Phil said little, but there was a different air about him all that day, and when he went into practice he actually seemed to carry the team along on his shoulders, so that they crumbled the scrub opposition into nothingness, and made five touch-downs in the two short halves they played.
Since the episode of the freshman dance the first-year students had “sung small” whenever the sophomores were about. It was the most humiliating trick that had been “pulled off in so many years that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary,” as Holly Cross put it in one of his favorite quotations. Gerhart was much downcast at first, for, as he was in charge of the affair, it was considered a sort of reflection on his ability. And he laid it all to Tom, Sid, Phil and Dutch Housenlager.
“You wait; I’ll get even with you some day,” he had said to Tom.
“We’re perfectly willing,” answered Tom good-naturedly. “If you think you can put anything over our home plate, why go ahead, and more power to ye, as Bricktop Molloy would say.”
“You just wait,” was all Gerhart answered.
It was the night before the game with Dodville Preparatory School, which institution had an eleven not to be despised. They had met Randall on the diamond and were anxious to come to conclusions with them on the gridiron. Following some light practice, during which the fake tackle run and pass to half-back was worked to perfection, Sid, Tom and Phil went for a stroll along Sunny River. The placid stream had an attraction in the early evening that was absent at other times, and the three chums felt its influence as they walked along the banks.
“Do you feel nervous about to-morrow’s game?” asked Tom of Phil.
“Not as much so as if it was against Boxer Hall,” replied the quarter-back. “Of course I—I shall be worrying a bit for fear I’ll get a message from Florida, but I’m going to try to forget it. I want to roll up a big score against Dodville.”
“And against Boxer Hall, too,” added Sid.
“Of course. But that’s some time off, and we’ll improve in the meanwhile. I fancy the game to-morrow will develop some weak spots that will need strengthening.”