“Well, he hasn’t shown any sign of it yet,” replied Jack dryly. “Looks to me like he was a plaguey sight more likely to overwork us than underwork us! We’ve had more hard practice in a week than we had last fall in two weeks! And you’re as bad as he is. Looked like you were trying to play us off our feet to-day!”
“Do you good,” muttered Stuart. “Are you in favor of no training table, too?”
“Well, I don’t know,” said Jack cautiously. “I do think that we sometimes ate too much last year. I’ve seen Joe Cutts get away with two steaks and three baked potatoes, besides all the trimmings, at one meal. And you’ll remember that half of us were no good at all for a whole week in October last season. The Laird said we’d been eating too many eggs and too much milk.”
“Well, we won, didn’t we? A touch of biliousness is nothing. You can’t keep thirty-odd fellows in perfect trim every day for two months. That stands to reason. Eating too much doesn’t help, of course, but eating the wrong sort of stuff is worse. And that’s what a lot of chaps will do when there’s no one to look after them. Haynes says it worked fine at Fisherville, but Fisherville isn’t Manning. Besides, they always take mighty good pains at Fisherville to take on only teams they know they can lick!”
“I guess it isn’t that bad,” laughed Jack. “You don’t like Fisherville; that’s your trouble. The truth is, though, that Fisherville turned out just about the best and smoothest team in this part of the country last fall, and you can’t get around that, old chap.”
“We’d have beaten her if she’d given us a chance,” growled Stuart. “They’re mighty careful not to give us a game.”
“Haynes said the other day he would arrange a game next season.”
“He may think so,” answered Stuart pessimistically, “but Fisherville will find an excuse. You wait and see.”
Later, Stuart sought sympathy from Neil and, after a fashion, got it. Neil agreed that Stuart should have been consulted in the matter; agreed, too, that doing away with the training table was most unfortunate if Stuart’s forebodings should prove justified. “Maybe, though, Mr. Haynes meant to consult you, as he says he did,” continued Neil. “I guess he has had a good deal to think about since he took hold, eh? It’s all pretty new to him, Stuart. It was decent of him to apologize.”
“What’s the good of his apology?” demanded the other impatiently. “Whether he meant to consult me or not, he didn’t, and it makes me feel rather small, naturally. I’m captain of the team, and I ought to have a little say in its affairs. It doesn’t look as if I were going to, though! Haynes has the Athletic Faculty with him, and can do as he likes, I guess. I should think either Jud or Stearns might have asked my opinion before buckling under to him. They’re supposed to look after the interests of the fellows, but all they think about is pleasing Haynes.”