[CHAPTER XIV]
RUSTY BRINGS A FRIEND
“When I left you in the restarong,” began Rusty, “I hied me forth in pursuit of a youth whose countenance I had spied through the window, in short, none other than Sandy Halden. Sandy said he was looking for someone, I forget who, and I said I’d help him look. I believe in helping others whenever it isn’t too hard work.”
“Why that pill, though?” asked Stanley. “Thought you had no use for Sandy.”
“You’re quite wrong then,” answered Rusty earnestly. “To the eager and inquiring mind nothing is useless. Anyhow, you shut up and let me tell this. Sandy and I wandered through the metropolis side by each, admiring the soaring edifices and the homes of ease and luxury. And as we strolled, we talked. Maybe I talked more than Sandy did, but that’s neither here nor there. Among other things I said was this: ‘They’re charging fifty cents to see the game this afternoon, Sandy, and that’s too much. Not that I’m going to pay it, though. I’m going to see it for nothing.’ Of course that interested Sandy tremenjously, for Sandy doesn’t mind spending money any more than a Scotsman! He wanted to know how I was going to do it; did I have a pass or what. ‘Don’t have to have a pass,’ I told him. ‘Maybe you’ve noticed that one of the dormitories is right close to the field? Well, if you happen to have a friend there whose room is on the back, you don’t have to spend your good money. You just sit in the window up there quite comfortably and look right down on the field. Of course, you’re not as close as you are in a stand, but you can see everything that goes on and you’re saving a big old half-dollar. And a half-dollar is a lot of money about the middle of the month!’ Sandy agreed cordially to that sentiment and said he wished that he knew someone in one of those dormitories. I said, yes, it would be nice if he did, and looked at my watch, remarking that I mustn’t be late for my engagement. Then we happened on a candy store and I stopped and looked in the window and said something about the caramels looking nice. I could see Sandy struggling mentally and I kept on looking at the caramels. He tried to edge off, but I wouldn’t edge. So finally he said in a weak little voice that he guessed he’d get a few and we went in and he bought a quarter of a pound for fifteen cents. Then we strolled on and ate the caramels, and after a bit I said sort of thoughtfully: ‘Look here, Sandy, if you’d like to see the game with me I guess it would be all right. My friend is a mighty nice sort and I don’t think he’d mind if I brought you along.’”
“What friend?” asked Dick, puzzled.
“My friend in Wallack Hall,” replied Rusty, with a grin. “Wallack’s the dormitory that looks like a tomb and has ivy all over it.”
“Oh,” said Dick uncertainly. Blash made a derisive noise in his throat and Stanley chuckled.
“Well, Sandy was that pleased! Gee, fellows, it does give one a fine feeling to give pleasure to others, doesn’t it? Sandy was quite affecting. He said I was mighty kind and he wouldn’t forget it and he’d like awfully to meet my friend. So we came to a drug store about then and I said I was thirsty and Sandy insisted on buying sodas. By that time it was getting on toward two and I asked a fellow in the store how to get out to the school and he told me and we started out. I had to pay the car fares, for Sandy was looking out the window hard when the conductor came around. When we got out there I said we’d better walk around awhile and see the place, and we so did, and when it was about time for the game to start I conducted Sandy to Wallack. ‘He may not be in yet,’ I said, ‘because he has a two o’clock recitation, but he said I was to make myself at home until he got back.’ So we climbed two flights of stairs and I went along looking at the numbers on the doors, telling Sandy I didn’t quite remember which room it was. Sandy kept asking me what the fellow’s name was and reading the cards, but I put him off until I found the room. Then I knocked, and, sure enough, Harold wasn’t in, but he’d left the door open and so we went on in. It was a bully room, with a lot of corking furniture and pictures and so on, and we looked around and waited for Harold to come back. You couldn’t see as much of the field as I’d expected, because the top of the grand stand cut off the nearer side of it, but it wasn’t bad, and I made Sandy take his coat off and sit down on the window-seat. He was very grateful, was Sandy. Doing things for him is a real pleasure, fellows!” And Rusty looked around the small circle of his audience with much feeling. Stanley was chuckling and Blash and Dick grinning broadly, and Rusty seemed surprised at their amusement.