"Why, I'm not running things, Earl. I'm only captain of the team."
"Come now, Bob, don't try to put up any such ridiculous bluff as that. If you wanted the team reorganized it would probably be done."
"Who do you want fired?" asked Bob, bluntly.
"Blake, Clifton, Boggs and maybe a couple of others," answered Roycroft, with equal bluntness. "Think it over, Somers. I'll leave you here. Sure you don't feel sore about what I've said?"
"Not a bit of it," responded Bob, heartily. "It hasn't ruffled a hair. So-long, Earl. Yes; I'll think it over."
On the same evening all five members of the Rambler Club met in Bob Somers' study to discuss the situation. The languid air which usually characterized Dave Brandon was entirely absent.
"We must take a firm hand, Bob," he said, emphatically. "The only question to consider is this: are we merely stubborn and mistaken, or is our confidence in the team so justified that we can feel sure of final success?"
"If our nine isn't quite up to the 'Hopes' now I am certain that later on it will be a great deal better," said Bob.
"How did they manage to get such a good team?"
"That's easy to figure out," replied Dick Travers. "Wherever he could, 'Crackers' selected the biggest men. Most of the chaps belong to the roughest bunch in school—an unruly lot. They have plenty of brute strength, and are sort of carrying things by rough-house methods."