“Seems to have changed a heap, too,” said Rabbit Warren. “He used to be a blamed fresh kid, always hanging out with Gould. They made a fine pair. I think Pell has been flattered by the companionship of Gould and, believe me, Gould has been just wise enough to work little Birdie for all he is worth. I wonder if they are as thick as they were? Haven’t noticed Gould wearing a path to the infirmary door visiting Birdie, have you?”
“No,” admitted Cas Gorham, “and I think Birdie realizes, too, that Gould isn’t such a great friend as he pretends to be. I think it sort of hurts his pride or something or other. He seems different. Isn’t as cocky or fresh as he used to be when he teamed up with Gould. Used to be a regular blamed pest; fresh as they make ’em.”
“Oh, don’t fret, they’ll be back together again. Birds of a feather, you know. Pell’s close call has taken some of the wind out of his sails, but I’ll bet he’ll be just as fresh as ever once he gets on his feet again and gets his running mate Gould along with him,” said Rabbit Warren skeptically.
“Well, now I don’t know about that,” defended Jeff. “Gould didn’t even lend a hand when Pell was in that pickle down in the locker room. Buck Hart and I had most of the disagreeable work to do. Not that the rest of you fellows didn’t want to lend a hand and didn’t offer to help out all you could. That was all right. But why didn’t his good friend Gould look after him? I think Pell, as sick as he was, noticed that Gould had gone back on him and I’m inclined to think he’s through.”
“Oh, don’t you fret. You just wait and see if I’m not right. When Pell gets around again his freshness will all come back, and when he gets that way Gould is about the only fellow in school who will stand for him.”
“I wonder if Pell is naturally a pest or whether his association with Gould made him so. I mean by that, Gould is a fresh duck himself and I’m half inclined to believe that Birdie Pell has just aped Gould all the way. Tried to be as big and as boastful as his pal. I wouldn’t wonder but that if Pell got to traveling in decent company he’d be a fair sort of a fellow himself.”
“Well, maybe you are right,” said Rabbit, “but you’ll have to show me. I can’t believe it until I see it work out that way. And one thing, I won’t take the little pest under my wing to try and make a regular fellow out of him. It would be too much of a contract, let me tell you.”
For some strange reason after he returned to his room that night Jeff thought a great deal about Birdie Pell and what Rabbit Warren and Cas Gorham had said concerning him. He wondered after all whether they were right or whether he was right in thinking that perhaps Pell was a likeable sort of fellow if he once got out of the company of Gould. He was half inclined to believe that he was more right than either of the other two boys, but he realized that he was hardly in a position to provide the right sort of company for Pell since he was a Freshman and Pell was a Sophomore. Pell would naturally chum with the Sophomore bunch and probably held the same ideas about Freshmen that the rest of the Sophs did. Jeff, however, decided to watch developments in Pell. He even went so far as to contemplate approaching Dal Hoffman and several other Sophomores whom he knew more or less intimately and liked because they were good wholesome fellows, suggesting perhaps that if they were willing to tolerate Pell’s company for a little while they might develop him into a regular fellow and a worth-while sort of a chap.