Ralph Henry Barbour

“ Kendall descended the stairs and, with no objective point in mind, mooned along the path toward the field.
The tennis courts were filled and he stood for some time and looked on. On the baseball diamonds two games seemed to be in progress and the shouts and laughter of the players reached him at the courts. But when he took up his journey again his steps led him toward the boathouse where a number of figures were visible about the float. Up and down the river in the warm afternoon sunlight many gayly hued canoes were gliding. ”

“ Dan Vinton, having discarded coat and vest, stretched himself on his bed, pillowed his head on his clasped hands and smiled across at his chum. Dan was seventeen years old, and a trifle large for his age. Long of limb, tall, lithe, with a sun-browned skin and not a flabby muscle in his whole body, he looked, as he lay there, just what he was; a healthy, wide-awake American boy, kind-hearted, good-tempered, honest and fearless, a born leader of his fellows. ”

“ But they all shook their heads.
“The only explanation I can offer,” said Tom, “is that Arthur went to sleep and dreamed it. I don’t believe there’s a fellow in school who can stand on the thirty yard line and drop-kick a goal from an angle once out of two tries. Either you were dreaming, Arthur, or what looked like goals weren’t.”
“That’s so,” agreed Dan. “At that distance it would be hard to tell. Sometimes you’re mistaken from the end of the field.”
“You fellows have it your own way,” said Arthur with a sigh of resignation. ”

“ Flaunt the Blue that never pales,
Fighting for Old Yardley!”
In front of the gymnasium the crowd gathered and began the cheers for the players. “Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Vinton!” Then Ridge, and Hammel, and Simms and so on down to the last substitute. And then, “Three cheers for Coach Payson, fellows, and make it good!” And after that three cheers for Andy Ryan, and finally, “Now, fellows, nine times three for the Team!” And after that, with hoarse but undiscouraged voices, a long cheer for “Yardley! Yardley!! YARDLEY!!!” ”

“ Presently the throng swirled over to the front of Clarke and the cry was hurled up at the lighted window of Number 28. But the football captain didn’t appear and a half-dozen fellows rushed up the stairs in search of him. But they were soon back, for the room was empty. So they cheered him instead, and finally the throng dissolved, the fellows seeking their rooms. Snatches of song, bursts of laughter, faint cheers floated from open windows for a while, and then one by one the lights went out and Yardley became silent.
It is a good plan to celebrate in advance. One never knows what may happen. ”

“ Broadwood lost the ball presently on a fumble and Yardley started back the way she had come. Simms was holding nothing back now. Every play he knew was called on. But the opponents were well blessed with that football sense that enables a team to “size up” a play even while it is getting under way, and few of Payson’s pet tricks netted real gains. It was elemental football that won the most ground for Yardley, plays in which Roeder or Hammel banged, smashed and wormed themselves through the opposing line. Stearns, too, found his holes and did his best. ”

“ Kendall had watched the scrimmage from the bench, one of two dozen or so blanket-wrapped substitutes, none of whom he knew save by sight and none of whom was apparently aware of his existence. When, panting and perspiring, the members of the opposing teams rescued their sweaters and trotted or limped back to the gymnasium Kendall followed, secretly proud to be even an humble unit in that army of warriors. He had his shower like the rest of them—Ned having procured him a locker all his own—and [227] dressed slowly, listening to the talk about him and watching the scene. ”

“ If we had won from them to-day our fellows would have gone into a slump next week as sure as fate. Don’t ask me why, because I can’t tell you; but I know I’m right. It’s a matter of psychology, I fancy. I’ve seen it too often. No, we’re doing well enough. There’s no need to worry. So don’t do it. The first thing you know you’ll be all worked up and no use to the team just when you’re wanted the most. Get out of doors to-morrow, Vinton, and take a long walk. Take someone with you who will talk of something besides football. Forget football for a day, will you? Just try, eh? ”

“ It was Yardley’s ball on Broadwood’s seventeen-yard line and nothing, it seemed, could prevent a second score for the Blue. But something did. Something turned a decisive victory into a probable defeat. With four yards to go on second down, Roeder fumbled. Simms fell on the ball. It was third down and eight to go. Roeder plunged straight at right tackle, the line wavered and gave, cries and tumult filled the air. The whistle blew. Somewhere at the bottom of a pile of players lay the ball—and Tom Roeder. ”

“ We never have won three times in succession, and it doesn’t seem likely that we will now. I wish we’d lost last year’s game, or the one before that. It’s fighting against the Law of Averages, whatever that may be!”
“Pshaw! We said the same thing last year, I remember. Yardley had won the year before and so it was Broadwood’s turn. Maybe it was, but Broadwood missed her turn. She will miss it again. Why, look here, Dan, there isn’t any good reason why we shouldn’t win every year for the next century!” ”

“ But before they had left Dana had spoken quite seriously to Kendall.
“Kid,” he had said, “you work for a prep school and college. Make your folks send you to Yardley and then to Yale. It isn’t altogether what you learn out of books; it’s the friends you make [13] and the self-reliance you get. When the time comes you let me know; just tell me you’re ready for Yardley and I’ll help you along. You’re a bright kid, and nobody’s fool, and you’re the sort of fellow Yardley wants.”
They were all of them, it seemed, on the football team, and all in strict summer training. ”

“ The curving path took him past the fronts of Whitson and Oxford and Merle. Below him The Prospect fell away to the green meadows and a half a mile away was the little railroad station of Wissining where he had left the train two days before. Beyond the station lay, a blue ribbon in the afternoon sunlight, the Wissining River, with the town of Greenburg beginning at its further bank. Behind him, over the tops of the trees, lay Long Island Sound, blue and hazy, and dotted with sails and streaked with smoke from distant steamers. ”

“ Mr. Dana looked at the coach. Mr. Payson hesitated for a moment. Then he took his pipe from his month and dropped it into his pocket.
“All right,” he said. “Go in there, send Greene out and tell Simms I say you’re to kick a goal. And you do it, do you hear?”
“I’ll try, sir,” replied Kendall.
“Report to the referee first, Burtis,” said Mr. Dana, clapping him on the back. “And just forget that there’s anyone near you. Make believe you’re kicking just to show me what you can do, my boy. Never mind what’s ahead of you. Watch the ball and boost it a good one!” ”

“ NED TOOKER Kendall, striving to hide his surprise, replied that he would be very glad to have Tooker come up.
“Thank you,” replied Ned, leading the way. “You’re in 21, aren’t you? I used to be in 17 myself last year.”
“What made you leave?” asked Kendall politely.
“Custom, Burtis, custom. We’re all slaves to it. In your senior year you have the inestimable privilege of rooming in Dudley. It’s always done and so I did it. Left a perfectly comfortable, well-heated room and went over there to freeze in a little two-by-twice hole-in-the-wall. Here we are! ”

“ Football’s a good game. I’ve sometimes thought I had the making of a good player.”
“Have you never tried?”
“Oh, yes, many times, but the coaches didn’t share my estimate of my ability. Nowadays I’m reduced to golf—and a little tennis.”
“I’ve never seen anyone play golf,” admitted Kendall.
“You shall. Not only that, Curt, but I’ll make a golfer of you. I’ll teach you the game. What are you doing to-morrow? No, there’s a football game to-morrow. ”

“ Some of us, you know, come to study our way into college, some of us come to meet fellows who will be useful to us in later life, some of us come to play football or baseball and some of us—some few of us, Burtis,—come to Uplift and Better our Fellow Beings.”
“I guess I just came to learn things,” answered Kendall with a smile. “What did you come for?”
“To Uplift and Better,” responded Ned sadly. “It has been a hard task, however. Still, I have done some good, I have had my victories, Burtis. You should have known Teller Sanford before I took him in hand. ”

“ It won’t do you any harm to try, though.”
“You’re not very encouraging,” Gerald laughed. “You might at least pretend to think I have a chance, Dan. And, after all, I guess there have been lighter fellows on the team before this.”
“I wasn’t thinking so much of your actual weight,” replied Dan. “A lot depends on the way a chap uses his weight. I may be all wrong, chum, and I hope I am, but it just doesn’t seem to me that you’re a ‘football man.’ But I want you to come out and try, just the same. Perhaps you can make the Second Team.”
“No, thank you! No Second for me; First Team or none.” ”

“ Granting then what seems to be the case, that Broadwood’s defense is fully equal if not superior to Yardley Hall’s, the outcome of the struggle will depend on which team can show the strongest attack. A tie score is by no means beyond the realm of possibility, but here at Broadwood coaches and players alike agree that if the Green doesn’t come out of the fray victor by the margin of at least one touchdown they will be greatly surprised.’”
“Business of looking surprised by Broadwood coaches,” murmured Ned, snapping his knife shut and worming his belt back into place. ”

“ Before he had taken himself away, however, Ned had ceased to play a part, and his disconcerting “Do you know, Burtis, I like you!” had been very genuine. But on the way back to his room Ned had owned to himself that it might not prove an easy task to convert the outward appearance of his new protégé to Yardley standards.
“He must have some other clothes,” murmured Ned as he crossed the Yard to Dudley. “And first of all he must have his hair cut. The hair-cut won’t be difficult, but it’s a mighty delicate matter to tell a chap that his clothes aren’t right. ”

“ Ned Tooker bowed deeply. “I shall inform him of your agreement, Mr. Abercrombie. He will be glad to learn it.”
“I don’t see why people are so down on puns,” said Cowles stoutly. “I’ve heard some mighty good ones.”
“As far as I am concerned,” said Mr. Collins, “I think a good pun is just as funny as any other form of humor. Sometimes I conclude that persons who frown on punning—and I’m not referring to Mr. Gaddis—are incapable of doing it. The pun has its place. Dr. Holmes, if you recollect, remarks that the pun can claim the parentage of Homer. ”

“ He had attended football practice only twice, on Tuesday and Thursday, and practice was getting very interesting and exciting now, for there was a scrimmage every afternoon between the first and second teams, and, since it was now the height of the season, those scrimmages were no love-feast. Every player was animated either by the stern determination to hold his place at all costs—if he was a first-string man—or to wrest someone else’s place from him—if he was a substitute. ”

“ They tell me bombing is a pleasant and fairly safe amusement. Would you mind beginning on that roommate of yours? Incendiarism is another cute little way in which to pass an evening. I’ve often thought that Oxford would make a dandy blaze if you could get it started. Have you ever seriously considered murder? So many of our prominent citizens are going in for murder nowadays. And I can think of so many beautiful subjects for your attentions. Why, one needn’t look beyond his immediate acquaintances!”
“I’m going to try and get back on the Football Team the first thing,” said Kendall. ”

“ Payson, talking to the stranger who had aroused Kendall’s curiosity, came on and seated himself at the end of the row of benches. Then around the corner of the stand trotted the Broadwood team. Under or over the ropes they went, bunched themselves into two squads and set diligently to work. They looked a pretty good lot of fellows; big, happy, trained [298] to the moment. From across the field came a mighty Broadwood cheer.
An instant later it was Yardley’s turn to applaud, for some thirty blue-stockinged youths dribbled onto the turf, Dan leading, peeled off their sweaters and set to work. ”

“ Arthur growled. “Oh, hang the luck, anyway!”
“I’m awfully sorry,” said Gerald sympathetically. “If you want anything while you’re laid up, or if there’s anything I can do—”
“Thanks. There isn’t, though. Hello! Come in!”
[184]
It was Dan who had knocked and who, at Arthur’s invitation, entered. At his heels came Tom Roeder. Dan had a frown on his forehead and looked tired and worried.
“Hello!” greeted Arthur cheerfully. “Hello, Tom! What price me?”
“It’s a shame, Arthur,” said Dan. “I don’t know what the team is going to do without you, either.”
“Going to win,” laughed Arthur. ”

“ Who’s going to win the game? You’re a football sharp, aren’t you?”
“Why, we are, of course,” returned Kendall confidently. “But I wish you had seen that Forest Hill fellow run that ball back. He must have made twenty yards!”
“Good stuff! Who’s playing for us?”
“Most of the regulars. Fogg’s at center, Ridge and Merriwell are the guards, Jensen and Mitchell tackles, Vinton and Norton ends, Roeder and Stearns half-backs, Simms quarter, and the full-back I don’t know.”
“That’s Marion. What’s the matter with Hammel, I wonder? That isn’t Jensen at right tackle, though, Curt; that’s Stark.” ”

“ I hope that to-morrow afternoon every one of you chaps who hasn’t lost a leg or an arm will come out for the team. I want to see the biggest bunch of candidates [6] that ever turned out at Yardley! And don’t stay away because you think you can’t play football. Come out and get to work and we’ll tell you in a week whether you can play or not. You know they’ve changed the rules again this year and a fellow doesn’t have to weigh two hundred pounds to be of use to the team. We want fellows who have speed and who can handle a ball, and, above all, we want fellows who can kick. ”

“ You see, after all, Yardley is a good deal like a college. A fellow has to look after himself a good deal. They give us lots of rope here and you can hang yourself mighty easy, Burtis. Some fellows don’t understand that when they first come. They think that because they’re not watched by someone every minute that they can do as they please and it won’t matter. ”

“ He had put his ball almost as far from the tee as Frost’s, but it lay much farther from the hole. The players parted company and the gallery split up into two groups, more than half of them choosing to follow Ned’s fortunes.
“It doesn’t seem to me,” ventured Kendall, “that he gained anything by putting his ball up there.”
“It doesn’t look so,” replied Teller, “but it’s all right. Ned will win now. He’s laughing. He always laughs when he’s at his best. ”

“ Go over to Lloyd and have your dinner there. It’s six miles or so over there and there’s a very good little hotel. After dinner sit around and come back in time for supper. I wish you’d do that, Vinton. Will you?”
“Why, yes, if you really want me to,” said Dan doubtfully. “But I don’t see much use in it. And I don’t believe Ned Tooker will care to go.”
“Well, ask him. If he won’t, find someone else. But don’t take any of the team along. Get away from football for one day. You’ll be surprised to find how it will tone you up. By the way, how’s your appetite?” ”

“ Very leisurely, Bishop, still fighting for breath after his run, directed Saunders. Finally he stepped back, hitched his trousers at the waist, cast a glance at the goal, and—kicked.
Up went the ball, straight for the bar. One brief instant of suspense, and then—bedlam on the Broadwood side and deep gloom across the field! ”