“Well, they know hockey, son, and they use a full-hockey skate every time! If that doesn’t prove it—”
“I don’t think the Canadians play any better game than we do these days,” interrupted Glad. “And that doesn’t prove anything, anyway. Canadians are more or less English, and you know mighty well that an Englishman uses the same skate to-day that his great-grandfather used, and couldn’t be made to change. It—it’s all a matter of custom with them!”
“Don’t be a silly ass, please,” begged Arnold. “Any fellow who has seen a Canadian hockey team knows that they use a full-hockey skate, and a full-hockey skate wasn’t made until a few years ago, and so their grandfathers couldn’t have used them! Why, you might just as well say that the best hockey skate is an old-fashioned ‘rocker’!”
“There’s a lot of difference,” began Gladwin, but the audience told him to shut up and eat his breakfast, and Arnold was restored to his normal equanimity by the knowledge that he had won the debate. Consequently, when, a few minutes later, Toby met him in the corridor, Arnold had quite forgotten his grievance.
“Did you hear that line of piffle Glad pulled?” he demanded. “I’d like to see him make his quick starts on a pair of half-hockeys! I’ll bet I could beat him every time!”
“Of course you could,” agreed Toby. “Say, Arn, I—I’m sorry I was such a beast last night, you know.”
“What? Oh! Say, what was the matter with you, you silly chump, anyway?”
“Nothing, really. I was sort of—sort of cranky, I guess.”
“Must have been,” agreed Arnold cheerfully. “Had the hump, I suppose. How is it by you to-day?”