“That will be all right,” Davis had declared. “It won’t take you any time to get the hang of it.” And there had been a most flattering emphasis on the “you.”
Only Jim Hough had seemed unenthusiastic.[178] Jim had expressed doubt that a fellow could be on the Scholiast and give the proper amount of time and attention to football. Whereupon had ensued an argument between Jim and Whitehall as to the comparative importance of football and journalism6, the latter making the absolutely absurd claim that journalism was the greater pursuit of the two! In the end they had appealed to Kendall for his opinion and he had put an end to the dispute by smilingly suggesting that they allow him to defer7 judgment8 until he knew more about journalism, a suggestion that seemed to impress everyone with its marvelous wisdom. Or everyone save The Duke. The Duke had grinned like the Cheshire cat all the time and had more than once favored Kendall with a surreptitious and knowing wink9, thereby10 adding to Kendall’s embarrassment11.
For it was embarrassing. To discover suddenly that instead of the nonentity12 one supposes oneself to be one is in reality a public character, a person of prominence13, in short a quasi-hero, is bound to be both embarrassing and disturbing. But once having had his eyes opened, Kendall could not doubt that The Duke had spoken truly. He had only to observe how attentively14 the others listened to what he said, how eager they seemed to have him express opinions, how stoutly[179] they believed in his ability to make the Scholiast and succeed at the work. But it was pleasant, almost intoxicatingly pleasant, and Kendall went back to Clarke Hall in a mood far different from that in which he had left. The world no longer seemed dull or empty. It was, indeed, a very wonderful world, filled with many likable people and teeming15 with possibilities! Kendall’s feelings were reflected so plainly in his countenance16 when he entered Number 28 that Gerald, who had unexpectedly returned for supper and was entertaining George Kirk, viewed him in surprise.
“Hello,” he exclaimed, “what’s happened to you, Kendall? Anybody left you a fortune?”
“Not that I know of,” replied Kendall after greeting Kirk. “I—I’ve been on the river with The Duke. We had a bully17 time.”
“With The Duke? What the dickens did you do?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just paddled up to the island and sat there. Some fellows came along and we talked.”
“And that’s your idea of a bully time!” marveled Gerald. “George, observe our young friend and take a lesson from him. Forget that Broadwood beat you yesterday. Paddle on the river and cheer up!”
“Did they really beat us?” asked Kendall.
[180]
Kirk nodded gloomily. “They simply slaughtered18 us.”
“Don’t get him on the subject again, Kendall,” begged Gerald. “I found him moping on the steps and brought him along to brighten him up. He’s wailed19 and bewailed for half an hour and I can stand no more of it. Let’s find a cheerful subject of conversation, such as supper.”
“Let it go at that, then,” said Gerald. “You’ll start him off again if you aren’t careful. What lovely weather we’re having, George!”
Kirk laughed. “Well, we’ll get back at them in the Spring,” he said hopefully. “I wish you’d try for the team, Burtis.”
“I don’t think I’d ever make a golfer,” replied Kendall. “You know I tried last year, Kirk.”
“I know you did. And did mighty21 well, too. All you need is practice. I wish you’d think it over. It’s so hard to get good fellows for the team!”
“Maybe I will, if you want me to,” said Kendall. “I like golf very much, only I don’t believe I’d ever become much of a player.”
“I think you would,” replied Kirk earnestly. “Any fellow who can do as well in football as you’re doing, and has such a dandy sense of[181] directions and distance as you must have to kick those goals, ought to make a good golfer.”
Kendall smiled, and, seeing the inquiring look on Kirk’s face, explained. “I was thinking of something Ned Tooker said last year. Ned said that a good football player couldn’t be a good golf player; that the one spoiled him for the other; I forget just why.”
Kirk laughed. “Well, Ned was the best golfer we’ve ever had here, but he didn’t know everything. And, besides, Ned was fond of saying things just for the sound of them!”
“A common failing,” grieved Gerald as he splashed and gurgled at the stand. “Alas, how”—gurgle—“few of us”—sniff22! splash!—“consider the sense”—sniff! sniff!—“of our utterances23! Where’s that towel?”
“Then it’s a promise, is it, Burtis?” asked the golf captain eagerly.
“Why—er—yes, if you like. At least, I’ll give it a fair try, Kirk.”
“Good stuff! We’ll have some games together after the Broadwood game’s over. Well, I’ll run along. ’Bye, Gerald.”
“’Bye,” answered Gerald from behind a towel. “Call again, Georgie.”
“Perhaps I will some day. By the way!” Kirk stopped at the door. “What sort of a chap[182] is that Cotton? I mean the fellow who rooms with The Duke. All right, is he?”
“All right?” echoed Gerald. “I’d say he was pretty much all wrong. There’s no harm in him, though, I guess. Ask Kendall. He’s a great chum of Kendall’s. Thick as thieves, they are!”
“Oh, well, I guess he’s all right, then,” said Kirk. “I asked because——” He stopped, looked thoughtfully puzzled a moment and then, nodding, went out.
“Wonder what Cotton’s done to him,” said Gerald cheerfully. “If I were a punster I’d say it was evident Kirk doesn’t cotton to him. But I’m not, and so I won’t. Did I hear you murmur24 your thanks?”
“Eh?” asked Kendall blankly.
“Well, where have you been? Still thinking of what a wonderful time you had on the river?” Gerald seemed a little disgruntled over that.
“No, I was just—just thinking.”
What he had been thinking was that if he succeeded in making the Scholiast and the Golf Team, he would be a pretty busy chap the rest of the year!
Just how the trick played on Gibson of Broadwood got out is not known. Neither Gerald nor Kendall divulged25 it, and The Duke refused to own to having spoken of the matter. But get out[183] it did, for by Monday the whole school knew about it and was laughing delightedly. Even the Scholiast, most dignified26 of school publications, could not forebear a fling and the next issue contained at the bottom of a page this brief note:
“The Broadwood Academy Press announces for early publication ‘Personal Recollections of Booth’; by Gibson.”
Football practice on Monday was hard and long. Several second string players were temporarily promoted to the First Team, for a number of the regulars were still showing the effects of Saturday’s game. Kendall played two periods and then yielded his position to Fayette and was sent off. On Tuesday, however, strains and bruises27 were healed and the First Team lined up as on Saturday, with the exception that Adler was in place of Metz at right end. Oliver Colton, a former Yardley captain, arrived on Tuesday and stayed until the end of the week, putting in three days of hard coaching. Under his tuition the guards and tackles improved perceptibly. The first serious accident of the season happened Wednesday, when Lin Johnson, center of the Second Team, broke a shoulder blade and did it in such a messy way that there was no question of any more football for him that season. Ireland, who had been playing full-back on Hough’s team,[184] took Johnson’s place, but he didn’t make much of a center and the First, when it wanted a gain through the middle of the opposing line, spoke5 of taking “a short trip through Ireland.” But the Second struggled on gamely and, if it was no longer able to score touchdowns on the First, sometimes got a field-goal over.
The mass-meetings began Thursday night. Everyone piled into Assembly Hall on the top floor of Oxford28 and listened to speeches by Mr. Payson and Captain Merriwell and Mr. Bendix, Physical Director, and sang the old songs and experimented with new ones, and cheered themselves hoarse29. The Banjo and Mandolin Club provided the music, assisted by Perky Davis at the piano, and its efforts to master some of the tunes30 offered by enthusiastic amateur composers occasioned much merriment among the audience below the stage. Afterward31 Kendall, who had promised himself an hour’s tussle32 with algebra33 that evening, went back alone to Number 28, Gerald and Harry34 wandering off with Pete Girard to the latter’s room in Dudley. To Kendall’s disgust, when he reached Number 28 he found the door ajar and Charles Cotton seated at the table apparently35 deeply immersed in calculations with pencil and paper. Kendall disguised his surprise and disappointment and greeted the visitor politely[185] if without overmuch enthusiasm. Cotton, however, seemed to notice no lack of warmth.
“Just the fellow I wanted to see,” he announced, without rising from Kendall’s chair. “Saw you at the meeting, but lost you outside. I want you to see what you think of this scheme, Burtis.”
“What is it?” asked Kendall, tossing aside his cap and leaning over the other’s shoulder. On the table lay a square of paper rudely scrawled36 with circles and figures. “I’m not much good at puzzles, Cotton.”
“Oh, this isn’t a puzzle. It’s something new in football signals.”
“You don’t say? What’s the idea?”
“Well, look here. Have you got another chair? Bring it up, like a good fellow. I’m awfully interested in this and I want you tell me what you think of it. Now then,” he continued when Kendall had drawn37 a chair to the table and seated himself, “here’s the idea. You know the signals they use now are dreadfully complicated.”
“Are they?”
“Well, aren’t they? Take the Yardley system, for instance. We have two sets of signals, like this.” Cotton indicated his diagram. “Here are the holes numbered from 1 to 8. Then the two ends, the two tackles and the four backs are[186] numbered from 1 to 8. Now that’s confusing, isn’t it?”
“I don’t see why,” Kendall objected, getting interested now. “We use three numbers, the first a fake, the second indicating the runner, and the third the hole. That’s not hard.”
“Then we have special plays numbered, too.”
“Yes, a special play is called by tacking38 its number on to 500 and when Simms calls that he calls it right after the fake. You can’t get mixed up there, can you?”
“N-no,” replied Cotton doubtfully. “I suppose not. Still—now suppose left half was to take the ball through guard-tackle hole on the right. How would you call that?”
“We haven’t any such play. If we had, though, Simms would give us, say, 22, 76, 36.”
Cotton studied his diagram. “That sounds harder than need be. Your 22 is your fake, your 76 is your runner, the second numeral of the number indicating left half-back, and the 36 is the hole, the 6 meaning between right guard and tackle. That’s it, isn’t it?”
“Of course.”
“Have I got the positions numbered right?”
“Not quite. You’ve got quarter numbered 7; should be 5.”
“That so? Well, you draw a diagram for me,[187] will you? I’m a lobster39 at it. Got another piece of paper?”
Kendall drew a pad toward him and quickly made a row of circles for the forwards and added four more beneath for the backs. Then he numbered the holes and the players. Cotton nodded approvingly.
“That’s fine and neat,” he commended. “Now suppose you were to punt, Burtis; what would be the signal for that?”
“‘Burtis back; 24, 49, 16.’”
“Nine means kick, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, and the 16 means nothing. When you get to the 9 you know it is to be a kick and pay no attention to anything afterwards. Same way with special plays, Cotton. For instance, ‘75, 506, 102’ means that the play is to Play Number 6. The 102 means nothing; it’s just tagged on to fill out.”
“Well, that isn’t as complicated as it seemed at first,” owned Cotton. “As long as I was on the team we used only hole numbers, you know, and the quarter indicated the runner with his fingers on his hip3.”
“Yes, the Second does that still, I think. It’s not a bad way if all the backs can see the quarter’s fingers. What is this scheme of yours, though?”
Cotton frowned a minute. Then he shook his[188] head. “It doesn’t seem so good now,” he confessed. “My plan was to use numbers for the holes and letters for the players. It seemed to me it would be easier to remember.”
“That’s not new,” smiled Kendall. “They used to use letters altogether sometimes, I’ve heard. Used to take a word with ten or eleven letters, no two the same, of course, and let a letter stand for the hole and the player, too. I guess the number codes are better, though.”
“I suppose so, or they wouldn’t use them,” replied Cotton thoughtfully folding up the paper. “Still, I think a fellow might figure out a simpler scheme than the one we use.”
“Try it,” laughed Kendall. “If you hit on anything good I guess Payson will be glad to use it.”
“I suppose the best thing about the number signals is that they can be changed easily. Now I suppose these signals won’t be used in Saturday’s game.”
“Yes, they will. But they’ll be changed for Broadwood.”
“I see.” Cotton absently dropped the sheet of paper in his pocket as he stood up. “Well, I’m going to have another go at it, anyway. I’ll bet I can beat this scheme. I hope I haven’t been in the way. Were you going to do anything?”
[189]
“Only grind a little,” replied Kendall. “There’s plenty of time yet. So long, Cotton. Let me know how you get on with that.” He nodded toward the pocket in which lay the paper.
“I will.” Cotton patted his jacket as though he wasn’t at all sure where he had placed the sheet, and nodded. “Good-night.”
Kendall, hunting his books, reflected that Cotton wasn’t so bad, after all. Why, to-night he had been quite human! Of course, he shouldn’t have taken possession of the room in the absence of the occupants. There was an unwritten law at Yardley that if a fellow was not in, you went no further than the threshold unless you happened to be a particular friend and had permission to make yourself at home. However, Cotton had behaved so amiably40 that Kendall was ready to forgive the breach41 of manners. He had almost liked the fellow to-night!
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1
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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2
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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3
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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5
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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6
journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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7
defer
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| vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从 | |
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8
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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10
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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12
nonentity
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| n.无足轻重的人 | |
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prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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14
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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15
teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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16
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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17
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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18
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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21
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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22
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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23
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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24
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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25
divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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27
bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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29
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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30
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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31
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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tussle
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| n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩 | |
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33
algebra
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| n.代数学 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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35
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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36
scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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38
tacking
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| （帆船）抢风行驶，定位焊[铆]紧钉 | |
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39
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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40
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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41
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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