Burt L. Standish

“ When everything was ready, Walker kicked off, and again those twenty-two men were leaping at each other’s throats like famished wolves. The fortunes of war varied till, by a splendid round-the-end run, Garrison took the oval well into Rockspur’s territory, being brought to the earth by Sterndale himself. Then Walker booted the pigskin straight into Renwood’s clutch; but Dolph fumbled, and Dow, Highland’s left end, fell on the ball like a carload of steel rails. Again it seemed to Scott that Renwood was playing into the hands of the enemy. ”

“ Suddenly a new sound arose, and then, as onto the field trotted eleven shaggy-headed lads, togged in their [249] football suits, dirt-stained, mud-bespattered garments of victory, there was a great upheaval to the left of the grand-stand, and the mass of fresh-faced, youthful humanity broke into a wildly swaying surge of crimson, while the Highland cheer sounded short and sharp and clear, like the barking of hundreds of wolves on a still winter’s night. ”

“ So there!”
“I shall tell Dolph that you were his champion.”
“Oh, don’t—not for the world! But I don’t like Don Scott; I never did. He scowls so, and he looks as if he’d bite anybody.”
“Now,” said Zadia, with a little laugh, “if I were to confess the truth, I’d tell you that I think him a handsome fellow—really and truly I do! Ana he looks the handsomest when he is angry. I don’t believe he’d be afraid of anything, and I’m sure he’d become a natural leader if he could master his temper.” ”

“ Away toward the ledges by the harbor mouth some gulls skimmed the waves, uttering harsh and melancholy cries. Overhead a few vapory clouds were tinted with pink and edged with burnished gold.
Don gave little heed to his surroundings as he sat there in the ledge, staring down at the restless water that ran green and foamy over the broken rocks, but the expression on his mobile face indicated that the battle within him was waxing fiercer. ”

“ As both sides returned to the centre of the field, Don looked round for his father and found the doctor watching him with an expression of great satisfaction and pride, while Zadia Renwood waved her flag and laughed in his direction.
But the game was not over; not even the first half was over, and there was to be a most surprising turn about in a very few moments. The Highland boys were not “quitters,” and every man wore a ferocious look when they lined up with the ball at the centre of the field. ”

“ Now, I don’t believe in that. If I hate a chap, I just keep still till I get a good chance to soak him, and then I can take him by surprise.”
Leon said this with a foxy smile that was rather repulsive to the other.
“No, I don’t fancy that way of doing things,” admitted Don, promptly. “If I hate a fellow, I want him to know it. It’s a satisfaction to have him know just what I think of him.”
“And it puts him on his guard against you. That’s not my style. I’m just as sore on Renwood as you are, but I felt that I might hit him harder if I kept still. I’m onto him, and I know he’s down on me. ”

“ Scott, don’t fight with Dolph! Promise me you will not—for my sake.”
Renwood flushed with shame, thinking the others might fancy he was seeking protection from his enemy behind his sister’s skirts; and he begged her to go away, but she remained firm.
“I am sure it is all a mistake, and there is no reason why you should be enemies,” she said. “Anyhow, you must not fight. You must promise me, Dolph, that you will not fight with him.”
[43] “I can’t do it,” muttered Renwood. “If he’s bound to fight, I shall not run away. He’ll get all he wants.” ”

“ Don said nothing, but continued to watch Renwood’s face.
“There is something about me,” Dolph continued, seeming troubled to find words to express himself, “that caused you to take a strong dislike to me almost the first time you saw me. I knew it, for you are not a chap to conceal your feelings. I have some pride and spirit of my own, and I’m not the kind of a fellow to try to curry favor with those who dislike me, for which reason I had very little to do with you till the football team was organized, and I was selected as coach. ”

“ Don sat at his desk and listened to the dash of the wind-driven cloud-tears against a near-by window. Sometimes he studied, but oftener he was thinking of things far removed from books and recitations. The rain had begun late in the day and was pretty certain to continue, so there could be no practice for the Rockspur Eleven that night.
“They’ve made another shift about since taking Bentley back,” thought Don, “and every change disturbs them some. There’s little time now for them to get used to the new line-up.” ”

“ My boy, I want you to promise me that, for all you may dislike one or more of your associates on the eleven, you will join with the others in doing your level best under every condition to win from your opponents. Promise me this, Don.”
[149] The youth choked a little and turned his eyes away. It was too late now, he fancied, to reveal to his father the exact condition of affairs, and so the deception must be continued at any cost of torture to his outraged conscience. Far better would it have been had he nerved himself to speak the truth without further subterfuge and falsehood. ”

“ The Highlanders came surging down like a flood from a broken dam, but Don Scott was on hand, and he fell on the ball, while Jack Powell, Highland’s left tackle, leaped upon him like a panther. The ball was down on Rockspur’s thirty-yard line, but the home team had it, and there was great cheering from the bleachers on both sides.
“Clever, Scott—clever!” said Sterndale, approvingly, as the men untangled. “The right man in the right place.” ”

“ Baseball meets my hearty approval, although a clean, healthy sport like that may be carried to excess, and even amateur players should be properly trained and hardened so that no evil effects may follow the exertions of the game, which call for sharp runs, straining, jumping, and so forth. In baseball it occasionally happens that a player is severely or seriously injured, but the timid lad who avoids the game because of this is pretty sure to lack courage to fight the battle of life to a successful consummation. ”

“ Charlie had associated with bad boys, but he had not actually stolen when first charged with theft. Don’s father had been taught a lesson by that terrible experience, and his lips had not harshly charged his son with participating in the crime of forgery, but his eyes had spoken quite as distinctly as words.
“But I’ll not be like Charlie!” the tortured boy mentally cried. “I see my mistake now, and I’ll have no more to do with Leon Bentley.”
He felt in a pocket of his coat and found a half-consumed package of cigarettes, which he took out and flung away. ”

“ Youth once lost may never be regained; but youth firmly planted in the heart may remain there, though the body wither beneath the blighting touch of age.
In their heavily-padded suits the boys looked stout and [251] stocky. A ball being tossed in among them, they began to chase it about and fall on it as a sort of warming-up.
Don Scott was there, looking rather pale, his dark hair and eyes accentuating the whiteness of his face. ”

“ The wind was now blowing quite strongly from the west, and the Highland captain immediately selected the west goal to defend, giving the ball to Rockspur. The pigskin was placed on the spot in the exact centre of the field, and the two teams lined up amid another uproar of cheering and all kinds of noises.
There was a sudden lull. Those two lines of youthful tigers were gathering themselves for the clash, crouching a bit, leaning forward, teeth set, muscles taut. ”

“ Dolph cried. “Perhaps you know more about coaching a team than I do!”
“I didn’t say that, either,” grinned Bentley.
“You seldom say anything point-blank to a man’s face, but you insinuate and insinuate, and you talk behind his back.”
“Look here, Mr. Renwood,” Leon angrily snapped, “I don’t fancy that! I’ve always used you all right, and you have no reason for making that kind of talk. I won’t stand any more of it, either.”
Renwood shrugged his shoulders and turned to Sterndale, with whom he began to talk earnestly. ”

“ Don hesitated. “I don’t think I’ll go,” he said, in an unsettled manner.
“Oh, rats!” cried Leon, lighting the prepared cigarette [21] from the stub of the one he had finished, which he tossed aside. “Come along, Scott, for you’re needed, and it’s your duty to play for the honor of Rockspur.”
“By your own words a few moments ago, you confessed that you are not going into the game for any such reason, but simply to win admiration from the girls. I do not believe any fellow who plays football for such a reason can do his best and be of real value to the team.” ”

“ When the group broke up, the coach found himself face to face with the lad who had withdrawn from the team.
The rather handsome face of Don Scott was sullen and scowling, and there seemed to be a gleam in his black eyes.
[41] “I have a few more words I want to say to you, Renwood!” he said, his voice hoarse and unsteady.
“And I have something I want to say to you!” Dolph flung back instantly. “A fellow with such a beastly temper as you have isn’t fit to play football, and the team will be better off without you.” ”

“ Remembering the words of his father and his own resolution to try to control his temper, even though Linton’s free-and-easy manner around within him a feeling of resentment, Don held himself in check, nodded shortly, and said:
“Hello, Bentley. Going to practice?”
“Sure thing,” returned Leon, airily. “Got to do it, I suppose, though it’s a horrid bore. Fellow has to practice to keep in the swim and be a real athlete; and he has to be an athlete nowadays, or take part in athletic sports, at least, in order to stand any show with the girls. ”

“ In advance were John Smith and Agnes Mayfair, the tall lad looking rather awkward beside the graceful, dark-eyed girl. Just behind them were Dolph Renwood and Dora Deland, Dora seeming very well satisfied with her conquest, if conquest it was.
“They make a good pair,” declared Don to himself, with curling lips. “She’s called the prettiest girl in the village, and it has spoiled her, for she thinks every fellow who sees her is struck on her. ”

“ I got to the field ahead of the others, and there was Renwood talking with Winston, the Harvard man, who has been coaching the Highlanders.”
“What of that?”
“They had their heads close together,” Bentley went on, “and they were talking low. They didn’t see me, and I just walked past them, stepping soft. I heard something.”
“Yes!” panted Don. “What did you hear?”
“I heard Winston say: ‘It means a heap to me if Highland wins, and you don’t care a rap if Rockspur loses.’ Renwood answered: ‘Not a rap,’ and he laughed.”
“The sneak! the traitor!” cried Don, springing to his feet. ”

“ It was a sound to stir the blood, and it seemed to restore the right half-back of the home team to complete strength.
Then the game was resumed. Don caught a look of satisfaction from Powell, and he knew the Highland left tackle felt that he had evened the score.
The pluck of Scott gave Rockspur new life, the onslaught of the visitors being checked. But time was flying, and, as yet, no opportunity had arrived for the home team to make the coveted score. Highland was fighting beautifully to hold her own till the time was up. ”

“ The doctor’s son was not dull, even though he had been deceived by the crafty Leon, and, in thinking the whole matter over, he was assailed by a doubt concerning the genuineness of the portion of a letter that Bentley claimed to have found beneath Renwood’s desk.
“That may have been a forgery, too,” thought Don. “How do I know? I wish I’d never agreed to do that other business of dropping the letter to Winston where Sterndale could find it. Oh, I’ve got myself into a pretty mess, and all because I had anything to do with Bentley. But Renwood is back of it all! He started it! He is to blame!” ”

“ Ha! ha! ha!”
“He! he! he!” mocked Jotham, sourly. “What made the hanged old thing do that?”
“That’s what it’s for,” asserted Renwood. “What would it be good for if it always hung still and let you tackle? A running man will dodge you if he can, and the dummy is made to do the same thing. That is so you’ll tackle quick and sure, and be on the watch for any move the other fellow may try to make.” ”

“ He doesn’t want Rockspur to win, for all that he makes the bluff that he does. He has Sterndale on a string, and he’s the real manager and captain of the eleven. It was through him that all the shifting about on the team has come, and now he wants to make another shift. He’s sore because I made that touchdown, so he’s going to try to push me off. He’ll try to get Scott back into your place; then where will you be? He is going to keep this thing up just so that the team will be unsettled all the time, and that will fix us so that we’ll never win a game. Now, Carter, are you going to stand it? ”

“ As he said this, he turned and looked at Don Scott, who felt on the instant that the words were meant for him, and a pang of anger shot through his heart, causing his hands to clench savagely and his jaws to harden.
“We have the best fellows in the village on the eleven,” asserted Sterndale, loyally.
“Good fellows do not always make good football players,” said Dolph, knowingly. ”

“ If they are not fast, but are dogged and heavy enough, we’ll see what kind of a bucking team they’ll make. Or it is possible we may find that we have a great kicking team. But, no matter what general style of playing may be decided upon, after getting into a game it may be found expedient to change to another style in order to best assail the weak points of the opposing team.”
This was plain, sensible talk, and the boys, with a single exception, listened to it attentively. The exception was Roger Ford, a deaf-mute, surely a peculiar fellow to have upon a football team. ”

“ Now, you are sore on Bentley because he happened to get a touchdown in the Highland game, and you want to dump him off the team. You see that you must do something to hold your grip with the boys and make them believe you are trying hard to put a winning eleven on the field, and so you’ve planned to dump Bent and make a bluff at doing something all at one lick. Renwood, you’re so thin I can see through you like window-glass. Some day all the fellows will see through you. ”

“ Sterndale, your captain,” continued Dolph, “has familiarized himself with the signals and certain plays [34] that we are to try to-day. I presume the rest of you have studied the signal code, so that you will know just what to do on every occasion. If you wish to have the team succeed, you must always do your level best to obey any signal given. The fellow who is looking for individual glory and an opportunity to show off will prove to be a disadvantage and an encumbrance to the eleven.” ”

“ The doctor ate dinner with them, but his mind seemed to be occupied, so that he talked very little, which was decidedly to Don’s satisfaction.
Leon Bentley was loitering past the house when Don came out, and he called:
“Hello, Scott, old man! Where were you this forenoon? Didn’t see you at school.”
“Shut up, you idiot!” hissed Don, hurrying down the steps and out to the sidewalk. “What do you want to come round shouting like that for?”
“Oh, ho!” grinned Leon. “I catch on! Don’t want your old man to know, eh? Played hookey, did you?” ”