Part 4 (2/2)

Ma.s.s-meetings were held every night. Speeches by Coaches, Captain, players, Faculty, and students, aroused the campus to the highest pitch; every day, the entire student-body, with The Bannister Band, turned out on Bannister Field to cheer the eleven, and to watch the Prodigious Prodigy perform valorous deeds, like the G.o.d Thor. ”Bannister College--State Champions.h.i.+p!”

was the cry, and with the giant Thor to present an irresistible catapulting that could not be stopped, the Gold and Green exultantly awaited the big games with Hamilton and Ballard.

And yet, the stolid, unemotional, unawakened Thor, on whom every hope of the Champions.h.i.+p was based, whom all Bannister came out to watch every day, practiced as he studied, doggedly, silently. It was evident to all that he hated the grind, that he wanted to quit, that his heart was not in the game, but for some cause, he drove his Herculean body ahead, and could not be stopped!

”Now, you abandoned wretch,” said Butch Brewster grimly, as the happy-go-lucky Hicks finished Scoop's letter, and glanced about him wildly seeking a way of escape, ”in one minute you will tell us all about John Thorwald, alias 'Thor,' or be tossed sky-high in a blanket by the football squad, and please believe me, you'll break all alt.i.tude records!”

”Spare me, you banditti!” pleaded Hicks, reluctant to cease torturing Bannister with his Billion-Dollar Mystery, yet equally unwilling to aviate from a blanket heaved by the husky athletes. ”Why seek ye to question the ways of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.? You have your Prodigious Prodigy--your smas.h.i.+ng full-back is distributing the 'Varsity over the scenery with charming nonchalance that promises dire catastrophe for other teams, once he makes the regulars, so--”

At that dramatic moment, just as Butch Brewster glanced at Hicks'

alarm-clock, to start the minute of grace, a startling interruption saved the gladsome youth from having to make a decision. A heavy, creaking tread shook the corridor, and the squad beheld, looming up in the doorway, Thor.

He was not in football togs, and as he started to speak his fair face as stolid and expressionless as that of a sphinx, Captain Butch Brewster stepped toward him.

”Thor!” he exclaimed, seizing the blond Colossus by the arm, ”You aren't ready for the scrimmage; hustle over to the Gym. and get on your suit.”

But John Thorwald, as pa.s.sive of feature as though he announced something of the most infinitesimal importance, and were not hurling a bomb-sh.e.l.l whose explosion, was to shake old Bannister terrifically, spoke in a matter-of-fact manner: ”I shall not play football--any more,”

”What!” Every collegian in Hicks' room, including that dazed producer of the Prodigious Prodigy, chorused the exclamation; to them it was as stunning a shock as the nation would suffer if its President calmly announced, ”I'm tired of being President of the United States. I shall not report for work tomorrow.” Bannister College, ever since the night that Thor arrived on the campus, had talked or thought of nothing but how this huge, blond-haired Hercules would bring the Champions.h.i.+p to the Gold and Green; his prodigies on the gridiron, his ever-increasing prowess, had aroused enthusiasm to fever heat, and now--

”I was told wrong,” said Thor, s.h.i.+fting his vast tonnage awkwardly from one foot to the other, and evidently bewildered at the consternation caused by what he believed a trifling announcement, ”I understood that Ito play football, that the Faculty required it of me, and the students let me think so. I have just learned from Doctor Alford that such is not true, that I do not have to play unless I choose, hence, I quit. I came to college to study, to gain an education. I have toiled long and hard for the opportunity, and now I have it, I shall not waste my time on such foolishness.”

Then, utterly unconscious that he had spoken sentences which would create a mighty sensation at old Bannister, that might doom the Gold and Green to defeat, lose his Alma Mater the Champions.h.i.+p, and bring on himself the cruel ostracism and bitter censure of his fellows, John Thorwald lumbered down the corridor. A moment of tense silence followed and then Captain Butch Brewster groaned.

”It's all over, it's all over, fellows!” he said brokenly, ”Bannister loses the Champions.h.i.+p! We know it is impossible to move Thor on the football field, and now that he has said 'No!' to playing football, dynamite can not move him from his decision.”

Then, crushed and disconsolate, the football squad filed silently from the room, to break the glad news to Coach Corridan, and to spread the joyous tidings to old Bannister. When they had gone, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., staring at the figurative black cloud that lowered over his Alma Mater, strove to find its silver lining, and at last he partially succeeded.

”Anyway,” said Hicks, with a lugubrious effort to grin, ”Thor's announcement shocked the squad so much that I was not forced to explain my Billion-Dollar Mystery!”

CHAPTER V

HICKS MAKES A DECISION

”In the famous words of Mr. Somebody-Or-Other,” quoth T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., ”something hasto be did, and immediately to once!”

Big Butch Brewster nodded a.s.sent. So did Head Coach Patrick Henry Corridan, Beef McNaughton, Team Manager Socks Fitzpatrick, Monty Merriweather, Dad Pendleton, President of the Athletic a.s.sociation, and Deacon Radford, quarter-back, also Shad Fishpaw, who, being Freshman Cla.s.s-Chairman, maintained a discreet silence. Instead of the usual sky-larking, care-free crowd that infested the cozy quarters of the happy-go-lucky Hicks, every collegian present, except the ever-cheerful youth, seemed to have lost his best friend and his last dollar at one fell swoop!

”Oh, yes, something has got to be did!” fleered Beef McNaughton, the davenport creaking under the combined tonnage of himself and Butch Brewster, ”But who will do it? Where's all that Oh-just-leave-it-to-Hicks stuff you have pulled for the past three years, you pestiferous insect?

Bah! You did a lot; you dragged a Prodigious Prodigy to old Bannister, enshrouded him in darkest mystery, and now, when he pushed the 'Varsity off the field and promised to corral the Champions.h.i.+p, single-handed, he puts his foot down, and says, 'No--I will not play football!' Get busy, Little Mr. Fix-It.”

”Oh, just leave it to Hicks!” accommodated that blithesome Senior, with a cheeriness he was far from feeling. ”You all do know why Thor won't play football; it is not like last season, when Deke Radford, a star quarter-back, refused either to play, or to explain his refusal. Let me get an inspiration, and then Thor will once again gently but firmly thrust entire football elevens down the field before him!”

As evidence of how intensely serious was the situation, let it be chronicled that, for the first time in his scatter-brained campus career, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., did not dare strum his banjo and roar out ballads to torture his long-suffering colleagues. Popular and beloved as he was, the gladsome youth hesitated to shatter the quietude of the campus with his saengerfest, knowing as he did what a terrible blow Thor's utterly astounding announcement had been to the college.

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