“Mighty little,” replied the coach. “Of course, if he was off only a week it would be different. In that case we could take him back and have him handy in case Kearns went bad. But I don’t know——”
“I guess I’d better see him in the morning and find out what the prospects are. If he will saw wood and get rid of his conditions, or whatever his trouble is, by a week from Monday——”
“Yes, tell him that. Brow-beat him a bit. Get him on his mettle. I’ll see him, if you think it would be better.”
“I’ll take a fall out of him first,” said Jud. “By the way, he and Dobbins room together. It might be a good scheme to get Dobbins after him. I guess they’re pretty close from what I hear, and maybe he’d listen to Dobbins when he wouldn’t to me. Well, anyway, I think we can lick Kenwood this year even without a full-back,” he ended.
Mr. Driscoll smiled and shook his head. “Let’s not be too sure, Mellen,” he said. “Wait until the Sunday papers come. Six to six sounds pretty good for Phillipsburg, but we don’t know yet how many of her subs Kenwood used. That coach of hers is a foxy chap, and it may be that he was satisfied to get away with a tie and leave us guessing. Perhaps he thought we had scouts over there today, looking them over.”
“I sort of wish we had had,” said Jud. “Oh, I know your idea on the subject, Coach, and I’m not saying you aren’t right, but, just the same, it’s a handicap. Kenwood sends fellows to watch our playing and gets lots of useful information, I’ll bet, and we have to depend on what the papers tell us. And most of that guff is written by fellows friendly to Kenwood. If the Kenwood coach wants the news to go out that the team is rotten, it goes out, and we have to swallow it. I’d give a hundred dollars to see her play Montrose next Saturday!”
“That’s high pay for acting the spy,” replied the coach gravely. “See here, Jud Mellen, you’re a fair and square, decent sort, from all I’ve seen of you, and I’ve known you for three years. You wouldn’t pick a pocket or lie, and I’ve never yet seen you doing any dirty work in a game. Then just how would you explain it to your conscience if you went over to Kenwood next Saturday with the idea of seeing how much information you could get hold of regarding Kenwood’s plays and signals and so on?”
“But, gosh ding it, Mr. Driscoll, I wouldn’t wear a false moustache and all that! I wouldn’t sneak in, I’d go openly. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t see Kenwood play a game of football just because I happen to play with Parkinson!”
“Not if just being entertained was what you were there for, Cap,” answered the other. “But it wouldn’t be. You’d be a spy, and you know it, old son. That’s what I object to. When the time comes that it is an understood and mutually agreed on thing that members of one football team are welcome to see another team play, why, then I won’t make a yip. But you know how we love to get word here from the gate that a Kenwood scout has gone in! We cut out new plays and try to look worse than we are.”
“You mean we would if you’d let us,” laughed Jud.