Thomp made an eloquent pause. Then, reaching his right hand aloft, his eyes turned toward the sky, he recited, in a deep bass voice:
"I have pledged my honor, as a gridiron specialist, that Gridley H.S. shall lug away all the points of the game from Cobber Second. If we fail, then may everyone who espies me mutter: 'There goes a dub!' May the word 'dub' haunt me in my waking hours, and pursue me, mounted on the nightmares of slumber! May my best friends ever afterward refer to me only as a 'dub.' For if I fail the school, then am I truly a 'dub,' and there is no help for me. If I fail, then may I never, so long as life lasts, be permitted to lose sight of the patent fact that I am a 'dub'! So help me Bob!"
A roar of laughter and approval went up from all who heard. Coach
Morton tried hard to preserve his gravity, but his sides shook,
and his face reddened from the effort. At last he broke loose.
When he could control his voice Mr. Morton demanded:
"What genius of the first class invented the 'oath of the dub'?"
"It wasn't a senior, sir," Thomp confessed.
"What junior, then?"
"Not a junior, either."
"Who, then?" insisted the submaster.
"Tell him, Sam."
"That oath, Mr. Morton, required and received the concerted brainpower of——-"