Dennis made a dash at the dummy, expecting Dolph would give it another pull in the same direction as before, but Sterndale had slipped up and taken hold of the other end of the rope, and, at the critical moment, the figure seemed to spring the other way. The result was that the Irish youth miscalculated entirely and went down, but he came up from the ground as if he had been thrown erect by springs.
“Howld on!” he ejaculated, whirling about and glaring at the object, while the amused lads shouted again. “Is it backward ye dodge, Oi dunno? Sure, ye’re a shlick crayther, av Oi ivver saw wan, but Oi’ll down yez av it takes me all noight, so Ol will.”
He sprang at the dummy again, caught it waist high, and brought it down immediately.
After this the boys took turns at it, having it drawn swiftly along and running at an angle to head it off, pursuing it, meeting it, and coming at it in various ways. Dolph showed them just how to tackle low and effectively, and they would not stop till it was too dark for them to practice on the machine with any success.
“Let every fellow get up here by seven o’clock to-morrow morning,” said Sterndale, “and we’ll put in an hour on this machine. We ought to get our new ball by to-morrow night, and so we’re not going to be hurt much, as far as practice is concerned, by the destruction of the other one.”
In high spirits, they left the field, laughing, joking and singing, and the sentiment universally expressed was that a fellow who took so much trouble and interest in coaching them was the right person for the position.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TROUBLE ON THE TEAM.
“I did not see you practicing after school to-night with the other boys, Don,” said Dr. Scott, two evenings later. “I happened to be driving past the ground, and so I stopped at the gate and looked on a few moments. I expected to see you in the midst of it. Where were you, my son?”
“I—I was not feeling very well,” declared Don, as smoothly as he could, although he knew his face had flushed, “and so I did not practice to-night.”
“There!” exclaimed his aunt; “what did I tell you, Lyman! I knew there was something the matter with him, as he hasn’t been acting at all natural for the past few days. I’m afraid, brother, you will have cause to regret permitting him to indulge indiscriminately in that rough and dangerous game.”