“No, sir.”
“Glad to hear it. We haven’t any use for stars here. Tell Mr. Colton I sent you.”
Dan smiled as he trotted away. Payson had laid a trap for him and he had escaped it. He wondered what Payson would have said if he had mentioned his captaincy again. Something pretty tart, he was certain of that! The coach hadn’t forgotten him, after all, and Dan took comfort from that knowledge.
Oliver Colton, the captain, was a strapping big fellow of nineteen, a fine football player, a good all-around athlete and an excellent student besides. Yardley Hall was proud of Colton. He had been Honor Man for the last two years, held the school records for the broad-jump and the hammer, was a good pitcher, batted around three hundred and, above all, was one of the best guards that had ever played on a Yardley eleven. He was good-looking, with rather curly brown hair and such soft eyes of the same color that one would never have suspected him of being the hard, aggressive player he was. His voice, too, was soft, and he had a way of making a command sound like the most courteous request. And yet the fellows who knew Colton jumped just as quickly at his voice as at Payson’s. When Dan found him he had two lines of forwards under instruction in breaking through and blocking, and Dan had to stand by for a moment until the big chap was at leisure.
“That’s better, Hadlock,” said Colton as the lines disentangled themselves. “But you must keep your back down, you know. Don’t double yourself up like a pair of scissors. Maybe you think you can play a slashing game that way, but you can’t.”
The panting players laughed at the pleasantry as they took their places again, and Dan claimed the captain’s attention.
“Mr. Payson told me to report to you,” he said. “I’m trying for end. My name’s Vinton.”
“Glad to see you out,” answered Colton with a genial smile as he shook hands. “We need good ends this year, and if you’re quick enough to make up for your lack of weight you ought to make good. Know the rules pretty well, do you, Vinton?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Well, it won’t do any harm to study them a bit more. If you haven’t a rule book you’d better get one. There’s a quiz on the rules to-night in the trophy room. Better polish up this afternoon. Now you go over there where you see those chaps and join them. Played before, have you?”