A PLAN AND A GAME
Campbell and the Western Whirlwind had certain qualities in common; both
had ambitions to be "sporty." They shared an inclination for lurid
neckties, fancy socks and striped silk shirts; they believed themselves
wise as to the ways of the world, and each had been heard to express the
opinion that Ridgley School was a "slow old dump." Campbell was the
leader of the two--he dominated Bassett as a political boss dominates
his hench-men. One reason was that Bassett foresaw favors to be had at
the hands of Tracey Campbell.
Tracey's home was only eight miles away--just on the other side of
Greensboro--and within recent years his life had been greatly changed
through the fortunes of war. To many homes in the busy town of
Greensboro the struggle in Europe had brought privation and to some it
had brought tragedy, but to the Campbells it had brought prosperity.
Campbell, Senior, was a wholesale dealer in leather; he had caught the
market just right and, in the expressive words of his neighbors, had
made "a mountain of money." He had moved from his modest home in the
town and had built a pretentious house on a hillock two miles to the
west. Those of the townspeople who had been inside "the mansion"
declared that every chair and every picture on the wall was screaming
aloud, "He got rich quick! He got rich quick!"
Campbell, Senior, did not believe that the son of a man who had made a
million should remain in the public school, and so he had arranged to
have Tracey go to Ridgley. The younger Campbell had come to the school
on the hill with a certain feeling of superiority that was in no small
measure owing to his belief that his father was richer than the father
of any other fellow in sight.
Bassett had been brought up in a somewhat similar home; his father was a
promoter of mines and oil wells and had come naturally by a bombastic
manner which he had in turn passed on to his only son. The elder Bassett
was known behind his back as Blow-Hard Bassett, and it was said of him
that he owned more diamond stick-pins than any other man alive.
On the night after Teeny-bits had practiced for the first time with the
"big team", Bassett knocked on Campbell's locked door.
"Who is it?" demanded Campbell, and slipped the catch when he heard
Bassett's voice. As soon as the "Whirlwind" had stepped inside, Campbell
went over to the window and resumed the occupation in which he had been
engaged when Bassett had interrupted him. From the window sill he took a
smoldering cigarette and, holding it in his cupped hand so that the glow
could not be seen from outside, sucked in, and after a moment cautiously
blew the smoke out into the night air. Bassett watched him in silence
for a moment and then he said:
"They slipped something over on you, didn't they?"
"What can you expect?" was Campbell's reply. "But I can tell you
this--if I don't get a fair show pretty quick, I'm going to quit--and
I'll not only quit playing football, but I'll say good-by for a lifetime
to Ridgley School. I'm not going to be the goat much longer--you can bet
your gold pieces on that."
"You'd have been on the first team already if it hadn't been for
Teeny-bits," said Bassett.
"Some day I'm going to show that fellow up," said Campbell. "It makes me
sick the way the whole crowd falls for him."
"What are you going to do?"
"Well you watch and see!"
"Got any plan?"
"Not yet."
"I have--one that will work this time." Bassett looked at his friend
keenly and seeing that Campbell's face betrayed skepticism he prepared
himself mentally to exercise the same talents that had made his father,
Blow-Hard Bassett, a successful seller of mining stock.
* * * * *
The game with Wilton, on the last Saturday in October, was the first
hard test of the season. The outcome of the struggle with Wilton had
always been taken at Ridgley as an indication of the probable result of
the game with Jefferson,--the final athletic event of the year and the
crisis of the football season. If Ridgley pushed back the sturdy Wilton
team and snatched victory from the wearers of the purple, then there
were reasonable grounds for hoping that three weeks later there would be
a bonfire on the campus and a midnight parade to celebrate a victory
over Jefferson, the ancient and honored foe of Ridgley. If, on the other
hand, Wilton showed an impertinent disregard for the best line that
Ridgley could assemble and carried their impertinence to such an extreme
as to romp home with the victory, the situation looked black as ink, and
the tense atmosphere that accompanies forlorn hopes took possession of
Ridgley School and penetrated not merely to the recitation halls, but
even, it was said, to the office of Doctor Wells, the head. In such
times there were mighty efforts to bolster up the spirit of the team, to
feed it concentrated football knowledge and to ward off by Herculean
effort the black shadow of defeat that raised its ugly head like a
thunder cloud pushing itself higher and higher over the white buildings
on the hill.
Before the Wilton game Coach Murray had a few words to say to the team
that made every member tingle with a desire to show what he could do.
When the whistle blew and the game began, Teeny-bits was sitting on the
side lines with the other substitutes.
Ridgley kicked off to Wilton, and immediately received a terrific
surprise. The pigskin went sailing through the air impelled by the heavy
boot of big Tom Curwood; it fell into the purple-covered arms of a rangy
Wilton half-back who, instead of running with the ball, immediately sent
away a long spiral punt that flew over the heads of the charging Ridgley
players. Neil Durant yelled out a quick warning and turned with his
team-mates.
Ned Stillson was nearest the ball when it struck the ground; he intended
to gather it up as it bounced, and then he meant to carry it far back
toward the Wilton goal, but his calculations went wrong. His
outstretched fingers touched the ball and almost grasped it, but the
pigskin oval slipped from him and next instant--to the horror of the
Ridgley watchers--was seized by a swift-footed son of Wilton who had
come tearing downfield as if some weird instinct had informed him that
Ned was to make the fatal error. Before any Ridgley player could
overtake him he was lying between the goal posts with a satisfied grin
on his features. The game was scarcely thirty seconds old and the score
was 6-0 in favor of the invaders! A moment later the Wilton captain
kicked an easy goal and the tally was seven.
Nor was that all of the misery in store for Ridgley; before the
timekeeper had signaled the end of the first quarter, another disaster
had occurred; and this time the element of luck, which might have been
said to enter somewhat at least into the scoring of the first touchdown,
played favorites no more with Wilton than with Ridgley. The home team
was outgeneraled. By a series of strong rushes the visitors carried the
ball sixty-five yards for a well-earned touchdown. The baffling thing
about their play was a sudden shift; the quarter-back began to shout his
numbers, then he yelled "Shift" and with a quick jump several members of
the Wilton team took new positions; almost instantly the pigskin was
snapped and before the Ridgley players had the Wilton runner down, the
ball was five or ten yards nearer their goal line. That had happened
again and again during Wilton's successful march to Ridgley's goal line.
Wilton scored near the corner of the field and failed to kick the goal.
The tally was 13-0.
The brief rest between the first and the second quarters was put to good
use by Neil Durant; he got his players together and so rallied their
spirits that in the second quarter they not only held their own, but
gradually pushed their opponents back and back until they were
threatening the line. But they did not quite succeed in scoring; with
thirty seconds more to play, Ridgley had the ball on Wilton's five-yard
line. It was first down. A rush through tackle failed and while the
Ridgley team was lining up for another try, the timekeeper's whistle
blew. The chance had been lost.
The third quarter started more auspiciously; two forward passes netted
Ridgley forty yards of gain. The ball was far within the enemy territory
again, but Wilton held, and on the fourth down Ned Stillson fell back
and made a successful drop kick.
During the rest of this quarter there was a good deal of seesawing back
and forth and neither side seemed to have the advantage, until Tom
Curwood recovered a fumble on the visitors' twenty-five-yard line. Again
the Wilton line held and again the Ridgley team scored by a drop kick.
This time it was Neil Durant's toe that sent the oval between the
uprights and over the cross-bar. The third quarter ended with the score
13-6, and Wilton's cheering section indulged in vociferous expressions
of glee.
At the beginning of the final quarter Coach Murray sent in Teeny-bits to
take the place of White, the left half-back, who was limping. The Wilton
players glanced at the substitute and exchanged looks of satisfaction;
the newcomer seemed too small to be dangerous. It was the first big game
that Teeny-bits had ever been in; he was quivering with eagerness to run
with the ball. But the opportunity did not seem to come; most of the
time Ridgley was on the defensive, fighting desperately to hold back the
Wilton plungers.
[Illustration: AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FINAL QUARTER COACH MURRAY SENT
IN TEENY-BITS TO TAKE THE PLACE OF WHITE.]
When Ridgley finally did get its chance the time was slipping swiftly
away, and hope was glimmering but faintly in the home stands. There was
to be one more sensation, however. The ball was Ridgley's on its own
twenty-five-yard line. Durant carried it forward ten yards, then Tom
Curwood plunged through for five more. Then Dean called on Teeny-bits.
"Twenty-seven, sixteen, eleven," he called out, and the ball came back
swiftly into his hands. Teeny-bits took it from Dean on the run and
began to circle the right end of the line; a gap opened for an instant;
he was through it like a rabbit diving through a hedge and with a thrill
dashed on. He did not mean to stop until the last whitewashed line was
behind him.
In front, the Wilton quarter-back was crouching tensely to intercept
him. Teeny-bits shifted direction to pass him, but the quarter-back was
not only wily, but swift; he was after Teeny-bits like a cat and began
to force him to run diagonally across the field. Two Wilton players
converged on Teeny-bits from the other side and one of them made a
desperate tackle. Teeny-bits used his straight arm to ward off the
attack and succeeded in slipping from the tackler's clutches, but the
fraction of a second that he lost opened an opportunity to the Wilton
quarter-back. Teeny-bits felt himself tackled heavily; he fell against
the player who had first tackled him and to his utter dismay felt the
ball knocked from his grasp and saw it go bounding over the ground. He
lay sprawling, so tangled with the Wilton players that for the moment he
could not rise. With horrified gaze he saw the leather oval roll free
and he felt the overwhelming shame of one who has failed to be equal to
the demands of a crisis. But his feeling of self-condemnation
immediately gave way to an entirely different emotion, for a swiftly
moving pair of legs incased in the Ridgley red and white came within the
range of his vision. He glanced up and saw that it was Neil Durant. Two
Wilton players were after the ball also, but the Ridgley captain was
before them; he scooped it up and ran swiftly down the field. While the
stands roared in a frenzy of delight, Neil crossed the goal line and
circled round till he placed the ball squarely behind the posts. Tom
Curwood kicked the goal, and two minutes later the game ended with the
ball in mid-field and the score 13-13.
"I'm glad you dropped that ball," said Durant, joining Teeny-bits as the
substitute half-back was walking off the field; "it came just right to
bounce up into my hands."
"It _was_ lucky," admitted the candidate, "but I was mighty ashamed of
myself."
"Well, it was a hard tackle," said Durant. "I don't blame you for
dropping the ball."
Teeny-bits was about to make a reply when he saw coming toward them a
white-haired man who walked with a limp. "There's Dad," he said, "I
didn't know he was coming to the game."
Old Daniel Holbrook approached them with a beaming face. "Well, well,
son!" he exclaimed, "I thought maybe you'd play, so I came to see the
game."
Teeny-bits introduced Durant and tried to smother a feeling of
embarrassment, the source of which he would not have cared to probe.
"Your ma, Teeny-bits, wants you should come down for Sunday dinner
to-morrow," said the station master, "and she's particular for you to
bring a friend. I've killed two young roosters and ma's fixin' 'em up
with the kind of stuffin' you like. Now if this friend of yours here
would like to come down with you I'll drive up and get both of you in
the morning after church. He looks as if he'd have a good appetite."
Teeny-bits expected to hear Neil Durant express courteous regret; he did
not for a moment think that the son of Major-General Durant and the most
popular member of Ridgley School would be interested in visiting the
humble Holbrook home. He was even a little ashamed that Dad Holbrook had
extended the invitation with so much genial assurance.
"I'll be mighty glad to come--if Teeny-bits wants me to," said Durant,
and Teeny-bits looked at him with such a queer expression of surprise
and pleasure that Neil added: "You didn't expect me to refuse an
invitation like that, did you?"
At the steps of the locker building Durant left them, and Teeny-bits
remained outside for a few minutes to talk to the station master. Then
he said good-by and went inside to take his shower.
He found his team-mates discussing the game in detail and bestowing
praise on Neil Durant.
"Well, cap'n, old scout," Ned Stillson was saying, as Teeny-bits came
clamping in, "you sure were Johnny-on-the-spot."
Though there was nothing in the words to signify actual criticism of any
one, Teeny-bits felt that the real meaning behind them was that when
some one else had failed, Durant had saved the day. That some one else
was himself, and, though the members of the team treated him as
cordially as ever, he had the unpleasant feeling that they looked upon
him now as one who had failed in a crisis, and he had to admit to
himself that their opinion--if they held it--was justly founded. He went
back to his room and for half an hour before supper sat by his window,
thinking deeply. The conclusion to which he came was this: if he ever
got another chance to run with the ball for Ridgley he would squeeze
that leather oval so hard that the thing would be in danger of bursting.
He resolved to make no apologies to Coach Murray, but to show by future
deeds that he could be trusted. When he went over to Lincoln Hall for
dinner he found the fellows at his table apparently unchanged in their
attitude toward him. They seemed to have forgotten that he had covered
himself with no glory.
While the soup was being disposed of some one who came in late brought a
bit of news that spread from table to table as if by magic. It seemed to
fly from one end of the room to the other and instantly it became the
topic of excited conversation. Everywhere it went it created looks of
dismay on the faces of the Ridgleyites, for there was a portentous
quality in it that boded bitter things for "the best school in the
world."
While Ridgley had been striving mightily to hold its own against Wilton
and had found its opponent so redoubtable that the tie score seemed to
be fully as much as it deserved--and perhaps a little more--Jefferson,
the big rival of Ridgley from time immemorial, had been winning the
laurels. Jefferson had trampled mercilessly upon Goodrich Academy and
with seeming ease had scored touchdown after touchdown. The final score
was 34-0 and herein lay the menace for Ridgley: only a week before,
Goodrich had defeated Wilton 7-0. If Goodrich were better than Wilton
and Wilton were as good as Ridgley, what chance did Ridgley stand
against Jefferson, which had apparently toyed with the Goodrich eleven
and scored at will? It was a problem that would seem to be answered
correctly only by three dismal words: None at all! A buzz of talk filled
the dining hall and every one knew that Ridgley was face to face with a
forlorn hope.
"Well, we'll have to fight," said Mr. Stevens, who sat at the head of
Teeny-bits' table, "and fight hard--it will never do to get
discouraged."
But discouragement is subtle; there was good need of something to
instill spirit into the Ridgley team, for in the days that followed,
rumors like the fables of old began to reach the school on the hill. It
was said that tacklers found it almost impossible to stop Norris, the
Jefferson full-back. Half a dozen colleges were begging him to bestow
honors upon them by making them his Alma Mater. He could run a hundred
yards in ten and one fifth seconds and he weighed one hundred and
seventy pounds stripped. In the Goodrich game time and again he had made
ten yards with two or more of the Goodrich players clinging to him as
unavailingly as Lilliputians clinging to a giant. No less fearsome tales
were told of Whipple, the Jefferson punter, and of Phillips and Burton,
the two ends.
The punter could send a wickedly twisting spiral sixty yards, and the
ends had an uncanny way of catching forward passes. Through the
newspapers, through word of mouth and by letters the news arrived,--and
it became increasingly disconcerting. Unless Ridgley wished to be
disgraced before the eyes of the world something must be done--and done
soon--to bolster up the team.