There was a roar of delight. Then Carter sprang to his feet.
“I nominate Jim Phillips,” he cried.
A dozen voices seconded the nomination. There was no other candidate, and in two minutes Jim had been unanimously elected captain of the team.
And when he got outside, where the news had spread, the first man who was waiting to congratulate him was Parker—who had seen, at last, what it meant to be a Yale man.
The next great event in sports in which Yale men were to take part was the Yale-Harvard boat race. And for this important battle on the water, the busy universal coach now hastened to New London to give final instructions to the crew, which had long been at work under his coaching.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE TROUBLE WITH THE CREW.
Dick reached New London, and was at Gale’s Ferry, the Yale rowing quarters, before the assistant coaches who had been left in charge of the crew had smoked their final pipes for the night. The oarsmen were all in bed, early hours being the strict rule for them. But, on the porch of the cottage in which the coaches lived, Dick found Hargreaves and Benton, his two graduate helpers, deep in talk.
“By Jove, I’m glad to see you, Mr. Merriwell!” cried Benton. “We heard that motor boat puffing up the river, but I hardly thought you’d get here before to-morrow. See any signs of mourning as you passed Red Top?”
They all laughed. Red Top was the name of the little cluster of cottages and boathouses half a mile or so below, where the Harvard oarsmen had for years made their quarters.