"THE OATH OF THE DUB"
For a full week the boys and girls of Gridley H.S. scoured the
town, trying their fortune everywhere that money was supposed
to lurk.
The great Thanksgiving game was coming on. Gridley was to play
the second team of Cobber University. This second team from Cobber
had beaten every high school team it had tackled for the two
preceding years.
Gridley, in this present year, had not met with a single defeat
in a total of nine games thus far played. In six of the games
the opponents had not scored at all.
But could Cobber Second be beaten?
The Cobber eleven was one of the finest in the country. Even
the second team was considered a "terror," as its record of unbroken
victories for two years testified.
So much awe, in fact, did Cobber Second inspire among the high
school teams that Gridley was the only outfit to be found that
dared take up the proposition of a Thanksgiving Day game with
the college men.
"Gridley can't win!" the pessimists predicted.
Even the heartiest well-wishers of Gridley H.S. felt, mournfully,
that too big a contract had been undertaken.
Dick & Co., however, under the inspiring influence of their leader,
were all to the hopeful.
"We'll win," Dick proclaimed, "because Gridley needs the game.
When Gridley folks go after anything they won't take 'no' for
an answer. That's the spirit of the town, and the High School
is worthy of all the traditions of the town."
"Talk's cheap, and brag's a good dog!" sneered Ripley.
Three sophomores who overheard the remark promptly "bagged" Fred
and threw him over the school yard fence.
"Come back with any more of that," warned one of the hazers, "and
we'll scour your intellect at the town pump."
Being a freshman, Prescott didn't say too much. Neither did his
chums. Yet what they did say was bright and hopeful. Their spirit
began to soak through the student body.
"You see, gentlemen," Coach Morton warned the football squad one
morning at recess, "you've _got_ to win. The school believes
you can do it, and the town is beginning to believe it. If you
lose to Cobber Second you'll forfeit the respect of all the thousands
of Gridley folks who are now saying nice things about you."
"Write it down," begged Thompson. "We're going to beat Cobber
Second off the gridiron."
"Good!" cheered Mr. Morton. "That's the talk. And be sure you
live up to it!"
"We've got to live up to it," asserted Thomp, solemnly.
"Right-o!" came the enthusiastic approval from as many members
of the student body as could crowd within easy hearing. The girls
were all there, too, for in these days the girls were as much
excited as others over the prospects of winning.
"Shall I tell coach and students, Cap?" called Thomp to Edgeworth.
"It won't do any harm," nodded Sam. "Confession will make our
deed more binding."
"What deed?" demanded Coach Morton, scenting some mystery that
he was not yet in on.
"Why, you see, sir," proclaimed Thomp, "every member of the team,
and every sub who stands any show to get into the game, has taken
the oath of the dub."
"'The oath of the dub'?" repeated Sub-master Morton. "That's
a new one on me.
"It's a new one on us all," admitted Thompson, gravely. "We've
taken the oath, but it's so dreadful that most of us shivered
when it came our turn to recite the patter---the ritual, I mean."
"What is this 'oath of the dub'?" asked the coach.
"It's fearful," shivered Thomp. "Any of you fellows feel better
able to explain?"
He glanced around him at the other visible members and subs of
the school eleven, but they shook their heads and shrank back.
"Well, then, I'll have to tell you myself," conceded Thomp, with
an air of gloom. "It's a fearful thing. Yet, as I've been through
with it once, one more time can't hurt me---much."
Thomp made an eloquent pause. Then, reaching his right hand aloft,
his eyes turned toward the sky, he recited, in a deep bass voice:
"I have pledged my honor, as a gridiron specialist, that
Gridley H.S. shall lug away all the points of the game from Cobber
Second. If we fail, then may everyone who espies me mutter: 'There
goes a dub!' May the word 'dub' haunt me in my waking hours, and
pursue me, mounted on the nightmares of slumber! May my best
friends ever afterward refer to me only as a 'dub.' For if I fail
the school, then am I truly a 'dub,' and there is no help for
me. If I fail, then may I never, so long as life lasts, be permitted
to lose sight of the patent fact that I _am_ a 'dub'! So help
me _Bob_!"
A roar of laughter and approval went up from all who heard. Coach
Morton tried hard to preserve his gravity, but his sides shook,
and his face reddened from the effort. At last he broke loose.
When he could control his voice Mr. Morton demanded:
"What genius of the first class invented the 'oath of the dub'?"
"It wasn't a senior, sir," Thomp confessed.
"What junior, then?"
"Not a junior, either."
"_Who_, then?" insisted the submaster.
"Tell him, Sam."
"That oath, Mr. Morton, required and received the concerted brainpower
of-----"
"Dick & Co.!" shouted the football squad in chorus.
A good-natured riot followed.
"Dick & Co. will soon get the notion that they're the whole High
School," growled Fred Ripley to Purcell.
"They are a big feature of the school," laughed Purcell. "You're
about the only one, Fred, who hasn't discovered it. Rub your
eyes, man, and take another look."
"Bah!" muttered Ripley, turning away. Just then the gong clanged
the end of recess.
"Now, that 'the oath of the dub' has been given out," suggested
Dick Prescott to his chums, after school, "we ought to find Len
Spencer and give it to him. He'll print it in tomorrow's 'Blade'
and that will send local pride soaring. That'll help a whole
lot to success with the subscription papers."
After the papers had been in circulation a week the Athletics
Committee held an evening session, in the room of the Superintendent
of Schools, in the H.S. building.
By eight o'clock nearly a hundred and fifty of the boys and girls
had assembled. More came in later.
The subscription papers, and the amounts for which they called,
were turned in to Coach Morton. It was soon noticed that many
of the subscriptions had been paid by check.
Laura Bentley was the first to turn in a paper.
"Twenty dollars," she announced, quietly, though with evident pride.
"Eleven dollars," announced Belle Meade.
After a good many of the girls had made accounting they boys had
a brief chance.
When it came Dick Prescott's turn he spoke so quietly that those
nearest him thought he said six dollars.
_"Sixty dollars?"_ repeated Mr. Morton, more distinctly. "The
best offering yet."
"I've one more," added Prescott, in the same low voice.
"Then speak up more loudly," directed the submaster. "There are
a lot of young people here who want to hear."
"Here," continued Dick, handing in another paper, "is a communication
signed by the members of the city's Common Council. They signed
as individuals. They agree to hire the Gridley Military Band,
of twenty-eight pieces, to be on hand at the Thanksgiving game
and to play for our High School eleven."
None of Dick's partners had secured less than twenty-five dollars.
When all the subscriptions had been turned in, and the amount
footed up by Coach Morton, that gentleman announced, in tones
that betrayed excitement:
"The total subscriptions amount to nineteen hundred and sixty-eight
dollars. That will put us on a fine footing for this year, and
leave a good balance over for next year!"
Then the enthusiasm broke loose in earnest. Two score of fans
turned, at once, to find Dick & Co., who had started the scheme.
But Dick & Co. had quietly vanished.
Before it adjourned that night, the Athletics Committee, with
the help of Captain Sam Edgeworth, found one effective way of
rewarding those who had conceived this highly successful subscription
campaign.
Dick Prescott was appointed cheer-master for the great Thanksgiving
Day game. More, Dick was to name any one of his chums as assistant
cheer-master.
As the cheer-master bosses the noise that is so indispensable
a part of the game, the honor that had come to young Prescott
was no mean one. No Gridley freshman had ever before achieved
it.
Dick left to his partners the selection of assistant cheer-master.
_They_ settled on Dave Darrin.