CHAPTER XXIV
THE FELLOW WITH A GROUCH.
Jack Kenny was sore. He had been out of humor for a long time—to be exact, ever since the football election last year, in which Don Tempest had been chosen captain of the varsity—but he had done his best to hide this feeling from those about him.
Dick Merriwell, himself the best all-around athlete in college, had more than once expressed his belief that many of the triumphs of the very satisfactory season of a year ago had been due to Kenny’s amazingly clever headwork.
But the quarter back was not a fellow to foster a long-continued grouch if he could help it. He had a decided strain of real sporting blood in his make-up, and, after the first flare-up of rage and disappointment when he learned the result of the election, he had calmed down and tried to take things philosophically.
But with the return of Don Tempest to the helm just before the Princeton game, the old feelings of doubt and resentment came back with renewed force, in spite of the plucky efforts on Kenny’s part to take his medicine like a man.
Tempest himself was not a fellow to help matters much. He was a splendid player, and, what was more, a born general in his ability to plan out a game and play it scientifically; but, like many generals in the bigger game of life, he had a supreme belief in his own ability, an intolerance of criticism and advice, and a certain lack of sympathy and tact in his handling of the other players, which resulted in his being far from popular.
Men recognized his ability and appreciated the value of his generalship, while they did not care for him personally, which was well enough so long as everything went along without a hitch and there were no fall-downs.
All this did not help Jack Kenny in his effort—quite determined and sincere—to conquer the feeling of resentment and sense of having been used unfairly, which kept constantly cropping up in his mind. Hearing now and then little jibes and flings against the captain from other fellows only confirmed his own impression that Tempest was unfit for the position.
This belief was fostered by his own keen observation during the progress of a game or on the practice field. More than once he saw opportunities which Tempest seemed to miss. Latterly they had had several run-ins about certain plays and formations, of which Kenny could not see the value, but which Tempest insisted should be used.
The result was that the quarter back’s usually even temper had become more and more rasped as time went on, until he reached a point when the slightest admonition from Tempest irritated him almost beyond endurance, and a decided coolness had developed between the two men.