPS                      131
+    XVI  PHIL IS NERVOUS                         138
+   XVII  THE SOPHOMORES LOSE                     144
+  XVIII  A FIRE ALARM                            155
+    XIX  THE FRESHMEN DANCE                      162
+     XX  PHIL GETS A TELEGRAM                    172
+    XXI  STRANGE BEDFELLOWS                      179
+   XXII  A CHANGE IN SIGNALS                     187
+  XXIII  BATTERING BOXER HALL                    195
+   XXIV  GERHART HAS AN IDEA                     210
+    XXV  PHIL GIVES UP                           217
+   XXVI  SID IS BOGGED                           224
+  XXVII  WOES OF A NATURALIST                    233
+ XXVIII  TOM IS JEALOUS                          239
+   XXIX  A STRANGE DISCOVERY                     246
+    XXX  A BITTER ENEMY                          254
+   XXXI  "IT'S TOO LATE TO BACK OUT!"            260
+  XXXII  TOM GETS A TIP                          265
+ XXXIII  "LINE UP!"                              273
+  XXXIV  THE GAME                                280
+   XXXV  VICTORY--CONCLUSION                     287
+
+
+
+
+A QUARTER-BACK'S PLUCK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+MOVING DAY
+
+
+Phil Clinton looked critically at the rickety old sofa. Then he glanced
+at his chum, Tom Parsons. Next he lifted, very cautiously, one end of
+the antiquated piece of furniture. The sofa bent in the middle, much as
+does a ship with a broken keel.
+
+"It--it looks like a mighty risky job to move it, Tom," said Phil. "It's
+broken right through the center."
+
+"I guess it is," admitted Tom sorrowfully. Then he lifted the head of
+the sofa, and warned by an ominous creaking, he lowered it gently to the
+floor of the college room which he and his chum, Sid Henderson, were
+about to leave, with the assistance of Phil Clinton to help them move.
+"Poor old sofa," went on Tom. "You've had a hard life. I'm afraid your
+days are numbered."
+
+"But you're not going to leave it here, for some measly freshman to lie
+on, are you, Tom?" asked Phil anxiously.
+
+"Not much!" was the quick response.
+
+"Nor the old chair?"
+
+"Nope!"
+
+"Nor the alarm clock?"
+
+"Never! Even if it doesn't keep time, and goes off in the middle of the
+night. No, Phil, we'll take 'em along to our new room. But, for the life
+of me, I don't see how we're going to move that sofa. It will collapse
+if we lift both ends at once."
+
+"I suppose so, but we've got to take it, even if we move it in sections,
+Tom."
+
+"Of course, only I don't see----"
+
+"I have it!" cried Phil suddenly. "I know how to do it!"
+
+"How?"
+
+"Splice it."
+
+"Splice it? What do you think it is--a rope ladder? You must be in love,
+or getting over the measles."
+
+"No, I mean just what I say. We'll splice it. You wait. I'll go down
+cellar, and get some pieces of board from the janitor. Also a hammer and
+some nails. We'll save the old sofa yet, Tom."
+
+"All right, go ahead. More power to ye, as Bricktop Molloy would say. I
+wonder if he's coming back this term?"
+
+"Yep. Post graduate course, I hear. He wouldn't miss the football team
+for anything. Well, you hold down things here until I come back. If the
+new freshmen who are to occupy this room come along, tell 'em we'll be
+moved by noon."
+
+"I doubt it; but go ahead. I'll try to be comfortable until your return,
+dearest," and with a mocking smile Tom Parsons sank down into an easy
+chair that threatened to collapse under his substantial bulk. From the
+faded cushions a cloud of dust arose, and set Tom to sneezing so hard
+that the old chair creaked and rattled, as if it would fall apart.
+
+"Easy! Easy there, old chap!" exclaimed the tall, good-looking lad, as
+he peered on either side of the seat. "Don't go back on me now. You'll
+soon have a change of climate, and maybe that will be good for your old
+bones."
+
+He settled back, stuck his feet out before him, and gazed about the
+room. It was a very much dismantled apartment. In the center was piled
+a collection of baseball bats, tennis racquets, boxing gloves, foils,
+catching gloves, a football, some running trousers, a couple of
+sweaters, and a nondescript collection of books. There were also a
+couple of trunks, while, flanking the pile, was the old sofa and the arm
+chair. On top of all the alarm clock was ticking comfortably away, as
+happy as though moving from one college dormitory to another was a most
+matter-of-fact proceeding. The hands pointed to one o'clock, when it
+was, as Tom ascertained by looking at his watch, barely nine; but a
+little thing like that did not seem to give the clock any concern.
+
+"I do hope Phil can rig up some scheme so we can move the sofa,"
+murmured the occupant of the easy chair. "That's like part of ourselves
+now. It will make the new room seem more like home. I wonder where Sid
+can be? This is more of his moving than it is Phil's, but Sid always
+manages to get out of hard work. Phil is anxious to room with us, I
+guess."
+
+Tom Parsons stretched his legs out a little farther, and let his gaze
+once more roam about the room. Suddenly he uttered an exclamation, as
+his eye caught sight of something on the wall.
+
+"Came near forgetting that," he said as he arose, amid another cloud of
+dust from the chair, and removed from a spot on the wall, behind the
+door, the picture of a pretty girl. "I never put that there," he went
+on, as he wiped the dust from the photograph, and turned it over to look
+at the name written on the back--Madge Tyler. "Sid must have done that
+for a joke. He thought I'd forget it, and leave it for some freshy to
+make fun of. Not much! I got ahead of you that time, Sid, my boy. Queer
+how he doesn't like girls," added Tom, with the air of an expert. "Well,
+probably it's just as well he doesn't take too much to Madge, for----"
+
+But Tom's musings, which were getting rather sentimental, were
+interrupted by the entrance of Phil Clinton. Phil had under one arm some
+boards, while in one hand he carried a hammer, and in the other some
+nails.
+
+"Just the cheese," he announced. "Now we'll have this thing fixed up in
+jig time. Hasn't Sid Henderson showed up?"
+
+"No. I guess he's over to the new room. He took his books and left some
+time ago. Maybe he's studying."
+
+"Not much!" exclaimed Phil. "I wish he'd come and help move. Some of
+this stuff is his."
+
+"Most of it is. I'm glad you're going to help, or I'd never have the
+courage to shift. Well, let's get the sofa fixed. I doubt if we can make
+it hold together, though."
+
+"Yes, we can. I'll show you."
+
+Phil went to work in earnest. He was an athletic-looking chap, of
+generous size, and one of the best runners at Randall College. He was
+one of Tom Parson's particular chums, the other being Sidney Henderson.
+Tom and Sid, of whom more will be told presently, had roomed together
+during their freshman year at Randall, and Phil's apartment was not far
+away. Toward the close of the term the three boys were much together,
+Phil spending more time in the room of Tom and Sid than he did in his
+own. In this way he became very much attached to the old chair and sofa,
+which formed two of the choicest possessions of the lads.
+
+With the opening of the new term, when the freshmen had become more or
+less dignified sophomores, Phil had proposed that he and his two chums
+shift to a large room in the west dormitory, where the majority of the
+sophomores and juniors lived. His plan was enthusiastically adopted by
+Sid and Tom, and, as soon as they had arrived at college, ready for the
+beginning of the term, moving day had been instituted. But Sid, after
+helping Tom get their possessions in a pile in the middle of the room
+they were about to leave, had disappeared, and Phil, enthusiastic about
+getting his two best friends into an apartment with him, had come over
+to aid Tom.
+
+"Now, you see," went on Phil, "I'll nail this board along the front edge
+of the sofa--so."
+
+"But don't you think, old chap--and I know you'll excuse my mentioning
+it," said Tom--"don't you think that it rather spoils, well, we'll say
+the artistic beauty of it?"
+
+"Artistic fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Phil. "Of course it does! But it's
+the only way to hold it together."
+
+"One could, I suppose, put a sort of drapery--flounce, I believe, is
+the proper word--over it," went on Tom. "That would hide the unsightly
+board."
+
+"I don't care whether it's hid or not!" exclaimed Phil. "But if you
+don't get down here and help hold this end, while I nail the other, I
+know what's going to happen."
+
+"What?" asked Tom, as he carefully put in his pocket the photograph of
+the pretty girl.
+
+"Well, you'll have a mob of howling freshmen in here, and there won't be
+any sofa left."
+
+"Perish the thought!" cried Tom, and then he set to work in earnest
+helping Phil.
+
+"Now a board on the back," said the amateur carpenter, and for a few
+minutes he hammered vigorously.
+
+"It's a regular anvil chorus," remarked Tom.
+
+"Here, no knocking!" exclaimed his chum. "Now let's see if it's stiff
+enough."
+
+Anxiously he raised one end of the sofa. There was no sagging in the
+middle this time.
+
+"It's like putting a new keel on a ship!" cried the inventor of the
+scheme gaily. "A few more nails, and it will do. Do you think the chair
+will stand shifting?"
+
+"Oh, yes. That's like the 'one-horse shay'--it'll hold together until it
+flies apart by spontaneous combustion. You needn't worry about that."
+
+Phil proceeded to drive a few more nails in the boards he had attached
+to the front and back of the sofa. Then he got up to admire his work.
+
+"I call that pretty good, Tom; don't you?" he asked.
+
+The two chums drew back to the farther side of the room to get the
+effect.
+
+"Yes, I guess with a ruffle or two, a little insertion, and a bit of old
+lace, it will hide the fractured places, Phil. It's a pity----"
+
+"Here, what are you scoundrels doing to my old sofa?" exclaimed a voice.
+"Vandals! How dare you spoil that antique?" and another lad entered the
+room. "Say, why didn't you put new legs on it, insert new springs, and
+cover it over while you were about it?" he asked sarcastically.
+
+"Because, you old fossil, we _had_ to put those boards on," said Tom.
+"Where have you been, Sid? Phil and I were getting ready to move without
+you."
+
+"Oh, I've been cleaning out the new room we're going into. The juniors
+who were there last term must have tried to raise vegetables in it,
+judging by the amount of dirt I found. But it's all right now."
+
+"Good! Now if you'll catch hold here, we'll move the old sofa first. The
+rest will be easy."
+
+Sid Henderson grasped the head of the couch, while Tom took the foot.
+Phil acted as general manager, and steadied it on the side.
+
+"Easy now, easy boys," he cautioned, as they moved toward the door
+leading to the hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+LANGRIDGE HAS A TUMBLE
+
+
+Out into the corridor went the three lads with the old sofa. It was no
+easy task, but they managed to get it out of the east dormitory, where
+they had roomed for a year, and then they began the journey across a
+stretch of grass to the west building.
+
+The appearance of the three boys, carrying a dilapidated sofa, as
+tenderly as though it were some rare and fragile object, attracted the
+attention of a crowd of students. The lads swarmed over to surround the
+movers.
+
+"Well, would you look at that!" exclaimed Holman, otherwise known as
+"Holly," Cross. "Have you had a fire, Tom?"
+
+"No; they've been to an auction sale of antiques, and this is the bed
+on which Louis XIV slept the night before he ate the Welsh rarebit,"
+declared Ed Kerr, the champion catcher on the 'varsity nine. "Why don't
+you label it, Phil, so a fellow would know what it is?"
+
+"You get out of the way!" exclaimed Tom good-naturedly.
+
+"This side up, with care. Store in a cool, dry place, and water
+frequently," quoted Billy Housenlager, who rejoiced in the title of
+Dutch. "Here, let me see if I can jump over it while it is in motion,"
+he added, for he was full of "horseplay," and always anxious to try
+something new. He took a running start, and was about to leap full upon
+the sofa, when, at a signal from Phil, the three chums set the spliced
+piece of furniture on the grass.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Dutch indignantly. "Can't you give a fellow a
+chance to practice jumping? I can beat Grasshopper Backus, now."
+
+"You can not!" exclaimed the owner of the title. "I'm sure to make the
+track team this term, and then you'll see what----"
+
+"Say," put in another student, "my uncle says that when he was here he
+used to jump----"
+
+"Drown him!"
+
+"Stuff grass in his mouth!"
+
+"Make him eat the horsehair in the sofa!"
+
+"Swallow it!"
+
+"Chew it up!"
+
+These were some of the cries of derision that greeted Ford Fenton's
+mention of his uncle. The gentleman had once been a coach at Randall,
+and a very good one, too, but his nephew was doing much to spoil his
+reputation.
+
+For, at every chance he got, and at times when there was no opportunity
+but such as he made, Ford would quote his aforesaid uncle, upon any and
+all subjects, to the no small disapproval of his college mates. So they
+had gotten into the habit of "rigging" him every time he mentioned his
+relative.
+
+"I don't care," Ford said, when the chorus of exclamations had ceased.
+"My uncle----"
+
+But he got no further, for the students made a rush for him and buried
+him out of sight in a pile of wriggling arms and legs.
+
+"First down; ten yards to gain!" yelled some one.
+
+"Come on, now's our chance," said Tom. "First thing we know they'll do
+that to our sofa, and then it will be all up with the poor old thing.
+Let's move on."
+
+Once more the chums took up their burden, and walked toward the west
+dormitory. By this time the throng had done with punishing poor Fenton,
+and once more turned its attention to the movers.
+
+"Going to split it up for firewood?" called Ed Kerr.
+
+"No; it's full of germs, and they're going to dig 'em out and use 'em
+in the biology class," suggested Dan Woodhouse, who was more commonly
+called Kindlings.
+
+"Maybe they're going to make a folding bed of it," came from Bricktop
+Molloy. "Come on, fellows, let's investigate."
+
+The crowd of fun-loving students hurried after the three lads carrying
+the sofa.
+
+"They're coming!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Let's drop the sofa and cut for it?" proposed Sid. "They'll make a
+rough house if they catch us."
+
+"I'm not going to desert the sofa!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Nor I. I'll stick by you--'I will stand at thy right hand, and guard
+the bridge with thee,'" quoted Phil. "But if we put a little more speed
+on we can get to the dormitory, and that will be sanctuary, I guess.
+Come on; run, fellows!"
+
+It was awkward work, running and carrying a clumsy sofa, but they
+managed it. Holly Cross caught up to them as they were at the door of
+the building.
+
+"Ah, let's have the old ark," he pleaded. "We'll make a bonfire of it,
+and circle about it to-night, after we haze some freshies. Give us the
+old relic, Tom."
+
+"Not on your life!" exclaimed the crack pitcher of the 'varsity nine.
+"This is our choicest possession, Holly. It goes wherever we go."
+
+"Well, it won't go much longer," observed Holly. "One of its legs is
+coming off."
+
+Almost as he spoke one of the sofa legs, probably jarred loose by the
+unaccustomed rapid rate of progress, fell to the dormitory steps.
+
+"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" exclaimed Phil. "It's beginning to fall apart,
+Tom."
+
+"Never mind, you can nail it on. Sid, you carry the leg. The stairs are
+so narrow that only two of us can manage the sofa. Phil and I will do
+that, and you come in back to catch me, in case I fall."
+
+Seeing that there was no chance to get the sofa away from its owners, to
+make a college holiday with it, Holly Cross and his friends turned back
+to look for another source of sport. Sid picked up the leg, and then,
+with Phil mounting the stairs backward, carrying one end, and Tom
+advancing and holding the other, the task was begun. Up the stairs they
+went, and when they were half way there appeared at the head of the
+flight two lads. They were both well dressed in expensive clothes, and
+there was about them that indefinable air of "sportiness" which is so
+easily recognizable but hard to acquire.
+
+"Hello, what's this?" asked the foremost of the two, as he looked down
+on the approaching cavalcade and the sofa. "Here, what do you fellows
+mean by blocking up the stairway? Don't you know that no tradesmen are
+allowed in this entrance?"
+
+"Who are you talking to?" demanded Phil, not seeing who was speaking.
+
+"It's Langridge," explained Tom, as he looked up and saw his former
+enemy and rival.
+
+"Oh, it's Parsons, Henderson and Clinton," went on Fred Langridge, as he
+recognized some fellow students. Then, without apologizing for his
+former words, he went on: "I say, you fellows will have to back down and
+let me and Gerhart past. We are in a hurry."
+
+"So are we," said Tom shortly. "I guess you can wait until we come up."
+
+"No, I can't!" exclaimed Langridge. "You back up! You have no right to
+block up the stairs this way!"
+
+"Well, I guess we have," put in Sid. "We're moving some of our things to
+our new room."
+
+Langridge, followed by the other well-dressed lad, came down a few
+steps. He saw the old sofa, and exclaimed:
+
+"What! Do you mean to say that you fellows are moving that fuzzy-wuzzy
+piece of architecture into this dormitory? I'll not stand for it! I'll
+complain to the proctor! Why, it's full of disease germs!"
+
+"Yes, and you're full of prune juice!" cried Phil Clinton, unable to
+stand the arrogant words and manner of Langridge.
+
+"Don't get gay with me!" exclaimed Tom's former rival.
+
+"I'll lay you five to three that you can't jump over their heads and
+clear the sofa," put in the other student, whom Langridge had called
+Gerhart. "Do any of you fellows want to bet?" he asked rather
+sneeringly, as he looked down at Tom, Phil and Sid.
+
+"I guess not," answered Tom, good-naturedly enough.
+
+"Ah, you're not sports, I see," rejoined Gerhart. "I thought you said
+this was a sporty college, Langridge?"
+
+"So it is, when you strike the right crowd, and not a lot of greasy
+digs," was the answer. "I say, are you chaps going to move back and let
+me and Gerhart pass?" he went on.
+
+"No, we're not," replied Phil shortly. "You can wait until we get up. Go
+on back now, Langridge, and we'll soon have this out of the way."
+
+"Burning it up would be the best method of getting it out of the way,"
+declared Langridge, still with that sneer in his voice. "I never saw
+such a disgraceful piece of furniture. What do you fellows want with it?
+Surely you're not going to put it in your room."
+
+"That's just what we are going to do," declared Sid. "We wouldn't part
+with this for a good bit, would we, fellows?"
+
+"Nope," chorused Phil and Tom.
+
+"Did it come over in the _Mayflower_?" asked Gerhart. "I'm willing to
+bet ten to one that if you think it's an antique that you're stuck. How
+about it?"
+
+"You're quite a sport, aren't you, freshie?" asked Phil suddenly, for he
+knew that the new student must belong to the first-year class.
+
+"Of course I'm a sport, but if you go to calling names I'll show you
+that I'm something else!" exclaimed the other fiercely. "If you want to
+do a little something in the boxing line----"
+
+"Dry up!" hastily advised Langridge in a whisper. "You're a freshman,
+and you know it. They're sophomores, and so am I. Don't get gay."
+
+"Well, they needn't insult a gentleman."
+
+"Tell us when one's around, and we'll be on our good behavior," spoke
+Phil with a laugh.
+
+"Come, now, are you fellows going to back down and let us pass?" asked
+Langridge hastily.
+
+"Like the old guard, we die, but never surrender," spoke Tom. "We're not
+going to back down, Langridge. It's easier for you to go back than for
+us."
+
+"Well, I'm not going to do it. You have no right to move your stuff in
+here, anyhow. The rooms are furnished."
+
+"We want our old chair and sofa," explained Sid.
+
+"I should think you'd be ashamed to bring such truck into a decent
+college," expostulated Langridge. "It looks as if it had been through a
+fire in a second-hand store."
+
+"That'll do you," remarked Phil. "This is our sofa, and we'll do as we
+please with it."
+
+"You won't block up my way, that's one thing you won't do," declared
+Langridge fiercely. "I'm going down. Look out! If I upset you fellows it
+won't be my fault."
+
+He started down the stairs, and managed to squeeze past Phil, who,
+though he did not like Langridge, moved as far to one side as possible
+in the narrow passage. As Langridge passed the sofa he struck it with a
+little cane he carried. A cloud of dust arose.
+
+"Whew!" exclaimed the sporty lad. "Smell the germs! Wow! Get me some
+disinfectant, Gerhart."
+
+Whether it was the action of Langridge in hitting the sofa that caused
+Tom to stagger, or whether Phil was unsteady on his feet and pushed on
+the sofa, did not develop. At any rate, just as Langridge came opposite
+to Tom on the stairs, the former pitcher was jostled against his rival.
+Langridge stumbled, tried to save himself by clutching at Tom and then
+at the sofa. He missed both, and, with a loud exclamation, plunged down
+head first, bringing up with a resounding thud at the bottom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+PHIL GETS BAD NEWS
+
+
+For a moment after he struck the bottom of the stairs, Fred Langridge
+remained stretched out, making no move. Tom Parsons feared his
+former rival was badly hurt, and was about to call to Sid to go and
+investigate, when Langridge got up. His face showed the rage he felt,
+though it was characteristic of him that he first brushed the dust off
+his clothes. He was nothing if not neat about his person.
+
+"What did you do that for?" he cried to Tom.
+
+"Do what?"
+
+"Shove me down like that. I might have broken my neck. As it is, I've
+wrenched my ankle."
+
+"I didn't do it," said Tom. "If you'd stayed up where you were, until we
+got past with the sofa, it wouldn't have happened. You shouldn't have
+tried to pass us."
+
+"I shouldn't, eh? Well, I guess I've got as good a right on these stairs
+as you fellows have, with your musty old furniture. You oughtn't be
+allowed to have it. You deliberately pushed me down, Tom Parsons, and
+I'll fix you for it!" and Langridge limped about, exaggerating the hurt
+to his ankle.
+
+"I didn't push you!" exclaimed Tom. "It was an accident that you jostled
+against me."
+
+"I didn't jostle against you. You deliberately leaned against me to save
+yourself from falling."
+
+"I did not! And if you----"
+
+"You brought it on yourself, Langridge," interrupted Phil. "You got
+fresh and hit the sofa, and that made you lose your balance. It's your
+own fault."
+
+"You mind your business! When I want you to speak I'll address my
+remarks to you. I'm talking to Parsons now, and I tell him----"
+
+"You needn't take the trouble to tell me anything," declared Tom. "I
+don't want to hear you. I've told you it was an accident, and if you
+insist that it was done purposely I have only to say that you are
+intimating that I am not telling the truth. In that case there can be
+but one thing to do, and I'll do it as soon as I've gotten this sofa
+into our room."
+
+There was an obvious meaning in Tom's words, and Langridge had no
+trouble in fathoming it. He did not care to come to a personal encounter
+with Tom.
+
+"Well, if you fellows hadn't been moving that measly old sofa in, this
+would never have happened," growled Langridge as he limped away. "Come
+on, Gerhart. We'll find more congenial company."
+
+"I guess I'll wait until they get the sofa out of the way," remarked the
+new chum Langridge appeared to have picked up.
+
+Tom, Sid and Phil resumed their journey, and the old piece of furniture
+was carried to the upper hall. The stairs were clear, and Gerhart
+descended. As he passed Tom he looked at him with something of a sneer
+on his face, and remarked:
+
+"I'll lay you even money that Langridge can whip you in a fair fight."
+
+"Why, you little freshie," exclaimed Phil, "fair fights are the only
+kind we have at Randall! We don't have 'em very often, but every time we
+do Tom puts the kibosh all over your friend Langridge. Another thing--it
+isn't healthy for freshies to bet too much. They might go broke," and
+with these words of advice Phil caught up his end of the sofa and Tom
+the other. It was soon in the room the three sophomore chums had
+selected.
+
+"Now for the chair and the rest of the truck," called Phil.
+
+"Oh, let's rest a bit," suggested Sid, as he stretched out on the sofa.
+No sooner had he reached a reclining position than he sat up suddenly.
+
+"Wow!" he cried. "What in the name of the labors of Hercules is that?"
+
+He drew from the back of his coat a long nail.
+
+"Why, I must have left it on the sofa when I fixed it," said Phil
+innocently. "I wondered what had become of it."
+
+"You needn't wonder any longer," spoke Sid ruefully. "Tom, take a look,
+that's a good chap, and see if there's a very big hole in my back. I
+think my lungs are punctured."
+
+"Not a bit of it, from the way you let out that yell," said Phil. "That
+will teach you not to take a siesta during moving operations."
+
+"Not much damage done," Tom reported with a laugh, as he inspected his
+chum's coat. "Come on now, let's get the rest of it done."
+
+"Do you think it will be safe to leave the sofa here?" asked Sid.
+"Perhaps I'd better stay and keep guard over it, while you fellows fetch
+the rest of the things in."
+
+"Well, listen to him!" burst out Phil. "What harm will come to it here?"
+
+"Why, Langridge and that sporty new chum of his may slip in and damage
+it."
+
+"Say, if they can damage this sofa any more than it is now, I'd like to
+see them," spoke Tom. "I defy even the fingers of Father Time himself to
+work further havoc. No, most noble Anthony, the sofa will be perfectly
+safe here."
+
+"I wouldn't say as much for you, if Langridge gets a chance at you,"
+said Phil to Tom. "You know what tricks he played on you last term."
+
+"Yes; but I guess he's had his lesson," remarked Tom. "Now come on, and
+we'll finish up."
+
+The three lads went back to the room formerly occupied by Sid and Tom
+during their freshman year. The chums were pretty much of a size, and
+they made an interesting picture as they strolled across the campus.
+
+Tom Parsons had come to Randall College the term previous, from the
+town of Northville, where his parents lived. He did not care to follow
+his father's occupation of farming, and so had decided on a college
+education, using part of his own money to pay his way.
+
+As told in the first volume of this series, entitled "The Rival
+Pitchers," Tom had no sooner reached Randall than he incurred the enmity
+of Fred Langridge, a rich youth from Chicago, who was manager of the
+'varsity ball nine, and also its pitcher. Tom had ambitions to fill that
+position himself, and as soon as Langridge learned this, he was more
+than ever the enemy of the country lad.
+
+Randall College was located near the town of Haddonfield, in one of our
+middle Western States, and was on the shore of Sunny River, not far from
+Lake Tonoka. Within a comparatively short distance from Randall were two
+other institutions of learning. One was Boxer Hall, and the other
+Fairview Institute, a co-educational academy. These three colleges had
+formed the Tonoka Lake League in athletics, and the rivalry on the
+gridiron and diamond, as well as in milder forms of sport--rowing,
+tennis, basketball and hockey--ran high. When Tom arrived there was much
+talk of baseball, and Randall had a good nine in prospect. Her hopes ran
+toward winning the Lake League pennant in baseball, but as her nine had
+been at the bottom of the list for several seasons, the chances were
+dubious.
+
+After many hardships, not a few of which Langridge was responsible for,
+Tom got a chance to play on the 'varsity nine. Langridge was a good
+pitcher, but he secretly drank and smoked, to say nothing of staying up
+late nights to gamble; and so he was not in good form. When it came to
+the crucial moment he could not "make good," and Tom was put in his
+place, in the pitching box, and by phenomenal work won the deciding
+game. This made Randall champion of the baseball league, and Tom Parsons
+was hailed as a hero, Langridge being supplanted as pitcher and manager.
+
+But if Langridge and some of the latter's set were his enemies, Tom had
+many friends, not the least among whom were Phil Clinton and Sidney
+Henderson, to say nothing of Miss Madge Tyler. This young lady and
+Langridge were, at first, very good friends, but when Madge found out
+what sort of a chap the rich city youth was, she broke friendship with
+him, and Tom had the pleasure of taking her to more than one college
+affair. This, of course, did not add to the good feeling between Tom and
+Langridge.
+
+With the winning of the championship game, baseball came practically to
+an end at Randall, as well as at the other colleges in the Tonoka Lake
+League, and a sort of truce was patched up between Tom and Langridge.
+The summer vacation soon came, and the students scattered to their
+homes. Tom and his two chums agreed to room together during the term
+which opens with this story, and it may be mentioned incidentally
+that both Tom and Phil hoped to play on the football eleven. Phil
+was practically assured of a place, for he had played the game at a
+preparatory school, and had as good a reputation in regard to filling
+the position of quarter-back as Tom had in the pitching box.
+
+It was due to a great catch which Phil made in the deciding championship
+game, almost as much as to Tom's wonderful pitching, that Randall had
+the banner, and Captain Holly Cross, of the eleven, had marked Phil
+for one of his men during the season which was about to open on the
+gridiron.
+
+"Now we'll take the old armchair over," proposed Tom, when he and his
+chums had reached the room they were vacating. "I guess I can manage
+that alone. You fellows carry some of the other paraphernalia."
+
+Phil and Sid prepared to load themselves down with gloves, balls, bats,
+foils and various articles of sport. Before he left with the chair, Tom
+observed Sid looking behind the door as if for something.
+
+"It's not there, old man. I took it down," said the pitcher, and he
+patted the pocket that held Madge Tyler's photograph. "You thought you'd
+make me forget it, didn't you?"
+
+"Do you mean to say you're going to stick girls' pictures up in our new
+room?" asked Sid.
+
+"Not girls' pictures, in general," replied Tom, "but one in particular."
+
+"You make me tired!" exclaimed Sid, who cared little for feminine
+society.
+
+"You needn't look at it if you don't like," responded his chum. "But I
+call her a pretty girl, don't you, Phil?"
+
+"She's an all right looker," answered the other with such enthusiasm
+that Tom glanced at him a trifle sharply.
+
+"She's no prettier than Phil's sister," declared Sid.
+
+"Have you a sister?" demanded Tom.
+
+Phil bowed in assent.
+
+"Why didn't you say so before?" asked Tom grumblingly.
+
+"Because you never asked me."
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Going to Fairview this term, I believe."
+
+"So is Madge--I mean Miss Tyler," burst out Tom. "I'd like to meet her,
+Phil; your sister, I mean."
+
+"Say, you're a regular Mormon!" expostulated Sid. "If we're going to get
+this moving done, let's do it, and not talk about girls. You fellows
+make me sick!"
+
+"Wait until he gets bitten by the bug," said Tom with a laugh, as he
+shouldered the easy chair.
+
+It took the lads several trips to transfer all their possessions, but at
+last it was accomplished, and they sat in the new room in the midst of
+"confusion worse confounded," as Holly Cross remarked when he looked in
+on them. Their goods were scattered all over, and the three beds in the
+room were piled high with them.
+
+"It's a much nicer place than the old room," declared Tom.
+
+"It will be when we get it fixed up," added Phil.
+
+"I s'pose that means sticking a lot of girls' photos on the wall, some
+of those crazy banners they embroidered for you, a lot of ribbons, and
+such truck," commented Sid disgustedly. "I tell you fellows one thing,
+though, and that is if you go to cluttering up this room too much, I'll
+have something to say. I'm not going to live in a cozy corner, nor yet
+a den. I want a decent room."
+
+"Oh, you can have one wall space to decorate in any style you like,"
+said Tom.
+
+"Yes; he'll probably adopt the early English or the late French style,"
+declared Phil, "and have nothing but a calendar on it. Well, every one
+to his notion. Hello, the alarm clock has stopped," and he began to
+shake it vigorously.
+
+"Easy with it!" cried Tom. "Do you want to jar the insides loose?"
+
+"You can't hurt this clock," declared Phil, and, as if to prove his
+words, the fussy little timepiece began ticking away again, as loudly
+and insistingly as ever. "Well, let's get the room into some decent kind
+of shape, and then I'm going out and see what the prospects are for
+football," he went on. "I want to make that quarter-back position if I
+have to train nights and early mornings."
+
+"Oh, you'll get it, all right," declared Tom. "I wish I was as sure of a
+place as you are. I believe----"
+
+He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Sid opened it. In the hall
+stood one of the college messengers.
+
+"Hello, Wallops; what have you there?" asked Tom.
+
+"Telegram for Mr. Phil Clinton."
+
+"Hand it over," spoke Sid, taking the envelope from the youth.
+"Probably it's a proposition for him to manage one of the big college
+football teams."
+
+As Wallops, who, like nearly everything and every one else about the
+college had a nickname, departed down the corridor, Phil opened the
+missive. It was brief, but his face paled as he read it.
+
+"Bad news?" asked Tom quickly.
+
+"My mother is quite ill, and they will have to operate on her to save
+her life," said Phil slowly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+FOOTBALL PRACTICE
+
+
+There was a moment of silence in the room. No one cared to speak, for,
+though Tom and Sid felt their hearts filled with sympathy for Phil, they
+did not know what to say. It was curiously quiet--oppressively so. The
+fussy little alarm clock, on the table piled high with books, was
+ticking away, as if eager to call attention to itself. Indeed, it did
+succeed in a measure, for Tom remarked gently.
+
+"Seems to me that sounds louder than it did in the other room."
+
+"There are more echoes here," spoke Sid, also quietly. "It will be
+different when we get the things up."
+
+The spell had been broken. Each one breathed a sigh of relief. Phil,
+whose face had become strangely white, stared down at the telegram in
+his hand. The paper rustled loudly--almost as loudly as the clock
+ticked. Tom spoke again.
+
+"Is it--is it something sudden?" he asked. "Was she all right when you
+left home to come back to college?"
+
+"Not exactly all right," answered Phil, and he seemed to be carefully
+picking his words, so slowly did he speak. "She had been in poor health
+for some time, and we thought a change of air would do her good. So
+father took her to Florida--a place near Palm Beach. I came on here, and
+I hoped to hear good news. Now--now----" He could not proceed, and
+turned away.
+
+Tom coughed unnecessarily loud, and Sid seemed to have suddenly
+developed a most tremendous cold. He had to go to the window to look
+out, probably to see if it was getting colder. In doing so he knocked
+from a chair a football, which bounded erratically about the room, as
+the spherical pigskin always does bounce. The movements of it attracted
+the attention of all, and mercifully came as a relief to their
+overwrought nerves.
+
+"Well," said Sid, as he blew his nose with seemingly needless violence,
+"I suppose you'll have to give up football now; for you'll go to
+Florida."
+
+"Yes," said Phil simply, "of course I shall go. I think I'll wire dad
+first, though, and tell him I'm going to start."
+
+"I'll take the message to the telegraph office for you," offered Tom
+eagerly.
+
+"No, let me go," begged Sid. "I can run faster than you, Tom."
+
+"That's a nice thing to say, especially when I'm going to try for end on
+the 'varsity eleven," said Tom a bit reproachfully. "Don't let Holly
+Cross or Coach Lighton hear you say that, or I'll be down and out. I'm
+none too good in my running, I know, but I'm going to practice."
+
+"Oh, I guess you'll make out all right," commented Phil. "I'm much
+obliged to you fellows. I guess I can take the message myself, though,"
+and he sat down at the littered table, pushing the things aside, to
+write the dispatch.
+
+Tom and Sid said little when Phil went out to take the telegram to the
+office. The two chums, one on the old patched sofa and the other in the
+creaking chair, which at every movement sent up a cloud of dust from the
+ancient cushion, maintained a solemn silence. Tom did remark once:
+
+"Tough luck, isn't it?"
+
+To which Sid made reply:
+
+"That's what it is."
+
+But, then, to be understood, you don't need to talk much under such
+circumstances. In a little while footsteps were heard along the
+corridor.
+
+"Here he comes!" exclaimed Tom, and he arose from the sofa with such
+haste that the new boards, which Phil had put on to strengthen it,
+seemed likely to snap off.
+
+"Go easy on that, will you?" begged Sid. "Do you want to break it?"
+
+"No," answered Tom meekly, and he fell to arranging his books, a task
+which Sid supplemented by piling the sporting goods indiscriminately in
+a corner. They wanted to be busy when Phil came in.
+
+"Whew! You fellows are raising a terrible dust!" exclaimed Phil. He
+seemed more at his ease now. In grief there is nothing so diverting as
+action, and now that he had sent his telegram, and hoped to be able to
+see his mother shortly, it made the bad news a little easier to bear.
+
+"Yes," spoke Tom; "it's Sid. He raises a dust every time he gets
+into or out of that chair. I really think we ought to send it to the
+upholsterer's and have it renovated."
+
+"There'd be nothing left of it," declared Phil. "Better let well enough
+alone. It'll last for some years yet--as long as we are in Randall."
+
+"Did you send the message?" blurted out Tom.
+
+"Yes, and now I'll wait for an answer."
+
+"Is it--will they have to--I mean--of course there's some danger in an
+operation," stammered Sid, blushing like a girl.
+
+"Yes," admitted Phil gravely. "It is very dangerous. I don't exactly
+know what it is, but before she went away our family doctor said that if
+it came to an operation it would be a serious one. Now--now it seems
+that it's time for it. Dear old mother--I--I hope----" He was struggling
+with himself. "Oh, hang it all!" he suddenly burst out. "Let's get this
+room to rights. If--if I go away I'll have the nightmare thinking what
+shape it's in. Let's fix up a bit, and then go out and take a walk. Then
+it will be grub time. After that we'll go out and see if any more
+fellows have arrived."
+
+It was good advice--just the thing needed to take their attention off
+Phil's grief, and they fell to work with a will. In a short time the
+room began to look something like those they had left.
+
+"Here, what are you sticking up over there?" called Sid to Tom, as he
+detected the latter in the act of tacking something on the wall.
+
+"I'm putting up a photograph," said Tom.
+
+"A girl's, I'll bet you a new hat."
+
+"Yes," said Tom simply. "Why, you old anchorite, haven't I a right to?
+It's a pity you wouldn't get a girl yourself!"
+
+"Humph! I'd like to see myself," murmured Sid, as he carefully tacked up
+a calendar and a couple of football pictures.
+
+"Oh, that's Miss Tyler's picture, isn't it?" spoke Phil.
+
+"Yes."
+
+Phil was sorting his books when from a volume of Pliny there dropped a
+photograph. Tom spied it.
+
+"Ah, ha!" he exclaimed. "It seems that I'm not the only one to have
+girls' pictures. Say, but she's a good-looker, all right!"
+
+"She's my sister Ruth," said Phil quietly.
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon," came quickly from Tom. "I--I didn't know."
+
+"That's all right," spoke Phil genially. "I believe she is considered
+quite pretty. I was going to put her picture up on the wall, but since
+Sid objects to----"
+
+"What's that?" cried the amateur misogynist. "Say, you can put that
+picture up on my side of the room if you like, Phil. I--I don't object
+to--to all girls' pictures; it's only--well--er--she's your sister--put
+her picture where you like," and he fairly glared at Tom.
+
+"Wonders will never cease," quoted the 'varsity pitcher. "Your sister
+has worked a miracle, Phil."
+
+"You dry up!" commanded Sid. "All I ask is, don't make the room a
+photograph gallery. There's reason in all things. Go ahead, Phil."
+
+"The next thing he'll be wanting will be to have an introduction to your
+sister," commented Tom.
+
+"I'd like to have both you fellows meet her," said Phil gravely. "You
+probably would have, only for this--this trouble of mother's. Now I
+suppose sis will have to leave Fairview and go to Palm Beach with me. I
+must take a run over this evening, and see her. She'll be all broken
+up." It was not much of a journey to Fairview, a railroad was well as a
+trolley line connecting the town of that name with Haddonfield.
+
+The room was soon fitted up in fairly good shape, though the three chums
+promised that they would make a number of changes in time. They went to
+dinner together, meeting at the table many of their former classmates,
+and seeing an unusually large number of freshmen.
+
+"There'll be plenty of hazing this term," commented Tom.
+
+"Yes, I guess we'll have our hands full," added Sid.
+
+Old and new students continued to arrive all that day. After reporting
+to the proper officials of the college there was nothing for them to
+do, save to stroll about, as lectures would not begin until the next
+morning, and then only preliminary classes would be formed.
+
+"I think I'll go down to the office and see if any telegram has arrived
+for me," said Phil, as he and his chums were strolling across the
+campus.
+
+"I hope you get good news," spoke Tom. "We'll wait for you in the room,
+and help you pack if you have to go."
+
+"Thanks," was Phil's answer as he walked away.
+
+"Well, Tom, I suppose you're going to be with us this fall?" asked Holly
+Cross, captain of the football eleven, as he spied Tom and Sid.
+
+"I am if I can make it. What do you think?"
+
+"Well, we've got plenty of good material for ends, and of course we want
+the best, and----"
+
+"Oh, I understand," said Tom with a laugh. "I'm not asking any favors. I
+had my honors this spring on the diamond. But I'm going to try, just the
+same."
+
+"I hope you make it," said Holly fervently. "We'll have some try-out
+practice the last of this week. Where's Phil? I've about decided on him
+for quarter-back."
+
+"I don't believe he can play," remarked Sid.
+
+"Not play!" cried Holly.
+
+Then they told him, and the captain was quite broken up over the news.
+
+"Well," he said finally, "all we can hope is that his mother gets better
+in time for him to get into the game with us. We want to do the same
+thing to Boxer Hall and Fairview at football as we did in baseball. I do
+hope Phil can play."
+
+"So do we," came from Tom, as he and Sid continued on to their room.
+
+It was half an hour before Phil came in, and the time seemed three times
+as long to the two chums in their new apartment. When he entered the
+room both gazed apprehensively at him. There was a different look on
+Phil's face than there had been.
+
+"Well?" asked Tom, and his voice seemed very loud.
+
+"Dad doesn't want me to come," was Phil's answer.
+
+"Not come--why? Is it too----"
+
+"Well, they've decided to postpone the operation," went on Phil. "It
+seems that she's a little better, and there may be a chance. Anyhow, dad
+thinks if sis and I came down it would only worry mother, and make her
+think she was getting worse, and that would be bad. So I'll not go to
+Florida."
+
+"Then it's good news?" asked Sid.
+
+"Yes, much better than I dared to hope. Maybe she'll get well without
+an operation. I feel fine, now. I'm going over to Fairview and tell
+my sister. Dad asked me to let her know. I feel ten years younger,
+fellows!"
+
+"So do we!" cried Tom, and he seized his chum's hand.
+
+"Let's go out and haze a couple of dozen freshmen," proposed Sid
+eagerly.
+
+"You bloodthirsty old rascal!" commented Phil. "Let the poor freshies
+alone. They'll get all that's coming to them, all right. Well, I'm off.
+Hold down the room, you two."
+
+Tom and Sid spent the evening in their apartment, after Phil had
+received permission to go to Fairview, Tom having entrusted him with a
+message to Madge Tyler. The two chums had a number of invitations to
+assist in hazing freshmen, but declined.
+
+"We don't want to do it without Phil," said Tom, and this loyal view was
+shared by Sid.
+
+Phil came back late that night, or, rather, early the next morning, for
+it was past midnight when he got to Randall College.
+
+"Your friend Madge sends word that she hopes you'll take her to the
+opening game of the football season," said Phil to Tom, as he was
+undressing.
+
+"Did you see her?" inquired Tom eagerly.
+
+"Of course. Ruth sent for her. She's all you said she was, Tom."
+
+"Oh!" spoke Tom in a curious voice, and then he was strangely silent.
+For Phil was a good-looking chap, and had plenty of money; and Tom
+remembered what friends Madge and Langridge had been. His sleep was not
+an untroubled one that night.
+
+Two or three days more of general excitement ensued before matters were
+running smoothly at Randall. In that time most of the students had
+settled in their new rooms, the freshmen found their places, some were
+properly hazed, and that ordeal for others was postponed until a future
+date, much to the misery of the fledglings.
+
+"Preliminary football practice to-morrow," announced Phil one
+afternoon, as he came in from the gymnasium and found Tom and Sid
+studying.
+
+"That's good!" cried Tom. "Are you going to try, Sid?"
+
+"Not this year. I've got to buckle down to studies, I guess. Baseball is
+about all I can stand."
+
+"I hear Langridge is out of it, too," said Phil. "His uncle has put a
+ban on it. He's got to make good in lessons this term."
+
+"Well, I think the team will be better off without him," commented Sid.
+"Not that he's a poor player, but he won't train properly, and that has
+a bad effect on the other fellows. It's not fair to them, either. Look
+what he did in baseball. We'd have lost the championship if it hadn't
+been for Tom."
+
+"Oh, I don't know about that," modestly spoke the hero of the pitching
+box.
+
+"Well, turn out in football togs to-morrow," went on Phil. "By the way,
+I hear that Langridge's new freshman friend--Gerhart--is going to try
+for quarter-back against me."
+
+"What! that fellow who was with him when we were moving our sofa in?"
+asked Tom.
+
+"That's the one."
+
+"Humph! Doesn't look as if he was heavy enough for football," commented
+Sid.
+
+"You can't tell by the looks of a toad how much hay it can eat," quoted
+Phil.
+
+The following afternoon a crowd of sturdy lads, in their football suits,
+thronged out on the gridiron, which was the baseball field properly put
+in shape. The goal posts had been erected, and Coach Lighton and Captain
+Cross were on hand to greet the candidates.
+
+"Now, fellows," said the coach, "we'll just have a little running,
+tackling, passing the ball, some simple formations and other exercises
+to test your wind and legs. I'll pick out four teams, and you can play
+against each other."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A CLASH
+
+
+Ragged work, necessarily, marked the opening of the practice. The ball
+was dropped, fumbled, fallen upon, lost, regained, tossed and kicked.
+But it all served a purpose, and the coach and captain, with keen eyes,
+watched the different candidates. Now and then they gave a word of
+advice, cautioning some player about wrong movements, or suggesting a
+different method.
+
+Phil had been put in as quarter-back on one scrub team, and Tom, as
+left-end, on the same. Phil found his opponent on the opposing eleven to
+be none other than Langridge's friend, Gerhart. It did not need much of
+an eye to see that Gerhart did not know the game. He would have done
+well enough on a small eleven, but he had neither the ability nor the
+strength to last through a college contest.
+
+Several times, when it was his rival's turn to pass back the ball, Phil
+saw the inefficient work of Gerhart, but he said nothing. He felt that
+he was sure of his place on the 'varsity eleven, yet he called to mind
+how Langridge had used his influence to keep Tom Parsons from pitching
+in the spring.
+
+There was no denying that Langridge had influence with the sporting
+crowd, and it was possible that he might exert it in favor of his new
+chum and against Phil. But there was one comfort: Langridge was not as
+prominent in sports as he had been during the spring term, when he was
+manager of the baseball team. He had lost that position because of his
+failure to train and play properly, and, too, his uncle, who was his
+guardian, had insisted that he pay more attention to studies.
+
+"After all, I don't believe I have much to fear from him," thought Phil.
+Then came a scrimmage, and he threw himself into the mass play to
+prevent the opposing eleven from gaining.
+
+The practice lasted half an hour, and at the close Coach Lighton and
+Captain Cross walked off the field, talking earnestly.
+
+"I wish I knew what they were saying," spoke Phil, as he and Tom
+strolled toward the dressing-room.
+
+"Oh, they're saying you're the best ever, Phil."
+
+"Nonsense! They're probably discussing how they can induce you to play."
+
+"Well, how goes it?" called a voice, and they looked back to see
+Bricktop Molloy. He was perspiring freely from the hard practice he had
+been through at tackle.
+
+"Fine!" cried Tom. "We were just wondering if we would make the
+'varsity."
+
+"Sure you will," answered the genial Irish student, who was nothing if
+not encouraging. Perhaps it was because he was sure himself of playing
+on the first team that he was so confident.
+
+"What did you think of Gerhart at quarter?" asked Tom, for the benefit
+of his chum.
+
+"I didn't notice him much," answered Bricktop, as he ruffled his red
+hair. "Seemed to me to be a bit sloppy, though; and that won't do."
+
+Phil did not say anything, but he looked relieved.
+
+"Too bad you're not going to play, Sid, old chap," remarked Tom in the
+room that night, when the three chums were together. "You don't know
+what you miss."
+
+"Oh, yes, I do," was the answer, and Sid looked up from the depths of
+the chair, closing his Greek book. "The day has gone by when I want to
+have twenty-one husky lads trying to shove my backbone through my
+stomach. I don't mind baseball, but I draw the line at posing as a
+candidate for a broken neck or a dislocated shoulder. Not any in mine,
+thank you."
+
+"You're a namby-pamby milksop!" exclaimed Phil with a laugh and a pat on
+the back, that took all the sting from the words. "Worse than that,
+you're a----"
+
+"Well, I don't stick girls' pictures, and banners worked in silk by the
+aforesaid damsels, all over the room," and Sid looked with disapproval
+on an emblem which Tom had placed on the wall that day. It was a silk
+flag of Randall colors, which Madge Tyler had given to him.
+
+"You're a misguided, crusty, hard-shelled troglodytic specimen of a
+misogynist!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Thanks, fair sir, for the compliment," and Sid arose to bow
+elaborately.
+
+Phil and Tom talked football until Sid begged them to cease, as he
+wanted to study, and, though it was hard work, they managed to do so.
+Soon they were poring over their books, and all that was heard in the
+room was the occasional rattle of paper, mingling with the ticking of
+the clock.
+
+"Well, I'm done for to-night," announced Sid, after an hour's silence.
+"I'm going to get up early and bone away. Hand me that alarm clock, Tom,
+and I'll set it for five."
+
+"Don't!" begged Phil.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because if you do it will go off about one o'clock in the morning. Set
+it at eleven, and by the law of averages it ought to go off at five. Try
+it and see. I never saw such a clock as that. It's a most perverse
+specimen."
+
+Phil's prediction proved, on trial, to be correct, so Sid set the clock
+at eleven, and went to bed, where, a little later, Tom and Phil
+followed.
+
+There was more football practice the next afternoon, and also the
+following day. Tom was doing better than he expected, but his speed was
+not yet equal to the work that would be required of him.
+
+"We need quick ends," said the coach in talking to the candidates during
+a lull in practice. "You ends must get down the field like lightning on
+kicks, and we're going to do a good deal of kicking this year."
+
+Tom felt that he would have to spend some extra time running, both on
+the gymnasium track and across country. His wind needed a little
+attention, and he was not a lad to favor himself. He wanted to be the
+best end on the team. He spoke to the coach about it, and was advised to
+run every chance he got.
+
+"If you do, I can practically promise you a place on the eleven," said
+Mr. Lighton.
+
+"Who's going to be quarter-back?" Tom could not help asking.
+
+"I don't know," was the frank answer. "A few days ago I would have said
+Phil Clinton; but Gerhart, the new man, has been doing some excellent
+work recently. I'll be able to tell in a few days."
+
+Somehow Tom felt a little apprehensive for Phil. He fancied he could see
+the hand of Langridge at work in favor of his freshman chum.
+
+The matter was unexpectedly settled a few days later. There were two
+scrub teams lined up, Tom and Phil being on one, and Gerhart playing at
+quarter on the other. There had been some sharp practice, and a halt was
+called while the coach gave the men some instructions. As a signal was
+about to be given Phil went over to the coach, and, in a spirit of the
+utmost fairness, complained that the opposing center was continually
+offending in the matter of playing off side. Phil suggested that Mr.
+Lighton warn him quietly.
+
+The coach nodded comprehendingly, and started to speak a word of
+caution. As he passed over to the opposing side, he saw Gerhart stooping
+to receive the ball.
+
+"Gerhart," he said, "I think you would improve if you would hold your
+arms a little closer to your body. Then the ball will come in contact
+with your hands and body at the same time, and there is less chance for
+a fumble. Here, I'll show you."
+
+Now, when Mr. Lighton started he had no idea whatever of speaking to
+Gerhart. It was the center he had in mind, but he never missed a chance
+to coach a player. He came quite close to the quarter-back, and was
+indicating the position he meant him to assume, when the coach suddenly
+started back.
+
+"Gerhart, you've been smoking!" he exclaimed, and he sniffed the air
+suspiciously.
+
+"I have not!" was the indignant answer.
+
+"Don't deny it," was the retort of the coach. "I know the smell of
+cigarettes too well. You may go to the side lines. Shipman, you come in
+at quarter," and he motioned to another player.
+
+"Mr. Lighton," began Gerhart, "I promise----"
+
+"It's too late to promise now," was the answer the coach made. "At the
+beginning of practice I warned you all that if you broke training rules
+you couldn't play. If you do it now, what will you do later on?"
+
+"I assure you, I--er--I only took a few----"
+
+"Shipman," was all Mr. Lighton said, and then he spoke to the center.
+
+Gerhart withdrew from the practice, and walked slowly from the gridiron.
+As he left the field he cast a black look at Phil, who, all unconscious
+of it, was waiting for the play to be resumed. But Tom saw it.
+
+Fifteen minutes more marked the close of work for the day. As Tom and
+Phil were hurrying to the dressing-rooms, they were met by Langridge and
+Gerhart. The latter still had his football togs on.
+
+"Clinton, why did you tell Lighton I had been smoking?" asked Gerhart in
+sharp tones.
+
+"Tell him you had been smoking? Why, I didn't know you had been."
+
+"Yes, you did. I saw you whispering to him, and then he came over and
+called me down."
+
+"You're mistaken."
+
+"I am not! I saw you!"
+
+Phil recollected that he had whispered to the coach. But he could not,
+in decency, tell what it was about.
+
+"I never mentioned your name to the coach," he said. "Nor did I speak of
+smoking."
+
+"I know better!" snapped Gerhart. "I saw you."
+
+"I can only repeat that I did not."
+
+"I say you did! You're a----"
+
+Phil's face reddened. This insult, and from a freshman, was more than he
+could bear. He sprang at Gerhart with clenched fists, and would have
+knocked him down, only Tom clasped his friend's arm.
+
+"Not here! Not here!" he pleaded. "You can't fight here, Phil!"
+
+"Somewhere else, then!" exclaimed Phil. "He shan't insult me like that!"
+
+"Of course not," spoke Tom soothingly, for he, too, resented the words
+and manner of the freshman. "Langridge, I'll see you about this later
+if you're agreeable," he added significantly, "and will act for your
+friend."
+
+"Of course," said Tom's former rival easily. "I guess my friend is
+willing," and then the two cronies strolled off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+PROFESSOR TINES OBJECTS
+
+
+"Are you going to fight him?" asked Langridge of Gerhart, when they were
+beyond the hearing of Tom and Phil.
+
+"Of course! I owe him something for being instrumental in getting me put
+out of the game."
+
+"Are you sure he did?"
+
+"Certainly. Didn't I see him sneak up to Lighton and put him wise to the
+fact that I'd taken a few whiffs? I only smoked half a cigarette in the
+dressing-room, but Clinton must have spied on me."
+
+"That's what Parsons did on me, last term, and I got dumped for it.
+There isn't much to this athletic business, anyway. I don't see why you
+go in for it."
+
+"Well, I do, but I'm not going to stand for Clinton butting in the way
+he did. I wish he had come at me. You'd seen the prettiest fight you
+ever witnessed."
+
+"I don't doubt it," spoke Langridge dryly.
+
+"What do you mean?" asked his crony, struck by some hidden meaning in
+the words.
+
+"I mean that Clinton would just about have wiped up the field with you."
+
+"I'll lay you ten to one he wouldn't! I've taken boxing lessons from a
+professional," and Gerhart seemed to swell up.
+
+"Pooh! That's nothing," declared Langridge. "Phil Clinton has boxed with
+professionals, and beaten them, too. We had a little friendly mill here
+last term. It was on the quiet, so don't say anything about it. Phil
+went up against a heavy hitter and knocked him out in four rounds."
+
+"He did?" and Gerhart spoke in a curiously quiet voice.
+
+"Sure thing. I just mention this to show that you won't have a very easy
+thing of it."
+
+There was silence between the two for several seconds. Then Gerhart
+asked:
+
+"Do you think he wants me to apologize?"
+
+"Would you?" asked his chum, and he looked sharply at him.
+
+"Well, I'm not a fool. If he's as good as you say he is, there's no use
+in me having my face smashed just for fun. I think he gave me away, and
+nothing he can say will change it. Only I don't mind saying to him that
+I was mistaken."
+
+"I think you're sensible there," was Langridge's comment. "It would be
+a one-sided fight. Shall I tell him you apologize?"
+
+"Have you got to make it as bald as that? Can't you say I was mistaken?"
+
+"I don't know. I'll try. Clinton is one of those fellows who don't
+believe in half-measures. You leave it to me. I'll fix it up. I don't
+want to see you knocked out so early in the term. Besides--well, never
+mind now."
+
+"What is it?" asked Gerhart quickly.
+
+"Well, I was going to say we'd get square on him some other way."
+
+"That's what we will!" came eagerly from the deposed quarter-back. "I
+counted on playing football this term, and he's to blame if I can't."
+
+"I wouldn't be so sure about that," came from Langridge. "I never knew
+Clinton to lie. Maybe what he says is true."
+
+"I don't believe it. I think he informed on me, and I always will. Do
+you think there's a chance for me to get back?"
+
+"No. Lighton is too strict. It's all up with you."
+
+"Then I'll have my revenge on Phil Clinton, that's all."
+
+"And I'll help you," added Langridge eagerly. "I haven't any use for him
+and his crowd. He pushed me down stairs the other day, and I owe him
+one for that. We'll work together against him. What do you say?"
+
+"It's a go!" and they shook hands over the mean bargain.
+
+"Then you'll fix it up with him?" asked Gerhart after a pause.
+
+"Yes, leave it to me."
+
+So that is how it was, that, a couple of hours later, Tom and Phil
+received a call from Langridge. He seemed quite at his ease, in spite of
+the feeling that existed between himself and the two chums.
+
+"I suppose you know what I've come for," he said easily.
+
+"We can guess," spoke Tom. "Take a seat," and he motioned to the old
+sofa.
+
+"No, thanks--not on that. It looks as if it would collapse. I don't see
+why you fellows have such beastly furniture. It's frowsy."
+
+"We value it for the associations," said Phil simply. "If you don't like
+it----"
+
+"Oh, it's all right, if you care for it. Every one to his notion, as the
+poet says. But I came on my friend Gerhart's account. He says he was
+mistaken about you, Clinton."
+
+"Does that mean he apologizes?" asked Phil stiffly.
+
+"Of course, you old fire-eater," said Langridge, lighting a cigarette.
+"Is it satisfactory?"
+
+"Yes; but tell him to be more careful in the future."
+
+"Oh, I guess he will be. He's heard of your reputation," and Langridge
+blew a ring of smoke toward the ceiling.
+
+"I'll take him on, if he thinks Phil is too much for him," said Tom with
+a laugh.
+
+"No, thanks; he's satisfied, but it's hard lines that he can't play,"
+observed the bearer of the apology.
+
+"That's not my fault," said Phil.
+
+"No, I suppose not. Well, I'll be going," and, having filled the room
+with particularly pungent smoke, Langridge took his departure. If Tom
+and Phil could have seen him in the hall, a moment later, they would
+have observed him shaking his fist at the closed door.
+
+"Whew!" cried Tom. "Open a window, Phil. It smells as if the place had
+been disinfected!"
+
+"Worse! I wonder what sort of dope they put in those cigarettes? I like
+a good pipe or a cigar, but I'm blessed if I can go those coffin nails!
+Ah, that air smells good," and he breathed in deep of the September air
+at the window.
+
+Thus it was that there came about no fight between Phil and the "sporty
+freshman," as he began to be called. There was some disappointment,
+among the students who liked a "mill," but as there were sure to be
+fights later in the term, they consoled themselves.
+
+Meanwhile, the football practice went on. Candidates were being weeded
+out, and many were dropped. Gerhart made an unsuccessful attempt to
+regain his place at quarter, but the coach was firm; and though
+Langridge used all his influence, which was not small, it had no effect.
+Gerhart would not be allowed to play on the 'varsity (which was the goal
+of every candidate), though he was allowed to line up with the scrub.
+
+"But I'll get even with Clinton for this," he said more than once to his
+crony, who eagerly assented.
+
+Phil, meanwhile, was clinching his position at quarter, and was fast
+developing into a "rattling good player," as Holly Cross said. Tom was
+not quite sure of his place at end, though he was improving, and ran
+mile after mile to better his wind and speed.
+
+"You're coming on," said Coach Lighton enthusiastically. "I think you'll
+do, Tom. Keep it up."
+
+There had been particularly hard practice one afternoon, and word went
+down the line for some kicking. The backs fell to it with vigor, and the
+pigskin was "booted" all over the field.
+
+"Now for a good try at goal!" called the coach, as the ball was passed
+to Holly Cross, who was playing at full-back. He drew back his foot,
+and his shoe made quite a dent in the side of the ball. But, as often
+occurs, the kick was not a success. The spheroid went to the side,
+sailing low, and out of bounds.
+
+As it happened, Professor Emerson Tines, who had been dubbed "Pitchfork"
+the very first time the students heard his name, was crossing the field
+at that moment. He was looking at a book of Greek, and paying little
+attention to whither his steps led. The ball was coming with terrific
+speed directly at his back.
+
+"Look out, professor!" yelled a score of voices.
+
+Mr. Tines did look, but not in the right direction. He merely gazed
+ahead, and seeing nothing, and being totally oblivious to the football
+practice, he resumed his reading.
+
+The next moment, with considerable speed, the pigskin struck him full in
+the back. It caught him just as he had lifted one foot to avoid a stone,
+and his balance was none too good. Down he went in a heap, his book
+flying off on a tangent.
+
+[Illustration: "The pigskin struck him full in the back"]
+
+"Wow!" exclaimed Holly Cross, who had been the innocent cause of the
+downfall. "I'll be in for it now."
+
+"Keep mum, everybody, as to who did it," proposed Phil. "The whole crowd
+will shoulder the blame."
+
+The players started on the run toward the professor, who still reclined
+in a sprawling attitude on the ground. He was the least liked of all
+the faculty, yet the lads could do no less than go to his assistance.
+
+"Maybe he's hurt," said Tom.
+
+"He's too tough for that," was the opinion of Bricktop.
+
+Before the crowd of players reached the prostrate teacher he had arisen.
+His face was first red and then pale by turns, so great was his rage. He
+looked at the dirt on his clothes, and then at his book, lying face
+downward some distance away.
+
+"Young gentlemen!" he cried in his sternest voice. "Young gentlemen, I
+object to this! Most emphatically do I object! You have gone entirely
+too far! It is disgraceful! You shall hear further of this! You may all
+report to me in half an hour in my room! I most seriously object! It is
+disgraceful that such conduct should be allowed at any college! I shall
+speak to Dr. Churchill and enter a most strenuous objection! The idea!"
+
+He replaced his glasses, which had fallen off, and accepted his book
+that Tom picked up.
+
+"Don't forget," he added severely. "I shall expect you all to report to
+me in half an hour."
+
+At that moment Dr. Albertus Churchill, the aged and dignified head of
+the college, and Mr. Andrew Zane, a proctor, came strolling along.
+
+"Ah! I shall report your disgraceful conduct to Dr. Churchill at once,"
+added Professor Tines, as he walked toward the venerable, white-haired
+doctor. "I shall enter my strongest objection to the continuance of
+football here."
+
+There were blank looks on the faces of the players.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE FIRST LINE-UP
+
+
+Evidently Dr. Churchill surmised that something unusual had occurred,
+for he changed his slow pace to a faster gait as he approached the
+football squad, in front of which stood Professor Tines, traces of anger
+still on his unpleasant face.
+
+"Ah, young gentlemen, at football practice, I see," remarked the doctor,
+smiling. "I trust there is the prospect of a good team, Mr. Lighton. I
+was very well pleased with the manner in which the baseball nine
+acquitted itself, and I trust that at the more strenuous sport the
+colors of Randall will not be trailed in the dust."
+
+"Not if I can help it, sir; nor the boys, either," replied the coach.
+
+"That's right," added Captain Holly Cross.
+
+"I see you also take an interest in the sport," went on Dr. Churchill
+to Professor Tines. "I am glad the members of the faculty lend their
+presence to sports. Nothing is so ennobling----"
+
+"Sir," cried Professor Tines, unable to contain himself any longer, "I
+have been grossly insulted to-day. I wish to enter a most emphatic
+protest against the continuance of football at this college. But a
+moment ago, as I was crossing the field, reading this Greek volume, I
+was knocked over by the ball. I now formally demand that football be
+abolished."
+
+Dr. Churchill looked surprised.
+
+"I want the guilty one punished," went on Professor Tines. "Who kicked
+that ball at me?"
+
+"Yes, young gentlemen, who did it?" repeated the proctor, for he thought
+it was time for him to take a hand. "I demand to know!"
+
+"It wasn't any one in particular, sir," answered Coach Lighton,
+determined to defend his lads. "It was done on a new play we were
+trying, and it would be hard to say----"
+
+"I think perhaps I had better investigate," said Dr. Churchill. "Young
+gentlemen, kindly report at my study in half an hour."
+
+"If you please, sir," spoke Phil Clinton, "Professor Tines asked us to
+call and see him."
+
+"Ah, I did not know that. Then I waive my right----"
+
+"No, I waive mine," interrupted the Latin teacher, and he smoothed out
+some of the pages in the Greek book.
+
+"Perhaps we had better have them all up to my office," proposed the
+proctor. "It is larger."
+
+"A good idea," said the president of Randall. "Gentlemen, you may
+report to the proctor in half an hour. I like to see the students
+indulge in sports, but when it comes to such rough play that the life of
+one of my teachers is endangered, it is time to call a halt."
+
+"His life wasn't in any danger," murmured Tom.
+
+"Hush!" whispered the coach. "Leave it to me, and it will come out all
+right."
+
+"But if they abolish football!" exclaimed Phil. "That will be too much!
+We'll revolt!"
+
+"They'll not abolish it. I'll make some explanation."
+
+Dr. Churchill, Professor Tines, and the proctor moved away, leaving a
+very disconsolate group of football candidates on the gridiron.
+
+"Do you suppose Pitchfork will prevail upon Moses to make us stop the
+game?" asked Jerry Jackson. "Moses," as has been explained, being the
+students' designation of Dr. Churchill.
+
+"We'll get up a counter protest to Pitchfork's if they do," added his
+brother, Joe Jackson.
+
+"Hurrah for the Jersey twins!" exclaimed Tom. The two brothers, who
+looked so much alike that it was difficult to distinguish them, were
+from the "Garden State," and thus had gained their nickname.
+
+"Well, that sure was an unlucky kick of mine," came from Holly Cross
+sorrowfully.
+
+"Nonsense! You're not to blame," said Kindlings Woodhouse. "It might
+have happened to any of us. We'll all hang together."
+
+"Or else we'll hang separately, as one of the gifted signers of the
+Fourth of July proclamation put it," added Ed Kerr. "Well, let's go take
+our medicine like little soldiers."
+
+In somewhat dubious silence they filed up to the proctor's office. It
+was an unusual sight to see the entire football squad thus in parade,
+and scores of students came from their rooms to look on.
+
+Dr. Churchill and Professor Tines were on hand to conduct the
+investigation. The latter stated his case at some length, and reiterated
+his demand that football be abolished. In support of his contention he
+quoted statistics to show how dangerous the game was, how many had been
+killed at it, and how often innocent spectators, like himself, were
+sometimes hurt, though, he added, he would never willingly be a witness
+of such a brutal sport.
+
+"Well, young gentlemen, what have you to say for yourselves?" asked Dr.
+Churchill, and Tom thought he could detect a twinkle in the president's
+eye.
+
+Then Coach Lighton, who was a wise young man, began a defense. He told
+what a fine game football was, how it brought out all that was best in a
+lad, and how sorry the entire squad was that any indignity had been put
+upon Professor Tines. He was held in high esteem by all the students,
+Mr. Lighton said, which was true enough, though esteem and regard are
+very different.
+
+Finally the coach, without having hinted in the least who had kicked the
+ball that knocked the professor down, offered, on behalf of the team, to
+present a written apology, signed by every member of the squad.
+
+"I'm sure nothing can be more fair than that," declared Dr. Churchill.
+"I admit that I should be sorry to see football abolished here,
+Professor Tines."
+
+Professor Tines had gained his point, however, and was satisfied. He had
+made himself very important, and had, as he supposed, vindicated his
+dignity. The apology was then and there drawn up by the proctor, and
+signed by the students.
+
+"I must ask for one stipulation," said the still indignant instructor.
+"I must insist that, hereafter, when I, or any other member of the
+faculty approaches, all indiscriminate knocking or kicking of balls
+cease until we have passed on. In this way all danger will be avoided."
+
+"We agree to that," said Mr. Lighton quickly, and the incident was
+considered closed. But Professor Tines, if he had only known it, was the
+most disliked instructor in college from then on. He had been hated
+before, but now the venom was bitter against him.
+
+"We're well out of that," remarked Tom to Phil, as they went to their
+room, having gotten rid of their football togs. "I wonder what fun
+Pitchfork has in life, anyhow?"
+
+"Reading Latin and Greek, I guess. That reminds me, I must bone away a
+bit myself to-night. I guess Sid is in," he added, as he heard some one
+moving about in the room.
+
+They entered to find their chum standing on a chair, reaching up to one
+of the silken banners Tom had hung with such pride.
+
+"Here, you old anchorite! What are you doing?" cried Phil.
+
+"Why, I'm trying to make this room look decent," said Sid. "You've got
+it so cluttered up that I can't stand it! Isn't it enough to have
+pictures stuck all over?"
+
+"Here, you let that banner alone!" cried Tom, and he gave such a jerk to
+the chair on which Sid was standing that the objector to things artistic
+toppled to the floor with a resounding crash.
+
+"I'll punch your head!" he cried to Tom, who promptly ensconced himself
+behind the bed.
+
+"Hurt yourself?" asked Phil innocently. "If you did it's a judgment on
+you, misogynist that you are."
+
+"You dry up!" growled Sid, as he rubbed his shins.
+
+Then, peace having finally been restored, they all began studying,
+while waiting for the summons to supper. When the bell rang, Phil and
+Tom made a mad rush for the dining-room.
+
+"Football practice gives you a fine appetite," observed Phil.
+
+"I didn't know you fellows needed any inducement to make you eat," spoke
+Sid.
+
+"Neither we do," said Tom. "But come on, Phil, if he gets there first
+there'll be little left for us, in spite of his gentle words."
+
+"We'll have harder work at practice to-morrow," continued Phil as they
+sat down at the table. "It will be the first real line-up, and I'm
+anxious to see how I'll do against Shipman."
+
+"He's got Gerhart's place for good, has he?" asked Tom.
+
+"It looks so. Pass the butter, will you? Do you want it all?"
+
+"Not in the least, bright-eyes. Here; have a prune."
+
+"Say, you fellows make me tired," observed Sid.
+
+"What's the matter with you lately, old chap?" asked Tom. "You're as
+grumpy as a bear with a sore nose. Has your girl gone back on you?"
+
+"There you go again!" burst out Sid. "Always talking about girls! I
+declare, since those pictures and things are up in the room, you two
+have gone daffy! I'll have 'em all down, first thing you know."
+
+"If you do, we'll chuck you in the river," promised Phil.
+
+Thus, amid much good-natured banter, though to an outsider it might not
+sound so, the supper went on. There was more hazing that night, in which
+Phil and Tom had a share, but Sid would not come out, saying he had to
+study.
+
+"Come on, Tom," called Phil the next afternoon, "all out for the first
+real line-up of the season. I'm going to run the 'varsity against the
+scrub, and I want to see how I make out."
+
+"Has the 'varsity eleven all been picked out?" asked Tom anxiously.
+
+"Practically so, though, of course, there will be changes."
+
+"I wonder if I----"
+
+"You're to go at left-end. Come on, and we'll get our togs on."
+
+After a little preliminary practice the two teams were told to line-up
+for a short game of fifteen-minute halves. Coach Lighton named those who
+were to constitute a provisional 'varsity eleven, and, to his delight,
+Tom's name was among the first named. Phil went to quarter, naturally,
+and several of Tom's chums found themselves playing with him.
+
+"Now try for quick, snappy work from the start," was the advice of the
+coach. "Play as though you meant something, not as if you were going on
+a fishing trip, and it didn't matter when you got there."
+
+The ball was put into play. The 'varsity had it, and under the guidance
+of Phil Clinton, who gave his signals rapidly, the scrub was fairly
+pushed up the field, and a little later the 'varsity had scored a
+touchdown. Goal was kicked, and then the lads were ready for another
+tussle.
+
+The scrub, by dint of extraordinary hard work, managed to keep the ball
+for a considerable time, making the necessary gains by rushes.
+
+"We must hold 'em, fellows!" pleaded Phil, and Captain Holly Cross added
+his request to that end, in no uncertain words.
+
+Shipman, the scrub quarter, passed the pigskin to his right half-back,
+and the latter hit the line hard. Phil Clinton, seeing an opening, dove
+in for a tackle. In some way there was a fumble, and Phil got the ball.
+The next instant Jerry Jackson, who was on the 'varsity, slipped and
+fell heavily on Phil's right shoulder. The plucky quarter-back stifled a
+groan that came to his lips, and then, turning over on his back,
+stretched out white and still on the ground.
+
+"Phil's hurt!" cried Holly Cross. "Hold on, fellows!"
+
+Tom bent over his chum. He felt of his shoulder.
+
+"It's dislocated," he said. "We'd better get the doctor for him,
+Holly."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+LANGRIDGE AND GERHART PLOT
+
+
+"Some of you fellows run for Dr. Marshall!" called Mr. Lighton to the
+throng that gathered about the prostrate lad.
+
+"I'll go," volunteered Joe Jackson.
+
+"No, let me," said his twin brother. "It was my fault. I slipped and
+fell on him."
+
+"It wasn't any fellow's fault in particular," declared the captain. "It
+was likely to happen to any one. But suppose you twins both go, and then
+we'll be sure to have help. If Dr. Marshall isn't in the college,
+telephone to Haddonfield for one. Phil's shoulder must be snapped back
+into place."
+
+As the twins started off Phil opened his eyes.
+
+"Hurt much, old chap?" asked Tom, holding his chum's hand.
+
+"No--not--not much," but Phil gritted his teeth as he said it. His
+shoulder, with the bunch of padding on it, stood out oddly from the rest
+of his body.
+
+"Put some coats under him," ordered the coach. "Shall we carry you
+inside, Phil?"
+
+"No; don't move me. Is my arm broken?"
+
+"No; only a dislocation, I guess. You'll be all right in a few days."
+
+"Soon enough to play against Boxer Hall, I hope," said Phil with a faint
+smile.
+
+"Of course," declared the coach heartily. "We'll delay the game if
+necessary."
+
+"Here comes Dr. Marshall," called Ed Kerr, as the college physician was
+seen hurrying across the campus, with the Jersey twins trailing along
+behind.
+
+The doctor, after a brief examination, pronounced it a bad dislocation,
+but then and there, with the help of the captain and coach, he reduced
+it, though the pain, as the bone snapped into place, made Phil sick and
+faint. Then they helped him to his room, where he was soon visited by
+scores of students, for the quarter-back was a general favorite.
+
+"Now I think I will have to establish a quarantine," declared Dr.
+Marshall, when about fifty lads had been in to see how the patient was
+progressing. "I don't want you to get a fever from excitement, Clinton.
+If you expect to get into the game again inside of two weeks, you must
+keep quiet."
+
+"Two weeks!" cried Phil. "If I have to stay out as long as that I'll be
+so out of form that I'll be no good."
+
+"Well, we'll see how the ligaments get along," was all the satisfaction
+the doctor would give the sufferer.
+
+Tom and Sid remained with their chum, and, after the physician had left,
+they made all sorts of insane propositions to Phil with a view of making
+him more comfortable.
+
+"Shall I read Greek to you?" offered Sid. "Maybe it would take your mind
+off your trouble."
+
+"Greek nothing," replied Phil with a smile. "Haven't I troubles enough
+without that?"
+
+"If I had some cheese I would make a Welsh rarebit," Tom said. "I used
+to be quite handy at it; not the stringy kind, either."
+
+"Get out, you old rounder!" exclaimed Sid. "Welsh rarebit would be a
+fine thing for an invalid, wouldn't it?"
+
+"Well, maybe fried oysters would be better," admitted Tom dubiously. "I
+could smuggle some in the room, only the measly things drip so, and
+Proc. Zane has been unusually active of late in sending his scouts
+around."
+
+"I'll tell you what you can do, if you want to," spoke Phil.
+
+"What's that?" asked Tom eagerly.
+
+"Send word to my sister, over at Fairview. She may hear something about
+this, and imagine it's worse than it is. I'd like her to get it
+straight. I got a letter from dad to-day, too, saying mother was a
+little better. I'd like sis to read it."
+
+"I'll go myself, and start right away!" exclaimed Tom enthusiastically.
+"I can get permission easily enough, for I've been doing good work in
+class lately. I'll come back on the midnight trolley."
+
+"You're awfully anxious to go, aren't you?" asked Sid.
+
+"Of course," replied Tom. "Why do you speak so?"
+
+"I believe Miss Madge Tyler attends at Fairview," went on Sid to no one
+in particular, and there was a mocking smile on his face.
+
+"Oh, you just wait!" cried Tom, shaking his fist at his chum, who sank
+down into the depths of the old easy chair, and held up his feet as
+fenders to keep the indignant one at a distance. "You'll get yours good
+and proper some day."
+
+"Well, if you're going, you'd better start," said Phil. "I forgot,
+though. You've never met my sister. That's a go!"
+
+"Can't you give me a note to her?" asked Tom, who was fertile in
+expedients where young ladies were concerned.
+
+"I guess so. Lucky it's my left instead of my right shoulder that's out
+of business. Give me some paper, Sid."
+
+"Tom doesn't need a note," was the opinion of the amateur woman-hater.
+"He'll see Miss Tyler, and she'll introduce him."
+
+"That's so," agreed Tom, as if he had just thought of it. "That will do
+first rate. Never mind the note, Phil," and he hurried off, lest
+something might occur that would prevent his visit.
+
+He readily obtained permission to go to Fairview Institute, and was soon
+hurrying along the river road to catch a trolley car. As he crossed a
+bridge over the stream, he heard voices on the farther end. It was dusk,
+now, and he could not see who the speakers were. But he heard this
+conversation:
+
+"Did you hear about Clinton?"
+
+"Yes; he's laid up with a bad shoulder. Well, it may be just the chance
+we want."
+
+"That's odd," thought Tom. "I wonder who they can be? Evidently college
+fellows. Yet how can Phil's injury give them the chance they want?"
+
+He kept on, and a moment later came in sight of the speakers. He saw
+that they were Fred Langridge and Garvey Gerhart.
+
+"Good evening," said Tom civily enough, for, though he and Langridge
+were not on the best of terms, they still spoke.
+
+"Off on a lark?" asked the former pitcher with a sneer. "I thought you
+athletic chaps didn't do any dissipating."
+
+"I'm not going to," said Tom shortly, as he passed on.
+
+"Do you suppose he heard what we said?" asked Gerhart, as the shadows
+swallowed up Tom.
+
+"No; but it doesn't make much difference. He wouldn't understand. Now,
+do you think you can do it?"
+
+"Of course. What I want to do is to keep him laid up for several weeks.
+That will give me an opportunity of getting back on the eleven. He was
+responsible for me being dropped, and now it's my turn."
+
+"But are you sure it will work?"
+
+"Of course. I know just how to make the stuff. A fellow told me. If we
+can substitute it for his regular liniment it will do the trick all
+right."
+
+"That part will be easy enough. I can think up a scheme for that. But
+will it do him any permanent harm? I shouldn't want to get into
+trouble."
+
+"No, it won't harm him any. It will make him so he can't use his arm for
+a while, but that's what we want. The effects will pass away in about a
+month, just too late to let him get on the eleven."
+
+"All right; if you know what you're doing, I'll help. Now then, where
+will we get the stuff?"
+
+"I know all about that part. But let's get off this bridge. It's too
+public. Come to a quieter place, where we can talk."
+
+"I know a good place. There's a quiet little joint in town, where we can
+get a glass of beer."
+
+"Will it be safe?"
+
+"Sure. Come on," and Langridge and his crony disappeared in the
+darkness, talking, meanwhile, of a dastardly plot they had evolved to
+disable Phil Clinton.
+
+Tom kept on his way to the trolley.
+
+"I wonder what Langridge and Gerhart meant?" he thought as he quickened
+his pace on hearing an approaching car. "Perhaps Gerhart thought he had
+a chance to get back on the team, because Phil is laid up. But I don't
+believe he has."
+
+But Tom's interpretation of the words he had heard was far from the
+truth. Phil Clinton was in grave danger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SOME GIRLS
+
+
+Tom thought the fifteen-mile trolley ride to Fairview was an unusually
+long one, but, as a matter of fact, it was soon accomplished, for he
+caught an express, and about eight o'clock that night arrived in the
+town where the co-educational institution was located.
+
+"Now to find Phil's sister," he said half aloud, as he headed for the
+college. He knew the way well, for he had been there several times
+before in the previous spring, when his team played baseball.
+
+"Hello, Parsons," a voice greeted him as he was walking up the campus.
+"Where you bound for?"
+
+The speaker was Frank Sullivan, manager of the Fairview ball team.
+
+"Oh, I just came over to see what sort of a football eleven you were
+going to stack up against us this fall," answered Tom easily.
+
+"Not very good, I'm afraid," declared Frank. "We're in pretty bad shape.
+Several of our best men have been hurt in practice."
+
+"We've got a few cripples ourselves," said Tom. "Phil Clinton just got
+laid up with a bad shoulder."
+
+"Our half-back is a wreck," added Frank.
+
+It is curious, but true, nevertheless, that most football elevens seem
+to rejoice in the number of cripples they can boast of. The worse the
+men are "banged up," the better those interested in the team seem to
+be. It may be that they wish to conceal from other teams their real
+condition, and so give the enemy a false idea of their strength. However
+that may be, the fact remains.
+
+"So you came over to see how we were doing, eh?" went on Frank. "Well,
+not very good, I'm afraid. We expect to be the tailenders this season,"
+which was not at all what Frank expected, however, nor did his friends.
+But he considered it policy to say so.
+
+"I didn't come over for that alone," said Tom. "I have a message to
+Phil's sister. Say, how do you get into the female department of this
+shebang, anyhow? What's the proper method of procedure? Do I have to
+have the password and a countersign?"
+
+"Pretty nearly. It's like the combination on a safe. The first thing you
+will have to do is to go and interview Miss Philock."
+
+"Who's she?"
+
+"The preceptress; and a regular ogress into the bargain. If you pass
+muster with her first inspection, you'll have to answer a lot of
+categorical questions covering your whole life history. Then, maybe,
+she'll consent to take a note from you to the fair damsel."
+
+"Can't I see her?" asked Tom in some dismay, for he had counted on
+meeting Madge Tyler.
+
+"See a girl student of Fairview after dark? Why, the idea is
+preposterous, my dear sir! Perfectly scandalous!" and Frank gave a fair
+imitation of an indignant lady teacher.
+
+"Well, I'll have to send word in," decided Tom, "for I didn't bring a
+note."
+
+"Do you know her personally?" asked Frank.
+
+"Who--Miss Philock or Phil's sister?"
+
+"Phil's sister?"
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+"Worse and more of it. I wish you joy of your job. But I'm off. There's
+going to be some hazing, and I'm on the committee to provide some extra
+tortures for the freshies. So long. Miss Philock has her den in that red
+building on your left," and, whistling a merry air, which was utterly
+out of keeping with Tom's spirits, Frank Sullivan walked away.
+
+"Well, here goes," said Tom to himself, as he walked up to the residence
+of the preceptress and rang the bell.
+
+An elderly servant answered his summons, and looked very much surprised
+at observing a good-looking youth standing on the steps. Tom asked to
+see Miss Philock, and the servant, after shutting the door, and audibly
+locking it, walked away.
+
+"They must be terribly afraid of me," thought Tom, but further musings
+were put to an end by the arrival of the preceptress herself.
+
+"What do you want, young man?" she asked, and her voice sounded like
+some file rasping and scraping.
+
+"I wish to deliver a message to Miss Ruth Clinton," was Tom's answer.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"I am Thomas Parsons, of Randall College."
+
+"Are you any relation to Miss Clinton?"
+
+"No; but I room with her brother, and he was slightly hurt in football
+practice to-day. He wanted me to tell her that it was nothing serious.
+He also has a letter from his father, that he wished me to deliver."
+
+Miss Philock fairly glared at Tom.
+
+"That is a very ingenious and plausible answer," said the elderly lady
+slowly. "I have had many excuses made to me by young gentlemen as
+reasons for sending messages to young ladies under my care, but this one
+is the most ingenious I have ever received."
+
+"But it's true!" insisted Tom, who perceived that his story was not
+believed.
+
+"That's what they all say," was the calm answer of Miss Philock.
+
+Tom was nonplused. He hardly knew what reply to make.
+
+"You are evidently a stranger to our rules," went on Miss Philock. "You
+must go away at once, or I shall notify the proctor," and she was about
+to close the door.
+
+"But," cried Tom desperately, "I have a message for Miss Ruth Clinton!"
+
+"Are you a relative of hers?" again asked the preceptress coldly.
+
+"No; not exactly," spoke Tom slowly.
+
+"That's the way they all say it," she went on. "If you are not a
+relative you can send her no message."
+
+"But can't you tell her what I've told you?" asked the 'varsity pitcher.
+"She may worry about her brother, and he wants her to have this letter
+from her father."
+
+"How do I know she has a brother?" asked Miss Philock sternly.
+
+"I am telling you."
+
+"Yes, I know," frigidly. "Other young men have called here to see the
+young ladies under my charge, and they often pretend to be brothers and
+cousins, when they were not."
+
+"I am not pretending."
+
+"I don't know whether you are or not, sir. It has been my experience
+that you can never trust a young man. I shall have to bid you good
+evening, though I do you the credit to state that your plan is a very
+good one. Only, I am too sharp for you, young man. You can send no
+message to Miss Clinton or any other young lady student under my
+charge."
+
+The door was almost shut. Tom was in despair. At that moment he caught
+sight of a girlish figure in the hall behind the preceptress. It was
+Madge Tyler.
+
+"Oh, Madge--Miss Tyler!" he cried impulsively, "will you tell Miss
+Clinton that her brother is not badly hurt. That is, in case she hears
+any rumors. His shoulder is dislocated, but he's all right."
+
+"Why, Mr. Parsons--Tom!" exclaimed the girl in surprise. "What brings
+you here?"
+
+"Young man, what do you mean by disobeying my orders in this manner?"
+demanded Miss Philock, bristling with anger.
+
+"You didn't tell me not to speak to Miss Tyler," said Tom slyly. And he
+smiled mischievously.
+
+"Miss Tyler--do you know her?"
+
+"I am an old friend of hers," insisted Tom quickly, his confidence
+coming back.
+
+"Is this true, Miss Tyler?" asked the head instructress.
+
+Madge was a bright girl, and a quick thinker. She at once understood
+Tom's predicament, and resolved to help him out. Perhaps it was as much
+on her own account as Ruth's--who knows? At any rate, she said:
+
+"Why, Miss Philock, Tom Parsons and I have known each other ever since
+we were children. He is a sort of distant relation of mine. Aren't you,
+Tom?"
+
+"Ye--yes, Madge," he almost stammered.
+
+"His mother and my mother are second cousins," went on the girl, which
+was true enough, though Tom had forgotten it. He did not stop to figure
+out just what degree of kinship he bore to Madge. He was satisfied to
+have it as it was. Miss Philock turned to Tom.
+
+"If I had known this at first," she said, "I would have allowed you to
+send a message to Miss Tyler at once. However strongly young gentlemen
+may insist that they are related to my girls, I never believe them. But
+if the statement is made by one of my pupils, I never doubt her. In view
+of the fact that you have come some distance, you may step into the
+parlor, and speak with Miss Tyler for ten minutes--no longer."
+
+She opened the door wider. It was quite a different reception from what
+Tom had expected, but he was glad enough to see Madge for even that
+brief period. He followed her into the parlor, while Miss Philock passed
+down the corridor.
+
+"Oh, Tom, I'm so glad to see you!" exclaimed the girl, and she extended
+both hands, which Tom held just as long as he decently could.
+
+"And I'm glad to see you," he declared. "You're looking fine!"
+
+"What's this about Ruth's brother?" she asked.
+
+"It's true. He was hurt at football practice this afternoon, and he was
+afraid she'd worry. I told him I'd bring a message to her, and also this
+letter. It's from her father, about her mother. Will you give it to
+her?"
+
+"Of course. Isn't it too bad about her poor, dear mother? Ruth is such a
+sweet girl. Have you ever met her?"
+
+"I haven't had the pleasure."
+
+"I wonder if I'd better introduce you to her," said Madge musingly. "She
+is very fascinating, and--er--well----" She looked at Tom and laughed.
+
+"Can you doubt me?" asked Tom, also laughing, and he bowed low, with his
+hand on his heart.
+
+"Oh, no! Men--especially young men--are never faithless!" she exclaimed
+gaily.
+
+"But how can you present me to her, when the 'ogress,' as I have heard
+her called, bars the way?"
+
+"Hush! She may hear you," cautioned Madge. "Oh, we have 'ways that are
+dark and tricks that are vain,' I suppose Miss Philock would say. I'll
+just send a message by wireless, and Ruth will soon be here. I think it
+will be safe. Philly, as we call her, will be in her office by this
+time."
+
+Madge stepped to the steam pipes in the room, and with her pencil tapped
+several times in a peculiar way.
+
+"That's a code message to Ruth to come down here," she explained.
+
+"It's a great system," complimented Tom. "How do you work it?"
+
+"Oh, we have a code. Each girl has a number, and we just tap that number
+on the pipes. You know, you can hear a tap all over the building. Then,
+after giving the number, we rap out the message, also by numbers. We
+just _had_ to invent it. You boys have ever so many things that we girls
+can't, you know. Now tell me all about football. I suppose you will
+play?"
+
+"I hope to."
+
+"And Phil--I mean Mr. Clinton, but I call him Phil, because I hear Ruth
+speak of him so often--I think he plays half-back, doesn't he?"
+
+"No; quarter," answered Tom.
+
+"I hope to meet him soon," went on Madge. "Ruth has promised---- Oh,
+here she is now," she interrupted herself to say. "Come in, Ruth, dear.
+Here is a sort of forty-second cousin of mine, with a message about your
+brother."
+
+Tom looked up, to see a tall, dark, handsome girl entering the room.
+Behind her came a rather stout, light-haired maiden, with laughing blue
+eyes.
+
+"A message from my brother!" exclaimed Ruth, and she looked at Tom in a
+manner that made his heart beat rather faster than usual.
+
+"Yes, Ruth," went on Madge; "but nothing serious. I'm glad you came
+down, too, Sarah, dear. I want you to meet my cousin."
+
+"I brought Sarah because I was afraid I didn't get your pipe message
+just right," explained Ruth. "Did you mean you had company you wanted to
+share with me, or that there was a letter for me? I couldn't find the
+code book."
+
+"It's both," declared Madge with a laugh. "But first let's get the
+introductions over with," and she presented Tom to Ruth, and then to
+Miss Sarah Warden, her roommate, as well as Ruth's.
+
+"Phil has often spoken to me about you, Miss Clinton," said Tom. "In
+fact, he has your picture in our room. It doesn't look like you--I mean
+it doesn't do you justice--that is--er--I--I mean----"
+
+"Better stop, Tom," cautioned Madge. "Evidently Ruth has played havoc
+with you already. You should study more carefully the art of making
+compliments."
+
+"Miss Clinton needs no compliments other than unspoken ones," said Tom,
+with an elaborate bow.
+
+"Oh, how prettily said!" exclaimed Miss Warden. "Madge, why didn't you
+tell us about your cousin before?"
+
+"It's time enough now," was Madge's rejoinder.
+
+"But what about my brother?" asked Ruth anxiously.
+
+Then Tom told her, and gave her the letter with which Phil had entrusted
+him. The young people talked gaily for some minutes longer, and then
+Madge, with a look at the clock, said that it was about time Miss
+Philock would be back to see that Tom had not overstayed.
+
+"What a short ten minutes!" he exclaimed, and he looked full in Ruth
+Clinton's eyes.
+
+"Wasn't it?" she agreed. "However, I hope you will come again--that
+is--of course you can't come here, but perhaps we--I--er--that is----"
+She stopped in confusion.
+
+"You're almost as bad as Tom was!" declared Madge, and there was just a
+little change from her former genial tones. She glanced critically at
+Tom.
+
+"I expect to come over again," replied Phil's chum. "And I hope I shall
+see you then, Miss Clinton--see all of you, of course," he added
+quickly.
+
+"It depends on Miss Philock," said Miss Warden.
+
+"Will you be at the Fairview-Randall football game?" asked Tom.
+
+"Yes," answered Ruth, for he looked at her.
+
+"I shall see you and Madge, then, I hope, only it's a long way off," and
+Tom sighed just the least bit.
+
+Madge raised her eyebrows. She might be pardoned for considering that
+Tom, in a measure, was her personal property, and now, the first time he
+had met Ruth, to hear him talk thus, was something of a shock.
+
+But she was too proud to show more than a mere hint of her feelings, and
+Ruth was, for the time being, entirely unaware that her friend was a bit
+jealous.
+
+"Here comes Philly!" exclaimed Sarah Warden, as steps were heard
+approaching. "You had better go, Mr. Parsons, if you value your
+reputation."
+
+"Yes," spoke Madge; "better go, Tom. Sorry you couldn't stay longer."
+
+"So am I," was his answer, and once more he looked straight at Ruth. He
+had thought Madge very pretty, and, while he did not waver in the least
+in still thinking her most attractive, he had to admit to himself that
+Ruth's was of a different style of beauty.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know how to thank you for taking the trouble to bring
+me this message and letter," said Phil's sister, as she held out her
+hand to Tom. He took it in a firm clasp.
+
+"It was only a pleasure," he said. "Next time I hope to bring better
+news."
+
+"Then there is to be a next time?" she asked archly.
+
+"Of course," he replied, and laughed.
+
+"Hurry, Tom, or Miss Philock may order you out," urged Madge. "You've
+overstayed your leave as it is, and she may punish us for it. Good-by,"
+and she held out her hand. Tom clasped it, but a careful observer, with
+a split-second watch, might have noted that he did not hold it quite as
+long as he had held Ruth's.
+
+A few minutes later Tom was out on the campus, walking toward the
+trolley that would take him to Haddonfield. His brain was in something
+of a whirl, and his heart was strangely light.
+
+"My! but she's pretty!" he exclaimed half aloud. "What fine eyes!
+I--I---- Oh, well, what's the use of talking to yourself?" And with that
+sage reflection Tom pursued his silent way.
+
+Back in the parlor the three girls stood for a moment.
+
+"I like your cousin very much, Madge, dear," said Ruth.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder!" exclaimed Madge shortly, and she turned and
+hurried from the room.
+
+Ruth looked at her in some surprise.
+
+"Whatever has come over Madge?" asked Sarah Warden.
+
+"I can't imagine," replied Ruth, and then, with a thoughtful look on her
+face, she went to her room.
+
+"Humph! I guess I know," murmured Miss Warden, as she followed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A BOTTLE OF LINIMENT
+
+
+Tom thought of many things as he walked up the silent campus at Randall,
+and prepared to go to his room. He went over again every happening from
+the time Miss Philock had grudgingly admitted him at Fairview, until he
+had bidden Ruth Clinton good-by. Tom had a very distinct mental picture
+of two girls' faces now, whereas, up to that evening, he had had but
+one. They were the faces of Ruth and Madge.
+
+"Hang it all!" he burst out, as he was on the steps of the west
+dormitory. "I must be falling in love! This will never do, with the
+football season about to open. Better cut it out, Tom Parsons!"
+
+His musing was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a figure coming
+quickly from the teachers' residence, which was directly in front of the
+dormitory building. The figure exclaimed:
+
+"Wait a minute, please."
+
+"Proctor Zane!" whispered Tom to himself. "He thinks he's caught me.
+Probably he doesn't know I've got a permit. I'll have some fun with
+him."
+
+A moment later the proctor stood beside Tom.
+
+"Are you aware of the hour?" asked Mr. Zane, in what he meant to be a
+sarcastic tone.
+
+"I--I believe it's nearly two o'clock," replied Tom. "I will tell you
+exactly in a moment, as soon as I look at my watch," and with a flourish
+he drew his timepiece from his pocket. "It lacks just eight minutes of
+two," he added.
+
+"I didn't ask you the time!" exclaimed the proctor.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir; I thought you did," spoke Tom.
+
+"Aren't you getting in rather late?" asked the official, as he drew out
+his book and prepared to enter Tom's name.
+
+"Well, it might be called late," admitted Tom, as if there was some
+doubt about it. "That is, unless you choose to look at it from another
+standpoint, and call it early morning. On the whole, I think I prefer
+the latter method. It is more comforting, Mr. Zane."
+
+"None of your impertinence, Parsons!" exclaimed the proctor. "You are
+out after hours, and you will report to my office directly after chapel.
+This matter of students staying out must be broken up."
+
+"I agree with you," went on Tom easily, "but I'm afraid I can't report
+to you after chapel to-morrow, or, rather, to-day, Mr. Zane."
+
+"You can't? What do you mean, Parsons?"
+
+"Why, you see, I have to attend a lecture by Moses--I beg your
+pardon--Dr. Churchill--at that hour."
+
+The proctor, as Tom could see in the light of the hall lamp, as the rays
+streamed from the glass door of the dormitory, looked pained at the
+appellation of "Moses" to the venerable head of the college. The boys
+all called Dr. Churchill that among themselves, though they meant no
+disrespect. They had evolved the title from his name; from the fact
+that, as one of the first students put it, the original Moses went up on
+a hill to establish the first church--hence Church--Hill; and thus
+"Moses."
+
+"I am sure Dr. Churchill will excuse you when he knows the circumstances,
+Parsons," went on the proctor with a malicious smile. "You will report to
+me for being out after hours without permission."
+
+"Oh, but I have permission," spoke Tom, as he drew out a note which the
+president had given him. "I beg your pardon for not mentioning it
+before. Very stupid of me, I'm sure," and this time it was Tom's turn to
+grin.
+
+The proctor looked at the permit, saw that it was in regular form, and
+knew that he was beaten. Without a word he turned and went back to his
+apartments, but the look he gave Tom augured no good to the talented
+pitcher. Tom went to his room, chuckling to himself.
+
+"Well?" asked Phil, who was not asleep when Tom entered. "Did you see
+Ruth?"
+
+"Yes, old chap. It's all right," and Tom told something of his
+visit--that is, as much as he thought Phil would care to know. "Your
+sister and Miss Tyler are both sorry you were laid up," he went on.
+
+"I guess I'll be out inside of a week," said Phil. "The doc was here a
+while ago, and left some new liniment that he said would soften up the
+strained muscles and ligaments. I tried some, and I feel better already.
+Say, put that blamed alarm clock out in the hall, will you? I can't
+sleep with the ticking of it."
+
+Tom did so, and then undressed. He turned the light down low, and, as he
+put on his pajamas, he knew, by the regular breathing of Phil, that the
+injured lad had fallen into a slumber. Sid, too, was sound asleep. Tom
+sat down on the old sofa, sinking far down into the depths of the weak
+springs. It creaked like an old man uttering his protest against
+rheumatic joints, and, in spite of the new leg Phil had put on and the
+strengthening boards, it threatened to collapse. Tom sat there in the
+half darkness dreaming--reflecting of his visit to Fairview. He imagined
+he could see, in the gloom of a distant corner, a fair face--which one
+was it?
+
+"Oh, I've got to cut this out," he remarked, and then he extinguished
+the light and got into bed.
+
+The next day was Saturday, and as several of the football squad were a
+little lame, Coach Lighton only put them through light practice. Thus
+the absence of Phil was not felt. He was much better, the new liniment
+working like a charm.
+
+One afternoon, a few days later, Tom and Sid went for a walk, Tom as a
+matter of training, and Sid because he wanted to get some specimens for
+use in his biology class. They strolled toward the town of Haddonfield,
+and shortly after crossing the bridge over Sunny River, saw on the road
+ahead of them two figures.
+
+"There are Langridge and Gerhart," remarked Tom.
+
+"Yes," spoke Sid. "They're quite chummy for a freshman and a sophomore.
+Langridge tried to save Gerhart from being hazed, but the fellows
+wouldn't stand for it."
+
+"I should say not. He ought to take his medicine the same as the rest of
+us had to. But look, they don't seem to want to meet us."
+
+As Tom spoke, Langridge and his crony suddenly left the road and took to
+the woods which lined the highway on either side.
+
+"I wonder what they did that for?" went on Tom.
+
+"Oh, I guess they don't like our style," was Sid's opinion. "We're not
+sporty enough for them."
+
+But it was not for this reason that Langridge and Gerhart did not want
+to meet their two schoolmates.
+
+"Lucky we saw them in time," observed Gerhart to the other, as he and
+Langridge sneaked along. "They might have asked us why we had gone to
+town."
+
+"We shouldn't have told them. I guess they won't pay much attention to
+us. Are you going to work the trick to-day?"
+
+"To-night, if I have a chance. There's going to be a meeting of the glee
+club, and Tom and Sid both will go. That will leave Phil alone in the
+room, and I can get in and make the change."
+
+"Be careful you're not caught. It's a risky thing to do."
+
+"I know it, but it's worth the risk if I can get back on the team.
+Besides, it won't hurt Clinton much."
+
+"Well, it's your funeral, not mine. You've got to stand for it all. I
+did my share helping plan it. You'll have to take the blame."
+
+"I will. Don't worry."
+
+"But what puzzles me is how Clinton can help knowing it when you change
+the liniment. As soon as he uses it he'll see that something is wrong,
+and he'll recall that you were in the room."
+
+"Oh, no, he won't. You see, the two liquids are so nearly alike that
+it's hard to tell the difference. Then, the beauty of it is that the one
+I'm going to put in place of his regular liniment doesn't take effect
+for twelve hours. So he'll never connect me with his trouble."
+
+"All right. It's up to you. But come on, let's get out on the road
+again. I don't fancy tramping through the woods."
+
+They emerged at a point some distance back of Tom and Sid, who continued
+their walk.
+
+"Did I tell you I met Langridge and Gerhart the night I went to see
+Phil's sister?" asked Tom after a pause.
+
+"No. What were they doing?"
+
+Tom related the conversation he had heard, and gave his speculations as
+to what Gerhart could have meant.
+
+"I guess he's counting on Phil being laid up so long that he can have
+his place at quarter-back," was Sid's opinion, and Tom agreed.
+
+The specimens of unfortunate frogs, to be used in biology, were stowed
+away in a box Sid carried, and then he and Tom turned back to college.
+That night they went to a rehearsal of the glee club.
+
+"Do you mind staying alone, old chap?" asked Tom of Phil as they
+prepared to depart.
+
+"Not a bit. Glad to get rid of you. I can move about the room, doc says,
+and it isn't so bad as it might be. I'll be glad to be alone, so I can
+think."
+
+"All right. So long, then."
+
+It was quiet in the room after Tom and Sid had departed. Phil tried to
+read, but he was too nervous, and took no interest in the book. It was
+out of the question to study, and, as his shoulder ached, he went back
+to bed again. He was in a half doze, when the door opened and Gerhart
+entered the room.
+
+"Hope I didn't disturb you, old chap," he began with easy
+familiarity--entirely too easy, for a freshman, Phil thought with a
+scowl. "Parsons and Henderson out?" asked Gerhart, as if he did not know
+it.
+
+"Yes, at the meeting of the glee club," answered Phil shortly.
+
+"That's so. I'd forgotten. Well, here's a note for Parsons. Will you see
+that he gets it?" And Gerhart walked over to the table and laid an
+envelope down. There was a miscellaneous collection on the table. Among
+other things was a bottle of liniment which the doctor had left for
+Phil. "I'll just leave the note here," went on Gerhart. "That's a swell
+picture over your bed," he said quickly, pointing to a sporting print
+that hung over Phil's cot.
+
+Naturally, the injured lad turned to see where Gerhart pointed.
+
+"Oh, it will do very well," he answered. He rather resented this
+familiarity on the part of a freshman. Still, as Gerhart had called to
+leave a note for Tom, Phil could not order him out, as he felt like
+doing. When Phil turned his head back toward the middle of the room the
+visitor was standing near the door.
+
+"I guess I'll be going," he said. "Hope you'll be out soon. I'm going to
+make another try with Lighton, and see if he won't let me play."
+
+"Um!" spoke Phil, as he turned over to doze.
+
+Gerhart, with an ugly smile on his face, hurried to his room in the east
+dormitory. Langridge was waiting for him there.
+
+"Well?" asked the former pitcher.
+
+"It's done!" exulted Gerhart, producing from beneath his coat a bottle
+that had contained liniment. "I threw the stuff out, and now I'll get
+rid of the bottle. I guess Phil Clinton won't play football any more
+this season!" He put the bottle far back on a closet shelf.
+
+"Why don't you throw that away?" asked Langridge.
+
+"I may need it," answered Gerhart. "I'll save it for a while."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN WHICH SOME ONE BECOMES A VICTIM
+
+
+When Sid and Tom, after glee club practice that night, were ascending
+the stairs to their floor, Sid stumbled, about half way up the flight.
+To save himself from a fall he put out his left hand, and came down
+heavily on it. As he did so he uttered an exclamation of pain.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Tom.
+
+"Gave my thumb a fierce wrench! It hurts like blazes! Why didn't you
+tell me I was going to fall, and I'd have stayed in to-night?" he asked
+half humorously.
+
+"I'm not a prophet," replied Tom. "But come on to the room, and we'll
+put some arnica on it. I've got some."
+
+Holding his injured thumb tightly in his other hand, Sid finished
+climbing the stairs, declaiming, meanwhile, against his bad luck.
+
+"Oh, you're a regular old woman!" exclaimed Tom. "Pretty soon it'll be
+so bad that if you see a black cat cross your path you won't go to
+lectures."
+
+"I wish I had a black cat to use when I'm due in Latin class," spoke
+Sid. "Positively I get more and more rotten at that blamed stuff every
+day! I need a black cat, or something. Wow! How my thumb hurts!"
+
+"Get out!" cried Tom. "Many a time on first base I've seen you stop a
+hot ball, and never say a word."
+
+"That's different," declared his chum. "Hurry up and get out your
+arnica."
+
+"Say, you fellows make noise enough," grumbled Phil at the entrance of
+his roommates. "What's the matter?"
+
+"Oh, Sid tried to go upstairs on his hands, and he didn't make out very
+well," replied Tom. "I've got two patients on my list now. How are you,
+Phil?"
+
+"Oh, so-so. Gerhart was here a while ago."
+
+"He was? What did he want?"
+
+"Left a note for you. It's on the table."
+
+"Humph! Invitation to a little spread he's going to give. Didn't you
+fellows get any?" spoke Tom as he read it.
+
+"No; and I don't want one," from Phil.
+
+"And I'm not going," declared Tom. "Gerhart is too much of a cad for
+me."
+
+"Insufferably so!" added Phil. "The little puppy gave himself such airs
+in here that I wanted to kick him out. But I wasn't going to say
+anything, for I thought you might be getting chummy with him, Tom,
+seeing that he left the note for you."
+
+"No, indeed. I don't know what his object is, nor why he should invite
+me. He and Langridge are a pair, and they can stick together," and Tom
+wadded up the invitation and threw it into the waste basket.
+
+"Say, if you're going to get the arnica, I wish you'd get a move on,"
+implored Sid, who was stretched out on the sofa. "This hurts me worse
+than not knowing my Virgil when I'm called on in Pitchfork's class."
+
+"Then it can't hurt very much," said Phil. "Let's see it."
+
+Sid held out a hand, the thumb of which was beginning to swell.
+
+"Why don't you use some of my liniment instead of arnica for it?"
+proposed Phil. "It's just the stuff for a sprain. Here, pour some on
+your hand," and Phil, whose left arm was in a sling, handed Sid the
+bottle from the table. Sid poured a generous quantity on his thumb.
+
+"Look out for the rug!" exclaimed Tom. "Do you want to spoil it?" for
+the liniment was dripping from Sid's hand.
+
+"Spoil it? Spoil this tattered and torn specimen of a fake oriental?"
+queried Sid with a laugh. "Say, if we spread molasses on it the thing
+couldn't look much worse than it does. I've a good notion to strike for
+a new one."
+
+"Don't," begged Phil. "We don't have to clean our feet when we come in
+now, and if we had a new rug we'd feel obliged to."
+
+"All right, have it your own way," remarked Tom. "But you've got enough
+liniment on there for two thumbs. Here, give me the bottle, and rub
+what's on your hand in where the swelling is."
+
+Sid extended the bottle to Tom. Phil, who was holding the cork,
+endeavored to insert it during the transfer. The result was a fumble,
+the phial slipped from Sid's grasp, Tom made a grab for it, but missed,
+and Phil, with only one good hand, could do nothing. The bottle crashed
+to the floor and broke, the liniment running about in little rivulets
+from a sort of central lake.
+
+"Now you have done it!" exclaimed Tom.
+
+"Who?" demanded Sid.
+
+"You and Phil. Why didn't you let me do the doctoring? You two dopes
+aren't able to look after yourselves! Look at the rug now!"
+
+"It was as much your fault as ours," declared Sid. "Why didn't you grab
+the bottle?"
+
+"Why didn't you hand it to me? I like your nerve!"
+
+"That's a nice spot on a rug," said Phil in disgust.
+
+"It adds to the beauty," declared Sid. "It just matches the big grease
+spot on the other side, which was left as a souvenir by the former
+occupants of this study. They must have made a practice of dropping
+bread and butter on the floor about eight nights a week. But say, if you
+want to do something, Tom, rub this stuff into my thumb, will you?"
+
+"Sure; wait until I pick up this broken glass. I don't want to cut my
+feet on it, in case I should take to walking in my sleep."
+
+He was soon vigorously massaging Sid's injured hand, using a piece of
+flannel as directed by Phil, and was given a vote of thanks for the
+professional manner in which he did it.
+
+"I'm sorry about your liniment, Phil," said Tom. "It's all gone. The
+only thing I see for you to do is to cut out that piece of the rug where
+it has soaked in, and bind it on your shoulder."
+
+"Oh, it doesn't matter. I won't need any more to-night, and to-morrow
+I'll get some more from the doctor."
+
+Sid was the first to awaken the next morning. A peculiar sensation about
+his injured hand called his attention to it. He pulled it from under the
+covers and glanced at it. Then he tried to bend the fingers. They were
+as stiff as pieces of wood. So was the thumb. It was as if it had been
+encased in a plaster cast.
+
+"I say, you fellows!" called Sid in some alarm.
+
+"What's the matter?" inquired Tom. "Don't you know it's Sunday, and we
+can sleep as long as we like?"
+
+"Look at my hand! Look at it!" exclaimed Sid tragically. "I can't use
+it!"
+
+Something in his tones made Tom get up. He strode over to the bed.
+
+"Say, that is mighty queer," he remarked, as he tried to bend Sid's
+fingers, and could not. "You must have given yourself a fearful knock."
+
+"Or else that liniment wasn't the right thing for it," added Phil,
+sitting up. "Better call the doc."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE FIRST GAME
+
+
+The three chums looked at each other. Phil felt of Sid's curiously
+stiffened hand.
+
+"I don't see how it could be the liniment," he said. "I've used it right
+along. It's the same thing doc gave me. You must have hurt your hand
+worse than you thought."
+
+"I guess I did," admitted Sid. So skilfully had Gerhart carried out his
+dastardly plot that even his unusual visit to the room of the trio
+attached no suspicion to him. The breaking of the bottle of liniment
+destroyed one link in the chain against him, and it would be difficult
+to trace anything to Gerhart now.
+
+Dr. Marshall looked grave when he saw Sid's hand.
+
+"That is very unusual," he said. "It must have been something you put on
+it. The muscles and tendons have been stiffened. There is a drug which
+will do that, but it is comparatively rare. It is sometimes used, in
+connection with other things, to keep down swelling, but never to soften
+a strain. Are you sure you used only the liniment I left for Clinton?"
+
+"That's all," declared Tom.
+
+"Let me see the bottle," said the physician, as he twirled his glasses
+by their cord and looked puzzled.
+
+"We can't; it's all gone," explained Phil, and he told of the accident.
+
+"Humph! Very strange," mused Dr. Marshall. "I'm afraid you'll not be
+able to use your hand for a month, Henderson. You have every indication
+of having used the peculiar drug I speak of, yet you say you did not,
+and I don't see how you could have, unless it got in the liniment by
+mistake. And that it did not is proved by the fact that Clinton used the
+same liniment without any ill effects. Only that Parsons used a rag to
+rub with, his hand would be out of commission, too. It is very strange.
+I wish there was some of the liquid left. I will see the druggist who
+put it up. Possibly he can explain it."
+
+"Well, I'm glad I didn't put any on my shoulder," said Phil. "It would
+have been all up with me and football, then."
+
+"It certainly would," admitted Dr. Marshall. "Let me look at your
+dislocation."
+
+"When can I get into the game again?" asked Phil anxiously, after the
+inspection.
+
+"Humph! Well, I think by the middle of the week. It is getting along
+better than I expected. Yes, if you pad it well you may go into light
+practice to-morrow, and play in a game the end of the week."
+
+"Good!" cried Phil. "Then's when we tackle Fairview Institute for the
+first game of the season!"
+
+The next day a notice was posted on the bulletin board in the gymnasium,
+stating that the 'varsity eleven would line up against the scrub that
+afternoon in secret practice. Then followed a list of names of those
+selected to play on the first team. It was as follows:
+
+    _Left-end_               TOM PARSONS
+    _Left-tackle_                ED KERR
+    _Left-guard_              BOB MOLLOY
+    _Center_                  SAM LOOPER
+    _Right-guard_            PETE BACKUS
+    _Right-tackle_     BILLY HOUSENLAGER
+    _Right-end_              JOE JACKSON
+    _Quarter-back_          PHIL CLINTON
+    _Right half-back_      DAN WOODHOUSE
+    _Left half-back_       JERRY JACKSON
+    _Full-back_              HOLLY CROSS
+
+"Hurrah, Tom! You're at left-end!" cried Phil, who, with his chum, was
+reading the bulletin.
+
+"I'm glad of it. Are you all right for practice?"
+
+"Sure. Come on; let's get into our togs."
+
+On the outer fringe of football players stood Langridge and Gerhart.
+There was surprise on their faces at the sight of Phil getting ready to
+play.
+
+"Something went wrong," whispered Langridge to his crony. "Your scheme
+didn't work."
+
+"I see it didn't," admitted Gerhart with a scowl. "I wonder where the
+slip was?"
+
+But when he heard of the peculiar ailment from which Sid Henderson
+suffered, Gerhart knew.
+
+"I lost that chance," he said to Langridge, "but I may see another to
+get square with Clinton, and, when I do, I'll not fail. It's too late,
+maybe, for me to get in the game now, but I'll put him out of it, and
+don't you forget it!"
+
+Phil was a little stiff in practice, but he soon warmed up, and the
+'varsity eleven played the scrub "all over the field."
+
+"That's what I like to see," complimented the coach. "Now, boys, play
+that way against Fairview on Saturday, and you'll open the season with
+a victory. I want you to win. Then we'll have a better chance for the
+championship. The schedule is different from the baseball one, you know.
+We don't play so many games with Boxer Hall and Fairview as we did in
+the spring, consequently each one counts more. Now I'm going to give
+you some individual instruction."
+
+Which the coach did very thoroughly, getting at the weak spots in each
+man's playing, and commenting wisely on it, at the same time showing him
+how he ought to play his position. There was practice in passing the
+ball, falling on it, kicking and tackling.
+
+"We want to do considerable work in the forward pass and the on-side
+kick this season," the coach went on. "I think you are doing very well.
+Parsons, don't forget to put all the speed you can into your runs, when
+getting down on kicks.
+
+"You Jersey twins don't want to be watching each other so. I know you
+are fond of one another, but try to forget that you are brothers, and be
+more lively in the game."
+
+Jerry and Joe Jackson joined in the laugh that followed.
+
+"As for you, Snail Looper," continued Coach Lighton, giving the center
+the name he had earned from his habit of prowling about nights and
+moving at slow speed, "you are doing fairly well, but be a little
+quicker. Try to forget that you're a relative of the _Helix Mollusca_.
+You backs, get into plays on the jump, and take advantage of the
+momentum. That's the way to smash through the line. Now then, we'll try
+signals again. Clinton, keep a cool head. Nothing is worse than getting
+your signals mixed, and you fellows, if you don't understand exactly
+what the play is, call for the signal to be repeated. That will save
+costly fumbles. Now line up again."
+
+They went through the remainder of the practice with a snap and vim that
+did the heart of the coach and the captain good. The scrub team was
+pretty well worn out when a halt was called.
+
+"Do you think you will beat Fairview?" asked Ford Fenton of Tom a little
+later, when the left-end and Phil were on their way to supper, after a
+refreshing shower bath.
+
+"I hope so, Ford. But you never can tell. Football is pretty much a
+gamble."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so. But my uncle says----"
+
+"Say, are you going to keep that up this term?" demanded Phil wearily.
+"If you are, I'm going to apply to the courts for an injunction against
+you and your uncle."
+
+"Well," continued Fenton with an injured air, "he was football coach
+here for some time, and my uncle says----"
+
+"There he goes again!" cried Tom. "Step on him, Phil!"
+
+But Ford, with a reproachful look, turned aside.
+
+"I don't see why there's such a prejudice against my uncle," he murmured
+to himself. But there wasn't. It was against the manner in which the
+nephew ceaselessly harped on what his relative said, though Ford was
+never allowed to tell what it was.
+
+The Randall eleven was fairly on edge when they indulged in light
+practice Saturday morning, preparatory to leaving for Fairview, where
+the first game of the season was to take place.
+
+"Feel fit, Tom?" asked Sid, who had to carry his left hand in a sling.
+Dr. Marshall had been unable to learn anything from the druggist that
+put up the liniment, and the cause for the queer stiffness remained
+undiscovered.
+
+"As fit as a fiddle," replied the lad. "How about you, Phil?"
+
+"I'm all to the Swiss cheese, as the poet had it. Is it about time to
+start?"
+
+"Nearly. We're going in a special trolley. Does your shoulder pain you
+any?"
+
+"Not a bit."
+
+"I suppose--er--that is--er--your sister will be at the game?" ventured
+Tom.
+
+"Of course. She's as daffy about it as I am. If she had been a boy she'd
+have played. Miss Tyler will be there, of course?" Phil questioned in
+turn.
+
+"I don't know--I suppose so," answered Tom. "Oh, of course. She and your
+sister will probably go together."
+
+"Yes, they're great chums. I wonder why I didn't get a letter from dad
+to-day? He promised to write every night. I ought to have received one.
+I'd like to know how my mother is."
+
+"Well, no news is good news," quoted Tom. "Let's start. I get nervous
+when I have to sit around."
+
+There was a large crowd on the grandstand at the Fairview gridiron when
+the Randall team arrived. The seats were rapidly filling up, and when, a
+little later, the visiting eleven trotted out for practice, they were
+received with a burst of cheers.
+
+"What's the matter with Randall?" demanded Bean Perkins, who had been
+christened "Shouter" from the foghorn quality of his tones. He generally
+led the college cheering and singing. Back came the usual reply that
+nothing whatever ailed Randall.
+
+"There's a good bunch out," observed Tom to Phil as they passed the ball
+back and forth. "Look at the girls! My, what a lot of them!"
+
+"And all pretty, too," added Phil. "At least, I know one who is."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Miss Tyler."
+
+"I know another," spoke the left-end.
+
+"Who's that?"
+
+"Your sister. She's prettier than the photograph."
+
+"You'd better tell her so."
+
+"I did."
+
+"Whew! It doesn't take you long to get down to business. But come on.
+They're going to line up for practice," and the two ran over to join
+their teammates.
+
+What a mass of color the grandstands and bleachers presented! Mingled
+with the youths and men were girls and women in bright dresses, waving
+brighter-hued flags. There were pretty girls with long horns, tied with
+streamers of one college or the other. There were more pretty girls with
+long canes, from which flew ribbons of yellow and maroon--Randall's
+colors. There were grave men who wore tiny footballs on their coat
+lapels, a knot of ribbon denoting with which college they sided.
+
+Massed in one stand were the cheering students of Randall, bent on
+making themselves heard above the songs and yells of their rivals. Nor
+were the girls of Fairview at all backward in giving vent to their
+enthusiasm. They had songs and yells of their own, and, under the
+leadership of Madge Tyler, were making themselves heard.
+
+Tom, in catching a long kick, ran close to the stand where the Fairview
+girls were massed. Madge was down in front, getting ready to lead them
+in a song.
+
+"Hello!" cried Tom to her, as he booted the pigskin back to Ed Kerr.
+
+"Sorry I can't cheer for you this time!" called Madge brightly.
+
+"Well, I'm sorry we will have to push the Fairview boys off the field,"
+retorted Tom.
+
+"Oh, are you going to do that?" asked a girl behind Madge, and Tom, who
+had been vainly looking for her, saw Ruth Clinton.
+
+"Sorry, but we have to," he replied. "Aren't you ashamed to cheer
+against your own brother?"
+
+"Oh, I guess Phil is able to look after himself," said Ruth. "Is his
+shoulder all right, Mr. Parsons?"
+
+"Doing nicely."
+
+Just then the referee's whistle blew to summon the players from
+practice.
+
+"I'll see you after the game," called Tom, and as he glanced from Ruth
+to Madge, he saw the latter regarding him rather curiously from her
+brown eyes. With a queer feeling about the region where he imagined his
+heart to be, he ran across the field.
+
+"Remember--fast, snappy play!" was the last advice from Coach Lighton.
+"You're going to win, boys. Don't forget that!"
+
+From the stand where the Randall supporters were gathered came that
+enthusing song--the song they always sang at a big game--"_Aut vincere
+aut mori_"--"Either we conquer or we die!"
+
+"Keep cool and smash through 'em," spoke Captain Cross to his players,
+as the referee and other officials took their places.
+
+It was Fairview's kick-off, and a moment later the ball came sailing
+through the air. Holly Cross caught it, and, well protected by
+interference, began to rush it back. But the Fairview players, by
+amazing good play, managed to get through, and Holly was downed after a
+run back of twenty yards.
+
+"Now, boys, all together!" called Phil, as he eagerly got into place
+behind big Snail Looper, who was bending over the ball. Then the
+quarter-back rattled off a string of signals for Jerry Jackson, the left
+half-back, to take the ball through the opposing left tackle and end.
+
+Back came the ball, accurately snapped by the center. Jerry Jackson
+was on the alert and took it from Phil as he passed him on the run.
+Kindlings Woodhouse smashed in to make a hole for his brother back, who
+closely followed. Captain Cross, on the jump, took care of the opposing
+left-end, and with a crash that was heard on the grandstand, one of the
+Jersey twins hit the line. The game was fairly begun.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+SMASHING THE LINE
+
+
+"First down!" came the encouraging cry, when the mass of players had
+become disentangled, and Jerry Jackson was seen to still have possession
+of the ball. He had made a great gain.
+
+"Now, once more, fellows!" called Phil. "Smash the line to pieces!"
+
+Again there came a play, this time with Holly Cross endeavoring to go
+between center and guard. But, unexpectedly, he felt as if he had hit a
+stone wall. Fairview had developed unusual strength. There was no gain
+there. But Phil thought he knew the weakness of the opposing team, and
+he decided for another try at line bucking. There would still be time
+for kicking on the third down, and he wanted his team to have the ball
+as long as possible early in the game.
+
+This time he signaled for Dutch Housenlager, who was at right tackle, to
+go through left tackle. The play was well executed, but Dutch was a
+little slow at hitting the line, and after a slight advance he was held,
+and only five yards were gained. Randall must kick, and the yells of
+delight that had greeted her first advance were silenced, while the
+supporters of the co-educational academy prepared to encourage their
+players by vocal efforts.
+
+Holly Cross booted the ball well up into the enemy's territory. Tom, and
+Joe Jackson, the ends, were down like tigers, but they could not break
+through the well-organized interference that surrounded Roger Barnes,
+the Fairview full-back. On he rushed until Phil, pluckily breaking
+through, tackled him fiercely.
+
+"Now see how we can hold 'em!" called Holly Cross to his men, and they
+all braced, ready for the smash they knew would come. Nor was it long
+delayed. Right at the center of the line came Lem Sellig, the Fairview
+left half-back. But he met Snail Looper's solid flesh, supported by
+Phil and the three other backs. Yet, in spite of this, Lem managed to
+advance.
+
+"Hold! hold!" pleaded Holly, and, with gritting teeth and tense muscles,
+his men did hold. But ten yards had been gained. Fairview was not as
+easy as had been hoped.
+
+Once more the line-smashing occurred, but this time not for such a gain,
+and on the next try Fairview was forced to kick.
+
+"Right down the line, now!" called Phil, and, as if the cheering
+contingent understood, Bean Perkins, with his foghorn voice, started
+the song: "Take it to the Goal Posts, Boys!"
+
+It had been decided, before the game, that Randall would attempt only
+straight football, at least during the first half. Coach Lighton wisely
+advised against trick plays so early in the season, as there were a
+number of comparatively new men on the eleven. So Phil, when his side
+had the ball again, called for more line-smashing, and his men responded
+nobly.
+
+They advanced the ball to the twenty-five yard line, and, though tempted
+to give the signal for a goal from the field, Phil refrained, as there
+was a quartering wind blowing. He did signal for a fake kick play,
+however, feeling that he was justified in it, and to his horror there
+was a fumble. Fairview broke through and captured the ball.
+
+Dejected and almost humiliated, Randall lined up to receive a smashing
+attack, but instead Fairview kicked, for her captain was nervous, and
+feared the holding powers of his opponent's line.
+
+"Now we've got 'em!" yelled Phil, as Holly Cross began running back with
+the pigskin. The Fairview ends were right on hand, however, and broke
+through the interference, so that Holly was downed ere he had covered
+ten yards. But it gave Randall the ball, and then, with a grim
+determination to smash or be smashed, the lads went at the Fairview line
+hammer and tongs. They rushed the ball to the ten-yard line this time,
+and then came a rapid succession of sequence plays, no signals being
+given. Indeed, had Phil yelled the numbers and letters through a
+megaphone, they could hardly have been heard, so tumultuous was the
+cheering of the Randall supporters.
+
+Against such whirlwind playing as this the Fairview line crumpled and
+went to pieces. Slam-bang at it came first Holly Cross, then Kindlings,
+and then Jerry Jackson. The latter, by a great effort, managed to wiggle
+along the last few inches, and placed the ball over the final white
+mark.
+
+"Touch-down!" yelled Tom Parsons, and a touch-down it was. How the
+cheers broke forth then! What a riot of color from the grandstands! How
+the flags, ribbons and banners waved! How the gay youths and grave men
+yelled themselves hoarse! How the girls' shrill voices sounded over the
+field!
+
+The goal was missed on account of the strong wind, and once more the
+play started in. There was more line-smashing and some kicking, yet the
+half ended with the score five to nothing in favor of Randall.
+
+There was much talk in the dressing-room of the Randall players during
+the intermission. Some of the players pleaded for the trial of trick
+plays which they had practiced, but Coach Lighton insisted on
+line-smashing.
+
+"I know it is more tiresome," he said, "but it will be better practice
+for you now. You need straight football early in the season. Clinton,
+how is your shoulder holding out?"
+
+"Fine. It doesn't hurt me at all."
+
+As only minor hurts had resulted from the play of the first half, no
+change was made in the line-up. Once more, when the whistle blew, did
+the whirlwind work begin. There was a noticeable difference in the style
+of Fairview. They had put in some new men, and were playing a kicking
+game. They were holding better in the line, too.
+
+The result was that after several minutes of play, during which the ball
+had changed hands several times, the Randall players were tiring. It was
+what the wily captain of the Fairview team had counted on. Then he sent
+his men smashing the line, and to the grief of Holly Cross he saw his
+men being pushed back. In vain did he appeal to them--even reviled
+them--for not holding their ground. But it was impossible, and,
+following a sensational run around right end, Joe Jackson missing an
+easy tackle of Lem Sellig, the latter player made a touch-down. This
+time it was the chance for the Fairview supporters to cheer and yell,
+and they did it, the singing contingent rendering with much effect: "We
+Have Old Randall's Scalp Now."
+
+The score was tied, as Fairview failed to kick goal, and at it they
+went again, smash and hammer, hammer and smash. Phil called for a trick
+play, and it worked well, but the gain was small, and a little later the
+ball went to Fairview on a penalty. Then came the surprise of the day.
+On a forward pass the pigskin was taken well toward Randall's goal line,
+and after the down Ted Puder, the husky left-tackle, was shoved over for
+another touch-down.
+
+The stands fairly trembled under the cheers, yells and excited stamping
+of the co-educationals. The girls sang a song of victory, and the
+Randall players, with woe-begone faces, gathered behind their goal
+posts. There was a futile attempt to block the kick, but the spheroid
+sailed over the bar. The score was eleven to five against Randall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+"GIRLS ARE QUEER"
+
+
+"Now, fellows, we can win, or at least tie the score yet," remarked
+Captain Cross, as his players were sent back to the middle of the field
+for another kick-off. "Smash through 'em! Phil, try our forward pass and
+on-side kick."
+
+"There are only five minutes more of play," said Tom, who heard that
+from the timekeeper.
+
+"Never mind, we can do it. Tie the score, anyhow!"
+
+But it was not to be. Smash through the line though her players did, for
+there seemed no stopping them, successful as the forward pass was, and
+with the gain netted by an on-side kick, Randall could do no better than
+to carry the ball to the Fairview ten-yard line.
+
+There might have been a try for a field goal, but Phil decided there was
+no chance for it, whereas bucking the line was almost a sure thing.
+His men were doing magnificent work, for they had carried the ball
+continuously from the middle of the field without loss. Two minutes more
+of play would have given them a touch-down, but the fatal whistle blew,
+and with a groan the Randall players knew their last hope was gone.
+
+There came the usual cheers and college yells for the vanquished from
+the victors, and the return of the compliment. Then the downcast Randall
+lads filed slowly across the gridiron. They were sad at heart, and Coach
+Lighton noticed it.
+
+"Fellows, you did magnificent work!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "You
+really did!"
+
+"All except winning," said Tom gloomily.
+
+"I think we played rotten!" burst out Phil, who seemed to take it much
+to heart.
+
+"And I let Sellig get around me, and missed tackling him," said Joe
+Jackson, fairly groaning. "That cost us the game."
+
+"Nonsense!" exclaimed Captain Cross, who knew the danger of despondency.
+"You did all right, Joe; and the other Jersey twin shone like a star on
+a dark night. We're all right."
+
+"Yes, except for what ails us," added Dutch Housenlager, making a
+playful attempt to trip up Tom.
+
+"Here! Quit that!" exclaimed the left-end in no gentle voice.
+
+Coach Lighton noticed it. Tom, as well as the others, was "on edge." It
+would not need much more to demoralize the team. He must stop the
+growing feeling.
+
+"Fellows," he exclaimed, "you're all right! I know what I'm talking
+about. I've coached teams before, and I say that for the first game of
+the season you did all that could be expected. I'm proud of you. I----"
+
+"A thing like this happened once before," said a voice at the elbow of
+the coach. "My uncle says----"
+
+But Ford Fenton got no further, for Dutch Housenlager, putting out his
+foot, neatly tripped the offending one, and the rest of his sentence was
+mumbled to the grass.
+
+"Serves him right!" exclaimed Tom, and in the laugh that followed the
+nervous, disappointed feeling of the team, in a measure, passed off.
+
+"Fairview has a good team," went on Coach Lighton. "I give them credit
+for that. But we have a better one, and now that we know their style of
+play and their weakness we can beat them next game. We'll have another
+chance at them."
+
+"And we'll wipe up the gridiron with 'em!" cried Holly Cross. "Forget
+it, fellows! Let's sing 'Marching to the Goal Posts,'" which they did
+with such a vim that the spirits of all were raised many degrees.
+
+"Well, Phil," remarked Tom, as he was getting off his football togs, "we
+were sort of up against it, eh?"
+
+"Oh, it might have been worse. But the way the fellows rushed the
+ball up the field the last five minutes was a caution. It was like a
+machine."
+
+"Yes; we ought to have done that first."
+
+"That's right. By the way, I'm going to see my sister. Want to come
+along?"
+
+"Sure!" exclaimed Tom with such eagerness that Phil remarked dryly:
+
+"I don't know that she'll be with Madge Tyler."
+
+"Oh--er--that is--that's all right," said Tom hastily, and he swallowed
+quickly. "I'll go along."
+
+"All right," said Phil.
+
+They finished dressing, and went across the field to where a crowd of
+spectators was still congregated.
+
+"Think you can find her in this bunch?" asked Tom, but he was taking no
+chances, for he himself was keeping a sharp lookout for a certain fair
+face.
+
+"Oh, I guess so. If I don't spot her she'll glimpse me. Girls are great
+for finding people in a crowd. Sis always seems to do it."
+
+"Oh, Phil!" called a voice a moment later, and Ruth Clinton hurried up
+to her brother, gaily waving a Fairview flag. She was followed by Madge
+Tyler, who also had her college colors with her. "How's your shoulder?"
+asked Ruth anxiously. "I was so nervous that I couldn't bear to look at
+the plays."
+
+"Yes, you've got a lot of ruffians on your team," retorted her brother.
+"They don't know how to play like gentlemen."
+
+"But they know how to win!" exclaimed Madge, as she greeted her chum's
+brother.
+
+"That's right," admitted Phil, making a rueful face.
+
+"I'm sorry I had to cheer against you and Mr. Parsons to-day," went on
+Madge, as she looked at Phil. "I really--well, of course I can't say I
+really wanted to you to win against Fairview, but I wish the score had
+been even."
+
+"There's no satisfaction in that," retorted Tom. "We lost, and they won,
+fairly and squarely."
+
+"Oh, I'm glad you admit that," spoke Ruth with a laugh, and she waved
+her flag in Tom's face. He made a grab for it, and caught the end of
+the cane. For an instant he stood thus, looking into the laughing,
+mischievous eyes of Ruth Clinton.
+
+"Do you want it?" she asked daringly.
+
+"Yes," said Tom, "even though it is the color of the enemy."
+
+"What will you give me for it?" she asked.
+
+"My colors," said Tom, taking a small knot of yellow and maroon from his
+coat lapel. "We'll exchange until the victory goes the other way about."
+
+"All right," she agreed laughingly. "Don't forget, now. Mr. Parsons."
+
+"I'll not," he assured her, and he turned to see Madge regarding him
+curiously. Her eyes shifted away quickly as they met his.
+
+"Heard from dad?" asked Phil, who had been an amused witness to the
+little scene.
+
+"Yes, I have a letter with me," answered his sister. "Here it is," and
+she handed it to Phil. "Mother is some better."
+
+"That's good. Do you have to get right back to college, or have you
+girls time to go down the street and have some soda?" asked Phil.
+
+"Oh, we'll make time to go with _you_!" exclaimed Madge, and she
+accented the last word. Tom looked at her keenly.
+
+"Come on, then," invited Phil, and, as if it was the most natural thing
+in the world, he swung alongside of Madge, leaving Tom to walk with
+Ruth. Nor was Tom at all slow to take advantage of this arrangement,
+though for a brief instant he hardly knew whether or not he ought to go
+with her, considering how friendly Madge had been with him since she
+gave up going with Langridge.
+
+"How does it feel to lose?" asked Ruth, as she walked with Tom.
+
+"Not very good," he answered, as he listened to Madge's gay laugh at
+something Phil said. He was reflecting how well she got along with the
+handsome quarter-back. But Tom was not unaware of the charms of the
+pretty girl at his side. They talked on many subjects during the walk to
+town, and Tom felt like a chap who has had offered to him the choice of
+two most delightful companions, and cannot tell which one he likes best.
+Ruth was certainly an attractive girl, and her jolly laugh--but just
+then he heard the rippling tones of Madge's voice.
+
+"Oh, hang it all!" he thought to himself. "What am I up against?"
+
+They spent a jolly afternoon before it was time for Tom and Phil to
+start back to Randall.
+
+"I hope you'll come over again--soon," said Ruth to her brother as they
+were about to part.
+
+"I will, if Miss Tyler will second your invitation," replied Phil.
+
+"Of course I will," said Madge heartily.
+
+"Can't I come, too?" asked Tom.
+
+"Of course," answered Ruth promptly. "I shall expect you to report to me
+on the condition of my colors."
+
+"Oh, of course," was Tom's remark. Then he waited for Madge to say
+something to him, but she turned away without a word. Yet Tom could not
+forget that she had added her invitation to that of Ruth in regard to
+Phil.
+
+Whereat, wondering over some matters on the way home, Tom said to his
+chum:
+
+"Girls are queer, aren't they?"
+
+"Are you just finding that out?" asked the quarter-back.
+
+"I guess so," was what Tom said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PHIL SAVES WALLOPS
+
+
+They were talking the game over in their room--Phil, Sid and Tom. Sid,
+from the effects of the strong liquid which Gerhart had substituted for
+the liniment, still had to carry his hand in a sling, but the fingers
+were slowly losing their stiffness.
+
+"Where you fellows made a mistake," Sid was saying, as he moved about on
+the creaking old sofa to get into a more comfortable position, "where
+you fellows made a mistake was in not doing more kicking early in the
+game."
+
+"Oh, I suppose you could have run things better than Phil did?"
+suggested Tom, not altogether pleasantly.
+
+"Not better, but different. You should have tired them out, and then
+smashed their line all to pieces."
+
+"It wasn't altogether such easy smashing as you would suppose, sitting
+and watching the game from the grandstand, was it, Tom?" came from Phil.
+
+"Not exactly," responded the left-end, as he rubbed his shoulder, which
+he had bruised making a hard tackle. "They were as tough as nails. I
+suppose we did fairly well, considering everything."
+
+"All but winning," spoke Sid drowsily. "You didn't do that, you know.
+Now be fair; did you?"
+
+"Oh, cut it out, you old would-be philosopher!" cried Phil, twisting
+around in the easy chair to reach something to throw at his chum. All he
+could find was a newspaper, and he doubled that up. It missed Sid, and
+hitting an ink bottle on the mantle, broke the phial, the black fluid
+flowing down over the wall and on the carpet.
+
+"That's a nice thing to do!" cried Tom. "Say, what do you want to make a
+rough house for? Isn't this den bad enough as it is, without you doing
+that?"
+
+"I didn't mean to," answered Phil contritely.
+
+"Look at the rug!" went on Tom, as the ink formed a black pool. "Pretty,
+isn't it?"
+
+"We'll get the pattern changed if we keep on," murmured Sid, without
+opening his eyes. "There's the liniment spot, now the ink spot, and the
+grease spots left by the former occupants. Maybe we ought to get a new
+rug, fellows."
+
+"Not this term," said Tom emphatically. "I've run over my money as it
+is, and I don't like to ask dad for more."
+
+"I notice you had some to spend for flowers to-night," remarked Phil.
+
+On the way home from the game Tom had stopped in a florist's in Fairview
+and given an order, while Phil remained outside.
+
+"You don't mean to say that Tom has been sending flowers to some girl?"
+demanded Sid, sitting up.
+
+"Well, you can draw your own conclusions," replied Phil. "He didn't
+bring 'em home to decorate _our_ room, that's sure."
+
+"Worse and some more, too," murmured Sid. "What are you coming to, Tom?"
+He looked reproachfully at his chum. Then he shook his head. "This girl
+business!" he spluttered. Then, as his eyes gazed about the room, he
+caught sight of the little flag of Fairview colors which Ruth Clinton
+had given Tom. The latter had placed it partly behind a picture of a
+football game. "Where did that come from?" demanded Sid, getting up from
+the couch with an effort and striding over to the offending emblem.
+
+"It's mine!" declared Tom. "Ruth--I mean Phil's sister--gave it to me."
+
+For an instant Sid looked at his chum. Then his gaze traveled to the
+picture of the girl--the two girls--for that of Madge was beside the
+likeness of Ruth--and the former first-baseman sighed.
+
+"Well," he said, "I s'pose there's no hope for it, but I wish I'd gone
+in with some fellows who weren't crazy on the girl question. First
+thing I know you fellows will have this a regular boudoir; and then
+where will I be? I expect any day now you'll be wanting to get rid of
+this old couch and chair, and get some mission furniture, so that you
+can have a five o'clock tea here, and invite some girls and chaperons."
+
+"Suppose we do?" asked Phil, who for some reason sided with Tom.
+
+"Well, all I've got to say is that I give up," and Sid, with a helpless
+look, flung himself down on the sofa and turned his back on his chums.
+"Next you know you'll be playing tennis or croquet instead of football.
+You make me sick! I tell you what it is, if you put any more of those
+tomfool decorations, like flags and photographs, in this room, I'm going
+to quit!" and Sid spoke earnestly.
+
+"Aw, forget it, you old misanthropic specimen of a misogynist!"
+exclaimed Phil with a laugh. "You'll be there yourself some day, and
+then you'll see how it is."
+
+"Say, you talk as if you had a girl, too!" cried Sid, sitting up again
+and looking fixedly at Phil.
+
+"Maybe I have," was the noncommittal answer.
+
+"Then you've gone back on me, too," was what Sid said, as he pretended
+to go to sleep.
+
+It was quiet in the room for a while, each lad busy with his thoughts.
+Who shall say what they were? One thing is certain--that the gazes of
+Tom and Phil often traveled to the wall on which were the photographs of
+two girls--Madge and Ruth. Tom looked at both; but Phil--well, did you
+ever know a fellow, no matter how nice a sister he had, to care to steal
+surreptitious glances at her picture? Did you? Well, that's all I'm
+going to say now.
+
+The fussy little alarm clock ticked monotonously on, as if anxious to
+get its work done. Still neither of the three chums spoke. Occasionally
+Sid would shift his position, but he did not open his eyes. Tom
+sometimes looked at the liniment stain in the carpet, and then at the
+ink spot.
+
+"It's a wonder you wouldn't get a blotter and sop up some of that
+writing fluid," suggested Phil to Tom at last.
+
+"Why don't you do it yourself?" was the retort. "You knocked it over."
+
+"I'm too comfortable," murmured Phil from the depths of the chair.
+
+"Humph!" grunted Tom. Then there was silence once more.
+
+"How's your hand, Sid?" asked Tom, when the clock had ticked off what
+seemed to the lads about a million strokes.
+
+"A little better. That's the worst thing I ever had happen to me," and
+Sid looked at his stiffened fingers. "I don't know what you fellows are
+going to do, but I'm going to bed!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I'm
+sleepy."
+
+"Come on out and take a walk," proposed Tom to Phil. "I'm stiff and
+lame. Maybe I can walk it off. Then we'll take a hot bath in the gym and
+turn in."
+
+"That sounds good," agreed Phil. "I'll go you."
+
+They left Sid undressing and went out, it not being a proscribed hour.
+After a brisk walk around the campus they started for the gymnasium. As
+they neared it they heard voices coming from the direction of Biology
+Hall, a small building situated to the right of their dormitory.
+
+"Now, then, hold him, Gerhart, while I clip him two or three good ones!"
+they heard some one say, and immediately after that came in pleading
+tones:
+
+"Oh, please don't hit me again, Mr. Langridge. I did the best I could
+for you."
+
+"The best, you little rat! You didn't get the stuff I sent you for!"
+exclaimed Langridge angrily.
+
+"Because they wouldn't sell me the whisky," was the answer. "Oh, Mr.
+Langridge, please don't hit me!"
+
+"It's Wallops!" exclaimed Phil. "Wallops, the little messenger. What's
+that brute Langridge up to now?"
+
+"Seems as if he sent Wallops after liquor, and he didn't get it," said
+Tom. "I hear he's been up to that trick."
+
+"The dirty cad!" whispered Phil.
+
+A moment later there was the sound of a blow, and it was followed by a
+cry of pain.
+
+"Come on!" cried Phil to Tom, and the two strode around the corner of
+the building. They saw Gerhart holding Wallops, who was a lad small for
+his age, while Langridge was punching him in the face, accompanying each
+blow with the remark:
+
+"That will teach you to play the sneak trick on me. You drank that stuff
+yourself!"
+
+"Indeed I didn't!" cried the messenger. "They wouldn't let me have it.
+There was a new man behind the bar."
+
+"That's a likely story. Hold him tight, Gerhart; I'm going to paste him
+another."
+
+"You hound!" cried Phil, his voice shrill with rage, and an instant
+later he had fairly leaped beside the bully. With one hand he thrust
+Langridge aside, and then, with a straight left on the jaw, he sent him
+to the ground with a thud.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+PHIL IS NERVOUS
+
+
+Langridge struggled to his feet, anger rendering him almost speechless.
+He started toward Phil, who stood in the attitude of a trained boxer,
+awaiting the attack. The light from a new moon faintly illuminated the
+scene, and the figures stood out with considerable distinctness against
+the background of the dark building.
+
+Wallops, the messenger, was shrinking away, anxious to escape unobserved,
+though he cast a look of gratitude at Phil. Tom was surprised at his
+chum's sudden attack, but he stood ready to aid him, in case Gerhart
+should make an effort to take sides. As for Phil and Langridge, they
+faced each other, one eager with righteous anger to continue the
+chastisement, the other mad with the lust of shame and unreasoning.
+
+"What--what did you do that for?" asked Langridge thickly, and his hand
+went to his jaw where Phil's fist had landed. His head was singing yet
+from the powerful blow.
+
+"You know why," replied Phil calmly. "Because you're a coward."
+
+"Hold on!" cried the bully, taking a step forward. "I've stood about all
+I'm going to from you."
+
+He looked around at Gerhart. The freshman stood passive, and Langridge
+showed some surprise.
+
+"Aren't you going to stand by me?" asked the sophomore of his ally.
+
+"Of course," muttered Gerhart, but there was no heart in his tones. He
+remembered what his crony had said regarding Phil's prowess.
+
+"Certainly," put in Tom with gentle voice. "We'll make a quartet of it,
+if you like."
+
+"What are you interfering with my affairs for?" went on Langridge,
+taking no notice of Tom.
+
+"Because it's the affair of any decent college man to interfere when he
+catches a dirty coward beating a fellow smaller than he is!" and Phil
+fairly bit off the words.
+
+"Take care!" cried Langridge. "You're going too far. I'll make a class
+matter of it if you call me a coward again!"
+
+"I wish you would!" burst out Phil. "I'd like to make a charge against
+you before the whole college! Beating Wallops because he's smaller than
+you are!"
+
+"That wasn't it. He didn't do as I told him, and was insolent."
+
+"Who gave you the right to assume a mastery over him? Besides, from what
+I heard, you had evidently ordered him to do something against the
+rules."
+
+"Ah! So you were sneaking around to listen, were you?" sneered
+Langridge.
+
+"You know better than that, or I'd answer you in the same way I did at
+first," replied Phil. "If you send Wallops for liquor again I shall
+inform Dr. Churchill."
+
+"I always thought you were a tattling cad!" burst out Langridge. "Now I
+know it!"
+
+Hardly were the words out of his mouth ere Phil was beside him. The
+quarter-back was fairly trembling, and his voice shook as he shot out
+the words:
+
+"Take that back! Take it back, I say, or--or I'll----"
+
+He paused, emotion overcoming him, but from the manner in which he drew
+back his powerful left arm Langridge stepped aside apprehensively.
+
+"Well, you haven't any right to interfere in my affairs," he whined.
+
+"Do you take back what you said?" demanded Phil fiercely, and he laid a
+trembling hand on the shoulder of the bully.
+
+"Take your hand from me!" exclaimed Langridge. "Yes--I suppose I've got
+to--I can't fight a professional pugilist," he added with an uneasy
+laugh.
+
+"Thanks for the compliment," spoke Phil grimly. "I guess this can end
+where it is. As for you, Gerhart, if I thought you had any other part
+in this than being a tool of this coward, I'd give you the soundest
+thrashing you ever had."
+
+The freshman did not answer, and when Langridge turned aside Gerhart
+followed him into the shadows. Poor Wallops waited until they were out
+of sight, then the messenger trailed after Phil and Tom. On the way he
+haltingly told the chums that Langridge had been in the habit of sending
+him to town to purchase stimulants for him. It had come to the point
+where that night where the bartender had refused to sell any more
+liquor, warning having been given that sales to minors were becoming too
+frequent. It was the failure of Wallops to return with the whisky that
+angered Langridge.
+
+"Don't say anything about this, Wallops," advised Phil. "Langridge won't
+bother you again. If he does, let me know."
+
+"Yes, sir, and thank you, Mr. Clinton. I'll not tell."
+
+"I guess Langridge and Gerhart won't, either," commented Tom. "They'll
+be glad to let it drop."
+
+"What cads those fellows are," remarked Phil a little later, when he
+and Tom, having had a refreshing shower bath, were preparing for bed in
+their room.
+
+"Well, you took some of it out of Langridge, at all events," said the
+pitcher.
+
+"Maybe, but it will come back. I suppose I'll have to be on the lookout
+now, or he may do me a dirty turn."
+
+"Shouldn't wonder. I had my troubles with him last term. But I thought
+he was going to do better this season."
+
+"He can't seem to, evidently."
+
+"Say," exclaimed Sid, poking his head from beneath the sheet, "I wish
+you fellows would let a chap sleep. What are you chinning about?"
+
+They told him, and, wide awake, he sat up and listened to the whole
+story.
+
+"I wish I'd seen it," he said. "It would have been as good as a football
+game. By the way, who does the team play this week, Phil?"
+
+"Oh, we've got a little game with the Haddonfield Prep. School. Doesn't
+amount to much. Some of the subs will play, I fancy."
+
+"I hope Holly doesn't make the mistake of despising an enemy," went on
+Sid. "Do you know, Phil, it seems to me that our fellows haven't struck
+their gait yet."
+
+"Well, it's early in the season," said Tom.
+
+"I know that," went on Sid, "but they ought to have more vim. There's a
+curious lack of ginger noticed. _You_ didn't play with your usual snap,
+Phil."
+
+"I know it," was the almost unexpected answer from the quarter-back. "I
+wondered if any one noticed it."
+
+"I did," added Tom, "but I wasn't going to say anything. I thought it
+was because it was the first game."
+
+"No," said Phil slowly, "it wasn't that. I'm all
+unstrung--nervous--that's what's the matter."
+
+"You nervous!" exclaimed Sid. "I wouldn't have believed that. What's the
+matter?"
+
+"It's my mother," said Phil quietly, and there was a strange tone in his
+voice.
+
+"She--she's not worse--is she?" asked Tom, and the room became curiously
+quiet.
+
+"No," answered Phil; "but I can't tell what moment she may be. Fellows,
+I'm living in constant fear of receiving a message that--that she--that
+she's dead!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE SOPHOMORES LOSE
+
+
+There are several occasions when a young man can find no words in which
+to express himself. One is when he meets a pretty girl for the first
+time, and another is when his best chum has a great sorrow. There are
+other occasions, but these are the chief ones. Thus it was with Tom and
+Sid. For a few seconds after Phil's announcement they sat staring at the
+floor. Their eyes took in the pattern of the faded rug, though little of
+the original figure was to be seen because of the many spots. Then Tom
+looked about the apartment, viewing the photographs of the two pretty
+girls, the sporting implements massed in a corner, the table, with its
+artistic confusion of books and papers. From these his gaze traveled
+back to Phil.
+
+As for Sid, he breathed heavily. If he had been a girl I would have said
+that he sighed. Then, being a youth who did not shirk any duty, no
+matter how hard, Sid asked:
+
+"Is--is she any worse, Phil? Have you had bad news? Can't we--can't you
+go down where she is?"
+
+Phil shook his head.
+
+"There's no specially bad news," he said, "but it's this way: She has a
+malady which, sooner or later, unless it is conquered, will--will take
+her away from me--and sis. Dad thinks an operation is the only hope, but
+they keep putting it off from time to time, on a slim chance that she
+may recover without it. For the operation is a desperate expedient at
+best. And that's why I'm not myself. That's why I can't go into the
+games with all my might. I expect any moment to be summoned to the
+sidelines to get a telegram saying--saying----"
+
+He choked up, and could not finish.
+
+"Is it--is it as bad as that?" asked Tom huskily, and he put his arm
+over Phil's shoulder, as his chum sat in the old easy chair.
+
+"It's pretty bad," said Phil softly. Then, with a sudden change of
+manner, he exclaimed: "But say, I didn't mean to tell you fellows that.
+I don't believe in relating my troubles to every one," and he smiled,
+though it was not like his usual cheery face that looked at his two
+chums.
+
+"Oh, come now!" cried Sid. "As if we didn't want to hear! And as if you
+shouldn't tell us your troubles! Why, I expect to tell you fellows mine,
+and I want to hear yours in return, eh, Tom."
+
+"Of course," said the pitcher heartily.
+
+"Well, that's mighty white of you chaps," went on Phil, swallowing a
+lump in his throat. "But I'm not going to bother you any more, just now.
+Only that's the reason I'm--well, that I can't play as I want to play.
+But I'm going to try to forget it. I'm going into the next game, and
+help rip their line to pieces. I'm going to pilot our fellows to a big
+score or dislocate my other shoulder."
+
+"Good!" cried Sid. "Now let's get to bed. It's almost morning."
+
+The little talk among the three chums was productive of good. There was
+a closer bond of union among them than there had ever been before. They
+felt more like brothers, and Tom and Sid watched Phil for the next few
+days as if he was a little chap, over whom they had been given charge.
+
+"Oh, say!" the quarter-back exclaimed at length one afternoon, when they
+had followed him to football practice, and walked home with him. "I'm
+not so bad as all that, you know."
+
+"Did you hear any news to-day?" asked Tom, ignoring the mild rebuke.
+
+"Yes. Got a telegram from dad. Things look a little brighter, and
+yet----" He paused. "Well," he continued, "I don't want to think too
+much about it. We play Haddonfield to-morrow. I want to wipe up the
+gridiron with them."
+
+Which Phil and his chums pretty nearly did. Haddonfield Preparatory
+School had the best eleven in years, but, even with a number of scrub
+players on Randall, the score was forty-six to nothing. There was a
+different air about the college team as the lads went singing from the
+field that afternoon. There was confidence in their eyes.
+
+It was a beautiful afternoon in October. Lectures were over and a throng
+of students had strolled over the campus and down to the banks of Sunny
+River. The stream flowed lazily along toward Lake Tonoka, winding in
+and out, as though it had all the time it desired in which to make the
+journey, and meant to take the full allowance. There was nothing rapid
+or fussy about Sunny River. It was not one of those hurrying, bubbling,
+frothy streams that make a great ado about going somewhere, and never
+arrive. There was something soothing in walking along the banks that
+bracing, fall day. There was just enough snap in the air to prevent one
+from feeling enervated, yet there was hardly a hint of winter.
+
+"Doesn't it make you feel as if you could stretch out on your back and
+look up into the sky?" asked Phil of Tom as the three chums walked
+along. Tom and the quarter-back had been to football practice, and still
+had their togs on.
+
+"Now hold on!" exclaimed Sid, before Tom could answer. "Is this going to
+lead anywhere?"
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Phil.
+
+"I mean that poetical start on a talk-fest. Are you going to ring in
+beautiful scenery, calm, peaceful atmosphere, a sense of loneliness, and
+then switch off on to girls? Is that what you're driving at? Because if
+it is I want to know, and I'm going back and read some psychology."
+
+"You're up the wrong tree," declared Tom. "I don't know what Phil means,
+but my answer to his question would be that to stretch out on the ground
+for any length of time at this season would mean stiff muscles, not to
+mention rheumatism."
+
+"You fellows have no poetry in your nature," complained Phil. "Just look
+there, where the river curves, how the trees lean over to be kissed by
+the limpid water. Can't you fancy some one floating, floating down it in
+a boat, with heart attuned----"
+
+"It's too late for boating!" exclaimed a voice behind the trio. "My
+uncle says----"
+
+Phil turned quickly and tried to grab Ford Fenton. The youth with the
+uncle jumped back.
+
+"Why--what--what's the matter?" stammered Fenton.
+
+"Matter!" cried Phil. "Why, you little shrimp, I've a good notion to
+chuck you into the river!"
+
+"Yes, the river--the beautiful, meandering, poetical river," added
+Tom. "Quit it, Phil; you're getting on my nerves. I'm glad Fenton
+interrupted you with a recollection of his uncle. What were you going
+to say about your respected relative?" he asked.
+
+But Fenton was going to take no chances with Phil, and, turning about,
+he retraced his steps.
+
+"What were you saying, Phil?" inquired Sid politely, if sarcastically.
+
+"None of your business," replied the quarter-back a little stiffly. "I'm
+going to write a poem about it," he added more genially.
+
+"And send it to some girl, I suppose," went on Sid. "Oh, you make me
+sick!"
+
+What further ramification the conversation might have taken is
+problematical, but it was interrupted just then by the arrival of Ed
+Kerr, who seemed in much of a hurry.
+
+"I've been looking all over for you fellows," he panted.
+
+"Why hastenest thou thus so hastily?" asked Tom. "Is the college on
+fire? Has Pitchfork been taken with a fit, or has Moses sent to say we
+need study no more?"
+
+"Quit your gassin'!" ordered Ed. "Say, we're going to have the walk rush
+to-night. The freshies have just had a meeting and decided on it. Tried
+to pull it off quietly, but Snail Looper heard, and kindly tipped us
+off. Dutch Housenlager is getting the soph crowd together. You fellows
+want to be in it, don't you?"
+
+"Of course," answered Tom. "We have not forgotten that we were once
+freshmen, and that we had many clashes with the second-years. Now we
+will play the latter rôle. Lead on, Macduff, and he be hanged who first
+cries: 'Hold! Enough!' We'll make the freshies wish they had never seen
+Randall College."
+
+"Maybe--maybe not," spoke Phil. "They're a husky lot--the first-year
+lads. But we can never let them have the privilege of the walk without a
+fight."
+
+The "walk rush," as it was termed, was one of those matters about which
+college tradition had centered. It was a contest between the freshman
+and sophomore classes, that took place every fall, usually early in
+October. It got its name from the walk which circled Booker Memorial
+Chapel. This chapel was the gift of a mother whose son had died while
+attending Randall, and the beautiful stained glass windows in it were
+well worth looking at--in fact, many an artist came to Randall expressly
+for that purpose.
+
+Around the chapel was a broad walk, shaded with stately oaks, and the
+path was the frequenting place of the college lads. From time immemorial
+the walk had been barred to freshmen unless, in the annual rush, they
+succeeded in defeating the sophomores, and, as this seldom occurred, few
+freshmen used the walk, save on Sundays, when all hostilities were
+suspended, in honor of the day. The rush always took place on a small
+knoll, or hill, back of the gymnasium, and it was the object of the
+freshmen to take possession of this point of vantage, and maintain it
+for half an hour against the rush of the sophomores. If they succeeded
+they were entitled to use the chapel walk. If they did not, they were
+reviled, and any freshman caught on the forbidden ground was liable to
+summary punishment.
+
+Dark figures stole silently here and there. Commands and instructions
+were whispered hoarsely. There was an air of mystery about, for it was
+the night of the walk rush, and freshmen and sophomores were each
+determined to win.
+
+Garvey Gerhart, by virtue of the "boosting" which Langridge had given
+him, had secured command of the first-year forces. As soon as it was
+dark he had assembled them on "gym hill," as the knoll was called. There
+was a large crowd of freshmen, almost too large, it seemed, for the
+sophomores were outnumbered two to one. But Tom, Sid, Phil, Dutch
+Housenlager, Ed Kerr and others of the second-year class were strong in
+the belief of their power to oust their rivals from the hilltop. They
+had a moral force back of them--the conscious superiority of being
+"veterans," which counted for much.
+
+"We're going to have our work cut out for us," commented Tom, as, with
+his chums advancing slowly to the fray, he surveyed the throng of
+freshmen. "My, but there's a bunch of 'em! And we've got to clean every
+mother's son of them off the hill."
+
+"We'll do it!" cried Phil gaily. "It will be good training for us."
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed Dutch, as he put out his foot slyly to trip Sid.
+Tom saw the act, he executed a quick movement that sent Housenlager
+sprawling on the ground.
+
+"That's the time you got some of your own medicine!" exclaimed Phil with
+a laugh, as Dutch, muttering dire vengeance, picked himself up.
+
+The preliminaries for the rush were soon arranged, timekeepers and
+umpires selected, and, with the bright moon shining down on the scene,
+the battle began. It was wild, rough and seemingly without order, yet
+there was a plan about it. The freshmen were massed together on top, and
+about the center bunch were circles of their fellows who were to thrust
+back the rushing sophomores. Not until the last freshman had been swept
+from the hill could the second-year youths claim victory.
+
+"All ready!" yelled Ed Kerr, and at the freshmen went their rivals.
+
+There was the thud of body striking body. Breaths came quick and fast.
+There were smothered exclamations, the sound of blows good-naturedly
+taken and given. There were cries, shouts, commands, entreaties. There
+was a swaying of the mass, this way and that. A knot of lads would go
+down, with a struggling pile on top of them, and the conglomeration
+would writhe about until it disentangled.
+
+Tom, Phil and Sid (whose hand was now almost entirely better) tore their
+way toward the center. Time and again they were hurled back, only to
+renew the rush.
+
+"Clean 'em off!" was the rallying cry of the sophomores.
+
+"Fight 'em back!" was the retort of the freshmen.
+
+At it they went, fiercely and earnestly. The entire mass appeared to be
+revolving about the hill now, with the little group of freshmen on the
+top as a pivot.
+
+Gradually Tom, Phil and their particular chums worked their way up
+to the crest. Then they found that the freshmen had adopted strange
+tactics. Under the advice of Gerhart they stretched out prone, and, with
+arms and legs twined together, made a regular layer of bodies, covering
+the summit. It was almost impossible to separate the lads one from the
+other, in order to hurl them out of the way. They were literally
+"sticking together."
+
+"Tear 'em apart!" pleaded Tom.
+
+"Rip 'em up!" shouted Phil.
+
+"Hold tight!" sung out Gerhart.
+
+And hang tightly they did. Tom succeeded in breaking the hold of one
+lad, and Phil that of another. But, in turn, the two big sophomores were
+borne down and overwhelmed by the weight of freshmen on their backs.
+
+The referee blew a warning whistle. But two minutes of time were left.
+The sophomores redoubled their efforts, but the ruse of the freshmen was
+a good one. It was like trying to tear apart a living doormat.
+
+The sophomores could not do it. Though they labored like Trojans, it was
+not to be. Once more the whistle blew, indicating that the rush was
+ended.
+
+The sophomores had lost, and for the remainder of the term the freshmen
+could strut proudly about the walk of Booker Memorial Chapel.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+A FIRE ALARM
+
+
+"Well," remarked Phil ruefully, as he and Tom, rather sore and bruised,
+went to their room. There was an air of quietness about the sophomores.
+They did not cheer and sing, but back on the knoll the victorious
+freshmen made the night hideous with their college cries.
+
+"Is that all?" inquired Tom, for Phil had uttered only the one word.
+
+"That's all, son, as Bricktop Molloy would say. 'Sufficient unto the day
+is the evil thereof.' We were dumped good and proper."
+
+"With plenty of gravy on the side," added Sid.
+
+"I was afraid of it," spoke Tom solemnly. "I said they were too many for
+us."
+
+"Listen to old 'I told you so,'" mocked Phil. "Next he'll be telling us
+that he predicted we'd lose the football championship. You make me
+tired!"
+
+"I'm tired already," retorted Tom good naturedly. "Some one gave me an
+extra good poke in the ribs the last minute."
+
+"It was Gerhart," declared Sid. "I saw him. I had a good notion to punch
+him for you."
+
+"I'd just as well you didn't," went on Tom. "There's no love lost
+between us and his crony, Langridge, now. No use making matters worse.
+But he certainly managed the freshies well. That was a good trick, lying
+down and making a mat of themselves."
+
+"Yes; hereafter I suppose it will be the regular practice for future
+classes," said Phil. "We'll have to think up a new plan to break up that
+kind of interference. My, but I'm lame!"
+
+"Better not let Lighton hear you say that."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"He'd lay you off from football. There are three candidates for every
+position on the 'varsity this term, and we fellows who have made the
+eleven will have to take care of ourselves."
+
+"That's so," admitted Tom. "Well, a hot bath will fix me up, and then
+for some good sleep."
+
+"I wish I could snooze," spoke Phil.
+
+"Why can't you?" asked Sid.
+
+"I've got to bone away on Greek. Got turned back in class to-day, and
+Pitchfork, who's a regular fiend at it, as well at Latin, warned me that
+I'd be conditioned if I didn't look out."
+
+"You want to be careful, son," cautioned Sid. "Remember how I nearly
+slumped in Latin before the big ball game last year, and only just got
+through by the skin of my teeth in time to play? Don't let that happen
+to you. It isn't good for the constitution; not a little bit."
+
+The three chums went to the gymnasium and had a warm shower, followed by
+a brisk rub-down, after which they all felt better. Then, in their room,
+they talked the walk rush all over again, until Phil threw books at Sid
+and Tom to make them keep quiet so that he might study.
+
+The week that followed was marked by some hard practice on the gridiron,
+for there was in prospect a game with the Orswell Military Academy, the
+eleven of which was seldom defeated. Therefore, Coach Lighton and
+Captain Cross worked their men well.
+
+Phil, in particular, received some very special instructions about
+running the team. Some new plays were practiced, and a different
+sequence was planned.
+
+"I want three corking good plays to be worked in sequence when we get to
+within reaching distance of the twenty-five-yard line," said the coach.
+"Maybe we can try for a field goal, but the chances are against it if
+the wind blows. A good sequence will do wonders."
+
+Then the coach explained the sequence plays. They were to be three,
+in which the right-half, the full-back and the left-tackle would
+successively take the ball, without a word being spoken after the first
+signal for the play had been given. The plays were to be executed in
+quick succession, and the coach depended on that to demoralize the cadet
+eleven.
+
+"There'll probably be such cheering when we get to within twenty-five
+yards of their goal that it will be hard to hear signals, anyhow," Mr.
+Lighton went on. "So memorize these plays carefully, and we'll try to
+work them. When Clinton remarks: 'We have twenty-five yards to go,
+fellows; walk up together, now,' that will be the signal for the
+sequence plays."
+
+They tried them against the scrub, and did remarkably well. Then came a
+day of hard work, followed by some light practice, and a rest on the
+afternoon preceding the game with the cadets.
+
+There was a big attendance at the grounds, which adjoined the military
+academy, about twenty miles from Randall College. In their first half
+the home eleven, by dint of trick plays and much kicking, so wore out
+the Randallites that they could not score, while Orswell made two
+touch-downs. But it was different in the second half, and after a
+touch-down gained by a brilliant run on Tom's part, there came a second
+one, which resulted from the sequence plays. Right through the line in
+turn went Kindlings Woodhouse, Holly Cross and Ed Kerr. The twenty-five
+yards were made in three minutes of play, and the score tied. Then, by
+a skilful forward pass and some line bucking, another touch-down was
+made, and then, as if to cap the climax, Holly Cross kicked a beautiful
+field goal.
+
+"Wow! Hold me from flying!" cried Phil, as he tried to hug the entire
+team after the referee's whistle blew. His fellows had responded nobly
+to the calls he made on them, and he had run the team with a level head.
+
+"Boys, I'm proud of you," said the coach. "It's the biggest score
+against the Orswell cadets in many a year."
+
+And there was much rejoicing in Randall College that night, so that
+Professor Tines felt called upon to remonstrate to Dr. Churchill about
+the noise the lads were making.
+
+"Why, I'm not aware of any unusual noise; not from here," spoke the
+venerable president, in his comfortable study, with a book of Sanskrit
+on his knee.
+
+"You could hear it if you went outside," said the Latin teacher.
+
+"Ah, yes, doubtless; but, you see, my dear professor, I'm not going
+outside," and Dr. Churchill smiled benevolently.
+
+"Humph!" exclaimed Mr. Tines, as he went back to his apartments. "If I
+had my way, football and all sports would be abolished. They are a
+relic of barbarism!"
+
+It was late when Phil and Tom got to their room that night. They
+narrowly escaped being caught by Mr. Snell, one of the proctor's scouts,
+and dashed into their "den" at full speed.
+
+"Can't you make less row?" demanded Sid, who was studying. "You've put
+all the thoughts I had on my essay out of my head."
+
+"Serves you right for being a greasy dig!" exclaimed Tom. "Why don't you
+be a sport? You're getting to be a regular hermit."
+
+"I want my degree," explained Sid, who was studying as he had not
+thought of doing his first term.
+
+It was after midnight when Tom, who did not sleep well on account of the
+excitement following the football game, awoke with a start. Through the
+glass transom over the door of the room he saw a red glare.
+
+"Fire!" he exclaimed, as he jumped out of bed and landed heavily in the
+middle of the apartment.
+
+"What's that?" cried Phil, sitting up. "Is there a telegram for me? Is
+there--is there----"
+
+He was at Tom's side, hardly awake.
+
+"It's no telegram," answered Tom quickly "Looks like a fire."
+
+He threw open the door. The corridor was filled with clouds of lurid
+smoke which rolled in great masses here and there.
+
+"The whole place is ablaze!" cried Tom. "Get up, Sid!" and he pulled the
+bedclothes from his still sleeping chum.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE FRESHMEN DANCE
+
+
+"Here, quit!" cried Sid, making an effort to pull back the coverings on
+which Tom was yanking. "Let a fellow alone, can't you? Quit fooling!
+This is no freshman's room!"
+
+"Get out, you old duffer!" yelled Phil. "The place is on fire!"
+
+"Who's on the wire?" asked Sid, thinking some one had called him on the
+telephone. "I don't care who it is. I'm not going to answer this time of
+night. I want to sleep. Tell 'em to call up again."
+
+"Fire! Fire! Not wire!" shouted Tom in his ear, and this time Sid heard
+and was fully awake. He caught a glimpse of the clouds of lurid smoke
+pouring in from the corridor.
+
+"Jumping Johnnie cake! I should say it was a fire!" he cried. "Come on,
+fellows, let's get some of our stuff out! I want my football pictures,"
+and with that Sid rushed to the wall and yanked down the only bit of
+ornamentation he cared for--a lithograph of a Rugby scrimmage. "Come
+on!" he yelled, grabbing up a pile of his clothes from a chair. "This
+is all I want. Let the books and other stuff go!"
+
+"But the sofa! The chair!" cried Tom, who had peered out into the hall,
+only to jump back again, gasping and choking. "We can chuck them out of
+the window."
+
+"That's right. Can't hurt 'em much," added Phil, who was getting into
+his trousers.
+
+"Grab hold, then. But wait until I button my vest," ordered Tom, who
+was fumbling with the garment, the only one he had grabbed up. He had
+switched on the electric light, and the gleam shone through a cloud of
+the reddish smoke. "What's the matter with this blamed thing, anyhow?"
+he cried, as he fumbled in vain for the buttons.
+
+"You've got it on backwards!" cried Sid, who had tossed his clothes out
+of the window, following them with the picture, and was now ready to
+help his chums.
+
+"Great Jehosophat!" cried Tom. "So I have!"
+
+He yanked off the garment and tossed it into a corner. Then, clad only
+in his pajamas, he started to carry the old armchair to the window. It
+was almost too much for him, and Sid came to his aid.
+
+"Let that go, and get the sofa out first!" cried Phil. "The chair can
+fall on that. Say, listen to the row!"
+
+Out in the corridor could be heard confused shouts, and the sound of
+students running to and fro. Every now and then some one would cry
+"Fire!" and the rush would be renewed.
+
+"The whole place must be going!" cried Sid. "Hurry up, Tom, shove it
+out! Maybe we can save some other things."
+
+"Better save ourselves first!" exclaimed Phil. "The stairs and halls are
+all ablaze!" He came back from a look into the corridor choking and
+gasping. "We've got to jump for it! Shove that chair out, then the sofa,
+and pile the bedding on top. That will make a place to land on."
+
+"Here she goes!" shouted Tom, and he and Sid shoved their precious old
+chair from the window. It fell with a great crash to the ground, two
+stories below.
+
+"Broken to bits!" said Tom with a groan. "Now for the sofa. There'll be
+nothing left of it."
+
+They had raised it to the window sill, after much effort, and were
+balancing it there while recovering their breaths. Their room was
+filled with the heavy fumes of smoke, and the noise in the corridor
+was increasing.
+
+"Let her go!" cried Phil. "Lively, now, if we want to get out alive!"
+
+But just as the three chums were about to release their hold on the
+sofa, Mr. Snell, one of the under-janitors of the college, and a sort of
+scout or spy of the proctor's, ran into the room.
+
+"There's no fire! There's no danger!" he called. "Don't throw anything
+out."
+
+"No fire?" questioned Tom.
+
+"No. Some of the students burned red fire in the halls, that's all,"
+went on Mr. Snell. "There's no danger. The proctor sent me around to
+explain. It's only some illuminating red fire."
+
+Tom, Sid and Phil looked at each other, as they stood at the window,
+holding their precious sofa. The clouds of smoke were rolling away, and
+the noise was lessening. Tom looked out of the casement, and, in the
+semi-darkness below, saw the chair they had thrown out. Just then, from
+below, a crowd of freshmen, who had perpetrated the trick, began singing
+"Scotland's Burning."
+
+Tom glanced at his chums. Then he uttered one word:
+
+"Stung!"
+
+"Good and proper!" added Phil.
+
+"By a nest of fresh hornets!" commented Sid wrathfully.
+
+The scout withdrew. Phil looked at his trousers, and then he began
+slowly to take them off. Tom took one more look out of the window.
+
+"They're jumping all over our chair," he said.
+
+"They are? The young imps!" cried Sid. "Come on to the rescue! Get into
+some togs and capture a few freshmen." Then, as he realized that he had
+tossed his clothes out of the window, he groaned. "You fellows will have
+to go," he said. "I haven't any duds."
+
+"They're parading around with your best go-to-meeting suit," observed
+Phil. Sid groaned again.
+
+"Hurry, fellows, if you love me," he said.
+
+"There's a crowd of sophs after 'em now," added Tom, and so it proved.
+The freshmen beat a retreat, and some of our friends' classmates formed
+a guard around the things on the ground.
+
+The three chums were not the only ones who had tossed articles out of
+their windows in the moments of excitement. Many possessions of the
+sophomores were on the ground below, and, now that the scare was over,
+they began collecting them. Tom and Phil managed, with the help of some
+of their classmates, to get Sid's garments and the chair back to their
+room. The chair was in sad shape, though, and Sid groaned in anguish as
+he viewed it.
+
+"Oh, quit!" begged Phil, as he tossed Sid's clothes on the bed. "We can
+fix it up again."
+
+"It'll never be the same," wailed Sid as he tried it. "There was a place
+that just fit my back, and now----"
+
+He leaped up with a howl, and held his hand to the fleshy part of his
+leg.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Tom.
+
+"A broken spring stuck me," explained Sid, who was too lightly clad to
+indulge in indiscriminate sitting about. "Oh, those freshies! What can
+we do to get square with them?"
+
+"That's more like it," said Tom. "We've got to pay them back in some
+way, and the sooner the better."
+
+It was an hour or more before matters had quieted down in the west
+dormitory. From various sophomores who came into their room to exchange
+notes, Tom, Phil and Sid learned that the freshmen had executed a
+well-organized fire scare by the simple process of burning in each
+corridor some of the powder extensively used on Fourth of July, or in
+political parades.
+
+"Well, there's no use talking about what they did to us," said Ed Kerr.
+"The question is, what can we do to them? They certainly put it all over
+us."
+
+"Dutch, you ought to be able to suggest something," said Tom. "You're
+always up to some trick. Give us one to play on the freshies."
+
+"Sure," agreed Dutch. "Let me think."
+
+Sid arose and turned out the light.
+
+"What's that for?" asked Dutch.
+
+"So you can think better. I can, in the dark. Go ahead, now. Let's have
+something good."
+
+Dutch was silent for a few minutes, and then he proposed a plan which
+was received with exclamations of delight.
+
+"The very thing!" cried Tom. "I wonder we didn't think of it before.
+We'll be just in time. Now, maybe we can make them laugh on the other
+side of their heads."
+
+The next morning there were triumphant looks on the faces of the
+freshmen. They had played a good joke on their traditional enemies, the
+sophomores, and felt elated over it. But, in accordance with a plan they
+had adopted the night after Dutch revealed his plan, the sophomores made
+no retort to the taunts of their enemies. And there was no lack of
+railery. Gathered on the walk about Booker Memorial Chapel, whence for
+many terms freshmen had, by traditional college custom, been barred, the
+first-year lads made all sorts of jokes concerning the scrabble that had
+ensued among the sophomores when the cry of fire was raised.
+
+"And we have to stand it!" exclaimed Tom, gritting his teeth.
+
+"For a couple of days," added Sid. "But it strikes me, old chap, that
+last term you played the rôle of the aforesaid freshies to perfection."
+
+"Oh, that was different. But let them wait. We'll put the kibosh on
+their fun in a few days. Has Dutch got the stuff?"
+
+"Hush!" exclaimed Phil. "The least hint will spoil the scheme of
+revenge! Revenge! Revenge!" he hissed, after the manner of a stage
+villain. "We will have our re-venge-e-e-e-e!"
+
+It was the night of the freshman dance, an annual affair that loomed
+large in the annals of the first-year students and their girl friends. It
+was to be held in a hall in Haddonfield, and many were the precautions
+taken by the committee to prevent any of the hated sophomores from
+attending, or getting to the place beforehand, lest they might, by some
+untoward act, "put it on the blink," as Holly Cross used to say.
+
+The hall was tastefully arranged with flowers and a bank of palms,
+behind which the orchestra was to be hidden. About the balcony were
+draped the college colors, with the class hues of the freshmen
+intermingled.
+
+Early on the evening of the dance, Garvey Gerhart, who was chairman of
+the committee on arrangements, left the college on his way to town to
+see that all was in readiness.
+
+"Doesn't he look pretty!" exclaimed Phil, who, with a group of
+sophomores, stood near Booker Chapel.
+
+"I wonder if he has his dress suit on?" asked Tom.
+
+"We ought to see if his hair is parted," put in Sid. "Freshmen don't
+know how to look after themselves. Have you a clean pocket handkerchief,
+Algernon?" and he spoke the last in a mocking tone.
+
+"Look out; there may be another fire," retorted Gerhart with a grin, and
+the sophomores could only grit their teeth. They knew the freshmen still
+had the laugh on them.
+
+"But not for long?" muttered Phil. "Is Dutch all ready?"
+
+"All ready," answered that worthy for himself. "We'll slip off to town
+as soon as it's dusk."
+
+"Think you'll have any trouble in getting in?" asked Ed Kerr.
+
+"Not a bit. I bribed one of the doorkeepers. Be on hand outside to
+listen to the fun."
+
+A little before the first arrivals at the freshman dance had reached the
+hall, a figure might have been seen moving quickly about the ballroom in
+the dim illumination from the half-turned-down lights. The figure went
+about in circles, with curious motions of the hands, and then, after a
+survey of the place and a silent laugh, withdrew.
+
+The music began a dreamy waltz, following the opening march. Freshmen
+led their fair partners out on the floor, and began whirling them about.
+The lights twinkled, there was the sweet smell of flowers, fair faces
+of the girls looked up into the proud, flushed ones of the youths.
+Chaperons looked on approvingly. The music became a trifle faster. The
+dance was in full swing.
+
+Suddenly a girl gave a frightened little cry.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked her partner.
+
+"My shoes! They--they seem to be sticking to the floor. I--I can't
+dance!"
+
+From all over the room arose similar cries of dismay from the girls and
+exclamations of disgust from the boys. The dancers went slower and
+slower. It was an effort to glide about, and some could scarcely lift
+their feet. The floor seemed to hold them as a magnet does a bit of
+iron. Garvey Gerhart, releasing his pretty partner, leaned over and
+touched the floor.
+
+"It's as sticky as molasses!" he cried in dismay.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+PHIL GETS A TELEGRAM
+
+
+The music stopped with a discord. A strange spell seemed thrown over the
+dancers. Some, who had come to a stop, now tried to move, and found that
+their feet were fast to the floor. It was an effort to lift them. The
+surface that had seemed well waxed was now as sticky as if glue had been
+poured over it. To walk was almost impossible; to dance, out of the
+question.
+
+"Maybe it's only in a few places, and we can scrape it off," suggested
+Will Foster, a chum of Gerhart. "Let's try."
+
+He endeavored, with his knife, to remove some of the sticky stuff, but
+he might as well have tried to dig up a board in the floor.
+
+"What is it?" asked Gerhart's partner.
+
+"I don't know," he answered ruefully. "Something very sticky has gotten
+on the floor."
+
+"Maybe some of the waiters spilled ice cream or coffee, or some candy
+got there," she suggested.
+
+"This is stickier than any of those things," spoke Gerhart. "I--I
+guess some one has played a trick on us."
+
+"A trick?"
+
+"Yes; the sophomores. I should have been more on the lookout, but I
+didn't think they could get in. I told the men at the door not to let
+any one in who didn't have a freshman pin. But--well, we'll wait a bit
+and see if it dries up," he concluded.
+
+But the stuff on the floor didn't dry up. Instead, it became more
+sticky. The ballroom was like one big sheet of adhesive flypaper, and
+the dancers, walking about, felt their shoes pull up with queer little
+noises every time they took a step. They tried to dance once more, but
+it was a miserable failure. One might as well have tried to waltz or
+two-step on the sands of the seashore.
+
+Then from a window there sounded the old song: "Clarence McFadden, He
+Wanted to Waltz." The chagrined dancers turned to the casement, to
+behold a circle of mocking faces. Gerhart looked, too.
+
+[Illustration: "Clarence McFadden, He Wanted to Waltz"]
+
+"The sophs!" he cried, as he caught sight of Tom, Phil, Sid, Dutch
+Housenlager and several others.
+
+"At your service!" cried Phil. "Guess you'll have to dance to slow music
+to-night!" And then, to show that it was in revenge for the fire scare,
+the sophomores sang: "Scotland's Burning."
+
+"It worked to perfection, Dutch. However did you manage it?" asked Tom,
+as the sophomores, having satisfied themselves that the freshman dance
+had been spoiled, walked back to college.
+
+"Easy," answered the fun-loving student. "I mixed up a sticky preparation
+of glue, varnish, gum and so on, made it into a powder, and put it
+in alcohol. Then I sneaked in past the doorkeeper I had bribed, and
+sprinkled the stuff all over the floor. There was no color to it, and
+they didn't notice it. The alcohol kept it from sticking until after the
+march, and then, when the alcohol evaporated, it left the gum ready to do
+its work."
+
+"And it did it," commented Sid.
+
+It certainly did, for the disconcerted freshman and the pretty girls
+soon left the hall. It was impossible to dance on the floor until the
+sticky stuff had been scraped off.
+
+"It was rather a brutal trick, after all," said Tom to Phil a little
+later, when the three were in their room. "It would have been all right
+on the freshies alone, but the girls--they had to suffer, too."
+
+"Of course," said Sid. "Why not? _Secundum naturam_, you know, according
+to the course of nature it had to be. The good with the bad. The
+freshies brought it on themselves, eh, Phil?"
+
+"Oh, I suppose so," replied the quarter-back, who was busy with paper
+and pencil. "Still, it was a bit rough on the lassies. There were some
+pretty ones----"
+
+"Oh, you fellows and the girls!" exclaimed Sid in disgust. "You make me
+sick!"
+
+"That's all right," went on Tom easily. "You'll get yours some day, and
+then we'll see----"
+
+"Hello, where'd that picture come from?" asked Sid, pointing to another
+photograph on the wall beside those of Ruth and Madge. Tom blushed a
+bit, and did not answer. Phil looked up and exclaimed:
+
+"Why, it's another picture of my sister! She must have had some new ones
+taken. Where did it come from?"
+
+"She gave it to me," explained Tom, and his shoelace seemed suddenly to
+have come unfastened, so it was necessary to stoop over to tie it.
+
+"Hum!" murmured Phil, with a queer look at his chum's red face. "She
+didn't say anything to me about it. But if you're going to add to our
+collection, Tom, I guess it's up to me to get another one, too."
+
+"Whose will you get now?" asked Sid. "Haven't you got enough girls'
+faces stuck up around here? Do you want another?"
+
+"Not another," spoke Phil slowly, "but another of the same one. Miss
+Tyler promised me one of her new photographs."
+
+"She did?" cried Tom, and he turned quickly.
+
+"Yes; have you any objections?" and Phil gazed straight at Tom.
+
+"No--oh, no. Of course not," he added hastily, "only I didn't know----
+What are you doing?" he asked rather suddenly, changing the subject, as
+he saw Phil's paper and pencil.
+
+"I'm working on a new football play," replied Phil, and he, too, seemed
+glad that the subject was changed.
+
+"That's more like it," commented Sid. "Now you're talking sense. Let's
+hear it."
+
+"It's this way," explained Phil, as he showed his chums what he had
+drawn. "It's a fake tackle run, and a pass to the right half-back.
+Nothing particularly new about it, as it's often used, but my plan is
+to work it immediately after we run off a play of left-tackle through
+right-tackle and right-end. After that play has been pulled off, it
+will look as if we were trying to repeat it, and we'll catch the other
+fellows off their guard. In this play, the left-tackle, after the
+signal, turns back and takes the ball from me. He passes the ball to the
+right-half, who turns to the left for a run around our left-end. Our
+full-back charges on the opposing left-tackle, crossing in front of our
+right-half to better conceal the ball. The left half-back helps the
+left-tackle to make his quick turn, and then blocks off the opposing
+right-end, while I help make interference for the right-half, who's got
+the ball."
+
+"That sounds good," commented Tom. "Go over it again."
+
+Which Phil did, and his two chums both declared it ought to work well.
+They tried it in practice against the scrub next day, after Coach
+Lighton and Captain Holly Cross had given their approval to it. The play
+operated like a charm, and was good for a touch-down. It completely
+fooled the second eleven.
+
+"It remains to be seen whether it will do the same thing against another
+team," said the coach. "But we'll try it Saturday against the Dodville
+Prep School. Now, boys, line up, and we'll run through it again? Also
+the forward pass and the on-side kick."
+
+The players were in the midst of a scrimmage, and Joe Jackson had just
+made a fine run, when Wallops was seen coming across the gridiron. The
+messenger had an envelope in his hand, and at the sight of him Phil
+Clinton turned pale.
+
+"Get back, Wallops!" cried the coach. "You're in the way."
+
+"I have a telegram for Mr. Clinton," said the messenger.
+
+"Oh, all right. Come on."
+
+Phil's hand were trembling so he could hardly open the message. He
+read it at a glance. Tom went close to him, and put his hand on his
+shoulder.
+
+"Is it--is it----" he began.
+
+"Dad says to hold myself in readiness to come at any time," said Phil
+slowly.
+
+There was silence among the players, all of whom knew of the serious
+illness of Phil's mother. Coach Lighton went up to the quarter-back and
+said:
+
+"Well, we won't practice any more to-day. It's too bad, Clinton."
+
+Phil swallowed two or three times. He forced back a mistiness that was
+gathering like a film over his eyes. He thrust the telegram into his
+jacket.
+
+"Let's go on with the practice," he said sturdily. "We aren't perfect in
+that fake tackle run yet, and I want to use it against Dodville."
+
+It was a plucky answer, and many a hardy player on the Randall eleven
+felt a new liking for the quarter-back as he went to his place behind
+Snail Looper, who stooped to receive the ball.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
+
+
+The practice was over. Phil stuck to it until he had, with the
+assistance of the coach and the captain, drilled the 'varsity into an
+almost perfect running of the trick play. Of course, how it would work
+against fierce opponents was another matter. But, in spite of the shock
+engendered by the receipt of the telegram, Phil would not give up until
+the men fairly "snapped" into place, after he had given the signal for
+the fake tackle run and pass to the half-back. Now he and Tom were on
+their way to their room.
+
+"What are you going to do, Phil?" asked Tom.
+
+"I don't know," was the despondent answer. "I--of course, I'll have to
+go when I get word."
+
+"Do you think she's worse?"
+
+"I'm afraid so; or else they're going to operate. But don't let's talk
+about it. It breaks me all up."
+
+"I should think it would. I don't see how you could stay in practice
+after you got the message."
+
+"I felt as if I had to, Tom. Of course, I know I'm only a small factor
+in the eleven----"
+
+"I think you're a pretty big one," interrupted the left-end
+enthusiastically.
+
+"Well, thank you for that; but I mean relatively. I'm only one of eleven
+players, and my place could be filled. Still, I do flatter myself that
+I've got the team into some kind of machine-like precision, which is
+very needful in a game. I don't mean that I've done it all alone, for I
+haven't. Every man has done more than his share, and with a coach like
+Mr. Lighton, and a captain like Holly Cross, a fellow can do a lot. But
+I'm a cog in the wheels of the machine, and you know how it is when you
+put a new wheel in a bit of apparatus. It may be just as good, or better
+than the old one, but it's got to take time to work off the rough spots
+and fit in smoothly.
+
+"That's the way I feel. I want to stay in the game and at practice as
+long as I can, for when I drop out, and a new quarter-back comes in,
+it's bound to throw the playing off the least bit, and I'm not patting
+myself on the back when I say that, I hope."
+
+"Indeed, you're not! But it must be nervous work running a team when you
+know--well, er----" and Tom stopped in some confusion.
+
+"I know," said Phil simply. "But you can do lots of things when you try
+hard. I'm going to do this. I'll hold myself in readiness to jump down
+to Palm Beach when I get the word, but until then I'm going to stick by
+the team."
+
+There was a look on Phil's face that Tom had never seen there before. It
+was as if some inner power was urging him along the difficult path that
+lay before him. He seemed to be drawing on a hidden reserve supply of
+grit and pluck, and, as he passed up the stairs, with an easy, swaying
+motion of his athletic body, Tom could not help but admiring his
+good-looking, well-formed chum.
+
+"I--I hope nothing happens to take him away before we play our last
+game," whispered the 'varsity pitcher. "He's the best quarter Randall
+ever had, if what the old-timers say is true. If we don't win the
+championship I'll miss my guess."
+
+He kept on up the stairs after Phil. In the corridor stood Ford Fenton.
+Phil nodded at him, but did not feel like speaking. His fingers were
+clasped around the telegram in his pocket.
+
+"Hello!" cried Fenton. "I saw you at practice. That's a dandy trick you
+worked, Phil. My uncle says that----"
+
+"Ford," began Tom gravely, "have you ever had smallpox?"
+
+"Smallpox? My good gracious, no! You don't mean to say that there's a
+case of it here?"
+
+"We haven't been exposed to smallpox," went on Tom, "but we are both
+suffering from a severe attack of Uncleitis, so if you don't want to
+catch it you'd better keep away from us."
+
+"Hu! I guess you think that's a joke!" exclaimed Ford as he turned and
+walked away. Then Tom and Phil entered their room.
+
+Something in the look of their faces attracted the attention of Sid.
+
+"What's the matter?" he asked, despite Tom's frantic gestures behind
+Phil's back, which motions were made with a view to keeping Sid quiet.
+
+"I'm afraid I'll have to go--go where my mother is, any minute," said
+Phil brokenly. "I--I guess I'll pack up so--so's to be ready."
+
+Then the tension broke, and the nervous force that had girt him about
+when he was on the gridiron gave way, and he sobbed brokenly. Tom
+instantly began rearranging the books on the table, where they were
+piled in artistic confusion, and raised such a dust that Sid sneezed.
+The latter was in the old armchair, which had been mended, after a
+fashion, following the throwing of it from the window in the fire scare.
+As Sid tried to get up from the depths of it, there came a crash, and
+the antique piece of furniture settled heavily on one side, like a ship
+with a bad list to port.
+
+"There you go!" cried Tom, glad to have a chance to speak sharply. "What
+are you trying to do--smash it all to pieces? Can't you get out of a
+chair without busting it?"
+
+"I--I didn't mean to," spoke Sid so gently, and in such a contrast to
+Tom's fiery words, that Phil could not restrain an exclamatory chuckle.
+It was just the thing needed to change the current that was setting too
+strongly toward sadness, and a moment later the three were carefully
+examining the chair.
+
+"It's only a leg broken," said Phil at length, and during the inspection
+he kept his face in the shadow. "I can fix it to-morrow," he went on,
+and when he arose he was himself again.
+
+"Better put an iron brace on, if Sid is going to do double back
+somersaults in it," went on Tom with simulated indignity. "This isn't a
+barn, Sid. It's a gentlemen's room."
+
+"Oh, you shut up!" cried Sid, and then the chums were more natural.
+
+Phil arranged that night to leave college at once, in case further bad
+news was received, and he also communicated with Ruth, planning to take
+her with him. But there was no need, for in the morning another message
+was received, saying that Mrs. Clinton had somewhat recovered from the
+relapse that threatened.
+
+Phil said little, but there was a different air about him all that day,
+and when he went into practice he actually seemed to carry the team
+along on his shoulders, so that they crumbled the scrub opposition into
+nothingness, and made five touch-downs in the two short halves they
+played.
+
+Since the episode of the freshman dance the first-year students had
+"sung small" whenever the sophomores were about. It was the most
+humiliating trick that had been "pulled off in so many years that the
+memory of man runneth not to the contrary," as Holly Cross put it in one
+of his favorite quotations. Gerhart was much downcast at first, for, as
+he was in charge of the affair, it was considered a sort of reflection
+on his ability. And he laid it all to Tom, Sid, Phil and Dutch
+Housenlager.
+
+"You wait; I'll get even with you some day," he had said to Tom.
+
+"We're perfectly willing," answered Tom good-naturedly. "If you think
+you can put anything over our home plate, why go ahead, and more power
+to ye, as Bricktop Molloy would say."
+
+"You just wait," was all Gerhart answered.
+
+It was the night before the game with Dodville Preparatory School, which
+institution had an eleven not to be despised. They had met Randall on
+the diamond and were anxious to come to conclusions with them on the
+gridiron. Following some light practice, during which the fake tackle
+run and pass to half-back was worked to perfection, Sid, Tom and Phil
+went for a stroll along Sunny River. The placid stream had an attraction
+in the early evening that was absent at other times, and the three
+chums felt its influence as they walked along the banks.
+
+"Do you feel nervous about to-morrow's game?" asked Tom of Phil.
+
+"Not as much so as if it was against Boxer Hall," replied the
+quarter-back. "Of course I--I shall be worrying a bit for fear I'll get
+a message from Florida, but I'm going to try to forget it. I want to
+roll up a big score against Dodville."
+
+"And against Boxer Hall, too," added Sid.
+
+"Of course. But that's some time off, and we'll improve in the meanwhile.
+I fancy the game to-morrow will develop some weak spots that will need
+strengthening."
+
+They walked and talked for about an hour, and it was dark when they
+returned to their room.
+
+"No study to-night," remarked Phil, as he began to disrobe. "Me for
+pounding the pillow at once, if not sooner."
+
+"Same here," came from Tom, and he began taking off his things. "Last
+fellow to undress puts the light out," he added, and then there was a
+race. Tom and Phil leaped into bed almost at once, and Sid, leaving
+the light turned on, was scarcely a second behind them. There was a
+protesting howl from Phil and Tom at their chum's perfidy, but the next
+instant Tom uttered a yell.
+
+"Wow! Ouch! Something's in my bed!" he cried as he leaped out.
+
+"And in mine, too!" came from Sid. "It's a snake!" and reaching down
+between the sheets, he pulled out a long reptile.
+
+"Cæsar's Haywagon!" cried Phil. "I've drawn something, too!" and with
+that he held up a mudturtle.
+
+"Ten thousand thistles!" yelled Tom as he began pulling off his pajamas.
+"I'm full of needles!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+A CHANGE IN SIGNALS
+
+
+The scene in the room was one of confusion. Tom was dancing about,
+rubbing first here and then there on his anatomy. The snake which Sid
+held was wiggling as if in protest at being suspended by the tail, and
+was tying itself into all sorts of complicated knots and geometrical
+figures.
+
+"Look out, it may bite you!" cried Phil, who was holding the mudturtle
+by the tail, the feet of the animal working back and forth in a vain
+effort to get a grip on the air.
+
+"It isn't a poisonous snake," declared Sid, who was something of a
+naturalist. "But I wonder who played this trick on us? What ails you,
+Tom?"
+
+"Yes; what are you wiggling around in that fashion for, son?" inquired
+Phil, who began to laugh, now that the extent of the scare was evident.
+
+"Wiggle! I guess you would, too, if some one had filled your bed with
+needles that came right through your pajamas," replied Tom.
+
+"Needles?" from Sid.
+
+"Needles?" reiterated Phil.
+
+"Yes, needles; ten million of them, by the way I feel!"
+
+Phil placed the mudturtle in the wash basin, where it vainly tried to
+climb up the slippery porcelain sides. Then he went over to Tom's bed.
+
+"There are no needles here," he said.
+
+"No? What are they, then?" demanded Tom, continuing to rub himself.
+
+"Chestnut burrs," replied his chum, after a more careful inspection.
+"Some one has taken the stickers off a lot of chestnut burrs and
+scattered them in your bed. No wonder they went through your pajamas.
+I'd rather have the mudturtle than them."
+
+"Or a snake," added Sid. "I wonder who did it?"
+
+Phil pulled back the covers from Tom's bed. At the foot, between the
+sheets, was a piece of paper. The quarter-back made a grab for it and
+read:
+
+     "Compliments of the freshmen. Maybe you won't be so smart next
+     time."
+
+"The freshmen!" cried Tom. "We'll make them smart for this!"
+
+"They've made you smart already," commented Sid, as he put his snake
+in a pasteboard box, and carefully closed it with a weight on top. "I
+guess they got ahead of us this time."
+
+"This is Gerhart's writing," went on Phil, looking closely at the note.
+"He originated the scheme. Let's see if any other fellows have suffered."
+
+They partly dressed, and stole silently to the rooms of some of their
+classmates. No one else had felt the vengeance of the freshmen, and our
+friends concluded that the performance had been arranged for their
+special benefit, on account of the friction they had had with Gerhart.
+
+"How am I going to sleep in that bed to-night?" asked Tom ruefully, when
+they had returned to their room. "It's like being in a beehive."
+
+"I'll show you," said Phil, and he carefully took off the sheets,
+folding them up so that the chestnut stickers would not be scattered.
+"You can do without sheets to-night, I guess."
+
+"I guess I'll have to," went on Tom. "But I'm going to get another pair
+of pajamas. Those feel too much like a new flannel shirt," and he went
+to his trunk, which he began ransacking.
+
+"What can we do to get square?" asked Sid, as he again prepared to get
+into bed. "We've got to teach Gerhart a lesson."
+
+"That's what," agreed Tom. "We'll discuss it in the morning."
+
+But it was not so easy as they had supposed to think up a joke to play
+on the inventive freshman, that would be commensurate with the trick he
+had perpetrated on them. Besides, Gerhart kept pretty well with his own
+crowd of classmates, and, as there was safety in numbers, and as our
+three friends did not want a general class fight, they were, to a
+certain extent, handicapped. By Gerhart's grins they knew that he was
+aware of their discomfiture of the night previous. Tom was sorely
+tempted to come to fistic conclusions with the freshman, but Sid and
+Phil dissuaded him, promising to unite with him on some scheme of
+vengeance. The mudturtle and snake were retained by Sid, who had a small
+collection of live things.
+
+"We must keep this to ourselves," suggested Phil that morning, as they
+started for chapel. "Only our own fellows must hear of it."
+
+"Sure," agreed Tom and Sid, but they soon found, from the greetings of
+the juniors, seniors and freshmen, that the story was all over the
+school. In fact, to this day the yarn is handed down in the annals of
+Randall College as an example of how a freshman, single-handed, played a
+joke on three sophomores; for it developed that Gerhart had done the
+trick alone.
+
+It was a day or two after this, when Tom and Phil were walking along the
+river after football practice, that, down near the bridge, they saw
+Gerhart just ahead of them.
+
+"There's a chance to take a fall out of him," suggested Tom, whose
+appetite for vengeance was still unappeased.
+
+"That's so," agreed Phil. "Let's catch up to him and toss him into the
+river."
+
+They quickened their steps, but a moment later they saw a young man come
+from the bushes at one end of the bridge and join Gerhart. The two
+walked briskly on, and, as Tom and Phil could see, they were engaged in
+earnest conversation.
+
+"We can't do anything now," spoke Tom. "That's a stranger. He's not of
+Randall College. Look at his cap."
+
+"He's from some college," declared Phil. "That cap seems familiar. I
+wonder who he is."
+
+"Give it up," spoke Tom. "We might as well go back now."
+
+They were about to turn when suddenly the lad with Gerhart swung about
+and made a violent gesture of dissent. Then Tom and Phil heard him say:
+
+"I'll have nothing to do with such a dirty trick, and you ought to be
+ashamed to make the offer!"
+
+"Oh, is that so?" asked Gerhart, and he did not seem nonplussed. "Well,
+maybe some other fellow will be glad to get what I have to offer."
+
+"I don't believe it!" exclaimed the other. "I'm done with you, and that
+settles it," and he crashed into the bushes and disappeared, leaving
+Gerhart alone on the road.
+
+"Did you see who that was?" asked Tom, looking at Phil.
+
+"No; I couldn't make out his face."
+
+"It was George Stoddard, captain of the Boxer Hall eleven."
+
+"That's right," agreed Phil. "I knew I'd seen him before. But he didn't
+look as he used to in a baseball uniform. I wonder what he and Gerhart
+had on the carpet."
+
+"Oh, probably Gerhart wanted him to go to some sporty gambling affair. I
+hear he plays quite a high game at cards."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Gerhart. Lots of the freshmen of our college have found his pace too
+fast for them. He and Langridge are thicker than ever. Probably Gerhart
+wanted some new easy-marks to win from, and is trying to take up with
+the Boxer Hall boys."
+
+"Shouldn't wonder. But Stoddard turned him down cold."
+
+"Yes; didn't make any bones about it. Well, I s'pose we could catch up
+to Gerhart now. But what's the use?"
+
+"That's right. Hello! There's Langridge joining him now, Phil," and as
+Tom spoke they saw the sophomore come from a side path and walk along
+with the freshman. The two began talking earnestly, and from the manner
+of Gerhart it seemed that something had gone wrong, and that he was
+endeavoring to explain.
+
+Tom and Phil forgot the little scene of the afternoon when they got
+down to studying that night, and as lessons were getting to be pretty
+"stiff," to quote Sid, it was necessary to put in considerable time over
+books. The three "boned" away until midnight, and after an inspection of
+their beds, to make sure that no contraband articles were between the
+sheets, they turned out the light and were soon slumbering.
+
+The next day Phil was turned back in Greek, and had to write out a
+difficult exercise.
+
+"Tell Mr. Lighton I'll be ready for practice in half an hour," he said
+to Tom, as the latter hurried off to get into his football togs. "I'll
+come as soon as Pitchfork lets me off."
+
+"All right," answered his chum.
+
+When Tom got to the gridiron he found most of the 'varsity eleven there.
+Coach Lighton was in earnest conversation with Captain Holly Cross.
+
+"Where's Phil?" asked the coach as Tom came up. The left-end explained.
+
+"Come into the gym, fellows," went on the coach. "I have something
+important to tell you. Phil will be along soon."
+
+Vainly wondering what was in the wind, and whether, by any chance, it
+concerned Phil, Tom followed the sturdy lads across the field. Phil
+joined the throng before the gymnasium was reached.
+
+"What's up?" he panted. "Aren't we going to practice?"
+
+"Yes," replied the coach; "but first we've got to arrange for a new set
+of signals."
+
+"New signals?" cried half a dozen.
+
+"Yes. I have just learned, in an anonymous communication, that an offer
+was made to a rival college to sell our signals. The offer, I am glad to
+say, was indignantly refused; but if some one is in possession of our
+system, we must get a new one. Now, if you will come in here I will
+change the signals, and we will then go to practice."
+
+Tom and Phil instinctively looked at each other. The memory of the scene
+between Gerhart and Stoddard, and Langridge's later presence with the
+freshman, came to them both at once.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+BATTERING BOXER HALL
+
+
+There was a little buzz of talk, following the announcement of the
+coach. Each player looked at his neighbor, as if to learn whether or not
+he was the guilty one. But Mr. Lighton at once called a halt to this.
+
+"I will say," he continued, "that no member of the 'varsity team,
+nor has any substitute, been guilty of this mean, sneaking piece of
+business. I don't even know who it was. I don't want to know. I don't
+know to whom the offer was made. I don't want to know. But we are going
+to protect ourselves, and change the signals."
+
+It was a comparatively simple matter, the way the signals had been
+devised, to so change them so that another team, even with a copy of the
+originals, would have found it impossible to know in advance what the
+plays were to be.
+
+Half an hour was spent in going over the new combinations while the
+team was in the gymnasium, and then they went out on the field to play
+against the scrub. It was a little awkward at first for Phil to run the
+eleven under the new system, and he made one or two blunders. But the
+scrub was beaten by a good score.
+
+"You'll do better to-morrow," commented the coach. "It is a little
+troublesome, I know, to use the new letters and figures, but we'll
+practice on them constantly until we meet Boxer Hall on Saturday."
+
+This was to be the first game of the season with Boxer Hall, the
+college, which, with Fairview Institute and Randall, formed the Tonoka
+Lake League. The Randallites were on edge for it, and they had need to
+be, for Boxer had a fine eleven, better than in many years.
+
+"We'll have all we want to do to beat them," said Phil to a crowd of his
+chums after practice one day. "They're in better shape than Fairview
+was."
+
+"So are we," declared Tom. "We're going to win."
+
+"I hope you do," remarked Ford Fenton. "They have a peculiar way of
+playing the game in the first half. My uncle says----"
+
+"Wow!" It was a simultaneous howl from the crowd of lads. They sometimes
+did this when Ford's reminiscences got on their nerves. The lad with the
+uncle turned away.
+
+"I was going to put you on to some of their tricks," he continued in
+injured tones. "Now I won't."
+
+"Write it out and hand it to Holly Cross," suggested Phil.
+
+"Well, Phil," remarked Tom to his chum on Saturday, about an hour before
+the big game, when the team was dressing in the Randall gymnasium, "do
+you feel as if we were going to win?"
+
+"I certainly do," spoke the quarter-back as he laced his canvas jacket.
+"I never felt in better shape. Only for one thing----" He paused
+suddenly, but Tom knew what he meant. It was the fear that, in the midst
+of the game, he might get bad news about his mother. Since receiving the
+telegram advising him to be ready to leave for Florida on short notice,
+Phil and his sister had had word that their mother had rallied somewhat,
+but that no permanent hope was held out for her recovery.
+
+"Try not to think about it, old man," advised Tom.
+
+"I--I do try," responded Phil. "But it--it's hard work," and he bent
+over to tie his shoe.
+
+Out on the gridiron trotted the Randall players. They were received with
+a burst of cheers, led by Bean Perkins, whose voice was more than ever
+like a foghorn.
+
+"Give 'em the 'Conquer or Die' song," he called.
+
+"No; wait until they need it," suggested Sid Henderson, who was in the
+grandstand. "Let's sing 'We're Going to Make a Touch-down Now!' That'll
+be better."
+
+The verses and chorus welled out from several hundred lusty throats,
+and the Randall team, which was at quick practice, looked up in
+appreciation.
+
+"I wonder if any of the Fairview girls will be here," said Tom as he and
+Phil were passing the ball back and forth.
+
+"I don't know about all of 'em," replied the quarter-back, "but Ruth and
+Madge are coming."
+
+"Since when have you been calling her 'Madge'?" asked Tom, with a sharp
+look at his chum.
+
+"Since she gave me permission," was the answer, and Phil booted the
+pigskin well down the field.
+
+"And how long is that?"
+
+"What difference does it make to you?" and there was a shade of annoyance
+in Phil's voice.
+
+"Nothing, only I--er--well---- There they come!" cried Tom suddenly, but
+it was not to the girls that he referred. The Boxer Hall team had just
+trotted out, to be received with a round of cheers from their partisans.
+
+"Husky-looking lot," observed Ed Kerr, as he and the other Randall
+players gazed critically at their opponents.
+
+"They are that," conceded Bricktop Molloy, one of the biggest guards
+who ever supported a center.
+
+"I'm afraid they'll do us," came from Snail Looper, who was not of a
+very hopeful turn of mind.
+
+"Nonsense! Don't talk that way, me lad!" objected Bricktop, lapsing
+into brogue, as he always did when very much in earnest. "Just because
+they're a lot of big brutes doesn't argue that we can't smash through
+them. _Omnis sequitur_, you know."
+
+"Oh, you and your Latin!" exclaimed Tom. "Don't we get enough of that in
+class."
+
+"It's a fine language," went on Molloy, who was a good classical
+scholar. "But suppose we line up and run a bit."
+
+The practice was over, the preliminaries had all been arranged, the new
+ball was brought out and handed to Boxer Hall, for Captain Stoddard had
+won the toss, and elected to kick off. The yellow spheroid was placed on
+the center line, on top of a little mound of earth.
+
+"Are you all ready?" asked the referee, and Captain Holly Cross cast a
+quick eye on his team, which, spread out on their field, was like an
+aggregation of eager foxhounds, waiting for the start.
+
+"Ready," answered Holly.
+
+"Ready," responded Stoddard.
+
+The whistle sounded shrilly, and a moment later Pinkey Davenport's good
+right toe had met the pigskin with a resounding "thump," and the ball
+was sailing toward the Randall goal.
+
+Jerry Jackson caught it and began scuttling back toward the center of
+the field. Tom, with Ed Kerr and Bricktop Molloy, formed interference
+for him, and with their efficient aid Jerry rushed the leather back for
+thirty yards, or to within five yards of the middle of the gridiron.
+There he was downed with a vicious tackle by Dave Ogden, who had managed
+to get through between Tom and Bricktop, though they flung themselves at
+him. Jerry lay still for a moment after falling, with the ball tightly
+clasped in his arms. Captain Cross ran to him.
+
+"Hurt?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"No. Only--only a little wind knocked out of me," answered the plucky
+left half-back. "I'm all right now."
+
+"Line up, fellows!" cried Holly, and Phil began rattling off a string of
+numbers and letters.
+
+It was a signal for Kindlings to take the ball through tackle, and, as
+he got it, the right half-back leaped for the hole that was opened for
+him. Right through he plunged, staggering along, half pulled, half
+shoved, until it was impossible to gain another inch, and Kindlings was
+buried out of sight under an avalanche of players. But the required gain
+had been made, and Phil signaled for another try at the Boxer Hall
+line. Captain Stoddard was vainly calling on his men to brace and hold
+their opponents, while from the grandstand came wild cheers at the first
+sign of prowess on the part of Randall.
+
+This time Holly Cross went through guard and tackle for a fine gain, and
+next he was sent between right-tackle and end. So far there had not been
+a halt in the progress of bucking the line, but when, on the next play,
+Ed Kerr was called on to go through between left-end and tackle, he felt
+as if he had hit a number of bags of sand. There was not a foot of gain,
+and Ed barely saved the ball, which bounced from his arms; but he fell
+on it like a flash.
+
+"Don't try there again," whispered Kerr to Phil, as he took his position
+once more. Phil, however, had seen that the Boxer Hall line was weak,
+and he determined for another try at it, but in a different place. This
+time Jerry Jackson was called on for a run around right-end, and so
+successful was it that he went to the twenty-five-yard line before he
+was heavily thrown. The tackling of the Boxer Hall lads was severe when
+they got a chance at it.
+
+Phil, in a flash, determined for a field goal trial. The chances were in
+favor of it, for there was no wind, and the position was right. Besides,
+if it was successful it would add immensely to the spirit of his team,
+and give them a rest from the hard line bucking.
+
+Quickly he gave the signal, and Holly Cross ran to the thirty-yard line
+for a drop kick. The ball came back and was cleanly caught. The Randall
+line held, and Holly booted the pigskin in fine shape, but with a groan
+almost of anguish the players and supporters of the college by the river
+saw the ball strike the cross-bar and bounce back. The attempt had
+failed.
+
+The leather was brought out to the twenty-five-yard line, and Boxer Hall
+prepared for her turn at it. On the first try they gained fifteen yards
+through a hole that was ripped between Grasshopper Backus and Dutch
+Housenlager. They then gathered in ten more by a run around Tom's end,
+though he made a desperate effort to stop the man with the ball.
+
+"Right through 'em, now, fellows!" called Captain Stoddard to his
+players. "Rip 'em up!"
+
+"Hold 'em! Hold 'em!" besought Holly Cross.
+
+And hold the Randallites did. The wave of attack fell back in a sort of
+froth of players as Pinkey Davenport tried in vain to gain through
+center. Snail Looper was like a great rock. Once more there was a try at
+the line, Dave Ogden being sent in with a rush. But he only gained three
+yards, and it was inevitable that Boxer would punt. The backs of the
+Randall team ran toward their goal, but Boxer worked a pretty trick,
+and on a double pass made fifteen yards before the man was stopped.
+
+"That's the stuff!" cried the Boxer coach, and he ran on the field to
+whisper to Captain Stoddard.
+
+But the thoughtless action of the coach brought its punishment, for
+Boxer was penalized ten yards on account of their trainer coming on the
+field without permission. There was much kicking at this, but the
+officials insisted, and it stood. Then, with a net gain of less than was
+needed, and on the last down, Boxer had to kick. Holly Cross got the
+ball and rushed it well back before he was downed.
+
+So far the playing had been pretty even. Though Boxer was a bit weak on
+defense, they played a snappy game, and seemed to be able to outgeneral
+their opponents. Now Randall had another chance to show what they could
+do.
+
+"Give 'em the 'Conquer or Die' song now!" cried Bean Perkins, and the
+strains of "_Aut vincere aut mori_" welled out over the gridiron. It
+seemed to give just the stimulus needed, and when Kindlings had been
+sent crashing into the line for a twelve-yard gain, Phil quickly
+resolved on the fake tackle and pass to half-back play. First, however,
+he called for Ed Kerr to make a try through right-tackle, and when
+this had been accomplished, with a smashing force that temporarily
+demoralized the Boxer Hall players, Kindlings was once more requested
+to oblige. He took the ball from Ed, who had received it from Phil, and
+around right-end he went, with beautiful interference. It completely
+fooled the other team, and when the Boxer full-back finally managed to
+stop Kindlings it was on the ten-yard line.
+
+"Touch-down! Touch-down!" yelled the Randall supporters.
+
+"Touch-down it shall be!" exclaimed Phil.
+
+Smash and hammer, hammer and smash, batter and push it was for the next
+three minutes! Boxer was desperate, and with tears in their eyes her
+players sought to stem the tide rushing against them. But Randall was
+not to be denied. Again and again her men went battering against the
+wall of flesh and blood, until, with what seemed a superhuman effort,
+Holly Cross was shoved over the line for a touch-down.
+
+Oh, what yelling and cheering there was then! Even the voice of Bean
+Perkins, strident as it was, could not be heard above the others. The
+grandstands were trembling with the swaying, yelling, stamping mass of
+enthusiasts congregated on them.
+
+Holly Cross kicked a beautiful goal, and with the score six to nothing
+against them, Boxer Hall prepared to continue the game. There was no let
+up to the play. It was fast and furious. For a time it seemed that Boxer
+would score, as, after getting possession of the ball by means of a
+forward pass, they ripped off twenty yards, and followed that up by
+gathering in ten more by a smashing play through center. Snail Looper
+was knocked out, and had to go to the side lines, Rod Everet replacing
+him. This, to a certain extent, weakened the team, and Randall could not
+seem to hold. The ball was rushed along until it was within three yards
+of the maroon and yellow goal. Then, responding nobly to the entreaties
+which Holly Cross, made, his players held stiffly, and Randall got the
+ball on downs. No time was lost in booting the pigskin out of danger,
+and before another formation could be made the whistle blew, and the
+first half was over.
+
+"Fellows," remarked Coach Lighton in the dressing-room during the rest,
+"I needn't tell you that you've got to play for all you're worth to win
+this game. We're going to have trouble this half. With Looper gone,
+though I expect Everet will do nearly as well at center, it means a
+certain loss of team work. But do your best. Their line isn't as strong
+as I feared, but they play much fiercer in the attack than I expected.
+However, I think you can rip 'em up. Get another touch-down--two if you
+can--and prevent them from scoring. They may try for a field goal. If
+they do, get through and block the kick. Now rest all you can."
+
+The second half started in fiercely. Randall kicked off, and succeeded
+in nailing the Boxer Hall man with the ball before he had run ten
+yards. But when the line-bucking began something seemed to be the
+matter with the Randall players. They were shoved back very easily, it
+appeared, and, with constant gains, the ball was carried toward their
+territory. So eager did the Randallites get at one stage that they
+played off-side, and were penalized ten yards. Again there was holding
+in the line, and ten yards more were given to Boxer Hall for this. The
+opponents of Randall were now within thirty yards of the goal. By a
+smash through center they ripped off five more. Then Pinkey Davenport
+dropped back for a trial for a field goal, and made it. The score was
+now six to five in favor of Randall.
+
+When Randall got the ball again there was a change at once noticed. More
+confidence was felt, and so fiercely did her players assail the line
+that they carried the pigskin, in three rushes, well toward the middle
+of the field.
+
+Phil gave the signal for a forward pass, and it was well executed. Then
+came a fake kick, and this was followed by an on-side one. Both netted
+good gains, and once more Randall was jubilant.
+
+"Right through the line!" cried Phil. "Eat 'em up, fellows!"
+
+His players responded to his call. Through tackle, guard and center,
+then around the end, the plays being repeated, the ball was carried.
+The men were tiring, but Phil would not chance a kick. They had no sure
+thing of a field goal now, as a little wind had sprung up. Up and up the
+field the spheroid, yellow no longer, but dirty and grass-stained,
+was carried. On the Randallites took it, until they were on the
+twenty-five-yard line. There was a form of madness among the college
+supporters now. Once more came the fierce cries for a touch-down, and
+once more Phil called to his teammates to respond. The signal for some
+sequence plays was given. It was well these had been practiced, for
+Phil's voice could scarcely be heard. One after another four plays were
+reeled off. They were all effective, and though Boxer Hall tried to stem
+the rush, it was impossible. Over the line went the Randall lads, to the
+inspiring chorus of: "Tear 'Em Apart and Toss 'Em Aside!"
+
+"Touch-down! Touch-down! Touch-down!" came the frantic cries, the
+players mingling their voices with those of the spectators on the
+grandstand. The goal was missed, but the score was now eleven to five in
+favor Randall.
+
+Again came the line-up after the kick off. By a fumble Boxer lost the
+ball, and Tom Parsons fell on it. Then began another fierce attack on
+the Boxer eleven. But the terrific line-smashing was telling on both
+teams, though more so on Randall. There was less power in her attack.
+
+Boxer held for downs, and the kick was a weak one, the ball going only
+a short distance. Then Boxer Hall began to rush it back, and by a trick
+play got it so far down the gridiron that another field goal was kicked.
+It began to look dubious for Randall, but there was no give-up in her
+playing. Securing the ball, Phil kept his players on the rush. Down the
+field they went, a forward pass netting a good gain and wonderfully
+saving the wind of the now almost exhausted team. An on-side kick was
+also used, and then, seeing a weak place in the adversary's line, Phil
+in turn sent Kindlings, Jerry Jackson and Holly Cross at it. In vain did
+Boxer Hall try to stop up the gap, but their left-tackle and guard were
+about all in. In two minutes more Bricktop Molloy was shoved over the
+line for a third touch-down, and, as goal was kicked, the score was
+seventeen to ten.
+
+"One more touch-down!" cried Holly Cross, but there was no time for it.
+Two minutes more of play and the whistle blew. Randall had won one of
+the fiercest games she had ever played.
+
+"A cheer for Boxer Hall!" cried Holly Cross, and the despondent players,
+grieving over their defeat, sent back an answer. Then came cheer upon
+cheer from the grandstand, where waved the yellow and maroon of Randall,
+and Bean Perkins led in the song: "We Have Come and We Have Conquered!"
+
+"Great, old man!" cried Tom to Phil, who was limping slightly. "Are you
+hurt?"
+
+"I shouldn't care if I was in pieces after the way we walloped them!
+Come on over here. I see my sister and Madge!"
+
+Tom followed, his head singing from a severe knock he had received.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+GERHART HAS AN IDEA
+
+
+Phil's sister hurried down from the grandstand to greet him.
+
+"Oh, Phil!" she cried. "Did you get hurt?" for she saw him limping, and
+she held out her hands to him.
+
+"Just a little twist," he explained. "Not worth mentioning. How are you,
+Madge?" he went on, after patting his sister on the shoulder, and he
+held his hands eagerly out to Miss Tyler.
+
+"Fine!" she exclaimed. "Oh, wasn't it a great game?"
+
+"For us," put in Tom, who had greeted Ruth, and now turned to the other
+girl.
+
+"Good afternoon, Tom," spoke Madge, and Tom fancied there was just a
+tinge of coldness in her voice. She continued talking to Phil.
+
+"Did you think you would win?" asked Phil's sister of Tom as she looked
+eagerly up into his face.
+
+"Well, not all the while," replied the left-end. "Once or twice I began
+to think we'd lose. But you can't down Randall."
+
+"No; it takes Fairview to do that, not Boxer Hall," put in Madge
+quickly.
+
+"Now, be nice--be nice!" pleaded Phil with a laugh. "I thought you were
+a friend of mine, Madge."
+
+"So I am," she replied gaily; "but I can't help saying that."
+
+"We'll beat you next time," went on Phil, and he dodged back to escape a
+little blow which Madge aimed at him with her small flag. Then the two
+laughed. Tom, who was chatting with Ruth, heard them, and he half turned
+to see what was going on. He was just in time to see Phil grasp both
+Madge's hands, and his face turned red. Ruth noticed it, and she said:
+
+"Phil and Madge seem to get on well together."
+
+"Almost too well," was Tom's thought, but he said nothing and changed
+the subject.
+
+"Well, Tom," said Phil at length, "I suppose we'd better go dress like
+respectable citizens. You've got a spot of mud on your nose."
+
+"And you have one on your ear," added Ruth. "I think Tom--I mean Mr.
+Parsons--looks quite artistic with that beauty spot."
+
+"We can dispense with the 'Mister,' if you like, Ruth," said Tom
+boldly.
+
+"Oh!" laughed Ruth. "I don't know what my brother will say. Eh, Phil?"
+
+"Oh, I guess it's safe to call 'Dominie' Parsons by his front handle,"
+said Phil. "He's warranted not to bite. Go ahead, sis."
+
+"All right," she agreed with a laugh. "There--Tom"--and she hesitated
+prettily at the name--"better run along and wash up."
+
+"Will you wait here for us?" asked Tom. "We'll take you over to
+Fairview, then, eh, Phil?"
+
+"Surest thing you know!" exclaimed the quarter-back. "That is, if Madge
+is agreeable."
+
+He looked at her. She blushed just a trifle, and, with a little gesture,
+answered:
+
+"If Ruth insists on having her brother, why----"
+
+"But I don't want my brother!" cried Ruth gaily. "Whoever heard of a
+sister walking with her own brother? I'm going to let you have him, and
+I--er--I----" She paused, blushing.
+
+"I'll fill in!" cried Tom quickly.
+
+Madge looked at him, but said nothing.
+
+A little later on Tom, beside Ruth, and Phil, walking with Madge,
+started for the trolley to Fairview. As they were crossing the campus,
+which was thronged with players, visitors and some of the Boxer Hall
+team and its supporters, Wallops, the messenger, came along with a
+telegram in his hand.
+
+"Is that for me?" asked Phil eagerly, and his face was pale, while his
+voice trembled. His sister looked quickly at him. Evidently she feared
+the same thing he did.
+
+"No; it's for Professor Tines," replied the messenger, and Phil breathed
+a sigh of relief as Wallops passed on.
+
+Garvey Gerhart, who, with Langridge, was standing near Phil at the time,
+started. Then a curious look came over his face.
+
+"Langridge," he asked the sophomore, "have you anything to do?"
+
+"Nothing special. Why?"
+
+"Well, if you haven't, come along with me. I've just thought of an
+idea."
+
+"They're mighty scarce," retorted the former pitcher. "Don't let it get
+away."
+
+"Take a walk over by the chapel, and I'll tell you," went on Gerhart.
+"There isn't such a crowd there."
+
+Phil and Tom, with the two girls, were soon on the way to the
+co-educational college. The trip was enlivened by laughter and jokes.
+Madge and Phil seemed very good friends, and, as for Tom, though he
+wondered at the sudden companionship that had sprung up between the
+quarter-back and the pretty girl he had once been so anxious to get away
+from Langridge, he could not help but congratulate himself on knowing
+Ruth. Still, he could not altogether understand Madge. He had been fond
+of her--he was still--and he knew that she had liked him. The slender
+tie of relationship between them was no bar to an affection that
+differed in degree from cousinly. Yet Madge plainly showed her liking
+for Phil. Could it be, Tom thought, that she was jealous of him, and
+took this method of showing it? He did not think Madge would do such a
+thing, yet he felt that part of her gaiety and good spirits, when in
+company with the handsome quarter-back, were assumed for some purpose.
+
+"If it wasn't that Ruth is such a nice girl, and that Phil and I are
+such friends, I'd almost think that he and I were--well--rivals,"
+thought Tom. "Oh, hang it all! What's the use of getting sentimental?
+They're both nice girls--very nice--the--the only trouble is I don't
+know which I think the nicer."
+
+The two chums left the girls at the Fairview College campus, for it was
+getting late. Tom shook hands with Ruth, and then walked over to Madge
+to say good-by. She had just finished speaking to Phil.
+
+"Well, when can your 'cousin' come over to see you again, Madge?" asked
+Tom with a smile.
+
+He held out his hand, but Madge affected not to see it. Tom felt
+uncomfortable, and then, as if she realized it, she said to him:
+
+"Well, 'Cousin' Tom, I don't know that you'll _care_ to come over to see
+me again," and with that she turned and walked away.
+
+Tom remained staring after her for a moment. Then, with a shrug of his
+shoulders, he wheeled and joined Phil, who had been a silent witness to
+the little scene.
+
+"Say, aren't girls odd?" asked Tom.
+
+"Very," agreed his chum. "But you said that once before, you know."
+
+"No; did I?" asked Tom, and he was rather silent on the way back to
+Randall.
+
+Meanwhile, Langridge and Gerhart had spent much time strolling about the
+chapel walk. It was getting dusk, and the fading light of the perfect
+fall day was shining through the wonderful, stained-glass windows of the
+little church. The long casements, with representations of biblical
+scenes, were a soft glow of delicate hues. But the two lads had no eyes
+for these beauties.
+
+"I think that will put a crimp in his playing!" Gerhart remarked, as he
+paused to light an oriental cigarette, or, rather, something that passed
+for one.
+
+"But it's risky," expostulated Langridge. "If it's found out, and it's
+sure to be, you'll have to leave college."
+
+"I don't care. I'd be willing to, if I could have my revenge on him for
+keeping me off the team. I don't like it here, anyhow. The other game I
+put up on him didn't work, but this one will."
+
+"And when will you try it?"
+
+"At the last and deciding game. The way I figure it is that the final
+tussle will come between Randall and Boxer Hall. I'll be ready with it
+then. It will certainly knock him out."
+
+"But it may lose us the game and the championship."
+
+"What do I care! I'll be square with Clinton, and that's what I want. I
+got the idea when I saw how frightened he was when Wallops had that
+telegram. Don't you think it will work?"
+
+"Sure it will work. It's a great idea, but--but----" and Langridge
+hesitated. "It's a brutal trick, just the same."
+
+"Oh, you're too chicken-hearted. Come on and I'll buy you a drink. That
+will put some life in you."
+
+"All right," said Langridge weakly, and he went.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+PHIL GIVES UP
+
+
+Out on the athletic ground Grasshopper Backus was practicing the
+standing broad jump. It was one of the things he was always at, whence
+his nickname. But, as Holly Cross used to say, "Grasshopper had about as
+much chance of making the track team as he had of making a perfect score
+at tennis," a game which the big lad abhorred. For, though Grasshopper
+was very fond of jumping and practiced it every time he got a chance,
+there was something wrong with his method, and he never could get beyond
+the preliminaries in a contest. Still, he kept at it.
+
+"Why don't you give up?" asked Phil, who, with Tom and Sid, strolled
+down where the lone student was leaping away as if the championship of
+the college depended on it.
+
+"Say, you let me alone," objected Grasshopper, as he prepared for a
+jump. "I beat my own record a while ago."
+
+"By how much?" asked Phil.
+
+"Well, not much; a quarter of an inch, but that shows I'm improving."
+
+"Yes; at that rate you'll be through college, and a post graduate like
+Bricktop before you make enough gain to count," declared Tom.
+
+"Oh, you let me alone!" exclaimed the exasperated one. With that he
+jumped, and then, with a measuring tape, he carefully noted the distance
+he had covered.
+
+"Any gain?" asked Sid.
+
+"No; I went back an inch then," was the reply.
+
+"Like the frog in the well," went on Phil. "He jumped up three feet
+every day, and fell back four feet every night."
+
+"Aw, quit!" begged Grasshopper, who was sensitive, in spite of his
+enormous bulk.
+
+"You go high enough, but you don't go far enough," commented Sid. "Now,
+if they allow hurdling in football, you'd be right in it for jumping
+over the line to make a touch-down."
+
+"Maybe they'll change the rules so as to allow it," spoke Grasshopper
+hopefully.
+
+"Get out, you old Stoic!" cried Phil. "Come and take a walk with us. Tom
+is going to blow us to ginger ale."
+
+"No; I'm going to keep at it until I beat my best mark," and the jumper
+again got on the line.
+
+"Curious chap," commented Phil, as the three chums walked on.
+
+"But as good as they make 'em," added Tom.
+
+"That's what!" spoke Sid fervently.
+
+Snail Looper soon recovered from the effects of the hard Boxer Hall
+game, and practice was resumed with the 'varsity bucking against the
+scrub. There was a big improvement shown in the first team, for the
+players had demonstrated that they could meet with an eleven counted
+among the best, and win from it.
+
+"Well, fellows, are you all ready for the trip Saturday?" asked the
+Coach at the conclusion of the practice. "None of you are falling behind
+in studies, I hope?"
+
+Captain Cross assured Mr. Lighton that every man on the team was A1 when
+it came to scholarship.
+
+"Now, a word of advice," went on the coach. "Don't get nervous over this
+out-of-town trip. We're going up against a hard team, and on strange
+grounds, but just think of it as if you were going to play Fairview,
+or Boxer Hall, or Dodville Prep right here. The worst feature of
+out-of-town games is that they throw the men off their stride. Don't
+let that happen to you."
+
+They all promised that it should not, and then the players separated.
+The coach had arranged for a game with a distant college--Wescott
+University--which boasted of a superb eleven. It meant a long trip on
+the train, two days spent away from Randall, and a day to come back in.
+
+The journey to Wescott University was much enjoyed by the eleven and the
+substitutes. They reached the city at dusk, and were at once taken to
+the hotel, where quarters had been secured for them. A big crowd of
+students had planned to come from Randall to see the game, a special
+excursion train having been arranged for.
+
+"Now, fellows, early to bed to-night," stipulated the coach after supper
+was over. "No skylarking, and don't go to eating a lot of trash. I want
+you all to be on edge. We'll devote to-morrow to practice, and the next
+day to wiping up the gridiron with Wescott."
+
+Tom and Phil roomed together, and at midnight Tom, who had just fallen
+into a doze, after envying the sound slumber of his chum, was awakened
+by the latter.
+
+"I'm sick, Tom," said Phil faintly.
+
+"What's the matter, old man?" asked the left-end anxiously, and he
+jumped out of bed, turning on the electric light.
+
+"I don't know, but I'm dizzy, and I feel--well, rotten, to put it
+mildly."
+
+"That's too bad. Can I get you anything?"
+
+"Better call Mr. Lighton. I don't want to take a lot of dope unless he
+says so."
+
+Tom quickly dressed and called the coach, who was on the same floor
+where all the football players had their rooms. He came in quickly, and
+after one glance at Phil insisted on calling the hotel physician. The
+doctor went through the usual procedure, and left some medicine for
+Phil.
+
+"What is it?" asked the coach of the physician.
+
+"Nothing, only his stomach is a little upset. Change of diet and water
+will sometimes do it. He'll be all right in the morning."
+
+Phil was better the next day, but when he went out to practice with the
+lads, there was a lassitude in his movements, and a lack of snap in his
+manner of running the team, that made several open their eyes. Mr.
+Lighton said nothing, but Tom whispered to his chum to "brace up." Phil
+tried to, and managed to get through the practice with some return of
+his former vim. He went to bed early that night, and slept soundly--too
+heavily, Tom thought, as it might indicate fever.
+
+The day of the game, however, Phil seemed all right. His face was paler
+than usual, and there was a grimness about his lips that Tom seldom saw.
+The Randall boys had light practice in the morning, running through the
+signals, and then took a rest until it was time to go on the field.
+
+There was a big attendance, and the cheers of the small contingent of
+Randall supporters could hardly be heard. The preliminary practice
+seemed to go all right, and when the whistle blew there was a confident
+eleven that lined up against Wescott. The play was hard and snappy, with
+much kicking and open work. The rivals of Randall had a couple of backs
+who were excellent punters, and the visitors were kept busy chasing the
+ball. But there came a change, and when Randall had the pigskin Phil
+rushed his men up the field to such good advantage that they scored the
+first touch-down, to the no small dismay of the Wescott team.
+
+"Now, Phil, some more work like that," said Holly Cross, but the
+quarter-back did not answer.
+
+Wescott got possession of the ball toward the close of the first half,
+and with surprising power rushed it up the field. In less time than had
+been thought possible they had a touch-down. Randall lost the pigskin on
+fumbles, and when Wescott got it again they kicked a field goal. This
+ended the half.
+
+Phil staggered as he walked to the dressing-room for the rest period.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked the coach quickly.
+
+"Nothing--I'm--I'm all right," answered the quarter-back, and he gritted
+his teeth hard.
+
+Wescott kicked off in the second half, and Holly Cross managed to run
+the ball well back.
+
+"Rip out another touch-down!" the captain cried as he got in place for
+the first scrimmage. Phil began on the signal. He hesitated. The
+players looked at him quickly. He was swaying back and forth on the
+ground. Once more he tried to give the combination of letters and
+figures. But the words would not come. He put his hands out to steady
+himself, and a moment later, with a groan, toppled over.
+
+"He's hurt!" cried Tom as he sprang to the side of his chum. "But I
+never knew Phil to give up."
+
+Holly Cross was bending over him, while the other Randallites crowded
+up, and the Wescott lads stretched out on the field. A doctor ran in
+from the side lines on a signal from the coach. He felt of Phil's pulse.
+
+"Why, the chap has a high fever!" he exclaimed. "He has collapsed from
+it. He can't play any more! Take him off the field!"
+
+A groan went up from the Randall players.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+SID IS BOGGED
+
+
+Phil Clinton opened his eyes. His face, that had been pale, was now
+flushed. The reaction had set in, and he tried to struggle to his feet.
+
+"Signal!" he cried. "Eighteen A B X--two twenty-seven Z M!"
+
+He tried to get in position to take the ball from Snail Looper, who was
+standing up, regarding him curiously.
+
+"What's the matter?" cried Phil. "Why don't you get down to snap it
+back, Snail? Isn't it our ball? Have we lost it on a fumble? Are they
+beating us?"
+
+"You--you can't play," spoke Holly Cross brokenly.
+
+"Can't play! Nonsense! Of course I can play! I'm all right! I was just
+knocked out for a minute. Get down there, Snail. Signal----" But Phil
+fell back into the arms of Tom and the doctor, and lapsed into
+unconsciousness.
+
+"Carry him off the field," said the medical man softly. "He's got lots
+of grit, but a horse couldn't play with the fever he has."
+
+Sorrowfully they carried the stricken quarter-back from the gridiron. It
+was a hard blow to the Randall team, for it meant that a new man would
+have to go in and play what was probably the most exacting position on
+the team.
+
+"Jerry Jackson, go to quarter," called Holly Cross. "I'll put Hayden at
+left half-back," and the substitute was summoned from the side lines.
+The play went on, but, as might have been expected, Randall was at a
+disadvantage. When they had the ball they managed to gain considerable
+ground, and as much punting as possible was done. But Wescott tore
+through for another touch-down, while the solitary one gained in the
+first half was the limit of the scoring the visitors could do. There did
+come a brace on the part of Randall toward the close of the game, and
+when the whistle blew they had the ball on the ten-yard line of their
+opponents. They had put up a plucky fight against big odds, and the
+Wescott players realized it, for they cheered lustily for their enemies.
+There was lack of heartiness, not alone from the sense of defeat, in the
+cheer and college yell with which Randall responded. Then they filed
+sorrowfully off the field, while Tom, Holly Cross and the coach, as soon
+as possible, went to the hotel where Phil had been taken in an
+automobile.
+
+They imagined all sorts of things, and were not a little relieved when
+the doctor told them that, at worst, Phil only had a bad attack of
+bilious fever. The change of diet, necessitated by the trip, had brought
+it on. With rest and quiet he would be all right in a week, the medical
+man said.
+
+"And when can he play football?" asked Holly Cross anxiously.
+
+"Not for two weeks," was the reply, and the coach and captain groaned.
+They had a game with Fairview in prospect, and must needs win it if they
+were to have a chance for the championship.
+
+"I wonder if we can't postpone it?" asked Holly dubiously.
+
+"Impossible," answered the coach. "We'll have to play Jackson at
+quarter. I'll take him in hand at once. We only have a week, but in that
+time the Jersey twin will do better than Moseby, who's been playing
+quarter on the scrub. It's the best we can do."
+
+Phil was too sick to accompany the team home, and Tom volunteered to
+stay with him for a couple of days, the coach and captain agreeing to
+explain matters at college. So the despondent players returned to
+Haddonfield, while Tom remained with Phil at the hotel. Three days
+later, thanks to the skill of the doctor, Phil was able to travel,
+though he was quite weak. He was broken-hearted at the way he had
+collapsed in the critical part of the game, but Tom would not listen to
+any of his chum's self-reproaches.
+
+"I'll make up for it when we play Fairview!" declared Phil. He was in a
+bad state when told that he could not play that game, but there was no
+help for it.
+
+Ruth called to see her brother, accompanied by Madge Tyler. He was
+sitting in the dilapidated easy chair when the girls came in, and
+apologized for it.
+
+"Oh, we're glad to see you even in that state, Phil, as long as it's no
+worse, aren't we, Madge?" spoke Ruth.
+
+"Of course," answered Madge brightly. "I wish you were better, so you
+could play Saturday against our college."
+
+"We'd be sure to win, if he did," interposed Tom. "As it is, your
+fellows have a better chance."
+
+"I--I don't care if we do lose!" exclaimed Madge, and she blushed
+prettily. "That is----" and she paused in some confusion.
+
+"Why, Madge Tyler!" exclaimed Ruth. "That's treason!"
+
+"I don't care," was the answer, with a toss of the head. "Don't you want
+your brother to get well?"
+
+"Of course, but----"
+
+"Well," was all Madge said, and Tom wondered what she meant.
+
+But Randall did not lose to Fairview in the second game. It was a hard
+one, but the Jersey twin did good work at quarter, and Hayden proved a
+"star" end, making a brilliant run and a touch-down. The score was
+seventeen to five, a solitary field goal being all that Fairview was
+able to accomplish.
+
+"Well, now we'll have a chance at the championship, when we meet Boxer
+Hall next," said Phil, who had watched the contest from the grandstand,
+though he was as nervous as a colt all the while.
+
+The 'varsity quarter-back was allowed to begin practice the following
+week, and was soon playing with his old-time form. In fact, the little
+rest seemed to have benefited him, and this, added to the fact that
+encouraging news had been received concerning his mother, made him less
+apprehensive when he was on the gridiron. There were two more rather
+unimportant games in prospect before the final contest with Boxer Hall,
+and all the energies of the Randall eleven were now turned to the
+deciding contest.
+
+"I say, you fellows," remarked Sid one sunny November afternoon, when
+all three chums were in the room after lectures, "don't you want to take
+a walk with me? I've got to do some observation work in my biology
+course, and I'm going to take my camera along and make some pictures."
+
+"Where you going?" asked Tom.
+
+"Oh, along the river. Then I'll strike across country, and fetch up
+somewhere. We'll not be gone over three hours, and we'll get back by
+dark. Come along; it will do you good."
+
+"Shall we go with the old gazabo, Phil?" asked Tom.
+
+"If he guarantees not to get us lost in the woods, so we'll have to stay
+out all night," replied the quarter-back.
+
+"Oh, I'll get you home safe," declared Sid. "We'll have a nice walk.
+I'll be ready in a jiffy," and he proceeded to load his camera with
+films. It was a large one, and he often used it to make pictures which
+had a bearing on his class work in biology and evolution. The three
+chums were soon strolling along the banks of the river, Sid on the
+lookout for late-staying birds or some animal or reptile which he might
+add to his photographic collection.
+
+"You must be fond of this sort of thing, to lug that heavy camera around
+with you," commented Phil.
+
+"I am," said Sid. "It's very interesting to study the habits of birds
+and animals. You'd ought to have taken that course."
+
+"I wish I had, instead of mathematics," put in Tom. "I'm dead sick of
+them, but I guess I'll have to stick at 'em."
+
+For a mile or more Sid saw nothing on which to focus his camera. He
+suggested that they leave the vicinity of the river and strike across
+country, and, as his chums left the matter entirely to him, this plan
+was followed. Suddenly, as they were going through a clump of trees
+about a mile from the stream, Sid uttered an exclamation.
+
+"Hold on, fellows!" he cried. "I can get a beautiful snapshot here," and
+he motioned them to stand still, while he got his automatic hand camera
+into position.
+
+"What is it?" whispered Phil.
+
+"A _vulpes pennsylvanicus argentatus_!" answered Sid as he turned the
+focusing screw.
+
+"What's that, for the love of Mike?" spoke Tom.
+
+"Blessed if I know," retorted Phil. "I don't see anything. Maybe it's a
+snake."
+
+"It's a fox, you chumps!" came from Sid. "Keep still, can't you? I've
+got him just right. He can't see me, and the wind is blowing from him to
+me. I'll have his picture in a minute!"
+
+But, as bad luck would have it, just as Sid was about to press the
+lever, releasing the shutter, Phil leaned too heavily on one foot. A
+stick broke under him with a snap, there was a sudden rustling in the
+bushes, and Sid uttered a cry of dismay.
+
+"There he goes!" cried the naturalist. "What's the matter with you
+fellows, anyhow? Can't you keep still? Now it will take me an hour to
+trail him, and the chances are I can't do it."
+
+"It wasn't my fault," explained Tom. "Phil did it."
+
+"I couldn't help it," came from the guilty one. "What do you want to
+photograph such scary things as foxes for, anyhow?"
+
+"Humph!" was Sid's exclamation. "Well, there's no help for it. Come on."
+
+"Where?" inquired Tom.
+
+"After the fox, of course," and Sid started resolutely forward. Tom and
+Phil followed for a short distance, then Phil called out:
+
+"Say, it's getting swampy here."
+
+"What of it?" asked Sid, whose enthusiasm would not let him notice such
+small matters.
+
+"Lots of it," came from Tom. "We're getting our feet wet."
+
+"Ah, don't be babies!" retorted Sid, plunging into a deep, muddy hole.
+"Come on."
+
+"I'm going to find a dryer path," said Phil, and Tom agreed with him.
+They turned aside, but Sid kept on. Soon he was lost to sight in the
+woods. Phil and Tom looked in vain for a better route, and, finding
+none, decided to turn back.
+
+"We'll wait for you out on the main road," Phil called to his unseen
+chum. An indistinguishable answer came back. The two picked their way
+to higher ground, and edged off toward the road which skirted the woods.
+
+"Photographing in a swamp is too rich for my blood," commented Phil.
+
+"Same here," agreed Tom. "But Sid doesn't seem to mind it. Smoked
+mackerel, look at my shoes!" and he glanced at his muddy feet.
+
+"I'm in as bad," added Phil. "Let's walk through the grass and----"
+
+Just then they heard Sid calling from afar.
+
+"What's he saying?" asked Tom.
+
+"Listen," advised Phil.
+
+Again the cry was heard.
+
+"Sounds as if he was calling for us to come to him," ventured Tom.
+
+"That's it, but I'm not going. I'm just as well satisfied to look at the
+photograph after he's developed it. I'm going to stay here," came from
+Phil.
+
+"Sure," added Tom.
+
+The cries continued, and then ceased. Tom and Phil waited nearly an hour
+for Sid to reappear, and when he did not come they started back for
+college, thinking he had gone another way. But poor Sid was in dire
+straits, as we shall soon see.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+WOES OF A NATURALIST
+
+
+Sid Henderson was of a very hopeful disposition, otherwise he never
+would have undertaken to get a picture of that fox after it had once
+been alarmed. But he fancied he could trail it to its burrow, and he
+wanted very much to get a photograph of the animal in its home
+surroundings.
+
+So, unmindful of the desertion of his chums, he plunged on into the
+swamp. The footing became more and more treacherous as he advanced, and
+he had to go slowly, looking here and there for grass hummocks to
+support him. His camera, too, was a handicap.
+
+"But I'm going to get that fox!" he exclaimed. "I just need a picture
+like that. Besides, I may find in this swamp some material I can use in
+my biological experiments."
+
+On he went, leaping from hummock to hummock. Once he nearly slipped and
+barely saved himself from falling into a slough of black water.
+
+"I wonder how deep that is?" he remarked, and taking a dead branch he
+thrust it straight down. He found that the hole was deeper than he had
+anticipated.
+
+Keeping a sharp lookout for the animal he was after, he was at length
+rewarded by a sight of it slinking along through the bushes. He started
+forward eagerly, so eagerly, in fact, that he did not pick his steps. A
+moment later he slipped from a grass hummock and went into the muddy
+bog, up to his waist.
+
+"Wow! Whoop! Help! Here, fellows! Come here and help me! Bring a fence
+rail!" he called, for he felt himself sinking down deeper and deeper.
+
+Tom and Phil heard his cries, but thought he was only calling to them to
+come and see some natural curiosity or view the fox, so they did not
+respond. Sid called again and again, but got no answer. Then he tried to
+scramble from the bog, and found it hard work, for he had to hold his
+camera high up that it might not get wet.
+
+At last he managed to free his legs from the sticky mud and reached a
+comparatively firm place. But what a plight he was in! Plastered with
+swamp-ooze to his waist, he looked like some sewer laborer. Though he
+did not know it, his face was spotted with globules of mud, splashed up
+in his struggles to get from the bog.
+
+"Well, I certainly am in bad," he remarked to himself. "Lucky I put on
+old clothes. I can't get much worse, that's one satisfaction. I might
+as well keep on. Maybe I can get that fox now."
+
+So he continued through the swamp. His speed was better, for he no
+longer paused to pick his steps, but splashed on, careless of the mud
+and water. The fever of the chase was in his veins, and another glimpse
+of the fox convinced him that the animal was heading for its burrow. At
+last, after a tramp of a mile, Sid was successful, and, in the fast
+fading light of the fall day, he snapped the creature, just as it was
+entering the hole, when it turned for a final look at its tireless
+pursuer.
+
+"Well, it was worth it all," sighed the naturalist as he closed up his
+camera and started for home. "Now I wonder where Phil and Tom are."
+
+Remembering that they had called to him that they would wait out on the
+road, he took that highway back to college. On the way he found several
+specimens which he needed in his evolution work, and in thinking about
+them, and his success in photographing the fox, he forgot about the
+plight he was in. He did not meet his chums, of course, and it was dusk
+when he got back to college. The mud had dried somewhat on his trousers
+and shoes, and, incidentally, on his face and hands, for he had,
+unconsciously, run his hands over his countenance once or twice, so that
+the mud globules had increased in surface area.
+
+It was a very strange and somewhat disreputable figure that entered the
+west dormitory a little later and started up the stairs, but Sid did not
+know that, having no looking glass at hand.
+
+Now it so happened that Professor Tines was just leaving the dormitory.
+He had called to see one of his pupils who was ill--a "greasy dig"
+student--to use the college vernacular to designate a lad who burned
+midnight oil over his studies. The professor having finished his call
+came upon Sid in the corridor. The instructor saw before him a young
+man, mud covered, carrying a square, black box, and the countenance,
+spotted with specimens of swamp muck, was unfamiliar to him. Professor
+Tines at once suspected a student trick.
+
+"Here! Where are you going?" he cried, blocking the way of Sid.
+
+"To my room," answered the luckless naturalist, who, of course, not
+appreciating that he was most effectually disguised, thought that the
+Latin teacher had recognized him.
+
+"Your room! What do you mean by such nonsense? What student put you up
+to this joke? Tell me, and I will have him punished at once. How dare
+you come in here?"
+
+"Why, I--I belong here, Professor Tines," said Sid.
+
+"Belong here? You work on the coal trestle! Don't tell me! You are
+covered with coal dust now! What have you there? Are you going to play
+some trick at the instigation of the freshmen? I demand an answer!"
+
+"I'm Henderson," went on Sid desperately. "I room here--with Phil
+Clinton and Tom Parsons."
+
+"How dare you trifle with me in this fashion?" demanded the irate Latin
+instructor. "I shall call the proctor and have you arrested!" and he was
+so much in earnest that Sid, beginning to appreciate the state he was
+in, determined to prove absolutely that he was himself.
+
+"Professor Tines," he said, "you can knock on that door there, and ask
+Clinton and Parsons if I'm not Henderson. I've been out after a fox, and
+I fell in the bog."
+
+"Ha!" cried the professor. "I see it now. You are trying to play a joke
+on me, with the aid of Clinton and Parsons. But you shall all three
+suffer for it! I _will_ knock on that door. I _will_ confront your
+fellow conspirators with the evidence of their silly act. Come here,"
+and he placed his hand on Phil's shoulder and led him toward the room of
+the three chums. "You shall not trifle with me!" he added fiercely.
+
+Holding Sid firmly by the shoulder with one hand, Professor Tines with
+the other knocked loudly at the portal. Phil and Tom were within, and
+the latter quickly opened the door, for the summons was imperative. The
+two chums in the room started back at the sight of the instructor
+having in custody the mud-covered figure.
+
+"Young gentlemen," began the professor sternly, "this--this person
+asserts that he is Henderson, and that he rooms here. I caught him in
+the corridor, and at once detected the joke he was about to play. He
+appealed to me to bring him here for identification. Have you three
+conspired to play a trick on me? Is this Henderson or is it not?"
+
+Tom and Phil stared at the disreputable figure. They knew at once that
+it was their chum, but the spirit of mischief entered into Tom. He
+nudged Phil, and then answered promptly:
+
+"Certainly not, Professor Tines. We don't know the person!"
+
+Then he shut the door, while, with a cry of rage at the desertion of his
+friends, Sid tried to break away from the Latin teacher.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+TOM IS JEALOUS
+
+
+"Ha! I knew you were up to some trick!" cried Professor Tines. "You are
+no student of Randall College at all! I'll take you to Proctor Zane, and
+he'll give you in charge of an officer! Perhaps you are a thief, and
+have stolen that camera!"
+
+"It's mine!" exclaimed Sid, unable to understand the action of Tom and
+Phil. "I tell you I am Henderson, professor!"
+
+"Indeed! Then how do you account for Parsons and Clinton failing to
+identify you?"
+
+"That's a--a joke!" Sid was forced to say.
+
+"Ha! I knew there was some trick in it! So you admit you were trying to
+play a joke on me in having them identify you?"
+
+"No, no!" cried Sid, alarmed at this misunderstanding. "They were joking
+when they said I wasn't Henderson."
+
+"Well, who are you, then?"
+
+"Why, I _am_ Henderson. This is my camera."
+
+"Don't make it any worse, young man," warned the teacher sternly. "Come
+with me to the proctor!"
+
+There was no help for it, Sid had to go. He might have broken away from
+the professor, but he did not like to try it, for Mr. Tines seemed very
+determined, and the ensuing tumult would bring into the corridor a
+throng of students, so that Sid would never hear the last of the joke
+that had turned on him. He went along quietly, thankful that it was
+dark, and that no one would see him in the walk across the campus to the
+proctor's quarters.
+
+"Here is a young man--a thief, if nothing worse, perhaps--whom I caught
+in the corridor of the west dormitory," explained Professor Tines to Mr.
+Zane a little later as he stood with his quarry before the proctor. Sid
+caught a glimpse of himself in a looking glass in the brightly-lighted
+office.
+
+"Oh--I--do I look like that?" he gasped as he saw his slimy trousers,
+and his face, which was like unto that of a chimney sweep, his hands
+also being covered with the swamp mud.
+
+"You certainly do!" said Professor Tines heartily. "Are you now ready to
+confess, before we send for an officer?"
+
+"But I tell you I'm Henderson!" insisted the luckless Sid. "It was only
+a joke when Phil and Tom went back on me. I tell you I'm Henderson, of
+the sophomore class!"
+
+The proctor glanced sharply at him. Mr. Zane had good eyes and a memory
+for voices, which Professor Tines lacked.
+
+"I believe it _is_ Henderson," spoke the proctor at length. "But where
+in the world have you been?"
+
+"Photographing a fox," explained Sid, and then he told the whole story.
+A dawning light of belief came into the countenance of Professor Tines,
+and when Sid had been allowed to wash his face and hands, there was no
+further doubt as to his identity.
+
+"Well," remarked the proctor, trying hard not to laugh as he glanced at
+the student's mud-encased trousers, "I would advise you to wear rubber
+boots when you go on your next nature excursion."
+
+"I will," promised Sid. "May I go to my room now?"
+
+"I suppose so," rasped out the Latin instructor. "But--ahem! I am not
+altogether sure yet that you are not up to some mischief."
+
+"I'll develop the picture of the fox and show you!" exclaimed Sid
+eagerly. "And here are some snails I picked up in the swamp," and with
+that he plunged his hand into the pocket of his coat and drew out a lot
+of the slimy creatures. Some of them dropped on the floor and started
+to crawl away, leaving a shimmering track.
+
+"That will do! The evidence is sufficient, I think!" exclaimed the
+proctor, who had a horror of such things. "Take them away at once, Mr.
+Henderson!" And Sid went down on his knees to gather up the _helix
+molluscæ_, while Professor Tines hurried from the room.
+
+"Do you want to see the picture of the fox?" asked Sid as he arose, his
+hands filled with snails.
+
+"No, thank you," answered the proctor. "I'll take your word for it, Mr.
+Henderson. But please be more careful," and he looked at the mud spots
+on his rug.
+
+A little later Sid burst into the room where his two chums were pouring
+over their books.
+
+"Say! What in blazes did you fellows go back on me that way for?" he
+demanded.
+
+"What's that? He speaks in riddles!" said Phil softly. "Why, Siddie," he
+went on, as a mother might chide a little boy, "wherever have you been?
+You're all mud! Oh, such a state as your trousers are in! Whatever will
+papa say, Siddie?"
+
+"What a dirty beast!" cried Tom in simulated horror.
+
+Poor Sid looked from one to the other.
+
+"Why did you tell Pitchfork I wasn't Henderson?" he demanded savagely.
+
+"Tell Pitchfork you weren't yourself?" asked Phil, as if he had never
+heard of such a thing.
+
+"What do you mean?" inquired Tom innocently. "We haven't seen you since
+we left you going after the fox, and we got tired and came home."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me," began Sid, "that you didn't----" And then he
+stopped, at the grins that appeared on the faces of his chums. "What's
+the use?" he asked wearily. "All right, I'll get even with you two," he
+concluded as he put his camera away and proceeded to change his clothes.
+But a little later, when he had developed the picture of the fox, and
+found it to be a fine one, he forgot his anger and the ordeal he had
+gone through, for Sid was a true naturalist.
+
+It was approaching the date for the great game with Boxer Hall, and the
+football squad was practicing with a fierce energy; for, more than any
+other contest, they wanted to win that one.
+
+The team was fairly "on edge and trained to the second," as Holly Cross
+said. They had won the two games that came before the final one, and now
+but two weeks elapsed before they would clash with Boxer Hall on the
+Randall gridiron.
+
+"Are you going to the _Kappa Delta_ dance?" asked Phil of Tom one night,
+referring to an annual affair of one of the Greek letter fraternities.
+
+"Sure," replied Tom. "I think we need something like that to get us in
+shape for the game with Boxer Hall. You're going, I suppose?"
+
+"Of course. Who you going to take?"
+
+"Haven't quite made up my mind yet. Are you going with a dame?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Who, if you don't mind me asking?"
+
+"Madge Tyler," answered Phil, and he seemed to be very busy arranging
+his tie.
+
+"Madge Tyler?" repeated Tom quickly.
+
+"Yes. Any objections?"
+
+Tom was silent a moment. He was struggling with a strange sensation.
+
+"Well," asked Phil, turning and facing his chum--Sid was out of the
+room--"any objections?"
+
+"Of course not," answered Tom slowly. "I took her last term, and--er--I
+was rather counting on----"
+
+"You were going to take her again this year," interrupted Phil, "but you
+waited too long. Sorry I cut you out, old man. No hard feelings, I
+hope?"
+
+"No--no," answered Tom hesitatingly. "Of course not," he added more
+genially. "I was too slow, that's all."
+
+"You'll have to ask some one else," went on Phil. "Are you sure you
+don't mind, old chap?" and he came over and stood beside his chum.
+
+Tom did not answer for a few seconds. There was a strained quality in
+his voice when he replied, as cheerfully as he could:
+
+"Of course not. You're first in war, first in football, and first
+in--the affairs with the ladies," he paraphrased.
+
+"Whom will you take?" persisted Phil.
+
+"Nobody!" exclaimed Tom, as he got up from the couch and started from
+the room. "I'm not going to the affair, after all," and he slammed the
+door as he went out.
+
+"Whew!" whistled Phil. "Tom's jealous!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+A STRANGE DISCOVERY
+
+
+The _Kappa Delta_ dance was a brilliant affair. Phil took Madge, and
+very charming she looked in a new gown of--oh, well, what difference
+does it make what her dress was like, anyhow? Besides, I don't know
+whether it was bombazine or chiffon, and the more I try to describe it
+the worse I will get tangled, so if you'll take my word for it, as well
+as Phil's, who ought to know, she looked very pretty indeed. The girls
+said she was "sweet," whatever that means.
+
+"Isn't Ruth coming?" asked Phil of his partner after the first waltz.
+
+"Why, I thought so," answered Madge slowly. "She was getting ready to
+come when I left."
+
+"Who with?"
+
+"I don't know. Didn't she tell you?"
+
+"She never does," replied Phil. "I thought you'd know."
+
+"Well, I usually do, but this time Ruth was quite mysterious about it."
+
+"There she comes now!" exclaimed Phil, looking toward the entrance to
+the ballroom. "Who's that with her?"
+
+"I can't see. She's in front--why, it's Tom--Tom Parsons!" added Madge
+quickly.
+
+"Tom!" exclaimed Phil. "The sly beggar! He was going to take her all the
+while, yet he pretended to be jealous because I said I was going to
+take----"
+
+He stopped in some confusion. Madge looked at him quickly.
+
+"Was he--was he jealous about me?" she asked softly.
+
+"He pretended to be," said her partner.
+
+"Only pretended? How ungallant of you!" she cried gaily, yet there was
+more meaning in her tones than Phil was aware of. "Why don't you say he
+was madly jealous of me; and that you two quarreled dreadfully over me?"
+
+"Well, I s'pose I could say it," replied Phil slowly, "but you see----
+Let's try this two-step," he interrupted, glad of the chance to get out
+of an awkward explanation.
+
+"I was going to wait and speak to Ruth," said Madge.
+
+"Later will do," answered Phil, and they swung out on the polished floor
+together.
+
+"You frowsy beggar, why didn't you tell me you were going to bring my
+sister?" cried Phil to Tom, when the two-step finished and the four had
+come together.
+
+"I wasn't sure she'd go," replied Tom in a low voice, and Phil missed
+the usual friendly note in his tones. "Will you come down and have an
+ice?" he asked Ruth, and before Phil could say anything more Tom had led
+his fair partner away.
+
+"Hang it all! There's something the matter with Tom!" thought honest
+Phil as he looked at Madge. "I'll have it out with him when this affair
+is over. We can't let girls come between us."
+
+It was late when Phil got back to his room, after taking Madge home. Sid
+was asleep, and the quarter-back moved about softly, so as not to
+disturb him, for Sid had foresworn such dissipations as fraternity
+dances. Just as Phil was about to get into bed, Tom came in.
+
+"Say, old man," burst out Phil in a whisper, "what's the matter?"
+
+"Matter?" asked Tom, as if greatly surprised.
+
+"Yes, matter. You've been different ever since I told you I was going to
+take Madge to the dance. Now, am I trespassing on your preserves? If I
+am, say so. But I thought you liked Ruth."
+
+"So I do!"
+
+"That's what I thought. I knew you used to go with Madge, but since----
+Oh, hang it all, I can't explain--I'm Ruth's brother, you know. But if
+you think I want to cut you out----"
+
+"It's all right," broke in Tom with a forced geniality that Phil
+noticed. "Forget it, old man. Of course, you had a perfect right to go
+with Madge. I dare say she'd a heap sight rather have you than me."
+
+"I don't know about that," interposed Phil; "but I was afraid I was
+treading on your corns."
+
+"It's all right," repeated Tom quickly. "Fine dance, wasn't it?"
+
+"Very. But are you sure----"
+
+"Oh, dry up!" exclaimed Tom, more like himself. "Here's a letter Ruth
+gave me to give you. It's from your mother. Your sister meant to hand it
+to you at the dance, but she forgot. Came late to-night--or, rather,
+last night--it's morning now. She's a little better, it seems."
+
+"That's good!" exclaimed Phil eagerly. "But I wonder why she didn't
+write to me."
+
+"She couldn't manage but one letter, I believe Ruth said," went on Tom
+gently.
+
+"Say, I wish you fellows would cut out that gab!" suddenly exclaimed
+Sid, turning over in bed. "I want to sleep. I don't go out to dances,
+where there are a lot of silly girls, and then sit up all night talking
+about it."
+
+"Get out, you grumpy old misogynist!" exclaimed Phil, shying a sofa
+cushion at his chum. "Wake up and hear the glad tidings of the dance!"
+
+"Glad pollywogs!" grumbled Sid. "Get to bed and douse the glim."
+
+Which Phil soon did, as Tom showed no further inclination to talk.
+
+In spite of Tom's assertions to the contrary, Phil could not help
+feeling that a coldness had sprung up between himself and his chum.
+That it was about Madge, Phil could not deny, yet he hesitated to
+speak further of it to Tom.
+
+"Maybe it will work itself out," he said to himself. "I hope so,
+anyhow."
+
+Meanwhile, the time for the final and deciding championship football
+game was drawing closer. Randall and Boxer Hall were easily the two best
+teams, not only in the Tonoka Lake League, but in that section of the
+country. Neither had done any remarkable playing, nor could it be said
+that their goal line had not been crossed, but the championship lay
+between them. The practice was exacting and constant, and the 'varsity
+eleven was "as hard as nails," to again quote my friend, Holly Cross,
+who had an extensive sporting vocabulary. They were eager for the
+contest.
+
+Tom and Phil, between whom there was still a shadow of coldness, came
+walking together from the gridiron. They were talking about a wing-shift
+play that had been tried with some success.
+
+"I don't like the signal for it," said Phil. "It's too complicated, and
+the other fellows may get on to it. I think I can work out a better
+combination. I'll use some of the old signal letters and numbers that we
+discarded. I've got a copy of them in my room."
+
+"Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea," commented Tom. "I think, myself, that
+the signal takes too long to understand. It ought to be snappier."
+
+"That's my idea. We'll see if we can't work out a better one."
+
+Hurrying from the gymnasium, where they had changed their clothes, Tom
+and Phil went to their room. Sid was there studying. Phil went over to
+the wall, where he had placed the new picture of Madge Tyler she had
+given him, and took it down.
+
+"That's right!" exclaimed Sid. "It's about time you removed some of
+these flags, banners, ribbons and other effeminate decorations. Start
+in, Tom, on your share. We'll get this room to looking right, after a
+bit."
+
+"Oh, I'm not taking it down," declared Phil as he removed the photograph
+from the wall. He had had it placed in rather a heavy and deep gold
+frame. "I want to get my copy of the football signals--the ones we
+discarded--from behind it," he explained. "I hid them there, as being
+the place least likely to be disturbed. I'm going to frame up a new
+signal----"
+
+He stopped suddenly, and looked first from the picture to the floor,
+and then from the floor to the picture.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Tom.
+
+"The copy of the signals--it's gone," he said quickly. "I had it
+fastened to the back of the picture by a bit of wire."
+
+"Are you sure?" inquired Sid, getting up from the old easy chair, and
+making a cloud of dust in the operation.
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed Phil. "They're gone--some one must have taken the
+signals."
+
+Tom dimly recalled a certain scene he and Phil had witnessed, and also
+remembered the words of the coach when he had made a shift of the
+signals. Phil looked at Tom. He was thinking of the same thing. Suddenly
+Phil uttered a cry. From the deep, curved frame of the picture he held
+up a small gold watch-charm.
+
+"Look!" he exclaimed.
+
+"A freshman charm!" spoke Sid slowly, as he recognized the device
+affected by a certain first-year secret society.
+
+"Whose is it?" asked Tom.
+
+"There's no telling," replied Phil.
+
+"Yes, there is," went on Sid. "They always have their initials on the
+back of the charm. Look and see."
+
+Phil turned it over.
+
+"Whoever left this here must have taken the copy of the signals," he
+said slowly. "He probably took down the picture and removed the paper.
+In doing so the charm slipped from his watch-chain and fell in the deep
+frame. He must have held it about at his belt to bend up the wire, for
+it was stiff."
+
+"Whose initials are on the back?" asked Tom in a low voice.
+
+Phil looked at them.
+
+"They are 'G. A. G.,'" he announced.
+
+Sid reached for a college roster, and turned to the freshman class list.
+The room was strangely silent, not even the ticking of the alarm clock
+being heard, for it had run down.
+
+"Well?" asked Tom.
+
+"The only fellow with the initials 'G. A. G.' is Garvey A. Gerhart,"
+answered Sid.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+A BITTER ENEMY
+
+
+The breathing of the three chums was distinctly audible in the silence
+that followed. Varied thoughts rushed through their minds, but all
+centered around the idea that there was a traitor in college--some one
+who would go to extreme lengths to see the football eleven lose. That
+this person was Garvey Gerhart was the belief of Tom, Phil and Sid. The
+quarter-back was the first to break the silence that was becoming
+strained.
+
+"The cowardly sneak!" he burst out. "He ought to be tarred and feathered
+and ridden around the campus on a rail. The dirty cad!" Phil clenched
+his fists. "And I'm going to do it, too!" he added fiercely.
+
+"Do what?" asked Tom.
+
+"I'm going to tell what we discovered. I'm going to let Holly Cross and
+Mr. Lighton know. It was Gerhart who stole the copy of the signals. He
+sneaked in here when we were out and found them, though how he knew
+enough to look behind the picture is more than I understand. Probably
+he wanted to see if the girl's name was on the back, and saw the paper
+by accident. Anyhow, he took it, and he lost the charm at the same time,
+though he didn't notice it. Then he went and bargained to sell the
+signals to Stoddard, of Boxer Hall. That was when we saw them talking
+together down by the bridge."
+
+"But Stoddard didn't take his offer," interposed Tom.
+
+"No; Stoddard isn't that kind of a chap," went on Phil. "He let Mr.
+Lighton know anonymously. But what Stoddard did doesn't lessen Gerhart's
+guilt. He wanted to throw the team, and only for the fact that he made
+his offer to an honest chap we would have lost the game. I'd--I'd like
+to smash him into jelly!" and Phil fairly shook in righteous anger, for
+the team was very dear to his heart. He felt everything that affected
+the eleven more, perhaps, than any other lad in Randall College, not
+even excepting the captain, Holly Cross. So it is no wonder that Phil
+raged. He started from the room.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Sid, interposing his bulky frame between
+Phil and the door.
+
+"I'm going to tell the coach and Holly Cross what I've discovered. I'm
+going to show them this charm. I'm going to propose that we tar and
+feather Gerhart and ride him out of college to the tune of the 'Rogues'
+March.'"
+
+"No, you're not," spoke Sid very quietly.
+
+Phil looked at him for a moment. Then he burst out with: "What do you
+mean? Don't you want me to tell? I'm going to, I say!"
+
+"No, you're not," repeated Sid, and he did not raise his voice. "You're
+going to sit right down," and he gently shoved Phil toward the yawning
+easy chair. Puzzled by his chum's action, Phil backed up, and before he
+knew it he had flopped down upon the cushions, raising an unusual cloud
+of dust.
+
+"Say, Henderson, what's the matter with you?" he cried, as he struggled
+to get up. "Are you crazy? Don't interfere with me again! I'm going to
+inform on the dirty, sneaking cad who wanted to see his own college
+beaten!"
+
+Sid put a hand on his chum's shoulder and pushed him back into the
+chair.
+
+"You're going to do nothing of the sort, my son," went on the big first
+baseman slowly. "Tom, lock the door and put the key in your pocket."
+
+Tom as though acting under the influence of some hypnotic spell, obeyed.
+
+"Are you both crazy?" burst out Phil. "I tell you the whole college must
+know what a white-livered hound we've got here!"
+
+"That's just what they mustn't know," said Sid quietly. "Now listen to
+me," he went on more sternly. "In the first place, you don't know that
+Gerhart is guilty."
+
+"Don't know? Of course I know it!" almost shouted Phil. "Haven't I got
+the evidence?" and he held out the charm.
+
+"Easy," cautioned Sid. "I grant that; I even grant that the charm is
+Gerhart's; but does that prove he took the signals?"
+
+"It proves that he was in the room," declared Phil.
+
+"Yes, I admit that. I saw him in here once myself--just before that
+accident to my hand. But that doesn't prove anything."
+
+"He was in here some other time then, when none of us was here. He must
+have taken the picture down, else the charm would never have been caught
+in the frame and remained there."
+
+"Granted; but you are still far from making out a case, Phil."
+
+"Don't you believe he did it?" asked the quarter-back.
+
+"I do, when it comes to that, but we've got to offer more evidence than
+our own beliefs when it comes to convincing other people. Besides, I
+don't see what need there is of proving your case."
+
+"Don't you think the college ought to know what sort of a coward and
+sneak we've got at Randall?"
+
+"No," said Sid decidedly, "I don't. That's just the point. That's just
+why I don't want you to go and tell Holly what we've found. I think
+Gerhart took those signals," he continued, "and I believe that when we
+saw him talking to Stoddard he was trying to dispose of them to him.
+But just because I feel morally certain of it doesn't justify me in
+spreading the news broadcast. Besides, do we want every one to know what
+a cad we have here? I take the opposite view from you. I think we ought
+not to wash our soiled linen in public. The more we can hush this thing
+up the better. I wouldn't let it get beyond us three. It ought to stop
+right here. We would be the laughingstock of Fairview and Boxer Hall if
+it got out. To think that the Randall spirit was capable of falling so
+low that there was a traitor among us! I'm glad Stoddard kept still.
+Evidently he didn't tell a soul, but warned Lighton privately, and the
+team has kept quiet about it.
+
+"Now," continued Sid earnestly, "do you want to go and publish it? Do
+you want to let every one see our shame? I don't believe you do, Phil."
+
+Phil was silent for several seconds. He was struggling with some
+emotion. Tom stood with his back to the door, though it was locked. Sid
+stood before his chum, looking anxiously at him as he sat in the big
+chair. Then, with a long breath, Phil said:
+
+"I guess you're right, Sid. I--I didn't look at it that way. I'll keep
+still."
+
+"I thought you would," spoke Sid significantly.
+
+Phil put the charm in his pocket. The strain was over. They all seemed
+relieved. But Phil, so much was his heart bound up in the eleven, could
+not forget the great affront that had been planned against it. Two days
+later, meeting Gerhart alone on the campus, he approached him, and
+showing the freshman the watch-charm, exclaimed:
+
+"Take care, you dirty coward! We know where you lost this!"
+
+Gerhart started, turned first pale and then red. He soon recovered
+himself, and answered:
+
+"I don't know what you mean."
+
+"Yes, you do," snapped Phil. "You stole my signals!"
+
+"That's a lie," said Gerhart coolly, and he walked on.
+
+But if Phil could have seen him a little later, when he joined Langridge,
+the quarter-back would have wondered at the rage and fear shown by the
+freshman.
+
+"Clinton knows! He found my charm! I was afraid I'd lost it in his
+room," said Gerhart.
+
+"Well?" asked Langridge.
+
+"One of us has got to leave Randall!" exclaimed Gerhart savagely. "It's
+he or I; and it will be he, if I can accomplish it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+"IT'S TOO LATE TO BACK OUT!"
+
+
+Gerhart and Langridge were walking along the road that led to
+Haddonfield. The freshman was filled with unreasoning rage against not
+only Phil, but Tom and Sid, as well.
+
+"Probably all three know," said Gerhart. "I was a fool not to look to
+see if I left any clues behind when I was in the room."
+
+"Maybe you were a fool for ever trying that signal and liniment trick at
+all," suggested Langridge, who did not mince words.
+
+"Maybe," admitted his crony. "But I thought I could get back at Clinton,
+Cross and Lighton, for not letting me play. Only that Stoddard was such
+a white-livered chump I'd have pulled off the signal trick."
+
+"As it was, you lost."
+
+"Yes; but the game isn't over yet. There's still the Boxer Hall
+contest."
+
+"You don't mean to say you're going to try and give away the signals in
+that game, do you?" cried Langridge.
+
+"No; but I'm going to keep Clinton out of the game. If I can do that
+I'll feel that I'm even with him--the beast!"
+
+"But can you do it? If you do it, it may make our team lose, for Clinton
+is one of the best players, and it's hard to substitute a quarter-back."
+
+"I can do it; and I wish the eleven would lose! That's what I want to
+see!"
+
+"You haven't got much college spirit," observed Langridge.
+
+"I've as much as you. Weren't you in with me on this scheme?"
+
+"I suppose so." Langridge didn't seem to derive much satisfaction from
+the admission.
+
+"Of course you were. You hate Clinton and his bunch as much as I do."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you'd like to see 'em laid out good and proper, wouldn't you?"
+
+"Yes," hesitatingly, "I guess so."
+
+"Of course you would! Well, you're going to if you stick to me. I've got
+the best plan yet."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Come along to town, and you'll see part of it. I've got to get certain
+things, and then I'll be ready."
+
+"You want to be careful you don't leave any evidence after you this
+time."
+
+"No danger. Will you help me?"
+
+"I guess so, as long as it isn't anything rash."
+
+"No, it won't cause any permanent harm to any one, but it will knock
+Clinton out from playing the game, and that's what I'm after. Now come
+on. I want to get to Haddonfield before the college crowd starts. It
+won't do to be seen where we're going, or there might be an inquiry
+afterward."
+
+About an hour later Langridge and Gerhart were in the telegraph office
+at Haddonfield. There might have been noticed about the sophomore a
+trace of nervousness as he walked up to the little window and inquired
+how long it would take to get some money from his uncle in Chicago.
+
+"I want it to come by telegraph," Langridge explained. "I need it in a
+hurry."
+
+"Yes, you college chaps usually do," said the agent. "Well, you can get
+it late to-night, I suppose, if you send a wire to Chicago now. How much
+would you need?"
+
+"Oh, a couple of hundred; maybe five hundred."
+
+The agent whistled.
+
+"That's more than we have on hand here at a time," he said. "I'd have to
+get it from the bank, and that couldn't be done until morning."
+
+"Well, there's no great hurry," went on Langridge. "Would I have to be
+identified to get it? My guardian--that's my uncle--frequently sends me
+money by telegraph when I'm off on trips."
+
+"Oh, yes; you'd have to get some one to vouch for you," said the agent,
+"but that will be easy."
+
+"Then I guess I'll telegraph for some," continued the sophomore, and he
+began filling out a blank under the directions of the telegrapher.
+Langridge, for a youth who had received money by wire before, seemed to
+require minute directions, and he kept the agent at the window for
+several minutes, holding his attention closely.
+
+"There, I guess that will do," said the student at length. "I'll call
+to-morrow for the cash. Hope you have it for me."
+
+"Oh, I'll have it if your uncle sends it."
+
+"He's sure to do that," retorted Langridge with a smile.
+
+"Lucky dog!" murmured the agent as he turned back to his desk. "Some of
+those college chaps have more money than is good for them, though."
+
+Langridge hurried from the office. He was joined outside by Gerhart, who
+had preceded him out of the door by a few seconds.
+
+"Did you get it?" asked the sophomore.
+
+"Sure," was the gleeful answer, and Gerhart showed several yellow slips.
+"Lucky the door was unlocked, so I could sneak in. I just took the
+blanks and envelopes off his desk when you held him in conversation.
+You know, they keep the receiving blanks in a private drawer, but the
+sending ones which you used they leave out where any one can reach
+them. But it's all right now. I'll soon put it through."
+
+"I wonder if I'll get that money?" spoke Langridge. "I took a big
+chance, but it seemed the only thing to do."
+
+"Of course you'll get it, and I'll help you spend it. That's a fair
+division of labor, as Sam Weller used to say."
+
+"Well, you'll have to do the rest," declared his crony as they walked
+back to college.
+
+"I'll do it. Don't worry."
+
+They proceeded in silence. Langridge grew less and less talkative, and
+to the jokes of Gerhart, who seemed in unusually good spirits, he
+returned monosyllabic answers.
+
+"Say, what's the matter with you?" Gerhart finally exclaimed.
+
+"Well, if you must know," answered Langridge, "the more I think of this
+the less I like it. It's a brutal thing to do. I wish I hadn't agreed to
+help you."
+
+"But you have!" insisted Gerhart. "It's too late to back out now!"
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," was the gloomy answer, and Langridge plodded on
+behind his crony.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+TOM GETS A TIP
+
+
+It lacked but two days of the big game with Boxer Hall. The Randall
+eleven had bucked against the scrub until that aggregation of substitutes
+was weary, worn and sore. For the 'varsity team was now a magnificent
+fighting machine. The men played together like clock-work, and were a joy
+to the heart of Coach Lighton. As for Holly Cross, no captain was ever
+prouder of an eleven than he was. The ends were fast, the backs could go
+through the line for gains every time, guards, tackles and Snail Looper
+at center were like a wall of flesh. The punting, while not all that
+could be desired, was good, and several trick plays had been worked up
+well nigh to perfection against the scrub. How they would work against
+Boxer Hall was yet to be seen.
+
+But if Randall was in fine shape for the coming struggle on the gridiron,
+so was Boxer Hall. Reports from that institution showed that the eleven
+was the best that had been turned out in many a season, and by comparing
+the games played by Randall (the loss of one game to Fairview and the
+winning of the other) and those played by Boxer Hall against the same
+teams, an expert would have been hard put to pick the winner of the
+championship struggle.
+
+"But we're going to win, fellows!" cried Tom after two halves of hard
+practice. "Aren't we, Phil, old chap?"
+
+"Of course," was the rather quiet answer.
+
+"How's your mother, Phil?" asked Holly Cross. "I hope she is getting
+better."
+
+"I haven't heard for two days," replied the quarter-back, and his face
+showed a little worry.
+
+"Well, she must be all right, or your father would have wired," went on
+Dutch Housenlager. "My, but I'm tired!" he added.
+
+"Don't go stale," cautioned the coach. "I think I can let up a bit on
+you fellows now. We'll have only light practice to-morrow, and the
+morning of the game we'll do some kicking and run through the signals.
+Don't forget to listen for the word to change the system. We may have to
+do it if they get on to our curves, so to speak. But I don't believe
+they will. And don't forget that the signals for trick plays have been
+altered a bit. Also remember the tip for the sequence plays. I depend on
+them for at least one touch-down. Now amuse yourselves some quiet way
+to-night. Get to bed early, and sleep well. I hope none of you have any
+lessons to worry over."
+
+"We'll not let study worry us, no matter what happens, until after the
+game!" cried Grasshopper Backus. "Wow! But what a celebration there'll
+be if we win! The baseball championship, and then the football on top of
+it! Wow!" and Grasshopper gave a leap into the air to show how exuberant
+he felt. But Dutch Housenlager slyly put out his foot, and Grasshopper
+went down in a heap.
+
+"I'll punch your head for that, Dutch!" he cried, springing up; but
+Dutch, in spite of his bulk, was a good runner, and got away.
+
+"Well, I suppose you gladiators are all ready for the fray," spoke Sid
+that evening, when Phil and Tom were in the room, one on the sofa and
+the other curled up in the easy chair. Sid was stretched out on his bed.
+
+"Ready to do or die," answered Tom. "I hope it's a nice day."
+
+"Why, you don't mind playing in the rain, do you?" asked Sid. "I thought
+you chaps were regular mudlarks."
+
+"So we are," went on Tom. "Only I want to see a good crowd out. It's
+more enthusiastic."
+
+"I know what you want," declared Sid. "You want a lot of girls from
+Fairview Institute to be on hand. And, what's more, you want some
+particular girl to see you make a star play. So does Phil, I'll wager."
+
+"Well, from what I hear there will be a good crowd of Fairview girls to
+see the game," said Phil. "Fairview is sore at being walloped twice by
+Boxer Hall, and the co-eds want to see us put it all over that crowd. So
+they'll be on hand to cheer us."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked Tom.
+
+"Sure--Ruth told me," went on Phil. "Oh, it will be a glorious occasion!
+Don't you wish you were playing, Sid?"
+
+"Not for a minute! Baseball for mine! When I want to wallow in the mud
+and get my mouth and ears full of it, I know an easier way than playing
+football."
+
+"Yes; go out with a camera and get stuck in the swamp!" cried Tom, and
+he got up, ready to dodge any missile which Sid might heave at him in
+revenge for having his misadventure recalled. But the naturalist only
+answered:
+
+"That's all right. I got the best picture of a fox you ever saw. The mud
+will come off."
+
+"Oh, you're a hopeless case!" exclaimed Phil as he got up and began to
+change his clothes, laying out a particularly "sporty" necktie.
+
+"Hello!" exclaimed Tom in some surprise. "Where are you going?"
+
+"Out," replied his chum noncommittally.
+
+"I thought you were told to stay in and take it easy to-night," said
+Sid.
+
+"Well, I'm not going to any exciting place," came from Phil as he
+struggled with a stiff collar. "I'll be in early."
+
+"Going to town?" asked Tom.
+
+"Not Haddonfield."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"I'll bet he's going to see some girl!" exclaimed Sid. "He's got perfume
+on his handkerchief, and he never wears that tie unless there's a damsel
+in the offing."
+
+"Well, I don't mind admitting that there is a young lady in the case,"
+spoke Phil. "I'm going to call on my sister, and you can put that in
+your pipe and smoke it, you hard-shelled old misogynist!"
+
+"I thought so!" cried Sid. "I knew it. But tell that yarn about your
+sister to your grandmother. It's somebody else's sister you're going to
+see. You'd never tog up like this for your own sister."
+
+"Maybe," admitted Phil coolly as he finished dressing.
+
+As he stooped over to lace his shoes an envelope fell from his pocket.
+Tom picked it up and handed it to him. He could not help seeing the
+address, and, with something like a start, he noticed that it was in the
+handwriting of Madge Tyler. He handed it to Phil without a word, and he
+noticed that a dull red crept up under the bronze skin of his chum's
+face. But Phil shoved the note into his pocket and made no comment.
+
+"He's going to see her--Madge," thought Tom, and he tried to struggle
+against the bitter feeling that seemed to well up in his heart.
+
+"Leave the door unlocked," was Phil's parting injunction as he went out.
+"I'll be in early."
+
+"Girls, girls, girls!" grumbled Sid as he rolled over to a more
+comfortable position. "I'll be hanged if I room with you fellows next
+term if you don't go a bit easier on this dame question. You don't give
+me any attention at all. It's all football and the ladies."
+
+"It will soon be over," murmured Tom.
+
+"Which; football or the ladies?"
+
+"Football," was the answer, given with a laugh.
+
+Sid was asleep when Phil came quietly in, but Tom was wide awake. Still,
+he said nothing as Phil went about, getting ready for bed, and when his
+chum came close to him, Tom shut his eyes and feigned slumber. There was
+something coming between Tom and Phil. Both realized it, yet neither
+liked to broach the subject, for it was a delicate one.
+
+"Well, how was your sister?" asked Sid pointedly of Phil the next
+morning.
+
+"Very well," replied Phil calmly. "By the way, Tom, she was asking for
+you."
+
+"Yes," answered Tom, and there was coldness in his tones. He did not
+wait for Phil to go to lectures with him after chapel, but hurried off
+alone, and Phil, feeling humiliated, wondered if he had done or said
+anything to hurt Tom's feelings. Tom took care to keep out of Phil's way
+all that day, and when the last practice was over, save for some light
+work the morning of the game, the left-end hurried to his room. As he
+entered it he saw a note thrust under the door. He picked it up. It was
+addressed to him, and an odd feature of it was that the letters were all
+printed.
+
+"Who brought this here?" he asked of Sid, who was studying his biology.
+
+"Didn't know anybody had brought anything."
+
+"Some one shoved this note under the door for me," went on Tom, ripping
+open the missive. He could not repress a start as he read, in the same
+printed letters that were on the envelope, this message:
+
+     "There is danger threatening Phil Clinton. Watch for it."
+
+"Anything wrong?" asked Sid.
+
+"No--no," spoke Tom slowly, as he tore the note into bits and tossed
+them into a basket. "It's just a tip, that's all, but I guess it doesn't
+amount to anything."
+
+He walked over to the old sofa and sat down. His brain was in a whirl.
+What danger could threaten Phil? Whence had come the mysterious warning?
+
+"It doesn't amount to anything," thought Tom. "If it had, who ever
+sent it would have signed his name. It's meant as a joke. I'll pay no
+attention to it. I'll not tell Phil. It might worry him. Besides, I
+guess he can look out for himself," and Tom shrugged his shoulders.
+
+Ah, Tom, would you have said that but for what had happened in the last
+few weeks? But for the fact that Phil and a certain pretty girl had
+become fast friends? Tom felt those questions arising in his mind, but
+he put them resolutely from him. He did not want to answer them. He went
+over to the basket and carefully picked out the torn bits of the note.
+He thrust them into his pocket. Sid watched him curiously, but said
+nothing. He thought the note was from some girl.
+
+Phil came in a little later. Tom was busy studying, and hardly looked
+up; nor did he say anything about the warning he had so mysteriously
+received.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+"LINE UP!"
+
+
+Out upon the gridiron they trotted; a mass of lads in suits which showed
+contact with mother earth many times, and which, in places, were marked
+with blood-stains. The eleven were as full of life as young colts, and
+some in their exuberance leaped high in the air, putting their hands on
+the shoulders of their mates. Others turned somersaults, and some gave
+impromptu boxing exhibitions.
+
+From the grandstand burst a mighty cheer as the Randall supporters
+greeted their team. The spontaneous shout was followed by the booming of
+the Randall college cry. Then Bean Perkins, with wild waves of his arm,
+signaled for the "Rip 'Em Up!" song.
+
+"What a crowd!" murmured Tom as he walked beside Phil. "I never saw such
+a bunch."
+
+"Yes, there's a good mob," answered Phil, but somehow there was a note
+of indifference in his voice. He had not failed to notice Tom's recent
+change of demeanor, and it hurt him. Yet he was too proud to speak of
+it, or ask the reason, though, perhaps, he may have guessed what caused
+it.
+
+As for Tom, the words of the mysterious warning rang in his ears.
+Several times he was on the point of speaking to Phil, but he feared he
+would be laughed at.
+
+"After all," thought Tom. "I guess all that it amounts to is that some
+one has heard a rumor that there'll be an attempt on the part of some
+Boxer Hall players to knock Phil out. They may think they can cripple
+him and, without him, our team will go to pieces. But I'll be on the
+watch for any dirty playing, and if I catch any one at it I'll smash
+him. I'll do my best to keep Phil from getting hurt."
+
+But, if Tom had only known, it was a different sort of danger that
+threatened his friend.
+
+Once more the cheers rang out, the shrill voices of the girls forming a
+strange contrast to the hoarse voices of the boys and men. For there
+were many men present, "old grads," who had come to do honor to Randall,
+and many others who came, hoping to see Boxer Hall win. Women there
+were, too; and girls, girls, girls! It seemed that all the pretty
+students of Fairview Academy were there. They were waving flags and
+bunches of ribbon--their own college colors mingled with those of
+Randall, for Fairview was on the side of Randall to-day, in retaliation
+for a severe drubbing Boxer Hall had administered to the co-educational
+institution.
+
+"Is--is your sister here?" asked Tom of Phil. He had meant to ask if
+Madge was present, but somehow the words would not come.
+
+"Yes," replied his chum. "She and Madge are over in the A section," and
+he motioned with his arm to a certain portion of the grandstand. Tom
+looked, hoping he might distinguish two girls out of a crowd of several
+hundred. Of course, he could not, and his attention was suddenly called
+away from this by the sharp voice of the coach.
+
+"Catch some punts, Parsons!" called Mr. Lighton. "After that we'll line
+up for practice."
+
+The Randall eleven was lining up when the Boxer Hall team fairly burst
+from their dressing-rooms under the east grandstand. What a roar went
+up as they appeared on the white-marked field! The burst of yells
+seemed fully to equal the jumble of noise that had been made by the
+Randallites. For all of Boxer Hall was on hand to cheer mightily for
+their eleven, and the college was a slight favorite over Randall, who,
+in years past, had not been known to do anything remarkable on the
+gridiron.
+
+Encased in their clumsy garments, the Boxer players looked like young
+giants, and when they lined up and ran through several formations they
+did it with the precision of clock-work.
+
+"They've improved a heap," was the somewhat dubious remark of Holly
+Cross.
+
+"So have we!" exclaimed the coach heartily. "We beat them once, and we
+can do it again. Get that idea into your mind and don't let go of it."
+
+"I guess we'll be all right if Clinton doesn't have to get out of the
+game," spoke the captain.
+
+"Why? Do you think he'll be hurt?"
+
+"Well, maybe. Boxer Hall sometimes plays a dirty game, and we'll have to
+be on the watch. I wish you'd warn the umpire to look out for holding in
+the line and slugging. They may do it. They'd go to almost any length to
+win this game. They don't want to lose the championship."
+
+"Well, they're going to!" exclaimed the coach. "But about Clinton; you
+don't think he's any more likely to be hurt than any other player--nor
+as much, do you? He's well protected."
+
+"Yes, I know; but Phil hasn't been himself for the last two days. I
+don't know what it is that's bothering him, but it's something. He
+doesn't say anything. First I thought it might be a scrap he'd had with
+Tom, but they're such good friends I didn't give that much concern.
+Then I imagined he might be worrying about his mother, but he told me
+yesterday that the chances for a successful operation were good. I don't
+know what it is, but he's certainly not himself."
+
+"Oh, you imagine too much!" declared Mr. Lighton with a laugh. "Clinton
+is all right. He's a plucky lad. He'll play as long as he can stand.
+Look at that game with Wescott."
+
+"Yes, I know; but I----"
+
+"Now, you stop worrying. You're as bad as a girl. But I guess it's
+almost time to begin."
+
+Song after song came from the supporters of the rival colleges. The
+grandstands were packed to their capacity, and looked like some vast
+chessboard with many colored squares, the dark garments of the boys
+mingling with the gay dresses and hats of the girls, and the many-hued
+ribbons and flags waving over all.
+
+Captain Cross met and shook hands with Captain Stoddard, of Boxer
+Hall, preliminary to the toss-up. They were to play similar
+positions--full-back. The coin was sent spinning into the air, and
+Captain Stoddard won. He elected to defend the south goal, which gave
+the ball to Randall to kick off. The referee, umpire and linesmen held a
+final consultation. Captain Cross gathered his men together for a word
+of encouragement.
+
+"All I've got to say," he remarked simply, "is to play until you can't
+play any more."
+
+"That's right," added the coach. "And don't forget about the possibility
+of a change in signals being made in the middle of play; nor about the
+sequences. I'll depend on you for that, Clinton."
+
+"All right," responded Phil.
+
+The field was slowly being cleared of stragglers. The newspaper
+reporters were getting their paper and pencils ready, and photographers,
+with their big box-cameras, were snapping individual players as a sort
+of practice for catching lightning-like plays later on.
+
+Across the field, toward the group of Randall players, came a lad. He
+walked as if undecided as to his errand.
+
+"Get back," warned Holly Cross.
+
+"I've got a message for a feller named Clinton!" cried the lad.
+
+"There he is over there," and Holly, who was in conversation with the
+coach, pointed at Phil. The latter started as he took the envelope from
+the messenger.
+
+"Who--who gave you this?" asked the quarter-back huskily.
+
+"Feller outside. Give me a half a dollar fer bringin' it in. Any
+answer?"
+
+"Wait," replied Phil. His bronze face was strangely white as he tore the
+envelope and hastily read the few words on the paper within. He seemed
+to sway, but, with a catch of his breath, he recovered his composure.
+He read the message again. A mist seemed to come before his eyes. He
+murmured to himself: "I mustn't tell them--until after the game--I--I
+must play the game out. But--but can I?" He clenched his hands, and his
+jaw became more square with the force of his teeth closing tightly
+together.
+
+"Any answer?" asked the lad.
+
+"No!" said Phil in a low voice, and he crushed the telegram in his hand,
+and thrust the rustling paper inside his jacket.
+
+The lad turned to go, anxious to get a place where he could view the
+game. None of Phil's companions seemed to have noticed that he had
+received a message. He looked around at his chums.
+
+"I--I've got to play the game," he murmured.
+
+The next instant the whistle blew.
+
+"Line up!" came the cry, and Snail Looper, holding the new yellow ball,
+placed it on a little mound of earth ready for the kick-off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+THE GAME
+
+
+With a mighty swing of his foot Snail Looper sent the ball well into
+Boxer territory. Lamson, their right half-back, caught it in his
+arms, and, with a good defense, began to rush back with it. Over the
+chalk-marks he came, but Tom Parsons was rushing toward him, and dodging
+through the intervening players he made a vicious tackle, bringing
+Lamson to the ground with a thud on Boxer's thirty-eight-yard line.
+There was a quick line-up, and Stoddard, the full-back, made a good try
+to encircle Joe Jackson at right end. But the Jersey twin and his mates
+piled up on the mass of Boxer players with such good effect that hardly
+three yards were gained; and at this showing of the defense of Randall a
+punt was decided on.
+
+Pinstock, Boxer's left half-back, made a magnificent drive, and Holly
+Cross had to skip nimbly back to catch it. But once he had the pigskin
+in his grasp he eluded the Boxer ends, and was well toward the center of
+the field before he was downed.
+
+"Our ball!" cried Tom gleefully, and then there came the chance for
+Randall to show what she could do.
+
+"Signal!" cried Phil, and his companions wondered at the odd note that
+had crept into his voice. It was not of the confident style of orders
+that the quarter-back was wont to give. But, as the string of numbers
+and letters came rattling out, Phil, in a measure, recovered control of
+himself. He gave the word for Kindlings to take the ball at Boxer's
+left-end, and smash! into the line went the brawny right half-back. He
+gained ten yards so quickly that Boxer Hall was fairly stunned, and when
+Holly Cross ripped out eight yards additional the crowd of Randall
+supporters were in a mad frenzy of delirious joy.
+
+"Swat 'em! Swat 'em! We have got 'em!" howled Bean Perkins, and forth
+from hundreds of throats came booming that song.
+
+Grasshopper Backus and Dutch Housenlager opened a great hole between
+their opposite guard and tackle, and into this breach Jerry Jackson was
+pulled and hurled for several yards, until he fell under a crushing
+weight of husky players at Boxer's thirty-yard-line. Once more Phil's
+voice sang out in a signal, and back he snapped the ball to Holly Cross,
+who, like some human battering ram, went through for five yards more. It
+looked as if Randall was going right down the field for a touch-down,
+and Bean Perkins and his cohorts rendered the "Down the Line" song with
+good effect.
+
+A touch-down might have resulted from the next play, but unfortunately
+for Randall Jerry Jackson made a fumble, and in their anxiety several of
+his mates held in the line. There was a prompt penalty enforced, and
+back to the forty-yard line the pigskin was taken, where it was turned
+over to Randall for another try. Randall's hard work had not gained her
+much, and there was an ominous silence on the part of the cheering
+throng. Once more came rushing tactics, and they succeeded so well that
+in two downs the ball was carried to Boxer's thirty-yard line. Then
+Holly Cross decided to try for a field goal, but the wind carried it to
+one side, and his mates groaned. So did Bean Perkins and his comrades.
+
+"Isn't that a shame!" exclaimed Madge Tyler to Ruth Clinton.
+
+"Hush, Madge!" answered Ruth. "I want to watch the game. I can't talk. I
+want to see what Phil does. I'm afraid he'll be hurt."
+
+"Aren't you worried about Tom Parsons, too?"
+
+"Yes--of course. Aren't you?"
+
+"Not so much."
+
+Ruth looked at her friend sharply, but there was no time for further
+talk, as Boxer had brought out the ball to their twenty-five-yard line,
+and elected to line up with it instead of punting. At Randall's line
+they came, smashing with terrific force, but so well did Holly and his
+players hold that only four yards were made. Another attempt brought
+even less gain, and then Boxer had to kick. Kindlings saw the ball
+coming toward him, and managed by a desperate effort, to get it in his
+arms. Back he rushed to the forty-three-yard line, where he fell under a
+human mountain.
+
+The first play tried by Randall after this was a forward pass, and the
+ball went out of bounds. Holly Cross kicked a twisting punt, and when
+Lamson, the Boxer right half, caught it, Tom Parsons downed him almost
+in his tracks, so swiftly did the left-end get down under the kick.
+
+"Go through 'em!" implored Captain Stoddard to his men, and at the line
+they came smashing with crushing force. For the first time since the
+play had begun Randall seemed to give way. Holes were torn in her line,
+and through the openings the backs came rushing. They had gained fifteen
+yards, in almost as good style as had Randall in the initial play, when
+they varied the smashing work by a try around Tom's end. But he was
+alert, and got his man in the nick of time. Another try at center failed
+to result in a gain, and Boxer Hall had to kick.
+
+Jerry Jackson rushed the ball back for a good distance, and then, with
+a fierceness that the Boxer Hall lads could not seem to withstand,
+Randall came at their line, going through for substantial gains on
+every try.
+
+"That's the stuff! That's the stuff!" cried Dutch Housenlager during a
+breathing spell, when one of the Boxer Hall players had to be walked
+about to recover his wind. "Eh, Phil? Aren't we putting it all over
+them?"
+
+"I--I guess so," answered Phil, and he passed his hand over his head as
+if he was dazed.
+
+"Somebody hit you?" asked Tom, blaming himself for not having kept a
+closer watch over his chum.
+
+"No--no; I'm all right."
+
+The injured player limped back into line, and the game went on. Smash!
+bang! came the Randall players, and they went up to the ten-yard line
+with scarcely a stop. In vain did the cohorts of Boxer Hall implore them
+to brace. It seemed that they could not. But, just as it looked for all
+the world as if the ball would be carried over by Holly Cross, for it
+was decided to smash through and not kick, the brace did come, and the
+Randall players had to give up the pigskin. In a jiffy Captain Stoddard
+had punted out of danger. There was an exchange of kicks, and it ended
+with Boxer getting the ball on her forty-yard line.
+
+Then, all at once, a new spirit seemed infused into her players. They
+came at Randall with a viciousness that argued well for their spirit.
+It was rough work, not noticeable, perhaps, but Tom felt that what he
+feared was about to happen; that some plan was afoot to injure Phil. He
+played in as far as he dared, but the opposite end was constantly
+drawing him out.
+
+At the line came Lamson, the Boxer right-half. He ripped out five yards,
+bowling over Sam Looper with such force that the Snail had to have a
+little medical treatment. He barely recovered in the two minutes, and
+was a bit wobbly when the attack was again directed at him. But Holly
+Cross and Jerry Jackson leaped in to his aid, and stopped the advance.
+Then Boxer went around right-end, and had ten yards before they were
+stopped. The game looked to be going the other way now, and there were
+strained looks on the faces of the Randall players and their supporters.
+As for the cheering contingent of Boxer Hall, they made the air ring
+with their song: "It's Time We Did a Little Business Now!"
+
+"Don't let 'em get through you. Hold 'em! Hold 'em!" cried Holly. "Brace
+up, boys!"
+
+Randall tried to, but Boxer had found a weak place between Snail Looper
+and Grasshopper Backus, and kept hammering away at it, until they had
+advanced the ball to the fifteen-yard line. Then Boxer Hall played a
+neat trick. There was every indication that a try for a field goal was
+about to be made, and Holly Cross got back. Instead, there was a double
+pass, and a play between tackle and right-end. Through the Randall line
+burst Frothon, the right-tackle, with the ball tucked under his arm.
+Holly Cross saw him just in time, and made a dive for him. But the
+Randall full-back's foot slipped, and he went down, making a vain grab
+for Frothon, who sped on, and planted the ball behind the goal posts.
+Boxer Hall had made the first touch-down, and the crowd of supporters
+went wild, while there was corresponding gloom on the grandstands where
+Randallites were gathered. The goal was missed, and a scrimmage had
+hardly begun after the next kick-off before the whistle blew. The half
+was up.
+
+What a buzz of excitement there was in the grandstands! Every one seemed
+talking at once.
+
+"That was hard lines," remarked Ford Fenton to Sid, next to whom he was
+sitting. "If our fellows had only been a little quicker then, this would
+never have happened. My uncle says----"
+
+"Fenton!" exclaimed Sid so fiercely that Ford almost turned pale, "if
+you mention 'uncle' again during this game, I'll throw you off the
+grandstand," and, as Fenton was rather high up, he concluded to keep
+quiet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+VICTORY--CONCLUSION
+
+
+There was despondency in the quarters of the Randall players, where they
+gathered between the halves. Gloom sat upon the brow of every one, and
+the cheery words of the coach could not seem to dispel it.
+
+"There's only one touch-down against you," he said. "You always play
+better uphill than down. Go at 'em now, and tear them apart! They play a
+fierce game, but you can play a fiercer! Are any of you hurt? How about
+you, Looper?"
+
+"Oh, I'm all right now. It was only my wind. I've got it back. They
+won't get through me again," declared the Snail.
+
+"I hope not. You're too fat; that's what's the trouble. How are
+you holding out, Clinton?" and the coach turned anxiously to the
+quarter-back. Phil was pacing up and down the dressing-room. There was a
+strained look on his face, and his hand was inside his blouse, where his
+fingers touched a crumpled paper. He did not seem to have heard Mr.
+Lighton's question. The coach repeated it.
+
+"Me? Why, I--I guess I can last the game out," said Phil slowly.
+
+"Last the game out? Why, are you hurt?" The coach was a bit disturbed.
+
+"No. Of course not. It was just my way of speaking. It's all right--it's
+all right," and Phil resumed his pacing of the narrow quarters.
+
+"Guess he feels that we're going to lose," whispered Dutch Housenlager
+to Tom. But Tom shook his head. There was something else the matter with
+Phil, and he wondered what it was.
+
+"Do you think they're on to our signals?" asked Holly Cross.
+
+"No," said Phil shortly. "There's no need to change them. I'll use the
+same ones."
+
+"Time's almost up," remarked the coach, looking at his watch for about
+the fifth time within two minutes.
+
+To the lads it seemed as if they had not had more than a minute's
+respite, but they were ready for the fray again, and there was an
+eagerness in the manner in which they leaped out on the gridiron which
+betokened that snappy playing would follow.
+
+Nor was it long in coming. When Boxer Hall kicked off, amid the chorus
+of a spirited song, Kindlings caught the ball, and came back with it on
+such a rush, and so well protected by his teammates, that he got past
+the center of the field before he was downed. Then at the line went the
+Randall lads. Smashing through it, there was no stopping them. Right up
+the field they came, surprising even their own coach by their steady
+advance. Phil was handling the players with a skill he had never shown
+before. Play after play he called for, and the lads responded with vim.
+Even a risky on-side kick was tried and was successful. Then a forward
+pass netted fifteen yards, and with joy in their hearts the Randall lads
+saw themselves approaching their opponent's goal-line.
+
+"Now, boys, play like Trojans!" cried Phil heartily, this being the
+signal for four sequence plays. They were ripped off one after the
+other, so quickly that, as Holly Cross said, "it made the hair of the
+Boxers stand up." For, almost before the visitors were aware of it,
+though they tried their best to stem the human tide, the ball was only a
+few feet from the line.
+
+"Touch-down! Touch-down! Touch-down!" implored the cheering throng.
+
+"Touch-down it shall be!" whispered Phil fiercely, and he snapped the
+ball to Holly Cross, who went through like a battering ram. There was a
+mass of players on top of him, the ball and the line. Not until they got
+up could it be seen if the pigskin was over. The referee rushed in.
+Slowly the players disentangled. The ball was over the line!
+
+"Touch-down!" fairly screamed Tom Parsons. "Touch-down!"
+
+His cry was echoed from the Randall grandstands, and Dutch Housenlager
+began a dance around the team, carrying Holly Cross, Grasshopper and the
+Jersey twins with him.
+
+"Kick the goal, and we'll be one point ahead of them!" cried Bricktop
+Molloy to Holly. "Put all the power ye have to spare into your toe, me
+lad, and boost the ball over."
+
+"I'll try," promised the captain, but the wind had increased, and the
+pigskin struck the bar and bounded back. But the score was tied, and
+Randall felt that she was coming into her own.
+
+"Fast and snappy play, now!" called Phil Clinton, and once more he
+passed his hand over his head. There was an air of desperation about
+him, and Tom noticed it.
+
+"Maybe he's feeling sick," he thought, and he hurried over to his chum
+and asked him.
+
+"I don't feel just right," answered Phil. "But I'm not sick. I'm all
+right. Don't say anything. We're going to win. We're going to win!" he
+repeated fiercely. "I'm going to run the team to another touch-down.
+After that--after that," he faltered--"well, it doesn't matter, after
+that."
+
+The ball was kicked off. An exchange of punts followed the scrimmage,
+and Boxer Hall got the ball. Her players began some good work, but
+Randall was ready for it. Several of the best men were tackled so hard,
+though not unfairly, that time had to be taken out for them to recover.
+Then Pinstock had to retire because of a twisted ankle, but, to offset
+this, Jerry Jackson was knocked out and Everet took his place.
+
+For a few minutes it seemed as if Boxer Hall was going up the field for
+another touch-down, but Randall braced in time. Then a sudden change
+appeared to come over Phil. He had been playing for all he was worth,
+but now he seemed a perfect whirlwind as he called snappily to his men
+to take the ball through. And they did it. Through holes torn first on
+one side between tackle and guard, or guard and center, and then on the
+other wing, Everet, Holly Cross or Kindlings butted their way. Phil
+varied this with some end runs and then called for his favorite play,
+the fake right-half back and tackle shift, when Kerr took the ball on
+the fly and went through the opposite side of his opponents' line with
+it. The play netted fifteen yards, and placed the ball on Boxer Hall's
+twenty-yard line.
+
+The time was fast drawing to a close. Could Boxer hold the line
+sufficiently to prevent Randall from scoring again, making the game a
+tie? Or could Randall break through? Those were the questions every one
+was asking.
+
+"Now, fellows, for the 'Conquer or Die' song," called Bean Perkins, and
+during a silence that followed a brief consultation between Phil and
+Holly Cross there welled out over the gridiron the inspiring strains of
+"_Aut Vincere Aut Mori_!"
+
+"Signal!" cried Phil, and he gave one for a forward pass. He got the
+ball off in good shape, but Nottingham, the burly guard of Boxer Hall,
+broke through, and jumped right at the quarter-back, hoping to break up
+the play. Phil went down under him, and when Kindlings had been stopped,
+after a few yards' advance, the quarter-back did not get up.
+
+"Phil's hurt!" cried Tom, and his heart reproached him for keeping quiet
+about the warning. "That was done on purpose!"
+
+There was a rush to where Phil lay. Nottingham was bending over him.
+
+[Illustration: "There was a rush to where Phil lay"]
+
+"By Jove, old man!" he exclaimed contritely. "I didn't mean to hurt you.
+Hope I didn't tackle you too hard."
+
+He began rubbing Phil's hands. Holly Cross passed his fingers over the
+quarter-back's head.
+
+"He got a nasty bump!" he exclaimed. "Bring some water."
+
+The cold fluid revived the injured lad. He struggled to get up.
+
+"Lie still!" insisted the captain.
+
+"I'm--I'm all right," replied Phil, though faintly. "My head hit a
+stone, I guess. Give me a little water, and I'll go on with the game!"
+
+"He's got pluck!" exclaimed Nottingham admiringly, but neither he nor
+any of the others knew the full extent of the quarter-back's pluck. "I'm
+awfully sorry, old man," went on Nottingham, who was one of the best
+fellows in the world. "I didn't mean to come at you so hard."
+
+"That's all right," spoke Phil gently, and he tried to smile. "We're
+going to beat you for that."
+
+He got to his feet inside the required two minutes.
+
+"Signal!" he cried, but there was lacking in his tones some of his
+old-time vigor. He called for a play between guard and tackle. Right at
+Nottingham the play was directed, and Dutch Housenlager was to make
+it--big Dutch, who seemed to be all bone, muscle and sinew. A gleam was
+in Phil's eyes as he gave the last letter of the signal.
+
+There were but four yards to go to make a touch-down. Could Randall do
+it? "They must do it! They would do it!" Phil was deciding for the whole
+team. He felt that they must make that distance, if he had to carry the
+entire eleven on his shoulders. Snail Looper was about to snap the ball
+back. Boxer Hall was bracing as she had never braced before. It was now
+or never. If Randall got a second touch-down it would mean practically
+that she would win the game and the championship.
+
+Back came the ball. Phil passed it to Dutch, and up against the solid
+wall of flesh went the big right-tackle. You could almost hear the
+impact over in the grandstand. Behind him were his mates. In front of
+him, pulling and hauling on him, were more of them. On either side were
+the Boxer Hall players, who had been torn from their places to make a
+hole. From either side they came leaping in to stop the gap--to stop the
+advance of the man with the ball. On and on struggled Dutch. He felt
+that he was not himself--that he was but a small part of that seething,
+struggling mass--an atom in a crushing, grinding, whirling, heaving,
+boiling caldron of human beings. Breaths were coming short and quick,
+eyes were flashing. It was push and shove, haul, slip, stumble. Player
+was piled on player. Tom Parsons and the other ends were on the outside.
+Holly Cross was pushing and shoving, glad if he felt the mass in front
+of him give but the fraction of an inch.
+
+Then, from somewhere beneath that mass of humanity, came the voice of
+Dutch Housenlager.
+
+"Down!" he called faintly.
+
+The heaving human hill slowly settled down, as when the fire is
+withdrawn from under a boiling kettle.
+
+The whistle blew. Slowly the mass was disintegrated. Sore, bruised,
+scratched; bleeding some of them, lame most of them, desperately anxious
+all of them, the players fell apart. Dutch was lying on his face, his
+big back arched. The ball was not to be seen. Had there been a fumble?
+The goal line passed beneath the stomach of the big tackle. Slowly he
+arose, and then such a shout as rent the air.
+
+For the ball was under him! It was over the line! He had made the
+touch-down!
+
+Oh, how the stands vibrated with the yells, the cheers, the songs, the
+delirious leaping up and down, the stamping of feet and the clapping of
+hands! How the Fairview girls shrilly screamed their college cry! How it
+was caught up, swallowed and silenced by the booming cheers from the
+Randall cohorts!
+
+For Randall had won. Even if she could not kick the goal, she had won,
+as there remained but one minute more of play. But the goal was kicked.
+Holly Cross saw to that, and then, with a final, useless kick-off,
+and after the final whistle had blown, the Randall players gathered
+together, their arms about each other, and cheered heartily and mightily
+for the victory.
+
+Dutch was hoisted to the shoulders of his mates protestingly, and
+carried about. The Boxer Hall eleven was cheered, and they gave back a
+perfunctory, complimentary yell for their opponents. They had been
+beaten where they hoped to win. Beaten twice in the season by their
+former victims. It was humiliating.
+
+"Here!" cried Holly Cross. "Up with Phil Clinton. He piloted the team to
+victory!"
+
+"That's right!" shouted Bricktop. "Up with him!"
+
+But Phil was running toward the grandstand at top speed; toward the A
+section where, he had told Tom, Madge and Ruth sat.
+
+"He's hurrying to receive the congratulations of Madge," thought Tom
+bitterly.
+
+Holly Cross took after the fleeing quarter-back.
+
+"Come here!" he cried.
+
+"Can't," answered Phil desperately, and the captain saw that his face
+was drawn and strained.
+
+"Why not?" demanded Holly.
+
+"Because--read that!" and Phil held out a crumpled telegram. Slowly
+Holly deciphered it:
+
+     "Come at once. Your mother is dying."
+
+It was signed with Phil's father's name.
+
+"When did you get this?" asked the captain slowly, while the other
+players gathered about.
+
+"It came just--just before the game," answered Phil. "I must go--and
+get my sister. We must start for Florida--at once."
+
+"Just before the game?" said Holly in a low voice. "Just before the
+game? And you played, knowing that--that your mother was--was----"
+
+Holly faltered. There was a huskiness in his voice.
+
+"I played the game," said Phil simply. "I--I didn't want to tell you
+fellows, for fear you'd put a substitute in. But I'm going, now," and he
+turned toward the grandstand.
+
+"Talk about pluck!" exclaimed Holly Cross. "If that isn't the best
+exhibition of it, I never want to hear of any."
+
+"Pluck!" murmured Bricktop Molloy. "He's pluck personified. Poor Phil!"
+and the big left-guard turned aside. Slowly Phil's mates watched him
+making his way to where his sister sat. The gridiron was swarming with
+spectators now. Bean Perkins came running over.
+
+"We'll have a great celebration to-night!" he cried to the players and
+the substitutes.
+
+"No!" said Holly Cross simply.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because Phil's mother is dying. He's got to go to her."
+
+Up the grandstand leaped Phil. Tom had hurried after him, ready to do
+what he could to aid his chum to get a train. Phil saw Ruth and Madge
+together. At the sight of her brother Ruth cried:
+
+"Oh, Phil, wasn't it glorious? I'm so glad you won! Why--wh--what's the
+matter?" she gasped at the sight of his pale face.
+
+"Mother!" he exclaimed huskily. "Didn't--haven't you a telegram?"
+
+"Yes. Did you get one, too?" and she fumbled in her muff. "Oh, Phil, I'm
+so happy! She's all better! The operation was a success, and she's going
+to get well! I got mine just before the game, and I supposed you did,
+too. I was waiting for you to come to me, but I guess you didn't have a
+chance. Oh, I'm so glad!" and she threw her arms around her brother's
+neck.
+
+"Going to get well? Operation a success? Why, I--I didn't get a telegram
+like that!" exclaimed Phil in bewilderment.
+
+"There's mine," said Ruth, producing it. "I left word to forward any
+that might come to Fairview to me here. I gave the number of my seat
+here to the Fairview operator, and I got the message just before play
+began. But didn't you get yours?"
+
+Before Phil could answer a diminutive messenger boy pushed his way
+through the crowd.
+
+"Is dis Phil Clinton?" he asked boldly.
+
+"That's me," replied Phil quickly, but he hardly knew what he said.
+
+"Den here's a message fer youse. I tried t' git it t' youse before de
+game, but de cop wouldn't let me in on de grass. So I stayed and seen de
+scrap. Hully chee! But it was a peach! I'm glad youse fellers won. Sign
+dere!" and the lad held out his book with the message in.
+
+As in a dream Phil signed, and then tore open the envelope. The message
+was a duplicate of the one his sister had.
+
+"Any answer?" asked the lad, as he gazed in admiration at Phil, and Tom,
+who stood close beside him. "Hully chee! But youse is husky brutes,"
+spoke the modern Mercury, but it was only his way of properly admiring
+the football heroes.
+
+"Yes, there's an answer," said Phil, and he scribbled on a piece of
+paper a bystander thrust into his hand this telegram:
+
+     "Dear Dad: Best news I ever got! We won the game!"
+
+And he signed it with the names of his sister and himself.
+
+"May I add my good wishes, not only on the recovery of your mother, but
+on the way you played the game?" asked Madge, blushing, and holding out
+her hand to Phil. He clasped her fingers in his.
+
+"Same here!" cried Tom, as he caught a roguish glance from the eyes of
+Ruth. "Oh, but I'm glad for your sake, old man!" and he gave Phil such a
+clap on the back as to make the teeth of the quarter-back clatter. "I'm
+so glad!"
+
+"I know you are," said Phil simply, and as he shook hands with his chum
+he knew, somehow, that the little cloud that had come between them had
+passed away.
+
+"Tra, la, la! Merrily do we sing and dance!" cried Tom in the exuberance
+of his feelings. "Come down on the field, Phil, Madge, Ruth, and we'll
+play 'Ring Around the Rosy'!"
+
+Laughingly they descended with him, and added to the merriment of the
+throng by gaily circling about in it.
+
+But, with all his joy, Phil was puzzled. Where had the first telegram
+come from? Had it been a mistake? Had the operator blundered? He said
+nothing to his sister about the message received just before the game.
+
+The good news quickly spread among the Randall players, and they soon
+arranged for a celebration. A big fire was kindled, on it were thrown
+their football suits, for the season was over, and then the champion
+eleven broke training. A dinner was served that night in the gymnasium,
+and many girls from Fairview, including Ruth and Madge, attended.
+
+"But I can't understand where this message came from," Phil was saying
+to Tom and Sid a few hours later in their room. "Jove, but it almost
+knocked me out when I got it! But I knew I had to play the game." He was
+examining the telegram he had first received.
+
+"Let's see that message," said Sid, and he scanned it closely. "That's a
+fake!" he said suddenly.
+
+"A fake!" repeated Tom and Phil.
+
+"Yes. There's no check number on it. No message is ever sent out without
+a check number on it. This never came over the wire. Some one got hold
+of a receiving blank and an envelope, and played this brutal trick.
+Maybe it was one of the Boxer Hall fellows. He wanted to get your nerve,
+so you'd drop out of the game."
+
+"I don't believe it was a Boxer Hall chap," said Phil.
+
+"Then it was some one who had a grudge against you," insisted Sid. "We
+can inquire at the telegraph office and find out, maybe."
+
+Tom uttered an exclamation. He had suddenly thought of the mysterious
+warning he had received. Quickly he brought out the torn pieces of
+paper. He saw it all now. The warning had been intended to cover the
+telegram--not a physical danger, but a mental one. Rapidly he explained
+how he got the note.
+
+"I didn't say anything to you, Phil," he concluded, "because I was--I
+was afraid you'd laugh at me. And I kept my eyes open in the game."
+
+"I understand," spoke the quarter-back. "But who sent this warning?"
+
+Sid was eagerly examining it, for Tom had pasted the torn pieces
+together.
+
+"I have it!" cried Sid. "Langridge sent this!"
+
+"How do you know?" came from Phil and Tom at once.
+
+"Because that's the kind of paper he uses. It has a peculiar water-mark.
+I'll show you. I have an old baseball note I got from him last term."
+
+Sid brought out his note. The two were compared. The paper was exactly
+similar, and there were even some characteristic similarities in the
+writing, though one was in script and the other printed.
+
+"Langridge sent this," decided Sid, and the others agreed with him.
+
+"Then who sent the fake telegram?" inquired Phil.
+
+"Gerhart, for all the world!" exclaimed Sid. "The cad! To play such a
+brutal trick!" Sid caught up his cap.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Tom.
+
+"I'm going to confront him with this evidence, and have him run out of
+college!" burst out Sid. "This ends his course!"
+
+But Gerhart had anticipated what was coming, when he saw that the cruel
+telegram he had sent Phil had had no effect, and that the plucky
+quarter-back continued playing. He evidently knew the game was up, and
+fled. For, when Sid called at the fashionable eating club, where Gerhart
+and Langridge had recently taken a room, he found only the former
+'varsity pitcher there.
+
+"Where's Gerhart?" asked Sid savagely.
+
+"Gone," said Langridge, and he began to shake. He trembled more when Sid
+threw down the incriminating evidence, and blurted out the story.
+
+"It's all true," confessed Langridge. "Gerhart stole the telegraph blank
+and an envelope, while I kept the agent busy talking about some money I
+expected to get. Gerhart made me go in the scheme with him, but I--I
+couldn't stand it, and I sent Tom the tip. I'm done with Gerhart. He
+faked the message to Phil and hired a boy to deliver it. I'm through
+with him!"
+
+"I should think you would be!" burst out Sid, walking about the room. It
+was in confusion, for Gerhart had hurriedly departed. Sid's eye saw a
+bottle on the closet shelf. "What's this, Langridge?" he asked. "Why,
+it's liniment! The same kind Phil had, and which stiffened my hand! How
+did it get here? It's the same bottle that was broken--no, it can't be,
+yet there's the same blot on the label. How in thunder----"
+
+Then Langridge confessed to that trick of Gerhart's also.
+
+"He ought to be tarred and feathered!" cried the angry Sid. "If I had
+him here! But you're almost as bad, Langridge. You helped him!"
+
+"I know it. I'm going to leave college, if you'll only keep still about
+this. Will you?" pleaded the cringing lad.
+
+"Yes; for the sake of the college, not for you," spoke Sid, and that is
+how only the three chums knew the real story of the dastardly meanness
+of the two cronies. They thought they were well rid of their enemies,
+but they were mistaken. Those of you who care to read further of the
+happenings at Randall College may do so in the next book, to be called
+"Batting to Win." In that volume we shall meet all our friends again,
+and learn what Sid did during the greatest baseball game of the next
+season, and when the collegiate championship hung in the balance.
+
+"Well, it's all over but the shouting," said Phil to his chums, as they
+sat in their room that night. From without came the joyous cries of
+those who were celebrating the football victory.
+
+"All but putting a bronze tablet in the gym, to commemorate the pluck
+you showed," added Tom.
+
+"Aw, forget it!" spoke Phil, as he got into a more comfortable position
+on the creaking sofa. "Anybody would have done the same to see his team
+win."
+
+"Maybe," said Sid softly as he got up from the easy chair to look at his
+favorite football picture.
+
+Then came a silence in the room, and the fussy little alarm clock had
+matters all to itself. It ticked away at a great rate.
+
+Tom, who had been standing near the window, crossed to the opposite
+wall, and stood before the picture of a laughing girl. Phil saw him,
+smiled, and then, he, too, slowly arose from the decrepit sofa and went
+closer to a photograph of another girl. Thus the three stood, and the
+clock ticked on with quick, impatient strokes, and not a word was
+spoken.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE COLLEGE SPORTS SERIES
+
+BY LESTER CHADWICK
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors_
+
+_=Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Mr. Chadwick has played on the diamond and on the gridiron himself._
+
+
+ 1. THE RIVAL PITCHERS
+    _A Story of College Baseball_
+
+Tom Parsons, a "hayseed," makes good on the scrub team of Randall
+College.
+
+
+ 2. A QUARTERBACK'S PLUCK
+    _A Story of College Football_
+
+A football story, told in Mr. Chadwick's best style, that is bound to
+grip the reader from the start.
+
+
+ 3. BATTING TO WIN
+    _A Story of College Baseball_
+
+Tom Parsons and his friends Phil and Sid are the leading players on
+Randall College team. There is a great game.
+
+
+ 4. THE WINNING TOUCHDOWN
+    _A Story of College Football_
+
+After having to reorganize their team at the last moment, Randall makes
+a touchdown that won a big game.
+
+
+ 5. FOR THE HONOR OF RANDALL
+    _A Story of College Athletics_
+
+The winning of the hurdle race and long-distance run is extremely
+exciting.
+
+
+ 6. THE EIGHT-OARED VICTORS
+    _A Story of College Water Sports_
+
+Tom, Phil and Sid prove as good at aquatic sports as they are on track,
+gridiron and diamond.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+THE JACK RANGER SERIES
+
+BY CLARENCE YOUNG
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors_
+
+_=Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Lively stories of outdoor sports and adventure every boy will want to
+read._
+
+
+ 1. JACK RANGER'S SCHOOL DAYS
+    _or The Rivals of Washington Hall_
+
+You will love Jack Ranger--you simply can't help it. He is bright and
+cheery, and earnest in all he does.
+
+
+ 2. JACK RANGER'S WESTERN TRIP
+    _or From Boarding School to Ranch and Range_
+
+This volume takes the hero to the great West. Jack is anxious to clear
+up the mystery surrounding his father's disappearance.
+
+
+ 3. JACK RANGER'S SCHOOL VICTORIES
+    _or Track, Gridiron and Diamond_
+
+Jack gets back to Washington Hall and goes in for all sorts of school
+games. There are numerous contests on the athletic field.
+
+
+ 4. JACK RANGER'S OCEAN CRUISE
+    _or The Wreck of the Polly Ann_
+
+How Jack was carried off to sea against his will makes a "yarn" no boy
+will want to miss.
+
+
+ 5. JACK RANGER'S GUN CLUB
+    _or From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail_
+
+Jack organizes a gun club and with his chums goes in quest of big game.
+They have many adventures in the mountains.
+
+
+ 6. JACK RANGER'S TREASURE BOX
+    _or The Outing of the Schoolboy Yachtsmen_
+
+Jack receives a box from his father and it is stolen. How he regains it
+makes an absorbing tale.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT MARVEL SERIES
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors_
+
+_=Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Stories of adventures in strange places, with peculiar people and queer
+animals._
+
+
+ 1. THROUGH THE AIR TO THE NORTH POLE
+    _or The Wonderful Cruise of the Electric Monarch_
+
+The tale of a trip to the frozen North with a degree of reality that is
+most convincing.
+
+
+ 2. UNDER THE OCEAN TO THE SOUTH POLE
+    _or The Strange Cruise of the Submarine Wonder_
+
+A marvelous trip from Maine to the South Pole, telling of adventures
+with the sea-monsters and savages.
+
+
+ 3. FIVE THOUSAND MILES UNDERGROUND
+    _or The Mystery of the Center of the Earth_
+
+A cruise to the center of the earth through an immense hole found at an
+island in the ocean.
+
+
+ 4. THROUGH SPACE TO MARS
+    _or The Most Wonderful Trip on Record_
+
+This book tells how the journey was made in a strange craft and what
+happened on Mars.
+
+
+ 5. LOST ON THE MOON
+    _or In Quest of the Field of Diamonds_
+
+Strange adventures on the planet which is found to be a land of
+desolation and silence.
+
+
+ 6. ON A TORN-AWAY WORLD
+    _or Captives of the Great Earthquake_
+
+After a tremendous convulsion of nature the adventurers find themselves
+captives on a vast "island in the air."
+
+
+ 7. THE CITY BEYOND THE CLOUDS
+    _or Captured by the Red Dwarfs_
+
+The City Beyond the Clouds is a weird place, full of surprises, and the
+impish Red Dwarfs caused no end of trouble. There is a fierce battle in
+the woods and in the midst of this a volcanic eruption sends the
+Americans sailing away in a feverish endeavor to save their lives.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+_The Boy Hunters Series_
+
+_By Captain Ralph Bonehill_
+
+12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ FOUR BOY HUNTERS
+ _Or, The Outing of the Gun Club_
+
+A fine, breezy story of the woods and waters, of adventures in search of
+game, and of great times around the campfire, told in Captain Bonehill's
+best style. In the book are given full directions for camping out.
+
+
+ GUNS AND SNOWSHOES
+ _Or, The Winter Outing of the Young Hunters_
+
+In this volume the young hunters leave home for a winter outing on the
+shores of a small lake. They hunt and trap to their heart's content, and
+have adventures in plenty, all calculated to make boys "sit up and take
+notice." A good healthy book; one with the odor of the pine forests and
+the glare of the welcome campfire in every chapter.
+
+
+ YOUNG HUNTERS OF THE LAKE
+ _Or, Out with Rod and Gun_
+
+Another tale of woods and waters, with some strong hunting scenes and a
+good deal of mystery. The three volumes make a splendid outdoor series.
+
+
+ OUT WITH GUN AND CAMERA
+ _Or, The Boy Hunters in the Mountains_
+
+Takes up the new fad of photographing wild animals as well as shooting
+them. An escaped circus chimpanzee and an escaped lion add to the
+interest of the narrative.
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON CO., Publishers    NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE BOB DEXTER SERIES
+
+BY WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors_
+
+_=Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_This is a new line of stories for boys, by the author of the Boy
+Ranchers series. The Bob Dexter books are of the character that may be
+called detective stories, yet they are without the objectionable
+features of the impossible characters and absurd situations that mark so
+many of the books in that class. These stories deal with the up-to-date
+adventures of a normal, healthy lad who has a great desire to solve
+mysteries._
+
+
+ 1. BOB DEXTER AND THE CLUB-HOUSE MYSTERY
+    _or The Missing Golden Eagle_
+
+This story tells how the Boys' Athletic Club was despoiled of its
+trophies in a strange manner, and how, among other things stolen, was
+the Golden Eagle mascot. How Bob Dexter turned himself into an amateur
+detective and found not only the mascot, but who had taken it, makes
+interesting and exciting reading.
+
+
+ 2. BOB DEXTER AND THE BEACON BEACH MYSTERY
+    _or The Wreck of the Sea Hawk_
+
+When Bob and his chum went to Beacon Beach for their summer vacation,
+they were plunged, almost at once, into a strange series of events, not
+the least of which was the sinking of the Sea Hawk. How some men tried
+to get the treasure off the sunken vessel, and how Bob and his chum
+foiled them, and learned the secret of the lighthouse, form a great
+story.
+
+
+ 3. BOB DEXTER AND THE STORM MOUNTAIN MYSTERY
+    _or The Secret of the Log Cabin_
+
+Bob Dexter came upon a man mysteriously injured and befriended him. This
+led the young detective into the swirling midst of a series of strange
+events and into the companionship of strange persons, not the least of
+whom was the man with the wooden leg. But Bob got the best of this
+vindictive individual, and solved the mystery of the log cabin, showing
+his friends how the secret entrance to the house was accomplished.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS    New York
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES
+
+BY CLARENCE YOUNG
+
+_12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS
+    _or Chums Through Thick and Thin_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND
+    _or A Long Trip for Fun and Fortune_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO
+    _or The Secret of the Buried City_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
+    _or The Hermit of Lost Lake_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
+    _or The Cruise of the Dartaway_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC
+    _or The Mystery of the Lighthouse_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS
+    _or Lost in a Floating Forest_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC
+    _or The Young Derelict Hunters_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS
+    _or A Trip for Fame and Fortune_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE ROCKIES
+    _or A Mystery of the Air_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS OVER THE OCEAN
+    _or A Marvelous Rescue in Mid-Air_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE WING
+    _or Seeking the Airship Treasure_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS AFTER A FORTUNE
+    _or The Hut on Snake Island_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE BORDER
+    _or Sixty Nuggets of Gold_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS UNDER THE SEA
+    _or From Airship to Submarine_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON ROAD AND RIVER
+    _or Racing to Save a Life_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS AT BOXWOOD HALL
+    _or Ned, Bob and Jerry as Freshmen_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON A RANCH
+    _or Ned, Bob and Jerry Among the Cowboys_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE ARMY
+    _or Ned, Bob and Jerry as Volunteers_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE FIRING LINE
+    _or Ned, Bob and Jerry Fighting for Uncle Sam_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS BOUND FOR HOME
+    _or Ned, Bob and Jerry on the Wrecked Troopship_
+
+    THE MOTOR BOYS ON THUNDER MOUNTAIN
+    _or The Treasure Box of Blue Rock_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BASEBALL JOE SERIES
+
+BY LESTER CHADWICK
+
+_12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ 1. BASEBALL JOE OF THE SILVER STARS
+    _or The Rivals of Riverside_
+
+Joe is an everyday country boy who loves to play baseball and
+particularly to pitch.
+
+
+ 2. BASEBALL JOE ON THE SCHOOL NINE
+    _or Pitching for the Blue Banner_
+
+Joe's great ambition was to go to boarding school and play on the school
+team.
+
+
+ 3. BASEBALL JOE AT YALE
+    _or Pitching for the College Championship_
+
+In his second year at Yale Joe becomes a varsity pitcher.
+
+
+ 4. BASEBALL JOE IN THE CENTRAL LEAGUE
+    _or Making Good as a Professional Pitcher_
+
+From Yale College to a baseball league of our Central States.
+
+
+ 5. BASEBALL JOE IN THE BIG LEAGUE
+    _or A Young Pitcher's Hardest Struggles_
+
+From the Central League Joe goes to the St. Louis Nationals.
+
+
+ 6. BASEBALL JOE ON THE GIANTS
+    _or Making Good as a Twirler in the Metropolis_
+
+Joe was traded to the Giants and became their mainstay.
+
+
+ 7. BASEBALL JOE IN THE WORLD SERIES
+    _or Pitching for the Championship_
+
+What Joe did to win the series will thrill the most jaded reader.
+
+
+ 8. BASEBALL JOE AROUND THE WORLD
+    _or Pitching on a Grand Tour_
+
+The Giants and the All-Americans tour the world.
+
+
+ 9. BASEBALL JOE: HOME RUN KING
+    _or The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record_
+
+Joe becomes the greatest batter in the game.
+
+
+ 10. BASEBALL JOE SAVING THE LEAGUE
+     _or Breaking Up a Great Conspiracy_
+
+Throwing the game meant a fortune but also dishonor.
+
+
+ 11. BASEBALL JOE CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM
+     _or Bitter Struggles on the Diamond_
+
+Joe is elevated to the position of captain.
+
+
+ 12. BASEBALL JOE CHAMPION OF THE LEAGUE
+     _or The Record that was Worth While_
+
+A plot is hatched to put Joe's pitching arm out of commission.
+
+
+ 13. BASEBALL JOE CLUB OWNER
+     _or Putting the Home Town on the Map_
+
+Joe developes muscle weakness and is ordered off the field for a year.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+SEA STORIES FOR BOYS
+
+BY JOHN GABRIEL ROWE
+
+_Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Colored jacket_
+
+_=Price per volume, $1.00 Net=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Every boy who knows the lure of exploring, and who loves to rig up huts
+and caves and tree-houses to fortify himself against imaginary enemies
+will enjoy these books, for they give a vivid chronicle of the doings
+and inventions of a group of boys who are shipwrecked and have to make
+themselves snug and safe in tropical islands where the dangers are too
+real for play._
+
+
+ 1. CRUSOE ISLAND
+
+Dick, Alf and Fred find themselves stranded on an unknown island with
+the old seaman Josh. Their ship destroyed by fire, their friends lost,
+they have to make shift for themselves for a whole exciting year before
+being rescued.
+
+
+ 2. THE ISLAND TREASURE
+
+With much ingenuity these boys fit themselves into the wild life of the
+island they are cast upon in storm. They build various kinds of
+strongholds and spend most of their time outwitting their enemies.
+
+
+ 3. THE MYSTERY OF THE DERELICT
+
+Their ship and companions perished in tempest at sea, the boys are
+adrift in a small open boat when they spy a ship. Such a strange
+vessel!--no hand guiding it, no soul on board,--a derelict. It carries a
+gruesome mystery, as the boys soon discover, and it leads them into a
+series of strange experiences.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS    New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BOMBA BOOKS
+
+BY ROY ROCKWOOD
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. With colored jacket_
+
+_=Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Bomba lived far back in the jungles of the Amazon with a half-demented
+naturalist who told the lad nothing of his past. The jungle boy was a
+lover of birds, and hunted animals with a bow and arrow and his trusty
+machete. He had a primitive education in some things, and his daring
+adventures will be followed with breathless interest by thousands._
+
+
+ 1. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY
+    _or The Old Naturalist's Secret_
+
+In the depth of the jungle Bomba lives a life replete with thrilling
+situations. Once he saves the lives of two American rubber hunters who
+ask him who he is, and how he had come into the jungle. He sets off to
+solve the mystery of his identity.
+
+
+ 2. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE MOVING MOUNTAIN
+    _or The Mystery of the Caves of Fire_
+
+Bomba travels through the jungle, encountering wild beasts and hostile
+natives. At last he trails the old man of the burning mountain to his
+cave and learns more concerning himself.
+
+
+ 3. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY AT THE GIANT CATARACT
+    _or Chief Nascanora and His Captives_
+
+From the Moving Mountain Bomba travels to the Giant Cataract, still
+searching out his parentage. Among the Pilati Indians he finds some
+white captives, and an aged opera singer who is the first to give Bomba
+real news of his forebears.
+
+
+ 4. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY ON JAGUAR ISLAND
+    _or Adrift on the River of Mystery_
+
+Jaguar Island was a spot as dangerous as it was mysterious and Bomba was
+warned to keep away. But the plucky boy sallied forth and met adventures
+galore.
+
+
+ 5. BOMBA THE JUNGLE BOY IN THE ABANDONED CITY
+    _or A Treasure Ten Thousand Years Old_
+
+Years ago this great city had sunk out of sight beneath the trees of
+the jungle. A wily half-breed and his tribe thought to carry away its
+treasure of gold and precious stones. Bomba follows.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+THE BOY RANCHERS SERIES
+
+BY WILLARD F. BAKER
+
+_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_
+
+_=Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid=_
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_Stories of the great west, with cattle ranches as a setting, related in
+such a style as to captivate the hearts of all boys._
+
+
+ 1. THE BOY RANCHERS
+    _or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X_
+
+Two eastern boys visit their cousin. They become involved in an exciting
+mystery.
+
+
+ 2. THE BOY RANCHERS IN CAMP
+    _or The Water Fight at Diamond X_
+
+Returning for a visit, the two eastern lads learn, with delight, that
+they are to become boy ranchers.
+
+
+ 3. THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
+    _or The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers_
+
+Our boy heroes take the trail after Del Pinzo and his outlaws.
+
+
+ 4. THE BOY RANCHERS AMONG THE INDIANS
+    _or Trailing the Yaquis_
+
+Rosemary and Floyd are captured by the Yaqui Indians but the boy
+ranchers trailed them into the mountains and effected the rescue.
+
+
+ 5. THE BOY RANCHERS AT SPUR CREEK
+    _or Fighting the Sheep Herders_
+
+Dangerous struggle against desperadoes for land rights brings out heroic
+adventures.
+
+
+ 6. THE BOY RANCHERS IN THE DESERT
+    _or Diamond X and the Lost Mine_
+
+One night a strange old miner almost dead from hunger and hardship
+arrived at the bunk house. The boys cared for him and he told them of
+the lost desert mine.
+
+
+ 7. THE BOY RANCHERS ON ROARING RIVER
+    _or Diamond X and the Chinese Smugglers_
+
+The boy ranchers help capture Delton's gang who were engaged in
+smuggling Chinese across the border.
+
+
+_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
+
+
+CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers    New York
+
+
+
+
+ Transcriber's Notes:
+
+ --Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); text in
+   bold by "equal" signs (=bold=).
+
+ --Printer, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently
+   corrected.
+
+ --Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved, except as noted
+   below.
+
+ --Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
+
+ --Standardized instances of "Westcott" (p. 220, p. 222) to the more
+   frequent "Wescott" University.
+
+ --Retained author's long dash style.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Quarter-Back's Pluck, by Lester Chadwick
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40668 ***