“You are, eh?” he said. “And how are you feeling to-day?”
“Fine and dandy!”
“Then jog around a bit till you’re warmed up. I’ll give you a trial for the mile.”
When that trial was over and Gerald, turning back, sought Andy to learn what time he had made, he was doomed to disappointment. Andy had already returned the watch to his pocket and his face told nothing.
“How was it?” Gerald asked, eagerly.
“Not so bad,” said the trainer. “Come to training table in the morning. That’ll do for to-day. Up to the gym now on the trot, and don’t stand here getting stiff.”
He turned away and Gerald, swallowing his curiosity, obeyed orders. But even if he wasn’t to know his time there was plenty to atone for that disappointment. He was on the Track Team at last! To-morrow he was to join the others at training table! It seemed almost too good to be true, and Gerald trotted back to the gymnasium with his heart beating high with pride and elation. He wanted to tell Dan about it, and Arthur, and Tom, and Alf, but he had had his shower and had dressed before it was time for any of them to appear, and so he went up to his room and wrote a hurried, scrawly note to his father, who was away out West, telling him all about it. And when Dan and Alf came in just before supper-time, they were almost as pleased as Gerald himself, and Alf thumped him on the back and called him “a credit to my training, by gad!”
After supper he went over to tell Tom, but Tom had already heard and said a lot of nice things to the effect that Gerald deserved what had come to him. And when Gerald said, “I guess if it hadn’t been for you, Tom, I wouldn’t have kept up my track work,” Tom disclaimed all credit in the matter. “You had pluck, Gerald,” he said, “and that’s what counts every time.” When it came to telling Arthur the good news, Gerald experienced some embarrassment, for it seemed a good deal to expect Arthur to sympathize with him on the recovery of the privilege that the other had just lost. But if Arthur felt any envy he failed to show the least sign of it. He was really immensely pleased at his friend’s good fortune, and made Gerald understand it. Harry, a very subdued and well-behaved Harry nowadays, added his congratulations to Arthur’s, and the three spent a very pleasant hour in 20 Whitson, discussing track affairs and the chance of a win over Broadwood.
The next afternoon Gerald joined Maury and Goodyear and Norcross, who now comprised the mile squad, and had his work-out with them. He was pleased to find that he could hold his own very well with both Norcross and Goodyear. Captain Maury told him that he was glad to see him back again, but he showed no very great enthusiasm, and it didn’t require the gift of mind-reading to tell that Maury didn’t expect much from the new recruit. As a matter of fact, although Gerald never learned it, Maury had opposed adding Gerald to the squad and the training table, and only Andy’s insistence had secured that result.
The Baseball Team met its first defeat on a Wednesday, ten days before the Dual Meet, going down before Carrel’s to the tune of 4 to 9. The players took the beating very much to heart, for Carrel’s was not considered a very formidable opponent. But the school at large accepted the defeat good-naturedly, and cheered their dejected players loudly as they trotted off to the gymnasium. A beating was to be expected now and then, and, after all, it didn’t much matter what happened so long as in the end Broadwood was humiliated in the final contest.