Morgan Scott

“ Hayden marked you for life, and he might have killed you when he struck with that knife; in return you gave him just what he deserved. There is nothing in the world I despise more than a fighter who is a bully, and nothing I admire more than a fighter who fights for his rights. I don’t believe there is the least atom of a bully about you, Stone. Put me in your place and I might have gone farther than you did.”
“Thank you, Eliot—thank you!” exclaimed Ben huskily, as he also rose. ”

“ Ben had straightened up to his full height. His stout shoulders were squared, his feet planted firmly, and he fronted his foe without a symptom of quailing. He had felt that this time must come, but now the dread of it passed from him instantly, and he was almost frightened by that feeling of eager fierceness and uncontrollable rage which had possessed him in the hour when he was led to wreak physical violence on Hayden for the destruction of little Jerry’s fiddle. ”

“ You are looking to be chosen captain of the team for next season. What chance do you think you will stand if you persist in your dirty work? Yes, that’s what I call it—dirty work. Why, you won’t even be a member of the team, and it would be impossible to elect a man outside the team for captain next year.”
By this time Hayden’s face was pallid with rage and his eyes glowing. He trembled a little, and his voice shook as he retorted:
“You seem to fancy yourself a perfect czar, Roger. Have you got an idea that you alone can throw me off the team? ”

“ The time passed with leaden feet. He had ceased trying to understand; he waited dumbly. Far away a bell clanged, sending a slight shudder through him; it was the academy bell, telling that mid-afternoon intermission was over. Doubtless his schoolmates knew all about it by this time; they had heard of his arrest and imprisonment in the lockup, and they had told one another what they thought of it. Hayden was rejoicing and his friends were satisfied, while probably still others had said they knew all along it would come to something like this. It was the darkest hour of Ben Stone’s life. ”

“ This view of Roger’s domestic life, this glimpse of his home and its seeming luxuries, together with a knowledge of his unassuming ways, led Stone’s respect and admiration for him to increase boundlessly.
“Do you box, Stone?” asked Roger, as he removed from another chair a set of boxing gloves and tossed them aside before sitting down. “I suppose you do?”
“No,” answered Ben, shaking his head; “I know nothing about it.”
“So? Why, it’s a good thing for a fellow to know how to handle the mitts. I thought likely you did when they told me how you biffed Hunk Rollins. ”

“ Saturday morning Ben sought Roger Eliot at the latter’s home and was given a hearty welcome. Roger invited him in, but the visitor preferred not to enter, and they went into the garage, where Urian Eliot kept his big touring car.
“She’s a beaut, Ben,” said Roger, admiring the polished, glittering automobile; “but father is queer and won’t let me drive it. He had to discharge our chauffeur; the man drank. It’s a shame for the car to be hung up just now, with the roads in elegant condition. I can drive a car as well as any one, but I have to consider my father’s whims. ”

“ As he was leaving the academy on the afternoon of his third day at school in Oakdale, Ben Stone was stopped by Roger Eliot, the captain of the football team. Roger was a big, sturdy chap, singularly grave for a boy of his years; and he could not be called handsome, save when he laughed, which was seldom. Laughter always transformed his features until they became remarkably attractive. ”

“ You’re the one who is weakening the team by insisting on retaining that miserable——”
“It won’t do you any good to slur Ben Stone, and I don’t think you’d better call him names before me. Of course I wouldn’t put a hand on you here in your own home, but——”
“Great Cæsar! you’re threatening me, Eliot.”
“Stone will remain on the team, Hayden; you may as well make up your mind to that. If you haven’t manhood enough to come back and work for the team, you’re not worthy to be on it. You’re going to find it a losing fight, my boy; you may hurt me, but you’ll hurt yourself far more. ”

“ Roger stopped, unable to find words to express himself.
The old man continued to splutter and snarl and flourish his cane, upon which Tuttle and Cooper made a pretense of skurrying around in great haste for rocks to pelt him with, and he beat a hasty retreat toward his wretched hovel.
“Don’t stone him, fellows,” advised Roger. “Let’s not give him a chance to say truthfully that we did that.”
“We oughter soak him,” said Chub, his round face expressive of the greatest indignation. “A man who keeps such ugly curs around him deserves to be soaked. ”

“ Never had the world looked more beautiful to him than it did as he passed, with his schoolmates about him, through the gate and onto the football field. Never had the sky seemed so blue and the sunshine so glorious. ”

“ Settle your personal grudges off the football field; that’s the thing to do. Don’t think for a moment that I’m taking sides in this quarrel between you and Stone; I know nothing of the merits of the matter, and it’s no affair of mine. Nevertheless, if I should see you do another wretched trick of that sort I’d stop the game to pull you off the field.”
“You’re only the coach; the captain of the team would have something to say about that.”
Winton’s eyes flashed. “I’m the coach, and as long as I continue in that capacity I’ll exert my authority to pull any man out of the game. ”

“ His voice broke, and he saw the kind face of the professor through a blurring mist.
“I hope I am not making a mistake in this, Stone,” that same soothing voice went on. “I hope you will try to prove to me that I am not.”
“I will, sir—I will!” Ben eagerly promised.
“That is all I ask of you. If you have a vicious disposition, try to overcome it; if you have a violent temper, seek to control it. Learn to be your own master, which is the great lesson that every one must learn in case he wishes to become honored and respected and successful in life. ”

“ Bern Hayden had told the boys on the football field that once his father was ready to send Stone to the reformatory, which was true. To escape this fate, Ben had fled in the night from Farmington, the place of his birth. Nearly two years had passed, but he believed Lemuel Hayden to be a persistent and vindictive man; and, having found the fugitive, that man might reattempt to carry out his once-baffled purpose.
Ben thrust his thick middle finger beneath the shoestrings and snapped them with a jerk. He almost tore off Eliot’s football clothes and flung himself into his own shabby garments. ”

“ I’m glad you didn’t make the same excuse as Hunk Rollins—didn’t claim you had work to do. Sage, the academy football team will not be broken up by the underhand work of any one, nor do I propose to knuckle to the man who is seeking by such contemptible methods to force my hand. Don’t pretend that you don’t know what I mean, for you do. If I yielded in this case, any fellow who had a grudge against another chap might try the same picayunish, selfish, discipline-wrecking trick. ”

“ Ben was facing Hunk Rollins, and in his eyes there was a look that made the bully hesitate.
“Now you’ll see a fight,” said one of the group, in an awed tone. “Hunk will give it to him.”
Rollins had been astonished, but he knew what was expected of him, and he began to bluster fiercely, taking a step toward Stone, who did not retreat or move.
“Who are you calling a coward? Who are you pushing?” snarled the low-browed chap, scowling his blackest, and assuming his fiercest aspect, his huge hands clenched. ”

“ ON THE THRESHOLD. “On the contrary,” declared Roger earnestly, as he once more rose from his chair, “I hold quite a different opinion of you, Stone. You have had a tough time of it, and any fellow in your place with an ounce of real blood in his body might have done just what you did. Every chap is human, and if you had submitted to insults and injury without resentment you would have been a soft mark. ”

“ Jerry!”
The little yellow dog barked at him, but, paying no heed to the animal, Ben swooped down on the lad who held the line and scooped him up in his arms.
“Who is it, Roger?” asked Urian Eliot in surprise.
“Jerry,” said Roger—“he called him Jerry. Why, father, it must be Ben’s own brother.”
“His brother? Why, I didn’t know——”
“He told me about his brother,” explained Roger. “They were separated after Ben’s parents died. Jerry is blind.”
“Oh!” murmured Amy. “Isn’t that just dreadful! Blind and walking all alone with only a dog for company! We must take him in the car, papa.” ”

“ Ben found Roger shaking his hand, and he returned the warm, friendly grip, a mist in his eyes.
“I can’t hardly believe I’m lucky enough to have such a friend,” half whispered the boy whose starved heart had yearned all his life for friendship and comradery. “It’s too good to be true.”
“Perhaps I’m a bit selfish about it, too,” said Eliot. “I have my eye on you for the eleven, as we’re bound to do up Wyndham this year. You ought to be a stiff man in the line. ”

“ The older lad meditated a moment. “I can take care of you, Jerry,” he said. “I’m strong, and I can work. I’ll have to give up school for a time and find work again.”
“But you know, Ben—you know they think you’re bad. They might separate us on that account. I’m sure they would.”
“And only for Bern Hayden,” exclaimed Ben bitterly, “I’d never have such a reputation! We’ll do the best we can, Jerry; don’t you worry. Fortune has seemed to favor me here in Oakdale, and I feel sure everything is bound to come out all right in the end. We won’t be separated, little brother; we’ll stick together.” ”

“ A moment later Ben found he had his hands full in defending himself, for the second dog, a huge brindle mastiff, having a protruding under-jaw and reddish eyes, leaped at his throat, his teeth gleaming. By a quick, side-stepping movement, the boy escaped, and with all his strength he struck the dog, knocking it down, and sending it rolling for a moment on the ground.
The first dog was a mongrel, but it was scarcely less ferocious and dangerous than the mastiff. ”

“ When they were by themselves in that big, empty room, with no one else to hear, the professor would tell him quietly but firmly that it was quite out of the question to permit a boy of his bad reputation to remain in the school. He would be directed to leave the academy, never to return.
With many backward glances at the lad who remained behind, the scholars filed out. The door had closed behind the last of them when Ben was told to come down to the principal’s desk. There was no accusation, nothing but kindness, in Prof. Richardson’s eyes, as he looked on the boy who stood before him. ”

“ If you’re innocent—and since hearing your statement I myself believe you are—we’ll leave no stone unturned to establish that fact.”
“That’s right, old fellow,” assured Roger, his face lighted by that rare smile as he placed his hands on Stone’s shoulders. “A man is never down and out till he loses heart and gives up. I’ve seen you play football, and you’re a good fighter at that; be a good fighter at this, and you’ll win.”
Their hands met again, and once more Eliot’s firm, friendly grip imparted some of his own optimism and strength. They left Ben feeling greatly heartened and encouraged. ”

“ In another moment Chipper was shivering beneath the withering eye of the coach.
“You’ve got a whole lot to learn about football,” said Winton. “Move your feet when you go down the field under a kick. Davis can run around you twice and be ahead of you at the place where the ball falls.”
“Oh, jiminy crickets!” gasped Cooper. “I’ve got mine! Stop your grinning, Spotty.”
“You all let up after that second touchdown,” continued Winton. “Did you think you had points enough? Have you a notion that there’s danger of overexerting yourselves? ”

“ A chap who is so unpatriotic that he will quit his team because he had a personal grudge against some fellow on it is of no real value to the team anyhow; and when he seeks to lead others to follow his example he’s worse than a traitor. You have lived in Oakdale long enough to know that I have influence and a following, and I’ll tell you now that I’m not going to be whipped into line by the fellow who is trying to force me to yield to him. ”