The action of the football men in postponing the selection of a captain had caused a good deal of surprise. Parker had a big following in his own class, which was anxious to see him chosen as the gridiron leader, and he was enough of a politician to stir up a good deal of comment. Moreover, he spread in all directions the statement that it was Dick Merriwell who had caused the adjournment without action.
“I don’t care for myself,” Parker said, sitting on the junior fence and addressing a number of his admiring classmates. “But it’s a bad principle. We’ve always had self-government in sports here at Yale, and I don’t see why this Merriwell should be allowed to come in and disturb all our traditions and upset our plans. We should have elected a captain to-day, whether it was Jackson or myself.
“I would have been perfectly willing to give way to Jackson if it had seemed as if most of the fellows wanted him, but there was no reason why I should withdraw when I was sure of a majority of the votes on the second ballot. And Taylor was talking to Merriwell and Tom Sherman just before the meeting. He told them what to do—and every one knows how they did it.”
Steve Carter, third basemen on the baseball team, who had once thought the baseball captaincy such a prize that he had been willing to stoop to a dishonorable trick to spoil Jim Phillips’ chance of getting it away from him, spoke up warmly in defense of Dick Merriwell.
“I don’t believe Merriwell influenced any one to vote against you, Parker,” he said. “His interest is to have the best man in college elected to the captaincy of every team. It doesn’t make any difference how good a coach may be, he can’t do anything here or at any other college unless the captain of the team backs him up and supports him loyally all the time. And I know that every man on the football team who voted against you would have done the same thing if Merriwell had made a speech in your favor before the meeting and done his best to have you elected.”
Parker was furious. He stripped off his coat, and moved threateningly toward Carter.
“I’ll make you fight for that,” he said savagely. “No man can talk to me that way without giving me satisfaction.”
But Carter held his ground without flinching, big as Parker was.
“Don’t be a fool, Parker,” he said. “In the first place, I didn’t say anything insulting to you, and you know it. You’re just trying to start trouble to show what a big boss you are. And in the second place, I’m on the baseball team, and I couldn’t fight you until after the training season, no matter what you did.”
“Any port in a storm,” sneered Parker, resuming his coat. “That’s a good way to get out of a licking after you’ve provoked a man to the point of giving it to you.”