A DECLARATION OF WAR
Dick was lucky enough to find Roy Taylor at home, huddled close to the
fireplace, and evidently busy with his studies. His welcome to-night
was less suave than on the occasion of Dick’s previous visit. His
greeting was almost impolite, and Dick, who on his way from the yard
had resolved to keep his temper no matter what happened, already felt
his anger rising.
[Illustration: A declaration of war.]
“I came to see you about crew work, Taylor,” he began. “In the first
place we need you in the boat; in the second place we’ve got to have
you.”
“My dear chap----” began Taylor in bored tones.
“No, wait a minute,” interrupted Dick. “Let me have my say. You’ve left
us in a hole. It would have been better if you hadn’t started training
at all; better than letting me think you were going to row and then
backing down in this way; as I say, it leaves us in a hole. Besides
that, it’s not--not patriotic. You know what a hard time we’ve got
ahead of us; you know that we’ve got to have good material if we are to
win out from St. Eustace; and you know that when you cut rowing you’re
doing about all in your power to get us beaten.”
Taylor flushed angrily.
“That’s tommyrot!”
“No, it isn’t; it’s the truth; you know it is, Taylor. And you know
very well that if the fellows learned it you couldn’t stay here.”
“Well, on my word!” ejaculated Taylor; “you’ve got a lot of cheek to
sit there and--and throw insults at me. You must be crazy!”
“I don’t think so; and I’m not insulting you, at least not intentionally.
But I am telling what’s so. You’ve taken about the meanest course in the
matter you could, and all the school would say so if they knew.”
“I suppose that’s a threat,” sneered Taylor.
“No, it isn’t. I have no intention----”
“But let me tell you that I don’t care a fig for all your nasty
insinuations, Hope; you can tell all the lies about me you want to. I
don’t believe that the fellows will call it dishonest for a chap to
give up crew work because he finds that he can’t do justice to his
studies; I don’t believe that they will call it mean. I tell you, Hope,
you crew and football and baseball beggars have got a false notion of
school life; you think that all a chap comes here for is to row in
your dirty old boat, or mess round with a football; that study is a
secondary consideration. But it’s not that way, by ginger; no, sir;
that’s where you are off!”
“That’s nonsense,” replied Dick calmly. “And you know well enough
that I don’t think any such thing, nor do any of the fellows here. What
I do think is that the average fellow can do his studies and take part
in sports and be all the better for it. Look at the Honor Men of last
year; look----”
“I don’t care a fig for the Honor Men of last year. What I say----”
“Taylor, when you tell me that you’ve chucked rowing because you can’t
keep up with your studies you’re saying what isn’t so,” cried Dick.
“Oh!” Taylor glared with an ugly expression in his eyes. “Oh, is that
so? Maybe you know all about my affairs--better than I do, perhaps?”
“I know that much,” answered Dick, striving to speak calmly. “I know
that the reason you’ve left the crew is because you want to do all you
can to prevent me from turning out a winning eight. And I know you want
to do that because you have a grudge against me for beating you last
spring for the captaincy. I know that much, Taylor, and I want you to
know that I know it. We might as well understand each other right here
and now.”
Taylor’s snarl died away, and he grinned mockingly across at Dick.
“All right, my smart friend. Supposing that is so? Mind, I don’t say
that it is so; but supposing it is, what are you going to do about it?”
Dick hesitated for an instant and the grin on Taylor’s face widened as
he saw it.
“Perhaps you’re going to tell that yarn to the fellows?”
“No,” answered Dick; “I’ve thought of that, but I’m no tell-tale; and,
besides, it wouldn’t do any good. It might make things unpleasant for
you----”
“If any one believed it,” sneered Taylor.
“But it wouldn’t better the crew any. And that’s all I care about,
Taylor. I’m captain this year, and I’m going to turn out a good crew;
I’m going to do it in spite of you or anything you can do!”
“Dear me, dear me, you ought to go into melodrama, Hope; you’d make a
hit, really you would.” Then his manner changed suddenly, and he leaned
forward toward the other, scowling darkly. “Look here, I don’t mind
telling the truth, Hope, to you; I’m not afraid of anything you can do.
You’re right about the captaincy; you’re right about the grudge, if
you care to call it that. Let me tell you: This is my last year here.
I’m not going up to college like you; I mean a college where they have
rowing; I’m going to Tech. Ever since I came here I’ve wanted to be
captain--for one year if no more; that’s been my--my ambition, if you
like; I’d set my heart on it. I went into rowing when I was a junior;
made a place. The next year I went into the varsity boat. The next year
I hoped to be captain, but I missed it; Brown won it, hang him! Last
spring I thought I had it at last; there was no reason why I shouldn’t
have had it; I’m a good oar, as good as there was in the last year’s
varsity; I’m old enough; and I’m a senior. But no, you had to spoil it;
you were popular with the crew, more popular than I was; and you had
Beck with you. If it hadn’t been for Beck I’d have made it, I know; but
he wanted you to have it.”
“Beck had no part in the election,” said Dick.
“He didn’t attend it and he had no vote, but don’t you suppose the
fellows knew what he wanted? Of course they did; they were willing to
please Beck; and so they chose you captain. And that’s why I’ve no love
for you. I’ve worked all the fall and all the winter, so far, to keep
the fellows from joining the crews; and I’ve succeeded, too; and I’m
going to keep on unless----” He paused and dropped his gaze from Dick’s
face for an instant.
“I see,” said Dick, with traces of wonderment in his voice. “But
what--what does it all lead to? You may bring defeat to Hillton, but
how will that better things? You wanted the captaincy; I can understand
that; I--I think I’m sorry you were disappointed----”
“Cut it out!” growled Taylor.
“But it’s too late now, isn’t it? Haven’t you made trouble enough? As
far as I’m concerned personally I don’t care a row of buttons whether
you have it in for me or not, but what’s the use in taking your spite
out on the whole school?”
“Maybe it isn’t too late,” answered Taylor, smiling oddly. “You see,
I know pretty well what sort of a chap you are; you’re one of those
conscientious dubs; you’d do all kinds of stunts and be tickled to
death if you thought you were helping the school. And you’re honest
all through; if you lied to any one--even yourself--you’d go off
into a corner somewhere and throw a fit! I’ve taken all that into
consideration.”
“Drop that,” said Dick stiffly, “and say what you mean.”
“All right. Look here; do you want Hillton to win the race? Very well;
and do you think she can do it with the material she’s got now?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Oh, no you don’t; and if you do you’re mightily mistaken. I said a
while ago that you’d find a man for my place at seven, but you won’t;
there isn’t one to be found; there isn’t a fellow that’s heavy enough
for it. I know; I’ve watched what’s going on, and I know who you’ve
got. And you’ll lose other men before long; I’ve fixed that. Now,
listen; there’s just one way you can turn out a crew that will run away
from St. Eustace: that’s by getting me back into the boat, keeping all
the experienced fellows you’ve got, and getting one or two good men
that will only go in for crew work when I ask them to.”
Taylor paused and smiled triumphantly. Dick clenched his hands,
fighting down an almost overpowering impulse to leap across the width
of the hearth, and--yes, as Trevor had suggested--punch Taylor’s head!
“That makes you mad, eh?” grinned his host.
“What are you driving at?” cried Dick angrily. “If you’ve got anything
to say, say it and get done.”
“Well, I’ve got an offer to make,” replied Taylor softly. “I’ll go back
to work and bring three, possibly four, good fellows with me, and do
all I can for the success of the crew, if----”
“If what?”
“If you’ll resign from the captaincy.”
Dick stared at the other for a moment in speechless amaze. For the
first time a full understanding of Taylor’s conspiracy came to him; but
even then he could scarcely believe that the other was in earnest.
“But--how would that help you?” he gasped.
“I should get the captaincy, because according to the bargain you would
promise to do all you could to help me get it. Well, what do you say?”
Dick jumped up and stared angrily at the other’s smiling, imperturbable
face.
“I say no! I say you’re a mean, contemptible scoundrel, Taylor. And
I’ve heard enough; you make me sick!” He buttoned his coat with fingers
that trembled despite him, and strode to the door. Taylor’s face was
flushed, and he arose and took a step after him. Then he stopped and,
seemingly with an effort, laughed harshly.
“I thought you’d refuse at first,” he said. “There’s no hurry; think it
over. You’ll consent in the end because”--he raised his voice, for Dick
was already in the hall--“because it’s the only way you can make sure
of success for the crew.”
Dick strode down the stairs without replying, and plunged into
the darkness toward the academy, striding along as though shod in
seven-league boots, in an unconscious effort to escape from the fury
that possessed him. At the gate leading into the yard he paused
breathlessly, looked about him, and laughed shortly.
“And I started out with the resolve to keep my temper!” he sighed.
As he reached the head of the stairs the sound of a voice, even-toned,
monotonous, met his ears, and as he approached Number 16 he discovered
that it issued from that study. He paused outside the door and
listened; Trevor was apparently translating aloud:
“‘The hippopotamus is esteemed sacred in the Papremis district, but in
no other part of Egypt. I shall describe its nature and properties. It
has four feet, which are cloven--like the devil’s--or like an ox’s;
the nose is short and tip-tilted--like Trevor Nesbitt’s--and the teeth
are prominent--like Professor Sharp’s; it resembles a horse in its
mane----’”
“Excellent, Nesbitt, excellent,” said a deep voice, for all the world
like Professor Garrison’s. “Hence, gentlemen, we have the saying
‘Remember the Mane.’ Proceed, Nesbitt.”
“‘It resembles a horse in its mane, its tail, and its voice; it is of
the size of a big ox, and has an epidermis--otherwise, and in vulgar
parlance, a skin--so remarkably thick that when dry it becomes very
offensive.’” The monotonous voice paused; apparently the rendering of
the latter portion of the narrative was not quite satisfactory. But the
second occupant of the study was evidently lenient, for the deep voice
said:
“Proceed, Nesbitt; that is correct.”
“He’s reading Herodotus,” said Dick to himself. “But who in thunder is
that with him?”
“‘The Nile,’” continued Trevor, “‘also produces otters, which Egyptians
venerate, as they do also the fish named lepidotus--so called on
account of its spots, which resemble those of a leopard--and the eel;
these are sacred to the Nile, as among birds is one named chenalopex.’
What is that, professor?”
“The chenalopex,” responded the deep voice, “is a bird----”
But Dick’s curiosity got the better of him at this point, and he opened
the door and entered. At the study table was Trevor, Dick’s volume
of Herodotus open before him, and a Greek lexicon at his elbow. Dick
stared about the room in surprise. Save for Trevor and himself it was
empty.
“What in thunder----” he began.
“Hope,” said Trevor, pointing a paper-knife at him in the manner of
Professor Garrison, and speaking sternly in deep tones, “take your
seat, sir. The habit of tardiness appears to be growing upon you, sir.
Pattern your conduct upon that of the excellently punctual Nesbitt.”
Dick seized Trevor’s head and rubbed his nose violently into Herodotus.
“You silly chump, you! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Amusing myself, I fancy. What can a chap do when his roommate goes
off and leaves him this way?” He struck the paper-knife against the
green shade of the drop-light. “Beg pardon, professor, I believe the
bell rang.” Then, in the professor’s voice, “The bell, Nesbitt? Ah,
the time passes very quickly when deep in the beautiful utterances of
Herodotus. We will begin to-morrow where we leave off this morning, at
the seventy-first paragraph.” Trevor slammed the book shut, jumped up,
and grinned at Dick.
“You’d better be learning your own lessons than mine,” laughed the
latter. “And, now that Professor Garrison’s gone, I propose to go to
bed.”
Long after the light was out Trevor sat up suddenly and asked:
“I say, Dick, did you thump Taylor?”
“No,” was the drowsy answer. Trevor snuggled back under the clothes,
grumbling.
“What do you expect to amount to when you grow up,” he asked
disgustedly, “if you continue to neglect your opportunities in this
way?”
The next day Waters, rowing at five in the first squad, informed Dick
that, because of not having enough time for his studies, he had decided
to stop work with the crew.