Albertus T. Dudley

“ Dick laughed. Two seasons of rubbing against the varieties of Seaton life had not shaken Poole’s respect for proprieties or affected his natural dignity.
“What a venerable person you are! Sometimes you seem the oldest of us all. How old are you, anyway?”
“I’m fifteen and a half,” replied Poole. “I wish I seemed old to Sands,” he added mournfully. “Perhaps he’d give me a little better show if I did. He always acts as if I were a child.”
“Never mind how he acts,” said Melvin. “Make him take you whether he wants to or not. Study your game, and hang on till the last gun is fired.” ”

“ In the mass-meeting of the school the night before the games, when the boys gathered in loyal force to give their team a “send-off” for the morrow, nothing that was said by student or graduate or friend stirred such response in the hearts of the school as the short, plain, virile exhortation of the captain.
And no athletes need personal inspiration as do the members of a track team. The football player stands shoulder to shoulder with his fellows, the strong helps the weak and shares with him the glory of victory. ”

“ The Yanks grew rougher and more violent. Todd took to body checking where it was not necessary; Bosworth, when a Greaser got the puck away from him, followed on at his heels with ill-concealed malice, and banged away viciously at the unlucky man’s shins, even though it was apparent that the puck was wholly beyond the pursuer’s reach. Such tactics, unless checked, are usually the prelude to rougher play; and Dick, for this reason, was doubly grateful when, from the edge of the mêlée around the Yank goal-posts, Rawle swiped the puck through a second time. ”

“ Varrell’s first impulse was to let out a yell of triumph that would make the whole dormitory entry ring; his second, to make sure that his triumph was real. There was no question of the identity of the check; he had heard too much about the details of the case to have any doubt on that score. But would not a skilled liar like Bosworth be able to squirm out of even a predicament like this?
The senior turned again to Eddy, who was now leaning upon the table, his head buried in his arms, weeping in great despairing sobs. “I see how it is,” said Varrell, sternly. ”

“ The air chilled like a March fog.
“What do you think of it?” asked Melvin, as he met Dickinson at breakfast.
“The weather? It’s bad on the nerves, but worse for the Hillburyites, who aren’t used to it as we are. I don’t mind it myself. All I ask is that we have no wind to buck against, and no rain.”
“It’s hard on the jumpers. When the air is cold and heavy, you can’t put any force into your spring.”
“Weather doesn’t influence me as much as other conditions do,” said Varrell. “I find it a great deal easier to jump when there’s a big, eager crowd, and the excitement runs high.” ”

“ The Hillburyites were on their feet, oblivious of cheer-leaders and programme, howling their pride and hope. The score was tied! A hit, an error, a long fly, would let Ribot in, and put Hillbury in the lead. Tompkins was watching Ribot out of the corner of his eye, but his whole mind was concentrated on the problem of putting the ball just where it was required. Unworried, but more deliberate than ever, he responded to Sands’s signals. “One strike! one ball! a foul! two balls! two strikes!” The eager Seatonians began to breathe more easily. A strike out would improve the situation vastly. ”

“ Lary, the Hillbury champion, and Dickinson were side by side,—the former a short, solid, muscular figure, quick in every motion, the latter tall and lithe, and deliberate even to slowness. Melvin watched the preparations with an unexpected fear creeping into his heart. Was this solid, business-like person with the knotty legs and confident manner to steal a start on the Seaton captain and keep ahead to the finish? Crack! sounded the pistol and away went the men, rising from the crouching position with an instantaneous leap and throwing themselves forward into their strides. ”

“ If the task of athletic manager proved to Melvin for the time being a sinecure, another office which was suddenly thrust upon him was quite the opposite. No one knew exactly how the hockey rivalry started, or who were the first to fan it into flame. It was just the kind of contest most likely to arise where boys gather from every part of the country, each loyal to his home and state, and each ready to boast superiority, and defend the boast with tongue and muscle. Dick had hardly been twice on the ice when the hockey players began to pair off into New England and Western teams. ”

“ When time was called, Durand was bobbing and twisting and checking and shooting as busily as ever, while one of the big forwards was obviously fagged, and Melvin himself felt that his ankles were rebelling at the unusual strain.
That settled the question of the team; Varrell and Durand had earned their places upon it. Two or three days later a meeting of the team was held to receive Melvin’s resignation.
“I’ve got the team together,” he said, “and with that my duty is done. The best captain for us now is the man who knows most hockey and can teach us the most; I’m not that man.” ”

“ Old Robeson was raking the driveway on the other side of the gymnasium; the Saturday cleaners were buried in the depths of the recitation building. Except for the indescribable roar of distant cheering, which came in bursts from the direction of the campus, or the noise of an occasional wagon rattling along the street, the green-turfed yard might have been some silent meadow afar from the haunts of men.
“Every dormitory window open!” thought Dick, as he glanced around the yard, “and half the doors too, I’ll bet. Those fellows really deserve to lose some of their things. ”

“ Taylor, whose position at left-field Phil coveted, was playing his second year on the team, and felt his importance as a veteran who had already been tested under fire in a Hillbury game. He had the name of being a great hitter, and though his work during the season so far had not borne out this reputation, he occasionally made long drives that delighted the great mass of student supporters whose admiration is as intense as it is fitful. He was a safe catch on flies, and now and then did spectacular feats that had the same effect on the spectators as the occasional three-baggers. ”

“ The Hillburyites, seeing the dreaded champion in the rear, emitted an incoherent howl of exultation.
“Will you look at that!” cried Curtis, who stood by Melvin, near the finish line. “Outclassed, as sure as guns!”
“No! No! Watch it out!” cried Dick, in answer. Down the track swept the line of white-clad, shaking, struggling figures. When it passed the Seaton benches Dick could see the excited spectators throw up their arms, could hear the yells, and guess that the long-legs were putting the ground behind them. ”

“ Sands, the captain of the school nine, who lived in Chicago, brought him the news.
“How absurd!” cried Dick, aghast. “Why, I’m no hockey player. There must be a dozen fellows better than I.”
“They think you’ll be the best leader, anyway,” returned Sands; “and as there’s no one else eligible whom the fellows will follow, you’ll just have to take it. When a man handles a football as you did last fall, he’s supposed to be capable of anything. Don’t try for the nine, please. You can’t play ball on a reputation, and I should hate to have to fire you from the squad.” ”

“ The night was clear and moonless. The day had been warm; it was freezing again now. At eleven he heard below the welcome call of Benson, the relieving watch, and scuttled down to the ground as fast as his cold hands and stiff legs would allow. At twelve o’clock Bosworth took his turn. He got up with some difficulty, as he was little used to climbing, and pulled up after him by a string a voluminous ulster borrowed of a larger classmate, in which he rolled himself snugly, as he crouched at the base of the belfry where the lightning-rod reached up its side to the weather-vane above. ”

“ Wallace was the head coach for baseball at the great university near by,—a graduate a year or two out of college, with an enthusiasm as unprofessional as his knowledge of the game was complete and technical. He could pitch and field and hit; he was a master of the ritual of that mysterious coaching book in which are written all possible details of play under all possible circumstances, and on which the Varsity candidates are examined for their positions as a candidate for a degree is quizzed by the specialists who sit in commission over him. ”

“ Todd, the Yank forward end, fingered his stick nervously over the ice as he waited for the call to places, and on his cheeks appeared the telltale white spots which Dick had seen before in the great football games when Toddy had set his teeth and fought for ground by the inch. Bosworth, the Yank coverpoint, leaned scowling on his stick, eying his opponents with sombre malevolence.
“They are fighters, not players,” said Dick to himself, disapprovingly. “They seem to think they’re out against Hillbury.” ”

“ Melvin did not need to consider what the spectators might think of his audacity; nor to struggle to make a name for himself in school. A man with his athletic record and his rank and his general influence could afford to speak slightingly of a prize in a handicap meeting. To Varrell, who had hardly yet divested himself of the notion that he was still a stranger in the school, any prize that gave distinction would have been welcome. To win an important contest, to make a place for himself on some school team, to earn and wear a coveted “S,”—all this was a part of an unconfessed ambition. ”

“ My word wouldn’t be good for anything. A man will always lie about the first money he gets for athletics.”
“It’s a question of knowing, not of thinking,” said Dick.
“Exactly!” returned Dickinson, bitterly. “And this is the way you know me! If my running hasn’t given any better impression of me than that, I’ll stop it altogether. I never wanted to run. You drove me into it against my will. I will slip out with pleasure.”
“Hang it, Jim! answer my question, won’t you?” cried Dick, desperate. “Did you run last summer in a Fourth of July race with professionals, or not?” ”

“ Little Durand and Varrell, who had never impressed his classmates as an athlete, found themselves on the scrub. Varrell took coverpoint and Durand put himself among the forwards. The puck was faced and started on its erratic, whimsical journey, darting like a wild thing back and forth, up and down. Before the game seemed really well begun, the circular piece of rubber came within Varrell’s sweep, and clung to the heel of his stick. ”

“ This isn’t a Hillbury game; it’s a kind of lark.”
“Oh, yes, I know all about that kind of a lark. When you begin, it’s a joke; before you’re through, it’s a fight for blood.”
“What do you think of my case?” replied Sands. “I have one brother in Yale and another in Harvard, and both on the teams.”
“I’ve heard of them,” said Melvin. “How do they contrive to avoid scrapping?”
“They never discuss college matters at all. When I’m with one, he urges me to go to Yale; when the other gets hold of me, he talks Harvard; when we are all together, they cut the subject.”
Dick still meditated. ”