“Good work, Gerald!” cries Alf from down the rink.
“Time’s up!” announces Goodyear.
“Let’s have another five minutes, Andy,” Dickenson begs. But Andy shakes his head.
“You’ve had enough. You’re tired. That’s all to-day.”
The spectators hurry away up the hill in the gathering twilight, and the players, after removing their skates and donning coats and sweaters, follow by ones and twos and threes, discussing the play, explaining and arguing. The talk lasts all through the subsequent half hour in the gymnasium while the shower baths are hissing, while bruises are being examined by the watchful trainer and while the boys are getting into their clothes again. By this time appetites are at top-notch, and anyone who has ever played two fifteen-minute halves of a hockey game after a half-hour’s practice on a cold afternoon will know why.
The first number of the Scholiast issued after the beginning of the new term contained a schedule of the Hockey’s Team’s contests, and all agreed that French had done his work well. St. John’s was followed by Greenburg High School on the 13th. Then came Carrel’s School on the 17th, Warren Hall on the 23d, and the Yale Freshmen on the 30th. Nordham came on February 6th, Rock Hill College on the 13th, and the season ended with the Broadwood game on the 20th.
They talked it over that night in 7 Dudley, Alf and Tom and Dan. It was a cold, windy night, the steam pipes were chugging and there was a glowing coal fire in the grate. The three boys had pulled their chairs close to the hearth and were toasting their knees comfortably. Examinations had begun, and it had been a hard day for all of them, but they had each weathered the perils and now were enjoying their reward.
“Did you read this?” asked Tom, holding up his copy of the Scholiast.
“Joe’s editorial?” asked Dan lazily. “Yes. Great, isn’t it?”
“It ought to make a big hit with faculty,” said Alf. “I love that about ‘a realization of our duty toward those who have patiently and tirelessly sought to instill into our minds the knowledge which in after years—in after years—’ I’ve forgotten the rest. But it’s perfectly scrumptious!”