"Oh, no one but a fool could find it in his heart to make fun of boys who display as much earnestness as you youngsters showed to-day," Spencer replied soothingly.
"It's the first time we ever tried real play, you know," Dick went on.
"Yes; and you'll have to do a lot more practising before you can convince any one that you are doing any real playing," Len nodded. "Go after the rules. Memorize 'em. And watch the High School crowd play football. That will teach you a lot."
"I know we need it," Dick sighed. "But then, you see, Grammar School football is a brand-new thing."
"Why, now I come to think of it, I don't believe I ever did hear before of a Grammar School eleven," Len Spencer admitted.
At least twenty other boys followed Dick and his chums from the field on the way home.
"Say, Dick," called Tom Craig, "is the Central Grammar team going to have a uniform?"
"Why, I suppose we must have one," Dick answered.
"Where are we going to get the money?"
Dick looked blank at that. A football uniform costs at least a few dollars, and who ever heard of an average Grammar School boy having a few dollars, all his own to spend?