"Wait and be with us. Barnes is going to stop the Gridleys on the way to the station. Barnes is going to make Prescott fight for some things he said on the field! Of course, if you fellows get generally peevish, and the whole Gridley team gets cleaned out, there won't be many tears shed."
So scores of the sort of rabble in whom such an appeal finds ready response hung about, eager to see what would turn up.
CHAPTER XVII
The Long Gray Column
One small urchin there was, so small that he escaped notice as he hung about hearing the word passed.
But that urchin was a Gridley boy who had raised the money to come and see this game. The boy possessed the Gridley spirit. As fast as his legs would carry him he raced to dressing quarters, and there told what he had heard.
"Thank you, kid!" said Dick. "You're a good Gridley boy," and then he continued:
"So that's the game, is it They're going to mob us, are they I guess they can do it—-but, fellows, keep in mind to pass some of the blows back! When we go down in the dirt be sure that some of the Fordham fellows have something to remember us by for many a day! I'm glad Hazelton has already been sent forward in an ambulance."
As Dick finished dressing and waited for the others, he saw one of the subs dropping a spiked shoe into an outer jacket pocket.
"What's that for?" Dick demanded sternly. "A weapon?"