“I think,” remarked Mr. Groff, the next morning, “that I could count on one hand the students who have studied their algebra. Wyman, Latham, Nutter, Hazard—if there is another I’d like to hear from him.” Thirty-odd hands went up. Mr. Groff smiled gently and sorrowfully.
“If football plays may be worked out by algebra, I believe you. We will repeat to-day’s lesson to-morrow. I trust that as the football season will be over on Monday we may then return to our studies. Dismissed.”
Events transpired so rapidly that day that it is difficult to tell of them in order. First of all, though, just before noon it was known that Curtis, formerly of the second and now playing right tackle on the first team, had been summoned home because of sickness in the family. Consternation prevailed. At two[303] o’clock Curtis went off, bag in hand, torn between anxiety and disappointment. Before that Duncan Sargent and Johnny Connell had spent a troubled hour trying to rearrange their line of battle. At dinner time Johnny pedaled along the road, jumped from his wheel in front of Sunnywood Cottage, rang the bell impatiently and demanded Jim.
“Look here, Hazard,” began Johnny when Jim reached the porch, napkin in hand, “we’ve lost Curtis. He’s gone home. Some of his folks ill. We’ve got to have another lineman. There’s no one on the second heavy enough to stand up in front of Hawthorne. Either you or Gary must come back. I don’t care which, but the first of you to report to me, all square with the Office, starts the game to-morrow. I’ve seen Gary and told him the same thing. Now you have a talk with Mr. Gordon right away, understand? And let me know what he says. Come to me after school. If he lets you play you’ll have to learn the new signals this evening. Now hurry up and finish your dinner, and don’t stuff yourself. Then see Mr. Gordon at once.”
“All right,” replied Jim, his heart thumping hard at the thought of getting back to the team.[304] “I’ll see him in fifteen minutes. Where will I find you?”
“I’ll be in the gym at two. Before that you’ll find me around Academy somewhere. Get a move on. Tell Gordon you’ve got to play; tell him we’ve got to have you!”
And Johnny hurried through the gate, jumped on his bicycle and tore back to school. Fifteen minutes later Jim, breathless and anxious, ran up the steps of Academy Hall, hurried down the corridor and entered the Office.
“Can I see Mr. Gordon, please?”
“Mr. Gordon has gone to Boston,” replied the secretary in his best official voice. “He left at twelve o’clock.”
Jim’s heart sank. “When will he be back, please, sir?” he asked. The secretary frowned.
“He is not in the habit of informing me very closely as to his plans. I believe, however, that he expects to return sometime to-morrow forenoon.”
“To-morrow forenoon!” gasped Jim.
“Exactly.” The trouble in the boy’s face softened the secretary’s manner. “What was it you wanted? Is there anything I can do for you?”
[305]
“No, sir, thank you,” answered Jim. He went out, closed the heavy oak door softly and dragged his feet along the corridor. At the corner he drew aside and Brandon Gary hurried by him in the direction of the Office. Jim smiled wanly. Gary and he were in the same boat.
On the front steps he paused, hands thrust deep in his pockets and tried to think what to do. It still lacked twenty minutes of recitation time and he had the sunlit entrance to himself. But he could see no way out of his quandary. Only Mr. Gordon could lift the ban and Mr. Gordon had gone away. Jim seated himself on the top step and stared unseeingly at the wooded slope beyond the river. Footsteps echoed in the corridor and Brandon Gary came out. He saw Jim, hesitated and then leaned against the doorway. Jim looked up and their eyes met. Gary nodded.
“Hello,” said Jim morosely.
“Say, Hazard, you and I are both up against it, aren’t we?” said Gary. “I’d like to know what business J. G. has going away at a time like this.”
“I suppose to-morrow morning will be too late,” responded Jim discouragedly.
[306]
“Oh, he won’t be back until noon. He’ll come on the express that gets in just before dinner. Gee, Hazard, I’d like to play to-morrow! I’ve been thinking he might let me off before this, but he didn’t, and I made up my mind I wouldn’t ask. But now it’s serious. With Curtis gone the old team’s up against it, I guess.”
Jim nodded. Gary seated himself on the other side of the steps. Silence held them for a minute. Then Jim sighed.
“Well,” he said, “I guess I’ll look up Johnny and tell him. I promised to let him know.”
“So did I,” said Gary. “Look here, Hazard, do you think it would do any good to talk to Nancy?”
Jim considered a moment.
“I don’t see what he could do, Gary.”
“He might telegraph to J. G. and ask him to let us off.”
“I don’t believe Nancy would do that,” replied Jim doubtfully. “Besides, we don’t know where he is, do we?”
“Mrs. Gordon can tell us. Look here, will you go and see him with me? Maybe we can talk him into it. I’ll apologize to him, if he[307] wants me to. I’ll do anything to help the team out.”
“Yes, I’ll go,” answered Jim, brightening a little. “If we walk up the road maybe we’ll meet him.”
They sprang up and hurried off side by side, choosing the road instead of the wood path, since if they took the latter they might miss the instructor. They hadn’t far to go. As they walked briskly around the curve behind the Principal’s residence Mr. Hanks came into sight a few rods away.
“You start it,” whispered Gary. “You know him better. I’ll dig in afterwards.”
“Mr. Hanks, may we speak to you a minute, sir?” asked Jim as the instructor met them. Mr. Hanks dropped the hand holding the book he had been reading and brought his thoughts back with a visible effort.
“Er—certainly.”
“Gary and I, sir, are both in wrong at the Office, as you know. Now Curtis has gone home and the team’s in a bad way for a fellow to take his place in the line. We’ve been to see Mr. Gordon and he’s gone away and may not be back until to-morrow noon. That will be too late, sir. Wouldn’t you be willing to say a[308] good word for us, sir, to Mr. Gordon? Tell him we—we’re sorry and—and all that, and ask him if we can’t play to-morrow?”
Mr. Hanks looked blank. “I—I don’t quite understand,” he said. “You want me to intercede for you with Mr.............