BUCKING THE LINE
Frank did not say much on the way home, and neither did Andy. But they
were doing a lot of thinking and their thoughts were not pleasant. The
rebuff just administered had been more humiliating than the letter in
regard to the rowing.
"He needn't have laughed," said Frank in a low voice, as they neared
the school.
"No, that was adding insult to injury," agreed Andy. "What are you
going to do?"
"I don't know, exactly. Let's wait and see what the word is from
Milton. They may be more decent."
They did not have long to wait for an answer from the other boarding
school farther up the river. There were two letters in Frank's room
when he and Andy successfully eluded the monitor and reached their
apartment.
"Here's the answer from Waterside," announced Frank, holding up an
envelope bearing the imprint of that school. "And this is from Milton
Academy," he added, as he looked at the other. His hand shook a little
as he opened it, and his face, that had been gloomy when he began to
read, was more so as he finished.
"Well?" asked Andy.
"Nothing doing," answered Frank briefly. "They say we are not in their
class. I'm going to bed."
The news was all over the school the next morning, and it created more
of a stir than had the first refusal of Waterside to row, for there
were more boys interested in football than in the race on the river.
"It's a shame!" exclaimed Captain Jack vindictively. "I'd like a chance
to tell 'em so, too."
"Better not get into a row with them as we did before," advised Frank.
There were gloomy days that followed at Riverview. For a time the
gridiron was all but neglected, and only a few reported for practice.
Then Professor Hardin talked to the lads and for very shame's sake they
went back to work, the 'varsity hammering the scrub all over the field.
The energetic coach did even better. He arranged for a game with a
semi-professional team that had the name of playing hard and fast
football. In a way they were more than a match for Riverview and Mr.
Hardin wanted to see how his lads would take a beating.
The first part of the game was all in favor of the Lafayettes, as the
other team was called. They made a number of good plays, and seemed to
go through the line at will. But the coach noticed that his boys braced
at the last moment, and in needed spots, so that after the first two
periods there were only two touchdowns and a goal against them.
"See if we can't wallop 'em!" exclaimed Frank, tenderly feeling of his
nose in the rest period.
"We're going to!" fiercely cried Andy, as he shifted his shin guards.
"We're going to plow right through 'em!"
And Riverview did, to the no small surprise of the Lafayette team. The
schoolboys shoved their opponents all over. They went through the line
and around ends. They gained on fake kicks and on the forward pass, and
they had the wing shift down to perfection.
"If they don't win they're putting up the prettiest game I've seen in a
long while," said the enthusiastic coach.
"It's the first time in a good many years that Riverview has had a
chance to show what she can do," said another instructor. "Oh, I hope
we do win!"
And win they did! Perhaps it was from thinking of all the hard work
they had put in on their gridiron that made the lads resolve not
to have it go for naught. Inch by inch they fought their opponents
back. Time and again they bucked the line until they had rolled up
three touchdowns and kicked the goal for each one. Then, when time
was called, though they were a sore and suffering lot of lads, they
gathered in the center of the field and cheered their vanquished rivals
to the echo. And they were cheered in turn.
"No wonder Waterside doesn't want to play you," said the captain of the
Lafayettes. "They're afraid of getting trimmed. Say, you didn't do a
thing to us!"
"We'd like a chance to do the same to them," remarked Frank, feeling of
his left eye to see if it was going to close.
"Well, we'll give you a recommendation," spoke the other captain, with
a rueful laugh.
There was an increase of the number of candidates out to practice on
the gridiron the next Monday afternoon. Chet Sedley was among them, and
to the surprise of Frank and Andy, the dude did actually get into the
game on the scrub.
"I'll show you fellows that I can play, even if I do dress well!" he
announced. Certainly he was not dressed well now, for he had on an old
suit someone had loaned him. But Chet was not destined for a football
player. At the first scrimmage he fell with about eight lads on top of
him, and his mouth and nose were down in the soft dirt.
"Get up off me! Ouch! This is no way to play! It ain't fair to sit on a
fellow's head that way!"
Thus yelled Chet, while his mates laughed at him. But I will do him the
justice to say that his hazing had done him good, and he was not nearly
so unpopular as he at first threatened to become. But football was not
his forte, and after a few more trials he gave it up.
"But I'll make the baseball nine in the spring," he declared, as he
retired to the side lines. "That isn't so rough."
For the sake of getting a line on the play of their rivals the
Riverview eleven went to see the annual contest between Milton and
Waterside, played on the former's grounds. It was a good game, and well
contested, and for a time seemed to be in favor of Waterside.
Then came several costly fumbles, of which Milton took quick advantage,
and when the final whistle blew the score was twenty-two to ten in
favor of Milton. Waterside had been badly beaten.
"Say, that's a surprise," commented Andy, as he and his brother left
the grounds.
"A good surprise for us, I think," said Frank.
"Why?"
"Because maybe Waterside will take us on now. They know how we trimmed
Lafayette and now that they have been trimmed in turn by Milton, they
may not be so high and mighty. I'm going to send another challenge."
Some thought it was foolish and a waste of time, but Frank persisted.
He got an answer more quickly than before, and it showed the
correctness of his reasoning.
"We will play you next Saturday on our grounds," said the note from the
Waterside manager. "Kindly arrange details."
"Whoop! Hurray!" yelled Frank, rushing from one member of the team to
another with the letter. "Now we'll have to do some tall practicing."
And next day the line-bucking of the regulars was so fierce that
several of the scrubs were knocked out. There was a grim smile on the
faces of the Racer boys and the coach.
"I think they'll play a great game--a great game," whispered Mr. Hardin
as he watched them at practice.