“Eleven, to be exact.”
“Dry up, Monte Cristo! Your playing well may not cut any ice in football, for some other idiot—I mean some idiot——”
“I get you, partner. It’s all the way you look at it. Are you going in for tennis, then?”
“Yes. I’ve got my name down for the fall tournament that starts next week. Do you play?”
“Nary a play. It’s a girl’s game.”
“What!” Leon was outraged, and all the way back to the campus he held forth on the merits of tennis, growing more and more earnest as Monty pretended to scoff. Monty found that it was a very easy matter to fool Leon, and indulged himself in the amusement quite frequently during the first weeks of their acquaintance. After that the southerner became wise to the fact that Monty didn’t mean all he said, and that when he looked the gravest he was always laughing in his sleeve. Monty allowed himself at length to become convinced by Leon’s eloquence of the many excellencies of the game of tennis, and the two parted in the corridor of School Hall after agreeing to meet after their recitations.
It was while in the middle of “Jimmy’s” English class that Monty remembered that he had not sought to find the runaway skiff in which he had embarked last evening, and consequently, when Leon met him at a few minutes past three he broached the subject and suggested that they go down to the river and have a look. Leon didn’t seem particularly concerned in the matter, but agreed to take part in the search. Monty waited while the other ran up to his room with his books, and then they strolled across the campus to Morris, where Monty, in turn, disposed of his burdens, and after that went on to the field. The courts were already busy, and Monty had hard work dragging Leon past them.
“That’s what I ought to be doing,” declared the latter concernedly. “I need practice like anything. I wish I knew some fellow who would take me on. Maybe if I got my racket and stood around someone would ask me. Do you know any fellows yet?”
“Only three or four. I don’t know whether they play tennis, Leon, but I’ll ask them if you say so.”
“I wish you would. Who are they?”