“Well, it’s too early to tell much yet,” said Rob. “There’s some good material in my squad, though.”
“I don’t think it will be hard to get eleven fellows out of the lot,” said Malcolm. “Of course, I don’t know much about football, but I saw a good many chaps who seemed to know what to do and how to do it.”
“That’s right. I could pick a dozen to-morrow quite as good as the Second Team men. You wait until we’ve had a week’s practice, Evan, and you’ll feel more cheerful.”
“Oh, I’m cheerful enough. After all, we’re doing it for the fun of the thing.”
“H’m, yes, I suppose so,” answered Rob. “But—well, I’ve got more in view than just fun. I’m going to teach Hopkins and Prentiss a lesson; the whole school, too, for that matter. I’m going to show folks that if you want a good football team or a good base-ball team you’ve got to give every fellow a chance and not run the show for the benefit of a few of your particular chums.”
“How about that coach?” asked Evan.
“Coming. I got him on the telephone this afternoon. He isn’t going to cost us a cent, either. He says he’s just bought an automobile—a runabout—and he will come over every afternoon. Says it will only take him about thirty minutes and he’d rather do that than live over here. I told him all about it, just what we were trying to do, and he thought it was a great joke and says he will fix us so we can knock spots out of the School Team! I’m afraid he won’t be so cheerful when he sees the material, but—well, never mind. I have hopes, fellows, that before long we’ll get some of the Second Team chaps.”
“Gee, that would leave the First in a bit of a hole, wouldn’t it?” murmured Evan.
“Serves them right,” said Malcolm.
“Of course before that we’ve got to show the making of a pretty good team,” went on Rob thoughtfully. “And the question is, can we do it? We’re going to be pretty light, I guess, and so we’ll have to make up for that in speed. Walt Duffield is the chap to show us how, though, I can tell you that!”