STRANGE FRUIT FOR A TREE TO BEAR
"Oh! girls, you just ought to have seen Fred Badger run with the ball
then! They all chased after him, but he dodged them like everything.
If the boys win that game from Marshall I'm sure Fred's going to have
a lot to do with it!"
Joel chuckled at hearing one girl say that, for he recognized the
voice of pretty little Mollie Skinner, on whom it was said the Fred
mentioned was rather sweet, since he always accompanied her to choir
meeting, and when they had a dance out in the country, she invariably
went with Fred. "Well, I don't know what Fred Badger has got over
Steve Mullane, or Jack Winters, or even Joel Jackman," said another
voice, rather cynically, as though the speaker did not wholly
subscribe to Mollie's view that Fred stood out as a shining mark above
the rest of the bunch of struggling players.
Joel chuckled again. It tickled him to be mentioned at all by one of
the fair watchers in the tree, even though with such a doubtful
compliment as "even Joel Jackman!" would imply.
"But I'm beginning to get tired of sitting here in this ridiculous
fashion," said a third one, dolefully, "and taking turns at peeking
through Mollie's mother's opera-glasses. I wouldn't have come only I
felt so much interest in our boys this year. It's their first
appearance on the gridiron, and I'm just wild to see them beat that
bragging old Harmony. As to Marshall, I just know Chester will put
those fellows down where they belong, at the foot of the class,
without half trying."
"Neither would I have gone to all this trouble," spoke up the fair and
spirited Mollie, "only for that silly letter my friend in Harmony
wrote me, saying that it was a foregone conclusion Harmony would sweep
the earth this year because their team had been _terribly_
strengthened. In fact she gave me to understand that everything, even
to the crepe, had been ordered for poor little new beginner Chester.
It kept me awake most all last night; and I felt so much excited that
I just _had_ to get you girls to come out here and see what our
gallant boys were doing."
"Yes, but however are we going to get down from here?" sighed the girl
who had spoken second, and whose name was Lucy Marsh, while the last
of the daring trio Jack knew to be another pretty maid, Adelaide
Holliday by name. "I feel afraid to jump from so high a place; and
girls can't climb trees and come down like boys do."
"Would you mind if we came up and helped you, girls?" suddenly
demanded Jack, as he and his companion showed themselves.
There were alarmed squeals from the three nesting in the crotch of the
tree, and this was followed by girlish laughter when they discovered
who the newcomers were. It was not only the boys of Chester who liked
Jack Winters; for any girl would be proud to be asked for her company
by a fellow like Jack, so universally esteemed.
"You've turned the tables on us this time, Jack," said Lucy Marsh,
bravely enough. "It's a case of the biters bitten, evidently. We came
to spy, and we've been spied on in turn. Well, since you've discovered
us in a tree, perhaps you'd better climb up and help a pack of foolish
girls back to the solid ground again. I seem to lose my head once I
get off the earth."
Accordingly Jack and Joel joined them, and it was no particular effort
to help each girl down. When the last had been safely landed, the boys
jumped lightly after them.
"You'll excuse our looks, of course, girls," said Joel. "We've been in
a scrimmage and are hardly fit for ladies' company; but all the same
we're delighted to have been of service to you."
"And so," remarked Jack, turning to Mollie Skinner, who was small but
pert, and as pretty as a peach, "you had a boasting letter from some
girl over in Harmony, I think I heard you say as we came up. She tried
to discourage you, didn't she? All right, Mollie, you just send her
back a Roland for an Oliver; give her as good as she sent. Tell her
the Chester boys are going to swamp Marshall next Saturday, just to
put them in trim for the great game on Thanksgiving morning with poor
old Harmony. Twit her with a few reminders of that last baseball game
we played, when Chester trailed Harmony's colors in the dust. I guess
you can rub it in good and hard, Mollie, if you try."
"And you guess right, too, Jack Winters," snapped the girl, her eyes
flashing with spirit. "I'll compose a scathing letter that will give
Maude something to think about from now to Thanksgiving. And let me
say that I'll be meaning every word of it, too. Why, after what we've
seen you boys do in practice I just feel that fellows like Fred, and
some of the others of course, in the bargain, just can't be whipped by
any old school team that plays. Those are my sentiments, and I don't
care who knows them."
"Those Harmony fellows wear the yellow and black of Princeton, you
know," spoke up Lucy Marsh, "and love to call themselves the Tigers.
They think to frighten their opponents by a great exhibition of rough
play, and try to act as if they expected to just walk away with every
game."
"That's right for you, Lucy," chipped in Joel, "but those same tactics
didn't carry weight last summer. Chester didn't seem to be afraid of
being bitten by the tiger, in fact we managed to devour the beast,
hide and all; and let me assure you, girls, we can do it again, don't
you fear."
"How about that, Jack, do you subscribe to Joel's boast?" demanded the
girl, as though she would be ready to place a good deal more
dependence on an opinion from the captain of the eleven than from the
left tackle.
Joel laughed.
"You're going to the wrong quarter for that kind of information,
Lucy," he went on to say. "Jack's too modest to boast, as everyone
knows, though he'll work his head off to win the game."
"I'm not claiming anything!" declared Jack; "and only saying that
Chester will have no cause for complaint, no matter whether we win or
lose; for every fellow's grimly determined to do his level best.
Victories sometimes hinge on small things, and the luck of the game
may go against us. But we'll be fighting all the time up to the
blowing of the last whistle that tells the time of the fourth period
has expired."
"Tell them what Coach Hooker said this very afternoon, Jack?" begged
Joel.
"Please do, Jack," the fair Mollie pleaded; while the other two looked
so wistful that Jack could not have declined had he wanted to, which
was far from the fact.
"Oh! Joe seemed to be especially well pleased with our work today," he
remarked, "and told us that taken all in all we made as lively and
hustling a lot of youngsters as he had ever had the pleasure of
handling. He even went on to say that if we worked as well in the
Marshall game we would carry off the prize as sure as two and three
make five. And let me tell you, after hearing those inspiring words we
played better than ever the next round, and had old Joe beaming with
joy. I honestly believe he thinks a heap of our bunch, since it's been
weeded out."
"We're all proud of you, just remember that," said Mollie, boldly;
"and we do hope you'll be able to make the Marshall boys eat humble
pie next Saturday. Why, nearly everybody that's worth knowing at all
in Chester is going over to Marshall to give the Chester salute when
you come on the field. I chanced to hear Packy McGraw, your cheer
captain, drilling his squad; and let me tell you they can give the
Chester yell in a way that thrills the blood."
There could be no doubt about Mollie and her two chums being heart and
soul for the local team. Jack was glad to see such enthusiasm. It
would make himself and the other ten fellows fight all the harder to
know that bright eyes were watching every move that was made; while
dainty hands clapped until they ached, keeping company with the
defiant cries arising wherever Chester girls congregated, in grand-
stand or field.
It means a whole lot to a team to feel that their home folks believe
in them to the limit. Just as soon as this interest gives signs of
waning the best of teams grow careless, and show signs of
disintegration. So Jack hoped the girls as well as the boys and grown-
ups of the town would be with them all the while, ready with cheering
words and praise for good deeds, as well as apologies for mistakes
such as the best of players may sometimes make.
So the three girls departed, binding Jack and Joel to a promise not to
betray them to the rest of the squad. This promise both boys gladly
gave, for no harm had been done; and they knew now just how earnestly
the girls of Chester were hoping and praying for their success. It was
really an inspiration, to Joel at least.
"There's no use talking, Jack," he was saying, as they started to go
around once more to the place of the spring, to avoid exciting any
suspicion on the part of their comrades, "we've just _got_ to beat
Marshall on Saturday. Why, it'd break the hearts of those pretty
girls if we failed. I really believe they'd feel it more than any of
us would. And that little spitfire Mollie is crazy to rub it into her
boastful friend over at Harmony, too. Oh! we've got our job set out
before us for a fact, and must sweep the deck each deal."
The rest of the practice caused the boys to forget their recent little
adventure for the time being. They worked hard, and won additional
praise from old Joe Hooker.
"You're getting better every day, fellows," he told the bunch as they
started homeward, chattering like a lot of magpies. "I never was so
pleased with the improvement shown; why, it's simply marvelous. If an
old football man should watch some of your plays he'd swear you were
anything but novices, and vow you'd done plenty of footwork last
season. Don't stop, boys! Keep up the good work, and my word for it,
your reward is sure to come, for you'll take Marshall into camp on
Saturday, barring accidents."
They would have two more afternoons for practice, and then Saturday
would dawn with its uncertainties that might not be relieved until the
referee had blown his whistle to signify that the time for the game
had expired. Whose would be high score when that minute came around
was an unknown quantity; and many a Chester lad would have given much
to be able to lift the veil of the future just that far. But this was
beyond their ken, and they could only possess their souls in patience
while hoping for the best.
Those two days would soon pass, and the great time come when Chester
folks could be seen thronging the road leading to Marshall, bent on
witnessing the meeting of the rival teams on the gridiron.
How some of the most impatient managed to pull through the intervening
time it would be hard to tell. But finally Saturday morning dawned,
and the fact that the sun shone from an unclouded sky, while the air
was quite nipping, brought joy to thousands of eager hearts in
Chester, and doubtless also in Marshall; for both towns were said to
be football crazy this year.