AMY APPEARS FOR THE DEFENCE
PRACTICE on Monday was a wretched affair. To be sure, many of the
fellows who had played in the Chambers game had been excused, but that
didn't account for the fact that those who did take part went at their
work as if half asleep. Both McPhee and Cotter failed to get any life
into the first, and the second, while it, too, seemed to have taken part
in the general slump, managed to score twice while the first was with
difficulty wresting three touchdowns from its opponent. Mr. Robey
shouted himself red in the face, Steve Edwards, who followed practice,
pleaded and exhorted, and a stocky, broad-shouldered, bearded individual
who made his appearance that afternoon for the first time frowned and
shook his head, and all to small purpose. The players accepted scoldings
and insults as a donkey accepts blows, untroubledly, apathetically, and
jogged on at their own pace, guilty of all the sins of commission and
omission in the football decalogue.
There was much curiosity about the newcomer and many opinions as to his
identity were hazarded on the bench that afternoon. It was quite evident
that he was a football authority, for Coach Robey consulted him at times
all during practice. And it was equally evident that they were close
friends, since the stranger was on one occasion seen to smite the head
coach most familiarly between the shoulders! But who he was and what he
was doing there remained a secret until after supper. Then it became
known that his name was Proctor, Doctor George G. Proctor, that he was a
practising physician some place in the Middle West and that he was
visiting Coach Robey. But that was unsatisfactory data and some
enterprising youth hunted back in the football records and, lo, the
mystery was explained. Eight years before "Gus" Proctor had played
tackle on the Princeton eleven and in his junior and senior years had
been honoured with a position on the All-American Team. Subsequently he
had coached at a college in Ohio and had put said college on the map.
Now, having stolen away from home to see Princeton and Yale play next
Saturday, he was staying for a day or two with Mr. Robey. After that
became generally known Doctor Proctor was gazed at with a new respect
whenever he appeared on field or campus.
Don and Tim went up to Number 12 that night after supper to call on Tom
Hall. Tim was having hard work making Don face the music. If Don could
have had his way he would have kept to himself, but Tim insisted on
dragging him around. "Just keep a firm upper lip, Donald," he
counselled, "and show the fellows that there's nothing in it. That's the
only way to do. If you keep skulking off by yourself they'll think
you're ashamed."
"So I am," muttered Don.
"You're not, either! You've done nothing to be ashamed of! Keep that in
mind, you silly It. Now come along and we'll go up and jolly Tom a bit."
Steve Edwards was not at home, but Amy Byrd was enthroned on the
window-seat when they entered in response to Tom's invitation, and Amy
had evidently been holding forth very seriously on some subject.
"Don't mind us," said Tim. "Go ahead, Amy, and get it off your chest."
"Hello," said Amy. "Hello, Don, old man. Haven't seen you for an age.
Make yourselves at home. Never mind Tom, he's only the host. How did you
like the practice today, Tim?"
"I didn't see it, but I heard enough about it. It must have been
fierce!"
"It was perfectly punk," growled Tom. "I should think Robey would want
to throw up his hands and quit!"
"Did you see it, Don?" asked Amy.
"No, I didn't go over. What was the trouble?"
"Well, I'm no expert," replied Amy, taking his knees into his arms and
rocking gently back and forth on the seat, "but I'd say in my ignorant
way that someone had unkindly put sleeping-potions in the milk at
training-table! The only fellow who seemed to have his eyes more than
half open was McPhee. Mac showed signs of life at long intervals. The
rest sort of stumbled around in their sleep. I think Peters actually
snored."
"Oh, we're going to get a fine old drubbing next Saturday," said Tom
pessimistically. "And what a fine exhibition for that chap Proctor! I'll
bet Robey could have kicked the whole team all the way back to the gym.
He looked as though it would have done him a world of good to have a try
at it!"
"Oh, well, these things happen," said Tim cheerfully. "It's only a
slump. We'll get over it."
"Slump be blowed!" said Tom. "This is a fine time to slump, five days
before the game!"
"I know that, too, but there's no use howling about it. What we need,
Tom, is to have you get back there at right guard, old man."
"That's what I've been saying," exclaimed Amy earnestly. "I want Tom to
go to Josh and ask him to let him play, but he won't. Says it wouldn't
be any good. You don't know whether it would or not, Tom, until you try
it. Look here, Josh doesn't want us to get beaten Saturday any more than
we want it ourselves, and if you sort of put it up to him like that----"
"I'd look well, wouldn't I?" laughed Tom. "Telling Josh that unless he
let me off pro the team would get licked! Gee, that's some modest, isn't
it?"
"You don't have to put it like that," replied Amy impatiently. "Be--be
diplomatic. Tell him----"
"What we ought to do," interrupted Tim, "is get up a petition and have
everyone sign it."
"I thought of that, too," said Amy, "but this dunder-headed Turk won't
stand for even that."
"Why not, Tom?" asked Don.
"Because."
"And after that?" asked Amy sweetly.
"Well, look here, you chaps." Tom scowled intently for a moment. "Look
here. It's this way. Josh put a bunch of us on pro, didn't he? Well,
what right have I to go and ask to be let off just because I happen to
be a football man? You don't suppose those other fellows like it any
better than I do, do you?"
"Oh, forget that! I'm one of them, and I'm having the time of my life.
It's been the making of me, Tom. I'm getting so blamed full of learning
that I'll be able to loaf all the rest of the year; live on my income,
so to say." And Amy beamed proudly.
"That's all right," answered Tom doggedly, "but I don't intend to
cry-baby. I'm just as much in it as any of you. If Josh wants to let us
all off, all right, but I'm not going to ask for a--a special
dispensation!"
"You don't need to," said Tim. "Let the fellows do it. That has nothing
to do with you. What's to keep us from going ahead and getting up a
petition?"
"Because I ask you not to," replied Tom simply. "It's only fair that we
should all be punished alike."
"But you're not," said Don.
"We're not? Why aren't we?" asked Tom in surprise.
"Because you're getting it harder than Amy and Harry Westcott and the
others," answered Don quietly. "They aren't barred from any sport, and
you are."
"By Jove, that's a fact!" exclaimed Amy.
"But--but we all got the same sentence," protested Tom.
"I know you did, but"--Don smiled--"put it like this. I hate parsnips;
can't bear them. Suppose you and I were punished for something we'd done
by being made to eat parsnips three times a day for--for a month! You
like them, don't you? Well, who'd get the worst of that? The sentence
would be the same, but the--the punishment would be a heap worse for me,
wouldn't it?"
"'Father was right'!" said Tim.
"Oh, father never spoke a truer word!" cried Amy, jumping up from the
window-seat. "That settles it, Tom! Get some paper, Tim, and we'll write
that petition this minute and I'll guarantee to get fifty signatures
before ten o'clock!"
"You'll do nothing of the sort," said Tom stubbornly. "Don talks like a
lawyer, all right, but he's all wrong. And, anyway, I'm out of football
and I'm going to stay out for this year. I've quit training and I
probably couldn't play if Josh said I might. So that----"
"Oh, piffle," said Amy. "Quit training! Everyone knows you never quit
training, Tom. You could go out there tomorrow and play as good a game
as you ever did. Don't talk like a sick duck!"
"There's no reason why I should play, though. Pryme's putting up a bully
game----"
"Pryme is doing the best he knows how," said Tim, "but Pryme can't play
guard as you can, Tom, and he never will, and you know it! Now have a
grain of sense, won't you? Just sit tight and let us put this thing
through. There isn't a fellow in school who won't be tickled to death to
sign that petition, and I'll bet you anything you like that Josh will be
just as tickled to say yes to it. Whatever you say about Josh Fernald,
you've got to hand it to him for being fair and square, Tom."
"Josh is all right, sure. I haven't said anything against him, have I?
But I won't stand for any petition, fellows, so you might as well get
that out of your heads. Besides, my being on the team or off it isn't
going to make a half of one per cent's difference next Saturday."
There was silence in the room for a moment. Then Amy went dejectedly
back to the window-seat and threw himself on it at full length. "I think
you might, Tom," he said finally, "if only on my account!"
"Why on your account?" laughed Tom.
"Because I'm the guy that got you all into the mess, that's why. And
I've felt good and mean about it ever since. And now, when we think up a
perfectly good way to--to undo the mischief I made, you act like a mule.
Think what a relief it would be to my conscience, Tom, if you got off
pro and went back and played against Claflin!"
"I don't care a continental about your conscience, Amy. In fact I never
knew before that you had one!"
"I've got a very nice one, thanks. It's well-trained, too. It----" Amy's
voice trailed off into silence and for the next five minutes or so he
took no part in the conversation, but just laid on the cushions and
stared intently at the ceiling. Then, suddenly, he thumped his feet to
the floor and reached for his cap.
"What time is it?" he demanded.
"Most eight," said Tim. "We'd better beat it."
"What time----" began Amy. Then he stopped, pulled his cap on his head
and literally hurled himself across the room and through the door,
leaving the others to gaze at each other amazedly.
"Well, what's wrong with him?" gasped Tim.
"He's got something in that crazy head of his," answered Tom uneasily.
"Don't let him start that petition business, Tim, will you? I don't want
to seem mean or anything, you know, but I'd rather let things be as they
are. Come up again, fellows. And maybe today's showing doesn't mean
anything, Tim, just as you said. We'll hope so, eh?"
Faculty conferences took place on Monday evenings at half-past seven in
the faculty meeting room in Main Hall. At such times, with the
principal, Mr. Fernald, presiding at the end of the long table and all
members of the faculty able to attend ranged on either side, all and
sundry matters pertaining to the government of the school came up for
discussion. The business portion of the conference was followed by an
informal half-hour of talk, during which many of the students were
subjected to a dissection that would have surprised them vastly had they
known of it. Tonight, however, the executive session was still going on
and Mr. Brooke, the secretary, was still making notes at the foot of the
table, when there came a rap at the door.
Mr. Fernald nodded to Mr. Brooke. "See who it is, please," he said.
The secretary laid down his pen very carefully on the clean square of
blue blotting-paper before him, pushed back his chair and opened the
door a few inches. When he turned around his countenance expressed a
sort of pained disapprobation. "It's Byrd, sir," announced Mr. Brooke in
a low, shocked voice. "He says he'd like to speak to you."
"Byrd? Well, tell him I'm busy," replied the principal. "If he wants to
wait I'll see him after the conference. Although"--Mr. Fernald glanced
at the clock--"it's only four minutes to eight and he'd better get back
to his room. Tell him I'll see him at the Cottage at nine, Mr. Brooke.
As I was saying," and Mr. Fernald faced the company again, "I think it
would be well to arrange for a longer course this Winter. Last year, as
you'll recall---- Eh? What is it?"
"He says, sir, that it's a faculty matter," announced Mr. Brooke
deprecatingly, "and asks to be allowed to come in for a minute."
"A faculty matter? Well, in that case----All right, Mr. Brooke, tell him
to come in."
As Amy entered eight pairs of eyes regarded him curiously; nine, in
fact, for Mr. Brooke, closing the door softly behind the visitor, gazed
at him in questioning disapproval.
"Well, Byrd, what can we do for you?" Mr. Fernald smiled, doubtless with
the wish to dispel embarrassment. But he needn't have troubled about
that, for Amy didn't look or act in the least embarrassed. "I'm afraid,"
continued the principal, "that I can't offer you a chair, for we're
rather busy just now. What was it you wanted to speak of?"
"I guess it looks pretty cheeky, sir, for me to butt in here," replied
Amy, with a smile, "but it's rather important, sir, and--and if
anything's to be done about it it'll have to be done tonight."
"Really? Well, it does sound important. Suppose you tell us about it,
Byrd."
"Thank you, sir." Amy paused, gathering his words in order. "It's this,
Mr. Fernald: when we fellows were put on pro--probation, I mean, it was
intended that we should all get the same punishment, wasn't it, sir?"
"Let me see, that was the affair of---- Ah, yes, I recall it. Why, yes,
Byrd, naturally it was meant to treat you all alike. What complaint have
you?"
"It isn't exactly a complaint, sir. But it's this way. There were nine
of us altogether. It was my fault in the first place because I put them
up to it. They'd never thought of it if I hadn't." Amy glanced at Mr.
Moller. "It was a pretty silly piece of business, sir, and we got what
we deserved. But--but none of us meant to--to hurt anyone's feelings,
sir. It was just a lark. We didn't think that----"
"We'll allow that, Byrd. Please get down to the purpose of this unusual
visit," said Mr. Fernald drily.
"Yes, sir. Well, eight of us it doesn't matter so much about. We aren't
football men and being on probation doesn't cut so much--I mean it
doesn't matter so much. But Tom Hall's a football man, sir, and it's
different for him. This is his last year here and losing his place on
the team was hard lines. That's what I'm trying to get at, sir. You
meant that we were all to be punished the same, but we weren't. It's
just about twice as hard on Tom as it is on the rest of us. You see
that, sir, don't you?"
There was a moment of silence and then Mr. Simkins coughed. Or did he
chuckle? Amy couldn't tell. But the principal dropped his eyes and
tapped his blotter with the tip of the pencil he held. At last:
"That's a novel point of view, Byrd," he said. "There may be something
in it. But I must remind you that the Law--and the faculty stands for
the Law here--takes no cognisance of conditions existing--hem!" Mr.
Fernald glanced doubtfully down the table. "Perhaps it should, though.
We'll pass that question for the moment. What is it you suggest, Byrd?"
"Well, sir, the team's in punk shape. It was awful today. It needs Tom,
sir; needs him awfully. I don't say that we'll beat Claflin if he should
play, Mr. Fernald, but I'm mighty sure we won't if he doesn't. And it
seemed to me that maybe you and the other faculty members hadn't thought
of how much harder you were giving it to Tom than to the rest of us, and
that if you did know, realise it, sir, you'd maybe consider that he'd
had about enough and let him off so he might play Saturday. The rest of
us haven't any kick coming, sir. It's just Tom. And he doesn't know that
I'm here, either. We tried to get him to let us petition faculty, but he
wouldn't. He said he was going to take the same punishment as the rest
of us."
"Then he doesn't agree with your contention, Byrd?"
"Oh, he sees I'm right, Mr. Fernald, but he--he's obstinate!"
Mr. Fernald smiled, as did most of the others.
"Byrd, I think you ought to take a law course," said the principal. "I
might answer you as I started to by pointing out that it is no business
of ours whether a punishment is going to hit one fellow harder than
another; that just because it might should make that one fellow more
careful not to transgress. But you've taken the wind out of my sails by
getting me to testify that we intended the punishment to be the same for
all. You've put us in a difficult place, Byrd. If we should lift
probation in Hall's case it would seem that we had different laws for
team members than for boys unconnected with athletics. You've made a
very eloquent plea, but I don't just see----" Mr. Fernald hesitated.
Then: "Possibly someone has some suggestion," he added, and it seemed to
Amy that his gaze rested on Mr. Moller for an instant.
At all events it was the new member of the faculty who spoke. "If I
might, sir," he said hesitatingly, "I'd like to make the suggestion that
probation be lifted from all. It seems to me that that would--would
simplify things, Mr. Fernald."
"Hm. Yes. Possibly. As the target of the extremely vulgar proceeding,
Mr. Moller, the suggestion coming from you bears weight. Byrd, you'd
better get to your studies. You'll learn our decision in the morning.
Your action is commendable, my boy, and we'll take that into
consideration also. Good-night."
"Good-night, sir. Good-night, sirs. Thank you."
Amy retired unhurriedly, unembarrassedly, and with dignity, as befitted
one who had opened the eyes of Authority to the error of its ways!
The next morning Mr. Fernald announced in chapel that at the request of
Mr. Moller, and in consideration of good behaviour, the faculty had
voted to lift probation from the following students: Hall----
But just there the applause began and the other eight names were not
heard.