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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fourth Down!, by Ralph Henry Barbour
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this ebook.
-
-Title: Fourth Down!
-
-Author: Ralph Henry Barbour
-
-Release Date: December 05, 2020 [EBook #63892]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
-             at https://www.pgdp.net
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOURTH DOWN! ***
-
-
-
-
-                              FOURTH DOWN
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: IN THE VERY CENTER OF IT, PLUNGING, FIGHTING, WAS HEMING]
-
-
-
-
-                             FOURTH DOWN!
-
-
-                                  BY
-                          RALPH HENRY BARBOUR
-
-                    AUTHOR OF “THE PLAY THAT WON,”
-                      “THE LOST DIRIGIBLE,” ETC.
-
-
-                            [Illustration]
-
-
-                        D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
-                         NEW YORK      LONDON
-                                 1920
-
-
-
-
-                          COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY
-                        D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
-
-
-                PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER                               PAGE
-      I. BACK TO SCHOOL                   1
-     II. NEW QUARTERS                    15
-    III. SID OFFERS ADVICE               25
-     IV. G. W. TUBB                      37
-      V. WITH THE SECOND                 46
-     VI. SIGNALS                         57
-    VII. TOBY MAKES A CALL               67
-   VIII. TUBB TRIES FOOTBALL             79
-     IX. YARDLEY PLAYS GREENBURG         94
-      X. TOBY EMPTIES HIS LOCKER        105
-     XI. TOM FANNING, OPTIMIST          117
-    XII. FIRST TEAM VS. SECOND          136
-   XIII. TEAM-MATES FALL OUT            146
-    XIV. TOBY AT QUARTER                156
-     XV. THE “TOUGH BUNCH”              169
-    XVI. TUBB WINS PROMOTION            189
-   XVII. AN “ACCIDENT”                  201
-  XVIII. A QUARTER-BACK RUN             218
-    XIX. ARNOLD HAS A THOUGHT           231
-     XX. AN ENCOUNTER ON THE BEACH      241
-    XXI. TUBB BARKS A KNUCKLE           255
-   XXII. A VISIT TO THE OFFICE          269
-  XXIII. TUBB ON THE TRAIL              283
-   XXIV. FRICK IS CALLED AWAY           294
-    XXV. FOURTH DOWN                    305
-
-
-
-
-FOURTH DOWN
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-BACK TO SCHOOL
-
-
-“We ought to be there in about twenty minutes,” observed Arnold
-Deering, glancing at his watch.
-
-One of his companions in the day-coach tossed the magazine he had been
-idly glancing through, to the top of the pile of suitcases beside him,
-yawned widely, and nodded without enthusiasm.
-
-“If nothing happens,” he agreed.
-
-“What’s going to happen, you chump?”
-
-“Nothing, I suppose. Only, something might. There might be an
-earthquake, or the train might jump the track, or――――”
-
-“Or you might talk sense, Frank! As for jumping the track, this old
-train couldn’t jump a crack in the floor! I guess you’re wishing
-something would happen so you wouldn’t have to go back.”
-
-“Oh, I don’t know,” Frank Lamson answered doubtfully. “I guess I don’t
-mind――much. School’s all right after a day or two. It’s getting into
-the swing, just at first, that’s hard.”
-
-“In the interest of education,” proclaimed Arnold pompously, “I move
-that summer vacations be abolished.”
-
-“Put it the other way around,” said Frank, “and I’ll second the motion.
-Joking aside, though, summer vacations are fine, but they certainly
-spoil a chap for hard work.” He shook his head dolefully. He was a
-heavily-built youth of seventeen, but the heaviness was that of bone
-and sinew rather than of fat. With regular features, dark hair and eyes
-and a healthy skin, he was undeniably good-looking, although the mouth
-somehow suggested a sort of lazy arrogance and led an observer to the
-conclusion that he was not invariably as amiable as at present. He was
-almost painfully correct as to attire.
-
-“Work!” sighed Arnold. “Why introduce unpleasant subjects? Ever since
-I struck Yardley fellows have dinned it into me that this year is the
-toughest of all. ‘If you think Third Class is hard,’ they said, ‘just
-wait till you’re in Second!’ It doesn’t sound good to me, Frank!”
-
-“Piffle! Fellows always talk that way. Even First Class fellows shake
-their heads and tell you they’re the hardest worked bunch in school,
-and any one with a grain of sense knows that the last year’s a perfect
-cinch. Anyway, you don’t need to worry. You’re starting clean. I’ve got
-a condition to work off, worse luck. I’m the one who ought to be sore.”
-
-“Too bad,” said Arnold sympathetically. “Still, ‘Old Tige’s’ bark is
-worse than his bite, Frank. You’ll get clear all right.”
-
-“Hope so.” Frank leaned across the piled-up luggage to look through the
-window. A fleeting glimpse of the sun-flecked surface of Long Island
-Sound met his vision, and he frowned, mentally contrasting the lazy,
-frolic-filled days of the passing summer with the duties drawing nearer
-every minute. “Light House Point,” he said, nodding. “Greenburg in ten
-minutes.”
-
-“If nothing happens,” quoted Arnold, with a smile. Like the boy
-opposite him, he was seventeen years of age, and, like him, too, he
-was extremely well-dressed. But in Arnold Deering’s case the attire
-appeared to stop short of effort, or it may have been that he was less
-conscious of it. While it is fair to call Frank good-looking it is no
-exaggeration to say that Arnold was handsome. A straight nose under
-a broad forehead, deep brown eyes, a mouth showing good-temper, and a
-round chin, all went to make up a countenance extremely attractive.
-He wore his dark brown hair brushed straight back, a style that went
-well both with his face and with his height and slenderness. There
-was nothing effeminate about him, though. He was not what fellows
-contemptuously call a “pretty boy” and his slim frame was well-muscled
-and suggested the best of physical condition.
-
-“Don’t think I’d mind if something did happen,” answered Frank, rather
-disconsolately, “so long as it put off the evil day.”
-
-“Cheer up, old thing!” laughed Arnold. “To-morrow you’ll be as gay as a
-lark, won’t he, Toby?”
-
-The third member of the party, who, next the window, had been occupied
-with a magazine for the last half-hour, turned a pair of very blue eyes
-toward the speaker and smiled. Although he had been following the story
-closely, the conversation of his companions had not been entirely lost
-to him, and Arnold’s question had reached him between the last word on
-page 19 and the continuation on an elusive page 134. “I’d never expect
-to see Frank as gay as a lark,” he replied readily. “If you had said
-as happy as a seagull, though――――” He returned to the search for page
-134.
-
-“Seagull?” protested Arnold. “The silly things never _are_ happy!
-They’re always crying and making a fuss.”
-
-“Oh, they’re happy enough,” said the other, with a twinkle in his eyes,
-“but they don’t want to think so!”
-
-Arnold laughed and Frank said, “You go to the dickens, Toby,” but
-grinned a little as he said it. There had been a time when he would
-have taken Toby Tucker’s jest not so amiably, but closer intimacy with
-that youth had rendered his dignity less tender.
-
-“Toby’s got you sized up, Frank,” laughed Arnold. “You do like to
-grouch a bit, you know.”
-
-“We all do, at times,” said Toby, comfortingly. He found the page he
-was seeking and settled back again. But Arnold plucked the magazine
-from his hands and tossed it to the opposite seat.
-
-“We’re nearly in Greenburg, T. Tucker,” he said. “Sit up like a
-gentleman and talk to us.”
-
-Toby looked reproachfully at his friend and regretfully at the
-magazine. Then he smiled. He had rather a remarkable smile, had Toby.
-It made you forget that his nose was too short, his chin almost
-aggressively square, his tanned face too liberally freckled, his hair
-undeniably red. It made him almost good-looking and eminently likable.
-Tobias Tucker’s smile was a valuable asset to him, although he didn’t
-know it.
-
-“What shall I talk about?” he asked. “Want me to tell you a dreadfully
-funny story?”
-
-“What’s it about?” demanded Arnold, suspiciously.
-
-“About old Cap’n Gaines,” replied Toby, innocently. “He――――”
-
-“_Help!_” cried the others with unflattering unanimity.
-
-“If you ever try to tell that again, Toby,” added Arnold, very stern
-and very solemn, “we’ll――――”
-
-But what was to happen in such an event was never told, for what
-happened at that moment very effectually ended Arnold’s discourse.
-There was a terrific grinding of brakes, a loud hissing sound, and an
-irresistible tendency on the part of every one and everything in the
-day-coach to proceed hurriedly to the front door. Because of various
-obstructions none succeeded, but all did their best. Arnold landed in
-Frank’s lap and Toby draped himself over the piled-up luggage, his
-head hanging over the back of the seat ahead. A cloud of unsuspected
-dust filled the car as, with a series of emphatic and uncomfortable
-jerks, the train came to a standstill. To the accompaniment of a vocal
-confusion of cries, exclamations, and grunts, the occupants of the car
-disentangled themselves from each other or picked themselves from the
-floor.
-
-“Get――off――me!” groaned Frank. “You’ve――broken――my neck!”
-
-“What was it?” gasped Arnold, relieving the other of his unwelcome
-embrace. “Are we wrecked?”
-
-“I am, anyway!” growled Frank. “Where’s my hat? Oh, thanks!” He
-accepted it from a dazed occupant of the seat ahead. Toby Tucker
-retired from his graceful position atop the suitcases and observed
-Arnold questioningly, his straw hat tilted down to the bridge of his
-nose. Arnold chuckled. “Guess it was Frank’s earthquake,” he said.
-
-“Keep your places!” admonished a trainman, putting his head in the
-forward door. “Obstruction on the track! No danger!”
-
-“Gee!” muttered Toby. “That was some stop, fellows!”
-
-“It sure was!” agreed Frank emphatically, feeling doubtfully of his
-neck. “It nearly snapped my head off! And then Arn landed on me like a
-ton of bricks.”
-
-“Let’s go see,” said Toby. “What’s this?” He raised a foot from which
-dangled Arnold’s hat. “I’m sorry. Sort of mussed, I’m afraid.”
-
-Arnold took it, viewed it ruefully and put it on. “It’s all Frank’s
-fault,” he grumbled as he joined the exodus through the nearer door.
-“He insisted that something was going to happen, and it did!”
-
-How near that something had come to being a catastrophe was revealed
-to them when they pushed their way through the throng at the head of
-the train. Not eighty feet distant from the pilot of the throbbing
-locomotive stood a lone box-car, its forward truck lodged against its
-rear. It was loaded and sealed and marked “Greenburg.” A curve in the
-track behind had hidden it from the fireman’s sight until there had
-remained just space in which to avert a collision.
-
-“How do you suppose it got here?” asked Frank.
-
-“Front truck got loose and the car broke its coupling, so they say,”
-volunteered a boy beside him.
-
-“Hello, Billy,” greeted Frank. “You on the train? I didn’t see you. I
-suppose this will hold us up awhile, eh?”
-
-“I thought they always had a caboose on the tail-end of a freight,”
-objected Arnold.
-
-“I believe they do,” agreed Billy Temple, “but this car and some more
-were on a siding about a mile back and they were sort of switching ’em
-into the Greenburg yard. Hello, Tucker. What car were you fellows in?”
-
-“Fourth, I guess,” answered Arnold. “If it hadn’t been for Frank,
-though, I’d have landed in the first when we stopped! Felt as if my
-spine was being pushed right through to the front of me!”
-
-“Me too,” chuckled Temple. “There was an old codger in my car with
-a basket of eggs. He got on at that last stop we made. There wasn’t
-much room, so he kept the eggs in his lap. Then Mr. Engineer put the
-airbrakes on and――Bingo!”
-
-“What happened?” demanded Arnold delightedly.
-
-“Why, the old gentleman and the eggs went on top of a fat man in front.
-Talk about your omelets! Oh, boy!”
-
-“Let’s go back and sit down,” suggested Toby when Temple’s narrative
-had been properly appreciated. “It’s too hot out here. And I suppose we
-won’t get started again for an hour.”
-
-“More like two,” grumbled Frank. “They’ll have to send a wrecking
-train and lift that car out of the way. Rotten luck!”
-
-“Hark to the plaintive wail of the seagull,” murmured Toby.
-
-“That’s right, Frank,” Arnold chuckled. “Ten minutes ago you wanted
-something to happen to keep you from getting to Yardley, and now――――”
-
-“That’s all right,” answered Frank haughtily, “but it’s nearly four,
-and supper’s at six.”
-
-“True, O Solomon! I get your viewpoint. There is much in what you say.
-Still, if we get moving again in an hour or so――――”
-
-“We might walk, if it wasn’t for the bags,” mused Toby. “It can’t be
-more than eight or nine miles.”
-
-“Eight or nine miles!” moaned Arnold. “And on an empty stomach!”
-
-“We-ell, I meant on the railroad,” said Toby demurely, “but if you
-prefer――――”
-
-“Wish we had a pack of cards,” said Frank gloomily as they returned
-to their car. “We might have a three-handed game of something. Or get
-Billy Temple in here.”
-
-“I’m going to finish that story I was reading,” said Toby. “You two
-play.”
-
-“Well, if we can find some cards,” began Arnold, leading the way to
-their seats. Then: “What’s the matter with the chap over there, Toby?
-Nose-bleed?” he asked.
-
-Toby, following his friend’s gaze, saw a pale-faced, large-eyed boy of
-perhaps fifteen holding a crimson-stained handkerchief to his face.
-“Guess so,” said Toby. “Maybe he got bumped. Wonder if he knows how to
-stop it?”
-
-“Do you?” Arnold asked, pushing by to his seat.
-
-“Yes, I know four or five ways. Guess I’ll ask him.”
-
-He left the others and walked back three seats to where the boy was
-hunched somewhat disconsolately beside an open window. He was a
-surprisingly unattractive chap, Toby thought, but maybe he couldn’t
-help that unwholesome white complexion. But he could help, Toby told
-himself a moment later, that very soiled collar he was wearing!
-
-“Nose-bleed?” asked Toby smilingly.
-
-The boy shook his head, looking up over the stained handkerchief with
-an expression of sullen suspicion in his staring brown eyes.
-
-“What’s the trouble then?” Toby took the vacant seat. “Let me have a
-look, won’t you?”
-
-After a second of hesitation the boy removed the handkerchief,
-revealing a short but deep cut on his upper lip. It was bleeding
-profusely. Toby clucked sympathetically. “How’d you get it?” he asked.
-
-“I was getting a drink back there,” muttered the boy, “when the train
-stopped. It threw me against the arm of a seat, I guess. Anyway, first
-thing I knew I was on the floor.” His tone was resentful and his look
-seemed to hold Toby to blame for the accident.
-
-“Too bad,” said the latter kindly. “Got another handkerchief with you?”
-The boy shook his head. “I’ll lend you one, then. I’ll get it and wash
-the cut well. You step back to the water tank.”
-
-Toby returned to his seat and dragged his suitcase from the pile.
-“Fellow’s got a nasty cut on his lip,” he explained. “Fell down when
-the train slowed up and hit on something.”
-
-“What are you going to do?” inquired Frank. “Operate on him?”
-
-“Find a handkerchief for him.”
-
-“Who is he? One of our chaps?” asked Arnold.
-
-“I don’t know. He may be. Doesn’t look it. Get your enormous feet out
-of the way. I’ll be back in a sec.”
-
-“If you want any one to administer the ether――――” suggested Frank.
-
-Toby laughed and joined his patient by the rear door. There he gave
-the wound a thorough washing, while the boy scowled and grunted. Then,
-seeing that the sides of the cut ought to be brought together, he left
-the other with a folded handkerchief pressed to the wound and made
-his way forward to the baggage car. When he returned he had a roll of
-surgeon’s tape and a wad of absorbent cotton. The boy protested in
-his sullen way against further repairs, but Toby overruled him. “You
-don’t want a nasty scar there,” he said cheerfully. “You hold this
-cotton there until I get the tape ready. That’s it. All right now. Hold
-steady, now. I’m not hurting you. There! Now we’ll roll this cotton in
-the handkerchief and you can stop the blood with it. I don’t think it
-will bleed much longer. Have you got far to go?”
-
-“Wissining,” muttered the boy.
-
-“Oh, do you live in Wissining?”
-
-“No, I’m going to school there,” answered the other resentfully. “I
-thought maybe you were, too.”
-
-“Why, yes, I am. You must be a new boy then.”
-
-The other nodded. “I’ve never seen the rotten place,” he said.
-
-“Really?” asked Toby rather coldly. “Well, I hope you’ll like it better
-than you think.”
-
-The boy stared back in his sullen fashion. “Shan’t,” he muttered. Toby
-shrugged.
-
-“That’s up to you, I guess.” He nodded curtly and moved away, feeling
-relieved at the parting. But the boy stopped his steps.
-
-“Say, what’ll I do with this handkerchief?” he asked.
-
-“Oh, throw it away, please,” said Toby.
-
-If he had done so this story might have been different.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-NEW QUARTERS
-
-
-At eight o’clock that evening, having reached Wissining only a little
-more than an hour late and done full justice to supper, Toby and
-Arnold were busily unpacking and setting things to rights in Number 12
-Whitson, which, as those who know Yardley Hall School will remember, is
-the granite dormitory building facing southward, flanked on the west by
-the equally venerable Oxford Hall and on the east by the more modern
-Clarke. There were those who liked the old-time atmosphere of Whitson;
-its wooden stairways, its low ceilings, its deep window embrasures and
-wide seats; who even forgave many a lack of convenience for the sake
-of the somewhat dingy home-likeness. Perhaps, too, they liked to feel
-themselves heirs to the legends and associations that clustered about
-the building. On the other hand, there were scoffers dwelling more
-luxuriously in Clarke or Dudley or Merle who declared that the true
-reason for Whitson’s popularity was that the dining hall, known at
-Yardley as Commons, occupied the lower floor and that fellows living in
-the building consequently enjoyed an advantage over those dwelling in
-the other dormitories.
-
-Not all the Whitson rooms were desirable, however. On the third floor,
-for instance, was one that Toby, when he looked about the comparative
-grandeur of Number 12, remembered without regrets. He had passed last
-year under its sloping roof in an atmosphere of benzine and cooking.
-The benzine odor was due to the fact that he had conducted a fairly
-remunerative business in cleaning and pressing clothes, the smell of
-cooking to the fact that the room’s one window was directly above the
-basement kitchen. This year the atmosphere promised to be sweeter, for
-Number 12 was on the front of the building, away from the kitchen, and
-Toby had retired from business.
-
-There were moments when he viewed his retirement with alarm, for,
-although his father had assured him that sufficient money would be
-forthcoming to meet expenses if Toby managed carefully, he couldn’t
-quite forget that, should anything interrupt the prosperity of the
-boat-building business at home, there would be nothing to fall back
-on. But Arnold had made the abandoning of the cleaning and pressing
-industry a condition of his invitation to a share of Number 12.
-“Homer’s not coming back, Toby,” he had announced in August. (Homer
-Wilkins had been Arnold’s roommate the preceding year.) “I wish you’d
-come down to Number 12 with me. It won’t cost you much more than that
-cell up in Poverty Row; and that’s an awful dive, anyway. Of course,
-you can’t go on with that beastly, smelly clothes-cleaning stunt, but
-you weren’t going to anyway, were you? I mean, since your father’s
-business has picked up so this spring and summer you won’t have to, eh?”
-
-Frankly, Toby had fully intended to. Being even partly self-supporting
-gives one a feeling of independence that one hates to lose. But Toby
-said nothing of that. He thought it over and, because he was very fond
-of Arnold, as Arnold was of him, and because Number 22 had been pretty
-bad at times, he yielded. This evening he was very glad that he had,
-as, pausing with a crumpled pair of trousers in his hand midway between
-his battered trunk and his closet, he viewed again the quiet comfort
-of the big square room. Wilkins had removed a few things, but they
-were not missed, and Arnold’s folks were sending down another chair
-and a small bookcase from New York for Toby’s use. A fellow ought,
-he reflected, to be very happy in such a place; and he felt renewed
-gratitude to Arnold for choosing him to share its comforts. Arnold
-might easily have picked one of several fellows as a roommate without
-surprising Toby: Frank, for instance. Arnold had known Frank longer
-than he had known Toby. Reflecting in such fashion, Toby remained
-immovable so long that Arnold, who had for the moment abandoned more
-important business to put together a new loose-leaf notebook under the
-mellow glow of the droplight on the big table, looked across curiously.
-
-“What’s your difficulty, T. Tucker?” he asked. “Gone to sleep on your
-feet? Reaction, I suppose, after the near-trainwreck!”
-
-“I was just thinking,” answered Toby slowly, “that this is an awfully
-jolly room and that it was mighty good of you to let me come in with
-you.”
-
-“Well, the room’s all right. (How in the dickens does this thing
-catch?) I like it a heap better than those mission-furnished rooms
-in Clarke. Of course, next year I suppose I’ll try for Dudley, with
-the rest of the First Class fellows, although I don’t know about
-that, either. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll stick here. It’s getting a
-whole lot like home, Toby. But as for its being good for me to have
-you with me here, why, that’s sort of funny, T. Tucker. Guess you’re
-not the only one that’s――er――that’s benefited, what? Rather like it
-myself, if you must know. Homer and I got on pretty well, all things
-considered, but that was mainly because he’s too lazy to quarrel with
-you about anything. Personally, Toby, I like a row now and then. It
-sort of――clears the atmosphere, so to speak. That’s why I thought of
-you. You’ve got such a perfectly beastly disposition and such a rotten
-temper that I can have a scrap whenever I feel the need of it. So, you
-see, it was pure selfishness, after all, old thing.”
-
-Toby smiled and went over to the closet with his burden. “We started
-with a scrap, anyway,” he said. “Remember it, Arn?”
-
-“Perfectly. I intimated that your hair was sort of reddish and you
-didn’t like it. So you came at me like a cyclone and we both went into
-the harbor. I remember it perfectly. It started because you wanted
-twenty-four cents a gallon for some gasoline.”
-
-“Twenty-two. You said you paid only twenty in New York.”
-
-“Anyway, I offered you less than you asked, and you said you’d pump it
-out of the tank again, and――――”
-
-“Good thing I didn’t have to try it,” laughed Toby. “That was only a
-little over a year ago, Arn! Why, it seems years!”
-
-“Much has happened since then, T. Tucker,” replied Arnold, tossing the
-notebook on the table. “Events have transpired. In the short space
-of――let me see; this is September――in the short space of fifteen months
-you were rescued from a living-death in the Johnstown High School and
-became a person of prominence at Yardley Hall!”
-
-“Prominent as a cleaner and presser of clothes,” laughed Toby.
-
-“Nay, nay, prominent as one swell hockey player, Toby, and also, if
-I mistake not, as a rescuer of drowning youths. Don’t forget you’re
-a hero, old thing. By the way, I wonder if young Lingard’s back. For
-your sake, I hope he isn’t. His gratitude to you for saving him from a
-watery death was a bit embarrassing to you, I thought!”
-
-Toby smiled ruefully. “You didn’t _think_, you _knew_,” he said grimly.
-Arnold laughed.
-
-“To see you slinking around a corner to evade the kid was killing,
-Toby! And he is such a little rotter, too! While you were rescuing,
-why didn’t you pull out something a little more select?”
-
-“Oh, Tommy isn’t a bad sort really,” responded Toby earnestly. “He――he
-just didn’t get the right sort of bringing-up, I suppose.”
-
-“Maybe. Personally, I always feel like taking him over my knee and
-wearing out a shingle on him! Well, this won’t get our things unpacked.
-Let’s knock off after a bit and see who’s back. Funny none of the gang
-has been in. Wonder if Fan’s back. And Ted Halliday.”
-
-“I saw Fanning at supper,” said Toby.
-
-“We’ll run over to Dudley after awhile and look him up. You like him,
-don’t you, Toby?”
-
-“Fanning? Yes, but I don’t really know him as well as some of the other
-fellows. He’s football captain this year, isn’t he?”
-
-“Yes.” Arnold nodded and then frowned. “Sometimes I wish we’d elected
-some one else: Ted, maybe, or Jim Rose.”
-
-“Why? I thought you liked Fanning a lot. And he was the whole thing
-last year in the Broadwood game, wasn’t he?”
-
-“I do like him. He’s a mighty fine chap. And he’s a whale of a player.
-Only, what sort of a captain will he make? He’s too easy, to my way
-of thinking. He’s likely to fall for a lot of fellows who can’t
-play much just because they’re friends of his. I don’t mean that he
-will intentionally show favoritism, but he’s too plaguy loyal to his
-friends, Toby. To tell the truth, I’m half inclined to stay out of
-it this fall――No, that isn’t so, either. What I do mean is that I’m
-scared that Fan may keep me on even if I don’t really make good. And
-I’d hate that worse than poison. I want to make the team, but I don’t
-want fellows to wink and laugh and look wise about me. You know the
-sort of stuff: ‘Oh, Deering, ye-es, he’s all right. But it’s lucky for
-him Fanning’s a friend of his!’ That sort of guff. Of course, this new
-coach, Lyle, may be a chap with a mind of his own and not stand for any
-of the friend-of-my-youth stuff. I hope so. I’d feel better anyway. By
-the way, you haven’t changed your mind, Toby?”
-
-“About football? No.”
-
-“I wish you would. Why don’t you?”
-
-“Lots of reasons,” answered Toby smilingly. “In the first place, I
-tried it last fall. In the sec――――”
-
-“You call that trying? You just went out with a whole mob of fellows
-and loafed around until they got tired of walking on you. Besides, you
-were out for the Second. The First’s a different proposition, son,
-especially now that you’ve made good in hockey. Every one knows that
-you’ll be hockey captain next year.”
-
-“It’s more than I know,” said Toby good-naturedly. “Anyhow――――”
-
-“And you’re at least fifteen pounds heavier than a year ago. They said
-you were too light, didn’t they?”
-
-“They meant in the head,” replied the other gravely.
-
-“They were dead right, too! But, honest, old thing, joking aside――――”
-
-“Arn, I haven’t got time for football and I can’t afford it.”
-
-“That’s what you said about hockey last winter. And you were so pressed
-for time that you copped a Ripley Scholarship! As for ‘affording’ it,
-where’s the expense come in?”
-
-“Togs and things,” answered Toby. “And traveling expenses. Arn, if
-I went in for football and made the team――which I couldn’t do in a
-million years――I’d have to go back to sponging coats and pressing
-trousers, and that would make the room awfully smelly, and you wouldn’t
-like it a bit.” And Toby ended with a laugh.
-
-“Piffle! All right, have your own stubborn way. You’ll miss a whole lot
-of fun, though.”
-
-“And a whole lot of bruises! Anyway, Arn, one football hero is enough
-in a family. I’ll stay at home and cut surgeon’s plaster for you and
-keep your crutches handy and hear your alibis.”
-
-“Idiot,” said Arnold. “Come on, dump that truck on the chair and let’s
-go over to Dudley. I want to hear some sensible conversation for a
-change.”
-
-“You don’t mean you’re going to keep quiet all evening, do you?” asked
-Toby with concern.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-SID OFFERS ADVICE
-
-
-The school year began the next morning. Many new faces confronted
-Toby in the recitation rooms and some familiar ones were missing.
-Toby’s list of friends had not been a long one last year, although
-acquaintances had been many. It had been his first year at Yardley
-Hall, which fact, coupled with a fairly retiring disposition, had left
-him rather on the outside. It is always a handicap to enter school
-in a class below your friends, which is what Toby had done. Arnold
-and Frank, both a year older, had been in the Third, while Toby had
-gone into the Fourth. Consequently the fellows he had met through
-Arnold――Frank had not counted greatly as a friend last year――had few
-interests that were Toby’s. To be sure, in early spring, after he had
-made a success of hockey, things had been somewhat different. But even
-then he had remained a pretty insignificant person among the three
-hundred and odd that made up the student body of Yardley Hall School.
-Not that Toby cared or thought much about it. He was too busy getting
-through the year without calling on his father for further financial
-assistance to pay much attention to the gentle art of acquiring friends.
-
-One friend, however, Toby had had, whether or no. That was Tommy
-Lingard, a Preparatory Class youngster, pink-cheeked, blue-eyed, shy
-and, in appearance, the soul of innocence. That he wasn’t as spotless
-as he looked has nothing to do with this story. Toby had saved Tommy
-from drowning, and thereafter the younger boy had attached himself to
-his benefactor like a shadow. It had been very embarrassing at times,
-for saving a person’s life does not necessarily imply that you want to
-spend the rest of your life in that person’s company! Toby didn’t like
-Tommy, for which there was a reason, but he couldn’t be brutal to him,
-and short of being brutal there had seemed no way of evading Tommy’s
-doglike devotion and his unwelcome companionship. It had become a joke
-to Arnold and a few others, but Toby found it far from that. When June
-had brought the end of the school year Toby couldn’t have told you
-whether he was more delighted at finishing an Honor Man in his class
-or at getting rid of Tommy Lingard!
-
-He had returned this fall with a grim determination to be rid of the
-boy at any cost short of murder, but to-day, glancing uneasily about
-as he passed from one recitation to another, he was not so sure of
-himself. Probably, he reflected discouragedly, when Tommy appeared and
-got those big blue eyes on him he wouldn’t find it in his heart to
-be unkind to the youngster, and the whole wretched, tiresome program
-would begin all over again. Therefore when, hurrying from his last
-morning recitation at twelve, he almost bumped into Tommy on the steps
-of Oxford, he was at once amazed and relieved when that youth said,
-“Hello, Toby,” in a most embarrassed voice and sidled past. At the
-foot of the steps Toby stopped and looked back. Could that be Tommy?
-Of course it was, but it was a very different Tommy. He had shot up
-during the summer like a weed. His clothes looked too small for him,
-too short of leg and sleeve. He was thinner of body and face, the
-pink-and-white complexion had muddied, the blue eyes were no longer
-luminous with truth and innocence and the voice had dropped several
-notes to a ridiculous bass! In short, Tommy had changed very suddenly
-from a blue-eyed cherub to a commonplace and awkward boy. And Toby was
-very, very glad, so glad that he went the rest of the way to Whitson
-whistling at the top of his voice; or should I say at the top of his
-whistle?
-
-“Just shows,” he reflected as he skipped up the stairs, “that it
-doesn’t pay to worry about anything that may happen, because maybe it
-won’t!”
-
-After a two o’clock séance with “Old Tige,” by which name Mr. Gaddis,
-English instructor, was popularly known, Toby went with Arnold down
-to the athletic field. September had still a week to run and the
-afternoon was almost uncomfortably hot. Across the river, the wide
-expanse of salt marsh was still green in places, and overhead the sky
-was unflecked by clouds. Fortunately a little westerly breeze mitigated
-the heat. Most of the tennis courts were occupied, a group of baseball
-enthusiasts were congregated over by the batting net and on the blue
-surface of the curving stream a few bright-hued canoes were moving
-slowly upstream or down. Toby found himself almost wishing that he had
-chosen a dip in the Sound instead of an hour or more of unexciting
-observation of some fourscore overheated youths going through football
-practice. However, the new grandstand, finished during the summer,
-was roofed, and as soon as Arnold left him to his own devices Toby
-meant to climb up there into the shade and sprawl in comfort. On the
-way they passed new boys here and there――it was easy to detect them if
-only by their too evident desire to seem quite at home――and they agreed
-gravely, pessimistically that they were a rum looking lot, and wondered
-what the school was coming to! Old friends and acquaintances hailed
-them from a distance or stopped to chat. Arnold was rather a popular
-fellow and knew a bewildering multitude of his schoolmates.
-
-“Seems mighty nice to be back again,” Arnold observed after one such
-meeting. “Bet you we’re going to have a dandy time this year, T.
-Tucker.”
-
-“Maybe you will,” answered the other dubiously, “but I don’t expect to
-unless they drop Latin from the curriclumum――curric――well, whatever you
-call it.”
-
-“Call it the course, old thing,” laughed Arnold. “It’s easier on the
-tongue. But I thought you finished strong with Latin last year.”
-
-“I did pretty well in spring term, but it looks tougher this fall. And
-I’ve got Collins this year, and every one says he’s a heap stricter
-than Townsend.”
-
-“Well, he is, I suppose, but he’s a mighty good teacher. You get ahead
-faster with Collins, I think. Anyway, it won’t look so bad when you’ve
-got into it, Toby. Besides, I dare say I can help you a bit now and
-then.”
-
-“You,” jeered Toby with a very, very hollow laugh. “You’ll be so
-full of football for the next two months you won’t know I’m alive!
-A nice outlook for me, I don’t think! When I’m not bathing you with
-arsenic――or is it arnica?――or strapping your broken fragments together
-I’ll have to listen to you yapping about how it was you missed a
-tackle, or got your signals mixed. Arn, as a companion you’ll be just
-about as much use as a――a――――”
-
-“Don’t overtax that giant intellect of yours, old thing. It’s too hot.
-Wonder where the crowd is. You don’t suppose those fellows are all that
-are going to report?”
-
-“It’s not three yet. Probably the rest of them preferred to stay
-sensibly in the shade while they had the chance. Wish I had! Arn, is
-that what’s-his-name over there?”
-
-“No, that’s thingumbob. Whom do you mean?”
-
-“The little man in the blue sweater-coat talking to Fanning. See him?”
-
-“Yes. I guess it must be. Isn’t very big, is he? Fan said last night,
-though, that he talked a heap of sense. I’m going over. Come along and
-meet him.”
-
-“No, thanks. I’ll wait here.”
-
-Arnold left him by the corner of the old grandstand and made his way
-toward where the new coach was in conversation with Captain Fanning.
-Toby saw Fanning introduce Arnold to Mr. Lyle and saw the two shake
-hands. Then something broad and heavy smote him disconcertingly between
-his shoulders and he swung around to find Sid Creel’s grinning,
-moon-like countenance before him.
-
-“Hello, Toby!” greeted Sid, reaching for his hand. “I had a beastly
-fright. Just when I was lamming you I thought maybe it wasn’t you after
-all. You’ve sort of thickened up since last year. Rather embarrassing
-to find you’ve whacked a total stranger on the back, eh? Much obliged
-to you for being you, Toby. I’ll never forget it. What sort of a summer
-did you have? You’re looking hard as nails and more beautiful than
-ever!”
-
-“Same to you, Sid. Are you going out for football?” Toby glanced at the
-other’s togs.
-
-“No,” replied Sid gravely. “I’m going to tea at the Doctor’s.”
-
-“Well,” laughed Toby, “that was sort of a fool question, but I didn’t
-know you were a football shark.”
-
-“I’m not; I’m just a minnow. I’m trying for the Second. I always do.
-I’ve been trying for the Second Team for years and years. If I’m not
-here they postpone until next day. I should think you’d go in for the
-game, Toby. Ever tried it?”
-
-“A little. I was out for the Second last fall, but I didn’t stay long.”
-
-“That so? I don’t remember seeing you.”
-
-“Funny, Sid; there were only about eighty of us the first day!”
-
-“Well, I didn’t know you then, Toby. Why don’t you try again? Didn’t
-you like it?”
-
-“I don’t know. Guess I didn’t have time to find out whether I did or
-didn’t. They said I was too light and fired me after three or four
-days.”
-
-“Well, you certainly have enough weight now. Come on and join the
-goats. It’s lots of fun. You get action, son, and it lets you out of
-gymnasium work while you’re at it. That’s something! Come on!”
-
-Toby smiled and shook his head. “Guess not, thanks. I never would make
-a football player.”
-
-“You? You’re just the kind, Toby. You’re quick and you’ve got a good
-head, and you’re built right, too. Wish I had your build. Only thing
-I’m good for is center or, maybe, guard. I’m too bulky. It isn’t all
-fat, though, believe thou me. Feel them here biceps, son, if you doubt
-my word.”
-
-“I kind of envied you your fat――I mean your muscular bulk, Sid――last
-winter,” answered Toby. “You could fall flat on the ice without hurting
-yourself. You just kind of bounced up and down a few times and didn’t
-mind it. When I fell I felt it!”
-
-“Never mind about me bouncing,” said Sid good-naturedly, with a grin.
-“I got around the ice a heap faster than some of the chaps at that. But
-about football, Toby――――”
-
-“I haven’t got time for it, Sid; that’s another thing. I’ve got to put
-my nose to the grindstone, I guess, this year.”
-
-“Well, haven’t I? Rather! But football won’t cut in on studying――much.
-Anyway, a fellow studies better for being out-of-doors and getting
-plenty of exercise and――――”
-
-“Yes, but I can be outdoors without playing football, Sid.”
-
-“Gee, you’re the original little Excuse-Me! Well so be it. After all,
-some one’s got to stay out of it and be audience, and from the looks
-of things right now, Toby, you’re the only fellow left to sit in the
-grandstand and cheer us on to victory. Look at the gang coming down!
-There’s a fellow I want to see. So long! Better change your mind,
-though!”
-
-Arnold came back for a minute and then left in answer to the plaintive
-squawking of a horn from farther along the side of the field. Fully
-eighty youths of assorted ages and sizes gathered about the new coach
-and the hubbub was stilled as the small man in the blue knitted jacket
-began to speak. Toby could hear an occasional word, but not enough
-to make sense, and, since it was no concern of his, he turned toward
-the grandstand and climbed up into the grateful shade. Forty or fifty
-others had already scattered themselves about the seats in couples or
-groups, most of them munching peanuts or popcorn bars, ready to be
-amused if amusement required no exertion on their parts. A lazy way to
-spend a perfectly good afternoon, reflected Toby. He wished he hadn’t
-let Arnold persuade him to come, but, being here, he lacked energy for
-the hot uphill walk back to the dormitory. He would stay awhile, he
-told himself; at least until the afternoon had cooled a little.
-
-There was a salvo of polite handclapping from the group within sound
-of the coach’s voice and it broke up. Andy Ryan, the trainer, emptied
-a canvas bag of trickling footballs and they were pounced on and borne
-away to various parts of the field. The big group became half a dozen
-smaller ones. It was only “kindergarten stuff” to-day, even for the
-veterans; passing and falling and starting; not very interesting from
-the viewpoint of candidate or audience. Toby located Arnold working
-with a squad under big Jim Rose. Arn was, as Toby knew, pretty soft
-after a fairly lazy summer, and the boy in the shade of the big stand
-smiled unfeelingly as he saw his chum straighten himself slowly in
-deference to protesting muscles.
-
-“He will be good and sore to-night,” thought Toby. “Sailing a boat all
-summer doesn’t keep a football man in very good trim, I guess!”
-
-After that he lost interest in the scene before him, and, his somewhat
-battered straw hat on one knee and the lazy breeze drying his damp
-hair, let his thoughts carry him back to Greenhaven and the folks in
-the little white cottage on Harbor Road. It would be very pleasant
-there to-day on the vine-shaded steps, with the harbor and the white
-sails before him and the cheery _click-clock_ of the caulking iron and
-mallet and the busy _pip-pup, pip-pup_ of the gasoline engine sounding
-across from the boat yard. Better still, though, would it be to lie
-in the stern of a boat, main-sheet in hand, and slip merrily out past
-the island to where, even to-day, the white-caps would be dancing on
-the sunlit surface of the bay. He was getting the least bit homesick
-when the sound of approaching steps brought his wandering thoughts
-back. Climbing the aisle was a somewhat thin, carelessly dressed youth.
-His head was bent and so Toby couldn’t see his face well, but there
-was something dimly familiar about the figure. Toby wondered why, with
-several hundred empty seats to choose from, the boy, whoever he was,
-had to come stamping up here. He sighed and changed his position and
-was relapsing into his thoughts again when he saw to his annoyance that
-the approaching youth had stopped at the end of his row, two seats
-distant. Toby’s gaze lifted curiously to the boy’s face. Perhaps it
-was more the two strips of rather soiled surgeon’s plaster adorning
-the chap’s upper lip than the features that led Toby to recognize him.
-Mentally, Toby groaned. Aloud, trying to make his voice sound decently
-friendly, he said: “Hello! Well, how’s it going?”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-G. W. TUBB
-
-
-“Hello,” answered the other gruffly.
-
-To Toby’s further annoyance he slid into the end seat, as he did so
-producing a folded but rather crumpled handkerchief from a pocket. This
-he held across to Toby.
-
-“’Tain’t very clean,” he said, “but it’s the best I could do.”
-
-“What is it?” asked Toby, accepting it doubtfully. “Oh, I see; my
-handkerchief. You needn’t have bothered. I told you to throw it away.
-Still, much obliged.” It had quite evidently been washed by the boy
-himself and ironed by the simple expedient of laying it while wet on
-some smooth surface, perhaps a windowpane. Faint brownish stains had
-defied the efforts of the amateur laundryman. Toby dropped it into a
-pocket, aware of the close and apparently hostile stare of the other.
-“Much obliged,” he repeated vaguely, for want of anything better to
-say.
-
-“’At’s all right,” answered the other. “Too good a handkerchief to
-throw away.” An awkward silence followed. Toby wished the youth would
-take himself off, but that idea was apparently far from the latter’s
-mind. Instead, he thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers,
-stretched his thin legs before him and scowled down at the busy scene.
-He looked to be about fifteen, Toby thought. His features were not
-bad in themselves, but his expression was sullen and dissatisfied and
-his complexion was too much the color of putty to be pleasant to look
-at. Also, his skin didn’t seem clean and healthy. The same was true
-of the youth as a whole. Toby thought a thorough application of hot
-water and soap would improve him a whole lot, at least externally. His
-clothes were of good enough material and fairly new. But they were
-full of creases and needed brushing. His shoes were scratched at the
-toes and would have been better for dressing and polishing. His collar
-was cleaner than yesterday, but creased and rumpled, and the blue
-four-in-hand scarf needed tightening. On the whole, this chap was not
-a prepossessing member of Yardley Hall society, and Toby had no desire
-to increase the acquaintance. But so long as he was here some sort of
-conversation seemed in order, and so, breaking the silence:
-
-“How’s the cut getting on?” Toby asked.
-
-“All right,” the other answered without turning his head. Then: “Say,”
-he challenged.
-
-“Yes?”
-
-“Your name’s Tucker, ain’t it?”
-
-“Yes. What’s yours, by the way?” Toby was sorry he had asked as soon as
-the question was out.
-
-“Tubb,” was the answer, “George Tubb.” There was a pause. Then,
-defiantly: “Middle name’s William. Go on and say it!”
-
-“Say it? Why, George William Tubb,” responded Toby obligingly.
-
-The other turned and viewed him suspiciously. Then he grunted. “Guess
-you don’t get it,” he muttered. “George W. Tubb, see?”
-
-“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” answered Toby indifferently.
-
-“You would if you saw it written,” said Mr. Tubb gloomily. “Everybody
-does.” He pitched his voice to a falsetto. “‘What’s the W. stand for?
-Wash?’ Gee, I’m sick of it. I tried to tell the guy in the office where
-you get registered that my middle name was Harris, but he said it
-couldn’t be that and begin with W. It’ll be W. in the catalogue, so you
-might as well know it now. Well, I’ve been ‘Wash-tub’ ever since I was
-a foot high, so I guess it don’t matter here!”
-
-“What’s the difference?” asked Toby. “One nickname’s as good as
-another, isn’t it? Names don’t matter.”
-
-“Some don’t. I suppose they call you ‘Red’ or ‘Carrot’ or something
-like that. I wouldn’t mind――――”
-
-“Hold on, Tubb!” Toby’s voice dropped a note. “No one calls me what
-you said. Some fellows have tried to, but they changed their minds.
-Understand?”
-
-Tubb grinned. “Don’t like it, eh? Thought you said names didn’t
-matter! Well, I don’t like my nickname any more than you like yours;
-I mean what fellows started to call you.” The grin faded and Tubb’s
-countenance became overcast again with the settled expression of
-sullenness. “Anyway, what they call me here doesn’t cut any ice. I
-won’t be here long.”
-
-“How’s that?” asked Toby, trying to make his question sound politely
-interested.
-
-“I’m going to beat it. This ain’t any kind of a school for me, Tucker.
-Gee, what would I do here? Look at the gang of highbrows and mamma’s
-darlings! They’d stand for me about two days. I know the sort. Some
-of ’em come to our town in summer. Think they ever have anything to do
-with us town guys? Not on your life! We’re too common for ’em, the dear
-little Willie Boys!”
-
-“Why did you come here then?” asked Toby coldly.
-
-“It was Pop’s idea,” replied Tubb. “Aunt Sarah died last spring out in
-Michigan and she left Pop some money. The will said some of it was to
-go for my schooling. I wanted to go to Huckins’s, in Logansport. Know
-it? It’s an all-right school and two or three fellows from my town go
-there. It don’t cost much, either. But Pop was set on this dive. About
-ten years ago Pop was in partnership with a man named Mullins in the
-logging business, and this Mullins had a boy who went to school here.
-Pop thought a lot of the Mullinses, and when he learned about Aunt
-Sarah’s will he said right off I was to go here. He got the high school
-principal to coach me all summer. I kept telling him I wouldn’t like it
-here, kept telling him it wasn’t any place for a storekeeper’s son, but
-he wouldn’t listen. He said he’d lick the hide off me if I didn’t pass
-the examinations, and I knew he would. So I passed. He’ll lick me if I
-go back home, too, so I’ve got to go and get me a job somewhere. Guess
-I’ll enlist in the Navy. I’ll tell ’em I’m seventeen. They don’t care.
-I know a fellow got in when he was a couple of months younger than I
-am.”
-
-Toby viewed Tubb distastefully during a brief silence. Then: “Seems to
-me,” he said slowly and emphatically, “the Navy is just the place for
-you, Tubb!”
-
-“Sure,” began the other. Then something in Toby’s tone made him pause
-and view the other suspiciously. “What do you mean by that?” he
-demanded.
-
-“Just what I said. What you need is discipline, Tubb, and a whole lot
-of it, and you’ll get it in the Navy. And I wish them joy of you!” Toby
-arose and crowded past to the aisle.
-
-“Ah, go to thunder!” snarled Tubb. “You’re like all the rest of them,
-ain’t you? Silk-sox! Who cares what you think? Say, I hope you ain’t
-caught anything, sitting alongside me like that!”
-
-There was more, but Toby didn’t hear it. Going down the aisle he
-was uncomfortably conscious of the curious looks bent on him by the
-occupants of the nearer seats who had been aroused from their sleepy
-occupation of following the practice by Tubb’s strident voice. He was
-glad when he had reached the ground and turned the corner of the
-stand. Passing between the busy tennis courts, he reflected that
-befriending strangers didn’t work out very satisfactorily for him.
-After this, he decided, smiling whimsically, fellows might drown or be
-cut to pieces for all the help he would offer!
-
-Just before supper, when Arnold came back to Number 12, a trifle
-washed-out looking and not moving very spryly, Toby narrated the
-outcome of the incident in the train. By this time he was able to tell
-of the meeting with George W. Tubb with a touch of humor and Arnold
-listened amusedly, stretched at length on the window-seat.
-
-“You’re right, Toby, the Navy’s just the place for friend Tubbs.”
-
-“Tubb,” corrected Toby. “There’s only one of him, praise be!”
-
-“We’re getting some strange freaks here of late, anyway,” reflected
-Arnold. “There were several on the field this afternoon. Well, it takes
-all sorts to make a world――or a football team! Say, T. Tucker, the new
-coach is a peach. Fan’s crazy about him, and so are the others. Did
-you hear the song-and-dance he gave us before practice? Some sane and
-sensible little speech, that was.”
-
-“What did he say?” asked Toby.
-
-“We-ell,” Arnold hesitated, “I don’t know that he said anything much
-different from what all coaches say at the start of the season. It
-was more the way he said it, I guess. Of course he insisted rather
-painfully on hard work, and told us what a fine, intelligent-looking
-lot we were.”
-
-“Must be nearsighted,” murmured Toby.
-
-“And said something nice about Fan. Oh, it was much the usual speech,
-only――well, it did sound different, somehow. One thing he did say,
-though, T. Tucker, may interest you.”
-
-“You may proceed, Mr. Deering.”
-
-“He said he wanted every fellow in school who had the possible making
-of a football player in him to report not later than Monday, and that
-if they didn’t volunteer he’d draft them! That ought to give you
-something to think about, old thing.”
-
-“Meaning that I have somewhere concealed about me the making of a
-football player?” asked Toby.
-
-“Exactly. You’d better keep out of Lyle’s way or he will grab you.”
-
-After a moment Toby, who had armed himself with towel and soap-dish
-preparatory to a trip to the lavatory, moved to the door but paused
-with his hand on the knob. “He can’t draft me, Arn,” he said.
-
-“Why can’t he, I’d like to know?”
-
-“Because I’m going out for the Second to-morrow.”
-
-“_What!_ Honest? When――How――――”
-
-But Toby had closed the door behind him.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-WITH THE SECOND
-
-
-Of recent years the custom of having separate organizations for the
-First and Second Teams from the very outset of the season had obtained
-at Yardley. In the old days the Second was made up, perhaps a fortnight
-after the school year had started, of players who were not needed on
-the First and those who, for one reason or another, were ineligible for
-it. As a result, the Second as an adversary for the First, or School,
-Team, never amounted to much until the season was half gone. Under the
-new system the Second came into being two or three days after the start
-of the fall term, with a coaching staff, small but sufficient, of its
-own, a captain elected the preceding year and a general organization
-similar to that of the First save as to size. The coach was inevitably
-some enthusiastic and patriotic fellow who had recently graduated and
-who gave his services free. At times――whenever possible, in fact――he
-summoned other graduates to his assistance. If he was a wise coach,
-he never had more than one assistant at a time. If he was unwise, he
-had――and chaos reigned.
-
-This year the coach was Mr. Burtis. Burtis had, in his time, been
-a remarkable half-back and an equally remarkable kicker, both in
-preparatory school and college. He had left college last spring and
-was, consequently, but twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. Because
-Yardley Hall history accorded him much fame as a player and leader, a
-great deal was expected of him. Toby’s first look at Kendall Burtis
-produced more surprise than anything else. He found himself wondering
-how any man could be as utterly homely as the coach and yet look as
-attractive, how any one could have so many angles in his body and yet
-be so free from awkwardness! Burtis was rather large, ruggedly built,
-square of frame. His mouth was broad, his nose somewhat pug, his hair
-nondescript in hue. Yet in spite of these things the face was pleasing
-and attractive. Perhaps the very dark gray eyes, clear and steady
-and honest, were accountable. Or it may be that the mouth expressed
-kindliness. At all events, after that first instant of surprise and
-confusion, Toby liked the new coach immensely. Whether the new coach
-liked Toby I can’t say. It is quite probable that he didn’t see him,
-for Toby was only one of some forty-eight fellows drawn up in a group
-on the edge of the second diamond that Saturday afternoon.
-
-Toby wondered what words of wisdom would fall from that
-generously-proportioned mouth, and he craned his head over Sid Creel’s
-shoulder that he might hear them all. What he did hear and see were
-hardly worth the exertion. Coach Burtis, a new football snuggled in his
-left elbow and his right hand thrust into a pocket of an old pair of
-gray trousers, looked pleasantly over the little throng for a moment.
-Then: “Well,” he said genially. “It looks like we had material for a
-good team here. Let’s get busy!”
-
-That was all. Toby felt a trifle neglected and disappointed. But he
-had to acknowledge that perhaps getting busy was as important as
-listening to a speech. After that, for more than an hour and a half, he
-had very little opportunity for feeling neglected. There were moments
-when he wished he might. Coach and captain were both believers in hard
-work, and both buckled down resolutely to the task ahead of them.
-More than half the material was inexperienced, much of what remained
-was useless, and only some twelve or fourteen candidates combined
-experience with ability. To-day’s work was the veriest drudgery, and,
-although occasional halts were called, yet the September sun did
-unkind things to many. Toby, rather to his surprise, discovered that
-he was not nearly so hard and fit as he had thought. After ten minutes
-of passing and falling, he perspired from every pore, and ere the
-afternoon’s practice was finished, he felt very much like a wet rag.
-Also, he had somehow managed to develop a painful crick in his left
-shoulder, close to his neck. And the muscles in the backs of his legs
-felt as if some one had pounded them with a board. On the whole, he
-was far less enthusiastic than he had been at three o’clock, and even
-the shower failed of much reaction. Dragging a tired body from the
-gymnasium across the yard to Whitson, he wondered by just what mental
-process he had the day before arrived at the decision to play football!
-
-As a matter of fact, there had been, so far as he could recall, no
-mental process at all. Arnold had threatened him with the First Team
-draft and almost without reflection he had announced that he was going
-out for the Second! Ten minutes before, or even three, he had had no
-more idea of a football career than he had had of jumping from the
-window. Well, reflected Toby ruefully, it just showed that you couldn’t
-be too careful of impulses!
-
-He supposed that Sid Creel was mainly responsible for these aching
-muscles. He had resolutely refused to be persuaded by Sid’s arguments,
-and yet, apparently, he had been! Or else he had done it just to
-surprise Arnold. Maybe that was it. If it was, it was a mighty poor
-reason! Any amount of surprise on the part of Arnold wasn’t worth the
-soreness of those leg muscles! He groaned as he started up the stairs,
-but nearing the door of Number 12, he assumed a carefree and nonchalant
-air designed to deceive Arnold in case that youth was within.
-
-He wasn’t, though, and Toby was thankful. It gave him a chance to lie
-down on the window seat, groaning as much as he pleased while doing it,
-without arousing curiosity. He dropped his cap――he had put by the straw
-hat――on the nearest object and divested himself of an unnecessary coat.
-It was while he was getting rid of the latter article of apparel that
-his eyes fell on an envelope propped against the base of the droplight
-on his side of the table. It bore his name in funny up-and-down
-characters, like the writing of a boy of ten, and the postmark showed
-that it was mailed in Wissining that morning. Of course, it might be
-only an invitation to deal at one of the few local stores, but there
-was evidence against that premise; such as the lack of any address in
-the corner, the queer writing and a brownish smudge along the flap
-suggesting that unclean hands had sealed the envelope. He bore it
-to the window seat, settled himself cautiously against the pile of
-cushions, stretched his aching legs out and tore open the letter. A
-single sheet of blue-ruled paper emerged. Toby read it frowningly.
-
-    Dear Tucker: I’m sorry for what I said this afternoon. I didn’t
-    mean it because you are the only fellow at this place who has
-    been decent towards me since I came here. I got mad and I
-    wish I hadn’t and I’m sorry. I wish you’d forgive me, please,
-    Tucker. I guess what you said was true about the Navy, I mean,
-    and maybe I’ll do like I said. Every one here shows plain that
-    I am not wanted at this school and I guess the sooner I beat it
-    the better. If more fellows were like you maybe I could stick
-    it out. I am not afraid of the studies. It is not that, but the
-    fellows here are not my kind I suppose. You are not either, but
-    you acted like you did not think much about that. I am just
-    writing this because you were decent to me in the train that
-    day, more than any other fellow has been, and I do not want
-    you to think I am no good at all, with no gratitude. If I do
-    not see you again, good-by and good luck, from Yours Truly,
-    Geo. W. Tubb.
-
-Toward the end of the queer epistle Toby’s frown disappeared, and when
-he had read it once he read it again. After that he laid it down and
-looked out over the woods below the railroad cut, at the foot of the
-Prospect, and so to the blue expanse of Long Island Sound. A sail boat
-dipped slowly along the shore and afar out a cocky tug was leading a
-draggled parade of three coal barges. Presently the frown crept back
-again, and he lifted the letter, folded it and put it back in its
-envelope.
-
-“Suppose I ought to answer it,” he thought, “only, what can I say? Tell
-him I don’t mind what he said, I suppose, although it happens that I do
-mind. At least, I ought to. He’s a very objectionable, soggy-minded,
-unclean fellow, and I don’t want any more to do with him. Still, that
-doesn’t say that he isn’t having a horribly messy time here. Of course
-fellows don’t take to him. He looks dirty and bad-tempered and he talks
-worse than he looks. He doesn’t belong here. Seems to realize it, too.
-Shows he has some sense, doesn’t it? Well, I didn’t say he didn’t have
-sense. Trouble with him is he’s been left to do as he likes too much,
-I guess. Bet you I know that father of his. Severe as anything when
-things go wrong, and the rest of the time doesn’t pay any attention to
-the kid. He didn’t say anything about a mother or brothers or sisters.
-Probably there’s just the two of them in one of those mean little towns
-where nothing ever happens that’s worth while. Bet you there isn’t
-even a movie theater there! Dad puts out the lamp at nine o’clock and
-goes to bed and the kid has to go, too, and the only way he can have
-any excitement is to sneak down the rain-spout and get into mischief!
-Oh, well, it’s no affair of mine. Still, I am sort of sorry for Tubb.
-‘Washtub.’ Beastly nickname! Wonder who his adviser is. Probably hasn’t
-been near him, and would only growl and be ugly if he went. Best thing
-can happen to George W. Tubb is to seek pastures new.”
-
-Toby yawned and closed his eyes. The faint breath of cool evening air
-that blew in through the open window beside him made him feel very
-sleepy. He would write a couple of lines to Tibb――no, Tubb――after
-supper. Tell him it’s all right, and――――
-
-Toby fell asleep.
-
-Ten minutes later he dreamed that he was falling down innumerable
-flights of stairs, bounding from one to another with ever increasing
-momentum. He didn’t seem concerned about the process of falling, but he
-knew that when he reached the bottom, if he ever did, there would be
-an awful smash! In case there shouldn’t be enough left of him to groan
-then, maybe he had better do it now. So he did, quite frightfully. And
-opened his eyes to find Arnold and Frank tugging at him and laughing.
-
-“Wake up, Toby! It isn’t true!”
-
-“N-no,” agreed Toby doubtfully. “But――I’m glad you stopped me before I
-got to the bottom!”
-
-“Nightmare?” asked Frank. “I have it sometimes. Get a move on. We’re
-going to get supper early and beat it over to Greenburg for the first
-house at the movies.”
-
-“I don’t see any use in my spending good money to see movies,” demurred
-Toby, sitting up sleepily, “when all I’ve got to do is go to sleep and
-have movies of my own!”
-
-Arnold grinned. “How did practice go?” he asked significantly.
-
-“Fine.” Toby was quite cheerful and nonchalant. “Made me sleepy,
-though, I guess.”
-
-“Hope you’re not tired or lame or anything like that? You had such a
-lot of fun ragging me yesterday, you know. Too bad if _you_――er――――”
-
-“Me? Oh, well, it was pretty warm, of course, but when you’re in good
-hard condition――――”
-
-“What’s the matter?” asked Arnold, grinning.
-
-“Matter? Why?”
-
-“I thought you made a face when you stood up. My mistake, of course!”
-
-“I don’t know what you’re getting at,” declared Toby with great
-dignity. “If you think that a little football practice――_ouch! Gee!_”
-He sat down again on the window seat and rubbed his back ruefully,
-while the others laughed with wicked glee.
-
-“It won’t do, old thing! There’s no use stalling. You’re as bad as I
-was yesterday, when you had the beautiful cheek to sit there and read
-me a lecture on not keeping fit! Where does it hurt worst?”
-
-“All over,” groaned Toby. “I’ll be all right after I move around
-a while, though. That’s one advantage of being in fine physical
-condition: you may get a bit lame but you get right over it!”
-
-“Isn’t he the wonderful bluffer?” asked Arnold admiringly to Frank.
-“Well, go ahead and move around, old thing. It’s five minutes of, and
-we want to get over there before seven.”
-
-“Tell me one thing first,” begged Toby, squirming about from his waist
-up. “Do they have cushions on the seats at the movie house?”
-
-“Oh, yes, and they’ll give you a couple of pillows at the ticket office
-if you ask for ’em,” answered Frank. “Hustle now!”
-
-“What you tell me sounds perfectly beautiful,” said Toby sadly, “but
-I’m afraid it isn’t true.”
-
-Thereupon Arnold thrust towel and soap into his hands, Frank held the
-door open and between them they pushed him, groaning and remonstrating,
-into the corridor and headed him toward the lavatory.
-
-“It’s really an awful joke on him,” chuckled Arnold as Toby’s lagging
-footsteps receded down the hall. “He thought he was as hard as nails,
-and had a fine time crowing over me yesterday. Said it took more than
-sailing a boat to keep a fellow in shape!”
-
-“I guess the only way to keep fit enough for football,” said Frank,
-feelingly, “is to chop trees all summer. I was just about all in last
-night. How did you manage to persuade him to take up football, anyway,
-Arn? I thought he was dead set against it.”
-
-“So did I. _I_ didn’t persuade him. I don’t know who did――or what! He
-sprung it on me suddenly yesterday. I’m glad, though. I think there’s a
-good football player in Toby, Frank.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-SIGNALS
-
-
-Although Toby was back in Whitson before nine that evening, it is
-needless to say that the note he had promised himself to write to
-George Tubb did not get written. In fact Toby forgot all about it until
-the next morning, when Arnold found Tubb’s letter on the floor and
-asked Toby if it was anything he wanted to keep.
-
-“No, throw it in the basket,” answered Toby. “Hold on, though! Guess
-I’ll keep it. I’ve got to answer it to-day. Stick it on the table, Arn.”
-
-Later it got buried under a book and so during the course of a busy day
-or two Toby again forgot it. He might have remembered it on Sunday,
-which, as at every preparatory school in the land, was the recognized
-letter-writing day of the week at Yardley, but he didn’t. He wrote to
-his folks in the afternoon until Arn, who never spent much time on his
-correspondence, dragged him away to the river and a certain shining
-blue canoe. Then he finished the epistle in the evening just before
-bedtime, and retired with a fine feeling of duty performed. Monday
-witnessed a change in temperature. There was a light frost on the
-ground when Toby and Arnold hurried over to chapel, and, although the
-middle of the day was bright and warm, by the time practice began on
-the gridirons there was enough nip in the air to make work with the
-pigskin more agreeable.
-
-Toby found himself on a squad of fellows of much his own age and
-football experience――or lack of it. It didn’t seem to him that he
-showed much promise of ever being better than a dub at the game, and
-while he did rather enjoy the work, he was not vastly concerned over
-the prospect of being dropped. He had been dropped very promptly last
-fall, and he expected a similar fate this season. Of course, he was
-heavier now than then, but he guessed football required something more
-than weight of a fellow. Sid Creel was playing center on another squad
-in signal drill that Monday afternoon, so far as Toby could discern,
-conducting himself in a highly meritorious fashion. Sid had weight and,
-apparently, ability, and Toby decided that this year his good-natured
-perseverance was to be rewarded.
-
-After three quarters of an hour of “baby-play” the Second Team
-candidates were summoned to the bench and Coach Burtis announced the
-first scrimmage. “Who have we for center on B Team, Harris?” he asked
-the trainer.
-
-“Center? Well, there’s Galvin and that tow-headed chap over there,
-Coach. And Creel. Creel’s got the build, all right. Want to try him?”
-
-“Yes. And Burnett and Hodgson for guards. And――what’s your name, you
-chap?”
-
-“Thorson, sir.”
-
-“Well, Thorson, you take left tackle on B. I want another tackle now.
-Who wants to play tackle? All right, I’ll take you: the fellow in the
-green sweater. Now, a couple of ends, Harris. Yes, they’ll do. Burns at
-quarter. Come on, Burns! And Folwell and――――”
-
-“Nelson’s played half, Mr. Burtis,” suggested Grover Beech.
-
-“I want him on A Team. Who else is there? Fosdick? All right. And that
-fellow down there, whatever his name is, for full-back. All right, get
-out there, fellows! You referee, Harris, please. I’ll be ump. I want
-all the rest of you chaps to follow the play closely and learn all you
-can. We’ll play two ten-minute periods, Harris. Team A takes the ball
-and north goal. Now then, let’s see what you fellows know about the
-game!”
-
-At first it didn’t seem that they knew very much, for signals went
-wrong, fumble followed fumble and the players became occasionally so
-inextricably mixed up that scrimmage had to be halted while they were
-disentangled. But Coach Burtis, alternately umpire and critic, was
-possessed of a vast patience, and toward the last of the first ten
-minutes things went better. Team A worked down to the opponent’s twelve
-yards and would have scored if the line had held. But a B Team tackle
-trickled through and laid White on his back before he was well started
-on a wide run, and after that Frick, quarter-back on the attacking
-side, missed a try-at-goal by many yards.
-
-A five-minute rest followed, during which the coach and the trainer
-and Grover Beech lectured and criticized, and then, with many changes
-in each line-up, the scrimmage began again. Toby still decorated a
-bench, looking rather colorful with his red thatch obtruding from a
-blue blanket. Toby had dutifully watched the efforts of the players,
-but it cannot be truthfully said that he learned much. Perhaps he was
-too attentive to the performance and fortunes of Sid Creel at center
-on Team B. Sid appeared to be playing his position rather well,
-Toby thought, although he didn’t pretend to be anything of a judge.
-At least, Sid lasted longer than most fellows of his team, returning
-breathless to the bench only when the last period was more than half
-over. He squirmed into a place beside Toby, pulling a blanket about his
-broad shoulders.
-
-“I guess he didn’t have much on me,” Sid panted, “if he is ten pounds
-heavier!”
-
-“Who?” asked Toby.
-
-“Watson. He didn’t get past me once, and I turned him twice. Did you
-notice?”
-
-“Who’s Watson? Their center?”
-
-“Yes. If they’d given us a couple of decent guards we’d have put it all
-over that bunch. Burnett isn’t so bad, but Hodgson laid down every time
-any one looked at him! You didn’t get in, did you? What are you trying
-for?”
-
-“That’s what I’ve been wondering, Sid.”
-
-“I mean what position.”
-
-“How do I know? End, I suppose. Or half. Search me!”
-
-“Well, you’d better make up your mind. When Coach yells for an end the
-next time, sing out and race on there. That’s the only way you’ll get a
-chance. Beat the other fellow to it, Toby.”
-
-“I’d be afraid he’d take me,” answered Toby dryly. “I don’t know any
-more about playing end than――than you do center!”
-
-Sid grinned. “You watch me, Toby. I’m going to fade Watson before this
-season’s much older, my child. Honest, I really believe I’ve got a
-chance to stick this year. Of course, it’s a bit early yet, but――――”
-
-“What’s he yelling?” interrupted Toby. Play had paused, a youth was
-limping to the side-line and Coach Burtis was shouting toward the bench.
-
-“Quarter,” said Sid. He looked left and right along the benches. Here
-and there a player squirmed indecisively but none appeared to have
-enough courage to offer his services. “Guess all the quarters are used
-up,” mused Sid.
-
-Trainer Harris added his voice to the coach’s. “Aren’t there any
-quarter-backs over there? Get a move on, somebody! Any of you!”
-
-“Coming!” shouted Toby, throwing aside his blanket and jumping to his
-feet.
-
-“He said quarter, you idiot!” hissed Sid. “You aren’t a quarter!”
-
-“How do you know?” laughed Toby. “_I_ don’t!”
-
-“All right, this way,” greeted the Coach, as Toby raced on. “What’s the
-name?”
-
-“Tucker, sir.”
-
-“Ever played quarter, Tucker?”
-
-“No, sir.”
-
-“Well, then what the mischief――――”
-
-“Trainer said any of us, sir.”
-
-Mr. Burtis frowned, smiled and nodded shortly. “Go ahead then. Let’s
-see what you can do. Know the signals?”
-
-“Yes, sir.” Toby was pretty certain that he had forgotten them, but it
-wouldn’t do to say so! Turning, he caught the amused smile of Captain
-Beech. Toby dropped the lid of his left eye gravely and stepped to
-position behind center.
-
-“Look what you’re doing, Tucker,” warned the coach. “Third down and
-four to go.” There was amusement in his tone and Toby flushed. Third
-down and four, he thought hurriedly. That meant that a line play wasn’t
-the thing. What was, then? He hesitated and glanced doubtfully at the
-backs. The trainer blew his whistle. Something had to be done and done
-quickly. If B Team hadn’t been having luck with A’s line there was no
-use trying to get four yards between tackles, even on a third down.
-The teams were near the middle of the field, and A had three men back,
-evidently expecting an open play. Then why not――――
-
-“14――23――8――――” Toby’s voice sounded very weak and small to Toby.
-“14――23――――”
-
-“_Signals! Signals!_” The whole back-field was remonstrating, it
-seemed! His heart sank. He had got his signals wrong! But how? No, he
-was right. It was the others who were wrong!
-
-“Signals!” he cried, scowling at the nearer of the three backs behind
-him. “14――27――8――196――――”
-
-The team awoke to action. Full-back dashed headlong upon him, took
-the pass and went, twisting and boring, into the mêlée. Toby threw
-himself behind, triumphant. His signals _had_ been right, just as he
-had known! (It wasn’t until after practice was over that he learned
-that he had changed them the second time!) The play went through for
-well over three yards, the unfeasible for once proving feasible, and
-B Team exulted and looked approval at Toby. Toby tried to be modest
-about it, which, considering that he had called for the play in sheer
-desperation, not remembering at the moment anything else to call for,
-wasn’t hard! Some one, too, had walked on his face, and that helped him
-toward humility.
-
-Realizing that he had established a reputation for generalship, Toby
-tried hard to live up to it, but although B did not get the necessary
-eighteen inches or so on the next down, the succeeding play failed
-dismally and B lost nearly all she had gained. Toby tried to assure
-himself that the fault was the right half-back’s, but something told
-him that an end run from balanced formation was predestined to fail
-and that another time he would remember that there was such thing as
-a shift! Perhaps he would have vindicated the reputation gained from
-his first lucky play if the scrimmage hadn’t ended then and there; or
-perhaps he would have become exposed for the impostor he knew himself
-to be. At all events, Toby welcomed the whistle heartily.
-
-Afterwards, in the gymnasium, Grover Beech detained him on his way from
-the shower. “Snappy work, Tucker,” he said, smilingly. “Glad to see you
-with us.”
-
-Toby reflected the other’s smile in somewhat sickly fashion. “Thanks,”
-he answered lamely. “Of course, I didn’t know anything about playing
-quarter, Beech――――”
-
-“Well, you got away with it, anyway! That’s the main thing. And that
-plunge at guard when we were looking for a pass was clever strategy.”
-There was a twinkle in his eye, however. Toby’s smile broadened.
-
-“Have a heart!” he begged. “I didn’t know whether that play was going
-to right or left, Beech!”
-
-“Well, I’m glad it went to the right,” laughed the Second Team captain,
-“for if it had come my way I’d have been just as unready for it as Weld
-was! Going to try for quarter, Tucker?”
-
-“Gee, no! I’ve had all I want of it, thanks. I just did it as a sort
-of joke. I’m no football player, Beech, and you’ll miss my shining
-countenance in a day or two.”
-
-“Oh, I hope not,” answered the other. “Better stick it out.”
-
-“And you will, if I have my say,” he added to himself as Toby went off.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-TOBY MAKES A CALL
-
-
-That evening Tubb’s letter fell to the floor when Toby moved a book on
-the study table, and Toby, with a qualm of conscience, rescued it and
-re-read it, a perplexed frown on his countenance. Then he drew a pad of
-paper toward him and poised his pen above it. But that is as far as he
-got. After a minute of thought he put the pen down and resolutely, if
-reluctantly, pushed back his chair. “How late is the office open, Arn?”
-he asked.
-
-“Eight, I think,” replied his roommate, without raising his eyes from
-his work. “What’s the matter?”
-
-“Nothing. I――just want to find out where some one lives. Back after a
-bit.”
-
-Toby made his way downstairs and followed the walk to Oxford. At the
-end of the corridor the ground-glass panel marked “Office” still glowed
-with light, and when Toby pushed it open, Mr. Forisher, the secretary,
-was still at work beyond the railing. Toby made known his wants and
-the secretary silently pointed with his pen toward a list tacked
-to a board beside the door. The names of the students were there,
-arranged alphabetically, and Toby found the T’s and went down the list:
-Tolliver, Tooker, Traine, Tubb, Tucker――――
-
-“Whoa!” murmured Toby. “‘Tubb, G. W., Fremont, N. H., 4 C., W. 31.’
-What do you know? Right over my head! That’s the room Felter and Dunphy
-had last year. He and I are side by side on the list. Hope that isn’t a
-what-you-call-it――omen!” He retraced his steps to Whitson and ascended
-two flights of worn stairs. The upper corridor awakened memories,
-some pleasant, some otherwise. As ever, it was but dimly lighted by a
-single gas-jet near the head of the stairs, and its farther ends were
-pockets of gloom. For some reason electricity as a lighting method
-had never penetrated to Whitson, although the other buildings had it.
-Toby glanced toward the door of his old room ere he turned his back
-to it and made his way along the rough boards of the hall. Number 31
-was on the front of the building, about halfway between stair-well and
-corridor end. It was too dark to read the single card thumb-tacked to
-the portal and Toby knocked instead. There was a noticeable interim
-of silence before a voice that was strange to the caller called an
-ungracious “Come in!”
-
-Toby accepted the invitation. The only light in the room came from the
-green-shaded droplight on the littered table directly before the door,
-and its radius was small, leaving most of the room in shadow. For a
-moment Toby thought he had imagined the voice and that the room was
-empty. Then, however, his eyes accustoming themselves to the gloom, he
-saw a blur of white and gray beyond the table that gradually evolved
-into the form of George Tubb. Tubb was minus coat and waistcoat, and
-one suspender had escaped from a shoulder.
-
-“Hello,” said Toby uncertainly. There was something in the strained
-silence of the room that made him uncomfortable. “I got your note,
-Tubb,” he went on awkwardly, “and I meant to answer it――――”
-
-“That’s all right,” growled Tubb. “Forget it. I had a brain-storm.”
-
-Toby had advanced to the side of the table, and now his host was
-plainly revealed. Tubb had a towel in one hand and with it, as he
-spoke, he dabbed at his face. Each time the towel came away there was a
-new stain on it.
-
-“Hasn’t that cut healed yet?” asked Toby in surprise.
-
-“Doesn’t look so, does it?” muttered Tubb. He pulled the dropped
-suspender over his shoulder and turned as though in search of his coat.
-
-“But――――” began Toby.
-
-“It was all right till I landed on it!” interrupted a strident voice
-from the other side of the room. “I hope he bleeds to death!”
-
-Startledly, Toby swung about and peered into the shadows. Tubb laughed
-mirthlessly. “That’s what I’ve got to live with,” he announced. “Its
-name’s Ramsey. Have a look at it, Tucker. Show the gentleman your face,
-Percy.”
-
-“You big bully! You――you country jay! You wait! I’ll get square, all
-right. You’ll have――――”
-
-“What is this?” broke in Toby, disgusted and resentful. “You fellows
-been scrapping?” He stepped around to where the second occupant of the
-room could be discerned beyond the confusing radiance of the droplight.
-The appearance of the unhealthily-stout youth confronting him answered
-the question. Ramsey’s nose was bleeding profusely, and an already
-overworked handkerchief was doing little to disguise the fact. The
-boy’s face, pale save for flaming disks of red about the cheek bones,
-was convulsed with childish, helpless passion, and his dark eyes
-flashed as venomously as a snake’s.
-
-“You ought to be proud of your friend,” he exclaimed in a voice still
-high and trembling with anger. “The country jay! All he can do is
-call names and――and use his fists. I’ll get even, though! I guess the
-faculty will have something to say! I’ve stood all I’m going to from
-the dirty-neck――――”
-
-“Drop it!” shouted Tubb, springing toward him. Toby pushed him back.
-
-“Listen, you two,” he said vehemently. “There’s been enough of this.
-I don’t know what it’s all about, but you ought both to be ashamed of
-yourselves. Any one would think you were a couple of――of gutter kids!
-This sort of thing doesn’t go here, and you’d better learn that right
-now. Get a towel, Ramsey, and wash your face. Best way to stop that
-bleeding is to keep a cold bandage there. You――――”
-
-“No one asked your advice,” sputtered Ramsey. “He’s broken my nose――――”
-
-“I hope so,” growled Tubb. “I’d like to break your fat neck, Percy!”
-
-“That’s what he does!” Ramsey fairly shrieked. “You heard him! He’s
-always doing it! I’m going to the Office――――”
-
-“What is it he’s always doing?” asked Toby, puzzled and impatient.
-Ramsey became incoherent; but Tubb, with a laugh of derision, explained.
-
-“He doesn’t like being called Percy.”
-
-“Then why――――”
-
-“Because that’s what he is, a regular Percy. Besides, Percy isn’t any
-worse than Horace, and that’s his real name!”
-
-“Yes, and you call me by it! I’d rather be named Horace than Tubb any
-day! At least, I wash my neck sometimes, and that’s more than you do,
-you dirty――――”
-
-“I told you to drop it,” growled Tubb, again trying to push past Toby.
-“I’m as clean as you are, you fat sissy! One more crack about my neck
-and I’ll finish you for keeps!”
-
-“No, you won’t do anything of the kind,” said Toby severely. “Stop
-calling each other names and keep quiet a minute. The first thing you
-know you’ll have a faculty up here! What’s the matter with you fellows?
-Are you crazy?”
-
-“He’s always nagging me!” Ramsey’s wrath was turning to grief, and
-there was a sob in his voice. “He’s always calling me Percy――――”
-
-“Then let me alone,” retorted Tubb. “It’s bad enough having to room
-with a mother’s pet like you, without getting your lip all the time.
-I’ve warned you fifty times, haven’t I? Tell the truth now! Haven’t I
-told you over and over that I wouldn’t stand for your sneers and your
-silly jokes?”
-
-“I’m not afraid of you, you big――――”
-
-“Stop!” commanded Toby sternly. “I’ll take a hand myself now, and the
-first one of you who calls names will get a licking from me. I mean it.
-It may not be my business, but I’m going to make it that. Tubb, you sit
-down in that chair. Ramsey, you sit in the other one.”
-
-Tubb, with a fleeting grin, obeyed unhesitatingly. Horace Ramsey looked
-rebellious, muttered, smeared his face anew with the gory handkerchief
-and finally subsided. There was no lavatory on the third floor of
-Whitson and the rooms up there were supplied with washstands. Toby
-poured water from pitcher to bowl and soaked a towel in it. Silence
-reigned save for occasional muffled gasps from Ramsey. Toby wrung the
-towel half dry.
-
-“Hold that tight to your nose, Ramsey, and keep your head back as
-far as you can,” he directed. Ramsey twitched his heavy shoulders
-resentfully, but Toby tipped his chin back and planked the folded
-towel over the leaking nose. “That’s it. Hold it there with your hand.
-It will stop in a minute, I guess. Anyway, cold water will take the
-soreness out.”
-
-“Yes, it will,” snuffled Ramsey. “I don’t think! He’s broken it, I tell
-you! I ought to see the doctor.”
-
-“Oh, I don’t think so,” replied Toby reassuringly. “Noses don’t break
-very easily. They feel broken lots of times when they’re just bruised.”
-
-“I didn’t hit him hard enough――――” began Tubb.
-
-“You did, too! You――you hammered me!”
-
-“No, I didn’t,” the other growled, “but I will the next time!”
-
-“There isn’t going to be any next time,” said Toby quietly. He found a
-chair beside one of the beds and set it in front of the belligerents.
-Secretly, he was rather amused at the rôle he had assumed. He was no
-more than a year older than Tubb, and he might be Ramsey’s senior by
-even less; and he was far from certain that, should he be required to
-fulfill his threat, he was much more than a match for Tubb when it came
-to a fight. But he kept his doubts to himself and viewed the two with
-assurance. “Let’s get this cleared up now,” he went on pleasantly. “You
-two fellows will have to room together at least until Christmas recess,
-and you might just as well make up your minds to do it peacefully.
-What’s your objection to Tubb, Ramsey? You shut up, Tubb: you’ll have
-your say in a minute.”
-
-“He doesn’t like me,” said Ramsey, after a moment’s hesitation, “and
-he’s always nagging at me. He calls me Percy and makes fun of me
-because I wear decent socks and underwear and things――――”
-
-“You ought to see ’em,” muttered Tubb scathingly.
-
-“Please!” said Toby. “Ramsey’s doing the talking now. And what else,
-Ramsey?”
-
-“Well, he’s――he’s always at it! It would make any fellow mad, I guess!
-And he says I’m fat!”
-
-“All right. Now, Tubb, what’s your grouch?”
-
-“Oh, he makes me sick, Tucker! Look at him! How’d you like to live with
-him all the time? Looks like a fat white toad!”
-
-“I’d rather be a toad――――” But Ramsey stopped under Toby’s warning
-look, and subsided in mutters.
-
-“He says I don’t wash my neck and that I’m a country greenhorn,”
-resumed Tubb. “He’s one of these Willie Boys from the city who think
-they know it all. He wears lavender and old-rose socks and the cutest
-little union suits you ever saw, Tucker. And――oh, he makes me tired!”
-
-“Fine!” said Toby. “Now I’ll talk.” He turned to Ramsey. “Tubb says
-you’re fat, and so you are, Ramsey. You’re disgustingly soft and fat.
-You ought to be ashamed of it. If I were you I’d get rid of twenty
-pounds if I had to lose sleep to do it. Stop eating sweet stuff for a
-month, get outdoors and exercise. As for lavender socks, that’s your
-affair. If you don’t like being called Percy, don’t act Percy.” He
-turned to Tubb. “Ramsey says you don’t wash your neck, Tubb, and you
-don’t. At least, you don’t wash it enough. It’s not clean. I’ve noticed
-that myself. As for being from the country, why, you are, aren’t you?
-There’s nothing to be ashamed of in that, and if you aren’t ashamed of
-it you won’t mind being reminded of it. Now the real trouble with you
-two fellows is just this. You are both of you too much concerned with
-yourselves. You need to think about something else for awhile. Neither
-of you has a good big interest in life, and you need one. Know any
-game, Ramsey?”
-
-“Game?” repeated the boy vaguely.
-
-“Well, sport, then. Ever play football or tennis or golf?”
-
-“I’ve played tennis,” said Ramsey uninterestedly. “I don’t care for
-sports.”
-
-“You don’t need to tell me that. But wouldn’t you rather play tennis
-or golf, or even football, than have to take an hour in the gymnasium
-every day?”
-
-“I don’t think so,” muttered Ramsey.
-
-“You’ll change your mind presently, then. What about you, Tubb? You’ve
-played baseball, I guess.”
-
-“Sure.”
-
-“Football?”
-
-“Some.”
-
-“Good enough! I’ll get you started to-morrow. Got any togs?”
-
-Tubb shook his head. “I didn’t bring ’em. They weren’t――weren’t dressy
-enough for this dump!”
-
-“Can you afford to buy some new ones?”
-
-“Yes, if I want to.” Tubb sounded defiant.
-
-“Get some to-morrow before three, then. There are two or three stores
-in Greenburg where you can get fixed up. I’ll come up here for you at
-three sharp. What hour have you got free in the morning, Ramsey, on
-Tuesdays?”
-
-“Nine to ten,” replied Ramsey, after consideration.
-
-“Good! So have I. Meet me at the tennis courts at five past nine.
-Got a racket?” Ramsey nodded. “All right. That’s settled. Now I want
-you fellows to promise me something.” He eyed them both sternly. “I
-want you to promise me that you’ll both keep silent the rest of the
-evening. You’re not to speak a word, either of you, until you wake
-up in the morning. That is,” he added, smiling, “after I go. And I’m
-going now. Nine-five at the courts, Ramsey. Three sharp up here, Tubb.
-Good-night!”
-
-A sort of dazed silence held them both until the door was almost shut
-on Toby. Then:
-
-“Good-night,” stammered Ramsey, and:
-
-“Go to thunder!” growled Tubb.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-TUBB TRIES FOOTBALL
-
-
-Arnold was interested and amused, but he didn’t approve, and he said
-so. “You’ll have those freaks hanging around your neck for the rest
-of the year, T. Tucker,” he remonstrated. “You can’t make over a poor
-thing like this Tubb, or the other chap, from what you say of him. What
-do you expect to do? Play tennis with Rumsey――――”
-
-“Ramsey,” Toby corrected meekly.
-
-“_Rum_ is more like it, I guess,” accepted Arnold grimly. “Anyhow, do
-you mean to take him on at tennis every day until he loses his fat
-and――and finds a soul? Besides, you can’t play tennis for beans!”
-
-“N-no, but I dare say I’m good enough for Ramsey. Oh, I guess I have
-made a _faux pas_, as we say in French, but, hang it, Arn, you can’t
-see a couple of idiots making fools of themselves――――”
-
-“Idiots generally are fools, aren’t they? Look here, Toby, something’s
-gone wrong with your alleged intellect. You didn’t used to hunt trouble
-like this. You were beautifully――er――what’s the word?――beautifully
-aloof. Used to mind your own business better than any chap I ever knew.
-Now look at you! Going out of your way to get mixed up with all sorts
-of queer fellows like this Tubb and this other freak. Isn’t young
-Lingard enough of a warning to you?”
-
-“Tommy doesn’t love me any more,” answered Toby pathetically. “And I
-just must have affection, Arn!”
-
-“Affection!” grunted his chum. “What you need is a swift kick, my son!
-All right, all right, go on with your missionary work, but don’t ask me
-to help you out. And, for the love of lemons, Toby, don’t have these
-weird friends of yours in here!”
-
-“Well, I shan’t encourage them to call, but, of course, Arn, if they
-should――――” Toby smiled innocently.
-
-“Well, if they do I’ll beat it. Now shut up and let me study this
-beastly math.”
-
-But although Toby pretended to be undisturbed by Arnold’s predictions,
-secretly he was regretful. Why, he wondered, as he tried to fix his
-mind on the subject of French nouns, had he insisted on assuming the
-part of guide and mentor to those two unpromising chaps in Number 31?
-Of course, neither of them would keep the engagements he had made for
-them. Things wouldn’t happen as easy as that. Well, in that case he
-would have a good excuse to drop them, he reflected. After all, it
-wasn’t his business to look after their welfare. Besides, he was going
-to be far too busy, what with lessons and football, to fuss with them.
-Busy? Gee, he’d say he was! He meant to go after another scholarship
-this term, and that meant real work. He ought never to have taken on
-football. It wasn’t worth risking a scholarship for. No, sir, it just
-wasn’t! And he’d drop it the end of the week surely――if it didn’t drop
-him first!
-
-To his surprise, Ramsey was awaiting him at the tennis courts when
-he reached them, a minute or two late, the next forenoon. Ramsey was
-appropriately attired in white flannels and looked less objectionable
-this morning, even though his nose was still somewhat larger than
-normal. He greeted Toby rather sheepishly, as if ashamed of having kept
-the appointment. But Toby pretended that there was nothing unusual in
-the situation, and greeted Ramsey cheerily. Perhaps he was a little
-bit disappointed at finding the other there, though. If he was we can
-scarcely blame him.
-
-Ramsey proved to be a better player than Toby had anticipated. He had
-a puzzling service and a good back-hand stroke, and was rather crafty
-at placing. In short, if Ramsey had had half as much speed as science
-he would have run away with the first set. As it was, Toby finally
-captured it, 7 to 5. Ramsey wasn’t enthusiastic about a second set, but
-Toby refused to heed his reluctance and they went at it again. Now,
-however, Ramsey’s skill was more than offset by weariness, and Toby did
-pretty much as he liked with his opponent. He might have secured the
-victory very easily, but he purposely allowed Ramsey to take the fourth
-and sixth games, determined that the latter’s first dose should be a
-strong one. The morning was sufficiently warm to put even Toby in a
-perspiration, and Ramsey literally oozed moisture. The second set went
-as far as 4 to 2 and then recitations called them back to Oxford. There
-had been little conversation during the playing, but returning up the
-hill Ramsey became rather communicative.
-
-“I guess I could beat you, Tucker,” he said, mopping his flushed face
-with a sodden handkerchief, “if I wasn’t so out of practice. I haven’t
-played much for a couple of years. My heart isn’t very strong, you see,
-and my mother doesn’t like me to do much of it. In fact, one set at a
-time is my usual limit.”
-
-“Yes, you’d beat me easily if you weighed fifteen pounds less,” agreed
-Toby. “Who told you your heart isn’t strong?”
-
-“Why, I don’t know,” replied the other vaguely. “It’s always been
-that way, ever since I was a kid. Mother says I had scarlet fever or
-something when I was five or six, and that sort of weakened it. I dare
-say it isn’t really dangerous, you know, but you can’t help thinking
-about it sometimes. I get tired very easily. It was about all I could
-do to keep on my feet toward the last, back there. My breath gives out
-and my heart gets to pounding horribly. I’m strong enough other ways,
-though.”
-
-Toby surveyed him gravely. “You would be if you took care of yourself,”
-he said. “If you didn’t eat too much and took plenty of exercise you’d
-do, I guess. You’re as soft as a lump of dough now, though,” he added
-unfeelingly. “How much do you weigh?”
-
-“I don’t know. I haven’t been weighed for a long time.” Ramsey’s tone
-was aggrieved.
-
-“Run into the gym the first chance you get and find out. And make a
-note of it, Ramsey. Well, see you again. I enjoyed playing. Maybe we
-can have another game some day.” He was purposely careless and vague,
-and found his reward in the flicker of disappointment in Ramsey’s eyes.
-
-“I’d like it, too,” murmured the boy. “I suppose you’re pretty busy,
-though.”
-
-“Fairly, yes. I tell you what, I’ll drop around some evening and
-we’ll compare schedules. Maybe we can get in an hour now and then in
-the mornings. If I were you, though, Ramsey, I’d try to find some
-fellow to play with meanwhile. Take your racket down to the court in
-the afternoon and hang around. You can generally run across some one
-looking for a game. So long!”
-
-They parted in the corridor and Toby, hurrying along the west hall,
-told himself that perhaps, after all, Horace Ramsey was worth troubling
-about. Anyway, no harm had been done, and if Ramsey did take up tennis
-again positive good would result. All the boy needed was to get rid of
-a lot of fat by healthful exercise and wise eating. “Got to get that
-bum heart notion out of his head, though,” Toby added. “Probably got
-as good a heart as I have, or any other chap. Fine scheme to bring
-a boy up with the idea that he can’t play tennis or take exercise
-because his heart is weak! Swell way to strengthen it, loafing around
-and eating everything that’s rich and soggy! Of course, he may have
-something wrong with it; it’s possible; but I don’t believe it. I’ll
-get him to go to Mr. Bendix and see what he says.”
-
-At three o’clock Toby rapped on the portal of Number 31 according to
-agreement. Tubb bade him enter. Tubb was not, as Toby observed, ready
-for football. In fact, Tubb didn’t look to be ready for anything but to
-make himself disagreeable. Ramsey was not there.
-
-“Thought you were going to be all ready,” announced Toby as he closed
-the door behind him. “Get a move on, Tubb, it’s three now. Where are
-your togs?”
-
-“I didn’t get any,” answered the other defiantly.
-
-“Why not? Didn’t they have them? Did you try――――”
-
-“Oh, what’s the use? I’m not going out for football. What chance would
-I have? I don’t know any one and I haven’t any pull. And I ain’t much
-good at it, anyway.”
-
-“You can learn, can’t you? There isn’t time to argue about it, Tubb.
-You can get your togs to-morrow. I’ll get you fixed out all right for
-to-day. I’ve got an old pair of pants in my locker, and we can borrow
-shoes. You’ve got an old sweater, haven’t you?”
-
-“I’ve changed my mind,” growled Tubb stubbornly.
-
-“I haven’t,” replied Toby pleasantly. “Come on now! We’ve got
-to hustle! I told them I was going to bring you, and they’ll be
-disappointed if I don’t.”
-
-Tubb inelegantly expressed unbelief. “Told who?” he demanded.
-
-“Never mind who,” said Toby, “you come on and see.” To be very
-truthful, Toby had quite casually mentioned to Grover Beech at noon
-that he was bringing another Second Team candidate out with him in the
-afternoon, and Beech had nodded approvingly, but that Beech would be
-disappointed was somewhat problematical.
-
-“Well,” said Tubb, “I can’t go to-day. Maybe to-morrow――――”
-
-Toby stepped forward and to Tubb’s vast surprise pulled the latter
-swiftly to his feet. “Where’s that sweater?” he demanded. Tubb blinked,
-his mouth open for words that didn’t come. “Which is your closet?”
-continued Toby quickly. Tubb’s eyes shifted to the left and Toby pulled
-open a door, fumbled through the few garments hanging beyond it and
-pulled out a faded brown coat-sweater. “This isn’t the kind you want,
-but it’ll have to do,” he said briskly. He tossed it over his arm and
-threw back the door into the corridor. “All right! Beat it!”
-
-Tubb’s face expressed a queer mingling of resentment and relief. But
-even yet he managed to find objections. “Oh, what’s the good?” he
-growled. “I don’t want to play football, anyway. I don’t want――――”
-
-What he didn’t want was quickly changed to what he did want, for he
-found himself suddenly outside in the corridor, the door closed behind
-him and Toby’s firm, impelling clutch on his neck. “Wait! I want my
-hat!” he begged.
-
-“You don’t need a hat,” was the inexorable answer. “Go on! I tell you
-it’s getting late, and we’ve got to change yet. Hustle, G. W. Tubb!”
-
-Somewhat to Toby’s surprise, Tubb hustled. He tried to make a pretense
-of hanging back, but he nevertheless covered the ground between
-dormitory and gymnasium in very good time. The locker-room in the
-basement was fairly packed with First and Second Team candidates, and
-Toby was aware of an occasional curious glance, but for the most part
-the occupants of the room were too busy to pay attention to him or his
-charge. He found the old football trousers, borrowed a pair of shoes
-from one neighbor and stockings from a second, and presently Tubb,
-presenting a rather dilapidated appearance, was attired for business.
-He nevertheless looked, Toby thought, a bit more presentable in the
-battle-scarred togs than in the shapeless and wrinkled clothes he had
-removed. During the operation of dressing Tubb grumbled and sneered
-continuously, but he was no longer fooling Toby. It was plain to be
-seen that Tubb was really quite as anxious to get to the field as Toby
-was to have him!
-
-Several other newcomers reported that afternoon, and so Tubb was not
-alone as a tyro. Toby haled him at once to Sam Wansworth, the manager,
-and Tubb replied grumpily to the few stereotyped questions asked. Then
-practice was started and the two parted, Toby joining his usual squad
-and Tubb the bunch of latest recruits. It was an afternoon of good
-football weather, bright and crisp, with a straight breeze blowing down
-the field from the marshes across the glistening river. Beyond, on the
-First Team gridiron, a half-dozen punters and drop-kickers were busy
-in front of the north goal, and the pigskins arose and fell against
-the blue distance. Just above the boathouse the single occupant of a
-bright yellow canoe was struggling gamely against wind and tide, the
-sunlight flashing on the dripping paddle.
-
-Twenty minutes of passing and starting, and then Toby’s squad was
-trotted over to the tackling dummies and he had his first clutch at the
-moving, swaying canvas effigy. That his first clutch wasn’t a firm one
-is easily understood by those who have been through his experience.
-“Gyp” Harris was in charge, and Gyp wasn’t one to be easily satisfied.
-Working the rope that sent the dummy rattling along the cable between
-the posts with one hand, he used the other to point and gesticulate.
-Toby thought he had never seen any one more eloquent with one hand than
-the trainer! Not, however, that Gyp was dumb, or even tongue-tied. On
-the contrary, he had a strong voice and an effective vocabulary, and he
-kept both busy in a sort of sing-song fashion.
-
-“Next man! Feet together! Let ’er go! Off on the left! Get him! Hold
-him! Pull him down! Rotten, perfectly rotten! You tackled too high
-again! Next man!...”
-
-Occasionally there was pause while Gyp left the pulley and strode over
-to the head of the line and gave an illustration or criticized with
-ample detail some glaringly unfortunate attempt. “What have I told
-you about getting your body in front of the dummy, Bowen? Can’t you
-understand that when you tackle a runner from behind he’s going to drag
-you a way before you can stop him? Get in front of him so that your
-body blocks him. A man can’t push with his legs below the knees when
-he’s on his feet. Of course, you’re supposed to get to him hard enough
-to put him off his feet. But if he has slowed up to meet you your game
-is to lift him and throw him back toward his own goal. You can’t do
-that if you’re behind him because he will throw his weight forward. Get
-your body in front, lock his knees and lift. And don’t land on your
-stomach when you dive, Bowen. Land on your hip. See if you can’t get it
-right the next time.”
-
-Toby came to the conclusion that he was more than ordinarily stupid,
-but it is probable that he did as well as any of the others that first
-day. Presently they were dismissed, though not with the trainer’s
-blessing, and another squad took their place. Coach Burtis and Captain
-Beech had formed a tentative team of the more experienced or more
-likely candidates, and these were trotting around the field in signal
-work with Frick at quarter-back. Toby and three other fellows were sent
-across to the further side of the gridiron to catch punts, or, failing
-the catch, to recover them as best they could. At that game Toby found
-himself rather clever. He seemed able to judge the wobbling, descending
-balls with more certainty than his companions and to hold them better
-when they reached him. Having got a ball, he trotted back part way
-across and threw it the rest of the distance. He would have liked to
-punt it, but this was forbidden.
-
-Still later, he was set to taking snap-backs and passes from Watson,
-one of the candidates for center. He gathered that Watson had
-shown himself deficient in that branch of his play. It wasn’t very
-interesting work, for Watson was earnest and determined and erratic,
-and Toby spent half of his time chasing around after the pigskin. Once,
-taking passes from a distance of five yards and at an angle, or trying
-to, he became aware that some one was looking on and turned to discover
-Coach Burtis behind him. The coach nodded encouragingly. “Not bad,
-Tucker. Try to be a little more shifty on your feet, though. Keep on
-your toes, ready to go in any direction. In play it’s rather disastrous
-to let the ball get past you, you know.”
-
-He went on, leaving Toby surprised and gratified that he had remembered
-his name.
-
-There was no scrimmage to-day, and practice ended with a two-lap trot
-around the gridiron and then up to the gymnasium, where most of them
-arrived very much out of breath. During practice Toby had caught an
-occasional glimpse of Tubb looking harassed and mutinous, but it wasn’t
-until they met in the locker-room that Toby had an opportunity to speak
-to him. Tubb sank onto the bench with a grunt of weariness and disgust
-and savagely attacked the laces of his borrowed shoes. Toby, hiding a
-grin, asked pleasantly:
-
-“Well, how did it go, Tubb?”
-
-“Rotten! There’s no sense to that sort of stuff. I thought I was going
-to play football, not bean-bag!”
-
-“It is rather tiresome at first,” said Toby, “but you’ll soon be
-through with that. To-morrow――――”
-
-“Yes, I’m through with it right now,” growled Tubb. “I’ve had all I
-want, thanks, Tucker.”
-
-“Oh, piffle, Tubb! You’re not going to quit like that!”
-
-“Ain’t I? You watch me!” replied the other grimly.
-
-“Better give it a fair trial. After all, there’s a certain amount of
-drudgery to be gone through with, no matter what you take up. Learning
-to handle the ball is quite necessary, Tubb.”
-
-“A whole afternoon of it isn’t necessary, I guess. Anyway, I’m
-through.” Tubb kicked the shoes aside scowlingly. “I knew how it would
-be. A few fellows get all the pickings and the others play the goat.
-All you’ll get out of it, Tucker, is a lot of hard work, and then
-they’ll give you the bounce.”
-
-“What of it if I have a good time before they do?” asked Toby
-cheerfully.
-
-“A good time!” sneered the other.
-
-“Sure. Come on and have a shower and you’ll feel better, Tubb.”
-
-“I don’t want any shower,” muttered Tubb.
-
-“Well, I do. As a favor to me, I wish you’d keep on for the rest of
-this week, Tubb.” Toby spoke earnestly and smiled. Tubb caught the
-smile. After a moment he growled hesitantly:
-
-“Oh, well――I’ll see.”
-
-“Thanks. That’s a promise!”
-
-“’Tain’t either! I didn’t say――――”
-
-But Toby was off and Tubb’s protest went unfinished.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-YARDLEY PLAYS GREENBURG
-
-
-Two mornings later Toby again played tennis with Horace Ramsey. This
-time Horace captured the first set, mainly on his serve, and made Toby
-work hard to keep ahead in the second. Horace had followed Toby’s
-advice and had sought and found an opponent the day before, and he was
-fast reviving his enthusiasm for the game. Although it was perhaps only
-imagination, Toby thought that the younger boy already showed evidences
-of benefit from the exercise. To-day he made Horace promise to have Mr.
-Bendix, the physical director, give him a thorough examination, and on
-Saturday Horace reported the result of it.
-
-“I suppose he knows,” said Horace dubiously, “but it’s funny he didn’t
-say anything about my heart until I asked him.”
-
-“What did he say then?” inquired Toby.
-
-“Well, he said there was nothing the matter with it.” Horace was
-evidently thoroughly puzzled. “He said it was just as good as his.
-Maybe he didn’t want to frighten me, though. Do you think that’s it,
-Tucker?”
-
-“No, I don’t,” replied Toby bluntly. “I think he told the truth. If
-there ever was anything wrong with your heart you’ve outgrown it,
-Ramsey. Don’t worry about his trying to let you down easy. He wouldn’t.
-I know that he’s mighty careful about weak hearts. He’s kept lots of
-fellows out of track work and baseball just because of that trouble.
-No, sir, Ramsey, if ‘Muscles’ says your heart is all right, you may
-depend upon it that it is all right. How about your weight? Dropped any
-yet?”
-
-Horace’s brow cleared magically. “Haven’t I?” he exclaimed. “Two and a
-quarter pounds since I weighed Tuesday! How’s that?”
-
-“Fine――for a start,” answered Toby. “Keep it up. You’ve only begun!”
-
-Meanwhile, Tubb had kept on at football, although under constant
-protest. He had bought himself togs, and very good ones they were; a
-fact which led Toby to hope and believe that, in spite of his growls,
-Tubb really meant to keep on. Whenever they met, however, Tubb wearied
-Toby sadly with his grouches. He insisted on holding Toby responsible
-for every bruise and every tired muscle. While he didn’t say it in
-so many words, he made Toby understand that he had remained in the
-Second Team squad merely to oblige the other. A martyr is bad enough
-to have to listen to, but when the martyr has a grouch he is even more
-irritating. There were times when Toby would have given much for the
-privilege of kicking Tubb. But he didn’t. He didn’t even tell him to
-dry up and blow away. He kept his temper and listened to the boy’s
-growls without a murmur. Naturally, he didn’t seek Tubb’s society. In
-fact, whenever he could do so without having it seem too apparent, he
-avoided the pale-faced youth as he would have avoided any other pest.
-
-By that Saturday, however, the word pale-faced no longer applied to
-Tubb as it had a week before. Four very warm days such as frequently
-visit Connecticut around the first of October had brushed Tubb’s
-cheeks with red and set his nose to peeling. Perhaps the change hadn’t
-benefited the lad’s appearance much, but Toby noted it hopefully. Toby
-himself had added another shade of brown to a complexion already well
-sunburned by a summer spent largely on the water, and his blue eyes
-looked lighter than ever in comparison with the surrounding territory
-of mahogany hue.
-
-Something quite unlooked for and, to Toby, extremely disconcerting had
-happened the middle of that week. On Wednesday there had been a summons
-to quarter-back candidates to the lower end of the field for punting
-practice. Toby had remained serenely unaffected on the bench, whither
-he had retired after a strenuous bout with the tackling dummy, until he
-had been awakened by the challenge of Coach Burtis.
-
-“Where are you, Tucker? Didn’t you hear the call?” Mr. Burtis was a
-trifle incisive as to voice, for prompt obedience was something he
-insisted on. Toby, alarmed, jumped to his feet and looked wildly about
-him.
-
-“N-no, sir! What――where――――”
-
-“Well, hurry up.” The coach waved a hand toward the north goal.
-“Quarter-backs down there for punting.”
-
-Toby stared, opened his mouth, closed it, stood irresolute until Mr.
-Burtis asked sharply: “Well, what’s wrong? You’re trying for quarter,
-aren’t you?”
-
-“N-n――――” Toby gulped hard. “Yes, sir!”
-
-“Well, get busy then! Want me to lead you by the hand?”
-
-Toby found his feet and hurried away, pursued by the laughter of the
-others along the bench.
-
-“So I’m a quarter-back, am I?” he asked himself bewilderedly as he ran.
-“Gee, that’s a new one on me! Well, it’s fine to know what you are,
-even if you know you aren’t! I guess he will change his mind after he’s
-seen me try it!”
-
-There were four other fellows there when he reached the scene: Frick,
-Stair, Rawson, and Bird. Stillwell was coaching. Toby knew very
-little about punting as a science, although he could kick a football
-for varying distances from five yards to thirty――if he didn’t miss
-it altogether! There was very little actual punting that day, for
-Stillwell had a lot to say on the theory of it, and for the most part
-the pupils practiced holding the ball and dropping it, standing and
-stepping forward and swinging the leg. At the end Stillwell let them
-try a few punts, and Toby, for his part, hoped that Coach Burtis wasn’t
-watching! That evening he had a brand-new lot of aches situate in the
-right hip and down the right leg. “Stillwell,” he confided ruefully
-to Arnold, “thought he was coaching a bunch of ballet dancers. He was
-never happy unless we were standing on the left foot and pointing the
-right toe straight at the zenith, whatever the zenith is! I don’t feel
-happy on both feet, Arn. Mind if I tuck one over the transom?”
-
-“You’re mighty lucky to get a chance at quarter,” answered his chum
-severely. “Don’t you know that?”
-
-“Oh, yes,” said Toby, “I’m painfully aware of it!”
-
-By Saturday he had forgotten his aches and the lameness was gone and
-he could toe the pigskin in a fairly creditable manner and for decent
-distances, so long as direction was not important. But when he was told
-to place a punt near the right side line about thirty yards distant,
-either he sent it toward the left side line or down the middle of the
-field. Or if by any possible chance he got the direction right, then
-the ball went fifteen yards instead of thirty. There was, he allowed,
-a lot more to punting than he had suspected. Of course, life wasn’t
-all swinging a scuffed shoe against a stained and battered football
-those days. There was signal work, too. And some experimenting in
-forward passing. And other things. And Toby frequently regretted the
-fact that he had not dared to tell Coach Burtis the truth when he had
-been accused of quarter-back aspirations. Still, when things weren’t
-at their worst, he enjoyed it. No one took him seriously as a quarter,
-not even Grover Beech; and when scrimmaging began Frick and Rawson and
-Stair had the call over him. Only once that week had Toby worked at
-quarter, and then for only a matter of five minutes or so on B Squad.
-For many days he disliked to recall the event, for he had dared a
-quarter-back run and Farquhar, an opposing tackle, had chased him back
-and back until, in sheer fear of being forced over his own goal line,
-he had toppled to earth, snuggling the ball, a good fifteen yards back
-of where he had started from! It was a very sheepish Toby who scrambled
-to his feet again, for there was a ripple of laughter from the bench
-and many amused faces about him. For the few remaining moments of play
-he was too wretched to be of much use. Fortunately for him, perhaps,
-A Squad had the ball and Toby was able to retire up-field and nurse
-his wounded feelings in solitude. Afterwards he reached the pleasing
-conclusion that he was not necessarily dishonored for life, but it was
-some time before he cared to recall the incident.
-
-On Saturday practice was over early in order that the Second might
-profit by watching the First Team play Greenburg High School. High
-School wasn’t a formidable opponent even for a first game of the
-season. Yardley had started her schedule with High School for many
-years, generally winning by a comfortable margin of points. The contest
-served to try out a large number of players, and it was usually on the
-Monday following the Greenburg game that the first cut in the squad
-was made. In consequence to-day’s battle meant a good deal to some
-candidates who felt their positions to be none too secure, and there
-were many anxious faces amongst the substitutes who graced the bench
-after the game had started.
-
-Toby and the rest of the Second Team fellows didn’t reach the scene
-until the second period had begun. Then they perched themselves,
-still wrapped in their blankets like so many Indians, in the nearer
-corner of the old stand and proceeded to be extremely critical. Sid
-Creel squeezed into a place beside Toby with a huge sigh of enjoyment.
-“Nothing to do but watch a lot of poor boobs work themselves deaf,
-dumb, and blind,” he said with relish. “Who’s at center for them, Toby?”
-
-“Simpson.”
-
-“Well, he’s the best they’ve got, to my thinking. He’s light, though.”
-
-“Oh, well, his weight’s where it ought to be, Sid.”
-
-“Meaning?”
-
-“He’s got brains. So many centers haven’t, you know.”
-
-“Huh? ’S at so? Well, let me inform you――Oh, good work, Phil! How’s
-that for a neat little canter, Toby? More than twenty yards! What’s
-eating that referee? Oh, my word! Offside――no, holding! I didn’t see
-any holding, did you? That referee’s crazy!”
-
-“No, I didn’t see any holding unless you call it holding to nearly pull
-a fellow’s arm off him!”
-
-“Who did that?”
-
-“Ted Halliday.”
-
-“Idiot! Look what it’s cost them! Say, is Deering playing?”
-
-“No, that’s Bates at right half. And Roover at left. Arn will get in,
-of course. Maybe he’s been in. Mr. Lyle will use about every fellow
-he’s got to-day, I suppose.”
-
-“Yes, he’ll use a lot to-day and lose a lot to-morrow or Monday. Look
-at that line of victims over there. A good third of them will be
-missing next week.”
-
-“Yes, and some of them will be playing on the Second, Sid. I wouldn’t
-wonder if we got a good center pretty soon.”
-
-“Soon! we’ve got one right now. I don’t want to seem boastful,
-but――Gee, what a rotten punt! Who was that? Snowden, eh? Well, Larry
-wants to do better than that or he will lose his job! Gee, I could kick
-a ball farther than that myself!”
-
-Followed a Greenburg fumble, a quick recovery for a loss and a weird
-attempt at an end run almost under High School’s goal. Then a kick
-on second down and the ball floated into the waiting arms of Will
-Curran, the Yardley quarter, just past the center of the field. Curran
-was still the old Curran, it seemed, for he was off like a shot,
-side-stepped an adversary, broke through the nearer field of mingled
-friend and foe, and was off on a long, straight dash for the Greenburg
-goal. Toby and Sid cheered prodigiously as Curran fooled the anxious
-quarter and romped over the last white line between the posts. Snowden
-missed the goal and the figures on the score-board stood 11 to 0. The
-half ended a moment later and the big squad of blue-legged players
-trailed off to the gymnasium. Sid ambled off to find some fellow who
-had borrowed a dollar from him last spring, his round face set in
-determined lines, and a moment later George Tubb took the vacant place
-at Toby’s side.
-
-“Pretty punk game, isn’t it?” he said.
-
-Toby concealed his displeasure as best he could. “Well, it’s the first
-one, you know. Can’t expect much of a first game. How did you get on
-to-day?”
-
-“Pretty good.” Toby was actually startled. Never before had he heard
-Tubb approach so close to enthusiasm! Even the rest of his response
-couldn’t altogether spoil the first part. “I’m through to-day, though.
-I only agreed to keep on for the week, you know. Well, here’s your fat
-friend coming back, and I’ll beat it. So long, Tucker.”
-
-“So long,” answered Toby. To himself he added viciously, “I’d like to
-punch your silly head!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-TOBY EMPTIES HIS LOCKER
-
-
-“The cheek of him!” exclaimed Sid, seating himself. “What do you think
-he asked me to do?”
-
-“Go away?” hazarded Toby.
-
-“Asked me to lend him another half! Said he’d pay it all back next
-Wednesday, when he gets his allowance. What do you know about that?
-That fellow’s got the makings of a financier!”
-
-“Or a grafter,” laughed Toby. Sid shook his head.
-
-“No, his method is too high-class. He will be a J. Pierpont Rockefeller
-at thirty. Well, anyway, I told him what I thought of him.”
-
-“Then you didn’t get your dollar, eh? Look here, if you’re hard-up,
-Sid, I can lend you――――”
-
-“No, thanks. I’m all right. I don’t need that dollar just now, but
-he’s been owing it since three days before the end of last term, and
-I thought it was time he paid it. That was all. Maybe he will on
-Wednesday. If he doesn’t I’ll land on his neck! Not that I care so much
-about the dollar and a half, but it’s the principle of the――――”
-
-“Dollar, you mean, don’t you?”
-
-“Dollar? Dollar and a half. He owed me a dollar before.”
-
-“Do you mean that you lent him the half?” exclaimed Toby incredulously.
-Sid looked surprised.
-
-“I told you, didn’t I? That’s what I was kicking about.”
-
-“But――but you didn’t have to lend him any more, did you?”
-
-“Have to? N-no, I didn’t _have_ to, but what are you going to do when
-a fellow comes at you like that? Oh, he will come across some day. I’m
-not worrying.”
-
-Toby laughed. “You’re easy, Sid,” he said. “I suppose next Wednesday he
-will borrow another fifty cents from you! If fellows were all like you
-I could be a Rockefeller myself! Here they come!”
-
-Yardley managed to chalk up twelve more points in the last two periods
-and to keep Greenburg High from scoring. Greenburg weakened badly
-toward the last, although, like her opponent, she made constant
-changes in her line-up. During the final period there were moments
-when the stream of incoming substitutes from the Yardley bench was
-almost unbroken. Mr. Lyle used three full elevens that afternoon, and
-then threw in a couple more players just for good measure. There were
-occasional flashes of brilliancy on the part of the Blue, but for
-the most part the contest was uninteresting and the playing ragged.
-Greenburg certainly deserved to lose, but it is doubtful if Yardley
-deserved to win. However, no one expected much from the team in that
-game, and no one was very critical.
-
-That evening, alone for awhile in Number 12, Arnold had gone to a
-lecture in Assembly Hall,――Toby forced himself to face a decision
-regarding football. Earlier in the week he had promised himself to
-quit to-day, but now he discovered that he didn’t want to quit. This
-quarter-back business was mighty interesting, he acknowledged. Not that
-he supposed for a minute that he would make good on the job: he would
-never get so that he could rival Frick; never, perhaps, equal Rawson;
-but a fellow needed some sort of exercise and football provided it. It
-was really his duty to keep himself in training for hockey.
-
-On the other hand, Latin was proving quite as difficult as he had
-predicted, and one or two other courses promised to claim lots of his
-time. If he really meant to win a scholarship next term he couldn’t
-afford too many distractions. It was easy enough to say that football
-work need not interfere with studies, but football work had a way of
-doing that very thing. It wasn’t so much the time spent in actual
-practice or play that counted as it was the time a fellow gave to
-thinking about football. The sport had a way of seizing a fellow’s
-interest to the exclusion of all else. And toward the end of the
-season, as the Big Game loomed near, it was just about as easy for a
-football player to give serious attention to his studies as it was for
-a boy with a new red sled to display enthusiasm for the woodpile! Toby
-had learned this solely from observation, but he knew it was so.
-
-Toby’s father was a boat-builder, and while the past season had seen
-a remarkable revival of the business, yet there were four of them in
-the family, and while business had increased so had living costs. It
-behooved Toby to get through the year as economically as possible,
-and a scholarship award of perhaps eighty dollars would make a big
-difference. He must do his level best to secure that. That decided,
-had he the right to give the necessary time to football? Especially
-as, after the Christmas recess, hockey would claim him. If it came to
-choosing between the two, he would choose hockey. Hockey was Toby’s
-game. He had proved himself in that. In football he might never become
-more than a second-rate player, or even a third. If he resolutely gave
-up football this minute and worked hard at his studies until Christmas,
-he wouldn’t have to worry about the time he gave to hockey. Hockey
-didn’t make the demands that football did, anyway. Well, then――――
-
-Toby frowned and thought, and made up his mind and unmade it several
-times, during the succeeding hour. Then Arnold came bustling in and
-what his final decision was Toby never knew. But when he awoke Sunday
-morning he discovered that his mind had attended to the matter by
-itself while he slept, and in the afternoon, returning from a walk with
-Arnold and Frank along the river, he excused himself and ran into the
-gymnasium and down to the locker-room. When he overtook his companions
-he carried an armful of football togs.
-
-“What――what――――” exclaimed Arnold.
-
-“I’ve decided not to play football, after all,” explained Toby calmly,
-“so I thought I might as well clear out my locker to-day. There aren’t
-enough of them to go around, you know.”
-
-“Oh, you make me tired!” wailed Arnold. “I thought that was all
-settled.”
-
-“It is, now,” responded Toby cheerfully.
-
-“But why?” demanded Arnold impatiently.
-
-Toby explained, but Arnold refused to be satisfied. Somewhat to Toby’s
-relief, Frank interrupted soothingly. “Let him alone, Arn. I guess
-he’s right about it. It isn’t as if――well, what I mean is, he’s not
-absolutely necessary, you know. It isn’t as if he was on the First
-Team. The Second’s got plenty of material, and Toby’s not fooling
-himself into thinking he’s a wonderful player. They’ll worry along
-without him. No use spoiling a good hockey man to make a――a――――”
-
-“Punk football man,” supplied Toby pleasantly. “You aren’t flattering,
-Frank, but I guess you’re right.”
-
-“No, he isn’t, he’s dead wrong,” said Arnold vehemently. “You could be
-a rattling good football player, Toby, a corking one! I know it! And
-now you’re queering everything. You make me sick. If you don’t dump
-those things back in that locker the first thing to-morrow morning
-I’ll――I’ll never forgive you, Toby!”
-
-“Oh, yes, you will,” said Toby. “You’re quite wrong about me as a
-football player, Arn. I’m pretty sure of that. Anyway, as Frank says,
-they don’t need me, and I do need that scholarship.”
-
-“I hope you choke on it,” growled Arnold disgustedly, and relapsed into
-aggrieved silence.
-
-But in spite of the certainty that he had decided wisely and rightly,
-Toby felt a trifle dissatisfied the next afternoon, and somewhat at
-a loose end. He determined to devote the first hour and a half after
-his final recitation to hard study, telling himself that he would
-have the room to himself and that Whitson would be delightfully quiet
-and conducive to work. Afterwards he would walk over and watch First
-Team practice for awhile. But, although he found the quietude and
-solitude he expected, it wasn’t so easy to put his mind on his books.
-The sunlit world outside called loudly, he couldn’t get comfortable
-in the chair and, in spite of good intentions, his mind insisted on
-wandering toward the gridiron. But he stuck it out to the prescribed
-moment and then fairly ran downstairs and into the late afternoon
-sunshine, uncomfortably conscious that he had spent an hour and a half
-to no purpose. Still, to-morrow he would do better, he promised. By
-the time he had seated himself in the grandstand, watching the First
-Team in a spirited practice game, he had recovered his spirits. On
-the further gridiron the Second was hard at it, but Toby decided to
-stay away from that quarter to-day. Grover Beech might say unpleasant
-things about “quitters,” and while Toby’s conscience was quite clear,
-he realized that the Second Team captain would have his own point of
-view. But although he managed to evade Beech for the time, a meeting
-was inevitable, and it occurred after supper that evening. They both
-left their tables at the same moment and came together at the door.
-Beech looked a trifle huffy.
-
-“What’s the stupendous idea, Tucker?” he demanded. “You know we
-practice on Mondays just like any other day.”
-
-“Why, I――Didn’t Gyp tell you?”
-
-“Gyp? Yes, he said something about your not reporting to-day, but that
-didn’t mean anything to me. What’s the scheme, old man?”
-
-Toby explained, not very eloquently because Beech’s expression became
-momentarily more and more disapproving. Once or twice the captain
-uttered a dry “Huh!” or gestured impatience, but he heard Toby through.
-Then, however, he broke out with force and emphasis. Toby, backed up
-against the long hatrack, was aware of the curious looks bent on him by
-those who passed, and even read sympathy in some glances. Doubtless
-Beech’s attitude looked rather threatening!
-
-“You poor fish!” said the captain pityingly. “Hasn’t any one ever
-told you about duty? What do you think you are, anyway? A――a real,
-sure-enough Person? You’re not, Tucker my lad, you’re just a simple
-little cog in the Wheel of Progress. You’re not at all important as an
-individual. You’re merely an entity. Now――――”
-
-“Hold on! I’m not sure I ought to let you call me that!”
-
-“Shut up! I’ll call you worse in a minute, maybe a microbe or a
-protoplasm. Look here, Tucker, joking aside, you can’t do this, you
-know. Every fellow has a duty to the School――――”
-
-“I know, and every fellow has a duty to himself, Beech. I need that
-scholarship――――”
-
-“Get it! I’m not objecting, my son! But don’t throw the team down to
-do it. Shucks, you can play football for a month or six weeks longer
-without losing the scholarship! Come on, Tucker, don’t be a worm!”
-
-“But――but what difference does it make?” pleaded Toby. “I’m no football
-wonder. You’ve got half a dozen fellows to fill in for me. It isn’t
-like I was any account, Beech!”
-
-“What are you doing? Fishing for compliments? Come on and quit your
-kidding! Do you suppose Burtis would have put you with the quarters if
-he hadn’t seen that you had the stuff in you?”
-
-“But I haven’t! I can’t play quarter-back for a cent, Beech, honest!
-Besides, there’s Frick and Rawson and Stair――――”
-
-“Listen, Tucker, I know who we’ve got just as well as you do. Those
-fellows are all right, but not one of them has any better chance of
-copping the job than you have. And we want the best fellow to get it.
-So you come on back to-morrow, Tucker my lad, and be properly ashamed
-of yourself. And don’t let’s have any more talk about scholarships and
-things. If you can’t play a little football and keep your end up in
-classes you’re less of a man than I thought you were. And that’s that!”
-
-“Well, I’ll see,” answered Toby dubiously. “It’s all well enough――――”
-
-“You’ll see nothing,” said Beech sternly. “You’ll be on the field
-to-morrow at three-fifteen dressed to play. By the way, where’d you get
-hold of that chap Tubbs?”
-
-“Why, I just happened to run across him. He was having sort of a poor
-time of it and I thought if I could get him interested in something he
-might pull himself together.” Toby was rather apologetic. “He didn’t
-want to do it and I was afraid he wouldn’t stick it long.”
-
-“How do you mean, wouldn’t stick it?”
-
-“Why, he’s quit, hasn’t he? He told me Saturday he was going to.”
-
-“He was out to-day all right. Shucks, he isn’t going to quit. He’s
-stringing you. He’s liking it well enough now, and unless I miss my
-guess he’s going to make a few of our bunch sit up and take notice. The
-boy’s a natural-born end! Well, see you to-morrow, old man. So long!”
-
-George Tubb a “natural-born end”! Toby forgot for the moment the
-complication just introduced into his own affairs in surprise over
-Beech’s appraisal of Tubb. That the latter would make good on the
-gridiron Toby had never for an instant believed. He had only hoped that
-the dissatisfied youth would find in football a new and sufficient
-interest to reconcile him to the school and, perhaps, a means of making
-friends. Well, he was certainly quite as pleased as he was surprised!
-In view of what Beech had just told him, however, he wondered why
-Tubb had threatened only two days ago to quit; and, still wondering,
-he kept on to the third floor instead of stopping at the second and
-knocked at the door of Number 31.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-TOM FANNING, OPTIMIST
-
-
-Only Horace Ramsey was at home when Toby entered Number 31. Ramsey
-appeared very glad to see the visitor, and he was quite fussed-up
-during the process of getting Toby comfortably seated. The room was
-one of the better ones on the third floor, and one of the occupants,
-probably Ramsey, had added to the scanty equipment supplied by the
-school. Although the evening had turned decidedly cool, both windows
-were wide open, and it was not until Toby had glanced at them a bit
-uneasily several times that Ramsey took the hint.
-
-“It is sort of cold in here, I guess,” he said, as he closed the
-windows. “I’m used to a cold room, though. Plenty of fresh air is what
-I like. Mr. Bendix says you can’t have too much of it. George doesn’t
-like it much, though, and we scrap a good deal about having the windows
-open.”
-
-“George? Oh, you mean Tubb. How are you and he getting on now? Hitting
-it off any better?”
-
-Horace Ramsey smiled. “Oh, yes, we get on all right. He’s a cranky
-chap, though. I have to handle him carefully. He gets the most awful
-grouches you ever saw. Gets positively ugly and hates himself. Still,
-he’s been some better the last few days.” Ramsey chuckled. “Guess I
-have, too. At first I used to let go of my temper and――well, you found
-us at it one night. Remember? Now I just let him growl and he gets over
-it after a bit. He’s really not a bad sort when you get to know him.”
-
-“I thought I might find him in,” explained Toby. Then a faint
-expression of disappointment on the other’s face made him add: “And
-then I wanted to see how you were getting on, too, Ramsey. You’re
-looking pretty fit. Been playing much tennis?”
-
-“Every day. A fellow named Lingard, a Fourth Class fellow, and I have
-been at it a lot. Don’t know if you know him, Tucker. Sort of a lanky
-chap, with――――”
-
-“Yes, I know Tommy. Didn’t know he was a tennis player, though.”
-
-“He isn’t,” laughed Ramsey. “At least, not much of one. But neither
-am I just now, and I sort of like to play with a chap I can lick now
-and then. Maybe it isn’t good practice, though. There’s a fellow
-named Colcord who gave me a couple of sets this afternoon. He’s pretty
-good at it. Beat me both sets, 6 to 3. I’d like to take you on again,
-Tucker. I guess I could give you a better fight now that I’ve had some
-practice. Mr. Bendix says it’ll take several weeks to get my muscles
-loosened up.”
-
-“I dare say. Had much trouble with your heart lately?”
-
-“N-no, very little. I get out of breath pretty easily, but Mr. Bendix
-says that’s because I’m carrying too much weight. Maybe my heart’s all
-right after all, just as he says it is. He sort of――what I mean is, you
-can’t help believing what he says, can you? He’s supposed to know a
-lot about physical training and――and all that, isn’t he?” Toby nodded
-assent. “I like him a lot, anyway, and I’m doing just what he tells me,
-even to nearly freezing in here with the windows open.”
-
-Toby laughed. “Thought you said you were used to cold rooms, Ramsey!”
-
-“Well, I――I meant I was getting used to them,” answered the other,
-grinning.
-
-“Tubb is still with the Second Team, I hear,” said Toby.
-
-“Yes. That reminds me! He was quite excited this afternoon because you
-weren’t on the field. Don’t know what business it is of his, but he
-kept chewing the rag about it.”
-
-“No, I――I cut practice to-day. Fact is, I――――” Then he stopped. He had
-been about to add that he was through with football for the season, but
-he suddenly realized that it wasn’t true, that to-morrow would find him
-back again. “How’s Tubb getting on?” he asked instead.
-
-“Oh, pretty well, I guess. He hasn’t said so, but when he doesn’t growl
-about a thing I know it’s all right. Last week he kept telling how hard
-they made him work and saying he was going to quit, but he’s shut up
-about it lately.”
-
-A few minutes afterward, going down to the floor below, Toby shook
-his head dubiously. “It’s funny the way I make up my mind to things
-lately without knowing it. When I went upstairs I thought I was going
-to be firm with Beech and stay out of it. Then, first thing I knew, I’d
-decided to keep on! Wonder if there’s something wrong with my bean!”
-
-Back in Number 12, Toby found a scrawl from Arnold bidding him follow
-to Frank’s room in Clarke, but he crumpled it up and, after a moment’s
-reflection, dropped it in the waste-basket and settled himself at
-the table. He got in some good licks of study that evening and was
-annoyingly superior and virtuous when Arnold returned at bedtime.
-
-The next afternoon Toby took his togs back to the gymnasium.
-Fortunately, although he had given up his locker, no one had secured
-it. If Coach Burtis knew of his defection the day before he made no
-sign. Grover Beech, however, nodded commendingly, and, or so Toby
-thought, Roy Frick, at present the most promising of the quarter-backs,
-viewed his return with a noticeable lack of cordiality. For several
-afternoons Toby toiled and drudged willingly and contentedly. Mr.
-Burtis was allowing but three scrimmages a week, and in none of them
-did Toby appear. The fact puzzled the boy considerably, but he kept
-his puzzlement to himself. Even Bird, who could not be considered
-first-class quarter-back material by any stretch of imagination, got
-in for a few minutes in each practice game. Toby invariably retired
-to the bench when the line-up came and, blanket-swathed, watched and
-wondered throughout the ten or fifteen minute periods. On one such
-occasion he found a seat beside George Tubb. He and George had met
-and spoken before, but only briefly. To-day Toby viewed George with
-real surprise. Seen at close quarters, the younger fellow showed the
-results of a week of football work very plainly. He had a much better
-color, looked several pounds thinner――and considerably harder――and had
-lost some of the discontent usually so eloquently expressed by his
-countenance. But there was plenty of the old George W. Tubb left, as
-Toby soon discovered.
-
-“They’ve got me playing end,” said George. “It’s a rotten position. I
-told that big guy with the swelled head that I wanted――――”
-
-“Meaning the coach?” asked Toby.
-
-“Sure! I told him I was a half-back, but he thinks he knows it all.”
-
-“Too bad,” commented Toby innocently, “because, of course, a fellow
-can’t do good work out of his right position. I suppose you’re making
-rather a mess of end, Tubb.”
-
-“Who says that?” demanded George, with a scowl.
-
-“Why, no one. I just thought, from what you said――――”
-
-“Well, I guess I’m doing as well as Connell; and he’s been playing two
-years at it. But this business doesn’t get a fellow anywhere. What’s it
-amount to, anyway? They say we’ll play a couple of dozen games with
-the First and run up against two or three bum teams around here, and
-then it’s all over, and the First Team gets the glory. Maybe I’ll stick
-it out awhile longer, but life’s too short to spend a month and a half
-at this sort of stuff.”
-
-He glanced sidewise at Toby as he finished, and Toby caught the glance
-and understood. George had no intention of quitting, and never had had
-since the first day! What he wanted was Toby to ask him not to! Toby
-suppressed a smile.
-
-“I wouldn’t do that, Tubb,” he said earnestly. “I――I wish you wouldn’t.
-You see, I have a hunch that you’ve got in you to make a pretty good
-player, and――well, I wish you’d give yourself a fair chance. As a favor
-to me, Tubb, I wish you’d try to stick it out.”
-
-George growled and scowled, but Toby didn’t miss the look of
-satisfaction that flickered for an instant in his eyes. After a moment
-of weighty hesitation George sighed wearily. “Well, I guess another
-week or two won’t hurt me,” he said ungraciously. “I’ll stick around
-until I get Connell’s number, anyway. You got me into this, Tucker,
-and――――” George stopped abruptly, leaped to his feet and dropped his
-blanket. “I’ve got to go in! See you later!”
-
-Then he legged it to where Coach Burtis was beckoning, leaving Toby
-grinning broadly. “He’s just the biggest kind of a kid,” thought Toby.
-“Wants friendship and hasn’t the slightest idea how to get it!”
-
-But if Toby was allowed no opportunity to achieve glory that week,
-at least none begrudged him hard work. He was allowed to labor to
-his heart’s content. Nay, he was urged to! Coach Burtis seemed to be
-distinctly unhappy if Toby happened on a moment’s idleness during
-practice time, and he or Captain Beech was forever at hand to suggest
-a new activity. Toby got to hate the tackling dummy with a deep and
-bitter hatred. He told Arnold he couldn’t enjoy his meals any longer
-because his mouth was always filled with dirt. Arnold advised him to
-close his mouth when he did his tackling.
-
-For the First Team, on which Arnold was alternating with Bates at
-right half-back, life had become real and earnest. Coach Lyle had made
-a wholesale cut in the squad and fellows who were “up” in football
-affairs professed themselves already able to tell you what the line-up
-would be in the final game of the season with Broadwood. And a good
-many did tell――if you’d listen. Frank Lamson was also trying for a
-half-back position, but Frank’s chances were not considered brilliant.
-At least, though, he survived the cut, and when, on Saturday, the team
-played its second game, with Tyron School, Frank displaced Roover in
-the last quarter and sent his stock up tremendously by a slashing
-fourteen-yard run that netted Yardley’s last score. Toby saw the final
-half of the game from the bleachers and yelled like a Comanche when
-Frank fairly smashed his way through the Tyron backs and went over the
-line near the corner of the field with two of the enemy clinging to
-him like limpets. Yardley’s work showed the effect of a week’s hard
-practice and some indication of promise. Teamwork was totally lacking,
-however, and it was individual brilliancy that ran the score up to 29
-points. Curran, at quarter-back, and Noyes, who substituted for him,
-handled the team well. On the whole, although Tyron had managed to
-secure 6 points by two easy field-goals, Yardley Hall was satisfied
-with her team’s showing, and felt that there was reason to expect a
-successful season. As, however, October was still but a few days old,
-the conclusion may have been a trifle premature.
-
-Captain Fanning, naturally optimistic, viewed the future very
-cheerfully indeed that evening. He was a tall, fine-looking chap, was
-Tom, and immensely popular. If he had any discernible fault it was
-that popularity meant a little too much to him, that he was a bit too
-dependent on the goodwill of his fellows. Criticism didn’t agree with
-Tom. It didn’t make him angry, but it hurt his feelings. On the other
-hand, praise was meat and drink to him, and if you wanted to hear him
-purr you had only to stroke him. But every one liked him, the juniors
-in Merle Hall, the First Class fellows in Dudley and the faculty
-members as well. And he was a really remarkable football player, as
-he had proved last season. His more ardent admirers went so far as to
-believe that so long as Tom Fanning played left tackle it didn’t matter
-much who else was on that side of center. Like most brilliant players,
-though, he was better offensively than defensively. As a captain Tom
-had yet to be proved, for neither personal popularity nor individual
-ability necessarily insures leadership. Tom believed very thoroughly in
-himself, however, and if any one held doubts as to his fitness for the
-captaincy that person was not Tom.
-
-To-night, tilted back in a chair against Toby’s bed, his long legs
-stretched before him, his hands in his trousers pockets, and a
-contented smile on his good-looking countenance, Tom was doing his own
-stroking. “Really, Arnold,” he was saying, “we’ve got a ripping lot
-of fellows this year, now haven’t we? Take the line from end to end,
-you can’t beat it! I don’t care whether Candee or Orlie Simpson plays
-center or whether Jim Rose or Twining plays left guard. Any way you
-look at it it’s a corking line. That’s the beauty of having really good
-substitutes. As for the back-field, why, with you and Larry and Roover
-and Curran――or Noyes, for that matter――there won’t be a better one in
-this corner of the world this fall!”
-
-“Say, Tom, how do you get that way?” asked Arnold, who was struggling
-into a clean collar. “The team’s all right, old dear, but we haven’t
-won the Broadwood game quite yet. To listen to you a fellow would think
-we’d just hung the ball in the Trophy Room!”
-
-Tom laughed good-naturedly. “Well, I’ve picked out a place for it, Arn!
-Oh, we’ll have our little setbacks and we’ll lose a game or two one way
-or another, but that isn’t troubling me any. Why――――”
-
-“All right, but don’t talk like that so the fellows can hear you,”
-protested Arnold, more than half serious. “The worst thing that can
-happen to a team is for it to get the happy, confident feeling.
-Just as soon as it does it gets a silly grin on its face――or faces,
-rather――and dies in its tracks. I’d like it better if you’d cultivate a
-fine grouch, Tom.”
-
-“Maybe I shall later, but you can’t make me grouchy to-night. I tell
-you, Arn, we showed what we had to-day. Take the team as it played this
-afternoon and teach it to work together and you’ve got a real machine,
-son. And Broadwood’ll know it some day!”
-
-“I know. We have got some good players, and that’s no dream, but just
-at present it’s too much of an all-star aggregation to make a hit with
-me. There’s a heap of work ahead of us, old dear, before we get to be a
-real football team, and don’t you forget that for a little minute!”
-
-“Oh, you’re a regular Calamity Jane,” jeered Tom. “Come on, or we’ll be
-late. Where’s Tucker? Isn’t he coming?”
-
-“Yes, he will be here in a minute, I guess. And Frank’s going, too.”
-
-“Lamson?” Tom’s brow clouded for an instant. “Say, Arn, he made a nifty
-touchdown to-day, didn’t he?”
-
-“I thought so. But you needn’t cry about it.”
-
-“I’m not. I was only wondering――You know, to my mind, Morris Roover’s
-the right chap there, Arn. Now suppose Lamson keeps on as he did this
-afternoon, eh?”
-
-“Why, he will get the place, won’t he? You want the best man there,
-don’t you?”
-
-“Rather! But Roover’s tried pretty hard for it. I mean, I’d be sorry
-if he lost out. He had hard luck last fall, you know. Got sick in the
-middle of the season and didn’t even get his letter. I suppose he’s
-hoping to make good this year.”
-
-“What of it? He’s got another year after this. The trouble with you,
-Tom, is that you can’t forget your friendships on the gridiron. It
-won’t do, believe me. Friendship ceases at three-fifteen, or it ought
-to, when you’re captain. If it wasn’t for Mr. Lyle you’d have Sim
-Clarke playing end and Snow at guard and――and all the rest of your
-cronies――including me――on the team, and it would be a bum outfit.
-Friendship’s no good when it comes to picking a team, Tom.”
-
-“Nonsense!” retorted the other. He didn’t seem displeased, though. “Of
-course I’d like to have my friends on the team; any fellow would; but
-they won’t get any favoritism from me.”
-
-“Oh, no, none at all!” answered Arnold, buttoning his vest. “Look
-here, old dear, if I ever suspect that you’re trying to put me across
-because I’m a friend I’ll quit the team cold!”
-
-“Oh, rot! You know perfectly well that you and Bates are the best we
-have for the position, and as far as I’m concerned I don’t care which
-of you gets it.”
-
-“Stick to that and all will be well! What time have you got? I wonder
-what’s happened to Frank and――――”
-
-Toby’s appearance interrupted him and a minute later they were on their
-way, picking up Frank Lamson outside. They were going to the movies in
-Greenburg, the larger town across the river. There was a small moving
-picture theater in Wissining, no more than half a mile from school,
-that was well patronized by Yardley, but in Greenburg there were three
-of them to choose from, and to-night the boys had secured leave for the
-whole evening and so had plenty of time to make the longer journey.
-Besides, at Greenburg you got two pictures and listened to real music
-from an organ, while at the local house your entertainment was over in
-an hour and the piano was very tin-panny. Tom Fanning ranged beside
-Toby on the way down the hill and Arnold and Frank followed. Tom was
-still full of football and optimism, and Toby heard a good deal about
-the team’s wonderful prospects and didn’t have to do any of the
-talking. By the time the bridge was reached, however, Tom had worked
-off some of his enthusiasm and inquired about Toby’s fortunes.
-
-“Arn says he finally persuaded you to try for the Second,” he said.
-“Like it?”
-
-“Yes, I like it very well,” answered Toby. “Only I can’t seem to take
-it as seriously as most of the fellows. Ought I to, Fanning? What I
-mean is, just how important is playing football on the Second Team? I
-wanted to quit last week and Arnold had a fit and Grover Beech read the
-riot act to me. I thought football, especially Second Team football,
-was a lark, but I’m beginning to think that it’s not!”
-
-“Well, I suppose we do take football rather too seriously,” replied Tom
-leniently. “But, hang it, Tucker, if you’re going to do a thing why not
-do it well? Why not put your whole heart into it? Of course, the Second
-Team isn’t as important as the First, but it’s just as well for the
-fellows who play on it to think it is. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t
-work so hard and we wouldn’t turn out such a good Second Team. And,
-after all, a good Second is important, because it gives us practice.”
-
-“When do you begin playing us?” asked Toby.
-
-“Next week. Tuesday, probably. What are you trying for?”
-
-“Quarter. Sounds conceited, doesn’t it?”
-
-“Not a bit! Why? A quarter-back isn’t any better than a guard or an
-end, is he? It takes just as much ability to play one position well as
-it does another.”
-
-“Y-yes, I suppose so, but――it seems to me a fellow’s got to know a
-whole lot in order to run the team right.”
-
-“Oh, yes, he has. But it comes down to knowing a few plays and when
-to call for them, and remembering your signals. After all, it’s the
-captain that’s the general. Half the time a quarter doesn’t get much
-chance to boss the thing. The coach maps the game out beforehand, the
-captain holds the reins and the quarter-back does the yelling.” Tom
-laughed. “Anyway, that’s pretty close to it, Tucker.”
-
-“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Toby said in relieved tones. “I was sort
-of scared, you see; thought I might have to run the whole business if
-I happened to get put in some time. I’d make rather a mess of it if I
-did, I guess!”
-
-“Not you, Tucker. You’re rather the type to make good, I’d say. I hope
-you get the place.”
-
-“Thanks,” answered Toby, dubiously. “You mean kindly, no doubt, but I
-guess I’d just as lief some one else got it. Frick has it now and I
-dare say he will keep it. He will so far as I’m concerned!”
-
-“You don’t seem to have a very high notion of your ability,” laughed
-Tom. “Don’t be too humble, Tucker, or folks will begin to think the way
-you talk. And, look here, there’ll be a chance for you on the First
-next year, for both Curran and Noyes will be gone, and the rest of the
-lot aren’t very promising. So just you keep going, Tucker.”
-
-“Oh, I’ll keep going all right,” replied Toby sadly. “They won’t let me
-do anything else. They’re always picking on me.”
-
-“Who?”
-
-“Mr. Burtis and Beech. They sit up together until daylight finding
-stunts for me to do the next day!”
-
-“Sounds to me,” said Tom thoughtfully, “as if you were better than you
-make yourself out, old man. Or else you imagine things.”
-
-“Let’s say the last guess is right,” laughed Toby.
-
-They visited two theaters before they found one whose bill promised
-the sort of entertainment they wanted, and found seats just before the
-house darkened. During the announcement of coming attractions some one
-tapped Toby on the shoulder and he looked around in the half-gloom and
-saw Horace Ramsey seated behind him in company with George Tubb. Horace
-was evidently pleased when Toby recognized him and spoke to him, but
-George’s only response to Toby’s whispered greeting was a nod and a
-scowl.
-
-Going homeward, two hours later, the quartet grew to a round dozen
-as other Yardley boys joined it, and Arnold observed that maybe it
-was just as well there were plenty of them as the “town thugs,” as he
-called them, had been getting “fresh” lately. “Casement and another
-chap were coming back the other night and got into a fine old scrap
-with a gang of the toughs,” he explained. “They had to beat it finally.
-Loring got a beautiful black eye out of it. He says there were four of
-them against him and the other chap. Hence the retreat.”
-
-“That’s something new, isn’t it?” asked a boy on the other side of
-Arnold. “We never used to have any trouble with the town fellows.”
-
-“They’re chaps from the new mill they built last year, I believe.
-Rather a tough lot, I guess. They’ll get all they want, though, if they
-keep on. Wouldn’t be a bad thing for some of them to turn up now and
-try to start something,” Arnold chuckled. “They won’t, though, when
-they see the size of our party.” And, although their progress out of
-Greenburg was anything but quiet, none disputed their way.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-FIRST TEAM VS. SECOND
-
-
-The Second Team started its training table Monday. The First had done
-so a week earlier. The tables, each accommodating eighteen persons,
-occupied the two farther corners of the dining-hall. That of the First
-Team was given a certain degree of privacy by two oak screens similar
-to the one that stood before the door leading to the pantry, but the
-Second Team consumed its meals in full view of the world. Joining
-the training table, Toby discovered, added no luxuries to your menu.
-Rather, it did quite otherwise, for pastry and puddings, save for one
-or two very simple concoctions, were sternly barred. You got rather
-more beef and lamb――too underdone to please Toby――and eggs were a drug
-on the market. Potatoes were served sparingly and only in the baked
-condition. On the whole, there was a notable monotony to the training
-table fare, but as the fellows were generally extremely hungry that
-didn’t trouble them greatly.
-
-Toby’s presence at the Second Team board was somewhat of a surprise to
-Toby, since, as there were places for only seventeen players,――Coach
-Burtis sat at the head of the table,――it seemed to him that he was
-displacing more deserving talent. Why he should be there and Stair and
-Bird not there, was a conundrum, a conundrum that was partly answered
-for him that Monday afternoon.
-
-“You’re on B Team, Tucker,” announced Mr. Burtis when, at four o’clock,
-the players were called back to the bench. “Show me what you’ve learned
-the last week. You’ll have Lippman at half and I want you to use him
-whenever you can. Play him hard. He will stand it. And don’t neglect
-your kicking game just because your punters aren’t the best. The only
-way for them to learn is to have it to do. Keep to simple plays; B Team
-doesn’t know anything complicated; and speed it up all you know how.”
-
-“Y-yes, sir,” agreed Toby. Then he shed his blanket and wondered
-whether he had learned anything the last week, and if he had what it
-was! However, it wouldn’t do to let either the coach or the players
-guess the trepidation he felt, and so he pulled on his head-guard
-quite snappily and limbered up his legs, as, he judged, was the
-approved thing to do, and looked as smiling and care-free as possible.
-Then the two teams trotted out, A with the ball, and Gyp blew a whistle
-and his troubles had begun.
-
-But, after all, the troubles weren’t so many, nor so formidable. He
-made mistakes, and he shared in a perfectly ghastly fumble on A’s
-twenty-six yards, and twice he got his signals so badly mixed that
-the whole team howled at him. But, on the other hand, he put vim into
-his fellows and followed the coach’s directions regarding Lippman and
-the kicking game and the use of simple plays, and before the period
-had ended he had the exquisite pleasure of watching the pigskin skin
-the enemy’s cross-bar for a three-point tally. He could have wept
-tears of joy on Crawford’s neck for that thirty-yard drop-kick, and A
-Team’s sullen resentment was an added delight. But B had to pay for
-her cheekiness. Already A had scored a touchdown, and now, bitterly
-resentful, she set to work to wreak vengeance. And she did it finally,
-for three long runs by Nelson and White took the ball back to B’s
-thirty-five yards and White plugged along for another down through
-a crumbling right side in spite of Toby’s shrill exhortations, and
-Stover banged into Sid Creel, at center, and piled through to the
-eighteen. Toby was very glad when time was called for Sid’s recovery,
-for B was on the run and becoming more disorganized each moment. He
-spent a precious two minutes ranging the line and “talking Dutch,” and
-when Sid, looking vague and dizzy, shuffled into his position again
-there was a perceptible stiffening of the defense. But it couldn’t
-last against A’s battering-ram tactics, and presently it was crumbling
-again. Short gains but steady, and B was on her last white line, and it
-was second down and every one was shouting or grunting. Toby gritted
-his teeth and danced about and hurled defiance across the bent backs
-before him, all the time trying with the intensity of despair to
-guess the play that was coming. He did guess, but he guessed wrong,
-and Nelson shot unexpectedly outside right tackle, straight for the
-center of the goal, and the only satisfaction Toby got was in sitting
-on Nelson’s head after he had been pulled down by Crawford. Bowen
-grinned miserably, and every B Team fellow was very, very careful not
-so much as to look at him; for Bowen was right tackle and had been most
-ingloriously eliminated. After that the horn squawked and the half was
-over.
-
-Toby and several others who had played through the whole twelve minutes
-were dismissed to the showers, although all would have preferred
-staying and watching the second half. Instead, they argued hotly
-all the way up to the gymnasium――the two teams being very equally
-represented――and still argued, though with diminished heat, while
-the showers hissed. Toby was secretly rather well satisfied with his
-performance that afternoon until, later, he learned that B Team, under
-Roy Frick’s generalship, had actually scored a touchdown in the last
-period of play!
-
-On Tuesday, after a half-hour of light practice, the Second trotted
-over to the First Team field and, before a large and interested
-audience, was badly mauled and beaten. Frick and Rawson played quarter
-through two twelve-minute halves, and Toby and Stair――Bird, it seemed,
-had retired to private life――sat on the bench and watched and worried,
-trying to believe that things would have gone no better for the Second
-if they had taken part. Second used most of her substitutes in a vain
-effort to stave off, not defeat, for that was inevitable, but dishonor,
-and could make nothing of it. First Team piled up the scores with
-a merciless and monotonous succession and the audience yawned and
-drifted away.
-
-“What’s that?” asked Lou Stair drearily. “Twenty-three?”
-
-“Twenty-six,” answered Toby glumly.
-
-“Gee-jiminy-gosh!” groaned Stair. “Say, what’s the matter with the
-Second, anyway? What’s got into ’em, Tucker! Look at Smith, will you?
-Why doesn’t he get down? Why doesn’t Frick get after him? He thinks
-he’s a skyscraper! And there goes Dawson off-side again! Gee, our bunch
-is playing like sand-lot kids! Well, he got away with it, and that’s
-something!”
-
-“What of it?” asked Toby dully. “We didn’t make enough to plant a row
-of beans on! That’s third. White’ll have to punt.”
-
-“Yeah, as much as ten yards!” jeered Stair. “What’d I tell you? Guess
-he’s got a friend on the side-line, the way he kicked the ball there!
-Well, here’s where First scores again!”
-
-And presently First did that very thing, Toby’s gloom being slightly
-relieved by the fact that it was Arnold who took the ball over by a
-slashing run from the Second’s eighteen yards. Gloom enveloped the
-whole blanketed line of watchers that second half, for they had been
-doing a good deal of talking as to what was to happen to the First
-Team when they tried conclusions. In fact, Second had even gone so far
-as to hint that the real reason Coach Lyle hadn’t let his team face the
-Second before was his fear of a disastrous defeat. Toby wondered how
-Coach Burtis, pacing tranquilly to and fro along the side-line, his
-hands buried in his trousers pockets, could maintain his expression of
-unconcern in the face of such direful happenings! Toby would have felt
-a heap better if Mr. Burtis had scowled or kicked at a pebble or shown
-distress in some other manner. The coach’s unruffled demeanor seemed to
-Toby to smack of treason! He was very glad when that farcical game came
-to an end with a final score of 33 to 0.
-
-Second, fagged, disheveled, outraged, climbed a weary path to the
-gymnasium, muttering threats of vengeance; hearing which Coach Burtis
-smiled a secret smile of satisfaction. Toby felt quite disgraced until
-the lapse of an hour or two brought a realization of the fact that such
-things had happened before and would happen again, and that no one took
-them very seriously. At supper Mr. Burtis ate quite as much as usual
-and with as much enjoyment, and talked and jested in his accustomed
-manner; which encouraged Toby to satisfy a really ravenous hunger.
-After a steak and a baked potato and the usual trimmings he found that
-he could view the afternoon’s Waterloo with equanimity. There was, he
-reflected, another day coming!
-
-Wednesday found Toby learning A Team signals, his allegiance
-transferred to that squad by order of the coach. In the scrimmage
-Rawson led B Team and Toby adorned the bench until near the end of
-the second half. Then Frick came out and Toby went in and received an
-evil and portentous wink from Sid Creel. That wink said very plainly:
-“You wait till I get at you, you renegade!” Just at first it was a bit
-disconcerting to find himself slamming into his former teammates and
-to realize that they not only no longer loved him but were eager to
-grind his face in the earth and otherwise degrade him! Before the game
-was over, though, he had very effectually forgotten the old ties and
-was glorying in every foot of territory conquered by A Team. It was
-remarkable what a healthy antagonism existed between the two squads.
-Before the scrimmage they were all Second Team fellows, and afterwards,
-in the locker-room, they fraternized nicely, but while the game lasted
-they were enemies and aliens, and neither side asked quarter. Toby,
-during a busy six or seven minutes of play that afternoon, was rather
-rudely handled by his former comrades, and made his way up the hill
-with a ruddy nose and several assorted contusions. But he had the
-satisfaction of a touchdown and a brief word of commendation from Coach
-Burtis; and nothing else much mattered.
-
-Thursday they went against the First again and, while they were once
-more decisively trimmed, they made a far better showing. Toby got
-in for the whole of the second half and, after recovering from a
-bad attack of stage fright, gave a fairly good account of himself.
-Toby wasn’t one to seek personal glory, and there were times when he
-might have taken the ball himself and didn’t. He did get off one good
-twenty-yard sprint with the pigskin clasped in the cradle of his elbow,
-and got a hearty thump on his back from Arnold as he trotted by that
-member of the enemy forces and a rousing acclaim from the stands. But
-for the rest Toby stayed modestly in position, letting Nelson and White
-and, less frequently, Stover, perform the back-field stunts――or try to.
-First Team was fast rounding into a hard-working, aggressive, snappy
-organization, and facing her was no child’s play. That the Second held
-her to four scores that day, and credited herself with a field-goal,
-speaks well for Coach Burtis’ charges. Second didn’t consider that she
-had actually wiped out the stigma of Tuesday’s overwhelming defeat, but
-she derived a lot of comfort from her showing, and White, whose capable
-foot had secured that goal from the field, was a twenty-four hour hero.
-It was even whispered that Coach Lyle had been seen looking hard at
-White and that the latter’s transfer to the First Team was inevitable.
-Which, while it may have brought pleasant anticipations to the Second
-Team while full-back, filled the rest of the fellows with gloomy
-forebodings.
-
-“That’s the way they do,” lamented Farquhar, the rangy left tackle.
-“Just as soon as we get a fellow so’s he’s some use to us they nab him
-for the First. What’s the use of that? If they want us to give ’em
-good practice they ought to let us have some decent players. But they
-don’t. Last year they swiped three of our fellows two weeks before the
-Broadwood game. They make me very weary!”
-
-However, it seemed that Second’s fears might be groundless, for Friday
-found White still with them, and he was still with them the following
-day when the First went up against Forest Hill School.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-TEAM-MATES FALL OUT
-
-
-It was a brute of a day, with a chilling, drizzling rain and a sodden,
-sloppy field. Toby had been out of sorts since the moment of his
-awakening to a dimly-lighted room and the sound of dripping eaves. He
-had pecked at his breakfast, more than usually averse to the ruddiness
-of his steak and willing to exchange a whole pitcher of milk for one
-heartening cup of hot coffee. Recitations went badly. There was an
-evident listlessness on the part of the students and a consequent lack
-of sympathy on the part of the instructors. In Latin Toby made a horrid
-mess of things, his brain having apparently forgotten to function, and
-“Chawles,” as Mr. Coburn was known among the boys, became quite testy
-and rendered a lengthy oration on the shortcomings of the class, which,
-while intended for the entire assemblage, was aimed directly at Toby.
-I mention these incidents that you may better understand what happened
-in the afternoon when the Second Team stood rather morosely around in
-the drizzle and waited for practice to start and Toby, hands rolled in
-his sweater, glowered across to where the First Team was warming up for
-the Forest Hill contest and damp but enthusiastic cheers arose from the
-stands. It seemed to Toby that a whole lot of fellows, including T.
-Tucker, were wasting the golden moments of life in vain pursuits. Could
-Toby have chosen an occupation just then he would have been a bearded
-and brawny pirate afloat on a tropic sea, a cutlass between his teeth
-and an assortment of pistols thrust in his blood-red sash. Which shows
-that Toby’s normally gentle and sane disposition had a bad kink in it
-to-day.
-
-And at such an inopportune moment Roy Frick, whose disposition, unlike
-Toby’s, was never worthy of being termed gentle, saw fit to make
-himself obnoxious. In justice to Frick it should be explained that he
-had an inherent dislike for the sensation of raindrops trickling down
-the back of his neck, which sensation he was now having. Frick was
-a sturdily-made, hard-muscled fellow of seventeen with a broad, not
-ill-favored face. He was vain, arrogant and pugnacious, although there
-were those who said that he liked to talk fight better than he liked
-to fight. Perhaps in an effort to forget his misery, Frick had taken
-a ball from the canvas sack in which they were brought to the field
-and was passing with Lippman. Frick was behind Toby, but the latter
-was dimly aware of what was going on, just as he was aware of the
-late-comers, George Tubb among them, who were dawdling down from the
-gymnasium. Once the pigskin, made slippery by the rain, escaped from
-Frick and bobbed across the wet turf to where Toby stood, and Toby sent
-it trickling back with a touch of his foot. Perhaps there was something
-antagonistic in the brief, careless glance exchanged with Frick, for
-Toby felt antagonistic to everything at the moment. In any case, Frick
-doubtless resented that look, and a minute later the football collided
-with a dull, damp thump against the back of Toby’s head.
-
-“Sorry!” called Frick grinning. “The ball’s slippery, Tucker.”
-
-Toby flushed, walked onto the gridiron, where the pigskin was wobbling
-erratically about, and picked it up. Then, facing the longest stretch
-of the field and trying to recall all he had learned of punting, he
-swung his right foot against the dropping ball and was rewarded with
-a very healthy-sounding thump. Such a performance in a game would
-have won him applause, for the ball, in spite of its sodden condition,
-arched toward the further corner of the field in a fine, long flight
-and came to earth a full forty-five yards away. But there was no
-applause on this occasion, unless the amused glances of those who
-happened to see the feat could have been construed as applausive. Frick
-came running, his face redder than Toby’s had been.
-
-“What’s the idea, Tucker?” he demanded threateningly. “You go and fetch
-that now!”
-
-“Not likely,” answered Toby in a growl.
-
-“Yes, you will, or I’ll knock your red head off! You get it, do you
-hear?”
-
-Toby’s face paled from red to white. “Yes, I hear,” he said in a
-low and steady voice. He covered the distance of a scant yard that
-separated them in one quick step. “I hear a lot I don’t take stock in,
-Frick. I hear you’re a fighter, for instance!”
-
-Frick’s right arm went back, elbow crooked, hand clenched, and his
-right foot moved back with it, but Toby didn’t wait. Instead, he
-stepped suddenly forward with his own left foot and thrust shoulder and
-flattened hand against Frick’s chest with the result that the latter
-staggered back, failed to recover his balance and sat down hard. He was
-up in an instant, his eyes blazing, silent, and just a bit doubtful.
-And Toby, who had followed, stood ready. But, while a fight would have
-been a welcome relief from boredom, the others interposed. Watson and
-Farquhar and Sid Creel and several more got between the opponents with
-words of caution and displeasure.
-
-“Cut it, you chumps!” said the big center, pushing Frick away. “Here
-comes Mr. Burtis!”
-
-“What do I care?” cried Frick. “Think he’s going to knock me down and
-get away with it? Let go of me, Ben, or I’ll――I’ll smash you! I will!
-Take your hands――――”
-
-But Watson wouldn’t, and Farquhar was there too, soothing and
-ridiculing, and every one had mixed in and the incident was perforce
-closed. And lest Toby, who really seemed quite calm and peaceable,
-should attempt to continue the discussion, Sid Creel and Stover stood
-guard over him. And onto the scene strode Coach Burtis and Captain
-Beech, suspicious but asking no questions, and every one strolled
-casually somewhere else and looked very innocent.
-
-“What was the trouble?” whispered Sid Creel as he and Toby wandered
-along the side-line. Toby related the incident in a few words, and Sid
-observed him curiously.
-
-“Gee, you must have had a grouch,” he exclaimed wonderingly. “Never
-knew you had a temper like that, Toby!”
-
-“Well, I have,” answered Toby dryly. “Of course, it was a silly thing
-to do, but he had no business lamming me with that wet ball!”
-
-Sid grinned. “Well, it wasn’t his fault the ball was wet, was it?” he
-asked.
-
-Toby managed a weak smile. “It’s his fault he will have to chase after
-it,” he answered.
-
-But of course Frick didn’t have to do any such thing. There is always
-some obliging person about in such an emergency, and it was young
-Lovett, hopeful candidate for end position, who scurried off and
-brought it back to an indignant Gyp. Then practice began and every one
-had other things to think of for the succeeding hour. Now and again
-Toby and Roy Frick encountered each other, on which occasions Frick
-glowered or sneered and Toby pretended to have forgotten the other’s
-existence. Toby was rather ashamed of himself by now and quite willing
-to consider the affair closed.
-
-There was no scrimmage this afternoon, and at a little after four the
-squad was dismissed. Taking only time enough to wrap themselves in
-blankets, the Second hurried in a body across to the other gridiron and
-won a ripple of laughter as they appeared like so many blue wraiths,
-around the corner of the covered stand. It seemed like an accident, but
-possibly wasn’t, that George Tubb scuttled into the seat next to Toby.
-
-“Guess that guy would have mopped the ground up with you if the fellows
-hadn’t butted in,” observed George with one of his malicious grins.
-“He’s a lot heavier than you, Tucker.”
-
-“I had a lucky escape then,” replied Toby. “Know what the score is
-here?”
-
-“Nothing to nothing. Forest Hill’s too fast for those First Team yaps.
-Say, I wish Frick would try to get gay with me some day! I don’t like
-that blow-hard.”
-
-“Perhaps he will,” said Toby pleasantly. “At least, you can hope, Tubb.”
-
-George eyed him suspiciously. Toby’s tone had suggested that he viewed
-the idea with favor. George grunted. “Well, if he ever does he will get
-a lot more’n he expects,” he growled. “You ought to have handed him a
-punch instead of just pushing him, Tucker. He’ll be after you the first
-chance he gets. They say he’s a clever scrapper, too.”
-
-“Do they?” asked Toby indifferently. “Then there’ll probably be enough
-left for you to tackle, Tubb.”
-
-The third period ended just then, and Toby’s gaze, turning away from
-the players, encountered Tubb’s. For some reason Tubb colored, and then
-blurted: “Say, you never came around to the room like you said you were
-going to, Tucker. You’re getting sort of choosey, too, I suppose.”
-
-“I called last week, Tubb. You were out. Didn’t Ramsey tell you?”
-
-“Yes. I forgot. How’d you know I’d be out?” Again that objectionable
-grin! Toby frowned.
-
-“I didn’t,” he said shortly. Then: “Can’t you ever be decent, Tubb?” he
-asked. “This thing of always having a chip on your shoulder is a bit
-tiresome.”
-
-“I haven’t any chip.” Tubb laughed a mixture of apology and defiance.
-“I’ve got some――some pride, though! No fellow needs to know me if he
-doesn’t want to!”
-
-“That goes without saying,” answered Toby dryly.
-
-George scowled darkly. “Well, it’s so. A lot of you guys with
-wrist-watches make me tired! Gee, if――――”
-
-“I don’t happen to wear a wrist-watch, Tubb, and making you tired
-is nothing in my young life,” said Toby wearily. “Let’s cut out the
-love-pats. I’m not feeling awfully gay to-day. How do you like playing
-end?”
-
-“All right,” replied George after a moment. “If Mr. Burtis wasn’t a
-bonehead, though, he’d let me play half. I always have played half.”
-
-“Always?” asked Toby, idly, watching Snowden kick-off to Forest Hill.
-“How long is ‘always’?”
-
-“Well, last year and some the year before. I was the best back on our
-team, anyway!”
-
-“I didn’t know you had played so much. When I asked you――――”
-
-“Oh, well, you sounded so blamed patronizing,” growled George.
-
-“Didn’t mean to. I’m glad you stuck it out on the squad, Tubb. Beech
-said the other day that――well, he seemed to think you were going to
-make a pretty good end.”
-
-“Huh!” said George scornfully. “I could show him some real end playing
-right now if he’d give me a chance! But he’s stuck on Mawson and
-Connell.” In spite of his words, Toby got the idea that George was
-nevertheless pleased by the compliment to his playing. “I suppose they
-belong to the same Society Beech does!”
-
-“No, as a matter of fact, Tubb, Beech is Cambridge and Connell is
-Oxford. I don’t know which Mawson is, but I don’t think it matters. I
-wouldn’t make remarks of that sort if I were you. Fellows don’t like
-them.”
-
-If Tubb made any reply Toby didn’t hear it, for Halliday had got
-away around Forest Hill’s left and pulled down a long and desperate
-forward-pass, and now he was streaking up the field with the ball and
-the stand was on its feet, shouting and imploring. Halliday dodged the
-first of the enemy and sped on. Then the Forest Hill quarter was on
-him, there was a confusion of rolling bodies and Ted was free again
-to go plunging on toward the nearing goal-line. The pursuit gained
-but never quite reached him, and Ted at last subsided between the
-posts. That was all the scoring done by either team, and shortly after
-Captain Fanning had missed an easy goal the game ended. The visitors
-considered, and not without reason, that they had virtually won the
-honors of the day and departed cheering through the twilight drizzle.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-TOBY AT QUARTER
-
-
-The outcome of the Forest Hill game was a favorite topic of discussion
-during the next few days. Although Yardley had won in the last four
-minutes, by means of a well-earned touchdown following a forward pass,
-the general opinion was that the Blue had been largely outplayed by
-a lighter but much faster eleven. Of course, reverses were to be
-expected, but after Yardley’s showing in the Tyron game it did seem
-that she should have done better against a “small school team” like
-Forest Hill. On the other hand, the local football historians reminded
-that some six seasons ago, Forest Hill had actually won from Yardley, 5
-to 3, and that it was no uncommon thing for the smaller school to score
-against the Blue.
-
-Rumors of changes in the line-up spread, and it was whispered that all
-was not serene between captain and coach. Arnold was decidedly glum
-that Saturday evening, and, although the usual excursion to Greenburg
-in search of moving picture thrills was made, he was no great addition
-to the company. Afterwards, when they were preparing for bed, Toby told
-him that he was foolish to let football worry him so. “Any one might
-think you were captain of the eleven instead of Fanning,” said Toby.
-“You act――――”
-
-“I wish I was――were――was――――”
-
-“‘Were’ will do. Why do you wish you was――were?”
-
-“Because I’d drop two or three of the ‘dead-ones’ and have a team
-instead of a bunch of stars!”
-
-Toby weighed that in silence. Finally: “Who are the ‘dead-ones’?” he
-asked.
-
-Arnold shook his head. “Guess I oughtn’t to talk about it,” he
-muttered. “It’s not my business.”
-
-“Right you are! Just remember that. If it’s not your business, don’t
-worry about it.”
-
-“That’s easy enough to say,” Arnold grumbled. After a moment he said
-explosively, dropping a shoe to the floor in emphasis: “Why Mr. Lyle
-doesn’t jump in and fire a couple of those fellows is what gets me! If
-he hasn’t got the backbone to stand up against Tom he oughtn’t to be
-coach.”
-
-“Oh, well, the season’s young yet,” answered Toby easily. “Maybe Mr.
-Lyle is sort of ‘watchful waiting.’ I’m thinking of going to sleep.
-When you get through holding your foot in your hand and making faces
-you might put out the light. It works quite easily. You just turn the
-thingumbob there. Don’t blow it out, please, because――――”
-
-“Because it might stop your chatter! All right. Good-night.”
-
-The rumored changes in the First Team line-up didn’t materialize,
-however; at least not during the following week. Arnold reported that
-things were going better and gave credit to Mr. Lyle, who, it seemed,
-had delivered a few well-chosen words on Monday, before practice. “He’s
-really got some of the loafers at work,” said Arnold. “Even Stone is
-showing a little animation!”
-
-“Stone being one of the ‘dead-ones’?”
-
-“Well, he hasn’t looked very much alive until this week,” answered
-Arnold. “I dare say we’ll get our gait by Saturday. They say Brown and
-Young’s is a tough bunch of scrappers. I hope they are. We need to go
-up against something that has a wallop!”
-
-“You did that very thing yesterday,” said Toby.
-
-“You’re not far off, at that,” agreed the other. “Your team put up a
-mighty pretty scrap. If you’d been half as good on defense as you were
-on attack――――”
-
-“Oh, well, I noticed that we held you fellows twice inside our thirty.
-Hold your horses. We’ll be beating you badly by the end of the month!”
-
-“Rather fancy yourself, don’t you?” jeered Arnold. “By the way, was
-that your friend Tubbs who played left end for you in the last half?”
-
-“Tubb is the gentleman’s name. What did you think of him?”
-
-“Why, he acted like a crazy Indian! He made me nervous looking at him,
-and hearing him!”
-
-Toby laughed. “That’s his style, Arn. It’s psychological, you see. He
-distracts the attention of the opponent from the game. All that jumping
-and up and down and running around and talking is just to get your
-goat!”
-
-“Well, he came near getting it, all right! He made as much row as a
-Broadwood shortstop with the bases full and two down! But he seemed
-to me to be playing a pretty good game, just the same. He was into
-everything!”
-
-“Beech says he’s a comer, Arn. If he could only get over the idea that
-he’s being imposed on by every one he’d get on a heap better.”
-
-“He’s a chronic sorehead and kicker, I suppose. I’ve met one or two
-like him. Maybe he will get over it in time. How’s that other protégé
-of yours, the tennis fiend?”
-
-“Ramsey? I don’t see much of him nowadays. But I know that he’s got in
-with a fairly decent lot of chaps and looks about fifty per cent better
-than he did. I told you about his freezing me one night when I went to
-see him? Had both windows wide open and told me he couldn’t get along
-without plenty of fresh air. Bet you anything he’d never slept with a
-window open in his life until Muscles got at him! You know, I think I
-can take a bit of credit for the――the rejuvenation of friend Ramsey!”
-
-“Well, that’s some word, but I dare say you’re right. Now all you’ve
-got to do is make Mr. Tubbs over and you’re through.”
-
-“Tubb is a hard-boiled one, Arn, and I haven’t much hope of him. If
-I liked him a bit better I suppose I’d take more interest in his
-career――――”
-
-“I wish you’d stop talking like a blooming dictionary,” groaned Arnold.
-“Now dry up and let me take a fall out of this math.”
-
-That week saw two changes in the Second Team. Sid Creel displaced
-Watson at center and George Tubb was shifted from B Team to A. He and
-Mawson were used impartially and in the four games that the Second
-played against the First that week there appeared to be little choice
-between them. The same could be as truthfully said of Toby and Roy
-Frick. Sometimes one started the game and sometimes the other, but each
-had an equal chance. Toby had his shortcomings and so did his rival,
-Toby’s concerning individual play and Frick’s generalship. Or, perhaps,
-leadership would be a better word to use. Somehow, or so it seemed
-to those whose business it was to note such things, the Second Team
-showed more life and aggressiveness when Toby’s shrill voice called
-the signals. For Toby’s voice _was_ shrill when he played quarter,
-though at other times it was an ordinary tenor of middle register, with
-a pleasant touch of Long Island fog in it. But that first day, when
-unexpectedly called on to act as quarter-back, Toby’s nervousness had
-sent his voice several notes up the scale, and for some reason it had
-never come down again so long as he was giving signals. Arnold likened
-it to the yelping of a fox terrier one day, and on the next occasion
-Toby tried hard to bring it back to normal, with the result that it
-sounded as hoarse as a frog with a bad cold, and no one could hear him!
-
-But at individual playing of the position, Roy Frick was better. Frick
-was a tricky runner and frequently squirmed outside tackles for needed
-gains. And he was a dependable punter. Possibly Toby would have showed
-up better beside Frick at this time if he had had more faith in his own
-ability, but he was chary of trusting to his own efforts to advance the
-ball. On catching punts and running them in, he was not much behind his
-rival, and at punting he was fast catching up with him. But there was
-no doubt that from the spectator’s point of view Frick was the man for
-the job.
-
-There had been no resumption of hostilities between the two. Toby was
-willing to forgive and forget, although he secretly disliked Frick for
-the latter’s overbearing manner. For his part, Frick had evidently
-neither forgiven nor forgotten, but he seemed satisfied to let the
-matter rest as it was. Toby had an idea that the other frequently
-ridiculed his playing, for sometimes he caught looks of stifled
-amusement on the faces of Frick’s cronies. As, however, they were
-seldom on the bench at the same time and, being in different classes
-and having different circles of friends, scarcely ever encountered each
-other off the football field, there was little chance for a clash. At
-training table Frick sat four places from Toby on the same side of the
-board; and, anyway, at table personal animosities would not be allowed
-to flourish. Save for an occasional Sunday, Coach Burtis was always in
-his place at the head, and he had a watchful eye and a careful ear.
-
-On Friday, contrary to custom, the Second Team was led across to the
-other gridiron for a twelve-minute bout with the First. The First had
-not pleased Coach Lyle since the Forest Hill game, and the morrow’s
-contest, with Brown and Young’s School would demand all the Blue had.
-Toby was sent in at quarter. He noted two changes in the First Team’s
-line. Casement was playing right guard in place of Snow and Candee was
-at center in Simpson’s stead. Coach Burtis had instructed him to give
-the First’s center and right side the brunt of the line attack, and
-Toby understood now that the substitutes there were to be put to the
-test. He wondered if either of them suspected and whether their own
-coach had instigated the ordeal. He felt a bit sorry for Snow, who was
-rather light for a guard, and hoped he wouldn’t get used too roughly.
-
-There was no kick-off to-day. Instead, Second was given the ball
-in the middle of the field. Coaches and trainers hovered about
-like hawks around a chicken yard, and there was much exhorting and
-last-moment instructing. First Team had been keyed up to the minute,
-and faces showed strain and poised bodies tension. Toby had Nelson,
-Lippman, and Crawford behind him, and it was Lippman he chose for
-that first attack. His voice yelped, Farquhar, left tackle, trotted
-over to the right of the line, the signal came, and Lippman, seizing
-the ball at a hand-pass, smashed ahead. Crawford and Toby piled in
-behind. The First Team line buckled and snapped back again. Jim Rose,
-big and pink-cheeked, roared defiance. “Second down! Nine!” shouted
-the referee. Toby grabbed an arm and pulled Lippman out of the pile.
-Already he was shouting new signals. Again Farquhar shifted, again
-Lippman took the pass. But this time he shot obliquely to the left,
-the whole back-field behind him, and plunged at Snow. Through he went,
-fighting, squirming, turning! two yards――three――four――Then the rout was
-stayed. A faint “Down” and the blowing of the whistle came together.
-Toby arose from some one’s unquiet legs and added another note to his
-voice:
-
-“That’s the stuff, Second! That’s working! Come on, now! Let’s get ’em
-again! Signal!”
-
-“Five to go!” cried the referee, skipping away.
-
-“Hold that side! Hold that side!” shouted Fanning.
-
-“That was on you, Snow!” Mr. Lyle’s voice was ice-cold. “Don’t let them
-do it again!”
-
-“Come on, Yardley! Throw ’em back!” called Curran, up-field. “Watch for
-a forward, there, Ted!”
-
-Again Second smashed at the First’s right guard and center, and again
-the latter yielded. But Crawford had made only a yard and a half, and
-now it was fourth down and the forty-yard line was still a good ten
-feet distant. Grover Beech pulled Toby’s head down and whispered, and
-Toby gave back a doubtful glance. But Beech’s word was law so long
-as it didn’t transgress the coach’s instructions, and Toby yielded.
-“Farquhar back!” he called. “Hold that line, Second!” Farquhar trotted
-to a kicking position and Nelson slipped into the line. First scented
-a fake, but covered her field nevertheless. Then the ball shot back to
-Lippman and he set out around his end, Toby leading. For a moment the
-play looked good, for First had drawn her back-field away, but Sanford
-eluded Connell and sent Toby sprawling and Roover got Lippman two
-yards short of the distance.
-
-First made two at the Second’s left and then kicked. Crawford misjudged
-the ball badly on his twenty-five yards and it went over his head. Toby
-fell on it on his fifteen, and two First Team men fell on him. Second
-plugged the center again for two, and again for one. Then, on a delayed
-pass, Crawford squirmed through Snow for eight yards and first down.
-What a scolding there was then! Coach Lyle fairly raised welts. Some
-one called for time, and Toby, still short of breath from being sat on
-by the First Team ends, was very glad. Beech led him back.
-
-“Watch Stone,” he said. “He’s coming away in on those plays. Slip one
-through outside him, Tucker. There’s a fine hole there!”
-
-Toby nodded. “Got to bang the center, though, Beech. Coach’s orders.
-I’ll try it, though, first time they tighten.”
-
-Toby shifted his line to the left, and First massed to meet the attack.
-Lippman failed at center, Candee standing like a rock. On a fake-kick,
-Crawford struck the line hard, but made less than a yard. Crawford
-gained three through Snow. Farquhar dropped back and Lippman dashed
-outside Stone and reeled off six yards before he was stopped. With one
-to go on fourth down, Toby elected to punt, and Farquhar dropped the
-pigskin on the First’s thirty-yard line. Roover brought it back to near
-the center of the field before Beech pulled him down.
-
-First worked a neat forward-pass that netted seventeen yards and then
-smashed through center for five more. Second held twice and First
-booted over the line. On the twenty-five Toby returned to the attack on
-Snow and Candee and gained six in three downs. A fake-kick resulted in
-a fumble and the pigskin went to First on the opponent’s twenty-two.
-There was no holding the First Team then and she scored in seven plays,
-Snowden landing the ball near the corner of the field. The punt-out was
-not allowed and the teams went back to the fifty. Coach Lyle took pity
-on Snow and that much-mauled youth was removed in favor of Casement.
-For the Second, Stover and White came on for Lippman and Crawford,
-and George Tubb for Mawson. Again the kick-off was barred and Second
-given the ball. Toby tried the new right guard with no gain, got Stover
-around left for three, failed once more at center and himself punted to
-First’s twenty. First kicked on second down, Snowden getting nearly
-fifty yards. Stover caught and dodged back for ten. From the forty,
-Tubb swung around back and gained midfield on a fine run around the
-enemy’s left end. Then Toby fumbled and Rose captured the ball for the
-First. Another forward pass, Curran to Halliday, took the First to the
-Second’s twenty-four, and from there the First battered her way across
-for the second score. Before she got it, however, Toby retired groggily
-and Frick took his place. Toby had ill-advisedly allowed Snowden to sit
-on his stomach. Frick’s labor was soon over, however, for the First
-Team’s second touchdown practically ended the game.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-THE “TOUGH BUNCH”
-
-
-No one seemed satisfied with the day’s performance. The First resented
-the enemy’s gains through their line and the Second declared stoutly
-that if they had been taught a decent defense against forward-passes
-the First would never have scored. Arnold told Toby later that Coach
-Lyle had read the riot act afterwards. “I didn’t know he could be so
-rude,” said Arnold sadly.
-
-“Why didn’t you get in to-day?” Toby asked from the window-seat where,
-propped on many cushions, he looked pale and interesting.
-
-“Lyle wanted to give you fellows a show.”
-
-“Well, Bates didn’t do a whole lot,” said Toby. “You’re pretty punk,
-Arn, but you’ve got it over him. Gee, if I hadn’t made that rotten
-fumble on the fifty yards that time we might have held you fellows to a
-measly six points!”
-
-“Yes, not! Son, that fumble of yours didn’t affect the game a mite. It
-was forward-passing that beat you chaps. Your ends were no good at all.
-Even your friend Mr. Tubb was fast asleep.”
-
-“I know. We’ve got no sort of a defense for forward-passes. I called
-the turn on that second one, but Farquhar was away out of position and
-Tubb let Roover get right by him. You wait another week, though! We’re
-getting your measure, Arn! What about to-morrow? Are you going to play?”
-
-“Ask Mr. Lyle. I suppose I’ll get a show sometime, though. I sure want
-to. They say Brown and Young’s are regular bearcats! What time is it
-getting to be? I’m as hungry as the dickens. Let’s go!”
-
-The Second Team had no practice Saturday, which, for some of its
-members, was fortunate, since the First had managed to deal very
-harshly with them during the brief period of yesterday’s game. Toby,
-although he had nothing to show in the way of scars, was tired and
-lame when he crawled out of bed in the morning, and not until he had
-shivered under a shower-bath, groaningly rubbed himself pink and done
-two minutes of setting-up exercises in front of an open window which
-admitted the frostly tingle of the October morning did the usual
-feeling of well-being return. After that he was able to reach chapel
-without protests from lame muscles and, later, do full justice to a
-breakfast of cereal, eggs, toast, stewed fruit, and milk.
-
-Fortunately, on Saturday mornings recitations were few, for, save
-during a brief midwinter period when outdoor sports were at a
-standstill, preoccupation was always noticeable on the part of the
-student body on that day of the week. Such a condition of mind was
-especially evident this forenoon, due, probably, to the fact that
-Yardley’s opponent in the afternoon had been heralded as a strong team
-with a proclivity for “roughing it.” Yardley, as much as any school and
-perhaps more than many, held for clean playing, but there was enough
-of the “Old Adam” there to make a bit of scrapping interesting. Its
-attitude was well explained by a remark made by Will Curran, the First
-Team quarter, in front of Oxford between recitations.
-
-“If they’re mean players we’ll lick them,” said Curran. “I never saw a
-team yet who could play dirty ball and win as long as the other fellow
-played clean. But my guess is that they won’t play dirty. That sort of
-stuff doesn’t go here, and I think they know it. If they don’t know it
-they’ll mighty soon find it out! They’ll play clean if we have to slug
-’em to make ’em!”
-
-Which statement, although made in all sincerity and with a perfectly
-sober countenance, met with a ripple of laughter from his hearers.
-“That’s the idea, Will!” approved Frank Lamson. “We’ll have peace if we
-have to fight for it!”
-
-Brown and Young’s School was a new institution and a large one.
-You saw its half-page advertisements in the magazines every month.
-Although a city school, it emphasized athletics and had a field that
-any university might have been proud of, with a stadium that was an
-architectural triumph. There were those who opined that Brown and
-Young’s graduates were likely to be better grounded in football,
-baseball and track athletics than in scholarly studies, but possibly
-such persons were disgruntled by a Brown and Young’s defeat. For Brown
-and Young’s took athletics seriously and pursued victory on diamond,
-gridiron or rink most strenuously. And, it must be acknowledged, Brown
-and Young’s had won many laurels. Yardley had met her last spring in
-baseball, but this was the first gridiron contest between the two. On
-the diamonds Brown and Young’s had proved noisy, argumentative and a
-trifle rough in the pinches, and had accepted a 3 to 2 defeat not very
-graciously, but she had not been guilty of unfair tactics. Perhaps, as
-Tom Fanning said, she liked to be thought a bit “tough” in the hope
-that her adversaries would either be afraid or try to beat her at
-toughness and get caught doing it. In any event, Yardley received a
-strict warning from Coach Lyle before the game.
-
-“Any fellow who tries dirty work will come out,” he declared. “If the
-officials don’t put him off, I will. Just remember that. If Brown and
-Young’s don’t play clean it’s up to the officials. We’ve heard that
-these fellows are a ‘tough bunch,’ a win-at-any-cost team, but you
-can’t believe everything you hear. So don’t go into the game looking
-for trouble. Maybe it isn’t there. If they should try the rough-stuff,
-your captain will call the officials’ attention to it. Just you keep
-your hands and your temper down and your heads up. Play as hard as you
-know how, fellows, but play fair.”
-
-It was an ideal football day, crisp and sunny, with almost no wind.
-Frost had left the field a bit soft but not sufficiently so to affect
-any one’s game. Greenburg turned out a good audience, which, added to
-the Yardley rooters and a half-hundred Brown and Young’s followers,
-nearly filled the stands by three o’clock. Toby had Sid Creel and
-Grover Beech for companions, and, reaching the field early, they got
-first row seats directly behind the Yardley bench. Brown and Young’s
-came on first, a capable-looking squad of thirty or so, accompanied
-by a regular retinue of noncombatants; a head coach and an assistant
-coach, a couple of managers, a trainer, an assistant trainer and two
-rubbers.
-
-“Guess the Principal must be ill,” said Beech dryly. “I don’t see him
-anywhere.”
-
-“Maybe he’s one of the cheer leaders,” suggested Sid. “Those are sure
-some gaudy togs of theirs!”
-
-Sid had reference to the enemy’s orange sweaters and
-orange-and-black-ringed stockings.
-
-“Princeton colors,” said Beech. “Doubtless showing a predilection for
-that university on the part of our noble opponent.”
-
-“How do you get that way?” inquired Sid slangily. “Brown and Young’s
-fellows don’t go to Princeton.”
-
-“Don’t they?” asked Toby innocently. “Where do they go?”
-
-“Into professional baseball,” answered Sid in triumph.
-
-Beech grinned approval of the bon mot, but said that he didn’t believe
-there was room in professional baseball for them all. Sid didn’t argue
-the matter, for Yardley trotted around the corner of the stand just
-then and the cheer leaders were bellowing for “A regular Yardley cheer,
-fellows, for the Team!”
-
-After that, with four elevens warming up on the gridiron, there was
-too much to watch for conversation to flourish. Instead, the talk
-ran something like this: “Noyes is driving the scrubs.”――“Simpson’s
-back at center, Cap.”――“Gee, that was some punt! Wonder if they
-can do that in the game!”――“Oh, you Ted Halliday!”――“Look at
-the size of that guy, will you? Must be their center.”――“Right
-guard. He’d make two of Casement!”――“Those chaps have got a heap
-of pep, haven’t they?”――“How’re you betting, Cap?”――“Watch that
-yellow-leg kicking goals down there, fellows! He hasn’t missed one
-yet!”――“Hello, Andy! Who’s going to win?”――“Who’s the little chap
-in the gray sweater?”――“Cornish, of Trinity. He’s umpiring. He’s
-good, too.”――“Those fellows can cheer, can’t they? Rotten name for a
-school, though; Brown and Young’s. Sounds like they were advertising
-a department store!”――“Must be most time to start. Three minutes of?
-There goes Fanning now. Is that the referee with him?”――“Good-looking
-guy, that Brown and Young’s captain.”――“Fan lost the toss! Sure he
-did! What? Oh, that’s different! Still, I don’t see――――”――“Every one
-up! Bust yourself, Toby! Rah! Rah! Rah!――――”
-
-Then, when the rival cheers had floated off across the river and
-the gold-and-russet marshes beyond, the stands became momentarily
-silent and the referee’s voice sounded clearly: “All ready, Brown
-and Young?――Ready, Yardley?” Then the whistle piped and a tall
-yellow-sleeved tackle swung a striped leg and sent the new ball
-hurtling down the field.
-
-It was a long, high kick, and well-placed, and when Snowden had
-gathered it into his arms and doubled himself over it the enemy was
-almost on him. A scant eight yards he made, by dint of much twisting
-and feinting, and then he was pulled down. Yardley made one stab at
-the opponent’s left and gained two. Then the ball went back to Snowden
-and was hurled well up the field to the left. Roover was quite alone
-when it reached him, and he trailed off a dozen yards before he was
-forced outside. The play had caught the enemy napping, and it had
-suddenly moved the game from Yardley to Brown and Young’s territory,
-for when the ball was paced in and grounded it lay just short of the
-enemy’s forty yards. The Blue’s cohorts cheered and shouted and waved,
-while, from across the field, came a snappy, undismayed cheer from the
-Orange-and-Black.
-
-Another slight gain outside left tackle, and again the pigskin shot
-back to Snowden. This time the big full-back started off toward his
-right as if he meant to turn the end, but, challenged, he threw a
-lateral to Arnold Deering, and Arnold, behind good interference, raced
-to the adversary’s twenty-eight before he was set on savagely and
-tumbled head over heels. Fortunately he held tight to the ball. The
-Yardley stand was in an uproar of triumph and delight. Dismay showed
-in the ranks of the enemy. Toby saw the Brown and Young’s quarter,
-a spindly, nervous-mannered youth, look back apprehensively at the
-goal-posts as he retreated up the field yelling strident encouragement
-to his fellows. Toby felt a certain sympathy with that quarter-back,
-enemy or no enemy. Toby had experienced similar apprehension.
-
-Brown and Young’s looked pitifully weak during the next few minutes.
-Her opponent’s success had upset her calculations and the suddenness of
-events had left her gasping and rattled. From the twenty-eight yards
-Roover carried the ball in two plunges through the Orange’s left to a
-position opposite the goal and twenty-one yards away from it. Then
-kicking formation was called and Fanning dropped out of the line, his
-place being taken by Roover. Brown and Young’s shouted warnings against
-a fake, but the cry of “Block that kick!” mingled with them. Captain
-Fanning stretched his hands forth, Curran piped his signals, the ball
-left Simpson――――
-
-Confusion reigned! Cries filled the air! Yardley swept forward! But
-where was the ball? Fanning’s right leg swung against nothing. Deering
-was running off to the left, chased by an orange-sleeved end and Brown
-and Young’s forwards were piling through. But no one, it seemed, had
-the ball! And then, out of the ruck of confusion, shot a flash of blue
-that, seen dimly between the heaving forms of friend and foe, resolved
-into the likeness of Curran! Straight ahead leaped the quarter-back,
-straight at the center of the goal. For five yards he slipped
-unchallenged through the very storm center of the battle. Then the ruse
-was discovered and the Orange hurled her defenses upon him. But friend
-as well as enemy was about him now, and not until the ten-yard line was
-underfoot was he tackled. Then, fighting hard, he dragged on for three
-more strides, faltered, was borne back and went down under an avalanche
-of enemy forms.
-
-“The old delayed pass!” cried Grover Beech almost tearfully in his
-joy. “And they fell for it!”
-
-Eight yards to go! Desperately, while the tumult still reigned, Brown
-and Young’s lined up under the shadow of her goal. That she could stop
-the enemy now was too much to hope, nor did she, though she battled
-fiercely. Deering was launched ahead for two yards and Roover made two
-more. The shouting had almost ceased from the stands and the Brown and
-Young’s quarter could be heard imploring the team to “Hold ’em fellows!
-Throw ’em back! Get low! Get low! Hold ’em!” And with his voice came a
-medley of others and, sharp, stabbing, through them all, the musketry
-of Curran’s signals. Then a sudden heaving of both tense lines, a
-concentration of the whole Yardley back-field on the enemy center,
-a slow yielding there and, finally, a break, with Snowden, the ball
-hugged to his stomach, arching over and through on a sea of squirming
-figures!
-
-Well over the last line lay the pigskin, a foot to spare! And as
-Yardley trotted back, swinging headguards, cavorting a little, and
-Brown and Young’s lined up sullenly beneath the cross-bar, Sid Creel
-laid his head in Toby’s lap, kicked Beech lovingly on the shins and
-murmured rapturously: “From our twenty yards to their goal in nine
-plays! Eighty yards in eight minutes! O Brown, where is thy victory! O
-Young, where is thy sting!”
-
-Fanning kicked an easy goal and again Brown and Young’s sent the ball
-from the tee. There was a breathless moment while Arnold Deering
-juggled the catch and then a clever advance of nearly twenty yards
-through half the enemy team. Two attempts at the line netted but three,
-and Yardley made her first punt. And for the first time since the game
-began Brown and Young’s had the ball in her possession. But disruption
-was still evident, and the whistle sounding the end of the first period
-came as a welcome of relief to the visitors.
-
-When play was resumed the Orange showed her possibilities, for,
-although Yardley stopped her midway between center line and goal and,
-having adopted defensive tactics for the time, kicked again on second
-down, Brown and Young’s came back with ever increasing determination.
-
-The Orange used a clever and often disconcerting combination of
-straight, old-style line-bucking and wide end-running with a remarkably
-efficient protection for the man with the ball. She had a bewildering
-number of back-field combinations, apparently chiefly designed to
-confuse the opponent. The fact that line-attacks and end-runs were
-sent off from the same close-up formation of the backs made it hard
-for Yardley to guess which was coming. In fact, the Brown and Young’s
-system of plays was well calculated to keep the enemy on the anxious
-seat, and just so long as her line continued fairly impregnable she was
-bound to make gains. So far she had attempted no forward-passing, and
-her kicking game was still an unknown quantity. Her plan appeared to
-be to hold the ball as long as she could, making the opponent wrest it
-from her in the scrimmage.
-
-As the second quarter progressed her attacks became fiercer and her
-resistance more stubborn. Her men played well together, and, although
-a few stood out above the rest in ability, individual effort was
-subordinated to teamwork. It was teamwork that made possible her
-running game, for every man had a duty and performed it, and not once
-in that period was Yardley able to reach the man with the ball until
-he had at least crossed the scrimmage line, and more often he had a
-substantial gain to his credit before the Blue’s secondary defense
-stopped him. It was principally the fact that, once inside the thirty
-yards, Brown and Young’s abandoned end-running for line-plugging that
-Yardley’s goal remained intact in that first half. Twice Yardley took
-the ball away from her inside the twenty-yard line and punted out of
-danger, and twice the Orange hammered or scuttled her way back again,
-the whistle halting a march that seemed destined to bring a touchdown.
-
-“That seven points doesn’t look as safe as it did awhile back,”
-said Grover Beech as the rival squads trailed off to the gymnasium.
-“Considering the way those lads played in the last quarter, I’d say we
-were mighty lucky to get it!”
-
-“You’re dead right,” agreed Sid Creel. “They’ve got it all over us on
-team-play. They move like a regular machine. Those end-runs of theirs
-are the slickest things I’ve seen in an age, and if we don’t find some
-way of stopping them we’ll get licked as sure as shooting!”
-
-“There’s just one way to stop them,” said Toby. “That’s to play our
-ends further out and bring a back into the line.”
-
-“Then they’d cut inside the end,” said Sid. “That’s old-stuff, sonny.
-Pull the opposing end out and then shoot the plays inside him.”
-
-“But with a half-back there――――”
-
-“The trouble is,” said Beech, “you can’t guess when they’re coming.
-Half a dozen times I doped it out that they were going to smash the
-line and they just fooled me. There’s nothing to give you a hint. I
-could see Tom Fanning getting goggle-eyed trying to size up what was
-coming. Usually there’s something to give the snap away: a back drops a
-foot or two further back or to one side, or he faces a bit the way the
-play’s going without meaning to, or you get a hint from the signal. But
-these chaps are foxy.”
-
-“I don’t believe they’ve got anything on us as far as their line goes,”
-said Sid.
-
-“The only thing they’ve got on us is smoother playing,” declared Beech.
-“They’re playing end-of-season football and we’re playing what we’ve
-learned and no more.”
-
-“Well, how do they get that way?” growled Sid.
-
-“They go at it harder, I guess. They tell me that that coach of theirs
-gets ten thousand a year.”
-
-“Ten thousand dollars!” ejaculated Toby.
-
-“No, eggs,” replied Sid sarcastically. “Well, why not? If he can teach
-a team to play like that by midseason he’s worth it.”
-
-“Maybe,” agreed Beech. “If you’re running that kind of a school. But
-the best college football coach doesn’t get any more, and――――”
-
-“They say Brown and Young’s has an enrollment this fall of nearly seven
-hundred, and it’s only three or four years old,” said Sid. “So I guess
-they can afford to pay a real salary to the coach. And I guess it pays
-them to afford it. Wonder, though, how much the Principal gets!”
-
-“Oh, the Principal isn’t important,” observed Toby. “I dare say he just
-gets his room and meals and stationery, the poor fish! He ought to take
-a tumble to himself and study football. I had a sort of an idea I might
-be a railroad president or own a bank, or something modest like that,
-but I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to be a football coach. It pays
-better and the hours are shorter.”
-
-“But think of the responsibility,” chuckled Beech. “Wealth isn’t
-everything, Tucker.”
-
-“Say, do these yellow-legs play Broadwood?” demanded Sid.
-
-“No, I don’t believe so. They never have,” replied Beech.
-
-“Too bad. I wish they would. We’d get a dandy line on Broadwood.”
-
-“And Broadwood would get a dandy line on us. Don’t see that it would
-help much. Well, here they come again. No, it’s our fellows. Get onto
-your job, Fless!”
-
-The cheer leader gave a startled look over his shoulder, grabbed his
-big blue megaphone and jumped to his feet. “Come on, Yardley! Every
-one up! Regular cheer, with nine ‘Yardleys!’ One! Two!――――”
-
-The only change in the Blue’s line-up at the beginning of the third
-period was at left end, where Meadows had displaced Sandford. The
-Orange team returned intact. Yardley brought renewed joy to her
-supporters in the first few minutes by two long gains, one by means of
-a forward-pass and one by means of a seventeen-yard run by Deering,
-that took her well into Brown and Young’s territory. But after that the
-Orange refused to give and the ball changed hands on her twenty-seven
-yards. That Coach Lyle had tried hard to solve the enemy’s running
-game was evident on the occasion of the latter’s first attempt to gain
-around Yardley’s left. Instead of trying to get through the enemy’s
-excellent interference at once, Yardley adopted waiting tactics. So
-long as the man with the ball kept on toward the side-line the Blue was
-content to let him alone, and the surprising and even amusing spectacle
-of fully half of each team streaking in parallel courses across the
-field resulted. By these tactics Yardley gained an advantage. Whereas
-before she had plunged blindly at the Orange’s interference, often not
-knowing where the ball was, she now had time to size up the situation
-and bend every energy toward the runner. Brown and Young’s play brought
-the whole back-field out laterally, the runner carrying the ball,
-either a half or the full-back, well guarded by three interferers, to
-whom, once having diverted the opponent’s charge toward the center, was
-added an end and tackle who formed what was virtually a rear guard. To
-be successful, however, the play demanded that the opposing defense be
-drawn through soon after it had started, the interference engaging it
-and the man with the ball shooting free at the last moment and turning
-in. So as long as the opponent did not challenge, the Orange formation
-continued on in a lateral direction until, for a moment, it seemed
-that it would simply continue across the side-line and into the stand!
-Eventually, however, the runner saw the futility of further waiting
-and took the law into his own hands in a desperate effort to save the
-play. But as he had to drop back to let his interference pass before
-he could turn in he was very promptly nailed and the Orange netted a
-six-yard loss. But of course it didn’t work out so well for Yardley
-the next time, for the Orange changed her tactics and shot the runner
-in at the first opportunity. Nevertheless, the play lost most of its
-effectiveness and, toward the end of the contest, was entirely ignored.
-
-In that third period the honors were fairly even, with each team
-gaining two first downs and neither penetrating nearer to her
-opponent’s goal than the twenty-seven-yard line. Brown and Young’s
-punters showed themselves fully equal to either Roover or Snowden and
-the rival lines exhibited a similar strength against attack. Perhaps
-the Orange’s superiority, if she showed any, was in her aggressiveness,
-although it brought no returns so far as scoring was concerned. Each
-team in the period might have attempted a field-goal but chose to stand
-or fall on rushing. The seven points scored to the credit of Yardley
-had regained something of their original value when time was called for
-the quarter, although Brown and Young’s rooters were still hopeful and,
-across the field, there were many anxious hearts.
-
-Of the sort of playing with which the visitors had been accused, none
-had been seen. To be sure, the Orange players played hard and fierce,
-and when they tackled the runner always stayed where he was put, but
-nothing mean nor underhand had appeared. They did a lot of talking
-across the line, and some of their remarks were not in the best taste,
-but many of Yardley’s opponents were what the fellows called “gabby”
-and the Blue was used to verbal attack.
-
-Play started in the final period with the pigskin in Yardley’s
-possession on her opponent’s forty-four yards. Candee had taken
-Simpson’s place at center and Twining had substituted Rose at left
-guard. On the opposing team two changes in the line and one in the
-back-field had been made. Deering plugged through the Orange left for
-a short gain and Roover got outside tackle for two yards. Curran threw
-to Meadows, who missed the pass, and Roover punted. An Orange back
-cut through the Yardley field for nearly twenty yards after catching
-and the ball was on Brown and Young’s forty-one. It was then that the
-visitors opened their bag of tricks.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-TUBB WINS PROMOTION
-
-
-First, the Orange changed her back-field formation entirely. Instead
-of standing close to the line, three abreast, the two halves and the
-full-back retired to a position a good ten yards behind the scrimmage
-and spread widely. The quarter stood five yards behind center, crouched
-to take the pass. The right tackle shifted to the other side of the
-line, toward which, at the start of the signal, the three backs made
-a quarter-turn. But as the ball went back to the quarter the three
-swung to the right and started diagonally toward the end of their
-line, left half and full aiming at a point just outside it and right
-half deploying further to the right. At the same moment the right end
-began sprinting straight toward the side-line, drawing the Yardley left
-tackle and a defensive back with him.
-
-Having taken the ball from center, the quarter-back started also to
-the right, running parallel to the line until, left half and full
-having crossed in front of him, he was behind right end’s original
-position. There he slowed and shot the pigskin away at a lateral pass
-to the right half. The throw was some fifteen yards and perfectly made,
-and the right half, as yet unmolested, had no difficulty in getting it.
-Whereupon he set forth on his adventures, heading straight along the
-side-line and about twelve yards away from it. The opposing end had
-been blanketed by the full-back and it was not until the runner crossed
-the line of scrimmage that serious opposition to his advance developed.
-And then, with his own end and left half guarding his flank and the
-quarter making trouble for the rear attack, he proceeded brilliantly
-across the middle of the field and set his eyes on the goal.
-
-Yardley, suspecting something unusual and spectacular, had played her
-ends back and out and deployed three backs up the field. Halliday, at
-right end, had been rudely set aside, and it was Curran and Roover
-on whom the task of stopping the runner devolved. Roover, nearer at
-hand, did his best to get past the interference but failed, although
-in failing he upset the Brown and Young’s full-back. By now the whole
-field was in pursuit, with, however, most of it hopelessly out of the
-race. Yet Casement, who for a guard was remarkably fast on his feet,
-somehow managed to get to the fore and sent the Orange quarter-back
-spinning aside, after which he put out for the runner. But Curran was
-the man for the job.
-
-Slowing as he neared the prey, he feinted as though to pass behind
-the Orange left half who was running about three yards inside the man
-with the ball. The half, guessing that the enemy would do the thing he
-appeared not to be doing, ran on, and Curran, leaping forward, circled
-behind him. And, although the half challenged, throwing himself between
-Curran and his team-mate, Curran managed somehow to meet the impact
-and, carried forward by his own momentum, seized one Yellow-and-Black
-leg ere it twinkled beyond his reach. The man with the ball added
-another yard to his gain, dragging Curran with him, but that weight was
-not to be denied and he came to his knees. Then Casement flattened him
-out, friend and foe labored breathlessly up and the whistle blew.
-
-Brown and Young’s had made a gain of nearly thirty yards, for when
-the ball had been wrested from the tenacious grip of the Orange right
-half-back it went down just short of Yardley’s thirty-yard line.
-Orange-hued banners waved wildly on the east stand while Yardley gave a
-well-deserved cheer for the rival half-back.
-
-Brown and Young’s had her eyes on the goal-line now and it seemed that
-she was not to be denied. Twice she hurled her full-back through for
-short gains at left guard, and then, using the new formation again,
-worked as pretty a quarter-back run around her left end as had ever
-been seen on Yardley Field. With the ball on the seventeen yards,
-she tried the line once more and split through for half the needed
-distance, the Blue’s left crumpling badly. Twining took the place of
-Rose, and another attempt on the left gained a scant yard. With four
-to go on third down, Brown and Young’s made all preparations for a
-place-kick, and a big, long-legged tackle ranged back to position.
-Yet Yardley refused to believe in that kick. The Orange needed seven
-points to tie, and it wasn’t likely that, with only a short time left,
-she would satisfy herself with a mere three points. And so, although
-everything pointed to a kick from placement, Fanning and Curran sounded
-their warnings and the backs hovered anxiously midway between line and
-goal. Then, at last, the ball sped back.
-
-But it never reached the outstretched hands of the tackle. Instead,
-it went to a half-back and, as the Blue’s forwards desperately broke
-through, the half poised the pigskin calmly until Casement was almost
-on him and then as calmly sped it over the mêlée diagonally into the
-waiting arms of his right end. And that youth had but to take two
-strides to cross the last white line. When he was pulled down he was
-almost behind the right goal post.
-
-How that end got into position for receiving the pass unnoticed none
-on the Yardley team ever knew. One moment he wasn’t there and the next
-moment he was. Halliday and Deering, theoretically at least, shared the
-blame, although, as Fanning generously said afterwards, a forward-pass
-was the last thing expected. Not once before had the enemy attempted a
-forward from ordinary formation, and unconsciously Yardley had grown to
-think that that play was not included in her plan of battle. As it was,
-Arnold had seen the ball hurtling toward the corner of the field and
-had leaped forward with a sick feeling at his heart. But he had been a
-fraction of a moment too late. The end had made the catch ere Arnold
-reached him, and although Arnold threw desperate arms toward him the
-end eluded them and went free until Curran pulled him to earth.
-
-Brown and Young’s walked the ball out and, although the angle was
-sufficient to allow Yardley to hope for failure, the big tackle sent it
-squarely between the posts and the score was tied.
-
-With less than four minutes left, it was fairly obvious that 7 to
-7 would be the final score, but Yardley, with three new men in her
-line-up, still hoped and returned eagerly to the fray. The kick-off
-went to the Orange’s twelve yards and came back only to her fifteen. A
-skin-tackle on her right brought her three yards and a second attempt
-was stopped. For the first time since the game had started the Orange
-players became ugly. Many changes had been made, and possibly it was
-a substitute who, charging through, tried to “mix it up” with Bates,
-who had succeeded Deering. Friends of both players sprang between and
-the Orange youth got off with a warning from the referee. There were
-a few hisses, many “boos” and some laughter from the stands. Possibly
-the incident supplied the added incentive that allowed Yardley to break
-through a moment later and block the adversary’s kick. The ball bounded
-from the up-thrown arm of a Yardley lineman and became lost in a mass
-of struggling players and for a long moment confusion reigned. When the
-referee finally penetrated to the bottom of the squirming, grunting
-pile he found the ball snuggled in the arms of a Yardley forward. The
-Blue cheered wildly and implored a touchdown as the result became known
-to the stands, and, since the teams lined up on the Orange’s fourteen
-yards, a touchdown looked possible enough.
-
-But the Blue’s first play resulted disastrously. Clarke, who had
-taken Halliday’s place at the right end of the line, was far offside
-when the ball was snapped and the team was set back. A plunge at
-guard-tackle hole on the left gave Yardley four yards, and Snowden,
-from kick formation, managed two more around right end. Then, however,
-a forward-pass, Snowden to Bates, went wrong and Fanning dropped back
-for a try-at-goal. While both stands grew silent, Will Curran patted
-the ground and poised himself on his knees for the pass from center.
-The position was at a slight angle and the distance was less than
-twenty yards and the Blue already saw victory perched upon her banner.
-But Brown and Young’s was desperate and Yardley, perhaps, oversure,
-and when the ball came back to Curran so, too, came half the Orange
-team, and, although Fanning met the poised ball fairly, it was still
-breast-high when the enemy reached it. There was a tragic _thud_ as it
-rebounded from an onrushing player, followed by cries and the pounding
-of many feet as friend and foe took up the chase. The pursuit passed
-over Curran like a wave, leaving him writhing on the sod.
-
-Back to the thirty-yard line trickled the pigskin, and there a Brown
-and Young’s tackle scooped it up from under the nose of half a dozen
-others and sprang away toward the distant Yardley goal. But although he
-started with a clear field, and although hastily-formed interference
-grouped itself about him, he was in no condition for speed, and near
-the middle of the field Bates, eluding the interference, pulled him to
-earth.
-
-Time was taken out for Curran and he limped off, Noyes taking his
-place. From midfield, using every trick she knew, the Orange began a
-slow advance toward the Blue’s goal. Yardley fought hard but was forced
-to yield. Both teams were pretty well tuckered and after each play
-substitutes flocked in, and with their arrival the game became more
-erratic. Penalties were dealt to each side fairly impartially, signals
-were misunderstood and the play became slower and slower, and at last,
-with the ball still in Brown and Young’s possession near the home
-team’s thirty yards, the whistle sounded the end of the battle.
-
-As unsatisfactory as the outcome was, the teams parted with mutual
-respect, and when Brown and Young’s supporters formed into ranks and
-marched off the field, cheering mightily, the Blue’s partisans had
-no criticism to make. As Grover Beech put it, as he and Toby and Sid
-climbed over the barriers and joined the throng beyond, Brown and
-Young’s had played a hard, clean game and, on her showing in the last
-half, had deserved a victory.
-
-“Which,” observed Sid Creel dryly, “I am pleased to say she didn’t get!”
-
-The Brown and Young’s contest ended Yardley’s preliminary season.
-Four games remained, those with Carrel’s, Nordham, St. John’s, and
-Broadwood. Two of these, the Carrel’s and St. John’s games were to be
-played away from home. All were looked on as hard battles, although
-it might well be that none would prove harder than the contest just
-played. Brown and Young’s had been underestimated, and it was certain
-that another year her place on the Yardley schedule would be much
-further along. Still, there were no regrets over that game. Yardley
-had showed her faults in time to allow the proper remedies to take
-effect, all of her players had come through the grilling without
-serious damage and several second and third string players had found
-the opportunity to show ability. Will Curran’s injury was slight, it
-seemed, and he would be out of the game but a few days. Some over-eager
-Brown and Young’s man had trampled over his prostrate form and placed
-a heavy foot against his knee, but treatment and an elastic bandage
-would repair the damage. On the whole, Yardley Hall School, coach,
-players and noncombatants, were rather well satisfied with the recent
-engagement, and there was a general verdict to the effect that the Blue
-had been extremely fortunate to get through it without a beating.
-
-Arnold was somewhat downhearted for a day or two, maintaining sadly
-that the Orange’s score could be blamed on him, and relating the
-incident in appalling detail to Toby until the latter youth begged him
-to forget it. “No one else expected a forward-pass then,” said Toby,
-“so why should you have looked for one? Besides, it was up to Ted
-Halliday as much as to you. Cheer up and ease your face, Arn. You still
-have me to live for!”
-
-The final argument didn’t seem to make any great appeal to Arnold at
-the moment, but by Monday, after a light session on the gridiron, he
-returned to his wonted cheerfulness. That Monday witnessed what, to
-Toby at least, was a most surprising event. He learned of it after
-practice when, returning to Number 12, he found Arnold there before him.
-
-“I suppose you know about the new end we’ve acquired,” said Arnold,
-smiling broadly.
-
-“End? No, what do you mean?”
-
-“What! You haven’t missed him? Such is fame! Ain’t it sad?”
-
-“What are you jabbering about?” Toby relaxed on the window-seat with a
-sigh of weariness. “Who haven’t I missed?”
-
-“Why, your bosom friend, Mr. Tubbs, of course.”
-
-“Tubb? What about Tubb?” asked Toby suspiciously.
-
-“Then you don’t know! You haven’t heard the glad and glorious news!”
-
-“I have not, but if Tubb has fallen down and bitten his tongue――――”
-
-“Nary a fall down, old thing! Instead, Mr. Tubbs――or is it Tubb?
-Anyway, whatever his poetic name may be, he has landed on his feet.”
-
-“Has he?” Toby sounded bored and indifferent. “Well, he’s been in the
-air long enough! In just what manner, Mr. Bones, has the gentleman
-landed on his feet? Whenever you consider that the suspense has lasted
-long enough, Arn, you have my permission to shoot!”
-
-“Prepare to faint, T. Tucker! Your friend Tubbs has been ruthlessly
-torn from your arms! He’s taken over to the First!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-AN “ACCIDENT”
-
-
-A sense of duty is sometimes a most inconvenient thing to possess. That
-Monday night it was a sense of duty that sent Toby up to Number 31,
-and he went laggingly, feeling very certain that George Tubb would be
-more objectionable than ever. Tubb was not, Toby thought, of the kind
-who stands prosperity well. Tubb would be quite unbearable to-night:
-Toby could imagine him growling “Huh, I’d have made the First Team long
-ago if I’d had the ‘pull’ some fellows have!” But Toby felt that to an
-extent he was responsible for Tubb’s well-being, having in a manner
-started him out of his Slough of Despond, and that it was up to him to
-congratulate the other on his good fortune.
-
-The scene that met his eyes when he pushed the door open in response
-to an invitation to enter was very unlike that upon which he had gazed
-on the occasion of his first visit to Number 31. Tubb and Ramsey were
-shoulder to shoulder, Tubb seated and his roommate bending over the
-table beside him, evidently elucidating some problem contained in the
-textbook that lay open before them. To all appearances perfect amity
-reigned now in Number 31! Nor was that the only surprise awaiting
-Toby. George Tubb was still George Tubb, and probably he would never
-be anything else, but instead of “grouching” because Fortune had not
-visited him earlier, or predicting the great things that were to happen
-by reason of his elevation to the First, he seemed loath to talk of
-the matter, accepting the visitor’s congratulation with a frown and
-a muttered――and vague――“Oh, well, I don’t know. I suppose it’s all
-right.” After that he appeared to prefer other topics of conversation,
-although Toby nevertheless had the impression that the matter was in
-his thoughts most of the time.
-
-The problem in geometry that had puzzled Tubb proved a diversion and
-Toby was able to supply the needed assistance, rather to his surprise
-since of late he had begun to fear that he had forgotten most of what
-he had learned during the preceding year! After that they talked
-of various subjects, football most of all. Tubb was ready to talk
-football so long as it was general, and he had a number of criticisms
-to make of last Saturday’s contest. With some of them Toby didn’t
-agree, and arguments followed, and Toby discovered that Tubb could
-think things out clearly and state his results quite convincingly
-when he wanted to. Horace Ramsey maneuvered the talk around to tennis
-finally and asked Toby’s advice about trying for the Tennis Team.
-
-“I didn’t do so badly in the handicaps last week,” he explained. “Got
-as far as the semi-finals, anyway. Beat two or three fellows who are
-considered rather good, too. How do you set about making the Team,
-Tucker?”
-
-Toby didn’t know and said so, but he promised to find out and let
-Ramsey know, and after that he took his departure. Both boys, without
-saying so in words, managed to convey to him the impression that they
-had enjoyed his visit and wanted him to come again. He went downstairs
-feeling very well pleased with himself for having performed a
-disagreeable duty and a little surprised at finding that it hadn’t been
-disagreeable after all! “I guess,” he told himself as he clattered down
-the stairs, “a good many disagreeable things are like that. You think
-they’re a lot worse than they are.”
-
-The First Team paid a good deal of attention to defense that week, a
-branch of football science that had been somewhat neglected by Coach
-Lyle in favor of attack, and the Second was called on four afternoons
-to aid, the big team working, contrary to custom, quite as hard on
-Friday as on any other day. It was on Wednesday that Toby had his first
-chance to see Tubb in action with the First. Tubb made his entry in the
-middle of a very strenuous second half, relieving Meadows. Sandford,
-who had started the season at left end, appeared to be out of the
-running. Tubb did well. Toby was rather amazed at the boy’s playing,
-and his respect for Grover Beech as a judge of football talent went
-up a peg. Beech had called Tubb “a natural-born end,” and, while Toby
-had little intimate knowledge of end playing, he thought that Beech
-had been quite right. Tubb acted as if he had played football for
-several seasons. He appeared to have unlimited confidence――in fact,
-his confidence looked almost like effrontery at times――and absolutely
-no physical fear, hurling himself into every play he could reach
-regardless of consequences. He had a way of keeping in motion every
-minute while in the line-up that, although it was rather wearisome to
-the spectator, kept his adversary in wholesome fear. And he could run
-like a ferret, too, and although he still missed tackles rather too
-frequently, he proved a thorn in the side of Toby and his team-mates
-when catching punts. Somehow, Tubb was always on hand when the ball had
-dropped into Toby’s arms, and if Toby squirmed himself free more than
-once it was only because Tubb had yet something to learn of the gentle
-art of tackling. Toby found himself a bit proud of George Tubb, quite
-as though he was personally accountable for that youth’s attainments!
-
-The Second went through some gruelling work that week, for the most
-part assaulting the First’s defenses with every art and artifice at
-her command. Time and again the ball was taken away from the First and
-handed back to the Second, the coaches demanding that she put it over,
-every one, as it seemed, conniving at the First Team’s humiliation.
-Perhaps once during a game the First was allowed to show her prowess
-in attack, and the rest of the time she was back to the wall with the
-Second banging at her center, jabbing her tackles, skirting her ends,
-trying every possible means to penetrate her defenses. The result
-showed before the end of the week arrived. The First developed a
-savage, bitter, every-hand-against-me attitude that worked wonders.
-On Thursday she was thrice set her five yards and told to hold the
-opponent, and twice she did it, which, considering that both coaches
-egged on the Second and tried every device they could think of to make
-her attack more effective, was none so bad. Even on Friday, with a hard
-game against Carrel’s School looming up on the morrow, the First was
-hammered and banged about by the Second, which, having come in for a
-good many hard knocks and much rough usage, was in none too gentle a
-mood. It was on Friday that an incident occurred which, unimportant in
-itself, led to strange results.
-
-Frick was playing quarter on the Second and Tubb had taken the place of
-an exhausted Meadows at left end on the First. First, unable to gain
-her distance in three downs in midfield, punted and the ball fell to
-Frick in front of Second’s goal. Both Tubb and Halliday had got free
-and were well under the ball as it arched down the field, but Halliday
-fell victim to Deering, leaving Tubb to look after Frick alone. Frick
-made the catch a moment before Tubb arrived on the scene and set off
-to his right in the hope of skirting the enemy pouring down the middle
-of the field. Tubb gave chase, running him off. Frick feinted but Tubb
-wasn’t fooled. Had the quarter-back been able to get free soon after
-making the catch he might have reeled off a good gain, for the gridiron
-to his right was practically unguarded, but Tubb had him so well
-blocked that there was no getting by and it was only when the side-line
-came dangerously near that Frick made a despairing effort to turn in.
-He pulled up suddenly and tried to dash past Tubb, but the First Team
-end was quicker than he was. Avoiding the runner’s straight-arm, Tubb
-dived and, for once, dived surely. He didn’t have to hold his man after
-the tackle, for by that time he had plenty of help, and Frick was
-speedily flattened out. On his feet again, Frick was very angry indeed,
-and panted insults and threats at Tubb’s retreating back until Beech
-silenced him.
-
-Unaware that he had aroused Frick’s wrath, Tubb trotted back to his
-position. Two savage attacks on the First Team’s line netted but four
-yards and then Stover punted. Tubb was spilled trying to stop the
-opposing end and was climbing to his feet when the Second’s stragglers
-streamed past. Among them was Frick, for some reason later in getting
-down the field than he should have been. Only a few saw what happened
-as Frick reached Tubb, for most eyes were fixed on Noyes as he got
-under the ball. Toby, however, saw from where he sat on the bench, for
-Frick’s performance was of more interest to him than any one’s else,
-and just now Toby was wondering why his rival was almost the last in
-the pursuit. Tubb, in the act of raising himself from the ground,
-did not see Frick’s approach, nor, since he was unsuspecting, would
-he have heeded it if he had seen it. Frick had set a course that led
-him past the other, and now, as he reached him, he swerved a pace and
-brought one heavily-shod foot against Tubb’s ribs just under the left
-shoulder. It was as deliberate a thing as Toby had ever seen, and
-unconsciously he jumped to his feet with an exclamation of disgust.
-Tubb, supported at the moment on his left hand, dropped instantly to
-the turf and rolled over on his back, his legs drawn up in pain. Frick
-was already well down the field. Toby and Lovett, a substitute end, ran
-on together. Tubb was white-faced and gasping, both hands clasped to
-his side.
-
-“Some one――kicked me,” he whispered. “I’ll be――all right in a――minute.”
-
-“It was Frick,” exclaimed Lovett indignantly. “I saw it. He ought to
-get chucked!”
-
-“Frick!” gasped Tubb wonderingly. “What――for?”
-
-By that time Andy Ryan was there with pail and sponge and Toby and
-Lovett went back to the bench, the latter still sputtering.
-
-“He’s a poisonous pup, anyway, Tucker, and I hope Tubb goes after him
-and gets him for that!”
-
-“Well, I wouldn’t say much about it,” counseled Toby. “It’ll only make
-trouble. It’s between the two of them now. Let them settle it.”
-
-“Sure, it isn’t my funeral,” Lovett agreed, “though I don’t see why
-you’re so anxious about Frick. If Mr. Burtis had seen it Frick would be
-off for keeps, and you’d have quarter-back cinched, Tucker.”
-
-“Well, I don’t want to cinch it that way, I guess. Besides, it may have
-been an accident. I know it didn’t look it, but――――”
-
-“Accident your great-aunt!” jeered the other. “Why, Frick went out of
-his way to do it! And he sure took a chance. I’ll give him that much
-credit. If any one but you and I had seen it――Good-night, Mr. Frick!”
-
-“Guess he knew every one would be looking the other way. Tubb’s up and
-Andy’s taking him off. Hope he didn’t get a broken rib. That was a
-fierce wallop he got!”
-
-“I’d hand Roy Frick a fierce wallop if it was me,” growled Lovett.
-“I’d hand him about two dozen of ’em!”
-
-Tubb was helped into his sweater and sent back to the gymnasium and the
-game went on. Since Frick played the half out at quarter, Toby judged
-that none had witnessed the incident save he and Lovett. Toby forgot
-it later, for in the last fifteen-minute half he went in on the Second
-and had his hands and his mind too full of other things. But that some
-one still remembered was evident when Toby got back to his room after
-practice. George Tubb had left a note.
-
-    Dear Tucker: If you have time will you come up to my room a
-    minute after supper? I want to see you about something. G. W. T.
-
-Toby guessed what the something was and wondered whether he was to be
-asked to bear a challenge to Roy Frick! He rather wished that Tubb had
-selected some one else to consult, but he went nevertheless, climbing
-the second flight in Whitson as soon after supper as he judged Tubb
-had returned to Number 31. He found both Tubb and Ramsey at home,
-but Horace went out after a few minutes, possibly by request. Tubb,
-reflected Toby, was quite a different looking boy from the one whose
-cut lip he had plastered on the train that afternoon some five weeks
-ago. For one thing, he looked a deal cleaner! And he was rather more
-carefully dressed. But the real change was deeper, Toby thought.
-Tubb’s attitude toward his fellows and his school life had undergone a
-change already, and the end was not yet; and the fact was manifested
-in his expression and his speech. Tubb had gained in self-respect,
-Toby concluded. Physically, too, he had altered, and for the better,
-for football work had straightened his shoulders, made his flesh look
-harder and his eyes clearer and removed the unhealthy pallor from his
-face. On the whole, Toby got quite a lot of satisfaction from his study
-of George W. Tubb this evening.
-
-But it was a very serious Tubb who confronted Toby when the door had
-closed behind Horace Ramsey. There was very evidently something on the
-Tubb mind. Toby waited in silence and after a moment Tubb began. “That
-fellow with you this afternoon――Lovett, wasn’t it?――said it was Frick
-who kicked me in the side. Did you see him do it, Tucker?”
-
-“Why――well, yes, I did, Tubb. Of course it was probably an accident――――”
-
-“How could it have been?” Tubb’s old scowl returned for an instant.
-“He had the whole field, didn’t he? He needn’t have run over me! No,
-I guess what happened was that he got mad because I stopped him from
-running the punt back that time. I guess he’s got a bad temper, Frick.
-Well, anyway, what I wanted to ask you is this. What’s the right way to
-go after him? They say faculty won’t stand for fighting, but of course
-a fellow’s got to pull a scrap sometimes. I’m going to get Frick for
-this, but I don’t want to get fired, you see. He isn’t worth it.”
-
-“Of course he isn’t,” agreed Toby heartily. “And I’m afraid you would
-get――well, maybe not fired, Tubb, but put on probation at least if
-faculty found out.”
-
-“And probation would lose me my place on the team, wouldn’t it? That’s
-what I supposed. Well, then, how would you go about it, Tucker? So as
-not to be nabbed, I mean.”
-
-“Why, I don’t know. Why not――well, why not forget it, Tubb? After all
-a fellow who does things like that harms himself more than he does any
-one else, and――――”
-
-“Yah!” interrupted Tubb rudely. “Sunday school stuff, Tucker! I’ll bet
-you wouldn’t talk that way if it was you who had half a dozen sore ribs
-some guy had given you!”
-
-“Well, maybe I wouldn’t,” granted Toby, “but I’d hesitate a long time
-before I’d risk probation for the sake of fighting him! And that’s what
-you’d better do.”
-
-“Listen here, Tucker,” replied the other earnestly. “I’m going to get
-even with that fellow. I didn’t give him any cause to kick my ribs in.
-Even if I had, he’d no right to do it when I was down like that. What I
-want to know is how you fight a fellow here. I guess there are fights:
-I never heard of a school where they didn’t pull ’em off now and then.”
-Tubb viewed Toby hopefully.
-
-“Maybe there are,” said Toby, “but I’ve never seen one. I suppose
-fellows get off by themselves somewhere sometimes,” he continued
-vaguely. “But if faculty hears of it――――”
-
-“Have to risk that,” said Tubb, more cheerfully. He was silent a
-moment. Then: “Of course what I wanted to do was wait around at the
-gym this afternoon and hand him a few, but I had a hunch that Lyle or
-some one would be there and get peeved. So I didn’t. Then this evening
-I caught him grinning at me in commons once. That grin’s going to cost
-him something, believe me, Tucker!”
-
-“But look here, Tubb,” said Toby practically, “Frick’s two years older
-than you, I guess, and he’s bigger and heavier, and fellows say he’s a
-scrapper. I don’t know how good you are, but――――” Toby cast a dubious
-glance over the other’s rather meager frame――“it’s something to think
-about, isn’t it?”
-
-“How long did you think about it when Frick got gay with you down at
-the field the other day?” asked Tubb, with a twinkle in his eye.
-
-“Not at all,” answered Toby, smiling. “But then, there wasn’t time!”
-
-“Huh! Well, don’t you worry about me, Tucker. I can handle that big
-bully. I’ve had to scrap all my life, pretty near, and I know the
-tricks. Besides, I’ve got right on my side, ain’t――haven’t I? And that
-counts, doesn’t it?”
-
-“It ought to,” the other agreed, “but I wouldn’t count too much on it.”
-
-“Where does Frick room?” asked Tubb after a moment.
-
-“I don’t know.” Toby frowned a minute. Then: “Look here, Tubb, let’s
-talk sense,” he expostulated. “Never mind whether faculty finds out or
-doesn’t. You say you’re willing to risk that. But if you beat Frick up
-or if he beats you up, Tom Fanning will hear of it, even if the coaches
-don’t. And Fanning will drop you from the team like a――a hot potato!”
-
-“I don’t see why he should,” Tubb objected. “It’s not his affair,
-Tucker.”
-
-“Why isn’t it? It’s his affair if you or any other fellow on the team
-breaks training. If Frick lays you up for a day or two――――”
-
-“Huh! Like to see him do it!”
-
-“Never mind, it’s possible. You’d be a fat lot of use to the team,
-wouldn’t you? Well, that’s where it becomes Fan’s business, Tubb. Just
-as long as you’re on the team it’s your duty to go by the rules.”
-
-“Is there any rule saying you mustn’t knock a fellow down after he’s
-kicked you in the slats?”
-
-“Don’t be a chump! No, there isn’t, but there’s a general rule that
-says you must keep yourself in trim so you’ll be able to do your best
-for the team and the school. And when you fight another chap you’re
-taking chances you haven’t the right to take. Besides, Tubb, there’s
-another thing. You’re disturbing the――the――――”
-
-“Well, didn’t Frick disturb the same thing, whatever it is, when he
-kicked me this afternoon? Think he helped keep me in trim, like you
-say? Well, I don’t!”
-
-“Frick took an awful chance and got away with it, but I don’t think
-that’s any reason you should. Hang it, Tubb, you’ve made the First Team
-and you’ve got a great chance of playing against Broadwood, and that’s
-something a lot of fellows would give their eye-teeth for! Don’t go and
-spoil it by having a mix-up with this chap. If you must get even with
-him, wait until the football season’s over, anyway. He won’t get away.”
-
-Tubb scowled. “I might forget it by that time,” he objected.
-
-Toby laughed. “All the better then! Take a chance on that, anyhow. Will
-you?”
-
-Tubb hesitated, the scowl still lingering. At last: “I might,” he
-answered, “I’ll see.” Then, after a moment: “I’d sort of hate to lose
-my job with the team, Tucker,” he said frankly, “and that’s a fact. You
-could have knocked me flat with a feather when they yanked me onto the
-First. I――I guess I talked a lot of rot about ‘pull’ and that sort of
-thing, because there wasn’t any pull about my getting on the First, was
-there? It was just my playing. Not that I think I’m anything wonderful,
-Tucker. Halliday’s better than I am, and maybe Meadows is, too, but I’m
-going to beat him out for the place if I bust a leg doing it!”
-
-“That’s the way to talk,” approved Toby warmly. “And if you feel that
-way about it, Tubb, I don’t see how you can think of risking your
-chance. Why, Frick isn’t worth it!”
-
-“Maybe that’s so,” agreed Tubb thoughtfully. “Just the same, if that
-pup looks cross-eyed at me again, or tries to get fresh――――”
-
-“Keep out of his way,” laughed Toby.
-
-“Huh! I guess not! He’d think I was scared of him.”
-
-“Let him. After the Broadwood game you can show him you’re not. That’s
-a bargain, then?”
-
-“I don’t promise,” said Tubb, “but as long as he behaves himself I
-guess I’ll let him alone. Say, Tucker, I suppose you wouldn’t want
-to――to sort of explain to him how it is, eh? So he wouldn’t think he
-was getting away with it!”
-
-“Frankly, I would not, Tubb,” answered Toby, smiling. “Just forget all
-about him and remember Broadwood. That’s your game!”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-A QUARTER-BACK RUN
-
-
-The Second Team had a schedule of its own, although it wasn’t very
-lengthy. It consisted of two games, the first with Greenburg High
-School and the second with Latimer High School. The Greenburg game came
-off the afternoon that the First played Carrel’s, and in consequence
-Toby missed the latter contest. He didn’t mind that, however, for he
-had a busy and enjoyable time in Greenburg. Besides, he got the full
-and detailed story of the Carrel game from Arnold that evening and the
-next day and for one or two days after that. Arnold was very full of
-football just now and threatened to be somewhat of a bore until the
-Broadwood contest was done with!
-
-The Greenburg athletic field lay on the side of town away from the
-river and Yardley and was a rather uneven piece of turf enclosed by a
-dilapidated high board fence. There was a running track, badly in need
-of cinders and attention, two weather-stained stands and an unpainted
-shack that did duty as a dressing-room. The game was not very important
-from a Greenburg standpoint, and the attendance this afternoon was
-not large. Usually Greenburg won from the Yardley Second Team without
-much difficulty, and although this fall High School had heard stories
-of unusual prowess on the Second Team’s part she was still not much
-worried. Being a half holiday at the various mills and factories, of
-which Greenburg held many, the “tough” element of the town――or city,
-since that is what Greenburg officially was――was well represented.
-The mill operatives who had paid their quarters for admittance to the
-game were strongly pro-High School in their sympathies. Or perhaps
-it would be nearer the truth to say that they were enthusiastically
-anti-Yardley. In their belief all Yardley students were silk-stockinged
-snobs, which, while far from the fact, was enough to set the mill crowd
-against the school. They came supplied with peanuts and, perhaps a
-hundred in number, took possession of one of the small, tumble-down
-stands and made their presence known right from the start. But aside
-from shouting weird cheers for Greenburg, singing, parodying the
-Yardley slogan in mincing falsetto and shying an occasional peanut at
-the visitors’ bench in front of them, they kept the peace during most
-of the game.
-
-Captain Beech wanted to win to-day’s contest, since last year High
-School had caught the Blue team in a slump and triumphed decisively
-over it by a memorable score of 38 to 6, and so, with Coach Burtis’s
-permission, the Second started with the best line-up she could devise.
-Mr. Burtis had awarded himself a vacation and gone home over the
-week-end, leaving the captain in undisputed authority. Toby didn’t get
-into the game until the third period was well along, for Frick, who had
-started it, played his best and a touchdown by Yardley in the first
-five minutes of play gave the visitors an advantage that the home team
-was not able to overcome in the initial half. The Blue defense was
-too much for the High School eleven although the latter had plenty of
-talent in its ranks and played a stiff, hard attack. On the other hand,
-Yardley had her troubles with the High School line, and that single
-touchdown had been more than half luck. A fortunate forward pass from
-the middle of the field had put the Blue within striking distance of
-High School’s goal and a penalty for holding had given her five yards
-more. Then Frick had fumbled and Nelson had followed the trickling ball
-back, and, having captured it, found a chance around High School’s
-left. He should have been stopped half a dozen times, but somehow he
-sifted through the enemy ranks and landed the pigskin up against the
-left-hand post before he was brought down.
-
-High School accepted her mishap cheerfully and set to work to do a
-little scoring on her own behalf, but the half ended without the
-ball’s having approached either goal again. The second half was eight
-minutes old when Captain Beech found that Frick’s work was becoming
-slow and uncertain and sent him off. High School had forced the ball
-to Yardley’s thirty-one yards and still had possession when Toby went
-in. He was followed a minute later by Lovett, who was called on to
-strengthen the right end of the Blue’s line, around which High School
-had made several gains since the period had begun. Lovett, however,
-proved no more able to stop those gains than had Connell, and High
-School swept on to the Blue’s twenty-yard-line in three plays and set
-her supporters shouting triumphantly. With the cheers of the High
-School students came approving yells from the mill contingent; hoarse
-cries of “Eat ’em up, Greenburg!” “Kill the sissies!” “Put it over,
-Greenburg!” Then, with a score almost won, the High School left end
-was caught hugging Stover affectionately to his breast, and High
-School was set back fifteen yards. The mill hands didn’t approve of
-that and made it known loudly and continuously, hissing and whistling
-and hurling sarcastic remarks at the referee. After two plays which
-netted only short gains, High School tried a drop-kick from her thirty
-yards and failed badly.
-
-The mill operatives still had hurt feelings and were now howling
-continuously. The referee was accused of favoritism, treachery and
-several other faults, and Yardley of being “pikers” and “yellow dogs.”
-Matters became no more peaceful when Toby, getting the kick-off just
-short of his five-yard-line, dodged it back to his twenty-three. Watson
-went in for Sid Creel at center a minute or two later and Toby began
-a systematic assault on High School’s middle positions. Stover gained
-consistently and White ploughed through less frequently but for longer
-gains. High School changed center and left guard and Toby switched his
-attack to the right guard and tackle. There, however, he had less luck,
-and, well into High School territory now, he called for a forward, and
-White, from kicking position, threw successfully to Mawson on High
-School’s nineteen, a long hard heave that brought applause even from
-the enemy. Mawson reached the sixteen yards before he was tackled and
-the fourteen before he was stopped.
-
-The third period ended and the teams changed sides. High School fought
-desperately to hold her opponent and the attack was thrice piled up for
-little or no gain. Choosing between the possible loss of the ball and a
-possible three points from a field-goal, Toby selected the latter and
-Beech went back for the kick. But High School tore through the Yardley
-left and blocked the ball sufficiently to deflect it harmlessly to the
-right. That incident gladdened the mill hands considerably and they
-cheered hoarsely.
-
-High School tried a forward-pass on first down and got away with it
-for twelve yards. Plunges at the line netted her a second first down.
-Three subsequent attacks left her four yards shy of her distance and
-she punted to Yardley’s thirty. There Stover caught and ran back to
-the thirty-seven. He was hurt in the tackle and gave place to Lippman.
-Toby tried a quarter-back run after a delayed pass and made a scanty
-five yards after going half across the field. High School held against
-two plunges and White punted outside at the enemy’s twenty-eight.
-High School uncorked a puzzling open formation play that sent the
-full-back around her short end without interference and almost got him
-free. But Lippman secured the runner after a fifteen-yard advance. A
-forward-pass went wrong and, after attempting each end, High School
-punted. Lippman juggled the catch, recovered it and was downed for no
-gain on his twenty yards. Toby called on White and made seven straight
-through High School’s center, and Lippman went outside right tackle
-for four more and the distance. Then, with the end of the game drawing
-near, Lippman punted on second down from his thirty to High School’s
-thirty-eight. Again the latter tried her open formation play, but this
-time Yardley was prepared and the runner was downed for an eight-yard
-loss. A forward-pass gave High School ten and a wide end run two more.
-Then came Waterloo, for a High School back, plunging toward the Yardley
-right tackle, lost the pigskin as he struck the line and the ball
-bounded merrily into the air, crossed the heaving lines and was pulled
-down by Nelson.
-
-The best the Blue’s left half could do was hold tight to his prize,
-for half the opposing team was on top of him in the moment. But it was
-Yardley’s ball on High School’s forty-nine yards, and, with less than
-two minutes remaining, the game was as good as won. Captain Beech ran
-in four substitutes, about all he had left, and on the first play, one
-of them, Crawford, at full-back, went through the Greenburg line like a
-streak of lightning and dodged all but the quarter-back, planting the
-ball on High School’s thirty-two yards when he was captured. A penalty
-for off-side on the next play set Yardley back, but Lippman carried the
-pigskin around left end for three and Crawford made three more, and,
-on fourth down, faking a kick from placement, Toby took the ball and
-scampered off around the Greenburg right behind good interference and
-might have crossed the goal line had he not, as he put it later, fallen
-over his own feet! The stumble allowed a pursuing High School player to
-drag him down six yards short of the last white streak.
-
-Then came a heart-stirring climax to a contest that had never failed
-of interest. The stands had emptied ere this and the audience had been
-following the game along the side-lines. Now it congregated at the
-corner of the field nearest the play, flowing over onto the gridiron
-in spite of the efforts of a few ineffectual officials. In the front
-of the throng were the mill operatives, noisy and unfriendly to the
-besiegers, more than willing, it seemed, to take a hand in the game.
-Toby and Grover Beech consulted while the crowd jeered and hooted.
-Toby wanted to try a forward-pass over the line, but Captain Beech
-was fearful of it save as a last resort, and it was decided to batter
-the opponent’s line so long as gains resulted and then, faking a
-try-at-goal, attempt a short pass over the center.
-
-Toby called on Crawford and sent him banging at the enemy’s
-guard-tackle hole on the left. But the hole didn’t develop and the gain
-was less than a yard. Beech sent Crawford out and brought in Lansing,
-a heavy youngster whose slowness had kept him on the bench most of the
-season. The unfriendly critics, edging over the bounds, made scurrilous
-remarks anent Lansing’s personal appearance and had that poor youth,
-already made nervous by the honor so unexpectedly thrust upon him, a
-mass of blushes by the time he was in position. But blushes didn’t take
-away from Lansing’s weight or strength, and, with Lippman carrying the
-pigskin, Lansing thrust the runner through for three of the remaining
-five yards. There was some rough playing in that fracas, and Toby
-discovered that he had sustained a very ensanguined nose. On third
-down, with just over two yards to go, Lippman tried a cross-buck and
-squirmed over the crouched backs of the foe for another three feet,
-amidst an appalling shouting from the belligerent onlookers. The mill
-contingent was now so close behind the defenders that it was hard to
-tell who was a player and who a spectator, and Captain Beech called
-for time and pointed out the fact. The Greenburg players tried to push
-the throng back, but, although it good-naturedly shuffled a few yards
-away, it pressed forward once more as soon as the teams again lined up.
-The referee and umpire scolded and threatened to call the game, but
-were only hooted at. To the credit of the High School students present
-it may be said that they did nothing to encourage the mill hands and
-themselves remained, if not outside the field, at least away from the
-scene of play. In the end, finding pleas and threats alike idle, the
-referee let the game go on.
-
-“We’ll never score against that mob,” whispered Beech disgustedly to
-Toby. “They’ll jump in and push us back. Might as well call it off. I
-don’t want any mix-up with those muckers!”
-
-Toby nodded agreement, viewing the grinning, inimical countenances
-grouped behind the opposing line thoughtfully. Then: “Let me work this,
-cap, will you? I think there’s just one chance!”
-
-“Go ahead,” said Beech, “but you’ll never make a forward with that gang
-back there to get in the way.”
-
-“No, a forward’s no good, but――Signals! Come on now, Yardley! One more
-punch! Signals! 31――51――27――――”
-
-“_Signals!_” cried Lippman wildly, questioningly.
-
-“Shut up!” hissed Toby. “Change signals! 61――54――27――9! 61――54――――”
-
-Forward plunged the backs, away sped Toby, scuttling along the back of
-the short line, the ball snuggled in his elbow. Cries and grunts and
-the rasping of canvas-clad bodies filled the air. Then a shriek from an
-excited, despairing high school spectator: “_There he goes! Get him,
-you mutts!_”
-
-The play had been close to the left-hand corner of the field and the
-onlookers had crowded there, along the side-line for a short distance,
-but principally back of the goal-line. At the other side of the goal,
-save for a sprinkling of High School girls and their escorts, the field
-was clear. Toward this side of the gridiron sped Toby. Only Lovett,
-throwing his opponent in as he plunged through, went with him. But the
-right end was sufficient. A Greenburg back met him and the two sprawled
-to the turf together, and Toby, turning on his heel, headed swiftly
-in. A yard or two short of the line he dodged the only remaining
-opposition, a despairing High School quarter, and circled back toward
-the goal. But now there were plenty to challenge. A High School player
-clutched at him and missed and then Toby found himself in a struggling
-sea of angry mill operatives. Farquhar tried to reach him, but was
-pushed aside, and a dozen hands fought for the ball. Toby clung to it
-as tightly as he could and sought to fight his way forward, but the
-crowd was ugly. Some one struck him on the mouth and, as his head went
-back, the ball was dislodged. The yells about him merged in a laugh of
-triumph and, shoved aside, he sank to the ground, while the mill crowd
-went piling off toward the entrance, the ball in their possession. None
-tried to stop them.
-
-The officials allowed the touchdown, but Captain Beech, helping a
-battered Toby to his feet, declined the privilege of trying goal
-with another ball. “Had enough, thanks,” he said coldly. Then, to an
-apologetic and regretful Greenburg Captain: “This is the last game you
-fellows will get with us, Townsend. Come on, Yardley! Never mind the
-cheer!”
-
-Toby was not the only one of the visiting team who had sustained a
-memento of that closing minute. Three other fellows who had sought to
-reach him had been punched, or kicked, and, including such slighter
-injuries as had fallen to the Yardley Second during the game, it was a
-somewhat messed up aggregation that journeyed back to Wissining that
-afternoon. The last they saw of the mill hands they were having a
-remarkable football game with the stolen ball in the road outside the
-field, too busy to more than hoot at the visitors as they passed.
-
-“I’d like to fetch a couple of dozen more fellows down here and wipe
-the ground up with them,” muttered Beech. “Bet you that’s our last game
-with Greenburg for awhile, Toby.”
-
-Toby didn’t offer to accept the wager, which was fortunate for his
-modest resources since, a few days later, the Yardley faculty, having
-probed the incident, struck Greenburg High School from the list of
-approved opponents.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-ARNOLD HAS A THOUGHT
-
-
-The First Team came back hard that afternoon, rolling up a total of 25
-points against Carrel’s and holding the opponent to a single touchdown.
-Yardley scored in each period, starting in the first with a field-goal
-shortly after play began, adding a touchdown and goal in the second,
-a touchdown in the third and another field-goal and touchdown in the
-last. Carrel’s did her scoring in the third period, following a fumble
-in the back-field by Quarterback Noyes. Securing the ball on Yardley’s
-twenty-two yards, the visitor worked a double pass that sent her
-full-back romping over the line without much opposition. She failed at
-an easy goal, however, and had to be content with six points.
-
-Of course Toby heard all this and much more from Arnold that evening,
-for Arnold was as full of the game’s details as a plum-pudding is full
-of raisins――or ought to be! But it was after Toby had sketched the
-Second Team’s fracas with the mill hands, for Toby’s face demanded an
-explanation. Besides a contused nose, honestly earned in combat, he
-had a large lump on his left cheek bone. “Some day, maybe,” he said
-wistfully, “I’m going to meet up with the fellow who handed me that.
-When I do, if it isn’t in church, I’m going to hand it back to him.”
-
-“Think you’d know him?” asked Arnold. “Thought you said it was a mob,
-and that――――”
-
-“It was a mob, but I saw the chap that walloped me. Yes, I’ll know him
-all right if only by his hair.”
-
-“What about his hair?”
-
-“It was――――” Toby hesitated――“it was red!”
-
-Arnold whooped delightedly. “What do you know? Honest, Toby? Say, I’d
-like to have seen that! Red against――hm――――”
-
-“Say it,” said Toby, grinning. “His was redder than mine, too, and
-that’s going some! And he had freckles all over his nose and looked
-like one of those tough boys in the movies. Yes, I’ll know him. Don’t
-you worry.”
-
-“Well, you’d better bathe that lump he gave you. It makes you look
-sort of lopsided. In fact, T. Tucker, that and your nose give you
-a positively villainous appearance! Frank’s got a hard-looking phiz
-to-night, too. Some one put a foot on it, he says. I told him he should
-be more careful and not leave his face lying around on the ground, but
-it didn’t seem to make a hit with him. Some folks are like that; can’t
-take advice for a cent. Say, Toby, old thing, it was some game. Listen!
-They won the toss and gave us the kick-off and Larry――――”
-
-Arnold had started, and Toby laid back on the window-seat and hugged
-his knees and said “Uh-huh” at intervals and listened as attentively as
-he could. But presently he got to thinking about his morrow’s letter
-home, and then about that scholarship after the mid-year, and was
-yanked back to the present by Arnold’s: “Isn’t that the very dickens,
-Toby?”
-
-“Huh? Oh, yes, mighty tough! Who did you say did it?”
-
-“I don’t know who did it! What do you mean, did it? It was the hurt he
-got in the Brown and Young’s game, I tell you. They thought it was all
-right, and they took the bandage off and everything, and then to-day he
-just gave it a twist or something!”
-
-“Who did?”
-
-“Why, Curran! Say, haven’t you heard anything I’ve been saying?”
-
-“Of course! But you talk so fast! As I understand it, Curran got hurt
-in last Saturday’s game and to-day he twisted his ankle――――”
-
-“It’s his knee, you idiot!”
-
-“I meant knee; and had to quit playing. Who went in for him?”
-
-“Errol Noyes. He did well enough except for a fumble that gave them
-their score. If it hadn’t been for that we’d have――――”
-
-“Fumbles will happen in the best regulated back-fields,” murmured Toby.
-“I think Noyes is pretty good, myself.”
-
-“I’m not saying he isn’t,” answered Arnold impatiently, “but,
-man-alive, he isn’t in Will’s class! And if Will doesn’t get back――――”
-
-“Doesn’t get back! Who says he won’t get back?”
-
-“That’s what Fanning thinks. He’s all cut-up about it. They’re going to
-take an X-ray to-morrow. The doc thinks he will have to keep off it for
-a month.”
-
-“Gee, that is tough! I didn’t realize what you meant! Of course, Noyes
-isn’t the player that Curran is, but he’s pretty good. Who else have
-you got?”
-
-“Winfield, but he’s no earthly use.” Arnold was gloomily silent for a
-moment. Then he gave vent to an explosive: “_By jingo, Toby!_”
-
-“What?” Toby brought a startled gaze back from the darkening world
-outside the window. Arnold was staring at him fixedly.
-
-“Nothing,” answered Arnold slowly. But he kept on staring in a curious,
-rapt way until Toby said in a patient, kindly voice: “It’s all right,
-Arn. It’s me, Toby. I room here with you, you know. That’s my bed over
-there. Don’t you remember me? Try to think, Arn!”
-
-“Shut up,” laughed the other. “I――I just thought of something.”
-
-“Try to forget it then,” Toby advised. “You looked like a sick cow.
-Say, you――you didn’t get a blow on the head this afternoon, did you?
-Sometimes an injury of that sort――But no, it wouldn’t affect you that
-way. That dome of yours would just give forth a hollow sound――――”
-
-“Listen,” interrupted Arnold earnestly. “If Curran _is_ out of the game
-for the rest of the season, why, don’t you see what might happen?”
-
-“Yes, we might get licked by Broadwood. Still, we may anyhow, so what’s
-the good of――――”
-
-“Oh, use your bean! We’ll have to find a substitute for Noyes, of
-course! Maybe Mr. Lyle will try Clarke. Sim’s not much of an end, and
-he played quarter some last year. But then again he might go to the
-Second for what he needs.”
-
-“Who, Clarke?”
-
-“No, Mr. Lyle, you ninny. And if he did he might pick you, T. Tucker!”
-
-“Yes, and he might not,” jeered Toby. “Frick’s got first call, you poor
-old dummy.”
-
-“I’m not so sure! I’ve heard that you were doing just as good work as
-Frick, Toby.”
-
-“Oh, you hear a lot of things if you let your ears flap,” answered Toby
-rudely.
-
-“The idea doesn’t interest you, then?” asked Arnold sarcastically.
-
-“I wouldn’t say that,” Toby replied, getting a new grip on his knees.
-“I have a comprehensive intellect, Arn, and all sorts of things that
-wouldn’t appeal to ordinary minds――――”
-
-“Oh, go to thunder! I hope Frick does get it, you poor fish!”
-
-“May the best man win,” said Toby cheerfully. “Them’s my sentiments.
-Come on. Let’s eat.”
-
-By Monday it was pretty generally known that Will Curran was lost
-to the football team for the rest of the season. The injury to his
-knee sustained in the Brown and Young’s game had proved far more
-serious than at first supposed and an X-ray examination had shown
-that a cast was necessary. To be sure, the Greenburg surgeon, called
-into consultation by the school doctor, spoke vaguely of “benefits
-reasonably to be expected from a fortnight’s care,” but no one was
-fooled, least of all Curran. By the middle of the week he was out on
-crutches, but he was there to help in the coaching of the backs and not
-to play. The blow was a sore one to the school, and for several days
-gloom a foot thick hung over it. Then, since Coach Lyle went on about
-his business of developing a winning football team quite as cheerfully
-and whole-heartedly as ever, and since Errol Noyes buckled down and
-worked like a Trojan to fill Curran’s shoes, the gloom thinned out and
-vanished altogether. After all, the reports from Broadwood were far
-from disheartening: not the newspaper stuff written by the Broadwood
-correspondents, but the underground rumors that percolated somehow from
-the rival school through Greenburg and thence up the hill to Yardley.
-Broadwood was but three miles beyond Greenburg, and since her students
-came to that town for purchases and amusement, just as Yardley fellows
-did, stories were bound to leak out. The local rumors just now had it
-that Broadwood was having much difficulty in filling her back-field
-with the right material. In fact, the rumors were borne out by the
-evidence of the last two contests in which the Green had taken part.
-For Broadwood to be defeated by Franklin was something unheard of and
-unthought of, but that had happened two weeks since. And last Saturday,
-in the Nordham game, she had managed to squeeze through to victory
-by a mere seven points. So, as the more optimistic of the Yardley
-enthusiasts pointed out, even the loss of Curran was not sufficient
-cause for conceding a Broadwood victory.
-
-Coach Lyle did as Arnold had surmised he might do. He took Sim Clarke
-from the ranks of the end substitutes and turned him back into a
-quarter, and it was generally allowed that, with Curran coaching him,
-Sim might develop into a valuable player. Meanwhile, Noyes worked
-fairly satisfactorily. Indeed, in the Nordham game the next Saturday
-he ran the team so well that even Tom Fanning took heart and stopped
-predicting to a few close friends――comprising most of the team!――a
-victory for the rival school. Toby heard from Sid Creel that Roy
-Frick was so certain of being taken to the First that he had tried
-to persuade Phil Stone to give him the First Team signal code! That,
-Frick had explained, was so he could take hold without loss of time.
-Toby had not put much value on Arnold’s suggestion that one T. Tucker
-might be elevated to the varsity ranks and consequently was not at all
-disappointed.
-
-The Second took a beating every time it went against the First
-nowadays, for the latter was fast rounding into late season form. Now
-and again it managed to throw a scare into Coach Lyle’s bunch, but
-that is the best it could do. Ordinarily, if it kept the First to two
-scores, or managed to score itself, it swaggered quite sickeningly.
-Toby and Frick still struggled for supremacy, with little to choose
-between them, it seemed. Frick undoubtedly excelled Toby in individual
-work, being surer in tackling and in running with the ball. On the
-other hand, Toby was rather more steady when it came to catching punts
-and could get more out of the team. Perhaps the latter ability was due
-to the fact that he was far better liked than Frick.
-
-The Yardley-Nordham game was uninteresting save as it gave the Blue
-a chance to study comparative scores. Nordham played a listless
-game, partly owing to the absence of three players who had been hurt
-in the Broadwood contest, and, although she twice managed to hold
-Yardley under her goal-posts, she proved an easy victim, the home team
-winning by a score of 19 to 0. Compared to Broadwood’s 7 to 0 victory,
-this looked pretty good until one recalled that Nordham was lacking
-three regulars and was evidently still feeling the effects of last
-week’s contest. Coach Lyle worked in most of his second-string and
-third-string players in the last period. If he hadn’t, there might have
-been another score to Yardley’s credit. The cheering section kept very
-busy that afternoon, trying out several new songs and rehearsing all
-the old ones in preparation for the big game, in spite of the fact that
-a mean, dispiriting drizzle fell all during the last half. Clarke got a
-chance to show what he had for a few minutes in the fourth period and
-gave the impression of having very little. But as he had been at it
-less than a week it was hardly fair to judge him harshly.
-
-So, with only one minor game remaining, Yardley set her face hopefully
-toward the supreme test two weeks hence.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-AN ENCOUNTER ON THE BEACH
-
-
-“Doing anything this afternoon, Tucker?”
-
-George Tubb paused with a foot on the stairs to the third floor
-of Whitson and put the question with elaborate carelessness. Toby
-hesitated the fraction of a moment. He knew whither the inquiry led
-and he wanted to answer in the affirmative, but he really wasn’t doing
-anything special, and Arnold could never be counted on for Sunday
-afternoon entertainment, and so he said, after a scarcely noticeable
-pause: “Why, no, I guess not, Tubb.”
-
-“Wondered if you’d care to take a walk somewhere,” continued the other,
-hurriedly. “It’s a corking day and――and everything.”
-
-“All right. About three? I’ve got a letter to finish.”
-
-“Any time.” Tubb’s tone held perfect indifference. Toby felt as if he
-had made the proposal himself and as if Tubb were doing him a favor!
-For an instant he was riled and had something tart on the end of his
-tongue. But he kept it there, and only said: “Three then. So long!”
-
-Tubb’s feet pounded on up the stairs and Toby pushed open the door of
-Number 12. Inside, his slight frown vanished and he chuckled. “Silly
-chump!” he murmured. “Afraid I’d guess how much he wanted me to go with
-him. Gee, I wonder why! I’m never more than fairly decent to him. Must
-be my――my fatal beauty that attracts him!” And Toby’s chuckle grew into
-a laugh as he caught sight of his smiling but unclassic features in the
-mirror over Arnold’s dresser.
-
-The trouble with writing letters after a Sunday dinner is that a Sunday
-dinner is likely to be a rather hearty affair, affecting not only the
-body with torpidity but the brain as well. So it was that while the
-first three pages of Toby’s weekly epistle were brilliant enough the
-last page fell off badly in interest. In fact, he only reached the
-bottom of it by desperate effort and by shortening the lines. Then,
-when he had thumped a stamp on the corner of the envelope and found cap
-and sweater, he clattered down and dropped the letter in the mail-box
-in front of Oxford. After that he backed away to the edge of the
-Prospect, as the grassy terrace in front of the buildings was called,
-fixed his gaze on the window of Number 31 and hailed.
-
-“O Tubb! A-ay, Tubb!”
-
-After several seconds had elapsed, Tubb’s face appeared in the open
-window and he looked down at Toby with simulated surprise. Then, as
-he looked, recollection dawned, and, “Oh! All right, Tucker! Be right
-down!” he called.
-
-Toby kicked at a pebble. “Serve him right if I beat it,” he muttered
-vexedly. “Cheeky beggar! Still, he did it pretty well.” Unwilling
-admiration softened his rancor, and, “I’ll wait,” he added to himself.
-
-Tubb clattered out of the entrance by the time that resolution of
-clemency had been reached and the two crossed the Prospect as if by
-mutual consent and took the graveled path that descended the terrace
-until it reached the winding road at the foot of the hill. Then, “Which
-way?” asked Toby.
-
-“I don’t care,” answered Tubb. “It’s warmer along the beach, I guess.
-The wind’s sort of west to-day.”
-
-“About northwest by north,” said Toby, to whom the direction of the
-wind and the look of the sky were matters of real interest. “It will
-be good and cold to-night, I guess.”
-
-They crossed the road and went on by the path, over the deep cut
-through which the shining rails of the double tracks ran. Westward,
-they could follow the straight roadway to the Wissining station and the
-drawbridge beyond, eastward the railway vanished presently around a
-curve. A rod or two further on the path led into the woods, dividing,
-and they followed the right-hand trail. The oaks and beeches still held
-most of their leaves, but the other trees had stripped their branches
-for the winter, and underfoot the colorful litter rustled pleasantly.
-A moment later the Sound showed through the trees, softly blue in the
-afternoon sunlight. There wasn’t much talk until the two boys had
-reached the beach and turned eastward along the firm, hard sand. The
-tide was well out, and just above the little ripples of waves gleaming
-expanses of wet sand caught the sun blindingly. They by no means had
-the beach to themselves, for the mild afternoon had brought out many
-of the villagers and not a few of the school fellows, and, looking
-ahead down the gently-curving strand, they could see many darker specks
-against its golden surface. Out on the water a few pleasure craft
-were flitting under a light but steady breeze and Plum Island looked
-startlingly near.
-
-“A peach of a day,” said Toby, breathing in the familiar scent of
-sea and shore, and experiencing a tiny qualm of homesickness. Tubb
-assented. He was looking fixedly at two boys who were approaching them
-along the beach. A moment later he grunted.
-
-“There comes Frick,” he said. “Guess I’ll ask him something.”
-
-“No, you won’t,” said Toby decisively. “You promised to behave
-yourself.”
-
-“I didn’t promise,” denied Tubb. “I said maybe I’d――Anyhow, I’m not
-going to _do_ anything; I just want to let him understand――――”
-
-“You keep your mouth closed, Tubb.” Toby took his arm tightly. “No
-nonsense now!”
-
-“We-ell――――” Tubb eyed the approaching couple irresolutely. Frick’s
-companion was a stranger to both, a chap whose name Toby believed to be
-Cotting, a tall, lanky youth with a wide mouth and outstanding ears.
-Just now he appeared to be intensely amused at something Frick was
-saying, and his high-pitched laughter, accompanied by surreptitious
-glances at Toby and George, was too much for the latter. Wresting his
-arm from Toby’s restraining clutch, Tubb swung off to meet the others,
-who were passing a dozen yards up the beach. Toby followed more slowly,
-thinking unflattering things of Tubb.
-
-“Talking about me, were you?” challenged Tubb from a few paces away.
-Cotting shot a startled and questioning glance at Frick. Evidently
-Cotting had no desire for trouble. Frick, however, pushed forward
-swaggeringly.
-
-“What if I was?” he demanded, scowling.
-
-“Don’t do it!” Tubb’s voice had an unsuspected edge, and Frick stared
-an instant in surprise.
-
-“Calm yourself, kid, calm yourself,” he laughed finally. “I talk about
-any one I like to. Then what?”
-
-Toby “butted in” at that moment, nodding coldly to Frick and joining
-arms with Tubb again. “Come on, Tubb, let’s hurry,” he urged.
-
-“That’s right, Tucker,” said Frick approvingly. “He might get hurt if
-he stays around here.”
-
-Cotting had stopped a pace or two away and was digging a hole in the
-sand with the toe of one shoe in a very absorbed way. Toby found time
-to be amused at his tactful withdrawal.
-
-“I’m not going to get hurt,” responded Tubb. “Don’t worry about me,
-Frick. And I’m not going to hurt you――to-day. I just stopped to tell
-you that I’m keeping my affair till later on. Didn’t want you to think
-you were getting away with what you did last week, because you’re not.
-It’s chalked up against you and you’ll get what’s coming to you when
-it’s time. There’s no hurry――――”
-
-“Shut up, Tubb,” begged Toby. “Come on!”
-
-“Mind your own business, Tucker!” snarled Frick. “You’re a nice one
-to talk that stuff! I’ve got something for you, too, you swell-headed
-little carrot! As for you, Tubb, or whatever your silly name is, I’m
-ready whenever you are! Right now if you like! I’ll take on the two of
-you! Come on! What do you say?”
-
-“There’s going to be no scrapping here,” said Toby resolutely. “There’s
-going to be none anywhere for awhile. You keep what you’ve got for me,
-Frick. I’ll ask for it when I’m ready. Tubb, you――――”
-
-“You’ll get it when _I’m_, ready!” growled Frick. “I’d give it to
-you now if――――” He glanced over the beach and, furtively, toward the
-school, whose upper windows were visible above the stretch of woods.
-
-“Yes, and get thrown out of school,” assented Toby grimly. “Not for
-me, thanks! There’s time enough. Come on, Tubb.”
-
-“All right,” Tubb smiled cheerfully. “No use getting in trouble about
-this guy. See you again, Frick. Be good to yourself!”
-
-“Yes, run along, little boys,” answered Frick, laughing angrily. “For a
-plugged nickel I’d bang your fool heads together!”
-
-Toby tightened his hold on Tubb’s arm, but Tubb only laughed and went
-on. “Gee, that did me a lot of good,” he said contentedly. “He’s a big
-bluff, I guess, Tucker.”
-
-“Maybe. Still, they say he’s pretty handy with his fists. Anyhow, I’m
-glad you’re out of that, Tubb. We’d all been finished for fair if you
-two had scrapped here on Sunday afternoon!”
-
-“I forgot about its being Sunday,” said Tubb. “I suppose that would
-have made it worse. Say, he’s got it in for you, too, hasn’t he?”
-
-“Yes, I guess so,” answered Toby tranquilly. “But I should feel faint!
-Anyhow, he will have to keep the peace until football’s over. I don’t
-intend to lose my place on the Second for the likes of him!”
-
-“Say, why doesn’t that ninny take you over to the First?” asked Tubb.
-
-“Meaning Mr. Lyle? You have pretty names for your Big Boss! Well, I’ve
-been thinking about that, Tubb, and I’ve just about concluded that it’s
-because he doesn’t want me!”
-
-“But, joking aside,” protested the other earnestly, “you play a better
-game than that guy Clarke, and I’ll bet you could beat Noyes, too, if
-you had a chance. Noyes is scared all the time. He gets his signals all
-balled up. No one feels any――whatyoucallit――any――any――――”
-
-“You mean that he doesn’t inspire his team with confidence in his
-ability to――er――meet successfully the――――”
-
-“Say, what’s wrong with you?” demanded Tubb anxiously.
-
-Toby chuckled. “That’s what comes of trying to make practical
-application of what I’ve learned in my English course. Just as soon as
-I try to speak the language correctly some one jumps on me! It’s no
-use!”
-
-“I should say not!” agreed Tubb, relievedly. “You talk like an
-examination paper!”
-
-“Then I’ll stop. Those are things I don’t want to think of. By the way,
-how are you getting along in your classes, Tubb?”
-
-“Fine. I never had much trouble with studies. Guess I learn easily.”
-
-“I think you must,” responded Toby thoughtfully. “Wish I did. Shall we
-turn back?”
-
-“Do you mean that you have trouble with your studies, Tucker?” asked
-Tubb when they were retracing their steps. “I thought you were a
-regular shark for work.”
-
-“A shark,” answered Toby, “is a much misunderstood fish. Most folks
-think that a shark swallows things whole, but he doesn’t. He has to
-bite off a chunk at a time, just as I do. Where we differ, Mister Shark
-and I, is on chewing. He doesn’t have to chew what he bites off, and
-I do. I have to chew it a long while. And even then it isn’t always
-digested. I guess, Tubb, the truth of the matter is that I can learn
-easily enough if I set out to do it, but I have a rotten fashion of
-trying to do two hours’ study in one!”
-
-Tubb laughed. “I know. If the instructor’s easy you can get by that way
-sometimes, but here at Yardley you can’t. I found that out the first
-week. Well, I suppose we’ve got to learn the dreary stuff, eh? What’s
-the good of it, though? A lot of it, I mean?”
-
-“Don’t know, Tubb. I’ve wondered. Seems to me sometimes that if
-they’d teach us less Greek and Latin and higher mathematics and more
-things like horseshoeing and plumbing and――and ditch-digging we’d have
-a better chance when we got through. A lot of us will never get to
-college. I hope to, but I don’t know. If I don’t, what use to me is
-Latin and trigonometry and Greek? I suppose I’ll build boats most of my
-life――maybe. Being able to read the Odyssey in the original odiousness
-isn’t going to help me a whole lot!”
-
-“Well, there are schools where a fellow can go and learn those things,”
-said Tubb. “Blacksmithing and electricity and――and practical things,
-you know.”
-
-“Yes, but why not teach a little of them at every school? Seems to me
-a lot of us would be a sight better off if we knew something about a
-practical trade when we got out of prep school. Of course, we couldn’t
-learn much, but we might have a start. I guess it’ll come to that some
-day, Tubb.”
-
-“Really? Well, I wouldn’t mind. I don’t know what I’m going to do when
-I get through here. Go home and tend store, I guess.”
-
-“Store? What kind of a store is it?”
-
-“Oh, just a regular general store like you find in small towns. Dad
-sells everything from sugar to plows. And he makes just enough to
-live on, I guess. He used to be in the lumber business, and he did
-pretty well for awhile. Then――something happened and it went bust. No,
-by jiminy, I won’t do it, Tucker! Running a country store isn’t good
-enough! I’ll be a――a lawyer or something first!”
-
-“Sounds desperate the way you say it,” laughed Toby. “I’d sort of like
-to be a doctor myself, only you can’t be President if you’re a doctor,
-and of course I’d rather be President.”
-
-“Can’t you?” asked Tubb innocently. “Why not?”
-
-“Don’t know.” Toby shook his head. “You never heard of a President
-who’d been a doctor first, did you? Maybe there’s something in the
-Constitution prohibiting it.”
-
-“You say the craziest things!” laughed Tubb. Then, soberly: “Do you
-mean that you really think about things like that, Tucker?” he asked.
-
-“Things like what? Being a doctor?”
-
-“No, being President. I never do.”
-
-“Sure, why not? Some one’s got to be President, Tubb. Might as well be
-me if I’m fitted for it. Or you, if you are! Every President was a kid
-once, you know. I wonder if they ever thought about it when they were
-kids. Maybe you’re not supposed to. Anyway, if you’re a lawyer and I’m
-a doctor, you’ll get the presidency, because lawyers seem to have it
-all over every other profession when it comes to copping that job!”
-
-Later, climbing the hill again, Toby asked: “Changed your mind any
-about this place, Tubb?”
-
-“How do you mean?” But, in spite of assumed ignorance, he understood,
-and in the next breath he went on. “Yes, I have, Tucker,” he said
-frankly. “I said a lot of things I didn’t believe, anyhow. I had an
-awful grouch at first. Guess you――guess you must have thought I was a
-perfect blamed nuisance!”
-
-“N-no, not exactly. You got me riled pretty often, though.”
-
-“Did I? I suppose I must have. Well――――” Tubb hesitated. “Say, I want
-you to know that I appreciate everything, Tucker; everything you did
-to make me――make me get onto myself. Of course I know that I’m not the
-sort of fellow that other fellows take to, but――but I’ve been――sort
-of――getting along lately. Football’s done it, I guess, and you started
-me on that. That’s why I say that I’d like you to know――――”
-
-“All right.” Toby chuckled. “Tubb, I decided a long while ago that when
-you got straightened out here I was going to do something to prove to
-my own satisfaction that――well, that you were a regular fellow.”
-
-“What was it?” asked the other, puzzled.
-
-“I was going to call you something,” answered Toby gravely. “I guess
-you have got straightened out pretty well and so I guess I’ll do it
-right now.” They had reached the second floor of Whitson and Toby had
-started toward Number 12. “See you later, Wash-Tub!”
-
-Then his door closed behind him hurriedly. But George Tubb, continuing
-his way upstairs after a moment, looked anything but vengeful!
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-TUBB BARKS A KNUCKLE
-
-
-Yardley entered the final stage of football that week with its
-customary enthusiasm and single-mindedness. There had been already two
-or three meetings in Assembly Hall, on the third floor of Oxford, for
-the purpose of practicing cheers and songs, but those gatherings paled
-into insignificance with Monday night’s affair and kept on paling as
-the last fortnight before the Broadwood game grew toward its end. There
-were mass meetings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of that next to the
-last week, and at each successive meeting the cheering was heartier,
-the singing louder and the enthusiasm more intense. Every one who had
-anything to say――and some who hadn’t――addressed the students, the
-Musical Clubs played their best and if fervor counted in the final
-score, Broadwood, to quote Sid Creel, was “a gone coon!”
-
-And on the two gridirons life was very strenuous indeed those six days.
-The First was looking toward the big game and nothing else, and the
-game with St. John’s Academy, which, contrary to custom, was to be
-played away from home, was viewed merely as an incident. New plays,
-not many in number but exacting of execution, which had purposely been
-held back until now, were being learned and the final touches were
-being laid on. Coach Lyle had two graduates to aid him during the last
-fortnight, and he needed them, for there were still weak spots in the
-Blue’s line-up.
-
-The Second Team, too, went through a week of intensive work, both with
-a view to giving the First some good hard tussles and with her own
-second and last game in sight. She was to play Latimer High School on
-the First Team gridiron on Saturday, and, with the big team away, the
-contest was sure to draw a crowd and attain a semblance of importance,
-and the Second, not at all loath to enjoy the limelight for once, was
-resolved to make a good showing. Toby discovered suddenly on Tuesday
-that his triumph over Roy Frick had apparently been gained, for during
-three desperate and hard-fought periods against the First he remained
-at quarter while his rival graced the bench. And Toby did himself
-justice that afternoon if ever he had. To be sure the First Team
-smashed out a score in each period, but she had to work for each, and
-in the third twelve minutes the Second made a forty-six-yard advance
-from mid-field to the First’s five-yard line, where, foiled thrice in
-attempts at rushing, Toby tossed a short forward to Mawson, who fell
-across the goal-line for a glorious six points. Listening to the storm
-of reproach and accusation hurled at the First by their coaches, Toby
-almost regretted the triumph!
-
-Toby was used hard in that game. It seemed that nothing could stop the
-opposing ends from getting down under punts, while anything in the
-shape of protection for the catcher was invariably lacking. That wild
-Tubb was the worst offender from Toby’s point of view. Tubb was forever
-rushing on him the instant the ball settled into his arms, and Tubb
-had learned to tackle now. Some of the hardest thumps Toby got that
-afternoon were due to Tubb. Then toward the last of the play, Toby got
-into a side-line mix-up and Jim Rose, who weighed close to two hundred,
-sat on his neck in a way that spelled discomfort then and afterwards.
-On the whole, although he had had a corking good time and was conscious
-of having deported himself rather well, Toby reached the gymnasium in
-a somewhat weak and battered condition and made no objection when Gyp
-removed him to the rubbing room and made him swallow something that
-tasted like ammonia and then did excruciating things to his neck for
-a good ten minutes. Even after that he didn’t feel awfully bright and
-chipper, and that night he fell asleep with his head pillowed on his
-French dictionary and slept beautifully until Arnold rudely awakened
-him and sternly sentenced him to bed.
-
-The next afternoon, although he really felt as fit as ever, the
-assistant trainer cast one stern and penetrating look at him and
-ordered him off the field. “No work for you to-day, Tucker,” said Gyp.
-“And don’t stick around here, either. Go and play tennis or something
-easy. (Gyp was known to hold a supreme contempt for tennis!) Anyway,
-stay outdoors.”
-
-“Can’t I watch practice?” asked Toby ingratiatingly.
-
-“You cannot! Beat it now, like I tell you!”
-
-So Toby “beat it” and went back to the gymnasium and donned “cits” and
-wandered down to the tennis courts and saw Horace Ramsey run away with
-a set from the formidable Colcord, one of the mainstays of the Tennis
-Team. Ramsey’s playing astonished Toby, and he said as much to that
-youth when, later, they walked back up the slope together.
-
-“I’ve improved my playing a lot the last two weeks,” said Ramsey.
-“Some fellows don’t like cool weather for tennis, but I do. Maybe it’s
-because I’m heavier and hot weather gets me. I think I’ve got the knack
-of the back-hand stroke now. It worried me a lot at first. That’s the
-first time I ever got Colcord six-three, though. He wasn’t at his best
-to-day, I guess.”
-
-“Heart troubling you much nowadays?” asked Toby slyly.
-
-“Not a bit,” answered the other unsuspiciously. “I guess Mr. Bendix was
-right about it. He said, you know, that he couldn’t find anything wrong
-with it. Sometimes I think mother was too――too anxious and imagined a
-lot. You know how mothers are, Tucker.”
-
-“Yes.” Toby nodded. “My mother used to be that way, too. She used to
-tell my father that I wasn’t strong enough to split wood, but dad never
-believed her. And somehow I split it and lived to tell the tale! How
-are you and Tubb getting along, Ramsey?”
-
-“Getting along? Oh, fine. Why?”
-
-“We-ell, just at first I thought I noticed a certain――er――coolness
-between you.”
-
-“Really?” Ramsey looked mildly surprised. “I don’t remember that. I
-like George first rate. He used to be sort of touchy and――and gloomy,
-but he isn’t now. Maybe he was homesick. He’s doing great things on the
-football team, I hear.”
-
-“Yes.” Toby unconsciously felt of a lame hip. “Yes, he certainly is!”
-
-When Arnold came dragging himself in just before five he found his
-roommate putting in some much-needed licks on his Latin. “Your friend
-Tubbs――――” began Arnold presently.
-
-“Tubb, Arn, still Tubb,” corrected Toby patiently. “Minus the sibilant
-consonant.”
-
-“Tubb, then. It’s a crazy name, anyway. What I was going to say
-was that your friend Tubb played a very nice game of football this
-afternoon.”
-
-“So glad to hear it.”
-
-“Yes.” Arnold chuckled. “And some one almost spoiled his fatal beauty.
-They say it was Roy Frick.”
-
-“How? What did he do to him?” asked Toby anxiously.
-
-“How I don’t know. I didn’t observe it. What was done was enough,
-though. Friend Tubb’s nose is all over his face. I suppose that in
-time, after Andy has worked it back into shape and hitched it there
-with plenty of plaster, it will resume its normal appearance, but at
-the present writing it’s――well, it’s a sight and a strong argument
-against the brutality of football!”
-
-“Do you mean that Frick got him during play?”
-
-“Well, it doesn’t look like play, but maybe it was!”
-
-“You know what I mean, you seven-ply idiot! Did they have a scrap, or
-what?”
-
-“Oh, it was during the course of the gentlemanly encounter between
-friends that we staged down there this afternoon. Honest, Toby,
-it’s a wonder any one escaped without losing an ear or a jawbone or
-something, the way those coaches drove us to-day! They were positively
-blood-thirsty! That long-legged guy who’s coaching the guards and
-tackles――――”
-
-“Did Tubb try to get back at him?”
-
-“At Frick? No, not that I know of. Maybe he has by now. Maybe,
-though, it wasn’t Frick who plugged him. I only heard some one say so
-afterwards; Casement I think.”
-
-“It was Frick, I’ll wager,” said Toby. “Hang him, I wish he’d behave
-himself until the season’s over. Tubb’s crazy to fight him, and I’m
-afraid he will, and if he does some one will get on to it and he will
-get the dickens.”
-
-“That’s no joke,” agreed Arnold. “You’d better give him a tip to keep
-quiet until after we’ve licked Broadwood. It wouldn’t do to lose as
-good a chap as Tubb. I heard, by the way, that Frick and a couple of
-other fellows had a mix-up with some of the mill toughs the other
-night; Saturday I think it was; and that Frick, for once, got the short
-end of it. Too bad they didn’t cure him!”
-
-“Guess I’ll run up and see him after supper,” said Toby thoughtfully.
-
-“Frick?” asked Arnold innocently.
-
-“If I did I’d give him a good lesson,” answered Toby grimly. “No, Tubb.
-I made him sort of promise to be good, but if Frick’s gone and pasted
-him again――――” Toby shook his head lugubriously.
-
-Arnold laughed. “Think his patience may wear thin after awhile, eh?
-Well, I can’t say I’d blame him if it did. Still, he mustn’t be allowed
-to get in wrong with faculty just yet. Go on up and read the riot-act
-to him, old thing. By the bye, what happened to you this afternoon?
-What kep ye?”
-
-“Gyp,” said Toby. “He wouldn’t let me on. Said I was to play tennis
-instead!”
-
-“I thought that might be it. Well, I missed your smiling countenance
-and cheerful voice. So did your team, I guess. They didn’t begin to
-play the way they did yesterday. Did you play tennis?”
-
-“Not likely! To tell the gospel truth, Arn, I guess I wouldn’t have
-been much good to-day. I felt all right until Gyp told me I didn’t,
-though. That’s funny, isn’t it?”
-
-“Not at all, not at all. Power of suggestion, T. Tucker. Recognized
-psychological phenomenon. When do we eat?”
-
-Toby was surprised as well as embarrassed on reaching training table
-that evening by the interest displayed in his welfare by his teammates.
-It seemed that every one, with the possible exception of Roy Frick,
-was eager and anxious to have his absence from practice satisfactorily
-explained. Toby was somehow glad that Coach Burtis had not yet reached
-the table, for the coach had a kindly but amused smile that made Toby
-feel silly, and Toby was feeling silly enough as it was. Just at first
-he thought the fellows were having fun with him, but their relief at
-discovering that it was merely a lay-off that had kept him away was too
-genuine to be mistaken.
-
-“Well, Gyp has good sense,” commented Farquhar approvingly. “The First
-certainly laid for you yesterday, Tucker, and I could see that you were
-pretty well flattened out afterwards. Feeling all right now?”
-
-“Fine, thanks. Somebody pass the milk, please.”
-
-“Atta boy, Tucker!” said Nelson from across the board. “Don’t forget
-Saturday. We’re going to need you, son!”
-
-Toby saw Lovett glance toward Frick and exchange an amused glance
-with Grover Beech, and wished Nelson had more tact, and nearly choked
-drinking the milk with which Mawson had filled his glass. Then Mr.
-Burtis came and asked Toby if his lay-off had straightened him out,
-and again he said he was feeling fine, thanks, and after that some one
-mercifully turned the conversation.
-
-When supper was over he went in search of George Tubb. He had seen
-Tubb leave the First Team table and took it for granted that he had
-gone up to his room. But a knock on the portal of Number 31 elicited
-no response and, on pushing the door open, the room proved to be dark
-and empty. So he went down to Number 12, lighted up, got his books
-together and started on some geometry problems that promised to give
-him trouble. But the first one proved less awful than he anticipated
-and so he went on to the second, and when he remembered George Tubb
-again it was nearly nine. Arnold had not yet returned from a conference
-at the gymnasium. Toby pushed his papers away, viewing the result of
-his labors approvingly, and went back to the third floor. This time a
-light showed from Number 31 and he found the room tenanted, but only by
-Horace Ramsey.
-
-“Where’s Tubb?” asked Toby.
-
-“Haven’t seen him since before supper,” replied Horace, with a sigh
-as he leaned back from his studying and stretched his arms overhead.
-“I don’t think he’s been back here since he went down. I only came in
-about half an hour ago, though. Want to see him? He may be over in
-Dudley. He and a fellow named Dunphy are sort of thick. I don’t know
-the number.”
-
-“I’ll wait a few minutes if I’m not keeping you from studying. Maybe he
-will be in.”
-
-“Glad to have you,” replied Horace eagerly. “Try the big chair. It’s
-all right if you don’t lean back too hard. Did you hear about the
-wallop Tubb got this afternoon?”
-
-“Yes, Deering told me about it. Does he think Frick did it?”
-
-“He says he knows he did! You ought to have heard him go on about it!”
-Horace chuckled. “Gee, he was mad!”
-
-“You don’t suppose he’s――he’s looking for Frick now, do you?”
-
-“By Jove! I wonder if he is! No, I don’t think so, though. He had sort
-of cooled down by supper time. He looked like a South Sea pirate,
-Tucker. They plastered his face all over and it hurt him to talk, I
-guess. Not that that kept him quiet, though!”
-
-“Well, I wish I knew for sure――――” muttered Toby. “If he gets to
-scrapping with Frick and faculty learns of it――――”
-
-“I don’t believe he will, honest. He said something about that,
-something about wishing football was over so he could show Frick a good
-time.”
-
-Toby remained a half-hour longer, during which conversation touched on
-many subjects, and then, as he was leaving, Tubb appeared. He seemed in
-unusually good spirits and greeted the visitor almost boisterously, and
-wouldn’t hear of Toby’s departing yet. “I’ve been over to Dudley seeing
-a fellow named Dunphy,” he explained. “Know him?”
-
-“A little,” said Toby. “What happened to your hand?”
-
-“Oh, that?” Tubb held up his left hand and looked at a bleeding
-knuckle. “Why, I barked it against the corner of Dudley. It was sort
-of dark and I tried to turn too soon. Struck it against the stone, I
-guess. It’s just a scratch.”
-
-“You keep on,” observed Ramsey dryly, “and your folks won’t know you!
-Isn’t he a picture, Tucker?”
-
-Toby assented unsmilingly. Tubb did look fairly disreputable, for white
-surgeon’s tape crossed and recrossed his nose over a pad of gauze and
-gave him a peculiarly villainous appearance.
-
-“Suppose you heard about this?” asked Tubb significantly, touching the
-wounded member gingerly. Toby nodded. “That’s our friend Frick again.
-It’s all right, though. Just one more little favor to return.”
-
-“Seen him since?” asked Toby carelessly.
-
-“Only at a respectable and safe distance,” replied Tubb, smiling. He
-looked and sounded truthful, but Toby gave another look at the bleeding
-knuckle and doubted.
-
-“Well,” he said after a moment, “I hope you’ll keep away from him,
-Tubb. You know we sort of decided you would.”
-
-“Yes, I know. That’s all right. Friend Frick can wait. I’m in no
-hurry. I was afraid that I might forget about him by the time there was
-any comeback, but now, after this little memento, there’s no danger of
-it!”
-
-Presently Toby left, wondering whether Tubb was telling the truth
-or was ashamed to confess that he had taken revenge on his enemy.
-Certainly, it was quite possible to skin one’s knuckle by hitting it
-against the rough stone trimming of one of the buildings, but somehow
-Toby didn’t quite believe that Tubb had acquired his injury that way!
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-A VISIT TO THE OFFICE
-
-
-Toby’s suspicions were confirmed the next morning. On the way back from
-chapel he fell in with Sid Creel. Sid’s eyes were twinkling merrily as
-he joined arms with Toby and fell into step. “Did you hear about Roy
-Frick?” he demanded in a hushed but joyous voice.
-
-Toby shook his head. He thought he knew what was coming, however.
-
-“Some one beat him up,” said Sid, “beat him up beautifully! I haven’t
-seen him, but that’s what Orlie Simpson says. He’s in his room and
-won’t come out, and Orlie says he’s a sight!”
-
-“When?”
-
-“Last night. That’s all I know. Maybe it’s unkind to chortle, Tucker,
-but he _did_ need it, didn’t he?”
-
-“Maybe he did,” answered Toby gloomily.
-
-“Well, what’s your trouble?” Sid observed him in surprise. “You sound
-as if you were sorry for him!”
-
-“Frick? No, I was only thinking that if there was any trouble about
-it――whoever did it――――”
-
-“Oh, he’s not likely to tell, I guess,” Sid chuckled. “Probably he will
-say he fell downstairs or something! Well, see you later. Thought you’d
-be interested in hearing the sad news. So long!”
-
-After a two o’clock recitation Toby returned to Number 12 to leave his
-books before going to the field and found a gray card awaiting him.
-Toby had seen gray cards before and knew what they meant, but this time
-his conscience was fairly untroubled and he wondered a good deal as he
-read the printed form:
-
-“The Principal desires to see Tobias Tucker in the School Office before
-6 p.m.”
-
-Even the clearest conscience will experience qualms on receipt of such
-a document, and Toby sat down, card in hand, and asked himself what it
-portended. It might be that bothersome Latin, although just of late it
-hadn’t been going half badly and his instructor had even given him an
-approving word but a day or two since. Of course it was conceivable
-that a student might be summoned to the Office on some matter not
-concerned with misdemeanors or derelictions. For instance, Toby told
-himself, Doctor Collins might want to ask his advice regarding the
-administration of Yardley Hall School!
-
-Well, anyhow, he reflected presently, he had until six to keep the
-appointment, and meanwhile it was getting close to practice time, and
-whatever the matter might be it could wait. So he kicked off his shoes
-in favor of a pair of rubber-soled “sneakers” and donned his oldest
-jacket and set forth.
-
-If troubles never come singly, as they say, the same may be said of
-surprises. Toby’s second surprise that day came when the whistle had
-put an end to a hard-fought battle with First Team in which he had
-again kept the quarter-back position throughout. Possibly the fact
-that Frick was not on hand may have had something to do with that, for
-Rawson and Stair had been left well behind in the race for supremacy.
-In any case, Toby put in forty minutes of actual playing and ran his
-team well, although no score came to the Second to-day. Walking back
-to the bench for his sweater, he heard his name called. Coaches Lyle
-and Burtis were standing together nearby and it was Mr. Burtis who had
-spoken. Toby joined them.
-
-“You know Mr. Lyle, Tucker?” asked the Second Team coach. Wonderingly
-Toby shook hands. “Mr. Lyle thinks he needs you on the First,”
-continued Mr. Burtis. “Sorry to lose you, Tucker, but we’re almost
-through, and I guess you may be able to help out over there.”
-
-Toby looked bewildered. “You mean you want me――that I’m to go to the
-First Team, sir?”
-
-“Yes, Tucker, that’s the idea,” answered the First Team coach. “As you
-know, we’ve lost Curran for the season. We still have a couple of good
-quarters in Noyes and Winfield, but I’ll feel safer with another to
-fall back on. I can’t promise you much glory, Tucker, for you may not
-be needed this season. Perhaps all you’ll get is a lot of hard work, my
-boy, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re doing your
-bit for the School. Anyhow, there’s next year to look forward to. And
-I dare say that, if you take hold the way I expect you to, you’ll get
-your letter in the Broadwood game. Well, you report to me to-morrow,
-will you?”
-
-“Yes, sir, thanks!”
-
-“Good!” Mr. Lyle shook hands again as though to seal the bargain, and
-then Mr. Burtis shook hands in a way that conveyed the idea that he
-was very pleased for Toby’s sake, and Toby escaped. Most of the First
-and Second Team fellows had gone on ahead and he had the path pretty
-much to himself on the way to the gymnasium. And he was glad, because
-he wanted to think. He was a First Team man! That was wonderful, but
-it was also disquieting. Suppose that by some strange and unforeseen
-combination of events he was called on to play against St. John’s, or
-even Broadwood! Gee, that would be pretty fierce! He guessed he just
-couldn’t do it! No, sir, he’d be ill or something. Playing on the
-Second was one thing and running up against a big team like St. John’s
-was quite another. He would make a horrible mess of things, probably,
-and die of disgrace! Then the comforting thought came to him that
-there wasn’t the least chance of his getting into action in either of
-the remaining contests, that all he would be required to do would be
-to substitute now and then in practice. It would be pretty hard work,
-of course, but it would be worth while. Even to be numbered among the
-First Team was a proud privilege and cheap at any cost of labor. And
-there was also the alluring possibility that he would get in for a
-minute or two at the last of the big game, long enough to win the right
-to wear the big blue Y!
-
-He remembered Frick then and wondered if he would have been chosen
-had Frick been out to-day. His modesty didn’t prevent his suspecting
-that his work had pleased the coach better than Frick’s during the last
-week or so, and he hoped that Frick’s absence from practice to-day was
-not the reason for the choice falling where it had. But he couldn’t be
-certain as to that, and in consequence he found no temptation to be
-“swell-headed.”
-
-It wasn’t until he had dressed and was leaving the gymnasium with
-Sid Creel and Frank Lamson and one or two more that he remembered
-that summons to the Office. Remembering, his heart sank. Suppose
-something――he couldn’t think what it might be――but suppose something
-had gone wrong and he was to learn that this new and wonderful good
-fortune was to be denied him! Of course, that was perfect rot, for
-he hadn’t done anything! Just the same he’d feel better when that
-conference with the Principal was over.
-
-The School Secretary waved him silently toward the inner office a few
-minutes later and Toby confronted Doctor Collins. There was nothing
-formidable about the Principal, but to-day Toby’s spine experienced the
-sensation of becoming suddenly liquefied, for Doctor Collins fixed a
-kind but stern look on him as he swung about in his chair.
-
-“Ah, Tucker! Be seated, please.” The Doctor removed his glasses, held
-them between him and the light from the broad windows, seemed satisfied
-with their clarity and replaced them astride his nose. “One of our
-fellows was set on last night by two other boys, Tucker, and badly
-hurt. Perhaps you know him?”
-
-“Roy Frick, sir? I know him a little. We’re――we were on the Second Team
-together.”
-
-“And you had heard of his――ah――injuries?”
-
-“Yes, sir, Sid Creel told me this morning.”
-
-“I see. Well, I’ve sent for you, Tucker, because Frick tells a strange
-story of the event. At least, I find it strange. Perhaps you can throw
-some light on it. According to Frick, he was returning from the village
-last evening at about nine o’clock, perhaps a little after nine, and
-just inside the main gate at the foot of the Prospect two boys jumped
-out from the trees and seized him. That is to say, one boy seized him
-and the other――ah――administered punishment. It appears to have been
-rather a brutal affair, brutal and cowardly. You agree with me?”
-
-“Yes, sir,” answered Toby troubledly. He had made up his mind by now
-that no matter what happened he would not tell on Tubb.
-
-“Yes. Now here is the strange――ah――feature of the story. Frick tells
-us that the boy who punched and otherwise maltreated him was you,
-Tucker.”
-
-There was a moment of silence. Then: “_Me?_” gasped Toby.
-
-The Principal nodded. “Yes, he says so. He declares that he saw you
-well enough to recognize you, although the spot is a fairly dark one.
-However, there is the possibility that he was mistaken. Doubtless you
-can account for your time at that hour, Tucker.”
-
-“Why, yes, sir! Of course I can! I wasn’t anywhere near the gate! I
-wasn’t even outside Whitson! Besides, I’d have no reason to do it,
-Doctor!”
-
-“No? I gathered from Frick that there was a sort of feud existing
-between you. However, that isn’t of consequence now. I’m very glad
-indeed that you are in a position to disprove his accusation. Where
-were you at that time, Tucker, and with whom?”
-
-“Between nine and――――”
-
-“Well, between nine and half-past, let us say. Frick thinks the time
-was perhaps nine-ten or nine-fifteen.”
-
-“I was in my room in Whitson, sir. I was doing some geometry.”
-
-“Well occupied,” answered the Principal with a smile. “And your
-roommate was with you, I presume?”
-
-“Why, no, sir, he wasn’t,” stammered Toby. “Arnold was at a football
-conference.”
-
-“Oh!” Doctor Collins sounded disappointed. “Then between nine and, say,
-a quarter-past nine you were quite alone? Did any one come into your
-room about that time?”
-
-“No, sir.” Toby’s heart sank. “I think it was a little after eight when
-I came down from the third floor, and I studied until――I’m not just
-certain, but I think it was about a quarter-past, sir.”
-
-“Where were you on the third floor?”
-
-“I went up to see George Tubb. He rooms in 31.”
-
-“But that was, you say, shortly after eight. At what time did your
-roommate return?”
-
-Toby hesitated. Arnold had been in the room when he got back from that
-second visit to Number 31, but how long he had been there Toby hadn’t
-asked. Finally: “He was there a little before ten, sir.”
-
-“Well, between the time you finished studying and his return where were
-you, Tucker?”
-
-Toby was prepared for that question. If he owned to having gone back to
-Tubb’s room the Principal would probably suggest that Tubb be called
-on to verify the statement, in which case it was more than likely
-that Tubb’s absence from his room at the time when Frick was set upon
-would become known. Perhaps, since Tubb was evidently not thought of
-in connection with the affair, that was not dangerous, but to Toby it
-seemed to offer a clew that any one would seize on. Toby’s reply came
-without hesitation.
-
-“I never left Whitson all the evening, sir, not for a moment,” he
-said earnestly. “I was in the building from the time I came back from
-practice until I went to chapel this morning.”
-
-“I see. Well, I wish you had some one who could vouch for that, Tucker.
-I think you are truthful, my boy, and that Frick made a mistake, but
-I have no right to accept your word above his. We’ll let the matter
-rest overnight. Perhaps you will think of some one who can testify
-as to your whereabouts between nine and nine-thirty. Can you come
-to me again at――――” the Doctor referred to a memorandum pad on the
-desk――“eleven-thirty to-morrow?”
-
-“Yes, sir.”
-
-“Very well, do so. I’ve no doubt we can find a solution of the mystery
-between us. Good afternoon, Tucker.”
-
-Toby returned to Number 12 uneasy but not seriously troubled. It was
-nonsense to suppose that Frick would persist in his silly story in the
-face of his, Toby’s, denial, or that, even if he did, the Doctor would
-hold the accused guilty on such slim evidence. Just the same, he felt
-none too kindly toward George Tubb. Suppose the Principal did believe
-Frick finally and――Toby frowned. “Gee, I’d get bounced maybe!” he
-muttered. “Anyhow, they wouldn’t let me play. Oh, well, Tubb will just
-have to ’fess up in that case and take his medicine!”
-
-The thought that Tubb might refuse to do anything of the sort occurred
-to him, but Toby put it resolutely aside. Tubb wasn’t that sort, he
-assured himself. Whatever faults Tubb might have, at least he was
-square.
-
-Toby said nothing to Arnold or any one else that evening of what was
-on his mind most of the time. He considered going up and telling Tubb
-how matters stood, but he couldn’t see that anything was to be gained
-by that and so he didn’t. At half-past eleven the next forenoon he went
-back to the Office. Roy Frick, still bearing unmistakable signs of his
-beating, was there before him. Doctor Collins got to business at once.
-
-“Tucker, Frick says that he recognized you perfectly the night before
-last. That is so, Frick?”
-
-Frick nodded, glancing at Toby from discolored and still swollen eyes.
-“Yes, sir. I saw him plainly twice. I couldn’t see the other fellow
-very well, because he got me from behind. I just know that he was tall
-and kind of slim. But I saw him all right.” Frick nodded toward Toby.
-
-“What do you say, Tucker?”
-
-“Why, I can’t say anything, sir,” answered Toby helplessly, “except
-that he’s wrong. I wasn’t outside Whitson once that evening.”
-
-The Doctor looked thoughtfully from one to the other. At last: “You
-say, Frick, that there has been some sort of quarrel between you and
-Tucker?”
-
-“Yes, sir, sort of. He――he knocked me down one day when I hadn’t done
-anything――――”
-
-“Nothing but bounce a football off my be――off my head! And I didn’t
-knock you down, and you know it. You tried to hit me and I gave you the
-shoulder and you upset. Besides, I didn’t think any more about that.”
-
-“Is there any one else who holds a grudge against you, Frick?” asked
-the Principal.
-
-“No, sir, not that I know of.” Then, catching Toby’s look and mistaking
-its warning for an accusation, he qualified the statement. “Maybe Tubb
-has it in for me a bit, but I know it wasn’t he.”
-
-“Tubb?” asked the Doctor. “Who is Tubb?”
-
-“George Tubb, sir. He’s on the First Team. We had――he thought I did
-something to him intentionally when we were playing one day.”
-
-“And you didn’t?”
-
-“Not intentionally, sir.”
-
-“And you’re certain the fellow who pummeled you was not Tubb?”
-
-“Yes, sir. Tubb is thin, and this fellow was thickish and had red――had
-hair like Tucker’s.”
-
-“I see. Have you found any one, Tucker, who can confirm what you
-told me yesterday as to your presence in your room between nine and
-half-past?”
-
-“No, sir, there isn’t any one.” Frick allowed himself the luxury of a
-grin while the Principal was not looking, but it didn’t last long. It
-still hurt him to move his mouth.
-
-“Well, I don’t know,” said the Principal finally in tones almost as
-helpless as Toby’s. “It sounds to me as if there might be what you
-fellows would call a ‘catch’ in this business, but on the evidence I
-don’t see but what I’ll have to hold you responsible, Tucker. If you
-know anything bearing on the matter that you haven’t told me I think it
-would be well to mention it, because, to be frank with you, I consider
-this attack on Frick a particularly brutal and underhand affair
-meriting severe punishment.”
-
-Toby blinked but was silent. After a moment the Principal turned toward
-Frick again. “From what you have told me I think it would be well for
-you to be a little more careful in the future of your behavior toward
-your fellows. I’m afraid you have a faculty for making trouble, my boy.
-Should anything more of this sort reach my ears I shall be strongly
-inclined to hold you partly to blame. That’s all for now. Good morning.”
-
-Frick withdrew and the Doctor removed his glasses and polished them
-deliberately and thoughtfully. At last, replacing them, he asked
-gently: “Do you know who attacked Frick, Tucker?”
-
-Toby hesitated. After all, he didn’t know, for Frick’s description
-surely exonerated Tubb. So he shook his head and answered, “No, sir.”
-
-“But you suspect some one?” the Principal insisted.
-
-“I――I’d rather not answer, sir.”
-
-“Even if I tell you that a severe punishment awaits the――ah――convicted
-person?”
-
-Toby shook his head again. Doctor Collins sighed.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-TUBB ON THE TRAIL
-
-
-It didn’t take long for the news to get around the school. By evening
-it was known everywhere that Toby Tucker was on probation for waylaying
-Roy Frick and beating him up. A good many fellows took the stand that
-Toby deserved a gold medal instead of probation, even while deploring
-the fact that he had employed questionable means to wreak vengeance.
-Having some one hold Frick while he punched him was not quite
-sportsmanlike. Of course Toby was lost to football for the rest of the
-season, although, as he was, at most, but a third-choice quarter, the
-loss was not considered serious. If Coach Lyle thought otherwise no one
-knew it.
-
-Arnold was rabid when he heard the news from Toby and was all for
-a swift descent on the Office and an indignant protest backed by
-affidavits of good character. Toby, however, persuaded him to
-relinquish the project.
-
-“Well, then why don’t you go and finish the job on Frick?” demanded
-Arnold. “At least you can have the satisfaction of punching his fool
-head!”
-
-“It doesn’t seem to me,” answered Toby dryly, “that that would be
-conclusive evidence of my innocence.”
-
-“Who said it would be? It would make things a lot easier, though,
-wouldn’t it? It would for me, I’ll bet! Give me leave and I’ll do it
-for you!”
-
-“Much obliged, but I wouldn’t get much satisfaction out of it, I guess.
-No, the only thing is to――――”
-
-“What?” asked Arnold as Toby’s voice died into silence.
-
-Toby shook his head. “Nothing. Stand it, I suppose. After all, it
-doesn’t much matter. And I don’t believe Collins will keep me on very
-long. I guess he sort of half thinks I’m shielding some one else.”
-
-“You’re not, are you?” demanded Arnold suspiciously.
-
-Toby laughed. “Well, where were you at nine o’clock that night, Arn?”
-
-“Don’t be a gillie! I suppose you know that Frick will get your place
-on the First? Mr. Lyle will have to take some one over, and he’s the
-best there is left, isn’t he?”
-
-“Yes. I――I hadn’t thought of that.”
-
-“Well, think of it,” growled Arnold. “Not that it’ll do you much good!”
-
-Toby did think of it. It seemed to make things much clearer to his
-mind. Whether Frick had recognized his assailant or not, he was
-accusing him because he wanted his place on the First. It was quite
-simple. Frick probably thought that Toby had no suspicion of Tubb and
-that Tubb would certainly not spoil the plot by confessing. This if
-Frick had recognized Tubb. Toby was inclined to think that he had.
-
-Anyway, Frick’s scheme was a success. Toby had not seen George Tubb
-and he didn’t mean to. Tubb ought to take the blame, of course, but
-Toby meant to leave the matter in his own hands. He couldn’t altogether
-blame Tubb for taking vengeance on Frick, in view of the latter’s
-offenses, and while Toby had no desire to be a martyr he had grown to
-like Tubb and didn’t want him to lose his well-earned position on the
-School Team. So far as it was a question of the good of the School, it
-was far better for him to be punished than for Tubb to be. His loss to
-the team meant very little, while Tubb’s absence in the Broadwood game
-would be keenly felt. So, secretly, bitterly resentful toward Frick but
-harboring no grudge toward any one else, Toby took his medicine.
-
-Being on probation cut him off from many privileges, amongst them that
-of seeing Yardley beat St. John’s on Saturday. Half the school made the
-journey and returned home triumphing. The score was 12 to 0 and the
-game was hard-fought and bristling with brilliant plays by both teams.
-Tom Fanning, Larry Snowden and Ted Halliday came back crowned with the
-laurel wreathes of heroes, although there were few on the Blue team who
-didn’t deserve high praise. Coach Lyle’s charges had worked together
-and individually in a manner to make the School proud of them, and that
-Saturday evening saw a big and enthusiastic celebration in the Assembly
-Hall and, later, outside. Toby didn’t attend it, since he was forbidden
-to leave his room after supper without permission from the Office, but
-he watched the triumphal end of it from his window and, although none
-heard but he, added his voice to the cheering. He felt rather lonely
-and rather downhearted that night, and even Arnold’s return a little
-later failed to cheer him much. Arnold was sympathetic, but to-night he
-was in an elated mood and very full of the afternoon’s game and the
-evening’s jollification, and Toby’s mood didn’t respond.
-
-On Sunday afternoon Toby ran into George Tubb on the stairs. They had
-not met save in passing since the night of Frick’s escapade, and now of
-the two, Toby was the more embarrassed. He would have passed on up to
-his room, but Tubb wouldn’t have it. “Hold on,” said Tubb. “What’s your
-hurry? Let’s go for a tramp.”
-
-“Can’t, thanks, I’m in bounds just at present.” Toby smiled to show
-that he didn’t mind, but Tubb scowled.
-
-“Look here,” he said, “I want to talk to you about that, Tucker. Come
-on outside somewhere. You can walk down to the field, can’t you?”
-
-Toby could, and, after a second’s hesitation, decided that he would.
-Once away from the buildings Tubb broke forth indignantly.
-
-“Say, what sort of a game do you call that?” he exclaimed. “You make me
-promise to lay off Frick, and then you go and pound him up yourself!
-What’s the big idea, Tucker? I don’t get it!”
-
-Toby stared. “And I don’t get you, Tubb,” he said finally. “You know
-mighty well I didn’t touch Frick!”
-
-“You didn’t? Then who――then why――Look here, aren’t you on pro for it?”
-
-Toby nodded. “But I didn’t do it. I don’t _know_ who did it. Do you?”
-Toby spoke carelessly, but Tubb’s eyes narrowed.
-
-“Do I? Why should I? You don’t think――――” Tubb stopped and swung Toby
-around by the arm. “You don’t think I did it, do you?”
-
-“Why, I haven’t said――――”
-
-“That means you do! Why the dickens haven’t you said so? What are you
-up to?”
-
-“Do you mean that you didn’t, Tubb?” asked Toby incredulously.
-
-“Of course I didn’t,” was the impatient answer. “I said I wouldn’t,
-didn’t I?”
-
-“You said you’d think about it.”
-
-“Well, it’s the same thing, you chump! Let’s get this settled, Tucker.
-What do you know about it, anyway?”
-
-“I thought I knew all about it,” replied Toby in puzzlement, “but I
-guess I don’t know anything. If it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t me, and
-Frick says it was me, and――――”
-
-“Hold up! Better begin at the beginning. I’ve heard a lot of crazy
-stories about it. You tell me it the way it was.”
-
-So Toby did. And when he had finished Tubb shook his head bewilderedly.
-“I don’t blame you for suspecting me,” he said. “But I was over in
-Dudley and I can prove it by two or three fellows. And that knuckle
-really did get skinned just as I told you. But that doesn’t explain
-the business, does it? Some one else had it in for Frick and laid for
-him. Either Frick knows who did it or he doesn’t know. If he does know
-he lied to Doctor Collins, if he doesn’t know――well, he still lied
-perhaps, but he might have thought it was you, Tucker. Is there any
-other chap in school that looks like you?”
-
-Toby shrugged. “There may be. I don’t know. I don’t suppose I know just
-what I look like, for that matter. I guess there are other fellows
-with――with hair like mine, though. That won’t get us anywhere.”
-
-“No, I guess not. Look here, why not go to Frick and put it up to him?
-Both of us, I mean. I don’t believe he’d dare lie if we were both
-there.”
-
-“Why not? He lied, if he did lie, when Doctor Collins and I were there.
-Oh, there’s no use bothering, I guess. Let’s drop it. I’m sort of glad,
-though, that it wasn’t you, Tubb.”
-
-“Well, yes, but if you thought it was me why didn’t you tell the
-Doctor so? Why did you let him sock it to you the way he did?”
-
-“Oh, what was the use? You’d have got probation and lost the team, and
-you’re too good a player to lose.”
-
-“So that’s it?” Tubb looked away. Presently he said gruffly: “Well, it
-was mighty decent of you, Tucker. Guess I wouldn’t have done it in your
-place. Much obliged, even if――if it wasn’t any good.”
-
-“It wasn’t anything,” said Toby calmly. “I just didn’t see any use in
-letting Broadwood beat us for want of a good left end, that’s all.
-You’d have done the same, though you think you mightn’t have.”
-
-“Guess the team would have got by all right without me,” said Tubb.
-“There’s Meadows, you know. He’s pretty good, if I did beat him out for
-it. But, say, we’ve got to get to the bottom of this business, Tucker.
-It won’t do to let Frick get away with it so easy. Have they taken him
-over to the First in your place?”
-
-“I don’t think they have yet. They will, of course.”
-
-“I suppose so, unless we can put a spoke in his wheel. I’m going to
-think this thing out, Tucker.”
-
-“Help yourself. But keep away from Frick.”
-
-“We-ell, all right. Bet you I could make him tell the truth, though,”
-muttered Tubb. “The toad! You wait till we’re through with football,
-Tucker! I’ll make that guy wish he’d never been born!”
-
-“I may have something to say to him myself pretty soon,” said Toby
-thoughtfully. “Now that I know I’m not getting you in trouble――――”
-
-“Listen! You leave him to me,” said Tubb earnestly. “I don’t want him
-all messed up when I’m ready for him. I want him whole, Tucker. You
-give me first show at him and I’ll settle affairs for both of us. Is it
-a bargain?”
-
-“Yes, if you like. I want him to get what’s coming to him, but I’m not
-particular who gives it to him! Well, I must be getting back. I’ve some
-work to do. This thing of being on pro has one advantage, Tubb; it
-gives you a fine chance to improve your class standing!”
-
-Monday came, and Tuesday, and although Tubb assured Toby that he was
-still hopeful of clearing up the mystery, nothing came of it. Frick
-went to the First Team on Tuesday. Mass meetings were held on the
-slightest provocation and the school talked football from morning to
-night. The last scrimmage between the Second Team and the First was
-held on Wednesday and Toby went down and looked on. The Second, not
-yet recovered from a gruelling game with Latimer High School four days
-before which had ended in a 7 to 7 tie, and deprived of the services
-of a first-class quarter-back, was no match for the big team and was
-cruelly humbled. That was the Second’s swan-song, for when the whistle
-blew for the end she cheered the First and then cheered for herself and
-then, cavorting and yelling, piled up the hill to the gymnasium while,
-from the stands, followed a long cheer with three rousing “Seconds!”
-on the end of it. After Wednesday, save for “skull practice” in the
-gymnasium in the evenings and a thorough signal drill on Thursday,
-there was nothing to be done but wait for Saturday and the enemy’s
-invasion.
-
-Toby had become fairly reconciled to his state by Thursday, and was
-inclined to make fun of George Tubb’s efforts to fasten the guilt of
-the assault on the right person. But Tubb refused to give up, although
-he was clearly discouraged. Or he was until Friday. Then, just after
-supper, he pounced in on Toby in Number 12 and asked a breathless
-question.
-
-“Didn’t you tell me once that the guy who punched you the day you
-fellows played Greenburg High had red hair?” he asked.
-
-“Did I? I may have. Anyway, he did.”
-
-“How big was he?”
-
-“Oh, I don’t know. Why?”
-
-“Never mind why! Answer the question! Was he bigger than you?”
-
-“N-no, about the same height, I guess, and maybe about my build. You’re
-not trying to make it out that――――”
-
-“Never mind what I’m trying to do! That’s all! Much obliged to you!”
-And Tubb rushed out again.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV
-
-FRICK IS CALLED AWAY
-
-
-That momentous Saturday dawned crisp and bright. Yardley Hall School
-was early afoot and there was, from the first awakening, a flood
-of contagious excitement, repressed during chapel but let loose
-immediately afterwards. Breakfast, for the average boy was hilarious,
-for the two dozen or so fellows who would or might meet Broadwood in
-the afternoon it was a trying ordeal at which the usual viands had lost
-their flavor and where swallowing was often a painful task. Fortunately
-for both faculty and students, experience had taught the futility of
-holding the usual Saturday recitations on the morning of the Broadwood
-contest, and all but a very few were abandoned.
-
-Toby awoke in excellent spirits that day. After all, a fellow can’t
-have everything he wants, and here was a corking morning, the big game
-at hand and Yardley trained to the moment; and Toby concluded that he
-had no grouch coming to him! Besides, if playing on the School Team
-meant being in such a state of mind as Arnold was in, why, one was
-much better off it! For Arnold had a horrible case of stage-fright.
-He fidgeted and gloomed and was alternately a pest and a subject for
-the deepest sympathy. Toby had but one recitation, at eleven, and so,
-after breakfast, he set himself the task of keeping Arnold from jumping
-into the river or biting holes in the pavement. A walk seemed the best
-medicine, and the two strolled down to the tennis courts and watched
-there awhile and then across the field――Toby tossing his cap over the
-cross-bar of the south goal for good-luck――and went upstream along the
-river bank. Of course Arnold talked nothing but football, and Toby let
-him chatter to his heart’s content. Talking appeared to make Arnold
-less glum. Finally they struck inland by the golf links and dodged
-balls for a half-mile on the way back, reaching Whitson again at about
-ten, unaware that a visitor had called and, finding Toby absent, had
-gone his way again without leaving his card.
-
-Arnold wandered off after a few minutes and Toby tried to prime himself
-a little for the coming recitation. Then, just before eleven, he
-clattered downstairs and over to Oxford, pausing once or twice to
-hold jerky conversation with excited friends. Followed a harrowing
-half-hour, harrowing for Mr. McIntyre, otherwise known as “Kilts,” the
-mathematics instructor, and for a roomful of restless and, for the
-nonce, surprisingly stupid boys. There was an audible sigh of relief
-at dismissal, a sigh that swelled to a shout as the fellows gained
-the doorway and piled out onto the sunlit steps of the old granite
-building. Toby lingered to talk to Steve Lippman a minute, and there
-Billy Tarrant, the assistant manager of the School Team, found him
-after a long search. Tarrant pushed his way through the crowd and
-grabbed Toby’s arm.
-
-“You’re wanted in commons, Tucker,” he announced. “Get a move on!”
-
-Toby hung back. “What for?” he asked. “Who wants me?”
-
-“Mr. Lyle. I don’t know what for. Something about the team. Come on!
-I’ve been hunting you for half an hour.”
-
-“Oh! Well, all right.” Toby followed obediently, wondering nevertheless.
-Half-way, a simple explanation presented itself. Perhaps the Yardley
-fellow who was to have handled the chain in the game couldn’t serve, and
-they were going to let him do it. Toby concluded that this was his lucky
-day after all. The dining-room doors were closed, but Tarrant thrust
-open the nearer one and pushed Toby inside. The First Team crowd were
-seated around the training table. Mr. Lyle was talking and Tarrant and
-Toby trod on their tiptoes down the length of the room. Andy Ryan arose
-and noiselessly set chairs for the new arrivals, and Toby seated himself
-gingerly, aware that many of the gathering had glanced at him curiously
-and that Arnold’s countenance was one big exclamation point! Then,
-between the heads of those near him, he caught a glimpse of George
-Tubb’s face, and George was looking at him and making silent words with
-his lips that Toby couldn’t read. He shook his head helplessly and tried
-to listen to the coach. Mr. Lyle was going over his instructions for the
-battle in a very quiet tone. Now and then he asked a question and some
-one answered, once or twice wrongly. But Toby, consumed by curiosity,
-heard little of the discourse. Even when the manager wheeled a
-blackboard over and the coach made circles and straight lines and wavy
-lines with a piece of chalk, and every one else watched with almost
-painful attention and in perfectly soggy silence, Toby just kept right
-on wondering why he was there. For an outsider to be present during
-these mystic rites was absolutely unheard of! For a wild, breathless
-moment the idea came to him that Doctor Collins had relented and that he
-had been reinstated on the team. But that was too improbable, too absurd
-for credence! Besides, there was Roy Frick over there, looking
-supercilious and self-important.
-
-Then the coach stopped talking, the blackboard was moved back to the
-wall and there was a great scraping of chairs. And almost at the same
-moment the waiters came in with loaded trays and a cold lunch was set
-on the table, big platters of sandwiches and dishes of plain cake and
-pitchers of steaming hot cocoa and of milk and bowls of oranges, and
-every one began helping himself and eating where he sat or stood. Every
-one, that is, but Toby. Toby sat where he had been put and looked on in
-puzzlement. Or he did until the coach remembered him and, a sandwich in
-one hand and a cup of cocoa in the other, came to him.
-
-“No appetite, Tucker?” he asked cheerfully. “That won’t do. Better try
-some of this hot cocoa and worry a couple of sandwiches down. I guess
-I know how you feel, my boy, but there’s no call to be nervous.”
-
-“No, sir,” gulped Toby. “I――I’m not nervous, Mr. Lyle. I――――”
-
-“That’s right! Wade in and get some food then. Glad you got back to us,
-Tucker.” The coach turned away again, his eye on the sandwich platter,
-and Toby followed him.
-
-“Mr. Lyle!” The coach stopped. “Mr. Lyle, will you please tell me what
-you――what the――what I’m doing here?”
-
-“Eh? What you’re doing here? Why, you’re supposed to get your luncheon,
-Tucker. What do you mean?”
-
-“But――but I’m not on the team, sir, and I don’t understand. Tarrant
-said you wanted me over here and――――”
-
-“Didn’t he tell you why? Didn’t Tubb tell you? Hasn’t _any one_ told
-you?”
-
-Toby shook his head mutely, almost apologetically.
-
-“Well!” The coach took Toby’s arm and walked him over toward a window.
-“I’m sorry. Tucker,” he said, “I thought of course you knew. Not that
-I know much myself, though. All I do know is that Tubb came bounding
-to me an hour or more ago and told me you were square at the Office
-and wanted me to put you back. He said there had been a mistake and
-that you hadn’t done what you were supposed to have done. I told him
-I didn’t think you’d be an awful lot of use, after being out for more
-than a week, but that I was quite willing to have you back on the
-squad anyway. So I called up the Office and found it was all right
-and sent Tarrant to look for you. That’s all I know, Tucker. If I can
-work you in for a minute I’ll do it, but I make no promises. It’s sort
-of hard lines on you, though, and I’ll do my best. Have you forgotten
-everything you knew?”
-
-“No, sir!” gasped Toby. “Only――only I guess you’d better not try to use
-me, Mr. Lyle, because I don’t know the signals very well.”
-
-“Do you know them at all?”
-
-“Yes, sir, a little. I room with Deering, and he’s coached me some so I
-could sort of coach him.”
-
-“Get Curran to go through them with you. I’ll speak to him. If you’ll
-get them pat between now and the last half, Tucker, I’ll see that you
-get your letter. Now get some food into you.”
-
-Toby seized on as many sandwiches as one hand would hold and poured out
-a glass of milk. Then he made his way around the table to Tubb. “What
-happened?” he whispered.
-
-Tubb grinned. “Thought you’d be over here to ask pretty soon! I’ll
-tell you all about it, Tucker. Wait till I get another hunk of cake.
-Cake’s pretty good stuff when you’ve been off it a month or so! Guess
-this sort won’t hurt you if you eat a loaf of it! Now, then. Remember
-telling me that Frick――――” Tubb lowered his voice and glanced about
-him, edging further from the throng. “Remember telling me that Frick
-had a row with some of the town boys one night a long while ago?”
-
-Toby nodded. “Arnold told me about it,” he said.
-
-“Well. Then do you remember telling me about a red-headed chap who
-punched you in the face the day the Second played Greenburg?”
-
-Toby began to see light. “You mean he was the one who――――”
-
-“Sure! All I did was put two and two together. Then, last night, I
-risked being caught out of bounds and hunted the guy up. It wasn’t
-hard. The first loafer in Greenburg I asked recognized the description
-and sent me to a pool parlor. He was there all right and I got him to
-come outside and talk. He was willing to talk, too. Seems that he
-and two or three others got into a scrap with about the same number
-of our fellows one evening just across the bridge and he and Frick
-sort of took to each other and were having a merry scrap until Frick
-pulled something hard from a pocket and cut this chap’s scalp open.
-Sheehan――that’s the guy’s name――says he thinks Frick used a bunch of
-keys or something like that. He doesn’t think it was a knife, anyway.
-Our fellows got away――or the others did, and that ended it. Sheehan
-says it was a nice little scrap, only Frick shouldn’t have sprung the
-‘rough stuff’! So he got sore and decided he’d lay for Frick and get
-even. Says he tried three or four times, but each time he saw Frick
-there were fellows with him. But the other night he found him and got
-him!”
-
-“He oughtn’t to have done it the way he did, though. I mean it was sort
-of rotten to have some one else hold Frick while――――”
-
-“Huh! That’s the joker, Tucker!”
-
-“What do you mean?”
-
-“There wasn’t any other fellow! Sheehan got as sore as a pup when I
-said something about that. Says he was alone and that every time he
-knocked Frick down he had to lift him up again! Says Frick was game,
-all right, but had to beg off finally. Then Sheehan found his cap for
-him and went with him almost to the top of the Prospect because he was
-pretty wobbly on his pins.”
-
-“What do you know!” exclaimed Toby. “But why――――”
-
-“Because he didn’t want any one to know that he’d been licked in a fair
-fight. And, another thing, Tucker: I asked Sheehan if Frick knew who he
-was fighting with, and Sheehan said, sure he did, that he took pains to
-tell him! So, you see, friend Frick lied all the way through. When he
-got to thinking things out he saw that if he could put the blame on you
-he’d get you off the team and probably get your place.”
-
-“I guess so,” agreed Toby. “I’m most awfully much obliged to you, Tubb.
-You’re a perfect brick to take so much trouble and――――”
-
-“Ginger! I enjoyed it. I tried to find you this morning the first
-chance I got, but you were off somewhere. So I went right over to the
-Office and waited around and saw the Doctor and told him the whole
-yarn. I offered to get Sheehan up here if the Doctor would agree not to
-make trouble for him. Sheehan was sort of afraid he might be arrested
-or something, I guess. But the Doctor said he’d take my word for it.
-After that I looked for you again, but you had a class, I guess, and
-then it was time to come over here. And that’s the whole business. How
-do I stand as a Sherlock W. Holmes?”
-
-“A1,” laughed Toby. “But, listen, what about Frick? What did the Doctor
-say about him?” Toby looked around in search of that youth but couldn’t
-see him.
-
-“No use looking for him,” chuckled Tubb. “He went out five minutes
-ago. Some one came to the door and called him. Don’t believe we’ll see
-him again for awhile! He will be lucky if they let him stick around. I
-wouldn’t be surprised if he got fired, though. It might be just as well
-for him if he did,” Tubb added grimly, “because if he’s around here
-the day after to-morrow he’s going to be awfully sorry for some of the
-things he’s done!”
-
-“All over to the gym!” called Andy Ryan.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXV
-
-FOURTH DOWN
-
-
-For thirty minutes of actual playing time the Blue of Yardley and the
-Green of Broadwood had advanced and retreated up and down the trampled
-field of battle. And now the fifteen minute intermission was nearing
-its end and the rival cheering sections ceased their songs and the
-cheer leaders, megaphones in hand, watched the slope for sight of
-the returning warriors. Then the cheers broke forth and the squads
-trotted down the hill, Yardley in the lead, and blue flags waved and
-green pennants fluttered and pandemonium reigned. On the scoreboard
-no chalked figures followed the names of the contenders, for neither
-side had scored. Never perhaps in the history of the schools had their
-teams waged a closer conflict. Not once had the ball been inside either
-twenty-five-yard line in scrimmage, not once had the Blue or the Green
-seriously threatened the opposing goal. It had been a hard-fought,
-gruelling battle in mid-field, the ball constantly changing hands.
-No errors of judgment had given advantage, no fumbles had marred the
-almost perfect play. Twice penalties had been exacted, once from each
-team. Machine-like smoothness, thorough teamwork had been the order
-all through the first two periods, and individual brilliancy had been
-subordinated. Both teams seemed loath to break away from the safety of
-old-style football, and line-plunges interspersed with dashes outside
-tackle had ruled. Once Broadwood had tried a forward-pass, but it had
-failed and she had not attempted a second. It was still anybody’s game.
-
-Neither side made any changes as the third period started. For Yardley
-the line-up was still as before: Tubb, Fanning, Rose, Simpson,
-Casement, Bryan, Halliday, Noyes, Roover, Deering, Snowden. It was
-Broadwood’s kick-off and Yardley hustled the ball back to her twenty
-and went at the line again. The Green stopped her for seven yards and
-Snowden punted to the rival’s twenty-odd. Broadwood tried the left end
-and made four, tried the center and lost two, sent her backs at right
-tackle and gained three, and punted to Yardley’s forty. Deering caught
-and skirted back ten before he was upset. Roover got two past right
-tackle and three inside right guard. Deering fought through for two
-more. Snowden punted. And so it went while the precious minutes sped.
-
-On the bench, huddled in sweater and blanket, Toby watched anxiously
-with the others. And as he watched he strove to keep in mind the lesson
-that Curran had been teaching him since an hour before the game. The
-new signals were simple, but there were three sequences that wouldn’t
-stay put in his mind. Of course, it probably didn’t matter much whether
-he remembered them or didn’t, for it was safe to say that the coach
-would not let him in until the game was either well won or lost beyond
-the possibility of recovery. But it was like Toby to keep hammering
-away just the same.
-
-Noyes misjudged a punt, his first error, and for a long and anxious
-four minutes Broadwood hovered about the Blue’s thirty-yards, the
-ball in her possession. Then the second forward-pass of the game was
-intercepted by Tubb, and, although he could not get away, he clung
-tightly to it when tackled and a moment later Snowden had again punted
-far down the field. Ten minutes had passed of the precious thirty
-left. Broadwood, fighting back, piled through Yardley’s center for six
-yards and the green pennants waved and Broadwood voices shouted their
-triumph. Noyes, limping and white-faced, came off and Winfield took his
-place at quarter and the Green made her distance for the third time
-that day. But she was still on her own ground. A full-back run ended
-disastrously and she punted to Winfield on his own thirty-seven and
-that slim youth dodged and weaved his way through half the opposing
-team and was only downed when twenty yards lay behind him. Yardley
-implored a touchdown in measured chorus. With three to go on fourth
-down, Yardley hesitated. Before she had decided the whistle signaled
-the end of the quarter.
-
-On the stands the supporters of the Blue spoke sadly or hopefully of
-a no-score game. The teams sought the water buckets and lined up once
-more. But now there were new faces in the opposing ranks. Both sides
-had begun to call on their reserves. Snow went in for Casement and
-Candee for Simpson on the Blue team and Broadwood put in a new end and
-a new half-back.
-
-Winfield called for the three yards on a double-pass play that sent
-Deering outside left tackle and just failed of the distance. Broadwood
-opened up her play then. Two forward-passes were tried, of which the
-first failed and the second won a short ten yards. A fake-kick, with
-the quarter holding the pigskin, added seven more. Yardley rooters
-watched in silent agony now. The Green piled through for the rest of
-the distance and the Broadwood stands went crazy with joy. But there
-was still a long way to go and Yardley found herself again after
-another play or two and held for downs when six inches would have given
-Broadwood a new life. Then came a wild and thrilling end run by Deering
-that took the ball over four white lines and placed it on Broadwood’s
-thirty-six. But a fumble by the Blue’s quarter spoiled it and Broadwood
-recovered the ball. Three attempts netted little and the ball sailed
-back up the field. Winfield again misjudged and the pigskin went over
-his head and trickled closer and closer to the Blue’s goal-line,
-Deering and Winfield in pursuit and two eager Broadwood ends almost
-upon them. It was Arnold who fell on the ball safely just short of his
-fifteen-yard-line and who clung to it stoutly while the enemy pounced
-down on him.
-
-“Six minutes left,” growled Curran, at Toby’s side. “Why don’t we open
-up? Winfield acts as if we hadn’t a play in the bag but line-plunges!”
-
-Noyes, nearby, almost too wearied to hold up his head, grunted.
-
-“They know everything we’ve got, Curran,” he said. “Watch them when
-we give the signals. They’re wise to every move! And those backs are
-wonders! We can’t get away from ’em.”
-
-“Well, we might try!” retorted Curran savagely. “No use lying down, is
-there? There we go, back at the old hammer again! What’s Tom up to?
-Oh, Winfield’s coming off. You in again? But you can’t. Who’s Mr. Lyle
-after? It’s you, Tucker! Boy, it’s you! Remember those signals and
-shake it up, Tucker, shake it up!”
-
-“Tucker! Come on, come on!” Mr. Lyle was calling and beckoning. Toby,
-with heart pounding and his throat hot, ran to him on the side-line.
-“Here’s your chance. Know the signals? Good! Get in there and put some
-punch into that team. Tell Fanning I say he’s got to open up. Tell him
-the time’s come to score! Give ’em some running plays, boy. Put ginger
-into that bunch. Here, Snow! Go in for Casement. All right, Tucker!
-Beat it!”
-
-Cheers and more cheers, cheers for Winfield and for Casement, cheers
-for the substitutes speeding on, cheers from across the field, a medley
-of mad sound that beat on Toby’s ears like a cataract. Then he was in
-the squad, Fanning twitching him aside, Arnold thumping him on the
-back, Snowden, white and gasping, patting his shoulder imploringly.
-“Let me get at ’em, Tucker, will you? Let me try ’em, will you? Let
-me――――”
-
-“Shut up, Larry! What’s the word?” Tom Fanning pulled Toby away. Toby
-gave the message.
-
-“All right! Open her up! We’ve tried their line until we’re sick of it!
-There’s six minutes yet, nearly. Come on, Yardley! Let’s get it, let’s
-get it! We can do it! What do you say?”
-
-“_Signals!_” shrilled Toby, his voice pitching itself up amongst the
-clouds as it seemed to him. “_Signals!_”
-
-It was Yardley’s ball on third down near her twenty, with five to go.
-Snowden got four of that five and then two more, making it first down
-on the twenty-five. Then began a march up the field that is still
-spoken of with bated breath at Yardley. It was a march against time.
-To the middle of the field went the Blue without a halt. Substitutes
-went into the opposing line and back-field, but still Yardley advanced.
-Snowden was the hero of that advance, Snowden first and then Deering,
-for it was Arnold who got away from Broadwood’s forty-four and plunged
-onward to her twenty-six. And after that it was Snowden again and then
-Lamson and again Snowden, and the teams were on the twelve yards.
-Broadwood was fighting for time, delaying all she dared. The two
-minutes had been announced when Toby gave the ball to Snowden for a
-final slide off tackle on the left that, if it went right, would place
-the ball well in front of the goal. And it did go right, although it
-took the last ounce of Snowden’s strength and he had to be literally
-carried off the field.
-
-Watson was hustled on in his place and Yardley was cheering wildly,
-exultantly for a score. The ball lay just over the ten-yard line now.
-Four downs would spell victory or defeat. Less than a minute remained.
-Fanning, almost ready to drop in his tracks, whispered hoarsely of a
-drop-kick. Toby, seeing his condition, knew he would never make it and
-shook his head. Fanning didn’t insist. Perhaps he was a bit relieved
-that he need not make the effort.
-
-“We’ll put it over,” declared Toby confidently. “We can do it!”
-
-But Broadwood had massed her defenses solidly and when, fighting now
-against time as well as against the enemy’s desperate resistance,
-Deering had plunged to the left off tackle with scarcely a yard to show
-for it, Toby’s confidence was disturbed. The Broadwood stand cheered
-relievedly, exultantly. Tired warriors staggered to position. A babel
-of shrill cries arose, the referee’s dominating all.
-
-“_Second, and nine to go!_”
-
-Toby studied the opposing defense, a forward pass in mind, but
-Broadwood was set for such a trick. It would never go, and if it failed
-the Green would have the ball as sure as shooting. The pigskin was
-opposite the left hand goal-post now and, lest a field-goal should
-prove the last resort, it must be kept centered. Toby thought hard and
-fast and then shrilled his signals. Heming, who had taken Snowden’s
-place, hurled himself at the living wall and floundered into it for
-nearly two yards. Broadwood and Yardley cheers mingled.
-
-“Roover back!” yelped Toby. “67――33――21!” He looked about at the drawn,
-intense faces of the three backs. “Make it good! 67――33――21――111――――”
-
-Toby slapped the ball into Roover’s arms, dug in behind him and
-followed, floundering, pushing, panting. The Green’s defense wavered,
-gave, held again. Grunts and groans and hoarse breathings filled the
-air, and through them the shrill piping of the whistle came.
-
-“_Third and seven to go!_”
-
-The fake-kick had failed to fool the enemy. Toby looked almost
-despairingly along the line, searching for some telltale sign in a
-Broadwood countenance that would hint of failing strength, but he saw
-none. Distress there was in plenty, but grim determination as well.
-Seven yards still to go and but two downs left! If only Snowden had
-remained to try the field-goal! Roover might do it, but Roover was
-spent and reeling. A horrid fear that failure was to be their portion
-took possession of Toby for an instant and his heart sank. But the
-instant passed and he raised his voice cheerfully, encouragingly:
-
-“That’s the stuff, Yardley! One more like that and we’re over! They’re
-quitting! Get into this hard! Here’s where we win! Signals!”
-
-Heming again, with Roover once more back in kicking position, Heming
-smashing at the opposing right guard, stopping, edging on, and again
-stopping, with every Broadwood defender massed before him, thrusting,
-grunting, fighting like mad. And again the whistle and the quick voice
-of the referee.
-
-“_Fourth down! Five and a half to go!_”
-
-“_Twelve seconds!_” shouted some one.
-
-“Come on, Yardley!” shrieked Toby. “Get in there, Snow! Let’s finish
-it! You’ve got to do it this time! It’s your last chance, fellows! Hold
-that line now! Hold it! Roover back!”
-
-The Broadwood defense widened, the backs spread, the ends poised to
-dash around on the kicker. And Toby, noting, was triumphant. Something
-had called back to memory that day when, volunteering to play quarter
-on the second and finding his mind blank of plays, he had unwittingly
-sent a half straight into the line and made the distance. It was
-the unexpected that won then, he reflected, and now it must be the
-unexpected to win again. Broadwood was certain that the enemy would not
-waste her last chance on a line assault with more than five yards to
-go. Broadwood looked for a try-at-goal or, failing that, a short, quick
-heave over the line. Toby looked around. A half must take the ball, for
-the play must go fast. He wanted Arnold, but Arnold was not fit for
-the task. Heming, fresher, his young face white with excitement and
-longing under the streaks of dirt, must make the attempt. Toby called
-the signals. The tense bodies stiffened. The ball shot back from center
-to Heming. Roover feigned to catch and kick. The Broadwood ends came
-racing in. Confusion reigned, and in the very center of it, plunging,
-fighting, the Yardley ends and backs behind him, was Heming.
-
-Straight at center he had gone. There was no hole awaiting him, but
-the assault was so sudden, so unexpected that the enemy gave and he
-went smashing through. Then the Broadwood backs threw themselves to
-the rescue and the line held. For a moment the advance paused and the
-referee’s whistle went to his lips, and in that moment Roover charged
-in behind the struggling wedge, the mass moved forward again, a foot,
-a yard, faster, and yet faster! And then, suddenly the defense fell
-to pieces and Heming, his head and shoulders well above the sea of
-writhing bodies, shot forward and down and was gone from sight. And
-from the Yardley stands arose a straining shout that reached even Toby,
-buried deep in the wake of the victory!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-A few minutes later, when goal had been tried for and missed, when
-cheers were hurtling up at a shadowing sky and the field of battle was
-a mad scene of Yardley rejoicing, Toby, rather the worse for wear, got
-to his feet, assisted by Arnold and Tubb, while about them an impatient
-mob waited to seize them and carry them off. He cast an apologetic
-look at Arnold.
-
-“I’m awfully sorry, Arn,” he panted.
-
-“Sorry for what?” demanded the other.
-
-“That fourth down. I wanted you to have the ball, Arn, but I didn’t
-dare. You were too done up. It had to be Heming, honest!”
-
-“Oh, forget it, old dear! Of course it had to be Heming! What do you
-suppose I care? We won, didn’t we?”
-
-“Did we?” exclaimed Tubb exultantly. “_Did we!_ Why, say――――”
-
-“Then that’s all right,” said Toby happily. “I was afraid――――”
-
-But Toby’s fear was never voiced then, for the waiting mob descended on
-them and rude hands hoisted them aloft, and Toby, bobbing about above
-the heads of the laughing, shouting, pushing throng, knew for a moment
-a joy of triumph as great as Alexander’s after the Battle of Issus!
-
-
-THE END
-
-
-
-
- Transcriber’s Notes:
-
- ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
-
- ――Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently
-   corrected.
-
- ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.
-
- ――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
-
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