Ralph Henry Barbour

“ I have said nothing, in the hope that it would pass, in the trust that you would soon set aside any slight personal dislike of me that you had and meet me fairly and frankly halfway. But this you don’t seem inclined to do. I’ll acknowledge that the matter of the training table was unfortunate, but I think that, were you perfectly fair to me, you would acknowledge that no offense was meant and sponge it off the slate, Harven. Wait, please: let me finish. There can’t be divided authority in the running of a football team any more than there can be in any other effort toward success. ”

“ Before him went Burns, behind him Stuart and Le Gette. Straight at the Pearsall right guard he dashed, stopped with a grunt, dug his toes and went on again. Shouts, grunts, wild confusion of sound and movement, and then, suddenly, a wavering of the Blue defense! The line buckled, gave! Then the secondary defense piled in behind it, and the advance paused, stopped. A whistle blew.
Littlefield, void of breath but grinning, was pulled to his feet. “Fourth down! About half a yard to go!” droned the referee.
“Let’s have it!” yelled Stuart hoarsely. “Kick formation! Hold that line, Manning!” ”

“ Down in front of the Manning sections, Stearns Wilson, cheer captain, and McColl, Trenholme and Neil Orr, his lieutenants, swung their big cherry-colored megaphones and worked hard. The way in which Neil danced about on his crutches and waved his arms was a wonder and a delight, and it is no exaggeration to say that, although his section held a goodly number of visitors sprinkled in with the students, he obtained quite as good results as any of the other leaders. ”

“ As a result the ball started well but, short of the goal, veered from its path. There was a moment of doubt that ended with a yell of relief from Pearsall. The pigskin had passed a foot outside the further upright! Le Gette looked as if he wanted to cry, but Stuart said: “Hard luck, Steve! You’ll get the next one!” and the teams lined up once more. [246] Pearsall tried one smash at the foe and then the whistle blew.
Manning and Pearsall sang and cheered all through the intermission, Manning with the confidence that a four-point lead gave her, Pearsall with the hope of ultimate victory. ”

“ A fellow comes back much fitter and more ready for work if he doesn’t wear himself out during the summer. I don’t think it hurts you any, for you’re a shark for work, and always were, but I get stale if I overdo it. Bet you I’ll show more pep to-morrow than the fellows who have been summer training.”
“Maybe,” answered Jack, smiling but unconvinced. “Still, pep isn’t everything. I’ll bet you can’t kick five goals out of ten tries from the thirty-yard line to-morrow.”
“What of it?” laughed Stuart. ”

“ Stuart failed at goal by less than the width of the ball and Manning groaned dismay and sorrow, for at this stage of the contest it seemed that the home team might hold the enemy from further scoring. But, although Walsenburg appeared content to mark time for the rest of the period, in the last quarter she again showed her power. Tasker’s weak punt from his thirty-five to midfield gave the adversary her chance and she set herself to the task with new energy. She had freshened her backfield with a pair of substitute halfs and began a ferocious, remorseless hammering of the Manning right side. ”

“ If I make mistakes I can remedy them or I can gloss them over, but if you make them they’ll stand out on the football season [14] like so many sore thumbs, and you won’t have time to remedy them. A bit awed by the responsibility, are you?”
Stuart shook his head smilingly. “No, sir, I don’t think so. Of course, it’s going to take some work, but we’ve got a good crowd to start with. If Mr. Haynes knows football as he’s supposed to, things will run along all right, I guess.”
“The confidence of youth is a beautiful thing,” murmured the other. ”

“ The squad was beginning to dribble across the field from the gymnasium. Once past the tennis courts, the balls began to soar. Stuart saw Coach Haynes well back in the second group, talking to Jack. Stuart kept his place beside Fred Locker, waiting, a trifle woodenly, for his presence to be discovered. It was Tom Muirgart who first recognized him and spread the news with a shout. Then Tom, followed by Billy Littlefield and Wallace Towne, hiked across the corner of the gridiron and assaulted him joyfully. ”

“ When Stuart had ended, Neil smiled and shook his head.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Stuart,” he sighed. “You do mess things up frightfully!”
“What about others?” asked Stuart in injured tones. “Who started the trouble to-day?”
“Don’t be a goop,” begged Neil. “If some one shies a brick at you, is there any reason why you can’t side step it? Whether you realize it or not, you’ve been trying to make out a case against Mr. Haynes ever since you got here. Of course, that’s poor business, but if you must do it, why do everything you can to spoil it? ”

“ Forest Hill isn’t dangerous; and even if she were, any of us would rather have lost to her than to Walsenburg. Haynes has got you fellows hypnotized. All he has to do is strike an attitude and look wise and you all say ‘A-ah!’”
Jack threw an arm over Stuart’s shoulders and shook him gently. “Listen, old thing, you’re heading for trouble, and I wish you wouldn’t. Just forget your grouch against Haynes and see how things turn out. If he hands us a victory over Pearsall you’ll be one of the first to forgive and forget. ”

“ And I wired Jack Brewton to meet me at the Grand Central. Been playing golf, sir?”
“Yes, quite a lot this summer. But it’s over with.” Mr. Moffit sighed. “Harven, I’m more than ever convinced that the Destiny that shapes our ends made a botch of it in my case. I ought to have been born with a silver spoon. I’m naturally the laziest man on earth except as to one thing. That’s golf. I’ll toil from sunup to pitch dark playing golf, but anything else—especially the teaching of English—comes mighty hard. ”

“ Life looked frightfully drab and dull. No more football! Nothing ahead but lessons! He groaned and pulled a sheet over his head. Of course, he might go in [260] for basketball. That was pretty good fun. Or hockey. Either one would at least keep him in training. But for what? More basketball or hockey! Just now he was in a martyrlike mood and told himself that he’d never try football again; anyhow, not at Manning. He had made a dismal failure of it and self-respect at least forbade his going back to it. They’d elect Howdy Tasker captain next Saturday evening, probably. ”

“ It may be imagination, Harven, but sometimes when I awake at night I could swear that I hear them whimpering. Take them and use them. Break them, if you like. I’m sure a golf club would rather be broken than idle!”
“Thanks, sir, but I don’t believe I’ll try it any more just now. I—I don’t seem to be able to get my mind on it.”
Mr. Moffit sighed. “You’re right then. Don’t try golf when you can’t give it every thought. It’s divided attention on the links that has enriched the men who make golf balls. Well, if not golf, what then?”
Stuart shook his head again. ”

“ Shown good form, too. Some men would have been sloppy and hypocritical and some would have been sneering or sarcastic. Haynes had hit just the right note, and Stuart was grateful. “You might dislike Haynes,” he said to himself, “but you have to respect the guy!”
Stuart’s relegation to the bench during scrimmage was, perhaps, made more endurable by the presence near by of Steve Le Gette. It wasn’t that Le Gette’s mere proximity gave comfort to Stuart, but it was some satisfaction to know that if Stuart wasn’t good enough for a place in the line-up, neither was Le Gette! ”

“ Mr. Haynes smiled and held out his hand. “Glad to see you, Harven,” he said cordially.
Foes may clasp hands and still remain foes. Stuart returned the coach’s firm grip and said: “Thanks, sir.”
Then practice began.
Stuart discovered that a fortnight or so of idleness had told on his muscles surprisingly, but he didn’t allow any one else to suspect it. He went through formation drill in a squad of substitutes, playing his old position. He felt that the atmosphere here was not so sympathetic as it had been among that group of older players, but he didn’t resent it. ”

“ In other words, while he wouldn’t have gone to the first team field and watched practice for anything, he could see no reason why it shouldn’t be perfectly permissible to take up track work and sometimes, in the pauses of practicing starts or after a jog around the cinders, cast an occasional uninterested glance over toward the big team. The more he considered the plan the better it looked to him, and so, without more ado, he walked over to Sawyer Hall, discovered Mr. Dodge in his study and put his name down for the mile run and the 880 yards. ”

“ There are two things to keep in mind every minute. One is accuracy and the other is speed. Get your plays right and then make them go fast. Get the jump from the kick-off and never lose it!”
“Yes, sir, I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I ask, Harven. Your best is mighty good!”
[232]
But, although Stuart had spoken confidently enough to the coach, he was filled with misgivings when he trotted out on the gridiron with a thundering cheer beating against his ears. Ten minutes was but ten minutes, and, unfortunately, Pearsall had won the toss and given Manning the kick-off. ”

“ When the period ended [249] the ball was Manning’s on her thirty-four yards, following a punt by the enemy.
Stuart, watching anxiously from the bench, squirmed time and again as the home team’s plays failed to gain and the minutes sped past. There was something psychological in Manning’s condition, and Stuart recognized the fact, although he didn’t use such a long word to describe it to himself. He merely said: “That touchdown has taken the starch right out of them!” It wasn’t that Manning didn’t try hard, for she did. Her men were fairly working themselves to death. ”

“ In short, the attempt is almost invariably made to try out the opposing defense in the first minutes of play. This rule is almost as inviolable as the law of gravitation. Recently, however, a famous scientist has shown that even the law of gravitation has its exceptions, and it is possible that knowledge of this fact may have emboldened a lesser scientist—for who dares say that football is not a science?—to conceive of an exception to the rule alluded to. ”

“ Tully was close at his heels, with Farnsworth, one of Stuart’s classmates, coming stride for stride with him. The bell rang for the final lap with the field well bunched in front of the stand. But after that the runners began to string out. Just past the first turn Lantwood sprinted and took the lead and Tully fell into third place, with Farnsworth still keeping pace with him. Stuart was then eighth man, and until he was well into the backstretch he had some notion of bettering his place. ”

“ I am paid a salary—two thousand dollars, to be exact—to come here and do my level best to turn out a winning football team. As I understand it, I am responsible only to the Committee on Athletics and, under them, am in full command. I couldn’t do the work justice if matters [74] were any different, Harven. You have been chosen the captain of the team, an intermediary between the players and the coach. Your authority does not extend beyond that of any other member of the team outside the team. To grant you the right to select and discharge players would be fatal to my authority. ”

“ I’ve made mistakes, too, Brewton.”
Jack frowned. “Stuart’s awfully sort of touchy and stubborn,” he muttered. “I guess it would be mighty hard for any coach to get along with him [186] much better than you have. He—hang him!—he’s got it in for me now. I don’t know why. He’s as stiff as a ramrod. It can’t be because I took his place, for I went to him before I accepted it and he said it was all right, that he’d rather see me captain than any other fellow. But he acts as if I’d done something against him!”
Mr. Haynes smiled. “Human nature has some queer angles, my boy,” he said. ”

“ Don’t be a coot, Neil! If I’m not good enough for captain, I’m not good enough to play quarterback.”
“How about the team, though? This isn’t going to make you want Pearsall to win, is it?”
“No, but they won’t need me. Wheaton’s a good man, and once I’m out of his way he’s bound to be a lot better.” Stuart didn’t sound convincing even to himself, though, and he added: “Anyway, I’ve got some pride, Neil, and I’m switched if I’ll go back there as a private in the ranks to be grinned at by every whippersnapper of a fourth-string substitute and lorded over by Haynes! ”

“ It’s spirit that does the trick. Teach two teams the same amount of football, have them physically even and put them on the field. What’s going to happen? A tie game? Not once in ten times! One team or the other will have the better spirit and will win the game! Well, let’s get down to business.”
They went over the plays then, discussing, arguing. Every play was judged with relation to Pearsall’s style of defense and her success against such plays during the season. ”

“ Stuart, interested in seeing the result of Tasker’s effort to punt into the teeth of the wind, didn’t turn his head until Mr. Haynes’s voice startled him.
“Harven,” the coach was saying, “how are you fixed for time in the morning?”
“Time?” Stuart looked rather blank for an instant, trying to focus his thoughts. It was a trifle [189] disconcerting to find the coach’s eyes on a level with his at a distance of two feet.
“Perhaps I’d better explain what I’m after,” continued the other. “We need another man who can kick goals, Harven. If Towne shouldn’t make the Pearsall game we’d be in a fix. ”

“ He certainly [127] wouldn’t go back to the team as long as Le Gette was there to sneer, he told himself!
Until three or half-past in the afternoons Stuart got along fairly well, for there was plenty to occupy his mind, but when the hour of football practice arrived he felt horribly lost. When you’ve been doing a certain thing at a certain time each day for a long period you can’t help missing that thing when it’s no longer there for you to do. Stuart tried studying, but the silence of the well-nigh empty hall oppressed him. ”