Silent contempt on the part of Tubby Jones.
When Dan entered the trophy room in the gymnasium at a few minutes before seven he found the room already well filled. At least half a dozen fellows nodded to him, Alf Loring amongst the number, and Dan was secretly much elated. There followed a short talk by Payson on the new rules and then the “quiz” began. Some of the questions were not easy to answer:
What happens when a legal forward pass crosses the goal line on the fly without being touched by a player? When the same ball has been legally touched by a player?
When is a player of the side which has kicked the ball put on-side?
Is tackling below the knees illegal for all players? And, if not, what are the exceptions?
What is the penalty for holding or unlawful use of hands or arms when the offending side has the ball? When the offending side is not in possession of the ball?
What is the signal for a fair catch? What is the penalty for interference with a fair catch?
If marks had been awarded I doubt if many of the fellows would have received an A. At a few minutes before eight they were dismissed with the advice to study the rules. Dan obeyed the instructions so implicitly that when ten o’clock came he found that he hadn’t so much as glanced at his lessons for the morrow. So he burned the midnight oil, greatly to Tubby’s disgust, and got Cæsar’s Gallic War so mixed with the football rules that he might just as well have gone to bed at ten.
A few days later Dan awoke one morning to find the sunlight streaming into the room, to feel the crisp air of a frosty October morning blowing in through the window and to realize that, should the traditional fairy princess appear on the scene ready to transport him with a dip of her wand to any place in the world he would choose to stay just where he was. He lay there with his knees hunched up, the sunlight glaring on the white spread, and smiled at the knot in the left-hand upper panel of his closet door. The knot and he were getting to be pretty good friends. When he awoke in the morning the knot was always the first thing to meet his gaze, and of late it had seemed to have a welcome for him. There is a lot of expression in a knot if you look at it a long time, and sort of half close your eyes and—and—
Dan gave a start. He had almost gone to sleep again. That wouldn’t do, for it must be fully time to get up. He raised himself on his elbow and looked at the watch in his vest pocket. Then he gave a grunt of satisfaction and tumbled back on the pillow. There was a good ten minutes yet. Across the room Tubby was represented by a round mound under the bed clothes. Not an inch of him was showing, for Tubby slept with his head under the covers to guard against those drafts which were forever troubling him. Dan put his hands under his head, stared contentedly at the knot in the closet door and went through the day in anticipation.