AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
Above the noisy greetings of the boys the sneering words of Gus Kiggins
were plainly heard. Instinctively the boys turned and looked at Dan,
but if he was aware of the taunt he did not manifest his feelings,
except that his face flushed slightly.
“How did you find the hog business, Gus?” inquired Ned angrily, as he
faced the boisterous bully.
“You’ve said enough about that,” retorted Gus hotly.
“Have I?” laughed Ned, quick to see the impression he had made. “If I
have I am glad of it. It’s about the only way one can drive an idea
into some heads, you know.” Ned spoke quietly, but his anger was
evident to all the boys.
“At any rate I don’t carry the marks of my trade around with me!”
declared Gus. “I don’t wear pigskin boots――――”
“You don’t have to wear them,” broke in Ned glibly.
“What are you fellows laughing at?” demanded Gus fiercely, as he turned
to face the boys, who had broken into a shout at Ned’s words.
“I don’t see anything funny in what Ned said.”
“That’s the funniest part of the whole thing, Gus,” said Hodge.
“Well, I guess if I wanted to I could rake up some things about every
one of you that wouldn’t sound very pretty.”
“Go ahead,” called Smith.
“Is that the reason why you called out as you did when you came into
the car?” asked Ned.
“He looked the part. That’s why I said what I did.”
“Every man does that more or less. My father says he can tell a
preacher before the man says a word. So he can pick out a lawyer or a
business man before a word is spoken. I suppose a fellow that comes
from the country does carry around with him a few of the marks of
his trade the same as everyone does, but if I lived where Dan does I
wouldn’t think of apologizing. I’d be proud of it. Gus, does a man that
makes his living sticking hogs come to look like his trade the same as
a preacher or a lawyer or a business man?”
A shout of laughter caused Ned to look about him in pretended
astonishment. Gus Kiggins settled back in his seat, his face glowering
with anger. But he soon became silent, as he well knew that he was no
match for Ned in such a contest.
“Queer about Gus,” said Ned to Dan after the journey was resumed. “Last
year he wasn’t so bad.”
“What has changed him?” inquired Dan.
“I give it up. He seems to be almost insanely jealous of you.”
“Of me?” Dan laughed a little bitterly as he spoke. “I know, of course,
that he hates me, but I hadn’t thought of his being jealous. What have
I got to make him feel that way?”
“An arm,” laughed Ned.
“You mean my pitching arm?”
“Of course. You know, he had it all fixed, as he thought, to be the
pitcher on the nine this spring.”
“He may be yet,” said Dan quietly.
“Not much!” exclaimed Ned warmly. “We’ve got a fellow to occupy the box
this spring who could give points to the best pitcher in the country.”
“That’s what Si――he’s the harness-maker at Rodman, you know――is all the
time saying,” laughed Dan, his good nature now having been restored.
“He wants to have the New Yorks come up to play the nine at Rodman. He
seems to think they’d be surprised.”
“Well, it’s not quite so bad as that,” said Ned lightly. “But I know
we’ve a mighty good pitcher for the Tait School nine this spring. And
don’t you forget it, either! Don’t you go into any fool business. Just
grit your teeth and hang on. Everything will come out all right this
spring. Gus Kiggins’ jealousy is not very comfortable, but it never
killed anyone yet. He hasn’t got friends enough in the school to elect
him dishwasher.”
“Probably he doesn’t want that job,” said Dan smilingly. “And yet there
isn’t a finer-looking fellow in school. Just look at his shoulders now.”
Ned glanced at Gus, who was seated in the end of the car. “Yes, he’s
got the shoulders and the muscle. He’s all right until you get up to
his head. Last year he was a fairly decent fellow in spite of his dirty
work on the football team. This year he cut out his low-down tricks,
but he seems to be letting it out in other ways.”
“The eleven did fairly well,” suggested Dan.
“Tied the Atlas High School for third place,” laughed Ned. “We’ll say
that the St. John’s School really was lowest. They can’t deny it,
either. But when the baseball season opens, then just keep an eye on
the Tait School nine! The first game will be an eye-opener! No one
knows what a ‘find’ we have in the pitcher’s box.”
“Don’t you think the school league is a good thing?”
“Fine! We weren’t in shape for football, that’s all. We’ll make it up
though when it comes to baseball! Next year we’ll be all ready for
hockey and basket-ball. I think that we’ll be able to arrange for a
track meet this spring too. Ever do anything on the track, Dan?”
“I never did.”
“You never tried, you mean,” laughed Ned.
“I never tried, then. I guess I can ‘run’ though,” said Dan dryly.
“I guess you can too, though not in the way you mean. I don’t believe
you know how to run away. Don’t you ever learn, either. But when it
comes to running for something, that’s another story. I tell you, Dan,
there’s nothing like it! When a half-dozen fellows are all bunched on
the track and everyone is putting out every ounce of strength he’s
got and the tape isn’t more than ten yards away and the fellows are
all yelling like mad and you can feel that the sprinter from the High
School or the Military Academy is right on your heels, even when you
don’t, for the life of you, dare to look behind you――why, I’m telling
you, Dan Richards, there are mighty few things in life to be compared
with it! I think I’m a fairly good sprinter. I can do the hundred in
ten-three. But I believe you can do better than that. You’re just built
for a runner.”
“Didn’t I tell you I could ‘run’?” asked Dan dryly.
“That’s all right,” replied Ned lightly. “I know what you mean.”
“Well, I’m glad you do,” said Dan soberly. “I’m not at all sure that I
do.”
“You just keep on sawing wood, that’s all you have to do.”
“Or calling ‘co, boss,’” said Dan a little bitterly as he saw Gus
Kiggins rise from his seat.
“Don’t think of it. That pork chop isn’t worth wasting your time on!
Just leave him alone.”
“I’d like to, if he will leave me alone.”
“He will,” said Ned positively. “We’ll attend to him.”
Whether or not it was due to the “attentions” of Ned and his friends,
Dan was as pleased as he was surprised, as the days of the winter term
passed, to find that Gus Kiggins seemed to avoid him. He seldom came
to the room of Dan and Walter; and as for Walter, although he still
was much in Gus’s company, he did not often have much to say to his
roommate. Much as Dan would have liked to enter into Walter’s life
more fully, he was too proud to betray his chagrin at the change which
had now apparently become fixed in their relations. The old friendly
feeling was gone and in its place had come a relation which simply made
Walter apparently tolerate the presence in his rooms of the boy for
whose coming he had been chiefly responsible.
The monotony of the routine of the winter term was broken in March by a
visit from Mr. Borden. Dan, who had not been informed by Walter of the
expected visit, was surprised one afternoon when he entered his room
to find Mr. Borden seated there. His first thought was that Walter had
sent for his father and a feeling of anger arose in Dan’s heart. Why
had he himself not written before his roommate could complain? Perhaps
Mr. Borden had come for the purpose of explaining that his promise was
now void.
The greeting which Walter’s father gave him was so quietly cordial
that Dan was perplexed. He was not able entirely to conceal his
embarrassment even when Mr. Borden bade him to be seated. “When did you
come, Mr. Borden?” Dan inquired.
“I arrived this morning,” replied the visitor quietly.
“Have you seen Walter?”
“Not yet.” Mr. Borden smiled as he saw Dan’s expression of surprise.
“I had a few things to attend to first before I could give any time to
Walter or you.”
“I’ll go out and find him for you,” said Dan, hastily rising as he
spoke.
“Not quite yet, Dan. There are some things I want to say to you when
Walter is not here.”
“Yes, sir.” Dan’s face flushed and his confusion was manifest.
“Do you know where Walter is now?”
“No, sir.”
“Haven’t you any idea?”
“Probably he is with some of the boys. I’ll be glad to look him up if
you would like to have me.”
“Not yet,” said Mr. Borden quietly. “If you were to look him up for me,
where would you go first to find him?”
“Why, in some one of the fellows’ rooms,” replied Dan, looking quickly
at his visitor as he spoke. How much and what did Mr. Borden know?
“Would you go first to Gus Kiggins’ room?”
“Why, I might,” replied Dan lamely.
“I thought so. Dan, have you had any ‘marks’ against you?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve had ten.”
“Been put on the ‘limits’?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Dan, his face flushing scarlet.
“Do you mind telling me what for? Please do not think I am too
inquisitive, but I should like to know the reasons.”
“Mr. Sharp said I was scuffling in the hall. That is against the rules,
you know.”
“Yes, I know. If there is a rule against scuffling why did you break
it?”
“I didn’t intend to break it, but I suppose I did,” said Dan lamely.
“Why?” persisted Mr. Borden.
“I haven’t any answer.”
“Would you put Gus Kiggins out of your room if the same thing happened
again?”
Dan glanced quickly at Mr. Borden, but the face of his visitor did not
betray any feeling. “I don’t know,” he said at last in a low voice.
“In which division of the class are you, Dan?” Mr. Borden next inquired.
“The first.”
“That’s the first quarter of the class, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is Walter in that division?”
“I don’t think he is――that is, he isn’t this term――I mean――――”
“Will he be there next term?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you expect him to be?”
“He could be――he might. He has a quicker mind than I have.”
Still Mr. Borden’s face did not betray his real feelings. “Dan,” he
said abruptly, “why didn’t you write me?”
“About what, Mr. Borden?”
“Why didn’t you write me that letter you began?”
“How do you know I began a letter?” asked Dan in amazement.
“You began a letter to me in which you thanked me for what I had done
for you, but you went on to say that you could not stay in the Tait
School any longer.”
“How do you know?” asked the astounded Dan with crimson face.
“Never mind, Dan, how I know. Let me answer your unwritten letter by
word of mouth. A bargain is a bargain and you have no right to go back
upon it any more than I have.”
“But, Mr. Borden,” protested Dan, “that wasn’t it. I didn’t feel
that――I thought I couldn’t keep on――I didn’t want you to think――――”
“Listen to me,” said Mr. Borden as Dan’s confusion became still more
manifest. “I understand how you feel. You thought you were accepting
favors. You thought I believed that if you roomed with Walter he would
do better work. He hasn’t done better work and you thought you were not
living up to your part. I sincerely trust that Walter has not been such
a ‘cad’ as to make you feel in any way that you were under obligations
to him or me.”
As Dan was silent, Mr. Borden went on. “Let me say right here, Dan,
that I am more than satisfied with my part. I know Walter and I think I
know you. If at any time you want to leave him and room with some other
boy, I shall not object. I don’t believe there is a better investment
than putting money into men. If I could only buy for Walter what he
needs I should not stop at the expense. And, Dan, there’s another
point.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sometimes I think it is a better, a truer test of a real man to
receive than it is to give. It’s harder sometimes too. But I’m talking
with you about our bargain. I want you to stick to it. You will, I
know. Ah, here comes Walter,” Mr. Borden added hastily as his boy
entered the room.
Dan at once departed and for an hour sat in the library holding a book
but not reading a word. An hour later he returned to his room. As he
entered he saw that Walter was alone, but his roommate sprang to his
feet and his face was livid with anger as he faced Dan.