A NEW LEADER IS CHOSEN
Amazement slowly gave way to anger. The thing was so unexpected that
for a while he could not believe it, and the idea that it was a hoax
presented itself. But that theory vanished speedily and he faced the
truth. A sense of insult, of degradation mastered him and he crumpled
the letter into a ball and hurled it to the floor. He passed a bad ten
minutes, his wrath encompassing Coach Haynes and the whole Athletic
Faculty. Of the latter, though, it was the student members, Jud McColl
and Stearns Wilson, on whom his anger fell chiefly. They pretended to
be his friends. He could find excuses for the coach, for the coach
made no secret of his hostility, but McColl and Stearns had literally
betrayed him.
Finally he rescued the letter and smoothed it out and reread it. It
was plain enough, he told himself. They wanted him to go before them
and eat humble pie, perhaps apologize to Haynes! What they did not
want was his resignation. No matter if he had failed, from their point
of view, as a captain, he was still invaluable as a player. There was
no one to take his place at quarter. In spite of their bluff, they
couldn’t do without him, and they knew it! And he knew it! Stuart
laughed mirthlessly. Well, they’d see! If they expected penitence and
apologies they’d be fooled! He’d call their bluff!
He selected a sheet of school paper and went about the matter very
calmly. When it was finished his reply was a model of conciseness and,
he hoped, dignity:
Mr. Stuart Harven acknowledges the receipt of the Committee’s
communication of yesterday and respectfully tenders his
resignation as Captain of the Football Team.
He considered delivering it personally at the Office but in the end put
a stamp on the envelope and dropped it into the box in front of Manning
as he hurried to his next class. He was no longer angry. He was excited
instead, excited and triumphant. He wondered how the Committee would
manage to crawl out of the hole he had placed them in, and he chuckled
as he pictured the surprise and chagrin with which his letter would be
received. That the resignation would be accepted never entered Stuart’s
mind. He might have to make concessions, but if there was any crawling
done, the Ath. Fac. would do it! He went into the class room in a very
cheerful frame of mind.
It was Neil who caused him his first qualms of doubt. Neil was
distressed and strangely pessimistic. “You must get that resignation
back before it reaches them,” he declared earnestly. “If you go to the
post-office――――”
Stuart shrugged. “You can’t get a letter back like that. Besides, I
don’t want to. I’ve called their bluff, now let them get out of it the
best way they can!”
“But, Stuart, suppose they don’t want to! Suppose you’ve played into
their hand?”
“What do you mean, played into their hand? You don’t think they
really want my resignation, do you?” Stuart laughed in ridicule. “Not
much! Not unless they think I’d give up the captaincy and go right on
playing. And if they do think that they’ve got a fine big surprise
coming to them!”
“I don’t know,” Neil shook his head troubledly, “Mr. Haynes is against
you, remember, and――――”
“So are Jud and Stearns Wilson, and I’m not likely to forget it,
either,” interrupted Stuart in an ugly tone. “But if it came to a
show-down I guess there are plenty of fellows on the team――――”
“Stuart, if the Committee accepts your resignation the players won’t
have anything to say about it! Don’t you see that? They couldn’t do
anything if they wanted to. If you’d only waited and talked it over
first! I――I’m awfully afraid you’ve messed things up again!”
“Oh, piffle! You wait and see, old man. They’ll be talking mighty
small to-morrow. Jud McColl knows me well enough to tell them that I’m
not the sort to be kicked out of the captaincy and then keep right on
playing for them! Haynes knows it, too. He’s no fool, if he does act
it.”
But in spite of his pretended assurance Stuart began to wonder
secretly if he had, after all, made a mistake. Haynes had proved
pretty conclusively that he stood strong with the Committee. He began
to consider what would happen if they did the impossible thing and
accepted the resignation. Short of inciting the team to mutiny, he
realized, with a sinking sensation, that there wasn’t anything he could
do! And, for that matter, it might be that the number of fellows on
the team who would stand by him would be too small to cause anything
approaching a mutiny. And, besides that, Stuart wasn’t sure that he
would want a mutiny. That would be going too far. It would play hob
with the team and, no matter how it resulted, would set them back
badly. After all, even though the confounded bunch of old women that
called themselves the Committee on Athletics didn’t seem to believe it,
the success of the team was first in his thoughts! Then he banished
doubts. Neil was always more or less of a pessimist. Of course, maybe
it might have been wiser to have waited and talked it over a bit first,
but it was mighty unlikely that the Ath. Fac. would cut off its nose to
save its face, or, put differently, would lose a star quarterback to
retain its dignity!
There was no apparent knowledge of the Committee’s letter among the
fellows on the field that afternoon. Evidently the matter was still
a secret. Coach Haynes was the same as usual, formally polite to
Stuart, and the unpleasant incident of yesterday seemed to have been
forgotten. Stuart went at his work with a resolution to emphasize his
value to the team and played the game with all the dash and brilliancy
of which he was capable. It was one of his good days and he made the
most of it. “Old Unabridged’s” pets were torn asunder and trampled on,
out-generaled and out-fought, and the first walked off the field at the
end with a 17 to 0 victory.
“Now,” said Stuart to himself, “let them go ahead and fire me!”
His high spirits, though, failed to lighten Neil’s gravity.
Jack came over to Number 12 that evening and he and Stuart talked a
good deal of football and a good deal of other things, and, apparently
there was no cloud in the sky. But Neil didn’t have much to say, and
when rallied by Jack only smiled and answered that he was far too much
awed by so much brilliance to venture remarks of his own. Stuart,
realizing the real reason for his roommate’s quietness, had brief
moments of uneasiness.
Oddly, when morning came, he awoke with the feeling of uneasiness
vastly increased, and, although he told himself that there was no cause
for anxiety, he remained nervous all during breakfast and through his
first two classes, and it was with positive relief that, at half-past
eleven, he returned to Lacey and spied a letter in his box. Up in
Number 12, he hesitated for a long minute before he slit the envelope.
When at last he did so and read the contents his face paled. After that
he sat for many more minutes, the letter in his hand and his eyes fixed
broodingly on the floor.
It was a very polite missive, almost cordial in spite of its brevity.
It thanked Mr. Stuart Harven for his communication, appreciated his
spirit of loyalty to the school, accepted his resignation with regret
for the necessity for doing so and hoped that the incident would not
be allowed to affect his interest in the Team’s success or impair his
usefulness. When Neil came in later Stuart had recovered his poise. He
handed the letter to Neil with a smile that, if it didn’t deceive Neil,
established the attitude which Stuart was to hold for some time. Neil
said nothing for a moment after he had read the epistle. When he did
speak he only said gravely: “I’m sorry, Stuart.”
Stuart shrugged. “Why, so am I, in a way,” he replied with seeming
candor. “I guessed wrong, and no fellow likes to make mistakes. As for
the rest of it, resigning and all that, why, I’m not sure it isn’t a
good thing, Neil. Trying to get along with Haynes is a good deal of a
job, and the next fellow will find it out. And I’ll miss playing, I
suppose, for awhile.”
Neil nodded. After a moment he said tentatively: “This oughtn’t to stop
you from playing, Stuart.”
Stuart laughed shortly and mockingly. “Oh, of course not! I ought to
keep right on, eh? Maybe I could get a job lugging the water pail!
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! No, by golly, they’ve got what they wanted
and now they can go ahead and make good. All I say is, whoever the new
captain is I pity him!”
That ended the subject for a while, for during the next few days it was
carefully avoided by both.
The School heard the news that afternoon, and, as was to be expected,
excitement prevailed. On the whole, however, the thing created less
sensation than Stuart, for one, looked for. Among the players sides
were taken and argument raged, but Stuart’s partisans were vastly in
the minority, and if he had secretly hoped for anything approaching a
protest against his resignation he was disappointed. His own attitude
in public was one of smiling, half-contemptuous amusement. He made no
charges in words, no matter what his manner expressed. A fair sample
of his explanations to those who questioned, was his reply to Greg
Trenholme, the baseball captain.
“I just couldn’t get along,” he said. “There was only one thing to do
and I did it.”
Of course there were many who surmised that Stuart’s resignation had
not been offered solely without suggestion from the Committee on
Athletics and who freely published that surmise, but the truth of it
was never established. Stuart dropped out of the team and remained away
from the field, and what news he had of football affairs he received
from Jack. Jack was plainly sympathetic and sorry, but Stuart couldn’t
help feeling after the first few days that Jack was accepting the
situation with surprising equanimity. The fact was that the unfortunate
incident once accepted, Jack’s principal sensation was one of relief.
Affairs had been going far more smoothly at the field since Stuart’s
departure. The feeling of tension had disappeared, and, with Coach
Haynes alone in command, the players knew where they stood. Of course
Stuart was missed at quarter, and there was no one in sight who
promised to more than half fill his shoes, but Jack’s loyalty to his
friend couldn’t disguise for him the fact that so far as the welfare
of the team was concerned Stuart’s absence was more of a blessing than
a misfortune. He, like Neil and several others, had suggested that the
loss of the captaincy need not keep Stuart off the team, but with a
similar result.
“Nothing doing,” laughed Stuart. “When I quit, I quit. When Haynes
appoints a new captain you won’t need me.”
“What’s Haynes got to do with choosing a captain?” asked Jack.
“Why, isn’t he going to?” asked the other innocently. “Who is, then?”
“The players, of course,” answered Jack. “There’s a meeting called for
to-morrow night. It’ll probably be Howdy Tasker.”
“What’s the matter with you getting it?” asked Stuart.
“Me? Gosh, I couldn’t captain the team!”
Two days later, Stuart heard the result of the meeting. “Nobody
would accept,” said Jack gloomily. “We had Howdy nominated and he
refused point-blank. Then we tried to elect Joe Cutts and then Billy
Littlefield, and they lay down on us. So――――”
“Weren’t you nominated?” asked Stuart.
Jack nodded. “Yes, but I wouldn’t make any kind of a captain. Well, it
ended up with no election. Now, they say, the Ath. Fac. will appoint
some one. No one seems to want it, though.”
“You were a chump not to accept, Jack. Why didn’t you?”
Jack looked uncomfortable. “I told you, didn’t I?” he growled.
“Besides, I wouldn’t want to take it when――after you――――”
Stuart laughed. “I thought that was it,” he said. “Well, you should
have taken it, old man. I’d rather see you captain than any one. If
any one could get along with Haynes it’s you, I guess. If you get the
chance again you take it and stop being a silly ass.”
Jack shook his head, “I don’t believe I’d want it,” he muttered.
That was Sunday morning. Monday Jack sought Stuart again just before
dinner. “Look here,” he began, plainly embarrassed, “they’ve gone and
done it, the crazy jays.”
“Done what?”
“Appointed me captain. The Ath. Fac. I got word half an hour ago. Isn’t
that the limit?”
“I don’t see anything to be insulted about,” answered Stuart. He tried
to sound cordial, but he didn’t succeed. “You’d better accept, I’d say.”
“Fellows tell me I’ve got to,” muttered Jack. “I’d a heap rather not.
It――it seems sort of rotten. I mean toward you.”
Stuart laughed shortly. “Don’t mind me, Jack. I’m out of it completely.
You wouldn’t do me any good by refusing.”
“You’re quite sure you wouldn’t mind?” asked Jack anxiously.
“Absolutely, old son. Go to it!” Stuart managed to get the right note
that time, and Jack caught it and smiled his relief.
“Well, then, I suppose I’d better,” he said. “I’d a lot rather you
still had the job, though, Stuart, and I’d hate mightily to take it
if――if you didn’t like it. You know that, eh?”
“Sure!” Stuart did know it, and appreciation of Jack’s loyalty made the
word sound genuine. “Some one’s got to be captain of the team, Jack,
and it might as well be you. In fact, you deserve it, old man, and I’m
glad you’ve got it!”
And he really thought he was glad, but after Jack had gone off,
relieved and quite cheerful, he found himself wondering how much of
his friend’s reluctance had been real and how much feigned. Certainly
he couldn’t blame Jack for wanting the captaincy. Any fellow would be
glad of the honor. Of course some chaps might have refused under the
circumstances, but perhaps not many. Friendship didn’t mean an awful
lot, after all, to the average fellow, and possibly he ought to give
credit to Jack for asking him about it before deciding: if, that is,
Jack hadn’t already made up his mind to accept the captaincy before
coming to him! Stuart’s lip curled a little. He guessed Jack wouldn’t
have let the chance get away from him whether he――Stuart――had liked it
or lumped it!