“You mustn’t mind Tubby Jones,” said Dan as they cut across the yard. “He’s a chronic kicker. If he was at Broadwood he’d want to be here. Nothing ever quite suits Tubby.”
“Do you like him much?” asked Gerald.
“Oh, we get on well enough,” answered Dan. “But Tubby isn’t exactly what you’d call a lovable character, although he really isn’t quite as bad as he makes you think.”
“I don’t like him,” said Gerald decisively.
Gerald was vastly interested in the gymnasium and tried all the apparatus in turn. Then they visited the trophy room, where Dan showed him the football and baseballs which, inscribed with names and dates, commemorated various victories on gridiron and diamond. There were cups, too, and one or two banners dating back nearly thirty years, and numerous framed photographs of Yardley teams. Gerald had a stream of questions to ask, many of them quite beyond Dan’s ability to answer. They looked into the boxing room and Gerald wanted Dan to show him how to box, but Dan assured him that he hadn’t taken it up yet and hurried him off downstairs. Gerald was allowed only a peep into the locker room, for the football fellows were in possession. Then he was sent back to the gymnasium to amuse himself until Dan had changed his clothes. Later they went down to the field together and Dan bought a ticket and placed Gerald in a lower seat on the stand. After the substitutes had been sent to the side-line, Dan took his place beside him and explained everything to the best of his ability. Gerald didn’t know football very well and there was plenty of work for Dan.
St. John’s Academy had sent a pretty green team to Wissining and after the first few minutes of play it was evident that Yardley would not have to work very hard. Mr. Payson had taught his team no new plays as yet and so only the simplest of old-fashioned football was used by the home team. St. John’s was light and fairly fast and had been coached to play an open game. There were numerous tries of the forward pass but Yardley had little trouble in frustrating them. For the most part Yardley kept the ball and used plays through the line, especially outside of tackle, for good gains. The first half ended with the score 18 to 0 in favor of the Blue.
Gerald became much excited as the game went on and yelled himself red in the face. By the time the struggle was over he had become a zealous Yardley partisan and Dan secretly congratulated himself on his success. In the second half most of the first string men were laid off and substitutes took their places. But even so, Yardley managed to pile up eleven more points, so that the contest terminated with the very satisfactory score of 29 to 0 in Yardley’s favor. Gerald climbed into the automobile at half-past five, declaring that he had had a dandy time and that he was going to make his father let him come to all the remaining football games. Dan promised to go down to Sound View the next day, Sunday, for luncheon at one o’clock and Gerald went off supremely contented.
“Getting pretty swell, aren’t we?” asked Tubby as Dan entered the room after seeing his guest off. “Riding around in automobiles and leaving cards on John T.”