"Well, I don’t believe he’d resort to anything small and petty, even against a fellow he might not like. So there!"
"We’ll see," said Hal. "Nunn asked me to come out with the squad some time ago. He said I stood a show of making the team. I didn’t come out then, but I’m here now. Let’s see what kind of a chance I have. Keep watch."
He did not confess that he believed he had aroused Nunn against him. Not he! In case he did not get a show, he was willing they should think the Merriwells were entirely to blame.
Captain Nunn was calling out the regular players. He gathered them about Frank Merriwell, who proceeded to talk to them about the new "ends-around" play that had been worked successfully against Viewland on Saturday, and was no longer a secret.
"I want you to put the play into use against the scrub to-day," said Frank. "You must be surer in your formation behind the center and left guard. The ends must come round exactly as if compelled to do so before the charge of the opposing line, while the center must hold fast. Both Kane and Hovey were too much in a hurry to swing back when the play was first tried Saturday. They jumped back so quick once that they cut Burrows off and left him where it was not possible for him to swing round at all, as several of the other team were between him and the formation. Haste is all right, but hurry is not. There is method in haste; confusion in hurry. In football every move should have method. When you make this play let the ends begin to swing back first, so that they may not be cut off when they come round to help shove the ball along."
Frank also spoke to them of several other points, singling out some of the men for special criticism and instruction.
"The team must play together always," he said, in conclusion. "Individual playing, while it serves to attract attention to some particular player, does not win as many games as team playing. I have seen successful teams that did not have a star player. But they had practised until they worked together like machines. I do not mean to discourage brilliant individual playing, but always I want such plays to come from opportunities that do not admit of team plays, or through the aid of a team play behind it, and I want no man to be constantly watching for opportunities to distinguish himself above his fellows."
Dick Merriwell could not keep back the color that surged to his face, for somehow it seemed that Frank’s words were directed especially at him. It touched him, too, for already Dick had learned that the one thing a good football-player should keep in mind is the success of his team in the game, regardless of what happens to himself. At the cost of injury, in the face of danger, at all times, he must be ready to sacrifice himself that somebody else may advance the ball.
Dick was not to blame because his remarkable strength, agility, and skill had enabled him to make plays which plainly elevated him as a star. Yet he could not help feeling that he was blamed, not only by his enemies, but somehow by his own brother.
When Frank had talked to the team and to certain ones on the team, he took Buckhart aside and showed him how to play low in hitting the opposite line. Then he put several others on the eleven through a "course of sprouts" before he permitted the regular contest with the scrub.