[CHAPTER XXV]
PHIL GIVES UP
Out on the athletic ground Grasshopper Backus was practicing the standing broad jump. It was one of the things he was always at, whence his nickname. But, as Holly Cross used to say, “Grasshopper had about as much chance of making the track team as he had of making a perfect score at tennis,” a game which the big lad abhorred. For, though Grasshopper was very fond of jumping and practiced it every time he got a chance, there was something wrong with his method, and he never could get beyond the preliminaries in a contest. Still, he kept at it.
“Why don’t you give up?” asked Phil, who, with Tom and Sid, strolled down where the lone student was leaping away as if the championship of the college depended on it.
“Say, you let me alone,” objected Grasshopper, as he prepared for a jump. “I beat my own record a while ago.”
“By how much?” asked Phil.
“Well, not much; a quarter of an inch, but that shows I’m improving.”
“Yes; at that rate you’ll be through college, and a post graduate like Bricktop before you make enough gain to count,” declared Tom.