CHAPTER X
RODNEY JOINS THE SQUAD
“Well, Stanley used to tell wonderful yarns about this place,” said Rodney as they reached the lower hall, “but I didn’t believe quite all he said then. I do now. It’s certainly a fine building. Still——”
“Still what?” asked Tad jealously.
“Well, I don’t see what the idea is in putting so much expense into a gymnasium, Tad.”
“Why not?”
“We-ell, it seems to me that a building that is used so little——”
“Used so little! Say, you want to come over here some evening next week and see the gymnastic class at work! And pretty soon they’ll begin the regular gym work. I guess, Rod, this place is as much used as any building here. Why, I’ve seen this dressing-room so full in spring that you couldn’t move around without treading on some fellow’s toes!”
Tad secured a locker for Rodney and the latter changed to his football garb. The trousers were a bit too tight at the waist, but by lacing them not quite close they answered very well. The jacket fitted better. As for jersey and shoes, Rodney furnished those himself. Before he was dressed the other candidates began pouring into the room, and the place, which had been almost deserted when the two boys arrived, hummed like a beehive. Guy Watson nodded to Rodney as he took a seat on a neighboring bench, and to Rodney’s surprise the nod seemed to express toleration rather than dislike. Captain Doyle came up and said a few words, and Stacey Trowbridge smiled gravely across at him. A big chap with a good-natured round face that broke into a dozen creases when he laughed was Pounder, who played center. “‘Two Hundred Pounder,’ the fellows used to call him,” explained Tad, “although he only weighs a hundred and seventy or so. He’s a dandy center. The fellow with the bandage on his head is Roger Tyson, left half. He’s a wonder. If we had ten other fellows like old Roger we’d beat everything of our size in the country.”