D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I.[A Hero Returns]1
II.[Captain and Coach]18
III.[A Boy on Crutches]30
IV.[“Only the Captain!”]45
V.[A Clash of Authority]60
VI.[Defeat]77
VII.[The Ath. Fac. Takes a Hand]93
VIII.[A New Leader is Chosen]105
IX.[Out of a Job]118
X.[The Handicaps]134
XI.[The Last Lap]147
XII.[Neil Intervenes]160
XIII.[Stuart Goes Out for the Team]170
XIV.[Wanted, a Kicker]183
XV.[The Conference]197
XVI.[Le Gette Explains]212
XVII.[Tasker Goes Over]226
XVIII.[In the Last Quarter]242
XIX.[Stuart Speaks His Mind]257
XX.[“For the Good of the Team”]275

FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM

CHAPTER I
A HERO RETURNS

Two boys met in the Grand Central Station in New York one warm afternoon in late September and, greeting each other, passed hurriedly toward the gate beyond which the Hartford Express waited. Each was good-looking, well-built, alert and self-possessed. But a few months separated their ages, although Jack Brewton had seen his eighteenth birthday and Stuart Harven had not. In the train, their bags at their feet, they plunged into conversation. While they had been close friends at Manning School, they had not met during vacation, nor had they corresponded. At seventeen and eighteen one is far too busy for letter writing, and, fortunately, friendship doesn’t demand it. There was, consequently, much to be said, and the journey to Safford was half over before the subject of summer adventures had been exhausted. Then Stuart gave the talk a new turn with the careless announcement:

“I had a letter from the new coach about a month ago.”