A number of Dick's friends had gathered in his room to discuss football
matters. There was considerable excitement on the team.
"Hi say has 'ow it's a blooming mistake!" excitedly declared Billy
Bradley, striking an attitude in the middle of the room, "We 'ave no
business to play with those 'owling toffs, don't y' 'now!"
"Oh, dear me!" piped up Ted Smart, who was sitting on the table. "How
can you talk so, Sir William! I am surprised at you! Why, they are
perfect gentlemen! Think how finely we were used the last time we were
in Uniontown! It makes my heart thrill with pleasure to think of that
occasion!"
"Huah!" grunted big Bob Singleton. "I suppose you mean the only time we
ever were in Uniontown, and that was when we played the U. A. A. that
game of baseball last spring."
"That was a fuf-fuf-fuf-fuf-fuf----" spluttered Chip Jolliby, and then
he stamped on the floor and made wild grabs in the air in his desperate
endeavor to get hold of the word he was trying to utter.
"Whistle, Chip!" cried several, laughing at his comical contortions.
"Whew!" whistled Chip. "That was a fuf-fuf-fuf--whew!--fine old time!
Why, they dud-drugged Dick, and we had to fuf-fuf-fuf--whew!--fight for
our lives. We all sus-sus-sus-said we'll never go there again."
"They're coming here," squeaked Obediah Tubbs. "We'll jest wipe 'em all
over the field, see if we don't. Dern my picter! you watch me sail inter
'em!"
"I'd like to play one clean game of football!" grunted Singleton, his
face wearing a look of disgust. "I'm getting sick of this rough-house
business. What do you say, Captain Merriwell?"
Dick had been sitting quite still, as he listened to the talk of the
others. He was standing with his elbow against the corner of the
mantel-shelf.
"Fellows," he said, "we are in for it, as the athletic committee has
decided to accept Uniontown's offer to fill Rivermouth's engagement.
We'll have to play the game."
"But that's not saying what you think about it," said big Bob. "Why were
you not consulted about this change?"
Dick shook his head.
"I presume they thought it wasn't necessary."
"You're the manager of the team."
"But I do not arrange the schedule, you know."
"All the same, you should have some say about a change of this sort.
What?"
"It's settled now," said Dick, "and we'll have to make the best of it.
We trounced those fellows at baseball last spring, for all of their
tricks."
"Bub-bub-bub-but it was a close sus-sus-sus-shave," put in Jolliby.
"They pup-pup-pup-pup--whew!--played all kuk-kinds of dirty tricks to
beat us."
"And this ain't no school team," put in Tubbs. "It's a so-called
athletic club team, and they kin be as dirty as they please. I'm agin'
playing 'em."
"And I!" repeated several others.
"It's too late to back out now," said Dick. "If I had known there was
any talk of making this arrangement I would have gone before the
committee and fought against it."
"The committee knew what it was doing," put in big Bob grimly. "It knew
all about our trouble with the U. A. A. baseball-team, and it knew we
had declared we would never have anything further to do with that
association."
"For years," said Dick, "Fardale has desired to enter into contests with
U. A. A. because of the money there is in it. Eaton has had the
privilege, and this school has been very jealous of Eaton. Last spring
Uniontown gave us a baseball-game to fill in an open date, and we beat
their team."
"Wasn't it a shame!" exclaimed Smart. "We were so sorry to do it!"
"We beat them," said big Bob; "but think of the fight we had! Uniontown
is full of gamblers who bet on their team. The Union Athletic
Association is not a straight amateur organization, no matter what it
claims. It rings in professionals. Its members and officers make money
betting on their teams and their men. That is a well-known fact."
"No one denies it," said Dick. "They expected to find us easy, but there
was one fellow who took a fancy to put me out of the game, thinking that
would make it a sure thing for Uniontown."
"Sus-sus-so it would," asserted Chip, "You were the only
pup-pup-pup-pup----"
"The other feller was the 'pup,'" laughed Obediah Tubbs. "He! he! he!
Wasn't that a funny joke!"
"The only pup-pup-pitcher we had," stuttered the lank boy, completing
the sentence after a terrible struggle to give it utterance.
"Well, this thug failed to knock you out," said Singleton. "His drug was
taken by me by accident, instead of you. And then----"
"And then," said Smart, "he sprinkled Captain Dick on the field with one
of those buttonhole-bouquet arrangements that squirts water in your
eyes."
"Only his arrangement was not filled with water," said Dick.
"Hardly!" exclaimed Singleton. "He had something in it that made you
blind, and you pitched the last inning when you could scarcely see the
batter."
"And cuc-cuc-cuc-cuc----"
"Cut-cut-cadawcut!" cackled Smart.
"Cuc-cuc--whew!--caught a hot liner right off the bat, putting out the
last man," said Jolliby. "That was what bub-bub-broke their hearts."
"No; it was giving up the biggest share of the gate-money that broke
their hearts," laughed Dick.
"We can do 'em again!" piped Obediah Tubbs.
"I think we can," nodded Dick; "but, as Singleton said, this business of
playing with dirty teams is becoming tiresome. Franklin had a lot of
ringers, for I have learned beyond a doubt that their man Gray, as he
was called, was Plover, the professional. The Trojan A. A. tried to
defeat us by roughing it, and we have been up against that kind of
business generally. It would be a pleasure to play one good, clean game
with a school team in our class. It is this slugging, kicking, and
general rough-house playing that makes so many persons down on football.
At best, it is not a ladies' game, but it is not brutal when properly
played."
"It will be a fight from start to finish with U. A. A.," said Singleton.
"Those fellows will want revenge for their defeat at baseball, and they
will try to get it by knocking the stuffing out of us."
"It's likely you are right about that," nodded Dick; "but we must be
ready for anything. We must go into the game determined to win, and I
feel confident we can do it."
"Even if we do win," said Bob, "it does not excuse the athletic
committee for their blunder in arranging this game. How in the world
they came to do it is what I cannot understand."
"I 'eard as 'ow they were divided hon the matter," said Bradley. "John
Warwick was against hit."
"And he isn't sore a bit!" grinned Smart, as usual meaning exactly
opposite what he said. "He's delighted over it."
"It may be a mistake," said big Bob; "but the report has leaked out that
the committee was divided on the matter, and that Warne, the chairman,
was compelled to vote to decide it."
There came a knock on the door,
"Come in," called Dick.
Earl Gardner entered.
"Have you heard the latest, boys?" he asked.
"The latest joke?"
"No; the latest news. Warwick has resigned from the athletic committee."
"No?" they exclaimed, in astonishment.
"It's straight goods, fellows," asserted Gardner. "He has taken himself
off the committee, and says he will have nothing further to do with it.
He has made his resignation in writing, too."
"But it may not be accepted," said Dick, who was very sorry to know that
John Warwick had done such a thing.
"It has been accepted already," said Earl. "Why, even now the fellows
are beginning to discuss who shall take Warwick's place on the
committee."
"Look out, captain!" breathed Singleton. "If they get the wrong man on
that committee you'll have no end of trouble, for it will be solid
against you. It's up to you to get busy."
There was a heavy step in the corridor and the door flew open and
admitted Brad Buckhart, who strode into the room. One glance at Brad
showed that he was excited and angry.
"Say!" he growled; "do you fellows know what's brewing round this old
academy? Well, I'll tell you. Warwick has taken himself off the
committee, and already there is a candidate in the field who is working
hard for the place. There is to be a meeting tonight to elect another
man for the place, and the man who is after it mustn't have it."
"Why not? Who is he?" breathlessly asked the boys.
"He's Chester Arlington," said Brad; "and that is answer enough why he
should not have the position. You hear me whisper!"
Naturally Buckhart was excited. The thought of having Chester on the
athletic committee, where he could use his influence in running the
affairs of the eleven, was enough to arouse the Texan.
Dick heard Brad's words without the quiver of a muscle. His lips were
pressed together, and there seemed a hardening of his jaw, but that was
all.
An excited discussion started at once, but every fellow present seemed
to feel that it would be a serious misfortune to have Arlington get on
to the committee.
"He can't git there anyhow," squeaked Obediah Tubbs.
"He can unless the right influence is brought to bear against him,"
declared Brad. "He'll do anything to make the position. He'll spend
money like water, and he seems to have a barrel of it to spend."
"But it cuc-cuc-can't be the fellows here will be bub-bub-bought!"
exclaimed Jolliby.
"Wait and see!" said Brad. "This galoot, Arlington, is mighty slick, and
he'll play his cards fine."
"If he ever gets on the committee," said Singleton, "there is going to
be trouble for this football-team. He is sore because he did not make
the eleven, and he will raise thunder. Merriwell, it is for your
interest to see that Chet Arlington is defeated in this scheme of his."
Still Dick was silent. He was thinking of his promise to Mrs. Arlington
not to interfere with the ambition of her son, a promise that had been
made in the presence of June and the gathering of plebes about the
carriage.
The keenly interested boys decided to go forth immediately and find out
"what was doing." They soon left the room, only Buckhart remaining with
Dick. Merriwell sat on a chair, gazing at the floor, a strange look on
his handsome face. The Texan walked over and dropped a hand on Dick's
shoulder.
"Pard."
Dick looked up.
"Well, Brad?"
"This yere is no time to squat on your haunches. You want to get right
up and hustle."
"What for?"
"What for? Whoop! Great horn spoon! Didn't you hear me say that Chet
Arlington is laying pipes to get on the athletic committee in place of
Warwick, who has resigned?"
"Yes."
"Well, burn my hide and brand me deep! Are you going to squat and let
that onery varmint get on?"
"I don't think he will succeed."
"Then you don't know him as well as I thought you did."
"He's not a truly popular fellow."
"Is Phil Warne?"
"No."
"Warne is chairman of the committee. Is Olf Stone?"
"No."
"Stone is on the committee. Is Had Burrows?"
"I don't think so."
"He's on the committee, and he was chairman last year."
"But it is different with Chester Arlington."
"How?"
"He is a thoroughbred cad."
"Sure thing; but you saw how he stood with his own class."
"The plebes alone cannot elect him to the committee."
"They won't be alone."
"He has no popularity outside his class."
"But he's got money, and he'll use it."
"I decline to believe," said Dick, "that the fellows here at the academy
can be bought."
"Say, when congressmen and senators can be bought at Washington you
don't want to bet your pile that fellows here at school are much
different."
"Still I will not believe it," said Dick. "I don't care to take any part
in this affair, Brad. I have enough to think of without dipping into
this. If my friends oppose Arlington they may work against him but I am
going to keep out of it."
"That's where he wins! Why, you can go out and defeat him in an hour!
Just you go to work against him and you will carry things as you like.
But if you sit down and don't do a thing, the fellows will think you are
indifferent, and he'll carry them."
Dick was strongly tempted to take a hand in the affair, but again he
thought of his promise to Mrs. Arlington, and that held him in check.
"If Chet Arlington gets on that committee," said the Texan, "he'll have
you in a step all the time. You hear me shout! He will work against you
in every possible way, and he'll have power to hurt you. Why, you know
that fellow has tried his best to injure the team! Do you regard him as
a fit man for the committee?"
"You know I do not regard him as fit," came instantly from Dick.
"Then it's your duty to get out and hustle to keep him off!" exclaimed
Buckhart. "What keeps you from it?"
"My word," said Dick, in a low tone. "I cannot break a promise."
"Is that it? Well, if you made any promise that keeps you from doing
your duty now you ought to be lynched! That's good and plain, if I have
to fight you for it! Why, maybe your promise will lead you to stop your
friends from working against the dog?"
"No; I shall not interfere with my friends if they choose to try to
defeat him."
"I'm glad to hear it!" exclaimed Brad scornfully. "Then I'm going out
and get into gear. I'll work like a tiger, and it won't be my fault if
he gets there."
Brad strode out, slamming the door and leaving Dick to his reflections,
which were not entirely pleasant.
"It was a foolish promise!" he finally exclaimed. "I should not have
made it, but I did not think at the time that it might put me in a
situation like this. I was thinking she meant his honest ambitions, and
I would be the last fellow in the world to try to crush a chap who had
sincere ambition to get along. I wonder if that promise really binds
me?"
But when he had thought upon it for some time he concluded that he was
bound and could not exert his influence to defeat Chester Arlington in
this matter without breaking his word.
No wonder Dick was displeased and troubled over the way things were
going at the academy. He felt that the committee had made a big blunder
in agreeing to take the U. A. A. eleven to fill the place of Rivermouth,
and he could not help being nettled because he had not been consulted at
all in the matter. He knew the Uniontown team would fight like a lot of
tigers for the game, which they would be satisfied to win by foul means,
if they could not by fair. In his heart he was satisfied that Fardale
would have to put up a fiercer struggle to hold her own than she had
against any team for the season thus far, and the fear that she might be
defeated by trickery or treachery was far from agreeable. But to have
Chester Arlington on the athletic committee--that was what troubled him
more than anything else.
"He can't get there!" Dick finally exclaimed. "It is not possible the
boys here at the academy will permit it. I'm not going to worry about it
any more."
Then he picked up a book and began studying. However, try as he might to
fasten his mind on the text, he caught himself wondering if there was a
possibility that Arlington would succeed. Who would run against the
fellow for the position? It was important that whoever did so should be
a popular man. Would the right fellow go into the contest?
At last, Dick flung the book aside and sprang up.
"I've got to go out and learn what is being done!" he exclaimed, seizing
his cap. "Oh, June Arlington, why did you ever have such a brother! If
you were not his sister it would be different."