“You see—” He was growing eager now; all the dull feeling of weariness had left him. He yearned for battle. “You see, a lot depends on that game. Not—not for me, but for others. There’s the school, great Old Midway! It gave me a chance. Took me out of the steel mill and taught me the things I needed most to know.
“Then there’s the Grand Old Man, our coach. The cleanest sportsman the world has ever known. And this is his last year, his last game. That game must be won!
“There’s the public, too. They’re hoping against hope. They suppose that I’ll be there. They bought tickets to help out a great cause. They should get a show for their money.
“So you see,” he smiled grimly, “it’s up to us, just you and me. To-morrow at two p. m. the team lines up. Seventy thousand people will be crying for victory. You should see it, Pierre, you really should! It’s inspiring!”
“You’ll go in an airplane,” said Pierre. “You must. There can be no other way. We have here a radio telephone. We can speak with Detroit, Chicago, any big city of the midwest. To-day there are airplanes everywhere. It will be easy. Come! We will send out the call.”
“The call. Wait!” Once again the boy’s mind was in a whirl. “The call.” It would be heard everywhere. Men would rush to newspaper offices to sell the story. “The Red Rover found!” would be flashed across the country. The radio, the press, and after that every man, woman and child would take up the cry: “The Red Rover has been found!” He thrilled at the thought, thrilled to the very center of his being. But did he want this? A voice deep within his very soul whispered: “No.”
“Wait!” His hand was on the arm of the genial lighthouse keeper. “Wait for a time, at least.”
He recalled the sound of drumming motors that had struck his ears out there while he and the girl still tossed upon the waters. “There may be some other way,” he told himself. “No brass bands for me. If only I can slip back to the city unheralded; if I could take my place behind the line when the great moment comes; if only I could do that without even the Grand Old Man knowing! Oh, boy!”
Once again he murmured, “Wait.”