Lester Chadwick

“ Once more that tense silence.
“Is it—is it true?” hoarsely asked Kindlings. “Are you a professional?”
“I—I am,” confessed Jake Shambler and then, amid a storm of hisses which broke out all over the room, the dishonored student hurried out. He had not dared to deny the charge.
“The sneak!” cried several, and more than one arose as though to follow and inflict corporal punishment on one who had trailed the colors of Randall in the dust.
“Silence!” cried Holly Cross, leaping to his feet. “It’s bad enough without making it worse. Stop that hissing!” ”

“ With laughter and gay talk, now that they had made up their minds to adopt Tom’s suggestion, and go coasting, the four chums, than whom there was no more devoted quartette in Randall, passed out into the corridor. As they descended the stairs they heard a subdued hum that told of other students bent on the same errand, and, when they had a glimpse of the snow-covered campus, they beheld many dark figures hurrying along, dragging single sleds or big bobs after them. ”

“ Through the aperture came the noise of retreating footsteps, and it was evident to the strained ears of the four chums that someone was going down the hall, toward the broad stairway that led out on the campus, while someone else was proceeding toward the main part of the dormitory, where Proctor Zane had a sort of auxiliary office.
“Who is it—can you see?” demanded Tom Parsons, in a hoarse whisper. ”

“ Toward evening the rain slacked up a little, and the girls granted the entreaties of the boys to come out for a walk, Miss Philock according the necessary permission rather grudgingly.
It was too wet on Monday for out-door work, and Tom, Sid, and the others kept to the gymnasium. There was a grim spirit about the work now, for the boys felt that chance had played into their hands and if they did not take advantage of it that there would be no more hope for them.
“Luck doesn’t strike twice in the same place, even if lightning does, the proverb to the contrary,” said Holly Cross. ”

“ Time! What’s the time?” shouted the eager students who knew that fifths of seconds counted in a championship meet.
“Four minutes, forty-one and two-fifth seconds,” announced Holly. “Tom, that’s the best yet!”
“We’ll win! We’ll win!” screamed Bean. “Come on, boys!” he called to his crowd of shouters, “let’s practice that new song, ‘We’ll cross the line a winner, or we’ll never cross at all.’ All on the job, now.”
“Tom, old man, you’re all right,” cried Phil, as his chum slipped a sweater over his shoulders. “You’re going to win!” ”

“ There was laughter and jollity among the youths and maidens. Tom and his chums greeted old friends and athletic foes from Fairview and Boxer Hall, until Holly Cross, coming along, sarcastically suggested that if there was going to be a hurdle race that day it was time to dress for it.
There were to be four heats, and Tom and Phil found themselves drawn in the first one. Of course in the finals the best men from each college would participate. ”

“ There was a chill, in the air, too.
“Tumble out!” cried Kindlings, as he banged on the door of the room where the inseparables were sleeping. “Tom—Sid, we need you for some morning practice.”
“Oh, go on away,” begged Tom.
“Let me dream on,” requested Sid, drowsily.
“Tumble out!” shouted the inexorable Kindlings. [242] “This is your last chance. It’s a nice cool morning for a run or a jump, and you’ll be all the better for it. Come on.”
So, perforce, the substitutes who were to fill in for Frank and Shambler “tumbled out,” literally, for they were half asleep. ”

“ Out on the campus sounded the calls of a crowd of lads at ball practice. Farther off could be heard the cries of those who were leaping, running [117] or throwing weights in anticipation of the track games. But the figure in the room gave no heed to this.
Not moving, Tom continued to stare at nothing, and the bitterness of his spirit grew on him. ”

“ She shook a flag of Fairview in his face.
“Pooh!” replied Phil. “Enough other girls have ’em,” and he waved his hand toward a part of the stand where the young lady cohorts of Randall sported the yellow and maroon.
Tom greeted Madge Tyler, and, as he stood beside her, he caught a glimpse of something yellow beneath the lapel of her light cloak.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Don’t tell,” she whispered, “or I’d be tried for treason, but—I just couldn’t help it,” and, with a cautious glance around, she showed him a tiny bow of Randall’s colors, under those of her own college. ”

“ The young ladies of Fairview, under the eagle eye of Miss Philock and her aides, will go for a May walk, to gather flowers and look on nature as she is supposed to be. There will be a little basket lunch, and the usual screams when the girls think they see a snake. Want to go?”
“Sure!” cried Tom, and the others chorused an eager assent.
“It will be a good time then, to ask the girls to [105] come to the athletic meet,” said Sid. “They will come; won’t they?”
“Oh, I guess so,” replied Phil. “They won’t root for Randall, though, when there’s going to be a team from their own school.” ”

“ Hold on, Jerry—Joe,” he called to the Jersey twins, “wait for papa!”
There was a laugh at Dutch and his predicament, and then the crowd of students hurried on, our heroes among them. In a little while they could hear distant shouts, and the clanging of bells.
“Some crowd on the hill,” observed Tom. “I told you there’d be sport.”
“Right you are, my hearty,” agreed Phil. “Whew! I should say there was a mob!” for by this time they had come out on top of the long slope that led down the country road, forming the coasting place, known as Ridge Hill. ”

“ Tom gave a glance back, and saw Shambler heading for the shore. A fierce wave of anger swept over him, but he said nothing to his chums of the apparent act of cowardice.
“Is she there? Holding on to the ice? Are they both there, girls?” gasped Phil, as he covered the intervening distance between himself and the two frightened girls.
“Oh, boys, hurry!” called Mabel. “They are both holding on to the ice, but they can’t last much longer. It’s cracking all the while. ”

“ Frank looked grave, for he knew on how slender a thread hung Tom’s chances. A moment later our hero saw his father waving his hand to him from his place beside the president of Randall. Dr. Churchill, and several members of the faculty, had come to the games, though Professor Emerson Tines refused to attend.
“Tom!” cried Mr. Parsons as he came down an aisle to meet his son. “I’m glad to see you, boy. You didn’t expect to find me here; did you?”
“No, dad. Is anything—anything wrong?” Tom could hardly frame the question. ”

“ You fellows clear out, and I’ll follow soon enough.”
“Where’s the clothes brush?” demanded Frank, who was the nearest ready. “Say, there’s enough dust in this room to stock a vacuum cleaner. Whew!”
“The rug needs taking up and beating,” commented Sid.
“Never!” cried Phil. “If we got it up it would fall apart, and we’d never get it down again. Let well enough alone. There, I guess I’m finished. How do I look?”
“Like one of the advertisements of college-built clothes from a back-woods tailor,” said Tom. “You’re too sweet to live! You’ll have all the girls crazy about you.” ”

“ Tom’s time was far behind that of Shambler in the mile run, and, though it was only a matter of seconds, everyone knew that seconds would count.
Sid, too, seemed to have lost his natural ability [241] to cover ground in the big jump, though he was by far the best man available after Frank’s disbarment.
“This won’t do,” declared Holly, and though his heart was sinking, he kept up a bold front. “Get at it, boys,” he urged the two on whom so much depended. “You can make good yet! All you need is to think so.”
“It’s easy enough to say,” complained Tom, who was tired from many trials. ”

“ If we’ve got a good east wind it means a long rain.”
He thrust his head out of the open window, into the darkness and storm, while his chums awaited his verdict.
“It’s all right,” he announced after a moment. “It’s in the east. There’ll be no games to-morrow.”
“You’ve got good eyes, to see wind in the dark,” remarked Sid.
“I didn’t see it—I felt it, you amiable cow,” answered Tom.
For a time they listened to the patter of the drops that meant so much to Randall, and then the gathering broke up, the visitors going to their rooms, leaving the inseparables to themselves. ”

“ Come on over, and we’ll talk to some of the fellows about it.”
“Now I wonder what in the world is up?” mused Tom. “They were certainly talking about Shambler, and from what they said it seems as if that wasn’t his name. I wonder if there can be anything wrong? Jove! I hope not, for the sake of Randall. And yet what could it be? Maybe he isn’t the best kind of a character, but that can’t make any difference in his standing as an athlete. If these Exter fellows are as squeamish as that, it’s time we knew it.” ”

“ In an instant Tom saw what the trouble was.
The bush was one containing big thorns, and, in reaching for the cocoon, the girl’s arm had caught on a sharp point. She was held by her sleeve in such a way that either to advance her arm, or withdraw it, meant to further pierce her flesh with the thorn.
“Oh!” she cried, and then Tom came on the scene.
“Perhaps I can help you,” he said, with a lifting of his hat. “Do you want the cocoon?”
“Yes. Oh, but don’t mind that now! If you can break off the thorn, so I can get my arm out——”
A spasm of pain passed over her face, and Tom acted quickly. ”

“ While most of the crowd consisted of students from Randall College, there were not a few lads and girls from the neighboring town of Haddonfield, and the shrill voices of the lassies and the hoarser shouts of the boys, mingled musically that [8] moonlit night. The clang of bells on the bobs was constant.
“Come on now, get ready!” called Tom. “Let’s take a crowd down.”
“Who’s going to steer?” asked Phil.
“Let Frank,” advised Sid. “He’s got the most muscle, and he needs exercise.”
“I like your nerve,” retorted the Big Californian. ”

“ Churchill, as he met Holly and Kindlings with a squad of candidates. The doctor knew rather less about athletics than some girls do of baseball.
“It isn’t football, to-day, Doctor,” said Holly gently.
“Oh, of course. I ought to know that. Football comes in the Fall. The nine plays for the championship to-day, does it not? Ah, yes, I hope you win both halves.”
“It’s the track team that’s going to compete—for the all-around championship,” whispered Dr. Marshall, with a wink at the young trainers. “The track team, Dr. Churchill.” ”

“ As the boys reached the top of the slope there [11] dashed up a sled filled with young people, drawn by two prancing horses. And fastened to the rear of the sled, was a large bob.
“Now for some fun!” cried a girl’s voice.
“Did you hear that?” asked Tom, of Phil. “It sounded like your sister Ruth.”
“It is Ruth!” cried Phil, as he caught sight of the girl who had called out. “It’s a crowd from Fairview,” he added, naming a co-educational institution not far from Randall, at which college Ruth Clinton attended. “Hi, Ruth!” called her brother, “how are you?” ”

“ Our friends, getting out their sled, soon found themselves in the midst of a throng of fellow students, all hurrying toward the hill. The four chums had hold of the rope to haul the big bob.
“There are the Jersey twins,” remarked Sid, as Jerry and Joe Jackson hurried on, dragging a small bob.
“And here comes Dutch,” added Phil. “He can ride with us, I guess.”
“Sure,” assented Tom. “I say, Dutch!” he called. “Got a sled?”
“No. Why should I when there are already plenty?” “Dutch,” or otherwise Billy Housenlager, demanded.
“That’s right,” spoke Frank. ”

“ I am not a professional, I never have been one, I never intend to become one. I never took part in any professional games, and I never received any money for playing ball, or in any other contest. I can’t make that too strong!”
“Hurray!”
“That’s the way to talk!”
“Now we’re coming back at ’em!”
Amid a babble of cries these were heard. There were angry looks cast at the Exter committee, and one or two lads started from their seats, and worked their way forward, as though to be in the fore when hostilities commenced.
Wallace stood there, calm and collected. ”

“ But who are we going to enter for those contests?”
“We’re going to lose, I think,” said Jerry Jackson mournfully.
“That’s right—lose,” echoed his twin.
“Say, you fellows make me tired!” exploded Kindlings. “We’re not going to lose!”
“That’s the way to talk, but how do you figure it out?” asked Holly. “Who’ll substitute for Shambler and Frank?”
“Sid Henderson will have to make the jump, and Tom Parsons, we’ll depend on you for the mile run!” answered Dan quickly.
“Who, me? I can never beat the Exter man in the jump,” asserted Sid. ”

“ We can’t expect to win every event, but we’ve just got to get five out of the eight to clinch the championship. We’ve already lost the hurdle race, but if we get the mile run, the broad jump, the pole vault, a hammer throw and one other we can win, for they count the most. ”

“ Exter was comparatively a new college, but she stood well to the fore in athletics.
The end of the Winter was at hand, when one night there came an unprecedented freeze. Tom and his chums awakened shivering in their quarters, for the window had been left open, and the thermometer was away down.
“Wow! Somebody turn on the heat!” cried Tom, poking his nose out from under the covers.
“It’s Phil’s turn,” declared Sid.
“It is not,” was the answer.
“I’ll toss you for it, Sid,” put in Frank, leaping out of bed, and reaching for his trousers to get a coin. “Call!” ”

“ Available material was talked of, and every day saw more and more candidates in the gymnasium, out on the cinder path, or in the hammer circle.
“Have you any line of what Boxer Hall is doing?” asked Tom of Dan Woodhouse one afternoon, when a number of the lads were gathered in the reading room of the gymnasium after some hard practice.
“Well, they’re going strong,” replied Kindlings. “But if we all keep on the job here at Randall, and do our best, I think we can win. But every fellow has got to do his best.”
“Sure,” assented Sid.
“Are Langridge and Gerhart entered?” Frank wanted to know. ”

“ But Shambler did not seem to mind.
The dance went on, and the inseparables had a fine time. Doubtless their girl friends did also, and it was not until an early hour that the affair ended.
“And to think that we won’t have another for at least a month!” groaned Tom, as he and his chums wended their way Randallward.
“And you’re the chap that was making such a fuss about a tan tie,” murmured Sid. “Look at yours now. There’s nothing left of it.”
“No, nor my collar either,” replied Tom, feeling of his wilted linen, for he had danced much.
A week, in the early Spring, can work wonders. ”