Lester Chadwick

“ You may do yourself serious injury. What you need is complete rest.”
Phil gasped, and held back the exclamation that sprang to his lips—an exclamation partly of bitterness and partly of pain, for the physician was rebandaging the foot. Then he turned his face to the wall, and when the doctor was gone, Tom and Sid sat in silent communion with their chum. For they knew how he felt, and knew that mere words could only make the wounded spirit more sore. Silence was the best balm, and silence there was, with only the fussy clock to mark the passage of the seconds. ”

“ Our heroes were up early the next morning, to indulge in a practice run with the football squad—a little jaunt along the river, proposed by the exacting coach, with the idea of improving the wind of his men.
“Jove! but it’s getting cold!” remarked Tom, as rosy and glowing with health, he and his mates turned into the gymnasium for a shower, and vigorous rub before breakfast.
“Regular football weather,” agreed Sid. “Well, I feel as if I could tackle Boxer Hall and Fairview together now.”
“Keep on feeling that way,” urged the coach, grimly, as he passed by. “We all need it.” ”

“ There was a gasp of surprise that went around the chapel like a wave of hysteria among a lot of girls.
“Twenty thousand dollars!” whispered Tom Parsons.
“Randall can never pay it,” remarked Sid, who sat next to him.
Dr. Churchill waited for the murmurs to cease.
“I need hardly add,” he continued, “that it is out of the question for us to pay this sum. Yet, if we do not, we may lose all that we hold dear,” and the president seemed much affected. “However, we have not given up the fight, and there may yet be a loophole of escape. You may now go to your classes.” ”

“ Tom almost snapped.
“They won’t rub it in—they’ll know how we feel,” went on the quarter-back. And to the credit of Ruth, Madge and Mabel, be it said that though they were Fairview girls, and their college had downed Randall, which had not happened in a blue moon before, they never so much as “looked” the triumph they must have felt. They knew the bitterness of defeat, and—well, they were wise little damsels.
They talked of anything but football, though the reference to Phil’s injury and to Sid’s illness naturally verged on it. ”

“ On the other hand, the Fairview players found several holes in their opponents’ line, through which they made substantial advances with the ball.
“Hold ’em! Hold ’em!” begged Kindlings, desperately, the fear of defeat staring him in the face. His men worked like the ancient trojans, and Tom Parsons covered himself with glory twice; once when he made a sensational tackle, and saved a touchdown that seemed imminent, and again when he made a brilliant run of sixty yards, and would have scored, but for an unfortunate slip that enabled George Curtis, the Fairview left end, to nab him. ”

“ Still Sid worked on, worming to get every inch, and he broke through the scrub line, staggered on and on, and when he was finally downed, with half a dozen of the players clinging to him like hounds to a stag, he had gained three yards, through a hard defense.
“Wow! Wow!” yelled Bean Perkins.
“That’s what I ought to have done, I suppose,” murmured Pete, regretfully, as he saw what a gain Sid had made.
“Oh, you’ll do it yet,” said Tom consolingly. “It takes a little practice. Those fellows are out for blood to-day. A lot of them are hoping to get on our team.” ”

“ We will meet it like men! We will fight the good fight. We will——”
“Three cheers for Randall College and Dr. Churchill!” yelled Bean Perkins, leaping to his feet and forgetting that he was in chapel—forgetting that it was a solemn occasion—forgetting everything save that he was wrought up to the [96] point of frenzy. “Three cheers, and the biggest tiger that ever wore stripes, fellows!”
Oh, what a shout there was! Every student was on his feet in an instant, yelling at the top of his voice. Even some of the faculty joined in, and Dr. Emerson Tines was observed to be wildly waving his hands. ”

“ The Latin words came sweetly over the field from [294] the cohorts on the big stand—“Aut Vincere, Aut Mori!”—“Either We Conquer, or We Die!”
“Might as well die, as to be defeated,” thought Sid, bitterly. The ball came back to him. Like a flash he was in motion. The big Californian, as he had done before several times in the game, opened a hole so fiercely that the opposing players seemed to shrink away from him.
Forward leaped Sid, with all the power of despair. Forward! Forward!
“There! See!” cried Bean Perkins. “He’s through the line! He’s going to make a touchdown—the winning touchdown!” ”

“ Both paths seemed to lead to one or the other of two students—Bascome or Lenton. To accuse either, or to question them, would mean serious trouble, for it would be considered as an insult. Tom and his chums realized that.
“But what gets me, if either one of them did take our clock and chair, is what their motive could have been,” spoke Tom. “Why in the mischief should they take our battered old ticker, leave another in its place, and then make the exchange again?”
“It’s just as easy to answer as to say who has our chair,” declared Phil. “It isn’t in Bascome’s room, that’s certain.” ”

“ At first, Tom’s chums did not know whether or not he was joking. They crowded around him and looked over his shoulder as he unfolded the paper. The inner contents bore out the endorsement on the face of the document.
“That’s it, all right!” cried Frank. “It’s the quit-claim deed, as sure as you’re a foot high!”
“And does possession of it mean that Randall College is all right?” asked Sid.
“Sure!” asserted Tom.
“But how in the world did it ever get inside that chair?” demanded Phil. “This is the greatest mystery yet. The loss of our chair and clock aren’t in it.” ”

“ Churchill’s safe, and Randall College is rid of her enemies!”
“Give—me—back—my—deed!” fairly howled the man.
He seemed as if he would strike Tom, but the plucky end faced him fearlessly. Suddenly from outside came a burst of cheers. They welled to the ears of our heroes.
“The Boxer Hall crowd!” exclaimed Phil. “They’re here for the big game! Come on, fellows! Now to play for our lives!”
Once again came the burst of cheers. Looking from their windows, our friends could see a crowd of Boxer Hall students, arriving in big stages, which they had hired. ”

“ As soon as he had tapped at the portal, there was audible within the apartment a hasty scramble.
“Guess they must think it’s Zane, or Prexy,” mused Tom, grimly. He waited several seconds, and then came the gentle and somewhat sleep-simulated query:
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me—Parsons,” was the ready, if ungrammatical, answer. “Are you there, Bascome?”
“Yes, of course. I thought it was one of the profs. It’s all right, fellows—you can come out,” and, as the door opened, Tom saw several of Bascome’s friends crawling from under the bed and couch. ”

“ I know how to handle tools, and I guess lots of the other fellows do, also. We can do it if we try. We haven’t got the money to hire carpenters, so we’ll be carpenters ourselves! We’ll build that grandstand!”
“Hurrah for Carpenter Tom!” cried Dutch Housenlager, doing a Highland fling down the long dormitory corridor.
“I don’t know the difference between a beam and a joist, and a two-by-four is as illuminating to me as a Greek root would be to a baby,” said Kindlings, “but I’m with you, fellows!”
“So am I!” cried Frank Simpson. ”

“ Maybe he saw some one sneaking around our rooms.”
“If we once get on the trail——” said Phil, significantly.
“It sure is rotten luck,” spoke Sid, from the depths of the sofa. “I don’t have to do any boning to-night, and I was counting on sitting in that easy chair, and reading a swell detective yarn Holly Cross loaned me. Now—well, it’s rotten luck—that’s all.”
“It certainly is!” agreed a voice at the door, as the portal opened to give admittance to Dan Woodhouse—otherwise Kindlings. “Rotten luck isn’t the name for it. It’s beastly! ”

“ The bitterness of the Fairview defeat still lingered like a bad taste, in the mouth of the Randall gridiron knights, but it was being overshadowed by the game which would soon be played with Boxer Hall. This season they would clash but once with those doughty warriors, and according to the games that had thus far been played in the Tonoka Lake League, the championship was practically a tie between Randall and Boxer Hall.
“If we win all our other games, and we’re likely to do that,” said Kindlings, “all we need to do is to wallop Boxer Hall, and the championship is ours.” ”

“ Somehow, he did not like the idea of hazing the Californian. They had become too friendly with him, and Tom was glad his chums had declined to have a hand in it.
“No chances at all,” denied Dutch, vigorously. “We’ll be ready with a boat and ropes, in case he can’t swim. But I think he can.”
“I didn’t mean about that part of it,” went on the end. “But he may take cold.”
“Oh, piffle!” cried Holly Cross. “If he can’t stand a little wetting he’s no good. Besides, it’s warm to-night. Come on, Dutch; we’ll go back and tell the crowd that this bunch is doing its knitting, and can’t come.” ”

“ Do you imagine that all Moses and the others have to think of is football?” demanded Phil. “I tell you, fellows, this is a serious matter. I’d hate to see old Randall done away with.”
“So would we all,” declared Kindlings. “But maybe we’ll win in court, just as——”
“As we didn’t against Fairview, but as we’re going to do against Boxer Hall!” interrupted Tom, with energy, and then he saw Ruth beckoning to him, as she stood with her chums, most bewitchingly arrayed in a fur coat. “Come on!” called Tom to his friends, and soon they were escorting the girls home. ”

“ For the time being football was forgotten, and the trouble of Randall held the centre of the stage.
“Well, there’s no use worrying about a bridge, until you hear the rustle of its wings,” said Sid at length.
“What we fellows need to do is to get out and make a noise like having some fun,” opined Dutch Housenlager. “When the cat’s gone on her vacation, the mice eat bread and cheese, you know. Proc. Zane is closeted with the bunch of highbrows, [91] and so what’s the matter with cutting up some?”
“Dutch, I’m surprised at you!” exclaimed Tom, reproachfully. ”

“ It was on the morning of the big game with Boxer Hall that an ancient wagon, drawn by a decrepit horse, drove up to Randall College. At first the students were inclined to make game of the outfit, but when Phil and Tom discovered that it was Mr. Rosenkranz with their chair, there was a change of heart. For the belief that the chair might prove to be a mascot or “lucky” hunch had grown. ”

“ The big crowd scattered from the grandstands, and, pausing only to get rid of the worst of the dirt that marked them, our three heroes were soon walking side by side with Phil’s sister and her two companions.
“Oh, wasn’t it great?” demanded Miss Tyler, of Phil.
“Splendid!” cried Ruth Clinton.
“You certainly rolled up a great score against [110] them,” was Miss Harrison’s contribution to the trio of opinions.
“We ought to be ashamed of ourselves,” declared Phil. “Newkirk isn’t in our class, and we only play them to sort of open the season, and for practice. Yet they nearly scored on us.” ”

“ The president paused, and glanced questioningly at the proctor, whom he evidently took for an authority on sports. For Dr. Churchill, while an enthusiastic supporter of every team in the college, knew rather less about the various terms, and times of games than the average baby. The proctor nodded in acquiescence.
“Even the very football field is under suspicion,” continued the president, and there was another great sigh, mainly from that section of the chapel where sat Tom and his chums. “In fact the entire ground on which the college is built has been claimed by outsiders. ”

“ The crowd continued to increase, and when Captain Miller, of Boxer Hall, and Captain Woodhouse, of Randall, met for a conference, the stands had overflowed into the field, where the officers had trouble keeping the crowd back of the ropes.
Boxer won the toss, and there was a momentary feeling of disappointment at this, but it soon passed away, for there was no wind, and little advantage to be gained by selecting a goal.
“I’m glad we’ve got ’em on our own grounds,” remarked Tom, in a low voice.
“Yes, that’s one advantage,” agreed Phil. “Oh, if we can only win, old man—if we only can! ”