“He’s got to find us first,” chuckled Martin. “If he was going to do it he’d have done it before this.”
“Well, I hope you’re right. How did practice go?”
“Fine! We scored three times on the second. Son, we’ve got a real team this year!”
“Who was at left half?”
“Mawson most of the time. Longstreth had a whack at it, too. We’re going to miss you there, Brand.”
“Much obliged,” answered Willard dryly. “I guess you’ll worry along, though. What’s it like to be on pro?”
Martin’s face sobered as he shook his head. “I’ve never been there yet, and I hope I never shall, but I guess it’s sort of fairly rotten!”
And so it proved to be. While Willard was no longer confined to the dormitory, he was not allowed to go on the field and was debarred from being outside the school property after six in the evening, and the latter restriction meant that the movies, unless he chose to attend in the afternoon, would know him no more until after Christmas Recess. The hardest feature of his punishment, however, was the required standing in all classes. Marks under 85 drew frowns of disapproval, and Willard reflected that the rule that kept him inside the grounds in the evenings was not such a bad one, for only by spending the evenings in diligent study could he hope to scrape through.
Being forbidden attendance at practice or games did not, however, prevent him from witnessing the game with New Falmouth High School on Saturday. He saw it, although at a distance and in a rather uncomfortable attitude, from Felix McNatt’s window in Upton. McNatt’s room, while not on the end of the building overlooking the field, was near the corner and, by opening a window and leaning well out Willard could see all of the gridiron save the stretch of it close to the nearer stand. Fortunately for his comfort, the day was only mildly cold. New Falmouth High was not a formidable antagonist and Alton had no difficulty in running up 34 points while the adversary was securing 7. Afterwards it was stated throughout the school that McNatt won that game single-handed, but that was an exaggeration. True it is, though, that the full-back carried the ball over for four of the five touchdowns and was largely instrumental in securing the fifth! Willard observed from his aery with mingled emotions that Mawson was far from effectual on attack, although he played a consistently good game on defense. Cochran, at right half, had an off-day, and Moncks, who took his place in the third quarter, was not much better. It seemed to Willard that the Gray-and-Gold deserved a larger score than she got, for she followed the ball closely, played hard and showed real end of the season form throughout. Two penalties in the last period undoubtedly saved the visitor from a worse drubbing. The visitor’s touchdown was honestly earned in the first few minutes of play when Gil Tarver’s forward-pass to Lake fell into the hands of the enemy and a blue-and-white-legged youth raced thirty-odd yards and fell across the goal-line. A nimble-footed quarter-back added another point.