BENCHED
Hugh remembered his reception by Mr. Crowley for many days. Practice
was just over when he reached the scene and the two teams were resting
for a few minutes before the scrimmage. Mr. Crowley, looking fiercer
and more disreputable than usual in the old gray trousers and faded
green sweater he wore, was talking to Coach Bonner near the bench.
Hugh had every desire in the world to avoid speech with him, but he
disdained sneaking to the bench and so his appearance was quickly noted.
“Ordway!” Mr. Crowley left the first-team coach and walked to meet the
culprit. “Let me see you a minute.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Hugh, very, very meekly.
“Aren’t you a trifle late?” asked the coach sarcastically.
“Yes, sir, I am. I’m very sorry, but something unforeseen――――”
“Yes, yes, of course! Grandmother died, maybe. Too bad, too bad!”
“No, sir, I――someone called――――”
“And you had to stay and serve afternoon tea? What a bore!” Mr.
Crowley’s bantering tone ceased abruptly. “Look here, Ordway, practice
is at three-thirty. I told you when I let you come back that you were
to stick. You’re not keeping your part of the agreement. Unless you
were detained by the faculty, in which case you should have notified
me, you have no excuse whatsoever. I don’t want any fellows here who
can’t be on time. Life’s too short to worry about them. Understand
that?”
“Yes, sir. It won’t happen again, Mr. Crowley.”
“It certainly won’t!” growled the coach. He held Hugh with a baleful
gaze for a moment. Then: “What I ought to do with you is to tell you
to clear your locker, Ordway. Got any good reason to advance why I
shouldn’t?”
“Why, yes, sir. I didn’t intend to be late and I won’t be late again.
There was no way of notifying you or I’d have done it. I――I’m no end
sorry, sir.”
“Hm; regrets aren’t reasons, Ordway. Well, all right. But I’m hanged if
I know why I’m bothering with you anyway. I don’t need you. What the
dickens Hanrihan wished you on me for, I don’t know! Do you?”
Hugh wisely remained silent.
“Well, I shan’t want you this afternoon. You take the bench and watch.
See if you can get your signals straightened out. Try to forget your
social interests for a while!”
Hugh walked to the bench very conscious of the amused expressions on
the faces of his team-mates. He tried to look unruffled, but he knew
that his cheeks were red, and when Brewster Longley, tossing a ball in
his hands, met Hugh’s glance and drawled, “Hello, Royalty, old top!
Was the blighter rude to you, what? My word, we’ll cut his bloomin’
acquaintance!” Hugh felt angry enough to fight. But he only squirmed
in between Brunswick and Hersum and attentively studied his hands.
Then the coaches called and the benches emptied, and Hugh, with a
half-dozen other unfortunates, snuggled miserably into his sweater and
philosophically tried to accept his fate.
But it was hard luck, he thought, and while he couldn’t conscientiously
blame Mr. Crowley for being wroth, it did seem to him that the “calling
down” was punishment enough without dooming him to sit there on
the bench and lose a whole afternoon’s work. So absorbed was he in
self-pity and a mild resentment that he quite forgot about Mr. Fallow
and his recent activities and was only reminded of them when someone
took the seat beside him and a sympathetic voice inquired: “Isn’t he
going to let you play, Hugh?” Hugh glanced up and shook his head. “Not
today, Bert.”
“Too bad! He’s a regular Turk, anyway. What made you late?”
Hugh smiled. “Mr. Fallow.”
“_What?_ You don’t mean――――”
“Yes, I do, old chap. He came to the room just as I was starting over
here.”
“Great Scott! Did――did the money come? But of course it didn’t! Was he
mad? What did he say? He didn’t――didn’t go to Charlie, did he?” Bert’s
anxiety was so great that Hugh, although tempted, didn’t have the heart
to prolong his suspense.
“It’s all right, Bert. I paid him twenty dollars and he’s gone home
quite satisfied. In fact, he said I――that is, you needn’t hurry with
the rest of it, and that if you want any more togs all you’ve got to do
is let him know.”
“But where did you ever get twenty dollars?” gasped Bert.
Hugh laughed. “Borrowed it, of course. I had six myself, Cathcart
loaned me five, and Mr. Crump nine.”
“Mr. Crump! _Mr. Crump?_ Are you crazy?”
“No, only exhausted.”
“But you don’t mean Mr. Crump, the janitor?”
“Yes I do, old chap. I fancy it was rather a funny thing to do, but,
you see, I didn’t know who else to ask. Everyone was out and Mr.
Pounder turned me down and I happened to run into Mr. Crump in School
Hall. He was very decent about it. I offered to let him have my watch
and fob for security but he said his grandfather or grandmother or
someone fought with General Putnam, and wouldn’t take it. I didn’t
quite see what that had to do with it, though, do you?”
“Old Crump!” marveled Bert. “I didn’t suppose he had nine dollars to
his name!”
“Oh, yes. And he rather hinted that he had a lot more. I dare say
janiting is quite――quite profitable.”
“And Cathcart loaned you five? I sort of wish you hadn’t gone to him,
Hugh.”
“There wasn’t much choice,” replied Hugh drily. “I dare say if you’d
been there you’d have managed better, but――――”
“I didn’t mean that,” said Bert quickly. “I think you did finely, and
I’m awfully much obliged, Hugh. I only meant that――well, Wal and I
aren’t awfully good friends and――did you tell him what it was for?”
“No, there wasn’t time. I told him I’d explain later.”
“Well, don’t if you can help it. You see, he’s a proctor and if he
heard I’d been running bills he might think he had to report me. He’s
most frightfully conscientious nowadays.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” said Hugh, “but I don’t believe he would.
I’ll keep you out of it, though, if you’d rather.”
“What did Fallow say? Was he ugly?”
Whereupon, while the first and second teams battered each other
up and down the field, Hugh recounted the whole adventure for his
friend’s benefit, and Bert, alternately amused and alarmed, listened
with flattering attention. At the end he said, after a long breath of
relief: “Hugh, you’re a corker! And a wonder! I couldn’t have got away
with it like that to save my life! And I’m awfully much obliged, old
man. I――I hope I’ll be able to do as much for you some time.”
“It wasn’t anything,” returned Hugh. “In fact, it was rather good
fun; or it would have been if I hadn’t known all the time that I was
getting in wrong with Mr. Crowley. Mr. Fallow was quite amusing. I say,
Bert, _have_ you seen his mustache? It――it’s perfectly weird. I was so
fascinated by it that I just had to stand there and stare!”
“I don’t remember,” murmured Bert. Then, after a moment: “Look here,
though, if that money doesn’t come from your folks we’ll be in a mess,
won’t we? I don’t honestly believe I’ll be able to scrape it all up
before Christmas. I’ve got about four dollars and, of course, I’ll have
ten more the first of the month, but――――”
“Oh, that money will come today or tomorrow,” comforted Hugh. “Then
I’ll settle up with Mr. Crump and Wallace Cathcart.”
“But I’ll be owing it to you then,” said Bert in troubled voice. “I
guess it was pretty cheeky to go to you for it, anyway, but I was so
worried about that man Fallow that I didn’t know what to do. If he’d
got to faculty I’d been fired like a shot.”
“You needn’t worry about owing it to me,” said Hugh with a shrug. “I
don’t need it. Anyhow, it’s the mater’s and she won’t mind if she never
gets it. How’s the rib?”
“All right, I suppose. Davy says I can’t get back before next week,
though. Last year he fixed Musgrave’s broken collar bone up for him so
he was playing inside of ten days. I don’t see why he needs to be so
plaguy fussy about an old rib.”
“My word, you didn’t expect to get back today, did you?”
“No, but I thought they’d let me play Saturday against Hollywood. I’m
going with the team, though, anyway. You coming along?”
“Can’t say, old chap. If Crowley doesn’t forgive me I fancy I might as
well be there as here. If he does I dare say we’ll have practice just
the same. _Ouch!_”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, only Hanser dropped the ball then and Nick’s got it. He’s
clever at squirming through, isn’t he? It looked as if he got right
between Longley’s legs! That gives first a ripping chance to score,” he
added anxiously. “They must be on our twenty yards. I say, what sort of
a chap is Longley, Bert?”
“Brew? Why, he’s pretty good. I thought Bonner would have him on the
first this year. He would have, too, if Willard hadn’t showed up so
well before school opened.”
“Yes, I know he’s a good center, but is he――well, is he a gentleman?”
“A gentleman?” Bert looked surprised. “Depends on what you mean, I
guess, by gentleman, Hugh. I don’t suppose you’d call him that. I think
his father’s a contractor or something in Springfield or somewhere.”
“I didn’t mean that. I meant is he considered a――well, do you like
him?”
“Like Brew Longley? N-no, not particularly. I don’t know him very well.
I guess he’s all right, though. Why?”
“Well, he seems to have it in for me, don’t you know. He’s made a
couple of――what do you call them, now?――a couple of ‘cracks’ that I
didn’t like. I wondered whether he did it because he didn’t know any
better or because he was just naturally a cad.”
“What sort of cracks?” asked Bert.
“Oh, he calls me ‘Royalty’ and things like that, and talks like a
silly ass on the stage, if you know what I mean, and is really rather
insolent. I fancy he tries to make fun of the way I talk, eh?”
“Oh, that’s nothing to get huffy about,” laughed Bert. “He probably
thinks he’s being humorous. You see, Duke, you’re sort of a novelty to
us. I guess Longley doesn’t know your sort.”
“That’s all right,” returned Hugh gravely. “But he mustn’t be too
humorous or I’ll just have to punch his head.”
“He’d make one mouthful of you,” laughed Bert.
“Oh, well, I couldn’t help that. I’m not awfully thin-skinned, I fancy,
but I don’t like Longley’s kind of humor. As the chap says in the
song, ‘It isn’t what he says, it’s the nasty way he says it!’”
“Oh, don’t mind Brew, kid; he’s harmless. I guess he doesn’t mean to
hurt your feelings.”
“Well, that’s all right. I certainly don’t want trouble, but I might
lose my temper some day. He can’t expect me to stick it forever. There
they go! Keyes is over! That right side of our line is a bit sketchy.
They didn’t half fool Bowen then.”
“We’re giving it to you on the twenty. Say, was Dinny awfully cross?”
“Rather waxy. Talked a lot of sarcasm. Advised me to forget my social
obligations or something like that.”
“I’m awfully sorry, chum. It was my fault. I wish Fallow would――would
choke or――――”
“Fall into his mustache and get lost,” suggested Hugh. “I wonder if
I’ll ever be able to raise one like that. Sometime we’ll go over to
Needham and pretend we want a suit. I’d like you to see that mustache,
Bert.”
“It seems to have made a big impression on you,” Bert laughed.
Hugh nodded soberly. “It did. It――it’s awe-inspiring, colossal,
epochal――er――――”
“That’ll be about all! Half’s over. I guess I’ll go back to the other
bench. See you later, Hugh. Hope Dinny will let you in this half.”
“He won’t. He doesn’t love me a bit today. As Mr. Smiley would say,
‘Non sum qualis eram.’”
“You’re a silly ass,” laughed Bert. “Put that into Latin!”
Hugh’s prophecy proved correct. Mr. Crowley did not relent. Nor did
he once appear even to recall Hugh’s existence. And after the game
was over and first team had won by two touchdowns――no goals were
attempted――Hugh followed the others up to the field house and changed,
denying himself, however, a shower since he had certainly not earned
it, and then proceeded rather disconsolately back to Lothrop to find
three messages in the O-P pigeon-hole of the letter box in the first
floor corridor. Some obliging person had written the telegrams down in
his absence. The first was from his mother in Philadelphia explaining
that an unexpected visit to friends in the country had delayed her
reception of his message and saying that the money had been sent
and that she hoped the delay had not mattered. Another was from the
telegraph office requesting him to call and receipt for a sum of
money, and the third, rather incoherent, was from an evidently greatly
perturbed Bowles. Hugh showed them to Bert when the latter came in.
“Mother says she has sent thirty,” said Hugh, “instead of twenty-five,
so we’ll be in funds again, eh? Poor old Bowles is all upset. It
rather sounds as if he meant to come right up here and rescue me from
something. I fancy I’d best send him a wire and calm him down. If
Bowles ever tried to travel anywhere by himself he’d get lost as sure
as shooting, poor old chap!”
Bert smiled as he read Bowles’ message. “My lady left Thursday for New
York. We have no address. Expect back Wednesday. If anything we can do
Master Hugh please telegraph immediate. Could leave on one hour notice.
Bowles.”
“You’d better send him a wire, Hugh, or he will be walking in on us.
Queer idea to call your mother ‘my lady.’ Mighty nice and respectful,
though. At home the servants always call my mother ‘the missus’! You’ll
have to beat it down to the village tomorrow and get the tin. I’ll go
along, if you like. It’s mighty decent of her to send that extra five.
I wish my folks had those pretty thoughts. It’s like pulling teeth to
get a dollar more than my allowance from dad!”
“Tell you what we’ll do with that pound,” said Hugh, looking up from
the telegram he was formulating for the troubled Bowles. “We’ll buy
some tuck and have a feast up here tomorrow night. What do you say?”
Bert looked wistful, but shook his head. “You forget that we’re in
training, old man,” he said regretfully.
“That’s so. We couldn’t, I fancy. Well, we’ll postpone the party until
after the Mount Morris game. It’s a long old time to wait, though,
what?”
“Rotten,” agreed Bert. “Besides, that fiver will be spent long before
that.”
“No, it won’t. Or, if it is, there’ll be another. There, that ought to
settle Bowles. ‘Mother heard from. Everything hunky here. Unpack your
bag.’ That’s only nine words, though, and I can send ten, can’t I?”
“You can send fifty if you make it a night letter.”
“Great Scott, Bowles _would_ come then! I know; I’ll just add ‘Boosh.’”
“Add what?”
“‘Boosh.’”
“What’s that?”
“Blessed if I know,” chuckled Hugh. “Neither will Bowles, and it’ll
give him something to study on a bit.” Hugh added “Ordway” to his
message and laid it aside until supper time. When one lived on the
fourth floor of Lothrop one didn’t make unnecessary trips over the
stairs!
The next morning the two boys hurried to the village after their
French recitation and secured the money, and later Hugh paid his
debts to Cathcart and Mr. Crump, and Bert dispatched a money order
to Fallon and Turner. Hugh managed to appease Cathcart’s curiosity
without involving Bert’s name, although he had a suspicion that
Cathcart remained rather puzzled. Mr. Crump seemed disappointed at
being paid back so soon and almost insisted that Hugh should keep the
money longer. But Hugh finally satisfied him with a solemn promise to
come to him again should he ever find himself in similar financial
difficulties, and Mr. Crump, after going into the history of his family
at some length and with much detail, tucked the bills in the pocket of
his overalls, shouldered his broom and wandered on.
That afternoon Mr. Crowley summoned Hugh into the line-up as though
the late unpleasantness had never been and Hugh played through two
twelve-minute periods with so much credit that he noticed afterwards a
thoughtful and speculative look on the countenance of Hanser.