A NIGHT ALARM
Before the two boys parted that afternoon, after the practice of the
whole regular nine, barring Joel, who, taking Jack's advice, laid off
for one occasion, Joel had asked the captain to drop over when he had
finished his supper.
"I want to see you about a number of things," he had told Jack; "not so
much in connection with the game we're scheduled to play, as other
affairs looking to the ambitious programme we've mapped out for Chester
boys the rest of the summer, in the fall, and even up to winter. For one
thing, I'd like to give you a few pointers about the fellows in our
crowd, so that you can size them up for the football squad later on."
That caught Jack in a weak spot.
"I'll go you there, Toby," he hastened to say, "because I've been trying
to figure things out along those lines myself. When you're placing men
on an eleven, you ought to know their every strong and weak point; and
I'm too new a hand here in Chester to be on to such things. So I'll be
glad to have you give me points."
Accordingly, he knocked at the Hopkins' door soon after seven that
evening, and was immediately admitted by Toby himself. The Hopkins
family consisted of Toby's father and mother, and an older son just then
away on a trip to the West, as he was attending college, and had been
promised this treat if he passed with honors. There was also a very
small girl, named Tessie, who naturally was the pet of the household,
and in a way to be spoiled by the adoration of her two brothers.
Toby had a den of his own in the upper part of the rambling house. Here
just as most boys love to do, he had the walls fairly covered with the
burgees of various colleges, all sorts of mementos collected during his
outdoor experiences, curios that in Toby's eyes were precious because
many of them bore an intimate relation with some little adventure or
jolly outing in which he had taken part.
There were also football togs, baseball contraptions, fishing
paraphernalia in unlimited abundance, as well as striking illustrations
covering the field of sport as seen through the eyes of youth.
But one good thing about it all, you would look in vain for the
slightest trace of any vulgar picture; Toby had no love for such
so-called sport as prize fighting or any kindred subject.
Here in this adorable den, reflecting the loves of a genuine boy with
red blood in his veins, there often assembled a number of lads who
always felt very much at home amidst such surroundings; but Toby would
allow of no rough-house scuffling in his quarters, to annoy his mother,
and get on her nerves. When the fellows dropped in to have a chat and
lounge in his easy chairs amidst such exhilarating surroundings they
were expected to behave themselves.
Joel had the big lamp lighted. It threw a fine mellow glow over the
walls of the den and showed up the myriad of objects with which they
were covered. Somehow, Joel always liked his room much better when that
royal lamp was burning, for even the most remote corner, seldom pierced
by the intercepted rays of the sun, loomed up under its ardent rays.
Here the pair settled down for a long quiet chat. Jack wanted to ask a
hundred questions bearing on the boys with whom he had become so
intimately associated during the few months since his advent in Chester.
Since they had so kindly bestowed the leadership in sports upon him, he
wished to be like a wise general and lose no opportunity for learning
each boy's individual ability.
Of course he had been keeping close "tabs" on them right along, but
then, Toby, who had seen them attempting to play football, for instance,
would be able to tell of certain stunts this or that fellow had done
that were out of the common. Such points help amazingly in "putting a
round man in a round hole." Too often a half-back should be a tackle, or
a guard, in order to bring out the very best that is in him.
Then again Toby knew more or less concerning the fighting abilities of
the teams in the neighboring towns, Marshall and Harmony in particular.
His love for sport had taken Toby to every game within thirty miles he
could hear of in contemplation; for if Chester seemed bound to sleep,
and decline to enter the lists, a fellow who yearned to indulge in such
things must go abroad to satisfy his longings.
So it came about that he was able to give Jack many valuable tips
connected with the elevens with whom Chester was apt to come in contact,
should they succeed in whipping a team into anything like fair
condition.
"Now, after all you've told me about our boys," Jack was saying along
after nine o'clock, when he was thinking of starting home, feeling tired
after such a strenuous day, "I begin to believe we can get up a squad of
football players here capable of putting up a strong game. One thing in
our favor is the fact that we have an old athlete like Coach Joe Hooker
to show us how to work out greenhorns."
"That's as true as you live," snapped Toby, his face glowing with
eagerness, for one of the ambitions of his life seemed in prospect of
being fulfilled. "I've never really played football, though of course I
can kick, and run, and dodge pretty fairly. But in theory I'm away up in
the game. Other fellows are in the same fix; and we'll need a whole lot
of practice before we feel justified in going up against any older
eleven. Like as not we'll get snowed under; but even if we lose every
game this season, it'll give us what we need in the way of experience,
and another year we'll show the way."
"There are lots of other outdoor games we'll have to take up in season,"
continued Jack, thoughtfully. "Once the spirit of sport has gripped the
boys of Chester, and they'll be hungry to go into anything that means a
test of endurance, skill or pluck."
"I suppose now you've played football before, Jack?" asked the other.
"Well, we had a pretty fair eleven in the city I came from, and I was
lucky enough to belong to them," he said modestly. "I don't know that I
shone as a star very much, but on the whole, we managed to keep up our
end, and last year we pulled off the championship in our section of
country."
"What position did you fill?" queried Toby.
"Our captain made a half-back of me," came the answer. "Somehow he
seemed to believe I was better suited for that position than a tackle,
though I wanted to be in the other place at the start. But it happened
there were two sprinters better fitted than I was to hold down the job.
So unless I run across a man who seems to show signs of being my
superior in the field I've occupied, I suppose I'll continue to play
half-back to the end of the chapter."
"Well," remarked Toby, as Jack made out to pick up his cap with the
intention of leaving, since the hour was getting late, "one more day,
and then what? A whole twenty-four hours for things to happen calculated
to bust up our plans, and knock 'em galley-west. I wish, this was Friday
night, and nothing serious had come about. We need that big game to make
us solid with the people of Chester. It might be hard on poor Harmony,
but it would be the making of our town."
"Hearing you say that," chuckled Jack, "makes me think of that story of
the old man and his boy's bull-pup."
"I don't know that I've ever heard it, so fire away and tell the yarn,
Jack," the other pleaded.
"Why, once a boy had a young bull-pup of which he was very fond. His
father also took considerable interest in teaching the dog new tricks.
On one occasion the old man was down on his knees trying to make the
small dog jump at him, while the boy kept sicking him on. Suddenly the
bull-pup made a lunge forward and before the old man could draw back he
had gripped him by the nose, and held on like fun. Then the boy, only
thinking of how they had succeeded in tempting the small dog, clapped
his hands and commenced to dance around, shouting: 'Swing him around,
dad, swing him every which way! It's hard on you, of course, but I tell
you it'll be the making of the pup!'"
Toby laughed as Jack finished the anecdote, which it happened he had
never heard before.
"Well, Harmony will be dad, and the bull-pup I know turns out to be
Chester, bent on holding through thick and thin to victory. I'm glad you
came over, Jack, and if I've been able to hand you out a few pointers we
haven't wasted our time."
"I noticed when on the way here that it had clouded up," remarked Jack.
"Let's hope we don't get a storm that will compel us to postpone that
game. Our boys are in the pink of condition, with so much practice, and
might go stale by another week."
"That's another cause for anxiety, then," croaked Toby shrugging his
shoulders. "Here, I'll find my cap, and step outdoors with you. My eyes
are blinking after so much light, and a breath of fresh air wouldn't go
bad."
He had hardly said this than Toby stopped in his tracks.
"Listen, Jack, the fire-alarm bell! There's a blaze starting up, and
with so much wind blowing it may mean a big conflagration. Where did I
toss that cap of mine?"
"I saw something like a cap behind the rowing-machine over there when I
tried it out," observed the other, whose habit of noticing even the
smallest things often served him well.
"Just what it is," asserted Toby, after making a wild plunge in the
quarter designated; "that's my meanest trait, Jack. Mother tries to
break me of it ever so often, but I seem to go back again to the old
trick of carelessness. Now come on, and we'll rush out. Already I can
hear people beginning to shout."
They went downstairs two at a jump. For once Toby did not think of his
mother's nerves. Fires were not so frequent an occurrence in the history
of a small city like Chester that a prospective conflagration could be
treated lightly.
Once out of the house and they had no difficulty about deciding in which
direction the fire lay. Some people, principally boys, were already
running full-tilt through the street, and all seemed to be heading in
the one direction. At the same time all manner of comments could be
heard passing between them as they galloped along, fairly panting.
"It must be the big mill, from the light that's beginning to show up in
the sky!" hazarded one boy.
"Shucks! what are you giving us, Sandy!" gasped another. "The mill ain't
over in that direction at all. Only cottages lie there, with an
occasional haystack belongin' to some garden-truck raiser. Mebbe it
might be a barn."
"Just what it is, Tim," a third boy chimed in eagerly. "Hay burns like
wildfire you know, and see how red the sky is agettin' now."
Neither Jack nor Toby had thus far ventured to make any sort of guess.
No matter what was afire it promised to be a serious affair, with the
wind blowing at the rate of twenty miles an hour or more. If it turned
out to be a private house some one was likely to be rendered homeless
before long.
The bell continued to clang harshly. Chester still clung to the
volunteer system of firemen, though there was some talk of purchasing an
up-to-date motor truck engine, and hiring a force to be on duty day and
night.
"Jack," suddenly called out Toby, "don't you see that we're heading
straight for Fred's house. Honest to goodness I believe it's that very
cottage afire right now."