Part 12 (2/2)
They fell upon him and pounded him till he was out of breath.
”Glory hallelujah!” shouted Tom.
”The best news I've heard since Hector was a pup,” declared d.i.c.k.
”Now we've got a fighting chance,” exulted Bert. ”By Jove, old scout, you don't know how the team has missed you.”
Axtell flushed with pleasure.
”Maybe I won't be glad to get back with the gang again,” he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed.
”Gee, for the last two weeks I've felt like a sneak. I can't forgive myself for getting in such a fix, just when we were in such good shape and going like a house afire. You bet that from now on my record will be as clean as a hound's tooth.”
”Bully!” said Bert. ”I think you've done wonders though, to get rid of the conditions so soon. You must have worked like a horse.”
”I've worked all right,” said Axtell grimly. ”It was the least I could do, heaven knows. Some nights I haven't gone to bed at all. Even at that, I felt a little skittish when I went up for my exam. But I was desperate and went in largely on my nerve. When the Prof. looked over my papers I thought I heard him mutter to himself something that sounded like: 'All Gaul is divided into three parts and you've got two of them.'
But that may simply have been my guilty conscience. At any rate I got away with it, and the old sport gave me a clean bill of health.”
”It's like getting money from home,” affirmed d.i.c.k. ”Maybe 'Bull'
Hendricks won't be tickled to death. He'll kill the fatted calf if he can find one straying loose around the training quarters.”
”O, he'll fall on my neck all right--with a club,” remarked Axtell drily. ”When it comes to disguising his joy, 'Bull' is a dandy actor.”
”Don't you believe it,” said Bert. ”But how about your accomplice in crime?”
”O, Hodge will be coming along soon,” was the rea.s.suring reply. ”He's been working just as hard as I have or harder. But he's had two to make up, where I had only one. He's hired a tutor to coach him and is cramming away like mad. He told me this morning he thought he'd be ready to go into the torture chamber by the end of this week.”
”That'll be all to the merry,” jubilated Tom. ”Honest, Axtell, we've been all at sea since you fellows have been away. Winston has done fairly well at tackle, but he can't seem to start quickly enough when it comes to blocking. 'Bull' has been trying out Chamberlain in place of Ellis, but he gets mixed on the signals. He plugs away like a beaver, but finds it hard to get them straight. Morley is doing fine work at half, but he can't fill your shoes when it comes to tackling. Of course I don't know what 'Bull' will do, but I have a hunch that he'll take Chamberlain out and put Morley there permanently, as there isn't a chance in the world for Ellis to come back in time.”
”Poor old Ellis,” mourned Bert. ”Game to the core, that boy. It nearly broke his heart when his ankle went back on him, but he never whimpers.
He hopes to be out on crutches in time to see the big games. Told me yesterday, when I dropped in to see him, that when it came to yelling for the boys we'd find his voice was all right even if his leg was on the blink.”
”Plucky old scout,” agreed Axtell, ”and one of the best men we had. But now I must be going. I'll toddle over and give 'Bull' a chance to welcome back the prodigal son. It'll be an affecting greeting,” he grinned.
But if he had expected to be ”skinned alive” for his shortcomings, he was agreeably disappointed. The coach was too delighted at the strengthening of the team to dwell too much or too sternly on the defection that had thrown it out of gear. He gave him a fatherly talk, pointed out the necessity of keeping his studies up to the mark from that time on, and put it up to him to ”play the game” both in the cla.s.sroom and on the field for all it was worth. Then he dismissed him with an injunction to turn up early for practice the following day.
The reinstated halfback went away with his eyes s.h.i.+ning and his heart elate. Once more ”his foot was on his native heath.” And the dignified ”Bull,” after a cautious glance around to make sure that no one was looking, indulged himself in the luxury of an impromptu Highland fling.
CHAPTER X
IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY
ONE afternoon, after practice, ”Bull” Hendricks called Bert aside and said: ”I want you to stay a few minutes after the others have gone, Wilson. Reddy and I have something we want you to do.”
”All right,” was the reply, and accordingly, after the other members of the squad had finished dressing and had left the dressing room Bert lingered behind. In a few minutes the coach walked into the apartment, followed by Reddy.
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