“Hurrah!” cried Crockett jubilantly. “Billy’s coming back! Say, may I read this to the fellows, Mr. Trayne?”
The coach nodded a smiling assent. The news that the backstop was coming back to school after writing that he would not return, was a great relief to him.
Crockett flung up the window and read out the message. It was greeted with a storm of frantic cheers. Then he held up his hand for silence, and after a moment the crowd fell quiet.
“Three cheers for Captain Chip!” he shouted.
Another roar of cheers welled up through the night as the crowd acclaimed this good news. Then the meeting slowly broke.
With bitter heart and darkening brow, Bob Randall had heard the message read, and had heard the cheers that followed Crockett’s shout. He slipped away across the campus and toward the barracks, a fierce anger welling up within him.
CHAPTER XVI.
A WILY PLOTTER.
Randall slowly returned home to the barracks. His heart was hot against Chip Merriwell, and hotter yet against the crowd who had acclaimed his rival.
“Confounded Yankees!” he muttered. “Whatever did I come to this part of the country for, anyway! Just because I had an uncle livin’ at Carsonville, I reckon. I wish I had stayed down home an’ taken a chance on the Annapolis examinations!”