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diff --git a/8550.txt b/8550.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a9a07fc --- /dev/null +++ b/8550.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7004 @@ +Project Gutenberg's T. Haviland Hicks Senior, by J. Raymond Elderdice + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: T. Haviland Hicks Senior + +Author: J. Raymond Elderdice + +Posting Date: August 22, 2014 [EBook #8550] +Release Date: July, 2005 +First Posted: July 22, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK T. HAVILAND HICKS SENIOR *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, Charles +Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + +T. HAVILAND HICKS SENIOR + +BY J. RAYMOND ELDERDICE + + + +TO MASTER LLOYD ELDERDICE + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. HICKS--WILD WEST BAD MAN + II. "LEAVE IT TO HICKS" + III. HICKS' PRODIGIOUS PRODIGY + IV. QUOTING SCOOP SAWYER'S LETTER + V. HICKS MAKES A DECISION + VI. HICKS MAKES A SPEECH + VII. HICKS STARTS ANOTHER MYSTERY + VIII. COACH CORRIDAN SURPRISES THE ELEVEN + IX. THEOPHILUS' MISSIONARY WORK + X. THOR'S AWAKENING + XI. "ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL" + XII. THEOPHILUS BETRAYS HICKS + XIII. HICKS--CLASS KID--YALE '96 + XIV. THE GREATER GOAL + XV. HICKS HAS A "HUNCH" + XVI. THANKS TO CAESAR NAPOLEON + XVII. HICKS MAKES A RASH PROPHECY + XVIII. T. HAVILAND HICKS, JR.'S HEADWORK + XIX. BANNISTER GIVES HICKS A SURPRISE PARTY + XX. "VALE, ALMA MATER!" + + + + + + +T. HAVILAND HICKS, SENIOR + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HICKS--WILD WEST BAD MAN + + + "Oh, a bold, bad man was Chuckwalla Bill-- + An' he lived in a shanty on Tom-cat Hill; + Ten notches on the six-gun he toted on his hip-- + For he'd sent ten buckos on the One-way Trip!" + +Big Butch Brewster, captain and full-back of the Bannister College football +squad, his behemoth bulk swathed in heavy blankets and crowded into a +narrow bunk, shifted his vast tonnage restlessly. He was dreaming of the +wild and woolly West, and like a six-reel Western drama thrown on the +screen in a moving-picture show, he visioned in his slumbers a vivid and +spectacular panorama. + +The first lurid scene was the Deserted Limited held up at a tank station in +the great Mojave Desert by a lone, masked bandit who winged the dreaming +Butch in the shoulder, the latter being an express guard who resisted. +After the desperado, Two-Gun Steve, had forced the engineer to run the +train back to a siding, he had ordered Butch to vamoose. Quite naturally, +then, the collegian next found himself staggering across the arid expanse, +until at last, half dead from a burning thirst, seeking vainly for a +water-hole, the vast stretch of sandy, sagebrush-studded wastes shimmered +into a gorgeous ocean of sparkling blue waters. Then, as he collapsed on +the scorching-hot sand, helpless, the cool water so near, suddenly the +scene shifted. + +In quick and vivid succession, Butch Brewster beheld a burning stockade +besieged by howling Indians, and a frontier town shot up by recklessly +riding cowboys on a jamboree. Then he became a tenderfoot, badgered by +yelling, shooting roisterers, and later a sheriff, bravely leading his +posse to a sensational battle with that same Two-Gun Steve and his gang, +entrenched in a rock-bound mountain defile. + +Finally, he stood with hands above his head in company with other +passengers of the Sagebrush Stagecoach, while a huge, red-shirted Westerner +with a fierce black mustache and a six-shooter in each hand belching +bullets at Butch's dancing feet, roared out huskily: "Oh--I'm a ring-tailed +roarer (_bang-bang_)! I'm a rip-snortin', high-falutin', loop-the-loopin' +_bad_ man (_bang-bang_)! I'm wild an' woolly, an' full o' fleas, an' hard +to curry below the knees--I'm a roarin' wild-cat, an' it's my night to howl +(_bang-bang_)! Yip-yip-yip-_yeee_!" + +Big Butch, opening his eyes and starting up, gazed about him in sheer +surprise; for an instant, in that state of bewilderment that comes with +sudden awakening, he almost believed himself in a Western ranch bunkhouse, +and that some happy cowboy outside roared a grotesque ballad. He gazed at +the interior of a rough shack built of pine boards, with bunks constructed +in tiers on both sides. There were figures in them--Western cowboys, +perhaps. Then it seemed, somehow, that the voice drifting from the outside +was strangely familiar. Back at Bannister College, where he remembered he +had gone in the dim and dusty past, he had often heard that same fog-horn +voice, roaring songs of a less blood-curdling character, and accompanied by +that same banjo twanging, which tortured the campus, and bothered would-be +studious youths! + +"I'm not in a moving-picture show," Butch informed himself, as he donned +khaki trousers, football sweater, and heavy shoes. "I'm not on a Western +ranch, either. I'm in the sleep-shack of Camp Bannister, the football +training-camp of the Bannister College squad! Those fellows in the bunks +are not cowboys, Indians, and bandits--they are my teammates! I did dream +stuff that would shame a Wild West scenario, but I understand it all +now--my dreams were influenced by T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.!" + +At that dramatic moment, to substantiate his statement, the raucous voice, +accompanied by resounding chords strummed on a banjo, sounded again. The +vocal and instrumental chaos was frequently punctured by revolver reports, +as the torturesome Caruso outside roared: + + "Oh, Chuckwalla Bill thought life was sweet-- + Till he met up with Sure-shot Pete; + A hotter shootin' match Last Chance never saw-- + But Sure-shot Pete was some quicker on the draw!" + +The pachydermic Butch, fully dressed--and awake, raging in his wrath like +an active volcano, glanced at his watch, and discovered that it was exactly +five A.M.! Intensely pacified by this knowledge, he lumbered toward the +bunkhouse door and flung it open, determined to crush the pestersome youth +who thus unfeelingly disturbed the quietude of Camp Bannister at such an +unearthly hour! However, his grim purpose was temporarily thwarted--before +him spread a beautiful panorama, a vast canvas painted in rich hues and +colors, that indescribably charming masterpiece of nature, entitled dawn. + +Butch, gazing from the bunkhouse doorway toward the pebbly shore of the +placid lake stretching out for two miles before him, beheld Old Sol, +blood-red, peeping above the wooded hills on the far-off, opposite strand +of Lake Conowingo; the luminous orb laid a flaming pathway across the +shimmering waters, and golden bars of light, like gleaming fingers +outstretched, fell athwart the tall pines that towered on the high bluff +back of the camp. The glorious sunshine, succeeding a flood of rosy color, +inundated the scene; it bathed in a gorgeous radiance the early autumn +woods, it illumined the bunkhouse, and another rude shanty known to the +squad as the grub-shack, it poured down on old Hinky-Dink, the ancient +negro cookee, setting the breakfast tables just outside the canvas +cook-tent. + +"Deed, cross mah heart, Mistah Butch," grinned old Hinky-Dink, seeing, as +a motion picture director would express it, "Wrath registered on the +countenance" of Butch Brewster, "Ah done tole dat young Hicks dat a bird +what cain't sing an' will sing mus' be made _not_ to sing! Ah done info'med +him dat yo'-all was layin' fo' him, cause he done bus' up yo' sleep!" + +A jay bird, a flashing bit of vivid blue, shot from a tall pine, jeering +shrilly at Butch; out on the lake, a trout leaped above the water for an +infinitesimal second, its shining scales gleaming in the sunshine. From the +cook-tent, where old Hinky-Dink grumbled at the frying pan, the appetizing +odor of frying fish assailed the football captain, softening his wrath. + +High above the shanties, on a tall flagpole made from a straight young +pine, floated a big gold and green banner, its bright colors gleaming in +the sunshine; it bore the words: + + CAMP BANNISTER + TRAINING CAMP + THE FOOTBALL SQUAD + BANNISTER COLLEGE + +Head Coach Corridan, smashing the precedent that had made former Gold and +Green squads have their training camp at Bannister College, had brought +the Varsity and second-string stars to this camp on the shore of Lake +Conowingo, in the Pennsylvania mountains. For two weeks, one of which had +passed, they were to train at Camp Bannister, until college officially +opened; swimming, hunting, cross-country runs, and a healthful outdoor +existence would give the athletes superb condition, and daily scrimmages on +the level field back of the bluff rounded out an eleven that promised to be +the strongest in Bannister history. + +As big, good-natured Butch Brewster stood in the bunkhouse doorway, his +wrath at the pestiferous Hicks forgotten, in his rapture at the glorious +dawn, he saw something that showed why his dreams had been of the wild +West! The expression of indignation, however, yielded to one of humorous +affection, as he gazed toward the shore. + +"I can't be angry with Hicks!" breathed Butch, beholding a spectacle more +impressive than dawn. "So, the irrepressible wretch has Coach Corridan's +revolvers, used in starting our training sprints, and a lot of blank +cartridges! He is giving an imitation of a Western bad man. No wonder +I dreamed of Indians, cowboys, and hold-ups; I'll have revenge on the +heartless villain, routing me out at five!" + +He saw a massive rock, rising thirty feet in air, its sheer walls scaled +only by a rope-ladder the collegians had rigged up on one side. Atop of +"Lookout There!" as the campers humorously designated the rock, roosted +a youth who possessed the colossal structure of a splinter, and whose +cherubic countenance was decorated with a Cheshire cat grin. Quite unaware +that his riotous efforts had brought out the wrathful Butch Brewster, +the youthful narrator of Chuckwalla Bill's stormy career continued his +excessively noisy seance. + +His costume was strictly in character with his song. He wore a sombrero, +picked up on his Exposition trip the past vacation, a lurid red +outing-shirt, and he had wrapped a blanket around each locomotive limb to +imitate a cowboy's chaps. Two revolvers suspended from a loosened belt, _a +la_ wild West, and as Butch stared, the embryo Western bad man twanged a +banjo noisily, and roared the concluding stanza of his desperado hero's +history: + + "Said Chuckwalla Bill, 'Oh, boys, plant me + With my boots on--on the wide prair-eee'-- + Where the coyotes howl, they planted Bill-- + An' so far as _I_ know, he's sleepin' there still!" + +"Here they come," grinned Butch, hearing a tumult in the bunkhouse, and +a confused Babel of voices. "Hicks has awakened the camp. Now watch the +fellows wreak summary vengeance on his toothpick frame!" + +From the sleep-shack, aroused at that weird hour by the clamor of the +irrepressible youth, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., tumbled others of the squad, +in varying stages of _deshabille_; big Beef McNaughton, right half-back, +Roddy Perkins, the Titian-haired right-end, Pudge Langdon, a ponderous +tackle, and Monty Merriweather, a clean-cut, aggressive candidate for left +end. From within, other wrathy youths howled vociferous protests at their +tormentor: + +"Stop that noise; put your muzzle on again, Hicks!"--"Where's the fire? +Say, Hicks, muffle your exhaust!"--"Say, Coach, must we endure this day and +night?" + +The bunkhouse fairly erupted angry collegians, boiling out like bees +swarming from a disturbed hive; Hefty Hollingsworth, the Herculean +center-rush. Biff Pemberton, left half-back, Bunch Bingham, Tug Cardiff, +and Buster Brown, three huge last-year substitutes; second-string players, +Don Carterson, Cherub Challoner, Skeet Wigglesworth, and Scoop Sawyer. A +dozen others, from sheer laziness, hugged their bunks devotedly, despite +the terrific turmoil outside. + +"It's a disgrace, a _howling_ shame!" exploded Beef, his elephantine frame +swathed in blankets to conceal a lack of vestiture, "Last night, until +midnight, that graceless wretch roosted on 'Lookout There' and because the +glorious moonlight made him sentimental and slushy, he twanged his banjo +and warbled such mushy stuff as 'My Love is young and fair. My Love has +golden hair!' When does he expect us to sleep?" + +"He doesn't!" explained Monty Merriweather, with succinct lucidity, +grinning at his comrades. "Say, fellows, you know how Hicks dreads a cold +shower-bath; well, some of you rage at him from the other side of the rock, +while _I_ climb up the rope-ladder and close with him! Then some of you +prehistoric pachyderms ascend, and we'll chuck that pestersome insect into +the cold, cold lake--" + +"Done!" chuckled Butch Brewster, delightedly. So, while he, Beef +McNaughton, Hefty Hollingsworth, and others beguiled the jeering Hicks, +expressing in dynamic, red-hot sentences their exact opinions of his +perfidy, the athletic Monty imitated a mountain-scaling Italian soldier. +He climbed stealthily up the swaying rope-ladder; nearer and nearer to the +unsuspecting youth he crept, while the cherubic Hicks, to tantalize the +group below, again burst forth: + +"_Whoop-eee_! I'm a bold, _bad_ man (_bang-bang_)! I got ten notches on my +ole six-gun--I'm a _killer_. I wings a man before breakfast every day! I +got a private burying-ground, where I plants my victims (_bang-bang_)! +Yip-yip-yip-_yee_! Oh, I'm a--_Ouch_, Monty--leggo me--Oh, I'll be +good--why didn't I pull that rope-ladder up here? Don't bust my +banjo--don't let Butch get me--" + +Monty Merriweather, reaching the flat top of the rock, had courageously +flung himself, without regard for the Bad Man's desperate record, on the +startled Hicks, whose first thought was for his beloved banjo. While he +held the blithesome tormentor helpless, Butch, Beef, and Roddy Perkins +climbed the rope-ladder, and the grinning youth was soon in their clutches, +while the collegians below, like a Roman, mob aroused by the oratory of Mr. +Mark Antony, howled for revenge: + +"Bust the old banjo over his head, Butch!"--"Sing to him, Beef--that's +an _awful_ revenge on Hicks!"--"Tie him to the rock--make him miss his +breakfast!" + +"Hicks," growled Butch, eyeing his sunny comrade ominously, "you ought to +be tarred and feathered, and shot at sunrise! When Bannister opens, you +will be a Senior, and you'll disgrace '19's dignity! This is a sample of +what we have endured at college for three years, and the worst is yet to +come! You have committed the awful atrocity of awakening Camp Bannister +at five A. M. with your ridiculous imitation, of a Western desperado. To +dampen your ardor, we will chuck you into the cold lake--just as you are!" + +"Help! Assistance! Aid! Succor!" shouted the happy-go-lucky Hicks, as the +behemoth Butch and Beef seized him, swinging him aloft with ludicrous ease, +"Police! Fire! Murder! Take care of my banjo, Monty. Tell all the fellows +at old Bannister I died game, and plant Hair-Trigger Bill with his boots +on! _Oooo_, Beef, Butch, _have a heart_, that water is _cold_!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., relieved of banjo and revolvers, but his +shadow-like structure still clad in shoes, trousers, with imitation "chaps" +and flamboyant red shirt, with his classic head still adorned by +the sombrero, was swung back and forth by the two bulky football +stars--once--twice-- + +"_Three_--Let him go!" shouted Butch Brewster, and like a falling meteor, +the splinter-like youth, who had already fallen from grace, shot from the +rock, head-first, disappearing with a spectacular splash in the icy waters +of Lake Conowingo. Knowing Hicks to be as much at home in the water as a +fish in an aquarium, the hilarious squad on shore prepared to jeer his +reappearance above the water; however, their program was interrupted by +old Hinky-Dink, who stood in the cook-tent doorway, belaboring a dishpan +lustily with a soup-ladle, and shouting: + +"Breakfus' am served; fus' an' las' call fo' breakfus; all dem what am late +don't git no breakfus!" + +"Breakfast!" exclaimed Monty Merriweather, who, with Roddy, Butch, and +Beef, remained on the rock, despite the summons of the Cookee. "Hurry up, +Hicks, I'm ravenous. Say, Butch, suppose all that Western regalia makes him +water-logged; he's a terribly long while down there! Didn't he look like +the hero in a moving-picture feature? We've given him the water-cure, but +he will do that same stunt over again. That sunny-souled Hicks is simply +Incorrigible!" + +A second later, the grinning, cheery countenance of T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., shot above the water, and simultaneously with his appearance, just as +though he had been chanting below the surface, for the entertainment of the +finny denizens of Lake Conowingo, the irrepressible youth roared: + + "A hotter shootin' match Last Chance never saw-- + But Sure-Shot Pete was some quicker on the draw!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"LEAVE IT TO HICKS" + + +Head Coach Patrick Henry Corridan, known to toil-tortured Gold and Green +football squads from time immemorial as "the Slave-Driver," Captain Butch +Brewster, and serious Deacon Radford, the star Bannister quarter-back, +foregathered around a table in the Camp Bannister grub-shack. + +It was ten-thirty of the morning whose dawn T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had +blithesomely hailed with an impromptu musicale and saengerfest on "Lookout +There!" rock, and the football triumvirate were in togs. The squad, over in +the bunkhouse, noisily donned gridiron armor for the morning practice, and +the pestiferous Hicks was maintaining a mysterious silence, somewhere. + +This football trio, on whom rested the responsibility of rounding out a +winning Bannister eleven, vastly resembled a coterie of German generals, +back of the trenches, studying a war-map. Before them was spread what +seemed to be a large checker-board. It was a miniature gridiron, with the +chalk-marks painted in white; there were thumb-tacks stuck here and there, +some with flat tops painted green and gold, others, representing the enemy, +were solid red. The former had names printed on them, Butch, Roddy, +Beef, and so on. By sticking these on the board, the three directors of +Bannister's football destiny could work out new plays, and originate +possible winning lineups. + +"We've just got to win the State Championship this season, Coach!" declared +Butch, banging the table emphatically, as he stated a self-evident fact. +"It's my last year for Old Bannister, and so with Beef and Pudge. I'll give +every ounce of strength I possess In every game, to make that pennant float +over Bannister Field!" + +"Bannister _will_ win it!" vowed the behemoth Beef, his good-natured +countenance grim, and his jaw set. "Not for five years has a Gold and Green +team won the Championship--not since the year before Butch and I were +Freshmen! We've got a splendid bunch of material to build a team with, +and--" + +"Our biggest problem is this," spoke Coach Corridan, as with a phenomenal +display of strength he took Beef McNaughton between thumb and forefinger +and placed him on the field. "We must strengthen both line and backfield, +for we lost by graduation Babe McCabe, Heavy Hughes, and Jack Merritt. Now, +to replace that lost power--" + +Just then, from directly beneath the open window by which they had +gathered, like the midnight serenade of a romantic lover, sounded +the well-known foghorn voice of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., as to the +plunkety-plunk of a banjo accompaniment, he warbled melodiously: + + "Gone are the days--I used to spend with Car-o-li-nah! + She had the sunshine in her laughter (_plunkety-plunk_) + Just like that state they named her after--" + +"_Hicks_!" announced Butch, stealthily approaching the window, and +beckoning his companions. "Easy--look at him, Deke, there he is, Hicks, +the irrepressible! We might as well attempt to stab a rhinocerous to death +with a humming-bird's feather, as to try and reform _him_!" + +Arrayed like a lily of the field, a model of sartorial splendor, Hicks +occupied a chair beneath the window, tilted back gracefully against the +side of the grub-shack. He had decked his splinter-structure with a +dazzling Palm Beach suit, and a glorious pink silk shirt, off-set by a +lurid scarf. A Panama hat decorated his head, white Oxfords and flamboyant +hosiery adorned his feet, while the inevitable Cheshire cat grin beautified +his cherubic countenance. A latest "best seller" was propped on his knees, +and as he perused its thrilling pages, he carelessly strummed his beloved +banjo, and in stentorian tones chanted a sentimental ballad: + + "Gone are the days--the golden days I'm dreaming of, + I think I hear her softly calling (plunkety-plunk) + 'Will you be back? Will you be back? (plunk-plunk) + Back to the Car-o-li-nah you love?'"(plunkety-plunk), + +For three golden campus years T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had gayly pursued the +even tenor (or _basso_, since he possessed a foghorn, subterranean voice) +of his Bannister career. He absolutely refused to take life seriously, and +he was forever arousing the wrath--mostly pretended, for no one could be +really angry with the genial youth--of his comrades, by twanging his banjo +and roaring out rollicking ballads at all hours. He was never so happy +as when entertaining a crowd of happy students in his cozy quarters, +or escorting a Hicks' Personally Conducted expedition downtown for a +Beef-Steak Bust, at his expense, at Jerry's, the rendezvous of hungry +collegians. + +However, despite his butterfly existence, Hicks, possessed of a +scintillating mind, always set the scholastic pace for 1919, by means of +occasional study-sprints, as he characteristically called them. But when it +came to helping his beloved Dad realize a long-cherished ambition to behold +his only son and heir shatter Hicks, Sr.'s, celebrated athletic records, it +was a different story. T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., ever since he committed +the farcical _faux pas_ of running the wrong way with the pigskin in +the Freshman-Sophomore football contest of his first year, had been a +super-colossal athletic joke at old Bannister. + +His record to date, beside that reverse touchdown that won for the +Sophomores, consisted of scoring a home-run with the bases congested, on a +strike-out; of smashing hurdles and cross-bars on the track; endangering +his heedless career with the shot and hammer; and making a ridiculous farce +of every event he entered, to the vast hilarity of the students, who, with +the exception of Butch Brewster, had no idea his ridiculous efforts were in +earnest. In the high-jump, however, Hicks had given considerable promise, +which to date the grasshopper collegian had failed to keep. + +Hicks, the lovable, impulsive, and irrepressible, with his invariable sunny +disposition, his generous nature, and his democratic, loyal comradeship +for everybody, was loved by old Bannister. The students forgave him his +pestersome ways, his frequent torturing of them with banjo-twanging and +rollicking ballads. His classmates idolized him, Juniors and Sophomores +were his true friends, and entering Freshmen always regarded this +happy-go-lucky youth as a demigod of the campus. + +Big Butch Brewster, who was forever futilely lecturing the heedless Hicks, +thrust his head from the grub-shack window, fought down a grin, and sternly +arraigned his graceless comrade: + +"Hicks, you frivolous, campus-cluttering, infinitesimal atom of nothing, +you labor under the insane delusion that college life is a continuous +vaudeville show. You absolutely refuse to take your Bannister years +seriously, you banjo-thumping, pillow-punishing, campus-torturing +nonentity. You will never grasp the splendid opportunities within your +reach! You have no ambition but to strum that banjo, roar ridiculous songs, +fuss up like a tailor's dummy, and pester your comrades, or drag them down +to Jerry's for the eats! You won't be earnest, you Human Cipher, Before you +entered Bannister, you formed your ideas and ideals of campus life from +colored posters, moving-pictures, magazine stories, and stage dramas like +'Brown of Harvard'; you have surely lived up, or down, to those ideals, +you--" + +"Them's harsh words, Butch!" joyously responded the grinning Hicks, +unchastened, for he knew good Butch Brewster would not, for a fortune, have +him forsake his care-free nature. "Thou loyal comrade of my happy campus +years, what wouldst thou of me?--have me don sack-cloth and ashes, strike +'The Funeral March' on my golden lyre, and cry out in anguish, _'ai! ai_! +'Nay, nay, a couple of nays; college years are all too brief; hence I +shall, by my own original process, extract from them all the sunshine and +happiness possible, and by my wonderful musical and vocal powers, bring joy +to my colleagues, who--_Ouch_, Butch--look out for that nail, you inhuman +elephant--" + +Big Butch, at that juncture of Hicks' monologue, had effectively terminated +it by leaning from the window, grasping his unsuspecting comrade by the +scruff of the neck, and dragging him over the window-ledge, into the +grub-shack, and the presence of Coach Corridan and Deacon Radford. +Strenuous objection was registered, both by the futilely struggling Hicks, +and a nail projecting from the sill, which caught in the Palm Beach +trousers and ripped a long rent in them; fortunately, Hicks' anatomy +escaped a similar fate. + +"A ripping good move, eh-what?" chuckled Hicks, twisting like a +contortionist, to view the damage done his vestiture, "Hello, what have we +here?--the German field-map, by the Van Dyke beard of the Prophet! I +bring the Kaiser's order, ham and eggs, and a cup of coffee. No, that's a +mistake. General Hen Von Kluck, lead a brigade of submarines up yon hill to +thunder the Russian fort! Von Hindering-Bug, send a flock of aeroplanes and +Zeppelins to the Allied trenches, the enemy is shooting Russian caviare +at--" + +"Hicks," said Head Coach Corridan, smiling at Butch Brewster's indignation, +"you are such a wonder at solving perplexing problems by your marvelous +'inspirations,' suppose you turn the scintillating searchlight of your +colossal intellect upon the question that Bannister must solve, to produce +a championship eleven!" + +It was T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, inveterate habit, whenever a baffling +situation, or what the French call an "_impasse_" presented itself, to +state with the utmost confidence, "Oh, just leave it to Hicks!" On +most occasions, when he made this remark, accompanied by a swaggering +braggadocio that never failed to make good Butch Brewster wrathful, the +happy-go-lucky youth possessed not the slightest idea of how the problem +was to be solved. He just uttered his rash promise, and then trusted to his +needed inspiration to illuminate a way out! And, as the Bannister campus +well knew, Hicks had solved more than one torturing question by an +inspiration that flashed on his intellect, when all hope of a satisfactory +solution seemed dead. + +For example, in his Sophomore year, when the Freshman leader, James +Roderick Perkins, that same Titian-haired Roddy who was now a bulwark at +right end, became charged with a Napoleonic ambition, and organized a +Freshman Equal Rights campaign, paralyzing Bannister football by refusing +to allow Freshmen to try for athletic teams, unless their demands were +granted. Hicks, when his inspiration finally smote him, smashed the +Votes-for-Freshmen crusade, and quelled Roddy, Futilely racking his brain +for a counter-attack, having blithely told the troubled campus, "Just leave +it to Hicks," he had ceased to worry, and then the inspiration had come, By +The Big Brotherhood of Bannister giving the upper-classmen full government +over Freshmen, a scheme successfully carried through, the peril had been +thwarted. + +"I got a letter from Dad yesterday," began Hicks, somewhat irrelevantly, +considering the Coach's remarks, "and he said--" + +"'--Inclosed find the check you wrote for,'" quoth Deacon Radford, +humorously. "'If you keep up this pace, I shall have to turn my steel +mills to producing war munitions, to pay your college bills.' Say, Hicks, +seriously, listen to our problem, and suggest what Coach Corridan should +do." + +While Hicks' athletic powers were known to equal those of the paralyzed +oldest inhabitant of a Civil War Veterans' Home, the sunny youth knew +football thoroughly; often he originated plays that the team worked out +with success, and his suggestions were always weighed carefully by the +football directors. So, after he had adjusted his lurid scarf at the +correct angle, and gazed ruefully at his torn habiliments, the sunshiny +Senior seated himself at the table, before the "war-map," and gave heed to +the Coach. + +[Illustration A: 'Here's the problem, Hicks'] + +"Here's the problem, Hicks," said the Slave-Driver, indicating the +Bannister eleven, represented by the gold and green topped thumb-tacks. +"From the line we lost Babe, a tackle, Heavy, a guard, and Jack Merritt, a +star end. Now, Monty Merriweather will hold down Jack's place O. K.--I can +shift Beef from right half to guard, and put Butch at right-half, while +Bunch Bingham can take care of Babe's old berth at tackle. But I have no +one to shoot in at full-back, when I shift Butch; you see, Hicks, my plan +is to build an eleven that can execute old-time, line-smashing football, +and up-to-date open play as well; I want fast ends and halves, with a +snappy quarter, and I have them; also, the backfield is heavy enough for +line-bucking, if I get my beefy full-back. I must have a big, heavy, fast +player, a giant who simply can't be stopped when he hits the line. With +Butch and Biff at halves, Deke at quarter. Roddy and Monty ends, and my +heavy line--why, a ponderous, irresistible Hercules at full-back will--" + +"Say!" grinned the irrepressible Hicks, as Coach Corridan warmed up to +his vision, "you don't want _much_, Coach! Why don't you ask Ted Coy, the +famous ex-Yale full-back, to give up his business and play the position for +you? Maybe you can persuade Charlie Brickley, a _fair_ sort of dropkicker, +to quit coaching Hopkins, and kick a few goals for old Bannister! I get +you, Coach--you want a fellow about the size of the _Lusitania,_ made of +structural steel, a Brobdingnagian Colossus who will guarantee to advance +the ball fifteen yards per rush, or money refunded! + +"Why, Coach, while you are wanting things, just wish for a chap who will +play the entire game himself, taking the ball down the field, while the +rest of the team are pushed along in rolling-chairs, while imbibing pink +tea. Get a prodigy who will instill such terror into our rivals that +instead of playing the schedule, Bannister will simply arrange with other +teams to mark themselves down defeated, and then agree what the scores +shall be." + +"I knew it!" growled Butch Brewster, glowering at the jocular youth. "We +should never have consulted him on this problem, for it is not one within +his power to solve, even though he performed the miracle of talking +seriously about it Now--" + +"Now--" echoed Hicks, with pretended seriousness, "Coach, you just hand me +the blue-prints and specifications of said Gargantuan Hercules, and I'll +try to corrall just such a phenomenon as you desire. Never hesitate to +consult me on such important matters, for I am ever-ready to cast aside my +own multifarious duties, when my Alma Mater needs my mental assistance, +or--" + +"Hicks, are you _crazy_?" fleered Deacon Radford, moved to excitement, +despite his great faith in the versatile youth. "Full-backs like that do +not grow on trees; the only one I ever read of was _Ole Skjarsen_, in +George Fitch's 'Siwash College Stories,' and he was purely fictitious. We +know you have accomplished some great things by your 'inspirations,' but as +for this--" + +"Just leave it to Hicks" quoth the irrepressible youth, swaggering toward +the door with an affected nonchalant self-confidence that aroused Butch to +wrath, and vastly amused his companions. "I'll admit a human juggernaut +like Coach Corridan dreams of will be hard to round up, but, I'll have an +inspiration soon. Don't worry about your old eleven, your problem will be +solved, and you will have a team that can play fifty-seven varieties of +football. _Raw revolver_, my comrades." + +When the graceless T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had sauntered gracefully out of +the grub-shack, big Butch Brewster, almost exploding with suppressed wrath, +stared at Slave-Driver Corridan and staid Deacon Radford a full minute; +then he grinned, + +"That--Hicks!" he murmured, struggling against a desire to laugh. "What a +ridiculous prophecy! 'Just leave it to Hicks!' Well, that means the problem +goes unsolved, for though I confess he _is_ brilliant, and his so-called +'inspirations' have helped old Bannister; when it comes to rushing out and +lassoing a smashing. Herculean full-back--_bah_!" + +Ten minutes later, when Coach Corridan and the Gold and Green squad climbed +the bluff to the field back of Camp Bannister, for morning signal drill, +their last memory was of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., arrayed in radiant +vestiture, his chair tilted against the bunkhouse--the chords of the banjo, +and his foghorn voice drifting to them on the warm September air: + + "Oh, father and mother pay all the bills (_plunk-plunk_) + And we have all the fun (_plunkety-plunk_) + With the money that we spend in college life!" + +Two hours afterward, as a tired, perspiring squad scrambled down the bluff, +and made for the cool waters of Lake Conowingo, a mysterious silence, +like a mighty wave, literally surged toward them. Camp Bannister seemed +deserted, the sun was still shining, the birds sang as cheerily as ever, +but instinctively the collegians felt an indescribable loneliness, a sense +of tremendous loss. + +"_Hicks_!" shouted Butch Brewster, loudly, his voice shattering the +stillness. "Hicks--ahoy! I say, Hicks--" + +Old Hinky-Dink, a letter in his hand, hobbled from the cook-tent toward +them; like a sinister harbinger of evil he advanced, grinning deprecatingly +at the squad: + +"Mistah Hicks am gone!" he announced importantly. "He done gib me fo' bits +to row him ober to de village, to cotch de noon 'spress fo' Philadelphy! +Heah am a letter what he lef'--" + +Big Butch Brewster, to whom the _billet-doux_ was addressed in T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr.'s, familiar scrawl, tore open the envelope, and while the squad +listened, he read aloud the message left by that sunny-souled youth; + + +"DEAR BUTCH: + +"Coach Corridan will have to use the alarm clock from now on! I'm called +away on business. See that my stuff gets to Bannister O.K. Stow it in the +room next to yours. I'll be back at college some time in the next century. +Give my _adieux_ to Coach Corridan and the squad. + +"Yours truthfully, + +"T. HAVILAND HICKS, JR. + +"P.S.: Tell Coach Corridan he should worry--_not_! I'm hot on the trail of +a fullback that will make Ted Coy at his coyest look like the paralyzed +inmate of an old man's home. Just leave it to Hicks!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +HICKS' PRODIGIOUS PRODIGY + + + "Has anybody here seen our Hicks? + _H-i-c-k-s_! + Has anybody here seen our Hicks? + If you've seen him, answer, 'Yes!' + He's tall and slim, and he wears a grin, + And his banjo-thumping is a sin. + Has _anybody_ here seen our Hicks-- + Hicks--and his old banjo?" + +Captain Butch Brewster, big Beef McNaughton, the Phillyloo Bird--that +flamingo-like Senior--and little Theophilus Opperdyke, the timorous boner +whom Bannister College called the "Human Encyclopedia," roosted on the +sacred Senior Fence, between the Gymnasium and the Administration Building. +A gloomy silence, like a somber mantle, enshrouded the four members of '19, +as they listened to a rollicking parody on, "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" +chanted by some Juniors in Nordyke, with T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., as the +object of solicitude. Nor did the melancholy youths respond to the queries +hurled down at them from the dormitories' windows: + +"Say, Butch Brewster, where is that crazy Hicks?" + +"Beef, ain't our Hicks a-comin' back here no more?" + +"Hello, Phillyloo, any word from our Hicks yet?" + +"Ahoy there, Theophilus, where is Hicks, the Missing?" + +The seven-thirty study-hour bell was ringing, its mellow chimes sounding +from the Administration Building tower. From the windows of the dormitories +gleams of light shot athwart the darkness. Over in Creighton Hall, the +abode of Freshmen, a silence reigned, but in Smithson, where the Sophomores +roomed, Nordyke, home of the Juniors, and Bannister, haunt of the solemn +Seniors, pandemonium obtained. In these dorm. rooms and corridors that +night, just as in the class-rooms, or on the campus, and Bannister Field +that day, there was but one topic. Whenever two students met, came the +query inevitable: + +"Where is Hicks? Isn't Hicks coming back this year?" + +The Freshmen, bewildered, quite naturally, at the furore made over +one missing student, asked, "Who is Hicks?" Seeking information from +upper-classmen they received innumerable tales, in the nature of Iliad +and Odyssey, concerning T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.; they heard of his campus +exploits, such as his originating The Big Brotherhood of Bannister, and +they laughed, at recitals of his athletic fiascos. They were told of his +inevitably sunny nature, his loyal comradeship, his generous disposition, +and as a result, the Freshmen, too, became intensely interested in the +all-important campus problem: "Where is T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.?" + +Little Theophilus Opperdyke, whose big-rimmed spectacles, high forehead, +and bushy hair gave him an intensely owlish appearance, sighed +tremendously, stared solemnly at his class-mates, and became the author of +a most astounding statement: "I--I can't study," quavered the "boner," +he whose tender devotion to his books was a campus tradition, and whose +loyalty to his firm friend, the blithesome Hicks, was as that of Damon +to Pythias, "I just _can't_ care about my studies, without Hicks here! +Somehow, it--it doesn't seem like old times, on the campus." + +"I should say not!" ejaculated the Phillyloo Bird, sepulchrally, his +string-bean length draped with extreme decorative effect on the Senior +Fence, "Life at old Bannister without T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., is about as +interesting as 'The Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture!' +Prexy thought he started the college on its Marathon three days ago, but +Bannister will not be officially opened until Hicks stands by his window +some study-hour, twangs that old banjo, and shatters the campus quietude +with a ballad roared in his fog-horn voice!" + +Big Butch Brewster, enshrouded in melancholy, instinctively gazed up at the +windows of the room T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. had reserved on the third floor +of Bannister Hall, the Senior dorm., as if he fully expected to behold +the missing youth materialize. There, in lonely grandeur, waited the +sunny-souled Senior's vast aggregation of trunks, crates, and packing +boxes, together with Hicks' baggage brought down from Camp Bannister. The +bothersome banjo had disappeared at the same time the youthful Caruso +imitated the Arabs, folding his figurative tent, and stealing away. + +"It's a strange paradox," boomed Butch Brewster, finding that no Hicks +appeared at the window, "but for three years Bannister has stormed at Hicks +for bothering us during study-hour, or at midnight, with his saengerfest, +and now I'd give anything to see him up there, and to hear that banjo, and +his songs! It is just as if the sun doesn't shine on the campus, when T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., is away!" + +Bannister College had been running for three days "on one cylinder," as +the Phillyloo Bird quaintly phrased it, on account of the gladsome Hicks' +mysterious absence. Not a word had the Head Coach, Captain Brewster, the +football squad, or any of the collegians received from the blithesome +youth, since the _billet-doux_ he left with old Hinky-Dink at Camp +Bannister. Old students, returning to the campus for another golden year, +invaded Hicks' room in Bannister, ready to enjoy the cozy den of that +jolly Senior, but they encountered silence and desolation. No one had the +slightest knowledge of where the cheery Hicks could be; they missed his +singing and banjo strumming, his pestersome ways, his cheerful good nature, +his cozy quarters always open house to all, and his Hicks' Personally +Conducted tours downtown to Jerry's for those celebrated Beefsteak Busts. + +A telegram to Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., in Pittsburgh, sent by the +worried Butch Brewster, had brought this concise response: + +No knowledge of Thomas' whereabouts. He should be at Bannister. + +"Queer," reflected Beef McNaughton, shifting his bulk on the protesting +fence. "We know Hicks will be back, for all his luggage is stowed away +in his room, and we are sure he is giving us all this mystery just for a +joke--he dearly loves to arrange a sensational and dramatic climax--but +we just can't get used to his not being on the campus. When Theophilus +Opperdyke can't study, it's high time the S.O.S. signal was sent to T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr." + +"That is not the worst of it," growled Captain Butch Brewster, his arm +across little Theophilus' shoulders. "The football squad misses Hicks, +Beef. For the past two seasons he has sat at the training-table, his +invariable good-humor, his Cheshire cat grin, and his sunny ways have kept +the fellows in fine mental trim so they haven't worried over the game. But +now, just as soon as he left Camp Bannister, the barometer of their spirits +went down to zero and every meal at training-table is a funeral. Coach +Corridan can't inject any pep into the scrimmages, and he says if Hicks +doesn't return soon, Bannister's chances of the Championship are gone." + +"As Theophilus says," responded the gloomy Beef, "we just can't get used +to his not being here. We miss his good-nature, his sunny smile, the jolly +crowds in his cozy quarters--why, the campus is talking of nothing but +Hicks--and I don't know what Bannister will do after Hicks graduates--shut +down, I suppose!" + +"Well, you know," grinned the Phillyloo Bird, his cadaverous structure +humped over like a turkey on the roost, "our Hicks hath sallied forth on +the trail of a full-back, a Hercules who will smash the other elevens to +infinitesimal smithereens! He told the squad to just leave it to Hicks, +so don't be surprised if he is making flying trips to Yale, Harvard, and +Princeton, striving to corral some embryo Ted Coy. Remember how Hicks often +fulfills his rash prophecies!" + +"A Herculean full-back--_Bah_!" fleered Butch, for all the campus knew of +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, extremely rash vow to unearth a "phenom." "The +truth of it is, fellows. Hicks has failed to locate such a wonder as Coach +Corridac outlined, for there ain't no such animal! He doesn't like to +come back to Bannister without having made good his promise, without that +Gargantuan giant he vowed to round up for the Gold and Green." + +Just then, as if to substantiate Butch's jeering statement, a youth wearing +the uniform and cap of The Western Union Telegraph Company and +advancing across the campus at that terrific speed always exhibited by +messenger-boys, appeared in the offing. Periscoping the four Seniors on the +fence, he navigated his course accordingly and pulling a yellow envelope +from his cap, he queried, in charmingly chaste English: + +"Say, kin youse tell me where to find a feller name o' Brewster, wot's +cap'n o' de football bunch?" + +"Right here, Little Nemo," advised the Phillyloo Bird, solemnly. "Hast thou +any messages from New York for me? John D. Rockefeller promised to wire me +whether or not to purchase war-stocks." + +The Phillyloo Bird, at this stage of his monologue, was interrupted by a +yell that would have caused a full-blooded Choctaw Indian to turn pale. +This came from good Butch Brewster, who, having signed for the message, +and imagined all manner of catastrophes, from world-wars, earthquakes, +pestilence and loss of wealth, down to bad news from Hicks, after the +fashion of those receiving telegrams but seldom, had scanned the yellow +slip. Never before, or afterward, not even when the luckless Butch fell in +love, and T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., assisted Cupid, did the pachydermic Butch +act so insanely as on this occasion. + +"Whoop-_eee! Yee-ow! Wow-wow-wow_!" howled the supposedly solemn Senior, +tumbling from the Senior fence and rolling on the campus like a decapitated +rooster. "Hip-hip-_hooray_! Ring the bell, Beef, get the fellows out, have +the Band ready, Oh, where is Coach Corridan? Read it, Beef, Theophilus, +Phillyloo. Oh, Hicks is _coming_ and he's got--" + +It is possible that little Theophilus, who firmly believed that big Butch +Brewster had gone emotionally insane, would have fled for help, but at that +juncture members of the Gold and Green football squad, with Head Coach +Patrick Henry Corridan, appeared, marching funereally toward the Gym., +where a signal quiz was booked for seven forty-five. Beholding the +paralyzing spectacle of their captain apparently in paroxysms on the grass, +Hefty Hollingsworth, Biff Pemberton, Monty Merriweather and Pudge Langdon +hurled themselves on his tonnage, while Roddy Perkins sat on his head, and +wrested the telegram from his grasp, + +"Call up Matteawan," shouted Roddy, unfolding the slip, "Butch is getting +barmy in the dome, he--Oh, Coach, fellows--_great joy_! Just heed." + +James Roderick Perkins, as excited as a Senator about to make his first +speech, read aloud the telegram, on which the heedless Hicks had triple +rates: + + +"BUTCH: + +"Coming 8.30 P. M. express today. Discharge entire eleven--got whole team +in one. Knock out partitions between five rooms. Make space for Thor, the +Prodigious Prodigy! Leave it to Hicks! + +"T. HAVILAND HICKS, JR." + + +"_Hicks is coming_!" shrieked the Phillyloo Bird, soaring down from the +Senior Fence like a condor. "He will be here in less than an hour; he sent +this wire just before his train left Philadelphia. Money is no object, when +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., wants to mystify old Bannister." + +"'Discharge entire eleven,'" quoth Butch Brewster, having somewhat subdued +his frenzy. "'Got whole team in one--knock out partitions between _five_ +rooms--make space for Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy!' Now, what in the world +has that lunatical Hicks done? Who can Thor be?" + +Tug Cardiff, Buster Brown, Bunch Bingham, Scoop Sawyer, little Skeet +Wigglesworth, Don Carterson, and Cherub Challoner, not having given their +brawn to the subduing of Butch, now kindly donated their brain, in all +manner of weird suggestions. According to their various surmises, T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., had lured the Strong Man away from Barnum and Bailey's +Circus, had in some way reincarnated the mythical Norse god, Thor, had +hired some Greco-Roman wrestler, or by other devices too numerous and +ridiculous to mention, had produced a full-back according to Coach +Corridan's blue-prints and specifications. + +Big Beef McNaughton, seized with an inspiration that supplied +locomotive-power to his huge frame, lumbered into the Gym., and soon +appeared with monster megaphones, used in "rooting" for Gold and Green +teams, which he handed out to his comrades. Then the riotous squad, at his +suggestion, sprinted for the Quad., that inner quadrangle or court around +which the four class dormitories, forming the sides of a square, were +built; anyone desiring an audience could be sure of it here, since the +collegians in all four dorms. could rush to the Quadrangle side and look +down from the windows. In the Quadrangle, under the brilliant arc-lights, +the exuberant youths paused, + +"One--two--three--let 'er go!" boomed Beef, and the football squad, in +_basso profundo_, aided by the Phillyloo Bird's uncertain tenor, and +Theophilus' quavery treble, roared in a tremendous vocal explosion that +shook the dormitories: + +"Hicks is coming! Hicks is coming! Everybody out on the campus! Get ready +to welcome our T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.! Hicks is bringing Bannister's +full-back--a _Prodigious Prodigy_!" + +Windows rattled up, heads were thrust out, a fusillade of questions +bombarded the squad in the Quadrangle below; from the three upper-class +dormitories erupted hordes of howling, shouting youths, and soon the Quad. +was filled with a singing, yelling, madly happy crowd. The Bannister Band, +that famous campus musical organization, following a time-honored habit of +playing on every possible occasion, gladsomely tuned up and soon the +noise was deafening, while study-hour, as prescribed by the Faculty, was +forgotten. + +"Everybody on the campus, at once!" Butch Brewster, Master-of-Ceremonies, +boomed through his megaphone, having aroused excitement to the highest +pitch by reading Hicks' telegram. "Old Dan Flannagan's jitney-bus will soon +heave into sight. Let the Band blare, make a _big noise_. Let's show Hicks +how glad we are to have him back to old Bannister." + +It is historically certain that Mr. Napoleon Bonaparte returning from Jena +and Austerlitz, Mr. Julius Caesar, home at Rome from his Conquests, or Mr. +Alexander the Great (Conqueror, not National League pitcher) never received +such a welcome as did T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., from his Bannister comrades +that night. To the excited students, massed on the campus before the Gym. +awaiting his arrival, every second seemed a century; everybody talked at +once until the hubbub rivaled that of a Woman's Suffrage Convention. Thomas +Haviland Hicks, Jr., was actually returning to old Bannister; and he was +bringing "The Prodigious Prodigy," whatever that was, with him. Knowing the +cheery Senior's intense love of doing the dramatic and his great ambition +to startle his Alma Mater with some sensational stunt, they could hardly +wait for old Dan Flannagan's jitney-bus to roll up the driveway, + +"Here he comes!" shrieked, little Skeet Wigglesworth, an excitable Senior, +who had climbed a tree to keep watch. "Here comes our Hicks!" + +"Honk--Honk!" To the incessant blaring of a raucous horn, old Dan +Flannagan's jitney-bus moved up the driveway. The genial Irish Jehu, who +for over twenty years had transported Bannister collegians and alumni +to and from College Hill in a ramshackle hack drawn by Lord Nelson, an +antiquated, somnambulistic horse, had yielded to modern invention at +last. Lord Nelson having become defunct during vacation, Old Dan, with +a collection taken up by several alumni at Commencement, had bought a +battered Ford, and constructed therewith a jitney-bus. This conveyance was +fully as rattle-trap in appearance as the traditional hack had been, but +the returning collegians hailed it with glee. + +"All hail Hicks!" howled Butch Brewster, beside himself with joy, +"Altogether--the Bannister yell for--_Hicks_!" + +With half the collegians giving the yell, a number shouting +indiscriminately, the Bannister Band blaring furiously, "Behold, The +Conquering Hero Comes," with the youths a yelling, howling, shrieking, +dancing mass, old Dan Flannagan, adding his quota of noises with the +Claxon, brought his bus to a stop. This was a hilarious spectacle in +itself, for on its sides the Bannister students had painted: + + HENRY FORD'S "PIECE-OF-A-SHIP," _THE DOVE_! ALL RIDING IN THIS JIT DO + SO AT THEIR OWN RISK! TEN CENTS FOR A JOY-RIDE TO COLLEGE HILL! YES, + IT'S A _FORD_! WHAT DO YOU CARE? GET ABOARD! + +On the roof of "The Dove," or "The Crab," as the collegians called it when +it skidded sideways, perched precariously that well-known, beloved youth, +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. He clutched his pestersome banjo and was vigorously +strumming the strings and apparently howling a ballad, lost in the +unearthly turmoil. As the jitney-bus stopped, the grinning Hicks arose, and +from his lofty, position made a profound bow. + +"Speech! Speech! Speech!" A mighty shout arose, and Hicks raised his hand +for silence, which was immediately delivered to him. + +"Fellows, one and all," he shouted, a mist before his eyes, for his +impulsive soul was touched by the ovation, "I--I am _glad_ to be back! +Say--I--I--well, I'm glad to be back--that's all!" + +At this masterly oration, which, despite its brevity, contained volumes of +feeling, the Bannister students went wild--for a longer period than any +political convention ever cheered a nominated candidate, they cheered T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr. "Roar--roar--roar--_roar_!" in deafening sound-waves, +the noise swept across the campus; never had football idol, baseball hero, +or any athletic demigod, in all Bannister's history, been accorded such a +tremendous ovation. + +"Fellows," called T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., climbing down from his precarious +perch, "stand back; I have brought to Bannister the 'Prodigious Prodigy.' +I have rounded up a full-back who will beat Ballard all by himself. Behold +the new Gold and Green football eleven, 'Thor'!" + +From the grinning Dan Flannagan's jitney-bus, like a Russian bear charging +from its den, lumbered a being whose enormous bulk fairly astounded the +speechless youths; Butch Brewster, Beef McNaughton, Tug Cardiff, Bunch +Bingham, Buster Brown, and Pudge Langdon were popularly regarded as the +last word in behemoths, but this "Thor" dwarfed them, towered above them +like a Colossus over Lilliputians. He was a youth, and yet a veritable +Hercules. Over six feet he stood, with a massive head, covered with tousled +white hair, a powerful neck, broad shoulders, a vast chest. To a judge of +athletes, he would tip the scales at a hundred and ninety pounds, all solid +muscle, for that superb physique held not an ounce of superfluous flesh. + +"Hicks," said Head Coach Patrick Henry Corridan, gazing at the mountain of +muscle, "if _size_ means anything, you have brought old Bannister an entire +football squad! What splendid material to train for the Big Games, why--he +will be irresistible!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +QUOTING SCOOP SAWYER'S LETTER + + + "I didn't raise my _Ford_ to be a _jitney_-- + To run the streets, and stay out late at night! + Who dares to put a jitney sign, upon it-- + And send my _peace-ship_ out for fares to fight?" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., standing by his open window at 3 P. M. one +afternoon a week after his sensational return to Bannister College, with +the "Prodigious Prodigy" in tow, indulged in the soul-satisfying pastime of +twanging his banjo, and roaring, in his subterranean voice, a parody on "I +Didn't Raise My Boy to be a Soldier." It was actually the first Caruso-like +outburst of the pestersome youth that year, but his saengerfest brought +vociferous howls of protest from campus and dormitories: + +"_Bow-wow-wow_! The Grand Opery season is starting!" + +"Sing some records for a talking-machine company, Hicks!" + +"Kill that tom-cat! Listen to the back-fence musicale!" + +"Say, Hicks--we'll take your word for that noise!" + +On the Gym. steps, loafing a few moments before jogging out to Bannister +Field for a strenuous scrimmage under the personal supervision of +Slave-Driver Corridan, the Gold and Green football squad had gathered. It +was from these stalwart gridiron gladiators that the caustic criticism of +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, vocal atrocities emanated, and the imitation of a +mournful hound by "Ichabod," the skyscraping Senior, was indeed phenomenal. +Added to the howls, whistles, jeers, and shouts of the squad, were like +condemnations from other collegians, sky-larking on the campus, or in the +dorms. + +"At that," grinned Captain Butch Brewster happily, "it surely makes me feel +jubilant to hear Hicks' foghorn voice shattering the echoes, with his +banjo strumming disturbing the peace--for which offense it shall soon be +arrested. We can truly say that old Bannister is now officially opened for +another year, for T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., has performed his annual rite--" + +"Right--!" scoffed big Pudge Langdon, indignantly, as he gazed up at the +happy-go-lucky youth, at the window of his room on the third-floor, campus +side, of Bannister Hall, "Hicks ought to be tarred and feathered; there is +_nothing right_ in the way he has acted since his return to college! He +struts around like Herman, the Master-Magician, and all the fellows fully +expect to see him produce white rabbits from his cap, or make varicolored +flags out of his handkerchief." + +"We ought to toss him in a blanket," stormed Beef McNaughton, in ludicrous +rage. "Ever since he mystified Bannister by going out and corralling a +Hercules who is an entire eleven in himself, Hicks has maintained that +sphinx-like silence as to how he achieved the feat, and he swaggers around, +enshrouded in _mystery_! All we know is that 'Thor' is John Thorwald, of +Norwegian descent. If we ask _him_ for information, that wretch Hicks has +him trained to say, 'Ask the little fellow, Hicks!'" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., in truth, had acted in a most reprehensible manner +since that memorable night when he brought "Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy," +to the campus. Not that he ceased to be the same sunny-souled, popular and +friendly youth. The collegians, happy at finding his room open-house again, +flocked to his cozy quarters, Freshmen _fell_ under the spell of his +generous nature, his Beef-Steak Busts, down at Jerry's were nightly +occurrences, and he was the same Hicks as of old. But, after the dramatic +manner in which Hicks had mysteriously made good the rash vow uttered at +Camp Bannister and had brought to Coach Corridan a blond-haired giant who +seemed destined to perform prodigies at full-back, the sunny Senior had +evidently labored under the delusion that he was "Kellar, The Great +Magician." + +Instead of relieving the tortured curiosity of the students, wild to know +how and where Hicks had unearthed this physical Hercules, who in every way +filled the details of Head Coach Corridan's "blue-prints," T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., enjoying to the full this novel method of torturing his +comrades, made a baffling mystery of the affair, much to the indignation of +his friends. + +_"Just leave it to Hicks,"_ he would say, when the Bannister youths +cajoled, implored, threatened, or argued. "Thor is eligible to play four +years of football at old Bannister. I call him Thor, after the great Norse +god, Thor; he is of Norwegian descent. That is all of the Billion-Dollar +Mystery I can disclose; ten thousand dollars offered for the correct +solution." + +"Here comes Scoop Sawyer," said Monty Merriweather, as that Senior, waving +his arms in air, catapulted from Bannister Hall, and strode toward the +squad on the Gym. steps; his appearance registered wrath, in photo-play +parlance, and on reaching his comrades he immediately acquainted them with +its cause. + +"Listen to that Hicks!" he exploded, gesticulating with a sheaf of papers. +"Hicks, the mocking-bird! He is mocking _us_--with his 'Billion-Dollar +Mystery!' Say--here I am writing to Jack Merritt; he played football four +years for old Bannister; he was captain of the Gold and Green eleven; last +Commencement he graduated, and the last thing he said to me was, 'Scoop, +old pal, write to me next fall, tell me everything about the football +season; keep me posted as to new material!' _Everything_--keep him posted +as to new material--_Bah_! If I write that Hicks has brought a fellow he +calls 'Thor,' who spreads the regulars over the field, Jack will want +to know the details, and--that villainous Hicks won't divulge his dread +secret!" + +At this moment, Scoop Sawyer, so-called because he was ambitious to be a +newspaper reporter, after graduation, and for his humorous articles in the +_Bannister Weekly_, had his intense wrath soothed by that which has +"power to soothe the savage breast"; T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., displaying a +wonderful originality by composing, then chanting, his parody, concluded +the chorus roaring lustily, to a rollicking banjo accompaniment: + + "If street car companies gave seats to all patrons + The strap-hangers in jitneys would not ride. + There'd be no jits. today + If Ford owners would say, + I didn't raise my Ford to be a--jitney!" + +"That is too much!" raged Captain Butch Brewster, facing his excited +colleagues. "Come on, fellows, we'll invade Hicks' room, read him Scoop's +letter to Jack Merritt, and _make_ him solve the Mystery! We're done with +diplomacy; now, we'll deliver the ultimatum; when the squad returns from +scrimmage, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., will tell us all about Thor, or be +tossed in a blanket! Are you with me?" + +"We are _ahead_ of you!" howled Roddy Perkins, leading a wild charge for +the entrance to Bannister Hall. Following him up the two flights of stairs +with thunderous tread came Butch, Beef, Monty, Biff, Hefty, Pudge, Tug, +Ichabod, Bunch, Buster, Bus Norton, and several second-team players, +Cherub, Chub Chalmers, Don, Skeet, and Scoop Sawyer with his letter. With +a terrific, blood-chilling clatter, and hideous howls, the Hicks-quelling +Expedition roared down the third corridor of Bannister, and surged into the +room of that tantalizing T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.! + +"Safety first!" shrieked that cheery collegian, stowing his banjo in the +closet and making a strenuous but futile effort to dive head-first beneath +the bed, being forcibly restrained by Beef, who clung to his left ankle. +"Say, to what am I indebted for the honor of this call? Why, when I got +back to Bannister, you fellows gushed, 'Oh, we're _so_ glad you're back, +Hicks, old top; we missed even your saengerfests,' and when I start one--" + +"Hicks," pronounced Butch Brewster grimly, holding the genial offender +by the scruff of the neck, "you tantalizing, aggravating, irritating, +lunatical, conscienceless degenerate! You assassin of Father Time, you +disturber of the peace, _heed_! Scoop Sawyer is writing to Jack Merritt, to +tell about the football team, and Bannister's chances of the Championship; +he wants to tell Jack all about this Thor! Now, you have acted like +Herman-Kellar-Thurston long enough, and hear our final word. Read Scoop's +letter, and if when you finish its perusal you fail to give us full +information, and answer all questions about Thor--" + +"The football team will toss you in a blanket until you do!" finished Monty +Merriweather, "We intended to wait until after the scrimmage, but Butch +evidently believes we should end your bothersome mystery as once, and--" + +"'Curiosity killed the cat!'" grinned T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.; then seeing +the avenues and boulevards of escape were closed, but fighting for time, +"let me peruse said missive indited by our literarily overbalanced Scoop. I +am reluctant to dispel the clouds of mystery, but--" + +Scoop Sawyer thrust the typewritten pages of the letter--composed on +the battered old typewriter in the editorial sanctum of the _Bannister +Weekly_--into Hicks' grasp and with a grin, that blithesome youth read: + + +Bannister College, Sept, 27. + +DEAR OLD JACK: + +There is so _much_ to tell you, old pal, that I scarcely know where to +start, but you want to know about the football eleven, so I'll write about +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., and his 'Billion-Dollar Mystery,' as he calls it; +about Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy. You well know what a scatter-brained +wretch Hicks is, and how he dearly loves to plot dramatic climaxes--to +mystify old Bannister. Just now Hicks has the campus as wrathful as it is +possible to be with that lovable youth; he has originated a great mystery, +and achieved a seemingly impossible feat, and instead of explaining it, he +swaggers around like a Hindoo mystic enshrouded in mystery and the fellows +are wild enough to tar and feather the incorrigible villain! + +To get off to a sprint-start, up in Camp Bannister, before college opened, +when the squad was in training camp, Butch Brewster says that Coach +Corridan one day, before Hicks, expressed a fervid ambition to find a huge, +irresistible fullback-- + + +Here the chronicle must hang fire, while T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., grinning +at the wrath his mysterious behavior aroused, peruses those sections of +Scoop Sawyer's epistle telling of two scenes already described; first, +the one in the Camp Bannister grub-shack, where Head Coach Corridan +blue-printed the Gargantuan athlete he desired, and the blithesome Hicks +confidently requested that the Herculean task be left to him; second, the +scene of intense excitement on the campus the night that the missing Hicks +returned personally conducting that mountain of muscle, the blond-haired +Thor. + +Having grinned at these descriptions, the pestiferous Hicks scanned a +picturesque description by Scoop of the events that transpired between that +memorable night and the present invasion of the sunny Senior's room by the +indignant squad. + +--Naturally, Jack, old Bannister was intensely curious to know who this +"Thor" could be, and how Hicks unearthed such a giant. But, instead of +swaggering a trifle, as he inevitably does, and saying, 'Oh, I told you +just to leave it to Hicks!' then telling all about it, after accomplishing +what everyone believed a ridiculously impossible quest, he maintains that +provokingly mysterious silence, and John Thorwald (we know his name, +anyway) stolidly refers us to Hicks. So where Thor originated or how under +the sun Hicks got on his trail, after making his rash vow to corral a +mighty fullback, is a deep, dark mystery. + +Now for Thor himself. Words cannot describe that Prodigious Prodigy; he +must be seen to be believed! We do know that he is John Thorwald, and of +distinctly Norwegian descent, so that calling him after the mythic Norse +god is extremely appropriate. And he is reminiscent of the great Thor, with +his vast strength and prowess. Thanks to T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, love of +mystery, and of tantalizing old Bannister, we know nothing of Thorwald's +past, but we are sure he has lived and toiled among _men_, to possess +that powerful build. I can't describe him, old man, without resorting to +exaggeration, for ordinary words and phrases are utterly inadequate with +Thor! Conjure up a vision of Gulliver among the Lilliputians and you can +picture him towering over us. He is a Viking of old, with his fair features +and blond hair. Probably twenty-five years old, he has a powerful frame and +prodigious strength, he dwarfs such behemoths as Butch and Beef, and makes +such insignificant mortals as little Theophilus and myself seem like +insects! + +Thor is so _big_, Jack, that when he gets in a room, he crowds everyone +into the corridor, and fills it alone. No wonder Hicks telegraphed to knock +out the partitions between five rooms to make space for Thor! When he +stands on the campus he blots out several sections of scenery, and the +college disappears, giving the impression he has swallowed it. Thor is a +slow-minded being, but possessed of a grim determination. To get an idea +into his mind requires a blackboard and Chautauqua lecturer, but once he +masters it, he never lets go; so it will be with football signals, once let +him grasp a play, he will never be confused. He is simply a huge, stolid +giant. He has a bulldog purpose to get an education, and nothing else +matters. As for college spirit, the glad comradeship of the campus, he has +no time for it; he pays no attention to the fellows at all, only to Hicks. + +His devotion to that wretch is pathetic! He follows Hicks around like a +huge mastiff after a terrier, or an ocean leviathan towed by a tug-boat; he +seems absolutely helpless without T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., and so we have +a daily Hicks' personally conducted tour of Thor to interest us. Briefly, +Jack, John Thorwald is a slow-moving, slow-minded, grimly bulldog giant, +who has come to Bannister to study, and as for any other phase of campus +existence, he has never awakened to it! + +Now for the football story: Well, the day after Hicks' sensational arrival, +which I described, Coach Corridan, Captain Butch Brewster, Beef, Buster, +Pudge, Monty, and Roddy with yours truly, went to Thor's room in Creighton +just before football practice. We found that Colossus, who had matriculated +as a Freshman, aided by Hicks, patiently masticating mental food as served +by Ovid. Coach Corridan said, 'Come on, Thorwald, over to the Gym.; we'll +fix you out with togs, if we can get two suits big enough to make one for +your bulk! Ever play the game?' 'I play some,' rumbled Thor stolidly, never +raising his eyes from his Latin. 'Don't bother me, I want to _study._ +I have not time for such foolishness. I am here to study, to get an +education!' 'But,' urged the coach earnestly, 'you _must_ play football for +your Alma Mater, for old Bannister. Why, you--you _must_, that's all!' Thor +gazed at Hicks questioningly--I forgot to add that insect's name--and +asked, 'Is it so, Hicks? I _got_ to play for the college?' And when Hicks +grinned, '_Sure_, Thor, it must be did. Bannister expects you to smear the +other teams over the landscape,' that blond Norwegian Viking said, 'Well, +then, I play.' + +All Bannister turned out to behold the "Prodigious Prodigy" on the football +field. Somewhere--Hicks won't divulge where--Thor has learned the rudiments +of the game. With that bulldog tenacity of his, he has learned them well. +Hence he was ready for the scrubs, and in the practice game it was a +veritable slaughter of the innocents. The 'Varsity could not stop Thor. +Remember 'Ole' Skjarsen, the big Swede of George Fitch's 'Siwash College' +tales? Thor, after the ten minutes required to teach him a play, would take +the ball and just wade through the regulars for big gains. The only way to +stop him was for the entire eleven to cling affectionately to his bulk, +and then he transported them several yards. He is a phenom, a veritable +Prodigious Prodigy, and maybe old Bannister isn't _wild_ with enthusiasm. +His development will be slow but sure, and by the time the big games for +the championship come, he will be a whole team in himself. Right now he +goes through daily scrimmage as solemnly as if performing a sacred rite. He +doesn't thrill with college spirit, but as for football-- + +Leaving Hicks to read the rest of Scoop Sawyer's long missive, terminating +with indignant condemnation of the sunny youth's love of mystery, the +terrific enthusiasm roused at old Bannister by the daily appearance on +Bannister Field of Thor, and his irresistible marches through the 'Varsity, +must be chronicled and explained. + +Not for five seasons, not since the year before Hicks, Pudge, Butch, Beef +and the others of 1919 were Freshmen, had the Gold and Green corraled that +greatest glory, The State Intercollegiate Football Championship! In Captain +Butch's Sophomore year, he had flung his bulk into the fray, training, +sacrificing, fighting like a Trojan, only to see the pennant lost by a +scant three inches, as Jack Merritt's forty-yard drop-kick for the goal +that would have won the Championship struck the cross-bar and bounded back +into the field. And the past season-old Bannister could still vision that +tragic scene of the biggest game. + +The students could picture Captain Brewster, with the Bannister eleven a +few yards from Ballard's goal-line, and the touchdown that would give the +Gold and Green that supreme glory. One minute to play; Deacon Radford had +given Butch the pigskin, and like a berserker, he fought entirely through +the scrimmage. But a kick on the head had blinded him, in the _melee_--free +of tacklers, with the goal-line, victory, and the Championship so near, he +staggered, reeled blindly, crashed into an upright, and toppled backward, +senseless on the field, while the Referee's whistle announced the end of +the game, and glory to Ballard. Even then, after the first terrible shock +of the loss, of the cruel blow fate dealt the Gold and Green two +successive seasons, the slogan was: "_Next year_--Bannister will win the +Championship--_next year_!" + +It was now "next year!" Losing only Jack Merritt, Babe McCabe and Heavy +Hughes from the line-up, and having Monty Merrlweather and Bunch Bingham, +fully as good, Coach Corridan's Gold and Green eleven, before the season +started, seemed a better fighting machine than even the one of the year +before. But when the irrepressible T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., in some +mysterious fashion making good his rash vow to produce a smashing full-back +that can't be stopped, towed that stolid, blond Colossus, Thor, to old +Bannister, enthusiasm broke all limits! + +Mass-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 god Thor. "Bannister College--State Championship!" +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 Championship 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 altitude 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 +smashing 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 passive of feature as though he announced something +of the most infinitesimal importance, and were not hurling a bomb-shell +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 Championship 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, shifting 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 I _had_ to +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 Championship, 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 Championship! 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 has _got_ to be did, and immediately to once!" + +Big Butch Brewster nodded assent. So did Head Coach Patrick Henry Corridan, +Beef McNaughton, Team Manager Socks Fitzpatrick, Monty Merriweather, Dad +Pendleton, President of the Athletic Association, and Deacon Radford, +quarter-back, also Shad Fishpaw, who, being Freshman Class-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 Championship, 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. + +It was nine o'clock, one night two weeks after the day when John Thorwald, +better known as Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy, so mysteriously produced by +Hicks, had stolidly paralyzed old Bannister by unemotionally stating his +decision to play no more football. Since then, to quote the Phillyloo Bird, +"Bannister has staggered around the ring like a prizefighter with the +Referee counting off ten seconds and trying to fight again before he takes +the count." In truth, the students had made a fatal mistake in building +all their hopes of victory on that blond giant, Thor; seeing his wonderful +prowess, and beholding how, in the first week of the season, the Norwegian +Colossus had ripped to shreds the Varsity line which even the heavy Ballard +eleven of the year before could not batter, it was but natural that the +enthusiastic youths should think of the Championship chances in terms of +_Thor_. For one week, enthusiasm and excitement soared higher and higher, +and then, to use a phrase of fiction, everything fell with a dull, +sickening thud! + +In vain did Coach Corridan, the staff of Assistant Coaches, Captain Butch +Brewster, and others strive to resuscitate football spirit; nightly +mass-meetings were held, and enough perfervid oratory hurled to move a +Russian fortress, but to no avail. It was useless to argue that, without +Thor, Bannister had an eleven better than that of last year, which so +nearly missed the Championship. The campus had seen the massive Thor's +prodigies; they knew he could not be stopped, and to attempt to arouse the +college to concert pitch over the eleven, with that mountain of muscle +blotting out vast sections of scenery, but not in football togs, was not +possible. + +"One thing is sure," spoke Dad Pendleton seriously, gazing gloomily from +the window, "unless we get Thor in the line-up for the Big Games, our last +hope of the Championship is dead and interred! And I feel sorry for the big +fellow, for already the boys like him just about as much as a German +loves an Englishman; yet, arguments, threats, pleadings, and logic have +absolutely no effect on him. He has said 'No,' and that ends it!" + +"He doesn't understand things, fellows," defended T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +with surprising earnestness. "Remember how bewildered he seemed at our +appeal to his college spirit, and his love for his Alma Mater. We might as +well have talked Choctaw to him!" + +Butch Brewster, Socks Fitzpatrick, Dad Pendleton, Beef McNaughton, Deacon +Radford, Monty Merriweather, and Shad Fishpaw well remembered that night +after Thor's tragic decision, when they--part of a Committee formed of the +best athletes from all teams, and the most representative collegians of old +Bannister, had invaded Thor's room in Creighton Hall, to wrestle with the +recalcitrant Hercules. Even as Hicks spoke, they visioned it again. + +A cold, cheerless room, bare of carpet or pictures, with just the +study-table, bed, and two chairs. At the study-table, his huge bulk +sprawling on, and overflowing, a frail chair, they had found the massive +John Thorwald laboriously reading aloud the Latin he had translated, +literally by the sweat of his brow. The blond Colossus, impatient at the +interruption, had shaken his powerful frame angrily, and with no regard for +campus tradition, had addressed the upperclassmen in a growl: "Well, what +do you want? Hurry up, I've got to study." + +And then, to state it briefly, they had worked with (and on) the stolid +Thorwald for two hours. They explained how his decision to play no more +football would practically kill old Bannister's hopes of the Championship, +would assassinate football spirit on the campus, and cause the youths to +condemn Thor, and to ostracise him. Waxing eloquent, Butch Brewster had +delivered a wonderful speech, pleading with John Thorwald to play the +game. He tried to show that obviously uninterested mammoth that, like the +Hercules he so resembled, he stood at the parting of the ways. + +"You are on the threshold of your college career, old man!" he thundered +impressively, though he might as well have tried to shoot holes in a +battleship with a pop-gun, "What you do now will make or break you. Do you +want the fellows as friends or as enemies; do you want comradeship, or +loneliness and ostracism? You have it in your power to do two _big_ things, +to win the Championship for your Alma Mater, and to win to yourself the +entire student-body, as friends; will you do that, and build a firm +foundation for your college years, or betray your Alma Mater, and gain the +enmity of old Bannister!" + +Followed more fervid periods, with such phrases as, "For your Alma Mater," +"Because of your college spirit," "For dear old Bannister," and "For +the Gold and Green!" predominating; all of which terms, to the stolid, +unimaginative Thorwald being fully as intelligible as Hindustani. They +appealed to him not to betray his Alma Mater; they implored him, for his +love of old Bannister; they besought him, because of his college spirit; +and all the time, for all that the Prodigious Prodigy understood, they +might as well have remained silent. + +"I will tell you something," spoke Thor, at last, with an air of impatient +resignation, "and don't bother me again, please! I have come to Bannister +College to get an education, and I have the right to do so, without being +pestered. I pay my bills, and I am entitled to all the knowledge I can +purchase. I look from my window, and I see boys, whose fathers are toiling, +sacrificing, to send them here. Instead of studying, to show their +gratitude, they loaf around the campus, or in their rooms, twanging banjos +and guitars, singing silly songs, and sky-larking. I don't know what all +this rot is you are talking of; 'college spirit,' 'my Alma Mater,' and so +on. I do not want to play football; I do not like the game; I need the time +for my study, so I will not play. Both my father and myself have labored +and sacrificed to send me to college. The past five years, with one great +ambition to go to college and learn, I have toiled like a galley-slave. + +"And now, when opportunity is mine, do you ask me to _play_? You want me to +loaf around, wasting precious time better spent in my studies. What do I +care whether the boys like me, or hate me? Bah! I can take any two of you, +and knock your heads together! Their friendship or enmity won't move me. I +shall study, learn. I will not waste time in senseless foolishness, and I +_won't_ play football again." + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. was silent as he stood by the window of his room, +gazing down at the campus where the collegians were gathering before +marching to the Auditorium for the nightly mass-meeting that would vainly +strive to arouse a fighting spirit in the football "rooters." That +blithesome, heedless, happy-go-lucky youth was capable of far more serious +thought than old Bannister knew; and more, he possessed the rare ability +to read character; in the case of Thor, he saw vastly deeper than his +indignant comrades, who beheld only the surface of the affair. They knew +only that John Thorwald, a veritable Colossus, had exhibited football +prowess that practically promised the State Championship to old Bannister, +and then--he had quit the game. They understood only that Thor refused to +play simply because he did not want to, and as to why their appeals to his +college spirit and his love for his Alma Mater were unheeded they were +puzzled. + +But the gladsome Hicks, always serious beneath his cheerful exterior, when +old Bannister's interests were at stake, or when a collegian's career +might be blighted, when the tragedy could be averted, fully understood. Of +course, as originator of the Billion-Dollar Mystery, and producer of the +Prodigious Prodigy, he knew more about the strange John Thorwald than did +his mystified comrades. He knew that Thor, as he named him, was just a vast +hulk of humanity, stolid, unimaginative of mind, slow-thinking, a dull, +unresponsive mass, as yet unstirred by that strange, subtle, mighty thing +called college spirit. He realized that Thor had never had a chance to +understand the real meaning of campus life, to grasp the glad fellowship of +the students, to thrill with a great love for his Alma Mater. All that must +come in time. The blond giant had toiled all his life, had labored among +men where everything was practical and grim. Small wonder, then, that he +failed utterly to see why the youths "loafed on the campus, or in their +rooms, twanging banjos and guitars, singing silly songs, and skylarking." + +"I must save him," murmured Hicks softly, for the others in his room were +talking of Thor. "Oh, imagine that powerful body, imbued with a vast love +for old Bannister, think of Thor, thrilling with college spirit. Why, +Yale's and Harvard's elevens combined could not stop his rushes, then. I +must save him from himself, from the condemnation of the fellows, who just +don't understand. I must, some way, awaken him to a complete understanding +of college life in its entirety, but how? He is so different from Roddy +Perkins, or Deke Radford." + +It seemed that the lovable Hicks was destined to save, every year of his +campus career, some entering collegian who incurred the wrath, deserved or +otherwise, of the students. In his Freshman first term, T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., indignant at the way little Theophilus Opperdyke, the timorous, +nervous "grind," had been alarmed at the idea of being hazed, had by a +sensational escape from a room locked, guarded, and filled with Sophomores, +gained immunity for himself and the boner for all time, thus winning the +loyal, pathetic devotion of the Human Encyclopedia. As a Sophomore, by +crushing James Roderick Perkins' Napoleonic ambition to upset tradition, +and make Freshmen equal with upperclassmen, Hicks had turned that +aggressive youth's tremendous energy in the right channels, and made him a +power for good on the campus. + +And, a Junior, he had saved good Deacon Radford. When that serious youth, a +famous prep. quarter, entered old Bannister, the students were wild at the +thought of having him to run the Gold and Green team, but to their dismay, +he refused either to report for practice or to explain his decision. Hicks, +promising blithely, as usual, to solve the mystery and get Deke to play, +discovered that the youth's mother, called "Mother Peg" by the collegians, +was head-waitress downtown at Jerry's and that she made her son promise +not to own the relationship, and that while she worked to get him through +college, Deacon would not play football. The inspired Hicks had gotten +Mother Peg to start College Inn, and board Freshmen unable to get rooms +in the dormitories, and Deacon had played wonderful football. For this +achievement, the original youth failed to get glory, for he sacrificed it, +and swore all concerned to secrecy. + +"But Roddy and Deke were different," reflected Hicks, pondering seriously. +"Both had been to Prep. School, and they understood college life and campus +spirit. It was Roddy's tremendous ambition that had to be curbed, and Deke +was the victim of circumstances. But Thorwald--it is just a problem of how +to awaken in him an understanding of college spirit. The fellows don't +understand him, and--" + +A sudden thought, one of his inspirations, assailed the blithesome Hicks. +Why not make the fellows understand Thor? Surely, if he explained the +"Billion-Dollar Mystery," as he humorously called it, and told why +Thorwald, as yet, had no conception of college life, in its true meaning, +they would not feel bitter against him; perhaps, instead, though regretful +at his decision not to play the game, they would all strive to awaken the +stolid Colossus, to stir his soul to an understanding of campus +tradition and existence. But that would mean--"I surely hate to lose my +Billion-Dollar Mystery!" grinned T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., remembering +the intense indignation of his comrades at his Herman-Kellar-Thurston +atmosphere of mystery, "It is more fun than, my 'Sheerluck Holmes' +detective pose or my saengerfests. Still, for old Bannister, and for Thor." + +It would seem only a trifle for the heedless Hicks to give up his mystery, +and tell Bannister all about Thor; yet, had the Hercules reconsidered, and +played football, the torturesome youth would have bewildered his colleagues +as long as possible, or until they made him divulge the truth. He dearly +loved to torment his comrades, and this had been such an opportunity for +him to promise nonchalantly to produce a Herculean full-back, then, to +return to the campus with the Prodigious Prodigy in tow, and for him to +perform wonders on Bannister Field, naturally aroused the interest of the +youths, and he had enjoyed hugely their puzzlement, but now-- + +"Say, fellows," he interrupted an excited conversation of a would-be +Committee of Ways and Means to make Thor play football, "I have an +announcement to make." + +"Don't pester us, Hicks!" warned Captain Butch Brewster, grimly. "We love +you like a brother, but we'll crush you if you start any foolishness, +and--" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., with the study-table between himself and his +comrades, assumed the attitude of a Chautauqua lecturer, one hand resting +on the table and the other thrust into the breast of his coat, and +dramatically announced: + +"In the Auditorium--at the regular mass-meeting tonight--T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., will give the correct explanation of Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy, and +will solve the Billion-Dollar Mystery!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HICKS MAKES A SPEECH + + +The announcement of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had practically the same +effect on Head Coach Corridan and the cheery Senior's comrades as a German +gas-bomb would have on the inmates of an Allied trench. For several seconds +they stared at the blithesome youth, in a manner scarcely to be called +aimless, since their looks were aimed with deadly accuracy at him, but in +general, with the exception of Hicks, those in the room resembled vastly +some of the celebrated Madame Tussaud's wax-works in London. + +"Oh," breathed Monty Merriweather, with the appearance of dawning +intelligence, "that's so, Coach, Hicks never has disclosed the details of +his achievement; we were about to extort a confession from him, when Thor +broke up the league with his announcement, and since then, Bannister has +been too worried over Thorwald to trifle with Hicks!" + +"That's a good idea!" exclaimed Coach Corridan, who had been remarkably +silent, for him, pondering the football crisis, "Hicks can make his +explanation at the regular mass-meeting tonight, in the Auditorium. I'll +post an announcement of his purpose, and you fellows spread the news among +the students, stating that Hicks will tell how he rounded up Thor. Some +have shirked these meetings since Thorwald quit the game, and this will +bring them out, so maybe we can arouse the fighting spirit again!" + +So well did Butch, Beef, Socks, Monty, Dad, Deacon, and Shad tell the news, +that when the bell in the Administration Hall tower rang at ten o'clock it +was ascertained by score-keepers that every youth at Bannister, Freshmen +included, except that Hercules, Thor, had assembled in the Auditorium. That +stolid behemoth, who regarded the football mass-meeting as foolishness, was +reported as boning in his cheerless room, fulfilling the mission for which +he came to college, namely, to get his money's worth of knowledge, which he +evidently regarded as some commodity for which Bannister served merely as a +market. + +Big Butch Brewster, on the stage of the Auditorium, the big assembly-hall +of the college, along with Coach Corridan, several of the Gold and Green +eleven, two members of the Faculty, several Assistant Coaches, and T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., stepped forward and stilled the tumult of the excited +youths with upraised hand. + +"We have with us tonight," he spoke, after the fashion of introducing +after-dinner speakers, "Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Jr., the celebrated +Magician and Mystifier, who will present for your approval his world-famous +Billion-Dollar Mystery, and give the correct solution to Thor, the problem +no one has been able to solve. I take great pleasure in introducing to you +this evening, Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Jr." + +The collegians, firmly believing it was another of the pestiferous Hicks' +jokes, and wholly unaware of the deep purpose of the sunny-souled, +irrepressible youth's speech, went into paroxysms of glee, as the +shadow-like Hicks stepped forward. For several minutes, the hall echoed +with jeers, shouts, groans, whistles, and sarcastic comments: + +"Hire a hall, Hicks; tell it to Sweeney!"--"Bryan better look out. Hicks, +the _Chau-talker;_"--"Spill the speech, old man; spread the oratory!"--"Oh, +where are my smelling-salts? I know I shall faint!"--"You'd better play a +banjo-accompaniment to it, Hicks!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., for once in his campus career, fervidly wished he +had not been such a happy-go-lucky, care-free collegian, for now, when he +was serious, his comrades refused to believe him to be in such a state. +However, quiet was obtained at last, thanks to the fact that the youths +possessed all the curiosity of the proverbial cat who died thereby, and the +sunny Senior plunged earnestly into his famous speech, that was destined, +at old Bannister, to rank with that of Demosthenes "On The Crown," or any +of W. J, Bryan's masterpieces. + +"Fellows," began Hicks, without preface, "I know I've built myself the +reputation of being a scatterbrained, heedless nonentity, and it's too late +to change now. But tonight, please believe me to be thoroughly in earnest. +Bannister faces more than one crisis, more than one tragedy. It is true +that the football eleven is crippled by the defection of Thor, that we +fellows have somewhat unreasonably allowed his quitting the game to shake +our spirit, but there is more at stake than football victories, than even +the State Intercollegiate Football Championship! The future of a student, +of a present Freshman, his hopes of becoming a loyal, solid, representative +college man, a tremendous power for good, at old Bannister, hang in the +balance at this moment! I speak of John Thorwald. You students have it in +your power to make or break him, to ruin his college years and make him a +recluse, a misanthrope, or to gradually bring him to a full realization of +what college life and campus tradition really mean." + +"I have made a great mystery of Thor, just for a lark, but the enmity and +condemnation of the campus for him because he quit football suddenly, shows +me that the time for skylarking is past. For his sake, I must plead. He is +not to blame, altogether, for quitting. Myself, and you fellows, gave him +the impression that it was a Faculty requirement for him to play football, +for we feared he would not play, otherwise; when he learned that it was not +a Faculty rule, he simply quit." + +Here T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., seeing that at last he had convinced the +collegians of his earnestness, though they seemed fairly paralyzed at the +phenomenon, paused, and produced a bundle of papers before resuming. + +"Now, I'll try to explain the 'mystery' as briefly and as clearly as +possible. Up at Camp Bannister, before college opened, Coach Corridan, as +you know, outlined to Butch, Deke, and myself, his dream of a Herculean, +irresistible full-back; I said, 'Just leave It to Hicks!' and they believed +that I, as usual, just made that remark to torment them. But such was not +the case. When I joined them, I remarked that I had a letter from my Dad; +Deke made some humorous remarks, and I forgot to read it aloud, as I +intended. Then, after Coach Corridan blue-printed his giant full-back, I +kept silent as to Dad's letter, for reasons you'll understand. But, after +all, there was no mystery about my leaving Camp Bannister, after making a +seemingly rash vow, and returning to college with a 'Prodigious Prodigy' +who filled specifications, In fact, before I left Camp Bannister, at the +moment I made my rash promise--I had Thor already lined up!" + +"I shall now read a dipping or two, and a letter or two from my Dad. The +clippings came in Dad's letter to me at Camp Bannister, the letter I +intended to read to Coach Corridan, Deke, and Butch, but which I decided to +keep silent about, after the Coach told of the full-back he wanted, for +I knew I had him already! First, a clipping from the _San Francisco +Examiner_, of August 25: + +MAROONED SAILOR RESCUED--TEN YEARS ON SOUTH SEA ISLAND! SOLE SURVIVOR OF +ILL-FATED CRUISE OF THE ZEPHYR + +"The trading-schooner _Southern Cross_, Captain Martin Bascomb, skipper, +put into San Francisco yesterday with a cargo of copra from the South Sea +Islands. On board was John Thorwald, Sr., who for the past ten years +has been marooned on an uninhabited coral isle of the Southern Pacific, +together with 'Long Tom' Watts, who, however, died several months ago. +Thorwald's story reads like a thrilling bit of fiction. He was first mate +of the ill-fated yacht _Zephyr_, which cleared from San Francisco ten years +ago with Henry B. Kingsley, the Oil-King, and a pleasure party, for a +cruise under the southern star. A terrific tornado wrecked the yacht, and +only Thorwald and 'Long Tom' escaped, being cast upon the coral island, +where for ten years they existed, unable to attract the attention of the +few craft that passed, as the isle was out of the regular lanes. Only when +Captain Martin Bascomb, in the trading-schooner _Southern Cross_, touched +at the island, hoping to find natives with whom to trade supplies for +copra, were they found, and 'Long Tom' had been dead some months." + +"Despite the harrowing experiences of his exile, Thorwald, a vast hulk of a +stolid, unimaginative Norwegian, who reminds one of the Norse god, 'Thor,' +intends to ship as first mate on the New York-Christiania Steamship Line. +It is said that Thorwald has a son, at this time about twenty-five years of +age, somewhere In this country, whom he will seek, and--" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., at this juncture, terminated the newspaper story, +and finding that his explanation held his comrades spellbound, he produced +a letter, and drew out the message, after stating the youths could read the +entire news-story of John Thorwald, Sr., later. + +"This is the letter I received from my Dad," he explained to the intensely +interested Bannister youths, who were giving a concentrated attention that +members of the Faculty would have rejoiced to receive from them. "Up at +Camp Bannister--I was just about to read it to Coach Corridan, Butch, and +Deke Radford, when Deke chaffed me, and then the Coach outlined the mammoth +full-back he desired, so I kept quiet. I'll now read it to you: + + +"Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept, 17. + +"DEAR SON THOMAS: + +"Read the inclosed clipping from the _San Francisco Examiner_ of August 25, +and then pay close attention to the following facts: At the time of this +news-story I was in 'Frisco on business, as you will recall, and for +reasons to be outlined, when I read of the _Southern Cross_ finding the +marooned John Thorwald, and bringing him to that city, I was particularly +interested, so much so that I at once looked up the one-time first mate of +the ill-starred _Zephyr_ and brought him to Pittsburgh in my private car. +My reason was this; in my employ, in the International Steel Combine's +mill, was John Thorwald's son, John Thorwald, Jr. + +"To state facts as briefly as possible, almost a year ago, as I took some +friends through the steel rolling mill, I chanced to step directly beneath +a traveling crane, lowering a steel beam; seeing my peril, I was about to +step aside when I caught my foot and fell. Just then a veritable giant, +black and grimy, leaped forward, and with a prodigious display of strength, +placed his powerful back under the descending weight, staving it off until +I rolled over to safety! + +"Well, of course, I had the fellow report to my office, and instinctively +feeling that I wanted to show my gratitude, without being patronizing, he +responded to my question as to what I could do to reward him, by asking +simply that I get him some job that would allow him to attend night school. +He stated that, owing to the fact that he worked alternate weeks at night +shift he was unable to do so. Questioning him further, I learned the +following facts: + +"He was John Thorwald, Jr., only son of John Thorwald, Sr., a Norwegian; +his mother was also a Norwegian, but he is a natural born American. +Realizing the opportunities for an educated young man in our land, +Thorwald's parents determined that he should gain knowledge, and until he +was fifteen years old, he attended school in San Francisco. When he was +fifteen, his father signed as first mate on the yacht _Zephyr_, going with +the oil-king, Henry B. Kingsley, on a pleasure cruise in the Southern +Pacific; Thorwald, Sr.'s, story you read in the paper. Soon after the news +of the _Zephyr's_ wreck, with all on board lost, as was then supposed, +Thorwald's mother died. Her dying words (so young Thorwald told me, and I +was moved by his simple, straightforward tale) were an appeal to her +boy. She made him promise, for her sake, to study, study, study to gain +knowledge, and to rise in the world! Thorwald promised. Then, believing +both his parents dead, the young Norwegian, a youth of fifteen without +money, had to shift for himself. + +"Thomas, Jack London could weave his adventures into a gripping +masterpiece. Starting in as cabin-boy on a freighter to Alaska, young +Thorwald, in the past ten years, has simply crowded his life with +adventure, thrill, and experience, though thrills mean nothing to him. He +was in the Klondike gold-fields, in the salmon canneries, a prospector, a +lumber-jack in the Canadian Northwest, a cowboy, a sailor, a worker in the +Panama Canal Zone, on the Big Ditch, and too many other things to remember. +Finally, he drifted to Pittsburgh, where his prodigious strength served him +in the steel-mills, and, let me add, served _me_, as I stated. + +"And ever, no matter where he wandered, or what was his toil, whenever +possible, Thorwald studied. His promise to his mother was always his goal, +and in the cities he studied, or in the wilds he read all the books he +could find. The past year, finding he had a good-pay job in Pittsburgh, he +settled to determined effort, and by sheer resolution, by his wonderful +power to grasp facts and ideas for good once he gets them, he made great +progress in night school, until he was shifted, a week before he saved my +life, to work that required him to toil nightly, alternate weeks. So, for a +year, Thor has had every possible advantage, some, unknown to him, I paid +for myself; I got him clerical work, with shorter hours, he went to night +school, and I employed the very best tutor obtainable, letting Thorwald +pay him, as he thought, though his payments wouldn't keep the tutor in +neckties. The gratitude of the blond giant is pathetic, and suspecting that +I paid the tutor something, he insisted on paying all he could, which I +allowed, of course. + +"Well, in August, a year after Thorwald rescued me from serious injury, +perhaps death, I was in 'Frisco, and read of Thorwald, Sr.'s rescue and +return. Overjoyed, I took the father to Pittsburgh, to the son. I witnessed +their meeting, with the father practically risen from the dead, and all +those stolid, unimaginative Norwegians did was to shake hands gravely! +Young Thorwald told of his mother's last words, and of his promise, of his +having studied all the years, and of his late progress, so that he was +ready to enter college. His father, happy, insisted that he enter this +September, and he would pay for his son's college course, to make up for +the years the youth struggled for himself--Kingsley's heirs, I believe, +gave Thorwald, Sr., five thousand dollars on his return. So, though +grateful to me for the aid I offered, they would receive no financial +assistance, for they want to work it out themselves, and help the youth +make good his promise to his dying mother. + +"Much as I love old Bannister, my Alma Mater, I would not have tried to +send Thorwald there, had I not deemed it a good place for him. However, +since it is a liberal, not a technical, education he wants, it is all +right; and that prodigious strength will serve the Gold and Green on the +football field. Now, Thomas, I want you to meet him in Philadelphia, and +take him to Bannister, look out for him, get him started O. K., and do all +you can for him. Get him to play football, if you can, but don't condemn +if he refuses. Remember, his life has been grim and unimaginative; he has +toiled and studied, it is probable he will not understand college life at +first." + + +"That's all I need to read of Dad's letter, fellows," concluded T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr. "After I got it, and Coach Corridan, Butch, and Beef heard my +seemingly rash vow to round up a giant full-back, I made a mystery of it; I +loafed in Philadelphia and Atlantic City until I met Thor, and brought him +here. You have all the data regarding Thor, 'The Billion-Dollar Mystery.'" + +The students, almost as one, drew a deep breath. They had been enthralled +by the story, and their feeling toward Thor had undergone a vast change. +Stirred by hearing of his promise to his dying mother, thrilled at the way +the stolid, determined Norwegian had ceaselessly studied to make something +of himself for the sake of his mother's sacred memory, the Bannister youths +now thought of football, of the Championship, as insignificant, beside the +goal of Thorwald, Jr. The blond Colossus, whom an hour ago all Bannister +reviled and condemned for not playing the game, who was a campus outcast, +was now a hero; thanks to the erstwhile heedless Hicks, whose intense +earnestness in itself was a revelation to the amazed collegians, Thor stood +before them in a different light, and the impulsive, whole-souled, generous +youths were now anxious to make amends. + +_"Thor! Thor! Thor!"_ was the thunderous cry, and the Bannister yell for +the Prodigious Prodigy shattered the echoes. Then T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +ecstatically joyous, again stilled the tumult, and spoke in behalf of John +Thorwald. + +"We all understand Thor now, fellows," he said, beaming on his comrades. +"We want him to play football, and we'll keep after him to play, but we +won't condemn him if he refuses. At present, Thor is simply a stolid, +unimaginative, dull mass of muscle. As you can realize, his nature, his +life so far have not tended to make him appreciate the gayer, lighter side +of college life, or to grasp the traditions of the campus. To him, college +is a market; he pays his money and he takes the knowledge handed out. We +can not blame him for not understanding college existence in its entirety, +or that the gaining of knowledge is a small part of the representative +collegian's purpose. + +"Now, boys, here's our job, and let's tackle it together: To awaken in +Thor a great love for old Bannister, to cause college spirit to stir his +practical soul. Let every fellow be his friend, let no one speak against +him, because of football. We must work slowly, carefully, gradually making +him grasp college traditions, and once he awakens to the real meaning of +campus life, what a power he will be in the college and on the athletic +field! Maybe he will not play football this season, but let us help him to +awaken!" + +With wild shouts, the aroused collegians poured from the Auditorium, an +excited, turbulent mass of youthful humanity, a tide that swept T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., on the shoulders of several, out on the campus. Massed beneath +the window of John Thorwald's room, in Creighton Hall, the Bannister +students, now fully understanding that stolid Hercules, and stirred to +admiration of him by T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, great speech, cheered the +somewhat mystified Thor again and again; in vast sound waves, the shouts +rolled up to his open window: + +"Rah! Rah! Rah-rah-rah! _Thor! Thor! Thor_!" Captain Brewster, through a +big megaphone, roared; "Fellows--What's the matter with _Thor_?" + +And in a terrific outburst which, as the Phillyloo Bird afterward said, +"Like to of busted Bannister's works!" the enthusiastic collegians +responded: + +"_He's_--all--right!" + +Then Butch, apparently in quest of information, persisted: + +"_Who's_ all right?" + +To which the three hundred or more youths, all seemingly equipped with +lungs of leather, kindly answered: + +"Thor! Thor! Thor!" + +Still, though the Phillyloo Bird declared that this vocal explosion caused +the seismographs as Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and in Salt Lake +City, Utah, to register an earthquake somewhere, it had on the blond +Freshman a strange effect. The vast mountain of muscle lumbered heavily +across the room, gazed down at the howling crowd of collegians without +emotion, then slammed down the window, and returned to study. + +"_Good night_" called Hicks. "The show is over! Let him have another yell, +boys, to show we aren't insulted; then we'll disband!" + +Considering Thorwald's cool reception of their overtures, which some youth +remarked, "Were as noisy as that of a Grand Opera Orchestra," it was quite +surprising to the students, in the morning, when what occurred an hour +after their serenade was revealed to them. As the story was told by those +who witnessed the scene, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., Butch, Beef, Monty, Pudge, +Roddy, Biff, Hefty, Tug, Buster, and Coach Corridan after the commotion +subsided, retired to the sunny Hicks' quarters, where the football +situation was discussed, along with ways and means to awaken Thor, when +that colossal Freshman himself loomed up in the doorway. + +As they afterward learned, several excited Freshmen had dared to invade +Thor's den, even while he studied, and give him a more or less correct +account of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s masterly oration in his defense. Out of +their garbled descriptions, big John Thorwald grasped one salient point, +and straightway he started for Hicks' room, leaving the indignant Freshmen +to tell their story to the atmosphere. + +"Hicks," said Thor, not bothering with the "Mr." required of all Freshmen, +as his vast bulk crowded the doorway, "is it true that Mr. Thomas Haviland +Hicks, Sr., wants me to play football? He has been very kind to me, and +has helped me, and so have you, here at college. After a year of study, I +should have had to stop night-school, but for him--instead, I got another +year, and prepared for Bannister. I did not know that _he_ desired me to +play, but if he does, I feel under obligation to show my great gratitude, +both for myself and for my father." + +A moment of silence, for the glorious news could not be grasped in a +second; those in the room, knowing Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr.'s, brilliant +athletic record at old Bannister, and understanding his great love for +his Alma Mater, knew that Hicks, Sr., had sent Thor to Bannister to play +football for the Gold and Green, though, as he had written his son, he +would not have done so had he honestly believed that another college would +suit the ambitious Goliath better. + +"Does he?" stammered the dazed T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., while the others +echoed the words feebly, "Yes, I should say he _does_!" + +For a second, the ponderous young Colossus hesitated, and then, as calmly +as though announcing he would add Greek to his list of studies, and wholly +unaware that his words were to bring joy to old Bannister, he spoke +stolidly. + +"Then I shall play football." + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HICKS STARTS ANOTHER MYSTERY. + + + "Fifteen men sat on the dead man's chest-- + Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! + Drink and the Devil had done for the rest-- + Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" + +T HAVILAND HICKS, JR., his chair tilted at a perilous angle, and his feet +thrust gracefully atop of the study-table, in his cozy room, one Friday +afternoon two weeks after John Thorwald's return to the football squad, was +fathoms deep in Stevenson's "Treasure Island." As he perused the thrilling +pages, the irrepressible youth twanged a banjo accompaniment, and roared +with gusto the piratical chantey of Long John Silver's buccaneer crew; +Hicks, however, despite his saengerfest, was completely lost in the +enthralling narrative, so that he seemed to hear the parrot shrieking, +"Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!" and the wild refrain: + + "Fifteen men sat on the dead man's chest-- + Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" + +He was reading that breathlessly exciting part where the cabin-boy of the +_Hispaniola_, and Israel Hands have their terrible fight to the death, with +the dodging over the dead man rolling in the scuppers, the climbing up the +mast, and the dirk pinning the boy's shoulder, before Hands is shot and +goes to join his mate on the bottom; just at the most absorbing page, as he +twanged his beloved banjo louder, and roared the chantey, there sounded, +"Tramp--tramp--tramp!" in the corridor, the heavy tread of many feet +sounded, coming nearer. Instinctively realizing that the pachydermic parade +was headed for _his_ room, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., rushed to the closet, +murmuring, "Safety first!" as usual, and stowed away his banjo. He was just +in the nick of time, for a second later there crowded into his room Captain +Butch, Pudge, Beef, Hefty, Biff, Monty, Roddy, Bunch, Tug, Buster, Coach +Corridas, and Thor, the latter duo bringing up the rear. + +"Hicks, you unjailed public nuisance!" said Butch Brewster, affectionately. +"We, whom you behold, are going for to enter into that room across the +corridor from your boudoir, and hold a football signal quiz and confab. We +should request that you permit a thunderous silence to originate in your +cozy retreat, for the period of at least a hour! A word to the _wise_ is +sufficient, so I have spoken several, that even you may comprehend my +meaning." + +"I gather you, fluently!" grinned T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., taking up +"Treasure Island" and his graceful pose once more. "Leave me to peruse the +thrilling pages of this classic blood-and-thunder book, and I'll cause a +beautiful serenity to obtain hither." + +"See that you do, you pestiferous insect!" threatened Beef McNaughton, +ominously. "Come on, fellows, Hicks can't escape our vengeance, if +he bursts into what he fatuously believes is song. Just let him act +hippicanarious, and--" + +When the Gold and Green eleven, half of which, to judge by size, was +Thor, had gone with Coach Corridan into the room across from that of the +blithesome Hicks, the sunny-souled Senior tried to resume his perusal of +"Treasure Island," but somehow the spell had been broken by the invasion of +his cozy quarters. So, after vainly essaying to take up the thread of the +story again, Hicks arose and stood by the window, gazing across the campus +to Bannister Field, deserted, since the football team rested for the game +of the morrow. As he stood there, the gladsome Hicks reflected seriously. +He thought of "Thor," and decided sorrowfully that the problem of awakening +that stolid Colossus to a full understanding of campus life was as unsolved +as ever. + +"But I _won't_ give it up!" declared Hicks, determinedly. "I have always +been good at math, and I won't let this problem baffle me." + +Since the night, two weeks back, when T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had made his +memorable speech, explaining to his fellow-students the "Billon-Dollar +Mystery," and arousing in them a vast admiration for the slow-minded, +plodding John Thorwald, every collegian had done his best to befriend the +big Freshman. Upperclassmen helped him with his studies. Despite his almost +rude refusal to meet any advances, the collegians always had a cheery +greeting for him, and his class-mates, in fear and trembling, invaded +his den at times, to show him they were his friends. Yet, despite these +whole-hearted efforts, only two of old Bannister did the silent Thor +seem to desire as comrades: the festive Hicks, for reasons known, +and--remarkable to chronicle--little Theophilus Opperdyke, the timorous, +studious "Human Encyclopedia." + +"Colossus and Lilliputian!" the Phillyloo Bird quaintly observed once when +this strangely assorted duo appeared on the campus. "Say, fellows--some +time Thor will accidentally sit on Theophilus, and we'll have another +mystery, the disappearance of our boner!" + +The generous Hicks, longing for Thor's awakening to come, was not in the +least jealous of his loyal little friend, Theophilus. In fact, he was +sincerely delighted that the unemotional Hercules desired the comradeship +of the grind, and he urged the Human Encyclopedia to strive constantly to +arouse in Thor a realization of college existence, and a true knowledge of +its meaning. At least one thing, Theophilus reported, had been achieved by +Hicks' defense of Thorwald, and the subsequent attitude of the collegians-- +the colossal Freshman was puzzled, quite naturally. When over three hundred +youths criticized, condemned, and berated him one night, and the next, even +before he reconsidered his decision about football, came under his window +and cheered him, no wonder the young Norwegian was bewildered. + +On the football field, with his dogged determination, his bulldog way of +hanging on to things until he mastered them, big Thor progressed slowly, +and surely; the past Saturday, against the heavy Alton eleven, the blond +Freshman had been sent in for the second half, and, to quote an overjoyed +student, he had "busted things all up!" It seemed simply impossible to stop +that terrible rush of his huge body. Time after time he plowed through the +line for yards, and old Bannister, visioning Thor distributing Hamilton and +Ballard over the field, in the big games, literally hugged itself. + +And yet, despite Thorwald's invincible prowess, despite the vast joy of +old Bannister at the chances of the Championship, some intangible +shadow hovered over the campus. It brooded over the training-table, the +shower-rooms after scrimmage, on Bannister Field during practice; as yet, +no one had dared to give it form, by voicing his thought, but though no +youth dared admit it, something was wrong, there was a defective cog in the +machinery of that marvelous machine, the Gold and Green eleven. + +"'Oh, just leave it to Hicks," quoth that sunny youth, at length, turning +from the window; "I'll solve the problem, or what is more probable, +Theophilus may stir that sodden hulk of humanity, after awhile. I won't +worry about it, for that gets me nothing, and it will all come out O.K., +I'm positive!" + +At this moment, just as T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., picked up "Treasure Island" +again, he heard drifting across the corridor from the room opposite, in +Butch Brewster's familiar voice: + +"--Yes, I'll win three more Bs'--one each in football, baseball and track; +next spring, I'll annex my last B at old Bannister, fellows--" + +His _last_ B--The words struck the blithesome Hicks with sledge-hammer +force. Big Butch Brewster was talking of his last B, when he, T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., had never won his first; with a feeling almost of alarm, the +sunny youth realized that this was his final year at old Bannister, his +last chance to win his athletic letter, and to make happy his beloved Dad, +by helping him to realize part of his life's ambition--to behold his son +shattering Hicks, Sr.'s, wonderful record. His final chance, and outside of +his hopes of winning the track award in the high-jump, Hicks saw no way to +win his B. + +Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., as has been chronicled, the beloved Dad of the +cheery Senior, a Pittsburgh millionaire Steel King, was a graduate of old +Bannister, Class of '92. While wearing the Gold and Green, he had made +an all-round athletic record never before, or afterward, rivaled on +the campus. At football, basketball, track, and baseball, he was a +scintillating star, annexing enough letters to start an alphabet, had they +been different ones. Quite naturally, when the Doctor, speaking anent +the then infantile Thomas Haviland Hicks, Jr., said, "Mr. Hicks, it's a +boy!"--the one-time Bannister athlete straightway began to dream of the day +when his only son and heir should follow in his Dad's footsteps, shattering +the records made at Bannister, and at Yale, by Hicks, _pere_. + +However, to quote a sporting phrase, the son of the Steel King "upset the +dope!" At the start of his Senior year, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. had not +annexed a single athletic honor, nor did the signs point to any records +being in peril of getting shattered by his prowess; as Hicks himself +phrased it, "Dame Nature was _some stingy_ when she handed out the Hercules +stuff to me!" The happy-go-lucky youth, when he matriculated as a Freshman +at Bannister College, was builded on the general lines of a toothpick, and +had he elected to follow a pugilistic career, a division somewhat lighter +than the tissue paperweight class would have had to be devised to +accommodate the splinter-student. A generous, sunny-souled, intensely +democratic collegian, despite his father's wealth, the festive Hicks, with +his room always open-house to all; his firm friendship for star athlete +or humble boner, his never-failing sunny nature, together with his famous +Hicks Personally Conducted Expeditions downtown to the Beef-Steak Busts he +had originated, in his three years at old Bannister, had made himself the +most popular and beloved youth on the campus, but, he had not won his B! + +And he had tried. With a full realization, of his Dad's ambition, his +life-dream to behold his son a great athlete, the blithesome Hicks had +tried, but with hilariously futile results. Nature had endowed him, as he +told his loyal comrade, Butch Brewster, with "the Herculean build of a +Jersey mosquito," and his athletic powers neared zero infinity. In his +Freshman year, he inaugurated his athletic career by running the wrong way +in the Sophomore-Freshman football game, scoring a touchdown that won for +the enemy, and naturally, after that performance, every athletic effort was +greeted with jeers by the students. + +"I _have_ tried!" said Hicks, producing two letters from the study-table, +"But not like I should have tried. I could never have played on the eleven, +or on the nine, but I have a chance in the high-jump. I know I've been +indolent and care-free, and I ought to have trained harder. Well, I just +must win my track B this spring, but as to keeping the rash promise I made +to Butch as a Freshman--not a chance!" + +It had been at the close of his Freshman year, after Hicks, in the +Interclass Track Meet, had smashed hurdles, broken high-jumping cross-bars, +finished last in several events, and jeopardized his life with the shot and +hammer, that he made the rash vow to which he now had reference. Butch, +believing his sunny friend had entered all the events just to entertain the +crowd, in his fun-loving way, was teasing him about his ridiculous fiascos, +when Hicks had told him the story--how his Dad wanted him to try and be a +famous athlete; he showed Butch a letter, received before the meet, asking +his son to try every event, and to keep on training, so as to win his B +before he graduated. Butch, great-hearted, was surprised and moved by the +revelation that the gladsome youth, even as he was jeered by his friendly +comrades, who thought he performed for sport, was striving to have his +Dad's dream come true; he had sympathized with his classmate, and then his +scatter-brained colleague had aroused his indignation by vowing, with a +swaggering confidence: + +"'Oh, just leave it to Hicks!' Remember this, Butch, before I graduate from +old Bannister, I shall have won my B in three branches of sport!" + +Butch had snorted incredulously. To win the football or the baseball B, +the gold letter for the former, and the green one for the latter sport, +an athlete had to play in three-fourths of the season's games, on the +"'Varsity"; to gain the white track letter, one had to win a first place in +some event, in a regularly scheduled track meet with another team. And now, +Butch's skepticism seemed confirmed, for at the start of his last year at +college, Hicks had not annexed a single B, though he bade fair to corral +one in the spring in the high-jump. + +"Heigh-ho!" chuckled Hicks, at length. "Here I am threatening to get gloomy +again! Well I'll sure train hard to win my track letter, and that seems +all I can do! I'd like to win my three B's, and jeer at Butch, next June, +but--_it can't be did_! I shall now twang my trusty banjo, and drive dull +care away." + +Quite forgetful of the football conclave across the corridor, and of Butch +Brewster's request for quiet, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. dragged out his +beloved banjo, caressed its strings lovingly, and roared: + + "Fifteen men sat on the dead man's chest-- + Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! + Drink and the--" + +"_Hicks_!" Big Butch Brewster crashed across the corridor, both doors being +open. "Is this how you maintain a quiet? I'm going to call Thor over and +make him sit down on you! Why, you--" + +"Have mercy!" plead the grinning Hicks. "Honest, Butch, I didn't go to bust +up the league--I--I heard you talk about your B's, and I got to thinking +that _I_ have but little time to make my Dad happy; see, here's proof--read +these letters I was perusing--" + +Puzzled, Butch scanned the first one, dated back in the May of their +Freshman year; Hicks had received it before the class track meet, and, as +chronicled, he had heard from his sunny comrade later, how it impelled the +splinter youth to try every event, while Bannister believed him to enter +them for fun. The letter was post-marked "Pittsburgh, Pa.," and it read: + + +DEAR SON THOMAS: + +Your last term's report gratified me immensely, and I am proud of your +class record, and scholastic achievements. Pitch in, and lead your class, +and make your Dad happy. + +But there is something else of which I want to write, Thomas. As you must +know, it has always been a cause of keen regret to me that you have never +seemed to care for athletics of any sort; you appear to be too indolent and +ease-loving to sacrifice, or to endure the hardships of training. I suppose +it is because of my athletic record both at Bannister and at old Yale that +I am so eager to see you become a star; in fact, it is my life's most +cherished ambition to have you become as famous as your Dad. + +However, I realize that my fond dream can never come true. Nature has not +made you naturally strong and athletic, and what athletic success you may +gain, must come from long and hard training and practice. If you can only +win your college letter, your B, Thomas, while at Bannister, I shall be +fully content. + +I said nothing when you failed even to try for the teams at your +Preparatory School, but I did hope that at Bannister, under good coaches +and trainers, you would at least endeavor to win your letter. I must admit +that I am disappointed, for you have not even made an earnest effort to +find your event. Often, by trying everything, especially in a track meet, a +fellow finds his event, and later stars in it. + +I really believe that if you would start in now to develop yourself by +regular, systematic gymnasium work, and if you would only try, in a year +or so you could make a Bannister team. Theodore Roosevelt, you know, was a +puny, weakly boy, but he built himself up, and became an athlete. If you +want to please me, start now and find your event. Attempt all the sports, +all the various track and field events, and always build yourself up by +exercise in the Gym. + +And you owe it to your Alma Mater, my son! Even if, after conscientious +effort, you fail to win your B, to know that you have given your college +and teams what help you could, will please your Dad. Remember, the fellow +who toils on the scrubs is the true hero. If you become good enough to give +the first eleven, the first nine, the first five, or the first track squad +a hard rub and a fast practice, you are serving Bannister. + +I don't ask you to do this, Thomas, I only say that it will make me happy +just to know you are striving. If you never get beyond the scrubs, just to +hear you are serving the Gold and Green, giving your best, in that humble +unhonored way, will please me. And if, before you graduate, you _can_ win +your B, I shall be so glad! Don't get discouraged, it may take until your +Senior year, but once you start, _stick_. + +Your loving + +DAD. + + +"Read this one, too, Butch," requested Hicks, hurriedly, as a hail of, "Oh, +you Hicks, come here!" sounded down the corridor, from Skeet Wigglesworth's +abode. "I'll be back as soon as Skeet finishes his foolishness. Don't wait +for me, though, if I am delayed, for you want to be talking football." + +Left alone, big Butch Brewster, who of all the collegians that had known +and loved the sunny Hicks, some now graduated, understood that his athletic +efforts, jeered good-naturedly by the students, were made because of a +great desire to win his B and make happy his Dad, read the second letter, +dated a few days before: + + +DEAR SON THOMAS: + +You are starting the last lap, son, your Senior year, and your final chance +to win your B! Don't forget how happy it will make your Dad if you win your +letter just once! Of course, you cannot gain it in football, for nature +gave you no chance, nor in baseball; but in track work it is up to you. +Train hard, Thomas, and try to win a first place; just win your track B, +and I'll rest content! + +Your college record gives me great pleasure. You stand at the top in your +studies, and you are vastly popular, while the Faculty speak highly of you. +Let your B come as a climax to your career, and I'll be so proud of you. +Don't forget, you are the "Class Kid" of Yale, '96, and those sons of old +Eli want you to win the letter. As to football, you cannot win your gold B +by playing three-fourths of a season's games, but you might get in a big +game, even win it, if you'll get confidence enough to tell Coach Corridan +about yourself. Don't mind the jeers of your comrades--they just don't +know how you've tried to please your Dad; you owe it to your Alma Mater +to tell, and, take my word as a football star, you have the goods! Your +peculiar prowess has won many a contest, and old Bannister needs it this +season, I hear-- + + +There was more, but big Butch scarcely saw it, bewildered as the behemoth +Senior was; what new mystery had Hicks set afoot? What did Hicks, Sr., +mean by writing, "You might get in a big game, even win it, if you'll get +confidence enough to tell Coach Corridan about yourself? You owe it to your +Alma Mater to tell, and take my word, as a football star, you have the +goods--" Why, everyone knew that T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., possessed no more +football ability than a Jersey mosquito, and yet-- + +"Another Hicks mystery," groaned Butch, holding the two letters +thoughtfully. "And father and son are in it, But if Hicks don't get his B, +it will be a shame. _Say, I know--_" + +A few moments later, good-hearted Butch Brewster, in the behalf of his +sunny comrade, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., was making to the Gold and Green +eleven and Coach Corridan, as eloquent a speech as that blithesome youth, +two weeks before, had made in defense of the condemned and ostracized Thor! +He read them the two letters of Hicks' beloved Dad, and told how the cheery +collegian wanted to win his B for his father's sake; graphically, he +related Hicks, Sr.'s, great ambition, and how Hicks, Jr., for three years +had vainly tried to make good at some athletic sport, and to win his +letter. Big Butch, warming to his theme, spoke of how T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., letting the students believe that he entered every event in the track +meet of his Freshman year just for fun, had been trying to find his event, +and train for it; he explained that the festive youth, ever sunny-natured, +under the good-humored jeers of his comrades, who did not know his real +purpose, really yearned to win his B. + +"You fellows, and you, Coach," he thundered, "all know how Hicks, unable +to make the 'Varsity, has always done humble service for old Bannister, +cheerfully, gladly; how he keeps the athletes in good spirits at the +training-table, and is always on hand after scrimmage to rub them out. He +is chock-full of college spirit, and is intensely loyal to his Alma Mater. +Why, look how he rounded up Thor--he ought to have his B for that!" + +Thanks to Butch's speech, the Gold and Green football stars, most of whom +were Hicks' closest friends, saw the scatter-brained, happy-go-lucky +youth in a new light; his eloquent defense of John Thorwald had shown old +Bannister that he could be serious, but the knowledge that T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., even as he made a ridiculous farce in athletics, was ambitious +to win his B, just to make his Dad happy, stunned them. For three years, +the sunny Hicks' appearance on old Bannister Field, to try for a team, had +meant a small-sized riot of jeers and good-natured ridicule at his expense; +but Hicks had always grinned _a la_ Cheshire cat,--and no one but good +Butch Brewster, all the time, had known how in earnest the lovable +collegian was. + +"Now," concluded Butch, "Hicks _may_ win a B in track work, if he gets a +first place in the high-jump, and if so, O.K., but if he does not--" + +"You mean--" Monty Merriweather--understood, "if he fails, then the +Athletic Association ought to--" + +"Present him with a B!" said Butch, earnestly, "as a deserved reward for +his faithful loyalty and service to old Bannister's athletic teams. Don't +let him graduate without gaining his letter, and making his Dad realize a +part of his ambition--a two-thirds vote of the Athletic Association can +award him his letter, and when all the students know the truth about his +ridiculous fiasco on Bannister Field, and realize the serious purpose +beneath them all, they--" + +"_We'll give him his B_!" shouted Beef, loudly, "If he fails in track work +next spring, we'll vote him his letter, anyway!" + +Out in the corridor, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., returning from Skeet +Wigglesworth's room and entering his own cozy quarters, could not help +hearing the conversation, as the doors of both his den and the room across +the corridor were open. A great love for his comrades came to his impulsive +heart, and a mist before his eyes, as he heard how they wanted to vote him +his B in case he failed to win it in track work; he thrilled at Butch's +speech, but-- + +[Illustration B: 'Fellows,...I--I thank you from the bottom of my heart'] + +"Fellows," he startled them by appearing in the doorway, "I--I thank you +from the bottom of my heart. I couldn't help hearing, you know--I _do_ +appreciate your generous thoughts, but--I can't and won't accept my B +unless I win it according to the rule of the Athletic Association." + +A silence, and then Butch Brewster, gripping his comrade's hand +understandingly, held out to him the two letters. + +"Forgive me, old man," he breathed, "for reading them aloud, but I wanted +the fellows to know, to appreciate you! And say, Hicks, what does your Dad +mean by saying that you are the _'Class Kid'_ of Yale, '96, and that those +sons of old Eli want you to win your letter? And what does he mean by +saying that you may get in a _big game_--may _win_ it--that you have +the goods in football, but lack the confidence to announce it to Coach +Corridan? Also that old Bannister needs just the peculiar brand you +possess?" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his sunny, Cheshire cat grin illuminating his +cherubic countenance, beamed on the eleven and Coach Corridan a moment. + +"Oh, that's a _mystery_," he said, cheerfully. "If I _do_ gain the courage +and confidence, I'll explain, but unless I do--it remains a--_mystery_!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +COACH CORRIDAN SURPRISES THE ELEVEN + + +"ALL MEMBERS OF THE FIRST ELEVEN ARE URGENTLY REQUESTED TO BE PRESENT IN +THE ROOM OF T. HAVILAND HICKS, JR.--AT EIGHT P. M. TONIGHT; YOU WILL BE +DETAINED ONLY A FEW MINUTES, BUT LET EVERY PLAYER COME, AS A MATTER OF +EXTREME IMPORTANCE WILL BE PRESENTED. PATRICK HENRY COERIDAN, HEAD-COACH." + +"Now, what do you suppose is up Coach Corridan's sleeve?" demanded T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., cheerfully. "Has Ballard learned our signals, or some +Bannister student sold them to a rival team, as per the usual football +story? Though the notice doth not herald it, I am to be present, for my +room is to be used, and the Coach gave me a special invitation to cut the +Gordian knot with my keen intellect." + +The sunny Hicks, with Butch, Beef, Tug, and Monty, had just come from +"Delmonico's Annex," the college dining-hall, after supper; they had paused +before the Bulletin Board at the Gymnasium entrance, where all college +notices were posted, and the Coach's urgent request had caught their gaze. +The announcement had caused quite a stir on the campus. The Bannister +youths stood in excited groups talking of it, and in the dormitories it +superseded all thought of study; however, there seemed little chance that +any but the "'Varsity" and T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., who was always consulted +in football problems, would know what took place in this meeting. + +"There is only one way to find out, Hicks," responded big Butch Brewster, +his arm across his blithesome comrade's shoulders, "and that is, attend +the meeting! You can wager that every member of the eleven will be there, +except Thor--he regards it as 'foolishness,' I suppose, and he won't spare +that precious time from his studies." + +At five minutes past eight, Butch's prophecy was fulfilled, for every +member of the eleven _was_ in Hicks' cozy room, except Thor, the Prodigious +Prodigy, whose presence would have caused a mild sensation. It was an +extremely quiet and orderly gathering, for Coach Corridan, who had the +floor, was so grave that he impressed the would-be sky-larking youths. +Having their undivided attention, he proceeded to make a speech that, to +all intents and purposes, had much the same effect on the team and Hicks as +a Zeppelin's bombs on London: + +"Boys," he spoke, in forceful sentences, driving straight to the point, +"I am going to take the eleven, and Hicks, whose suggestions are always +timely, into my confidence, in the hope that we, working together, may +carry out an idea of mine for the awakening of Thor to a realization +of things! I ask you not to let what I shall tell you be known to the +student-body, but you fellows play with Thor every day, and you will +understand the crisis, and appreciate _why_ it is done, if I decide it +necessary to drop John Thorwald from the football squad." + +"Drop Thor from the squad!" gasped T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., staggered, and +then pandemonium broke loose among the players. Drop the Prodigious Prodigy +from the squad, why, what _could_ the Slave-Driver be thinking of? Why, +look how Thorwald, on the scrubs, tore through the heavy 'Varsity line for +big gains. He was simply unstoppable; and yet, almost on the eve of the big +game that old Bannister depended on Thor to win by his splendid prowess, he +might be dropped from the squad! Excited exclamations sounded from Captain +Butch Brewster, Beef, and the others of the Gold and Green eleven: + +"Why not give the big games to Ballard and Ham, Coach?" + +"Say, shoot Theophilus Opperdyke in at full-back!" + +"Good-by, championship! No hopes now, fellows!" + +"If Thor doesn't play in the Big Games--good night!" + +A greater sensation could not have been caused even had kindly white-haired +Prexy announced his intention of challenging Jess Willard for the World's +Heavy-Weight Championship. Dropping that human battering-ram, Thor, from +the football, squad was something utterly undreamed-of. Coach Corridan +raised his hand for silence, and the youths subsided. + +"Hear me carefully, boys," he urged, "I know that old Bannister has come to +regard John Thorwald as invincible, to use his vast bulk as a foundation +on which to build hopes of the Championship, which is a bad policy, for no +team can be a _one-man_ team and win. I realize that as a football player, +Thor hasn't an equal in the State today, and if he had the right spirit, he +would have few in the country. It would be ridiculous to decry his prowess, +for he is a physical phenomenon. But you remember T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, +splendid defense of Thor, a week or so ago? Hicks gave you a full and clear +explanation of the big fellow, and showed you _why_ he does not know what +college spirit is, what loyalty and love for one's Alma Mater mean! His +masterly speech changed your attitude toward Thor, and even before he +decided to play football, for Mr. Hicks' sake, you admired him, because +of his indomitable purpose, his promise to his dying mother. Now _I_ am +telling you why he may be dropped from the squad, because I want you +fellows to give Thor a square deal, to remember what Hicks told you of him, +and to keep on striving to awaken him to the true meaning of campus years, +to make him realize that college life is more than a mere buying of +knowledge. I want to keep him on the squad, if humanly possible, and I +shall outline my plot later. + +"Tomorrow we play Latham College. It is the last game before the big games +for The State Intercollegiate Football Championship. Saturday after this, +we play Hamilton, and the following week Ballard, the Champions! The eleven +I send in against those teams must be a solid unit, _one_ in spirit and +purpose--every member of the Gold and Green team must be welded with his +team-mates, and they must forget everything but that their Alma Mater must +win the Championship! With no thought of self-glory, no other purpose in +playing than a love for old Bannister, every fellow must go into those +games to fight for his Alma Mater! Now, as for Thor, I need not tell you +that he is not in sympathy with our ambition; he simply does not understand +campus tradition and spirit. He is as yet not possessed of an Alma Mater; +he plays football only because of gratitude to Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, +Sr., and he hates to lose the time from his studies for the practice. +The football squad knows that his presence is a veritable wet blanket on +enthusiasm and the team's fighting spirit." + +It was true. That intangible shadow of something wrong, brooding over +training-table, shower-room, and Bannister Field, that self-evident +truth which almost every collegian had for days confessed to himself yet +hesitated to voice, had been given definite form by Coach Corridan talking +to the eleven. The good that Thorwald might do for the team by his superb +prowess and massive bulk was more than offset and nullified by his +attitude. + +To the blond Colossus, daily practice was unutterable mental torture. His +mind was on his studies, to which his bulldog purpose shackled him; he +begrudged the time spent on Bannister Field; he was stolid, silent, aloof. +He scarcely ever spoke, except when addressed. He reported for practice at +the last second, went through the scrimmage like a great, dumb, driven ox, +doing as he was ordered; and when the squad was dismissed he hurried to his +room. He was among the squad, but not of them; he neither understood nor +cared about their love for old Bannister, their vast desire to win for +their Alma Mater; he played football because he was grateful to Hicks, Sr., +for helping him to get started toward his goal, but as Coach Corridan now +told the 'Varsity, he killed the squad's enthusiasm, + +"All of this cannot fail to damage the _esprit de corps_, the _morale_, of +the eleven," declared Coach Corridan, having outlined Thor's attitude. "I +know that every member of the squad, if Thor played the game because of +college spirit, for love of old Bannister, would rejoice at his prowess. +But as it is they are justly resentful that he is not in the spirit of the +game. What we may gain by his playing, we lose because the others cannot do +their best with his example to hurt their fighting spirit. I do not want, +nor will I have on my eleven, any player who plays for other reasons than a +love for his Alma Mater, be he a Hogan, Brickley, Thorpe, or Mahan. I have +waited, hoping Thorwald would be awakened, as Hicks explained, but now I +must act. Tomorrow's game with Latham must see Thor awakened, or I must, +for the sake of the eleven, drop him from the squad for the rest of the +season. + +"Yet I beg of you, in case the plan I shall propose fails, remember Hicks' +appeal! Do not condemn or ostracize John Thorwald in any degree. He has +three more seasons of football, so let us keep on trying to make him +understand campus life, college tradition. Be his friends, help him all you +can, and sooner or later he will awaken. Something may suddenly shock him +to a true understanding of what old Bannister means to a fellow. Or perhaps +the awakening will be slow, but it must come. And Bannister can win without +Thor, don't forget that! We'll make one final effort to awaken Thor, and +if it fails, just forget him, boys, so far as football goes, and watch the +Gold and Green win that championship." + +"What is your scheme, Coach?" questioned Captain Butch Brewster, his honest +countenance showing how heavily the responsibility of team-leader weighed +upon him. "You are right; as Thor is now, he is a handicap to the eleven, +but--" + +"My idea is this," explained the Slave-Driver earnestly. "Select some +student to go to Thorwald and try to show him that unless he gets into the +game and plays for old Bannister, he will be dropped from the squad. If +possible, let the fellow make him understand that, in his case, it will be +a shame and a dishonor. Now, Butch, you and Hicks can probably approach +Thor, or perhaps you know of someone who--" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, cherubic countenance showed the light of dawning +inspiration, and Coach Corridan paused, as the sunny youth exhibited a +desire to say something, with him not by any means a phenomenal +happening; given the floor, the blithesome youth burst forth excitedly: +"Theophilus--Theophilus Opperdyke is the one! He has more influence over +Thor than any other student, and the big fellow likes the little boner. +Thor will at least listen to Theophilus, which Is more than any of us can +gain from him." + +After the meeting had adjourned, and the last inspection had been made in +the other dorms, the Seniors being exempt, several members of the Gold and +Green team--Captain Butch, Beef, Pudge, Monty, Roddy, and Bunch, together +with little Theophilus Opperdyke, dragged from his studies--foregathered in +the cozy room of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.; those who had heard the +coach's talk were still stunned at the ban likely to be placed on the +Brobdingnagian Thor. On the campus outside Creighton Hall, a horde of +Bannister youths, incited by Tug Cardiff, who gave them no reason for his +act, were making a strenuous effort to awaken the Prodigious Prodigy, +evidently depending on noise to achieve that end, for a vast sound-wave +rolled up to Hicks' windows--"Rah! Rah! Rah! Thor! Thor! Thor! +He's--all--right!" + +"Listen!" exploded T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., indignantly. "You and I, +Theophilus, would give a Rajah's ransom just to hear the fellows whoop it +up for us like that, and it has no more effect on that sodden hulk of a +Thor than bombarding an English super-dreadnaught with Roman candles! +Howsomever, Coach Corridan exploded a shrapnel bomb on old Bannister's +eleven tonight." + +Then Hicks carefully outlined to the dazed little boner the substance of +the coach's talk to the team, and Theophilus was alarmed when he thought of +Thor's being dropped from the squad. When Captain Butch had outlined the +Slave-Driver's plot for striving to awaken the Colossus to a realization of +what a disgrace it would be to be sent from the gridiron, though he did not +announce that the Human Encyclopedia had been elected to carry out Coach +Corridan's last-hope idea, Theophilus sat on the edge of the chair, +blinking owlishly at them over his big-rimmed spectacles. + +"After all, fellows," quavered Theophilus nervously, "Coach Corridan, if he +drops Thor from the squad, won't create such a riot on the campus as you +might expect. You see, the students, even as they built and planned on +Thor, gradually came to know that there is vastly more to be considered +than physical power. That great bulk actually acts as a drag on the eleven, +because Thor isn't in sympathy with things! Still, if he could only be +aroused, awakened, wouldn't the team play football, with him striving for +old Bannister, and not because he thinks he ought to play, for Hicks' dad? +Oh, I _do_ hope the Coach's plan succeeds, and he awakens tomorrow; I +know the boys won't condemn him, if he doesn't, but--I--I want him to +understand!" + +"It's his last chance this season," reflected T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +enshrouded in a penumbra of gloom. "I made a big boast that I would round +up a smashing full-back. I returned to Bannister with the Prodigious +Prodigy. I made a big mystery of him, and then--biff!--Thor quit football. +Then I explained the mystery, and got the fellows to admire him, and when +Thor decided to play the game I thought 'All O.K.; I'll just wait until +he scatters Hamilton and Ballard over Bannister Field, then I'll swagger +before Butch and say, "Oh, I told you just to leave it to Hicks!"' But now +Thor has spilled the beans again." + +"I--I hope that the one you have chosen to appeal to Thor--" spoke +Theophilus timorously, "will succeed, for--Oh, I _don't_ want him to be +dropped from the squad, and--" + +Big Butch Brewster, who had been gazing at little Theophilus Opperdyke with +a basilisk glare that perturbed the bewildered Human Encyclopedia, suddenly +strode across the room and placed his hand on the grind's thin shoulders. + +"Theophilus, old man, it's up to you!" he said earnestly. "Thor has a +strong regard for you; in fact, outside of his good-natured tolerance +for Hicks, you alone have his friendship. Now I want you to go to him, +Theophilus, and make a last appeal to Thor. Try to awaken him, to make him +understand his peril of being dropped from the squad, unless he plays +the game for his college! It's for old Bannister, old man, for your Alma +Mater--" + +"Go to it, Theophilus!" urged Beef McNaughton. "Coach Corridan said Thor +might be suddenly awakened by a shock, but no electric battery can shock +that Colossus, and, besides, miracles don't happen nowadays. Yes, it's up +to you, old man." + +For a moment little Theophilus, his big-rimmed spectacles falling off +as fast as he replaced them, and his puny frame tense with excitement, +hesitated. Sitting on the extreme edge of the chair, he surveyed his +comrades solemnly and was convinced that they were in earnest. Then, "I--I +will _try_, sir!" exclaimed Theophilus, who would _never_ forget his +Freshman training. "I'm _sure_ Hicks, or somebody, could do It better than +I; but--I'll try!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THEOPHILUS' MISSIONARY WORK + + + "College ties can ne'er be broken-- + Loyal will remain each heart; + Though the last farewell be spoken-- + And from Bannister we part! + + "Bannister, Bannister, hail, all hail! + Echoes softly from each heart; + We'll be ever loyal to thee-- + Till we from life shall part!" + +Theophilus Opperdyke, the timorous, intensely studious Human Encyclopedia, +stood at the window of John Thorwald's study room. That behemoth, desiring +quiet, had moved his study-table and chair to a vacant room across the +second-floor corridor of Creighton, the Freshman dormitory, when the +Bannister youths cheered him, and he was still there, so that Theophilus, +on his mission, had finally located him by his low rumblings, as he +laboriously read out his Latin. The little Senior was gazing across the +brightly lighted Quadrangle. He could see into the rooms of the other +class dormitories, where the students studied, skylarked, rough-housed, +or conversed on innumerable topics; from a room in Nordyke, the abode of +care-free Juniors, a splendidly blended sextette sang songs of their +Alma Mater, and their rich voices drifted across the Quad. to Thor and +Theophilus: + + "Though thy halls we leave forever + Sadly from the campus turn; + Yet our love shall fail thee never + For old Bannister we'll yearn! + Bannister, Bannister, hail, all hail!" + +Theophilus turned from the window, and looked despairingly at that young +Colossus, Thor. The behemoth Norwegian, oblivious to everything except the +geometry problem now causing him to sweat, rested his massive head on his +palms, elbows on the study-table, and was lost in the intricate labyrinth +of "Let the line ABC equal the line BVD." The frail chair creaked under his +ponderous bulk. On the table lay an unopened letter that had come in the +night's mail, for, tackling one problem, the bulldog Hercules never let go +his grip until he solved it, and nothing else, not even Theophilus, could +secure his attention. Hence the Human Encyclopedia, trembling at the +terrific importance of the mission entrusted to him, waited, thrilled by +the Juniors' songs, which failed to penetrate Thor's mind. + +"Oh, what _can_ I do?" breathed Theophilus, sitting down nervously on the +edge of a chair and peering owlishly over his big-rimmed spectacles at the +stolid John Thorwald. "I am sure that, in time, I can help Thor to--to know +campus life better; but--_tomorrow_ is his last chance! He will be dropped +from the squad, unless--" + +As Thor at last leaned back and gazed at his little comrade, just then, to +the tune of "My Old Kentucky Home," an augmented chorus drifted across the +Quadrangle: + + "And we'll sing one song + For the college that we love-- + For our dear old Bannister--good-by" + +To the Bannister students there was something tremendously queer in the +friendship of Theophilus and Thor. That the huge Freshman, of all the +collegians, should have chosen the timorous little boner was most puzzling. +Yet, to T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., a keen reader of human nature, it was +clear; Thorwald thought of nothing but study, Theophilus was a grind, +though he possessed intense college spirit, hence Thor was naturally drawn +to the little Senior by the mutual bond of their interest in books, and +Theophilus, with his hero-worshiping soul, intensely admired the splendid +purpose of John Thorwald, toiling to gain knowledge, because of the promise +of his dying mother. The grind, who thought that next to T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., Thor was the "greatest ever," as Hicks phrased it, had been, doing +what that care-free collegian termed "missionary work," with the stolid, +unimaginative Prodigious Prodigy for some weeks. Thrilled with the thought +that he worked for his Alma Mater, he quietly strove to make Thorwald +glimpse the true meaning and purpose of college life and its broadness of +development. The loyal Theophilus lost no opportunity of impressing his +behemoth friend with the sacred traditions of the campus, or of explaining +why Thor was wrong in characterizing all else than study as foolishness and +waste of time. + +"Thor," began Theophilus timidly yet determinedly, for he was serving old +Bannister now, "old man, do you feel that you are giving the fellows at +Bannister a square deal?" + +John Thorwald, slowly tearing open the letter that had come that night, +and had lain, unnoticed, on the study-table while he wrestled with his +geometry, turned suddenly. The Human Encyclopedia's vast earnestness and +the strange query he had fired at Thor, surprised even that stolid mammoth. + +"Why, what do you mean, Theophilus?" spoke Thor slowly. "A square deal? +Why, I owe them nothing! I sacrifice my time for them, leaving my studies +to go out and waste precious time foolishly on football. Why--" + +"I mean this," Theophilus kept doggedly on, his earnest desire to stir Thor +conquering his natural timidity. "You were brought to old Bannister by +Hicks, who made a great mystery of you, so we knew nothing of you; but the +fellows all thought you were willing to play football. Then, after they +got enthused, and builded hopes of the championship on _you_, came +your quitting. Hicks defended you, Thor, and changed the boys' bitter +condemnation to vast admiration, by telling of your life, your father's +being a castaway, your mother's dying wish, your toil to get learning, and +your inability to grasp college life. Then from gratitude to Mr. Hicks you +started to play again--naturally, the students waxed enthusiastic, when you +ripped the 'Varsity to pieces, but now you may be dropped by the coach, +after tomorrow, because you don't play for old Bannister, and your +indifference kills the team's fighting spirit. You do not care if you are +dropped; it will give you more time to study, and relieve you of your +obligation, as you so quixotically view it, to play because Mr. Hicks will +be glad; but--think of the fellows. + +"They, Thor, disappointed in you, their hopes of your bringing by your +massive body and huge strength the Championship to old Bannister shattered, +are still your friends--they of the eleven, I mean especially, for, as yet, +the rest do not know you may be dropped. And the fellows came beneath your +window tonight to cheer you; they will do so, Thor, even if you are dropped +and they know that you will not use that prodigious power for their Alma +Mater in the big games; they will stand by you, for they understand! Just +think, old man; haven't the fellows, despite your rude rebuffs, _tried_ +to be your comrades? Haven't they helped you to get settled to work and +assisted you with your studies? Why, you have been a big boor, cold and +aloof, you have upset their hopes of you in football, and yet they have no +condemnation for you, naught but warm friendliness. + +"You are not giving them or yourself a square deal, Thor! You won't even +_try_ to understand campus life, to grasp its real purpose, to realize what +tradition is! The time will come, Thor, when you will see your mistake; you +will yearn for their good fellowship, you will learn that getting knowledge +is not all of college life. You will know that this 'silly foolishness' of +singing songs and giving the yell, of rooting for the eleven, of loyalty +and love for one's Alma Mater, is something worth while. And you may find +it out too late. Oh, if you could only understand that it isn't what you +take from old Bannister that makes a man of you, it is what you give to +your college--in athletics, in your studies, in every phase of campus life; +that in toiling and sacrificing for your Alma Mater you grow and develop, +and reap a rich reward!" + +Could T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., Butch Brewster, and the Gold and Green eleven +have heard little Theophilus' fervent and eloquent appeal to John Thorwald, +they would have felt like giving three cheers for him. They loved this +pathetic little boner, who, because of his pitifully frail body, could +never fight for old Bannister on gridiron, diamond, or track, and they +tremendously admired him for working for his college and for the redemption +of Thor. Timorous and shrinking by nature, whenever his Alma Mater, or a +friend, needed him the Human Encyclopedia fought down his painful timidity +and came up to scratch nobly. + +It was Theophilus whose clear logic had vastly aided T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., to originate The Big Brotherhood of Bannister, in 1919's Sophomore +year, and quell Roddy Perkins' Freshman Equal Rights campaign. In fact, it +had been the boner's suggestion that gave Hicks his needed inspiration. +And, a Junior, Theophilus had been elected business manager of the +_Bannister Weekly_, with Hicks as editor-in-chief as a colossal joke. The +entire burden of that almost defunct periodical had been thrust on those +two, and, thanks to the grind's intensely humorous "copy," the _Weekly_ had +been revived and rebuilt. And Theophilus, in writing the humorous articles, +had been moved by a great ambition to do something for old Bannister. + +"Look at me, Thor!" continued Theophilus Opperdyke, his puny body dwarfed +as he faced the colossal Prodigious Prodigy. "A poor, weak, helpless +nothing! I'd cheerfully sacrifice all the scholastic honor or glory I ever +won, or shall win, just to make a touchdown for the Gold and Green, just to +win a baseball game, or to break the tape in a race for old Bannister! +And you--_you_, with that tremendous body, that massive bulk, that vast +strength--you won't play the game for your Alma Mater, you won't throw +that big frame into the scrimmage, thrilled with a desire to win for your +college! Oh, what wonderful things you _could_ do with your powerful build; +but it means nothing to you, while _I--_ Oh, you don't care, you just won't +awaken; and, unless you do, in tomorrow's game you'll be dropped from the +squad, a disgrace." + +John Thorwald-Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy, that Gargantuan Freshman of +whom Bannister said he possessed no soul--stirred uneasily, shifted his +vast tonnage from one foot to the other, and stared at little Theophilus +Opperdyke. That solemn Senior, who had not seen the slightest effect his +"Missionary Work" was having on the stolid Thor, was in despair; but he did +not know the truth. As Hicks had once said, "You don't know nothing what +goes on in Thor's dome. There's a wall of solid concrete around the +machinery of his mind, and you can't see the wheels, belts, and cogs at +work!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., with all his keen insight into human nature, had +failed utterly to diagnose Thor's case, had not even stumbled on the true +cause of that young giant's aloofness. The truth was unknown to anyone, +but there was one natural reason for John Thorwald's not mingling with his +fellows of the campus-the blond Colossus was inordinately bashful! From his +fifteenth year, Thor had seen the seamy side of life, had lived, grown and +developed among men. In his wanderings in the Klondike, the wild Northwest, +in Panama, his experiences as cabin-boy, miner, cowboy, lumber-jack, and +Canal Zone worker, he had existed where everything was roughness and +violence, where brawn, not brain, usually held sway, where supremacy was +won, kept, and lost by fists, spiked boots, or guns! In his adventurous +career, young Thorwald had but seldom encountered the finer things of life, +and his nature, while wholesome, was sturdy and virile, not likely to be +stirred by sentiment; so that now, among the good-natured, friendly boys of +old Bannister, he, accustomed to rude surroundings and rough acquaintances, +was bashful. + +And Theophilus, as well as T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., shot far wide of the +mark in believing that the big Hercules had no power to feel; he possessed +that power, but, with it the ability to conceal his feelings. They thought +nothing appealed to him, had stirred his soul, at college, but they were +wrong; true, Thor was unable to understand this new, strange life; he was +puzzled when the collegians condemned and ostracized him at first, when +he quit football because it was not a Faculty rule to play, but he was +grateful when Hicks defended him, and the admiration of the student-body +was welcome to him. He had thought he was doing all they desired of him, +when he went back to the game, and now--when Theophilus told him that he +might be dropped from the squad, he was bewildered. He could not understand +just why this could be, when he was reporting for scrimmage every day! + +But the friendliness of the youths, their kind help with his studies, +the assistance of the genial Hicks, and, more than all, above even +the admiration of the Freshmen for his promise and purpose, the daily +missionary work of little Theophilus, for whom the massive Thor felt a real +love, had been slowly, insidiously undermining John Thorwald's reserve. No +longer did he condemn what he did not understand. At times he had a vague +feeling that all was not right, that, after all, he was missing something, +that study was not all; and yet, bashful as he was, fearing to appear +rough, crude, and uncouth among these skylarking youths, Thor kept on his +silent, lonely way, and they thought him untouched by their overtures. Of +late, when unobserved, the big Freshman had stood by the window, watching +the collegians on the campus, listening to their songs of old Bannister, +and yet because he felt embarrassed when with them, he gave no sign that he +cared. + +Now, however, the splendid appeal of loyal, timorous Theophilus stirred +Thor, and yet he could not break down the wall of reserve he had builded +around himself. He had deluded himself that this comradeship was not for +him, that he could never mingle with these happy-go-lucky youths, that +he must plod straight ahead, and live to himself, because his past had +roughened him. + +"You are a Freshman!" spoke Theophilus, unaware that forces were at work on +Thor, and making a last effort. "You stand on the very threshold of your +campus years; everything is before you. I am at the journey's end--very +nearly, for in June I graduate from old Bannister. I never had the chance +to fight for my Alma Mater on the athletic field, and you--Oh, think of +what you can do! About to leave the campus, I, and my class-mates, realize +how dear our college has become to us. If _you_ could just know that +Bannister means something to you, even now, if you only felt it, you +could make your years mean great things to you. Thor, could you leave old +Bannister tomorrow without regret, without one sigh for the dear old place? +We, who soon shall leave it forever, fully understand Shakespeare, when in +a sonnet he wrote: + + "This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong-- + To love that well which thou must leave ere long!" + +There was a silence, and then Thor slowly drew out a letter from its +envelope, scanning the scrawl across its pages. A few moments, while its +meaning seemed to seep into his slow-acting mind, and then a look of +helpless bewilderment, as though the stolid Freshman just could not +understand at all, came to his face; a minute John Thorwald stood, as in a +trance, staring dully at the letter. + +"Thor! Thor! What's the matter? What's wrong?" quavered the alarmed +Theophilus, "Have you gotten bad news?" + +"Read it, read it," said the big Freshman lifelessly, extending the letter +to the startled Senior. "It's all over, I suppose, and I've got to go to +work again. I've got to leave college, and toil once more, and save. My +promise to my mother can't be fulfilled--yet. And just as I was getting +fairly started." + +Theophilus Opperdyke hurriedly perused the message, which had come to Thor +in that night's mail but which the blond giant had let lie unnoticed while +he tackled his geometry. With difficulty Theophilus deciphered the scrawl +on an official letterhead: + + +THE NEW YORK-CHRISTIANA STEAMSHIP LINE + +(New York Offices) + +Nov. 4, 19--. + +DEAR SON: + +I am writing to tell you that I've run into a sort of hurricane, and you +and I have got a hard blow to weather. I started you at college on the +$5,000 received from the heirs of Henry B. Kingsley, on whose yacht, as +you know, I was wrecked in the South Seas, and marooned for ten years. I +figured on giving you an education with that sum, eked out by my wages, and +what you earn in vacations. + +I had the $5,000, untouched, in a New York bank, and I wanted to take it +over to Christiania; when I was about to sail on my last voyage, I drew out +the sum, and put it in care of the Purser of the _Norwhal_, on which I +was mate, intending, of course, to get it on docking, and deposit it in +Christiania. At the last hour I was transferred to the _Valkyrie_, to sail +a few days later, and I knew the _Norwhal's_ purser would leave the $5,000 +for me in the Company's Christiania offices, so I did not bother to +transfer it to the _Valkyrie_. + +Perhaps you read in the newspapers that the _Norwhal_ struck a floating +mine, and went down with a heavy loss of life. The Purser was among those +lost, and none of the ship's papers were saved; my $5,000, of course, went +down also. + +I am sorry, John, but there seems nothing to do but for you to leave +college and work. For your mother's sake, I wish we could avoid it; but we +must wait and work and tackle it again. Your first term expenses are paid, +so stay until the term is out. Perhaps Mr. Hicks can give you a job in one +of his steel mills again, but we must work our own way, son. Don't lose +courage, we'll fight this out together with the memory of your promise to +your dying mother to spur you on. The road may be long and rocky but we'll +make it. Just work and save, and in a year or two you can start at college +again. You can study at night, too, and keep on learning. + +I'll write later. Stay at college till the term is up, and in the meantime +try to land a job. However, you won't have any trouble to do that. Keep +your nerve, boy, for your mother's sake. It's a hard blow, but we'll +weather it, never fear, and reach port. + +Your father, + +JOHN THORWALD, SR. + +P.S. I am sailing on the _Valkyrie_ today, will write you on my return to +New York, in a few weeks. + + +Theophilus looked at the massive young Norwegian, who had taken this +solar-plexus blow with that same stolid apathy that characterized his every +action. He wanted to offer sympathy, but he knew not how to reach Thor. He +fully understood how terrific the blow was, how it must stagger the +big, earnest Freshman, just as he, after ten years of grinding toil, of +sacrifice, of grim, unrelenting determination, had conquered obstacles and +fought to where he had a clear track ahead. Just as it seemed that fate had +given him a fair chance, with his father rescued and five thousand dollars +to give him a college course, this terrible misfortune had befallen him. +Theophilus realized what it must mean to this huge, silent Hercules, just +making good his promise to his dying mother, to give up his studies, and go +back to work, toil, labor, to begin all over again, to put off his college +years. + +"Leave me, please," said Thor dully, apparently as unmoved by the blow +as he had been by Theophilus' appeal. "I--I would like to be alone, for +awhile." + +Left alone, John Thorwald stood by the window, apparently not thinking of +anything in particular, as he gazed across the brightly lighted Quad. The +huge Freshman seemed in a daze--utterly unable to comprehend the disaster +that had befallen him; he was as stolid and impassive as ever, and +Theophilus might have thought that he did not care, even at having to give +up his college course, had not the Senior known better. + +Across the Quadrangle, from the room of the Caruso-like Juniors, +accompanied by a melodious banjo-twanging, drifted: + + "Though thy halls we leave forever + Sadly from the campus turn; + Yet our love shall fail thee never + For old Bannister we'll yearn! + + "'Bannister, Bannister, hail, all hail!' + Echoes softly from each heart; + We'll be ever loyal to thee + Till we from life shall part." + +Strangely enough, the behemoth Thorwald was not thinking so much of having +to give up his studies, of having to lay aside his books and take up again +the implements of toil. He was not pondering on the cruelty of fate in +making him abandon, at least temporarily, his goal; instead, his thoughts +turned, somehow, to his experiences at old Bannister, to the football +scrimmages, the noisy sessions in "Delmonico's Annex," the college +dining-hall, to the skylarking he had often watched in the dormitories. He +thought, too, of the happy, care-free youths, remembering Hicks, good Butch +Brewster, loyal little Theophilus; and as he reflected, he heard those +Juniors, over the way, singing. Just now they were chanting that +exquisitely beautiful Hawaiian melody, "Aloha Oe," or "Farewell to Thee," +making the words tell of parting from their Alma Mater. There was something +in the refrain that seemed to break down Thor's wall of reserve, to melt +away his aloofness, and he caught himself listening eagerly as they sang. + +Somehow he felt no desire to condemn those care-free youths, to call their +singing silly foolishness, to say they were wasting their time and their +fathers' money. Queer, but he actually liked to hear them sing, he realized +he had come to listen for their saengerfests. Now that he had to leave +college, for the first time he began to ponder on what he must leave. Not +alone books and study, but-- + +As he stood there, an ache in his throat, and an awful sorrow overwhelming +him, with the richly blended voices of the happy Juniors drifting across to +him, chanting a song of old Ballard, big Thor murmured softly: + +"What did little Theophilus say? What was it Shakespeare wrote? Oh, I have +it: + + "'This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong-- + To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.'" + + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THOR'S AWAKENING + + + "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea, + And we'll put Bannister in that hole! + In that hole--in--that--hole-- + Oh, we'll put Bannister in that hole!" + +"In the famous words of the late Mike Murphy," said T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +"the celebrated Yale and Penn track trainer, 'you can beat a team that +can't be beat, but--you can't beat a team that won't be beat!' Latham must +be in the latter class." + +It was the Bannister-Latham game, and the first half had just ended. +Captain Butch Brewster's followers had trailed dejectedly from Bannister +Field to the Gym, where Head Coach Corridan was flaying them with a tongue +as keen as the two-edged sword that drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of +Eden. A cold, bleak November afternoon, a leaden sky lowered overhead, and +a chill wind swept athwart the field; in the concrete stands, the loyal +"rooters" of the Gold and Green, or of the Gold and Blue, shivered, +stamped, and swung their arms, waiting for the excitement of the scrimmage +again to warm them. Yet, the Bannister cohorts seemed silent and +discouraged, while the Latham supporters went wild, singing, cheering, +howling. A look at the score-board explained this: + + END OF FIRST HALF: SCORE: + Bannister ........ 0 + Latham ........... 3 + +The statement of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., swathed in a gold and green +blanket and humped on the Bannister bench, to shivering little Theophilus +Opperdyke, the Phillyloo Bird, Shad Weatherby, and several more collegians +who had joined him when the half ended, was singularly appropriate. In +Latham's light, fast eleven, trained to the minute, coached to a shifty, +tricky style of play with numberless deceptive fakes from which they worked +the forward pass successfully, Bannister seemed to have encountered, as +Mike Murphy phrased it, "A team that won't be beat!" According to the +advance dope of the sporting writers, who, in football, are usually as good +prophets as the Weather Bureau, Bannister was booked to come out the winner +by at least five touchdowns to none. But here a half was gone, and Latham +led by three points, scored on a rather lucky field-goal! + +The psychology of football is inexplicable. Yale, beaten by Virginia, +Brown, and Wash-Jeff, with the Blue's best gridiron star ineligible to +play, a team that seemed at odds with itself and the 'Varsity, mismanaged, +poorly coached, journeys to Princeton to battle with old Nassau; the Tiger, +Its tail as yet untwisted, presents its best eleven for several seasons, a +great favorite in the odds, and yet the final score is Yale, 14; Princeton, +7! A strange fear of the Bulldog, bred of many bitter defeats, of similar +occasions when a feeble Yale team aroused itself and trampled an invincible +Orange and Black eleven, when the Blue fought old Nassau with a team that +"wouldn't" be beat, gave victory to the poorer aggregation. So many things +unforeseen often enter into a football contest, shifting the balance of +power from the stronger to the weaker team. One eleven gets the jump on the +other, the favorite weirdly goes to pieces--team dissension may exist, a +dozen other causes--but, boiled down, Mike Murphy's statement was most +appropriate now. + +Latham simply _would not_ be beat! The sporting pages had said: "Latham +simply can't beat Bannister!" Here the team, that could not be beaten was +being defeated, and the team that would not be defeated was, so far, the +victor. Perhaps the threatened dropping of Thor from the Gold and Green +squad shook somewhat Captain Butch's players; more likely, the Latham +aggregation got the jump on Bannister, opening up a bewildering attack of +criss-crosses, line plunges, cross-bucks, and tandems, from all of which +the forward pass frequently developed; they literally overwhelmed a +supposedly unbeatable team. And once they got the edge, it was hard for +Bannister to regain poise and to smother the fast plays that swept through +or around the bewildered eleven. + +"We have _got_ to beat 'em!" growled Shad, "Mike Murphy or not. Why, +if little old Latham cleans us up, smash go our chances of the State +Championship! Oh, look at Thor--the big mountain of muscle. Why doesn't he +wake up, and go push that team off the field?" + +Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy, his vast hulk unprotected from the cold wind +by a football blanket, squatted on the ground, on the side-line, apparently +in a trance. Ever since the night before, when his father's letter had +dealt such a knock-out blow to his hopes of fulfilling the promise to his +dying mother, had rudely side-tracked him from the climb to his goal, the +blond giant had maintained that dumb apathy. If anything, it seemed that +the cruel blow of fate had only served to make Thor more stolid and +impassive than ever, and Theophilus wondered if the Colossus had really +grasped the import of the tragic letter as yet. The news had spread over +the college and campus, and the students were sincerely sorry for Thor. But +to offer him sympathy was about as difficult as consoling a Polar bear with +the toothache. + +Coach Corridan, carrying out his plot, had decided not to start Thor in +the first half of the game. So the Norwegian Hercules, having received no +orders to the contrary, however, donned togs and appeared on the side-line, +where he had sat, paying not the slightest heed to the scrimmage and +seemingly unaware that the Gold and Green was facing defeat and the loss of +the Championship, for a game lost would put the team out of the running. +All big John Thorwald knew was, in a few weeks he must leave old Bannister, +must give up, for a time, his college course. Just when the grim battle was +won, he must leave, to work. Not that the Viking cared about toil. It was +the delay that chafed even his stolid self. He was stunned at having to +wait, maybe two years, before starting again. + +And yet, as he squatted on the side-line, oblivious to everything but his +bitter reflections, the Theophilus-quoted words of Shakespeare persisted in +intruding on his thoughts: + + "This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong-- + To love that well, which thou must leave ere long." + +Try as he would, he could not fight away the keen realization that +books and study were not all he would regret to leave. He was forced to +acknowledge that his mind kept wandering to other things. He found himself +pondering on the parting with Theophilus Opperdyke, with that crazy Hicks; +he wondered if he, out in the world again, toiling his lonely way, would +miss the glad fellowship of these care-free youths that he had watched, +but never shared, if he would ever think of the weeks at old Bannister. +Somehow, he felt that he would often vision the Quad at night, brightly +lighted, dormitories' lights agleam, students crossing and recrossing, +shouting at studious comrades. He would hear again the melodious +banjo-twanging, the gleeful saengerfests, the happy skylarking of the boys. +He had never entered into all this, and yet he knew he would miss it all; +why, he would even miss the daily scrimmage on Bannister Field; the noisy +shower-room, with its clouds of steam, and white forms flitting ghostlike. +He would miss the classrooms; in brief, _everything_! + +John Thorwald was awakening! Even had this blow not befallen him, the huge, +slow-minded Norwegian, in time, with Theophilus Opperdyke's missionary +work, would have gradually come to understand things better--at least, to +know he was wrong in his ideas, which is the beginning of wisdom. Already, +he had ceased to condemn all this as foolishness, to rail at the youths +for wasting time and money. Already something stirred within him, and yet, +stolid as he was, bashful among the collegians, he was apparently the same. +But the sudden shock Head Coach Corridan spoke of had come. His father's +letter telling of his loss and that Thor must leave Bannister had awakened +him to the startling knowledge that he did care for something more than +study, that all the things that had puzzled him, that he had sneered at, +meant something to his existence, that he dreaded leaving other things than +his books. + +"I--I don't understand things," thought Thorwald. "But--if I could only +stay, I'd want to learn. I'd try to get this 'college' spirit! Oh, I've +been all wrong, but if I could only stay--" + +As if in answer to his unspoken thought, the big Freshman beheld marching +toward him Theophilus Opperdyke, his spectacles off, and his face aglow, +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., evidently in the throes of emotional insanity; a +Senior whom he knew as Parson Palmetter; Registrar Worthington, and Doctor +Alford, the kindly, beloved Prexy of old Bannister. The last named placed +his hand on the puzzled behemoth's ponderous shoulder. + +"Thorwald," he said kindly, "Hicks, Opperdyke and Brewster, last night, +came to my study and acquainted me with your misfortune. They told me of +your life-history, of your splendid purpose to gain knowledge, to make +something of yourself, for your dying mother's sake. Old Bannister needs +men like you, Thorwald. Perhaps you do not understand campus ways and +tradition yet, perhaps you are not in sympathy with everything here; but +once a love for your Alma Mater is awakened, you will be a power for good +for your college. + +"Now I at once took up the matter with Mr. Palmetter, President of The +Students' Aid Bureau. This year, for the first time in our history, we have +dispensed with janitors and sweeps in the dormitories, and with dining-hall +waiters, so that needy and deserving students may work their way through +Bannister. Owing to the fact that Mr. Deane, a Senior, has given up his +dormitory, Creighton Hall, as he has funds for the year and needs the time +to study, we can offer you board and tuition, in exchange for your work in +the dormitory, and waiting on tables in the dining-hall. Since your first +term bills, until January first, are paid, if you will start to work at +once, we will credit any work done this term on books and incidentals for +next term. By this means--" + +"Why, you don't--you _can't_ mean--" rumbled Thor, who had just dimly +grasped the greatest point in Prexy's speech. "Why, then I won't have to +leave Bannister--I won't have to quit my studies! Oh, thank you, sir; thank +you! I will work _so_ hard. I am not afraid of work; I love it--a chance to +toil and earn my education, that's what I want! Thank you!" + +"And in addition," said the Registrar, "Mr. Palmetter reports that he can +secure you, downtown, a number of furnaces to tend this winter, which you +can do early in the morning and at night; this will bring you an income for +living expenses, and in the spring something else will offer itself. It +means every moment of your time will be crowded, but Bannister needs +workers--" + +Something stirred in John Thorwald. His heart had been touched at last. He +thought of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., Butch, and little Theophilus worried +at his having to leave college, going to Doctor Alford; of Prexy, the +Registrar, and Parson Palmetter, working to keep Thor at old Bannister. +He recalled how sympathetic all the youths had been, how they admired his +purpose and determination; and he had rewarded their friendliness with +cold aloofness. He felt a thrill as he visioned himself working for his +education, rising in the cold dawn, tending furnaces, working in the dorm., +waiting on tables--studying. With what fierce joy he would assail his +tasks, glad that he could stay! He knew the students would rejoice, that +they would not look down on him; instead, they would respect and admire +him, toiling to grow and develop, to attain his goal! + +"Go to it, Thor!" urged T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. "We all want you to stay, +old man; we'll give you a lift with your studies. Old Bannister _wants_ +you, _needs_ you, so _stick_!" + +"Stay, please!" quavered little Theophilus. "You don't want to leave your +Alma Mater; stay, Thorwald, and--you'll understand things soon," + +"Report at the Registrar's office at seven tonight, Thorwald," said Prexy, +and then, because he understood boys and campus problems, "and to show your +gratitude, you might go out there and spank that team which is trying to +lick old Bannister." + +John Thorwald, when Doctor Alford and the Registrar had gone, arose and +stood gazing across Bannister Field. He saw not the white-lined gridiron, +the gaunt goal-posts, the concrete stands filled with spectators, or the +gay banners and pennants. He saw the buildings and campus of old Bannister, +the stately old elms bordering the walks; he beheld the Gym., the four +dormitories--Bannister, Nordyke, Smithson, and Creighton--the white Chapel, +the ivy-covered Library, the Administration and Recitation Halls; he +glimpsed the Memorial Arch over the entrance driveway, and big Alumni Hall. +All at once, like an inundating wave, the great realization flashed on +Thor that he did not have to leave it all! Often again would he hear the +skylarking youths, the gay songs, the banjo-strumming; often would he see +the brightly lighted Quad., would gaze out on the campus! It was still +his--the work, the study, and, if he tried, even the glad comradeship of +the fellows, the bigger things of college life, which as yet he did not +understand. + +The big slow-minded youth could not awaken, at once, to a full knowledge +and understanding of campus life and tradition, to a knowledge of college +spirit; but, thanks to the belief that he had to leave it all, he had +awakened to the startling fact that already he loved old Bannister. And +now, joyous that he could stay, John Thorwald suddenly felt a strong desire +to do something, not for himself, but for these splendid fellows who had +worried for his sake, had worked to keep him at college. And just then he +remembered the somewhat unclassical, yet well meant, words of dear old +Doctor Alford, "And to show your gratitude, you might go out there and +spank that team, which is trying to lick old Bannister." + +John Thorwald for the first time looked at the score-board; he saw, in big +white letters: + + BANNISTER .......... 0 + LATHAM ............. 3 + +From the Gym. the Gold and Green players--grim, determined, and yet worried +by the team that "won't be beat!"--were jogging, followed by Head Coach +Patrick Henry Corridan. The Latham eleven was on the field, the Gold and +Blue rooters rioted in the stands. From the Bannister cohorts came a +thunderous appeal: + + "Hold 'em, boys--hold 'em, boys--hold--hold--_hold_! + Don't let 'em beat the Green and the Gold!" + +A sudden fury swayed the Prodigious Prodigy; it was his college, his +eleven, and those Blue and Gold youths were actually beating old Bannister! +The Bannister boys had admired him, some of them had helped him in his +studies, three had told Doctor Alford of him, had made it possible for him +to stay, to keep on toward his goal. _They_ would be sorrow-stricken if +Latham won! A feeling of indignation came to Thor. How dare those fellows +think they could beat old Bannister! Why, _he_ would go out there and show +them a few things! + +Head Coach Corridan, let it be chronicled, was paralyzed when he ducked +under the side-line rope--stretched to hold the spectators back--to collide +with an immovable body, John Thorwald, and to behold an eager light on that +behemoth's stolid face. Grasping the Slave-Driver in a grip that hurt, Thor +boomed: + +"Mr. Corridan, let me play, _please_! Send me out this half. We can win. +We've _got_ to win! I want to do something for old Bannister. Why, if we +lose today, we lose the Championship! I don't understand things yet, but I +do love the college. I want to fight for Bannister. _Please_ let me play!" + +The astonished coach and the equally dazed Gold and Green eleven, with the +bewildered collegians who heard Thor's earnest appeal, were silent a few +moments, unable to grasp the truth. Then Captain Brewster, his face aglow, +seized the big Freshman's arm excitedly. + +"_Sure_ you'll play, Thor!" he shouted. "Fullback, old man! Come on, team. +Thor's awake! He wants to fight for his Alma Mater; he wants Bannister to +win! Oh, watch us shove Latham off the field--everybody together now--the +yell, for Thor!" + +"Right here," grinned an excitedly happy T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., when the +yell was given, "is where a team that won't be beat gets licked by a chap +what can lick 'em!" + +What took place when the blond Prodigious Prodigy lumbered on Bannister +Field at the start of the last half of the Bannister-Latham game can be +imagined by the final score-board figures: + + BANNISTER ......... 27 + LATHAM ............. 3 + +It can best be described with the aid of Scoop Sawyer's account in the next +_Bannister Weekly:_ + +--At the start of the second half, however, the Latham cohorts were given +a shock when they beheld a colossal being almost as big as the entire Gold +and Blue eleven, go in at fullback for Bannister. And the Latham eleven +received a series of shocks when Thor began intruding that massive body +of his into their territory. Tennyson's saying, "The old order changeth, +yielding place to new" was aptly illustrated in the second half; for +Bannister's bugler quit sounding "Retreat!" and blew "Charge!" Four +touchdowns and three goals from touchdowns, in one half, is usually +considered a fair day's work for an entire team. Even Yale or Harvard; but +when one player corrals four touchdowns in a half--he is going some! Well, +Thor went some! Most of the half he furnished free transportation for +two-thirds of the Latham team, carrying them on his back, legs, and neck, +as he strode down the field; a writ of habeas corpus could not have stopped +the blond Colossus. Anyone would have stood more show to stop an Alpine +avalanche than to slow up Thor, and the stretcher was constantly in +evidence, for Latham knockouts. + +[Illustration C: 'A writ of habeas corpus could not have stopped the blond +Colossus'] + +The game turned into a Thor's Personally Conducted Tour. Thorwald, escorted +by the Gold and Green team, made four quick tours to the Latham goal-line. +It was simply a matter of giving the ball to the Prodigious Prodigy, then +waving the linesmen to move down twenty yards or more toward Latham's line. +Thor was simply unstoppable, and more beneficial even than his phenomenal +playing was his encouragement to the team. He kept urging them to action, +his foghorn growl of, "Come on, boys!" was a slogan of victory! Judging by +Thor's awakening, and his work of the Latham game, Bannister's hopes of The +State Intercollegiate Football Championship are as roseate as the blush on +a maiden's cheek at her first kiss, and-- + +That night, in the cozy room of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., John Thorwald, +supremely happy yet withal as uncomfortable as a whale on the Sahara +Desert, overflowed an easy-chair. The room was filled, or what space Thor +left, with the Bannister eleven, second-team players, Coach Corridan, and +several students; on the campus a riotous crowd of Bannister youths "raised +merry Heck," as Hicks phrased it, and their cheer floated up to the +windows: + +"Rah! Rah! Rah! Thor! Thor! Thor! He's--all--right!" + +"Come, fellows," spoke T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. + +"Let's sing to the captain, good old Butch! Let 'er go!" + + "Here's to good Butch Brewster! Drink it down! + Here's to good Butch Brewster! Drink It down! + Here's to good Butch Brewster-- + He plays football like he _uster--_ + Drink it down! Drink it down--down--down--down!" + +A strange sound startled the joyous youths; it was a rumbling noise, +like distant thunder, and at first they could not place it. Then, as It +continued, they located the disturbance as coming from the prodigious body +of Thor, and at last the wonderful phenomenon dawned on them. + +"Thor is singing college songs!" quavered little Theophilus Opperdyke, +so happy that his big-rimmed spectacles rode the end of his nose. "Oh, +Hicks--Butch--Thor is awake at last! He is trying to get college spirit, to +understand campus life--" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., suddenly realized that what he had so ardently +longed for had come to pass; aided by Theophilus' missionary work and by +the sudden shock of Thorwald, Sr.'s, letter. Thor was awakened, had come to +know that he loved old Bannister. His awakening, as shown in the football +game, had been splendid. How he had towered over the scrimmage, in every +play, urging his team to fight, himself doing prodigies for old Bannister. +Thor, who had been so silent and aloof! Then the sunny-souled youth +remembered. + +"Oh, I told you I'd awaken Thor, Butch!" he began, but that behemoth +quelled him with an ominous look. + +"_You_!" he growled, with pretended wrath, "_you_! It was Theophilus +Opperdyke who did the most of it, and Thorwald's father did the rest! Don't +you rob Theophilus of his glory, you feeble-imitation-of-some-thing-human!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., grinned _a la_ Cheshire cat. The happy-go-lucky +Senior was vastly glad that Thor had awakened, that now he would try +to grasp the real meaning of college existence. He felt that the young +Hercules, from now on, would slowly and surely develop to a splendid +college man, that he would do big things for his Alma Mater. And the +generous Hicks gave Theophilus all the credit, and impressed on that +happy Human Encyclopedia the fact that he had done a great deed for old +Bannister. Just so, Thor was awakened. + +"Oh, I say, Deke Radford, Coach, and Butch," Hicks chortled, getting the +attention of that triumvirate as well as that of the others in the room, +"remember up in Camp Bannister, in the sleep-shack, when Coach Corridan +outlined a smashing full-back he wanted?" + +"Sure!" smiled Deke. "What of it, Hicks?" + +Then T, Haviland Hicks, Jr., that care-free, lovable, irrepressible youth, +whose chance to swagger before this same trio had been postponed so long +and seemingly lost forever, satiated his fun-loving soul and reaped his +reward. Calling their attention to Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy, and asking +them to remember his playing against Latham that day, the sunny Senior +strutted before them vaingloriously. + +"Oh, I told you just to leave it to Hicks!" he declared, grinning happily. +"I promised to round up an unstoppable fullback, a Gargantuan Hercules, and +I did! Just think of what he will do to Hamilton and Ballard in the big +games! As I have often told you, _always_--leave It to Hicks!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL" + + + "Oh, what we'll do to Ballard + Will surely be a shame! + We'll push their team clear off the field + And win the football game!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., one night three days after the first big game, that +with Hamilton, a week following Thor's great awakening in the Latham game, +sat in his cozy room, having assumed his favorite position--chair tilted +back at a perilous angle and feet thrust atop of the radiator. The +versatile youth, having just composed a song with which to encourage +Bannister elevens in the future, was reading it aloud, when his mind was +torpedoed by a most startling thought. + +"Land o' Goshen!" reflected the sunny-souled Senior, aghast. "I haven't +twanged my ole banjo and held forth with a saengerfest for a coon's age! I +surely can do so now without arousing Butch to wrath. Thor has awakened, +Hamilton is walloped, and Bannister will surely win the Championship! +Everything is happy, an' de goose hangs high, so here goes!" + +Holding his banjo _a la_ troubadour, the blithesome Hicks, who as a Senior +was harassed by no study-hours or inspections, strode from his room and out +into the corridor, up and down which he majestically paced, like a sentinel +on his beat, twanging his beloved banjo with abandon, and roaring in his +foghorn, subterranean voice: + + "Oh, the way we walloped Hamilton + Surely was a shame! + And we're going to win the Championship-- + For we'll do Ballard the same! + + "And Bannister shall flaunt the flag + For at least three seasons more; + Because--no team can win a game + While the Gold and Green has Thor!" + +On Bannister Field, three days before, the Gold and Green had crushed the +strong team from "old Ham" to the tune of 20 to 0; Thor's magnificent +ground-gaining, in which he smashed through the supposedly impregnable +defense of the enemy, was a surprise to his comrades and a shock to +Hamilton. Time and again, on the fourth down, the ball was given to +Thorwald, and the blond Colossus, with several of old Ham's players +clinging to him, plunged ahead for big gains. So now with a monster +mass-meeting in half an hour, the exultant Bannister youths pretended to +study, but prepared to parade on the campus, cheer the eleven and Thor, +and arouse excitement for the winning of the biggest game, a victory over +Ballard, a week later. + +From the rooms of would-be studious Seniors on both sides of the corridor, +as Hicks patrolled it, came vociferous protests and classic criticisms, +gathering in force and volume as the breezy youth's foghorn voice roared +his song; that heedless collegian grinned as he heard: + +"R-r-rotten! Give that Jersey calf more rope!" + +"Hicks has had a relapse! _Sing-Sing_ for yours, old man!" + +"Arrest Hicks, under the Public Nuisance Act!" + +"_Woof! Woof_! Shoot it quick! Don't let it suffer!" + +Just as T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., strumming the banjo blithely and Carusoing +with glee, reached the end of the corridor and executed a brisk 'bout-face, +he heard a terrific commotion on the stairway, and, a moment later, Butch +Brewster, Beef McNaughton, Deacon Radford and Monty Merriweather gained the +top of the stairs. As they were now between the offending Hicks and +his quarters, there seemed no chance for the sunny Senior to play his +safety-first policy; so he waited, panic-stricken, as Butch and Beef +lumbered heavily down the corridor. + +"Help! Aid! Succor! Relief! Assistance!" shrieked Hicks, leaning his +beloved banjo against the wall and throwing himself into what he +fatuously believed was an intensely pugilistic pose. "I am a believer in +preparedness. You have me cornered, so beware! I am a follower of Henry +Ford, but even _I_ will fight--at bay!" + +"Well, you are at _sea_ now!" growled Beef, tucking the splinter youth +under one arm and striding down the corridor, followed by Butch with the +banjo, and Monty with Deacon. "You desperado, you destroyer of peace and +quietude, you one-cylinder gadabout! You're off again! We'll instruct you +to annoy real students, you faint shadow of something human!" + +"Them's harsh sentences, Beef!" chuckled T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., as that +behemoth kicked open Hicks' door, bore the futilely squirming, kicking +youth into the room, and hurled him on the davenport. "Watch my banjo, +there, Butch; have a couple of cares! Say, what'smatter wid youse guys, +anyhow? This is my first saengerfest for eons. Old Bannister has a clear +track ahead at last, the Championship is won for _sure_, and Thor, that +mighty engine of destruction to Ham's and Ballard's hopes, after much +tinkering, is hitting on all twelve cylinders. Why, I prithee, deny me the +pleasure of a little joyous song?" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., since the memorable Latham game, when Thor had +awakened between halves, and the Prodigious Prodigy had shown himself +worthy of his title by winning the game after defeat leered at old +Bannister, had suffered a relapse, and was again his old sunny, heedless, +happy-go-lucky self. Now that John Thorwald had been startled into +realizing that he loved his college and had been saved from having to +leave, now that he played football for his Alma Mater, and Bannister's +hopes of the Championship were roseate, the blithesome Hicks had abandoned +himself to a golden existence of Beefsteak Busts downtown at Jerry's, +entertaining jolly comrades in his cozy room, and pestering the campus with +his banjo and ridiculous imitations of Sheerluck Holmes, the Dachshund +Detective. Big Butch Brewster, lecturing him for his care-free ways, as +futilely as he had done for three years past, gave up in despair. + +"I might as well be showing moving-pictures to the inmates of a blind +asylum," he growled on one occasion, "as to persuade you to quit acting +like a lunatic! You, a Senior--acting like an escaped inhabitant of +Matteawan! Bah!" + +Big Butch Brewster, drawing a chair up to the davenport, assumed the manner +of a physician toward a recalcitrant patient, while Beef carefully stowed +the banjo in the closet and Deacon Radford, an interested spectator, sat +on the bed. The happy-go-lucky Hicks, at a loss to account for the strange +expressions of his comrades, tried to arise, but the football captain +pinned him down with one hand. + +"Seriously, Hicks," spoke Butch, "your saengerfest came at a lamentably +inopportune time! I regret to Inform you that old Bannister faces another +problem, with regard to Thor, and unless it is solved, I fear--" + +"Thor has balked again?" gasped the dazed Hicks, whom Butch now allowed to +sit up, as he showed interest. "Has the engine of destruction stalled? +Why, as fast as we get him lined up, off he slides at an angle! Well, you +fellows did perfectly right to bring this baffling problem, whatever it is, +to me. What is the trouble--won't Thor play football?" + +The irrepressible Hicks was bewildered at hearing that a new problem +regarding Thor had arisen, and, naturally, he at once connected it with +football, since the big Freshman had twice balked in that respect. Since +his awakening, effected by Theophilus' missionary work, his last appeal, +and Thor's letter from his father, Thor had earnestly striven to grasp the +true meaning of college life, to understand campus tradition. No longer did +he hold aloof, boning always, in his lonely room. Instead, he mingled with +his fellows, lingering with the team for the skylarking in the shower-room +after scrimmage, turning out for the nightly mass-meeting. Often, as the +youths practiced songs and yells on the campus, Thor's terrific rumble was +heard--some had even dared to slap his massive back and say, "Hello, Thor, +old man!" and the big Freshman had responded. It was evident to all that +Thorwald was striving to become a collegian, and knowing his slow, bulldog +nature, there was no doubt as to his ultimate success; hence T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., was vastly puzzled now. + +"Oh, Thor hasn't backslid!" smiled Beef. "You see, Hicks, it's this way: +Owing to Mr. Thorwald's losing the five thousand dollars, Thor, as you +know, is working his way at Bannister. Well, with his hustling, his studies +and football scrimmage, he simply does not have a minute for the other +phases of college life, for the comradeship with his fellows--" + +"Here is his day's schedule," chimed in Deacon, referring to a paper: "Rise +at four-thirty A. M. Hustle downtown to tend several furnaces until seven. +Breakfast at seven. Till nine, make beds and sweep dormitory rooms. +Nine till three-fifteen P. M., recitation periods and dormitory work, +sandwiched. Then until supper, football practice, and nights study. Add +to that waiting on tables for the three meals, and what time has Thor to +broaden and develop, to take in all the big things of campus existence, to +grow into an all-round college man?" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., wonderful to chronicle, was silent. He was +reflecting on the irony of fate; as Deacon said, now that Thor had +awakened, and earnestly wanted to be a collegian, he had no time to enter +into campus life. Glad at being able to stay at old Bannister, to keep on +with his studies, climbing steadily toward his goal, and finding a joy in +his new relationship with the students, the ponderous Thorwald had flung +himself into his hustling, as the youths called working one's way at +college, with zeal. To the huge Freshman, toil was nothing, and since it +meant that he could keep on with his study, he was content. The collegians +vastly admired his grim determination; they aided all they could with +his studies, and helped with his work, so he could have more time for +scrimmage, and yet another phase of the problem came to Hicks. + +It seemed unjust that John Thorwald, after his long years of hard physical +toil, and his mental struggles, often after hours of grinding work, at the +very time when the five thousand dollars from Henry B. Kingsley's heirs +promised him a chance to study without a body tortured and exhausted, +should be forced again to take up his stern fight for knowledge. And it +was cruel that Thor, just awakening to the true meaning of college life, +striving to grasp campus tradition, and eager to serve his Alma Mater in +every way, should have so little time to mingle with his fellows. He should +be with them on the campus, on the athletic field, in the dorms., the +literary society halls, the Y. M. C. A. He should be realizing the golden +years of college life, the glad comradeship of the campus. Instead, he must +arise in the bitter cold, gray dawn, and from then until late night toil +and study unceasingly. + +"It's a howling shame!" declared the serious Hicks, a heart full of +sympathy for Thor. "Just as he wakes up and is trying to understand things +at old Bannister, bang! the _Norwhal_ is blown up by a stray mine, and +down goes his dad's money. Why didn't Mr. Thorwald get the five thousand +transferred to the _Valkyrie_? Oh, if that money hadn't gone down to Davy +Jones' locker, Thor would be awakened and have time for college life, too!" + +Butch Brewster started to speak when the thunderous tread of John Thorwald +sounded in the corridor. The Prodigious Prodigy seemed approaching at +double-quick time, and the youths stared at each other. However, when +Thor appeared in the doorway, a letter in hand, they gazed at him in +bewilderment, for his face fairly glowed. + +"Read it, fellows, read it!" he breathed, with what, for him, was almost +excitement. "It just came! Oh, isn't that good news? Read it out, Captain +Butch. Won't we wallop Ballard now!" + +Big Butch Brewster, mystified by Thor's happiness, and urged on by his +equally puzzled comrades, drew out the letter, and a glad smile coming to +his honest countenance, he read aloud: + + +"THE NEW YORK-CHRISTIANIA. STEAMSHIP LINE (New York Office) + +"Nov. 18, 19--. + +"MR. JOHN THORWALD, JR., Bannister College. + +"DEAR SIR: + +"We beg to state that your father, first mate on our liner, the _Valkyrie_, +three days outbound from New York to Christiania, sent a message, _via_ +wireless, to our New York offices by the inbound Dutch Line's _Rotterdam_. +The _Rotterdam_ relayed the message to us, and we forward it herewith, +_verbatim:_ + +"'DEAR SON: Purser of my ship, the _Valkyrie_, informed me today that the +purser of the ill-fated _Norwhal_, learning of my transfer to this liner, +transferred my $5,000 to the _Valkyrie_ before he sailed to his fate. I am +sending this _via_ the _Rotterdam_, inbound, and our office will forward it +to you. Will write on arriving at Christiania. Father.' + +"We are sorry for the delay in forwarding this message, but through an +accident, it was mislaid in our office for a few days. + +"Yours truly, + +"THE NEW YORK-CHRISTIANIA STEAMSHIP LINE, + +"per J. L. G." + + +A moment of silence; outside on the campus the Bannister youths, preparing +for the mass-meeting in the Auditorium, started cheering. Someone caught +sight of Thor, standing now by the window of Hicks' room, on the third +floor of Bannister Hall, and a few seconds later there sounded: + +"Thor! Thor! Thor! Thor will bring the Championship to old Bannister! Rah! +Rah! Rah!--Thor!" + +"Oh," shouted T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., grinning happily, his arm across +Thor's massive shoulders, "'All's well that ends well,' as Bill Shakespeare +says. It's all right now, Thor. Fate dealt you a hard punch, but it served +its purpose; for it made you realize how you would regret to leave college. +Now you won't have to hustle and have all your time filled with toil and +study; you can go after every phase of campus life, and serve old Bannister +in so many ways." + +John Thorwald stood, a contented look on his placid, impassive face, +gazing down at the campus below and hearing the plaudits of the excited +collegians. The stately old elms, gaunt and bare, tossed their limbs +against a leaden sky; a cold, dreary wind sent clouds of dry leaves +scurrying down the concrete walks. In the faint moonlight that struggled +through the clouds, the towers and spires of old Bannister were limned +against the sky-line. Across the campus, on Bannister Field, the +goal-posts, skeleton-like, kept their lonely vigil. On that field, in +less than a week, the Gold and Green must face the crucial test--against +Ballard's championship eleven, in the Biggest Game; and now, almost on the +eve of battle, the shackles had been knocked from him; he was free of the +great burden, free to serve his Alma Mater, to fight for the Gold and +Green, to grow and develop into an all-round, representative college man. + +All of a sudden it dawned on the slow-thinking young Norwegian just how +much this freedom to grow and expand meant to him, and he turned from the +window. From below, the shouts of "Thor! Thor! Thor!" drifted, stirring his +blood, as he looked at Hicks, Butch, Beef, Monty and Deacon. + +"'All's well that ends well,' you say. Hicks," he spoke slowly, his face +joyous. "That's true; but I'm just starting, fellows. I'm just _beginning_ +to live my college years, not for myself, but for old Bannister, for my +Alma Mater, for I am awake, and _free_!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THEOPHILUS BETRAYS HICKS + + +Big Butch Brewster, a life-sized picture of despair, roosted dejectedly on +the Senior Fence, between the Gym and the Administration Building. It was +quite cold, and also the beginning of the last study-period before Butch's +final and most difficult recitation of the day, Chemistry. Yet instead +of boning in his warm room, the behemoth Senior perched on the fence and +stared gloomily into space. + +As he sat, enveloped in a penumbra of gloom, the campus entrance door of +Bannister Hall, the Senior dorm., opened suddenly, and T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., that happy-go-lucky youth, came out cautiously, after the fashion of a +second-story artist, emerging from his crib with a bundle of swag, the +last item being represented by a football tucked under Hicks' left arm. +Beholding Butch Brewster on the Senior Fence, the sunny-souled Senior +exhibited a perturbation of spirit seeming undecided whether to beat a +retreat or to advance. + +"Now what's ailin' _you_?" demanded Butch wrathily, believing the +pestersome Hicks to be acting in that burglarious manner for effect. "Why +should _you_ sneak out of a dorm., bearing a football like it was an auk's +egg? Why, you resemble a nigger, making his get-away after robbing a +hen-roost! Don't torment me, you accident-somewhere-on-its-way-to-happen. I +feel about as joyous as a traveling salesman who has made a town and gotten +nary a order!" + +"It's _awful_!" soliloquized T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., perching beside the +despondent Butch on the Senior Fence. "I am not a fatalist, old man, but +it _does_ seem that fate hasn't destined Thor to play football for old +Bannister this season! Here, after he won the Ham game, and we expected him +to waltz off with Ballard's scalp and the Championship, he has to tumble +downstairs! Oh, it's tough luck!" + +It was two days before the biggest game, with Ballard--the contest that +would decide the State Intercollegiate Football Championship. Ballard, the +present champions, discounting even Hamilton's stories of Thor's prowess, +were coming to Bannister with an eleven more mighty than the one that had +crushed the Gold and Green the year before, with a heavy, stonewall line, +fast ends, and a powerful, shifty backfield. The Ballard team was confident +of victory and the pennant. Bannister, building on the awakened Thorwald, +superbly sure of his phenomenal strength and power, of his unstoppable +rushes, serenely practiced the doctrine of preparedness, and awaited the +day. + +And then John Thorwald, the Prodigious Prodigy, whose gigantic frame seemed +unbattered by the terrific daily scrimmage, whom it was impossible to +hurt on the gridiron, the day before, going downstairs in Creighton Hall, +hurrying to a class, had caught his heel on the top step, and crashed to +the bottom! And now, with a broken ankle, the blond Colossus, heartbroken +at not being able to win the Championship for old Bannister, hobbled about +on crutches. Without Thor, the Gold and Green must meet the invincible +Ballard team! It was a solar-plexus blow, both to the Bannister youths, +confident in Thor's prowess, building on his Herculean bulk, and to the +big Freshman. Thorwald, awakened, striving to grasp campus tradition, to +understand college life, was eager to fling himself into the scrimmage, to +give every ounce of his mighty power, to offer that splendid body, for his +Alma Mater, and now he must hobble impotently on the side-line, watching +his team fight a desperate battle. + +"If Bannister only had a sure, accurate drop-kicker!" reflected Captain +Butch hopelessly. "One who could be depended on to average eight out of ten +trials, we'd have a fighting chance with Ballard. Deke Radford is a wonder. +He can kick a forty-five-yard goal, but he's erratic! He might boot the +pigskin over when a score is needed from the forty-yard line, and again he +might miss from the twenty-yard mark. Oh, for a kicker who isn't brilliant +and spectacular, but who can methodically drop 'em over from, say, the +thirty-five-yard line! Hello, what's the row, Hicks?" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., started to speak, changed his mind, coughed, grew +red and embarrassed, and acted in a most puzzling manner. At any other +time, big Butch would have been bewildered; but with Thor's loss weighing +on his mind, the Gold and Green captain gave his comrade only a cursory +glance. + +"I--I--Oh, nothing, Butch!" stammered Hicks, to whom, being "fussed," as +Bannister termed embarrassment, was almost unknown. "I--I guess I'll +take this football over to my locker in the Gym. I ought to glance at my +Chemistry, too. So-long, Butch; see you later, old top!" + +When the splinter-youth had drifted into the Gym., Butch Brewster, +remembering his strange actions, actually managed to transfer his thoughts +for a time from the eleven to the care-free T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. The +behemoth Senior reflected that, to date, the pestiferous Hicks had not +explained his baffling mystery he recalled the day when he had told the +Gold and Green eleven of the loyal Hicks' ambition to please his dad by +winning his B, when he had described the youth's intense college spirit +and had suggested that if Hicks failed to corral his letter the Athletic +Association award him one for his loyalty to old Bannister. And Butch saw +again the bewildering sentences in the letter from Thomas Haviland Hicks, +Sr., to his son. + +"Evidently," meditated Butch, literally and figuratively "on the fence," +"Hicks has failed to summon up enough self-confidence to explain his +mystery; queer, too, for he usually is bubbling with faith in himself. He +has acted like a bashful schoolgirl at frequent times--he starts to tell +me something, then he gets embarrassed, back-fires, and stalls. He and +Theophilus have been sneaking out in the early dawn, too. Wow! What did he +sneak out of the dorm. that way, with a football, for? He looked like a +yeggman working night shift. Why should _he_ skulk out with a football? He +has never explained his dad's letter, or told just what Mr. Hicks meant by +calling him the "Class Kid" of Yale, '96, and saying those members of old +Eli wanted him to star! Oh, he's a tantalizing wretch, and I'd like to +solve his mystery, without his knowledge, so I could--" + +At that instant, to the intense indignation and bewilderment of good Butch +Brewster, little Theophilus Opperdyke, the timorous Human Encyclopedia of +old Bannister, exited from Bannister Hall. The Senior boner gave a correct +imitation of the offending Hicks, in that he skulked out, gazing around +him nervously; but he portaged no pigskin, and, unlike the sunny youth, on +periscoping Butch, he seemed relieved. + +"Theophilus, _come here_!" thundered the wrathful football captain, +shifting his tonnage on the Senior Fence. "What's the plot, anyhow? It's +bad enough when T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., sneaks out, bearing a football, +like an amateur cracksman making a getaway; but when you appear, imitating +a Nihilist about to hurl a bomb--say, what's the answer to the puzzle, old +man?" + +Little Theophilus, his pathetically frail body trembling with suppressed +excitement, his big-rimmed spectacles tumbling off with ridiculous +regularity, and his solemn eyes peering owlishly at his behemoth classmate, +stood before the startled Butch. It was evident that the 1919 grind +labored under great stress. He was waging a terrific battle with himself, +struggling to make some vast and all-important decision. He strove to +speak, hesitated, choked, coughed apologetically, and acted as fussed as +Hicks had done, until Butch was wild; then, as if resolved to cast the die +and cross the Rubicon, he decided, and plunged desperately ahead. + +"It's--it's Hicks, Butch!" he quavered, torn cruelly by conflicting +emotions. "Oh, I don't want to be a traitor--he trusted me with his secret, +and I--I can't betray him, I just can't! But he didn't make me promise not +to tell. He just told me not to. Oh, it's his very last chance, Butch, and +with Thor hurt, old Bannister might need him in the Ballard game." + +"What is it, Theophilus, old man?" Butch spoke kindly, for he saw the +solemn little Senior was intensely excited. "Tell me--if our Alma Mater +needs any fellow's services, you know, he should give them freely--since +you did not promise not to tell about Hicks, if Bannister may be able +to use Hicks against Ballard--though I can't, by any stretch of the +imagination, figure how--then it is your duty to tell! I think I glimpse +the dark secret--Hicks possesses some sort of football prowess, goodness +knows what, and he lacks the confidence to tell Coach Corridan! Now, were +it only drop-kicking--" + +_"It is drop-kicking!"_ Theophilus burst forth desperately. "Hicks is a +drop-kicker, Butch, and a sure one--inside the thirty-yard line. He almost +_never_ misses a goal, and he kicks them from every angle, too. He isn't +strong enough to kick past the thirty-yard line, but inside that he is +wonderfully accurate. With Thor out of the Ballard game, a drop-kick may +win for Bannister, and Deke Radford is so erratic! Oh, Hicks will be angry +with me for telling; but he just won't tell about himself, after all his +practice, because he fears the fellows will jeer. He is afraid he will fail +in the supreme test. Oh, I've betrayed him, but--" + +"T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., a drop-kicker!" exploded the dazed Butch, who +could not have been more astounded had Theophilus announced that the sunny +youth possessed powers of black magic. "Theophilus Opperdyke, Tantalus +himself was never so tantalized as I have been of late. Tell me the whole +story, old man--hurry. Spill it, old top!" + +Butch Brewster, by questioning the excited Human Encyclopedia, like a +police official giving the third degree, slowly extracted from Theophilus +the startling story. A year before, just as the Gold and Green practiced +for the Ham game, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., one afternoon, had arrayed his +splinter-structure in a grotesque, nondescript athletic outfit, and had +jogged out on Bannister Field. The gladsome youth's motive had been free +from any torturesome purpose. He intended to round up the Phillyloo Bird, +Shad Weatherby, and other non-athletic collegians, and with them boot the +pigskin, for exercise. However, little Skeet Wigglesworth, beholding him +as he donned the weird regalia of loud sweater, odd basket-ball stockings, +tennis trousers, baseball shoes, and so on, misconstrued his plan, and +believed Hicks intended to torment the squad. Hence, he hurried out, +so that when Hicks appeared in the offing, the football squad and the +spectators in the stands had jeered the happy-go-lucky Junior, and had +good-natured sport at his expense. + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., after Jack Merritt had drop-kicked a forty-yard +goal, made the excessively rash statement that it was easy. Captain Butch +Brewster had indignantly challenged the heedless youth to show him, and +the results of Hicks' effort to propel the pigskin over the crossbar were +hilarious, for he missed the oval by a foot, nearly dislocated his knee, +and, slipping in the mud, he sat down violently with a thud. However, so +the excited Theophilus now narrated, even as the convulsed students jeered +Hicks, hurling whistles, shouts, cat-calls, songs and humorous remarks at +the downfallen kicker, one of Hicks' celebrated inspirations had smitten +the pestersome Junior, evidently jarred loose by his crashing to terra +firma. + +"Hicks figured this way, Butch," explained little Theophilus Opperdyke, +eloquent in his comrade's behalf, "nature had built him like a mosquito, +and endowed him with enough power to lift a pillow; hence he could never +hope to play football on the 'Varsity; but he knew that many games are +won by drop-kicks and by fellows especially trained and coached for that +purpose, and they don't need weight and strength, but they must have the +art, that peculiar knack which few possess. His inspiration was this: +Perhaps he had that knack, perhaps he could practice faithfully, and +develop into a sure drop-kicker. If he trained for a year, in his Senior +season, he might be able to serve old Bannister, maybe to win a big game. +So he set to work." + +Theophilus hurriedly yet graphically narrated how T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +had made the loyal, hero-worshiping little Human Encyclopedia his sole +confidant. He told the thrilled Butch how the sunny youth, from that +day on, had watched and listened as Head Coach Corridan trained the +drop-kickers, learning all the points he could gain. Vividly he described +the mosquito-like Hicks, as he with a football bought from the Athletic +Association began in secret to practice the fine art of drop-kicking! For a +year, at old Bannister and at his dad's country home near Pittsburgh, Hicks +had faithfully, doggedly kept at it. With no one bat Theophilus knowing of +his great ambition, he had gone out on Bannister Field, when he felt safe +from observation; here, with his faithful comrade to keep watch, and to +retrieve the pigskin, he had practiced the instructions and points gained +from watching Coach Corridan train the booters of the squad. To his vast +delight, and the joy of his little friend, Hicks had found that he did +possess the knack, and from before the Ham game until Commencement he had +kept his secret, practicing clandestinely at old Bannister; he had improved +wonderfully, and when vacation started the cheery collegian had told his +beloved dad, Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., of his hopes. + +The ex-Yale football star, delighted at his son's ambition to serve old +Bannister and joyous at discovering that Hicks actually possessed the +peculiar knack of drop-kicking, coached the splinter-youth all summer at +their country place near Pittsburgh. Under the instruction of Hicks, Sr., +the youth developed rapidly, and when he returned to the campus for his +final year, he was a sure, dependable drop-kicker, inside the thirty-yard +line. As Theophilus stated, beyond that he lacked the power, but in that +zone he could boot 'em over the cross-bar from any angle. + +"He's been practicing all this season, in secret!" quavered the little +Senior, "and he's a--a _fiend_, Butch, at drop-kicking. And yet, here it is +time for the last game of his college years, and--he lacks confidence to +tell you, or Coach Corridan. Oh, I'm afraid he will be angry with me for +betraying him, and yet--I just _can't_ let him miss his splendid chance, +now that Thor is out and old Bannister _needs_ a drop-kicker!" + +Big Butch was silent for a time. The football leader was deeply impressed +and thrilled by Theophilus Opperdyke's story of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s +ambition. As he roosted on the Senior Fence, the behemoth gridiron +star visioned the mosquito-like youth, whom nature had endowed with a +splinter-structure, sneaking out on Bannister Field, at every chance, to +practice clandestinely his drop-kicking. He could see the faithful Human +Encyclopedia, vastly excited at his blithesome colleague's improvement, +retrieving the pigskin for Hicks. He thrilled again as he thought of the +bean-pole Hicks, who could never gain weight and strength enough to make +the eleven, loyally training and perfecting himself in the drop-kick, +trying to develop into a sure kicker, within a certain zone, hoping +sometime, before he left college forever, to serve old Bannister. With Thor +in the line-up at fullback, he would not have been needed, but now, with +the Prodigious Prodigy out, it was T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s big chance! + +And Butch Brewster understood why the usually confident Hicks, even with +the knowledge of his drop-kicking power, hesitated to announce it to old +Bannister. Until Butch had told the Gold and Green football team of Hicks' +being in earnest in his ridiculous athletic attempts of the past three +years, no one but himself and Hicks had dreamed that the sunny youth meant +them, that he really strove to win his B and please his dad. The appearance +of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., on Bannister Field was always the cause of +a small-sized riot among the squad and spectators. Hicks was jeered +good-naturedly, and "butchered to make a Bannister holiday," as he blithely +phrased it. Hence, the splinter-Senior was reluctant to announce that he +could drop-kick. He knew that when tested he would be so in earnest, that +so much would hang in the balance and the youths, unknowing how important +it was, would jeer. Then, too, knowing his long list of athletic fiascos, +ridiculous and otherwise, Hicks trembled at the thought of being sent into +the biggest game to kick a goal. He feared he might fail! + +"You are a _hero_, Theophilus!" said Butch, with deep feeling. "I can +realize how hard it was for Hicks to tell us. He would have kept silent +forever, even after his training in secret! And how you must have suffered, +knowing he could drop-kick, and yet not desiring to betray him! But your +love for old Bannister and for Hicks himself conquered. I'll take him out +on the gridiron, before the fellows come from class, and see what he +can do. Aha! There is the villain now. Hicks, ahoy! Come hither, you +Kellar-Herman-Thurston. Your dark secret is out at last!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., peering cautiously from the Gym. basement doorway, +in quest of the tardy Theophilus, who was to have accompanied him on a +clandestine journey to Bannister Field, obeyed the summons. Bewildered, +and gradually guessing the explanation from the shivering little boner's +alarmed expression, the gladsome youth approached the stern Butch Brewster, +who was about to condemn him for his silence. "Don't be angry with me, +Hicks, _please_!" pled Theophilus, pathetically fearful that he had +offended his comrade, "I--I just _had_ to tell, for it was positively your +last chance, and--and old Bannister needs your sure drop-kicking! I never +promised not to tell. You never made me give my word, so--" + +"It was Theophilus' duty to tell!" spoke Butch, hiding a grin, for the +grind was so frightened, "and yours, Hicks, knowing as you do how we need +you, with Thor hurt! You graceless wretch, you aren't usually so like ye +modest violet! Why didn't you inform us, then swagger and say, 'Oh, just +leave it to Hicks, he'll win the game with a drop-kick?' Now, you come with +me, and I'll look over your samples. If you've got the goods, it's highly +probable you'll get your chance, in the Ballard game; and I'm _glad_, old +man, for your sake. I know what it would mean, if you win it! But--now that +the '_mystery_' is solved, what's that about your being a 'Class Kid,' of +Yale, '96?" + +"That's easy!" grinned T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his arm across Theophilus' +shoulders, "I was the first boy born to any member of Yale, '96; it is the +custom of classes graduating at Yale to call such a baby the class kid! +Naturally, the members of old Eli, Class of 1896, are vastly interested in +me. Hence, my Dad wrote they'd be tickled if I won a big game for Bannister +with a field-goal!" + +A moment of silence, Theophilus Opperdyke, gathering from Hicks' arm, +across his shoulders, that the cheery youth was not so awfully wrathful at +his base betrayal, adjusted his big-rimmed spectacles, and stared owlishly +at Hicks. + +"Hicks, you--you are not angry?" he quavered. "You are not sorry. I--I +told--" + +"_Sorry_?" quoth T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., "Class Kid," of Yale, '96, with a +Cheshire cat grin, "_sorry_? I should say _not_--I wanted it to be known to +Butch, and Coach Corridan, but I got all shivery when I tried to confess, +and I--couldn't! Nay, Theophilus, you faithful friend, I'm so _glad_, old +man, that beside yours truly, the celebrated Pollyanna resembles Niobe, +weeping for her lost children." + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +HICKS--CLASS KID--YALE '96 + + + "Brekka-kek-kek--Co-Ax--Co-Ax! + Brekka-kek-kek--Co-Ax--Co-Ax! + Whoop-up! Parabaloo! Yale! Yale! Yale! + _Hicks! Hicks! Hicks_!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., swathed in a cumbersome Gold and Green football +blanket, and crouching on the side-line, like some historic Indian, felt a +thrill shake his splinter-structure, as the yell of "old Eli" rolled from +the stand, across Bannister Field. In the midst of the Gold and Green flags +and pennants, fluttering in the section assigned the Bannister cohorts, he +gazed at a big banner of Blue, with white lettering: + +YALE UNIVERSITY--CLASS OF 1896 + +"Oh, Butch," gasped Hicks, torn between fear and hope, "just listen to +that. Think of all those Yale men in the stand with my Dad! Oh, suppose I +do get sent in to try for a drop-kick!" + +It was almost time far the biggest game to start, the contest with Ballard, +the supreme test of the Gold and Green, the final struggle for The State +Intercollegiate Football Championship! In a few minutes the referee's +shrill whistle blast would sound, the vast crowd in the stands, on the +side-lines, and in the parked automobiles, would suddenly still their +clamor and breathlessly await the kick-off--then, seventy minutes of grim +battling on the turf, and victory, or defeat, would perch on the banners of +old Bannister. + +It was a thrilling scene, a sight to stir the blood. Bannister Field, the +arena where these gridiron gladiators would fly at each other's throats--or +knees, spread out--barred with white chalk-marks, with the skeleton-like +goal posts guarding at each end. On the turf the moleskin clad warriors, +under the crisp commands of their Coaches, swiftly lined down, shifted to +the formation called, and ran off plays. Nervous subs. stood in circles, +passing the pigskin. Drop-kickers and punters, tuning up, sent spirals, or +end-over-end drop-kicks, through the air. The referee, field-judge, and +linesmen conferred. Team-attendants, equipped with buckets of water, +sponges, and ominous black medicine-chests, with Red Cross bandages, ran +hither and thither. On the substitutes' bench, or on the ground, crouched +nervous second-string players; Ballard's on one side of the gridiron, and +Bannister's directly across. + +A glorious, sunshiny day in late November, with scarcely a breath of +wind, the air crisp and bracing; the radiant sunlight fell athwart the +white-barred field, and glinted from the gay pennants and banners in the +stands! Here was a riot of color, the gold and green of old Bannister; in +the next section, the orange and black of Ballard. The bright hues and +tints of varicolored dresses, and the luster of the official flowers +all contributed to a bewilderingly beautiful spectacle! Flower-venders, +peddlers of pennants, sellers of miniature footballs with the college +colors of one team and the other, hawked their wares, loudly calling above +the tumult, "Get yer Ballard colors yere!" "This way fer the Bannister +flags!" Ten thousand spectators, packed into the cheering sections of the +two colleges, or in the general stands, or standing on the side-lines, +impatiently awaited the kick-off. At the appearance of each football star, +a tremendous cheer went up from the mass. Across the field from each other, +the two bands played stirring strains. The confident Ballard cohorts +cheered, sang, and yelled and those of Bannister, not _quite_ so sure of +victory, with Thor out, nevertheless, cheered, sang, and yelled as loudly, +for the Gold and Green. + +The sight of that vast Yale banner, so conspicuous, with its big white +letters on a field of blue, amidst the fluttering pennants of gold and +green, excited comment among the Ballard followers. The Bannister students, +however, knew what it meant; Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., and thirty +members of Yale, '96, were in the stand, ready to cheer Captain Butch's +eleven, and hoping for a chance to whoop it up for T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +if he got his big chance. + +Two days before, when little Theophilus Opperdyke, after a terrible +struggle with himself, divided between loyalty to Hicks and a love for +his Alma Mater, had betrayed his toothpick class-mate to Captain. Butch +Brewster, that behemoth Senior had rounded up Coach Corridan, and together +they had dragged the shivering Hicks out to the football field. Here, while +the rest of the student body, unsuspecting the important event in progress, +made good use of the study-hour, or attended classes in Recitation Hall, +the Gold and Green Coach, with the team-Captain, and the excited Human +Encyclopedia, watched T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. show his samples of +drop-kicks. And the success of that happy-go-lucky youth, after his nervous +tension wore off, may be attested by the Slave-Driver's somewhat slangy +remark, when the exhibition closed. + +"Butch," said Head Coach Patrick Henry Corridan, impressively, "what it +takes to drop-kick field-goals, from anywhere inside the thirty-yard line, +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., is broke out with!" + +The proficiency attained by the heedless Hicks in the difficult art of +drop-kicking, gained by faithful practice for a year, aided by his Dad's +valuable coaching, was wonderful. Of course, Hicks possessed naturally the +needed knack, but he deserved praise for his sticking at it so loyally. He +had no surety that he would ever be of use to his college, and, indeed, +with the advent of Thor, his hopes grew dim, yet he plugged on, in case old +Bannister might sometime need him--and yet, but for Theophilus, he would +not have summoned the courage to tell! To the surprise and delight of the +Coach and Captain, Hicks, after missing a few at first, methodically booted +goals over the crossbar from the ten, twenty, and thirty-yard lines, and +from the most difficult angles. There was nothing showy or spectacular in +his work, it was the result of dogged training, but he was almost sure, +when he kicked! + +[Illustration D: He was almost sure, when he kicked!] + +"Good!" ejaculated Coach Corridan, his arm across Hicks' shoulders, as they +walked to the Gym. "Hicks, the chances are big that I'll send you in to try +for a goal tomorrow, if Bannister gets blocked inside the thirty-yard line! +Just keep your nerve, boy, and boot it over! Now--I'll post a notice for +a brief mass-meeting at the end of the last class period, and Butch and I +will tell the fellows about you, and how you may serve Bannister." + +"That's the idea!" exulted Butch, joyous at his comrade's chance to get in +the biggest game. "The fellows will understand, Hicks, old man, and they +won't jeer when you come out this afternoon. They'll root for you! Oh, just +wait until you hear them cheer you, and _mean_ it--you'll astonish the +natives, Hicks!" + +Butch's prophecy was well fulfilled. In the scrimmage that same day, T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., shivering with apprehensive dread, his heart in his +shoes, sat on the side-line. In the stands, the entire student-body, +informed in the mass-meeting of his ability, shrieked for "Hicks! Hicks! +Hicks!" Near the end of the practice game, the hard-fighting scrubs fought +their way to the 'Varsity's thirty-yard line, and another rush took it five +yards more. Coach Corridan, halting the scrimmage, sent the right-half-back +to the side-line, and a moment later, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. hurried out +on the field with the Bannister Band playing, the collegians yelling +frenziedly, and excitement at fever height, the sunny youth took his +position in the kick formation. Then a silence, a few seconds of suspense, +as the pigskin whirled back to him, and then--a quick stepping forward, +a rip of toe against the leather, and--above the heads of the 'Varsity +players smashing through, the football shot over the cross-bar! + +"Hicks! Hicks! Hicks!" was the shout, _"Hicks will beat Ballard!"_ + +That night, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., having crossed the Rubicon, and +committed himself to Coach Corridan and Captain Brewster, had dispatched a +telegraphic night-letter to his beloved Dad. He informed his distinguished +parent that his drop-kicking powers were now known to old Bannister, and +that the chances were fifty-fifty that he would be sent in to try for a +field-goal in the biggest game. On the day before the game, Mr. Thomas +Haviland Hicks, Sr., in a night-letter, had wired back: + + +Son Thomas: + +Am on my way to New Haven for Yale-Harvard game. Will stop off at old +Bannister--bringing thirty members of Yale '96. We hope our Class Kid will +get his chance against Ballard. + +Dad. + + +On the morning of the Bannister-Ballard game, Mr. Hicks' private car the +_Vulcan_, with the Pittsburgh "Steel King," and thirty other members of +Yale, '96, had reached town. They had ridden in state to College Hill in +good old Dan Flannagan's jitney, where T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., proudly +introduced his beloved Dad to the admiring collegians. All morning, Mr. +Hicks had made friends of the hero-worshiping youths, who listened to his +tales of athletic triumphs at Bannister and at old Yale breathlessly. The +ex-Yale star had made a stirring speech to the eleven, sending them out on +Bannister Field resolved to do or die! + +"My Dad!" breathed T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., crouched on the side line; as +he gazed at the Yale banner, he could see his father, with his athletic +figure, his strong face that could be appallingly stern or wonderfully +tender and kind. Like the sunny Senior, Mr. Hicks, despite his wealth, +was thoroughly democratic and already the Bannister collegians were his +comrades. + +"Here we go, Hicks!" spoke Butch Brewster, as the referee raised his +whistle to his lips. "Hold yourself ready, old man; a field-goal may win +for us, and I'll send you in just as soon as I find all hope of a touchdown +is gone. If they hold us back of the thirty-yard line, I'll try Deke +Radford, but inside it, you are far more sure." + +The vast crowd, a moment before creating an almost inconceivable din, +stilled with startling suddenness; a shrill blast from the referee's +whistle cut the air. The gridiron cleared of substitutes, coaches, +trainers, and rubbers-out, and in their places, the teams of Bannister and +Ballard jogged out. Captain Brewster won the toss, and elected to receive +the kick-off. The Gold and Green players, Butch, Beef, Roddy, Monty, Biff, +Pudge, Bunch, Tug, Hefty, Buster, and Ichabod, spread out, fan-like, +while across the center of the field the Ballard eleven, a straight line, +prepared to advance as the full-back kicked off. There was a breathless +stillness, as the big athlete poised the pigskin, tilted on end, then +strode back to his position. + +"All ready, Ballard?" The Referee's call brought an affirmative from the +Orange and Black leader. + +"Ready, Bannister?" + +"Ready!" boomed big Butch Brewster, with a final shout of encouragement to +his players. + +The biggest game was starting! Before ten thousand wildly excited and +partisan spectators, the Gold and Green and the Orange and Black would +battle for Championship honors; with Thor out of the struggle, Ballard, +three-time Champion, was the favorite. The visitors had brought the +strongest team in their history, and were supremely confident of victory. +Bannister, however, could not help remembering, twice fate had snatched +the greatest glory from their grasp, in Butch's Sophomore year, when Jack +Merritt's drop-kick struck the cross-bar, and a year later, when Butch +himself, charging for the winning touchdown, crashed blindly into the +upright. Old Bannister had not won the Championship for five years, and +now--when the chances had seemed roseate, with Thor, the Prodigious +Prodigy--smashing Hamilton out of the way, Fate had dealt the annual blow +in advance, by crippling him. + +"Oh, we've _got_ to win!" shivered T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. "Oh, I hope I +don't get sent in--I mean--I hope Bannister wins without me! But if I _do_ +have to kick--Oh, I hope I send it over that cross-bar--" + +A second later the Ballard line advanced, the fullback's toe ripped into +the pigskin, sending it whirling, high in air, far into Bannister's +territory; the yellow oval fell into the outstretched arms of Captain +Butch Brewster, on the Gold and Green's five-yard line, and--"We're off!" +shrieked Hicks, excitedly. "Come on, Butch--run it back! Oh, we're off." + +The biggest game had started! + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE GREATER GOAL + + +"Time out!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., enshrouded in a gold and green blanket, and +standing on the side-line, like a majestic Sioux Chief, gazed out on +Bannister Field. There, on the twenty-yard line, the two lines of scrimmage +had crashed together and Bannister's backfield had smashed into Ballard's +stonewall defense with terrific impact, to be hurled back for a five-yard +loss. The mass of humanity slowly untangled, the moleskin clad players rose +from the turf, all but one. He, wearing the gold and green, lay still, +white-faced, and silent. + +"It's Biff Pemberton!" chattered Hicks, shivering as with a chill. "Oh, the +game is lost, the Championship is gone. Biff is out, and the last quarter +is nearly ended. Coach Corridan has got to send me in to kick. It's our +very last chance to tie the score, and save old Bannister from defeat!" + +The time keeper, to whom the referee had megaphoned for time out, stopped +the game, while Captain Butch Brewster, the campus Doctor, and several +players worked over the senseless Biff. In the stands, the exultant Ballard +cohorts, confident that victory was booked to perch on their banners, arose +_en masse,_ and their thunderous chorus drifted across Bannister Field: + + "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea, + And we'll put Bannister in that hole! + In that hole--in--that--hole-- + Oh, we'll put Bannister in that hole!" + +From the Bannister section, the Gold and Green undergraduates, alumni, and +supporters, feeling a dread of approaching defeat grip their hearts, yet +determined to the last, came the famous old slogan of encouragement to +elevens battling on the gridiron: + + "Smash 'em, boys, run the ends--hold, boys, _hold_-- + Don't let 'em beat the Green and the Gold! + Touchdown! Touchdown! Hold, boys, _hold, + Don't_ let 'em win from the Green and the Gold!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., with a groan of despair, sat down on the deserted +subs. bench. With a feeling that all was lost, the splinter-like Senior +gazed at the big score-board, announcing, in huge, white letters and +figures: + +4TH QUARTER; TIME TO PLAY--2 MIN.; BANNISTER'S BALL ON BALLARD'S 22-YD. +LINE; 4TH DOWN--8 YDS. TO GAIN; SCORE: BALLARD--6; BANNISTER--3. + +It had been a terrific contest, a biggest game never to be forgotten by +the ten thousand thrilled spectators! Each eleven had been trained to the +second for this decisive Championship fight, and with the coveted gonfalon +of glory before them, the Bannister players battled desperately, while +Ballard's fighters struggled as grimly for their Alma Mater. For six years, +the Gold and Green had failed to annex the Championship, and for the past +three, the invincible Ballard machine had rushed like a car of Juggernaut +over all other State elevens; one team was determined to wrest the +banner from its rival's grasp, and the other fully as resolved to retain +possession, hence a memorable gridiron contest, to which even the alumni +could find none in past history to compare, was the result. + +Weakened by the loss of Thor, whose colossal bulk and Gargantuan strength +would have made victory a moral certainty, presenting practically the same +eleven that had faced Ballard the past season and had been defeated by a +scant margin, old Bannister had started the first quarter with a furious +rush that swept the enemy to midfield without the loss of a first down. +Then Ballard had rallied, stopping that triumphal march, on its own +thirty-five yard line, but unable to check Quarterback Deacon Radford, who +booted a forty-three-yard goal from a drop-kick, with the score 3-0 in +Bannister's favor, and Deacon, a brilliant but erratic kicker, apparently +in fine trim, the Gold Green rooters went wild. + +In the second half, however, came the break of the game, as sporting +writers term it. The strong Ballard eleven found itself, and with a series +of body-smashing, bone-crushing rushes, battering at the Bannister lines +like the Germans before Verdun, they steadily fought their way, trench by +trench, line by line, down the field. Without a fumble, or the loss of a +single yard, the terrific, catapulting charges forced back old Bannister, +until the enemy's fullback, who ran like the famous Johnny Maulbetsch, +of Michigan, shot headlong over the goal line! The attempt for goal from +touchdown failed, leaving the score, at the end of the third quarter, +Ballard--6; Bannister--3. + +And Deacon Radford, whose first effort at drop-kicking had been so +brilliant, failed utterly. Three times, taking a desperate chance, the +Bannister quarter booted the pigskin, but the oval flew wide of the goal +posts, even from the thirty-yard line. With his mighty toe not to be +depended on, with the Gold and Green line worn to a frazzle by Ballard's +battering rushes, unable to beat back the victorious enemy, the Bannister +cohorts, dismayed, saw the start of the fourth and final quarter, their +last hope. The forward pass had been futile, for the visitors were trained +especially for this aerial attack, and with ease they broke up every +attempt. And then, with the ball in Ballard's possession on Bannister's +twenty-yard line, came a fumble--like a leaping tiger, Monty Merriweather +had flung himself on the elusively bounding ball, rolled over to his feet, +and was off down the field. + +"Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!" shrieked old Bannister's madly excited +students, as Monty sprinted. "Go it, Monty--_touchdown_! Sprint, old man, +_sprint_!" + +But Cupid Colfax, Ballard's famous sprinter, playing quarterback, was off +on Monty's trail almost instantly, and his phenomenal speed cut down the +Ballard end's advantage; still, by dint of exerting every ounce of energy, +it was on Ballard's forty-yard line that Monty Merriweather, hugging the +pigskin grimly, finally crashed to earth. + +"Come on, Bannister!" shouted Captain Butch Brewster, as the two teams +lined down. "Right across the goal-line, then kick the goal, and we win! +Play the game--_fight_--Oh, we can win the Championship right now." + +Then ensued a session of football spectacular in the extreme, replete with +thrilling plays, with sensational tackles, and blood-stirring scrimmage. +The Bannister players, nerved by Captain Brewster's exhortation, by sheer +will-power drove their battered bodies into the scrimmage. End runs, +line-smashing tandem plays, forward passes, followed in bewildering +succession, until the ball rested on Ballard's twenty-yard line, and a +touchdown meant victory and the Championship for old Bannister, Another +rush, and five yards gained, then, Ballard, fighting at the last ditch, +made a stand every bit as heroic and thrilling as that sensational march +in the first half. The Gold and Green's tigerish rushes were hurled +back--three times Captain Butch threw his backfield against the line, and +three times not an inch was gained. On the third down, Monty Merriweather +was forced back for a loss, so now, with two minutes to play and the ball +in Bannister's possession, with eight yards to gain, the play was on +Ballard's twenty-two-yard line! + +And the biggest game had produced a new hero of the gridiron. Biff +Pemberton, left half-back, imbued with savage energy, had borne the brunt +of that spectacular advance; and now, he stretched on the turf, white and +still. + +"Hicks, old man," T, Haviland Hicks, Jr. turned as a hand rested grippingly +on his shoulder. Head Coach Patrick Henry Corridan, his face grim, had come +to him, and in quick, terse sentences, he outlined his plan. + +"It's Bannister's last chance--" he said, tensely. "We _can't_ make the +first down, the way Ballard is fighting, unless we take desperate odds. +Now, Hicks, it's _up to you_. On _you_ depend old Bannister's hopes." + +A great, chilling fear swept over T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., leaving him weak +and shaken. It had come at last-the moment for which he had trained and +practiced drop-kicking, for a year, in secret, that moment he had hoped +would come, sometime, and yet had dreaded, as in a nightmare. Before that +vast, howling crowd of ten thousand madly partisan spectators, _he_ must +go out on Bannister Field, to try and boot a drop-kick from the +twenty-eight-yard-line, to save the Gold and Green from defeat. And he +thought of the great glory that would be his, if he succeeded-he would be a +campus hero, the idol of old Bannister, the youth who saved his Alma Mater +from defeat, in the biggest game! Then he remembered his Dad, inspiring +the eleven, between the halves, by a ringing speech; he heard again his +sentences: + +"--And to serve old Bannister, to bring glory and honor to our dear Alma +Mater, is our greater goal! Go back into the game, throw yourselves into +the scrimmage, with no thought of personal glory, of the plaudits of the +crowd--it is a fine thing, a splendid goal, to play the game and be a hero; +it is a far more noble act to strive for the greater goal, one's Alma +Mater!" + +"Now listen carefully," Coach Corridan rushed on, "Biff is knocked out. +They'll start again soon, we are going to take a desperate chance; your Dad +advises it! A tie score means the Championship stays with Ballard. To win +it, we must _win_ this game--and on _you_ everything depends." + +"But--how--" stammered Hicks, dazed--the only way to _tie_ the score was by +a drop-kick; the only way to win, by a touchdown--did the Coach mean he was +_not_ to realize his great ambition to save old Bannister by a goal, the +reward of his long training? + +"You jog out," whispered Coach Corridan, hurriedly, for a stretcher was +being rushed to Biff Pemberton, "report to the Referee, and whisper to +Butch to try Formation Z; 23-45-6-A! Now, here is the dope: our only chance +is to fool Ballard completely. When you go out, the Bannister rooters, and +your Yale friends, will believe it is to try a drop-kick and tie the score. +I am sure that the Ballard team will think this, too, because of your +slender build. You act as though you intend to try for a goal, and have +Captain Butch make our fellows act that way. Then--it is a fake-kick; the +backfield lines up in the kick formation, but the ball is passed to Butch, +at your right. He either tries for a forward pass to the right end, or +if the end Is blocked, rushes it himself! Hurry-the referee's whistle is +blowing; remember, Hicks, my boy, it's the greater goal, it's for your Alma +Mater." + +In a trance, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., flung off the gold and green blanket, +and dashed out on Bannister Field. How often, in the past year, had he +visioned this scene, only--he pictured himself saving the game by a +drop-kick, and now Coach Corridan ordered him to sacrifice this glory! From +the stands came the thunderous cheer of the excited Bannister cohorts, +firmly believing that the slender youth, so ludicrously fragile, among +those young Colossi, was to try for a goal. + +"Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Hicks! Kick the goal--Hicks!" + +And from the Yale grads., among them his Dad, came a shout, as he jogged +across the turf: + +"Breka-kek-kek--co-ax--Yale! Hicks-Hicks-Hicks!" + +But the Bannister Senior did not thrill. Now, instead, a feeling of growing +resentment filled his soul; even this intensely loyal youth, with all his +love for old Bannister, was vastly human, and he felt cheated of his just +rights. How the students were cheering him, how those Yale men called his +name, and he was not to have his big chance! That for which he had trained +and practiced; the opportunity to serve his Alma Mater, by kicking a goal +at the crucial moment, and saving Bannister from defeat, was never to be +his. Now, in his last game at college, he was to act as a decoy, as a foil. +Like a dummy he must stand, while the other Gold and Green athletes ran off +the play! Instead of everything, a tie game, or a defeat, depending on his +kicking, defeat or victory hung on that fake play, on Butch Brewster +and Monty Merriweather! So--the ear-splitting plaudits of the crowd for +"Hicks!" meant nothing to him; they were dead sea fruit, tasteless as +ashes--as the ashes of ambition. And then-- + +"--And to serve old Bannister, to bring glory and honor to our dear Alma +Mater, is our greater goal--no thought of personal glory--a splendid goal, +to play the game and be a hero; It is a far more noble act to strive for +the greater goal--one's Alma Mater--" + +"I was nearly a _traitor_" gasped T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his Dad's words +echoing In his memory, and a vision of that staunch, manly Bannister +ex-athlete before him. "Oh, I was betraying my Alma Mater. Instead of +rejoicing to make _any_ sacrifice, however big, for Bannister, I thought +only of myself, of my glory! I'll do it, Dad, I'll strive for the greater +goal, and--we just can't fail." + +Reaching the scrimmage, Hicks, whose nervous dread had left him, when +he fought down selfish ambition, and thirst for glory, reported to the +Referee, and hurriedly transferred Coach Corridan's orders to Captain +Butch Brewster; half a minute of precious time was spent in outlining the +desperate play to the eleven, for "time!" had been called, and then-- + +"Z-23-45-6-A!" shouted Quarterback Deacon Radford. "Come on, line--hold! +Right over the cross-bar with it, Hicks--tie the score, and save Bannister +from defeat--" + +The Gold and Green backfield shifted to the kick formation. Ten yards back +of the center, on the thirty-two-yard line of Ballard, stood T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr.; the vast crowd was hushed, all eyes stared at that slender +figure, standing there, with Captain Butch Brewster at his right, and Beef +McNaughton on his left hand-the spectators believed the frail-looking +youth had been sent in to try a drop-kick. The Ballard rooters thought +it, and--the Ballard eleven were _sure_ of their enemy's plan--Hicks' +mosquito-like build, his nervous swinging of that right leg, deluded them, +and helped Coach Corridan's plot. + +It was the only play, if Bannister wanted the Championship enough to try a +desperate chance; better a fighting hope for that glory, with a try for +a touchdown, than a field-goal, and a tie-score! The lines of scrimmage +tensed. The linesmen dug their cleats in the sod, those of Ballard tigerish +to break through and block; old Bannister's determined to _hold_. Back of +Ballard's line, the backfield swayed on tip-toe, every muscle nerved, ready +to crash through; the ends prepared to knock Roddy and Monty aside, the +backs would charge madly ahead, in a berserk rush, to crash into that slim +figure. + +"Boot it, Hicks!" shrieked Deke Radford, and as he shouted, the pigskin +shot from the Bannister center's hands; the Gold and Green line held nobly, +but not so the ends. Monty Merriweather, making a bluff at blocking the +left end, let him crash past, while he sprinted ahead--Captain Butch +Brewster, to whom the pass had been made, ran forward, until he saw he was +blocked, and then, seeing Monty dear, he hurled a beautiful forward pass. + +Into the arms of the waiting Monty it fell, and that Gold and Green star, +absolutely free of tacklers, sprinted twelve yards to the goal-line, +falling on the pigskin behind it! Coach Corridan's "100 to 1" chance, +suggested by Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., had succeeded, and--the +Biggest Game and the Championship had come to old Bannister at last! + +Followed a scene pauperizing description! For many long years old Bannister +had waited for this glory; years of bitter disappointment, seasons when the +Championship had been missed by a scant margin, a drop-kick striking the +cross-bar, Butch Brewster blindly crashing into an upright. But now, all +their pent-up joy flowed forth in a mighty torrent! Singing, yelling, +dancing, howling, the Bannister Band leading them, the Gold and Green +students, alumni, Faculty, and supporters, snake-danced around Bannister +Field. A vast, writhing, sinuous line, it wound around the gridiron, +everyone who possessed a hat flinging it over the cross-bars. The +victorious eleven, were borne by the maddened youths--Captain Butch, Pudge, +Beef, Monty, Roddy, Ichabod, Tug, Hefty, Buster, Bunch, and--T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr. Ballard, firmly believing Hicks would try a field-goal, had +been taken completely off guard. Surprised by the daring attempt, it had +succeeded with ease, and the final score was Bannister--10; Ballard--6! + +"At last! At last!" boomed Butch Brewster, to whom this was the happiest +day of his life. "The Championship at last. My great ambition is realized. +Old Bannister has won the Championship, and I was the Team Captain!" + +After a time, when "the shouting and the tumult died," or at least quieted +somewhat, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., felt a hand on his arm, and looking down +from the shoulders on which he perched, he saw his Dad. Mr. Hicks' strong +face was aglow with pride and a vast joy, and he shook his son's hand again +and again. + +"I understand, Thomas!" he said, and his words were reward enough for the +youth. "It was a _big_ sacrifice, but you made it gladly--I know! You +gave up personal glory for the greater goal, and--old Bannister won the +Championship! You helped win, for the winning play turned on _you_. It was +splendid, my son, and I am proud of you! No matter if your sacrifice is +never known to the fellows, _I_ understand." + +A moment of silence on Hicks' part; then the sunny youth grinned at his +beloved Dad, as he responded blithesomely: "I'm Pollyanna, that old +Bannister and _I_ won out, Dad!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +HICKS HAS A "HUNCH" + + +"Ladies and gentlemen, Seniors, Juniors, Sophomores, human beings, +and--_Freshmen_! Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Jr., the Olympic High-Jump +Champion, holder of the World's record, and winner at the Panama-Pacific +International Exposition National Championships, in his event, is about to +high jump! The bar is at five feet, ten inches. Mr. Hicks is the Herculean +athlete in the crazy-looking bathrobe." + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his splinter-structure enshrouded in that +flamboyant bathrobe of vast proportions and insane colors, that inevitably +attended his athletic efforts, shaming Joseph's coat-of-many-colors, gazed +despairingly at his good friend, Butch Brewster, and Track-Coach Brannigan, +with a Cheshire cat grin on his cherubic countenance. + +"It's no use, Butch, it's no use!" quoth he, with ludicrous indignation, +as big Tug Cardiff, the behemoth shot-putter, through a huge megaphone +imitated a Ballyhoo Bill, and roared his absurd announcement to the +hilarious crowd of collegians in the stand. "Old Bannister will _never_ +take my athletic endeavors seriously. Here I have won two second places, +and a third, in the high-jump this season, and have a splendid show to +annex _first_ place and my track B in the Intercollegiates, but--hear +them!" + +It was a balmy, sunshiny afternoon in late May. The sunny-souled, +happy-go-lucky T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had trained indefatigably for +the high jump, with the result that he had won several points for his +team--however, he had not realized his great ambition of first place, and +his track letter. + +As Hicks now exclaimed to his team-mate and Coach Brannigan, no matter, +to the howling Bannister youths, if he _had_ won three places in the high +jump, in regularly scheduled meets; his comrades had been jeering at +his athletic fiascos for nearly four years, and even had Hicks suddenly +blossomed out as a star athlete, they would not have abandoned their joyous +habit. Still, those football 'Varsity players to whom good Butch had read +Hicks, Sr.'s, letters, and explained the sunny youth's persistence, despite +his ridiculous failures, though they kept on hailing his appearance on +Bannister Field with exaggerated joy, understood the care-free collegian, +and loved him for his ambition to please his Dad. Since Hicks had +absolutely refused to accept his B, for any sport, unless he won it +according to Athletic Association eligibility rules, the eleven had kept +secret the contents of the letters Butch Brewster had read to them, for +Hicks requested it. + +The Bannister College track squad, under Track Coach Brannigan and Captain +Spike Robertson, had been training most strenuously for that annual +cinder-path classic, the State Intercollegiate Track and Field +Championships. The sprinters had been tearing down the two-twenty +straightaway like suburban commuters catching the 7.20 A.M. for the city. +Hammer-throwers and shot-putters--the weight men--heaved the sixteen-pound +shot, or hurled the hammer, with reckless abandon, like the Strong Man of +the circus. Pole-vaulters seemed ambitious to break the altitude records, +and In so doing, threatened to break their necks; hurdlers skimmed over +the standard as lightly as swallows, though no one ever beheld swallows +hurdling. The distance runners plodded determinedly around the quarter-mile +track, broad-jumpers tried to jump the length of the landing-pit. And T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., vainly essayed to clear five-ten In the high-jump! + +It was the last-named event that "broke up the show," as the Phillyloo Bird +quaintly stated, somewhat wrongly, since the appearance of that blithesome +youth in the offing, his flamboyant bathrobe concealing his shadow-like +frame, had _started_ the show, causing the track squad, as well as a +hundred spectator-students, to rush for seats in the stand. The arrival +of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., to train for form and height in the high-jump, +though a daily occurrence, was always the signal for a Saturnalia of sport +at his expense, because-- + +"You can't live down your athletic past, Hicks!" smiled good-hearted Butch +Brewster. "Your making a touchdown for the other eleven, by running the +wrong way with the pigskin, your hilarious fiascos in every sport, your +home-run with the bases full, on a strike-out-are specters to haunt you. +Even now that you have a chance to win your B, just listen to the fellows." + +The track squad's "heavy weight--white hope" section, composed of +hammer-heavers and shot-putters--Tug Cardiff, Beef McNaughton, Pudge +Langdon, Buster Brown, Biff Pemberton, Hefty Hollingsworth, and Bunch +Bingham, equipped with megaphones, and with the _basso profundo_ voices +nature gave them, lined up on both sides of the jumping-standards, and +chanted loudly: + + "All hail to T. Haviland Hicks! + He runs like a carload of bricks; + When to high jump he tries + From the ground he can't rise-- + For he's built on a pair of toothpicks!" + +This saengerfest was greeted with vociferous cheers from the vastly amused +youths in the stands, who hailed the grinning Hicks with jeers, cat-calls, +whistles, and humorous (so they believed) remarks: + +"Say, Hicks, you won't _never_ be able to jump anything but your +board-bill!" + +"You're built like a grass-hopper, Hicks, but you've done lost the hop!" + +"If you keep on improving as you've done lately, you'll make a high-jumper +in a hundred more years, old top!" + +"You may rise in the world, Hicks, but never in the high jump!" + +"Don't mind them, Hicks!" spoke Coach Brannigan, his hands on the +happy-go-lucky youth's shoulders. "Listen to me; the Intercollegiates will +be the last track meet of your college years, and unless you take first +place in your event, you won't win your track B. Second, McQuade, of +Hamilton, will do five-eight, and likely an inch higher, so to take first +place, you, must do five-ten. You have trained and practiced faithfully +this season, but no matter what I do, I _can't_ give you that needed two +inches, and--" + +"I know it, Coach!" responded the chastened Hicks, throwing aside his +lurid bathrobe determinedly, and exposing to the jeering students his +splinter-frame. "Leave it to Hicks, I'll clear it this time, or--" + +"Not!" fleered Butch, whom Hicks' easy self-confidence never failed to +arouse. "Hicks, listen to me, _I_ can tell you why you can't get two inches +higher. The whole trouble with you is this; for almost four years you have +led an indolent, butterfly, care-free existence, and now, when you must +call on yourself for a special effort, you are too lazy! You can dear +five-ten; you ought to do it, but you can't summon up the energy. I've +lectured you all this time, for your heedless, easy-going ways, and +now--you pay for your idle years!" + +"You said an encyclopedia, Butch!" agreed the Coach, with vigor. "If only +something would just _make_ Hicks jump that high, if only he could do it +once, and know it is in his power, he could do it in the Intercollegiates, +aided by excitement and competition! Let something _scare_ him so that he +will sail over five-ten, and--he will win his B. He has the energy, the +build, the spring, and the form, but as you say, he is so easy-going and +lazy, that his natural grass-hopper frame avails him naught." + +"Here I go!" announced Hicks, who, to an accompaniment of loud cheers from +the stand, had been jogging up and down in that warming-up process known to +athletes as the in place run, consisting of trying to dislocate one's +jaw by bringing the knees, alternately, up against the chin. "Up and +over--that's my slogan. Just watch Hicks." + +Starting at a distance of twenty yards from the high-jump standards, on +which the cross-bar rested at five feet, ten inches, T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., who vastly resembled a grass-hopper, crept toward the jumping-pit, +on his toe-spikes, as though hoping to catch the cross-bar off its guard. +Advancing ten yards, he learned apparently that his design was discovered, +so he started a loping gallop, turning to a quick, mad sprint, as though he +attempted to jump over the bar before it had time to rise higher. With a +beautiful take-off, a splendid spring--a quick, writhing twist in air, and +two spasmodic kicks, the whole being known as the scissors form of high +jump, the mosquito-like youth made a strenuous effort to clear the needed +height, but--one foot kicked the cross-bar, and as Hicks fell flat on his +back, in the soft landing-pit, the wooden rod, In derision, clattered down +upon his anatomy. + +"Foiled again!" hissed Hicks, after the fashion of a "Ten-Twent'-Thirt'" +melodrama-villain, while from the exuberant youths in the grandstand, +who really wanted Hicks to clear the bar, but who jeered at his failure, +nevertheless, sounded: + +"Hire a derrick, Hicks, and hoist yourself over the bar!" + +"Your _head_ is light enough--your feet weigh you down!" + +"'Crossing the Bar'--rendered by T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.!" + +"Going up! Go play checkers, Hicks, you ain't no athlete!" + +While the grinning, albeit chagrined T, Haviland Hicks, Jr., reposed +gracefully on his back, staring up at the cross-bar, which someone kindly +replaced on the pegs, big Butch Brewster, who seemed suddenly to have +gone crazy, tried to attract Coach Brannigan's attention. Succeeding, +Butch--usually a grave, serious Senior, winked, contorted his visage +hideously, pointed at Hicks, and sibilated, "_Now_, Coach--now is your +chance! Tell Hicks--" + +Tug Cardiff, Biff Pemberton, Hefty Hollingsworth, Bunch Bingham, Buster +Brown, Beef McNaughton, and Pudge Langdon, who had been attacked in a +fashion similar to Butch's spasm, concealed grins of delight, and made +strenuous efforts to appear guileless, as Track-Coach Brannigan approached +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr. To that cheery youth, who was brushing the dirt from +his immaculate track togs, and bowing to the cheering youths in the stand, +the Coach spoke: + +"Hicks," he said sternly, "you need a cross-country jog, to get +more strength and power in your limbs! Now, I am going to send the +Heavy-Weight-White-Hope Brigade for a four-mile run, and you go with them. +Oh, don't protest; they are all shot-putters and hammer-throwers, but +Butch, and they can't run fast enough to give a tortoise a fast heat. Take +'em out two miles and back, Butch, and jog all the way; don't let 'em loaf! +Off with you." + +The unsuspecting Hicks might have detected the nigger in the woodpile, had +he not been so anxious to make five-ten in the high-jump. However, willing +to jog with these behemoths, with whom even he could keep pace, so as to +develop more jumping power, the blithesome youth cast aside his garish +bathrobe, pranced about in what he fatuously believed was Ted Meredith's +style, and howled: + +"Follow Hicks! All out for the Marathon--we're off! One--two--three--_go_!" + +With the excited, track squad, non-athletes, and the baseball crowd, which +had ceased the game to watch the start, yelling, cheering, howling, and +whistling, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., drawing his knees up in exaggerated +style at every stride, started to lead the Heavy-Weight-White-Hope-Brigade +on its cross-country run. Without wondering why Coach Brannigan had +suddenly elected to send _him_ along with the hammer-throwers and +shot-putters, on the jog, and not having seen the insane facial contortions +of the Brigade, before the Coach gave orders, the gladsome Senior +started forth in good spirits, resembling a tugboat convoying a fleet of +battleships. + +"'Yo! Ho! Yo! Ho! And over the country we go!'" warbled Hicks, as the squad +left Bannister Field, and jogged across a green meadow. "'--O'er hill and +dale, through valley and vale, Yo! Ho! Yo! Ho! Yo! Ho!'" + +"Save your wind, you insect!" growled Butch Brewster, with sinister +significance that escaped the heedless Hicks, as the behemoth Butch, a +two-miler, swung into the lead. "You'll _need_ it, you fish, before we get +back to the campus! Not _too_ fast, you flock of human tortoises. You'll be +crawling on hands and knees, if you keep that pace up long!" + +A mile and a half passed. Butch, at an easy jog, had led his squad over +green pastures, up gentle slopes, and across a plowed field, by way of +variety. At length, he left the road on which the pachydermic aggregation +had lumbered for some distance, and turned up a long lane, leading to a +farm-house. Back of it they periscoped an orchard, with cherry-trees, +laden with red and white fruit, predominating. Also, floating toward the +collegians on the balmy May air came an ominous sound: + +"Woof! Woof! Woof! Bow-wow-wow! Woof!" + +"Come on, fellows!" urged Butch Brewster. "We'll jog across old Bildad's +orchard and seize some cherries--the old pirate can't catch us, for we are +attired for sprinting. Don't they look good?" + +"Nothing stirring!" declared Hicks, slangily, but vehemently, as he stopped +short in his stride. "Old Bildad has got a bulldog what am as big as the +New York City Hall. He had it on the campus last month, you know! Not for +mine! I don't go near that house, or swipe no cherries from his trees. If +you wish to shuffle off this mortal coil, drive right ahead, but _I_ will +await your return here." + +T, Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, dread of dogs, of all sizes, shapes, pedigrees, +and breeds, was well known to old Bannister; hence, the Heavy-weights now +jeered him unmercifully. Old "Bildad," as the taciturn recluse was called, +who lived like a hermit and owned a rich farm, did own a massive bulldog, +and a sight of his cruel jaws was a "No Trespass" sign. With great +forethought, when cherries began to ripen, the farmer had brought Caesar +Napoleon to the campus, exhibited him to the awed youths, and said, "My +cherries be for _sale_, not to be _stole_!" which object lesson, brief as +it was, to date, had seemed to have the desired effect. Yet--here was Butch +proposing that they literally thrust their heads, or other portions of +their anatomies, into the jaws of death! + +"Well," said Bunch Bingham at last, "I tell you what; we'll jog up to the +house and ask old Bildad to _sell_ us some cherries; we can pay him when he +comes to the campus with eggs to sell, Come along. Hicks, I'll beard the +bulldog in his kennel." + +So, dragged along by the bulky hammer-throwers and shot-putters, the +protesting T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., in mortal terror of Caesar Napoleon, and +the other canine guardians of old Bildad's property, progressed up the lane +toward the house. + +"I got a hunch," said the reluctant Hicks, sadly, "that things ain't +a-comin' out right! In the words of the immortal Somebody-Or-Other, 'This +'ere ain't none o' _my_ doin'; it's a-bein' thrust on me!' All right, my +comrades, I'll be the innocent bystander, but heed me--look out for the +bulldog!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THANKS TO CAESAR NAPOLEON + + +The Heavy-Weight-White-Hope-Brigade, towing the mosquito-like T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., advanced on the stronghold of old Bildad, so named because he +was a pessimistic Job's comforter, like Bildad, the Shuhite, of old--like +a flock of German spies reconnoitering Allied trenches. Hearing the house, +with Butch and Beef holding the helpless, but loudly protesting Hicks, who +would fain have executed what may mildly be termed a strategic retreat, big +Tug Cardiff boldly marched, in close formation, toward the door, when the +portal suddenly flew open. + +"Woof! Woof! Bow! Wow! Woof! Let go, Butch--there's the dog!" + +Amid ferocious howls from Caesar Napoleon, and alarmed protests from the +paralyzed Hicks, who could not have run, with his wobbly knees, had he +been set free by his captors, old Bildad, towed from the house by Caesar +Napoleon, who strained savagely at the leash until his face bulged, burst +upon the scene with impressive dramatic effect! It was difficult to decide, +without due consideration, which was the more interesting. Bildad, a huge, +gnarled old Viking, with matted gray hair, bushy eyebrows, a flowing beard, +and leathery face, a fierce-looking giant, was appalling to behold, but so +was Caesar Napoleon, an immense bulldog, cruel, bloodthirsty, his massive +jaws working convulsively, his ugly fangs gleaming, as he set his great +body against the leash, and gave evidence of a sincere desire to make free +lunch of the Bannister youths. As Buster Brown afterward stated, "Neither +one would take the booby prize at a beauty show, but at that, the bulldog +had a better chance than Bildad!" T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., let it be +recorded, could not have qualified as a judge, since his undivided +attention was awarded to Caesar Napoleon! + +"What d'ye want round here, ye rapscallions?" demanded Bildad, courteously, +holding the savage bulldog with one hand, and constructing a ponderous +fist with the other, "_Hike_--git off'n my land, y'hear? _Git_, er Caesar +Napoleon'll git holt o' them scanty duds ye got on!" + +"We want to--to buy some cherries, Mr.--Mr. Bildad!" explained Bunch +Bingham, edging away nervously. "We won't steal any, honest, sir. Well pay +you for them the very next time you come to the campus with milk and eggs." + +"Ho! Ho!" roared old Bildad, piratically, his colossal body shaking, "A +likely tale, lads--an' when I come for my money, ye'll jeer me off the +campus, an' tell me to whistle for it! Off my land--_git,_ an' don't let me +cotch ye on it inside o' two minutes, or I'll let Caesar Napoleon make a +meal off'n yer bones--_git_!" + +To express it briefly, they got. T, Haviland Hicks, Jr., not standing on +the order of his going, set off at a sprint that, while it might have +caused Ted Meredith to lose sleep, also aroused in Caesar Napoleon an +overwhelming desire to take out after the fugitive youth, so that Mr. +Bildad was forced to exert his vast strength to hold the massive bulldog. +Butch, Beef, Hefty, Tug, Buster, Bunch, Pudge, and Biff, a pachydermic +crew, awed by Caesar Napoleon's bloodthirsty actions, jogged off in the +wake of Hicks, who confidently expected to hear the bulldog giving tongue, +on his trail, at every second. + +Another lane, making in from a road making a cross-roads with the one +from which they came to Bildad's house, ran alongside the orchard for two +hundred yards, inside the fence; at its end was a high roadgate. At +what they decided was a safe distance from the "war zone," the +Heavy-Weight-White-Hope-Brigade, and T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., the latter +forcibly restrained from widening the margin between him and peril, held a +council on preparedness. + +"The old pirate!" stormed Butch Brewster, gazing back to where the vast +figure of old Bildad, striding toward the house, towered. "We can't let him +get away with that, fellows. I'll have some of his cherries now, or--" + +"No, no--_don't_, Butch!" chattered Hicks, whose dread of dogs amounted to +an obsession. "He can still see us, and if you leave the lane, he will send +Caesar Napoleon after us! Oh, _don't_--" + +But Butch Brewster, evidently wrathful at being balked, strode from the +path, or lane, of virtue, toward a cherry-tree, whose red fruit hung +temptingly low, and his example was followed by every one of the Brigade, +leaving the terrified Hicks to wait in the lane, where, because of his +alarm, he had no time to wonder at the bravado of his behemoth comrades. +However, finding that Bildad had disappeared, and believing he had taken +Caesar Napoleon into the house, the sunny Hicks, who was far from a coward +otherwise, but who had an unreasonable dread of dogs, little or big, was +about to wax courageous, and join his team-mates, when a wild shout burst +from Pudge Langdon: + +"Run, fellows--_run_! Bildad's put the bulldog on us! Here comes--Caesar +Napoleon--!" + +With a blood-chilling _"Woof! Woof!"_ steadily sounding louder, nearer, +a streak of color shot across the orchard, from the house, toward the +affrighted Brigade, while old Bildad's hoarse growl shattered the echoes +with "Take 'em out o' here, Nap--chaw 'em up, boy!" For a startled second, +the youths stared at the on-rushing body, shooting toward them through the +orchard-grass at terrific speed, and then: + +"Run!" howled T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., terror providing him with wings, as +per proverb. Down the lane, at a pace that would have done credit to Barney +Oldfield in his Blitzen Benz, the mosquito-like youth sprinted madly, and +ever, closer, closer on his trail, sounded that awful "Woof! Woof!" from +Caesar Napoleon, who, as Hicks well knew, was acting with full authority +from Bildad! He heard, as he fled frantically, the excited shouts of his +comrades. + +"Beat it, Hicks--he's right after you--run! Run!" + +"Jump the fence--he can't get you then--jump!" + +"He's right on your trail, Hicks--_sprint_, old man!" + +"Make the fence, old man--_jump_ it--and you're _safe_!" + +The terrible truth dawned on the frightened youth, as he desperately +sprinted: the innocent bystander always gets hurt. He had protested against +the theft of Bildad's cherries, and naturally, the bulldog had kept after +_him_! But it was too late to stop, for the old adage was extremely +appropriate, "He who hesitates is lost." He must _make_ that road-gate, and +tumble over it, in some fashion, or be torn to shreds by Caesar Napoleon, +the savage dog that the cruel Bildad had sent after the youths. + +Nearer loomed the road-gate, appallingly high. Closer sounded the panting +breath of the ferocious Caesar Napoleon, and his incessant "Woof-woof!" +became louder. It seemed to the desperate Hicks that the bulldog was at his +heels, and every instant he expected to feel those sharp teeth take hold of +his anatomy! Once, the despairing youth imitated Lot's wife and turned his +head. He saw a body streaking after him, gaining at every jump, also he +lost speed; so thereafter, he conscientiously devoted his every energy to +the task in hand, that of making the gate, and getting over it, before +Caesar Napoleon caught his quarry! + +At last, the road-gate, at least ten feet high, to Hicks' fevered +imagination, came so close that a quick decision was necessary, for Caesar +Napoleon, also, was in the same zone, and in a few seconds he would +overhaul the fugitive. T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., realizing that a second +lost, perhaps, might prove fatal to his peace of mind, desperately resolved +to dash at the gate, and jump; if he succeeded even in striking somewhere +near the top, and falling over, he would not care, for the bulldog would +not follow him off Bildad's land. From his comrades, far in the rear, came +the chorus: + +"Jump, Hicks! He's right on your heels!" + +Like the immortal Light Brigade, Hicks had no time to reason about +anything. His but to jump or be bitten summed up the situation. So, with +a last desperate sprint, a quick dash, he left the ground--luckily, the +earth was hard, giving him a solid take-off, and he got a splendid spring. +As he arose In air, al! the training and practicing for form stayed with +him, and instinctively he turned, writhed, and kicked-- + +For a fleeting second, he saw the top of the gate beneath his body, and +he felt a thrill as he beheld twisted strands of barbed wire, cruel and +jagged, across it; then, with a great sensation of joy, he knew that he +had cleared the top, and a second later, he landed on the ground, in the +country road, in a heap. + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., that sunny-souled, happy-go-lucky, indolent youth, +for once in his care-free campus career aroused to strenuous action, +scrambled wildly to his feet, and forcibly realized the truth of +Longfellow's, "And things are not-what they seem!" Instead of the +ferocious, bloodthirsty bulldog, Caesar Napoleon, a huge, half-grown +St. Bernard pup gamboled inside the gate, frisking about gleefully, and +exhibiting, even so that Hicks, with all his innate dread of dogs, could +understand it, a vast friendliness. In fact, he seemed trying to say, +"That's fun. Come on and play with me some more!" + +"Hey, fellows," shrieked the relieved Hicks, "that ain't Caesar Napoleon! +Why, he just wanted to play." + +Bewildered, the members of the Heavy-Weight-White-Hope-Brigade of the +Bannister College track squad rushed on the scene. To their surprise, they +found not a savage bulldog, but a clumsy, good-natured St. Bernard puppy, +who frisked wildly about them, groveled at their feet, and put his huge +paws on them, with the playfulness of a juvenile elephant. + +"Why, it _isn't_ Nappie, for a fact!" gasped Butch. "Oh, I am so glad +that old Bildad wasn't mean enough to put the bulldog after us, for he is +dangerous. He scared us, though, and put this pup on our trail. He wanted +to play, and he thought it all a game, when Hicks fled. Oho! What a joke on +Hicks." + +"I don't care!" grinned Hicks, thus siding with the famous Eva Tanguay. +"You fellows were fooled, too! You were too _scared_ to run, and if it had +been Caesar Napoleon, I'd have saved your worthless lives by getting him +after me! I'll bet Bildad is snickering now, the old reprobate! Why, Tug, +are you _crazy_?" + +Tug Cardiff, indeed, gave indications of lunacy. He marched up to the +road-gate, and stood close to it, so that the barbed wire top was even with +his hair; then he backed off, and gazed first at the gate, then at the +bewildered Hicks, while he grinned at the dazed squad in a Cheshire cat +style. + +"Measure it, someone!" he shouted. "I am nearly six feet tall, and it comes +even with the top of my dome! Can't you see, you brainless imbeciles, Hicks +cleared it." + +"Wait for me here!" howled big Butch Brewster, climbing the fence and +starting down the road at a pace that did credit even to that fast +two-miler. The Brigade, In the absence of their leader, tried to estimate +the height of the gate, and Hicks, gazing at its barbed-wire top, +shuddered. The St. Bernard pup, having caused T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., for +once in his indolent life to exert every possible ounce of energy in his +splinter-frame, groveled at his feet, and strove to express his boundless +joy at their presence. + +Butch Brewster, in fifteen minutes, returned, panting and perspiring, +bearing a tape-measure, borrowed at the next farm-house. With all the +solemnity of a sacred rite being performed, the youths waited, as Butch and +Tug, holding the tape taut, carefully measured from the ground to the top +of the barbed wire on the gate. Three times they did this, and then, with +an expression of gladness on his honest countenance, Butch hugged the +dazed T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., while Tug Cardiff howled, "Now for the +Intercollegiates and your track B, Hicks! You _can_ do five-ten in the +meet, for Coach Brannigan said you could dear it, if only you did it +_once_." + +"Why--what do you mean, Tug?" quavered Hicks, not daring to allow himself +to believe the truth. "You--you surely don't mean--" + +"I mean, that now you _know_ you can jump that high," boomed Tug, executing +a weird dance of exultation, In which, the Brigade joined, until it +resembled a herd of elephants gone insane, "for you have done it--allowing +for the sag, and everything, that gate is just five feet, ten inches high, +and--_you cleared it_!" + +"Ladies and gentlemen--Hicks, of Bannister, is about to high jump! Hicks +and McQuade, of Hamilton, are tied for first place at five feet eight +inches! McQuade has failed three times at five-ten! Hicks' third and last +trial! Height of bar--five feet ten inches!" + +This time, however, it was not big Tug Cardiff, imitating a Ballyhoo +Bill, and inciting the Bannister youths to hilarity at the expense of the +sunny-souled T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.; it was the Official Announcer at the +Annual State Intercollegiate Field and Track Championships, on Bannister +Field, and his announcement aroused a tumult of excitement in the Bannister +section of the stands, as well as among the Gold and Green cinder-path +stars. + +"Come on, Hicks, old man!" urged Butch Brewster, who, with a dozen fully +as excited comrades of the cheery Hicks, surrounded that splinter-athlete. +"It's positively your last chance to win your track B, or your letter in +any sport, and please your Dad! If they lower the bar, and you two jump off +the tie, McQuade's endurance will bring him out the winner." + +"You _can_ clear five-ten!" encouraged Bunch Bingham. "You did it once, +when you believed Caesar Napoleon was after you. Just summon up that much +energy now, and clear that bar! Once over, the event and your letter are +won! Oh, if we only had that bulldog here, to sick on you." + +Sad to chronicle, the score-board of the Intercollegiates recorded the +results of the events, so far, thus: + + HAMILTON ............35 BALLARD .............20 BANNISTER ...........28 + +It was the last event, and even did Hicks win the high-jump, McQuade's +second place would easily give old Ham. the Championship. Hence, knowing +that victory was not booked for an appearance on the Gold and Green +banners, the Bannister youths, wild for the lovable, popular Hicks to win +his Bs vociferously pulled for him: + +"Come on, Hicks--up and over, old man--it's _easy_!" + +"Jump, you Human Grass-Hopper--you can do it!" + +"Now or never, Hicks! One big jump does the work!" + +"Sick Caesar Napoleon on him, Coach; he'll clear it then!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., casting aside that flamboyant bathrobe, for what he +believed was the last athletic event of his campus career, stood gazing at +the cross-bar. One superhuman effort, a great explosion of all his energy, +such as he had executed when he cleared the gate, thinking Caesar Napoleon +was after him, and the event was won! He _had_ cleared that height, it was +within his power. If he failed, as Butch said, the bar would be lowered, +and then raised until one or the other missed once. McQuade, with his +superior strength and endurance, must inevitably win, but as he had just +missed on his third trial at five-ten, if Hicks cleared that height on +_his_ final chance, the first place was his. + +"And my B!" murmured Hicks, tensing his muscles. "Oh, won't my Dad be +happy? It will help him to realize some of his ambition, when I show him my +track letter! It is positively my last chance, and I _must_ clear it." + +With a vast wave of determined confidence inundating his very being, Hicks +started for the bar; after those first, peculiar, creeping steps, he had +just started his gallop, when he heard Tug Cardiff's _basso_, magnified by +a megaphone, roared: + +"All together, fellows--_let 'er go_--" + +Then, just as Hicks dug his spikes into the earth, in that short, mad +sprint that gives the jumper his spring, just as he reached the take-off, +a perfect explosion of noise startled him, and he caught a sound that +frightened him, tensed as he was: + +"Woof! Woof! Bow! Wow! Woof! Woof! Woof! Look out, Hicks, Caesar Napoleon +is after you!" + +Psychology Is inexplicable. Ever afterward, Hicks' comrades of that +cross-country run averred strenuously that their roaring through +megaphones, in concert, imitating Caesar Napoleon's savage bark at the +psychological moment, flung the mosquito-like youth clear of the cross-bar +and won him the event and his B. Hicks, however, as fervidly denied this +statement, declaring that he would have won, anyhow, because he had +summoned up the determination to do it! So it can not be stated just what +bearing on his jump the plot of Butch Brewster really had. In truth, that +behemoth had entertained a wild idea of actually hiring old Bildad and +Caesar Napoleon to appear at the moment Hicks started for his last trial, +but this weird scheme was abandoned! + +Fifteen minutes later, when T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., had escaped from the +riotous Bannister students, delirious with joy at the victory of the +beloved youth, the Heavy-Weight-White-Hope Brigade, capturing the +grass-hopper Senior, gave him a shock second only to that which he had +experienced when first he believed Caesar Napoleon was on his trail. + +"Perhaps our barking didn't make you jump it!" said Beef McNaughton, when +Hicks indignantly denied that he had been scared over the cross-bar, "but +indirectly, old man, we helped you to win! If we had not put up a hoax on +you--" + +"A _hoax_?" queried the surprised Hicks. "What do you mean--hoax?" + +"It was all a frame-up!" grinned Butch Brewster, triumphantly. "We paid old +Bildad five dollars to play his part, and as an actor, he has Booth and +Barrymore backed off the stage! We got Coach Brannigan to send you along +with us on the cross-country jog, and your absurd dread of dogs, Hicks, +made it easy! Bildad, per instructions, produced Caesar Napoleon, and +scared you. Then, with a telescope, he watched us, and when I gave the +signal, he let loose Bob, the harmless St. Bernard pup, on our trail. + +"The pup, as he always does, chased after strangers, ready to play. We +yelled for you to run, and you were so _scared_, you insect, you didn't +wait to see the dog. Even when you looked back, in your alarm, you didn't +know it was not Caesar Napoleon, for his grim visage was seared on your +brain--I mean, where your brain ought to be! And even had you seen it +wasn't the bulldog, you would have been frightened, all the same. But I +confess, Hicks, when you sailed over that high gate, it was one on _us_." + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., drew a deep breath, and then a Cheshire cat grin +came to his cherubic countenance. So, after all, it had been a hoax; there +had not been any peril. No wonder these behemoths had so courageously taken +the cherries! But, beyond a doubt, the joke _had_ helped him to win his +B. It had shown him he could clear five feet, ten inches, for he had done +it--and, in the meet, when the crucial moment came, the knowledge that he +_had_ jumped that high, and, therefore, could do it, helped--where the +thought that he never had cleared it would have dragged him down. He had at +last won his B, a part of his beloved Dad's great ambition was realized, +and-- + +"Oh, just leave it to Hicks!" quoth that sunny-souled, irrepressible +youth, swaggering a trifle, "It was my mighty will-power, my terrific +determination, that took me over the cross-bar, and not--_not_ your +imitation of--" + +"Woof! Woof! Woof!" roared the "Heavy-Weight-White-Hope-Brigade" in +thunderous chorus. "Sick him--Caesar Napoleon--!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +HICKS MAKES A RASH PROPHECY + + +"Come on, Butch! Atta boy--some fin, old top! Say, you Beef--you're asleep +at the switch. What time do you want to be called? More pep there, +Monty--bust that little old bulb, Roddy! Aw, rotten! _Say_, Ballard, your +playing will bring the Board of Health down on you--why don't you bring +your first team out? Umpire? What--do you call that an umpire? Why, he's +a highway robber, a bandit. Put a 'Please Help the Blind' sign on that +hold-up artist!" + +Big Butch Brewster, captain of the Bannister College baseball squad, +navigating down the third-floor corridor of Bannister Hall, the Senior +dormitory, laden with suitcases, bat-bags, and other impedimenta, as Mr. +Julius Caesar says, and vastly resembling a bell-hop in action, paused in +sheer bewilderment on the threshold of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, cozy room. + +"Hicks!" stormed the bewildered Butch, wrathfully, "what in the name of Sam +Hill _are_ you doing? Are you crazy, you absolutely insane lunatic? This +is a study-hour, and even if _you_ don't possess an intellect, some of the +fellows want to exercise their brains an hour or so! Stop that ridiculous +action." + +The spectacle Butch Brewster beheld was indeed one to paralyze that +pachydermic collegian, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., the sunny-souled, +irrepressible Senior, danced madly about on the tiger-skin rug in midfloor, +evidently laboring under the delusion that he was a lunatical Hottentot at +a tribal dance; he waved his arms wildly, like a signaling brakeman, or +howled through a big megaphone, and about his toothpick structure was +strung his beloved banjo, on which the blithesome youth twanged at times an +accompaniment to his jargon: + +"Come on, Skeet, take a lead (_plunkety-plunk_!) Say, d'ye wanta marry +first base--divorce yourself from that sack! (_plunk-plunk_!) _Oh_, you +bonehead--steal--you won't get arrested for it! Hi! Yi! _Ouch_, Butch! Oh, +I'll be good--" + +At this moment, the indignant Butch abruptly terminated T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr.'s, noisy monologue by seizing that splinter-youth firmly by the scruff +of the neck and forcibly hurling him on the davenport. Seeing his loyal +class-mate's resemblance to a Grand Central Station baggage-smasher, the +irrepressible Senior forthwith imitated a hotel-clerk: + +"Front!" howled the grinning Hicks, to an imaginary bellboy, "Show this +gentleman to Number 2323! Are you alone, sir, or just by yourself? I think +you will like the room-it faces on the coal-chute, and has hot and cold +folding-doors, and running water when the roof leaks! The bed is made once +a week, regularly, and--" + +"Hicks, you Infinitesimal Atom of Nothing!" growled big Butch, ominously. +"What were you doing, creating all that riot, as I came down the corridor? +What's the main idea, anyway, of--" + +"Heed, friend of my campus days," chortled the graceless Hicks, keeping +a safe distance from his behemoth comrade, "tomorrow-your baseball +aggregation plays Ballard College, at that knowledge-factory, for the +Championship of the State. Because nature hath endowed me with the +Herculean structure of a Jersey mosquito, I am developing a 56-lung-power +voice, and I need practice, as _I_ am to be the only student-rooter at the +game tomorrow! Q.E.D.! And as for any Bannister student, except perhaps +Theophilus Opperdyke and Thor, desiring to investigate the interiors of +their lexicons tonight, I prithee, just periscope the campus." + +"I guess you are right, Hicks!" grinned Butch Brewster, as he looked from +the window, down on an indescribably noisy scene. "For once, your riotous +tumult went unheard. Say, get your traveling-bag ready, and leave that +pestersome banjo behind, if you want to go with the nine!" + +Several members of the Gold and Green nine, embryo American and National +League stars, roosted on the Senior Fence between the Gymnasium and the +Administration Building, with, suitcases and bat-bags on the grass. In a +few minutes old Dan Flannagan's celebrated jitney-bus would appear in the +offing, coming to transport the Bannister athletes downtown to the station, +for the 9 P.M. express to Philadelphia. Incited by Cheer-Leaders Skeezicks +McCracken and Snake Fisher, several hundred youths encouraged the nine, +since, because of approaching final exams., they were barred by Faculty +order from accompanying the team to Ballard. In thunderous chorus they +chanted: + + "One more Job for the undertaker! + More work for the tombstone maker! + In the local ceme_tery_, they are very--very--_very_ + Busy on a brand-new grave for--Ballard!" + +As the lovable Hicks expressed it, "'Coming events cast their shadows +before.' Commencement overshadows our joyous campus existence!" However, no +Bannister acquaintance of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., could detect wherein the +swiftly approaching final separation from his Alma Mater had affected in +the least that happy-go-lucky, care-free, irrepressible youth. If anything, +it seemed that Hicks strove to fight off thoughts of the end of his golden +campus years, using as weapons his torturesome saengerfests, his Beefsteak +Busts down at Jerry's, and various other pastimes, to the vast indignation +of his good friend and class-mate, Butch Brewster, who tried futilely to +lecture him into the proper serious mood with which Seniors must sail +through Commencement! + +"You are a Senior, Hicks, a Senior!" Butch would explain wrathfully. "You +are popularly supposed to be dignified, and here you persist in acting like +a comedian in a vaudeville show! I suppose you intend to appear on the +stage, and, when handed your sheepskin, respond by twanging your banjo and +roaring a silly ballad." + +Yet, the cheery Hicks had been very busy, since that memorable day when, +thanks to Caesar Napoleon and the hoax of the Heavy-Weight-White-Hope-Brigade +of the track squad, he had cleared the cross-bar at five-ten, +and won the event and his white B! Mr. T. Haviland Hicks, Sr., overjoyed +at his son's achievement, had sent him a generous check, which the youth +much needed, and had promised to be present at the annual Athletic +Association Meeting, at Commencement, when the B's were awarded +deserving athletes, which caused Hicks as much joy as the pink slip. +With his final study sprint for the Senior Finals, his duties as +team-manager of the baseball nine, his preparations for Commencement, his +social duties at the Junior Prom., and multifarious other details +coincident to graduation, the heedless Hicks had not found time to be +sorrowful at the knowledge that it soon would end, forever, that he must +say "Farewell, Alma Mater," and leave the campus and corridors of old +Bannister; yet soon even Hicks' ebullient spirits must fail, for +Commencement was a trifle over a week off. + +"Hicks, you lovable, heedless, irrepressible wretch," said Big Butch, +affectionately, as the two class-mates thrilled at the scene. "Does it +penetrate that shrapnel-proof concrete dome of yours that the Ballard game +tomorrow is the final athletic contest of my, and likewise your, campus +career at old Bannister?" + +"Similar thoughts has smote my colossal intellect, Butch!" responded the +bean-pole Hicks, gladsomely. "But--why seek to overshadow this joyous scene +with somber reflections? You-should-worry. You have annexed sufficient B's, +were they different, to make up an alphabet. You've won your letter on +gridiron, track, and baseball field, and you've been team-captain of +everything twice! Why, therefore, sheddest thou them crocodile tears?" + +"Not for myself, thou sunny-souled idler!" announced Butch, generously, +"But for _thee_! I prithee, since you pritheed me a few moments hence, let +that so-called colossal intellect of yours stride back along the corridors +of Time, until it reaches a certain day toward the close of our Freshman +year. Remember, you had made a hilarious failure of every athletic event +you tried-football, basketball, track, and baseball; you had just made a +tremendous farce of the Freshman-Sophomore track meet, and to me, your +loyal comrade, you uttered these rash words, 'Before I graduate from old +Bannister, I shall have won my B in three branches of sport!' + +"I reiterate and repeat, tomorrow's game with Ballard is the last chance +you will have. There is no possibility that you, with your well-known lack +of baseball ability, will get in the game, and--your track B, won in the +high-jump, is the only B you have won! Now, do you still maintain that you +will make good that rash vow?" + +"'Where there's a will, there's a way.' 'Never say die.' 'While there's +life, there's hope.' 'Don't give up the ship.' 'Fight to the last ditch.' +'In the bright lexicon of youth there is no such word as _fail_,'" +quoth the irrepressible Hicks, all in a breath. "As long as there is an +infinitesimal fraction of a chance left, I repeat, just leave it to Hicks!" + +"You haven't got a chance in the world!" Butch assured him, consolingly. +"You did manage to get into one football game, for a minute, and you were a +'Varsity player that long. By sticking to it, you have won your track B in +the high-jump, thanks to your grass-hopper build, and we rejoice at your +reward! Your Dad is happy that you've won a B, so why not be sensible, and +cease this ridiculous talk of winning your B in _three_ sports, when you +can see it is preposterously out of the question, absolutely impossible--" + +It was not that Butch. Brewster did not _want_ his sunny classmate to win +his B in three sports, or that he would have failed to rejoice at Hicks' +winning the triple honor. Had such a thing seemed within the bounds of +possibility, Butch, big-hearted and loyal, would have been as happy as +Hicks, or his Dad. But what the behemoth athlete became wrathful at was the +obviously lunatical way in which the cheery Hicks, now that his college +years were almost ended, parrot-like repeated, "Oh, just leave it to +Hicks!" when he must know all hope was dead. In truth, T, Haviland Hicks, +Jr., in pretending to maintain still that he would make good the rash +vow of his Freshman year, had no purpose but to arouse his comrade's +indignation; but Butch, serious of nature, believed there really lurked in +Hicks' system some germs of hope. + +"We never know, old top!" chuckled Hicks, though he was _sure_ he could +never fulfill that promise, as he had not played three-fourths of a season +on both the football and the baseball teams, "Something may show up at the +last minute, and--" + +At that moment, something evidently did show up, on the campus below, for +the enthusiastic students howled in: thunderous chorus, as the "Honk! +Honk!" of a Claxon was heard, "Here he comes! All together, fellows--the +Bannister yell for the nine--then for good old Dan Flannagan!" + +As Hicks and Butch watched from the window, old Dan Flannagan's jitney-bus, +to the discordant blaring of a horn, progressed up the driveway, even as it +had done on that night in September, when it transported to the campus +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., and Thor, the Prodigious Prodigy. Amid salvos of +applause from the Bannister youths, and blasts of the Claxon, old Dan +brought "The Dove" to a stop before the Senior Fence, and bowed to the +nine, grinning genially the while. + +"The car waits at the door, sir!" spoke T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., touching +his cap after the fashion of an English butler, before seizing a bat-bag, +and his suit-case. "As team manager, I must attempt to force into Skeet +Wigglesworth's dome how he and the five subs, are to travel on the C. N. & +Q., to Eastminster, from Baltimore. Come on, Butch, we're off--" + +"You are always off!" commented Butch, good-humoredly, as he seized his +baggage and followed the mosquito-like Hicks from the room, downstairs, and +out on the campus. Here the assembled youths, with yells, cheers, and songs +sandwiched between humorous remarks to Dan Flannagan, watched the thrilling +spectacle of the Gold and Green nine, with the Team Manager and five +substitutes, fifteen in all, squeeze into and atop of Dan Flannagan's +jitney-Ford. + +"Let me check you fellows off," said Hicks, importantly, peering into the +jitney, for he, as Team Manager, had to handle the traveling expenses. +"Monty Merriweather, Roddy Perkins, Biff Pemberton. Butch Brewster, Skeet +Wigglesworth, Beef McNaughton, Cherub Challoner, Ichabod Crane, Don +Carterson; that is the regular nine, and are you five subs, present? O. K. +Skeet, climb out here a second." + +Little Skeet Wigglesworth, the brilliant short-stop, climbed out with +exceeding difficulty, and facing T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., he saluted in +military fashion. The team manager, consulting a timetable of the C. N. +&.Q. railroad, fixed him with a stern look. + +"Skeet," he spoke distinctly, "now, _get this_--myself and eight regulars, +_nine_ in all, will take the 9 P. M. express for Philadelphia, and stay +there all night. Tomorrow, at 8 A. M., we leave Broad Street Station for +Eastminster, arriving at 11 A. M. _Now_ I have a lot of unused mileage on +the C. N. & Q., and I want to use it up before Commencement. So, heed: you +want to go _via_ Baltimore, to see your parents. You take the 9.20 P. M. +express tonight, to Baltimore, and go from that city in the morning, to +Eastminster, on the C. N, & Q.--it's the only road. And take the five subs +with you, to devour the mileage. Now, has that penetrated thy bomb-proof +dome?" + +"_Sure;_ you don't have to deliver a Chautauqua lecture, Hicks!" grinned +Skeet. "Say, what time does my train leave Baltimore, in the A.M., for +Eastminster?" + +"Let's see." T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., handing the mileage-books to the +shortstop, focused his intellect on the C. N. & Q. timetable. "Oh, yes--you +leave Union Station, Baltimore, at 7:30 A.M., arriving at Eastminster at +noon; _it is the only train, you can get,_ to make it in time for the game, +so remember the hour--7.30 A.M.! Here, stuff the timetable in your pocket." + +In a few moments, the team and substitutes had been jammed into old Dan +Flannagan's jitney, and the Bannister youths on the campus concentrated +their interest on the sunny Hicks, who, grinning _a la_ Cheshire cat, +climbed atop of "The Dove," which old Dan was having as much trouble to +start as he had experienced for over twenty years with the late Lord +Nelson, his defunct quadruped. Seeing Hicks abstract a Louisville +Slugger from the bat-bag, the students roared facetious remarks at the +irrepressible youth: + +"Home-run Hicks--he made a home-run--_on a strike-out_!"--"Put Hicks in +the game, Captain Butch--he will win it."--"Watch Hicks--he'll pull +some _bonehead_ play!"--"Bring home the Championship, but--lose Hicks +somewhere!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., as the battered engine of the jit. yielded to +old Dan's cranking, and kindly consented to start, surveyed the yelling +students, seized a bat, and struck an attitude which he fatuously believed +was that of Ty Cobb, about to make a hit; taking advantage of a lull in the +tumult, the lovable youth howled at the hilarious crowd: + +"Just leave it to Hicks! I will win the game and the _Championship_, for my +Alma Mater, and--I'll do it by my headwork!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +T. HAVILAND HICKS, JR'S. HEADWORK + + +"Play Ball! Say, Bannister, are you _afraid_ to play?" + +"Call the game, Mr. Ump.--make 'em play ball!" + +"Batter up! Forfeit the game to Ballard, Umpire!" + +"Lend 'em Ballard's bat-boy-to make a full nine!" + +Captain Butch Brewster, his honest countenance, as a moving-picture +director would express it, "registering wrathful dismay," lumbered toward +the Ballard Field concrete dug-out, in which the Gold and Green players +had entrenched themselves, while from the stands, the Ballard cohorts +vociferated their intense impatience at the inexplicable delay. + +"We have _got_ to play," he raged, striding up and down before the bench. +"The game is ten minutes late now, and the crowd is restless! And here we +have only _eight_ 'Varsity players, and no one to make the ninth--not even +a sub.! Oh, I could--" + +"That brainless Skeet Wigglesworth!" ejaculated T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +who, arrayed like a lily of the field, reposed his splinter-structure on +the bench with his comrades. "In some way, he managed to _miss_ that train +from Baltimore! They didn't come on the noon C, N. & Q. train, and there +isn't another one until night. My directions were as plain as a German +war-map, and it beats me how Skeet got befuddled!" + +Gloom, as thick and abysmal as a London fog, hovered over the Bannister +dug-out. On the concrete bench, the seven Gold and Green athletes, Beef, +Monty, Roddy, Biff, Ichabod, Don, and Cherub, with Team Manager T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., stared silently at Captain Butch Brewster, who seemed in +imminent peril of exploding. Something probably never before heard of in +the annals of athletic history had happened. Bannister College, about to +play Ballard the big game for the State Championship, had lost a short-stop +and five substitutes, in some unfathomable manner, and it was impossible +to round up one other member of the Gold and Green baseball squad. True, a +hundred loyal alumni were in the stands, but only _bona fide_ students, of +course, were eligible to play the game, and--the Faculty ruling had kept +them at old Bannister! + +"Here comes Ballard's Manager," spoke Beef McNaughton, as a brisk, +clean-cut youth advanced, a yellow envelope in hand. "Why, he has a +telegram. Do you suppose Skeet actually had _brains_ enough to wire an +explanation?" + +"Telegram for Captain Brewster!" announced the Ballard collegian, giving +the message to that surprised behemoth. "It was sent in my care--collect, +and the sender, name of Wigglesworth, fired one to me personally, telling +me to deliver this one to Captain Butch Brewster, and collect from Team +Manager Hicks--he surely didn't bother to save money! I've been out of +town, and just got back to the campus; of course, the telegrams could not +be delivered to anyone but me, hence the delay." + +Big Butch, thanking the Ballard Team Manager, and assuring him that the +charges he had paid would be advanced to him after the game, ripped open +the yellow envelope, and drew out the message. Like a thunder-storm +gathering on the horizon, a dark expression came to good Butch's +countenance, and when he had perused the lengthy telegram, he transfixed +the startled and bewildered T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., with an angry glare: + +"_Bonehead_!" he raged, apparently controlling himself with a superhuman +effort. "Oh, you lunatic, you wretch, villain--you--_you_--" + +To the supreme amazement and dismay of the puzzled Hicks, Beef, next in +line, after _he_ had scanned Skeet's telegram, followed Butch's example, +for _he_ glowered at the perturbed youth, and heaped condemnations on his +devoted head. And so on down the line on the bench, until Monty, Roddy, +Biff, Ichabod, Don, and Cherub, reading the message, joined in gazing +indignantly at their gladsome Team Manager, who, as the eight arose _en +masse_ and advanced on him, sought to flee the wrath to come. + +"Safety first!" quoth T, Haviland Hicks, Jr. "'Mine not to reason why, mine +but to haste and fly,' or--be crushed! Ouch! Beef, Monty--have a heart!" + +Captured by Beef and Monty Merriweather, as he frantically scrambled up +the steps of the concrete dug-out, the grinning Hicks was held in the firm +grasp of that behemoth, Butch Brewster, aided by the skyscraper Ichabod, +while Cherub Challoner thrust the telegram before his eyes. In words of +fire that burned themselves into his brain--something his colleagues +denied he possessed--T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., saw the explanation of Skeet +Wigglesworth's missing the train from Baltimore that A. M. Dazed, the sunny +youth read the message on which over-charges must be paid: + + +"Hicks--you bonehead! The time-table of the C.N. & Q. you gave me was an +old one--schedule revised two weeks ago! Train now leaves Balto. at 6.55 +A.M.! When we got to station at 7.05 A.M. she had went! No train to Ballard +till night! I and subs, had to wire Bannister for money to get back on! +You mis-manager--the _head-work_ you boasted of is boneheadwork! Pay the +charges on this, you brainless insect! I'll send it to Butch, for you'd +never show it to him if I sent it to you! Indignantly-- + +"SKEET." + + +"_Mis_-manager is _right_!" seethed Captain Butch, for once in his campus +career really wrathy at the lovable Hicks. "We are in a fix--eight players, +and the crowd howling for the game to start. Oh, I could jump overboard, +and drag you with me!" + +"Bonehead! Bonehead!" chorused the Gold and Green players, indignantly. +"Gave Skeet an out-of-date time-table--never looked at the date! Let's drag +him out before the crowd, and announce to them his brilliant headwork!" + +Captain Butch, "up against it," to employ a slightly slang expression, +gazed across Ballard Field. In the stands, the students responding +thunderously to their cheer-leaders' megaphoned requests, roared, "Play +ball! Play ball! Play ball!" Gay pennants and banners fluttered in the +glorious sunshine of the June day. It was a bright scene, but its glory +awakened no happiness in the heart of the Bannister leader, as his gaze +wandered to the somewhat flabbergasted expression on the cheery Hicks' +face. That inevitably sunny youth, however, managed to conjure up a faint +resemblance of his Cheshire cat grin, and following his usual habit of +letting nothing daunt his gladsome spirit, he croaked feebly: "Oh, just +leave it to Hicks! I will--" + +"Play the game!" thundered Butch, inspired. "Beef, see the umpire and say +we'll be ready as soon as we get Hicks into togs-show him the telegram, and +explain our delay! I'll shift Monty from the outfield to Skeet's job at +short, and put this diluted imitation of something human in the field, to +do his worst. Come to the field-house, you poor fish--" + +"Oh, Butch, I can't--I just _can't_!" protested the alarmed Hicks, +helpless, as the big athlete towed him from the trench, "I--I can't play +ball, and I don't want to be shown up before all that mob! It's all right +at Bannister, in class-games, but--Oh, can't you play the game with _eight_ +fellows?" + +"That is just what we intend to do!" said Butch, with grim humor. +"But--we'll have a dummy in the ninth position, to make the people believe +we have a full nine! Cheer up, Hicks--'In the bright lexicon of youth +there ain't no such word as fail,' you say! As for your making a fool of +yourself, you haven't brains enough to be classed as one! Now--you'll pay +dearly for your bonehead play." + +Ten minutes later, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., as agitated as a _prima donna_ +making her debut with the Metropolitan: Opera Company, decorated the +Bannister bench, arrayed in one of the substitutes' baseball suits. It +was too large for his splinter-structure, so that it flapped grotesquely, +giving him a startling resemblance to a scarecrow escaped from a cornfield. +With the thermometer of his spirits registering zero, the dismayed youth, +whose punishment was surely fitting the crime, heard the Umpire bellow: + +"Play ball! Batter up! Bannister at bat--Ballard in the field!" + +Hicks, that sunny-souled youth, had often daydreamed of himself in a big +game of baseball, for his college. He had vividly imagined a ninth inning +crisis, three of the enemy on base, two out, and a long fly, good for a +home-run, soaring over his head. How he had sprinted--back--back--and at +the last second, reached high in the air, grabbing the soaring spheroid, +and saving the game for his Alma Mater! Often, too, he had stepped up to +bat in the final frame, with two out, one on base, and Bannister a run +behind. With the vast crowd silent and breathless, he had walloped the +ball, over the left-field fence, and jogged around the bases, thrilling to +the thunderous cheers of his comrades. But now-- + +_"Oooo!"_ shivered Hicks, as though he had just stepped beneath an icy +shower-bath. "I wish I could run away. I just _know_ they'll knock every +ball to me, and I couldn't catch one with a sheriff and posse!" + +However, since, despite the blithesome Hicks' lack of confidence, it was +that sunny Senior, after all, whom fate--or fortune, accordingly as +each nine viewed it--destined to be the hero of the Bannister-Ballard +Championship baseball contest, the game itself is shoved into such +insignificance that it can be briefly chronicled by recording the events +that led up to T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, self-prophesied "head-work." + +Without Skeet Wigglesworth at shortstop, with the futile Hicks in +right-field, and the confidence of the nine shaken, Captain Butch Brewster +and the Gold and Green players went into the big game, unable to shake off +the feeling that they would be defeated. And when Pitcher Don Carterson, +in his half of the frame, passed the first two Ballard batters, the belief +deepened to conviction. However, a fast double play and a long fly ended +the inning without damage, and Bannister, likewise, had failed to make an +impression on the score-board. In the second, Don promptly showed that he +was striving to rival the late Cy Morgan, of the Athletics, for he promptly +hit two batters and passed the third, whereupon, as sporting-writers +express it, he was "derricked" by Captain Butch. + +Placing the deposed twirler in left field, Captain Brewster, as a last +resort, believing the game hopelessly lost, with his star pitcher having +failed, and his relief slabmen, thanks to Hicks, mislaid _en route_, sent +out to the box one Ichabod Crane, brought in from the position given to +Don Carterson. This cadaverous, skyscraper Senior, who always announced, +himself as originating, "Back at Bedwell Center, Pa., where I come from--" +was well known to fame as the "Champion Horse-Shoe Pitcher of Bucks +County," but his baseball pitching was rather uncertain; like the girl in +the nursery jingle, Ichabod, as a twirler, "When he was good, he was very, +very good, and when he was wild, he was _horrid_!" Like Christy Mathewson, +after he had pitched a few balls, he knew whether or not he was in +shape for the game, and so did the spectators. With terrific speed and +bewildering curves, Ichabod would have made a star, but his wildness +prevented, and only on very rare days could he control the ball. + +Luckily for old Bannister's chances of victory and the Championship, this +was one of the elongated Ichabod's rare days. He ambled into the box, with +the bases full, and promptly struck out a batter. The next rolled to first, +forcing out the runner at home, while the third hitter under Ichabod's +regime drove out a long fly to center-field. Thus the game settled to one +of the most memorable contests that Ballard Field had ever witnessed, a +pitchers' battle between the awkward, bean-pole youth from "Bedwell Center, +Pa.," and Bob Forsythe, the crack Ballard twirler. It was a fight long +to be remembered, with hits as scarce as auks' eggs, and runs out of the +reckoning, for six innings. + +At the start of the seventh, with the Ballard rooters standing and +thundering, "The lucky seventh! Ballard--win the game in the lucky +seventh!" the score was 0-0. Only two hits had been made off Forsythe, of +Ballard, whose change of pace had the Bannister nine at his mercy, and +but three off Ichabod, who had superb control of his dazzling speed. T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., cavorting in right field, had made the only error of +the contest, dropping an easy fly that fell into his hands after he had run +bewilderedly in circles, when any good fielder could have stood still and +captured it; however, since he got the ball to second in time to hold the +runner at third, no harm resulted. + +"Hold 'em, Bannister, _hold_ 'em!" entreated Butch Brewster, as they went +to the field at their end of the lucky seventh, not having scored. "Do your +best, Hicks, old man--never mind their Jokes. If you can't _catch_ +the ball, just get it to second, or first, without delay! Pitch ball, +Ichabod--three innings to hold 'em!" + +But it was destined to be the lucky seventh for Ballard. An error on a hard +chance, for Roddy Perkins, at third, placed a runner on first. Ichabod +struck out a hitter, and the runner stole second, aided somewhat by the +umpire. The next player flew out, sacrificing the runner to third; then--an +easy fly traveled toward the paralyzed T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., one that +anybody with the most infinitesimal baseball ability could have corralled, +as Butch said, "with his eyes blindfolded, and his hands tied behind him!" +But Hicks, who possessed absolutely _no_ baseball talent, though he made +a desperate try, succeeded in doing an European juggling act for five +heartbreaking seconds, after which he let the law of gravity act on the +sphere, so that it descended to terra firma. Hence, the "Lucky Seventh" +ended with the score: Ballard, 1; Bannister, 0; and the Ballard cohorts in +a state bordering on lunacy! + +"Oh, I've done it now--I've lost the game and the Championship!" groaned +the crushed Hicks, as he stumbled toward the Bannister bench. "First I made +that bonehead play, giving Skeet an old time-table I had on hand, and not +telling him to get one at the station. How was _I_ to know the old railroad +would change the schedule, within two weeks of this game? And now--I've +made the error that gives Ballard the Championship. If I hadn't pulled that +boner, Skeet would be here, and the regular right-fielder would have had +that fly. What a glorious climax to my athletic career at old Bannister!" + +Hicks' comrades were too generous, or heartbroken, to condemn the sorrowful +youth, as he trailed to the dug-out, but the Ballard rooters had absolutely +no mercy, and they panned him in regulation style. In fact, all through +the game, Hicks expressed himself as being butchered by the fans to make a +Ballard holiday, for he struck out with unfailing regularity at bat, and +dropped everything in the field, so that the rooters jeered him, whenever +he stepped to the plate, and--it was quite different from the good-natured +ridicule of his comrades, back at old Bannister. + +"Never mind, Hicks," said good Butch Brewster, brokenly, seeing how +sorrow-stricken his sunny classmate was, "We'll beat 'em--yet! We bat this +inning, and in the ninth maybe someone will knock a home-run for us, and +tie the score." + +The eighth Inning was the lucky one for the Gold and Green. Monty +Merriweather opened with a clean two-base hit to left, and advanced to +third on Biff Pemberton's sacrifice to short. Butch, trying to knock a +home-run, struck out-_a la_ "Cactus" Cravath in the World's Series; but the +lanky Ichabod, endeavoring to bunt, dropped a Texas-Leaguer over second, +and the score was tied, though the sky-scraper twirler was caught off base +a moment later. And, though Ballard fought hard in the last of the eighth, +Ichabod displayed big-league speed, and retired two hitters by the +strike-out route, while the third popped out to first. + +"The _ninth_ Inning!" breathed Beef McNaughton, picking up his Louisville +Slugger, as he strode to the plate. "Come on, boys--we will win the +Championship _right now_. Get one run, and Ichabod will hold Ballard one +more time!" + +Perhaps the pachydermic Beef's grim attitude unnerved the wonderful Bob +Forsythe, for he passed that elephantine youth. However, he regained his +splendid control, and struck out Cherub Challoner on three pitched balls. +After this, it was a shame to behold the Ballard first-baseman drop the +ball, when Don Carterson grounded to third, and would have been thrown +out with ease--with two on base, and one out, Roddy Perkins made a sharp +single, on which the two runners advanced a base. Now, with the sacks +filled, and with only one out-- + +"It's all over!" mourned Captain Butch Brewster, rocking back and forth on +the bench. "Hicks--is--at--bat!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his bat wobbling, and his knees acting in a similar +fashion, refusing to support even that fragile frame, staggered toward the +plate, like a martyr. A tremendous howl of unearthly joy went up from the +stands, for Hicks had struck out every time yet. + +"Three pitched balls, Bob!" was the cry. "Strike him out! It's all over but +the shouting! He's scared to death, Forsythe--he can't hit a barn-door +with a scatter-gun! One--two--three--out! Here's where Ballard wins the +Championship." + +Twice the grinning Bob Forsythe cut loose with blinding speed--twice the +extremely alarmed Hicks dodged back, and waved a feeble Chautauqua salute +at the ball he never even saw! Then--trying to "cut the inside corner" with +a fast inshoot, Forsythe's control wavered a trifle, and T. Haviland Hicks, +Jr., saw the ball streaking toward him! The paralyzed youth felt like a man +about to be shot by a burglar. He could feel the bail thud against him, +feel the terrific shock; and yet--a thought instinctively flashed on him, +he remembered, in a flash, what a tortured Monty Merriweather had shouted, +as he wobbled to bat: + +"Get a base on balls, or--if you can't _make_ a hit--_get hit_!" + +If he got hit--it meant a run forced in, as the bases were full! That, in +all probability, would give old Bannister the Championship, for Ichabod was +invincible. It is not likely that the dazed Hicks thought all this out, and +weighed it against the agony of getting hit by Forsythe's speed. The truth +is, the paralyzed youth was too petrified by fear to dodge, and that before +he could avoid it, the speeding spheroid crashed against his noble brow +with a sickening impact. + +All went black before him, T, Haviland Hicks, Jr., pale and limp, crumpled, +and slid to the ground, senseless; therefore, he failed to hear the roar +from the Bannister bench, from the loyal Gold and Green rooters in the +stands, as big Beef lumbered across the plate with what proved later to be +the winning run. He did not hear the Umpire shout: "Take your base!" + + "What's the matter with our Hicks--he's all right! + What's the matter with our Hicks--he's all right! + He was never a star in the baseball game, + But he won the Championship just the same-- + What's the matter with our Hicks-he's all right!" + +"Honk! Honk!" Old Dan Flannagan's jitney-bus, rattling up the driveway, +bearing back to the Bannister campus the victorious Gold and Green nine, +and the State Intercollegiate Baseball Championship, though the hour was +midnight, found every student on the grass before the Senior Fence! Over +three hundred leather-lunged youths, aided by the Bannister Band, and every +known noise-making device, hailed "The Dove," as that unseaworthy craft +halted before them, with the baseball nine inside, and on top. However, the +terrific tumult stilled, as the bewildered collegians caught the refrain +from the exuberant players: + + "He was never a star in the baseball game-- + But he won the Championship just the same-- + What's the matter with our Hicks--he's all right!" + +"Hicks did what?" shrieked Skeezicks McCracken, voicing through a megaphone +the sentiment of the crowd. Captain Butch had simply telegraphed the final +score, so old Bannister was puzzled to hear the team lauding T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., who, still white and weak, with a bandage around his classic +forehead, maintained a phenomenal quiet, atop of "The Dove," leaning +against Butch Brewster. + +"Fellows," shouted Butch, despite Hicks' protest, rising to his feet on the +roof of the "jit."--"T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., today won the game and the +Championship! Listen--" + +The vast crowd of erstwhile clamorous youths stood spellbound, as Captain +Butch Brewster, in graphic sentences, described the game--Don Carterson's +failure, Ichabod's sensational pitching, Hicks' errors, and--the wonderful +manner in which the futile youth had won the Championship! As little Skeet +Wigglesworth and the five substitutes, who had returned that afternoon, had +spread the story of Hicks' bonehead play, old Bannister had turned out to +ridicule and jeer good-naturedly the sunny youth, but now they learned that +Hicks had been forced by his own mistake into the Big Game, and had won it! +Of course, his comrades knew it had been through no ability of his, but the +knowledge that he had been knocked senseless by Forsythe's great speed, and +had suffered so that his college might score, thrilled them. + +"What's the matter with Hicks?" thundered Thor, he who at one time would +have called this riot foolishness, and forgetting that the nine had just +chanted the response to this query. + +"He's all right!" chorused the collegians, in ecstasy. + +"Who's all right?" demanded John Thorwald, his blond head towering over +those of his comrades. To him, now, there was nothing silly about this +performance! + +"Hicks! Hicks! Hicks!" came the shout, and the band fanfared, while the +exultant collegians shouted, sang, whistled, and created an indescribable +tumult with their noise-making devices. For five minutes the ear-splitting +din continued, a wonderful tribute to the lovable, popular youth, and then +it stilled so suddenly that the result was startling, for--T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., swaying on his feet arose, and stood on the roof of the "jit." + +With that heart-warming Cheshire cat grin on his cherubic countenance, the +irrepressible Hicks seized a Louisville Slugger, assumed a Home-Run Baker +batting pose, and shouted to his breathlessly waiting comrades: + +"Fellows, I vowed I would win that baseball game and the Championship for +my Alma Mater by my headwork! With the bases full, and the score a tie, the +Ballard pitcher hit me in the head with the ball, forcing in the run that +won for old Ballard--now, if that wasn't _headwork_--" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +BANNISTER GIVES HICKS A SURPRISE PARTY + + + "We have come to the close of our college days. + Golden campus years soon must end; + From Bannister we shall go our ways-- + And friend shall part from friend! + On our Alma Mater now we gaze, + And our eyes are filled with tears; + For we've come to the close of our college days, + And the end of our campus years!" + +Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., Bannister, '92; Yale, '96, and Pittsburgh +millionaire "Steel King," stood at the window of Thomas Haviland Hicks, +Jr.'s, room, his arm across the shoulders of that sunny-souled Senior, his +only son and heir. Father and son stood, gazing down at the campus. On the +Gym steps was a group of Seniors, singing songs of old Bannister, songs +tinged with sadness. Up to Hicks' windows, on the warm June: night, drifted +the 1916 Class Ode, to the beautiful tune, "A Perfect Day." Over before the +Science Hall, a crowd of joyous alumni laughed over narratives of their +campus escapades. Happy undergraduates, skylarking on the campus, +celebrated the end of study, and gazed with some awe at the Seniors, in cap +and gown, suddenly transformed into strange beings, instead of old comrades +and college-mates. + +"'The close of our college days, and the end of our campus years--!'" +quoted Mr. Hicks, a mist before his eyes as he gazed at the scene. "In a +few days, Thomas, comes the final parting from old Bannister--I know it +will be hard, for _I_ had to leave the dear old college, and also Yale. But +you have made a splendid record in your studies, you have been one of +the most popular fellows here, and--you have vastly pleased your Dad, by +winning your B in the high-jump." + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, last study-sprint was at an end, the final Exams. +of his Senior year had been passed with what is usually termed flying +colors; and to the whole-souled delight of the lovable youth, he and little +Theophilus Opperdyke, the Human Encyclopedia, had, as Hicks chastely +phrased it, "run a dead heat for the Valedictory!" So close had their +final averages been that the Faculty, after much consideration, decided to +announce at the Commencement exercises that the two Seniors had tied for +the highest collegiate honors, and everyone was satisfied with the verdict. +So, now it was all ended; the four years of study, athletics, campus +escapades, dormitory skylarking--the golden years of college life, were +about to end for 1919. Commencement would officially start on the morrow, +but tonight, in the Auditorium, would be held the annual Athletic +Association meeting, when those happy athletes who had won their B during +the year would have it presented, before the assembled collegians, by +one-time gridiron, track, and diamond heroes of old Bannister. + +And--the ecstatic Hicks would have his track B, his white letter, won in +the high-jump, thanks to Caesar Napoleon's assistance, awarded him by his +beloved Dad, the greatest all-round athlete that ever wore the Gold and +Green! Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., _en route_ to New Haven and Yale in +his private car, "Vulcan," had reached town that day, together with other +members of Bannister College, Class of '92. They, as did all the old +grads., promptly renewed past memories and associations by riding up to +College Hill in Dan Flannagan's jitney-bus--a youthful, hilarious crowd of +alumni. Former students, alumni, parents of graduating Seniors, friends, +sweethearts--every train would bring its quota. The campus would again +throb and pulsate with that perennial quickening--Commencement. Three days +of reunions, Class Day exercises, banquets, and other events, then the +final exercises, and--T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., would be an alumnus! + +"It's like Theophilus told Thor, last fall, Dad," said the serious Hicks. +"You know what Shakespeare said: 'This thou perceivest, which makes thy +love more strong; To love that well which thou must leave ere long.' Now +that I soon shall leave old Bannister, I--I wish I had studied more, had +done bigger things for my Alma Mater! And for you, Dad, too; I've won a B, +but perhaps, had I trained and exercised more, I might have annexed another +letter--still; hello, what's Butch hollering--?" + +Big Butch Brewster, his pachydermic frame draped in his gown, and his +mortar-board cap on his head, for the Seniors were required to wear their +regalia during Commencement week, was bellowing through a megaphone, as he +stood on the steps of Bannister Hall, and Mr. Hicks, with his cheerful son, +listened: + +"Everybody--Seniors, Undergrads., Alumni--in the Auditorium at eight sharp! +We are going to give Mr. Hicks and T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., a surprise +party--don't miss the fun!" + +"Now, just what does Butch mean, Dad?" queried the bewildered Senior. +"Something is in the wind. For two days, the fellows have had a secret +from me--they whisper and plot, and when _I_ approach, loudly talk of +athletics, or Commencement! Say, Butch--_Butch_--I ain't a-comin' tonight, +unless you explain the mystery." + +"Oh, yes, you be, old sport!" roared Butch, from the campus, employing the +megaphone, "or you don't get your letter! Say, Hicks, one sweetly solemn +thought attacks me--old Bannister is puzzling _you_ with a mystery, instead +of vice versa, as is usually the case." + +"Well, Thomas," said Mr. Hicks, his face lighted by a humorous, kindly +smile, as he heard the storm of good-natured jeers at Hicks, Jr., that +greeted Butch Brewster's fling, "I'll stroll downtown, and see if any of +my old comrades came on the night express. I'll see you at the Athletic +Association meeting, for I believe I am to hand you the B. I can't imagine +what this 'surprise party' is, but I don't suppose it will harm us. It will +surely be a happy moment, son, when I present you with the athletic letter +you worked so hard to win." + +When T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, beloved Dad had gone, his firm stride +echoing down the corridor, that blithesome, irrepressible collegian, whom +old Bannister had come to love as a generous, sunny-souled youth, stood +again by the window, gazing out at the campus. Now, for the first time, he +fully realized what a sad occasion a college Commencement really is--to +those who must go forth from their Alma Mater forever. With almost the +force of a staggering blow, Hicks suddenly saw how it would hurt to leave +the well-loved campus and halls of old Bannister, to go from those comrades +of his golden years. In a day or so, he must part from good Butch, Pudge, +Beef, Ichabod, Monty, Roddy, Cherub, loyal little Theophilus and all his +classmates of '19, as well as from his firm friends of the undergraduates. +It would be the parting from the youths of his class that would cost him +the greatest regret. Four years they had lived together the care-free +campus life. From Freshmen to Seniors they had grown and developed +together, and had striven for 1919 and old Bannister, while a love for +their Alma Mater had steadily possessed their hearts. And now soon they +must sing, "Vale, Alma Mater!" and go from the campus and corridors, as +Jack Merritt, Heavy Hughes, Biff McCabe, and many others had done before +them. + +Of course, they would return to old Bannister. There would be alumni +banquets at mid-year and Commencement, with glad class reunions each year. +They would come back for the big games of the football or baseball season. +But it would never be the same. The glad, care-free, golden years of +college life come but once, and they could never live them, as of old. + +"Caesar's Ghost!" ejaculated T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., making a dive for his +beloved banjo, as he awakened to the startling fact that for some time he +had been intensely serious. "This will never, never do. I must maintain my +blithesome buoyancy to the end, and entertain old Bannister with my musical +ability. Here goes." + +Assuming a striking pose, _a la_ troubadour, at the open window, T. +Haviland Hicks, Jr., a somewhat paradoxical figure, his splinter-structure +enshrouded in the gown, the cap on his classic head, this regalia symbolic +of dignity, and the torturesome banjo in his grasp, twanged a ragtime +accompaniment, and to the bewilderment of the old Grads on the campus, as +well as the wrath of 1919, he roared in his fog-horn voice: + + "Oh, I love for to live in the country! + And I love for to live on the farm! + I love for to wander in the grass-green fields-- + Oh, a country life has the charm! + I love for to wander in the garden-- + Down by the old haystack; + Where the pretty little chickens go 'Kick-Kack-Kackle!' + And the little docks go 'Quack! Quack!'" + +From the Seniors on the Gym steps, their dignified song rudely shattered by +this rollicking saenger-fest, came a storm of protests; to the unbounded +delight of the alumni, watching the scene with interest, shouts, jeers, +whistles, and cat-calls greeted Hicks' minstrelsy: + +"Tear off his cap and gown--he's a disgrace to '19!" + +"Shades of Schumann-Heink--give that calf more rope!" + +"Ye gods--how long must we endure--that?" + +"Hicks, a Senior--nobody home--can that noise!" + +"Shoot him at sunrise! Where's his Senior dignity?" + +Big Butch Brewster, referring to his watch, bellowed through the megaphone +that it was nearly eight o'clock, and loudly suggested that they forcibly +terminate Hicks' saengerfest, and spare the town police force a riot call +to the campus, by transporting the pestiferous youth to the Auditorium, +for his "surprise party." His idea finding favor, he, with Beef and Pudge, +somewhat hampered by their gowns, lumbered up the stairway of Bannister, +and down the third-floor corridor to the offending Hicks' boudoir, followed +by a yelling, surging crowd of Seniors and underclassmen. They invaded the +graceless youth's room, much to the pretended alarm of that torturesome +collegian, who believed that the entire student-body of old Bannister had +foregathered to wreak vengeance on his devoted head. + +"_Mercy_! Have a heart, fellows!" plead T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., helpless in +the clutches of Butch, Beef, and Pudge, "I won't never do it no more, no +time! Say, this is too much--much too much--too much much too much--I, +Oh--_help--aid--succor--relief--assistance--"_ + +"To the Auditorium with the wretch!" boomed Butch; and the splinter-youth +was borne aloft, on his broad shoulders, assisted by Beef McNaughton. They +transported the grinning Hicks down the corridor, while fifty noisy youths, +howling, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow!" tramped after them. Downstairs +and across the campus the hilarious procession marched, and into the +Auditorium, where the students and alumni were gathering for the awarding +of the athletic B. A thunderous shout went up, as T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +was carried to the stage and deposited in a chair. + +"_Hicks! Hicks! Hicks_! We've got a surprise for--_Hicks_!" + +"Now, just what have I did to deserve all these?" grinned that +happy-go-lucky youth, puzzled, nevertheless. "Well, time will tell, so all +I can do is to possess my soul with impatience; old Bannister has a mystery +for me, this trip!" + +In fifteen minutes, the Athletic Association meeting opened. On the stage, +beside its officers, were those athletes, including T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +who were to receive that coveted reward--their B, together with a number of +one-time famous Bannister gridiron, track, basketball, and diamond stars. +Each youth was to receive his monogram from some ex-athlete who once wore +the Gold and Green, and Hicks' beloved Dad--Bannister's greatest hero--was +to present his son with the letter. + +There were speeches; the Athletic Association's President explained the +annual meeting, former Bannister students and athletic idols told of past +triumphs on Bannister Field; the football Championship banner, and the +baseball pennant were flaunted proudly, and each team-captain of the year +was called upon to talk. Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., a great favorite +on the campus, delivered a ringing speech, an appeal to the undergraduates +for clean living, and honorable sportsmanship, and then: + +"We now come to the awarding of the athletic B," stated the President. "The +Secretary will call first the name of the athlete, and then the alumnus who +will present him with the letter. In the name of the Athletic Association +of old Bannister, I congratulate those fellows who are now to be rewarded +for their loyalty to their Alma Mater!" + +Thrilled, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., watched his comrades, as they responded +to their names, and had the greatest glory, the B, placed in their hands by +past Bannister athletic heroes. Butch, Beef, Roddy, Monty, Ichabod, Biff, +Hefty, Tug, Buster, Deacon Radford, Cherub, Don, Skeet, Thor, who had +won the hammer-throw. These, and many others, having earned the award by +playing in three-fourths of a season's games on the eleven or the nine, or +by winning a first place in some track event, stepped forward, and were +rewarded. Some, as good Butch, had gained their B many times, but the fact +that this was their last letter, made the occasion a sad one. Every name +was called but that of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., and that perturbed youth +wondered at the omission, when the President spoke: + +"The last name," he said, smiling, "is that of Thomas Haviland Hicks, Jr., +and we are glad to have his father present the letter to his son, as Mr. +Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., is with us. However, we Bannister fellows have +prepared a surprise party for our lovable comrade, and I beg your patience +awhile, as I explain." + +Graphically, Dad Pendleton described the wonderful all-round athletic +record made by Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., while at old Bannister, and +sketched briefly but vividly his phenomenal record at Yale; he told of +Mr. Hicks' great ambition, for his only son, Thomas, to follow in his +footsteps--to be a star athlete, and shatter the marks made by his Dad. +Then he reminded the Bannister students of T. Haviland Hicks, Jr.'s, +athletic fiascos, hilarious and otherwise, of three years. He explained how +that cheery youth, grinning good-humoredly at his comrades' jeers, had been +in earnest, striving to realize his father's ambition. As the spellbound +collegians and grads. listened, Dad chronicled Hicks' dogged persistence, +and how he finally, in his Senior year, won his track B in the high-jump. +Then he described the biggest game of the past football season, the contest +that brought the Championship to old Bannister. The youths and alumni heard +how T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., made a great sacrifice, for the greater goal; +how, after training faithfully in secret for a year, hoping sometime to win +a game for his Alma Mater, he cheerfully sacrificed his chance to tie the +score by a drop-kick, and became the pivotal part of a fake-kick play that +won for the Gold and Green. + +"I have left Hicks' name until last," said Dad, with a smile, "because +tonight we have a surprise party for our sunny comrade, and for his Dad. In +the past, the eligibility rule, as regards the football and baseball B, has +been--an athlete must play on the 'Varsity in three-fourths of the season's +games. But, just before the Hamilton game, last fall, the Advisory Board of +the Athletic Association amended this rule. + +"We decided to submit to the required two-thirds majority vote of the +students this plan, inasmuch as many athletes, toiling and sacrificing all +season for their college, never get to win their letter, yet deserve +that reward for their loyalty, we suggested that Bannister imitate the +universities. Anyone sent into the Yale-Harvard game, you know, wins his +H or Y. If one team is safely ahead, a lot of scrubs are run into the +scrimmage, to give them their letter. Therefore, we--the Advisory +Board--made this rule: 'Any athlete taking part, for any period of time +whatsoever, in the Ballard football or baseball game as a regular member of +the first team shall be eligible for his Gold or Green B. This rule, upon +approval of the students, to be effective from September 25!' + +"Now," continued the Athletic Association President, "we decided to keep +this new ruling a secret until the present, for this reason: Many good +football and baseball players, not making the first teams, lack the loyalty +to stick on the scrubs, and others, not as brilliant, but with more +college spirit, give their best until the season's end. We knew that if we +announced this rule last fall, several slackers, who had quit the squad, +would come out again, just on the hope of getting sent into the Ballard +game, for their B. This would not be fair to those who loyally stuck to the +scrubs. So we did not announce the rule until the year closed, and then a +practically unanimous vote of the students made the rule effective from +September 25. So--all athletes who took part in the Ballard football game, +last fall, for any period of time whatsoever, are eligible for the gold B, +and the same, as regards the green letter, applies to the Ballard baseball +game this spring." + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., gasped. Slowly, the glorious truth dawned on the +happy-go-lucky Senior--he had been sent into the Bannister-Ballard football +game; the crucial and deciding play had turned on him, hence he had won his +gold letter! And thanks to his brilliant "mismanaging" of the nine, losing +shortstop Skeet Wigglesworth and the substitutes, he had played the entire +nine innings of the Ballard-Bannister baseball contest, and, therefore, +was eligible for his green B. In a dazed condition, he heard Dad Pendleton +saying: + +"You remember how T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., was sent into the Ballard +game, and how the fake-play fooled Ballard, who believed he would try +a drop-kick? Well, knowing Hicks to be eligible for his football B, we +planned a surprise party. The Advisory Board kept the new rule a secret, +and not until this week was it voted on. Then, the required two-thirds +majority made it effective from last September--we managed to have Hicks +absent from the voting, and the fellows helped us with our surprise! So +instead of Mr. Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr., presenting his son with one +B, that for track work, we are glad to hand him _three_ letters, one for +football, one for baseball, and one for track, to give our own T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr. And, let me add, he can accept them with a clear conscience, for +when the rule was made by the Advisory Board, we had no idea that Hicks +would ever be eligible in football or baseball." + +A moment of silence, and then undergraduates and alumni, thrilled at Dad +Pendleton's announcement, arose in a body, and howled for T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., and his beloved Dad. Mr. Hicks, unable to speak, silently +placed the three monograms, gold, green, and white, in his son's hands, and +placed his own on the shoulders of that sunny-souled Senior, who for once +in his heedless career could not say a word! + +"What's the matter with Hicks?" Big Butch Brewster roared, and a terrific +response sounded: + +"He's all right! Hicks! Hicks! Hicks!" + +For ten minutes pandemonium reigned. Then, regardless of the fact that, in +order to surprise Mr. Hicks and his son, other athletes, eligible under the +new rule, had yet to be presented with their B, the howling youths swarmed +on the stage, hoisted the grinning T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., and his happy +Dad to their shoulders, and started a wild parade around the campus and the +Quadrangle, singing: + +"Here's to our own Hicks--drink it down! Drink it down! Here's to our own +Hicks--drink it down! Drink it down! Here's to our own Hicks--When he +starts a thing, he sticks--Drink it down--drink it down--down! Down! +Down!" + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., aloft on the shoulders of his behemoth class-mate, +Butch Brewster, was deliriously happy. The surprise party of his campus +comrades was a wonderful one, and he could scarcely realize that he had +actually, by the Athletic Association ruling, won his three B's! How glad +his beloved Dad, was, too. He had not expected this bewildering happiness. +He had been so joyous, when his sort earned the track letter, but to +have him leave old Bannister, with a B for three sports--it was almost +unbelievable! And, as Dad had said--there had been no thought of Hicks when +the Advisory Board made the rule, so Hicks had no reason to suppose it was +done just to award him his letter. + +Then, Hicks remembered that rash vow, made at the end of his Freshman year, +a vow uttered with absolutely no other thought than a desire to torment +Butch Brewster, "Before I graduate from old Bannister, I shall have won +my B in three branches of sport!" Never, not even for a moment, had the +happy-go-lucky youth believed that his wild prophecy would be fulfilled, +though he had pretended to be confident to tease his loyal comrades; but +now, at the very end of his campus days, just before he graduated, his +prediction had come true! So the sunny Senior, who four years before had +made his rash vow, saw its realization, and suddenly thrilled with the +knowledge that he had a golden opportunity to make Butch indignant. + +"Oh, I say, Butch," he drawled, nonchalantly, leaning down to talk in +Butch's ear, "do you recall that day, at the close of our Freshman year, +when I vowed to win my B in three branches of sport, ere I bade farewell to +old Bannister?" + +"No, you don't get away with that!" exploded Butch Brewster, indignantly, +lowering his tantalizing classmate to terra firma. "Here, Beef, Pudge, +catch this wretch; he intends to swagger and say--" + +But he was too late, for T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., dodging from his grasp, +imitated the celebrated Charley Chaplin strut, and satiated his fun-loving +soul. After waiting for three years, the irrepressible youth realized an +ambition he had never imagined would be fulfilled. + +"Oh, just leave it to Hicks!" quoth he, gladsomely. "I told you I'd win +my three B's, Butch, old top, and--_ow_!--unhand me, you villain, you +_hurt_!" + + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"VALE, ALMA MATER!" + + + "Oh, it was '_Ave_, Alma Mater--' + We sang as Freshmen gay; + But it's '_Vale_, Alma Mater' now + As our last farewells we say!" + +"_Honk-Honk! Br-r-rr-r-Bang! Honk-Monk! Br-rr-rr-r--"_ + +T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., big Butch Brewster, Beef McNaughton, Pudge Langdon, +Scoop Sawyer, and little Theophilus Opperdyke--late Seniors of old +Bannister--roosted atop of good old Dan Flannagan's famous jitney-bus +before Bannister Hall. It was nearly time for the 9.30 A. M. express, but +the "peace-ship" had inconsiderately stalled, and the choking, wheezing, +and snorting of the engine, as old Dan frenziedly cranked, together with +the Claxon, operated by Skeet Wigglesworth, rudely interrupted the Seniors' +chant. A vociferous protest arose above the tumult: + +"Oh, the little old _Ford_--rambled right along--like heck!" + +"Can that noise-we want to sing a last song, boys!" + +"Chuck that engine, Dan, and put in an alarm clock spring!" + +"Christmas is coming, Dan-u-el--we've graduated you know!" + +"'The Dove' doesn't want us to leave old Bannister, fellows!" + +Commencement was ended. The night before, on the stage of Alumni Hall, +before a vast audience of old Bannister grads, undergraduates, friends, and +relatives of the Seniors, the Class of 1919 had received its sheepskins, +and the "Go forth, my children, and live!" of its Alma Mater. T, Haviland +Hicks, Jr., and timorous little Theophilus had jointly delivered the +Valedictory, eight other Seniors, including Butch, Scoop, and the lengthy +Ichabod, had swayed the crowd with oratory. Kindly old Prexy, his voice +tremulous, had talked to them, as students, for the last time. The Class +Ode had been sung, the Class Shield unveiled, and then--Hicks and his +comrades of '19 were alumni! + +It had been a busy, thrilling time, Commencement Week. There had been +scarcely any spare moments to ponder on the parting so soon to come; after +the memorable Athletic Association meeting, when T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., +and his beloved Dad had been given a wonderful "surprise party" by the +collegians, and Hicks had corralled his three B's, time had "sprinted with +spiked shoes," as the sunny Hicks stated. Event had followed event in +bewildering fashion. The Seniors, dignified in cap and gown, had been feted +and banqueted, the cynosure of all eyes. Campus and town were filled with +visitors. Old Bannister pulsated with renewed life, with the glad reunions +of former students. There had been the Alumni Banquet, the annual baseball +game between the 'Varsity and old-time Gold and Green diamond stars, Class +Night exercises, the Literary Society Oratorical Contests, and the last +Class Supper; and, Commencement had come. + +It was all ended now--the four happy, golden years of campus life, of glad +fellowship with each other; like those who had gone before, T. Haviland +Hicks, Jr., and his comrades of 1919 had come to the final parting. The +sunny-souled youth's Dad had gone to New Haven, to Yale's Commencement. +Alumni and visitors had left town; the night before had witnessed farewells +with Monty, Roddy, Biff, Hefty, and the underclassmen, with that awakened +Colossus, John Thorwald. All the collegians had gone, except the few +Seniors now leaving, and they had remained to enjoy Hicks' final Beefsteak +Bust downtown at Jerry's. + +The campus was silent and deserted. No footsteps or voices echoed in the +dormitories, and a shadow of sadness hovered over all. The youths who were +leaving old Bannister forever felt an ache in their throats, and little +Theophilus Opperdyke's big-rimmed spectacles were fogged with tears. Three +times, in the past, they had left the campus, but this was forever, as +collegians! + +"I don't care if we miss the old train!" declared Scoop Sawyer, as the +jitney-Ford's engine wheezed, gasped, and was silent, for all of Dan's +cranking. "Just think, fellows, it's all over now--'We have come to the end +of our college days-golden campus years are at an end--!' Say, Hicks, old +man, what's your Idea. What future have you blue-printed?" + +"Journalism!" announced T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., sticking a fountain pen +behind his ear, and fatuously supposing he resembled a City Editor, "In me +you behold an embryo Richard Harding Davis, or Ty--no, I mean Irvin Cobb. +I shall first serve my apprenticeship as a 'cub,' but ere many years, I +shall sit at a desk, run a newspaper, and tell the world where to get off." + +"That is--If Dad says so!" chuckled Butch Brewster. "You know, Hicks, it's +the same old story--your father wants you to learn how to own steel and +iron mills, and when it comes to a showdown, you must convince Mr. Thomas +Haviland Hicks, Sr., that you'd make a better journalist than Steel King!" + +"Nay, nay-say not so!" responded the happy-go-lucky alumnus of old +Bannister, as the perspiring Dan Flannagan cranked away futilely. "My Dad +has a broader vision, fellows, than most men. He and I talked it over last +night, and he would never try to make me take up anything but a work that +appeals to me. While, as Butch says, he'd like to train me to follow in his +footsteps, he understands my ambition so thoroughly that he is trying to +get me started--read this:" + +The lovable youth produced a letter, the envelope bearing the heading: "THE +BALTIMORE CHRONICLE;" Butch Brewster, to whom he extended it, read aloud: + + +"Baltimore, Maryland, + +"June 12, 1919. + +"DEAR OLD CLASSMATE: + +"I'd sure like to be with you, back at old Yale, next week, but I can't +leave the wheel of this ship, the _Chronicle_, for even a day. Give my +regards to all of old Eli, '96, old man. + +"As regards a berth for your son, Thomas. The _Chronicle_ usually takes +on a few college men during the summer, when our staff is off on +vacations. We always use undergraduates, and often, in two or three +summers, we develop them into star reporters. However, for old time's +sake, I'll be glad to give your son a chance, and if he means business, +let him report for duty next Friday, at 1 P.M., to my office. +Understand, Hicks, he must come here and fight his own way, without any +favor or special help from me. Were he the son of our nation's +President, I'd not treat him a whit better than the rest of the Staff, +so let him know that in advance. On the other hand, I'll develop him all +I can, and if he has the ability, the _Chronicle_ long-room is the place +for him. + +"Yours for old Yale, + +"'Doc' Whalen, Yale, '96, + +"City Editor--_THE CHRONICLE_." + + +"Here's my Dad's ultimatum," grinned Hicks, when. Butch finished the +letter. "I am to take a summer as a cub on the _Baltimore Chronicle_, +making my own way, and living on my weekly salary, without financial aid +from anyone. If, at the end of the summer, City Editor Whalen reports that +I've made good enough to be retained as a regular, then--Yours truly for +the Fourth Estate. If I fail, then I follow a course charted out by Mr. +Thomas Haviland Hicks, Sr.! So, it is up to me to make good--" + +"You--you will make good, Hicks," quavered Theophilus, whose faith in the +shadow-like youth was prodigious. "Oh, that will be splendid, for I am +going to take a course at a business college in Baltimore. I want to become +an expert stenographer, and we'll be together." + +"It's work now, fellows!" sighed Beef McNaughton, shifting his huge bulk +atop of the jit "College years are ended, we're chucked into the world, to +make good, or fail! Butch and I have not decided on our work yet. We may +accept jobs as bank or railroad presidents, or maybe run for President +of the U.S.A., provided John McGraw or Connie Mack do not sign us up. +However--" + +At that moment, the engine of old Dan Flannagan's battered "Dove" consented +to hit on two cylinders, and the genial Irishman, who was to transport +Hicks and his comrades, as collegians, for the last time, yelled, "_All +aboard_!" loudly, to conceal his emotion at the sad scene. + +"We're off!" shrieked Skeet Wigglesworth, stowed away below, as the +jitney-bus moved down the driveway. "Farewell, dear old Bannister! Run +slow, Dan, we want to gaze on the campus as long as we can." + +The youths were silent, as the 'bus rolled slowly down the driveway and +under the Memorial Arch, old Dan, sympathizing with them, and finding he +could make the express by a safe margin, allowing the jitney to flutter +along at reduced speed. From its top, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his vision +blurred with tears, gazed back with his class-mates. He saw the campus, its +grass green, with stately old elms bordering the walks, and the golden +June sunshine bathing everything in a soft radiance. He beheld the college +buildings--the Gym., the Science Hall, the Administration Building, +Recitation Hall, the ivy-covered Library; the white Chapel, and the four +dorms., Creighton, Smithson, Nordyke, Bannister. One year he had spent in +each, and every year had been one of happiness, of glad comradeship. +He could see Bannister Field, the scene of his many hilarious athletic +fiascos. + +And now he was leaving it all--had come to the end of his college course, +and before him lay Life, with its stern realities, its grim obstacles, and +hard struggles; ended were the golden campus days, the gay skylarking +in the dorms. Gone forever were the joyous nights of entertaining his +comrades, of Beefsteak Busts down at Jerry's. Silenced was his beloved +banjo, and no more would his saengerfests bother old Bannister. + +A turn in the street, and the campus could not be seen. As the last vision +of their Alma Mater vanished, T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., smiling sunnily +through his tear-blurred eyes, gazed at his comrades of old '19-- + +"Say, fellows--" he grinned, though his voice was shaky, "let's--let's +start in next September, and--do it all over again!" + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's T. Haviland Hicks Senior, by J. Raymond Elderdice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK T. 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