"Why, look at the Dink!" said Lovely Mead the next afternoon, as
Stover emerged in football togs which he had industriously smeared
with mud to conceal their novelty.
"He must be going out for the 'Varsity!" said Fatty Harris
sarcastically.
"By request," said the Gutter Pup.
"Why, who told you?" said Stover.
"You trying for the 'Varsity?" said Lovely Mead incredulously. "Why,
where did you play football?"
"Dear me, Lovely," said Stover, lacing his jacket, "thought you read
the newspapers."
"Huh! What position are you trying for?"
"First substitute scorer," said Stover, according to Finnegan's
theory. "Any more questions?"
Lovely Mead, surprised, looked at Stover in perplexity and remained
silent.
Dink, laughing to himself at the ease of the trick, started across the
Circle for the 'Varsity football field, whither already the candidates
were converging to the first call of the season.
He had started joyfully forth from the skeptics on the steps, but once
past the chapel and in sight of the field his gait abruptly changed.
He went quietly, thoughtfully, a little alarmed at his own daring,
glancing at the padded figures that overtopped him.
The veterans with the red L on their black sweaters were apart,
tossing the ball back and forth and taking playful tackles at one
another. Stover, hiding himself modestly in the common herd, watched
with entranced eyes the lithe, sinuous forms of Flash Condit and
Charlie DeSoto--greater to him than the faint heroes of mythology--as
they tumbled the Waladoo Bird gleefully on the ground. There was
Butcher Stevens of the grim eye and the laconic word, a man to follow
and emulate; and the broad span of Turkey Reiter's shoulders, a mark
to grow to. Meanwhile, Garry Cockrell, the captain, and Mr. Ware, the
new coach from the Princeton championship eleven, were drawing nearer
on their tour of inspection and classification. Dink knew his captain
only from respectful distances--the sandy hair, the gaunt cheek bones
and the deliberate eye, whom governors of states alone might approach
with equality, and no one else. Under the dual inspection the squad
was quickly sorted, some sent back to their House teams till another
year brought more weight and experience, and others tentatively
retained on the scrubs.
"Better make the House team, Jenks," said the low, even voice of the
captain. "You want to harden up a bit. Glad you reported, though."
Then Dink stood before his captain, dimly aware of the quick little
eyes of Mr. Ware quietly scrutinizing him.
"What form?"
"Third."
The two were silent a moment studying not the slender, wiry figure,
but the look in the eyes within.
"What are you out for?"
"End, sir."
"What do you weigh?"
"One hundred and fifty--about," said Dink.
A grim little twinkle appeared in the captain's eyes.
"About one hundred and thirty-five," he said, with a measuring glance.
"But I'm hard, hard as nails, sir," said Stover desperately.
"What football have you played?"
Stover remained silent.
"Well?"
"I--I haven't played," he said unwillingly.
"You seem unusually eager," said Cockrell, amused at this strange
exhibition of willingness.
"Yes, sir."
"Good spirit; keep it up. Get right out for your House team----"
"I won't!" said Stover, blurting it out in his anger and then
flushing: "I mean, give me a chance, won't you, sir?"
Cockrell, who had turned, stopped and came back.
"What makes you think you can play?" he said not unkindly.
"I've got to," said Stover desperately.
"But you don't know the game."
"Please, sir, I'm not out for the 'Varsity," said Stover confusedly.
"I mean, I want to be in it, to work for the school, sir."
"You're not a Freshman?" said the captain, and the accents of his
voice were friendly.
"No, sir."
"What's your name?" said Cockrell, a little thrilled to feel the
genuine veneration that inspired the "sir."
"Stover--Dink Stover."
"You were down at the Green last year, weren't you?"
"Yes, sir," said Stover, looking down with a sinking feeling.
"You're the fellow who tried to fight the whole House?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, Dink, this is a little different--you can't play football on
nothing but nerve."
"You can if you've got enough of it," said Stover, all in a breath.
"Please, sir, give me a chance. You can fire me if I'm no good. I only
want to be useful. You've got to have a lot of fellows to stand the
banging and you can bang me around all day. I do know something about
it, sir; I've practiced tackling and falling on the ball all summer,
and I'm hard as nails. Just give me a chance, will you? Just one
chance, sir."
Cockrell looked at Mr. Ware, whose eye showed the battling spark as he
nodded.
"Here, Dink," he said gruffly, "I can't be wasting any more time over
you. I told you to go back to the House team, didn't I?"
Stover, with a lump in his throat, nodded the answer he could not
utter.
"Well, I've changed my mind. Get over there in the squad."
The revulsion of feeling was so sudden that tears came into Stover's
eyes.
"You're really going to let me stay?"
"Get over there, you little nuisance!"
Dink went a few steps, and then stopped and tightened his shoelaces a
long minute.
"Too bad the little devil is so light," said Cockrell to Mr. Ware.
"Best player I ever played against had no right on a football field."
"But one hundred and thirty-five!"
"Yes, that's pretty light."
"What the deuce were you chinning so long about?" said Cheyenne Baxter
to Dink, as he came joyfully into the squad.
"Captain wanted just a bit of general expert advice from me," said
Dink defiantly. "I've promised to help out."
The squad, dividing, practiced starts. Stover held his own, being
naturally quick; and though Flash Condit and Charlie DeSoto distanced
him, still he earned a good word for his performances.
Presently Mr. Ware came up with a ball and, with a few words of
introduction, started them to falling on it as it bounded grotesquely
over the ground, calling them from the ranks by name.
"Hard at it, Stevens."
"Dive at it."
"Don't stop till you get it."
"Oh, squeeze the ball!"
Stover, moving up, caught the eye of Mr. Ware intently on him, and
rose on his toes with the muscles in his arms strained and eager.
"Now, Stover, hard!"
The ball with just an extra impetus left the hand of Mr. Ware. Stover
went at it like a terrier, dove and came up glorious and muddy with
the pigskin hugged in his arms. It was the extent of his football
knowledge, but that branch he had mastered on the soft summer turf.
Mr. Ware gave a grunt of approval and sent him plunging after another.
This time as he dove the ball took a tricky bounce and slipped through
his arms. Quick as a flash Dink, rolling over, recovered himself and
flung himself on it.
"That's the way!" said Mr. Ware. "Follow it up. Can't always get it
the first time. Come on, Baxter."
The real test came with the tackling. He waited his turn, all eyes,
trying to catch the trick, as boy after boy in front of him went
cleanly or awkwardly out to down the man who came plunging at him.
Some tackled sharply and artistically, their feet leaving the ground
and taking the runner off his legs as though a scythe had passed under
him; but most of the tackling was crude, and often the runner slipped
through the arms and left the tackler prone on the ground to rise amid
the jeers of his fellows.
"Your turn, Stover," said the voice of the captain. "Wait a minute."
He looked over the squad and selected McCarty, saying: "Here, Tough,
come out here. Here's a fellow thinks all you need in this game is
nerve. Let's see what he's got."
Dink stood out, neither hearing nor caring for the laugh that went up.
He glanced up fifteen yards away where Tough McCarty stood waiting the
starting signal. He was not afraid, he was angry clean through, ready
to tackle the whole squad, one after another.
"Shall I take it sideways?" said Tough, expecting to be tackled from
the side as the others had been.
"No, head on, Tough. Let's see if you can get by him," said Cockrell.
"Let her go!"
McCarty, with the memory of past defiances, went toward Stover head
down, full tilt. Ordinarily in practice the runner slackens just
before the tackle; but McCarty, expecting slight resistance from a
novice, arrived at top speed.
Stover, instead of hesitating or waiting the coming, hurled himself
recklessly forward. Shoulder met knee with a crash that threw them
both. Stunned by the savage impact, Stover, spilled head over heels,
dizzy and furious, instinctively flung himself from his knees upon the
prostrate body of McCarty, as he had followed the elusive ball a
moment before.
"That's instinct, football instinct," said Mr. Ware to Cockrell, as
they approached the spot where Dink, still dazed, was clutching Tough
McCarty's knees in a convulsive hug.
"Let go! Let go there, you little varmint," said Tough McCarty,
considerably shaken. "How long are you going to hold me here?"
Some one touched Dink on the shoulder; he looked up through the blur
to see the captain's face.
"All right, Dink, get up."
But Stover released his grip not a whit.
"Here, you young bulldog," said Cockrell with a laugh, "it's all over.
Let go. Stand up. Sort of groggy, eh?"
Dink, pulled to his feet, felt the earth slip under him in drunken
reelings.
"I missed him," he said brokenly, leaning against Mr. Ware.
"H'm, not so bad," said the coach gruffly.
"How do you feel?" said Garry Cockrell, looking at him with his quiet
smile.
Dink saw the smile and misjudged it.
"Give me another chance," he cried furiously. "I'll get him."
"What! Ready for another tackle?" said the captain, looking at him
intently.
"Please, sir."
"Well, get your head clear first."
"Let me take it now, sir!"
"All right."
"Hit him harder than he hits you, and grip with your hands," said the
voice of Mr. Ware in his ear.
Dink stood out again. The earth was gradually returning to a state of
equilibrium, but his head was buzzing and his legs were decidedly
rebels to his will.
The captain, seeing this, to give him time, spoke to McCarty with just
a shade of malice.
"Well, Tough, do you want to take it again?"
"Do I?" said McCarty sarcastically. "Oh, yes, most enjoyable! Don't
let me interfere with your pleasure. Why don't you try it yourself?"
"Would you rather watch?"
"Oh, no, of course not. This is a real pleasure, thank you. The little
devil would dent a freight train."
"All ready, Stover?" said Cockrell.
The players stood in two lines, four yards apart. No one laughed. They
looked at Stover, thrilling a little with his communicated
recklessness, grunting forth their approval.
"Good nerve."
"The real stuff."
"Pure grit."
"Little devil."
Stover's face had gone white, the eyes had dwindled and set intensely,
the line of the mouth was drawn taut, while on his forehead the wind
lifted the matted hair like a banner. In the middle of the lane,
crowding forward, his arms out, ready to spring, his glance fixed on
McCarty, he waited like a champion guarding the pass.
"All right, Stover?"
Some one near him repeated the question.
"Come on!" he answered.
McCarty's one hundred and seventy pounds came rushing down. But this
time the instinct was strong. He slacked a bit at the end as Stover,
not waiting his coming, plunged in to meet him. Down they went again,
but this time it was the force of Stover's impact that threw them.
When Cockrell came up, Dink, altogether groggy, was entwined around
one leg of McCarty with a gaunt grin of possession.
They hauled him up, patted him on the back and walked him up and down
in the cool breeze. Suddenly, after several minutes, the mist rose. He
saw the fields and heard the sharp cries of the coaches prodding on
the players. Then he looked up to find Garry Cockrell's arm about him.
"All right now?" said the captain's voice.
Stover hastily put the arm away from him.
"I'm all right."
"Did I give you a little too much, youngster?"
"I'm ready again," said Stover instantly.
Cockrell laughed a short, contented laugh.
"You've done enough for to-day."
"I'll learn how," said Dink doggedly.
"You know the real things in football now, my boy," said the captain
shortly. "We'll teach you the rest."
Dink thought he meant it sarcastically.
"You will give me a chance, won't you?" he said.
"Yes," said the captain, laying his hand on his shoulder with a smile.
"You'll get chance enough, my boy. Fact is, I'm going to start you in
at end on the scrub. You'll get all the hard knocks you're looking for
there. You won't get any credit for what you do--but you boys are
what's going to make the team."
"Oh, sir, do you mean it?"
"I'm in the habit of meaning things."
"I'll--I'll----" began Stover, and then stopped before the
impossibility of expressing how many times his life should be thrown
to the winds.
"I know you will," said the captain, amused. "And now, you young
bulldog, back to your room and shake yourself together."
"But I want to go on; I'm feeling fine."
"Off the field," said the captain with terrific sternness.
Dink went like a dog ordered home, slowly, unwillingly, turning from
time to time in hopes that his captain would relent.
When he had passed the chapel and the strife of the practice had
dropped away he felt all at once sharp, busy pains running up his back
and over his shoulders. But he minded them not. At that moment with
the words of the captain--_his_ captain forever now--ringing in his
ears, he would have gone forth gratefully to tackle the whole team,
one after another, from wiry little Charlie DeSoto to the elephantine
P. Lentz.
Suddenly a thought came to him.
"Gee, I bet I shook up Tough McCarty, anyhow," he said grimly. And
refreshed by this delightful thought he went briskly across the
Circle.
At the steps Finnegan, coming out the door, hailed him excitedly:
"Hi, Dink, we've got a Freshman who's setting up to jiggers and
eclairs. Hurry up!"
"No," said Dink.
"What?" said Dennis faintly.
"I can't," said Dink, bristling; "I'm in training."