"Oh, yes, I am!" yelled the shrill voice, which was heard all up and
down both sides of the field, and reached to the Athletic Club; and
throwing away his cane, and bending over to let some one pull off two
sweaters, Wormsey ran sniffling out on the field.
"See, Jack," he called to the trainer. "I don't limp a bit." But he
kept his face turned to one side so that the trainer couldn't see it
twitch.
"Come here and I'll give you the signals, Wormsey," said the captain.
"I know them already," said Wormsey, looking ashamed of himself; and
he took his place on one knee behind the centre who had so often
tumbled upon him.
Then he jumped in and showed everybody what he had been learning
during the past ten days. He was in perfect condition now, except for
the ankle, which he forgot about. He was quite accurate in his quick
method of passing, and he tackled ravenously. Fellows like Wormsey
never get soft. "Just watch that boy follow the ball," exclaimed one
of the coachers to another. "Too bad he's so light," said the other.
Once when the scrub had the ball they gave the signal for a trick
which they had been saving up as a surprise for the 'varsity. Tommy
knew that signal. He dashed through the line between tackle and end,
he caught the long pass on the fly, and having plenty of wind and a
clear field, he made a touch-down unassisted, which made the crowd
yell and applaud. Of course it was a great fluke, and Wormsey knew
that, but all the same, while the crowd gave a cheer for Tommy
Wormsey, and a three-times-three for "the little devil," he grinned
for a moment, and puckered up his eyes. But it is not the crowd that
chooses the team.
That evening at dinner all the college was talking about the great
tear the little freshman had made, and down at the Athletic Club
Wormsey overheard one of the coachers say: "When Stump comes out
again, it'll make him work to see the freshman putting up a game like
that. But of course he can't keep it up. The pace is too fast."
Wormsey bit his nails and had his own opinion about that. But whatever
it might have been was never learned, because the next day he was
taken off the field for the season. His bad ankle was sprained in the
first half, which served him right for disobeying the doctor's order.
But he should not have cared. Didn't he play one whole day on the
'varsity?