“I don’t believe they’ll ever get together to play us,” said George. “Fosdick told me Saturday that he was having a hard time getting the fellows to promise. If they don’t we’ll be in a hole. I told Means last Winter that he couldn’t depend on the grads for a game.”
“Well, we won’t cross that bridge until we come to it,” said Dick. “Maybe if the grads don’t turn up we can find another team to play us. If we can’t we can have a pretty good afternoon of practice, and I dare say that will be quite as much good to us.”
“Then you think Chester and I had better go to Springdale Saturday?” asked Lanny not over-enthusiastically. Dick nodded.
“Yes, I do, Lanny. See what they look like and how their backfield shapes up. And above all watch their formations. If they show anything new don’t miss it. Better jot it down at the time. And find out if you can whether they’ve got a man who can kick goals from the field. A good deal will depend on that. Bring back everything you can, Lanny. Every little bit helps.”
“All right. You won’t take any chances with that Logan game, though, will you, Dick?” he pleaded. “You know they tied us last year.”
“Bother your old Logan game!” laughed Dick. “If you say much more about it I’ll forfeit it to them! Seriously, though, Lanny, that game doesn’t mean much to us, and if I can scrape through without being absolutely beaten I’ll be satisfied. Just keep your eyes on the eighteenth of November, Lanny, and forget about what goes on before.”
“I suppose so,” Lanny agreed, “only—when you’re captain you sort of like to do the best you can; make a good showing for the season, you know.”
“A good showing isn’t possible unless we beat Springdale,” replied Dick emphatically, “and that’s what we’re working for. I don’t much care if we lose every game from now till then, if we win that one. Now let’s get at those plays. This No. 3 won’t work out, I guess. We’re taking too many men from the right of the line and we’re giving the play away from the start. There’s one thing we’ve got to keep in mind, fellows, and that is that the simpler our plays are the better they’ll work. If we decide on that formation we’ve talked of our plays have got to be simple. I don’t mind trying this No. 6 out in practice if you like, but I don’t cheer for it much.”
“Just the same, if it did fool them,” suggested George, “it would fool them badly and we’d make yards on it.”